Hi, am on my 3rd playthru with WARRIOR difficulty. The talk on the forum scared me SILLY about how tough it would be.
I think Warrior is the PERFECT difficulty. Adventurer becomes too easy later. Warrior is just nice really.

28/1 - Have updated the thread to include alot of new insight into the game


MAGIC
Be careful about how you judge magic, it's really hard to guess how good/bad it is til you're GrandMaster in it.
Remember a few tips about magic
- Schools are great for this and that. Some are terrible for boss fights. Some are so not worth it when you're surrounded by mobs. Learn to play with the schools of magic with strong flexibility in mind, above all, keep your party ALIVE. All the damage in the world won't matter if you're dead.
- One big mistake I made. I tried to GM 3 schools of magic. Remember, you can only cast ONE spell a round. So having GM in 3 schools DOESN'T make you 3 times as strong. I simply had to have them ALL.

Truth is, I don't.

I just need a few essential spells. The rest is gravy.

- If you can, drop schools of magic. These are the ones that are quite important

I) Earth. It's just too good to ignore. Having a great aoe heal that ticks for 3 turns and heals upfront for 30 mana cost, beautiful. Expert it asap for toxic spray.

2)Fire. Expert it for Burning determination. More levels than that is great dps, but it's up to you if you need it past Expert.

3)I love Light, Celestial Armor means my people don't get one shotted, and their group heals and raise dead don't suck either. I'm realizing that you might actually be able to live WITHOUT light. with scrolls of raise dead (since u almost never use them with a good group), and since u can detect traps very early on after u get the Light Dragon blessing, you might be able to live without Light. Light GM spell is... okay i guess. Not a fan at all. Celestial Armor really does make life less stressful.
Note - Another way to look at Celestial Armor is a dps spell that scales incredibly as you level. What do i mean? For 25 mana, i get 3-4 turns of no damage taken. Remember that the armor lasts longer if you have wards up, high evade, shield etc.
This means for 3-4 turns, i can just spam the Attack button on all my characters. WHen the armor breaks, you've just bought yourself 3 turns forward with tons of damage dealt by your party (especially the melee). In this regard, i completely feel that Celestial Armor is one of the highest dps spells in the game. Do note that if your defenses/evade are weak, expect the armor to break in a single turn.

4)Dark. This isn't a question of school. This is a question of class. Can u live without a freemage? I played without one, and had to buy Detect Secrets scrolls until I got a doggie who could do it for me, and could only get rid of doggie after I got the Malassa blessing. Dark isn't bad, It's just a question of CAN you make it GOOD enough to be worth it? Either level it til you get purge, or GM it, nothing in between. If you're playing without a freemage, good on you for upping the challenge of detecting secrets.

5)Air. You don't need this school. But it's very fun. You rarely need wind shield especially if u have celestial armor and wards up and use corners to pull ranged enemies to u. Unlike fire (i think burning determination is a must), air doesn't have any necessary buffs. But check out the skills, Cyclone is very fun and becomes amazing if you GM air.

6)Water. Very unfriendly to new players, it'll stay crap for about half of the game. Once u open up Karthal, then it becomes really awesome with Blizzard. Tsunami is a potential game changer when dealing with very high hitting melee enemies. Either go nothing or go all in to see good damage come up. Oh, and Liquid Membrane is unbelievable. Ignore the tooltip, cast it and see how u like it. SERIOUSLY!

7)Prime. EXPERT THIS FIRST OF ALL. GET IDENTIFY or pay 150/300 per item!!! After getting it to expert, either go to GM or don't touch it again. Implosion gets abit awesome at GM, completely loses to fire or air before that in terms of dps. GM skill is really really really nice to have.

8)Magic Focus - Why is this here? Because of the potential %crit chance you get. If you think Fireburst hits hard, remember that it crits for 1k+ damage. Per enemy. Crits are amazing to have, and if you dare to GM Magic Focus, you'll be screaming in glee at your Crits flying out. The problem? Most new players never make it to GM Magic Focus, or they ended up gimped on the magic front if they do. Plan very carefully for it if you want to have points to get GM Magic Focus. BTW one of the Free Ubisoft Relics is a 2 handed magic focus (Expert Level). It really really makes your early game easier. To get the relics, spend 30 Ubisoft points on it, which is in act 2.

9)Mysticism - If you're abit crazy, like me, you might consider really going crazy and pushing this one high. You would ONLY be able to do so if you're super specialized in a school of magic. Why would u GM Mysticism? Cos you won't need spirit. With GM Mysticism, you could raise your stats with 3 magic, 1 vitality. By doing so, you will surpass damage of any other player (except those to pump all 4 into magic). It's your call.


