Mage and Arch Mage

Tower creatures
Level 1
Gremlin
Master Gremlin
Level 2
Stone Gargoyle
Obsidian Gargoyle
Level 3
Stone Golem
Iron Golem
Level 4
Mage
Arch Mage
Level 5
Genie
Master Genie
Level 6
Naga
Naga Queen
Level 7
Giant
Titan
Towns

Magi and Arch Magi are the level 4 creatures of Tower. They can be recruited from the Mage Tower. (Note that the plural form of 'mage' is 'magi'.)

"Apprentice Magi, under the mentorship of Wizards, serve as Tower troops before they become full masters of their craft. Both Mage and Arch Mage units suffer no damage penalty for attacking adjacent enemies and reduce the casting cost of allied hero spells by two. Arch Mage attacks penetrate cover and deal full damage to enemies behind siege walls." ^{RoE manual}

Although the documentation says that only Arch Magi ignore the obstacle penalty, this is also true for Magi.

Heroes with a specialty

• Theodorus the Wizard has Magi as a specialty, which increases the attack and defense skills of any Magi or Arch Magi for each level attained after 4th level and gives them a speed bonus of 1.
• Dracon the Wizard can upgrade Magi and Arch Magi (also Monks and Zealots) into Enchanters.

User Commentary

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Magi and Arch Magi are the second shooter of the Tower faction, replacing gremlins when they become available. It is not essential to upgrade magi early in the game. However, the upgraded Mage Tower only cost 5 and 2000 . Considering that it gives five more hit points, speed seven, it is quite affordable. The main downsides of the magi are that the original Mage Tower has a very steep cost, together with their low health and high cost for Library, which is a requirement for the upgraded dwelling.

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11/12 Attack is very high for level 4 creature, second only to Ogres. 8/9 Defense however is low, only Ogres and Fire and Energy Elementals have lower Defense. Coupled with low 25/30 Health and good 7-9 damage Magi and Archmagi are "glass cannon" ranged unit: they are great in offense, but they are relatively fragile and despite no melee penalty should be kept away from melee combat. Their average Speed of 7 allows them to act before some lower level creatures, but most of their own level 4 troops have either equal speed or higher.

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Bless and Curse have limited effect on them without Advanced Water Magic or Fire Magic skills, as their damage spread is minimal compared to average damage - min 7, average 8, max 9. Advanced Bless gives them 25% average damage bonus. Advanced Curse gives -25% penalty.

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Depending on situation Prayer can be very strong spell to cast on Magi, as it patches up their weaknesses - low Defense and Speed while also increasing their Attack, all by 2-4 points.

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Precision is usually better as it gives 3-6 Attack instead of 2-4, but only works in ranged combat and does not improve anything else.

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Frenzy is great if they cannot be reached by melee enemies or shot at by ranged stacks, giving at least 8/9 Attack bonus, equal or better than Slayer against its specific targets. Otherwise it might be better to use another spell, one that does not make already fragile stack even more vulnerable.

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While Slayer might be tempting to use against level 7 creatures, remember that Magi have only 25/30 health per troop, and being slow ranged unit they usually are just 1 dragon breath away from being wiped out, together with whatever was shielding them. Thus it might be better to cast Slayer on a stack that can survive longer than 1 turn when fighting appropriate targets.

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As usual morale and luck are hit-or-miss, especially on low health, high kill/disable priority troop like Magi, so don't prioritize Mirth and Fortune over more reliable effects, but if your Magi get one of these spells from Master Genies, it's good too.

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Obviously Stone Skin, Shield and Air Shield should be used to protect the fragile Magi from taking physical damage.

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When facing spellcasting enemy consider Protection from X spells or Anti-magic, as low 25/30 health coupled with very high ranged damage means they are big direct damage spell magnets.

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If they will not be reached and overwhelmed by melee troops in turn 1, Slow is perhaps the best spell to use when having Magi in your army. They don't really need any magical support apart from more ranged hits when melee enemies are slowed to crawl under fire, suffering more casualties each turn before they even reach Magi.

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As they deal high damage but are fragile, they should be shielded from melee by tough melee troops like Golems and Nagas. Be careful when facing dragons or creatures with AoE attack like Magogs and Liches.

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In Tower army they can benefit from Master Genies' random spellcasting. Magi should be lower priority targets than Nagas and Titans, as Magi simply lack their raw strength.

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If your Magi are forced into melee, exploit the fact they reliably deal high damage but are vulnerable - use other stacks, preferably tough melee unit like Iron Golems to soak up counterattack and then hit the enemy hard free of retaliation.

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No obstacle penalty means they are great siege troops both in defense and attack, enjoying their ranged superiority while opposing ranged stacks are saddled with 50% damage reduction due to walls.

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The mana cost reduction ability does not depend on number stacks in army or number of troops in stack. Even if all Magi and Archmagi under hero's control have died during battle, spell costs of all hero's combat spells remains reduced by 2 spell points until the end of the battle. Because the cost reduction is flat -2, the spells that benefit from it most are those with the lowest base cost. This ability is cumulative with other cost reductions, like from Basic X Magic secondary skills. It also basically negates Pegasus and Silver Pegasus's Magic damper ability, as -2 and +2 adjustments equal 0 net spell cost change.

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Because Magi are ranged troops who cannot survive long in melee, the best secondary skills for them are obviously Archery (and Orrin in particular), Tactics and Armorer. Magic skills in general synergize very well with Magi, as the cost reduction is cumulative.

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Magi's attacks visually look like bolts of energy, while Arch Magi's attacks are concentrated beams. They both use their staff to strike enemies in melee combat.

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The cutscene of duel between Archmage and Medusa Queen in Restoration of Erathia intro is somewhat close to realistic outcome - Medusas are no match for Magi in ranged combat, but in melee their petrify special ability can even the odds, disabling the opponent and allowing to set up overwhelming attack.

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See Also:

• List of creatures

• Comparison of Level 4 Creatures
• Comparison of Ranged Creatures