Posts from Counter-heroes in duel mode (3.1).

Hello again :)
Today, through experience, I figured out two things:

1) chudo ud0 and DOMOVOY are completely different people. The latter actually told me about it :) .

2) It was once again confirmed that Karl, as I claimed before, 100% defeats Ossir. Neither elven luck nor the player's skill helps. The main advantages of a dwarf over an elf:
a) A stack of Erls, capable of attacking ranged units with a chain lightning spell once per battle.
b) Two strong stacks of dwarven spearmen. If at least 1 dwarf survives, the resurrection rune will bring 40% of the rest back to life.
c) A stack of priests, capable of casting a wall of fire/remotely shooting down the elves (the latter is preferable if archers are protected by unicorns, as it may trigger magical protection).
d) Dragons that attack within 2 cells. (the energy rune will help to reach them in one turn)
All this together makes Karl an overpowered hero against Ossir, because out of these 5 stacks dangerous for archers, at least three always survive.

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Now, about the main thing :) , i.e., about the counter-heroes in HoMM 5 version 3.0 on the duel server ubi.com

As a preface. After work, I had time to play a few duel games. My opponent, as I wrote above, was DOMOVOY - a very strong player with a huge number of games played (thousands) and an even more impressive win rate. We played 9 interesting games, 4 of which I actually won :) . In fact, I want to describe the tactics identified during these games, interspersed with my personal experience from previous games.

9) Orson vs. Shak'Karuk

The game is interesting, although with a predictable outcome. (I was unlucky to play as an orc, so I lost this battle :) ) It is interesting because both heroes are very "tanky" and, with skillful play, a good wall-to-wall battle ensues.

Thus, the greatest danger to your opponent is not your dragons or undead, which play a rather distracting role, but skeletons and zombies - those tons of bones that should crush the enemy's units.

When deploying troops, it is best to divide the lich stack into two equal stacks and place them at a distance from each other (ideally at different edges of the map).

Orcs are very vulnerable to dark magic (because they do not have dispel), so we cast weakness on both stacks of wyverns with liches - the main force of the enemy.

If the winged creatures rush into attack on the first turn, we destroy them with the entire undead horde, without paying attention to the sluggish shamans and the shots of cyclops. The hero also saves mana for subsequent resurrections. While most of your troops are destroying the wyverns, you can send ghosts to the rear of the enemy to amuse the goblins and daughters of the sky a little :) .

If the enemy goes on the defensive, then, on the contrary, you can pay maximum attention to the orcish fighters and shamans (we shoot them down with liches) and cyclops (we destroy them with a direct attack by the hero). It is not worth standing still, it is better to gradually move all the troops so that, if necessary, you can strike back at the enemy's units with all your forces.

And finally, try to "attack" corpses, if the enemy still has paoaks left - otherwise, the creatures may eat the remains and resurrect.

10) Helmar vs. Jalib

Also not the most difficult battle, although here everything depends on the level of the players.

Both heroes are strong mages and have several stacks of spellcasting creatures. But the dwarves have an advantage - most of their units are immune to fire magic, and therefore to the fire ball of archmages.

Academics, on the other hand, are very vulnerable to area spells, due to the 3 "large" (occupying 4 cells) stacks in their ranks.

The main danger of Jalib is his huge reserves of mana and the ability to endlessly resurrect his troops, which are very, very good damage dealers (for example, if the archmages are divided into 3 stacks of 20 creatures, then 1 such stack "destroys" 4 priests with the help of "magic fist"). Dwarves are quite slow (especially in terms of initiative).

The best solution is to stretch (with the hero and priests) 3-4 fire walls along all rows of the enemy, so that when archmages and titans are resurrected, they again fall "into the furnace". This will negate the survivability of Jalib's army. It is also not worth sitting still with infantry and dragons - it is better to make a dash forward and finish off the remaining living enemies.

P.S. To be continued...

Regarding the battle against Jalib-Helmar, I'll say this: to win there with Jalib, you need to try very hard, and even then, you can only win if you put almost all the mages in one stack. And even then, the probability of winning is no more than 10%. As for Ossir-Karli, Ossir can have cursed spellcasters and a favorable attack bonus. (In principle, one stack of harpooners can be killed before his turn). So, it's not 100% either, even though it's high, it's not 100%.

