Posts from The weakest castle in Heroes of Might and Magic IV!

None. They are all the same, it's just that I personally find it difficult to play as Barbarians.

And what does the Castle have to do with it (based on the topic title)? Personally, I find it difficult to fight against them because they have no magic. And the archers? Only Cyclops are archers, and that's it.

What does the Castle have to do with it (based on the topic title)? Personally, I find it difficult to fight them because they have no magic. And the archers? Only Cyclops use archers, and that's it.

I don't understand, so you think Barbarians are the weakest race?

What does the Castle have to do with it (based on the topic title)? Personally, I find it difficult to fight them because they have no magic. And what about archers? Only Cyclops have archers, and that's it.

And also Centaurs. We can't forget about them; their last shot is worth a lot.

Looks like I'm always the last to know... STRANGER, what's up with the centaurs' last shot? Does it deal more damage?

Not only the centaur, but any ranged unit with the normal melee ability deals full damage with its last shot, regardless of distance or obstacles.

And also, centaurs. You can't forget about them; their last shot is worth a lot.

Yes, exactly. But I usually don't build the 1st tier of warriors.

I don't understand, so you think barbarians are the weakest race?

No. In Might and Magic IV, the races are balanced. Well, maybe except for Necropolis; they seem weak to me, followed by Haven. The rest are roughly equal.
It's just that barbarians aren't my preferred playstyle. I like archers and mages, and those units are weak in Stronghold. Thunderbeasts and Ogres cast spells, but it's not very significant.
The Cyclops is a really powerful warrior, especially with its area-of-effect attack.

Life!
But with some skill, it's a perfectly decent Castle!
Pikemen, Crusaders, and Angels can also do a lot.

There are no weak races in the fourth game; practically, on small maps, Strength and Nature dominate, while on large maps, Life is the strongest, and the others take a back seat.

I like my life; ballistas may be slow, but they don't need to run – just stand still and shoot! And angels are pretty good too.

Life!
But with some skill, it's a perfectly decent castle!
Pikemen, Crusaders, and Angels can also do a lot.

It has some useful buildings, such as a chapel (+ to morale) and a stable (+ to movement range). From this point of view, it has less useful infrastructure (probably) than Necropolis.

there are no weak castles there.

I really don't understand how anyone could call Haven a weak faction. I usually play through maps with all factions, and I can honestly say that Haven only has problems until it builds Giants. Once you build Giants, you're good to go; you don't even need to build a level 4 unit. Just live and enjoy the game, and you call it a weak faction?
The weakest faction, surprisingly, is Stronghold. What kind of army is there without magic? It's like taking away all the troops from the mages and making them fight with just magic. Yes, they can win with numbers, but what happens to 100 harpies when they are hit with Unlucky, Curse, and 50 Medusas with Cat's Chance, Bloodlust, or something else? Who actually becomes "more" in that case?

You just need to be skilled at playing... it seems that in quick games, Barbarians have almost no equals. Although, I don't personally like them. As for Haven, it's just slow; there's no direct access to a combat unit, and sometimes, at the start, a completely unsuitable hero is generated. If there's nowhere on the map to acquire the "Scouting" skill, there can also be problems with developing a fast hero. I'd also note Haven's dependence on starting spells. It's not that the presence or absence of a specific spell is critical for this faction; you can start without Accuracy, for example, and still be quite successful, but the difference at the start will be noticeable, in my opinion. And probably, on level 4, the monsters aren't that outstanding, except for the Sorceresses (having a level 4 unit is essential when playing against another player, except for battles with only heroes). Dragon Golems are strong and fast, but due to the lack of healing, unnecessary losses sometimes occur. Titans... well, they're ranged attackers, so they're not as strong in melee combat compared to others, even considering the lack of a penalty.

But that's only half the army! The other half, clad in all sorts of cloaks, capes, rings, boots, and so on, stands behind this gathering of warriors and brazenly smirks at the enemy. And in total, all of this is Haven, it's magic + strength, and strength is just... strength. I mean, strength (army) + magic is definitely more than strength (army) + 0 magic. And if we delve into the units, not all units of other factions are considered "strong," so overall there's some semblance of balance. We could also look at statistics, say, from 1000 tournament matches, and see which faction wins/loses most often. In my opinion, that would be a more objective measure than just drawing conclusions.

But that's only half the army!

Are these Djinn half the army? O_o The enemy will blow them away without even noticing...

and if we're going to delve into units, then not all units in other factions are "top-tier."

I don't know what's so great about "top-tier"... Well, attack/defense can be relatively good, and they have 400 HP, but you can't heal/resurrect/apply buffs to them. As a result, you always need to be focused in battles.
In my opinion, Phoenixes and Dark Champions are probably slightly better than the others; the former thanks to their huge speed, good HP, powerful attack, and regeneration, and the latter thanks to regeneration, high attack/defense modifiers, a charge attack, and "triple" terror.
The rest are roughly equal. This is specifically about battles with neutral creatures.

You could also take statistics from, say, 1000 tournament matches and see which faction wins/loses most often.

You can, of course, look at the history of tournaments or the Heroes leagues, but that's not a very good indicator. Different factions dominate on different maps, and most outcomes depend on the player's skill.