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Heroes Community > Heroes 5 - Temple of Ashan > Thread: The Best Support Creature in HoMM5 - Round 6
Thread: The Best Support Creature in HoMM5 - Round 6
VokialBG
VokialBG


Honorable
Legendary Hero
First in line
posted April 26, 2008 06:08 PM
Edited by VokialBG at 21:27, 26 Apr 2008.

The Best Support Creature in HoMM5 - Round 6

In all previous rounds we discussed combat creatures - killer creaatures. Since tomorrow it's Easter (at least for the Orthodox part of the world) I decided to make this round a bit different

Round 6 is for the little, nice creatures called support creatures . They can help their masters or friendly creatures during or out of battle

Example: The Master Gremlins can repair friendly golems

----------------------------
Previous Rounds

Round 1 - Best Shooter
Round 2 - Best Caster
Round 3 - Best Tank-creature
Round 4 - Best creature with No Enemy Retaliation
Round 5 - Best Creature with Multi Attack

----------------------------
Theoreticians

Doomforge
Alcibiades
Emilsn
Elvin
TheDeath
sq79  
GenieLord
-New guys -
2ndHero
Cleave
Daystar
Fauch
Golemcrafter

----------------------------
Competitors

Academy:

Master Gremlin (Repair)
Magnetic Golem (Magnetism)
Archmage (Energy Channel) <-> Battle Mage (Dampen Magic)
Djinn Vizier (Wheel of Fortune)

Dungeon:

Minotaur Taskmaster (Aura of Bravery)

Haven:

Conscript (Taxpayer ) <-> Brute (Taxpayer)
Squire (Shield Allies)
Paladin (Lay Hands)
Archangel (Resurrect Allies)

Inferno:

Familiar (Mana Stealer) <-> Vermin (Siphon Mana)

Necropolis:

Skeleton Warrior (Shield Allies)

Sylvan:

Druid Elder (Mana Feed) <-> High Druid (Channeling)
Silver Unicorn (Aura of Magic Resistance)

Stronghold:

Chieftain (Commanding Presence)
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Elvin
Elvin


Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
posted April 26, 2008 06:10 PM
Edited by Elvin at 19:20, 26 Apr 2008.

Maybe you could make it support, sounds better. Meanwhile posting my answer

Master Gremlin: A shooter with good initiative and repair, what's not to love? Of course that's for mechanical units so it's usefulness is slightly decreased.

Magnetic Golem: One of the more interesting academy units. It is both immune to destructive/dark spells but also to blessings. So it basically stays there as a counter to warlocks or destructive casters also drawing part of the damage doe to their adjacent units. Perfect for the occasion but alas not for most of the time.

Archmage: Energy Channel is good but not essential and certainly not for wizards and their plentiful mana. That should help a lot in creeping but I rarely use them there.

Battle Mage: Dampen Magic is more of an accessory, a guarantee that magic attack will not mess with your army and less of an actual support. That's an offensive ability.

Djinn Vizier: Wheel of Fortune is great but slightly unpredictable.

-------

Minotaur Taskmaster: Aura of Bravery is not particularly useful either. Maybe against Deirdre with necro set or necro ultimate

-------

I will not even get into Taxpayer.

Squire: Now that is a solely protective unit! Shield allies is just great, only thing it does not help against is hostile spells.

Paladins are also good support but mostly attackers. Sure lay on hands is terrific against dark casters but their priority lies elsewhere.

Archangels are also good support and what better support than resurrecting your allies

-------

Familiars are probably the best of the bunch. While they don't do too much on their own draining the opponent's mana and again with their gates can be all you need with a demonlord. And since you use dark you can render an opposing hero practically useless. Siphon Mana does not even come close since it is activated and drains half the amount even if repeatedly.

--------

Skeleton Warriors are an all purpose unit but mostly offensive. I'd place the squire a rank above where support is concerned.

--------

Dryad just sustain themselves, I don't consider that helpful to their allies.

Druid Elders cannot hold a candle to High Druids in the right circumstances. It is not even them that do the job, they are there to aid your hero. And the spellpower bonus is simply great, makes sylvan so much more diverse. It can even use power intensive schools efficiently.

Silver Unicorn also great support for their allies. And the resistance  has a good chance too, thing is that they too are attackers so you have little to gain by staying back.

