Dominions 3: The Awakening/Units/SC

General
Super-Combatants or SC's are exceptionally strong units that act as one man army. In most cases gifted with lots of hitpoints, big size, good magic equipment and lot of magic buffs or resistances, an SC can take weak defended provinces alone or annihilate smaller armies. Building and outfitting SC's is a very popular occupation of many Dominions players. An unequipped potential SC is called an SC chassis, and each nation has access to at least a few, either by normal recruiting or more likely by summons.

It is also an important skill to learn as a new Dominions player. Getting a feeling for how strong certain SC are, and how to outfit and deal with them is important. In single player it is not that important but, it gets more so in multiplayer games. It is also important to learn that not all SC's should wade into battle unsupported. A good way to learn a basic understanding about SC's is to play Niefelheim, a nation which has easy access to a SC chassis (the Niefel Jarl). Experiment with different bless strategies, and different equipment and see how this all works together and learn that unsupported SC's can be killed.

Elemental Royalty
With the proper research, all nations have the possibility of summoning powerful magical beings referred to as Elemental Royalty. Available at Conjuration Level-8, these beings generally have a strong knowledge of magic, as well as some kind of natural resistances or other desirable skills. While these beings make powerful casters in and of themselves, when outfitted properly with the right equipment they can be used as SCs. There are a limited number of each type of elemental royalty, available on a first-come-first-served basis. In general, all ER chassis have most normal slots for equipment, excepting they have no feet slots. They all have 0 Encumbrance, meaning they gain no fatigue from wearing armor or fighting, and most have no natural armor (0 protection) although some do.

Queens of Elemental Water
Bathusma, Thalassa and Limne are all powerful Water mages (W4) with 65 hp each and above average combat stats. They all have Recuperation skills (ie. they naturally heal afflictions over time), 100% cold and poison resistance and the ability to Regenerate 100% hp each combat round when fighting underwater. Bathusma and Thalassa are aquatic (ie. they need an Amulet of the Fish to enter land provinces), while Limne is amphibian, but their regenerative powers are somewhat diminished on land (90%, 75% and 50% hp/round respectively). Thalussa has Dark Vision.

In combat these ladies of the deep can self-buff Breath of Winter, Water Shield and Quicken Self. When used as casters, the AI will likely spam Falling Frost, Desiccation or Sailor's Death and the like. But one of their most terrible abilities is the ease with which they can cast such spells as Grip of Winter or Quagmire. It is fairly easy to give them 100% resistance vs both fire and shock, and combined with their amazing regeneration abilities makes them very tough to kill through damage alone. Possible equipment could be a Burning pearl and Dragon Helmet (100% vs. fire), Copper Plate (100% vs. shock) or Robe of Shadows (ethereal), Vine Shield (crowd control), Cat Charm (defense stat buffs) and a Fire/Frost Brand for a weapon.

Kings of Elemental Fire
Pyriphlogos and Rhuax are powerful Fire mages (F4 and F4E1, respectively) with high strength and attack but low defense stats. They each have 100% fire and poison resistance and generate powerful Heat Auras with a permanent Fire Shield spell active, and have Dark Vision. Pyriphlogos has 54 hp, is Ethereal and can summon Fire Elemental allies. Rhuax has 87 hp, a stony natural armor skin (prot 13) and can summon Magma Children (fire immune troops) allies. Neither of them can enter underwater provinces.

These glowing guys don't gain too many meaningful defensive buff choices from Fire that they don't already possess. Maybe try Phoenix Pyre, which may or may not be a good idea (Rhuax has a few more choices from his Earth splash). However, these guys might be just the candidates to pull off casting Fire Storm while leading a communion using a Crystal Matrix and survive to tell the tale. Their fire-based attacks and spells make them excellent candidates to fight against undead. As melee combatants, you could try a Ring of Regeneration, Vine Shield, a Frost Brand plus Rime Hauberk (100% vs frost, plus freeze Aura) and a Ring of Tamed Lightning (100% vs shock).

Queens of Elemental Air
Nephelle, Aella and Thuella are powerful Air mages (A4), each with 45 hp, decent strength, attack and defense stats, high precision, and all become more powerful during Storms. They each are Ethereal, have 100% shock and poison resistance and can Fly. Nephelle has a permanent Glamour spell active, can summon Slyph allies and gets an extra Shock attack. Aella can summon Air Elemental allies and gets 2 extra Shock attacks. Thuella gets 3 extra Shock attacks.

