MIGHT & MAGIC 8: DAY OF THE DESTROYER CHARACTER GUIDE (A Dutch version of this guide may also be found at www.gamefaqs.com.) Author: Sashanan (sashanan@hetnet.nl) Date: 5 May 2001 Version: 1.42 DISCLAIMER This document is copyright 2000-2001 Sashanan. All rights reserved. You are allowed to do the following: - Make copies (electronical or physical) for your own, personal use; - Post this FAQ on a non-commercial, freely accessible web site. My permission is not required, however, the FAQ must be posted in its full, original form, including this notice, and credited to Sashanan. You are not allowed to: - Make money off this FAQ in any imaginable way. - Post this FAQ on a commercial site without my express written permission. - Use this FAQ, or part of it in magazines, guides, books, etc. without my express written permission. - Edit this FAQ in any way, use it as a basis for your own FAQ, or post this FAQ without giving proper credit. This is considered plagiarism. ================= TABLE OF CONTENTS ================= - About this FAQ - The character classes Cleric Dark Elf Dragon Knight Minotaur Necromancer Troll Vampire - Promoted classes - Picking a starting character - Skill development - Recruiting notes - My party - Revision history - Final words =========================================================================== ABOUT THIS FAQ =========================================================================== Having played Might & Magic 8 several times, and restarted to try a different character mix more than once, I think I now know enough about the ins and outs of each of the eight character types to give some useful advice regarding which characters to pick and which skills to develop in each of these characters. This FAQ describes the eight available character types in M&M8. I do not give full information on each character's starting statistics and the skills they can develop; all that information is in the manual already. Rather, consider this guide an addition to that particular manual chapter - a veteran's advice regarding the selection of characters for your party, and a strategy for developing them. =========================================================================== THE CHARACTER CLASSES =========================================================================== Character types and races have been through several changes during the Might & Magic series. M&M 1-5 had you pick both a race and a class for your characters. The class determined hit points, spell points, and which equipment you could use, and the race determined innate resistances, and applied certain bonuses and penalties to your statistics. In Might & Magic 6, only human characters were available, and only six classes. In M&M 7, the races were brought back (and the number of classes expanded). Might & Magic 8 uses a combination of the systems of 6 and 7; for the first time in Might & Magic history, there is no difference between a race and a class. There are eight character types to pick, three of which are human. The other five are of different races by their very nature. Might & Magic 8 also offers rather exotic classes. The only classes that were imported from previous games are the Knight and the Cleric. The Necromancer is the third human character, and is the equivalent of the Mage in earlier M&M games. Then there's the Dark Elf, the Troll and the Minotaur, three new races to play with. The Vampire is a particularly exotic choice, there sure aren't many RPGs around that allow you to play one! And the last character type is one many people will have been waiting for. Finally, we can have a Dragon in our party. And yes, they *are* powerful. So without further ado, let's take a closer look at each of the eight character classes, in alphabetical order. CLERIC With the departure of the Paladin, the Cleric is the only truly reliable healer in the game. He can attain Grand Mastery in the three magical realms of the Self: Body, Mind and Spirit. The Vampire and the Minotaur can also gain some skill in these arts, but not quite as much as the Cleric. Also, the Cleric is the only character in the game who can learn the path of Light. Some of the game's more powerful spells are in that realm, and they alone make the Cleric a worthy addition to your party. In combat, Clerics are average. They can get pretty good with the Mace (but not as good as the Troll), and can wear Chain armor fairly well (but the Dark Elf does it better). They also make passable Merchants. You will find a Cleric for your party very soon. I suggest keeping him around, replacing him only if you find a better Cleric. You do not want to be caught without one. His healing abilities, his mastery of the Light path, and the all-important Bless and Heroism spells are too important to miss out on. Personally, I never replaced my initial Cleric, because it seemed that all the others I came across just couldn't match his potential. DARK ELF The Dark Elf is average in combat, but has a few important skills that can be useful to any party. In melee combat, they are decent with both Daggers and Swords, but not excellent. They are, however, the best archers in the game, and the only ones who can become Master or Grandmaster with a Bow. This is an important skill, because only the Minotaur and the Knight can become Bow Experts, and all other characters are limited to novice skill. If you want to be truly effective in ranged combat, a Dark Elf is essential. Dark Elves cannot wear Plate, but they can become Grand Masters with Chain armor, which is an acceptable alternative. They will usually end up somewhere in the middle of your party, behind the Trolls and the Knights but in front of the Vampires and Necromancers. Dark Elves have other important skills, though. They can become Grand Masters in the Disarm Trap skill (which guarantees 100% success) and the Merchant skill (which means you can always buy and sell equipment at its exact value). The Merchant skill is an all-time favorite from M&M6 and 7, although it has existed since M&M2. It is not especially important in 8, because there is so much more treasure to be found. Money is not as much of a problem as it has been in previous games. Nevertheless, the Merchant skill is very convenient to have. Finally, Dark Elves are skilled in magic as well. They can attain good skills in the Elemental realms (Fire, Earth, Air, Water) and they also have innate Dark Elf abilities. The most important of these abilities is Darkfire, a powerful offensive spell that is both of the Dark path and the Fire realm, and therefore bypasses most enemies' magic resistance. Although it will take a while until you can find a low level Dark Elf for your party, a powerful one (Cauri Blackthorne) is available relatively early. You'll probably be able to recruit this powerful ally (level 50!) sooner than any of the other lvl 50 characters in the game, and far before your main character reaches that level. DRAGON Without a doubt the most powerful character type in the game. I'd even say they are overpowered. Unlike the other character classes, Dragons do not use any weapons or armor (but they can wear rings and an amulet). Consequently, they do not have any weapon or armor skills, either. A Dragon's combat performance is solely determined by a special Dragon skill. Every point spent on improving this skill gives the Dragon a better armor class, better hit bonuses and increased damage. The true power of the Dragon does not lie in the high damage it does or its large supply of hit points. It is a combination of two factors: its ability to allow the whole party to fly for an extended period of time, and the fact that its breath weapon always hits, does not cost any spell points, and does far more damage than a regular arrow. In ranged combat, a Dragon is very, very deadly. And many dangerous areas can be easily avoided with his flying ability. In addition to his obvious combat prowess, the Dragon is the only character class capable of become Grand Master at the Identify Item skill. He has a few other skills, as well, but does not excel at any. Note: the Dragon cannot be chosen as your starting character. It is possible to get one fairly early in the game, though. There are a total of four Dragons in the game, bearing the levels 5, 15, 30 and 50. For all except the lvl 5 one, you must look hard and fight powerful enemies to get to your potential recruit. KNIGHT The Knight has always been the epitome of Might in the M&M series. He does not disappoint in this game, either. With a vast supply of hit points and the best combat skills around, the Knight can safely be called a must-have. His lack of magical or miscellaneous skills is actually a blessing, because that frees up skill points to be spent on more combat-oriented pursuits. The Knight is the only character who can Grand Master the skills Sword, Spear, Plate, Shield, Armsmaster and Body Building. You can choose between Sword and Spear (I always seem to go for Sword), the rest are all must-haves. One of the greatest features of the Knight is that he is powerful in the beginning of the game and powerful in the end. They'll never let you down! In addition to his combat skills, the Knight has one more important skill: he is the only one who can become Grand Master at the Repair Item skill. Do not neglect this skill, or soon you won't be able to repair any of your expensive equipment. And believe me, many things will get broken in your quest. You get a Knight very early in the game, and you'll probably keep him around for a long time, possibly until the end. Other ones become available over time. The best of them is Blazen Stormlance, with fully built statistics and a respectable level (50). MINOTAUR You can either view them as powerful, fearsome monsters from Greek mythology, or cows walking on their hind legs. Either way, though, Minotaurs are among the more combat-oriented characters in Might & Magic 8, and the undisputed masters of Axe combat. They are the only ones who can attain Grand Mastery with them. In addition, since they can never carry Shields, there is no reason not to give them one of those amazingly powerful two-handed Axes. Minotaurs wear Plate armor well, but cannot attain Grand Mastery. Apart from the Axe, they can only Grand Master one additional skill: Perception. They are also good at combat-oriented miscellaneous skills such as Armsmaster and Body Building, but just not as good as the Knight. Finally, Minotaurs have limited skills in the arts of the Self (Body, Mind and Spirit), and can function as backup healers. A Minotaur can be found early in the game. More powerful Minotaurs are available, but you will probably outgrow them well before you meet and recruit them. Minotaurs are not vital, as almost all of their skills can be covered by other characters as well. Ulrich, the game's lvl 50 Minotaur, is fully built up and if you do choose to take a Minotaur with you, you'll probably replace him with Ulrich when possible. NECROMANCER Though traditionally a master of the Dark path, Necromancers are also the most capable Elemental mages in Might & Magic 8. They can attain Grand Mastery in the four elements (Fire, Earth, Air and Water) as well as the Dark path. In fact, they are the only characters who get to learn the Dark path at all, and take use of its powerful (and costly) spells. Necromancers are weak in combat. They can attain some skill with a Staff and Leather Armor, but have few hit points and never become particularly powerful. Their magic will have to see them through, and fortunately, it usually does. With Toxic Cloud early on and Dragon Breath later, Necromancers always have powerful direct damage at their command from the Dark path alone, not to mention what they can get from the Elemental realms later on. Important miscellaneous skills for the Necromancer include Meditation for additional spell points (very important as the Necromancer can never have too many), Identify Item if there is no Dragon around, and Alchemy if you wish to brew your own potions. You'll get a Necromancer early on. Although they can be replaced by Dark Elves, you will miss out on the most powerful spells of each elemental realm (including such important magic as Lloyd's Beacon), not to mention the entire Dark path, which has to be seen to be believed. I therefore recommend to keep a Necromancer around at all times. Just be sure to keep him in the back, and don't be surprised to lose him on occasion even then. The game's lvl 50 Necromancer (actually, Lich) is probably the most powerful character in the game. You may want to keep that in mind when the opportunity to recruit him arises. TROLL Can you spell "tough"? Well, he can't. The Troll is a powerful melee- oriented character who prefers brute strength rather than finesse. He can become Grand Master of the Staff and the Mace (Mace being the better choice), and also has loads of hit points, more even than Knights and Dragons. He is best clad in Leather armor, which he can also attain Grand Mastery of. The Troll can learn Chain, but cannot Grand Master it. Plate is not an option. With no skill in magic and no important miscellaneous skills, the Troll can focus on combat and combat alone. He is the obvious choice to put in front of your party (and therefore makes a great starting character), and can become a true machine of war with appropriate skill levels in Mace, Leather, Armsmaster and Body Building. And don't forget Regenerate - Trolls, more than any other character, are very good at this skill. With Grand Mastery, lost hit points return at an alarming rate. Alarming to your opponents, that is. Trolls are hard to come by. Two live in the Ironsand Desert, but you will need to complete quests for them before they join you, and by the time you do, you'll probably have outgrowed their level. There is one amazing lvl 50 Troll available, but you can't get him until very late in the game. VAMPIRE I cannot help but consider this character to be left-over. Other people may feel the same way about the Minotaur. The Vampire is the true expert with the Dagger, and the only character who can Grand Master it. They can wear Chain Armor and can carry a Shield (although wielding two daggers is probably a better bet, once you have the necessary skill level). They can actually dish out good damage in combat this way, but are vulnerable to counterattacks due to their low hit point totals. Vampires can attain Grand Mastery in the Identify Monster skill, which isn't among the most useful skills. They can become fairly good at Meditation and Alchemy, and have good skills in the realm of the Self (Body, Mind and Spirit). All in all, though, the Vampire has a little of everything, and no truly defining skills except for its innate Vampire abilities. These can be useful, but are not all-powerful either. The most important one is the ability to levitate, which can help to foil floor traps and cross dangerous lava. This is particularly helpful because there is no spell which can replicate this (apart from Fly, which does not work in dungeons). A Vampire will join you early on. More can be found later on. I myself did not use them much, but feel free to give them a try. Just keep them in the back of your party, with only Necromancers behind them, if you plan to keep them "alive". =========================================================================== PROMOTED CLASSES =========================================================================== At certain points in the game, all character classes can increase their power by getting a promotion. This improves their hit and spell point potentials and allows them to get higher skill rankings as well. Grand Master skills of any kind are only available to promoted characters, for example. Since this is a character FAQ, I won't go into any detail regarding the promotion quests. There's another FAQ at GameFAQs (www.gamefaqs.com) which will tell you all about them. Here I'll merely