Assassin nations?

thejeff · #1 November 2nd, 2007, 08:09 AM

Since someone mentioned Black Hearts, Jotunheim has easy access to blood and very tough (giant) scouts...

Ygorl · #2 November 2nd, 2007, 05:51 PM

Tupilaks may be able to take down mages and priests, but they fail miserably against victims with high defense. Hoburg heroes beat them, and that's just embarrassing.

Taqwus · #3 November 2nd, 2007, 07:52 PM

Yeah, not a fan of Tupilaks due to their att/def.

Ah, forgot about the Samanishadas. Vicious, if memory serves. Likewise, the seducers (including the non-national Succubus blood summon) and Sirens can be outfitted as such, although Succubi are slow to work with -- if the seduction succeeds, they have to fly back all the way from the capital.

Aside -- it is probably a bad idea to use Succubi with an underwater nation, although it might be funny from a really really warped POV if she has water-breathing gear on. Talk about a bad date...

jaif · #4 November 2nd, 2007, 07:57 PM

Hey all, thanks for the good discussion. I don't get to play much, so I've focussed mostly on nations without assassins up until now, but I just got a hankering to play with them a bit.

I'm curious - what do you guys do against a priest with smite? Smite's 20 points, so that can easily be a one-shot kill.

-Jeff

llamabeast · #5 November 2nd, 2007, 08:02 PM

Smite is MR-resists, so give your assassin an anti-magic amulet.

KissBlade · #6 November 2nd, 2007, 11:25 PM

Don't forget there's also Mujina.

B0rsuk · #7 November 3rd, 2007, 10:17 AM

I'd like to point out Bane Spider is actually pretty good assassin except for his terrible armor. He gets -6 defense just from armor (1 for full helmet 5 for spider armor). So if you want to use them, replacing armor is the first step. I think Marble Armor is very cost effective - 25 protection +4 defense and that's for 10 gems without hammer. Cold vulnerability is not a big deal against most opponents.
I'm still scratching my head why BS cost so much gold - probably bane blades. 14 hp, nice attack and defense, ambidexterous 3. But still...

Can anyone enlighten me what's the benefit of Forest Survival on a commander with strategic move 1 ? I know there are some minor benefits like Swamp Survival units not getting diseased in Miasma, but other than that ?

Edratman · #8 November 5th, 2007, 09:26 AM

Smite is powerful, but you also need precision with it and MR influences the hit.

I've been playing using either of 2 bows on assassins, bow of madness(?) and etheral crossbow. Etheral crossbow is more effective, but I still lose assassins to mundane commanders. Haven't managed to get my assassin with the crossbow to target a pretender or major commander yet.

thejeff · #9 November 5th, 2007, 10:03 AM

I think Smite is 100 precision. MR is the key.

Stryke11 · #10 November 5th, 2007, 04:08 PM

You've seen the Ethereal Crossbow work? I ask because I never see an attack sprite of the commander and no quarrel like a regular bow. I was beginning to think they were bugged. I even looked at enemy armies very closely for unexplainable deaths.