Presenting: Isabel Ultima!

[maltz]

(some spoilers follow)

Since the entire HoMMV story spins around Isabel, let's dedicate an article discussing how to build Isabel as powerful as she could be! We want THE BEST ISABEL!

Although I am probably going to reply myself somewhat below, I welcome everyone to join the discussion. Let me make a humble start now.

(1) Isabel's level cap.

Level cap of Haven campaign: (M5)24.
Level cap of Necro campaign: (M3)26, (M5)30.

Since C3M5 is small and we will fight most battles with Markal, Isabel can probably reach level 27-8 in the end, with the help of the Sylvana Ancient (level up tree). Let's be conservative and say Lv 27 is Isabel's final level. That leaves us 26 level ups.

If I remember right, there are a total of 4 witch huts that Isabel could visit: C1M4, C1M5, C3M3, C3M5.

The C1M4 witch hut is very close to the beginning, so with the slightest patience anybody could restart the game until it offers something useful. So let's count this one in, but disregard the others for now.

That gives us 26 + 1 = 27 skills to choose from.

Isabel's starting condition: Counterstrike *, Leadership ** (3 skills)

Isabel will have 27+3 = 30 skill points.

For any hero there are 6 skill slots, each contains 3 proficiency levels and 3 secondary skill slots. There might be an ultimate ratio ability. Since Unstoppable charge is not useful at all, we can ignore it now. That leaves us to a total of 6 x 6 = 36 skill slots. We have to give up mostly six. Okay... good to know.


(2) Stat bonus. (based on patch 1.2)

This one is a little complicated. Let's be patient and count all of the stat bonuses that Isabel could visit. To make things easy to understand we will count the stat points instead of calling the bonus "a mercenary camp", etc. I believe that any brave hero would prefer +2 ATK over +2 DEF in the arena, right?

p.s. I am using the mega screenshots provided in the walkthrough section as well as my memory. If my eyes were bad or the map has changed (with patch or my memory) since then, I will make corrections whenever possible.

C1M1 - 0 ATK, 0 DEF, 0 SPP, 0 NLG (knowledge)
C1M2 - 2 ATK, 1 DEF, 0 SPP, 1 NLG
C1M3 - 1 ATK, 1 DEF, 0 SPP, 0 NLG
C1M4 - 6 ATK, 1 DEF, 4 SPP, 4 NLG (Edited, will modify contents later)
C1M5 - 2 ATK, 1 DEF, 2 SPP, 1 NLG
C3M3 - 4 ATK, 1 DEF, 2 SPP, 2 NLG
C3M5 - 3 ATK, 0 DEF, 0 SPP, 2 NLG

TOTAL 18 ATK, 5 DEF, 8 SPP, 10 NLG (41 PTs)

Isabel's starting condition: 1 ATK, 2 DEF, 1 SPP, 1 NLG (5 PTs)

Great. Now what will Isabel look like before the stat bonus at lv 27?

Let's look at the fan-made, officially-approved manual (available on heroesofmightandmagic.com)
When a knight levels up, he/she gets:
30% Attack, 45% Defense, 10% Spellpower, 15% Knowledge.

Realistically, you can test level up at the beginning of each mission with a console code, and pick your favorite build with some patience in restart missions. But for argument's sake, let's say Isabel follows this official, average pattern.

Therefore, we would expect a "raw" lv 27 Isabel to have gained:

26x0.30 = 7.8 PTs ATK
26x0.45 = 11.7 PTs DEF
26x0.10 = 2.6 PTs SPP
26x0.15 = 3.9 PTs NLG

Killing off the loweset .6 decimal for DEF and round up the rest, we get 26 points in total. Therefore, a raw, average, lv 27 Isabel would have:

9 ATK, 14 DEF, 3 SPP, 5 NLG

Now after the stat bonuses, we get the finalized, average, lv 27 Isabel:

27 ATK, 19 DEF, 11 SPP, 15 NLG

Now this looks about right!

OK! So what is the ultimate Isabel build? Which skills offer the most advantages to our beloved Queen? (to be continued.)

[maltz]

I will start with er... how about Enlightenment.

Enlightenment (Expert): 1 stat point per 2 levels.

Useful secondary skills:
Intlligence (+50% mana)
Scholar -> Graduate (+2 NLG) -> Wizard's Reward (+2 SPP)

We've already assumed that Isabel will reach lv 27. So with expert Enlightenment Isabel will get 13 points bonus.