mention where to get them and what rank your characters are promoted to. This section was mainly included to clear up any confusion, because I usually refer to high level characters by their promoted rank. UNPROMOTED PROMOTED WHERE TO GET THE QUEST Cleric Priest of the Sun Murmurwoods Dark Elf Dark Elf Patriarch Alvar Dragon Great Wyrm Garrote Gorge Knight Champion Garrote Gorge Minotaur Minotaur Lord Ravage Roaming Necromancer Lich Shadowspire Troll War Troll Ironsand Desert Vampire Nosferatu Shadowspire All recruitable lvl 50 characters in the game are already promoted, and I *think* all others (lvl 5, 15 and 30) aren't. Naturally, your main character isn't promoted either at the start of the game. The difficulty of the promotion quests, and therefore the level at which you can safely perform them, varies per character class. Here's some information regarding where to look for the solution of your quest, and the level you'll roughly need to be at to have a good chance of success. For any more details, refer to a different FAQ, or wait for my full walkthrough to come out. The former is a safer bet. CLASS WHERE TO GO RECOMMENDED LEVEL Cleric Dagger Wound Isles 5 Dark Elf Murmurwoods 30 Dragon Garrote Gorge 50 Knight Shadowspire 35 Minotaur Alvar 35 Necromancer DWI and Shadowspire 40 Troll Murmurwoods 35 Vampire Ravage Roaming 40 All promotions quests are worth doing as soon as you can, but not vital. If one turns out to be hard, feel free to leave it alone until you've built another 5 levels or so. How much a promotion helps in terms of hit points and spell points depends on your level (the higher the better), but it doesn't matter at what point you get the promotion. The bonus is applied to all levels you've already gained as well as those you gain in the future. =========================================================================== PICKING A STARTING CHARACTER =========================================================================== Unique to Might & Magic 8 is that you only create one character at the beginning of the game. All others must be recruited later on. Fortunately, you do not have to adventure with one character - you can immediately pick up three more in the town you start in, and a fourth one at the beginning of the first dungeon. You'll have a complete five- member party then. Other, more powerful characters can be found and recruited later on, but you'll have to replace existing party members. The one character you may never replace is your main character, the Hero of Jadame. There are basically two important things to consider when choosing the class for your starting hero: 1. Your hero is always in the front of your party, where most enemy hits will land. It would be wise to pick a combat-oriented character who can survive this. 2. You'll find a Cleric, a Vampire, a Necromancer and a Knight early on. This doesn't mean that you may not pick any of these classes for your starting character, but it's something to keep in mind. If you choose one of these character types, you'll probably want to drop the NPC with the same class at your earliest opportunity. Ultimately, you're best off with a mixed party, because almost every character has his own set of important skills. Not much use in having two Dark Elves if only one has to disarm traps, for instance. Considering their vulnerability and the fact that you already get them early on, I do not recommend picking a Necromancer or a Vampire. A Cleric can be done, but he's on the edge. Also, you are not allowed to pick a Dragon as your starting character. That leaves four: Dark Elf - a little vulnerable, but a good all-round character and a fun one to have. Keep in mind that there is a very powerful Dark Elf NPC available relatively early on. Until you can get her, you can probably make do without a Dark Elf. Minotaur - good all-round character, but other character types excel at nearly every skill he has. Therefore, having a Minotaur near the end is not essential. Knight - since you will always want to have a Knight in your party, and they are suitable to have in the lead, a Knight is one of the best starting choices. Troll - my favorite for a main character for two reasons. First, he has more hit points than any other character, making him great to have in front. Second, Trolls are very useful to have around in combat, and they are the hardest class to find good characters in early on. Whatever you pick, make sure to spend your bonus starting points on that character's prime stats (designated in green). They are cheapest to build up. It is also a good idea to decrease your Luck as far as possible, because there is a well in the first town that can permanently increase your Luck to a certain level (16 or 17, I believe). You might as well free up those extra points to put them in other statistics. =========================================================================== SKILL DEVELOPMENT =========================================================================== First of all: every character should have 1 skill point in learning, giving them a 10% bonus to all experience gained. No more is needed, unless you wish to develop expert skill levels or better (not all characters can do this, so check first). Second: you'll want to teach every character in your party the Bow skill (excepting