Heroes 5 – by Azmadon (Izmail).

Good afternoon! I broke Heroes again and had to revert to the last saved patch, luckily it was from the day before. I wanted to ask for the opinion of the forum members regarding Griffons in the Human faction. I already know the opinion of our local "community." Currently (and has been for a while), there are active debates about replacing them with another creature. However, much depends on the role and functionality it will fulfill. It is also complicated by the fact that the Griffon is a large creature. And since Griffons cannot be upgraded, it should be a non-Human or at least not an Imperial unit. Currently, two options are the most popular: 1) "Empire of Shamans" - i.e., create a new Tier 4 unit based on the Orcish Shamans (currently factionless). The main focus here is to give the Empire a support unit for the early-mid game. And more of a support unit, since Monks are usually primarily ranged attackers. The fact that they and the Shamans themselves cannot be upgraded is explained by their gender and foreign origin. According to preliminary lore, they come from the border - distant lands of the Empire, due to their cultural and religious beliefs. Their main role is volunteering, occasionally with elements of missionary work. Their field of activity is more often herbalism/healing and medicine. In cooperation with the Imperial army, they are something like "nurses" and, at the same time, good guides and scouts (their past experience is useful here, namely orientation in the area, working with animals - dogs/birds, and sometimes other species, including Griffons!). This idea has only two difficulties - first, the Shaman is a small creature. Although now it will be possible to close the front line in the most popular composition (Ranged/Adepts/Armored/Archangels, sometimes Knights), without dividing the Armored units themselves. But this does not solve the problem: all factions have a stable and equal number of large creatures, and the Empire would stand out in this case, because only the last two Tiers would remain large. Second, this requires a lot of work on redesigning and repainting the Shamans so that they fit into the color and visual style of the Empire. 2) Ballistas - here everything is simple to the extreme! Just a large ranged unit with zero or near-zero mobility. Upgrades are traditional for the Empire - one with an emphasis on defense, the other on aggression. Everyone loves Victor in the Order and his Ballista too, so why not start using Ballistas on a massive scale (partly similar to the Romans with their Scorpions, and in general, they had a lot of other things in the engineering field)? This option fits well into the classic strategy of the Order (playing defensively), can find synergies with "Tactics," and most importantly, Tier 4 will now be needed and built. Now it is often not even built in the late game when there is an abundance of resources, or it is built purely for the sake of it and for an additional meat shield. Griffons in any of the versions are removed from the army composition, and according to the lore, due to their frequent and irreplaceable losses on the battlefield, they were simply stopped being used there and returned to their traditional role - messengers/scouts. From the point of view of their mechanics, the "Strike from the Sky" ability has already been transferred to Angels and their upgrades, and this change has been well received, and Angels are now more respected. A flying Tier 7 unit sounds more convincing and intimidating than a small Tier 4 unit that is quickly defeated after landing. The peak of Battle Griffons may find future use for Neutral Dragons (all dragons except Lava Dragons have left their factions). ---- ---- --- *My personal opinion about Griffons? I mostly agree with my friends. In my experience, I remember only one successful use of them - it was a game for the Order, starting with the Phoenix Cloak and Nazir (Mage) from the tavern. I played this specific build and was able to get Armageddon, which was very effective in this case. Griffon-geddon! Here, their number was no longer important - the main thing was that they flew away at the beginning of the battle and preferably did not fly back!