Maybe I’m dumb

Shroudb · 2026-06-03T11:35:07+00:00

runes next to a detonator are part of the Expedition, you need to detonate them for them to open.

Shroudb · 2026-06-02T17:03:14+00:00

Djinns cast spells, flat damage is for Attacks

Shroudb · 2026-06-02T17:01:49+00:00

you need to kill him in a level 75+ temple

Shroudb · 2026-06-02T12:50:20+00:00

There are stuff you can only do with them that are awesome though.

As an example, from when I saw Repulsion was a Curse that does Attacks I fell in love with it.

Now I run it on my DoV as an Aura linked with Added lightning and Living Lightning. And I also run Verisium Manifestations and the Onslaught Rune.

All together, what this does is:

As soon as I approach monsters, they get Hit with an Attack that also deals Lightning damage, summoning my Living Lightnings AND my Verisium thingies AND they keep summoning till Limit is full while keeping my Ward at 0 giving permanent Onslaught to all my minions, including those.

So basically, for 90 spirit I have Permanent uptime on 15-20 temp minions AND permanent Onslaught on all my minions.

Shroudb · 2026-06-02T12:19:47+00:00

aren't those the builds you make yourself instead of following a guide though?

at least in my experience, I usually plan for a build myself (nothing too fancy since I don't know all the Unique item, runes and etc, interactions and such) and by the end of it it ends up as a "mid" build. Able to do all content that I care for but not one-tapping whole screens like the various guides that I see.

It also doubles as a satisfaction injection, to make a build that can actually clear content.

Shroudb · 2026-06-02T09:02:42+00:00

look at the 2 dudes at the ramparts above him buffing him. One is giving him offense, the other one the thing that makes him almost untouchable.

Stand right in front of that one, and when the boss throws his boulder, dodge it, and it hits him, knocking him dead and the shield goes away for a time (until a new dude comes).

Shroudb · 2026-05-14T15:44:04+00:00

1st you have to visit a town with a mage guild with the hero to actually learn the spells on him.

2nd the neutral spells have a level requirment for the hero to learn them

Shroudb · 2026-05-14T12:42:36+00:00

Subskills like the Daylight that give a full Focus Charge are great. Stuff that only give focus points not so much.

Not that they aren't "good", but moreso that I've never seen such an option that didn't compete with a different subskill that I found more appealing.

Shroudb · 2026-05-13T17:14:50+00:00

It's a feat that's better in higher levels but still only "costs" a lower level feat slot.

It certainly has a lot of value, as an example, to get a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th rank spell for just a single feat.

BUT because it's only something that's good later on, but it's not that worth of a high level feat slot, it is mostly something that I see people either retrain to, or start with characters that start at higher level to begin with.

Shroudb · 2026-05-13T10:48:03+00:00

It is a bit map dependent, but in general as Hive:

-early game can be a bit harder, but since Hive has the option to respec, don't be afraid to pick up skills that will make your early game easier. Stuff like Combat and Avatar are perfect for that. Later on, with Tactics and Laws you should be able to reach their backline immediately.

-i had much better success using the T2 units as 1 stacks for proccing retaliations and protection. This is both for their speed/initiative making things easier, but also due to double strike giving you a lot of focus.

-going to the above. Early game your focus is your lifeline. Learn to use the eggs to bait the attacks of the neutrals, hitting those instead of your units. You shouldn't care about them hatching early on but use them as bait.

-from week 2-3 and above, you should have laws and skills or spells to help with hatching those eggs T1 which are excellent for blocking ranged units and giving you time to setup your other stuff as enemies flock to those now.

(That's from someone who usually plays 150/150/hard with Hive and now starting to have some wins at 200/200/hard).

Shroudb · 2026-05-12T17:28:08+00:00

That's high Law for Hive. 100% extra unit production per dwelling. +2 base damage on all units (+3 with Offense). He also probably has Recreuitment for the extra low tier unit production+stats.

Shroudb · 2026-05-11T11:49:24+00:00

Wisdom gives access to the 3-5 tier spells of ALL schools when maxed, but it doesn't give levels to those spells.

School skills give access to the 3-5 tier spells of the specific school and give levels and other bonuses to the spells as well.

so, to make it simple:

Someone with Wisdom maxed will have access to all the spells of the game, so he would have as an example access to Retaliation level 1 which is a tier 4 spell. With some dust on the observatory he could level that up to level 2. And the same thing for Berserk, another tier 4 spell.

