Favourite Summons?

[Micky Onimusha]

A curiosity poll. There's 10 different summoning spheres, and whilst there's some overlap on each kind, there are some differences. I'm determined to play around with a Summoner Civ, so I wouldn't mind finding out. I figured I'd try and lay this out in detail though. I've wrapped it in spoiler tags since it's a fair mouthful.

Spoiler :

I haven't added in the sources for damage (e.g. 5 + 3 Fire) because that would get a bit wordy and it usually doesn't apply.

Tier II Summons:

Air: Air Elemental* - 7 Str / 3 Mov (Water Walking / Sentry I & II / Immune to Lightning, Death & Poison)
Chaos: Pit Beast - 10 Str / 2 Mov (Demon / Remains after successful combat)
Death: Wraith - 9 Str / 2 Mov (Undead)
Earth: Earth Elemental* - 11 Str / 1 Mov (Immune to Death & Poison)
Entropy: Balor - 8 Str / 1 Mov (50% Fire resist / Demon / Stigmata)
Fire: Fire Elemental* - 8 Str / 2 Mov (Immune to Death & Poison)
Law: Host of the Einherjar - 10 Str / 2 Mov (Angel / Remains after successful combat)
Life: Lifespark - 0 Str / 2 Mov (Can be sacrificed to "Heal")
Nature: Treant - 11 Str / 1 Mov (Woodsman I & II, 50% Fire vulnerable, Immune to Death & Poison)
Water: Water Elemental* - 11 Str / 1 Mov (Water Walking, 50% Fire vulnerable, Immune to Death & Poison)

Any summon marked with a star has an affinity to its Mana type (+1 Str per Mana Node) and gain +1 from the Tower of the Elements.

The Wraith removes half of its slayer's experience upon death (according to the wiki).

The Treant is different to the other summons in the sense that it's "permanent". It doesn't despawn so it remains until it's killed (or deleted). It's limited to one per Summoner and can only be summoned in a forest.

So, for Raw Strength (discounting the Treant), it's the Water Elemental and the Earth Elemental. They have poor move-ment however, meaning their summoner will need to be close by.

The Host of the Einherjar and Pit Beast can stay in play provided they defeat a unit in combat each turn (or every three turns for 'Summoner' leaders). With 10 strength they aren't far behind the "top three" and have an extra move-ment point to boot.

The Lifespark can be sacrificed to use "Heal", which is something limitted by religion, but it isn't a 'fighter' summon for sure.

Tier I Summons:

Air: Lightning Elemental - 3 Str / 2 Mov (Blitz / Immune to Lightning, Death & Poison)
Chaos: Chaos Marauder - 5 Str / 2 Mov (Demon / May become Barbarian / Can use metals)
Death: Spectre - 3 Str / 2 Mov (Fear / Undead)*
Earth: Kikijub - 5 Str / 1 Mov (Immune to Death & Poison)
Entropy: Imp - 4 Str / 1 Mov (50% Fire resist / Demon / Caster)**
Fire: Sand Lion - 6 Str / 3 Mov (Nomad / 50% Fire resist)
Law: Law Bringer - 6 Str / 2 Mov (Angel)
Life: Griffon - 5 Str / 2 Mov (+50% vs Mounted / Different move-ment)***
Nature: Guardian Vines - 9 Str / 0 Mov
Water: Djinn - 4 Str / 2 Mov (Water Walking / Caster)**

*Spectre's recieve +1 strength per Death Node from their Death Affinity.
**The two caster summons, Djinns and Imps have a 15% chance of each: Air I, Body I, Chaos I, Death I, Dimensional I, Earth I, Enchantment I, Entropy I, Fire I, Law I, Life I, Mind I, Nature I, Spirit I, Water I.
***Can move through impassible terrain, flat movement costs and ignores terrain costs.

The Guardian Vines is different to the other summons in the sense that it's "permanent". It doesn't despawn so it remains until it's killed (or deleted). It's limited to one per Summoner and can only be summoned in a forest.

Considering that Tier I summons aren't as long-term as Tier II, their side-effects can become noteworthy. Spectre's have Fear and the two Casters could grant you some (temproary) spells you couldn't access previously.

Still, as far as Raw power is concerned (discounting the Guardian Vines), the Law Bringer and Sand Lion are the best, with the Sand Lion also having the best move-ment. The Law Bringer will only fight Evil units whilst the Sand Lion can only be summoned in a Desert (which isn't too hard to find, since the Summoner would also have Scorch, turning Plains into Desert).

Griffons have the ability to attack through impassable locations, which probably has a lot of potential on maps with a lot of mountains.

Chaos Marauders can become barbarians after they aren't in the control of their summoners. I can see that having some use for bombarding 'friendly' civs with some Barbarian hordes but has the potential to backfire.

It's also worth noting that Fire, Death and Entropy summons can be raised by Ritualists, Nature summons can be raised by Druids and Earth summons can be raised by Dwarven Druids, increasing their availability.

