Posts from How to play against Wizards?

I urgently need help from knowledgeable and experienced players in this situation. I'm playing with a friend on the "Outcast Lands" map, on "Hero" difficulty. We both start on the surface: I play as Blue, and he plays as Red. I'm playing as Necromancers, and he's playing as Mages. I should mention that I don't have much experience playing online with five heroes, only about a year. He's been playing for about 5 years and only plays as Mages. The problem is that by the end of the first week, he captures Utopia on the surface, and by the middle of the second week, he captures a second one. This gives him a huge advantage in terms of money, artifacts, and experience right from the start. I wouldn't have believed it myself if he hadn't sent me the save files, and I didn't see anything special that could explain his rapid progress. He takes the first Utopia on level 2 and the second on level 6. He knows the game mechanics perfectly. He always chooses either Orus or Nuru as his starting hero. I've never seen his full build. He always maxes out "Sorcery" + perks, "Summoning" + perks, and "Education" + perks. The other two slots are always different: Chaos, Darkness, Light, Defense, etc. It's unpredictable. He never shows his build. None of my friends have been able to beat him in the late game. In short, he's a hardcore player :D. I choose either Orson or Naadir. I build the following:
1. Advanced Necromancy (Eternal Slavery, Spiritual Bond)
2. Education (Magic Attraction)
3. Luck (Soldier's Luck, Magic Resistance)
4. Defense (Sturdiness, Dodge, Damage Reduction)
5. Summoning (Charm Master, Elemental Balance, Fire Warriors)
6. Darkness Magic (Curse Master, Mind Master).
I don't always manage to max everything out; most battles happen around level 25-27. He hardly uses Summoning magic in battles; he mainly uses Light or Chaos. The initiative of the Mage's creatures is simply insane, especially after mass speed-up on the Titans, reaching 22 :( Please advise: should I change my build, change my race, or maybe choose a different hero???

They say that Orcs are good at overwhelming their opponents.

Yeah, I doubt the Orcs will help me. He'll bombard them with dark magic, plus he'll have a huge advantage in artifacts, and the computers are also making it hard to develop properly...

Try Zoltan, and try to find the Staff of the Underworld, the Cursed Ring, and the Cloak of Deadly Shadow. If the main problem is Titans or Golems, also take Sandro's Cloak (something will definitely work). Focus on Darkness, take the Mind Lord, Logistics for leveling up, Enchantment with magic resistance, Education, and Reflection, and do whatever you want with the rest. Tell me what troops you use.

Don't pick Darkness against mages at the beginning. Just summon creatures. Well, if it's Naadir, then there's no choice, of course... Luck is a questionable choice. Although, it's well-known for vampires and princes... I don't know. Basically, only the soldier skill works there, and undead are defensively oriented, so the damage bonus from luck isn't that useful for them. Let's put it this way: if Logistics doesn't appear, Luck will be useful, but if it does, you should definitely take it. Here, the main thing is the pace; don't fall behind. If he's so good at taking towns, and he does it with the Swarm (which, in principle, doesn't have such great starting bonuses, not at all, it's strong towards the end of the game), then you should also practice, maybe even offline, just to achieve the same pace (or at least a comparable one). Kaspar is best for pace. Practice, because without a good pace, nothing will help you; development is 80% of the victory. ----- Ah, and Sashaorl's advice is also logical, but artifacts are crucial there; without them, it's unlikely to work.

You could also try playing as the Dwarves and take Inga. The Dwarves have good magic resistance: Dwarven Luck and Runes.

Thank you very much for the advice! My troops are as follows:
1. Bone Warriors (stun)
2. Rotting Zombies
3. Ghosts
4. Vampire Princes (sleep)
5. Archliches
6. Death Harbingers
7. Phantom Dragons.
I rely on the vampires for luck, as only sleep provides some relief. The initiative of his creatures is simply off the charts. But the most unpleasant thing is the pace of his development: when I capture my first Utopia, he captures three of them and simultaneously collects artifacts scattered across the map. He doesn't play as a Machinist, but he is very good at magic and creature behavior on the "Hero" difficulty. Offline, I seem to play not too badly; on the same map, I capture the Utopia in the middle of the second week. But online, I don't play as Kaspar because I consider the Machinist skill useless in the late game, and his speed is still much higher. My opponent has already won several championships in Heroes of Might and Magic V, so I can't beat him with experience.

My opponent has already won several championships in Heroes of Might and Magic V.

