Quick Links
In other story realms, players have to worry about four or five rival factions as they explore the map. However, for the story finale of Grexolis,Age of Wonders 4pulls out all the stops by filling a massive map with eight other factions.
Much like the Crimson Caldera, in Grexolis the player leader is a member of the Shad’rai, and this time they’ll be getting some direct help from other members of the group. However, four of the factions are permanent enemies, and one of them begins theAge of Wonders 4scenario with some massive advantages.
RELATED:Age of Wonders 4: The Pantheon, Explained
Early Considerations
Grexolis has a total of four realm traits. The biggest one is Fractured World, which means the realm is a spider web of platforms and connecting provinces surrounded by Astral Void regions. Much like lava, players can’t cross the Astral Void, sojust like in the Crimson Calderathe Basic Seafaring and Expert Sailors skills are completely useless.
Next isthe Forbidden Domain realm trait. All units of all factions (aside from the custodian faction) are affected by Condemned, which is -3 to status resistance. The Holy Protectors trait means that all factionless animals have the Celestial trait and the custodian can call for backup, and Custodian’s Dogma trait means that free cities are rare and all of them start as vassals to the custodian.
The custodian in question is Turiel Tolarim, leader of the Onmar. Aside from these realm bonuses, Turiel also starts the scenario with extra cities, units, heroes, magic items, and research, plus the Onmar already havethe major race transformation Angelize. This makes them strong against spirit damage and mind control, but it also makes them weak against blight and frost damage.
To take advantage of this, players shouldchoose or create a factionwith a strong Nature or Dark affinity. The realm has other enemy factions, but none of them are as immediately dangerous as the Onmar.
RELATED:Age Of Wonders 4: Best Strategic Spells
War and Peace
When the scenario begins, players start with four allies:Ydgaard Worldbender, Lithyl Nightweaver, Nimue, and Yaka. Each faction starts in a different area of the map, and Ydgaard starts out underground. The player faction starts out near the center of the map, but they’re always the closest Shad’rai faction to Turiel, who dominates the northwest corner.
The last three factions are members of the Covenant, the group that opposes the Shad’rai. They include Shira Snowblood,Fangir (who also starts underground), and Meandor of House Inioch. Unlike Turiel, the Covenant factions start the game with one city and one population, just like the Shad’rai.
The Grexolis scenariofeatures no faction diplomacy. Players start the game in permanent alliances with the other Shad’rai, and the Shad’rai are permanently at war with the Covenant factions, Turiel, and every free city on the map. There are no shortcut quests this time, either: to beat this scenario, players must defeat every enemy faction.
Still,there is room for some free city diplomacy. While free cities start out as enemies, players can defeat and vassalize them like normal, and unlike in the Crimson Caldera players can then give their new vassal a Whispering Stone to improve their allegiance. If players defeat an enemy faction by taking their capital, their other cities will become free cities with a neutral relationship.
RELATED:Age Of Wonders 4: Best Units To Prioritize
Advancing the Cause
On turn 1, players get to choose a special global enchantment that will stay in effect for the rest of the game.
Each time an enemy faction falls, players can choose an extra ritual to cast.
The best ritual to cast first is probably the Mirror Curse. It won’t trigger during every combat, but that 15 percent chance is for each and every unit that dies near a Shad’rai army, including Shad’rai units. On top of this, the spawning units are more powerful when players face more powerful enemies, and most importantly they appear next to the army and not back in the capital like the Ritual of the Drowned units. The one downside is that Astral units cost a lot of mana in upkeep, but players can alwaysdisband the units they don’t need.
The worst ritual to cast first is Shattered Earth. While it can impact on a city’s economy by destroying improvements and changing the province type to Desolate, the ritual chooses a territory at random and its effects are spread across every city owned by four factions.
Because of where each enemy faction starts, players should focus first and foremost on defeating Turiel and trusting their Shad’rai allies to keep the Covenant leaders busy. Fighting such an advanced faction that starts with so many resources isn’t easy, but if players can manage it, cleaning up the Covenant factions is a walk in the park by comparison.
Players could instead focus on a Covenant faction first to build their strength, but Turiel tends to send his forces to raid the player faction more than any of the others. Facing this threat head-on allows players to concentrate their resources and weaken his strength by taking out his cities. After completing at least four other realms, players should understandthe basics of how to grow rapidly, and by focusing on blight or frost damage (or both) players can exploit Turiel’s weaknesses.
Age of Wonders 4is available now on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE:Life by You Feature Scrapped Because of COVID
