Best Tomes in Age of Wonders 4

As the new Ruler of the empire, you have access to a selection of mystical Tomes of Magic that govern your skill set in Age of Wonders 4. With twelve Tomes to choose from, ranging from the chilled Tome of Cryomancy, to the fiery Tome of Pyromancy, which ones are the best? Here is everything you need to know about the best Tomes in Age of Wonders 4.

The best Tomes to use in Age of Wonders 4

To start off, we must mention that there is no “best” Tome in Age of Wonders 4. Each Tome is designed around a certain play style, so you simply pick the ones that compliment how you want to play the game. None of the Tomes are worthless, and while some synergize better with others, all Tomes can be viable in the right hands.

You pick one Tome of Magic when you are starting a new realm, and once you have acquired enough Arcane Skills in-game, you get to pick a second Tome. This can create some fun and interesting combinations for you, so be sure to comb over your choices carefully.

So, to help you figure out which Tomes are the best for you, we will go over each one individually and talk about the general strategy and synergy.

Related | How to Build an Outpost and Found a City in Age of Wonders 4

Tome of Zeal

“Rile up your fanatic population for a common goal. Use units with Zeal and inflict Condemned on enemies.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Order Affinity, Circle of Zealotry, Condemn
• Skills: Condemnation, Summon Zealot, Fanatical Workforce, Legion of Zeal, Inspiring Chant

The Tome of Zeal revolves around inflicting the Condemned status effect upon your foes, which decreases their Status Resistance by 3. This synergizes with its main Fighter unit, the Zealot, who deals increased Spirit damage to Condemned enemies.

The Tome of Zeal is a great choice if you like inflicting status effects on your enemies. Its base effects allow you to deal more damage with Zeal, but once you get a second Tome of Magic, the possibilities really open up.

Tome of Faith

“Heal and support your units through the power of the Faithful.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Order Affinity, Abbey, Mending Touch
• Skills: Faithful Whispers, Chaplain, Wrath of the Faithful, Staves of Mending, Army Heal, Convent

The Tome of Faith is a support Tome that focuses on defending and healing your wounded units. Choosing this Tome nets you units that can buff and heal allies with temporary HP, making it a great compliment to whatever other Tome you have.

The Tome of Faith is one of the most useful Tomes in the game to have, even just for Army Heal. Healing your units naturally over time takes a while in Age of Wonders 4, and Army Heal can help offset that. If you cannot decide on a second Tome, the Tome of Faith is a fantastic choice.

Tome of Souls

“Harvest Souls from your enemies and create Undead creatures. Specialize in expendable units and starting your Soul economy.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Shadow Affinity, Soul Harvest, Soul Collector
• Skills: Bone Golem, Soulbind Army, Soul Fire, Soul Overflow, Soulbinders

If you are a fan of necromancy, the Tome of Souls is for you, as it allows you to reap Souls from defeated enemies. You can spend the Souls on powerful attack spells, or you can reanimate the dead to fight for your cause.

Bone Golems are good Shock Units, making them very strong against Shield Units. Since Bone Golems have a self-heal, strategic play can result in a nigh-invulnerable army. Just make sure to watch out for Polearm Units, Spirit, and Fire damage.

Tome of Cryomancy

“Specialize in dealing Frost damage and inflicting Frozen.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Shadow Affinity, School of Cryomancy, Frost Weapons
• Skills: Ice Coffin, White Witch, Frost Arrows, Summon Lesser Snow Spirit, Frost Blades, Blizzard

Assault your foes with everlasting ice using the Tome of Cryomancy, a Tome that is all about freezing your enemies in place, rendering them unable to act. If you wish to focus on Frost damage and keeping your opponents perfectly still, this is the Tome to pick.

The White Witch’s Freezing blast has a 90% chance to Freeze an enemy, and it only has a 1 turn cooldown, meaning that a group of them can completely lock down an enemy army.

Tome of Warding

”Specialize in magic that protects your units from damage and retaliates against enemies that attack you.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Astral Affinity, Bolstering Support
• Skills: Summon Phantasm Warrior, Staves of Warding, Mark of Invulnerability, Magical Wards, Static Shield

As the name suggests, the Tome of Warding is focused on defending your units and warding off harmful effects. If you want your units to be a little more sturdy, go with this Tome, as it provides lots of elemental resistances and even features a spell that makes a unit outright invincible for a turn during combat.

Similar to the Tome of Faith, the Tome of Warding is a fantastic choice for a secondary Tome, if you cannot decide on one. The utility and buffs that it provides are too good to pass up.

