Posts from [HoMM5 Tournament OFF] The fifth stage of the John Van Caningham Memorial Tournament.

A tournament focused on leveling up Logistics :) Joining at the end with a squad is enough to simply bombard the Necromancer with fireballs until he dies.

I agree, but Logistics needed to be caught first...
And the Necromancer, in my opinion, was letting himself be defeated: he positioned all his troops around the zombies, so the total damage from the spell under the mark was 4k. :-)

Tournament focused on leveling up Logistics :)

I understand that the tournament focuses on obtaining Logistics, as well as on the rational use of movement points. :) I once had a playthrough where, after defeating the manticores, I immediately ran to the stables (day 4), and then picked up the boots of speed, meaning I followed an ideal route. But in this case, Logistics leveled up slowly, which didn't inspire me. In short, I kept going - but didn't reach the goal. I preferred to stop playing and restart, sacrificing movement to get Logistics on expert level on the fifth day, and also get the Path of War skill.

Thanks to the scanner, I got Logistics at level 7, and I managed to get the Path of War:smile54:.

Thanks to the scanner, Logistics was obtained at level 7, and the Path of War was successfully chosen.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but Logistics was given much earlier if you took Sorcery in the Hut? Or are we talking about Expert Logistics?

No, of course not.

I just don't consider myself an expert in offline tournaments.
We were talking about logistics and my personal path of development. :)

Viking, yes – I had a modest 14 days, and it was enough to eat chests for experience towards the end of the game and to visit the tree to increase my level on the last day before the battle. The battle itself was easy. I only took bears (bought before the battle with the wolves) and Rakshasa, who always join, into the battle. P.S. – There were many options for leveling up.

I also have a modest 14 days. Although I made it to the Necropolis on day 13, I couldn't defeat it. :( I had to spend a day visiting the Sphinx and the Grove.

I also managed it in a modest 14 days. Although I reached the Necropolis on day 13, I couldn't defeat it. :( I had to spend a day visiting the Sphinx and the tree.

You're a monster, completing it in 13 days! It's strange that you couldn't defeat the Necropolis. What troops did you have? If you don't recruit the Rakshasa, it just moves forward, but if you do recruit it, it practically stays in place.
Well, if you visited the Sphinx, then you must have gained a lot of experience. What level were you before the final battle??? I was level 20, and they gave me another level after the battle.

I knew there would be very close results. :)

And didn't you go to the dungeon for the chest with EXPERIENCE, which was located before the titans?

It gave a lot of money or experience - from level 11, it increased to 25!;)

By the way, the map is rich in terms of experience gain; you can probably reach level 40 on it. During the test run, my Nazir was level 36.

Added 2 minutes later

Didn't you go to the dungeon for the chest with EXPERIENCE, which was located before the titans?

It gave a lot of money or experience – I went from level 11 to level 25!;)

I think it was just a distraction that I fell for :D

Wow, you're a monster, completing it in 13 days!! It's strange that you couldn't beat the Necropolis. What troops did you have? If you don't recruit the Rakshasa, it just moves forward, but if you do recruit it, it basically stays in place.
Well, if you fought the Sphinx, then you must have gained a lot of experience. What level were you before the final battle??? I was level 20, and they gave me another level after the battle.

I knew there would be very close results.:)

My mistake was probably that I took Mountain Guards instead of Bears for the battle with the wolves. I had to disband them before the battle with the Necropolis. Otherwise, the vampires stay in place and don't get hit by the fireball. And with that setup - 6 mages, 15 golems, 43 gremlins, 16 Rakshasa, and Nazira at level 15 (without spellcasting) - I was still missing 2-3 Rakshasa to win.:(
After the Sphinx, I reached level 18 and gained Expert Spellcasting, and I even won on auto-battle.

I think that the bears were the best unit among those that could be purchased (although, you had to defeat the priests first!).
I didn't know about the chest near the Titans, as I tried not to get distracted from the shortest route. I figured that level 18 would be enough to defeat the Necromancer; the main thing is to get to him quickly.
We're waiting for Adelaide to officially announce the results.

Sorry for the long silence (there was a really valid reason for my absence). Today I won't go to sleep until I check everything and announce the results. I seem to be in honorable last place, but still enjoyed the game and the map. Now I will send confirmations to all players who sent their saves. Thank you everyone for participating!

Added after 5 hours 6 minutes
Friends, I have summarized the results))) It took me a long time to check them; the winner of the Tournament is simply a genius, as are the players who took 2nd and 3rd places!!!! I got carried away when I said that I was in last place; I am glad that I haven’t completely lost my touch. Let's congratulate wolf64 on another victory and learn from his skill!!! (I would very much like to see a detailed Walkthrough of all the winners – 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place). If the players liked the map, please thank the map creator here /topic/5885/ As an organizer, I am very happy with the good turnout and just amazing participation (we only had one absentee!!!!). I hope that the administration will find a more competent organizer for the 10th stage, and once again I apologize for all my mistakes. If I do organize the 10th Competition, I promise to approach this event more organized and prepared!!! Once again, Hooray!!!! to the winner and Hooray!!! to all participants without whom there would be no winner!!!! Well done for starting the discussion; after reading it, I realized that I was thinking absolutely wrong, which ultimately led to rather disappointing results. I don't have moderator rights to post in the Tournament Results section, so I am attaching the final table to this post (I rounded off the experience)

Glad that the tournament results have been summarized. Thanks to Adelaide for organizing the tournament. Here's a brief walkthrough.