--------

Chieftain's Commanding Presence can make the difference between life and death in the orc lines but also boosts the initiative of nearby units.  Fits their morality best by making units attacking before opponent casts frenzy or something equally annoying. Not only that, it helps speed up the battle which the orcs need. Also their units have many interesting specials: Defile magic, set trap, cleave, stunning blow, consume corpse.. Even if they don't attack their units are sure to make themselves useful one way or another.

I believe that the witch doctors should also be in the list but the chances for thir defile to work are not THAT good. Trappers are also pretty good, especially for earlygame.

Something else:
Personally I consider the shamans and earth daughters as support units. I understand that caster units have been excluded but it's a unit that fits the description perfectly. Haste/slow and cursing their opponents through melee.


Now this is the most difficult round to make a pick. I believe that the best are: squire, archangel, familiar, high druid, chieftain, earth daughter.

Since the ranking is hard I will consider those that are needed most by their faction. High druids and squires while great they are not crucial imo. Archangels, familiars, earth daughters and chieftains are.
The latter are mostly a dark counter or ensuring the first ranged attack but in truth they are good all around. I am undecided if the shamans are a better support unit, maybe in the long run but with the chieftains you see results immediately.

Now if they are better than the familiars or archangels I cannot tell. Each faction can survive without either unit but maybe I favour the orcish units a little more because of complementing their faction's gameplay more than the others do. Plus being more fun while at it
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VokialBG
VokialBG


Honorable
Legendary Hero
First in line
posted April 26, 2008 06:12 PM
Edited by VokialBG at 18:12, 26 Apr 2008.

Yep thx, Elvin
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Golemcrafter
Golemcrafter


Promising
Famous Hero
Unlimited Fantasy Master
posted April 26, 2008 07:13 PM

A great choice, VokialBG! I'll post my reply as soon as possible, but I already know who will be the "winner"!

*points slowly at the avatar portrait*

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Fauch
Fauch


Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
posted April 26, 2008 08:50 PM

my first idea is :
archangel because he resurrects a lots of HPs
high druid because he gives a lot of power
chieftain because he also has the very useful whip strike
and familiar because of mana drain of course.

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GenieLord
GenieLord


Honorable
Legendary Hero
posted April 26, 2008 09:01 PM

You forgot:
Djinn Sultan (Random Blessing).

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VokialBG
VokialBG


Honorable
Legendary Hero
First in line
posted April 26, 2008 09:30 PM

Quote:
I believe that the witch doctors should also be in the list but the chances for thir defile to work are not THAT good. Trappers are also pretty good, especially for earlygame.


Yep, they support, but not with positive effect, they will have place in the planed round 7

Quote:

Personally I consider the shamans and earth daughters as support units. I understand that caster units have been excluded but it's a unit that fits the description perfectly. Haste/slow and cursing their opponents through melee.


I just did not added the creatures with ordinary spells, but if someone want to discuss them no prob but outside the round
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Golemcrafter
Golemcrafter


Promising
Famous Hero
Unlimited Fantasy Master
posted April 26, 2008 10:16 PM
Edited by Golemcrafter at 20:36, 27 Apr 2008.

Here is the start, I may request advices for correcting errors!

Academy:

Master Gremlin: Thease little demon-blooded creatures are really good for reparing friendly war machines as well as Golems during combat. It’s a shame, that their ability could be used just once per battle. In that case, the player has to choose the right time carefully, but if that time is later (middle of the combt for example), there might will be lots of Master Gremlins fewer, which means lesser health restore. Maybe an early use of the Repair is better, if we loose a strong war machine (f.e.: Triple Ballista) or lots of Golems.

Archmage and Battle Mage: The Archmage’s Energy Channel is extremely useful for the hero because of reducing mana costs (20% is quie a lot). Even one Archmage can „support” the hero with his ability. The best thing is that Archmages don’t waste their turn for activating the ability, it is during the whole combat constant. Thanks to that, the player can focus on other skills of the wizards, f.e.: casting strong Fireballs or just shoting. Battle Mages concentrate more on friendly stacks: they defend them aginst enemy Mages. The usefulness of this ability is pretty low, because the chances, that the player will battle against Mages on the map is low again. Of coure the could be suprises because there are thre types from them and there might be an enemy Academy hero, with a lot of Mages. However, I would rather choose the Archmage, because cheaper costs mean more spells.

Magnetic Golem: One of the best supporter units in HOMM V in my opinion. They aren’t just immune to any kind of spell, but if the enemy casters or the hero uses a descructive spell against them, the half-amount of the damage will transform into health points. The same is valid, if the enemy caster or hero casts a mass descructive spell agains more friendly creatures, including the Magnetic Golem: some of the damages, recived by  friendly stacks will be asorbed by the Magnetic Golem and they will be transformed into health points again, but only for the golems. However, an intelligent player won’t be that stupid, to cast a mass descructive spell on a group, where the Magnetic Golem is, too. A very good tactical move is the using of the Circle of Winter spell.  

Djinn Vizier: For many players, Luck is an important skill and it must be obtained. Now, it is no problem anymore, if you don’t have any Luck but thease djinns. They are able to bless the selected creature with a random amount of Luck (1-3). It’s even better if we use this ability on such a friendly creature, that has already some Luck. That is valid for enemy stacks, of course, since the Wheel of Fortune can trasform into the Wheel of Misfortune for the opponent. Again, they recive random negative luck (1-3) and negative luck points will also be added. The ability can be used tree times, which is quite a lot. It is adviced to use this ability at the beginning of combats.

Dungeon:

Minotaur Taskmaster: The „opposite” of Djin Viziers: Minotaur Taskmasters use the power of morale. Actually, this ability is an upgrade of Bravery, because the effect is completly the same. The only difference is, that the Aura of Bravery has an effect on every creature, who are standing next to the creature. That means, that mass descructive spells and multi-attack creatures can be deadly agains thoose creatures, because the ones, who want to have always positive morale, have to stay cloose to the Minotausr Taskmaster. Anyway, a well-made ability, which is useful at all ways...just beware of Fireball for example.

Haven:

Conscript and Brute: Who doesn’t like gold? A silly question, I know... Conscripts and Brutes are the most loyal taxpayers, so we can get one nice penny from each Conscript/Brute per day. In my opinion, we can use them two ways: either we keep them in the town (more taxpayers = more gold income) or we always bring them on the battlefield and we don’t care on their taxe. Thease creatures work like the „Bag of Endless Gold” since we won’t have lesser than 250 during our quest. And finally, Conscripts and Brutes are more useful than before, thans to their Bash and Assault ability, so a wiser player would fight with them and not wait the low tax.

Squire: A very good defense tactic, especially against enemy shooters. At the middle of the combat, there might be times, when the creatures move next to the Squire for reciving 50% more defense. The only problem is, that this ability is only valid for non-magical attacks, so a Fireball (again) or a Meteor Shower spell can do huge losses. Anyway, Squires a quite difficult to kill because of their high amount of HP, so the Shield Allies ability can be active for a long time. Together with the Hero’s Stand Your Ground skill, they can be more powerful.

Paladin: Paladin’s Lay Hand functions like a stronger Cleansing Spell: it can remove every negative spell from a friendly stack and also heal them (without resurrection). A better choice would be, if the friendly stack has more than one negative spell (calculate mass spells!), but there could be stronger spells, which should be removed immediately (f.e.: Frenzy, Decay, Confusion on shooters, etc.) However, there are spells, which cannot be removed with Lay Hand (Djinn Vizier’s Wheel of Fortune against enemy creatures), but there are spells, which can only be removed with this ability and not with the Cleansing spell (Frenzy). The healing is mostly uneffective for lower level friendly units, but effective for higher level creatures or for stacks with more HPs. All in all, a rather useful ability.

Archangel: The Resurrection is definately one of the most powerful spell in HOMM series. Archangels had this ability since HOMM 3 and the effect didn’t changed since then. The simple rule is valid here, too: The more Archangels you have, the more creatures will they able to resurrect. Since this ability is very strong, Archangels can use this only once per combat, to avoid beeing overpowered. In my opinion, the player should use the Resurrect Allies ability immediately, if the number of Archangels decreases to 40-50%. If the hero has the Resurrection spell, this may not be necessary, so we can use the strong angels for attack the opponent.

