With either pretender design you’re going to have access to a lot of items, so I’ll just highlight some of the more important ones. Fever Fetish, obviously, works well with this nation, and if you can Clam of Pearls. I also like items that can give melee commanders something to do in safety, like the Scepter of Authority, Black Bow of Botuf, or Ice Pebble Staff. Bane Blades are good for assassins, and the Horror Helmet is good for a lot of purposes.
Here’s where most of the better equipment for thugs lies. The Endless Bag of Wine becomes important because your Onis are very supply intensive even though they are NNE, and a wasteland will probably starve out your regular troops in even moderately sized armies. A couple of other items to note are the Bane Venom Charm which is great for sticking it on a Black Servant and letting him sit in the enemies provinces. A couple of upgrades to your regular commanders include the Wand of Wild Fire, Staff of Corrosion, and Skull Standard. The Skull Staff is good for getting to D3 or 4. The Charcoal Shield is a good item for a thug. Elemental Armor, Robe of the Sea, and Robe of Etherealness aren’t bad choices for commanders. Boots of the Messenger are great for casters and thugs, and there’s a lot of path boosters around too. I’m partial to the Wavebreak or Sword of Quickness to Ghost Generals.
More upgrades here for commanders include Rod of the Phoenix and Banefire Crossbow. There’s also a couple of path boosters, like the Staff of Elemental Mastery or Water Bracelet. Of course the Wraith Sword is great and the Lantern Shield has it’s uses. Bone Armor is great if you can get your hands on it, as is the Robe of Invulnerability and Wraith Crown. The Boots of Stone are good in a pinch.
