What are your favorite troops?

[Ryastar]

Wow, this thread has suddenly become VERY popular. I just gotta put my two cents in.

First, black dragons are ALWAYS to be found in the land of the dead, not too far from Karador's castle, amongst all the ridges an so on. Red dragons are also available in the same area, though not the same building, and green dragons are available in a shop only accessible from the water in the land of a thousand rivers.

As for arch-demons, I don't believe there is any garunteed location for hiring them. You'll have to check everywhere in demonis, and if you have no luck there, there is a small chance that you might find them in Haas' labyrinth. I know that i have seen demon-aligned shops there, and you might get lucky.

Final thing, Haas has a lot of spells he is fond of using, not just hypnosis (in fact, in three completed games, I have never seen him cast it). In my experience, he mostly casts armageddon, sheep and pygmy, the latter two usually on whatever stack you need the most.

[Goat]

One unit I really like that hasn't been mentioned are cyclops. They have high leadership and slow, but with an artifact that gives my slowest unit +1 to speed they are great. I walk them out into the middle of combat and because of their high damage resistance I very, very rarely lose one.

They are hard to find so I have to get more with sacrifice, but that is the only problem with them.

[Ryastar]

Their initiative is also TERRIBLE, meaning they pretty much always go last. That's why I don't use them, seeing as my strategy is that a dead enemy can't do any damage, so if you kill them fast you don't need to worry very much amount the damage they deal you.

[Elwin]

Originally Posted by Ryastar

and green dragons are available in a shop only accessible from the water in the land of a thousand rivers.

Where exactly ? I sailed around the coast and islands there couln't find it. Found pirate hut, lighthouse and elven underground with many emerald dr but enemies, no any dwelling. Altough i have them (because i sneaked to demonis earlier and had them available after doing quest with stealing dragon egg from ultrax) and can use sacrifice to get more, would be nice to buy some if they are available nearby instead of playing with sacrifice ( already have to do that much with royal snakes due to lack of any places to buy more, and i had no inquisitors untill i beat Emenem, while there was only like 20 of them so not much, also got sacrifice just here in grey wastelands)


And about the topic : I didnt finsh game yet so havent tested all but so far my favourite setup is :
royal snakes - thats obvious
emerald dragons - mana, tank
giant - even better tank than emerald ;p and with emerald positive morale and alle barrel doing nice damage too
cannoneers - alle barrel + telescopic sight
shamans - love distract with totems and dancing axe heal

i am also considering to change cannoneers and gianst to elves + hunters, which are better cannoneers or elves/hunters?

[Ryastar]

To get to the green dragon shop, enter 1000 rivers via magic valley in your boat, go to the second place where you can land on the mainland. There should be a beach with a path that turns generally right. Follow it, the shop is at the end of the path. I hope that's clear enough.

As for elves/hunters and cannoneers, hunters are far better than them whereas elves are about the same or slightly worse. The big difference is the no range penalty and the ability to use dragon arrows. Having no giants in your army will also make your green dragons stronger since their morale will go back to normal instead of being at -2 (so they will gain back the 20% attack and defense that they lost as well as getting a critical twice as often).

[Elwin]

Was quite clear , thanks got it and there are 37 of them there

[Elwin]

Now after 2nd game i have a better overview on units and so my favourites :

As for dragon emerald definetly
As for units for mid-late game :
Emerald again
Skell archer
Demon
Royal snake
Hunter
Sprite
Like fairy
Shaman
Inquisitor
For early game i like mostly
Royal snake
Inqi (if avalaible)
griphon
archmage
cannoner
ancient/polar bear

[Amidamaru86]

The best unit depends on the level difficulty and the monster you are fighing the most (like for instance in the labirynth = mostly dragons etc)

So if I know that I will encounter dragons I go skeleton archers+dragon arrows (pure ownage), or if I know I will encounter mostly melee monster I go ranged etc etc.

But in overall the best unit in the game (the most used) is the swordsman if we look at the % of the battles.

The stronges I would say:

for a warrior: early-game = swordsman, skeleton archers (in late game and provided with dragon arrows and the +initiative talent, my skeleton archers did like 20k-30k damage each turn in mid game, late game the damage was much more around 40k),
for a mage: shamman
for a palladin: early game = royal snake, mid-end game = griffin

Also I would like to note the best unit is YOUR choice, its your playing style, if you want to go pure tank+archers to do the damage then your units are different, if you want to go all melee the units are different also (like for instance griffins+flying units with no retaliation supported by 1-2 stacks of ranged units etc) = all depends on your playing style.

Personaly what I can say is that dragons are really bad (for a warrior and a paladin, for a mage a bit better) cause a warrior and a palladin will 100% get +initiative in the 1st round.

[Vilk]

Originally Posted by Elwin

Now after 2nd game i have a better overview on units and so my favourites :

As for dragon emerald definetly
As for units for mid-late game :
Emerald again
Skell archer
Demon
Royal snake
Hunter
Sprite
Like fairy
Shaman
Inquisitor
For early game i like mostly
Royal snake
Inqi (if avalaible)
griphon
archmage
cannoner
ancient/polar bear

Very cool unit selected choice. There's only one I don't like it's Archmage, but I should try use it more, the 50% damage reduction shouldn't be that bad. Also it's strange that there isn't Dryad, Demoness, Ancient Vampire, Ghost, Cursed Ghost, Elf.

Also if Archers can get a nice bonus that cannot get other range units you could not have items for that or not have slot available for it. That's when Cyclop, Evil Beholder, Royal Thorn and Hunter Thorn can be very good alternative of range units.

And that's the core point, favorite units are highly linked to items you have and can wear. Also some units are dependent of the availability of some spells, the current wife can influence preferred units and army composition too (more or less range units). To complete Amidamaru86 comment about army choice and preferred units, I suspect that in general the no range unit army is under evaluated and not much looked at. I could be wrong objectively but that's still an interesting possibility that open some different tactical options make worth more some units like Knight and Sea Dog.

For all those reasons I add those units to your list (minus Archmage):

• Dryad: That's almost cheating to use those particularly when using the Anga's Ruby. For sure they are very weak fighters so during a fight where sleep is no use they are a penalty but that's rare and their no retaliation plus summon skill are quite good points when combined with the great haste and high initiative that gives the ring.
• Demoness: Three special skills and all are excellent, very interesting choice to increase tactical choices and even better with the Anga's Ruby that gives them a high mobility. And they become even very good fighter units with the Demetrius sword giving -20% Leadership cost to demon troops.
• Ancient Vampire: Just excellent units as bat, make worth invest in Dark Commander and Tolerance skills. The beauty of the thing is that you can get some quite soon in game so if you get Sacrifice soon enough they are then excellent choice since the first part of the game and worth it until end game.
• Ghosts: Not easy to manage but excellent unit during the beginning. Coupled with Cursed Ghost and wife Rina as zombie they are an excellent choice. But they are too weak for mid game. I'm not sure that is true in higher difficulty level then they are probably too tough to use.
• Cursed Ghost: Not easy to manage but excellent unit during the beginning. Coupled with Ghost and wife Rina as zombie they are an excellent choice. Even in mid game they continue be good but you'll need have invest in Dark Commander skill, Tolerance and/or have Rina wife as zombie. In later game they become useless because too tough to manage. I'm not sure that is true in higher difficulty level then they are probably too tough to use.
• Sea Dog: Haste and sometimes teleport can increase a lot their efficiency. With wife Rina as human, plus some other items they can be very powerful units and could worth alone the use of those items. For sure Mirabella is an excellent wife alternative too but not as good because their special attack that you have every two turns requires the maximum mobility.
• Knight with Circle Attack: They require most often spells like teleport, haste, or Demoness swap. Then teleport and a circle attack can be devastating and not necessary only during the first turn. They are also an excellent dragon lure or good again fast army. They make worth to max Iron Fist.
• Giant: Too bad Green Dragon hate them but you can get them sooner than dragons and if you get and can wear the ogre boots then that's a huge unit. Haste can help a lot with those but without the Ogre boots I don't like them much.
• Lake Dragonfly: They can be excellent tactical choice either to put the first attack and eventually cast invisible on them. But even better is have other units like griffin or ghost attract the attention first, and then use them at end of turn as a tactical blow followed next turn by another blow. Quote they have the second best ratio Leadership/damages after Sprite but are quite cheaper than Sprite. Before to get Sprite if you get any or when magical damages worth less than physical they are perhaps an excellent choice for mid game. Also one non random item add +1 damage with such bonus for mass troops like those this can have a huge effect. But I haven't yet tried them after the beginning.
• Fire Dragonfly: Nice alternative to Lake Dragonfly, their special skill is great. I never used them in mid game nor late game but I wonder what you can do with those. Their fire resistance can be a plus then.
• Wolf: During the very beginning with their special skill those can be a nice bonus when fighting some human units.
• Werewolf Elf: During the beginning their wolf cry can be a nice bonus when fighting some human units. They can be more useful than wolf because of their much better initiative or they can even be used with wolf.
• Evil Beholder: Their ability to make an opponent unit lost a turn can be very handy. I didn't find them as good after the beginning, but I didn't tried them a lot during mid and later game.
• Elf: Their special attack that doesn't have Hunter make them quite worthy. With Onslaught skill plus their level 3 instead of 4 for hunter they are for me a better choice than Hunter.
• Cyclop: Because they are an excellent close range fighter that cannot be other range units. Sometimes you get some soon enough to have them be the best long range. After beginning and beginning of mid game they are harder to use. Quote also they are excellent against undead and fire.
• Royal Thorn: If you get some soon enough in the game with Sacrifice Spell to increase the stack size and replace dead. But quite soon they become useless because of their too low initiative. Excellent in combination with ghosts that will rush and attract the attention.
• Hunter Thorn: Until you get items you can wear and that favor mechanical range units or Archers, those are an excellent range unit for the beginning, Priest, Archer, Archmage, even Archer Skeleton so soon in game don't match them not too mention their special skill and their speed. But quite soon they become useless because of their too low initiative. Excellent in combination with ghosts that will rush and attract the attention.

I wonder why but I never tried a lot those following units, I suspect they could worth a lot: Devilfish, Hyena, Black Knight, Imp, Scoffer Imp, Cerberus, Orc units (catapult seems to be an excellent archer alternative).

And the list of units I don't like at all for good or bad reason:

• Barbarian and Berserker: Not controlling a unit don't worth it.
• All human units but Knight, Horseman, Inquisitor. I should try more Archmage.
• Pirate, Zombie, Decaying Zombie, Skeleton: Too slow, no good skill.
• Spiders even with the frog wife, poison is so useless and those don't get as much bonuses from items than snakes.
• Bone Dragon: Too weak for the Leadership cost.
• Black Dragon: Too high Leadership cost, magic immunity is too restrictive it should be only negative magic immunity.
• Snakes but Royal, except if you use the frog wife and a special Snake army.

[Elwin]

Its favourute unit, not to post oall units or half of them ~~ i disagree on few points.Cyclops are crappy for me,also knight with circle atttack is nothing compared to demon, Elves arent butter than hunter playd with them both. Wolf annoying but not realy usefull, same for werewof