Posts from Playing as the Stronghold faction (Disciples 2).

We discuss how to play, which units to develop, what composition to use, and the advantages and disadvantages of creatures and heroes. Part two.

My composition: hmm... the only faction I haven't played yet :o But, theoretically, my army would include a mage hero, a ghost, a vampire, and three warriors.

It's much easier with the Horde.
Again, three Warriors (I try to level up the Spectral ones), a Hero, a Mage, and a Spectral creature.
In their case, the Hero and Mage can be swapped; that is, if the Hero is a Vampire, we level up a Lich; if the Hero is a Mage, we level up Vampires.

Yes, the Necropolis faction and its vampirism are present here as well. In my opinion, they have a good and diverse selection of mage units.

By the way, in the third installment of the *Dungeon* series, the undead are only present as neutral creatures, but you can still appreciate how terrifying they are – they are a much more dangerous enemy than the Empire or the Alliance (I'm currently playing as the Legions).

A universal tactic for online play: a warrior hero, although this isn't strictly necessary. Immediately recruit two archers; I don't remember the exact name, but they seem to be called cultists or adepts. In the skill tree, choose the one with immunity to physical damage and then to Death. The pros and cons of this tactic:
1. Relative simplicity - the main thing is that there aren't any pesky mages or archers nearby at the very beginning, who can eliminate the weak units from the back row. A couple of mages can handle things quite confidently, and immunity is gained at level 3, so you can even hide the hero behind them to restore his health.
2. Clearing approximately 90% of neutral creatures becomes much easier, making it significantly easier to capture various treasure chests and hidden caches. More powerful armies are no match for the hero, and therefore - the entire group gains more experience.
Although it is still difficult to fight powerful mages and especially dragons, the Black Dragon, the strongest of the tailed creatures, is easily defeated by Deaths, who are invulnerable to it.
3. You can vary the starting army - instead of the second archer, take a paralyzing spirit, and then recruit a second undead creature or put a zombie warrior in support of the hero. More often than not, this is the easiest way to start.
4. It is difficult to fight demons, who have a couple of demonologists and gnomes in the back. Perhaps this tactic may fail specifically against these two races, although again - the obvious advantage is faster leveling, so it should be easier to meet the enemy.
Ps: From personal experience, I can say that this tactic allows you to defeat an opponent of equal strength without significant difficulty in online play, so in our group, this build was considered somewhat unfair

Rift has just described my favorite tactic almost perfectly, except I use a Lich hero. As a result, I get three Deaths in the front row with physical immunity, two Shadows in the back with paralysis, and a hero who attacks everyone with fire. If you take a Nosferatu instead of a Lich Queen, you won't be able to handle undead creatures – all our attacks will be of the Death element. And if you take a Warrior hero, you have to put him in the front row, and everyone will only attack him, so he'll die quickly. Therefore, I don't see any other viable options for this kind of build.

Another party option is a Warrior hero, two Dark Lords (I rarely go with skeletons, even though they are stronger, but it takes a long time to level them up, and they also have poor elemental resistance), a couple of Shadows (one misses too often), and a Vampire (you can also use a Lich, but I like healers).

I used to play as the Necropolis a lot. I always chose a Mage as my hero. "Burn their souls!" – it just sounds so convincing!)))). In my army, I would upgrade two Death Knights to be in the back – ranged attack plus immunity to weapons. It's great. In the front, I would put the Warriors of Inferno, I think that's what they're called in Russian. They have good paralyzing attacks, and a creature that lowers the levels of heroes and creatures. It's quite a powerful faction, in my opinion, but it's also very engaging. I also like the Ranger hero, the vampire one. If you develop him properly, he's really good. When I found the Boots of Swiftness, it was amazing, I had 100 movement points! The whole map was mine!))))) I like the spells, there are so many that inflict damage. It's cool to give a Werewolf to a Banshee and develop her. After that, it's easy to capture cities and repel attacks from neighbors. True, Werewolves are expensive, and in this game, I personally never have enough money((((

I put the warriors of Inferno in the front.

These guys belong to the horned faction. The Necropolis has a warrior-ghost and a templar, as far as I remember. The underdeveloped ghosts are skeletons.

True, werewolves are expensive, and in this game, I personally never have enough money.

In my opinion, they are worth it. You don't have to rack your brains and think about where to get just a little more experience, even for an evil spirit.
Although all special units cost a lot of money. But not all of them are good enough to justify spending so much on them.

It's cool to give a banshee a werewolf and develop her. After that, she easily captures cities and repels attacks from neighbors.

Yes, these banshees gave me a lot of trouble. One of the best spellcasters, in my opinion. True, they mostly fight against me.

*I'm going to catch up and play at least one map as Necropolis*

True, werewolves are expensive, and in this game, I personally never have enough money((((
In my opinion, it's worth it. You don't have to rack your brains and think about where to get just a little more experience, even for an evil spirit.

No, it's not worth it. Five hundred, if I remember correctly, for the building, and another thousand for a stoic werewolf, which dies from two elemental attacks and is vulnerable to magic. Maybe in the campaign, on "very easy," when you start with a thousand, you can buy it. But it's still an unjustified waste of money. And in a skirmish, such a player has a whole bunch of them.

Moderated: VULGAR LANGUAGE in the message

And the tactic with ghosts and undead is for newbies. It's good for farming neutrals, but it's completely useless and losing against a player, and dwarves tear apart such an "army" in two turns.

but the Cerberus is the strongest of the tailed ones and is easily defeated by Undead, which are immune to it

It's immune to death, so they'll lose. Pff, that's old.

He is immune to death, so they will lose.

Well, the Lich Queen or Death Knight will help.

And the tactic with ghosts and undead is for noobs.

It's pure luck here – what kind of units the opponent will develop. Against warriors, undead and specters will be the best, but if they suddenly decide to develop a mage, then liches with vampires are needed.
If there is a Lord of the Dead in the army, then the mage will also have a hard time.

The undead have a warrior-ghost and a templar, as far as I remember.

I remember poorly. The templar is there, but he upgrades to a Lord of the Dead.

Five hundred, if I remember correctly, for the building, and another thousand for the stone-skinned werewolf, which dies from two elemental attacks and is vulnerable to magic.

Still, weapon damage is very common in the Adepts. No one forces you to put the werewolf in the main army. But to put it with banshees, just to scare and beat particularly zealous orc-goblins – please.
Although, IMHO, a Satyr is no worse.

UPDATE. I continue to fill in the gaps in my knowledge. The werewolf is still MUCH more expensive than it should be. I take back my words.

Well, the Lich Queen or Death Knight will help.

No, death has nothing to do with it. He just said something stupid without thinking.

It's pure luck here – what kind of units the opponent will develop. Against warriors, it's best to use Death Knights and Spectres, but if he suddenly decides to develop as a mage, then you need Liches and Vampires.
If there's a Lord of the Pit in the army, then the mage won't have it easy either.

With a human, there's almost no luck involved :) And if he's lucky enough to attack, even if he's a warrior three times over, he won't regret using magic before the battle to vaporize these weaklings with a few spells, or to buff his mages.

No one forces you to put a werewolf in the main army. But to put it with a banshee, just to scare and defeat particularly zealous orc-goblins – please do.

And to waste at least one and a half thousand on this, sacrificing the number of fighters, raiders, thieves, buildings for upgrades, and city development? Sorry, no.

Yes, the Necropolis faction and their vampirism are present here as well. In my opinion, they have a good and diverse selection of mages.

I agree with you. And who is your favorite mage from the Warlock faction?

Similarly to the post about demons, everything depends on the opponent and the map.
I don't feel like analyzing a small map.
Large map:
Humans - immune to weapons. The best choice is Death Knights, as they deal more damage. The starting build is a Warrior hero + 3 Adepts (mages). You can replace one mage with a Paralyzer. This will make leveling up much easier, but the Death Knights will gain less experience. Total: Warrior hero, 3 Death Knights, Paralyzer, Skeleton (level it up as much as possible, ideally to max level or another Death Knight). The Skeleton is only needed to attack neutral units that deal magic damage.
Demons - here, the standard build works: Warrior hero, Paralyzer, 2 Skeleton Warriors, and 2 ranged units (2 Vampires or another Paralyzer + Lich).
Elves - Elves have very weak mages, and the Elemental Archers aren't very effective. A good strategy is to create a squad of 5 Death Knights + a Mage hero and simply overwhelm everyone with brute force.
Dwarves - they are the most annoying. They attack with magic and in large numbers. The build that works against demons also works against them, but not always (it doesn't work against, for example, 5 Hermits or other variations, which I will write about for Dwarves). My variant: Warrior hero, 3 Imps, Paralyzer, Skeleton (level it up as much as possible or a Warrior with magic resistance, if it doesn't level up much). Immediately reduce the level of the Son of Imir (to avoid freezing) and the Hermits (they reduce initiative).

Similarly to the post about demons, everything depends on the opponent and the map.

Good! And if you have 3 opponents, what would you do?
It's much easier to choose the right army when playing 1vs1 than when playing against 3 opponents at once.
On a small map, when playing against elves, you can confidently choose Templars instead of Skeletons. Why? Because there is a high probability that the elf will expect you to counter his archers, i.e., something with weapon immunity. And, following this assumption, he will focus on Elemental Archers and, perhaps, even mages. And what will his surprise be when he sees Templars? :)

I absolutely do not recommend focusing on mages against elves - this is a defeat in 99% of cases. The best option is a Dragon and Templars.
As an option, on a small map against elves: Warrior Hero + Dragon + Templar - this is at the start. Later, add a Shadow (paralysis, level 3) to them. If the map is not very small, and there is an opportunity to develop the hero to level 6, then take another Shadow. Believe me, even with a level 2 Dragon + Warrior Hero + Templar + 2 Shadows, the elf will have a very hard time.

Against humans on a small map, a good option would be: Warrior Hero + Dragon + Adept - this is at the start. Upgrade the Adept to a Spirit, and after gaining another leadership point, take either another mage - if the opponent is developing Inquisitors, or a Shadow - if the opponent is developing Knights. Upgrade the Spirits to Spectres.
This option is good because at the start, we have only 3 units in our army, so there will be more experience. Why Spectres and not Skeletons? Because if the human is developing mages + Patriarchs, with Spectres, which have an initiative of 50!, we can make our move before the mages. Consequently, we will lower the level of the mages, which will reduce the damage they deal to us. Also, Patriarchs can only resurrect at level 4, so by lowering their level, we deprive them of this ability.

Against demons, it's more difficult... Again, when playing on a small map, a skilled demon will develop Gargoyles, as the elf might be wary of weapon immunity. A good option would be: Warrior Hero + Shadow + 2 Adepts; later, after gaining another leadership point + Templar. Upgrade the Adepts to Spectres if the demon has Gargoyles. If the demon does not have Gargoyles, then upgrade the Adepts to Skeletons. As an option, it might be a good choice to develop Adepts into Liches, but it's not certain that you will have enough experience, and you will hardly be able to do anything to the demon with Necromancers.

Good! But if we have 3 opponents, what would you do?
It's much easier to choose the right army when playing 1vs1 than when playing against 3 opponents at once.

It's more difficult against demons... Again, when playing on a small map, a skilled demon player will develop a Gargoyle, as, like an Elf, they might be wary of weapon immunity. A good option would be: a warrior hero + Shadow + 2 Adepts; later, after gaining another leadership point + a Templar. Upgrade the Adepts to Spectres if the demon has a Gargoyle. If the demon doesn't have a Gargoyle, upgrade the Adepts to Deaths. As an alternative, developing Adepts into Liches could be a good choice, but it's not certain that you'll have enough experience, and you're unlikely to do anything against the demon with Necromancers.

And what about the fact that the Gargoyle has 60 initiative? And deals earth damage. The Marble Golem already deals 65 damage. Considering the low health of Death and Spectre, we deal 80 damage with magic and attack. It needs 400 experience for level 2. And 575 is needed for the Adept to reach Spirit. The Spirit's health is 75, which kind of hints at something. :smile51: Damage is 60? It won't even take down a Cursed Sorcerer. On a small map, developing into the Spirit branch = GG for the entire game. The best option would be to develop into any warrior branch. And put 2 paralyzers in the back.

P.S. And with prolonged development, the Succubus + Tiamat combination is a terrible nightmare for such Hordes. :smile04: