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A mild irritation comes when you cannot eliminate the hero's main and this idea focuses on it Suppose someone hitting your remaining stack of archangels to see that one of them survives with 1 hp due to last stand. No problem he thinks and goes for another hit and the archangel DIES!! Only to see them resurrected with guardian's angel  Whether you will have an upper hand or retreat it will be fun for you, especially if you can see your opponent's face.

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You feel like being a smart@ss? You hate your opponent? You like him but want to humiliate him anyway? You have come to the right place!
Many strategies can be effective but few can be truly annoying and thus attacking directly the opponent's calmness and sanity which presents you with a whole new dimension of strategy-a phychological warfare! Some can be complex-others too simple and may be effective or pointless but the point is to enrage your opponent beyond any semblance of reason to gain the upper hand. This is a war and there can be only one victor so you must utilize any means to destroy the opposition!
Unfortunately some are not easy to pull off but it can be very satisfying if you manage to do so. Some are purely situational as well.
Let's have a look, shall we?


PUPPET MASTER ABUSE


You probably have seen this one and hate it as much as I do. Necropolis and inferno have a rare privilage against powerful stacks, dark magic and especially puppet master. What makes that so great? Once you cast it you can start attacking it with all of your units without fear of retaliation-talk about a broken spell! So there is one thing to be done about it, do it yourself!

Requirements: Dark magic->puppet master.
Evaluation: Not really a strategy rather a helpful tip for those who don't know how to abuse dark magic to their full potential. The opponent can cleanse it or use magical immunity but it would require a good level of hero and light magic. Don't expect a stack of sprites to dispel it that easily.


Another use of puppet master that is even more annoying! Let's suppose we have a haven vs infeno. The nightmares attack the paladins and you hero puppet masters the archangels to resurrect the lost nightmares If this cannot affect your opponent I don't know what can!

Requirements: Same.
Evaluation: There is always the chance that your spell will be countered by the paladins' lay on hands or light magic so there is a margin for miscalculation. If he DOES counter it hope he won't use the resurrection first!


Assuming once again we have inferno vs haven it is lovely when you puppet master the marksmen and then teleport assault them near the paladins! That does hurt.

Requirements: Puppet master, logistics->teleport assault.
Evaluation: An easy to use strategy, same risks and counters.

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WHEN YOU HAVE MASSIVE STACKS


Ingvar can surely lead to some frustration! Just get runic armour perk and cast arcane armour on his shieldguards! Even if you are to lose you will be able to snicker every time you see the pathetic damage your opponent does to them
Another sick tactic is to get Ingvar as your secondary to guard the town. Get preparation and battle frenzy and you'll see what I mean

Requirements: Summoning magic->runic armour, defense->preparation, attack->battle frenzy.
Evaluation: Summoning is not as easy to get but it is totally satisfying! The rest are pretty accessible though the opponent can tackle the shieldguards with cleansing or dark magic.

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A known annoying tactic is to use necromancy along with haunted mines to gather an impressive army of spectres. What remains to be done is to get vitality and boneward. They can be defeated but that will take long If you get any offensive skills they may even become threatening.

Requirements: Necromancy, summoning->haunted mines, sorcery->boneward, defense->vitality/protection/evasion. Maybe attack->battle frenzy and luck.
Evaluation: Easy to setup though not the most effective combination. Surprizingly good in comparison with what you might expect though.


A funny thing to do with sylvan which might actually surprise the opponent and give you an edge towards the end of the battle. Ancient treants with stand your ground and maybe an endurance buff. Take roots ability gives unlimited retaliation plus 50% defense instead of the regular 30% which is doubled with stand your ground! Your surving treants turn into a solid rock that hits back at every attacker and you'll probably have some lucky attacks too.

Requirements: Defense->stand your ground, light->endurance.
Evaluation: Easy to use though there are a few counters for each faction. Also you can invest in better skills/abilities even if it's a laugh to use it once in a while


As of 2.1 it's easy to gather a good number of paladins, even more so in large maps. You might be tempted to try that one in the case you don't split them! Use retaliation strike on them while having weakening strike. The knight will retaliate all who attack the paladins save the archers and casters while lowering their attack by 12(). If you use your inquisitors to cast endurance on them you will like the results.

Requirements: Training, retaliation strike, dark magic->weakening strike.
Evaluation: Pretty accesible requirements though a mass suffering could help just as well. Still the knight's damage is good and will help you get rid of the attackers sooner. It feels good to punish your attackers every single time


ARMAGEDDON STRATEGIES


They just had to be in didn't they? One of my favourite ways to go down is to go suicidal! And the warlock can do just that with an empowered lucky armageddon and a minimal army. You'll lose and take with you a vast amount of the enemy hero's army. Then you will attack with your secondary and full army and kill off the remains.

Requirements: Destructive->armageddon, luck->warlock's luck. Others that may help are enlightenment and the artifact phoenix feather cape.
Evaluation: Requires good timing. The opponent can rarely resist the lure of an unprotected main but you must also be sure that the armageddon will do enough damage, buy your arties and get enlightenment! You must make sure that your secondary will have little problem in vanquishing the enemy main and get his town.
Know thy enemy because he may have speed arties, tactics, initiative arties and vanquish you before you play.


The dwarves have a most annoying armageddon strat. They have ignite, dwarven luck, rune of immunity, immune dragons and bears/shieldguards impervious to master of fire. BUT before you do that you will want the rune patriarchs to attack with crossfire first and possibly put a mark of fire on multiple enemies(improved chance with soldier's luck). Also, it's good to place a unit near the centre to lure the enemies where the meteor will hit for double damage.

