Most powerful spell?

[arturchix]

Puppetmaster for me, unless the creature resists the spell. Before Raise Dead was heavily tweaked, it was my favourite spell for necros.

[Gaidal Cain]

The problem with Arcane Armor is that it requires you to take damage to start with, which usually isn't a very smart idea. It can be a very good spell - I wouldn't have passed C4M3 on heroic without it and exploiting the AI - but I find other spells better.

What do you mean with your first sentence? That you have to take SUMMONING?

No. That the stack that you cast it on needs to be the target of enemy attacks, something that you in most cases wish to avoid (and if you can't avoid it, I'd prefer to be able to resurrect it, since that's more flexible). I seldom find Arcane Armor worth casting, as for example mass haste would be better to take.

As for Puppet master: Rakshasas or mages are very good targets as well, so it's still quite useful against academy. It basically shifts the balance by two whole stacks in your favor, which is more than any other spell can do.

[arturchix]

As for Puppet master: Rakshasas or mages are very good targets as well, so it's still quite useful against academy. It basically shifts the balance by two whole stacks in your favor, which is more than any other spell can do.

That's correct, it reminds me a recent battle in one of the H5 campaigns where I cast Puppet Master on enemy rakshashas and they took out most of their own army which was significantly stronger than mine. Their initiative plus the fact that the enemy hero was unable to dispel the spell was quite powerful and I wouldn't be able to achieve similar results with other spells in this list. However, a lot depends on luck and random factor anyway - while Puppet Master can fail, spells like Resurrection and mass blessing spells never will.

[Jolly Joker]

Currently the only possible duel between Puppet Master and Arcane Armor is between Deirdre and Galib which is a bit sad because the troops are not typical for those towns, so the duels between them are a bit inconclusive.
I'd still say that with Counterspell, Light/Cleansing and possible Resistance artifacts on Mages and Rakshasas Academy is not the best target for the Puppet Master spell - at least when playing against a human opponent.

[Gaidal Cain]

Counterspell would make any spell a poor choice, so I think that can be disregarded. Resistance artifact only affect damage spells to my knowledge, so they can be disregarded as well. Thus only cleansing remains, but since it can target the Arcane armor as well, I fail to see how that is more of a problem for Puppet Master than Arcane Armor in general.

[Sir_Toejam]

As for Puppet master: Rakshasas or mages are very good targets as well, so it's still quite useful against academy. It basically shifts the balance by two whole stacks in your favor, which is more than any other spell can do.

well, one at a time, anyway.

I do think it was a good idea to only allow one puppeted stack at a time.

[Sir_Toejam]

The poll might have been better as a favorite spell poll.

Anyway, along those lines, I really like Firewall now. I mean REALLY like it. It's a wee bit too powerful against the AI, I think, and still decently powerful against other players.

Good damage to 3 spaces automatically, and if you cast it on archers or anything else that wants to stay put, they keep taking the heavy damage. Now that you can cast it directly on the enemy, it's one of my favorite spells .

you can also cast it multiple times in the same spot, mutliplying the damage each time you do.

it's devastating against AI shooters, and a decent strategic spell against human players.

[Metathron]

I love Summon Phoenix. It's just so deliciously (overly?) powerful, especially when utilized against, say, a stack of black dragons who previously caused you rivers of grief and now fall almost like flies.

Puppet Master would probably get my second vote.

[The Mad Dragon]

I honestly don't know because I haven't encountered all the spells, but thus far, I'd have to say Puppet Master.

[Sir_Toejam]

I find that the spell i use most often if i have it is mass confusion.

at expert level, no shooting and no retaliation is pretty damn handy in just about every fight.

[fly away]

at expert level, no shooting and no retaliation is pretty damn handy in just about every fight.

except if you play against the necros.

[Sir_Toejam]

...unless you have sandro's cloak.

[The Mad Dragon]

And what does Sandro's cloak do?

[DaemianLucifer]

Makes your mind spells work on undead as well.

[The Mad Dragon]

O.O....wow.....

[DaemianLucifer]

It is also very rare,so counting on it appearing is a bad idea.

[The Mad Dragon]

With an item like that, yea, I'd expect it to be rare.

[DaemianLucifer]

Its not just an item like that,any artifact thats a bit more powerfull is rare now.Unless you find/have an artifact merchant,you wont see anything uber-powerfull untill the end of the map.

[The Mad Dragon]

Awww, that sucks, lol.

[Gaidal Cain]

No, that's good. Artifacts should be rare enough to make you go "ooh" when you get one.