Posts from Skills for an Inferno hero.

Usually, I take:
1) Gate Opening (it's generally essential for them, but I would still take this skill).
2) Mechanics, and I develop a ballista there.
3) Luck, it's very useful.
4) Leadership.
5) Logistics.
6) Chaos Magic, it's needed by demons. That's all, and by the way, I advise choosing these skills specifically for demons because they are really useful and have helped me countless times.

Chaos magic, who needs this ability more than a demon?

With their tiny spell? What's the point?...

Leadership.

This is an exotic trait for demons... 2% is not something to rely on...

It’s better to choose Darkness instead of Chaos, and Attack (if you’re leveling up the Ballista) or Defense instead of Leadership (if you’re not leveling up the Ballista).

Um... A Demon without attack? I've always thought, and still think, that attack and logistics are essential for a Demon. Skills and other abilities depend on the situation and personal preference. Machines aren't always relevant at any point in the game, and Demons also have a difficult time leveling up their Fireball skill. Luck is useful for increasing physical damage, as Demons primarily rely on physical attacks. Education isn't strictly necessary, but I like this skill and level it up for almost all my heroes if it becomes available. Of course, you shouldn't rely on Education for a Demon. Dark Magic can replace Luck or be used in addition to it. First and foremost, you should focus on mass spells. If you're lucky with spellcasting and have the time/opportunity to build a guild, you can harass the enemy with Blind and Dominate, or cast Vampirism.

Also, one more thing. If you expect dark magic from the enemy, it's better not to engage in ranged combat, but to immediately attack. Otherwise, by the time your troops reach the enemy, they will already be weakened/slowed down/dominated, etc.

Whirlwind, defense is just as useful as offense. In general, I try to take both if possible. Logistics, again, isn't needed on every map. What's the point on a small map? Unless it's just for teleport and a quick gate, but I don't think it's worth it.

If you play without a ballista, it will be very difficult to deal with neutral creatures without teleport. Therefore, it's better to take either machines or logistics, and the sooner the better. While it's easier to play with a ballista, logistics is more versatile and has more advantages, and most importantly, it allows you to access the Call of Urgash spell (you never know when it might be useful). Logistics is not just about teleport and fast gate; it also allows you to move around the map faster, which provides various strategic advantages and the ability to take Death March and teleport archdevils to yourself using Altgreim during a castle siege.

That's exactly what I'm trying to say – for short games, machines are good (I prefer Deleb), and for long games, logistics are important (Grok is a good choice here). In general, with Deleb, by level 15, you can easily have a triple shot and fire arrows.

Okay, let's do the math then.
1. Logistics/machines
2. Attack (in any case)
3. To prevent the hero from standing idly by during battle, a magic school is needed. For a demon, this is darkness.
If we max out all of these, we get to level 23-25. What level will you upgrade your defense to? And at such high levels, neglecting education is foolish... and luck is also useful (many consider it more useful than defense, and I agree with them).

Okay, let's calculate.
1) Short game, hero Deleb:
There's no talk of defense or luck here (unless there's no other alternative).
Full upgrade of machines + ballista + 3-shot + tent/catapult (optional) + developed gate with hellfire and sign + attack with everything necessary = level 14. In a short game, it's really possible to develop this way, with a 15% chance of attack. Let's assume there will be some inaccuracies. But by the final stage, at levels 17-19, all this is quite achievable. And above that, to get both attack and luck, and defense, and magic, and so on, it will be difficult to develop.
2) Long game, Grog:
Here, there's room for imagination and randomness, of course, with a long game. I'll attach a diagram, but in general, the development can be completely different, depending on who our opponent is.

No attacking?! I don't like that... leaving a demon without mass acceleration, tactics, or battle frenzy. What's the point?
And also, I think the main strength isn't in the skills themselves, but in the abilities they allow you to learn. And you're suggesting taking just the bare skills...
If you're going to take defense, why not take resilience (with a large number of demon troops, it would be very useful), mass stone skin, or until you're ready to level up... But you have to choose, because you can't infinitely level up in the game...

Damn... I said: for long-range attacks, it's just for variety. No one is stopping you from taking the same Stone Skin. Although, there's also the question of whether it's even needed if our hero is already focused on dark magic. Regarding readiness, it's nonsense; are you suggesting playing a demon defensively? In my opinion, it's not a viable option. You can take Attack instead of Luck, depending on who we're playing against. Against large creatures, I'd probably take both, at the cost of defense. Against elves, I'd take Attack instead of Luck. In general, in the late game, my tactic is based on Logistics, Education, and Dark Magic being essential. And we experiment with defense, luck, and attack skills, depending on the enemy race.

What do you think about this build?

Marshall_WP
Without a large number of Dark creatures, it won't work. Will the hero be a Berserk, casting spells? I would replace Soldier's Luck and Lucky Charm with Mind Lord and Curse Lord. Instead of mass Haste, I would max out Luck.

I'd like to get some advice. What if, during a long game, you DON'T take Soul Eater (there's already plenty of mana), and Hellfire (the damage seems very low if you have large armies). You can save two skill points on these skills.
Maybe instead of them, take Defense (in my opinion, it's one of the most useful skills for demons).

Yes, that's true, but the catch is that without these skills, you can't take some other useful perks.