Age of Wonders 4: Which Tome to Choose

Tomes might sound like a minor aspect of your gameplay in Age of Wonders 4. However, they actually affect your gameplay a lot, and choosing the right tome can be the difference between winning and losing battles.

While most tomes feature combat spells or summonable creatures, some contain buildable structures as well as trainable units.

Not only that, but tomes can also affect the affinity of your empire which can also affect its overall development. In other words, tomes are essential, and so is choosing the right ones.

So, which tomes should you choose for your campaign? Let’s find out.

Which Tome to Choose in Age of Wonders 4

There are a total of 54 Tomes of Magic that are spread over 6 different Affinities in Age of Wonder, each of which is unique in what it offers and what it can do.

With such a massive list, it can be overwhelming to decide which tomes you should use for your gameplay.

However, not all of them are the same, and you’ll want to focus on any of the following instead:

Tome of Necromancy (Shadow Affinity)

If you’re inclined to join the dark side during your campaign, then the Tome of Necromancy would be a perfect early game option. Obviously, this allows you to raise undead armies who will fight the battles for you.

Basically, your gameplay will revolve around creating advanced undead units that are way stronger than normal undead creatures.

As a necromancer, you’ll also be providing buffs and healing for your undead units to prolong their lifespan in the battlefield.

While this is only a Tier 2 tome, it can make your early game progression a lot easier.

Tome of the God Emperor (Order Affinity)

This tome obviously exists as a sort of a fan service to Warhammer: 40K fans. Basically, this allows you to become a god that your people will start to worship.

At the same time, it allows you to inspire your troops and cities just by your mere presence.

That said, your gameplay will mostly revolve around buffing your units and debuffing your enemies. There’s the Mass Revive skill which lets you revive fallen allies and units with 50% of their total HP.

Then there’s Wrath of the Emperor which you use against your enemies to inflict the Condemn and Demoralized status and also causes them to take more damage from your units.

As a Tier 5 tome, it’s not surprising how ridiculously cool and powerful this one is.

Tome of Chaos Channeling (Chaos Affinity)

A Tier 4 tome, the Tome of Chaos Channeling specializes in using powerful chaos-based spells to wreak havoc on the battlefield.

With this tome, you’ll gain access to spells like Golden Horde which lets you summon an army of Tier 1 units or Gremlin Ambushers which allows you to summon up to 5 Gremlins whenever you target a city.

Most of the tomes in the Chaos affinity focuses on inciting mayhem across the battlefield, and if that’s your preferred playstyle, then definitely pick the Tome of Chaos Channeling.

Tome of Winds (Materium Affinity)

With the power of the wind at your disposal, the Tome of Winds allows you to cast wind spells that can either buff your units or debuff your enemies.

For example, the Dust Storm skill lets you cast the spell on a 1-hex radius to inflict the Blind status on your targets. There’s also Favorable Winds which restores a friendly unit’s Movement points while on the water.

As a Tier 2 tome, the Tome of Winds is not as powerful as the other tomes on this list. However, what it lacks in power, it makes up for in utility.

Tome of the Arch Mage (Astral Affinity)

A tome that lets you reach the pinnacle of magic, the Tome of the Arch Mage is a Tier 5 tome that features spells that hit hard and have high movement.

It has access to very powerful spells like Time Stop, Disruption Wave, and Cosmic Overdrive.

Then there’s the powerful Astral Travel spell that allows you to teleport your leader to the target world hex.

Tome of Nature’s Wrath (Nature Affinity)

Lastly, we have the Tome of Nature’s Wrath which is a Tier 4 tome that focuses on nature-based abilities. Here, you’ll gain access to spells like Devolve which lets you transform a non-hero enemy unit to a random Tier 1 animal.

You also gain the ability to summon a Tier 5 Mythic unit via the Summon Horned God spell. This ability summons the Horned God which has a range of powerful abilities that can greatly aid you in battle.

As you can see, each Affinity features a tome that will greatly help with your progression. Your choice of a tome will depend on which Affinity you choose.

Also, while some of the tomes we mentioned in this list aren’t the ultimate tomes of their respective affinity, they will no doubt help you a lot early on in the game.

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