Magic

Why Learn Earth Magic?

Earth magic contains the game's most powerful offensive spell and also has some useful protection spells, as well as the vital town portal adventure spell.

Adventure Spells
Town Portal (level four): This spell allows you hero to teleport to the nearest unoccupied town (a garrison hero doesn't count as occupying a town). Novices simply teleport to the nearest town at a huge movement cost, but experts can specify a town before teleporting and take less movement points to do so. This is a great spell for returning to town to recruit troops. If you have dimension door (air magic), you could then dimension door your way back to the front lines. A trip that might have taken a week can be taken in two days.

Offensive Spells
Slow (level one): This spell is useful for the same reason that haste (air magic) is: It makes you faster, although this spell does so by slowing down your enemy. A novice reduces one enemy stack's speed by 25 percent, while an expert affects all enemy troops and reduces speed by 50 percent.

Meteor Shower (level four): This spell affects a three by three hex area and deals ((powerx25)+25) damage. At expert level, it does ((powerx25)+100) damage. This spell is a must because it can affect multiple creatures, although it isn't as strong as chain lightning. This is one of the game's better area effect spells.

Implosion (level five): This spell is the only magical means of destroying large numbers of seventh-level creatures. A novice can deal ((powerx75)+100) damage, while an expert does ((powerx75)+300) damage. This is the game's most powerful offensive spell and can wipe away whole stacks of archangels and titans. The only defense is anti-magic or, to a lesser extent, protection from earth (air magic).

Protective Spells
Shield (level one): This spell protects the unit from hand-to-hand damage. A novice affects one unit and reduces melee damage by 15 percent. An expert affects all units and reduces damage by 30 percent.

Stone Skin (level one): Stone skin increases one unit's defense by three when cast by a novice. An expert affects all allied troops and increases defense by six.

Protection from Air (level two): This spell protects against lightning bolt and chain lightning. Novices affect one unit and reduce damage by 30 percent, while experts reduce damage by 50 percent for all allied units.

Anti-Magic (level three): This protective spell is very powerful, but remember that it also prevents you from casting any more beneficial or protective spells on the target. A novice makes the unit immune to spells of level one to three. An expert makes the unit immune to all spells. After casting this spell you can fling destructive spells left and right without worrying about catching your unit in the area of effect.

Miscellaneous Spells
Resurrection (level four): This spell is fantastic because it allows you to resurrect dead troops that have fallen in that particular battle. It cannot reach back to previous tactical battles to resurrect troops that have died before the current battle. A novice resurrects up to ((powerx50)+40) health of units but only for the duration of the battle. However, an expert can resurrect ((powerx50)+160) health of units permanently. It pays to be an expert in this field of magic.