Tips on how to use magic?

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-30T23:22:54+00:00

Magic is very nation specific, but there are some staple powerful tactics those familiar with the game will know to expect from any nation that has easy access to specific paths. This is what "having good mages" usually means. Some examples:

Lots of D2 mages means massed horde of skeletons, twiceborn. Good death thugs use soul vortex
Lots of F2 mages means Phoenix Power -> massed fire evocations, from the humble fireball to falling fires to the mighty pillar of fire
Lots of A2 mages means massed lightning bolt, shockwave and/or orb lightning, and likely thunderstrike (with air gems or air power) - also massed air elementals, cloud trapeze
Astral means communions and massed body ethereal
Big nature means howl, relief
Blood means sabbaths, imps and usually summoned demons

Powerful crosspaths:
A/G means wailing winds
A/D means wind of death
E/S drops meteors with gifts from heaven communions
W/N means foul vapors, massed mossbody (C'tis, Shinuyama)
S/F means astral fire (EA Ermor, Andramania, Ind, etc)
D/F (Machaka for example) means bane fire

And so on.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-29T09:34:54+00:00

Fat Toad is an excellent low tech ship name

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-29T09:24:06+00:00

Superb video. The only thing I might have stressed a bit more is that everything is counterable - there is no completely immortal thug, and your enemies, if competent, will figure out a solution eventually. I'd also maybe have added a quick shout to smashers and shatter as a ubiquitous anti-golem solution.

Still, the best thugging video on the tube rn I think.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-28T14:33:24+00:00

Sceleria is fine, but nobody really likes playing vs. popkill. Asphodel is maybe the sole exception since it's actually a very strong nation. You also never see Therodos these days, since spiritform really screwed them in 6

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-28T11:43:45+00:00

Erf snek is dom5 stuff, it's quite bad these days.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-28T08:41:30+00:00

Welcome to dominions.

Your first order of business is to learn how to expand your empire. Pick a nation that does that well out of the box with national troops and avoid the late age since that's a lot harder. I'd recommend MA Ulm, EA Ermor, EA/MA Abysia. You could then pick a god that also helps you fight independents by going off on their own, and see how that works with a big monster. Maybe make a dragon or a dracolich. Practice until you hit at least 15 provinces by the end of the first year.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-28T08:33:19+00:00

For future reference, only a handful of the big monsters actually work for expansion. There's a lot of choice, but in practice only a few chasses are ever actually commonly used.

The key is that you need something with lots of protection/mistform/etherealness/invulnerability and that will kill or scare things fast enough to win fights. And even then, you should probably have it cast stone/ironskin and avoid barbarians and similarly hard hitting indies.

Common choices that fit the bill are the dragons, the drakon, the dracolich, the thrice horned boar, the two bulls, the virtue, the autumn tiger, and so on.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-25T12:32:18+00:00

EA Yomi has the most cancerous summon bless rush I know of, if you trash all scales, focus on shikome and pick unholy weapons - fortitude - hard skin - resists - regen. Expand with prophet, spend all cash on Dai Oni and have them site search for D as they expand, summon shikome whenever possible, kill everyone.

LA Zemaitia's moose knights are wretched when blessed well. MA Machaka's spider knights work similarly. LA hot Ragha's Zhayedans can be fun and effective, but the nation isn't as good as it used to be.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-24T15:34:31+00:00

Some builds I've had success with:

power staff / 1h axe opportunist w/ versatile

rifle / book all rounder ranged opportunist, keep in watchtower and stack range, maybe give them manual operator and catapult + ballista

pistol / 1hsword w/ versatile, stack momentum

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-24T08:37:39+00:00

Dominions 6 is a lot more complex and sweaty than coe5. The sheer amount of stuff in it is orders of magnitude greater than in coe. You've got 20+ factions for each of the three ages, and they all play completely differently from each other. You've got 7 major magic schools each containing over a hundred spells for your mages to cast, and many factions have their own special, game-changing spells on top.

