mage strategy (in General)

I've gone ahead and set up my mage team, which currently seems decent, but i want some input before the free training ends.

4 minion team

Wall-9/10 hp- 1/10 pl=yes i know i'm bypassing AC by using the pl however he my meat shield and it tends to help soak up those annoying fireballs and let my damage dealers do their jobs.

damage dealer 1- 9/10 MM- 1/10 GA- This is my main damage dealer, the GA helps out with the overall damage

damage dealer 2- 2/5 EVA- 2/5 MM- 1/5 HP- Yes i know this is a wierd setup, however his job his to last against those pesky archers that everyone is carrying around these days it seems and to last long enough to finish the job.

Enchanter- 100% pure AS- helps keep everyone alive and the fact that i don't need to train hp on the main damage dealer

Using a ToE currently to help reduce all the dmage i receive from seekers and AMF/GA

my main weakness i see at this point is the fact I get tore apart sometimes against teams with a massive AMF/GA that have enough Hp to absorb the damage i'm dealing out, and usually in these circumstances i'm still managing a stalemate.

Any suggestions with true thought behind them are apprecated, anyone just wanting to flam should move on.

Don't you think you'll be more efficient if the PL was on the AS enchanter instead? The loss of HP from a lower AS should be more than made up from the AC damage reduction right?

The PL is on the Wall at this point due to the massive Hp he carries though. The AS with 1.6mil xp only casts for 70k which against a decent FB/CoC mage can be eaten up in 2/3 rounds. I'm still getting the bonus of AC against direct attacks such as archers with normal/slayers or tank teams, or against other MM mages, and i'm able to use him to soak up loads of damage thru the PL.

Forgot to note at one time i did carry a small PL (think it was like 1/20th or 1/10th total hp) on the AS minion, and it was really never used.

Don't use PL at all, especially in that position.

Like you said, you're bypassing AC.

Also, GA and PL don't mix, the damage that gets absorbed isn't reflected, hence, wasted XP.

so, you're probably screwing yourself over, just by having PL there, you're not letting AC and GA do their job.

The setup on damage dealer 2 is bad, I believe you need more xp into MM, it needs to be more concentrated, remember you still get HP from the AS, so that much HP isn't needed, same goes for Evasion.

GA is weak when it is relatively low to damage done, meaning it wont reflect much XP at all.

When strategising, you want to look at how your XP isn't wasted and how much MPR you really have in the battle, when you use AMF against a tank, you are lower in actual MPR, because AMF does nothing, hence making that amount of XP useless.

Try and make everything useful all the time, this means your AC and GA, So I highly recommend to not train PL. If you're determined to get PL, put it on the AS chanter, train some natural HP if you will, get a corn, though that is costly it still helps.

You don't seem like a very rich fellow, without a lot of AC your wall turns almost useless.

So, drop PL or drop GA, if you drop GA and stick with PL, I recommend you switch it anyway, it'd be much better, or just train more natural HP if you say FB smashes you easily.

This post has thought in it, I don't see it as flaming, I gave you the logic behind my reasoning, enjoy. :)

Flamey made some good points.
I agree with him in most areas, but one that I disagree with is the PL vs GA thing. PL is always useful, even in small amounts, especially if your GA is nowhere near the average damage that you are taking. This causes a reduction in damage to the dealers, and while it does indeed reduce the GA splashback, the total increase in damage dealt if you manage to keep your dealers alive for, say, 2 more rounds, is very much worth it - especially in such a situation where you will have very low HP on every minion except the wall.

That said, I don't really like the setup; XP is far too diluted as flamey pointed out.
You won't be dealing much damage with your second dealer - and it will be useless against archers because of seekers targeting your main dealer. Once your main dealer is dead you can basically write off any other damage you will cause as incidental.

DM will wipe your tiny GA, AMF will own your second damage dealer.

I might be totally wrong on some of these points (I'm a newbie by any measure) but i have played around with this sort of team a little bit, and there are a lot of pitfalls involved with "split setups" as it were.

Good luck, hope you get your strat sorted out before the retrain ends (or has it already?)

You shouldn't have your GA that low if that is occurring, You should be training GA if your GA is that level and low.

You would pump it a hell lot or dump it, It's almost like training GS for your CoC mage, not quite a bright idea.

On my clock, free re-training has just about ended, now it's a normal strategy thread.

"DM will wipe your tiny GA, AMF will own your second damage dealer."

DM will do that, AMF will, because of the xp dilution, it will have a greater effect on you, and you're doing less damage, do you see what we're saying?

AMF will still get your first one, but not as a higher effect, because the MM on that one would seem significantly higher.

I don't want to tell you what to do, but I'd make that wall an enchanter and train AMF/GA on that, or DM/GA. You could still train on the 2nd damage dealer how you want, but, not in the ratios you got going there.

All valid points Flamey.

The main reason i had the wall originally set up as such was this started out as a tank team, but as you've pointed out, i'm not too rich a fellow currently, and originally i was flying blind. now that i have my supportership it's much easier to pick my fights.

Right now i'm averaging anywhere to 10-20% bonus against my pr in fights due to the fact i am just using the PL wall as a damage sponge versus utilizing him as a true AC wall.

Tried taking the PL off like everyone suggested, and i'm getting eaten alive by FB mages.

so the real question i have to ask myself is A. do i keep the PL minion, drop all the ac and use him only as the meat shield and hope that it lasts long enough unitl next free xp reset. And if so, will this last long enough that it will be worth the wait.

or B. Drop the PL, and start making the long term investment now, and if i do this, how am i going to keep my main damage dealers alive in the meantime against those pesky FB mages.