WHAT SCHOOL SHOULD I PICK?
First, Have at least two defensive schools. These are options
Light+Earth
Earth+Water
Light+Water (don't see why you wouldn't take Earth)
Light+Earth+Water
Of these options, i'd go with Light+Earth being the easiest. Water only has one defensive spell, Liquid Membrane, which reduces up to almost 20% taken (maybe more at GM) for many many turns. Which is really fantastic. But you CAN live without it.
Experiment, i guarantee Earth will not disappoint you.
Then decide on your groups. Are you a 3 might 1 magic group? 2/2? 1/3? I really don't suggest all might or all magic. It's not a smart idea considering that alot of secrets require Strength or Perception checks.
ALWAYS BEST to have one person focus on one defensive school. Runepriest is the best mage around with Fire and Earth and Light GM. He can cast crazy heal overtime before whipping out a fireburst that hits for 1k per mob. You'll notice one thing if you've ever hit endgame with Runepriests in the party though. You will need light magic LESS and LESS. Your regeneration will be so good, that celestial armor isn't so necessary. Doesn't hurt to have a heal party spell, or a raise dead, clairvoyance will be useless quickly, and light ward has limited uses. Cure Curse is cute, and the GM skill + dps spells are crappier than other counterparts. I'd consider taking those points instead and trying to put them into magic focus for higher % to spell crit or mysticism instead.
Note:- I know what the tooltip for Water's Liquid Membrane says. Ignore it. Ignore even then the %. There's alot of math in this i do not understand, it seems to reduce my damage taken by close to 80%? It's pretty insane. I'm used to getting knocked unconscious by some very powerful foes in Warrior mode. Liquid Membrane is amazing.

Are you going to specialize in 3 schools of magic? Good. Then don't expect any points to go into meditation, magic focus, dodge, bow, etc.
Remember that you can only cast one spell at one time. Why bother GM-ing 3 schools? Won't it be so much better to GM 2 schools and try bump up your other skils? that's 25 points we're talking about.

Remember, while you don't NEED to GM any school (and Fire is really good damage too), focus your points, don't spread them out.
why don't we look at the schools of magic?


Earth - It's a must have. It starts out the game with regeneration which is the best heal early on. Get cure poison too, will save a ton on antidotes.
At expert you get an aoe toxic spray that does a great permanent damage-over-time effect on the enemy. It's a steal at so little mana. Stoneskin, cure weakness are all great too. You should have enough money to pick them up.
Mastery in earth is a little tricky, u have to try make yourway to The Crag (far west). If you can make it, you get a wonderful 3 turn toxic cloud. It's phenomenal aoe poison damage. Also acid splash does great damage and reduces armor by 50%, even on all bosses!!!!!!!!! WOOT
Look at the GM tooltips for all spells. You'll notice they increase the power of your school like CRAZY. For earth, this means super regeneration, stoneskin, toxic clouds etc. Earth is a must to GM asap. Expect regeneration to be so powerful at GM that light healing is not needed anymore (unless ur healer gets ko-ed). Honestly, at end game, i ensure regeneration is running every single round, so even ko-ed healers will always pop back to life.
NOTE : made a Druid for fun. His promotion quest is SO EASY! no combat, just talk to one guy in Karthal and done, you're promoted. Elder druid gets Nurture, an earth skill that heals (for me) up to 300 per turn on the lowest HP char of your team. Is that insane or what? So many bosses that can knock chars to near death, they instead get healed up close to full again before my turn starts. Druid skill is by far the best Promotion skill i've seen. Combine it with stoneskin and Regeneration, not much can kill you (unless u have crap max hp)
Shamans will instead, not run out of mana easily. Do note that when rolling a shaman healer, it's smart to push earth to 7 points, then mysticism. Their mana pool is terrible! but they have alot of hp, so ignore vitality til ur mana catches up.
EDIT : I forgot to mention, Acid splash, is a must get asap. It stops the enemy from blocking one attack per char, and reduces their armor by 50%. Having fought ALOT of mobs that block all my hits, it's unbelievable. Not only that, earth poisons are useless against undead. But acid splash works! This is one of the best boss skills.

Prime - Get it to expert FIRST. You want the identify spell especially on warrior mode where it's super expensive. After that you'll find this school weak. Implosion does 70-100 damage which is CRAP compared to other aoe skills in other schools. But the second you GM this school, it becomes insane damage, easily hitting for 300+ on main target and slightly less on the other targets. if your magic score is high. Throwing up Hour of Power is easy and very fun. As much as i love this school, remember to GM it after you do Earth or protective schools. It's great for a resist all spell too. I like sunder, but it gets resisted alot when i try use it.
Note that prime does get alot of utility skills. The reason i don't love utility skills, instead of locking out targets one by one at the cost of a turn and high mana costs, i'd rather spend 30 mana on regeneration or 25 on Celestial Armor instead of attempting to CC a target. Do note that fights are all situational and your CC might save your life.

