The sweet sound of a glorious victory. The notification of your tier V tome. The beginning of the end for your enemies.
How do we get all these sweet outcomes with your builds? Well let’s find out what makes a good build so we can get you conquesting in no time!
What makes a great build is a complicated question. It depends on what kind of victory you’re trying to achieve. It’s important to have a good build because it sets you up for a fun game. A bad build can turn you off of a strategy game, Age of Wonders is no exception.
10. Dark Awakening Build
Toad dragonlord pictured above.
Starting out with a fun time, this one is going to let you nuke your enemies with blight damage. Additionally quite resistant with that “awakened” status.
This build is especially good against A.I. if you’re looking to beat that brutal difficulty. If not, Vine prison is still an extremely helpful spell. Focus on your archers and shield units for this build.
Culture: High (Pure Evil)
Body/Mind Traits: Keen Eyes/Overwhelm Tactics
Society Traits: Mana Channelers/Runesmiths
Ruler: Wizard King
Tomes: Tome of Roots - Tome of Enchantment - Tome of Glades - Tome of Revelry - Tome of Cycles - Tome of Transmutation
9. Morale stomper
Coming off of that 12 hour games session will have you looking like this guy.
Routing is basically a death sentence in Age of Wonders IV. I’m sure you know that, and if you want to capitalize on that this build is for you.
This build includes very high damage and an intense focus on adjacency bonuses. Get your guys grouped up and take advantage of singled out enemies.
Culture: Feudal
Body/ Mind Traits: Nightmare Mounts/Overwhelm Tactics
Society Traits: Prolific Swarmers/Runesmiths
Ruler: Champion (Sword and Shield)
Tomes: Tome of Roots - Tome of Zeal - Tome of Inquisition - Tome of the Doomherald - Tome of Subjugation - Tome of Great Transformation - Tome of the Reaper
8. Unbreakable Zeal
It should be illegal to have defined biceps as a frog.
This build is a custom of mine that is focused around survivability. I personally hate being routed, so this build is all about avoiding morale debuffs. Your toads will be loyal to the very end.
Please keep in mind that this build is meant for aggressive diplomacy. You want to acquire free cities to boost an economic victory. The build is meant to focus on keeping you alive through that process.
Culture: Feudal
Body/Mind Traits: Tenacious/Cold blooded/Resistant
Society Traits: Imperialists/Gifted Casters
Ruler: Wizard King
Tomes: Tome of Faith - Tome of Zeal - Tome of the Beacon - Tome of Artificing - Tome of Sanctuary - Tome of Transmutation
7. Ultimate Defense
This little guy’s greatest weakness is a mousetrap.
As the name implies this build is all about maximizing our defensive capabilities. We’re going to drag our enemies into deep water, and then destroy them with our awesome armor.
Make sure to invest heavily into Materium as that's what grants us the resources needed for such a defensive build. We want to crush them with magic spells while our allies put up a thousand shield walls.
Culture: Industrious
Body/Mind Traits: Reflexive/Defensive Tactics/Elusive
Society Traits: Adept Settlers/Runesmith
Ruler: Champion
Tomes: Tome of Rock - Tome of Roots - Tome of Enchantment - Tome of Artificing - Tome of Glades - Tome of Transmutation - Tome of Terramancy
6. The Rush
This guy is probably not fun at parties.
Maybe you’re not a patient player and just want to rush to the finish line. That’s this builds jam. Lots of damage early on, with a quick population bonus.
Keep your food stores high, and your draft even higher for this build. You need plenty of draft to pump out the kind of armies you’re going to need.
Culture: Barbarian
Body/Mind Traits: Adaptable/Ferocious/strong
Society Traits: Adept Settlers/Prolific Swarmers
Ruler: Champion
Tomes: Tome of Roots - Tome of the Horde - Tome of Revelry - Tome of Mayhem - Tome of the Cycles
5. Mana fodder
I feel like “astral rift” may be overkill for 15 spiders.
I love casting a ton of low level spells. If you like shooting off spells like an ak-47 then you’re gonna love this astral affinity build.
You need to be producing lots of casters with a couple fodder units. Eventually you want to just be summoning tanks to soak up damage while your casters blast.
Culture: Mystic
Body/Mind Traits: Fast Recuperation/Adaptable/Arcane Focus
Society Traits: Prolific Swarmers/Mana Channelers
Ruler: Wizard King
Tomes: Tome of Evocation - Tome of Warding - Tome of Necromancy - Tome of Amplification - Tome of Summoning - Tome of Teleportation
4. Pure Greed
This is my favorite dragon dude, just look at those horns.
Does watching that Gold income number go up just get you amped? Well then you’re ready for the greedy build. All about hoarding as much wealth for your empire as possible.
High research could also be a good synergy for this build. I haven’t ever been able to figure out a way to balance that, but research is definitely the weakness of the whole process.
Culture: Industrious
Body/Mind Traits: Hardy/Overwhelm Tactics/Ferocious
Society Traits: Artifact Hoarders/Fabled Hunters
Ruler: Dragon Lord
Tomes: Tome of Enchantment - Tome of Zeal - Tome of Amplification - Tome of Artificing - Tome of Transmutation - Tome of the Golden Realm
3. Grand Uniter
Orcs keeping it professional is pretty offbrand for them.
This is a slightly more aggressive version of the Unbreakable Zeal build. If you want to feel like a strategic warlord this is the path for you my friend.
Please keep your draft VERY HIGH. Draft and Mana are your friends with this build, and a lack of either will spell doom without fail.
Culture: High
Body/Mind Traits: Adaptable/Cold-Blooded/Hardy/Strong
Society Traits: Imperialists/Chosen Uniters
Ruler: Champion
Tomes: Tome of Zeal - Tome of the Horde - Tome of Revelry - Tome of Artificing - Tome of Subjugation - Tome of Sanctuary
2. Magic Addict
Those swamp trolls are a thing of the past with a spirit blast.
This is a strategy that’s been floating around the Age of Wonders 4 space for a while. Mana addicts is a fun and pretty cool idea for a trait.
This obviously heavily relies on your mana resources. But something people forget to take into account is your research, keep your research as high as possible.
Culture: Dark
Body/Mind Traits: Arcane Focus/Keen-Sighted/Sharp Eyes
Society Traits: Mana-Channelers/Mana Addicts
Ruler: Wizard King
Tomes: Tome of Pyromancy - Tome of Evocation - Tome of Amplification - Tome of Mayhem - Tome of Pandemonium - Tome of Teleportation - Tome of Scrying
Zombie Apocalypse
Zombie rats, seems like a logical conclusion.
Now on to the most fun build in my opinion. Necromancers have always been the coolest in media and Age of Wonders is no exception. Time to start the apocalypse with your necromancer build.
Be smart about where you’re placing your necromancer soldiers. People call them terrible, but they’re very useful when used as backline support units. Surround them with shield walls and buffs.
Culture: Dark
Body/Mind Traits: Hardy/Sneaky/Fast Recuperation
Society Traits: Powerful Evokers/Fabled Hunters
Ruler: Wizard King
Tomes: Tome of Cryomancy - Tome of Beasts - Tome of Necromancy - Tome of Doomherald - Tome of the Great Transformation - Tome of Fertility - Tome of the Reaper
