Arcane (faction)

## City

While the Arcane have access to the Antique Shop for buying/selling artifacts, they have no Engineer's Workshop. The lack of a First Aid Tent is especially painful as none of their units have any form of healing abilities, forcing Arcane players to work hard to keep their armies alive.

The Arcane faction is much more magic focused than most others, and primarily get Air spells. Their Archives of Magic and Archmage Tribunal teach Hurricane and Celerity to level 10 and 15 heroes. Additionally, their Archmage Tribunal increases the Wisdom skill level for visiting heroes if they have not already visited a Tribunal in another city.

The most essential resource for Arcane cities is , which is used to purchase bonuses at the Aether Forge for some of their heroes and to produce two of their units. Cryomancers are a phenomenal T3 unit, but require  to produce. Since both the Arcane Spire and Ziggurat require some as well, it can be difficult to get enough.

### Unique Buildings

#### Arcane Spire

Once per battle the player may cast a random, free spell. The hero does not need to visit the town to acquire this ability, so building the Spire can instantly buff your heroes wherever they are. The randomly chosen spell changes each time it is used.

#### Aether Forge

Arcane heroes can spend  or Aether here to get bonuses. This can be in the form of resources, permanent stat buffs, units, mana, or spells. Some powerful spells can only be learnt via the Aether Forge.

#### Ziggurat

In addition to boosting mana regen, the instant mana refill allows Arcane players to quickly clear the area surrounding their cities by spending huge amounts of mana and returning to the Ziggurat to recharge.

## Lore

History: Around a century ago, a huge fleet arrived in Astoria, bringing refugees from the Lost Continent. Those cities in which the refugees settled eventually formed the Arcane federation. Their Mission was passed down through generations: 'To build, research and prosper.'

Culture: All but the peasantry are trained at universities in the understanding and mastery of magic. Most diligently work towards the Mission, but many cults have formed in opposition to he mainstream culture.

## Strategy

Pros: A free spell, which can be helpful in battle both in early game, or later when you and opponent both already used all your mana reserves. Wizards gather special resource called aether each battle, which can then be used at aether forge to learn new spells, get resources, or even increase your heros stats. Artisan get ore after each battle, and also can spend ore at aether forge for similar effects. Ziggurat can be used to replenish your mana reserves after the fight. Cryomancers are REALLY strong, because they are tier 3 units, which summon 2 tier 3 units of another faction, giving you 3 tier 3 units in one.

Cons: Aritsans use the resource you actually need for their upgrades, since some units and of course buildings cost you ore. While edicts cost less than gargoyles, they add the roulette factor of "hitting just the right spell", which can damage your troops. Sultans are terrible aura of light carriers, because flying units usually try to flank your enemy - leaving your main army with no hp regen. Also none of arcane units can boast ressurection.

Overall: Magic oriented faction, arcane has access to some spells no other faction can get. Also with ability to constantly recharge mana and strong (even if costly) units, arcane can really shine given some time. Allows for more agressive build with edicts and cryomancers, or more defensive with gargoyles and golems (although cryomancers are so much better than golems it's just not fair).