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Tower units, continued Genie/Master Genie
The genie and master genie become available after you build the mage tower. These creatures are fast and deal good damage, but are somewhat low in hit points. Compared to other fifth-level troops, they are only average. However, once you upgrade the genies, they gain a few new abilities. Statistically, they stay the same except for speed, in which they receive a significant boost. They also gain the ability to cast one random beneficial spell per round. This spell must be cast in lieu of an attack. Sometimes it can be very helpful, such as when it is a prayer or mirth spell, but other times, it could be a useless protection from water against fire elementals or a counterstrike spell on royal griffins. However, in the later game, when you do use it as a secondary spellcaster to bolster your naga queens and titans, consider creating two master genie stacks so you can cast two additional beneficial spells. You also have twice the likelihood of getting a good spell. Because you can either build a genie dwelling or a naga dwelling, consider what sort of strategy you want to employ first. If you want to muscle your way through with magi and nagas, go for the nagas. However, that is an expensive strategy. You can build two genies for every naga, so you could instead opt for the genies' speed. Let them lead your armies by giving you initiative and letting you cast spells first (something the tower hero is always good at). If you do go this route, it is imperative that you upgrade to master genies because of their superior speed. You also then need to upgrade your golems because they become your chief muscle with this strategy. However, by the late game, genies and master genies become pretty weak, falling alarmingly fast to enemy ranged attackers and losing in head-to-head confrontations with other melee units. So where does this unit stand then in the later game? Not very well on its own two feet (if it had feet), so support it with spells and other units. Genies are mortal enemies of efreeti and efreet sultans and do 150 percent damage to them. Unfortunately, efreeti are twice as strong and also do 150 percent damage. Don't engage efreets or efreet sultans.
Naga/Naga Queen The naga is a strong creature, but extremely expensive. The naga queen is even more powerful, but costs an astounding 1600 gold. That's 100 more than the seventh-level behemoth. The reason why this unit is so costly is because it always deals maximum damage, and because it invites no retaliation. However, it is slow. When you finally build the mage tower, you can either build a genie dwelling or a naga dwelling. The naga dwelling is usually preferable because its occupant is an excellent combination of power and defense. However, you should plan on upgrading it because it really needs the extra speed to be truly useful. Of course, this entire strategy requires a high amount of precious resources, like mercury and gems, so if you do go this route, make sure you selected extra resources as your starting bonus in the scenario selection screen. The naga has good attack and defense, and does a minimum of 20 damage, but you still want to upgrade it as early as possible because the naga queen does 30 damage and has 2 more speed. For all that though, you will pay 1600 gold per naga queen. Because the naga queens are so expensive, you will really need to watch over them carefully. That 1600 investment has to be kept safe, so cast plenty of haste, stone skin, counterstrike, prayer, shield, bloodlust, and bless spells on your naga queens. This is where the master genie could come in handy in the later game as you use it to cast spells on the naga queens. If you do go for naga queens, you can get them by day six or seven, so make use of them and scour the countryside for mines and treasure chests. You'll need those extra resources and gold.
Giant/Titan The giant is simply a durable seventh-level unit, but the titan is a juggernaut of strength and resilience. Both the giant and titan are immune to mind altering spells like hypnosis and berserk. The giant can do some serious damage and is actually fairly strong, but it is slow and ground-bound, and thus vulnerable to ranged attacks. While the giant's cloud temple is relatively cheap, the upgraded dwelling is not. Odds are that you will get giants and then have to wait awhile before you can upgrade them to titans. In that case, use them exactly as you use naga queens. Soak up damage, cast plenty of protection and enhancement spells (bless is particularly good) on them, and then break apart enemy armies while the master gremlins and archmagi fire away from afar. Once you can upgrade the giant, do so because the titan is a fearful monster. It gets increased attack and defense, double hit points, and gains a ranged attack, making it by far the most powerful ranged unit in the game. It can also attack melee units without penalty and does 150 percent damage to black dragons. The titan and giant both do a great deal of damage (the most in the game, in fact), but the titan is clearly more durable and useful due to its ranged fire. Once you get the titan, just sit back and blow your enemy to pieces. They will have to come to you, whereupon the titans will still dish out lethal damage. The only weakness of the titan is its speed, which is most inferior to the archangel, arch devil, and upgraded dragons. Be prepared for that inevitable first strike from those units, since you won't be able to attack first even with a haste spell. The key, once you do survive that first attack, is slowing down the enemy and speeding up your own troops. You'll still want to cast haste and other protection spells to defend against those units, but also cast slow and sorrow on the enemy. |
