A city enhancement that unlocks Tier 8 units, along with special buildings for all preceding tiers to enable a third recruitment option—this was an all-encompassing fortification.
Rhodes felt a jolt of shock. Was this for real? Enhancing a city to produce Tier 8 units was a feature of the In the Wake of Gods (WoG) expansion, but upgrading Tiers 1 through 7 with a third upgrade path was on a whole different level of power.
In WoG, these upgraded versions were notoriously overpowered, far outstripping their unupgraded counterparts.
Take the Tier 8 units, for example. The upgraded Ghost Dragon in WoG is the Blood Dragon. Stat-wise, it remains a bit of a "weakling" among Tier 8s, with 400 HP, 25 Attack, and 23 Defense.
However, it gains the Vampire Lord's ability, stealing life to resurrect itself with every hit. It's essentially a super-powered Vampire Lord, yet it still struggles to escape its fate as the bottom-tier 8-level unit.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Castle's Azure Enforcer (upgraded Archangel) is a monster. With 40 Attack and Defense, 500 HP, a fixed 75 damage, and 18 Speed, it is terrifying. It grants +1 Morale (+2 if led by a hero), can resurrect allies twice per battle (restoring 100 HP per Archangel), prevents enemy counterattacks, and is immune to fear. The "No Retaliation" trait alone on a unit this fast and tanky is beyond words.
The Tower's Titan is upgraded to the Lord of Thunder. Its HP doubles to 600, with 32 Attack/Defense and a speed of 12. It shoots twice like a Grand Elf, adds lightning damage to melee attacks, casts Air Shield on itself, and is immune to mind magic and fear. How is a Blood Dragon supposed to compete with that?
The Arch Devil becomes the Hell Baron (35 Attack, 37 Defense, 400 HP, 17 Speed). It teleports, causes fear, reduces enemy Luck by 1 (or 2 if led by a hero), has a 50% chance to "steal a soul" (petrification), and prevents counterattacks. It's a huge step up, but still can't quite go toe-to-toe with the Azure Enforcer.
The Gold Dragon becomes the Diamond Dragon. It has a 50% chance to blind enemies for 3 rounds, is immune to all magic, and—incredibly—generates 1 unit of Gems per day. It's a combat beast and a mobile resource mine.
In the Conflux (Element City), the Phoenix is upgraded to the Sacred Phoenix. While its stats (28 Atk/Def, 400 HP) look lower than some, you can recruit four per week. It is immune to fire magic, has a 100% rebirth rate, carries a Fire Shield, and has a built-in Dragon Slayer spell.
(Note: All Tier 8s are immune to fear, so I won't list that for the others).
Then there's the Ghost Behemoth, which ignores defense, strikes twice, and reduces luck; the Darkness Dragon, which steals the Harpy's "strike and return" ability and covers the battlefield in a shroud of darkness; and the Hell Hydra, which gains acid attacks and a 40% chance to regenerate 50 HP per turn.
Rhodes faced a dilemma: which city should he upgrade? He currently had a Necropolis and a Conflux.
He looked at the Necropolis upgrades. Tier 1 became Skeleton Warriors (7 Atk, 9 Def). Tier 2 became Ghouls (25 HP, 6 Speed), capable of stripping enemy buffs—a nice upgrade, but redundant since Azeroth's Scourge already has Ghouls. Tier 3 became Specters (immune to fire magic), and Tier 4 became Vampire Elders (50 HP). Tier 5 Lich Kings gained a "Perfect Accuracy" spell, and Tier 6 Death Knights gained a slight damage boost against low-health targets.
The Conflux upgrades were more impressive. Tier 1 Pixies became Fairies (10 Speed, can cast Bless). Tier 2 Air Elementals became Hurricane Elementals (4th-tier strength, casts Air Shield, no melee penalty). Tier 3 Ice Elementals became Cryogenic Elementals (casts Bless, no melee penalty). Tier 4 Fire Elementals became Plasma Elementals (gains Fire Shield and the ability to cast it on allies). Tier 5 Earth Elementals became Ore Elementals (casts Stone Skin).
While the Fire and Earth elements remained relatively weak, the fact that every elemental unit could now cast magic was a massive tactical advantage. Tier 6 Magic Elements became Void Elementals —purple, shadow-like beings with 18 Atk, 15 Def, and 90 HP. They strike all adjacent enemies with no retaliation and are magic immune. Most notably, they steal mana from the enemy to replenish the hero's pool and can dispel enemy buffs.
Rhodes weighed his options. The Necropolis didn't feel like the right choice because Azeroth already provides numerous ways to upgrade the undead. He could use Scourge technology to turn zombies into Abominations or skeletons into Skeletal Mages. He even already had a Frost Wyrm path for his Ghost Dragons. Using a "Divine Awakening" on the Necropolis felt like a waste when local technology could do the job.
The Conflux, however, offered unique utility. The Sacred Phoenix far outclassed the Blood Dragon in both utility and numbers.
Rhodes applied the Divine Awakening to his Conflux. A golden light erupted, unlocking new building options. Of course, the system didn't just give him the units; it gave him the right to build the facilities.
He looked at the requirements for the Tier 8 Soul Vortex (upgraded Phoenix Nest) and balked.
Cost: 100,000 Gold, 200 Wood, 200 Ore, 100 of each rare resource (Sulfur, Mercury, Gems, Crystal).
Requirements: Every other building in the city (except the Grail) must be finished.
Special Requirement: 10 units of Mithril—a rare new resource.
The specialized buildings for Tiers 1 through 6 were also exorbitantly expensive.
"Well," Rhodes sighed, "those resources I thought were plenty are suddenly gone. Back to the grind."