Requirements: Destructive->ignite, luck->dwarven luck/soldier's luck, rune of elemental immunity and sorcery(optional).
Evaluation: Of the easiest to use, as long as you get the spell. Mage vaults certainly help. It will not guarantee a victory but it helps and the opponent can't do much unless he get arties or resistance.


OTHER


A mild irritation comes when you cannot eliminate the hero's main and this idea focuses on it Suppose someone hitting your remaining stack of archangels to see that one of them survives with 1 hp due to last stand. No problem he thinks and goes for another hit and the archangel DIES!! Only to see them resurrected with guardian's angel Whether you will have an upper hand or retreat it will be fun for you, especially if you can see your opponent's face.

Requirements: Defense->last stand, light magic->guardian angel.
Evaluation: Easily achievable though getting last stand would be a more attractive choice if stand your ground was more beneficial to a knight and getting basic abilities will almost always be better anyway.


So you face a mean spellcaster that is focused hurling destructive spells at your strongest stack. Damn, what to do? Hmm imagine you casting magical immunity on it and then start resurrecting! But how? You must have below expert light magic so as the resurrection not to be blocked by the immunity That should shock him enough.

Requirements: Up to advanced light magic, magical immunity, scroll of resurrection/tome of light magic
Evaluation: In some maps it is easily achievable, however you must know who you'll face and what lvl 5 spells he might have. Because implosion and puppet master will still affect you.


A dwarven strategy that can create a hopeless situation in some cases while it is midgame. You get destructive with ignite, triple ballista and start killing your opponent from afar while defending with your units. And when he attacks you he finds out you have preparation In case he has charging units such as grim raiders you may want to get swift mind so as to cast a fireball at them first but also hope to play first and defend. You get the first hit against his halfed defense

Requirements: Destructive->ignite, warmachines->triple ballista, defense->preparation, maybe logistics->swift mind.
Evaluation: The requirements are far from demanding save swift mind of course. It can work if the armies haven't reached titanic proportions yet() plus you can exploit the fact that you defend to use runes and refresh them later to have a nasty combo much in the way Doomforge suggested If you happen to have a good morale you'll ensure more retaliations vs fast units.


This time you face a knight who keeps training peasants and footmen due to lack of funds. But also because he has archery and likes to shield the marksmen and priests with squires to gain an edge How would it look if he found out he does -30% damage and with decreased initiative?

Requirements: Defense->evasion, summoning->wall of fog.
Evaluation: It's fun to use but the only likely candidate to do that is Razzak, even Dirael has master of conjuration...Rare combo.


A disruptive while emotionally satisfying way to use the blackbears is to charge with them in the middle of enemy units while having activated a rune of battlerage! D You'll see three or more units displaced hehe!

Requirements: Rune of battle rage, soldier's luck.
Evaluation: Not much to say, it's fun!


An enemy knight is amassing a massive stack of paladins against your wizard while overlooking the rest of his units, having them in small quantities. Imagine his frustration when he sees his mana inadequate due to your supress light and you keep wasp swarming them with mark of the wizard! They'll never get a turn.
Also great vs the shieldguards from a guard post, I would know!
Dirael can do something similar with rain of arrows and imbue arrow, possibly wasp swarming 3 enemy units-assuming you would ever pick her!

Requirements: Summoning->wasp swarm, mark of the wizard.
Evaluation: It can work against powerful living stacks when the opponent does not have a proportionate army. If focused on one unit it can disable it but even cast on two targets simultaneously has an effect as long as your units are battle ready or you have a ballista aid. Possible counters are magical immunity and divine guidance though the latter won't help much if wasp swarm is cast on the marked unit.


Whether someone has neutral luck or not it's fun robbing them of their good luck! And the best way to do that is get dead man's luck with Deirdre and use her banshee howl afterwards. With neutral luck the opponent will keep having his attacks halved for the next few rounds ehm hero actions!

Requirements: Deirdre for a better howl, dead man's luck, maybe  a luck decreasing artie
Evaluation: If you get luck it will work. IF.


The phoenix is a magnificent creature. Especially if you are a potent caster it is hard to take down unless it is endgame. Now, if you cast arcane armour on it and then replenish his hp with raise dead when it's about to die, it gets a tad too strong. There is the funny option of casting mass slow for it to attack more often than it's attacked or keep spamming armageddon as described in the armageddonist strategy by Towerlord

Requirements: Summoning->master of conjuration, conjure phoenix, arcane armour, raise dead/resurrection. The rest is optional and easily customizeable.
Evaluation: Hope you found a dragon utopia or vault of the mages, not easy to get both spells otherwise. Hopefully the opponent won't have good phoenix counters as well ie cold death, vorpal blade, good direct attack etc.


Finally something I found out recently and works well vs people with triple ballista. For those who hate to have their weapons turned against them: Remote control+flaming arrows+artificial glory+enlightenment. You get the enemy ballista(hopefully) and it receives your bonuses and perks that makes it all the sweeter.

Requirements: Warmachines->remote control, attack->flaming arrows, enlightenment, maybe leadership->artificial glory.
Evaluation: Hard to get requirements and questionable effectiveness as you may get the opponent's ammon cart...If it works you'll enjoy a nice spectacle



These should be enough for now, after all I'm sure you have some of your own to add I apologize for some ideas that I recycled but I felt that they had a place here, thank you for reading through this monstrous post!

Edited: Some copy-paste errors. I'm sorry for that.

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frustrating combo... rune of battle rage & berserkering + warlords

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Yeah but duel mode is quite different than normal game..

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