Age of Wonders 4: Best Magic Spells for the Early Game

Age of Wonders 4 brings you to a world that’s filled with fantasy themes. Naturally, as empires and heroes clash, you’ll also make use of powerful spells that can turn the tide of battle. These come from the useful Tome of Souls. Our guide pinpoints the best spells on which to focus in Age of Wonders 4 for short-to-medium-length games.

How Spells Work in Age of Wonders 4

As cited in our Tome of Souls research system guide, the spells in Age of Wonders 4 are categorized based on their affinities:

• Order
• Chaos
• Nature
• Materium
• Astral
• Dark

You start out with a couple of Magic Tomes, each with its own respective spells. These will then need to be researched, allowing you to reach higher tiers.

For our Age of Wonders 4 best spells guide, we’re primarily taking a look at some decent combinations for short-to-medium-length games. Feel free to pick your preferred Tomes per tier when customizing your empire/ruler and, later, as the match progresses.

Likewise, do note that we focused primarily on ranged combat and additional animal/beast units corresponding to the mechanics.

Best Early Game Spells in Age of Wonders 4

• Tome of Cryomancy (Dark I): Frost Arrows — +4 frost damage; -2 physical damage; +20% damage against frozen or slowed units.
• Tome of Cryomancy (Dark I): Ice Coffin — Deal 10 frost damage; 90% chance to get frozen; target will be slowed if it cannot be frozen.
• Tome of Amplification (Astral II): Amplified Arrows — +4 lightning damage; -2 physical damage; +30% of damage dealt to another target within three hexes.
• Tome of Teleportation (Astral III): Mass Recall — Makes your target army teleport back to the nearest city.
• Tome of the Horde (Chaos I): Spawnkin — Makes the target race smaller and more numerous; +20% damage; incompatible with Supergrowth.
• Tome of Enchantment (Materium I): Seeker Arrows — Enchanted units gain +1 range to physical attacks.
• Tome of Winds (Materium II): Zephyr Archer — Recruit an archer-type unit with extra range and an AoE attack.
• Tome of Beasts (Nature I): Animal Kinship — Makes the target race more bestial; gain +10% damage and +10% critical hit chance when adjacent to a friendly animal or cavalry unit.
• Tome of the Inquisition (Order II): Inquisitor’s Zeal — Enchanted units gain Zeal (attacks inflict spirit damage); +10% accuracy on ranged physical attacks.
• Tome of the Beacon (Order II): Summon Lightbringer — This battlemage unit can temporarily convert foes to fight for you (i.e., mind control).

One particular chain you can try is the Tome of Cryomancy (for Frost Arrows and Ice Coffin) and the Tome of Enchantment (for Seeker Arrows). Then, you can get Tome of Winds at Tier 2 (for the Zephyr Archer). This leads to beefed up ranged attacks in battle.

In any case, these are our suggestions for the best spells for early-game runs in Age of Wonders 4 best spells in early-game runs. For other tips and tricks, you can visit our AoW4 guides hub.