Water - everyone hates this school. Damage is pathetic, you don't get to expert til Seahaven, and worse, you don't get new spells til Karthal. Guess what? The tooltips are wrong too! The Membrane spell apparently reduces 15% damage for one turn. It doesn't. It reduces damage up to 10+ turns (i think). It's really decent if u can find the points to GM it. Also, blizzard does great damage for 20 mana. I'd considering GM this school, but it always loses in priority to other schools. Water is a school i'd GM IF you can cover all your survivability bases first. people always talk about loving how it can root enemies or push them away etc. I don't see that as a strong appeal.
Note - Water tends to compete with fire. Fire has a fire shield that does damage to enemy attacks, based on the number of times they attack. Water however reduces the number of times they attack, so ur fire shield does less damage. It's not terrible, but just poor synergy. Remember if you love water, it will treat you VERY well. GM water can be incredible, and blizzard is really a wonderful 20 mana spell.
REMEMBER! Liquid Membrane is insane damage reduction. It seems to be reducing my damage taken by up to 80%?!? What?!? yeah, it's true, i don't know the math behind it, but it's really made my game so relaxed. Was worth the nightmare of pushing into The Crag to buy the spell =)

Light - I pushed this faster than Earth. I LOVE celestial shield. it prevents my healers from being knocked unconscious in one hit. Also, it's hard to earth heal someone who's gotten a huge hit. Light does the job better and faster. Light does suffer from some weaknesses though, it's amazing to start with, but the higher skills are a little lack luster. The GM skill is meh at best, and master skills (resurrect) and group heals are worth getting. I pump light up simply to strengthen Celestial Shield. I would suggest pumping it up to master, then focusing on other magic skills first.

Fire -I didn't like this school at first. tons of mana for okay damage. I had to get it to expert to get Burning Determination to prevent my group from being paralyzed or stunned. (very good skill). One skill suddenly stood out for me BIG time. Fire Shield. It looks crap on paper. When u hit master and get it (can get it in seahaven and spells can be bought in karthal, making it one of the easiest of hit master with), you'll see that monsters can get hit by it ALOT. I have monsters suffer up to 100 fire damage in retaliation, EACH. Not to mention, it's a very cheap spell, and lasts for many turns. This, combined with all the other perks fire offers makes it shine for damage. Consider hitting GM with Fire first if your survivability is covered.
EDIT - i have to mention, i normally state that mages are supposed to protect the party first, then dps. THere is one exception and that's The GM Fire spell, Fire Burst. I've had it hit for over 3000 damage when i was surrounded. I've never seen anything hit so hard, on so many enemies, ESPECIALLY if you're surrounded. I actually began TRYING to get surrounded so i could spam this ridiculous spell. It's 60 mana, so i'd spam it about 4 times, then use a 250 mp pot. But honestly, no mobs surrounding you will survive 4 Fire Bursts. Expect it to crit for 1k+ per mob.

Air -I chose air over fire first in my first playthru. I thought sparks was cute and mana cheap. Air provides the cure to feeblemind which is only useful if you have two spell casters. Master air suddenly gives u chain lightning and CYCLONE. It's really fun aoe damage that lasts 4 turns, and chain lightning is extremely powerful IF it hits. Also, lightning can save u big time against ranged attacks with the wind shield. Grab GM air asap if you want to be doing good damage.
Note - I underestimated air. In my new 3 mage play thru, i let my freemage focus on AIr and Magic Focus. His sparks, are insane. For 15 mana, he's clearing mobs like crazy! I think air is easily overlooked, if you give it alot of love, expect alot of crazy happiness. Considering i have 150 mana pots and alot of it, that's 10 sparks right there. Can't imagine life after i unlock Cyclone, i'm only just out of Seahaven at this point and have used sparks to rape the Blackthugs. One thing to note about cyclone, it costs 50 mana. Use it intelligently.

Dark - only freemages can go dark. (damnit) the whispering secrets skill is great to have (tho i'm playing without a freemage so i've had to use scrolls until i could hire the doggie) I don't like this school so far. I rushed it to Master and have been very underwhelmed. I suppose when you're GM, the skill Agony (which DOES work on all bosses) is decent. Lifedrain is ridiculously bad damage and heal, and... that's it. Still, if you're freemage, don't ignore this school, you'll love having dark ward when you attempt end game stuff. It's possible you'll like this school alot when you're GM, but i'd suggest focusing on other schools first. Oh, make sure you have Purge. When you DO want to use it, it's fantastic.

