I am reviewing hero ability and specific heroes

[muxecoid2]

Hello. I decided to write down my impressions on all hero's. Not all of them I had the chance to use in CoM, so some is purely theoretical.

I will split it in 5 parts with 7 heroes and their hero abilities in each part.


Armsmaster. With heroism it gives 8xp per turn to 8 units max so it is 64 total per turn in best case. So it is like having free undispellable heroism every 3 turns. But often you do not have the good normal heroes to utilize him fully.

Constitution. HP is nice. Especially in CoM with AI often targeting heroes.

Might. If your hero is going to attack in melee you want it. Usually slightly less impactful, than blade master. And not every warrior type hero want to attack in melee.

Sage. Good economic ability, but does not help you in combat directly. Getting a key spell a couple of turns earlier may be very helpful. Good in early game.

Noble. Great in early game, not so impactful later. 

Logistics. Combat skill is important. A really good ability.

Soul linker. Incredible bonus once you get enough levels, but not every wizard can utilize it.

Leadership. Needs many levels that you won't have in time to be impactful. On a weaker side.

Supply commander. More often than not you won't need the extra ammo. When you need you often can just attack next turn. Not impressed.


1.Dwarf.
Not too special. Lots of HP and armsmaster. HP is good for soaking damage that would kill others. Mountaineer is mostly for flavour. Mostly unremarkable.

2.Barbarian
Decent damage with his might and can attack air units, but not very useful. Will die unless you heavily invest in him and usually not worth the investment.

3. Sage
Hero named after his signature ability. Also has decent manapool as for low tier hero. Can help in combat, but often used just for economy.

4. Dervish
Not only helps you with early economy, but also boosts your armies in combat. Deceptively good hero.

5. Beatmaster
Boosts fantastic creatures significantly. To defend bonus is a rare and valuable stat. The spells and mana pool are not impressive. Best early game companion for stacks of fantastic creatures.

6. Bard.
Great companion for your armies. Best early companion for normal units. While holy bonus is amazing Leadership is much less important. Also good impactful spell. I take it when I see it.

7. Orc archer.
Unremarkable hero. Situations where you need more ammo are not too common. If he gets lucky with his random ability can be decent, but usually unremarkable.

[jhsidi]

Just to add counterpoints on a couple of those...

Supply Commander > very, very useful for 4 shot magical units. Ghouls, sprites, shaman / priests, magicians, etc.

Sage > not just useful in early game, when they're leveled up later you'll be getting something like ~60 research per turn, it's nothing to sneeze at.

The Barbarian is a standout for how incredibly bad he is. If you aren't a Life wizard, he's basically an extra unit of swordsmen; he can't beat anything stronger than that. But melee heroes are really balanced under the assumption of a Life mage using them, which is unfortunate for every other school of magic.

[muxecoid2]

You are right I am not using magical ranged units enough. Extra shots on ghoul can be the difference between raising and not raising a good unit as undead.

Barbarian is surprisingly bad even for life artificer wizards with his lack of defensive options. You throw all buffs on him and he still does.

Anyway. Let's continue to part 2.

Blade master. Usually better than might and powershot as attack value is typically easier to buff.

Agility. As survival is usually more important, than damage it is pretty impressive.

Charmed. Amazing ability as it protects from most common ways to lose a hero.

Ritual master. The number is weaker than sage or aether master, but universal. I would usually prefer aether master instead.

8. Healer
If your strategy relies on healing you usually have another source of it. The manapool is respectable. If you do not have healing from other sources can be useful, but not too spectacular otherwise. Random ability may make her much more useful occasionally.

9. Huntress
Impressive if you can buff her attack power. With enough buffs can hunt very powerful enemies as long as they are not too fast or missile immune.

10. Thief.
A great buffing target. Can't be killed with resistance based spells and lucky is one of the best abilities in the game.

11. Druid.
Amazing hero. Perhaps should be on a higher tier. Two of the best crowd control spells, a good resist or die spell( needs levels to get enough mana to use them) . And boosts your economy.

12. War monk
Often a disappointing hero, but may get useful random abilities.

13. Warrior mage
Great set of spells for all situations making him useful against wide range of enemies.

14. Magician
Great mana pool and serious offensive capability. Protect him well and he will win battles for you.

[GMBarak]

for me, if it's a warrior, I will look for:
1. Luck
2. Blade master
Also good:
Might, Agility

if it's a shooter:
first: Blade master
Also good: Powershot/Luck/Arcane power

if it's a leader:
Windwalking/guiding beacon

best hero spells are web/black prayer IMO

So, I would say best hero random traits are for me: Luck/Blade master

Yes, I agree about the huntress being amazing. if you can buff her up properly she can take down high level lairs all by herself.