Anwen vs. Ossir Ossir's defensive strategy against Anwen doesn't work – it's been proven: diamond dragons in the center eliminate all archers in the first turn. Then, Anwen, with her magic, simultaneously attacks (Magic Dart, preferably with a slowing effect) and heals (Regeneration on ents and unicorns). Anwen's druids are generally ineffective due to their small numbers; they are only needed to transfer mana to the hero. The ents and dancing with death/wind creatures first eliminate half of the ents, then all the unicorns (by this time, your unicorns should have finished off the ents...).

Anwen vs. Ossir. Ossir is not effective in defense against Anwen – this has been proven: diamond dragons in the center eliminate all archers from the first turn, then Anwen, with her magic, simultaneously attacks (Magic Bolt, preferably with a slowing effect) and heals (Regeneration on ents and unicorns). Anwen's druids are generally useless due to their small numbers; they are only needed to transfer mana to the hero. Ents and Dancers of Death/Wind eliminate half of the ents first, then all the unicorns (by this time, your unicorns should have finished off the ents...).

That sounds good, but it's not entirely correct. For example, where did you get the idea that dragons eliminate all archers? Just because you got lucky once doesn't mean you'll always be lucky; the skill works randomly. Also, what prevents you from placing druids on the other side and protecting them? And Anwen's druids are not a useless unit; they can apply a defense bonus of 12 to rogues and another unit, which is very effective.

Be aware that if you know how to properly position dragons, you can defeat not only archers... If I had heroes available, I would prove it to you.

:smile49: It's a pity you don't have them, otherwise I would show you a thing or two:smile13: And without Heroes, the discussion is pointless...

So, we continue our broadcast... :) Last time I described two not-so-interesting battles - now I'm making up for it by covering battles that are far more interesting and tactically complex.

Yes, and now, to confirm the tactics I've described, I am posting replays of real battles I played on ubi.com.

(All replays are named in the format Xxxx-Yyyy - where Xxxx is the name of the hero I am playing, and Yyyy is my opponent)

11) Orson vs. Ravenna

I fought this battle against allbolabris - one of the strongest Western players on the duel server (the amount of WP he has earned is close to 6000).

A confrontation between two undead armies is no easy task, as Necromancers are rightfully considered some of the most dangerous duel heroes. Suffice it to say that I lost a similar battle in the past due to poor tactics :) .

Initially, setting aside player skill, the chances of winning for Ravenna and Orson are equal. The former has a larger mana pool (150) and powerful magic (+ expert wizardry allows her to cast more often), the latter has a huge army of skeletons and zombies.

When positioning troops, it is better for Orson to split the lich squad into two equal stacks and place them at opposite ends of the battlefield. Our army is quite slow, so I don't recommend rushing forward with, for example, ghosts or dragons. It is much more reasonable to slowly move all units as a single wall, without letting anyone run ahead. This will allow for a crushing response to any move by the opponent.

With the hero, we cast mines in front of the presumed location of the units, thereby immobilizing the enemy troops (mostly due to uncertainty - since the opponent doesn't know exactly where we placed them).

Obviously, it is impossible to reach the enemy in one turn. Therefore, we repeat the procedure described above, trying to get closer to Ravenna's liches. The latter will most likely cast debuffs on our troops. These can be ignored.

With your own liches, it's best to cast weakness once on the opponent's liches or vampires, and then methodically shoot the latter down.

So, the battle has begun. The most important thing here is to set the priorities correctly. Keep the dragons away from the opponent's melee fighters so that they can later be used to block the liches. Use the ghosts in the same way.

The hero can attack the dragons with direct attacks - his mana will still be useful at the end of the battle.

Our main strike forces - skeletons and zombies - must engage Ravenna's dragons, vampires, and skeletons in combat. Our undead will most likely serve as fodder for Ravenna's attack spells. Therefore, don't spare them too much and use the special ability to destroy the dragons. It is also desirable to kill the enemy ghosts.

Then, simply eliminate the enemy troops slowly and keep an eye on the number of skeletons. As soon as their number approaches a hundred, resurrect bone warriors with your liches.

One would think that's all... but not in this battle. As soon as Ravenna has almost no troops left, she usually abruptly changes tactics: specifically, she resurrects ghosts, and, by running away from your not-so-fast units, continues to crush them with her spells. Fortunately, her mana allows this.

The key here is to act in coordination. Move your troops so as to surround the maneuvering ghosts while simultaneously avoiding becoming victims of Ravenna's mass spells. In general, move them so that on the next turn, one or two stacks are guaranteed to reach the ghosts, wherever they may be.

