What units to use as games goes on

[rollems]

Well thanks to all the advise above i have been able to understand game little better. so now i am trying No loss. (did not restart the game but trying from where i was). i assumed it was possible as i am playing Paladin character on normal.
Right now i am stuck at Verona... kitting for map is just not happening for me even with that trick of save pause etc...
i will try to summarize my game. if you guys can point out what to do next to avoid losses or use units better. (i have killed all units/heroes in Debir/Scarlet/Bolo including Hero gaurding treasure in cave.) things left on Rusty are ZagZag and one Archmage gaurding Map. Verona have stolen Debir's wife. killed some enemy saying strong/very strong. Mostly with No losses after 1 Black dragon from Bolo (call of coll..).

My Stats.
Amelie Lvl 16, Leadership 4975
Attack 11 , Def 26 , Intelect 7
Gold: 150K
Rage 26 , Mana 30
Scrolls: Lvl2 Trap/Stone/OilMist/Pain Mirror/Slow
Lvl1 Healing/Helpnessness/Phantom/Avenging Angel/Bless

Units.
1 Black Dragon
1 Green Dragon
22 Paladins
24 Archmages
50 Inquisitors
3 Cyclopes
i swap Cyclopes with Green Dragon. based on situation.

Other Units in castle are Gaurd Droids/Repair Droids/royal snakes/polar bear.
and lots spider/snake/thorns eggs


so basically what way to proceed? what tech to focus and how to use the units i have even better.? what area i am lacking? how to kill those lethal units gaurding maps.

Edit: i am also running short on Ruins (Mind specially). though i have neatness Lvl1

[DGDobrev]

Neatness level 1 will not help you get runes. You need lvl 3 to effectively break the lvl 4-5 items.

[Metathron]

Originally Posted by DGDobrev

Neatness level 1 will not help you get runes. You need lvl 3 to effectively break the lvl 4-5 items.

Do you get runes by breaking level 4? I think I recall getting only crystals. Or if you do get runes, perhaps it's rare.

[rollems]

well i dont think i can get Lvl3 neatness now. can you also provide tips on Units and what next to focus. like i was thinking updgrading Heal to Lvl2. or go another path?
am i ok with these units for a while?

[DGDobrev]

@metathron

You get runes by breaking lvl 4 and 5 items only. That requires lvl 2 neatness to break lvl 4 items and lvl 3 for lvl 5 items. However, although it doesn't seem entirely plausible, I found that having lvl 3 increases the number of runes you get from lvl 4-5 items (rather than getting 2, I got 3 of a kind from certain items).

You should also be aware that items that are subject to upgrading usually provide only crystals even if they end up on lvl 4 or 5. Same goes for the new compound items we get from the gift bag.

@rollems

Well, I don't think you're lacking anything right now. You have inquisitors to ress your lvl 5 units (save for the cyclops), paladins to ress your inquisitors and tank. Getting a target spell will help greatly, as it will allow you to use your tanking stack (the paladins) more often as a pure tank (since you have both them and the inquisitors for resurrection).

If you feel like you can improve something or that any of your dragons is a serious subject to multiple attacks and is close to dying or dies somewhat often, swap it with royal snakes and you will be just fine.

As for the healing, I'd upgrade distortion before order magic. Soon, as the game progresses, you will find better lvl 1-4 units, and you may want to drop the lvl 5 units.

[tetleytea]

I tried the Neatness 3, and I never made the runes back. And I did buy most of the magic items I saw. I think what I'm doing going forward (if I keep playing) is to stick to Neatness 1 (for the prerequisite), don't bother with Alchemy, and just destroy the crap items for a few extra crystals.

[DGDobrev]

Weird. I always found more than 20 runes of each type thanks to neatness by buying every item in the game (and concentrating on the 4-5 lvl ones). This is why I am so biased towards it. It always worked perfectly for me.

[Zechnophobe]

I didn't get 20 runes of each type, but definitely a large number of them. 2 or 3 from almost every level 4 or 5 item there is. And you also get 4 mana, so it isn't a complete waste even if all you got was your starting runes back.

[rollems]

my Inquisitors are getting targeted the most. even though they are ranged and i keep them far. i am forced to do stone skin at the very start on them. also when my paladin is standing right next to enemy they will walk by it and go attack the Inquisitors.
Mostly it is the bosses(magic)/ griffens ... mmm actually all the ranged and high initiative units.
my army is Cyclopes/paladins/black dragon/archmage/Inquisitors.

so how do i avoid that. i do use traps/wall.. but some times it just becomes impossible.

Tips ??

[tetleytea]

One thing I do is use Inquisitors' res on themselves early on. Once their effectiveness reaches 100%, it's not going to get any better from there. Might as well resurrect now, while they're still alive. Then maybe later the paladins can res the balance. If your paladins are getting slammed, you can similarly res the paladins first, before the paladins do their res. More paladins alive in the first place means more resurrection power for everybody.

If your inqs got so slammed that you have to resort to Phantom, often I will Phantom the Inqs intead of the pals, so I can get the rage bonus. That's one res + ~12 rage per phantom. If you convert that rage to mana (via Rage Eater, your pet dragon, etc.), you can keep casting Phantom all day.