Posts from Haggish vs. Orah.

Dear forum members, I need your help with a situation. I'm playing with a friend in a local multiplayer game on the "Battle of Nations" map. I'm playing as the Orcs (Hagresh), and he's playing as the Mages (Ora). It's been 5 months, and I tried to defeat him, but I couldn't. I asked for one more day to think and replay the battle, and I also asked him to show me what skills he was developing for his hero. Since my friend is confident in his victory, he immediately agreed. The map is quite poor (only one Dragon Utopia and one artifact shop). We're playing on "Hero" difficulty. I didn't have a good start because, unfortunately, my resources were guarded only by ranged units: Elven Archers, Goblins, and Centaurs. As for artifacts, I initially found the "Helm of Chaos" and the "Armor of Fearlessness" (and I had to sacrifice Centaurs for the armor because they were guarded by Assassins). As I later found out, he was in a better position: he immediately got the Chaos Magic skill and initially found the Trident of Titans. I developed the following skills:
1). Expert in Blood Rage: Reinforcements, Remembrance of Our Blood, Power Against Magic
2). Expert in Attack: Battle Frenzy, Tactics, Retribution
3). Expert in Defense: Endurance, Evasion
4). Expert in Logistics: Find Path
5). Expert in Leadership: Rally Troops, Aura of Swiftness, Battle Craze
In the end, I reached level 24. I could have taken a different skill instead of "Logistics," but the map is large, and there's no Mentor. My friend collected many more artifacts because he had two castles, each with an artifact guild. He reached level 23 and developed the following:
1). Expert in Artifact Mastery: Wizard's Sign
2). Expert in Spellcasting: Secret Knowledge
3). Expert in Chaos Magic
4). Expert in Dark Magic: Mind Control
5). Higher Education: Uncover Secret
6). Expert in Logistics: Find Path, Scouting, Keen Mind
His artifacts for the battle: Dragon Scale Armor, Ring of the Dragon's Eye, Dragon's Tongue, Shield of the Dwarf King, Ring of Swiftness, Sandals of the Saint, Cloak of the Lion's Mane, Golden Horseshoe, Lion's Crown, Necklace of Victory
His artifacts (for the final battle): Crown of Sarr-Iss, Cloak of Phoenix Feathers, Armor of the Forgotten Hero, Ring of Speed, Ring of Sarr-Iss, Staff of the Underworld, Golden Horseshoe, Necklace of Victory, Dragon Bone Greaves.
I didn't have time to memorize his stats, but at the time of the battle, his spellcasting skill was 27.
He developed his artifact knowledge skill to 36 (all artifacts for knowledge).
Interestingly, he won using both Dark Magic and Chaos Magic. When he played as Chaos, he used Armageddon with the Wizard's Sign (it reduces rage a lot). His units took almost no damage, but mine... His troops also had very high initiative (Titans had 17). Please help me understand what I can do to counter such a mage, as I don't have much online experience (I only play with friends). I didn't develop any blocking skills because the mage could use any magic (last time, he played Summoning + Light). There's a big problem with artifacts on this map, and the computer opponents are also a nuisance.

start a new game and don't worry. You're done for here.

Thank you for your response. I have another question regarding hero development in this situation: did I develop the hero correctly, or did I do something wrong? To reiterate, it's difficult to predict which skills will be beneficial (Dark Magic is almost always a good choice), and I didn't choose the Castle faction due to logistical reasons – this map is very inconvenient without good logistics. Also, how should one generally approach playing a Mage on large and very large maps, considering that time is a factor and it benefits him, as he can gather more powerful artifacts for his units and collect the maximum number of useful spells (if we're talking about large but resource-poor maps, where even spells are scarce). Building a game strategy based on finding artifacts is also not very smart, as you can't always find what you need. We always play on "Hero" difficulty, and the development speed often depends on the units defending mines and important resources. I would appreciate help from experienced players, as I'm planning a rematch and don't want to repeat old mistakes.

