Posts from The most effective starting strategy for the Inferno faction.

By the way, I recently realized that the Machine skill for Inferno is simply essential at level 18-19, with a knowledge of 16. It deals 140 damage per shot with a ballista, and the attack is 10... which is a lot!

Added after 10 hours and 50 minutes
Although, I made a slight mistake; the ballista's damage is 140-140, but it deals almost 220 damage per shot. A clear example: 20 spear masters are defeated with one shot!

Personally, I prefer to play as Deleb and train machines. I take imps with me (but not against archers), succubi, and jumping demons. I keep the dogs safe and leave them in the castle. Against powerful neutrals, we build cavalry or even cave lords. It's good if the guild has regeneration or, at worst, raising the dead. Then you can win without any losses.

Grol had a very good start. His first two buildings were a guild of mages. If possible, he should get the chariot and the tent. Today, he defeated such rushers as Hafiz and Kaspar on the Former Friends map.

Is the reason Groll is so strong at the beginning of the game solely due to his advanced Chaos skills, or do his pets also play a role?

Yes, of course. I built a level 2 guild, then trained dogs. And I gathered sulfur to upgrade the dogs. In total, at the start, I had 12-15 dogs + weekly growth + the second hero can have up to three. Wandering neutrals are eliminated without any losses. That's a pretty good start.

What about archers and mages?

What about archers and mages?

I prefer not to engage them at the start. If it's critical, I deploy a stack of demons and fill the remaining 6 slots with single units. The most dangerous opponents are, of course, archmages standing in an important passage – then losses are inevitable. This strategy works well against other units.

Grol had a very good start. The first two buildings were a guild of mages. If possible, he should get the chariots and the tent. Today, I beat such rushers as Hafiz and Kaspar on the Former Friends map.

Was this probably due to the Deadly Cold spell?

Perhaps it was due to the deadly cold that he failed?

More likely, it was due to Kaspar and Hafiz's incompetence.

Getting a deadly cold rush against machine players is a guaranteed win.

Why did you come to that conclusion?

How many levels are usually spent on machines? Approximately 8 levels, if including firearms. As for Daleb, it's hard for her to get firearms in a rush build. There are only 4 levels for the antidote to machines, and it requires a lot of mana. But chaos works well in fast-paced games.
I also noticed that Kifira gets the Ice Block spell at the start. And her spellcasting will develop faster. It's worth considering.

I can't give you a 100% guaranteed strategy yet... (I'm still transitioning to the Veteran difficulty). But as for heroes, either Deleb or Grol. The most important unit at the start is the Hellhound (or Cerberus). The main thing is not to throw them at infantry right away (you can use them against archers and mages). Capture a building with the "Gate" ability, and then attack with everything you've got. On Recruit and Warrior difficulty, I level up all my units to Succubus within the first week (I'm still getting the hang of it on Veteran). The first building should definitely be the Mage Guild! Magic Bolt is the highest priority (or Spikes, which are also useful). And sometimes, my hero doesn't even enter the town until level 11... (once they leave, they don't return until the starting army is depleted). --- *"Gate" is an integral part of the Demon tactics... (it usually reduces losses). *Interesting fact: almost no players use Succubi to open the "Gate"... (but it has helped me a couple of times).

Just a small correction... Grog and Jezebel are awesome too.

I take either Nimues or Nibros.