If the vast array of choices in Age of Wonders 4 seems overwhelming, this tome tier list simplifies the process. It enables you to review all available picks at launch, thereby facilitating the planning of your next playthrough.
The tome tier list for AoW4 encompasses all the potential decisions you can make as you navigate the 4X strategy game’s equivalent of a technology tree. Each tome provides a specific set of spells, siege projects, units, and more. Once researched, these elements can help shape your race’s gameplay style for that particular game.
Age of Wonders 4 Tome Tier List
The initial set of skills you receive is dependent on your race’s culture, providing a starting point for your gameplay. Each tome on this tier list corresponds to a specific affinity in AoW4, enabling you to combine as many as you deem appropriate for your strategy.
Spreading yourself too thin does let you tap into different flavors of magic and units, but comes with the cost of slower progress towards tier 5 and its highly potent unlocks.
Upon researching a few skills or units in your active tome, you’re presented with the option to select another. This can become somewhat overwhelming, particularly if you’re concurrently managing multiple enemies posing a threat to your territories. Check out the full AoW4 tome tier list below to get an idea of all the choices available at launch.
Tier 1
- High - This research is available to rulers with the High culture. They specialize in buffing allies and diplomacy.
- Industrious - This research is available to rulers with the Industrious culture. They specialize in defenses and exploiting natural resources.
- Mystic - This research is available to rulers with the Mystic culture. They specialize in magic damage and spellcasting.
- General Research - Every aspiring Godir knows the basics of spellcasting, which helps when exploring new uncharted realms.
- Barbarian- This research is available to rulers with the Barbarian culture. They specialize in speed and aggression.
- Dark - This research is available to rulers with the Dark culture. They specialize in inflicting negative status effects and subterfuge.
- Feudal - This research is available to rulers with the Feudal culture. They specialize in battle formations and governance.
- Tome of Pyromancy (+2 Chaos Affinity) - Specialize in high Fire Damage by inflicting and exploiting Burning.
- Tome of Rock (+2 Materium Affinity) - Smash your enemies with the force of stone. Specialize in increasing your defenses and dealing Physical Damage.
- Tome of Evocation (+2 Astral Affinity) - Grants excellent and cheap attack spells to any aspiring wizard.
- Tome of Faith (+2 Order Affinity) - Heal and support your units through the power of the Faithful.
- Tome of Roots (+2 Nature Affinity) - Discover the power of the natural world and specialize in immobilizing enemies and healing allies.
- Tome of Zeal (+2 Order Affinity) - Rile up your fanatic population for a common goal. Use units with Zeal and inflict Condemned on enemies.
- Tome of the Horde (+2 Chaos Affinity) - Turn your cheapest units into large, deadly armies. Specialize in summoning and buffing Tier I units.
- Tome of Souls (+2 Shadow Affinity) - Harvest Souls from your enemies and create Undead creatures. Specialize in expendable units and starting your Soul economy.
- Tome of Warding (+2 Astral Affinity) - Specialize in magic that protects your units from damage and retaliates against enemies that attack you.
- Tome of Cryomancy (+2 Shadow Affinity) - Specialize in dealing Frost damage and inflicting Frozen.
- Tome of Beasts (+2 Nature Affinity) - Walk beside the Animals of nature. Specialize in summoning and buffing Animals and become stronger when standing next to them.
- Tome of Enchantment (+2 Materium Affinity) - Improve your units with Unit Enchantments and specialize in Physical Damage.
- Tome of the Tentacle - This tome introduces various ways to use tentacles for your advantage, offering creative and sinister solutions to your challenges.
- Tome of Corruption - Fully embrace the power of the Gloomstrider Transformation. This tome allows you to turn your enemy's strength against them by transforming buffs into debuffs or stealing them for your units.
- Tome of Cleansing Flame - A tome for the forces of light, striking back against the abyss. Summon Cleansing Flames into battle to burn heretics while protecting the faithful.
Tier 2
- Tome of Artificing (+2 Materium Affinity) - Specialize in siegecraft, expertly crafted weapons, and Golems.
- Tome of the Beacon (+2 Order Affinity) - Brings out the inner radiance of the Faithful to smite enemies and bolster allies.
- Tome of Revelry (+2 Chaos Affinity) - Follow the path of debauchery that rewards those who take chances and specialize in gaining Morale and Experience.
- Tome of Scrying (+2 Astral Affinity) - Keep an eye on your enemies and let nothing pass you by. Specialize in gaining more vision and Truesight and inflicting Marked.
- Tome of Winds (+2 Materium Affinity) - Harness the power of the wind to gain boosts of speed and disrupt enemies.
- Tome of the Doomherald (+2 Shadow Affinity) - Torment your enemies with a Morale-reducing effect and by exploiting enemies with low Morale.
- Tome of Fertility (+2 Nature Affinity) - Thrive on the bountiful spoils of nature. Provide your empire with ample Food and heal your units in battle.
- Tome of Glades (+2 Nature Affinity) - Create and protect forests. Specialize in healing and making use of forests.