Anyway, over-all, I've found myself liking Fire summons, simply because they can be summoned by Ashen Veil Ritualists (and subsequent High Priests and Inquistors). This tied in with Fire's generally awesome Spell Spheres makes them quite readily available. If you're already investing in that sphere, the free tag-alongs are certainly welcomed, at least that's how I see it.

 

[Uberness]

Honestly, for the second tier there is nothing at all that stands up to a sand lion.. 6 strength and 3 movement with nomadic bonuses defensive bonuses and able to promote (with a summoning civ) with city raider, and the tower of elements boosts them up to 7 strength, not to mention you only need 2 experience on a ritualist instead of level 4 on a conjurer.


Fire elementals with the tower fit well with swarms of sand lions, pit beasts and hosts fit well for none summoning civ.

 

[daladinn]

this too me is way to hard of a poll to answer with any bit of truth. too much of it depends on the civ playing and the religion that your playing (aka AV).

so , looking at things from a "pure" summoner point of view (and thats hard since i play sheiam primarily and the 3 turns alters things alot) .....

for the first set of summons ....

1st place - Spectre, the primary reason here is the fear. pushing back stacks and breaking stacks is soo HUGE. plus, i am taking into consideration that you will have skeletons as a free summon to even get here.

2nd place - sand lions , see invis + fast speed + good overal strength. its jsut such a solid overall unit and the see invis throws it over the top.

3rd place - i have a tie. choas mauraders and the imps. reasoning ... chaos mauraders gain the metal promotions when available and have a good move coupled with the ability to rebel (with a 3 turn move they are far enough away when the rebel). the imp with 3 turns you get teh free promotion and can scorch out your opponents land and seige cities taht are jsut too tough to crack.

as for the final tier summons....

1st place - the treant and balor are tied , hands down , the raw bonus the treant gets defensivly when your playing the elves and GoN is soo insane. the balor with a 3 turn lifespan and used correctly can take ANY city.

2nd place - earth air and water elementals. my reasoning here is that as the late game hits many of the other summons suffer from immunitiy issue.

3rd place - the balor and treant , whenever they are not in 1st place.

hope that helps some....

 

[MagisterCultuum]

What irritates me is that the Balor is the same as the Infernal version of a Berserker, meaning their Berserkers are weaker on the offense and stronger on the defense than any other civ's. That just doesn't seem to fit for the demons. In my game I changed them to strength 4/1 + 1 fire affinity + 2 entropy affinity, which makes them my favorite summons. If I would be using evil summons them I would make sure I have plenty of these mana types anyway, plus defending with most summons doesn't make much sense anyway.

Otherwise, I much prefer the Chaos, Law, or Death summons. (or Nature, but I only summon them with druids or Yvain, and they aren't useful or available as often)

 

[[NWO]_Valis]

Definitely chaos summons. Chaos maruders are teh best and then Pit Beasts are a game breaker. With an eater of dreams after you conquer one enemy city nothing can stand in your way for too long. ]:->

 

[vorshlumpf]

With the Summoning trait, I really like imps. Whenever you need any low level spell, just keep summing imps until you get it.

Spectres are one of my favourite units for the fear effect.

And chaos marauders are my most common assault unit.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

Well, so far Chaos is in the lead. I wasn't aware that Chaos Marauders coudl use metals, so I'll add that to them.

the balor with a 3 turn lifespan and used correctly can take ANY city

Could you elaborate please? I believe you, I just don't understand how it works that way exactly.

 

[Sureshot]

they can promote with city raider gaining health and better odds any time they win.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

they can promote with city raider gaining health and better odds any time they win.

Ah, I wasn't aware of that.

 

[Jono]

First place for me is Air. Air Elementals are fast, stronger against units with iron weapons and can move through impassible terrain and ignore movement cost.

 

[BeefontheBone]

Law. The Einherjar are awesome, fast and with a groovy mechanic. Plus their summoning sound is nifty.

 

[Caradoc]

It would help to know which stay around after being summoned. I know Treants do, so I like them a lot.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

It would help to know which stay around after being summoned. I know Treants do, so I like them a lot.

I wasn't sure if any of them stuck around after being summoned, heh. I got the info by creating them in World Builder and checking with the wiki rather than summoning them in proper games. I'll stick a note next to the Treant that it remains though (I presume 1 per summoner like krakens?).

 

[Caradoc]

One per Summoner. And, I believe, max of 3 overall.

 

[Micky Onimusha]

I did a test in-game with Four Summoners created in World Builder. It's definitely 1 Treant per summoner but there doesn't appear to be an upper limit on how many can be summoned, since all four could summon Treants.

Edited it into the original post.

Edit: I also checked with the Guardian Vines. Works the same way, "1 per summoner".

 

[kenken244]

djinns are kidna good too since they are like imps because they can cast spells but they van also put out smoke and i think have higher movement