Posts from Dwarves vs. Academy (Hafiz)

Dear experienced players!:smile45: Could you share your personal experience on how to fight in such a situation? As you know, Hafiz:( is almost a cheater, because:

1) he has 3 stacks of 30 gremlins at the start + a special ability for them
2) he is an engineer, and the ballista is strengthened very quickly!!! because all stats are focused on magic and knowledge, and he can also get a tent when leveling up, which means battles without losses!!!:eek:
3) as with all mages, he has strong magic

all this makes him not only a strong mage but also a good engineer, as well as a protector for the gremlins, these little pests that cause a lot of trouble:mad:

I'm waiting for your answers!! Thank you in advance!!!

Added after 22 hours and 27 minutes
I forgot to add, plus he also has a ballista and a cart at the start!!!:0

Hafiz's cheating only applies to small maps. In a long game, the machines become an insignificant bonus, and the gremlins still die quickly.

It is also interesting that, in principle, the power of gnome magic can easily be as good as, or even better than, the magic of wizards.

The principle of a successful war against the Academy using gnomes:
Defense - fight to the last - resurrection rune
As quickly as possible, close the distance with the Academy's weakly defended units. Leadership - runic harmony, Light magic - general acceleration, punishing strike (general).
Choosing a starting Dwarf will prevent you from falling too far behind Hafiz.
Try to catch the moment when the gnomes have third-level runes, and the Academy hasn't had time to gather enough resources for mini-arts, then everything should be significantly easier.

Dwarf: I don't really like him. I can't quite grasp the strength of the spear throwers:( In my opinion, they are clumsy archers, although Karli has a cart with ammunition + a bit of luck, but still... I think Ingvar is better! And a question:

1) What does "fight to the last" give, since it leaves only 1 unit, is it
all for the resurrection rune?

2) What to do if the rune doesn't drop?

3) Maybe describe what makes Karli so good? In my opinion, Ingvar is better.

And how can you play without a tent?

1. Yes, the "Fight to the Last" ability is exclusively for the resurrection rune. Imagine what's left of a squad of 2-3 units, and they're about to take their turn. Clearly, the goal is to resurrect 40% of them, especially if there were many (300-400). Because of this, the opponent is practically forced to spend a precious turn to destroy the stack before the rune is used, but still, one creature remains, and another precious turn must be spent.

2. If the rune doesn't appear, then you'll have to find another Castle and hope that it will be there. Also, at the first opportunity, buy Ingu in the tavern and level him up a bit; maybe he'll learn the necessary rune?
Besides, it would be wise to first check what runes are available in the Castle, and if there is no resurrection rune, then don't choose the "Fight to the Last" ability.

3. Dwarves start with archers, even though they don't deal as much damage, the crippling wound is very helpful, and at the same time, the Dwarves already have the much-needed "Soldier's Luck" skill! (it seems this skill was created specifically for dwarves; there's claw attack, wound, fire sign, and stunning of giant killers). And another big plus is the presence of an ammunition cart, without which the archers' shots end embarrassingly quickly, which allows you to save a little.
And the tent, although it helps to conduct some battles with neutrals without losses, doesn't give a very big bonus in a battle directly with the opponent.

Still, and this is the opinion of many, Ingvar is also very good. But I wouldn't say that he is 100% stronger than Karli, and, by the way, harpooners have quite decent damage, and they are still level 2 troops, and besides, they are archers, which means it's not easy to defeat them either.

Besides, what prevents you from upgrading your units? Gnomes are often given to players, and you will also have fire arrows, while the Academy player most likely won't (2% chance to attack). If the opponent picks Hafiz, it means they are planning a rush, in which case you don't even need to take magic for the gnome, but instead take machines. Karl is perfect for this, as he can also use ranged attacks.

Karli is a terrible hero:( and regarding Hafiz, it's not just about rushing (although he usually rushes a lot!), but he's also strong in long games. Runes won't help here either. Today, I played with a friend; he was Karli, and I was Hafiz. I defeated him three times, while he was buying machines, a tent, and a ballista. As for fire arrows, you're right, but if the Academy hero's knowledge exceeds 10, it's game over...

Hafiz is indeed very strong against players who are not very skilled and don't know how to avoid losing troops to neutral creatures. He is strong because you don't have to put in much effort, and everything is simple and without losses.

But at some point, you realize that you can also start quite quickly with other heroes and not lose troops. For this, you will have to work hard, studying the behavior of the artificial intelligence for a long time (so as not to lose troops to neutral creatures).

Thus, Razazak with his golems and the help of gremlins also starts quite well.
Dark Elves can even destroy zombies, orcs, minotaurs, and armored creatures with just one Fury.
And so on.

Well, that's certainly possible, but I guess I'm just a noob at this game, even though I've studied it "inside and out." But still, it's possible to create a lineup of cheerleader heroes.

I think everyone has their own strategies, but Hafiz with a ballista is just incredibly strong... When playing Dwarves against Mages, you need to focus on defense and resilience, combined with Light magic, runes, and that's it! If the Mage comes (and you know he will), you can quickly learn a bit of Chaos magic with Erling and build up your army to be equal, and then it's all about technique. Later in the game, it's much easier to play as Dwarves because if you visit a few more castles, you'll have Light magic (possibly with artifacts) and defense bonuses, so everything will work out well! :smile03: