Posts from Death Structures

Most often, I choose the undead faction: ghost-vampire-dragon. If there aren't any artifacts like the "Angel Sword" on the map, and the opponent is Life or absent, or if it's against the AI, then this is the best option! You can ignore the "Leadership" skill, and morale is completely unimportant. In the second week, you can clear out the neutrals with "Plague," and the Order faction will be in big trouble. The only thing they can do is try to steal Immortals and cast teleport (although the latter is practically useless – unless they try to take out a hidden tactician with Titans). No hypnosis, blindness, berserk, forgetfulness, fatigue, or confusion. Plus, there's the huge movement speed on the map. The only downside is that in the expansion, the speed of vampires has been slightly reduced, and now you can only take the fast one for the Death faction. Anyone who takes allies from the Order faction will clearly be at a disadvantage. And keeping Order and Chaos together in an army doesn't really make sense; we won't have a Grand Master of Leadership, and besides, the fast unit and the mage will almost paralyze each other in battle. In the original version, there was an equal choice between Chaos and Order, which added some intrigue. Sometimes, it makes sense to take a purely demonic faction: Cerberus-Spawn-Devil. But this is associated with a defensive tactic for me – archers are better off on towers, Cerberuses only reveal their full potential with teleport, and Devils take down heroes/units brought in to storm the towers. You can develop a Grand Master of Leadership and get bonuses for it, or you can develop a Dark Priest (easy to say, but almost impossible in practice). In short, I still need to learn how to play with demons, and besides, it's more for defense and better suited against Life. But aesthetically, I like this faction. A lively Death seems more appealing compared to a sickly one. If anyone has any tips on tactics for playing with the demonic faction, please share a couple! ;)

If anyone has any tips on tactics for playing the demonic branch - throw a couple my way, will you? ;)

Please:
Level up a high-speed assassin. Around level 15 with a pair of green crystals, he'll outpace devils under full tactics and move first. He throws a mass cancel, then the devils follow and chop down the enemy tactician (or other most dangerous hero). In other words, roughly speaking, behead the enemy army on the first turn.

Additionally, devils with Vampiric Touch are great at clearing Dragon Utopia and other powerful stacks of black/mega dragons/other high-resistance creatures.

Under the Vampire's influence, the same Bone Dragons and Ghosts work perfectly well ;) There are no fundamental differences from my usual tactics here. But the mass cancel with the immediate elimination of the most dangerous hero... yes, that's interesting! For example, eliminate a priest in the Haven or Sanctuary army - let them figure it out. Or a tactic that might even be more useful in general... Very broad prospects open up. The only thing that worries me is the slight sluggishness on the adventure map - and temporarily storing creatures in the castle is unlikely to be worthwhile. Are there ways to move a group consisting of a devil + hellhound + heroes? (Don't suggest teleportation, we have a fast hero). Maybe the combined speed with a Chaos Sorcerer or a Lich?

Under the Vampire's influence, the same Bone Dragons and Ghosts work perfectly ;) There are no fundamental differences from my usual tactics here.

There is. The point is to distract the Black Dragons from the heroes. Otherwise, they will burn them. For this, devils jump onto their backs without attacking. And the heroes from the square run to the corner so that the dragons cannot fly over. Thus, the Black Dragons will switch to the devils. The devils must be placed so that all 4 stacks can attack; otherwise, the one who doesn't have enough space will rush forward. Of course, the hero with VT should stand in the very back stack, as he doesn't retreat but casts spells. The rest, bypassing him, rush to the corner.

Dragons and ghosts will not be able to fly around the Black Dragons on the first turn, even with full tactics. And that means all the heroes are doomed. :)

It's not a given that we'll be playing against Chaos – why does it have to be Black Dragons specifically? :confused: Besides, if we're playing against a human opponent, they won't act predictably. If we position Devils to be targeted by Black Dragons (and by the way, why did you suggest simply positioning them instead of attacking enemy heroes – wouldn't the Black Dragons also have to divert their attention to do that?), it's not a given that the Black Dragons will immediately attack them. The opponent might focus on the Devils with a powerful hero, and send the Dragons forward – they'll reach the edge of the map by the second turn, no matter how the enemy heroes try to hide. And for the Devils to be a significant enough threat that a powerful hero can't easily handle them, you need more than ten of them. But you don't always manage to get ten Devils alive))) As for Black Dragons and skeletons – I disagree that they are a death knell for heroes. When I play as the Undead faction, I always use an aggressive strategy. Forward and only forward! I try to reach the enemy as quickly as possible and attack first, even when my units are only level 4. Therefore, two enemy Black Dragons or four Phoenixes don't scare me – they won't defeat my Grand Master (or even Expert) hero in the first turn.

I'm talking about the Dragon Utopias. And useful artifacts from the Dungeon faction also often provide protection.

Zubr has already answered for me. Yes. We are talking about neutral creatures. They are almost always present, and they are the most difficult to deal with.

As for creatures and skeletons, I disagree that they are a death sentence for heroes.

Try simulating 2 situations in the editor and see for yourself.
Tactician, level 13-15, Grand Master of Tactics, Grand Master of Attack, Defense can be lower, Leadership is not needed.
Death Mage with Vampire Touch.
10 Devils (this takes 3-4 weeks).

And the second stack with Crusaders.

And you will see that you cannot complete the scenario with dragons alone. The creatures will definitely kill the heroes.

Well, if these are Chaos Dragon-aligned neutrals, there could be a lot of them... but neutrals attack in separate groups, and when they try to take down one hero with three groups at once, they often end up attacking each other. Besides, I won't deploy heroes against ten Chaos Dragons without the Combat skill. And to take down a Grand Master (a Master will do too) with a single blow, the dragons need a Tactics skill. Of course, Tactics will only be available when playing against a live opponent – a human. And the human will, firstly, have few Chaos Dragons, and secondly, my heroes will already have the Combat skill. There won't be any panic about letting Black Dragons near the heroes. One strong hero (e.g., a Ranger) can stand guard for a weaker neighbor (e.g., a Necromancer, who might only have Combat skill level 3).
And in general, don't you think that discussing tactics for a specific monster – the Chaos Dragon – in this thread is somewhat off-topic? We're all talking about the overall development strategy for the Death faction. Specifics are important, of course, but the discussion isn't just about them. :)
Actually, I had a question that I'd like to get a qualified answer to – is there an effective tactic that allows you to avoid problems from keeping poisonous creatures in your castle? They're all so slow, like skeletons. And playing the Death faction with a "living" branch doesn't negate the importance of playing quickly... you have to find a way to adapt!

This tactic works against almost any tough neutral creature. While you're building up your combat strength, I'll clear the map. ;)

it's still the same – it all depends on who you're fighting against, but overall, Wampyr is always a good choice! The rest don't matter.

here, in all levels, there isn't a clear leader; it's the most balanced race among the alternatives. Devils are really cool. Dragons should only be taken against Stronghold and Chaos; against the others, devils are better. Poisonous creatures should be chosen considering that you'll have to develop Magic skills, because without accuracy, they're useless and don't compete with Vampires. Cerberuses are needed against races with few archers; in other cases, take Ghosts.

devils, although fast, are less durable than dragons.