| For those of you who have been reading some
of my notes on the other heroes, you've probably noticed
that I make references to the "DragonLance" series of
books from Tracy Weis and Margret Hickman. I happened
to love these books when I was growing up and I still
remember all the characters to this day. If you've ever
had the pleasure of reading them, you undoubtely
remember Lord Soth, the truly evil death knight. Needless
to say, I had him in mind when I wrote the description
for Mortu The Black Knight.
Every MoM Player I know will never argue the fact that
Paladins are one of the most awesome units in the game.
Their combination of First Strike/Armor Piercing and
Magic Immunity makes them incredibly powerful and
almost impossible to kill. Therefore, most players
will immediately see the power of Mortu The Black Knight.
If you still don't see it, allow me to explain:
First I will explain the value of Mortu's First
Strike attacks. As long as Mortu
initiates the attack, it allows him to inflict
his damage before the defending unit has a
chance to counter-attack. In most melee attacks, the
attacking and defending units get to inflict damage
simultaneously. Therefore, both units inflict damage
and get hurt. However, Mortu will get to deal his
blow first without getting hurt himself, and whatever
figures still remain in the defending unit will then
attempt to counter-attack and hurt Mortu. Notice how I
said "attempt" to hurt Mortu. Chances are, there won't
be enough figures left (if any) to hurt him. :)
The First Strike attribute almost seems to give a
unit an unfair advantage. However, there are two
facts which players must know. First, the unit with
First Strike must initiate the attack in order to
get the "first strike". If Mortu is melee attacked
by an enemy unit, the engagement will be an ordinary
melee attack without any "first strike" advantage. That
is why you must learn to position Mortu so that he always
gets to attack, and does not have to defend. Second, there
are units with the "Negate first strike" attribute. These
are particulary nasty little units like Pikemen which can
tear paladins, or Mortu, to shreds. If Mortu does not have
a lot of shields, keep him away from these types of units
and he'll be O.K. Keep these two facts in mind when using
Mortu and you'll do just fine.
Regardless if Mortu manages to initiate the attack and get
his "first strike" benefit, he also has Armor Piercing
attacks. This is beautiful because it halves the defening
unit's shields before Mortu inflicts his damage. This
does not mean much when attacking a 3-shield unit like spearmen
or swordsmen. However, take a unit like a Great Drake with it's
10 shields, and Mortu will reduce that to 5! He will easily
blast through those 5 shields and every thing after that starts
taking away hit points! Beautiful! (Of course, since the Great
Drake has a 30 Fire Breath attack AND a 30 melee attack, I would
strongly suggest that Mortu initiate the attack so he does not
wind up getting cooked in his armor!)
Hopefully this helps you to understand why First Strike/Armor
Piercing attacks are so valuable. When the two are
combined, it is an amazing thing. But Mortu takes this
type of an attack two steps further. He is also equipped
with the Might and Blade Master attributes. Might will
grant Mortu an attack of 26 at Demi-God and Blade Master
will ensure that all 26 attacks have a 100% chance of
inflicting damage! Wow! So once he blasts past a unit's
shields with his armor piercing and the unit has to stand
there and take the damage because its a "first strike"
attack, Mortu will inflict so much accurate damage
that most units will be killed before they ever get the
chance to counter-attack! In my mind, this alone grants
Mortu 4 & 1/2 stars. But wait, it gets better.
Mortu's Constitution helps to make him a tough
son-of-a-bitch and won't let him die easily. At
Demi-God level, he has 27 hit-points! This is
extremely important since he will be going up against
the likes of Great Drakes and Great Wyrms on his own.
These creatures have melee attacks around 30 and
could easily kill Mortu if not for his high
Constitution. However, if you plan Mortu's defense
properly, he will only have to take half that damage if
any at all.
Mortu also comes equipped with the Legendary attribute.
For each level of Legendary he has, it increases your
fame by 3! At Demi-God, Mortu will increase your
fame by a total of 81 points (27 x 3)! And your going
to need it too. Since Mortu can only be employed by
a wizard who possesses Death Spell Books, the other
wizards will hate you and you might have some unrest
in your cities. This boost to your fame will help to
ease out the unrest and help keep down the cost of
your army.
Whew! Read enough yet? Well hold on, there is just
a little bit more to cover.
As if it were the cherry on top of a huge ice-cream
sunday, Mortu also gains 1 random fighter pick! Holy
Jesus, that's almost unfair! This is why he gets a
5-star rating. He is already powerful enough to take
on almost any unit, but this will make him unstoppable:
 Agility
Mortu desprately needs more defense. You will be able to
boost his shields with magical items, such as +8 defense
plate mail, but that will only get him so far. Also, it
can be extremely expensive and time-consuming. Agility will
grant Mortu a defense of 18 at Demi-God, and once you
heap on the magical items and enchantments, he will easily
reach 25 or 30. So Agility will help to round out his
ass-kicking resume and give him the ultimate fighter
combination: Might, Agility, and Constitution.
Personally, I'm not much for playing with Death Spell Books.
However, once I see what it can get me, I might just
reconsider. Team Mortu up with
Ravashak The Necromancer
and you will have a hideously evil and unstoppable
team.
With 5-stars do I even need to tell you that I highly,
highly, recommend Mortu The Black Knight? I didn't
think so.
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