New Summoning Spells: What's the consensus?

[aaelgr]

I was just wondering what opinions people have regarding Arcane Crystal, Blade Barrier and Summon Hive.
Arcane Crystal is surprisingly useful. I was able to use it during a seige and when it exploded it actually took the gate down (I should probably mention that the gate had been hit by the Catapult beforehand). It's also come in useful against Red Haven in the Necromancer campaign for dealing with turtled archers.
I'm unsure about Summon Hive. Having only used it a couple of times I don't see how it can be used effectively (and for some reason I've yet to get Blade Barrier, so any info on that would be appreciated).

[Omega_Destroyer]

I like Arcane Crystal. I like how you can cast multiples and have them blow up in a chain reaction. It's also useful if you have ranged units that aren't strong enough to kill a stack. Just have them shoot the crystal.

As to Blade Barrier, it's useful for creeping because it keeps large walkers from getting to you.

Summon hive is ok. There are better spells out there in my opinion.

[aaelgr]

I have used a weak ranged unit (we're talking no more than 20 Skeleton Archers) to kill off a fair chunk of the opposing army in one go. The AI does try to move units away from them, but Expert Mass Slow prevents that nicely (and for some -currently unknown- reason they sometimes attack it). It never occured to me that I could create a chain reaction of Arcane Crystals.
So what does Blade Barrier actually do? Is it akin to Firewall but now you can't walk through it?[/quote]

[Mirez]

I was just wondering what opinions people have regarding Arcane Crystal, Blade Barrier and Summon Hive.
Arcane Crystal is surprisingly useful. I was able to use it during a seige and when it exploded it actually took the gate down (I should probably mention that the gate had been hit by the Catapult beforehand). It's also come in useful against Red Haven in the Necromancer campaign for dealing with turtled archers.
I'm unsure about Summon Hive. Having only used it a couple of times I don't see how it can be used effectively (and for some reason I've yet to get Blade Barrier, so any info on that would be appreciated).

summon hive is okay, it lowers initiative every turn though it takes loooong for those wasps to find their target
arcane crystal is great, for both blocking 4x4 units or to use as weapon, I like to place them in a line between enemy's and my mage so my mage destroys it dealing damage
blade barrier is like firewall, but then better besides you can abuse it, when you attack a cerebrus/firehound he'll retaliate and if you pull it of right he'll also attack the blades causing damage

[Alabaster]

I like that thematically, now a summoner can do what a summoner should: clutter the field up with objects.

Arcane Crystal is growing on me. I didn't know it damaged walls; that's cool. It shuts down shooters (counts as an adjacent enemy), which is it's best use in my opinion. In 3x3 duel you can really build up some sick chain reactions.

Blade Barrier I like a lot. It's the only spell that just flat out says "No! You may not move there." The damage isn't much but it can really buy you time.

I like Hive for the initiative screwing. Players just hit it though.

You can have multiples of all these too, which is nice.

Phoenix seems to have gotten a big damage upgrade, though I haven't looked at the specifics.

I love summon against the computer. The computer has no cunning for Fire Trap.

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

I don't really like the new summoning spells that much. I would much rather have wasp swarm than arcane crystal really. Wasp swarm works with MOTW and will disable up to 2 stacks and damage a little. You have to set the crystal off before the shooter has a chance to move if you want to damage the stack, which means you have to use one of your stacks to shoot the crystal instead of shooting the shooter.

And blade barrier has too few hit points to be that useful really. It delays a unit for one turn and does a little damage. I would much rather have phantom forces, which has the potential to last for more than round and can also be cast on shooters to build up your damage over time. Phantom forces can also be used with MOTW.

Summon Hive has way too few hit points and uses the manna of the caster. Plus it attacks the closest enemy. If it used its own manna, had lots more hit points, and could be directed which stack to attack it might be a good level 4 spell.

Other factions got some very nice and even overpowered spells. It would have been nice for summoning to get something powerful too.

Edit: Consider this:

Blind is a level 4 spell that costs 10 spell points and if it lasts for 3 tuns it doesn't cost any extra. It can also be cast on whatever stack you want to cast it on.

Summon Hive costs 15 manna to cast and costs 5 mana every turn and it casts on whatever enemy stack is closest. I think all of the other level 4 spells except for summon elementals is more powerful.


GOW

[PhoenixReborn]

Summon hive can completely disable a slow walker stack like the treant where blind could not. If you didn't get wasp swarm in the guild it's an alternative.

I wouldn't mind it having it's own mana.

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

Summon hive can completely disable a slow walker stack like the treant where blind could not. If you didn't get wasp swarm in the guild it's an alternative.

I wouldn't mind it having it's own mana.

I didn't say that summon hive is absolutely useless. But it by no means approaches the power of other level 4 spells (except the other level 4 summoning spell, summon elementals.) And slow walkers are really no problem to deal with regardless.

GOW

[Alabaster]

So that's why it sometimes does nothing, it uses your mana, I hadn't noticed. Good to know. yeah, it could use it's own mana. Would be cute if it attacked anyone that attacked it as well.