Mysticism, Magic Focus, Arcane Disciplines- Don't bother pumping tons of points into these. Mysticism is worth getting to 7 (expert) just before you reach seahaven. In fact if you know what you're doing, you should pump up one school to expert first, then go mysticism as you'll need the mana (plus, at the beginning, 35 extra max mana is heaven). The numbers in Magic Focus made me chase it like crazy but it turned out to be a complete waste. Why? Because towards end game, my spell caster is... spell casting. He's healing, doing crazy damage etc. Magic focus just takes up TOO many points for too little benefit. I'd get it to expert if you're desperate to use a 2 handed relic. Other than that, save your points for magic schools. If you're running out of mana, buy and use POTIONS, invest in spirit etc; just remember to prioritize your skill points for schools of magic instead of this.
NOTE : mages in this game can use medium armor etc. Go for it. you're not going to be dealing tons of damage melee etc anyway.
EDIT - Do note that after you hit a high level, consider using magic focus for spell crits. Fire Bursts of mine crit for 1k per enemy. It's RIDICULOUS. I always say leave DPS to the Might heroes, i happily stand corrected when it comes to that spell
EDIT - I recently began to think that if i focused on one school instead, i might have points for magic focus, or mysticism. Also, if i had focused on mysticism, i could get away with 3 magic 1 vitality. It's a crazy idea, but there's no other way to break the damage ceiling. I wouldn't suggest this for any player, unless you're super sure you know your theory crafting.

BOSS TIPS + SPELLS
Alot combos discussed are great, but lets face it, the boss fights are the ones that are getting forum posts, not trash mobs.
Bosses are often immune to all poison, push, and mind manipulation.

So new players, what do you need?

0. LIQUID MEMBRANE! Ignore the tooltip, expect to see 50-80% damage reduction for many many turns!!! It IS too good to be true!

1. Regeneration (MUST). Light Healing is great too.

2. Damage reduction comes from Stoneskin (Earth Expert), Shadow thingi (Dark novice, allows u to evade one single target attack, i'm not a fan, most bosses aoe), Liquid Membrane (Water Expert) which reduces a huge % of damage done, and Celestial Armor from Light, which is the best one at the beginning to combine with Regeneration. I left my light at level 1 for a long time, and it was still a great skill cos my magic kept climbing higher.
Wards against the boss are great, check their damage in the combat log.

3. Reduce the boss's armor. My favourite is sunder (if you have a great Prime magic) and Acid Splash from Earth. This is the BEST spell for bosses. They won't be able to block you, and -50% armor. No time limit as well.

4. Reduce amount of times boss attacks you with water spells.

5. Druids get a spell called Nurture (their promotion quest is too easy, just talk to someone in The Slums. Quest giver is the north west forest.) Nurture is the best boss heal i've found.

So reduce armor (can use skill from warfare too), throw up celestial shield and cast regeneration. Don't be stingy with mana for boss fights, mana spent healing is well worth it. DPS spells usually suck on bosses, due to high resists. You do sometimes find their weakness and you can exploit them. For early fights, i found my firebolts the most handy spell to spam when my 2 melee fighters kept getting blocked etc. (Acid splash will help you avoid this, but that's Master level, so it's only after you survive making it to The Crag).
One weird spell that works on bosses (they're immune to almost everything), apart from Acid splash, is Agony. Dark school, and does alot of damage per each attack you do. Apparently GM dagger will cause it to do insane damage. I used it with my GM Warden, but wasn't super impressed. Could be because my Dark school wasn't GM. Something to consider.

Basic rules for boss fight, save. Throw up all your wards and spells first. Then REST. Then walk into the fight with all ur buffs ticking.
Apply all the armor reduction you can (CHECK THE NUMBERS IT REDUCES IN THE TOOLTIPS, they're different amongst all ur chars),
Can you apply poison? if you can, DO IT
Cast all the armor and wards you need. If you think you can manage a round without dying, then go ahead and dps.
Buff up if you're safe.
BTW, some bosses are worth moving for. Iven in the first castle, i cannot handle him without moving on Warrior mode, i always move backwards around the corner. He does crazy damage, so try throw up spells first.
Access damage. If only one char is damaged, pop a pot instead.
PROVOKE if you are able to.
Are you doing enough damage? If not, why not? Figure it out
Are your melee chars hitting constantly with their great attack power? Remember Sword, you can get to lvl 25 so fast. The guy at the Castle trains master sword even before you fly off to the Elemental Forge. This gets u past the skill lvl 15 ceiling. That's a total of 50 attack rating. WOOT.
You might realize that your char is awful at bosses, great at trash. Or vice versa. Adapt.

Also remember that the key is endurance. If you can outlast and outdamage the boss, you win the game.

Use burning determination if he stuns you.
Always reload if you win battles with characters stunned, they get zero exp.


STAT DISTRIBUTION
I use the 2 Magic, 1vitality and 1 spirit for ALL my mages.
You can try to make a hybrid but i won't bother. Why? cos you can't do two things at once. You can't attack AND cast magic in the same turn.
It's better to focus on one thing and do it well. You'll soon have tons of mana pots that heal over 250 mana. So go ahead and spam spells. Leave trash mobs damage to your bladedancer or barbarian. With 25-30 mana, you can prevent all damage for 3-4 turns, or inflict about 20% damage of their max hp. Use your discretion.
Remember the difference between all classes and your mages.
You can all take damage.
You can all do damage.
But only the mages can keep the group alive.
Even taunting doesn't work, especially when they use aoe attacks.
So remember to use mages as healers/buffers/shield-ers first, dps second.
That way, your bladedancer will never feel like he's got poor survivability, and rape everything

For all my melee classes, i use 1 might, 1 dest, 1 perception and 1 vit.
Never make hybrids, you just don't have the points to bump your magic skill high enough
NOTE - Crusaders, I'd focus on melee if i were you. Putting points into light is only ever going to be so so considering u can't bump up your magic to be awesome, also ur mana pool is tiny. Focus on damage instead. Besides with a good healing team, you won't need to heal. If you do, use lay of hands instead.


PROMOTIONS (Incomplete)
Freemages go to Crag after you've saved Falagar in Karthal, will be on the right section of The Crag. (i couldn't find him for ages)
Druid - Quest is from a guy northwest of karthal. Basically can be completed by talking to someone in the slums, no combat required, so easy
Runepriest - UGH. Quest from Seahaven but you need to get Shard of Air to get to the temple in the mountains to the east (access from behind the Castle).
Shaman - dunno, playing one, but haven't found it yet

Mercenary - haven't made one yet, feel free to put info
Crusader - Can't miss this, from Jon. The fragments of the disc are in Lost City lvl 2 (you MAY miss this), The Den of Thieves (i think?) and from the shop on the west of The Slums.

Bladedancer- North-ish of Seahaven, the guy tells u to clear out the sacred grove. Sacred grove was empty, until you get to lvl 2, and all hell breaks lose. It's a TOUGH dungeon, make sure you are very careful cos it's super easy to get one shot. You'll pray you had better protection, like Liquid Membrane, wards, and both light+earth magic.
Warden - South East of the tavern that's Northeast of Karthal. Basically, free Spike. Pretty easy, or tough depending if you can kill Blackthugs. Spike's to the northeast of Kilburn

Defender - Dunno
Scout - Found to the east then north of Seahaven. Requires both water and air shard blessing. Talk to the guy to escort him to Seahaven, get attacked on the way. Pretty easy, just make sure you can survive air elementals and you'll be fine.

Barbarian - Dunno
Hunter - Dunno
(feel free to drop me the info for promotion quests)