Inferno:

Familiar and Vermin: The Familiar’s ability is very irritating, if we are against them, since the combination of Mana Steling and their high initiative means sure mana loss. Even worse, that the stoolen mana trasfers to the enemy hero, who can cast even more spells during the combat. Familiars are quite strong as well and the Mana Stealing don’t take their turns. However, this ability is a one-time ability, too but that’s no real disadvantage, because during a bigger fight, we already have a lot of Familiars, who actually steal almost all the mana from the enemy hero. Vermins are almost as agood a Familiars. They steal the enemy hero’s mana to add them to a friendly stack (mostly to Pit Lords). The two little disadvantages are, that one Vermin steals only 0.125 mana per creature and they waste their turn if they use the Siphon Mana ability. In that case, it is adviced to hide Vermins behind creatures and just support the friendly casters with mana, because the ability is not one-timed anymore: it can be use till the enemy hero runs out of mana or all Vermin dies.

Necropolis:

Skeleton Warrior: The second(?) best defending level 1 creature. High defense, higher damage, magic-proof and Shiel Allies ability. This ability was once cleared by the Squire, so I add just a few comments on that here. Since skeltons have always extremely low HPs, the Shield Allies can be useful just (maybe) for a shorter time. Perhaps if there are more of them, and the hero has reached a higher leel, too, Skelton Warriors’ defense can increase well, so they are harder to defeat, which means, that their ability is useful for a longer time. A good Raise Dead spell can even raise fallen skeltons.

Sylvan:

Druid Elder and High Druid: A spellcaster is helping the hero. That's how I would summerize the Druid Elder's ability. The Mana Feed allows them to gice some mana to the hero from their own amount of mana. I don't think this is a useful ability, since the Druid Elders has got just 15 manas and their spells are quite expensive according to the low nuber of mana. If we have lots of Druid Elders we either cast spells with them and forget the Mana Feed, because the gamage could be extremely high, especially by Lightning. The High Druid supports the hero, too, but in an other way: they increase the spellpower of the hero. Nothing to say too much here, if we use this ability at the beginning of the combat, the spells of ther hero will be more powerful and the High Druids can concentrate on the combat again: shooting or casting Endurance on friendly stacks. Because of the Lightning spell, I'd rather choose the Druid Elder.

Silver Unicorn: If we'd like to defend our creatures mainly against territorial spells, thease creatures are just suited for us. The Silver Unicorn grants 30% magical resistance to every friendly creature, that is standing next to them. This ability is practicullary effective against mass dark spells or as I said before, against mass descructive spells. Good thing is, that if the enemy hero doesn't succeed to curse our troops, he will loose mana for nothing. But be carefully: If the enemy hero has Dark Reneval, unsuccesful dark-based spells won't be a problem for him, because the hero will get the given mana back. So our creatures may won't be affected with dark spells, the enemy hero can try that several times during the battle. Of course, this is not valid for descructive spells: if they are unsuccesful, the enemy hero won't recive his mana back. Anyway, this is strongly adviced to put at least the shooters (especially Master Hunters and Arcane Archers) next to Silver Unicorns in my opinion.

Stronghold:

Chieftain: A rather simple and non-difficult ability to understand: Every creature recive +1 initiative point, if they are standing next to the Chieftain. A mystery, if this ability is useful, because there are many creatures in Stronghold, who have more than 10 initiative points. Of course, 1 extra point won't hurt anybody, but the rule, that creatures should stay next to them is a bit harsh. Chieftains are strong enough, so the player cares normally only on the fight. Here again, mass descructive spells and multi-attack creatures can really hurt our friendly stacks. However, more initiative is always better and I think, that this stat is the most important at all!


My TOP 3 Support Creature:

1. Archmage
2. Magnetic Golem
3. Vermin

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sith_of_ziost
sith_of_ziost


Promising
Supreme Hero
Scouting the Multiverse
posted April 27, 2008 05:27 AM

Academy

Master Gremlin - In obsessively large stacks of them, Master Gremlins can be a huge pain in one's side. Although, with one shot of their support ability, their use is dulled on the field of battle. Even more so if you use magnetic golems. However, with the right timing, a stack of pesky Master Gremlins can turn the tide of battle. That is assuming they survive, since they are a tier one and drop like flies.

Magnetic Golems - The Magnetic Golem has got to be one of the most destructive support units of the game. Against enemy Wizards or Warlocks, Mag. Golems are deadly if their size makes them too beastly to fight head-on. They are especially nasty if grouped around, so placing those handy little Master Gremlins near them insures that they'll hardly ever get damaged. Also, the less than defensive mages need protection too. They can even be healed by those great balls of fire. They are a great unit to have in an army.

