Mercenary Mage useless?

[Kanjejou]

its debuff are weak (5%!!!) its attakc spell are weak(but so are other faction spells) and most of its spell so gimicky and limited they are useless.

i gave up a hero for this?

[No Leaf Clover]

The common consensus afaik is that wjhen you get the lightning spell + some skills he becomes way better.

[Kanjejou]

Originally posted by No Leaf Clover:

The common consensus afaik is that wjhen you get the lightning spell + some skills he becomes way better.

ok i hope he will survive long enough for that, and that i will get enough gold for that...

[Castor]

They become very potent with max Intelligence and mastered Lightning Bolt. Stack lots of -curse (head, staff, skill) and master the skill for range max. Master the skill to bypass magic resist and always remember: just because you CAN cast three in a turn does not mean you should. That third cast will always be a gamble.

[MrPyro]

I've generally advised to not buy them at level 0, but if you can grab one at level 2 from the Hired Swords and immediately train Lightning Bolt and Channeling.

Also, give them a bow in their secondary slot and train Ballistic Skill (Weapon skill and Accuracy are both pretty useless for them anyway). That way you have some damage output for if you can't cast for some reason (there are curse effects that prevent casting for a few turns, for example).

[Sigmar's Faithful]

Originally posted by MrPyro:

I've generally advised to not buy them at level 0, but if you can grab one at level 2 from the Hired Swords and immediately train Lightning Bolt and Channeling.

Also, give them a bow in their secondary slot and train Ballistic Skill (Weapon skill and Accuracy are both pretty useless for them anyway). That way you have some damage output for if you can't cast for some reason (there are curse effects that prevent casting for a few turns, for example).

Yeah, I never buy spell-casters at rank 0; they are just not worth the effort.

Look, they took secondary education of magic-casting, it isn't too much to ask they to also take internship before I hire then. Orientation is for noobs.

[Welcome to Idiocracy 2023]

Without any levels he is just useless and this is a fact. Wizards without any spells will eat the dirt often.
When he is getting more spells he will become much better.
You have to use him as a pretty bad archer when you do not have the money/chance to buy a higher leveled one.
In melee he is totally useless and he will die pretty fast and the RNG gods will slay him into pieces.

[uddhava]

Originally posted by No Leaf Clover:

The common consensus afaik is that wjhen you get the lightning spell + some skills he becomes way better.

This. Mages with mastered lightning are a pain if you are not specced for magic resist, and many are not. Only so many resistances to be had so lightning bolt is great for eliminating tanks imo.

That being said he is initially very weak, but I've succefully trained up a number of mages starting out as archers. Also lost a couple but hey, that happens to anybody. Giving him Knowledge of Mord can be a good way of keeping him out of harms way as he will outrun most opponents and be on par with pesky skavens. High Ag means he will get into good spots. giving him the headgear that contributes to the range of his spells makes him almost OP.

[lucas.castro]

As someone who had a level 10 Warlock with a previous warband, I can fully echo the comments above:

1) NEVER get him at level 0 (the higher the level, the better, really);

2) At higher levels, he is an absolute BEAST. The lightning spell can do up to about 80 points of damage, IIRC.

With the right skills and equipment (including runes), your first two spells have little to no chance of Tzeench's Curse. You may want to keep some lower-level spells to use as your typical third casting (Curse of Rust can be great, if you have 4+ marksman, or any marksman heroes).

But yes, this guy can mess up most tank's day. Combine that with a marksman hero with quick reload, hunter, and introspection (5 shots per turn), and you're doing ridiculous amounts of damage from range. Plus, the Warlock can do this damage even in melee!

[VladK02]

TL-DR - 2 mages working in tandem will kill anything, on any difficulty, and are the most powerful combo of heroes you can have.

2 mages with concentration/adrenaline and lightining bolt is up to 6 casts at ~70 damage each = 420 damage.

mages have skill that can increase distance of cast, so you can outrange any archer.

And yes the curse might be a problem, but chances are, it will be something weak, non-fatal.

So, with 2 mages, you can burst damage up to 420, or take it easy and fire off 4 bolts for 280 damage almost 100% reliably and safely, and from a great distance.

Key is to screen them from melee attackers. generally speaking this means running up to some window or corner, firing off the bolts, and retreating behind cover, with your melee guy in ambush running interference.

This is how i run my human warband, and it works like a charm. 2 mages, 1 melee resist tank, 1 parry tank, rest is disposable meatshields.

My mages take adrenaline, channeling, spell range, and initiative skills. Purple staffs with -%curse enchant, +initiative in the head, and +intel in the clothing. i did not give them tomes, but if i did, i would get +intellect.

[MrPyro]

Not much point giving a Warlock +intelligence items/books; they can already hit 20 Intelligence without any enhancement, which is the max for any non-impressive unit AFAIK.

I'd rather put curse resist, +spell range or +spell damage in the head slot than +initiative, mostly because my Warlock already has higher initiative than the rest of my warband, and I'd rather keep him closer in that score to the rest of my band.

[Burusagi]

Mordheim is a game where spellcasters start out super weak, but end up overpowered eventually.

Like Wizards and Sorcerers in Dungeons and Dragons.

[VladK02]

Originally posted by MrPyro:

Not much point giving a Warlock +intelligence items/books; they can already hit 20 Intelligence without any enhancement, which is the max for any non-impressive unit AFAIK.

I'd rather put curse resist, +spell range or +spell damage in the head slot than +initiative, mostly because my Warlock already has higher initiative than the rest of my warband, and I'd rather keep him closer in that score to the rest of my band.

maybe thats the reason i did not give them tomes, i forget :)

Anyways you want initiative so you can go before rat shooters, thats their only real weakness. Have to blast those night runners before the night runners can blast you :P