There were many options for developing the main character, but the most important thing is to level up his logistics and the Path of War as quickly as possible. There was an option to get the Path on level 9 (by leveling up an unnecessary skill). But, in the end, it turned out like this:
Must-have artifacts: Scepter of Chaos, Staff of Chaos, Artifact of Magic, Artifact of Mastery, Logistics, Advanced Logistics, Path of the Warrior, Secrets of Magic, Advanced Logistics, Path of War, Fire Fury, Magic Mirror, Education, Intermediate Education, Higher Education, Spellcasting, Sign of the Mage, Advanced Spellcasting, Master Spellcaster.

Basically, it was necessary to immediately defeat the manticore and rush to the dwarves. And then, without any deviations and without completing unnecessary side quests, head to the final boss.
Before the final battle, you definitely need to get the Sign of the Mage.

Day 1. Defeat the Rakshasa, visit the Dolmen of Knowledge, and grab two chests for experience (don't take the gold!).
P.S. - I tried to defeat the Minotaurs and Furies later – I defeated them without any losses, but it turned out to be a waste of time. The only benefit was learning the Lightning spell. It would have made it easier later (on days 8-9) before the battle with the wolves, and later, to defeat the Rune Priests.
Day 2. Defeat the manticore (losses – 3 gremlins), and, without drinking water from the well, rush forward.
Day 3. Reach another well, replenish mana, and defeat the Death Knights.
P.S. - Of course, you could go down and take a bag of gold from the assassins, but that's also a waste of time. By the way, the battle for the bag turned out to be difficult (I lost 7 golems there).
P.S.2 - Or, you could try to immediately attack the centaurs and not touch the Death Knights at all, thereby saving half a day or a day, but then you would get the Path of War later.
Day 4. Pick up chests for experience, go back to the well, then defeat the centaurs, and then the militia.
P.S. - Going to the stables and, moreover, recruiting free gremlins, I also considered a waste of time.
Day 5. Take the Boots of Swiftness, a chest, and run along the path, past the phoenixes, to fight the Rakshasa.
After the battle, take the valuable ring and a chest. Finally, get the Path of War.
Day 6. Defeat the hydras, replenish mana, and rush to the city of the dwarves.
Day 7. The dwarves give a quest – to defeat the wolves near the mine. Head there.
Day 8. Important battle with the Rune Priests. Take 3 Djinns, 15 golems, and 1 gremlin into the battle. Only 5 golems survived. But, we buy 50 Bear Lords for 7000 gold. (P.S. - when I had Lightning, I only lost 4 golems out of 8). Only 20 mana left.
Then, one by one, we defeat the Minotaurs, the Undead, and the wolves (10 mana each for the Undead and the wolves). Return back.
Day 9. Replenish mana, talk to the dwarf.
Day 10. Defeat the water elementals, go to the stables, defeat the Paoka and the Daughters of the Sky.
Talk to the dwarf so that he opens the passage through the garrison.
Day 11. From the garrison, turn left, to the meadow. Defeat the halberdiers, then the wild ents. Stop before the elves.
Day 12. Talk to the elves, get the key to the Red Guard.
Run along the path, defeating everyone you encounter – Djinn Viziers, vampires, Death Knights, Inquisitors. Then, run to the Red Guard. Without drinking water from the well, defeat the griffins and open the path that the Red Guard was blocking.
Day 13. Defeat the earth elementals. Then, in the fort, sell the ring and run towards the hydras.
Day 14. Defeat the cave hydras. Through the pyramid, dive into the dungeon, add 16 Rakshasa to your army, drink water from the well before the final battle, level up at the tree, and go into battle with Nadir.
In principle, for the battle, it is enough to deploy only the bears and the Rakshasa. The battle is not difficult.

In total. Before the battle with Nadir, my main character, Nazir, was level 20 and had 82772 experience. After the battle, he gained a new level and 14209 experience (thanks to Higher Education). Total = 96981 experience.

P.S. - As I expected, the results at the top of the table are very close. I had no doubt about the skill of Conservator, Viking, and Valleo. I especially want to note Valleo – he is a newcomer to the site, but not to the game (I noticed how well he plays on another related site – he was always on my heels, and this time he could have overtaken me if he had defeated the Necromancer on day 13).

If you have any questions, ask. ))

Congratulations to wolf64 on another victory!!! Keep it up :)
I read the walkthrough and have a lot of questions about it, but I would like to address the tournament organizer Adelaide first.
How did it happen that my Nazir was level 26 before the final, or rather, he had 255556 experience points, and in the final tournament table, the value was almost seven times less (39765). I am sure this is a clear error, so I ask you to re-check my save.