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

I want to share another interesting replay. Sinistar vs. Deirdra. Everything seems clear, and it's even on the Abyss map! But if you position your Deidra units correctly, and if your opponent casts an enhanced Rain spell without any luck and without Mana Flux, things can turn out differently. In my case, this happened, and I was playing as Sinistar. (If she had cast more powerful Sorrow spells with her dragons and managed them properly on the 2nd and 3rd turns...) The ending was still intense, but in my opinion, Deidra made more mistakes and could have won. Regarding mirror matches: I like Deidra vs. Deidra, Ravena vs. Ravena, and Karli vs. Karli the most (although morality might be an issue there). But in my opinion, a mirror match isn't a good way to determine which player is more skilled. Playing 3-4 random matchups is a much better way to quickly assess your opponent. And the pairings in mirror matches often turn out to be quite unpleasant, like: Jhalib vs. Jhalib, Ossir vs. Ossir, Sinistar vs. Sinistar, Shaq vs. Shaq, Garuna vs. Garuna. There are exceptions, like Deidra vs. Deidra. Regarding Karli vs. Orson: yes, there are mistakes made by Karli, and Orson shouldn't cast Mass Curse.

I once played a Karli-Karli mirror match: in general, it ended in the first turn, as all my stacks moved before the corresponding stacks of the opponent, half with morale, and the stun rune triggered on half. In general, there are really few decent mirror matches.
Sinitaar - Deidra: yes, Deidra can gain an advantage even with absolutely perfect play from Sinitaar, and even more so if there are mistakes.
Karli - Orson: I cast mass haste, hoping that the opponent would either forget about the magic ward rune, or, on the contrary, try to use it very actively and not cast even more terrible runes (stun and battle rage, and even incorporeality is quite nasty). I didn't even think I could win.

Orson is a dwarf. What's there to win? You kill the cart and the ballista and just crush them with brute force. If I could choose, I would play as Orson almost always, he wins. You just need skeletons to protect the troops. Then you lower luck and morale, and destroy the defensive option with crystals.
Dirael is no match for Jallib, it's almost impossible to win with Dirael, even if luck is on your side. You just need to gather the mages in one group and put a shield on them. In this way, Jallib wins against almost all mages, except for Helmar, and it can be interesting against Marbas.
Sinithar vs. Deidra. With Deidra, a few vampires with vampirism should be enough to win, I don't see a problem, except for luck. In general, without luck, Sinithar gets crushed by almost everyone.

Still, Direal-Jalib is a very interesting matchup. There's something to offer with Direal, and there's a way to counter Jalib. And even with a shield on the mages, you can lose. Direal casts Swarm on the mages, and the rest of the troops focus on taking down the Titans with Rakshasas. You need some luck (at least the Phoenix needs to be blinded once), and you need to make fewer mistakes overall. In general, I've noticed that Direal wins against me more often. Although, you have to play very well to win with Jalib, and it's difficult to convincingly fake a strong game.

Actually, it would have been better to place the Titans separately from the Rakshasas, perhaps with a barrier in between. Also, the first-level mages could have been improved. Moreover, the mages essentially skipped their first turn, even though they could have, for example, attacked with a fist and also attacked the fairies. Although the idea with the phoenix is good, it can be killed with a well-aimed crystal or blocked with a wall.

Actually, you could have placed the Titans separately from the Rakshasas, perhaps with a barrier in between. Also, the level 1 mages could have been better. Besides, the mages essentially skipped their first turn, even though they could have, for example, attacked with a fist or targeted the fairies. Although the phoenix idea is good, it can be killed with a crystal or blocked with a wall.

I also considered those options... but then the towers would be vulnerable, and they can't be moved. Also, level 1 mages would be a liability against a heavy barrage. And if you place a level 1 unit next to the main stack, the dragons will still move first and can target the main stack (players don't usually place it in the center), and that level 1 unit will only get in the way of using the phoenix to protect the mages. I've tried different approaches with Galib, and it's quite challenging for him in any scenario. And I was definitely too hasty with the sphere (although it's still a question of whether it's better for both to have a 9% chance of deflecting, or a 49% chance of not deflecting). I was in a hurry and painting the picture with broad strokes. The crystal on the phoenix should be Galib's reserve of strength, so he can have time to raise his next stack, and the phoenixes move quickly and can even run away. I haven't played as Galib in a while, maybe I was wrong. I play him better on the server, when it's all real

By the way, did I understand correctly that the Hive doesn't reflect in the mirror?
In both replays, Ildarik didn't check who the sworn enemies were, and if he's lucky and the opponent misplaces their units, Dirael can launch 4-5 fireballs on the first turn, ending the battle immediately, so the mages need to be grouped together.
I think Jalib has good chances if at least one stack (not gargoyles) has an artifact that provides resistance; then, a shield should be cast on him on the second turn (presumably, a fan on the first turn). And the more obstacles on the battlefield, the better for Jalib.

