Elvish Pillager's Comprehensive Guide to dedicated Mages

[appleide]

Against Northerners in multiplayer I have found the mage to be almost useless. (blue or purple). You certainly wouldn't want to mage an assasin (just get a one-hit-kill with a horseman, at least he wouldn't be poisoned). There is no need to mage grunts, and there is no advantage either in dueling with archers. Either they get damaged in combat enough anyway or they can do hefty counterattacks back to the mage. Against Nagas, it could be slightly useful if you made a horrible mistake of forgotting your mermen and ghosts. It isn't economical either to blast Goblins with your mages. Against wolf riders, why not use the normal archer?

p.s EP forgot to put a "back" link so you could go back to the guide page, if he actually wanted to steal JW's structure.

[Kel]

...ghosts?

I mostly agree with you, although they can be v. helpful in dislodging a low-HP unit from mountain or hill.

[Tmoiy]

I prefer using mages to nuke assassins in difficult terrain over hoping that the horseman doesn't miss twice, if I can protect and heal the mage next turn. Otherwise, though, it's true that the mage doesn't do any better than the bowman or elvish archer.

[Xandria]

The mage is good for dislodging pesky trolls from mountains - after a few decent fireballs a hit or two can fell a troll you'd otherwise be bashing your head against.
Very frequently, an assassin escapes with but a few HP, and killing him is worth risking poison to the mage.

[Glowing Fish]

It might also be pointed out that on multiplayer, the Mage becomes a much better buy if the XP level is set very low.
If the XP is set to 30% or 40%, you have a chance of getting the Level 3 and even 4 units, even in default.
So at that level, you can turn your mages into white mages, and then really start clearing out Undead.

[Yogibear]

The Mage should be the first unit you recruit. It is not a reinforcement. It is the hub around which the army turns.

Hmm, I think for multiplayer this doesn't hold true all the time. At least not for loyalists and rebels.

For me, i don't recruit mages in mp until i know what i am up against. As has been noticed, against Northerners mages are next to useless. And they are just too expensive to waste your money on them.
It also sometimes makes a big difference if you got one unit more on the front. Having 3 spearmen or elvish fighters instead of two mages can make a big difference. It really depends a lot on the situation.

The Dark Adept is a whole different story. You can almost always make some use of it and since it is cheaper, i often get one or two of those in the beginning.

[Elvish_Pillager]

For me, i don't recruit mages in mp until i know what i am up against.

Same here. It's just that I know what I'm up against.

[Thrawn]

For me, i don't recruit mages in mp until i know what i am up against.

Same here. It's just that I know what I'm up against.

Yah NO FOG

[singalen]

I wikified it: http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/How_to_play_Mages

[JW]

I wikified it: http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/How_to_play_Mages

yikes....and only 15 months after the last post!!