Mannfred von Carstein

DarkLordD

Hello Everyone !

After I finished my Empire campaign on Very Hard setting in Mortal Empires, I am now playing the Vampire counts in Mortal Empires, with truly is a BLAST !! SO MUCH FUN !!

I am at turn 40 or so, I Have the red duke with me already, and I am trying to get Vlad and Isabella as well.

What I wanted to ask everyone, what is a good build for Mannfred skill wise ?

Is it worth to invest skill points in to his melee skill ??? I really wonder. He is level 15 now, and Infested mostly in his magic lores. I know with spells to get (raise dead for example, is a no go for me) but I am still not 100% sure how I want to see mannfred once he is level 40.

Is the Melee skill worth it for Mannfred when he is on his Zombie Dragon ? I for sure go for the red skill tree to boost my armies, and for magic. But how much I infest in magic, I am not sure about. I wonder what your thoughts are on this, because I can't figure it for myself if I want to invest in his melee skill tree yes or no.

Please, enlighten me !

Thanks !

Michael4537

TOO MANY CHOICES!

krunsh

As long as you get the healing spell from Vampire, the single target damage from death, and Fate of Bjuna, you can go crazy and pick whatever you want.

Elder_Moloch#3914

Please, enlighten me !

I can't. I'm a noob.

Why no Raise Dead spell?
It seems not working only when army unit cap is reached ( cap 40) - in other cases, works fine (at least it seemed to me that it possible to summon withr 20 units, but not with 40 units). And it's better to take magic skills with him, than with Necromancer hero, imo. Or maybe I missed something.


I always invest in Blue Skill:

Replenishment or Attrition, Wound Recovery for Lord and Lighting Strike jf Lord used aggresively.
Thinking abou, if it's worth to invest in his Corruption skills in current state (since he has item which spreads corruption, it would be more handy to keep corruption with one man in one place, but that's more for support).

Not sure about other skills. Don't use one with heroes (don't know where it could be handy), one with Ambush (I don't use Ambushes at all mostly), Growth with LL (maybe only Necromancers and even there debatable), Siege skill (that's usually needed for defensive lords which sits in region or in garrison and usually needed when situation got out of control already), Raise Dead (Eh. Could be a thing with LL Necromancers or with Isabella, but not sure that would be handy with others).


I'm not sure about Red Skill:

I rarely invest points in Red Skill with anyone, except Isabella/Necromancers/Regular Lords or except for first base skill. It's kinda make sense with Mannfred to invest in Dire Wolves/Fell Bats a bit, if you use them (since he has Creatures of Night trait) and in something else like Aura or LD when attacking (if his army is is attacking one).

Sometimes I take Magic Animus, sometimes don't (tehnically it could stop crumbling for a while or protect from it which is especially handy with low LD units or injure one, but in general eh).

Unit buff skills after Animus, are very specific, but better in mid-late game. Since skills specific, I use them rarely and only with specifically built armies.


Spells:
...
I don't know.
In Game 1 it was more simple. You didn't take upgrades for spells.
In Game 2 - kinda not sure, because even spells which I consider as bad, could be nicely upgraded with Lord (which I'm thankful to CA).

