Age of Wonders 4, the new 4X strategy from Triumph Studios, allows players to design their own fantasy Faction and set them loose in a Realm full of magic and adventure. Instead of a traditional technology tree, Age of Wonders 4 players will unlock new Tomes of Magic as they progress through the game, divided into 6 Affinities.
The Tomes of Magic for the Nature Affinity are all about blight damage, rejuvenation, and animal units. They provide a strong set of buffs for the player's armies and Cities. Each Tome contains up to six options that can then be researched using Knowledge, as well as a couple of initial bonuses.
Tier 1 Nature Tomes
Tome of Beasts
The Tome of Beasts focuses on animal and cavalry units, and immediately unlocks the Food-producing Wildlife Sanctuary and the Pack Leader Hero Skill. The Summon Wild Animal spell and Wildspeaker unit allow players to quickly fill their armies with hordes of cheap animal units, which can then be buffed with Call of the Wild.
Meanwhile, the Animal Kinship minor race transformation and Mark as Prey debuff spell mean that non-animal or cavalry units in the player's armies can still gain a benefit from the Tome of Beasts.
Tome of Roots
The Tome of Roots focuses on blight damage and controlling the battlefield, and immediately unlocks the Food and Mana-producing Herbalist and the Poison Weapons Hero Skill. Poison Blades and Poison Arrows combine to allow all the player's non-magical units to deal extra blight damage with their attacks, with a small chance to Poison. Meanwhile, the cheap Entwined Thrall summon is a solid Skirmisher that is immune to opportunity attacks and can Poison from a distance.
On the battlefield, Vine Prison allows players to potentially lock down large portions of the enemy army, making them vulnerable to ranged attacks. Finally, Healing Roots is a cheap and powerful heal for a single friendly target.
Tier 2 Nature Tomes
Tome of Fertility
The Tome of Fertility focuses on growth and regeneration, and immediately unlocks the Food-producing Bountiful Fields and the Revitalize Hero Skill. On the battlefield, Blossom of Life is a powerful healing spell that can restore HP to an entire army. Animate Flora is cheap for its strength, but incentivizes players to fight in terrain that has Flora Obstacles to transform. Meanwhile, the Nymph is a powerful Support unit that can heal, damage, and even mind-control enemy units.
On the Realm map, Restore the Land allows players to create grasslands, making more room for Farms to trigger the adjacency bonus of Bountiful Fields. Finally, Temple of Fertility's boost to Food and Draft allows players to raise their Population even faster.
Tome of Glades
The Tome of Glades focuses on forest terrain and tough units, and immediately unlocks the Food-producing Sacred Meadow and the Forest Warden Hero Skill.
The Entwined Protector unit summon is one of the toughest Shield units of its tier, and can be made even more durable using the Aspect of the Root unit enchantment spell. On the attack, the Glade Runner can mark enemies to lower their defenses before dealing serious damage with its long-range arrows.
Players can use the Leafskin minor race transformation to improve a race's speed and visibility on forest terrain, boosting their viability in heavily-forested areas of the map. Finally, players can use Create Forest to spread forests across the world, creating new areas for a Leafskin race to exploit.
Tier 3 Nature Tomes
Both of the Tier 3 Nature Affinity Tomes unlock the Seed of Astral Special Province Improvement, the first step to Age of Wonders 4's Magic Victory.
Tome of Cycles
The Tome of Cycles focuses on spells which balance both positive and negative effects, and immediately unlocks the Withering Decay Hero Skill. Additionally, Diffuse Health and Parting Gifts allow players to turn death and destruction into healing for their own units, and are particularly strong with melee-heavy armies from Age of Wonders 4's Faction creator. This is complemented by the Druid of the Cycle unit, which can both resurrect allies and instantly-kill wounded enemies.
When it comes to long-ranged fighting, Projectiles of Decay upgrades all ranged units with extra blight damage and the chance to Decay enemies, blocking their healing. Finally, Cycle of Seasons adds a series of automatic buffs and debuffs which will occur in any battle which takes place in the target City's Domain.
Tome of Vigor
The Tome of Vigor is the natural successor to the Tome of Beasts, and focuses heavily on animal and cavalry units. Unlocking the Tome immediately grants the Animal Handler Hero Skill.
Summon Greater Animal is a huge upgrade to its low-Tier equivalent, allowing players to summon some of the strongest animal units in the game. Combined with the permanent enchantment Empowered Beasts and the Unleash the Beast buff spell, players can build unstoppable animal armies.
To prevent leaving the player's other units behind their animals, the minor race transformation Supergrowth will increase the strength and survivability of the rest of the player's forces. Finally, Totem of the Wild is a great static summon that can quickly fill the field with animal units if not targeted.
Tier 4 Nature Tomes
Both of the Tier 4 Nature Affinity Tomes unlock the Root of Astral Special Province Improvement, the second step to Age of Wonders 4's Magic Victory.
Tome of Nature's Wrath
The Tome of Nature's Wrath focuses on expensive but devastating spells, and immediately unlocks the Nature's Avenger Hero Skill. The spells Awaken the Forest and Destructive Regrowth form a cycle where players can destroy forests to create an instant army, and then regrow forests to deal damage to all units in the Province. These armies can then be strengthened with the powerful Horned God summon, a Mythic unit with a lot of spell-like abilities.
On the battlefield, Devolve is a great debuff spell with a high chance of turning a non-Hero unit into a random Tier 1 animal for the entire combat. Finally, Awaken Instincts can give the player's units an entire extra turn, but sends them into an uncontrollable Berserk rage for 2 turns.
Tome of Paradise
The Tome of Paradise focuses on defenses and economy. It immediately unlocks the Stability, Food, and Mana-producing Garden of Bliss and the Inspiring Icon Hero Skill.
Blessing of Paradise, Enchanted Bloom, and Fortress of Vines can combine to make the player's Cities more productive and better protected, as well as giving them excellent Stability. Enchanted Bloom is particularly useful on custom Realms in Age of Wonders 4 that have a lot of desolate or desert terrain, allowing players to overcome these natural disadvantages.
Meanwhile, the major race transformation Gaia's Chosen and the Nature's Bounty army spell combine to make the player's units both physically tougher and protected from status effects. With physical health covered, Exhilarating Pollen protects units from Morale penalties and has a chance to make enemy units Distracted.
Tier 5 Nature Tomes
Tome of the Goddess of Nature
The final Nature Affinity Tome in Age of Wonders 4 is the Tome of the Goddess of Nature, which focuses on healing, cavalry, and animal units. It also unlocks the Heart of Nature, the final stage of Age of Wonders 4's Magic Victory, as well as the Avatar of Nature Hero Skill.
Mass Rejuvenation is one of the strongest healing spells in Age of Wonders 4, and can instantly restore a defeated animal or plant-based army on the battlefield. Alongside the combat buffs from Force of Nature, this should make the player's armies significantly harder to defeat, especially if they've focused heavily on animals and plants.
On the world map, Forest Awareness is a sustained spell that causes all forest terrain tiles across the map to grant vision to the player. On certain Realm types, this can result in near perfect vision across the map, allowing the player to always be aware of what their enemies are doing.
Age Of Wonders 4 is available now on PS4, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows.