| Flame Blade | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Realm |
 Chaos | |
| Spell Rarity | Uncommon | |
| Spell Type | Unit Enchantment | |
| Casting Cost |
 125 | |
| Combat Cost |
25 | |
| Upkeep Cost |
2 | |
| Research Cost |
 450 | |
| ||
|
The enchanted unit gets the following bonuses:
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Flame Blade is an Uncommon Unit Enchantment of the Chaos Realm. For 125, it may be cast on a Normal Unit or Hero on the overland map to ignite its weapons with a magical flame. The unit receives an Attack Strength bonus of +2 to its Melee-, Ranged Missile-, and Thrown Attacks, provided that it possesses such attacks. The unit also gains the ability to bypass the effects of 
Weapon Immunity if it couldn't before.
Alternatively, a cheaper version of the same spell may be cast for 25 during combat, which will temporarily bestow the same bonus on a unit for the duration of a single battle – with no permanent effects or Upkeep Costs.
Effects[]
Flame Blade causes the weapons of a Normal Unit or Hero to ignite with a magical flame that makes attacks with them more powerful.
Magical Attack[]
Normal Units that don't have at least 
magical weapons typically do reduced 
damage against opponents with Weapon Immunity, as the ability raises its bearer's Defense to 
10 against such units if it would be lower otherwise. Flame Blade negates that effect, preventing Weapon Immunity from triggering against any attacks made by the enchanted unit.
Melee Strength Bonus[]
If the unit has a non-zero Melee Strength, it is increased by 2. This grants each 
figure in the unit 2 extra dice on their Attack Rolls when performing Melee- or Counter Attacks, improving the unit's potential- and average damage output in hand-to-hand combat. Naturally, the more figures the enchanted unit has, the more beneficial this effect becomes. Similarly, the higher the unit's chance 
To Hit, the more it stands to gain from Flame Blade, since each extra die is more likely to be successful in causing a point of "raw" damage.
Ranged Missile Strength Bonus[]
If the unit has Ranged Missile Attacks, their strength is increased by 2. Like the melee bonus, this also applies on a per- figure basis, and will be more pronounced on units with high figure counts and/or chance To Hit. However, Flame Blade does not affect 
Ranged Magical- or 
Ranged Boulder Attacks in any way.
Thrown Attack Strength Bonus[]
If the unit possesses the 
Thrown ability, its Short-Range Attack Strength is increased by 2. Like the previous two modifiers, this one is also more beneficial to units with multiple figures and/or a high chance To Hit.
Not Fire Damage[]
Despite its name and implied effect, Flame Blade does not cause the unit's attack to deliver Fire Damage. This is important because there are host of different conditional Defense modifiers that trigger against Fire Damage – with 
Fire Immunity being merely the most obvious one –, and these would all provide protection against the enchanted unit if Flame Blade did transform all or part of its attacks to this Damage Type. For the same reason however, the spell doesn't allow bypassing 
Missile Immunity either, although the target will likely have a slightly higher chance of overcoming it thanks to its increased damage.
Usage[]
Flame Blade may be cast both overland and in combat, for the basic Casting Costs of 125 and 25 respectively. If the casting is successful, the game will prompt for a friendly Normal Unit or Hero to be selected as the spell's target. On the overland map, this typically requires clicking on the army stack that contains the unit which, in turn, brings up a list view of all units in that stack, allowing for the target to be picked individually. Only units not already under the effect of Flame Blade may be chosen. Once the spell is cast, a glowing red outline appears around the unit (unless it is overridden by a stronger enchantment); and Flame Blade, along with its icon, will be displayed in the unit statistics window when inspecting this unit.
The overland version of Flame Blade has an Upkeep Cost of 2 that must be paid at the beginning of every turn to keep the spell in effect. This is automatically deducted by the game from the owner's Mana pool as long as the enchantment remains in existence. If there is insufficient Mana in the pool to pay for the spell, then it will dissipate, ceasing its effect immediately. It may also be cancelled manually by left-clicking its name in the unit statistics window of its target unit. However, this action can only be performed outside of combat, during the caster's own turn.
The combat version of Flame Blade does not carry over to the overland map: it will disappear automatically as soon as the battle is over. As such, it has no Upkeep Cost; but at the same time may not be manually removed by its caster either (as enchantments can not be cancelled during a battle).
It's worth noting that in the official version of the game, Chaos Channeled units still count as Normal Units on the overland map. This means that Flame Blade may be freely targeted at such a unit overland, even though the game would not allow this during combat. The enchantment will then work as normal if the target enters any battle. This is considered to be a bug however, and is no longer the case in the unofficial patches, which will instead also return an error when trying to target the unit overland.
Acquisition[]
As an Uncommon Spell of the Chaos Realm, Flame Blade may become available to any Wizard who acquires at least 1 Spellbook. With none, the spell can naturally not be learned during the campaign. This is the minimum requirement for it to be traded for, appear in Treasure, or be found in the spoils of victory when conquering the Fortress of a rival Wizard who already knows it.
The base chance for Flame Blade to be researchable (at some point) in the campaign is roughly 10% (with 1 book), which gradually increases with the amount of Chaos Spellbooks possessed or found during gameplay. With 8 or more, the spell is certain to show up sooner or later, unless acquired from another source. It has a Research Cost of 450, although its research is quicker for Wizards possessing the Sage Master, and/or Chaos Mastery Retorts; or a bookshelf containing 8 or more.
Flame Blade may also be selected as a starting spell by players who allocate all of of their picks into Chaos books when creating their Wizard. In this case, it will be available for casting as soon as the game begins.
Strategy[]
Flame Blade confers a significant bonus to Melee- and Ranged Missile Attacks – and especially to units that either have both of these Attack Types, or possess the Thrown ability, since they can effectively gain double the benefit. While the spell does help 
Single-Figure Units, its full potential will only manifest on 
Multi-Figure ones – and the more figures, the stronger the effect.
Because of this, Flame Blade can be particularly useful early in the game, as it can make low-tier Normal Units considerably more powerful than they would be otherwise. The same is true of the spell's effect of bypassing Weapon Immunity, as later on, Alchemists' Guild usually become common enough that this is no longer a problem – although some Races are unable to construct this Town Building, which means that for them, Flame Blade can remain relevant throughout their campaign.