Archmage and Battlemage-The Archmage is a handy unit that can make your spells cost next to nothing among other abilities nearly inherent to Wizards. Furthermore, they can fire up to two shots of the Fireball spell, and five of Fists of Wrath, which can stall some slow enemies.
The Battlemage is a more offensive, less arcane unit with only Physical damage to its namesake. The Dampen Magic ability, however, seems less than adequate to make the Battlemage chosen over the Archmage. However, they still have the No Range Penalty, and have no risk of striking nearby units. Its still a healthy unit to hold its own.

Djinn Vizier-The Djinn Vizier is an excellent support unit. Suddenly, those pesky little gremlins or wisened Archmagi can roll luck like a roulette game. Or, if the timing is right, they can accurse the enemy, but that side of Viziers seems less helpful with Academy tactics. In combination with Heroes like Galib, Djinn Viziers become a major thorn in ones side, what with the 75% Magic Proof to their name.

Dungeon

Minotaur Taskmaster- Taskmasters are a somewhat mediocre unit against all but maybe Inferno and Necropolis, especially the latter. Inferno can break some morale, but Necropolis depends on it. With the Taskmasters, your stacks of Shadow Matriarchs cannot be slowed by morale problems, and your Assasins don't lose their wit in the middle of battle. Good for certain instances, but rarely is worth their meddle.

Haven

Conscript and Brute - Since they both end with the same effect, Conscripts and Brutes are the same when used as a money source. Their addition to the treasury doesn't really make a lot of difference until numbers go beyond about 500. However, since thanks to the effect from Recruitment abilitis, this accumulates very fast. Moreover, since the building costs don't change (and neither does training very much, for that matter), a fairly good size stack of these units can cover the budget for most economic functions. It also helps training along too.

Squire - The Squire has quite a nice support range, since his Shield Allies makes protecting frail Archers a breeze. With a protective shield, it lets your ranged units strike without fear of death. They can hold their own in close range too.

Paliden - Lay Hands is a great ability to use in tandem with the Archangels. They take the brunt of the hits, then get healed just as they are about to lose a member. Palidens can become quite useful in this sense. They hold a great deal of enemies back and can rush to heal quite quickly.

Archangel - The best support unit of the game, imho. Archangels can turn the tide of battle most definately, and with a nice size of stack, can make units martyrs for the cause of the battle. If you rush with a stack that finds martyrdom, the Archangels can just revive them to fight on. However, this can only be done once, so its wise to bide your time.

Inferno

Familiar & Vermin - I am heavily in favor of Familiars in this sense. They can steal mana from the enemy and give it to you, which adds to the nearly endless reserves of a well-trained Demon Lord. This can only be done once per stack, as well as a gated one. Since Vermin can use their ability multiple times, they can drain micro-knowledge heroes like Necromancers and Knights. However, since the Inferno has a whopping two casters out of 21 units, the Vermin are rarely worth using in battle.

Necropolis

Skeleton Warrior - I find that the Shield Allies ability for Skeleton Warriors is not needed for the Necropolis. They can shield Skeleton Archers, yes, and perhaps Liches, but as the Skeleton Warriors generally favored over Archers and Liches can hold their own, they are generally not used as barriors but as fodder. This ability does not give them credit.

Sylvan

Druid Elder and High Druid - The Druid Elder rarely is caught with any mana left at all, since the Lightning spell is so useful in battle. Since this is the case, they almost never have any mana left to Channel. Its not a good use of the mana. Channeling for the High Druid is very effective, however, since they don't rely on spells for their strength. Endurance can be used to bolster others, but the Channeling can boost itself through Rain of Arrows and a great spell in the Ranger's Spellbook. I believe it is the better support unit.

Silver Unicorn - This unit throws a good sized wrench into some risky clockwork, and it adds to the lucky nature of Elves. It can become quite meddlesome for a Hero to find his spell to negate itself due to this chance of Resistance. As this is generally how Heroes take out the Ranged Units, it gives the Silver Unicorn the title of great support unit.