Dragons). Even with only a single skill point, they can make a difference when it comes to shooting your enemies from a distance. You'll rely on your bows a lot in the early stages of the game, risking melee combat only when your characters become powerful enough to survive this. Veterans of Might & Magic 6 and 7, be advised that there is no Ancient Weapons skill in M&M8. Develop your characters' combat and magic skills carefully, because there is no cheap substitute for them at the end of the game. Here is an overview of the skills you should develop for your party, sorted per character. CLERIC First priority: Spirit magic. Expert Spirit allows effective casting of Bless and Heroism, both of which significantly boost your combat strength. Master Spirit means you can learn Raise Dead, which you'll be using more often than any Might & Magic 8 player is willing to admit. Second priority: Body magic. It's not just hit points that you need to be able to cure, there's also Poison and Disease. An important Body spell later on is Protection from Magic, which offers immunity against "status attacks". At Grandmaster level, this is the only reliable way to protect yourself against enemies with instant-death attacks, something you'll be thankful for in the final areas. Other important skills: Mind (Cure Insanity and Cure Paralysis), Light (Paralyze and Day of the Gods), develop combat skills at your leisure. Develop Merchant if low on cash and no Dark Elf is available. Final stages: Extra points in Mace will increase your Cleric's melee damage and his chance to stun opponents. Alternatively, more points in Spirit magic will increase the effectiveness of Bless and Heroism, which affect the entire party. It's your call, but I'd go for Spirit magic. DARK ELF First priority: Disarm Trap. You need to keep this up, because the traps become more dangerous and harder to disarm later on. Build up this skill at a steady rate and you can open chests wherever you go without blowing up your party. Second priority: Bow and Chain, directly followed by some sort of melee skill (I'd go for Sword). Other important skills: Dark Elf skill (for Darkfire, takes a while to get there though), Merchant, the Elemental realms (particularly if no Necromancer is available). Final stages: I'd build up Dark Elf skills in the final stages to increase the power of Darkfire. Raw magical damage is useful against some of the critters in the final area, which are highly resistant to physical damage. DRAGON First priority: Dragon skills. These determine how powerful the Dragon is. Second priority: Identify Item. You'll need to identify a lot in your travels. Other important skills: Regeneration, Body Building and Meditation, all of which help the Dragon fight, but none as much as the Dragon skill does. Final stages: As your Dragon masters all of his skills, the one you should keep building up is the Dragon skill. It affects his chance to hit as well as his damage, and the effectiveness of his spells. You can't go wrong with that skill. KNIGHT First priority: Sword (or Spear if you prefer) and Plate. They allow him to kill others and stay alive, respectively. Second priority: other combat skills, including Shield (unless you use two weapons), Armsmaster and Body Building. Also build up Repair Item as your equipment becomes more powerful. Ideally, the Knight should be able to repair any weapons and armor you are currently using. Other important skills: Nothing, really. When you've Grand Mastered all the skills mentioned above (choosing between Sword and Spear, or both if you want to fight with a Sword in one hand and a Spear in the other), just improve on those skills some more. The Knight is meant for combat. Final stages: Armsmaster becomes more important than Sword / Spear once you've Grandmastered both skills. Every new point in the Armsmaster skill reduces your recovery by 2 points, and increases both your chance to hit and your damage by 2, for every kind of weapon. Once you don't know what to spend your skill points on for your Knight, Armsmaster is the way to go. MINOTAUR First priority: Axe and Plate, to contribute to combat. Second priority: Disarm Trap if you have no Dark Elf. Perception is also useful. Other important skills: A little expertise in the Self realms won't hurt if your Cleric needs backup. Also pay attention to the miscellaneous combat skills Body Building and Armsmaster, which can boost the Minotaur's strength significantly. Final stages: More points in Axe and Armsmaster will help the Minotaur increase his combat skills even further. NECROMANCER First priority: Dark magic. It's your best friend. Also, Meditation to help you cast all those expensive spells. Second priority: the Elemental realms. They are your other friends. Other important skills: Alchemy, Identify Item if you have no Dragon, and finally, combat skills (Staff and Leather, mostly). Final stages: Investing heavily in Dark Magic, after you've Grand Mastered everything else (including Learning and Meditation), will increase the effect of such powerful combat spells as Toxic Cloud, Dragon Breath and Souldrinker. TROLL First priority: Mace (or Staff, but I'd go for Mace) and Leather. Second priority: Armsmaster, Body Building and Regeneration, in that order. Other important skills: none. Keep improving on the combat