Really?
Then what's the point of continuing this conversation? He'll defeat you with a single advantage, even with his eyes closed...

The choice of creatures doesn't play a critical role (except for vampires, as they have a significant impact) because: skeleton archers are defeated much faster than warriors, liches won't resurrect much, and I don't see any point in reducing the luck of mages with mini-art (luck +6 and higher). That's why I'm asking for your help, as I don't know what to do myself. The opponent is very strong; he mainly plays Heroes for money, has participated in and won the "League of Heroes," and has won competitions on global maps. Could you at least suggest how to play specifically on the "Lands of Outcasts" map? I also know that he doesn't take logistics, but instead plays with 7-8 heroes right away.

If both are on the surface, take Kaspar, no questions asked. But in the late game, it's a completely different story. Here, you need to level up the leadership skill of your second hero, mentor skill, and raise as much meat as possible. And, of course, invest in defense. You don't need to take Darkness, but you can try Light, especially the evasion skill. You can find information about quickly conquering towns with Necromancers in this section. I won't describe it here.

It’s not always possible to take the lead, and getting the right spells at the right time is also difficult. I usually get Utopia with Kaspar around the middle of the second week, thanks to the vampires (by that time, there’s definitely no Phoenix yet). And I even thought that was quite fast until I played against this opponent. I’ll try Zoltan; maybe he’ll help in some way. By the way, I always upgrade defense with evasion, but it doesn’t seem to help much: his units move 2-3 times, while mine only move once. There will be a game in the evening; I’ll write back later.

Good evening, everyone! So, once again, I lost to my friend. We were playing on the Outlands map as usual: I was playing as the blue faction (Kaspar), and he was playing as the red faction (Ora). We both reached the first Utopia on day 5 of week 1. He arrived with two heroes, each with roughly the same troops: Ora level 6 and Nazir level 4. I also had two heroes: Kaspar level 7 and Zoltan level 1 (who was gathering resources). Nazir attacked me first, with double mana and the Amulet of Magic, and he dealt a significant blow to my already small army before retreating. Then, Ora attacked. The Amulet of Magic and the Ice Shard (I think it was from a necklace that provides +50% damage) did their job, and I retreated. He immediately took the Utopia and, as I later found out, got Armageddon, which he quickly used to clear the map. Meanwhile, I was trying to rebuild my forces with the remnants of my army. I got my first decent artifacts at the beginning of week 4 from the last Utopia; the rest were looted. In general, the first battle was decisive for me. The final battle took place after 2 months and 3 weeks. I forgot to mention that I was constantly harassed by tricksters with Armageddon and golems. I was especially annoyed by Razak with his level 2 units, Ballista, and Lucky Charm. I didn't have the Staff of the Underworld or the Cloak of Shadows for the final battle. I had a slight advantage in terms of army size, but not by much, maybe at most twice as many units. However, my friend had collected the Lion set, the Staff of Sar-Iss, and other stuff (the Titans had +8 morale). The battle was short: this time, he leveled up the Lucky Charm on all his mages (which I didn't expect), and with the Amulet of Magic and Deadly Cold, he completely destroyed my army. Ora cast spells three times per turn. In general, I need to improve my gameplay.

Really?
Then what's left to talk about? He'll defeat you with his eyes closed, even with a single upgrade...

And I told you so.

Did you equip him with fire resistance? Did you put on dwarven armor? Did you increase his magic resistance? No? Well, then there's nothing to be surprised about. But in general, yes, mages are dangerous opponents. You should have immediately rushed Kaspar at him. Upgrade the skeletons and zombies, and go for it. And for the future, if you want to know his build, lure him out with a riddle. It's strange that you lost to him with such an army.

I didn't get Light, and my main hero dealt cold damage; plus, I didn't expect the mage to take Chaos as their primary magic. Cold damage combined with Luck was over 2000 + Wizard's Mark. There were few artifacts, and I didn't have the dwarf set. During the game, I took 2 Dragon Utopia, while the opponent took 6. I was wearing: Sar-Issa' same helmet + robe + ring + staff, a +20% initiative ring, dragon shield + boots. I leveled up: Darkness, Machines (tent), Knowledge, Defense, Attack. I had no Light, Luck, or Leadership. I played based on the situation as it unfolded. He had a very fast start; I went on the attack almost immediately, but I couldn't manage: first, Nazir cast Fireball 12 times for 70 damage each, and Ora hit with Ice Spike for 170.