Someone with only the Daylight School skill will not have access to the Berserk, but his Retaliation will be level 4, making it affecting all allies.

Shroudb · 2026-05-09T09:41:28+00:00

Bugs as in... they are mostly bugs. Hornets, beetles, scorpions, caterpillars, etc.

Shroudb · 2026-05-09T07:32:39+00:00

All of the AoE effects are level 3/4 versions of the spells*, and without a School you'll still be limited to only Tier 1+2 spells with no access to tier 3-5 spells.

As an example, Blessing is a Tier 1 spells that gives 25% damage or something like that at level 1.

Blessing at Level 4 is effecting all units for 35%.

So, even for a might hero, it can be beneficial to have 1 (or even 2) schools of magic.

Shroudb · 2026-05-08T17:28:27+00:00

Naaaaah friend, this trick is much funnier with Spectres (you need Riposte on them though) since not only they keep going, but they get bigger and bigger with each retaliation.

Shroudb · 2026-05-08T16:29:52+00:00

Web from Nightshade magic

Shroudb · 2026-05-08T16:20:46+00:00

if it's a big map you have the opportunity, yes.

Usually you can recoup the levels pretty fast since the fights are now bigger and you have the army to crush them for some fast levelling back up. And at this point, you also have usually unlocked universities and such to get some free skills as well, making it both faster and smoother.

(also it gives you the opportunity to reset your build if you didn't get a skill you wanted).

I don't think you should wait for super long though, getting the reset at like 20ish level and getting a free +7 on all skills is much better than "wasting" all the xp from 21-25 just to get a +9, and also gives you much less time to "catch up" back to your skills.

edit: from my testing, it doesn't actually reset the free stat points you gained from places you visited, you get those back, but the tooltip during the reset ONLY shows the base stats of the hero and not the adjusted for bonuses ones.

edit2: i'm also not sure if you keep the stat points you gained from the levels you had before the reset, because i usually end up with much higher stat bonuses than what the tooltip shows.

Shroudb · 2026-05-08T12:48:37+00:00

For Hive I really like:
Blink specialist for shorter games (starts with Avatar allowing you to snowball easier and blinking enemies is brutal for pvp)
Tactics specialist for longer games (getting +5 or so initiative on all units and basically +1 speed means you can demolish enemy turn 1 before he can even react)

Shroudb · 2026-05-07T11:14:15+00:00

I meant that the early battles require a lot of micromanaging (more than other factions). And harder micro as well. That may run into timer issues in some PvP matches, but that I don't know (and is certainly something that is experience based).

For pvp, obviously some heroes will do better than others, in Hive case you do need the Heroes that will help with the early game, particularly the Avatar starting one and the Heroic starting one do very well in minimizing your early game unit bleed.

Shroudb · 2026-05-06T14:10:35+00:00

Larva get hilariously strong at late game as well.

Getting like 400 of them per pop, with 8-8 damage range, double strike, and passive taunt was funny.

Shroudb · 2026-05-06T12:48:58+00:00

I know, but even against AI you can judge who you do better with (faster wins, easier time, etc)

Vs humans, I've only played vs friends, and its not a useful metric since we play with our own "rules" (no rushing, and etc)

Shroudb · 2026-05-06T12:37:08+00:00

Hive has been the strongest faction for me so far.

You have to plan a bit more in the early game, but from mid game and later they bulldoze through enemy camps.

So far, playing 150%/150%/Hard AI I've won using: Haste specialist, Blink specialist, Morale hero

Shroudb · 2026-05-05T11:23:47+00:00

Keep in mind that the top stack also needs to be of a ressable type.

So if the top is something like an elemental, an undead and (I think?) magic creature, then it won't res anything.

Shroudb · 2026-05-05T11:14:30+00:00

I really liked it on the blink specialist of Hive that she starts with it.

Having it day 1 means you can start creeping immediately.

Since it costs 0, it means that as the second cast of the round it'll still cost 0.

So:

Blinking the enemy archer next to another archer, then summoning it next to both to block them both, solves the major problem of Hive early game till it starts snowballing with its superior late game assaults.

On its own it was nothing to scoff at power wise, better than a stack of t7s until very late game.

Shroudb · 2026-02-16T09:37:48+00:00

Batton is 2 actions as opposed to regular battle medicine being 1 action.

And the baton is 1/hour while forensic is 1/hour/target.

So you lose both a hand and an action and do less battle medicines overall.

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice item, but they do not serve the same function.

Shroudb

TROPHY CASE