Stronghold

Chieftan - Commanding Presence gives a slight bonus to an already abundant stat. Compounded with Order of the Cheif and the Chieftan's own Order, its rather superfluous. However, it gives that slight boost to push the unit slightly farther up the ATB bar, so the Presence can be helpful, if only slightly.


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Warmonger
Warmonger


Promising
Legendary Hero
fallen artist
posted April 27, 2008 08:44 AM
Edited by Warmonger at 08:51, 27 Apr 2008.

Here are only some of them worth mentioning:

Master Gremlin - how is that possible that this guy heals nearly as much hp as he has at ionce and do it infinite number of times oO. Just tank or simply block enemy creatures with it as it with it and you will win flawlessly.

Marble Gargoyle - I wonder why no one has mentioned it. Maybe it offers no buff, but it's aura increases destructive damage by most your spells by half. Quite nice when you don't want to attack with it, but rather burn the enemy with your hero.

Magnetic Golem - however it looks very potent especially to turtle your units with no risk, I never had a chance to effectively use this skill. maybe that's because I play rarely and never online

Archamage and it's Energy Channel is very similar to gargoyle, but he can 'really' kill enemies at the same time

Conscript and Brute - I love them, but always try not to use them in battle, just buy and leave in the castle for increased income.

Archangel - one of the best and most popular units ever, what more can I say?

Vermin - he could be useful early game supporting Pit Fiends and Pit Lords, but later I always switch to Pit Spawns due to logarhitmic spellpower formula.

High Druid - now this one is a bomb, finally allows my ranger to cast some spells effectively. No matter if it's Resurrection, Wasp Swarm or Deep Freeze, it hurts. The bonus is significant and hard to get rid of. My personal favourite.

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alcibiades
alcibiades


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
of Gold Dragons
posted April 27, 2008 10:43 AM
Edited by alcibiades at 10:43, 27 Apr 2008.

I think there is a distinct difference between two groups in this line-up, and I'm not sure how to compare them:

1) Units that support other units. Examples: Master Gremlin, Unicorns, Magnetic Golems, Archangels, Paladins.

2) Units that support the Hero. Examples: Familiars, High Druids, Peasant, Archmage.

As I think these two a quite different in their purpose, I can only say which one I rank highest in each group:

1. Units that support Hero
This is a really tough call between Familiars and High Druids, that clearly outrank all others. Let's look at the pros and cons of each:

Familiars: I'd be damned to say it, but this is one of the best small critters in the Inferno line-up. Aside from their supportive function, they are great fighters in their own right: Very good Initiative, good speed, excellent damage - particularly with Attack + Battle Frenzy, and if you manage to get your hand on the necklace ... - and due to Inferno's gating ability, it's not that difficult to protect them from retaliation strikes.

On top of that, they have the lovely Mana Drain ability - not only will it deplete enemy mana reservoirs very nicely, it will also replenish your own. Although it's rarely sufficient to completely drain a good caster from Mana (at least not a Wizard or Necromancer with Intelligence), it counts for something, and a Warlock will deffinitely need to make it top priority to take these out immediately. The downside is, that you don't really have that much use of all that lovely mana yourself. Sure, it will fuel Hellfire, which can be important in early battles. And it can help you support Counterspell ability. But since the Demon Lord has good Knowledge himself and lousy Spellpower, he'll be less likely to use Mana intensive schools like Destructive and Summoning, and hence, rarely run low on mana.

High Druids: Let's start with the Channeling ability. Since you Ranger is likely to have good Knowledge, this will easily increase his Spellpower to be excellent. This makes for an extremely dangerous combination considering the Ranger's all-round sturdy units, good Mana reserve and special abilities like Imbue Arrow and Rain Of Arrows - and not least, his affinity to Destructive Magic, which suddenly has become much more viable as an option.

On the down side, the High Druid hasn't got that many other strings to play. Sure, the Endurance spell is nice - in combination with Pristine Unicorns, you even got 2-for-1. As a ranged attacker, it's decent, but no more than that. The Hunter clearly outranks it on that department. And it's not exactly what you would call durable.

Conclusion: If we compare the two units, I'd say that the Familiar is the better of them, because it's much more all-round usable. However, if we look only at the supportive role, the High Druid comes out as the better, as it's ability to increase Spell Power is much more relevant than the Familiar's ability to increase Mana.

