Age Of Wonders 4: Strongest Race Transformation Spells, Ranked

One of the most exciting new features in Age of Wonders 4, race transformation spells can have major impacts on your gameplay. From early-game damage boosts to late-game alignment dedications, you’ll have no problem finding transformations to suit your empire’s unique style from among the many options.

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You can pick up any number of minor race transformations throughout the game, and use them simultaneously to improve your empire. However, you can only choose one major race transformation. These are some of the most powerful transformation spells of all, but there are still plenty of minor ones worth getting too. With all of that in mind, here are some of the very best race transformation spells of all.

10
Spawnkin

It’s possible to unlock this minor transformation spell within the first few turns, because Spawnkin is available from the Tier 1 Tome of the Horde. It’s a solid choice for ascending your rulers to your Pantheon as soon as possible. This Chaos affinity transformation is mutually exclusive with the Nature affinity Supergrowth transformation, but it’s definitely more powerful. Spawnkin gives a flat 20% damage boost to all Tier 1 units, so this transformation is a must-have if you’re stacking up other bonuses for Tier 1 units. Other than that, it probably won’t help much beyond strengthening your basic army.

9
Goldtouched

Although there is no major race transformation for Materium affinity as yet, this spell can be found in the Tier 4 Tome of the Golden Realm. In addition to giving your empire +1 gold per population, your units also get a nice +2 Resistance bonus. As a result of this spell’s late-game availability, you’ll likely have large cities with high populations by the time you unlock it. While the gold bonus can be extreme, though, the resistance bonus does not help very much in combat. There are plenty of other transformations that will give you much better advantages over your enemies.

8
Astral Blood

This minor transformation is perfect for factions focused on casting spells rather than pure combat. Available from the Tier 2 Tome of Amplification, Astral Blood increases your units’ critical hit rate whenever you cast a spell in combat. Since combat spells have a wide range of possible destructive, beneficial, or controlling effects, this transformation is one of the most flexible in the game.

The bonus critical chance can stack up to 5 times, for +50% total. Although you won’t be able to cast nearly that many spells at first, it’s not too difficult to work up to that level if you play as a Wizard King.

7
Frostling Transformation

In previous games Frostlings were considered to be their own race, much like elves or humans. They’re now available from a minor transformation spell, in the Tier 3 Tome of the Dark Cold. This Shadow affinity spell grants +3 Frost Resistance, immunity to Frozen, and also +10 Morale and bonus movement when in cold terrain.

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This transformation is, of course, particularly dominant in cold weather realms, but you can use a spell to terraform provinces into cold terrain as well. That can make Frostlings extremely potent defenders. They’re also not any weaker to fire than anyone else, surprisingly, so this transformation doesn’t have any downsides. Its bonuses, however, aren’t as potent as some other options.

6
Gaia’s Chosen

The major race transformation spell for Nature affinity, Gaia’s Chosen is available from the Tier 4 Tome of Paradise. In addition to +20 hit points and +3 Status Resistance, this spell gives your units Charge Resistance. This allows them to ignore the debilitating effects of Shock units’ charge attacks. Having a big chunk of extra health is always great, and building up your general Status resistance can help you avoid tons of various negative effects. Even so, it’s important to note that more powerful Shock units actually have a better variation of the Charge attack. Heavy Charge Strike is much more dangerous, because Gaia’s Chosen cannot resist it.

5
Scion of Flame

This minor transformation spell is capable of dealing tremendous damage. Available from the Tier 4 Tome of Chaos Channeling, Scion of Flame gives your units +4 Fire Resistance and immunity to burning. Fiery Wake ignites certain obstacles near them in combat, while Vengeful Flames hurts enemies who attack them. Vengeful Flames can be extremely effective, dealing 2 fire damage to melee attackers with a 30% chance to cause Burning on each hit. Players must remember, however, that it won’t do anything to ranged or magical attackers, meaning that this transformation’s usefulness is somewhat limited to realms with more physically aggressive enemies.

4
Astral Attunement

Found in the Tier 4 Tome of Astral Convergence, the Astral affinity major transformation allows your units to pass through obstacles in combat. Even more incredibly, your empire gets +1 Mana and +1 Knowledge per population. This can dramatically increase your ability to field magic origin units and cast more spells per turn the more cities you build.

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The ability to move through solid objects in combat can be nice for some situations, but it isn’t really that great compared to the potential Mana boost. Increasing your Knowledge for faster research just isn’t terribly useful so late in the game either, after you’ve already learned so much.

3
Angelize

The Order affinity major race transformation can be found in the Tier 4 Tome of Exaltation. This spell turns your units into the Celestial race type, giving them +2 Spirit Resistance and immunity to control loss at the cost of -4 Blight and Frost Resistances. They also gain Faithful, which reduces their upkeep costs by 10% as well as granting them the ability to fly with angelic wings. In addition, there are several powerful spells that rely on turning units against each other, and Celestials are not affected by these. Their only real downside is that their upkeep cost reduction and defensive buffs just aren’t that impressive, making this transformation weaker than the very best.

2
Demonkin

Available in the Tier 4 Tome of the Demon Gate, the Chaos affinity major transformation gives your units immunity to Burning, as well as faster movement in desolate terrain. They also gain Flying like their counterparts, but they get the far more impressive Frenzy trait too. Each time they attack, Demonkin units get +10% damage. This effect can stack up to 5 times, making these some of the most devastating attackers in the game by far. With Flying, they can attack ridiculously quickly and avoid most obstacles altogether. If this transformation had defensive bonuses, it would likely be the best one in the whole game.

1
Wightborn

The major Shadow affinity transformation spell can be acquired from the aptly named Tome of the Great Transformation. Casting it will turn all your units into the Undead type, giving them +2 Frost and Blight Resistance and immunity to Poison at the cost of -4 Spirit and Fire Resistance. More importantly, Wightborn gives all your units the passive Life Steal effect, which restores units’ hit points after attacking. Instead of regrouping to heal during combat, your offensives simply never end, because units just keep healing. Although your people may look like corpses, this is by far the most powerful race transformation available in this classic strategy title.

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