Staff of the Archmage
Unique Item, discussed in this topic on UBB
Must be charged before each use. Charging does not remove mana from the user.
Just to confirm, it charges in 8 turns, regardless of what you're doing during those turns. It seems to do about 1 million to 2 million dmg to one stack. Hard to tell because of resistances and not being sure what attack type is being used.
So as far as strategy, not really viable on defense assignment as you'll only get one use. On offense, you'll need to attack, do something for 8 turns (build, mana charge, etc) and then you can use it again. Not sure if it scales with spell level, etc.
In the grand scheme, Figurine of the Ice Queen, Javellin of Lightning, etc., can potentially do nearly as much dmg if they are used against 10 stack armies. But the potential for overkill also exists (stackwiping a minor stack and thus not doing full dmg).
- My personal view as someone who currently has the Wand of the Moon and Staff of the Archmage: they aren't worth it by a long shot. The Wand of the Moon takes 30 turns to charge. That means you can use it maybe 1-3 times every run you make and it will be stopped 75% of the time by barriers. The Staff of the Archmage charges in 8 turns, so it's a little better, but it does less damage than Wand, I'd guess half damage. For what you pay for them, you could buy a whole game supply full of Javelin of Lightnings or Powder Kegs or 50 Ashes of Invisibility. All of which can be used on offense AND defense. You can't really assign these on defense because if you are attacked more than once, it won't have a chance to recharge and you won't be using an item. So personally, I am very disappointed in these two combat artifacts. That said, the Staff sells for 265,000,000 geld and the Wand for about 530,000,000. The price has stayed the same since I've gotten them. One way of looking at them is a place to put your money, I guess. You can always sell them (if they aren't stolen). But I'd say a high level hero or a whole lot of powerful regular items is a much better investment. I know I personally won't be buying them again.