1. Units that support other Units
There are a lot of units listed here. Most of them can be ruled out fairly quickly: Minotaurs, Gremlins, Djinns ... several of them have good, even great, abilities, but several suffer from the fact that using this ability takes them away from their main purpose as damage dealers.

I admit outright that I haven't got much experience using Chieftains, so I cannot consider them.

Magnetic Golems are great, if limited in their use. If you have one or several Elemental Stockpile close to your town, you'll love these guys - the Water Elementals will heal them for you along the way. Way to go with the AI, Nival.

My top 3, ironically, all come from the Haven line-up. That would be the Squire, the Paladin and the Archangel.

The Squire ranks up there, because he is so focused on what he does: Protecting the other units. He's not an excellent damage dealer in himself, and is slow to top that, so you won't miss out on much by holding him back. The Shield Others ability is excellent, and on top of that they're extremely durable and will make excellent physical shields to own shooters. Good combination with either Marksmen or Crossbowmen here.

The Paladin is not really a defensive unit, but I must say, that I have more than a few times cursed the Lay Hands ability, which is prime in disrupting any Dark Magic users planning. Combined with Haven's affinity for Light Magic (Cleansing) and Dark Magic (Vampirism) plus Zealots (more Cleansing), this can disrupt a lot of things. And given the fact, that these guys tend to live long, they are not easy to make way with - and if you manage, watch out for those Arch Angels ...

The Archangel is not quite the allmighty unit he used to be, and kudos to Nival for that. I think actually the Angels are quite ballanced as it is. They are slower, which means planning of a proper Resurrection can be more difficult, but when you get the oppotunity, raising your own units is always one of the greatest aids you can get.

Conclusion: My vote would probably go for the Paladin here, which is a bit strange, as I would of old have favored the Archangel. The Paladin, however, more than any other unit has the ability to completely turn the tide of the battle due to his Supportive ability.
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Lexxan
Lexxan


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Unimpressed by your logic
posted April 27, 2008 12:18 PM
Edited by Lexxan at 12:28, 27 Apr 2008.

I only have the standard version of Heroes v (untill now, I ordered HoF and TotE...) so I'll  only comment on these

Academy:
Quote:

Master Gremlin (Repair)

Really usefull in long battles. It saved my life many times, during  battles ressurecting Gremlins aren using them to ressurect Golems, over and over again
Quote:
Archmage (Energy Channel)

Can be usefull, but is rather useless to Wizards, who already have a lot of Knowledge

Quote:
Djinn Sultan  (Random Blessing)

My fav ability in the game. Only downside is that it some timse is ridculous. Once the Djinns casted Delfect Missile of my Rakshasas, wile we were facing griffins (wtf ?)

Haven

Quote:
Squire (Shield Allies)

Nice ability, invaluable to the Haven Army, ad the archers/marksman automatically attract a lot of Ranged fire. There are better abilities though.

Quote:
Paladin (Lay Hands)

Wonderfull ability. Invaluable for armies that have tank units (like Angels, Devils, Hydrae, Pit Lords, Nightmares, Griffins, Rakshasas, Titans). Heal all hp + exorsism ? Just Perfect!
Quote:
Archangel (Resurrect Allies)

Ressurection is really nice, one of my favourite. the largest downside is that is depends on the number of Angels and that it only can be used once. When facing an army with Archangels, Eliminate them quickly.

Inferno:


Quote:
Familiar (Mana Stealer)

What can I say ? Only nice in large numbers. To get that large amount of Mana split them into stacks to get maximum effect (only the they get even more fragile). Familiars strength lies in its statts, not its ability.

Sylvan:

Quote:
Druid Elder (Mana Feed)

I hardly ever use it. 3* Lightning Bolt is more important than 1 bolt, 1 endurance and 4 mana to the hero. Btw Ranger already have a lot of knowledge, the really do't need additional mana IMHO

Quote:
Silver  Unicorn (aura of magic resistance)


Can really be a pest sometimes. At least when fighting Unicorns. Unicorns are the best lvl 5 Cr, narrowly beating the Djinn Sultan. They only beat the Sultans because of their Superior ability. If Random Caster had made more sence Djinn would have beaten unis instead.

BEst abilities:

1) Lay Hands - Paladin
2) Resurrect Allies - Archangel
3) Aura of Magic Resistance - Silver Unicorn
4) Random Caster - Djinn Sultan
5) Repair - Master Gremlin

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Sargeras
Sargeras


Known Hero
the Fallen
posted April 28, 2008 12:48 PM

IMO...