With Orson, you can now cast haste on all, and then again use only direct attacks.

Two outcomes are possible after this:

a) Your fighters were lucky and they finally killed the ghosts. Congratulations - you have won!

b) You are pursued by terrible bad luck and regular misses against those vile incorporeal creatures. In this case, keep trying, continuing to save your troops and not exposing them to mass spells + try to kill the ghosts with direct attacks, waiting until Ravenna runs out of mana.

That is most likely what will happen, because Orson often has quite a few zombies left - underestimated by the opponent, but very tanky and capable of soaking up a lot of damage from spells.

As soon as the opponent's mana is gone, use resurrection and raise your own ghosts and/or dragons/liches. From there, numerical superiority should bring you victory.

By playing this tactic, you will achieve success in the absolute majority of cases, and you will have plenty of opportunities, as such games happen quite often in random play.

In fact, I have many more tactics I would like to describe and replays to illustrate them, but I looked at the "bedsheet" I've created and was horrified. :) Therefore, I'll take a break for now, and next time I'll try to keep it to a more modest size. :)

P.S. I would like to hear some feedback on the described tactics =) . So far, only Mr. chudo_ud0 has responded.

To be continued...

What's there to comment on? Orson dominates if the map is decent. This is clearly not the most interesting tactical battle – Raven-Daeidra and Leto-Orson are much more engaging.

What's there to comment on? Orson dominates if the map is decent. This isn't the most interesting tactical battle – Raven-Deydra and Leto-Orson are much more engaging.

Orson excels in the mid-game. If the opponent is smart enough to eliminate all your fast units, he can then finish off the remaining units with magic, maneuvering his ghosts.

Last time, playing against the same allbolabris, I lost because I only had a hundred zombies, two dozen skeletons, and ten liches left at the end. And my mana was depleted in the middle of the battle :) .

Ultimately, the interestingness of a battle is subjective. Personally, I found this battle quite tense and interesting. Maybe because I wanted to get revenge :) .

As promised, I continue to post replays of battles and comment on them. 12) Garuna vs. Vittorio Many rightly consider Garuna an underdog on the duel server. It would seem that she has no chance in a battle against Vittorio... But that's not entirely true. Of course, the probability of victory depends partly on luck, but largely on the right strategy. The main thing is not to stay in one place, but to quickly approach the enemy's troops, without being distracted by casting spells with shamans and throwing goblins with cyclops - they are much more valuable in battle. If the opponent uses a defensive formation (which will be the case in 90% of games against not the strongest players), covering archers with griffins, peasants, and swordsmen, then we act as follows: We put goblins or shamans under attack for the knights; then we eliminate them with orcish warriors and executioners. With the hero, we cast a terrifying roar on the griffins and run with the leaders to kill the archers. Let the cyclops deal with the birds - the others can't handle it, but he will do an excellent job. The main task is to kill the archers and gain rage. Then, with the same cyclops, you can kill the catapult. It is important not to forget that the speed of your actions is the key to victory. 13) Letos vs. Nimus Here, much depends on the luck of casting Letos's plague spell before the battle. If it hits the nightmares/devils, then you have every chance of winning. Then, simply use mind magic to prevent the opponent from summoning too many troops and destroy the rest of his units. 14) Karli vs. Ossir Iris vs. Helmar Iris vs. Jalib Anwen vs. Deidra I have already described these battles earlier; now, I am just posting the replays. 15) Karli vs. Nimus There is not much to write about here... As they say, it's better to see it once. The main task of the dwarf is to kill all the demon's non-summoned units while remaining alive himself. 16) Helmar vs. Karli A long and tedious battle between two heavyweight dwarves. I don't consider it difficult... But some mistakes made by me or my opponent may be instructive, as well as successful moves. Therefore, just watch the replay.

