Age of Wonders 4 Tomes: Affinities, Tiers, and Builds

How Do Tomes Work?

Age of Wonders 4 tomes shape what your empire can summon, recruit, cast, and become. Each selection expands your research options and adds affinity points, helping determine which higher-tier magic you can unlock. Choose around the army you intend to field and the spells you will actually use.

Tomes contain combinations of combat spells, world map spells, recruitable units, summons, enchantments, transformations, city structures, and special province improvements. Their immediate bonuses are separate from those research unlocks: selecting a tome does not instantly give you every spell inside it.

Each tome adds 5 world map Casting Points and 5 combat Casting Points. Single-affinity tomes grant 2 points in their affinity, while dual-affinity tomes grant 1 point in each. The Tome of the Cosmos is the exception, granting 1 point in all six affinities.

Before choosing, identify the specific unlock you want. A new ranged enchantment, healing spell, or unit can justify a selection more clearly than its overall theme alone.

Official page: Age of Wonders 4 (paradoxinteractive.com)

Tome Tiers and Affinity Requirements

Tomes span five tiers. Higher tiers require an established tome collection, and tiers III through V also have affinity requirements.

Image: Steam / Triumph Studios

Tome tier	Tomes required beforehand	Affinity requirement
I	None	None
II	2	None
III	4	3 points in its affinity
IV	6	6 points in its affinity
V	8	8 points in its affinity

These are total tome requirements. You do not need to follow a rigid sequence of two selections from every preceding tier.

Only one tier V tome can be unlocked per game. Plan that choice before spreading your affinity points across several branches.

For hybrid tomes at tiers III and IV, any combination of their two associated affinities can satisfy the required total. That gives a mixed-affinity build more flexibility when advancing.

The Tome of the Cosmos uses different affinity thresholds: either 2 points in every affinity, totaling 12, or 6 points in three different affinities, totaling 18.

The Unbound Tomes realm trait removes affinity requirements. The Empire of the Cosmos society trait can also bypass them when its conditions are met.

What Each Affinity Focuses On

Each affinity contains several themes. Shadow includes both necromancy and cold magic, for example, so choosing the right affinity is only the beginning.

Image: www.paradoxinteractive.com

Affinity	Main themes	Examples of starting tomes
Astral	Lightning, combat magic, mana, summoning, and magical units	Evocation, Warding
Chaos	Fire, aggression, morale pressure, and large armies	Pyromancy, The Horde
Materium	Physical damage, defense, production, constructs, and siege tools	Enchantment, Rock
Nature	Animals, plants, growth, blight damage, and terrain interactions	Beasts, Roots
Order	Faith, healing, unit support, zeal, and allegiance	Faith, Zeal
Shadow	Undead, Souls, cold damage, debuffs, and research	Necromancy, Cryomancy

Start with one central theme and a complementary affinity. Then compare individual unlocks rather than assuming every tome of the same color serves the same army.

For a necromancer, look specifically for undead and Soul mechanics. For an animal army, look for Animal support and suitable units. For a conventional army, check which enchantments affect the troops you already recruit.

DLC adds hybrid options. Tome of Evolution, from Dragon Dawn, combines Chaos and Nature. Tome of Alchemy, from Empires & Ashes, combines Materium and Nature. Both grant one affinity point in each associated branch.

Starting Tomes and Their Practical Differences

The starting selection establishes your early research pool. Compare the unit, spell, and province improvement together before committing.

Image: PlayStation Store

Astral: Evocation or Warding

Evocation contains Fulmination, Evoker, Lightning Blades, Lightning Torrent, Summon Lesser Storm Spirit, and Lightning Focus. Its Channeling Tower produces 10 Mana, plus 3 Mana per adjacent Conduit.

Warding contains Static Shield, Mark of Invulnerability, Staves of Warding, Summon Phantasm Warrior, and Magical Wards.

Choose Evocation when building around its lightning tools. Choose Warding when you want its protective options. If selecting Evocation for the Channeling Tower, reserve a province where Conduit adjacency can increase its income.

Chaos: Pyromancy or The Horde

Pyromancy supplies Ignite, Immolate, Pyromancer, Searing Blades, Fiery Arrows, and Summon Lesser Magma Spirit. Its Ritual Pyre produces 10 Mana, plus 3 Mana per adjacent Forester.

The Horde includes Houndmaster, Summon Irregulars, Fury of the Horde, Blaze of the Horde, Spawnkin, and the Unleash the War Hounds siege project.

The Horde’s Mob Camp provides 7 Food and 7 Draft, serves as a unit deployment location, and makes tier I units 20% cheaper. Use that improvement when inexpensive tier I recruitment is part of your plan.

Materium: Enchantment or Rock

Enchantment includes Spell-Tempered Shields, Sundering Blades, Seeker Arrows, Awakened Tools, and Summon Copper Golem. Its Runecarver’s Camp supplies 15 Draft, adds Mana through adjacent Quarries, and provides a unit deployment location.

Rock includes Rock Blast, Gargoyle, Obsidian Weapons, Stone Skin, Summon Lesser Stone Spirit, and Earthskin.

Rock’s Central Quarry produces 15 Production, plus 5 Production per adjacent Quarry. Place it within a Quarry cluster when developing a production-focused city.

Nature: Beasts or Roots

Beasts provides Wildspeaker, Mark as Prey, Call of the Wild, Call Wild Animal, and Animal Kinship. Its Wildlife Sanctuary unlocks recruitment of several Animal units, including Goretusk Piglet, Hunter Spider, Razorback, and Warg.

Roots provides Healing Roots, Poison Arrows, Blight Blades, Summon Entwined Thrall, and Vine Prison.

