Monday, July 02, 2007

Footmen frenzy heroes: Bloodmage

The Bloodmage is a very powerful hero but requires much more micro to get the job done than heroes like the Archmage. My style of play for the Bloodmage is to alternate between Flamestrike and Siphon Mana as primary spells, then put 3 points each in Banish and Phoenix. The increase in duration for Banish is not really worthwhile at high levels unless you need to immobilize an army rather than a hero.

Flame Strike

Flame Strike is a partial channeling spell, so you must stand still until you see the pillar of fire descend from the sky. If you move beforehand, the spell will be interrupted, but once it begins, you can safely run away. Flame Strike is the most powerful Area of Effect (AoE) spell in the game (and the Frenzy version has no maximum damage cap), but its initial casting delay means you have to anticipate the movement of troops and heroes when you cast it. The spell will do immense damage every 0.4 seconds during the first 4.0 seconds (a total of 10 ticks), and then it will do negligible damage to units who remain in its radius for 5.0 seconds afterwards. Flame Strike always has a 1.5 second casting time, 12 second cooldown, and costs 150 mana. It only has a 10% effectiveness against buildings. Counter this with Scrolls of Speed or old-fashioned interrupting spells on the Bloodmage.

Level DMG Mana Area Range
1 10 dmg per tick / 20 minor dmg 150 200 AoE 800
2 17 dmg per tick / 30 minor dmg 150 220 AoE 825
3 25 dmg per tick / 40 minor dmg 150 240 AoE 850
4 40 dmg per tick / 50 minor dmg 150 260 AoE 874
5 55 dmg per tick / 60 minor dmg 150 280 AoE 900
6 70 dmg per tick / 75 minor dmg 150 300 AoE 925

Banish

Banish makes a unit ethereal -- immune to physical attacks but 66% more susceptible to negative spells and magic. A quick Banish followed by an ally's Death Coil can kill any hero in just a few seconds. It's also helpful to cast on enemy heroes who rely on physical damage to be a nuisance, like Jaood and the Blademaster. Unlike the regular game, Banish does not slow units down and cannot be cast on friendly units. Banish always costs 125 mana.

Level Effect hero/unit Cooldown Range
1 4 sec hero / 12 sec unit 4 800
2 5 sec hero / 15 sec unit 4 825
3 6 sec hero / 18 sec unit 4 850
4 7 sec hero / 48 sec unit 4 875
5 8 sec hero / 60 sec unit 4 900
6 9 sec hero / 120 sec unit 3 925

Siphon Mana

Mana Siphon drains mana and a small amount of life from enemy heroes. This spell is effective at shutting down Strength-based heroes early in the game, and is a direct counter to Bill K's Call of the Gods (he can't cast it if he has no mana!). Use this to keep your Bloodmage active early game, and use it to preemptively drain any deadly heroes late game. Siphon Mana always costs 10 mana and has a 15 second cooldown.

Level Effect hero/unit Duration Range
1 15 mana & 1 hp/seconds 6 seconds 650
2 30 mana & 2 hp/seconds 6.5 seconds 675
3 45 mana & 3 hp/seconds 7 seconds 700
4 60 mana & 4 hp/seconds 7.5 seconds 725
5 75 mana & 5 hp/seconds 8 seconds 750
6 150 mana & 6 hp/seconds 8.5 seconds 800

Phoenix

This spell summons a phoenix with a flaming attack. For levels 1 and 2 of this skill, the life of the phoenix drains over time and when the phoenix reaches 0 life, it turns into an egg for several seconds before respawning with full health. The egg has no armor and a meager 120 hitpoints, making it extremely vulnerable. At lvl 3, the phoenix does not drain its life, meaning you can essentially destroy an entire army of melee units with it (they can't hurt you if they can't hit you!). Phoenix grants a 200 gold bounty on death.

In addition to the Phoenix's primary attack, nearby units and heroes will be affected by phoenix fire, which does 240 fire damage over 20 seconds.

Level Damage Hitpoints Life Regeneration Armor Cooldown
1 46-60 dmg 1000 hp -40/s 1 180
2 66-80 dmg 1100 hp -20/s 3 160
3 81-95 dmg 1250 hp 0/s 4 140

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