All of the battles listed, except for Anven-Deidra with version 3.1, have lost their relevance. The tactics and balance in these matchups have changed.
Out of curiosity, I watched all the battles, and to be honest, the gameplay amused me. There were gross mistakes made in all the battles, and on both sides. I was particularly amused by Ossir's game against Carli and Vitya's game against Garuna – they were clearly noobs. In this matchup, the ballista is usually killed on the first turn, but with such noobs (Vitya cast "Punishment" on the archers and didn't immediately attack with two paladins on the first turn), it's possible to win like that too... Jalib simply dominated against Iris – apparently, he didn't know that Rakshasas have the "Charge" ability. Carli – Nimues is a completely talentless setup; they could have skipped playing Nimues altogether, as he is clearly stronger. Letos – Nimues: personally, I would use "Dominate" – it makes the victory easier. Anven was clearly lucky with her "Enemies," and otherwise, she would have easily lost with that tactic. In the Carli-Helmar matchup, the "Magic Ward" rune is usually used, and without it, the defeat usually happens as in the video (although it depends on many things). Iris-Helmar: Helmar could have played better too. Why did he attack the archers (who deal negligible damage in this battle) at the beginning? It's a mystery to me. And in general, he should have retreated with his ranged units, used magic wisely, and won.

I agree with "Chudo" in many respects, if not all. Orson _ Raven was in charge there before, and I think he's stronger in 3.1 too. The main thing is to have someone step on the undead ghosts, and that's it.
It's interesting to read about duels, but I don't know where you can read about them now. "Diabolika" was also taken from one of the forums. Maybe "Chudo" will respond.

Diabolica was also mentioned on one of the forums. Maybe Miracle will respond.

Isn't Miracle the same as Diabolik? :)
P.S. And it's not a clone, but rather some dubious duplicate... the stats seem to be the same, maybe that's why the rating is so high? ... I just heard rumors about this inexplicable fact, although the high skill of the player with the nickname Miracle aka Dexter is beyond doubt.

Well, if this "wonder" is actually Diablo, and also a house spirit, and has a bunch of other accounts, then I've definitely lost it (although I've had similar thoughts before:eek:). Or maybe this person is just role-playing different characters. For example, right now, I think the house spirit plays better than "wonder" or Diablo, and he plays completely differently. Although there are some similarities.
About counter-heroes:
Ossir 3.1 definitely doesn't have any. Iris might put up a fight, but even so, Ossir will still have around 80% chance of winning against equal opponents. And in general, if the opponents are equal, all of Ossir's opponents will have around 20% or less.
Ossir's opponents are Vitya, IBBA, Helmar, Leto, Jalib, Iris, Erin, Synit, and maybe someone else; I'm not very good at duels, so smart people will probably add someone else to Ossir's "twenty-percenters."
Iris's opponents are Deidra, most likely. I think she has around 35% chance of success against Irina, Leto has a little less, around 20, and the rest are either not in the twenty-percent range or are? We're not considering Ossir.
Helmar's counter-heroes are Aira - 100%, or should we give the gnome 1 percent? Ossir, IBBA are close to 50 percent (the terrain affects this a little), and that's it. I don't like Helmar. Although in version 2.1, I really liked him. Especially the duel between Helmar and Deleb (what a great pair they were).
Jalib's counter-heroes - there are many of them; it's not clear why the experts rated Jalib so highly. Apparently, they just liked him, and I like him too:D. Deleb, IBBA, Anwen, Synit, Aira, Helmar, Ravenna.
I watched a couple of Sailex's replays, although I think he's a good, even strong player. But these duels are just terrible. Especially Vitya vs. Garuna.

Well, if this "miracle" is Diabolic, and also a "domovoy" on top of that.

No, that's too much... It's just that "Miracle" and "Diabolic" are the same account, switching randomly... Add him as a friend, and you'll see that today he's like this, and tomorrow or the day after, he'll change... but "DOMOVOY" is definitely a completely different person... he plays differently, has a different rating, and, by the way, they can be on Uplay at the same time, but "Diabolic" and "Miracle" can only be there separately (in turns :).

Against Ossir, I would also add Anwen and Marbas to the 20% category. But Vitus, Ibbu, and Helmar, I would increase to 50%, especially Vitus.

Against Iris, I think Ibbu would be a good choice, and Orson at 50% or more.

And against Helmar, I would add Anwen and maybe Marbas.

Jaliba is popular because he gives a lot of magic damage, plus magic bonuses... and that's even without a developed Chaos skill!
+ phoenixes with their revival ability, etc. In general, he's a strategic hero, and if the area is full of objects, he can defeat almost anyone.
The confrontation between Jaliba and the Necropolis is interesting here.
Deydra has a 99% chance of losing against Jaliba, but Ravenna has a 99% chance of winning against him... and Orson wins about 75% of the time... it depends on the terrain, but more often than not, he wins, even with a bad terrain.