skills. You can add Bow if you like. Final stages: Every point spent on your Mace skill increases your damage, and adds 1% to your chances to stun or paralyze an opponent. At high skill levels, this really starts to add up. My own Troll had a Mace skill of 30 at the end of the game and was constantly paralyzing powerful opponents, making a big difference. VAMPIRE First priority: Dagger and Chain, to boost the Vampire's combat abilities. Second priority: Basic skill in the Self realms, and the Vampire ability. Other important skills: Perhaps Identify Monster. Perhaps. Personally, if I used a Vampire, I'd go for additional skill in the Self realms as well. You'll never know when it's your Cleric that is killed or paralyzed, and he can't heal himself in such cases. After promotion, a Vampire can learn the Self realms up to Master level, giving him access to such powerful spells as Raise Dead and Protection from Magic. Final stages: More points in Dagger will increase your Vampire's chances of dealing triple damage with his Daggers. This is probably the best way to spend your skill points. More points in Vampire skill is also an option, particularly if you rely on Life Drain a lot. =========================================================================== RECRUITING NOTES =========================================================================== I will not go into detail about which characters are available to recruit, where they are, and how to get them. There is a specific guide on GameFAQs on this topic already. I will, however, give some basic advice on where to find the first character of each of these classes, so you can quickly assemble a party with the five classes you wish to use. Keep in mind that most NPCs, of both low and high level, are poorly equipped. (There are a few exceptions.) The high level characters usually have good, well-rounded skills. The low level characters have low skills, but they have a lot of them, and a bunch of unspent skill points. This allows you to customize their skills. Just don't forget to spend those skill points when you get them! As far as I've been able to determine, all NPCs are of level 5, 15, 30 or 50. There appears to be at least one of lvl 5 and one of lvl 50 for every character class, although I have never encountered the lvl 5 Troll. (In case you were wondering, the lvl 50 Dragon does exist. Be afraid.) CLERIC The first Cleric, Frederick Talimere, will join you from his hut in the Dagger Wound Islands as part of the first quest (initiated by speaking to Brekish Onefang in the Clan Leader's hut). His equipment is unimpressive, but he has a few useful spells. At any rate, he's the only Cleric you're going to get for some time, and you'll be able to make him powerful soon enough. Other Clerics become available during the game. Dyson Leland (lvl 15) is part of a vital plot quest and must spend some time in your party. Dervish (lvl 50) is the best Cleric available, but he's not fully built up the way Blazen Stormlance (Knight) and Cauri Blackthorne (Dark Elf) are. DARK ELF A low-level Dark Elf can be recruited in Alvar. Also, of all the lvl 50 NPCs in the game (one exists for each class), the Dark Elf is the easiest to recruit. Most others require your main character to be at lvl 50 as well, but Cauri Blackthorne will join you as soon as you rescue her in the Murmurwoods. That can be done as early as lvl 10 if you're a quick runner :) Or at lvl 30 if you prefer to fight it out with the local monsters. Either way, Cauri makes a valuable member at that point in the game. DRAGON Ithilgore, the "weakest" Dragon in the game, can be recruited from the Dragon Lair in Garrote Gorge. At lvl 5, he is a good addition to your party even if you are at lvl 15-20 (and he'll gain levels quickly). Since you do not need to fight any monsters to get to him, you could go to Garrote Gorge immediately from Ravenshore, early in the game, and get him there and then. Three more Dragons are available later on, but you must fight hard to get to them. Be warned, using Dragons can make the game a lot easier. They are cool, but in the long run, you may wish to skip them at all. They can really take the challenge (and the fun) out of Might & Magic 8 if you ask me. KNIGHT The first Knight in the game, Simon Templar, will join you as soon as you enter the Abandoned Temple on the Dagger Wound Islands. He comes with a Rusty Breastplate, fairly good armor this early in the game, and a nice sword. The best Knight in the game, Blazen Stormlance, is lvl 50 and has excellent statistics (and decent equipment, especially his armour is good). You must rescue him from Mad Zanthora's Lab in Shadowspire. You get a lvl 50 Cleric in the process, although I did not use him. MINOTAUR The first Minotaur, Arius, can be recruited in Ravenshore. His equipment is poor, but that can be fixed easily at the local shops. More Minotaurs can be found later on in Balthasar Lair in Ravage Roaming. One of them, Ulrich, is lvl 50 and has a set of fully built up statistics. If you're into Minotaurs, he's your man...er, cow. NECROMANCER You'll find a Necromancer in the Adventurer's Inn on the Dagger Wound Islands: Devlin Arcanus. He has a wide variety of skills and some good spells, including (ouch!) Toxic Cloud. More Necromancers are available in Ravenshore (lvl 15) and