Best & Worst Units?

[Lathspell]

Up so far I did FI, Dwarf and Elven lands with something like Shaman, Horseman, Royal Snake, Inquisitor + Griffin or Bowman/Cannoneer.


I had heavy supplies of Royals Snakes in the swamp (around 2500-3000, lucky me) so I got the frog wife and they just cruised throught most of the fights. They really tend to be one of the best units in the entire game. I only dropped them when I went to Death Lands. Something about poison resistance .

Inquisitors are a key unit in the game all the way up to the point you find your Ressurection spell. Happened late in Elven Lands for my mage. I don't really appreciate them being strong against undead, as undead were rather scarce throught the game so far, save for the cemetery in the swamps. And...well...the Death Lands...But their ressurection ability, coupled with Gift, is a must for any non paladin class. And the Holy Anger buff is great for charging up mana for those Evil Shoals. Damage's nice as well.

Shamans, the stallers in my battle. Again, a must for any mages or ranged users. In the begining, the totems slow down the enemy enough for some extra shots/spells, and after the stacks get high, they soak up an attack, which is great. The other totem provides extra armor and healing for my snakes and griffins, increasing their durability. Their axes are just extras, usefull, but I could go without them. What really amazes me every time they get hit is their awesome durability. 180 hp and heavy armor. Hell, they're tanks too...

Griffins are imo just the perfect receiver for Source of Magic, and any self respecting mage should use them as such. Kinda the only reason I use them. Switched them out when I went on low supply for cannoneers.

The last slot I would have liked it filled with some king of mega tank like a Knight, but I couldn't find any until after I saved the queen, so I settled for the sweet Horsemen. They can deal some pretty decent damage and always ensure me first strike in combat. Also they have some nice stats, and are Armored and Fire Resistant, so they can soak up some damage as well.


Well I for one chose my army for the mage point of view. I don't need them to deal damage, I just need them to eat it up and slow the enemy down until I can cook my opponent with spells. Well, that except for the Snakes, love the snakes...the snakes own stuff hard. They were the best units I could find up to the demon lands, but I switched all of them out for an elven only army, because supply just got too short, and I wasn't in the mood of traveling back on forth from Ellinia to Darion to restock on Horsies and Snakes, Dwarven Lands for cannoneers or to screw around with sacrifice alot. I have only seen the demons in battle a couple of times, but I might switch my current elves for them once I see what my Demon Lands mall has in store for me.

[lanstro]

Having completed impossible as a mage, with a strategy of minimising losses at all stages, the best units I found for a mage were:

Levels 1-15
Royal snakes, inquisitors and any 3 ranged units
Offensive spells and ranged units decimate the enemy ranged units, and once the enemy only has melee left it's pretty easy. Inquisitors res at the end if required.

Levels 15-22ish
Sprites (eventually switched to dryads around when you get to elven lands), inquisitors, orc shamans, emerald dragons and elves
The sprites/dryads do pretty much as much damage as all the other troops combined (using the +3 to everything for female fighter ring, of course). With some careful use of wait to take advantage of their high initiative, timeback and resurrection, you won't lose any of them even if they are a bit fragile.
Orc shamans are great for all the reasons mentioned in this thread already.
Emerald dragons keep your mana stores up, and can pull enemy troops that are close to reaching your ranged troops away from them.
The elves are the least important unit in the combo - could have replaced with any ranged. Royal thorns would've been ideal but I didn't have any in my game and didn't find the +100% damage crown.

Levels 22-30
Once you get armageddon, all you need is one stack of dryads. They have a very good hps to leadership ratio (perhaps best in the game?), so they can survive 2 or 3 armageddons in the first 2 rounds of combat (then get timebacked and start afresh).
In addition, they have good initiative and speed, and plant thorns/lullaby are both rechargeable skills. Once the fight gets down to them only having slow-ish melee units, it doesn't matter how huge those stacks are, they will die eventually to your dryads because they simply can't hit them.
With this strategy I was able to clear every single end-game mob on impossible without loss.
Note: highly doubtful that this strategy will work as the other 2 classes since they can't launch 3 armageddons in the first 2 rounds!

[Gatts]

I still can imagine that the armageddon strategy could work for war/pal as well... maybe not as easy as for mage, but well... some changes in the strategy and if the gamer can accept some end battle loss, still win is a win... ( used armageddon as warrior sometimes, but then I turned back to old warrior mob tactic, not that armageddon wasn't effective, but I was bored quite a bit... and well - sure I missed the second same turn cast [higher magic] as well mana pool was lower (as I usually have Xeona +2 weapons or Rina MOB +2 weapon I can stock up with archdmagi staffs and druid staffs... +18 INT , 2 of both )

[fable]

The best units are Ancient Vampires, in bat form. Their damage is low, but it's enough to get raised to full after attacking, even against overpowering enemies. They're prime target for sacrifice too. As a paladin on impossible, I rarely had to run around to replenish units. I try to keep a big stack of living units to last, alternating between casting sacrifice and mana spring, and using cloud of poison. Occasionally I used time back on the enemy unit to have more blood to suck. Fights can take really long but it's still faster than buying units. Normal vampires can hit harder but they have lower defense, from Haas' labyrinth I started using both. However, neither were good enough for the undead area or the final fight.

Other units I liked:
- demoness (to switch the vampires with an archer unit)
- dryads (good to preserve some blood for the constantly sacrificed vampires)
- shamans (to save a few hits with totems)
- red dragons (black ones can't be raised with sacrifice)