TIPS (that may be completely WRONG)
0. Currently there's a slight bug with SPIRIT BEACON!!! Do NOT use it if theres a remote possibility of an enemy near you. It'll put you a perma-combat mode the second you exit town. In perma combat mode, expect to eventually die from hunger. You can't rest or enter towns etc in combat mode.
So be very very careful while using spirit beacon. You CAN use it, but not while monsters are remotely near you.
1. Don't make ranged classes. What i mean is, don't bother upgrading bow or crossbow. There's no point. you'll always end up trying to pull the enemy towards you. Also, in a ranged fight, you WILL lose. you have 1 great archer, and 3 poor ones. Considering they can one shot u from range, you really want to back around the corner so they'll run into melee with u.
2. Start with 1 point in ranged skill (bow/crossbow). Best investment ever when u make a new char. You get a free ranged weapon, and it'll save u alot of pain early on. Remember, ALL chars should start with 1 point in ranged. Just don't bother upgrading it (unless u find a relic u want to use). This goes for warden too, focus on daggers instead.
2.5 I've heard people still attempt to GM ranged weapons. Its an option i guess. I just don't use it at all, cos it's useless on bosses. ALso, cos when i start a ranged fight with the enemy, they always win
3. Make sure you have Earth GM. on SOMEONE.
4. Dual wield shines alot more than 2 handed. Apparently if you GM 2 handed, it might be decent considering enemies can't block.
5. Think twice before you roll a mercenary, each point in a weapon skill increases the attack rating by 2. By chosing someone who cannot GM in a weapon, you're losing out on 20 attack rating, and ALOT of damage. Always always always pick a weapon you can GM in. You CAN get decent damage out of a mercenary, but it won't beat a blade dancer etc.
6. Don't make multiple copies of the same class. You generally don't have enough Relics to go around. Also, it's less fun.
7. Prime -> Earth -> Light -> Fire -> Air -> Dark -> Water is the order you want to raise ur magic to expert. Remember the crappy numbers u see at the beginning might become insane if you Grandmaster the school.
8. Warrior isn't very hard. If you're having trouble, ask for help or tips on the forums. Find out how you're dying, how to survive and how to do insane damage.
9. Leave damage to your melee classes. Mages should do damage IF surivability is not the issue. Sometimes mages can help destroy a boss that seems to block everything etc.
10. Warfare lvl 1 is good enough for most. THink about it. for 24 skill points to Grandmaster Warfare, you get... 48 mana! Yay! It's crap. And the skills u get from grandmaster warfare are just not worth it. spend your points in your weapon, then dualwield/2handed. EDIT - Towards endgame, it can be very decent. Do note that if you rush for it, you're giving up 24 skill points that really should go to maximizing your damage. Also, do note that by using warfare, you have to care about your mana, which means you'd want to consider spirit or mysticism. Not the best option, but doable. Apparently if you GM warfare, you play like a warrior mage. Worth considering if you go all the way.
11. Shields are not a bad way to go. My crusader was doing insane damage with GM sword and shield retaliation.
12. Dagger damage looks terrible, look at what happens when u upgrade them all the way up to GM. Note: I can't find any dagger relics.
13. Tanking isn't needed in this game. Alot of mobs are immune to taunt. Focus on great damage mitigation instead from Liquid Membrane (looks SO crap, but is actually really great), regeneration, Stoneskin, Hour of Power, and the very beloved Celestial Shield (seriously an amazing skill, even if u spam it every round for super tough boss fights). Use wards too.
14. Druids are super easy to promote and Nurture is insanely good.
15. To find out what wards to use, look at your combat log in the upper left corner. It'll tell you what damage you took, could be Physical+Air. So use air wards.
16. If you have a freemage, you'll love PURGE(dark spell) against enemies who throw up 50% damage reduction shields and regenerate.
17. Invest in a good weapon when u hit Seahaven. Particularly a sword. i got lucky and found a blue sword with +1 extra strike. My crusader's dps doubled.
18. Sword is the easiest to GM. Make sure you help Lord Haart and he'll train u to GM sword easily. Be warned, the bladedancer promotion quest can be pretty tough. Crusader's easier.
19. Make sure u have potions to cure feeblemind and ailments you know u have problems with. Use Burning Determination from fire to be immune to paralyze+stun etc.
20. WATER SHARD is in LOST CITY LVL 4!!! Don't miss it!!!
21. AIR SHARD is in SKULL TOMB. (i think)
22. With this set up, you can ignore tank classes. Instead, focus on insane melee damage and leave survivability to the Earth and Light mage.
23. You can roll 3 might 1 magic, or 2/2 or 1 might 3 magic (FUN!). But make sure you have one so you won't fail all the MIGHT/MAGIC/DESTINY/PERCEPTION secrets.
24. Do puzzles as soon as you can. They give you a RELIC each, and that alone makes them worth it.
25. Armor, Endurance, Dodge, Mysticism are all good to have, but should take a backseat. If your blade dancer isn't the target of every attack, there's no point in GM-ing his dodge straight away. However, he DOES ATTACK every turn, so focus on that first.
26. There are NO useless classes in the game (i'm not sure about mercenary). Find a way to utlize them to their fullest. My scout is using GM axes and Master dual wield. He's very happy with great damage. Also, being a dwarf, he's got tons of hp and more mana for some reason.
27. The obelisk quest gives a RELIC SWORD. Aim for that ASAP if you have anyone that uses swords.
28. Remember, fights are an endurance game. It doesn't matter if ur mage explodes all his mana to knock enemies down to 50% health. You're still going to be taking full damage. It's smarter to outlast the enemy, play defensively and take down one enemy at a time. Hence, mages are healers first, dps second.
29. Best companions i've found are the Chef (first tavern in Sorpigal) and the doggie (cos i don't have a dark caster). I enjoyed using the +10% exp astronomer in Seahaven too. Can consider the bodyguard found in the north east mountains. Alot more amazing companions, check out other threads. Included are alchemist (potions), a hawker (will buy stuff off you), scholar (+10% more exp) etc. Have fun with it, remember, if you ain't dead, you're having fun.
30. Buy potions. Use potions. That way you won't feel so guilty about burning thru ur mana if you have a tough fight.
31. when trying to heal a ton of damage, it might be smarter to chug a healing pot.
32. SAVE constantly with proper saves too. There's a horrible bug that places u in permacombat, you'll have to reload an earlier save if that happens.
33. When you get 30 uplay points, quickly unlock the relic set first. It's the most helpful one for your game.
34. This game is really fun! Don't stress if you've bumped into a wall, chances are it's already a topic on the forums, look it up!
35. For barbarian, there isn't a 2 handed Mace relic that i've heard of. So i made him start with Spear. That's really tough and damage is alot lower. Spear relic is in the west part of the world, not early on. Should be worth the wait though. Just a warning, the only spear trainer is in Seahaven, so if u do go spear, it's alot of waiting. DO NOT BLOW POINTS ON MACE then go into spear. Don't waste points in this game.
36. I'm on my 4th playthru now (don't worry i didn't finish every single one, i'm not that crazy lol). I want to say there's a tip for new players, especially on warrior. After seahaven is unlocked, i tend to make my way towards southwest of Kilburn. I loop around the forest there to find myself at the church that teaches GRANDMASTER Light. Now, there's a route there that's very specific where you won't aggro anyone... as you charge up to Tower of Enigma. By doing this, i got TONS of items and money and goodies (i think there's a relic too? can't remember). I suggest doing this soon, and make sure you have enough Might, Perception and Magic to open the secret doors. That's right, there's no destiny secret door. I think you need 35 or more. There's a statue next to the church that gives u +10 to all stats, and also the chef from Sorpigal Tavern increases your stats by 10%.

