Posts from Sylvan vs. Necropolis

Against Necromancers, Chaos isn't very effective, especially in long games. Light is perfect. But in any case, Elves can take both. And Elves are a very inconvenient opponent for the undead. Take all the Necromancer archers into Blood and shoot them from a distance. If the first post in the thread is to be believed, that Necromancer was Deidre. The fact that Necromancers have the weakest army is true, but it will still be more numerous.

Well, if I were playing against a Necropolis on a large map, I would probably choose the Dwarves. They have good units, even very good ones, and two decent schools of magic: light and chaos. I wanted to write about light magic against Necropolis, but I forgot, thanks for reminding me, Avenger! :) In general, if you're playing against Daedra and on a large map, you can choose almost any of the Dwarves! You can take the Academy faction - Hafiz. In general, the Sylvan faction is very weak because it's hard to start with, but I like your character with the tent and unicorn. :smile02:

Elves versus Necropolis... yeah... it's not an easy task... the Necropolis will have a hard time if the elves start throwing luck around; their fragile bones won't withstand it. Even with a huge army, it will be difficult for the Necropolis => in the late game, a skilled elf has nothing to fear because they will be casting spells on their enemies (unless the Necromancer throws armies from five cities). And at the start, the Necropolis only has skeletons, zombies, ghosts, and maybe something else... you can't defeat an elf with them (unless the number of warriors is three times greater than the elves). Personally, I think that many pro players (Haven) will defeat the Necropolis.

Stop! Stop! Stop!!! I understand and fully agree that Necropolis is perhaps one of the weakest factions in the game, but let's not forget about some of its advantages – in the form of insane witchcraft and summoning and dark magic. Personally, I would try to quickly eliminate the ranger by using Kaspar or Vlad, but if we're going for a late-game strategy, we definitely need to take both summoning and dark magic.

Firstly, there are Elder Druids, and there will be quite a few of them in the late game, plus the Ranger will have a good amount of spells. Secondly, in the late game, an Elf hero must take Light... and always against the Necromancer. Thirdly, the skills of Elf heroes are suitable for "Power Attack":
Defense, Luck, Logistics, Education... and of course, Light with Attack. For example, Winraell: minus one of any skill. This hero will have higher stats at the start than Vlad or Kaspar => death. Any Elf hero almost doesn't lose troops at the start, and Luck compensates for the attack, which takes a while to develop. Therefore, the Necromancer's army advantage is compensated by the Elf's initiative, defense, and luck :smile03:
Here's another example, Ilfin:
1.
Buffs the ponies (my favorites among the Elves).
2.
Maxes out Light to Eternal.
3.
Takes Keen Mind in Logistics.
4.
The start will be tougher, but after taking the Luck skill, everything will be fine.
(I always take Luck for Elves as quickly as possible; I think many do the same).
This is for the late game....
For a quick start, you can take Gilraen, Ossir, Winraell, or Wing if possible :smile20:
Personally, I have always (maybe with some difficulty) managed to deal with Necromancers when playing as Elves. Especially against players, as it is more difficult for Necromancers to overcome monsters like Manticores, Dark Knights, etc., at the start. But it's easier for the Elf... if you don't agree with me, write it down!!! I'm waiting... :smile14:

In my opinion, once you start facing high-level opponents like Death Knights and Manticores, it shouldn't be difficult for Necromancers with their vampires to fight neutral creatures. It's not that easy to play as Sylvan, at least in the first two weeks. After that, I agree, it becomes easy and enjoyable. When you have 30-40 archers, everything goes smoothly. But sometimes you don't get lucky with the wood, and you can't upgrade the archers, and then... In this confrontation, it's important that large groups of Necromancers are destroyed much faster by Elves with their Avenger skill. And various subjugation and blinding spells – let's just put all the troops next to the Unicorns, learn Luck-Magic Resistance, Light Magic-Granting Protection, and shoot from a distance (Crystal Dragons, of course, immediately fly in on the first turn and try to attack the Blood Knights). By the way, you can choose Dryads for two dispel spells, just in case.

.... when such high-level opponents as Death Knights and Manticores are already fighting, it can't be difficult for the Necromancers with their Vampires to fight against neutrals...
.

Can Necromancers manage with just Vampires (to make things even better for the Necromancers, they probably need to upgrade the Vampires, but that's a choice between Vampires and Liches) - but they still need to be built :) And here are Manticores and Death Knights, which can also do a good job of damaging Vampires... and there are times when there isn't enough mana to raise more units, or it's better to kill the neutral faster than to lose more undead (In short, in such maps with "Guardians", the Necromancer risks more than the Elf on the way to the enemy) {I haven't played as Necromancer for a long time, something about them doesn't appeal to me - they're weaklings} (((:smile21: ...In my opinion, by this time, the Elf hero will cope better than the Necromancer. (it won't be about the quantity, but about the hero's development and quality). Think about it: the Necromancer has Spirits, Zombies, Skeletons, and Vampires + those raised by Dark Magic. And the Elf has Fairies, Blades, and Forest Archers (master archers), of course, and a few Druids. And if the Necromancer even manages to pass, he will definitely get hit hard:smile54: The Elf will still beat the Necromancers and their bony... things!!! I just can't imagine the Elf dying under the onslaught of skeletons for 3 weeks or earlier... Share a replay if you have one where the Elf lost at the start... pleaseeeee....