Also, from level 1 to level 27, Isabel would have gained 26 points on her own, and up to 38 points from the bonuses. This means that the extra 13 points will be added on top of the existing (5+26+38) = 69 points.

That's an average bonus of 13/69 = 18.8%. This means that Isabel is 18.8% "better". But that doesn't tell us too much, right?

Let's convert this 13 points of attributes to all of her stats based on the same distribution pattern we used above. (Realistically, one could be patient and do trial level ups to make sure a favorable Enlightenment bonus distribution.) Let's do the average bonus for argument's sake, to show "the average Isabel":

13x0.30 = 3.9 PTs ATK
13x0.45 = 5.85 PTs DEF
13x0.10 = 1.3 PTs SPP
13x0.15 = 1.95 PTs NLG

After regular rounding we get the following bonus due to enlightenment for an average Isabel:

4 ATK, 6 DEF, 1 SPP, 2 NLG

What does this mean? Let's take ATK as an example.

Under normal circumstances, each point of (ATK - DEF) means 5% more damage, when ATK > DEF. When Isabel does NOT have enlightenment, we would expect her to be:

27 ATK, 19 DEF, 9 SPP, 14 NLG. (concluded from the 1st post)

That 27 points in ATK will convert to 27x5% = 135% of extra damage (WOW!!!).

If this average Isabel picks expert Enlightenment, she would probably get 27+4=31 ATK, and that's 31x5% = 155% of extra damage. The bonus from enlightenment in terms of Isabel's attack power is (155-135)/135= 14.8%. In other words, the average, hard-working Isabel gains 14.8% more attack damage by Enlightenment. (A lazy Isabel visits less stat bonuses, thus gain a relatively larger bonus here.)

This 14.8% bonus applies to all physical attack units (melee and ranged). In terms of melee, Enlightenment on Isabel is slightly worse than Expert Attack (15% melee bonus), but the the Attack skill comes with the 20% bonus Archery feat that prevails. Also, there is a very, very good secondary skill in Attack -- "Retribution". We will discuss that later.

Similarly, we can work out the case for Defense. There are 6 extra points in defense based on a base of 19, so the bonus is 6/19 = 31.6%. The Enlightenment bonus on Isabel's defense is 31.6%. Again, this applies to both melee and ranged. However, this does NOT mean there will be a 31.6% damage reduction, or 6x5% = 30%. Things are a little more complicated here.

Let's assume Isabel is fighting a clone of herself. With the same creature X. Isabel has ATK 27 and DEF 19, making creature X to have ATK of 27 + X, and DEF 19 + X.

Since Attack > Defense, when creature X attcks its clone, the damage is done based on the difference of Attack - Defense = 27-19 = 8. So there is an 140% of damage done.

Now with the Enlightenment effect (forget about attack bonus for now), the ATK - DEF difference becomes 27-(19+6)=2, so there is 110% of damage done.

Now you can work out the exact damage reduction in this case. (140-110)/140 = 21.4%.

If Isabel is battling Demon Sovereign (ATK = 46), then the damage bonus is lowered by 30% from 100%+(46-19)x5% = 225%. The actual reduction is only 30/225 = 13.3%.

If Isabel is battling some poor peasants (ATK = 1), then we have to apply another formulat because DEF is now greater than ATK. In this case we have a difference of 19-1 = 18 before, to a difference of 25-1 = 24 after Enlightenment. Checking the table I see the damage reduction changes from 47.4% (52.6% received) to 54.5% (45.5% received). That would be a (52.6-45.5)/52.6 = 13.5% damage reduction.

You can see it is all different, but it is safe to say it is not as good as the Defense skill (30% on top for melee, 20% for ranged).

(Note: I am sorry that I made a mistake here before. This is the correct way to look at it.)

Spellpower: 1/11 = 9.1% bonus. Unless you want a Summoning / Destructive Isabel, this 1 point isn't making any difference.

Knowledge: 2/15 = 14.3% bonus. Practically, this is a jump from 150 mana to 170 mana. If you take the Intelligence feat to go with Isabel, it actually converst to 170 + 85 = 255 mana. That's 105 (70%) extra mana! Wow!

Alternatively, you can give up 2 more skill points to go for Scholar -> Graduate of 20x150% = 30 more mana. Wizard's reward (2 point spell power) is pointless, as you will have to give up Intelligence for it.

To sum up, for an average, hard-working Isabel, Enlightenment makes her 18.8% more powerful in average. For Isabel, Enlightenment delivers 14.8% bonus in all unit damage, plus ~20% (or lower) damage reduction, and it gives a loooot of (70%) of extra mana!

