wraith crown
 

Okay, how to employ this item properly with a solo SC? Being one of the only 2 non-artifacts granting etherealness (and not at the cost of protection as with robe of shadows) sounds awesome, but that mightily useful "undead horde" onebattlespell utterly wreaks it. I was trying to use water queens in crowns to clear out the seas in SP, but it takes enemies only a couple of turns to trash those skeletons, and then a queen autorouts, WTF? Lost one to having nowhere to retreat, too. Sounds like a mockery of a SC item unless said SC has hundreds of hitpoints.

How do I proceed, then? Give up on magic (and risk 100 turn autokill) by giving them something abrsrk (does lycanthropic amulet transform water queens, btw?)? Go for robe of shadows instead and hope etherealness, water shield and regen offset 0 protection? Abstain from etherealness altogether?

Re: wraith crown
 

Either you put the crown on a Tartarian or grendel with lots of HP or you use it together with an army to create chaff. For any other solution its rater bad item I think.

For a water queen Etherealness is probably pointless. Stick with protection, reinvig, Luck and MR. As long as she cant be insta killed or worn down she is invincible due to the regen.