By the way, you mentioned Fireball – should you take Reflection or Resistance, or not? It depends on the situation on the map and your personal preferences. Let's discuss this in more detail. If we set aside preferences, what map situations would encourage you to take these skills?
1. Game speed. It's clear that in a very long game, you don't need to be afraid of Chaos, so these skills are not worth taking. On a fast map, it's important to quickly build up your own offensive power, so we also don't take them, because against neutrals, they are essentially a burden. However, in this scenario, you often encounter an adjacent treasure, and if the opponent-mage is nearby, you should definitely take them. You might not have time, but then you either have to take the risk or take them in advance if it doesn't significantly hinder your fast offensive.
2. In the mid-game, you need to consider several factors:
- the opponent's hero. For example, if the Warlock's main hero is Kif, then you might end up fighting a Warrior.
- the opponent's play style. Not everyone likes to play as a strict mage, so if you know the opponent, you can assume what they will be developing.
- available artifacts. This is why (and also because of the game tempo) I never immediately take perks against magic. For example: you're afraid of a Warlock with Meteor Shower and Explosion, but you see an artifact that halves the damage from Earth spells. Do you think it's worth taking Reflection? The correct answer is no. With Expert Undead and an artifact, the enemy's damage is reduced by 25% without Reflection and 28.75% with it. In my opinion, that's only a 3.75% difference in damage from spells of that level.
The situation is completely different if you have artifacts that provide resistance. Let's say you have two artifacts from the Dwarven set and boots, giving you a total of 50% resistance. This means that the Warlock will only deal half damage in every other case, and if you take Resistance, the resistance will become 65%, meaning half damage in two out of three cases.
The effective (in terms of expected value) damage reduction is 7.5%, which is the same as without artifacts, meaning it's twice as good as Reflection. Plus, you often resist Dark magic.
In general, against a Warlock-mage, a Knight in the Luck and Defense branches doesn't need anything other than Endurance. This is why you start thinking about Reflection and Resistance, but you don't always choose them, because you always lack levels in the party. Therefore, we can conclude that if the hero has already leveled up significantly, and the army is not too large yet, then you should take them.