It's hard to disagree with you – you've probably played a lot on XXL maps, but I don't really like them... Never mind... let's start talking in defense of the Necropolis (although personally, I would play a Sorcerer against elves, as I mentioned above). 1) We start with Orson or Kaspar as our hero (Kaspar is a more viable option here). Vlad is also possible. We focus on summoning and Darkness skills. If we choose Orson, we have strong, simple units – and while they're doing that, we cast various spells on the enemy. P.S. I never played as Elves before today. I tried Ossir. To be honest, I didn't like it. The problem is that we suffer heavy losses at the start. I understand that the cursed enemy helps in the final stages, but it's useless when clearing out mines. I still think that if the Necropolis player has brains, they should be able to defeat the Elf – the key to victory: quickly clearing out mines, a large army + artifacts. Ideally, if you play with a hero).

Of course, we're playing with a hero... the question is, who to choose? Playing against the computer is easy, but when there's another player, things get more complicated...
Regarding Ossir... I've played with him many times and think he's one of the strongest heroes in the Elven faction. There are always losses when playing with a hero, but it depends on how the player plays and what tactics they use, as well as the situation. And of course, luck at the start also plays a role; you can try to start without any losses. Can you tell me more about Ossir's build? (Ingvar the Tall)

What about Hero difficulty??? Are you serious??? Where will an elf find a tree??? Playing against the computer is fine, but I will never play elves against each other on Hero difficulty. By the way, there's a theory that the castle development balance is calculated based on players playing against each other as Humans. I agree to play on Veteran, but on Hero difficulty, Dark Elves simply dominate (there are no difficulties in developing the castle). A Necromancer can very easily destroy any neutral creatures WITHOUT losses; raising the dead and spiritual connection sometimes work wonders. Moreover, ghosts are very helpful (due to misses, you can significantly save mana on raising the dead). Sylvan Elves may not have any losses at the start, but you need to learn for a long time and persistently; this race is difficult to play, but if you learn it, it becomes easier to play other races.

Maybe I played a map where the starting town was level 3 or 6, I remember being lucky a couple of times with a few wood piles near the castle. I played against the computer (it wasn't easy), but usually I play with friends on Veteran difficulty and I think that the Elves can give Necropolis a run for its money. The problem of wood for the Elves and stone for Haven is well known, but I always manage to get out of such a mess. I haven't played on Veteran for a long time, the neutral creatures are tougher and there are enough resources to start with (considering the piles and so on). Why are you so worried, **Avenger**? I admit that I may have exaggerated somewhere:smile39:. I usually play as Dwarves and Humans. I apologize for my mistakes:smile28:.

Yeah, I just disagree with how much wood the Elves need to build a decent castle; nothing personal. Because you often can't even upgrade the Faeries or Dancers; Archers are the priority, and then the Ents. You have to find a way around it when you don't have enough wood – build Druids, a Mage Guild, and a Warehouse. Regarding Necromancers, I also think they are very weak, but under certain conditions, for example, if there are many castles on the map, their ability to convert creatures into undead makes the opponent's chances against Necromancers small. And also, this is probably the best faction in terms of capturing enemy castles. Take Death Stride, and immediately Dragons, Ghosts, and Vampires are successfully transferred to enemy territory, Liches and Skeletons shoot, and only the Undead and Zombies wait for their turn.

I'm in a similar situation – my friends got hooked on an online RPG, and I'm stuck playing a single-player game. We tried playing together online, but one of them has a bad connection (lag), and it was a terrible experience. We played a few times, and it was actually quite interesting, but they're not really into Heroes anymore. I've downloaded the 3.1 add-on several times, but I have a pirated copy, and it's also a copied version. When I try to install the patch, it says the game isn't installed. I've downloaded it from several different sites, and it happens every time. I'm just dying of boredom playing alone, and I'd love to play one-on-one with someone... oh well... sorry for the long off-topic post. When playing as Ossira, first upgrade bows; for Gilraen, upgrade swords, etc. For others, always upgrade bows first, then trees – the result is a lot of grinding – market, pony, guild, and that's if you have enough resources. I'm facing a similar problem – as they say, "It's boringly interesting." :smile20:

Good job creating this thread. Your analysis shows that you are an experienced player, but I would like to point out that you need to develop Light magic differently: Righteous Fury, Secrets of Light, and Storm Wind. Let me explain: I take Druids just like you do; I think they are better, and with Secrets of Light, they will strike seven times instead of three! Let's move on. Necropolis: this is the only faction with three flying creatures (Vampires' teleport also qualifies as flight), and Storm Wind works perfectly against such creatures. Dragons will practically lose their speed, which they don't have much of anyway; this will also help against Vampires and Ghosts. However, +4 to Spell Power for Divine Strength and Stone Skin is questionable. I don't know about the subsequent tips, but I would do it this way. In addition to Light and Logistics, along with March of the Dead, it's good to take Elven Luck, Aura of Swiftness, and Forest Leader. Battle Cry will allow you to ignore the Banshee's Wail, and if you manage to get Retribution, it works great with artifacts that boost morale, and Magic of Swiftness will further increase your turn order

battle spirit will allow you to ignore the banshee's scream, and if you manage to cast Retribution, it works great together with spirit-boosting artifacts, plus Haste spell for even better turn order.

But what if the Necropolis has a Special Ability? -11 to Battle Defense is hard to miss:D