Thursday, June 07, 2007

Footmen frenzy heroes: Archmage

The Archmage is a very newcomer-friendly hero. He rakes in the gold and does mass destruction with Blizzard. However, the Archmage is only good for very new players or very good players -- there is no middle ground. A particularly annoying Archmage will find himself the butt of every attack in the game and it takes a good player to successfully level him all the way up in an expert level game. You must stick with hit and run attacks, and force players into playing defensively. I would max Blizzard, Brilliance, and Mass Teleport, with 3 points in Water Elemental, because the high level Mass Teleport is excellent for army harassment. If you don't have any allied heroes that desperately need Brilliance, try maxing Water Elementals and leave Brilliance at level 3. The Archmage can always use life or armor items but mana items are redundant.

Spells


Blizzard

Blizzard is THE defining spell for an Archmage. It is your source of income and destroys troops by the dozen. When I use blizzard, I have no problem with destroying some of my team's units, as long as the enemy units killed give me more gold than I would have lost on my troops. Blizzard is only 10% effective against buildings, but is a great hero killing spell if you know how to anticipate a hero's path. Blizzard always costs 150 mana to cast and has no maximum damage cap.

Level DMG/Wave Cooldown Mana Area Range
1 40 dmg x 5 waves 6 seconds 150 200 AoE 800
2 55 dmg x 5 waves 7 seconds 150 225 AoE 800
3 70 dmg x 6 waves 8 seconds 150 250 AoE 800
4 85 dmg x 6 waves 9 seconds 150 275 AoE 800
5 100 dmg x 8 waves 10 seconds 150 300 AoE 800
6 150 dmg x 10 waves 11 seconds 150 350 AoE 800

Water Elemental

Water Elementals are useful for keeping fire off of the Archmage. This is a decent spell when you don't want to max Brilliance, but Elementals are not as scary as other summons -- it could be their big blue complexion. All water elementals cost 150 mana and last for 35 seconds and Level 3 and 4 Elementals have Fortified armor and Chaos damage.

Level Unit(s) Cooldown Damage Hitpoints Duration
1 1 Water Elemental Lv1 25 seconds 34-44 dmg 675 Hp 35 secs
2 2 Water Elementals Lv1 25 seconds 34-44 dmg 675 Hp 35 secs
3 2 Water Elementals Lv2 25 seconds 47-55 dmg 900 Hp 35 secs
4 3 Water Elementals Lv3 25 seconds 57-65 dmg 1200 Hp 35 secs
5 3 Water Elementals Lv3 25 seconds 57-65 dmg 1200 Hp 35 secs
6 3 Water Elementals Lv4 15 seconds 77-85 dmg 1200 Hp 35 secs

Brilliance Aura

The Archmage himself doesn't really need this skill to be maxed out, but your allied heroes will love you for it. If you are on a team that constantly controls the center, this spell becomes less important. This aura only affects allied heroes.

Level Regeneration Area
1 +0.7 mana/sec 900 AoE
2 +2.7 mana/sec 1000 AoE
3 +3.7 mana/sec 1100 AoE
4 +5 mana/sec 1200 AoE
5 +7 mana/sec 1300 AoE
6 +9 mana/sec 1400 AoE

Mass Teleport

Mass Teleport allows you to transport the Archmage and the nearest units to any allied unit's location. This spell is excellent for breaching an enemy base, especially late game where walking through the middle will get half your army killed. Remember that it will only teleport your own units, but you can target any friendly unit with the spell.

Level Units Cooldown Mana Area
1 50 units 20 seconds 75 700 AoE
2 100 units 15 seconds 20 800 AoE
3 999 Units 12 seconds 1 900 AoE

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