Posts from Necropolis versus Academy.

Hi everyone! I decided to start a new topic that, as far as I know, hasn't been discussed in the Necropolis thread yet, namely, how Necromancers can defeat high-initiative Academy heroes in the late game. Especially if all artifacts are available, there's a mentor, and several months of leveling up have been done. I'd like to hear the opinions of experienced players on how to level up against Haven or other factions on large maps in a one-on-one game. If the Necromancer has several castles, the problem solves itself, but if there's only one:confused: I think this is one of the most challenging matchups. So, please share your thoughts.

In my opinion, given these conditions for a confrontation between a mage and a Necropolis, mages have little chance of defeating the Necropolis... There are artifacts that increase dark energy, a deadly set against initiative, banshee's cry, and the sheer number of undead after 3 months of gameplay will be monstrous. There's defense, darkness, chaos/summoning, and so on. Everything is against mages... For example, imagine a vampire with a defense stat in the range of 43-50 after the "defense" command, with "impenetrable defense":smile45:

Against mages, you need to level up luck, defense, attack, light magic, and dark magic. Also, actively search for artifacts. If a mage is well-leveled, the chances of winning without artifacts are slim. However, you can also level up a Necromancer strategically, but it's more challenging.

Why is Necropolis not a good match against Academy? It has both defense and attack, and it's Light! Light might be interesting, but not in this matchup...

The biggest problem is that a mage can unleash an apocalypse. So, luck can be taken to increase magical resistance. And it seems like a counterspell will be necessary. The rest should be invested in defense, attack, and knowledge. And, of course, artifacts should be acquired. Can you imagine what the academic's initiative will be like? Personally, I'm not sure what's better – to focus more on defense and attack, health, etc., or to focus more on initiative.

Counterspell might not help: since the army of Cacodemons has Warlocks... It’s better to take “undead protection from magic” from the Armory, and not only from it (besides, we’ll have to take “secret knowledge” there, which will be very useful for the Necromancer).

Luck is hard to get: the probability percentage is only 2%. It won’t decide anything (however, it’s tempting that our units’ abilities will work more often if we take “Soldier”).

It’s better to take defense instead of attack. We need damage reduction in defense. We take either the Stone Skin branch with Solid Defense or the Reflection branch with Dodge and Damage Prevention.

If a caster casts a spell after the Necromancer has cast a counterspell, then the Academy hero's spell will work...

Regarding the 20 percent: spells will cost the Necromancer less...

It's better to take defense instead of attack. For defense, we need damage reduction. We either take the Stone Skin branch with Solid Defense or the Reflection branch with Dodge and Block.

We definitely need both defense and attack. There's no need for Stone Skin with Solid Defense, but Reflection, Endurance, and Dodge are a must-have.

So what if they are present? We are blocking the hero, not the casters. :D

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What is 20%? And what are "Secret Knowledge" for?

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In reality, if you gather artifacts, it solves many problems. Plus, luck won't hurt, and neither will soldier's luck (for skeletons).

It seems like you read my guide about Necromancers, but didn't grasp the essence of what was written... Enemy Warlocks negate "Counterspell," and "Secret Knowledge" is needed not only to add the missing Chaos spell but also for +1 to knowledge – Necromancers have known problems with this, especially at the beginning. However, I wrote about this not only in my guide, and not just me...

I have the feeling that Lordesat didn't read the Heroes manual carefully, which all players should ideally read at least once (it's included with the game disc, although there's also an improved version)...

And a big thank you to antonag07 for not only systematizing the experience and developments of many experienced Heroes players, but also for contributing his own ideas about tactics and strategies for developing heroes in the game...

Alright, let Killandaction and Antonag07, who consider themselves so advanced, explain how to counter an Academy mage with Arcomage, especially if he has any known artifacts, mini-artifacts with magic resistance and initiative, a mentor, and any spells. Please tell me the best Necromancer build and artifacts to equip in order to defeat the mage.
That's why I started this thread.

If you don't like it, then download it the smart way, as the game developers advise. The Mage is a strong opponent because, if developed wisely, he can acquire the "Arcane Sight" ability. All spells become available to the Mage after acquiring this ability. However, Necromancers also have a very interesting ability called "Shriek of Horror," which requires knowledge of Dark Magic and Summoning, as well as a fully developed Education skill. "Shriek of Horror" reduces the enemy's luck and morale by 6 points. After application, enemy creatures constantly skip their turns, and even if they do move, their attacks are unsuccessful. You can say that your army will be fighting against only one enemy hero. This ability also doesn't require mana. I can explain how to achieve this if needed.

You would be better off writing about how to deal with Arcomage; a single scream of horror won't help you here.

Against Armageddon, a hero's skills alone won't save you; only a set of artifacts will. Here's an example: a Dwarven Smith's Hammer, an Ice Shield, the Armor of the Forgotten Hero, Boots of Magical Protection, and a Phoenix Feather Cloak. Even if you collect only half of these, the defense will be significant, but it's better to have them all. All the artifacts together provide approximately 200% protection against fire and over 20% protection against all magic. Armageddon deals fire damage, so if you have all the artifacts, the spell will be deflected in all cases:smile13: :smile13: :smile13:. And the enemy army will suffer:smile15: :smile15: :smile15:.

Yes, but the Mage also has all these artifacts, because, as I mentioned in post 13, the Mage can have any artifacts, plus protection against minions, so he will suffer almost no losses from Arcomage. So, sorry, Markel, you need to look for other ways.