Age Of Wonders 4is a distinctly high fantasy twist on classic 4X games, and part of developing a faction is choosing which tomes and affinities to invest in. The game introduces a grand total of 54 different tomes, split across 6 affinities. All of these tomes have unique abilities, units, and bonuses that can be beneficial to players.
There are tons of great options to choose from, and amassive variety of possible playstyles and builds. While all the tomes may be viable in one way or another, a select few provide more interesting and powerful gameplay mechanics than others. Here are the best tomes inAge Of Wonders 4, ranked.
Updated June 02, 2025, by Nathan Dawber:With the release of the Dragon Dawn DLC for Age of Wonders 4, two more powerful tomes have entered the game: the Tome Of Evolution and the Tome Of Dragons. Each one will no doubt earn its place in the game’s extensive library, and will provide players with more unique playstyles to try out. With so many tomes already available, the decision on which ones to invest in is largely down to personal preference, but the game is at its best when players experiment and vary their strategy. The addition of these two tomes will only increase the possibilities available to players.
RELATED:Age Of Wonders 4: How To Play With Friends
15Tome Of The Cold Dark
A Shadow Affinity tier 3 tome, Tome Of The Cold Dark is ideal for those looking to play as the frostlings from previous games. It provides access to theFrostling Transformation ability, turning the player’s race into frostlings and granting them all the corresponding perks, such as frost resistance, immunity to Frozen, and faster movement over arctic terrain.
This tome also allows players to benefit from this transformation by spreading arctic terrain across the world with abilities likeFlash Freeze,terraforming a province into a snowy wasteland.
14Tome Of Revelry
A Chaos Affinity tier 2 tome, Tome Of Revelry gives the player’s forces bonuses to morale and experience. Abilities likeRevels Of Bloodgrant attacking forces extra morale and diminishes the morale of defenders, whereasRevels Of Carnageboosts combat experience by 30% for 3 turns.
The tome also gives access to theSkald, a support unit that inspires friendly troops.
13Tome Of Evolution
A Chaos and Nature Affinity tier 1 tome, the Tome Of Evolution focuses on evolving units into more powerful versions of themselves.Slither Hatchlingsare a tier 1 unit that, when they reach tier 3, evolve intoSlithers.Tier 1Wyvern fledglingsevolve into random tier 3Wyverns.
RELATED:Age Of Wonders 4: Best Rulers
Players can keep these weaker units alive with theRapid Evolution Enhancementability, which can resurrect dead tier 1 and 2 units to ensure they reach their full potential. This strategy might be a little risky in the early game, but can pay off later on if players manage to evolve enough units.
12Tome Of Beasts
A Nature Affinity tier 1 tome, Tome Of Beasts is focused on summoning and buffing animals to fight in the player’s armies. TheSummon Wild Animalabilitycalls forth a random tier 1 or 2 animal, depending on the type of terrain this spell is cast on.
Tome Of Beasts also buffs animals, withAnimal Kinshipproviding damage bonuses to animals and cavalry if adjacent to another animal, including +10% damage and +10% critical hit chance. Additionally,Call Of The Wildgives animals and cavalry +2 Bolstered Defense and +1 Strengthened.
11Tome Of Warding
An Astral Affinity tier 1 tome, Tome Of Warding is primarily a defensive tome, allowing players to protect their units from harm.Staves Of Wardingprovides +2 Bolstered Resistance to support units, whileStatic Shieldgives a unit a shield that can stun attackers. In addition,Magical Wardsincreases lightning, fire, and frost resistance,
TheMark Of Invulnerabilityeven allows players to make a unit invulnerable for one turn. This will remove all negative status effects from that unit, and negate any damage the unit takes on that turn.
10Tome Of Faith
An Order Affinity tier 1 tome, Tome Of Faith increases the amount of healing and support that players can output. In addition to theFaithfulbonus, which reduces unit upkeep by 10%, theArmy Healability heals all units by 20 hit points.
RELATED:Games Every Lover Of High Fantasy Should Play
Staves Of Mendinggrants access to the Mending Touch healing ability, which can be used by support units in battle. The tome also provides other bonuses, such asFaithful Whispers,which increases the player’s allegiance with free cities 30% faster.
9Tome Of Enchantment
A Materium Affinity tier 1 tome, Tome Of Enchantment is focused on buffing up troops with enchantments. For shield units,Spell-Tempered Shieldsgrants +1 resistance and a further +1 resistance when entering defense mode. Meanwhile, for ranged units,Seeker Arrowsgive +1 range. Finally, for melee units,Sundering Bladesprovide a 90% chance of reducing enemy defense.
This is a great tome to pick regardless of the affinity the player specializes in. It can be picked up for an early game boostwithout fully committing to the Materium Affinity.
8Tome Of The Golden Realm
A Materium Affinity tier 4 tome, the Tome Of The Golden Realm lives up to its name by filling the player’s coffers with endless amounts of gold. TheGoldtouchtransformation grants one gold per population, which can stack up quickly. Additionally,Golden Golemcan be summoned to turn enemies into gold and loot the newfound treasure.
The extra gold can then be used to field more armies,upgrade cities, or trade for resources. This is an ideal tome to pick up if players are struggling with upkeep costs, or if they simply want to become the wealthiest faction on the map.
7Tome Of Teleportation
An Astral Affinity tier 3 tome, Tome Of Teleportation lives up to its name by giving players the means to instantly transporting units around the map. A movement-focused tome, its abilities includeMass Recall,which can teleport an entire army to its nearest friendly city, andEmergency Teleportation,which can teleport and also heal a unit.Phasing Enchantmenteven allows units to teleport in battle.
RELATED:Total War: Warhammer 3 - Factions Tier List
This tome is great at moving forces to where they need to be to meet a threat head-on. It is universally powerful for this reason, and is always a good tome to have.
6Tome Of The Horde
A Chaos Affinity tier 1 tome, Tome Of The Horde lends itself to massed force, overwhelm tactics. Its most crucial ability is theSpawnkintransformation, whichmakes the player’s race smallerwhile also increasing the number of units in a formation and granting a +20% damage bonus.
Fury Of The Hordealso strengthens tier 1 units, andBlaze Of The Hordeallows tier 1 units to deal fire damage. This all comes together to empower tier 1 units, which can be fielded en masse to outnumber the enemy.
