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

By the way, I discovered something a while ago related to the specifics of how the "Education" skill works for duel heroes. My Lethos had a varying amount of mana – sometimes 60 (as in the manual), 75, and 90. Anwen had between 40 and 70, and Jalib's also fluctuated, but it wasn't that significant – 160 or 170. I think it goes without saying that the amount of mana, say, for Lethos, seriously affects the battle tactics. Accordingly, the question is: is this a bug, or was it designed this way to make the game more interesting? If it's the latter, then it speaks well of Nival :)

All of this is a consequence of the Education skill, and it has been discussed somewhere before. Each time, the attack, defense, spell power, and knowledge parameters are generated differently, depending on the random bonus from Education that adds extra points. And then these points are added, and for each race, they add more or less mana, attack, and so on. There's also a quirk with the Rune of Flames, which Helmar has. It can give him the Rune of Magic Ward, or it might not, depending on a random factor. There are other random factors as well.
So, not everything is so definite and known in advance before the battle.)

P.S. Replays at the end.
Jalib vs. Erin. I always thought Jalib would be stronger, but... You shouldn't relax with this mage (Jalib); if you miss a moment, you lose the initiative, and you're just one or two turns short. In this replay, I think the opponent focused on the wrong things, attacking the witches and leaving the harpies for later, which was a mistake. And if I'm being completely honest, Erin should initially cast Lightning on the mages and hope for luck. But I decided not to take the risk, especially since the opponent allowed me to do so.)
Ravena vs. Ravena. This is the most balanced mirror match, in my opinion, meaning that factors like morale, luck, and the initial lineup don't affect the outcome of the duel. Of course, Deidre-Deidre is more interesting, but there, the lineup can still play a role, and there's also the possibility of bad luck. Once, somewhere, there was a discussion about the most equal and fair match for the final duel. This is the most balanced one in the official presets.

She can compete against Razazak, and against Dyraelle.
In 3.0, she could compete against Ravenna, but now Ravenna has become stronger.
She has a good matchup against the Swarm. And you can try against Garuna and Haghesh.
By the way, I'll post a recent save of Jalib against Vitya.

Still, Erin is a bit stronger than Ravenna, and I always
defeat Eruina. The matchups are quite unexplored so far; Dex probably came up with something in these matchups. But nothing like that has reached me yet that would change the situation.

I read the thread, phew, I had to read it line by line in some places, but I got to the end. Thank you very much to everyone who posts replays! Special thanks for the Academy replays; they are simply amazing. I want to learn how to play as them. I downloaded all the replays, I'm watching them, and I will continue to do so; I want to learn. I killed the computer-controlled Orc in auto-battle using the Djinn. I was able to defeat all the heroes, and it was difficult for the computer-controlled Orc to get close. I think it would be much easier for a human player, but still.

Here's a battle for those who like to quit before it even begins, seeing an opponent they deem unequal.

Great replay, thanks!
Many underestimate Haggeesh, but you just need to know how to play her.
I played with a friend in hot-seat mode, I got Haggeesh, and he got Jaleel. My opponent cast mines three times and was surprised by the result: my cyclops didn't move at all during the battle, but together with the hero, they killed all the titans. Another mistake: my goblins survived until the end of the battle... In short, we didn't record this disgrace.
Let me be corrected, but I think Haggeesh has a good chance against Ossir, even in 3.1. This has already been discussed here.
And I once defeated Iris with Garuna. Version 3.0. The opponent started actively helping me by casting Raise Dead on the griffons...

I'm curious, what is Andrey K's account name on Uplay? Regarding Hagga, yes, she might be able to counter Airie and Ossira as well. Her ability with Cyclops, which seems to be on the second level of Fury, is very interesting. You can boost them and throw them at ranged or pre-ranged fortifications, and the opponent will either not be able to retaliate at all (for Airie) or will be able to do so only rarely (Ossira). But Airie has infantry and air units, which are the most "formidable" in 3.1, and Ossira also has her own super arguments. This pairing is quite specific (Airie-Hagga), and if the opponent doesn't know how to play, you can certainly gain an advantage. I remember once almost losing to Airie in this pairing, but... my armored units crushed everyone. This is the old, well-known pairing of Deidra-Ora. Everyone complained about it in 3.0, but this pairing offers a lot in terms of tactical diversity (I counted three or four tactics just for Deidra). What's the best way to play her, and does Deidra have any chance at all? These are the questions.

