Destroy Undead
| Destroy Undead | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| School: | air magic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Level: | 3rd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost: | 15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Duration: | instant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Expert effect | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Destroy Undead is a 3rd level spell in the School of air magic. It causes damage to all undead creatures on the battlefield – including the casters troops.
The artifact Pendant of Death makes the wearer troops immune to this spell.
Discussion
Destroy Undead is at its best when fighting against small number of scattered low-tier undead creatures.
The damage does not scale enough to cause serious damage when fighting agains larger armies with stronger forces.
The damage multiplicator is always 10 dmg per spell power, the multiplicator constant bonus ranges from 1 times at basic, to 2 times at expert until the maximum of 5 times is reached at expert, netting a constant bonus of 50 dmg points then.
Destroy Undead has the same multiplicator as the most basic 1st level universal damage spell Magic Arrow and is a little wee bit better in terms of bonuses (without a secondary skill matching the spell school, or Sorcery)- but dealing damage to any and all undead on the whole battlefield for 10 points of mana more.
Armageddon has a multiplicator of 5 times (500% strength of Destroy Undead considering variable parts only) the multiplicator of Destroy Undead, being 10 mana points more expensive than 15 mana point Destroy Undead, Lightning Bolt is 150% as strong in terms of spell power usage only, not additional constant bonus, both spells are the same there.
| Spell Name | Single Target | Bonus damage at Basic | Bonus at Adv | Bonus at Expert | Variable Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Destroy Undead | No, Whole Battlefield (Undead Only) | 10 dmg (1x) | 20 dmg (2x) | 50 dmg (5x) | 10 dmg / spell power |
| Armageddon | No, Whole Battlefield (Safe Spell immunity or likewise) | 30 dmg (0.6x) | 60 dmg (1.2x) | 120 dmg (2.4x) | 50 dmg / spell power point |
| Magic Arrow | Yes | 10 dmg (1x) | 20 dmg (2x) | 30 dmg (3x) | 10 dmg / spell power point |
| Lightning Bolt | Yes | 10 dmg (0.4x) | 20 dmg (0.8x) | 50 dmg (2x) | 25 dmg / spell power point |
(there are a few damage spells missing in this list)
One can easily calculate (see second list below), that with a power skill of 20, Destroy Undead spell only does 250 points of damage at expert level, which means about two Dread Knights. Typically there there are more usefull spells available than Destroy Undead for harming the enemy.
Orb of the Firmament and Sorcery might help increase the damage dealt.
Spell vs Creatures
| Spell Power | Dmg per Power Point | Basic Air Magic Skill | Advanced Air Magic Skill | Expert Air Magic Skill | Vampire Lords (40hp) killed (depending on Air Magic Skill, Expert to Basic) | Skeleton Warriors killed (6hp each) (Expert to Basic Air) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 60 | One to none | 10 to 3 |
| 2 | 10 | 30 | 40 | 70 | One to none | 11 to 5 |
| 3 | 10 | 40 | 50 | 80 | Two to One | 13 to 6 |
| 4 | 10 | 50 | 60 | 90 | Two to One | 15 to 8 |
| 5 | 10 | 60 | 70 | 100 | Two to One | 16 to 10 |
| 6 | 10 | 70 | 80 | 110 | Two to One | 18 to 11 |
| 7 | 10 | 80 | 90 | 120 | Three to Two | 20 to 13 |
| 8 | 10 | 90 | 100 | 130 | Three to Two | 21 to 15 |
| 9 | 10 | 100 | 110 | 140 | Three to Two | 23 to 16 |
| 10 | 10 | 110 | 120 | 150 | Three to Two | 25 to 18 |
Undead Creatures
| Name | Health Points | Minimum Expert Air Magic Spell Points for one unit killed, no further enhancements (no Sorcery, no Orb of the Firmament) | Damage at Expert Air | Units killed | Damage done at 10 Spell Power at Expert Air | Units killed at 10 Spell Power at Expert Air | Damage done at 20 Spell Power at Expert Air | Units killed at 20 Spell Power at Expert Air |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skeleton | 6 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 10 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 25 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 41 |
| Skeleton Warrior | 6 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 10 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 25 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 41 |
| Walking Dead | 15 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 4 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 10 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 16 |
| Zombie | 20 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 3 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 7 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 12 |
| Wight | 18 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 3 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 8 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 13 |
| Wraith | 18 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 3 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 8 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 13 |
| Vampire | 30 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 2 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 5 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 8 |
| Vampire Lord | 40 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 1 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 3 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 6 |
| Lich | 30 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 2 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 5 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 8 |
| Power Lich | 40 hp | 1 primary skill point | 60 dmg | 1 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 3 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 6 |
| Black Knight | 120 hp | 7 primary skill points | 120 dmg | 1 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 1 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 2 |
| Dread Knight | 120 hp | 7 primary skill points | 120 dmg | 1 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 1 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 2 |
| Bone Dragon | 150 hp | 10 primary skill points | 150 dmg | 1 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 1 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 1 |
| Ghost Dragon | 200 hp | 15 primary skill points | 200 dmg | 1 | 150 dmg @lvl10 | 1 | 250 dmg @lvl20 | 1 |
Orb of the Firmament and Sorcery might help increase the damage dealt apart from spell points.
Animate Dead can over time repair the damage given mana points but requires some turns as it is not a splash heal as opposed to Destroy Undead damaging every undead on the battlefield.