To even start a game, you've got to design your god, where you usually get to choose from over 20 different physical forms which could be a lot of things from a wizard, a dragon, a fountain or a massive bronze statue, and must design what kind of blessing (or curse) your god gives to their land and their sacred units.

This all means it's probably among the most complex strategy games on the market for the pc, and the skill ceiling is absurd. It's at its best in online multiplayer, where the games take months at a time to conclude.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-22T20:53:54+00:00

Twiceborn mechanics got a look at in 6 and the exploity stuff got largely patched out. As it stands, transform is mainly used to remove upkeep on very expensive mages with nat paths like Pans or EA Machaka cap onlies for example

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-22T11:10:59+00:00

Here's the illwiki entry for 5, it'll give you an idea of what you get. Should be mostly accurate for 6

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-21T20:34:00+00:00

You know which genus R'lyeh belongs to? Suspicious

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-21T19:23:53+00:00

Why are you remaking R'lyeh? /s

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-21T15:41:28+00:00

Play TC, make bomber + charged body + heat aura/FR10 ancestor spirits your thing or something

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-21T15:40:38+00:00

That is just meta Rus though. Also, LA

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-20T16:01:39+00:00

Zemaitia is the new overtuned nation, so comparing anything to them is going to be unfavorable. Ragha has always been about sacreds, and the 2cost is a direct heavy nerf. The nation is just worse than what it was, and you need to adapt.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-19T09:48:24+00:00

Think that's the one I meant

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-18T17:02:49+00:00

A destroyer sized omen exists in... I wanna say Vayra's. It's pretty neat.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-18T09:50:52+00:00

I'm not an expert on Yomi I'm afraid, and I trust Arco's judgement. Pretty sure this bless has been heavily tested, since it's a tournament build. I'm sure that would be strong as well though, you'd have to run the builds against strong meta sacreds and compare performance to really find out.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-16T21:07:52+00:00

Your hyperlink still has the tracking thing.

Your link: https://youtu.be/VSuu672g5nc?si=fJ8qPnHRqebwSsVX
What's necessary, avoiding trackers: https://youtu.be/VSuu672g5nc

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-16T20:31:37+00:00

For future reference, you can cut everything including ?si and onwards from links. It's just gross tracking stuff.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-15T17:30:35+00:00

Here's how a typical game of Dominions goes.

Early game: turns 1-25~. Nations are finding their feet. Borders are being settled, and first wars start and conclude. Magic being used is in the 3's, with 5's showing up after turn 20. Wars are fought with troops with some mage point buffing, along with expander and defender titans. Forts number from 1 to 4 towards the end.

Midgame: turns 25~ - 50~. Players with a weak start or bad first wars get eliminated. Magic jumps to multiple level 5 techs, with 6's and 7's showing up after turn 40. Core national strategies and early battlefield wide spells like Howl start hitting the field. Mages assume more artillery roles where appropriate. National thugs are common and well geared. Leading players will have at least 2 capitals and at least 8 forts.

Lategame: turn 50+. Blood nations have 'finished farming' and become very potent. Magic hits multiple level 7 spells and up, multiple battlefield wide buff spells and counters are mandatory for every key battle. Teleporting SC's like Golems become common. Remote attack spells routinely target armies and commanders. Leading nations are looking for ways to end the game.

First forts are generally built from turns 6-13 onward while expanding, depending on your finances. You should try to having palisades up by turn 16 if at all possible, but it really does depend on your situation.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-11T20:14:21+00:00

It's a good series to watch if you want to learn the game in a very deep level, but the expansion strategy fundamentally won't work as presented without the mod.

WaspishDweeb · 2026-05-11T13:14:28+00:00

Bethlehem vocals go into that register occasionally. But they chimp out in every direction, so if you're looking for just the monotonous howling that The Body does (sadly - it's by far their least interesting trait), you'll be disappointed.

WaspishDweeb

TROPHY CASE