Age of Wonders 4 Secrets of the Archmages: DLC Guide

What Does Secrets of the Archmages Add?

Forbidden magic can outlive the realm where you found it. Age of Wonders 4 Secrets of the Archmages adds hidden pocket dimensions, collectible Secret Spells, and three Story Realms centered on legendary Wizard Kings. Win a realm while holding a Secret Spell artifact, and your ruler can retain its spell as an Ascension Trait for future adventures.

Released June 16, 2026, this Story Pack costs $19.99 at its regular US price and requires the base game. It is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, and is included in Expansion Pass 3. Check your existing pass ownership before buying the Secrets of the Archmages DLC on Steam.

Alongside its stories and exploration layer, the pack adds six magical tomes, the Owlkin physical form, new creatures, landmarks, and customization options.

Three Story Realms and Their Secrets

The Circles of Power story follows familiar figures through three distinct realms. Each Story Realm also contains a Secret Spell unique to its tale.

Image: Steam / Triumph Studios

Evermore

Become Merlin’s apprentice and accompany him back to Evermore. The adventure explores the ruined Circle of Deogai and the dangerous powers lingering behind its collapse.

Merlin’s magical themes also extend into the new tome selection: Abjuration emphasizes protection, while the Cosmos brings together multiple affinities.

Azh’Ruun Pit

On Obbadoth, the fallen Archon Ysariel summons you into an infernal realm consumed by carnage. An ancient Wizard’s Circle stands near collapse, and Karissa’s fury is part of the disaster unfolding around it.

The accompanying infernal magic appears in the Tomes of Gluttony and Burning Passion, with powers built around feeding, demonic strength, and fire.

Burrow Downs

Ham Binger has been captured by the Mistwalkers. Enter a Fey Fissure and travel into Duatha, where changing seasons and Fey Gods shape the rescue mission.

This realm brings the pack’s Fey themes into focus, including trickery, shifting conditions, and the dangers hidden in the mist.

How to Unlock the Shrouded Isles

Shrouded Isles are pocket dimensions where ancient Godir concealed experimental magic from the Archons. The Shrouded Isles realm trait appears in the three Story Realms and the Enshrouded Expanse challenge realm, and you can select it for custom realms.

Image: www.paradoxinteractive.com

There are two types to explore: intact Shrouded Isles and previously plundered Breached Isles.

For the intact islands, follow this sequence:

1. Find Ancient Obelisks. Search the world map for these magical nodes.
2. Activate three with your heroes. This reveals portals leading to the remaining hidden islands.
3. Bring a hero to a guarded portal. Resolve its encounter with the Sun Guardian or Moon Guardian through the available dialogue or combat options.
4. Enter the island. Explore the pocket dimension and approach its Wizard’s Arcanum.
5. Defeat the Arcanum’s defenders. Conquering an intact Arcanum rewards you with an artifact bearing a Secret Spell.

Ancient Obelisks also provide 5 mana and 5 research as resource nodes. Work their activation into your exploration routes so the search advances alongside your economy.

Keep a hero available for portal encounters. Scouts can reveal terrain, but opening these gates requires a hero.

Binding Portals and Restoring Breached Isles

Breached Isles are visible from the beginning of a game. Their gates have no guardians, although a hero must still open them. Inside, you can find magical materials, pickups, and a damaged Arcanum with defenders.

Image: PlayStation Store

These islands offer an economic reward even without an intact island’s unique Secret Spell.

Move a Portal Into Your City’s Domain

Binding a gate lets you relocate its entrance and connect the island’s provinces to a city.

Portal action	Cost or timing
Bind a Breached Gate with a hero	50 imperium
Complete the binding	3 turns
Teleport the bound gate into your domain	100 mana
Portal relocation cooldown	5 turns
Restore a cleared, relocated Breached Arcanum	500 mana

After relocating the gate, the attached city can annex provinces inside the island. You cannot found a city directly on the isle.

A Breached Arcanum begins as the equivalent of a bronze Ancient Wonder. Defeat its defenders and move its portal into your domain, then spend 500 mana to restore it to a silver Ancient Wonder that provides additional knowledge and casting points.

Reserve imperium for binding and mana for relocation before committing to restoration. Those separate expenses determine how quickly an explored island becomes part of your economy.

Defend the Entrance

Rivals can bind and steal a portal during war. The hostile binding takes multiple turns, giving its owner time to respond.

Place the relocated entrance where you can defend it. The portal controls access to valuable island provinces, making its position a military concern as well as an economic choice.

Collecting Secret Spells and Keeping One After Victory

There are 14 Secret Spells, including one exclusive to each of the three Story Realms. Their effects include powerful world-map magic, combat transformations, and unusual summons.

Conquering an intact Wizard’s Arcanum grants a Secret Spell artifact. Some artifacts also offer passive bonuses, but the spell itself is the main prize.

To retain a Secret Spell through ascension, win the realm while possessing its artifact and choose that spell as your ruler’s Ascension Trait. This replaces the trait you would otherwise select from a tome. You can carry one such spell forward through that choice.