The point on the 2nd damage dealer is well suggested, espicially as i'm now focusing on more mage teams and not near as many tanks. The Ev is pretty much wasted in most circumstances unless the mage teams are using an HF, and even then i agree the xp is probably more useful into the MM. another possibility would be to do a MM/Dm mix perhaps to help reduce the amf against my team. And if it's feasible what mix?

Great Ideas and feedback so far, looks like i have less than 24hrs to make a choice.

no... your choice is made...

DM does not reduce the AMF casted on you by your opponents. You should just focus on one damage dealer and untrain the experience on the second MM to more useful enchantments.

I don't know why you're getting eaten by FB mages.

Hopefully your Tat is near max tat and not majorly under level. If that really is a problem, train natural HP, it seems best.

It was your choice on the PL/GA thing.

DM doesn't affect your opponents EO, only ED. so DM doesn't affect their DM, AMF and EC.

AMF I suppose, if you're focusing on mage teams and got rid of tanks all together, otherwise I would of suggested DM, to nuke their GA and other EO, but GA would hurt you most. Yes Mages have spells too, but AMF > DM against Mages, you can't disagree.

Free Re-training ended about 15 minutes ago, sorry, don't hold your breath for another one anytime soon. We went almost a whole year without one, I don't see the point of this one either, but I'm not complaining. So if there is no point for them, He doesn't need to do them and just stop if he wants, so, really don't hold your breath on it, just re-train, right now if you do, you wont lose that much XP in the long run.

You want your ED to be quite big without a RoS, to expand on a previous point with the small GA. the only thing that could and should be quite small is protection. Protection should be base (4) or around (8) then (20), those are good numbers.

Your challenge bonus is really small, even I get around 50% and I've hit a dead zone, Where my Score or Opponent's score doesn't grow. I hope the tat is near your max tat, because then spread damage shouldn't be all too much and it reduces AMF backlash. Yes, the ToE is pretty good for Mages, might want to try to get a hold of a RoS to test on the AS minion, but it'd be more useful if you still had GA trained, and I believe Protection is a must, it's a like a weapon for a tank, on any team, it doesn't cost a lot, so wont matter if it gets dispelled.

They're are all the points I can see to of addressed.

I started typing my post before I saw those two.

No, Kong, I don't think he needs to re-train the 2nd damage dealer, He'd be better off to re-train the wall, because it isn't properly equipped.

All he has to do is re-configure his training setup on the 2nd damage dealer.

Like, Hatch was pointing out, free re-training is over, I said that, too.

Just so I don't look like an idiot repeating what others said with no note of it. :)

Ok so i went ahead and dropped the EVA on the 3rd minion and pumped it back into the MM which on my current fight list dropped my average # of rounds by about 2-3.

However here is what i think is a prime example of why the PL is a life saver.

Post-battle stats
Minion XP HP ST DX AC DI Ammo
minion 1 3,801 42,474 20 177 116 0
minion 2 3,806 20 20 19 7 162,454
minion 3 53 27,796 20 19 41 87,962
minion 4 3,808 20 20 20 0 0

Minion 2 Magic missile hit Someone [34803]
minion 3 Magic missile hit Someone [29418]
Someone 2 familiars Fireball hit minion 1 [48], Minion 2 [60], minion 3 [54], minion 4 [45]
minion 1 absorbs damage [60]
minion 1 absorbs damage [54]
minion 1absorbs damage [45]
Someone Fireball hit minion 1 [2523], Minion 2 [3688], minion 3 [3828], minion 4 [2902]
minion 1 absorbs damage [3688]
minion 1 absorbs damage [3828]
minion 1 absorbs damage [2902]


Minion 2 Magic missile hit Someone [39487]
minion 3 Magic missile hit Someone [29784]
Someone 2 familiars Fireball hit minion 1 [53], Minion 2 [58], minion 3 [66], minion 4 [67]
minion 1 absorbs damage [58]
minion 1 absorbs damage [66]
minion 1 absorbs damage [67]
Someone Fireball hit minion 1 [4082], Minion 2 [10148], minion 3 [6154], minion 4 [8337]
minion 1 absorbs damage [10148]
minion 1 absorbs damage [6154]
minion 1 absorbs damage [8337]

(and yes names were changed)


just at a glance their DM overpowered my 141k AS with ease, which would have wiped out my main damage dealer if not for the PL on the 1st minion. Now true this is one of those cases we all run in to from time to time, but i think this is a prime example.

So i figure i will just drop the GA, go straight DD on both my mages, keep the PL/Wall as it is (and yes i know it is low AC, but hey, i am poor) and possibly play around with a RoS (which was my 2nd choice of tattoos btw) to see what results i get. and yes my current tattoo is actually over my limit so i am getting full benefits currently.

Another idea would be a HoC/AG on the 2nd minion for increased damage and 3 extra shots in ranged rounds, definitely have to invest in a corn for the AS minion as well, but thats going to have to wait until i can afford it.

And you are pretty much right, i have made up my mind at this point, so now you can flame away! :)

(on a side note, i can't beleive the spellchecker catches almost every name and can't recgonize apostrophes)

If your AS got nuked, and you're basically relying on it, obviously FB will eat you.

train more natural HP, and don't rely on AS, if it easily gets nuked.

When your damage dealers have some HP to bank on, you need ToE. But when you're relying heavily on AS, RoS is just about your only option... Training a bunch of natural HP would dilute your spells to the point where its entirely in vain against AMF. Sure, you lose the damage reduction, but you gain a lot more life which, accompanied by your PL will ward off those pesky FB mages, and make your damage dealers last much longer against those using AMF. Changing tats, huh? Talk about out of left field, but it seems to be your best bet...

I agree, it doesn't happen too often that my AS gets totally dominated like that, i think i need to find someone that would be willing to loan/rent me a 300k RoS to test this. I'd hate to spend another 400k to re-ink my tattoo again just to find out it's not worth it.