Only darkness and chaos are reflected. 4-5 balls don't always mean death for the Jalib, which is bad, but not critical (single mages can stand separately), but the Dire will run out of mana for the battle. Yes, dealing with resistance through artifacts is difficult, but you can balance direct attacks on this stack with troops and attack the remaining troops with the Dire. It's even worse if it's a large stack of mages; you simply need to attack them with the Hive, practically without any damage.
I don't know how to deal with obstacles.

Of course, I would unleash a barrage when the mages were split into groups of 20 or 30, plus Titans in the enchanted units. If there are 58 and separate single units, it's already pointless. Also, it's important that the druids open the channel before Dira's turn. If 4 spheres are used in the first turn, then theoretically 35 mana remains, and you can even summon a Phoenix in the next turn, but usually it's not necessary, and you just finish off the remaining units with the swarm. This isn't relying on the opponent being too foolish – not everyone knows this strategy; almost all average players on Heroes split their mages.

I often play with this pairing, and it's true that almost everyone divides the mages into groups of twenty. So, a rain of spells can also hit dragons and dryads with horns if they get close, while the Dire Wolf will wait for the druids with the Channel skill, and gargoyles can also be in the cursed state. I also remember that on one server, there was a belief that it's better to build a wall of fire. Although I agree, when dividing the mages into groups of twenty, the rain of spells is simply amazing! I remember playing as a Dire Wolf against an Erin, and the Erin positioned herself right under the rain of spells, with divided witches standing next to the furies, and both were in the cursed state. It was quite a sight!

Against Erin, it's generally better to attack with a barrage, regardless of the formation. First, you'll always have 4 units of Zealots. Second, Erin doesn't gain mana during this (I just checked). It's not always advantageous to cast spells with magic balls; sometimes, it's better to use Swarm.
And another crazy game from Axel. I was wrong many times, and the invulnerability spell on Ibbu worked very well, but Axel still managed to win.
By the way, I confirm that Orson is much stronger than Carly. With chudo_udo's tactics, I even beat a player who usually wins easily. We played several games, but all the pairings were terrible. The only decent one was Haggeesh against Shaka, but I got Haggeesh:smile15:
I'll add two amusing battles: Haggeesh against Helmar and Axel against Sinistar on the Abyss map.

Here, Domovoy kindly provided a video of a couple of battles between Jalib and Dira. By the way, regarding real battles at the Jubilee tournament, this includes a match with Andrey K.

Great replay, you can tell that both players are quite skilled. One of them is almost a virtuoso. As for the Dire, I think the fairies should have flown closer to the mages so they could attack them on the next turn, and they should have used the dragons to target the gargoyles, but that's just my opinion. Regarding the single units, I still think their appearance is a mistake, and it happens in about 50% of cases.
By the way, about the actual battle - all the replays in this thread were kindly provided by Domovoy).

Yes, that happened. I initially wanted to attack the Gargoyles with my Dragons, but then I decided to kill the single unit first, as it could also cause trouble (e.g., by exploding the Crystal). The Mages were in a cursed state, but I didn't use Rain against that player. The Fairies really died uselessly. Overall, these mistakes were enough.

By the way, keep in mind that during a rainstorm, more mana is consumed, the Dungeon's turn comes later, and the Lucky Charm skill doesn't work, so you need to consider whether it's worth it.
Single magic units are essential, firstly, because in this battle, they can attack first (removing retaliation), secondly, as correctly noted, they can destroy the crystal, thirdly, they consume the necessary mana, fourthly, they can cast an attack boost, which is quite good, and fifthly, they reduce defense, which is very good. And in general, 2 single magic units can kill 8 archers. If the opponent casts Rain or Fireball on them, you can rejoice in an easy victory.