Enlightenment looks great on Isabel. Let's give it a standard "Good" rating 8/10.

Even better, since Expert Enlightenment + Intelligence is probably all we are happy about, we can call a stop, and yield up 2 skill slots to use in other places.

[Night_Heaven]

Hm..yes it is indeed a good point and a very well done tactic.I will fallow your tactic in my game.I am starting now the campaign You really know what are you doing ..well done.Big hug for ya.

[maltz]

Since I've mentioned it, let's take a look at Attack next.

Attack: 5% extra melee damage for each skill point. That's not very good. Let's give it a mediocre score (6/10).

However, there are useful secondary skills:

Archery: +20% ranged damage.

For 1 skill point, you get +20% damage on 2/7 of the army, but to be realistic the ranged units are usually much busier than the melee ones. Let's give it a better score of (8/10).

Battle Frenzy: +1 min & max damage on units.

Let's take peasants for an example. Peasants' damage range is 1-1, so Battle Frenzy actually DOUBLES (100% bonus) their damage. However, for an archangel (damage = 50-50), BF converts to only 2% bonus damage. The actual benefit of Battle Frenzy falls somewhere between 2% and 100%!

Realistically, you have to factor in creature's growth, their iniatives on the battlefield, as well as the attack bonus of creatures influenced by Isabel. The calculation is a little complicated, so I have done it for you on MS Excel (I used the average, hard-working Lv 27 Isabel, ATK = 27). The answer is 13.1%. Battle Frenzy improves an average, upgraded Haven army's damage by 13.1%, but only when it is led by a lv 27, hard-working Isabel!

Now since BF applies to both melee and ranged, and it actually works great on Archers and Marksmen (2-4, 2-8 dmg, means 33% and 20% bonus, exactly like Archery and even better), we can give it a score better than archery! (9/10) (the only ones that suffer are priests. But Isabel usually carries much more archers and marksmen than priests.)

Retribution: 5% bonus damage per morale point. (Not long ago there was a thread about it in the forum).

Now since Isabel comes with leadership, I assume everybody would sooner or later max leadership on Isabel. Also, since Isabel usually carries a pure-Haven army in the campaign, there is another +2 morale bonus. This means that Isabel's units will normally carry 5 points of morale. That means you will get 5% x 5 = 25% damage bonus!

For one skill point, you get 25% damage bonus. (But actually... 3, because you need Expert Trainer, which needs another Counterstrike level.) That clearly beats the other two secondary skills, or any other skill! Let's give it a great score (10/10)!

To sum up, althought Attack is not a good pick itself (+5% melee for each skill points), the secondary skills that comes with it are great! With 6 skill spoints, you will get a grand total of:

15%-20% + ~13.1% + 25% = ~55% damage bonus.

That's some great stuff for a might hero! Let's give Attack a high score of 9/10, and the priority goes:

Attack -> Retribution -> Attack -> Battle Frenzy -> Attack -> Archery.

p.s. I ignored Tactics and Power of Speed. Tactics is only great for Paladins, but you can get Aura of swiftness from the Leadership skill set that does the same thing (even better there). Power of Speed is a joke.

[maltz]

Let's now look at the L word -- Luck.

Each point of Luck gives 10% of chance to deal double damage. This means that for each skill point in Luck, your expected damage goes up 10%.

So where does this 10% per point stand? If you look at Attack, for 6 skill points (let's ignore the Expert Trainer prerequisite for now), you get 55% extra damage. That's slightly LESS than 10% per skill point. So what does this tell us?

Luck is (slightly) better than Attack! Instant 9/10 right here!

Unfortunately, the secondary feats for Luck is much less impressive. The only potentially useful ones for Isabel is Magic Resistance and Soldier's Luck.

Soldier's luck only affects the shield bash ability for Isabel, if I remember correctly. Since squires are slow melee units, they do not have a lot of chances to demonstrate the power of soldier's luck. Low score (5/10).

Magic resistance (15% chance to resist any magic) is quite a nice feat. Now if you have not finished the campaign, let's just say that you will have some bitter taste in your mouth when your Frenzy fizzles. 9/10 for the sadistic pleasure!

So, we can conclude that Luck is a great skill (9/10). Besides, we have rooms for at least 1 skill point to spare. The priority goes:

Luck -> Luck -> Luck -> magic resistance -> soldier's luck

Good!

[maltz]

So far I've been given a lot of 9/10s. Now let's look at something less exciting.