Shadowspire. Ventrinus Taleshire, the lvl 50 Lich and in my opinion the most powerful character in the game, is among them. He's the guy who you did the Lich promotion quest for. His stats are fully built up, he has over a hundred skill points still available to spend, and last but not least, he has every spell he can get in his spellbook, including all the powerful ones (Souldrinker, anyone?). TROLL Trolls are hard to come by. I've never found a lvl 5 Troll, and I'm not sure there even is one. There are two lvl 15 Trolls, both of which take some time to get. A lvl 50 Troll can be found in Ravenshore, but getting him to join you is another matter. Your main character will have to reach lvl 50 as well. VAMPIRE Elsbeth Lamentia, the first Vampire, can be found in the Adventurer's Inn on the Dagger Wound Islands. Her equipment is unimpressive as usual, but she has a good Cloak. More Vampires are found in Shadowspire, including the lvl 50 one. He seemed decent as Vampires go, but he was not fully built up (he hadn't Grandmastered the Vampire skill yet, for example). =========================================================================== MY PARTY =========================================================================== To have an idea of what party I used, here's an overview of my party I finished the game with. I had already tried different party mixes before, but this is the only one I've won with. Note that I intentionally did not use Dragons, because I feel they upset the game balance too much. INITIAL PARTY Main character: Stenax (Troll) Recruited from DWI: Frederick Talimere, Elsbeth Lamentia, Devlin Arcanus, Simon Templar Party order: Stenax, Simon, Elsbeth, Frederick, Devlin FIRST SWITCH (lvl 5) Dropped Elsbeth, recruited Arius from Ravenshore Party order: Stenax, Simon, Arius, Frederick, Devlin I made this switch because I much prefer Minotaurs to Vampires. The raw combat power Arius gave me was useful this early in the game. SECOND SWITCH (lvl 30) Dropped Arius, recruited Cauri Blackthorne from Murmurwoods Party order: Stenax, Simon, Cauri, Frederick, Devlin When Cauri became available, she was much stronger than the rest of my party - 20 levels higher and with her skills fully built up. I dropped the least vital character to make room for her. This character was Arius, who merely gave me some extra muscle, and no vital skills except Disarm Trap (which Cauri had as well). THIRD SWITCH (lvl 35, temporary) Dropped Frederick Talimere, recruited Dyson Leland from Shadowspire Party order: Stenax, Simon, Cauri, Devlin, Dyson As part of my quest to ally with the Temple of the Sun, I needed to recruit Dyson Leland. You cannot complete the quest without him. (Even if you choose to ally with the Necromancer's Guild instead, you still need Dyson to complete *that* quest. You can't get around him.) Unfortunately, Dyson was only lvl 15 at the time and considerably weaker than Frederick. I put Dysan in the back, did my best to keep him alive during the quest, then put Fredrick Talimere back in again as soon as I completed the quest. Dysan will spend the rest of his wonderful adventures within the walls of the Adventurer's Inn. FOURTH SWITCH (lvl 44) Dropped Simon Templar, recruited Blazen Stormlance from Shadowspire Party order: Stenax, Blazen, Cauri, Frederick, Devlin Blazen was thrown into my lap when I rescued him from Shadowspire. Actually, I had missed him on my first go - if I had rescued him then, I would have had him as early as lvl 35. Regardlessly, he was still better than Simon Templar, which is why I replaced him. Ironically, the reason why I rescued Blazen was to get Simon promoted to Champion. But when Blazen turned out to be a Champion already, I dropped Simon before he ever got that promotion. On the way, I was also given a chance to put the game's lvl 50 Cleric, Dervish, in my party. His skills were similar to Frederick's at the time (who was only lvl 43), and although he was Grandmaster in Light, he wasn't as skilled in Spirit. By now I'd grown addicted to Frederick's Grand Mastery of Spirit and his 18-hour Bless and Heroism durations, so I decided not to make this switch. FIFTH SWITCH (lvl 55) Dropped Devlin Arcanus, recruited Ventrinus Taleshire from Shadowspire Party order: Stenax, Blazen, Cauri, Frederick, Ventrinus Upon reaching lvl 50 and having completed the Lich promotion quest, I was allowed to recruit the game's lvl 50 Lich, Ventrinus Taleshire, from Shadowspire. I had seen powerful characters before (particularly Blazen and Cauri), but this completely blew me away. Ventrinus starts with completely built spell skills (grand master in all elemental arts as well as dark magic), all other skills at very acceptable levels, and over a hundred unspent skill points which can be invested immediately. And as if that wasn't enough, he has *all* spells in his five arts in his spellbook! I immediately switched out Devlin to recruit this powerful character. It also saved me the trouble of finding all the grand master spells (Devlin didn't have any of them yet) and visiting all the grand masters in the elemental planes and on Regna. AND THAT'S IT! I finished the game with this party. Stenax was at lvl 65 when I entered the final stages of the game. I didn't return to town until I finished the main quest, at which point I could train him to lvl 76 