Secret Spells also have a casting requirement tied to your Wizard’s Tower or Vampire Lord’s Castle. Acquiring the artifact and meeting its casting requirements are separate steps.

Use this checklist during a secret-hunting run:

• Activate three Ancient Obelisks.
• Open a guarded Shrouded Gate with a hero.
• Conquer the intact Wizard’s Arcanum.
• Acquire its Secret Spell artifact.
• Meet the spell’s tower or castle requirement.
• Win while retaining the artifact.
• Select the spell as your Ascension Trait.

Keep the artifact carrying your intended ascension spell through the end of the realm.

All Six New Tomes and Their Build Options

The six tomes expand protection, infernal magic, Fey trickery, spider armies, and affinity-based spellcasting.

Tome	Main powers
Tome of Abjuration	Wards and protections that preserve your units
Tome of Gluttony	Feeding on mortal essence to strengthen and toughen units
Tome of the Sprite	Fey magic and effects that befuddle enemies
Tome of Burning Passion	Infernal fire, seduction, and demonic combat power
Tome of the Weaver	Spider transformations, immobilization, and spider support
Tome of the Cosmos	Multiple-affinity bonuses, economic benefits, and the Avatar of the Cosmos

Burning Passion: Fire and Seduction

The Tome of Burning Passion is a tier II Chaos tome. Fiery Heart provides fire protection, fire hazard immunity, and increased critical hit chance. Blazing Aura gives melee units an aura that damages adjacent enemies and can inflict Burning.

Its tier III Temptress battle mage can attempt to dominate a target with Kiss of Seduction. A target that resists takes fire damage and Burning instead.

Position units with Blazing Aura beside enemies you want to pressure at the end of the turn.

The Weaver: Transformation Has Equipment Consequences

The Tome of the Weaver is a tier III Nature/Shadow tome. Spider’s Embrace transforms your people into spider hybrids, granting the Spider unit type, fast movement, and a chance to immobilize with attacks.

The transformation removes unit mounts and causes heroes to lose their leg equipment. Review your heroes’ equipment before applying it.

Dread Hunters supports animals and spiders with Demoralizer and bonus damage against immobilized or frozen enemies. Apply those conditions before attacking with affected units to benefit from the damage bonus.

The tome also adds Weaver Spider summons, the Priest of the Weave support unit, and the Spider’s Nest province improvement, which unlocks recruitment of spider units.

The Cosmos: Plan Your Affinities Early

The tier V Tome of the Cosmos requires either:

• At least 2 points in each of the six affinities.
• At least 6 points in three different affinities.

Plan earlier tome choices around one of those requirements if you intend to unlock it.

Its rewards include an enchantment that strengthens non-Mythic units, a Prismatic Tower structure, and the tier V Avatar of the Cosmos. The Avatar has a free-action teleport, a long beam attack whose damage depends on your affinities, and nearby effects tied to affinities above 5.

Use the teleport to line up its beam before attacking.

Owlkin, New Wildlife, and Additional Rewards

Owlkin add a new physical form for faction creation, with customizable appearances suited to the pack’s themes of knowledge and hidden magic. Weaver Spider mounts offer another visual option, separate from the Weaver tome’s major transformation.

The new creatures include several threats worth recognizing before entering combat:

• Colossal Penguin: A tier V animal with life-stealing attacks, morale pressure, and parasitic corals that drain adjacent enemies.
• Immolated Soul: A tier III magic fighter whose fire attacks inflict Burning and whose combustion effect scales with that condition.
• Sun Guardian: A tier IV Mythic animal using fire and radiant damage, with an attack that also heals and cleanses nearby allies.
• Moon Guardian: A tier IV Mythic animal using frost and lightning damage, with an attack that cleanses nearby allies and grants them Evasion.
• Weaver Spiders: New spiders that also appear within the Weaver tome’s summons and recruitment options.

Additional world-map content includes the Broken Wizard’s Throne, Chained Hellion, and Mistflow Gardens landmarks, plus Mistwalker Camp infestations.

The pack also includes 8 achievements, 5 music tracks composed by Michiel van den Bos, 2 premade rulers, realm templates and traits, an interface skin, and banner emblems.

What the Free Sprite Update Includes

The Sprite Update launched alongside the Story Pack on June 16, 2026. Its general game changes are free for base-game owners.

The update introduced:

• An expanded Empire Development Tree with revised affinity skills.
• A Reaver culture rework introducing two Governments as subcultures.
• Two team settings that allow starting teams while preserving more diplomatic interactions.
• A Narrative Content Filter controlling the presence and frequency of Happenings, Lost Souls, and Wandering Merchants.
• Additional faction customization, Wizard King outfits, and mount options.
• Grimoires as a weapon class for magic wielders.

The Reaver changes apply to the culture introduced in Empires & Ashes. Buying this Story Pack gives you its realms, tomes, Owlkin, Shrouded Isles, and associated content; the free update’s broader system improvements are available without purchasing it.