Discussion about Heroes 4.

If we talk specifically about the topic, the most optimal hero is a Rogue with maxed-out Stealth, Melee, and Chaos magic. This is an ideal unit for sudden, devastating attacks. It moves quickly and is invisible. In battle, it can defend itself, and if necessary, it can easily escape because it usually moves without an army, as the army hinders stealth and is not needed at high hero levels anyway. IMHO.

I disagree. The 5th level of Stealth makes sense (and even then, only if the enemy hero doesn't have Scouting), which is about 10 levels (rounding up, not counting other bonuses). Then, Melee needs to be combined with Armor, which is another ten levels. Plus, Chaos magic; for effective offensive magic, you also need at least ten levels. In total, that's 30-31 levels. You can certainly level up a "runner" hero with Stealth to that extent, but it doesn't make sense on any non-quest map. Because if there's that much experience on the map, it's easier to level up several heroes, each with only one class maxed out. Besides, such a Stealth hero will easily lose to any Barbarian of roughly the same level (even 23-25) with GM Resist. Of course, you need a "runner" for traversing large maps, but combined with a Druid/Barbarian/Necromancer, and Barbarian is far from the best choice; it's much more useful to level up a Druid to summon Elementals/Locusts or a Necromancer to raise Vampires. This is, of course, when playing against the AI with a large number of troops and powerful heroes. Because against them, one Stealth hero, unless he's level 70 and has consumed a lot of crystals, won't be able to do anything, at most, he can sneakily take a half-empty town.