- Tome of the Inquisition (+2 Order Affinity) - Hunt down those who do not agree with your authority. Inflict Condemned on enemies and restrict their Movement.
- Tome of Amplification (+2 Astral Affinity) - Enhance your mages and your spellcasting with more advanced arcane magic.
- Tome of Necromancy (+2 Shadow Affinity) - Create advanced Undead creatures and gain ways to collect more souls. Specialize in buffs and healing for undead units.
- Tome of Mayhem (+2 Chaos Affinity) - Cause chaos on the battlefield by randomly displacing enemies and inflicting Misfortune.
Tier 3
- Tome of Transmutation (+2 Materium Affinity) - Change physical substances using vast amounts of Mana. Specialize in rebuffing enemies, buffing allies, and changing your economy.
- Tome of Teleportation (+2 Astral Affinity) - Exploit spatial magic to its full potential. Strategically reposition your units in battle in a mere instant.
- Tome of Terramancy (+2 Materium Affinity) - Manipulate the earth at will. Specialize in dealing Physical Damage and hindering enemy Movement.
- Tome of the Great Transformation (+2 Shadow Affinity) - Turn your people in to the Undead and transform your empire into a paradise for them to thrive in.
- Tome of Vigor (+2 Nature Affinity) - Strengthen your units and armies with the brute power of wild beasts. Specialize in buffing Animals and increasing HIt Points.
- Tome of the Cold Dark (+2 Shadow Affinity) - Cause enemies to become blind and spread Arctic terrain throughout the world.
- Tome of Cycles (+2 Nature Affinity) - Master the natural cycles of life and death and specialize in debuffing enemies and healing allies.
- Tome of Pandemonium (+2 Chaos Affinity) - Thrive in the chaos of battle and specialize in inflicting random negative status effects on your enemies and dealing more damage to enemies that are already inflicted.
- Tome of Devastation (+2 Chaos Affinity) - Gain the means to take cities with overwhelming force. Specialize in sieges and dealing damage.
- Tome of Sanctuary (+2 Order Affinity) - Create a safe haven for all believers. Specialize in healing and buffing defenses.
- Tome of Subjugation (+2 Order Affinity) - Expands and subjugates cities from other races. Specializes in lowering enemy Morale and conquering cities.
- Tome of Summoning (+2 Astral Affinity) - Call forth, control, and enhance Magic Origin units.
Tier 4
- Tome of the Golden Realm (+2 Materium Affinity) - Become a prosperous empire and gain large amounts of gold with new infrastructure and by turning your very enemies into gold.
- Tome of Oblivion (+2 Shadow Affinity) - Use powerful magic capable of sending your enemies to the nothingness of oblivion. Specialize in inflicting Insanity and making parts of the world and the battlefield inhospitable.
- Tome of the Demon Gate (+2 Chaos Affinity) - Open rifts to summon Fiends and burn the world in your wake.
- Tome of Exaltation (+2 Order Affinity) - Convert your people to Celestials and use their faith to smite your enemies.
- Tome of the Reaper (+2 Shadow Affinity) - Extract Souls in brutal fashion and use them to bring Undead terrors into the world. Use instant kill effects and ultimate Undead synergy.
- Tome of Nature's Wrath (+2 Nature Affinity) - Grants powerful spells that unleash the uncontrollable power of nature.
- Tome of Supremacy (+2 Order Affinity) - Lead your people to glorious victory. Specialize in increasing Morale and managing a big empire.
- Tome of the Crucible (+2 Materium Affinity) - Bury your enemies in lava and shape the land using the destructive forces of both earth and fire.
- Tome of Paradise (+2 Nature Affinity) - Create a lush green paradise for your people. Focus on economy, healing, and buffs.
- Tome of the Astral Mirror (+2 Astral Affinity) - Create Astral Reflections of your units and leader and reflect damage back onto attackers.
- Tome of the Astral Convergence (+2 Astral Affinity) - Become stronger the more spells you cast and summon creatures from the Astral Sea.
- Tome of Chaos Channeling (+2 Chaos Affinity) - Become the master of Chaos by exploiting your accumulated chaotic powers from previous Chaos Affinity Tomes.
Tier 5
- Tome of the Arch Mage (+2 Astral Affinity) - Reach the pinnacle of the arcane arts by bending space and time to your will.
- Tome of Chaos Lord (+2 Chaos Affinity) - Unleash chaos forces upon the world. Specialize in offensive buffs.
- Tome of the Creator (+2 Materium Affinity) - Shape the world, summon slumbering titans, and become the master of earth.
- Tome of the Eternal Lord (+2 Shadow Affinity) - Become the leader of an eternal realm and command unending armies.
- Tome of the Goddess of Nature (+2 Nature Affinity) - Become the ultimate embodiment of nature. Excel at buffs and healing, especially for Plants and Animals.
- Tome of the God Emperor (+2 Order Affinity) - Become a god to be worshiped. Your mere presence inspires your troops and your cities. Specialize in buffing your units.
That concludes our Age of Wonders 4 tome tier list as it is reflected in-game at launch. For more on the 4X strategy game, read up on its victory conditions and how to build outposts.
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