Defense

The entire defense idea is based on getting hit, and thus take less damage from the tragedy. Now if you know what you are doing in the game, you don't get hit all the time. Most of the time your neutral targets drop before they get a chance to counter attack. So Defense is usually only applied against larger armies led by enemy heroes.

From the previous discussion we know that the Enlightenment skill already provides Isabel with about 10-30% bonus of damage reduction. Sure Defense is better than "Enlightenment Defense", but is it really needed? There is only one bonus extra - Protection for 15% damage reduction from spells. If you recall the campaigns, Isabel is not going to get hit with powerful spells, unless you send Raelag (cough, spoiler), so it is not a good feat here. Other secondary skills, such as Stand Your Ground and Last Stand are just defeatists' choice. If you ever need these skills, you have disappointed us fellow Isabel fans.

Let's give Defense an arbitrary low score of 3/10 for now.


War Machine

War machine is nice for small encounters, but the balista becomes insignificant in large battles. Also, Isabel does not need to siege difficult towns in her missions, so there is no point to quickly bring down a castle wall. Since our goal here is to develop the Ultimate Isabel, we don't need the little machines to show that she needs some outside help! Mandatory 1/10.


Leadership (Inherent)

So how good is Leadership? Each point of morale gives a unit 10% of chance to "get high". Each "get high" returns the unit to 50% initative, instead of 0%. In other words, a unit can act twice as often when they get the morale eagle thing going on.

So, this is also a 100% power boost! In some way this is equivalent to Luck, which also gives you a 100% power boost. However, since no unit can "get high" in their first action, the actual bonus is less than 100%. Practically, this "get high" bonus starts as ~50%, and slowly increases as the battle drags along, to reach eventually close to 100%.

Now since each point in leadership gives your units 10% to get high, you can say the bonus per skill point is between 5-10%. The more powerful you are, the faster you win a battle, and thus the less this bonus becomes.

Therefore, Leadership is not as good as Luck (Doh!), but still very good if you are not THAT powerful (8/10).

Let's look at the useful secondary feats for leadership:
Diplomacy: This skill is perfect for high difficulty level, as you can sometimes unexpectedly recruit HUGE stacks of neutrals for free! (9/10)
Divine Guidance (requires retaliation strike): This skill is useful when you want to push a win to avoid damage. Each guidance raise the iniative of the target by 30% for one time, if I remember correctly. (7/10)
Aura of Swiftness: (requires divine guidance): All unit speed + 1. (or faster Isabel on the map, too?) This skill enables your paladin's to kill large creatures before they get a chance to act! Your slower melee units can also travel farther now. (8/10)
Estates: 250G per day. In average it takes about 1-2 months to know you are going to win a mission. In the meantime, you get 30-60x250 = 7500-15000 extra gold to spend. Duh. (5/10)

I guess it is clear that Leadership deserves 8/10, and the priority goes:
(Isabel starts with advanced Leaderhip)

Diplomacy -> Leadership -> Divine Guidance -> Aura of Swiftness.

p.s. You will need to take Retaliation strike before Divine Guidance.

[LordErtz]

Just curious, but do you recommend enlightenment over defense for all heroes or just Isabel (knight) because you do have some interesting statistics.

[Warlock]

Just curious, but do you recommend enlightenment over defense for all heroes or just Isabel (knight) because you do have some interesting statistics.

I won't speak for him, but Knights are primary Defense-statted so maybe only for them? I don't know.

[SmokeyTheBear]

I think Dark Magic is a good choice for Isabel and Knights in general.
With Fallen Knight (+5 SP to Dark Spells, -1 Morale), she can cast decently lasting Blindness and Puppet Master spells, and the really useful Mass Slow/Weakness/Confusion/Suffering spells.
Leadership offsets the -1 Morale.

I feel that Logistics is essential for ANY hero in H5 as there is no more H3 Dimension Door/Town Portal. The bonus movement is just too good. For the perks, go Pathfinding->Familiar Ground->Death March.
Familar Ground is only useful sometimes, not a high priority to take early. Death March is good as you attack a lot of castles during the campaign.

[maltz]

Just curious, but do you recommend enlightenment over defense for all heroes or just Isabel (knight) because you do have some interesting statistics.

To tell the truth, I have no idea. I haven't gone that far in the Ultima series yet. Personally I don't like defense, because there are always better skills to take. Even enlightenment can be traded for something better in some campaign heroes.

However, I've noticed something probably wrong in my above calculation. The damage reduction from enlightenment works on top of the exisiting attack-defense damage reduction bonus, so more than 6 points are required to reach an extra 30% reduction.

I will make the corresponding modification when I figure things out.

[maltz]

Let's look at a popular choice: Logistics.

Logistics is a little different from other skills, because you can't feel their effect on the battlefield. On the other hand, this skill allows you to reach the battlefield faster, so you might be facing a smaller enemy than you would do without logistics.

Under expert logistics, the movement is increased from 2500 to 3249, which is a 749/2500 = ~30% bonus. The secondary skill Pathfinding makes this bonus even bigger on rough terrains.

The neutrals grow at a rate of 10%. So if you somehow drag 10 weeks in a mission, then you are seeing stacks "13 weeks old" without logistics. That means they should be 1.11^3 = 1.37, 37% larger on heroic.

Too bad we know Isabel's missions are all quite easy, so there is no panic of seeing stacks 37% larger. How about racing with AI heroes? There are only three missions where you are racing against AI - that is C1M5, C3M3 and C3M5.

C1M5: I usually let Isabel defend in the town, so logistics does not matter.
C3M3: You can use Isabel to flag a few mines, but she is not going to steal Markal's skeleton archer conversion show unless you've seriously messed up Markal's build.
C3M5: Same reason. If you use Isabel you get no skeleton archers.

So there is really no need to get Isabel Logistics. I would definitely trade it with a skill that actually means something on the battlefield. 1/10 for Logistics on Isabel!

By the way, if you have finished the campaign, obviously you want to have a more threatening Isabel now. You don't want to completely throw away a skill slot from her to make your life easier, right?

p.s. I used to like Logistics a lot, until I realize what I can trade it with. On high difficulties it is not your movement speed that restricts your strength, but your army power. There is no point to move far when you don't have enough army to defeat any stack.


Counterstrike (Inherent)

Counterstrike makes you deal more damage during a counter attack. If you are having a strategy based on getting hit, then your Isabel isn't doing very well. I can probably count the number of times that Isabel is actually hit and counter attack. Oh no, those who got hit are my canon fodder single-peasant units. They died upon contact, so there is no counter attack.

More levels in counterstrike allows you to train units up the tiers. However, I think the most common training happens on peasants --> archers, so even a low skill level of counterstrike is enough.

However, this seemingly useless skill set has one very nice secondary feat, and two other secondary feats that leads to other good secondary feats. Let's go over them:

Benediction: This prayer skill is free, and provides 1 morale, 1 ATK, 1 DEF and 1 Initiative. Very nice combo all in one! However, its effect may not be as dramatic as a nasty Mass spell such as Mass Haste or Mass Slow. (8/10)
Expert Trainer: Doesn't mean much, but it leads to the 25% damage bonus Retribution! (Attack)(8/10)
Retaliation Strike: Throughout my experiences with Isabel, I only used this skill once. However, it leads to nice Leadership feats, namely Divind Guidance and Aura of Swiftness.(8/10)

Let's give Counterstrike a 7/10, for its crappy main skill but necessary secondary feats!

[Orfinn]

Impressive to say at least

[theGryphon]

I must say I totally disagree with your evaluation of Logistics. Actually, I disagree with evaluating skills with only what they add on the battlefield.

Btw, I think Defense is much better than you think it is. You might have been right if you already had a level 27 Isabel who could wipe everything in a blink. But until then, like it or not, the troops will suffer damage and your chances in successive battles will depend on the remaining forces.

Furthermore, I don't think Enlightenment is that good. Maybe it's a tie with Defense, which brings Magic Protection, Vitality and 20% ranged defense. Actually, I would go for Defense.

It's really hard to assess Dark magic, and I think it's a very good choice. So, for Isabel, I would suggest:

Counterstrike (mandatory)
Leadership (mandatory)
Attack
Luck
Light Magic
One out of Logistics / Defense / Dark Magic

[Lady Farquad]

Way to go Maltz! (I knew you were a teacher)

and Gryphon, remember Maltz is building an Isabel for the campaigns, not an "all-purpose-knight"

Thank You soooo much Maltz, how about writing a whole series?
(Markal, Agrael, Raelag....)
I hope you got the time.

[theGryphon]

and Gryphon, remember Maltz is building an Isabel for the campaigns, not an "all-purpose-knight"

I know, and the campaign is not a single deathmatch. It's a series of battles, exploration, etc. And hence my views...

If it were for building a duel heroe, then I would've agreed more...