There you go, hope some of you new players find this helpful. I am NOT a pro player, this is my 2nd playthru, now warrior is easy, and these are some things i wish i knew when i started.
Enjoy your game! Ask if you've any questions =D



MISC - PLAYTHROUGHS
1. Paladin, Warden, Freemage, RunePriest (Adventurer)
2. Bladedancer, Scout, Druid, RunePriest (Warrior, stopped just before Tomb of Terror. Was dreading going in without Dark Ward from not having a freemage)
3. Bladedancer, Barbarian, Freemage, Shaman (wanted to see 2handed mightiness and try shaman out)
4. Bladedancer, Freemage, Runepriest, Shaman

29/1 - Hey guys, this is a live journal account from my experimenting w parties etc. Now i always stress balance in a group, but i thought i'd give a 1 might 3 magic combo a shot. It's TOUGH to start! Why? cos spells cost MONEY! ALOT of money especially at the beginning. And if i'm not careful, all of them run out of mana like water. But somehow, this is my strongest team so far. Why? Because i've got Freemage with 3 schools, Runepriest 2, Shaman 2 schools of magic. For the first time, i have points left over to burst into Magic Focus or Mysticism or both.
Atm,
Freemage - Air 15, Dark 7, Prime 10, Magic Focus 7 (using the Ubisoft 2H-relic amazing), Mysticism 7.
Runepriest - Fire 15, Light 15, Myst 7, Mace + Shield (relic from Kilburn)
Shaman - Earth 15, Water 4, Spear 7 (gonna use the relic spear later), Myst 7

As u can see, their normal hand to hand attacks are pretty powerful even with crappy might. And one thing i completely didn't realize? Every enemy has a weakness. And i have ALL the schools to play with. I only realized how strong this team was when right after Seahaven opened up, i managed to kill Blackthugs. These guys in the forest ALWAYS decimate my team. They hit hard, and feeblemind and poison. This time, i managed to trash them. How? You won't believe me, but the answer is sparks. You see, the enemies retaliate on hit alot, so when i had two melee, they couldn't dish out much damage and took a ton of damage. Spark hits them for HUGE numbers, critting for 120 (at my level, it's insane when my hand to hand is like 30 damage) and hitting all 3 of them. With toxic spray ticking on them, my shaman throws up regenerations and my runepriest just throws up celestial armor. I tried earth or fireballing them, but they're pretty resistant to it. Air however... sinful. A few times someone will go unconscious, but i've got Heal and Regeneration on different people, also, a bladedancer who can provoke and a freemage who can also shadowshroud if everyone needs to pot, not on the same turn of course. Considering i've about 15 150mp pots, it was really really really amazing to trashthem, where my other 3 groups could NOT kill them. (they're the ones guarding the hireling Spike)
Also one thing to remember, if you melee attack someone who retaliates, make sure you melee attack THEN cast celestial shield. Doing it the other way round makes all ur other mages vulnerable.
So yeah, i think on WARRIOR, 3 mages are pretty tough to start out, but if you plan well, they're ridiculous. A dedicated Light and A dedicated Earth healer are the perfect healing team. I shudder to imagine what happens when i unlock Liquid Membrane into the mix. And all my spells? GM level. That's the beauty of 3 mages.
Will let you know how this team progresses from here.