Played a few games against albolabris today, and it was a lot of fun. We played about ten matches, and I even won three.
We played with random heroes. I easily defeated Ossir Dire and Nimue Axel (it's hard to lose here), lost with Leto against Ossir and Axel; I think you can put up a fight, but you have to play very well, and these players don't forgive mistakes.
I also lost with Karl against Erin. I didn't play very well, but albolabris also made a few mistakes: he placed two stacks of witches next to each other, attacked my units while they were under the effect of "Invisibility"... Still, I won.
Finally, I won with Ravenna against Deleb. I had vampires and two squads of ghosts left. I only used the "Ring of the Elements" and "Frost Nova" spells. The opponent didn't seem to make any mistakes, except once when he positioned devils and imps together under the effect of "Ring of the Elements." Question: can Deleb even stand a chance against Ravenna if she plays correctly?

So, some questions: where are the replays? Did the machines destroy everything immediately, or not? I don't have the opportunity to play on the anniversary edition right now, so any recent replays would be interesting to me.
In general, in my opinion, Raven is an absolute anti-hero against strong machine heroes like Viti, Deleb, and he also fights well against Dwarves, Razazak, and Shaka. That is, Deleb has no chance from the start. Raven should play defensively, hide skeletons and princes behind ghosts and large creatures, and destroy as many devils as possible on the first turn, then machines, and then proceed according to the situation.
In general, try playing with Domovoi; Albolabris is strong, of course, but it's still better to play with the original. He will show how to defeat Ossir and Axel with Letos, and vice versa.

I didn't record any replays because there wasn't anything particularly interesting to show; I won where I was supposed to, and lost decisively in the more evenly matched pairings. The only thing I regret is not recording my loss with Karlie Erin, but that wasn't a very typical example either, as I got a bad starting position, which hindered Karlie, while Erin wasn't very effective. And I also made a mistake with my initial setup.
In the game against Daleb Raven, I destroyed his machines with the first spell. In general, in this pairing, Raven really needs to try to lose. Unless he starts casting dark spells...

So, let's continue the discussion. Is it possible to fight Ossir in version 3.1? The players against me weren't particularly strong. They were roughly my level.
By the way, Razaz seems to be a difficult opponent for Ravenna, possibly because golems are vulnerable to Chaos magic. What tactics should be used with Ravenna against Razaz?

At first glance, it might seem that Raven will be weaker, but if you play correctly, you can win with Raven against a very skilled Razaz. I don't remember the exact tactics anymore; in principle, everything is based on total micro-management of everything. That is, you need to carefully monitor the battlefield, destroy the chaos units first, then you can use some Darkness units, and use summons at the end. And Razaz should protect his Obsidian Golems.
Regarding the Iris-Ossir pair, I will post a couple of scenarios of this pair. I didn't play very well; it's just that modeling replays, especially this one, is very difficult. But I still tried. The setup for Iris is, in my opinion, the only correct option in my replays, and Ossir can be placed and played in different ways.
Later, I will try to post new scenarios of pairs.
Good luck to everyone and have a nice game!

Regarding the Ora-Deydra matchup: Ora is definitely much stronger. Here's my replay of that match.
And here are two more of my losses: Carly against Deydra and Nimus against Orson. I'm just not very good at playing them, since in 3.0 they were overpowered and I rarely had to play as them.
There was also an interesting battle between Deydra and Ibby, but I got distracted towards the end, and that's why I lost, and I didn't save the replay. I had 2 banshees and about ten zombies left, while the Albodraco had 6 bears and about 30 archers. I cast Berserk on the archers, but I should have cast Mass Plague. I think he had already used his runes of exorcism.

Marbas defeats Oru, who is casting some unknown spell:confused:. This is an example that shows you shouldn't relax when playing against Oru in this matchup.

Regarding albolabris. What kind of person is he? He constantly threatens to report everyone "to the appropriate authorities" and accuses everyone of cheating. People just write "fuck you!" to him. For example: I played against him, Helmar versus Helmar. I used the Rune of Magical Surveillance. I won quite easily. He writes that he will report me to Ubisoft for cheating. I ask where is the cheat??? His answer: Helmar doesn't have that rune. I specifically go to Helmar's profile and see that he has the Rune of Flames artifact, which gives an additional Rune of Magical Surveillance. In the end, this albolabris remained stubborn. I decided not to bother with him. Although I could have just written "fuck you!"

Helmar’s Flame Rune may or may not grant an additional rune, which is why SOME players consider using it cheating. As for Albolabris, you’re wrong; he’s a very strong player, and you can learn a lot from him. Besides, he always plays with random heroes. In general, there are plenty of cheaters on the Heroes platform. For example, there’s an account called “steklovata” (in Latin characters, of course). I set up a random hero against him. He also plays with random heroes, but his “random” Haven faction had 120 mages, and Jalib had 180. I suggested he add another 100 titans to his army to make the game even more interesting. Just in case anyone doesn’t believe it, I’m attaching the replays.