


The best way for any thug or SC to survive is to layer defenses, so that anything that gets past one must deal with another. You also need to not die to PD or light enemy squads in the area. In some cases, Fire Shield can also clear them out. * Magic: Summoned elementals or Soul Vortex can wipe out PD reliably. * Horror Helm ( 10 ) provides fear, which can eventually rout enemy PD if you can endure their attacks for a while. * Mace of Eruption ( 10 ) comes at Construction 2 and can be used to clear weak chaff. * Snake Bladder Stick ( 5 ) can be used on things that resist poison, and is good at killing large volumes of things that don't resist poison. Fire damage is better than cold damage on an AoE weapon since it works on summoned skeletons the weapon itself is armor piercing so it can work against other thugs with high protection. * Frost Brand ( 5 is the most basic, clearing PD with a minimum of fuss. You need a way to kill them, and you need a way to not die in the process. Thugs, particularly light ones, spend most of their time whacking province defense and chaffy infantry. Heavier thug chassis – a Jotun Skratti, Adon, or even Oracle of the Ancients, for instance – are more expensive, more capable, and thus use heavier equipment to take on harder tasks. Thug chassis vary in "weight class" a Warrior Sorceress or Vanherse on the low end is not very expensive, and so often operates with light equipment but in groups even against PD. Thugs can also be "fluffed" – buffed by other mages besides themselves who join battle with them but do not engage directly. Especially when you expect opposition from things other than mundane chaff, understanding your opposition is critical so you can prepare countermeasures. Spells like Quicken Self may be extremely helpful against other thugs, but detrimental against troops (where they will result in you fatiguing out faster). It is critical to script thugs for the tasks they will perform.

A classic anti-thug might be a Sauromatian Warrior Sorceress with a Greatsword of Sharpness, casting spells like Elemental Fortitude, Quicken Self, or Mossbody before charging into battle. The classic weapon for this is the Greatsword of Sharpness – whose massive damage and armor piercing is overkill against PD but quite useful against things relying on protection or HP to stay alive. A common role is as elite-killers, or "anti-thugs". Killing mundane troops can be done with AoE weapons like Frost Brand or even a unit's default attacks.

Survival often is based on layered defense: high protection, high defense stat, glamour, mistform, regeneration, awe, vineshield, or even astral shield all serve as different defensive layers, and a thug with multiples is far more survivable. Thugs designed to fight chaff need a way to survive and a way to kill. But more mundane units can thug too even a humble Ulm Warrior Smith can use buffs like Ironskin and Temper Flesh to survive attacks from chaff.
#ATLANTEAN ATTACK SQUAD EFFECT STACK FREE#
For extra safety, they can be equipped with a Vine Shield for additional protection from melee units humans have neither the MR to avoid the effect or the strength to break free easily. Their high defense, glamour, and ability to buff with Mistform makes it extremely difficult for mundane chaff to threaten them, and a Frost Brand will let them kill PD quickly. As an example, a typical chassis for this is the Vanjarl. Some nations have thugs which can be recruited from their capital others rely on national or generic summons they can access with their mages.īuilding thugs requires three things: a chassis (a base commander, either recruited or summoned), usually forged gear to specialize it for the task it will do, and a script to prepare it on the battlefield.įor instance, a common thug task is capturing provinces defended only by province defense. In many ways, a thug is a "you'll know it when you see it" sort of concept. …in a way that's relatively resource efficient.Īs you can probably tell this covers a very wide range of possibilities.