29/1 Okay... i'm a little disgruntled. This team is too strong. Right after I spoke with Kilburn, i thought it'd be fun to plow to the southwest of the Crag, maybe snag myself the ore for the relic sword. Usually i can't handle the ambush, on all my other 3 playthroughs anyway.
This team was FINE. Gawd. Runepriest kept celestial armor up, Shaman was poisoning all and keeping regenerate up, Freemage (air is useless against barbarian mobs btw) used Shroud in bad situations, purged regenerations off Dreamwalkers and whacked away (relic magic focus is amaaaazing). Bladedancer taunted if necessary after sundering armor.
Okay, got the ore. What if i could make it to the Crag? Nah... but it wasn't hard. I'm miffed because on my other 3 playthroughs, i REALLY tried to reach the Crag that early on, and just couldn't. This team makes impossible feel... okay-ish. Not a single death.
One thing to note, i've been scrapping by with almost no gold, skills + spells are a killer. When i traded my chef for Zhin in The Crag, my gosh... the money kept pouring in. I grabbed her, and charged to Tower of Enigma (no mobs along the way if you head straight north from the GM light church), and cleared it out completely. Had about 15k from just that, not a single battle. SO HAPPY. Bought my Earth Master, Air Master, and their spells, which knocked me back down to 500 gold... haha. But wow... Toxic Cloud is insane, 20 mana for 3 turns of crazy aoe and reduce evade chance permanently. Cyclone is amazing but... it's expensive. 50 mana. Damn. Not at a point where i'd like to spam spells yet. Suppose with Zhin i'll soon be able to buy up potions like mad.
Priest is okay, but til i get to Karthal, no Master Fire spells. pity, i love Fire Shield with it's crazy damage on multiple attacking mobs. Best 25 mana spent considering it lasts 10+ turns. Now am in Lost City, undead is immune to earth. BUT they're not immune to acid splash. Earth is the only school of magic where they're not immune to you completely. I've even seen immune to implosion from prime, but acid splash seems to hit everything in the game. And double debuff them too.
Wondering if i could rush my blademaster or shaman promotion... better not, just go with the flow for now, unlocking karthal would be good.
Read somewhere that someone rushed the Dark Shard. Cannot remember where the dark shard is... dang.

30/1 found all the SHARDS
earth - part of quest in Elemental Forge
water - lvl 4 lost city
light - 2nd floor falagar's mansion
air - 2nd floor Skull Tomb. Password for the floor is
fire - lvl 3 lost city (giant spider guarding it, can be tough)
darkness - when you go to save falagar in the prison, next to boss (rush for this if you need help detecting secrets)

Realizing that 3 magic 1 might is the EASIEST combo i've ever had. Have promoted archmage and blade dancer. Shaman then runepriest next (i hate runepriest promotion quest, it's annoyingly far and tough). Am wondering how hard 3 might 1 magic would be. A bit scared to try, but why not? it'll be a challenge.
Liquid membrane is a must to keep up. Simply cos i've never died this game, until i got to a minotaur that one shot my shaman (noooo). Liquid membrane's just too good not to bump up to GM water. Makes fights easy.
Fire last two spells are worth alternating. Fireburst is PBAOE, and will hit everyone around you for the best damage you'll see in a game.
Fireblast is a line in front of you. Especially when you get it, it'll really make a gigantic difference if you can adjust your position such that enemies come at you in a line. I've hit for over 200-500 on crits per mob, and hit 6 at a time quite often. At this stage of the game, it's insanely good damage. I'd happily chug a 150 mana potion after spamming the spell 3 times.
Cyclone and Toxic Cloud combo is still excellent. Higher mana pool makes Cyclone hurt less (50 mana) Purge is becoming super useful at this point, with stoneskins, regenerations on enemy mobs. Light's feeling a little useless. Only spell i use is Celestial Armor, which is of course, amazing.
Implosion still not rocking my world, alot of prime resistant mobs, and total damage is a minor % of fireblast, not to imagine fireburst. Total damage of cyclone also complete outstrips it. Guess i'll need to GM prime to see it shine.
Blade dancer is doing beautiful damage once she got the relic sword from the meteor crater. Looking forward to getting the Obelisk sword.
Darkward+Arcane Ward is a great combo at this point for reducing enemy magic and melee damage at this point.