Woah, look at all those words. Lets break them down:
Stats
Type: Creature
Subtype(s): Angel
Mana Cost: 21
Casting Type: Full Action
Range: 0-0
Target: Zone
Level: Holy 5
Armor: 1
Health: 14
Attack(s):
-The Greatsword "Starfire"
Quick Attack/Melee/Light/5 Dice/d12 (7-10 = Daze | 11+ = Stun)/Ethereal/+1 vs. Nonliving or Dark Creatures
Trait(s): Aegis 1/Flying/Light Immunity/Legendary
Flavor Text: "I lay near death, a prayer to Asyra upon my lips, when the blinding sun came forth to strike down my foes: a vision of beauty, power, and light." - Peasant of Westlock
Wow, talk about a powerful light bulb. One of the most expensive creatures in the arsenal of Holy creatures available; she certainly does not disappoint when it comes to delivering righteous pain. At level 5 Holy, any other Mage besides a Priest or a Priestess will have to sacrifice a very large chunk of spellpoints to put her in their spellbook.
She is a little lacking on the Armor side of things and her health is nothing to brag about either, but her traits more than help pick up the slack. With a base trait of Aegis 1, every attack that is rolled against Samandriel will always roll 1 less die. Not bad, but it gets better. She is also flying
meaning that unless she is inflicted with Maim Wings, only ranged attacks, creatures with the Reach trait and other flying creatures will be able to touch her. With Light Immunity coming in as icing on the cake, she is a veritable floating fortress of destruction.
Of course, she is labeled as Legendary meaning only one copy of her may be on the field at one time, but no matter. Lets talk about that attack.
At a 5 dice Light quick attack with a chance to daze and the potential to stun, she is no weakling when it comes to smacking people around. With the added bonus of Ethereal to the attack, incorporeal creatures will be taking normal damage when Samandriel comes knocking. The attack gets even better when she goes up against a non-living or dark creature. She would then be rolling 6 attack dice and she gets to add +1 to whatever the d12 rolls! Dark creatures, beware.
Now lets talk strategy. Samandriel is a pretty unique creature that shines in certain circumstances, mainly against the Warlock and Necromancer with their dark creatures. That's not to say her 5 dice attack can't be put to good use against other creature types; far from it. She is, however, a bit expensive to bring out.
One way people tend to bring her out is at the very beginning of the match when your mana pool has an abundance of mana. The very earliest that a Mage can bring her out, however, is round 2 given that the most starting mana any mage can have is 20 and she costs 21. Just out of reach. A round 2 opening with her is generally used in aggressive strategies, forcing the opponent to think of a fast counter or risk being pummeled very quickly.
For more defensive strategies, a mana efficient way to bring her out would be through the use of Asyran Clerics and the Temple of Asyra. While setting up your defenses and biding your time, having this conjuration channeling mana in the back to reduce the cost of summoning Samandriel from your mana pool is the way to go. It will take a few rounds before a decent pool of mana has been formed in the Temple, but the results will be well worth the wait if you deploy her at the right time.
Pros
-Very good against Dark and Nonliving Creatures
-Built in traits of Aegis and Flying make her more difficult to kill
-Has a solid attack against all creatures
-If you like the Priest or Priestess, she is affordable to them
Cons
-Expensive to get out
-Mediocre starting health and armor
-Expensive to put in any other Mage's spellbook that is not a Priest or Priestess
Well, there you have it. Samandriel is but 1 of 3 Legendary angels that can be used for devestating results. The next one we will be discussing is Valshalla, Lightning Angel! Stay tuned for this breakdown.
Please, comment and let me know your feelings about Samandriel! If you don't agree with anything said, please tell me. I welcome every sort of comment. Until next time, hope to see you in the Arena!