About spell skills:
-Nehek (even better if upgraded)
-Raise Dead is more situational, than in MP, but still imo good (a bit better if upgraded)
-Curse of the Undeath Lore attribute is ok and could be good with high WoM and Raise Dead/cheap spell spam.
-Vanhel Dance Macabre. Kinda nice. I heard about synergy with Okkam's Mindrazor from Lore of Shadows, some units (like single entities or cav, ethereal, monsters), Curse of Years and obviously blobs. Not sure if it's more cost-effective, than Nehek though.
-Gaze of Nagash. Completely forgot about it. Tehnically, if upgraded...and you would hit big target...eh. Not sure.
-Curse of Years a bit too situational even in campaign, but it's easier to force enemy AI to blob, so tehnically could work.
-WoD. Could be really devastating against AI, if you would lure it right, but I personally rarely take it. Tbh, I'm not sure, if second part of skills for Lore of Vampires actually needed. Maybe WoM boost or miscast protection, especially with Raise Dead. Arcane...well. You have one. So I guess you could have 2+Sword of Unholy Power+15 to WoM reserves to boost base 60 WoM to 115 WoM. But not sure if that's needed.
-Spirit Leech (a bit better, if upgraded)
-Life Leeching increase recharge rate speed, for a while when you casting. Not sure if needed in campaign, but why not, if you go for super mage.
-Aspect of Dreadknight - good for terror builds. Throw on Bats/Dire wolves and attack weak units in rear.
-Doom and Darkness -again, terror builds, goot with aspect of Dreadknight or Terror causing/LD debuffing things.
-Soulblight good debuff. Could be used with Macabre or Mindrazor for better effect.
-Fate ob Bjuna to delete Elite units with high mode count. Good thing on right targets.
-Purple Sun of Xereus. Could work and be good or could run into North Pole with all your WoM. Eh. Not a big fan. But if you like big effects and risk/reward gambling...tehnically you could try.

-Upgrades (I mean last skill, not just overcast) are good mostly for any spell which has it, but especially for Nehek/Spirit Leech.
-Loremaster attributes could really help if you go for hard mage orientated build. But look at what spells it buffs, so there won't be situation where you would get buffs for spells you don't have.

So overall for me:
Bare minimum: Nehek/Spirit Leech
Small Expansion: Curse of the Undeath, Raise Dead
Additional for specific stuff: Macabre, Aspect of Dreadknight
Further expansion level: Evasion(which is unavoidable), +to WoM reserves, +to miscast chance (if needed), Soulblight, Doom and Darkness (if needed), Fate of Bjuna
Super expansion: some last upgrades for spells (especially Nehek) or WoD+Arcane
Super rare expansions: Curse of Years (if don't want to invest in WoD additional point, but want Arcane), Gaze of Nagash (if have flying Lord, but nearly never used), Sun of Xereus (too situational in its nature).


Melee and others:

If I make Mannfred for Dragon Mount specifically: +15% missile resistance could be really handy, since some units still could melt it quite fast with ranged.

About "melee" skill tree:
-Hunger is unavoidable, which is good and especially handy with Mannfred Sword of Unholy Power.
-Charge Bonus - if you plan to cycle charge with mounts like Dragon a lot. Not a big fan, but for Dragon could be handy, I guess.
-MA is already nice, but you would set him on a dragon, as far as I remeber he would lose some armor and MA, so you could use it.
-I don't remember about build for Zombie Dragon/Hellsteed much, but for ground one, MD and Armor could be nice way to go (since again CB situational and MA is already nice)
-If to Upgrade Further - "Blood Lust" is unavoidable.
-All other Skills depend from your approach, but imo, HP won't be redundant for you Lord, especially if you use him in melee (like Mannfred with his Sword).
-WS could be also a nice thing especially with Dragon Mount.
-Terror...well, I like it for my Lords especially Vlad, but for Dragon mount build its pointless, plus Mannfred could have access to aspect of Dreadknight which could be more handy.
-Red Fury - nice ability for single large entities/cav, heroes and lords (especially mounted), especially with High AP and CB.

Mounts:
All mounts are viable, but I'm not sure that I would take any in my current playthrough. Maybe Bardered Steed.
Hellsteed is very good for caster, fast enough to dodge arrows and even bullets, lol. Dragon is cool and has nice breaths, Terror HP pool and AP, but very big target and kinda slow on a ground. Plus if you go into air you could forget to dismount your unit and meet some nasty flying force. So yeah. On your choice.



Btw, is it 40 Maximum Skill points for all Lords/heroes now?

hurricane501#1568

Winds of death and magic buff skills, then his dragon.

Anything doesnt matter, all you do is cast winds of death and win lol.

Mogwai_Man#4978

I would always get all of his spells and from the melee tree I only wanted the hungerer.