Mages vs. Mountain Clans

You also need to figure out how to balance attack and defense, as 2% skills are not very effective, but with a lot of gold and a mentor, you can still improve them. It is essential to have fire resistance or an ice shield, as the Ancients with Light magic can burn you both literally and figuratively. Therefore, focus on developing Light magic, and ideally, also learn Dispel. There's not much point in focusing on Dodge, so prioritize skills that increase initiative and attack. The rest depends on the artifacts you find. Artifacts that boost leadership, luck, and initiative are good, as are the Ranger set and Blood Claw. Alternatively, a powerful mage build is also a good option: develop a non-native hero (Knight, Dwarf, Elf) and the native hero in Knowledge. Use the native hero to craft minor artifacts for the troops and then transfer these troops with the minor artifacts to the warrior hero. This gives you the strongest mage build: a hero with good stats (unlike a mage) who can also learn Light magic from the mage guild and improve attack and defense. Even if you don't learn Dispel, it's not a big deal; a Dwarf with Dodge can easily defeat Gargoyles, Golems, Rakshasas, and Titans in melee combat with buffs. In the late game, the Dwarf is not as strong due to his low initiative and damage, while the mage usually has twice the initiative.