immediately. That gives you an idea of the kind of experience you haul in near the end. I intentionally did not use any Dragons, because I feel they take the fun out of the game. Having decided on which characters to use, I also skipped out on the Minotaur (Ulrich) and the Vampire (forgot his name). They were both in the Adventurer's Inn and ready to join, but I just didn't use those character classes. Furthermore, Thorne Understone the lvl 50 Troll hasn't travelling with me, either. My main character was already a Troll and even if I could have dropped him, he was still better than Thorne. I also decided not to use the lvl 50 Cleric, Dervish, because his skills and spell levels were actually below average. Compared to the other lvl 50 characters, he's poorly built up. I stuck with my original Cleric, Frederick Talimere. That left three lvl 50 characters: Blazen Stormlance the Champion, Cauri Blackthorne the Dark Elf Patriarch and Ventrinus Taleshire the Lich, and all three were in my party at the end. Since Ventrinus had the Fly spell (in addition to all the others), the need for a Dragon had been completely eliminated. The one thing I missed was a Vampire to levitate me over lava pits; although above the ground, the Fly spell can be used instead. It also worked in the Plane of Fire, which had plenty of lava. There was one dungeon near the end where I could not use Fly to avoid lava, but it wasn't too hard to walk around it, and touching it didn't do half as much damage as I'd expected. I'd probably have been able to get through that dungeon alive even if you couldn't avoid the lava by hugging the walls. My usual combat tactic was to have Frederick cast Bless and Heroism, and Ventrinus cast any appropriate resistance spells. Frederick casts Protection from Magic when fighting opponents capable of petrifying or paralyzing the party, and Ventrinus usually casts Stone Skin, although I barely noticed the difference. Then, depending on the enemy type, I either went into turn-based mode and fire arrows (for melee opponents), or charged them and performed melee attacks in real time, usually using hit-and-run tactics. For tough opponents, I went into turn-based mode and had Cauri and Ventrinus use Darkfire and Toxic Cloud, respectively. Both could do around 100 damage points if they're lucky and the enemy isn't too resistant. Near the end stages of the game, I had Ventrinus use Souldrinker against large groups, and Dragon Breath against single, powerful opponents. I've done over 350 damage with that one. The opponent survived three of them. At the end, both Stenax and Blazen dealt high damage in melee. Blazen usually does more (I've seen up to 150 per blow from him), but Stenax had a 25% chance to paralyze and a 25% chance to stun with every blow, which made him very powerful indeed. All those points in the Mace skill paid off for him. =========================================================================== REVISION HISTORY =========================================================================== v1.0: (23 Oct '00) First version of the FAQ. v1.1: (26 Oct '00) A few spelling and grammar corrections, and some minor additions. v1.2: (7 Nov '00) Added to the overview of my own party, and turned it into a section of its own. More coming as I reach the final stages of the game. v1.3: (15 Nov '00) Added some more to the overview of my own party, probably my last character switch. v1.4: (27 Nov '00) Finished the game, finished the FAQ. Barring any possible corrections, this will be the last update. v1.41: (28 Dec '00) A few minor corrections. Now that those are out of the way, this really *is* the final version. v1.42: (5 May '01) I've done a Dutch translation of this FAQ. In doing so, I've added a few lines to the top and bottom of this FAQ to refer to this Dutch document. I do not intend to write a full walkthrough for Might & Magic 8. Should you need one, check Lord Haart's Might & Magic 8 guide on GameSages (www.gamesages.com). It's good. =========================================================================== FINAL WORDS =========================================================================== For questions, comments, suggestions, praise and criticism, contact the author, Sashanan, at sashanan@hetnet.nl. Any serious mail will be answered. Please put "Your Might & Magic 8 FAQ" or something like that in the topic. I'll be happy to answer questions regarding the FAQ, the game, or both. If you wish to do anything with this FAQ except for just reading it, check the Disclaimer section at the top of the FAQ to find out what you can and can't do. When in doubt, you can always mail me. The latest version of this FAQ can always be found at www.gamefaqs.com. If you found this FAQ somewhere else, be sure to check GameFAQs first to see if there is a later version, which might just answer your question(s). Saves both of us some time. I have a small RPG review/walkthrough site called Sashy's RPG Temple at http://come.to/sashy, feel free to check it out. I hope you found this FAQ useful, and I wish you every bit of luck and fun in playing Might & Magic 8! "Much that I bound, I could not free. Much that I freed returned to me." (Lee Wilson Dodd) This document copyright 2000-2001, Sashanan. All rights reserved. A Dutch version of this guide may also be found at www.gamefaqs.com.