Master Gremlin - not so great, can repair golems but it's not so crucial, good for creeping, they doesn't matter in the end.

Magnetic Golem - good hero support, IMO great abilities, they fit excellent in my strategy with wizards, good survivability

Archmage/Battle Mage - Dampen Magic is ok but for me it's archmages all the way, great support casters (cleansing, RM), energy channel is great in the beginning, fireball usefull...IMO great support unit

Djinn Vizier - excellent damage + initiative, wheel of fortune is nice but they are very offensive unit and not supportive

Minotaur Taskmaster - IMO they are not support unit at all

Conscript/Brute - taxpayer seems ok

Squire - they doesn't matter, you want second stack of paladins or zealots/inquisitors in their place

Paladin - lay hands is very usefull but they are not support unit cause of that, their role is offensive much much more

Archangel - ressurect = good but like paladins they are more offensive unit then supportive, u want to spend their turn attacking not ressurecting IMO

Familiar/Vermin - Vermin are odd, good against the map, then
familiar can't do much by itself but mana stealer is a breaker, i think it's great and inferno can't do without them

Skeleton Warrior - nice abilities but they are fodder

Druid Elder/High Druid - they are important for sylvan and i like them both and think that high druid is slightly better support with channeling then elder with mana feed and offensive spells

Silver Unicorn - hate this unit, IMO very supportive u want Aura of MR more then blinding attack to happen

Chieftain - i'll agree with Elvin about them and think that they are important for stronghold army

So for me it would look like this
1. Archmage
2. Familiar
3. Magnetic Golem




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Fauch
Fauch


Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
posted April 28, 2008 02:23 PM

Academy:

Master Gremlin : a resurrection ability on a level 1 seems pretty awesome (and actually, with 5 HPs per gremlin it's as strong as the archangel resurrection!?!) I can see how useful it can be in creeping, and maybe to protect a castle, but I guess gremlins may die before golems.

Magnetic Golem : quite awesome ability, like everyone said. too bad the magnetic golems seem a bit weak.

Archmage : the unit hisself is very good and versatile, but the ability which reduce the mana cost would be way more useful for a warlock for example (it's still interesting in duel mode)

Battle Mage : a good ability which allow you to protect your mages and still let them shoot. if you put the titans and magnetic golems near a battle mage, I guess it can become very annoying for an enemy archmage.

Djinn Vizier : a decent ability, the downside being the randomness. +/-3 chance is really good, +/-1 chance is like an action in most cases.

Djinn Sultan : once again, it's interesting, but too random. it can either be very powerful, or totally useless.

Dungeon:

Minotaur Taskmaster : I'm not convinced that it's a big bonus, but at least you don't have to activate it, so it can't be bad

Haven:

Conscript, Brute : more money is always good.

Squire : they don't only protect your shooters against enemies shooters, but they may also stun the melee units coming too close. depending on the situation, these guys can either be totally useless, or save the day.

Paladin : an interesting ability to use with archangels / seraphs. very interesting for early creeping, I'm not sure how useful it would be in a final fight, unless you fight a dark magic user.

Archangel : there's not much to say, the ability to resurrect of the archangel has always been one of the best since heroes 3.

Inferno:

Familiar : very good ability for a level 1, especially against a warlock for example
Vermin : slightly less good than the mana drain because you need to activate it, it can still be very useful in duel mode.

ArchDevil : probably the most powerful ability of the game, but also one of the hardest to use, it's probably something you may only use once in a game, and more likely against a human player. I think it's better for the duel mode.

Necropolis:

Skeleton Warrior : it's like a weaker and more offensive squire.

Sylvan:

adryade : the ability itself is potentially very powerful, but I guess all the sprites may be dead before the 1st treant dies.

Druid Elder : free mana for the hero? interesting

High Druid : totally insane ability. what is the hardest to get? a warlock level 20, or 30 druids?

Silver Unicorn : a cool bonus of 30% magic resistance, but against the dungeon, I think I wouldn't be very confident in it.

Stronghold:

Chieftain : the +1 initiative is a quite nice bonus, especially if you want your centaurs to play before enemies shooters, and the whip strike is really good with the cyclops.

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