Tome of Evocation

“Grants excellent and cheap attack spells to any aspiring wizard.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Astral Affinity, Channeling Tower, Lightning Weapons
• Skills: Lightning Focus, Fulmination, Lightning Blades, Summon Lesser Storm Spirit, Evoker, Lightning Torrent

The Tome of Evocation is a straightforward Tome that lets you dish out moderate amounts of Lightning damage to your foes. Most of the spells in this Tome have the chance to inflict Electrocution, which is a status effect that deals Lightning damage per turn. If you want a no-nonsense offensive magic Tome, this is it.

Tome of Pyromancy

”Specialize in high Fire damage by inflicting and exploiting Burning.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Chaos Affinity, Ritual Pyre, Searing Weapons
• Skills: Summon Lesser Magma Spirit, Ignite, Searing Blades, Pyromancer, Fiery Arrows, Immolate

Another straightforward offensive magic Tome, the Tome of Pyromancy focuses on lighting your foes ablaze with searing embers. The Burning status effect works just like Electrocution, and your units even have moves that deal more damage to Burning targets.

What sets the Tome of Pyromancy apart from other offensive magic Tomes is its utility potential. Certain spells can leave the targeted hex On Fire, which inflicts units with Burning should they pass through the hex. On top of this, hexes that are On Fire can spread fire to other hexes, which can seriously deny your opponent room to move.

Tome of the Horde

“Turn your cheapest units into large, deadly armies. Specialize in summoning and buffing Tier I units.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Chaos Affinity, Mob Camp, Battle Seeker Training
• Skills: Fury of the Horde, Houndmaster, Spawnkin, Blaze of the Horde, Summon Irregulars

Overwhelm your opponents through sheer numbers with the Tome of the Horde, a Tome that is focused on assaulting your enemies with a massive army. As the in-game description reads, this Tome is focused on pumping out as many cheap units as quickly as possible, rushing your enemies down with large hordes.

Tome of Rock

“Smash your enemies with the force of stone. Specialize in increasing your defenses and dealing Physical damage.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Materium Affinity, Central Quarry, Obsidian Weaponry
• Skills: Gargoyle, Rock Blast, Stone Skin, Earthkin, Summon Lesser Stone Spirit

Stay grounded with the Tome of Rock, a Tome focused on utilizing earthen powers to deal massive amounts of Physical damage. If the elements are not your thing, the Tome of Rock may be for you, as all you need is pure metal weapons to take down your foes. When the going gets tough, you can use Stone Skin to make your units rock solid.

Tome of Enchantment

“Improve your units with Unit Enchantments and specialize in Physical damage.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Materium Affinity, Runecarver’s Camp, Sundering Strikes
• Skills: Summon Copper Golem, Spell-Tempered Shields, Seeker Arrows, Awakened Tools, Sundering Blades

The Tome of Enchantment is all about activating Enchantment spells to make your generic units stronger. Your army can become quite powerful with all these Enchantments, but you better make sure your mana and gold income is decent enough, as Unit Upkeep is going to be very expensive with this Tome.

If your gold and mana income is high enough, the Tome of Enchantment is a good choice for Tomes that are focused on units, like the Tome of Souls and Tome of the Horde.

Tome of Beasts

“Walk beside the Animals of nature. Specialize in summoning and buffing Animals and become stronger when standing next to them.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Natura Affinity, Wildlife Sanctuary, Pack Leader
• Skills: Mark as Prey, Animal Kinship, Summon Wild Animal, Call of the Wild, Wildspeaker

If you prefer using Animal and mounted Cavalry units, the Tome of Beasts is for you, as it grants a variety of buffs to those types of units. It even has a bit of utility, as you can summon Animals on the world map to help bolster your combat prowess.

Tome of Roots

“Discover the power of the natural world and specialize in immobilizing enemies and healing allies.”

• Initial bonus: +2 Nature Affinity, Herbalist, Poison Weapons
• Skills: Healing Roots, Poison Blades, Summon Entwined Thrall, Vine Prison, Poison Arrows

Take down your enemies over time with the Tome of Roots, a Tome focused on Blight and Poison damage. Many of the Enchantments in this Tome gives your units a chance to Poison enemies, which hurts them over time. Just be careful, as Poison does not affect Ethereal or Undead units.

Tome of Roots is an all-around Tome, despite the focus on Poison. There is some utility here, as you can heal your units with Healing Roots during combat, and Immobilize them with Vine Prison.