PS: It's theGryphon

[maltz]

Let's look at the magic schools next. Magics perform... eh megics, turning a difficult battle into a breeze. Throughout Isabel's campaign, there are a few towns that offer Isabel chances to learn magics:

C1M4 (Haven): Up to lv 3.
C1M5 (Haven): Up to lv 5.
C3M3 (Haven, Academy, Necropolis): Up to lv 5
C3M5 (Haven, Necropolis): Up to lv 5.

When we factor in the specialization in different magic schools, we know Isabel is covered in Light (Haven, Academy), Dark (Haven, Necropolis) and Summoning Magic (Academy, Necropolis). That leaves out...

Destructive Magic

Unless you pick Arcane Intuition from Enlightenment, there is simply NO CHANCE for Isabel to learn lv 4-5 destructive magic. Besides, Isabel suffers from very low spell power, so Destructive Magic is very ineffective in Isabel's hands. An automatic 1/10.

Light Magic

Light magic is probably everybody's default choice. The lv 5 spell Resurrection makes adventuring very easy with a small army. Isabel can become Markal's best help in campaign 3. Needless to say, the various mass spells are making some great advantage. Let's make a few examples.

Mass Haste

At expert level it boosts iniatives by 40%. I heard that the game actually keeps track of decimals, so your iniative 8 peasants will have an initiative of 8 x 1.4 = 11.2, not rounded down to 11.

This might not seem to be a lot, but in practical battles the engagement usually looks like this:

1. Your turn, you wait.
2. Enemy's turn, they rush forward.
3. Your turn, you attack.
4. Enemy's turn, they attack.

Now after Mass Haste it often becomes:

1. Your turn, you wait. Isabel casts Mass Haste.
2. Enemy's turn, they rush forward.
3. Your turn, you attack.
4. Your turn, you attack again!

Now that's dominance!

Mass Righteous Might

At expert level this magic boosts units' ATK by 12. If your victim unit's DEF is exactly equal to the attack power of your attacking unit, then you get exactly 60% more damage! However, since Isabel is already good in ATK, the extra "60%" may convert to something less on top of your existing bonus.

For example, a marksman under the command of our average, hard-working lv 27 Isabel (ATK 27) has an attack of 31 (100 + 31x5% = 255% damage dealt). After Mass RM this bonus becomes (100 + 43x5% = 315%). The bonus now is only (315-255)/255 = 23.5%.

Similar calculations can be carried out for other units. I've done the chore for you, figuring out the average bonus for a standard, upgraded Haven army, factored in growth and iniatives. The bonus is 19.5%.

Mass Divine Strength

This mass bless gives everyone maximum strength. Now, since all Haven units have different damage range, I have also worked out the case for an average, upgraded Haven army. The bonus is... a whooping 28.9%!

The reason for this HUGE benefit compared to Mass RM is that haven army from Tier 1-4 all have relatively large damage variation. (Conscript 1-2, Marksman 2-8, Squire 2-5, Imperial Griffin 5-15, etc.) Under Isabel's high ATK command, low tier troops can now overcome the defense of high tier units, so they become more effective. However, if you have an Archangel-only (dmg 50-50) army, please forget about this spell.

Mass Deflect Missle

Oh this spell rules in a castle defense, and all of Isabel's big battles are castle defense! 70% ranged damage reduction -- now that beats everything! Now Isabel laughs in front of a super F*nd*n on C6M4!

Another big plus for Light Magic is that without it, Isabel will fall to the hand of any naughty Zehir / Findan / Raelag, even Godric, whoever casts Frenzy and Puppet Master. Maybe for this reason alone, we should always give Isabel light magic just to make sure she deserves the name "Ultima"!

Since we gave Luck 9/10... that's 1 skill point for 10% bonus. Light Magic gives similar bonus, handing out various 20-40% with 6 skill points, and the almighty Resurrection. Let's also give Light Magic a great score of 9... no, it is REQUIRED for Isabel Ultima! 10/10!

However, it is going to cost you 6 skill points.

p.s. Guardian Angel is a defeatist's feat. If you are picking up all the low-score skills I discussed above, like Defense + Logistics + War Machine, you may need it.

Dark Magic

While Light Magic focuses on buffing oneself, Dark Magic focuses on de-buffing the enemy. The high level dark magics (Blind, Frenzy, Puppet Master) are particular effective on all cratures except undead, which Isabel will NOT be facing any. Sounds very good here, right?

Now, what happens if F*nd*n's master hunters decide to go nuts before he gets a chance to mass cleanse? Wahahaha...

Mass Slow

Mass Slow is the counterpart of Mass Haste, making enemy units 40% slower. However, they are not exactly equivalent. If you look at the iniatives:

Mass Haste
1.4 (Isabel) : 1 (enemy) Ratio = 1.4
Mass Slow
1 (Isabel) : 0.6 (enemy) Ratio = 1.67

Actually Mass Slow beats Mass Haste! We are talking about some insane difference here just by this single spell!

However, in Mass Slow your own units does not act faster compared to an enemy hero (if there is one), while in Mass Haste they might be able to wipe the opponent out before the enemy hero gets the next turn. Therefore, Mass Slow is the spell against neutrals, and Mass Haste is the spell for heroes.

Another draw back of Mass Slow, or any dark magic, is that enemies may be able to resist it, if they have picked up the Magic Resistance feat (luck), or has the Dwarven artifact that blcoks Slow.

Mass Weakness

Mass Weakness is the opposite of Mass Divine Strength. (spoiler follows) Now since the largest encounter that Isabel will ever face is against an Haven army led by nobody else than yourself, we can calculate the average effectiveness of Isabel when she casts Mass Weakness. It is actually exactly the same as the Mass Divine Strength bonus, 28.9%! (moving from the average to max, or to min.)

Although this bonus seems great, keep in mind that you only receive it when you screw up (getting hit), so it is not actually as good as killing your enemy before the get a chance to raise their weapons.

Mass Suffering

Mass Suffering works the opposite to Mass Righteous Might. The calculation is a bit complicated as Isabel's DEF is usually higher than the attacker's ATK. However, it is safe to say that the damage reduction is also about 20%.

Mass Confusion

Very effective during a castle siege; however, the enemy heroes can simply mass cleanse the negative effect. While facing ranged neutrals, this is a great spell to cast.

Mass Decay -- depends on spell power. Not useful.

Mass Vulnerability -- only lower 6 DEF on expert, compared to 12 ATK of M. Suffering. Since ATK-DEF is already a large number for Isabel, the difference is little.

Dark Magic seems to be very good! Let's give it 9/10! You can also conserve skill points by ignoring M. of Pain at least.

By the way, from M. of curse you can choose the Fallen Knight feat that makes Dark Magic more powerful. Well, if you look at the dark magic mechanisms, only ONE spell's power is affected by spell power (Decay). Spell power usually only affects the duration of dark magics. Isabel's low default spell power is more than enough to last them through the battle already, so it is not really necesary to make the spell longer-lasting.

Note: Opposite Light and Dark magics actually overwrites each other. For example, if you Mass Slow your opponent, and your opponent cast Mass Haste after you, then the net effect is Mass Haste. Your Mass Slow is overwritten.

[maltz]

Summoning Magic

Summoning magic is all about cloning (Phantom Force) and pheonix. Should Isabel follow this route?

Summon pheonix has to be waited till C3M3. Now since Isabel's spell power is very low, her phoenix is not going to be any good.

If you have played C5M5, I guess you've seen the power of Phantom Force from Isabel's husband. Or maybe you have lots of fun with it on Agrael. Maybe we can match Isabel to her husband and create some huge pain in your lower self... wahahaha. Phantom Force is always offered in C1M4 on the road side.

So which unit would Isabel probably clone? How about the battle-diving Imperial Griffins? The enemy can't even touch the clone! That's simply unfair.

However, since Imperial Griffins are tier-4 creatures, all you need is Sorcery and the Magic Insight feat.

So Summoning Magic does not seem to be useful. However, just for cloning's sake, let's give it 7/10.


Sorcery

Sorcery usually compliments a major magic school. For example, if Isabel has taken Light Magic, then she resurrect more often with Sorcery. Unfortunately, Sorcery does not make Mass Spells any faster.

Other than Resurrection and Phantom Force, Isabel will be casting Mass spells like mad. Therefore, Sorcery does not really help much. The clones are great, but not as great as Mass Deflect Missle or Frenzy. On the other hand, Sorcery enables fast Frenzy and Resurrection as well. So that's endless trouble for your opponents (which is eventually yourself)!

If you have extra skill points to spare, maybe you can take Arcane Training for cheaper casts.

Just for FAST cloning 's sake, let's give it a 8/10. If you combine it with Dark and/or Light then Sorcery actually worths 9/10!!


***


Ok, I've finally covered all skills. Let's rank the best of them based on scores (also listing secondary feats.)

Light 10
- M. Blessings 9
- M. Adjuration 9
- M. Wrath 10

Luck 9
- Magic Resistance 9

Dark 9
- M. Mind 10
- M. Curse 7

Attack 9
- Expert Trainer -> Retribution 10
- Battle Frenzy 9
- Archery 8

Leadership 8
- Diplomacy 9
- Divine Guidance -> Aura of Swiftness 8

Sorcery 8.5
- Magic Insight 10
- Arcane Training 8

Enlightenment 8
- Intelligence 9
- Scholar -> Graduate 5

And, we have 30 skills points to spend. Let's see... some skills are great together. So I will suggest 2 builds:

Presenting...

Isabel Ultima [MIGHT] !!

Expert Counterstrike (benediction, expert training, retaliation strike) - 6
Expert Leadership (diplomacy, divine guidance, aura of swiftness) - 6
Expert Light (3 masters) - 6
Expert Attack (retribution, battle frenzy, archery) - 6
Expert Luck (magic resistance) - 4
Expert Enlightenment - 3

Total: 31 skill points.
(Let's hope you get lucky and get the extra skill point from a witch hut.)

Isabel Ultima [MIGIC] !!

Advanced Counterstrike (benediction, retaliation strike) - 4
Expert Leadership (diplomacy, divine guidance, aura of swiftness) - 6
Expert Light (3 masters) - 6
Expert Dark (m. of mind & curse) - 5
Expert Sorcery (magic insight, arcane training) - 5
Expert Enlightenment (Intelligence) - 4

Total: 30 skill points.

If you like something in between, then...

Isabel Ultima [HYBRID] !!

Expert Counterstrike (benediction, retaliation strike, expert trainer) - 6
Expert Leadership (diplomacy, divine guidance, aura of swiftness) - 6
Expert Light (3 masters) - 6
Expert Luck (magic resistance) - 4
Expert Dark (m. of mind) - 4
Expert Attack (retribution, battle frenzy, archery) - 6

Total: 32 points!
(You need more luck from witch hut now!)

All builds deserve to be called Isabel Ultima!

That MIGHT build is going to dish out the maximum physical damage any Isabel can ever imagine. The MAGIC build makes Isabel icredibly flexible and fail-proof. Putting Intelligence on it makes sure she doesn't dry out too soon, but probably she still can't outlast that knoweldge monster Findan... too bad. The HYBRID build is just based on the scores. You lose about 15%-20% in attack and defense, and you lose 30% in high-level spell casting speed. Your call.

Anyways, thanks for reading and I hope you have enjoyed it.

[maltz]

I disagree with evaluating skills with only what they add on the battlefield.

Unfortunately this is what I intend to do. In essence, I am trying to create an Isabel that is so hard to beat on C6M4 finale that you have to also carefully engineer a hero (probably Findan) to put up the fight -- similar to the Godric vs. Markal case.

But until then, like it or not, the troops will suffer damage and your chances in successive battles will depend on the remaining forces.

Er... against neutrals, You can usually avoid loss by spliting out 1-peasant units to die for your major stacks. That should cut your loss to some insignificant number. Battle dive is your friend on M4 and M5.

I don't think Enlightenment is that good. Maybe it's a tie with Defense, which brings Magic Protection, Vitality and 20% ranged defense. Actually, I would go for Defense.

After correcting a conceptual error in calculation, I've lowered its score to 8. So yeah En. does not deserve a 9. Essentially, Enlightenment for Isabel is a half-arsed Attack + Defense + 70% more mana.

[GrowlingDog]

Hey Maltz, great thread, some of it went right over the top of my head but most of it makes very good sense and although i'm not a big fan of playing the campaigns, (prefer the player made maps) i'm going to give it a go playing the "Might" and "Magic" way. Cheers

[maltz]

Just had some thought about Godric.

Can we apply an Isabel Ultima build to the old man? Godric's case is a little bit different from Isabel.

1) Godric can gain 24 levels in campaign one, 10 levels in campaign 3, and 10 levels in campaign 6. That gives him up to 44 levels to gain! His skills will be maxed for sure.

2) Enlightenment sounds very good on Godric, since he can receive up to 22 bonus stat points compared to Isabel's 13. If I remember correctly, my Godric had a final 110 points of stat after Enlightenment at the end of the game. So that's about a 20% bonus of stat points.

Eh... isn't Isabel also get about 20% bonus stat points from Enlightenment? Then let's still give Enlightenment an 8 on Godric.

So the ultima build of Godric should be very close to the build of Isabel. Light magic still helps a ton. Attack and Luck are great. Dark would be NASTY as Markal can't do anything about it! Wahahaha... But you probably can't mass slow Demon Sovereign in time because their units keeps dying. I would prefer Enlightenment, just to enjoy 22 points of extra stat. Mmmmmm stats.