What an interesting question. In the original game, the one who arrives earlier, breaks through the defenses earlier, and kills the opponent earlier wins. The one who hoards more always loses.
Hero specialization strength depends on the map specifications.
Large maps, good specializations:
- Hoarding specializations
- Creature attack/defense spec
Small maps, good specializations:
- Narrow magic specializations are very good on small maps where the final fight occurs in month 1-2. They give a good edge after a few levels that other heroes just do not have.
- Different war machine specializations
Poor maps, good specializations:
- Economic specializations (gold/resources) are good on maps with low or no resources (Belt templates have only wooden and ore mines on the map).
- Knowledge-based heroes are also good if combined with resource artifacts, which are common.
Keep in mind that although some specializations seem stronger, they will not be that good in practice because when a hero can use something strong (spells/abilities) or have something in surplus (creatures?), this means he will need more of other things to spend, like mana or resources. In Heroes 5.5, gold and mana are not endless. For example, Dungeons are the strongest Destruction casters due to their high chance of spellpower gain, but this is compensated by a mediocre mana pool.
The same goes for Archilius. Yes, you can hire 25%/33%/50% more liches, but you have to find the money for them.
The same goes for economic heroes - they give some resources/gold, which does not seem that important, but in the end, you have a larger army (the castle is developed faster, able to purchase additional troops from dwellings) than the enemy because he cannot purchase it all.