Its Herbalist produces 5 Food and 5 Mana, with another 2 of each per adjacent Forest or Swamp province. Friendly armies in that city’s domain also regenerate an additional 5 Hit Points per turn.

Choose Beasts for its Animal roster and support. Choose Roots for its healing, blight enchantments, and battlefield control.

Order: Faith or Zeal

Faith includes Wrath of the Faithful, Summon Lesser Light Spirit, Convent, Faithful Whispers, Staves of Mending, and Army Heal.

Its Abbey generates 10 Knowledge, plus 3 Knowledge per adjacent Farm. Place it near Farms to support your research economy.

Zeal includes Condemnation, Fanatical Workforce, Inspiring Chant, Summon Zealot, and Legion of Zeal. Its Circle of Zealotry provides Draft based on alignment, City Stability from adjacent province improvements, and a unit deployment location.

Compare Faith’s healing and research options with Zeal’s unit, workforce, and combat-support unlocks.

Shadow: Necromancy or Cryomancy

Necromancy unlocks Soul Harvest and contains Necrotize, Necrotic Projectiles, Rotting Explosion, Skeleton Reanimation, Necromancer, and Soul Collection.

Its Soulwell produces 5 Souls, plus 3 Mana per adjacent Research Post or Conduit. Soul Harvest also lets your empire collect Souls from enemies killed in victorious battles.

Cryomancy contains Ice Coffin, White Witch, Blizzard, Frost Blades, Summon Lesser Snow Spirit, and Frost Arrows. It does not grant Soul Harvest.

Its School of Cryomancy provides 10 Knowledge, plus 3 Mana per adjacent Snow or Ice province. Choose Necromancy to establish a Soul-based army; choose Cryomancy for its cold-magic package.

Research Costs and Faster Progression

Selecting a tome is instantaneous. Researching its individual skills consumes Knowledge.

The base research cost depends on how many tomes you have when you select the tome containing that skill.

Tome count when selected	Base skill cost
1	250 Knowledge
2	400 Knowledge
3	600 Knowledge
4	800 Knowledge
5	1,100 Knowledge
6	1,500 Knowledge
7	1,900 Knowledge
8	2,400 Knowledge
9	3,000 Knowledge
10	3,600 Knowledge
11	4,300 Knowledge
12	5,000 Knowledge
13 onward	Increases by 1,000 for each additional tome

Adept skills cost 20% less than the base amount. Expert skills cost 20% more.

Research cycles track the completed skills needed before another tome selection becomes available. You do not have to research every skill in a tome before moving on.

Use those mechanics to prioritize research:

• Research the unlock your army needs next. Take a unit enchantment you can apply immediately before an unrelated summon you cannot support.
• Use cheaper useful skills to advance research cycles. Compare the Knowledge cost with the benefit rather than automatically choosing the highest-level option.
• Develop Knowledge income across your cities. Build research structures and plan Research Posts alongside your other province improvements.
• Check building boosts and prerequisites before expanding. Reserve the provinces needed for the research buildings you intend to construct.
• Support special improvements with their adjacency bonuses. An Abbey surrounded by Farms or an Alchemist’s Lab beside different province improvement types can contribute more Knowledge.

Mana and Casting Points also matter after research finishes. A spell unlocked in the research screen still needs the resources required to cast it.

Planning a Focused Tome Build

Build around a clear combat plan, then select supporting magic that addresses a specific weakness. Two connected affinities provide a manageable starting framework without requiring every selection to stay within them.

Necromancy and an Undead Army

Begin with Tome of Necromancy for Soul Harvest, Skeleton Reanimation, and access to Necromancer. Keep the later undead-themed tomes—Souls, Great Transformation, Reaper, and Eternal Lord—in your progression plan while meeting the relevant unlock requirements.

Decide whether your main investment will be raising and summoning undead or developing recruited troops into an undead force. Budget around that decision: summoning draws on Mana and casting resources, while recruited troops require Gold and Draft.

Add Roots if you specifically want Blight Blades and its other support tools. If Mana or casting capacity becomes the constraint, compare Astral options before adding another unrelated combat package.

Evolution and Animal Support

With Dragon Dawn, begin with Tome of Evolution for Slither Hatchling, Summon Wyvern Fledgling, Youthful Rejuvenation, Draconic Vitality, and Rapid Evolution Enchantment.

Pair it with Beasts to add Animal units and support. Check each unit’s traits before deciding which buffs belong in your research queue.

Protect evolving units during tactical battles. Goretusk Piglet and Hunter Spider can become stronger units through their Evolve trait, so preserving them supports the army’s development.

Fixing a Weakness in an Existing Army

Inspect the fight you are struggling with before choosing the next tome.

If your frontline survives but cannot finish enemies, compare offensive enchantments that apply to those troops. If casualties are forcing frequent retreats, look at healing options such as Healing Roots or Army Heal. If your planned summon remains unused, address its resource demands before researching more summons.

Play difficult battles manually to identify whether the problem is damage, positioning, healing, or status effects. Then choose the specific spell or unit that addresses it.

Magic Victory, Pacts, and Pantheon Rewards

When Magic Victory is enabled, acquiring any tier III tome permanently adds Bind Gold Ancient Wonder as a research option. Its research cost is always 4,000 Knowledge.

Acquiring a tier V tome permanently adds the corresponding Age of [affinity name] spell as a research option. That spell always costs 12,000 Knowledge. Budget for this separate research investment when planning a Magic Victory.

Some magical unlocks come through diplomacy with dwellings rather than normal tome research. After making the relevant pact, purchase the spells and province improvement associated with Eldritch Pact from an Umbral Dwelling or Crystal Pact from a Crystal Dwelling.

Your researched tomes also determine which Ascension skills are available when a victorious ruler ascends to the Pantheon. Check those rewards when planning a ruler you want to carry into future games.