[muxecoid2]

Let's continue.

Guiding beacon. Given how common ranged playstyle is may be even better, than leadership.


15. Assassin
Entry level first strike hero. Has blade master and poison to give him a decent chance to kill without taking retaliation.

16. Wind Mage
The ultimate utility hero. Wind walking is amazing in rough terrain or over sea. Also buffs ranged attacks which is often better than leadership.

17. Ranger
Lucky and caster guarantee that the unit is useful. Can be amazing with good random abilities and never a bad hero.

18. Draconian
Built in flight is amazing. The random abilities are likely not very good, but flight always has its use.

19. Witch
A solid Spellcaster with protection from enemy spells.

20. Golden one
Mostly random abilities and rarely great. At least you do not pay him, but the other way around.

21. Ninja
Invisibility is great and there are limited counters to it. It may give you a way to cast spells in combat safely dealing damage to enemies who can't retaliate. One of the heroes who can be more effective when serving a non-white wizard.

[muxecoid2]

Let's continue

Legendary. Reduces the upkeep costs and attracts better heroes. Unfortunately the very existence of the hero possessing the ability reduces the chance for hero offer. Useful in certain builds.

22. Rogue.
Just like internet explorer was the best browser for downloading a better browser. He is the best hero for getting a better hero. At least if you can put heroism. I like it when he gets armsmaster as random ability as he is the rear support and economy hero.

23. Amazon
A bigger barbarian. Charmed means that she has a chance to survive. Not too spectacular, but a solid fighter with buffs and items.

24. Warlock.
While magician is AoE mage hero warlock is more focused on single targets. With such high casting can be one of the more impactful heroes if he stays alive.

25. Unknown.
Technically a champion. Fully random, usually rather weak, but sometimes can be very good.

26. Illusionist.
Fortunately the sorcery champion does not require a blue book to obtain. Frail by champion standards but has the potential to become the best caster in the game.

27. Swordsman.
This hero is all over the place. Has spells to keep army alive, but no mana to cast them. Armsmaster is better on cheap common hero rather than champion. Has some melee potential, but not enough of it.

28. Priestess
Needs a white book to arrive. Built around making your armies survivable in multiple different ways and is rather good at it.

[GMBarak]

28. Priestess
Needs a white book to arrive. Built around making your armies survivable in multiple different ways and is rather good at it.

She is very good for a non life books wizard. I thought the books requirements for heroes/champions were removed in Caster of Magic. so I don't think a life book is required.

[Slingers]

I thought the books requirements for heroes/champions were removed in Caster of Magic. so I don't think a life book is required.

Aha. With Life+Death combo allowed, it wouldn't make sense I guess? It is possible to add book requirements for heroes via modding, but it makes the hero less interesting if the wizard knows his spells.

[jhsidi]

Re: Legendary, why do you say that the ability reduces the chance of getting offers for other heroes? I view it mainly as a money skill. At high hero levels, Legendary is better than Noble.

Since you're getting into champions now... Among the champion level heroes, Swordsman and Knight are just awful compared to others at their tier.

Swordsman, as you said, just doesn't make sense. He's not really good at anything, either fighting or magic. His spell selection might be good for some build because of Raise Dead, but you get the feeling that Raise Dead is the entire reason he's a champion. So basically he's 1 pop of Raise Dead, plus a mediocre meat shield, which to me does not make for a champion. Should be a hero.

Knight is an army support champion. But as a result, he personally sucks: can't be used for either fighting or casting. And the armies he'd be supporting are best if they're composed of normal units, which means a Life build but... Life gets Incarnation, which does everything the Knight does but vastly better. Life also gets Angels and Arch Angels, which are again superior to having the Knight.

Every other champion is fantastically good, so it's really a sad day when you cast Summon Champion and get one of these two junkpiles.

[teelaurila]

Survivability seems underrated imo. Thus the ability to wear armor is big. Agility lucky and charmed are central skills.

Thus I find the likes of druid sage priest pointless outside specific item synergies or lair hunts, since if I can afford to keep them alive, I can also win without them.

Caster is big, as it allows +caster items and a sturdy platform to fling just common spells per turn is big.

Of support skills, soul linker is leaps above the rest. Could be more balanced without the +def.

Offense is more about the combination of hero and item. Artificer can design for that, but otherwise its about luck in what you find and get. Like an illusion sword and first strike hero. Or -save and holy word. Mostly the diversity there is great on the later heroes. But if you want hero power lists, the combo potential or lack thereof should be analysed.