In combat, these gusty gals can self-buff Mistform, Mirror Image, Aim and Air Shield, not to mention Summon Storm Power, which makes them stronger. Add to that the AI's penchant for spamming Shock Wave, Thunder Strike and Orb Lightning and they can inflict some serious pain with spells alone. As melee SCs, possible equipment might be a Frost Brand and Rime Hauberk (100% vs cold), a Dragon Helm and Burning Pearl (100% vs fire, attack buffs), Vine Shield (CC) and Ring of Regeneration.

Kings of Elemental Earth
Oreigenes and Barathrus are powerful Earth mages (E4) with high Strength (27) and natural Protection (16+) stats. They each have 130 hp, natural Regeneration (5% and 10% hp/round respectively) and 100% poison resistance. They can move through mountainous terrain without penalty and are consisdered poor amphibians when fighting underwater. Oreigenes can summon Earth Gnome allies. Barathrus generates a free earth gem each turn, and can summon Earth Elemental allies.

These rocky rascals can self-buff Summon Earthpower, Invulnerability and Strength of Giants. They can also drop Curse of Stones without need of a communion, making the battlefield a very unpleasant place to fight... for every one else of course. As melee SCs, possible equipment could be a Cloak of Shadows (Ethereal), Fire Brand and Dragon Helm (100% vs fire), Ring of Tamed Lightning (100% vs shock), Ring of Frost (100% vs cold) and a Vine Shield.

Treelords
While strictly speaking not elemental royalty, the Treelords function the same in that there are only 3 of them available for summoning at Enchantment 7. This makes them somewhat more convenient to research than other ER for some nations.

Barksong, Barkheart and Ironbark are powerful Nature mages (N4E1, N4B1 and N5, respectively), each with 250 hp and high Protection, but mediocre strength and very low attack and defense stats. Each one is considered and Ivy Lord for summoning purposes and offers a substantial supply bonus, but they are susceptible to fire, only have 2 misc equipment slots and are all Immobile. Ironbark has Old Age as well, which means it will accrue incurable afflictions without a magical aid.

All said, they are the toughest ER chassis to deploy effectively as SCs. The most practical way to give them some strategic mobility is empowering to S1, then equipping a Crystal Coin and Ring of Sorcery and casting Teleport. This also gives them some useful astral magic (Body Ethereal, Astral Shield, Personal Luck) if they are to "solo" as SCs in combat.

Probably the easiest way to deal with Ironbark's years is to give it an Elixir of Life so it stops aging. Alternatively, it can be "cured" of old age by raising it's magic to N8 (empower to N6, then give him a Moonvine Bracelet and Ring of Sorcery... a huge cost of gems for 1 SC) or by using The Chalice artifact or global Gift of Health to cure any afflictions.

In combat, they can self-buff Personal Regeneration, Barkskin, Elemental Fortitude and Eagle Eyes, but without further buffs this is unlikely to keep them alive long when being swarmed by enemies. Thus the Treelords really need some helper chaff mages to add some extra defensive protection. Another way is to join a communion as a slave (either equip a Slave Matrix or empower to S1 or B1) so as to gain the master's self-buffs. Such buffs as Fire Shield, Mistform, Breath of Winter, Invulnerability, etc. all work to make the Treelord a much tougher hombre to kill. They don't make good melee fighters at all, so a Stone Bird helps take down any nearby enemies while the Treelord is scripted to Cast Spells. As such, they will likely spam Sleep Cloud, Poison Cloud, Storm of Thorns and Dragon's Breath as their fatigue allows.

Practical Examples

 * Wraith Lord: available to any nation able to cast the Conj D4 Summon Wraith Lord ritual, this commander can self-buff the spell Soul Vortex (Alt 6) in battle before attacking, which sucks up hp from nearby (living) enemies. Minimum kit would be outfitting it with a Horror Helmet to increase its Fear effect and Boots of Quickness for extra movement speed and attack. It evokes Fear, generates a Cold Aura, is Cold Immune, Poison Immune, is Ethereal, has 0 Encumbrance (ie. never tires from combat) and if it dies in friendly domain its Immortality causes it to be resurrected.


 * Wyrm: this a pretender chassis available to most nations that can very easily be designed as an SC available on turn 1. Take at least 4-6 levels of Nature magic (which increases the effectiveness of the Wyrm's intrinsic Regeneration skill) and a Dominion of 6 or more (preferably 9 or 10 for the Awe bonus) which will dramatically increase the Wyrm's total hp in strong friendly dominion. Increasing Regeneration also decreases the chance of gaining Afflictions in combat. Push your dominion into enemy territory, then attack. The idea is to regenerate faster than the enemy can inflict damage. Eventually the Wyrm can be outfitted with 2 Horror Helmets, an Amulet of Resilience and can self-buff Barkskin or have your national mages add other protective spells.