Get more artifacts that increase magic resistance.

The build-up described above is perfectly fine. You can use this approach next time as well (although it wouldn't hurt to add some Luck and Magic Resistance skills along with artifacts).

Thank you for your answer. I have another question regarding the hero's development in this situation: did I develop the hero correctly, or did I do something wrong? As a reminder, it's difficult to guess which skills will be effective (Dark Magic is almost always a good choice), and I didn't choose Castle because of the logistics – this map is very inconvenient without logistics. And how should one generally approach playing a mage on large and very large maps, considering that time also plays to his advantage? He gathers more powerful artifacts for his units and collects as many useful spells as possible (if we're talking about large but resource-poor maps, where even spells are scarce). Building a game strategy based on finding artifacts is also not very smart, as you can't always find what you need. We always play on "Hero" difficulty, and the development speed often depends on the units defending mines and important resources. I'm asking for help from experienced players, as I'm planning a rematch and don't want to repeat old mistakes.

It doesn't matter who you choose or what skills you learn! Only your own experience will help you here! You are weaker than your opponent, so prepare for defeat. You learn from mistakes, but losing to a mage who has no attack or defense skills is ridiculous! :D The simplest and very effective way is to use Goblin Shamans and their numbers. As I understand it, there will be enough of them by the 5th month to withstand the mage's spells in the final battle. My advice is not to lose your goblins; learn the Dodge and Resistance skills for defense. And to make the goblins move ahead of the enemy hero, use Chieftains and the Chieftain's War Cry skill. Learn the tactics and the Speed Aura to reach the enemy faster, and there will be no chance for the Orc!

Today, the rematch took place! I achieved a rather easy victory over my opponent (relatively speaking). As TerMinator said, "only your own experience will help here!", and that's exactly what happened. As I predicted, a lot in the final battle depended on the artifacts: this time, I had the Staff of the Underworld, the Boots of the Wanderer (+1 to speed), and two rings of speed (+20% to initiative). I managed to raid the Dragon Utopia three times + I found the necessary artifacts in the fields. I also followed the advice of $an4es and Lord Mortulus and upgraded Fundamentals of Luck => Magic Resistance + I equipped the Armor of the Forgotten Hero (which also seems to give +20% resistance). Since I had the Speed tactic + speed aura + Boots of the Wanderer, I reached the free Cyclops in the first turn, where I destroyed three stacks at once: Titans, mages, and golems. After that, everyone died very quickly. Regarding the previous battle: I couldn't use the shamans + chieftains because of the low initiative of my troops, since the Orcs moved before the chieftains and applied a slow effect. As a result, after the slow (which lasted about 20 turns), the initiative of the chieftains was 8, and the Cyclops was 5 :( and the mage simply killed me with Armageddon with the wizard's sign + his army moved very often compared to mine. So, in that battle, the mage didn't really need much defense. Thank you all very much for the advice; I will continue to practice online and gain experience.

Get the skill and reset it on a mentor; the stats will remain.

As far as I remember, they don't remain. And it's even possible that they take away experience; the mentor is a real beast.

Get an education and then transfer it to a mentor; the stats will remain.

What kind of bug is this?

What kind of bug is this?

It's not a bug, and it can only be done with the Orc. For other units, their stats will reset, but their experience won't be taken away. It's a compensation for the lack of magic; after all, an Orc can't inflict a massive, punishing blow and gain Stone Skin in a single turn, which is +24 combat stats per turn!

I don't see any danger in mages at all. I never bothered to upgrade my orc's defense, and it's still pretty good. My entire strategy relies on attack.

The Oracle is undoubtedly more powerful than ever!

From the memories of an enraged cyclops:

"Our ranks were dwindling, a fierce battle raged, and we fought with the desperation of the doomed. In this difficult battle, Orah emerged victorious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDXY57gGJGI