Posts from Start behind the LE.

Here's my approach to building a warehouse: I usually build it around weeks 3-4 because, while gems are needed for dragons, spending 5000 on them early on is a bit much. It's better to buy troops instead. However, if money isn't an issue, then building it in the first or second week is fine. Usually, instead of a warehouse, I build a pond because it's cheap, provides noticeable benefits, and saves wood when upgrading the town, which is very important. I agree about the Druids. In the endgame, they are weaker than the Archers, whom everyone tries to eliminate as quickly as possible. While aiming for a Castle of the Archmage (CA) is possible, it's only feasible on large, randomly generated maps. On standard maps, it's not possible to get a CA, even with a mentor. Getting a CA means having at least a level 25 hero. But even without a CA, a Winged Archer at level 20 is very dangerous with Vengeance, Righteous Fury, Keen Mind, and Leadership. The main thing is not to lose troops while leveling up and exploring.

SA isn't very necessary for the Elf, as he already has a good chance of success in half of his attacks. The Lukari can suffer serious losses without the support of the Dancers, especially if the battle is against fast and numerous melee units, such as Wolves.

Instead of Combat Accuracy, I always aim for Elven Luck. +25% damage is no joke. It helps a lot. Besides, I need to take Soldier's Luck, which is very helpful for archers and unicorns. To do this, I need to max out the entire Luck skill tree and get the Arrow Storm ability.

I've never taken the "Skill Academy" artifact, and it seems like you can still manage. And at the beginning, I always upgrade the Dryads first to clear out the neutral creatures.

I never take the "Skill Academy" artifact, and it seems like you can still manage. And at the start, I always upgrade the nymphs first, to clear out the neutral creatures.

And I always upgrade the dryads at the beginning. Removing enchantments and the wasp swarm ability are helpful. Plus, they have 1 more initiative, which is also important. Then I change them when ents become available.

Sorry, I got confused – of course, I’m upgrading the Dryads. I completely agree with snaiper133.

Added 1 minute ago
For the Haven faction, the start is very difficult, but if you develop, the enemy won’t seem so tough.

An Elf doesn't really need a lot of luck, as a good portion of their attacks are successful anyway. Without the support of dancers, the Lucari can suffer serious losses if the battle is against fast and numerous melee units, like wolves, for example.

Against wolves, you need to put in some effort and definitely avoid using dancers; instead, use Ents, Nymphs, and Archers, otherwise losses are inevitable.

By week 2, and certainly by the beginning of week 3, you won't have any Ents. And in general, at the beginning, Dryads are much more effective than Nymphs.

snaiper133 wrote everything correctly and clearly.
Dryads and dancers will indeed be very helpful in the first week, but then we lose 2 days in city development. For example, I don't upgrade anything in the first week: I try to build as many buildings as possible in the city: so that there is a town hall and 4 creatures are recruited from the castle (depending on the difficulty level of the created game).
On small and medium-sized standard maps, elves are powerless against almost all factions, especially against magical ones...

I never thought that a warehouse would solve all the problems with mines... :smile43:
Druids need to be protected no less than archers: smile01:, their shooting is not their main task: they are spellcasters after all... Without a portal, the elf spellcaster turns out to be useless.
When the elf is leveled up for Single Adventure, it is practically no longer needed. All his attacks will inflict devastating damage under the elven luck.

I like the faction, but the difficult start for light factions is a drawback. However, once you get going, it doesn't seem that hard.

I always upgrade dryads first – after all, they have more initiative, so you can defeat slow level 3 neutral creatures without any losses.

By the way, if you start with Gilraen, sometimes the playthrough is just as good as with Ossir. The trick is: Fast maps always require us to upgrade them, so Gilraen is a little weaker in that regard. But in the late game, when you can develop peacefully, you don't even need to upgrade the archers. Instead, the focus is on fast ents + a castle, combined with nymphs and fast, powerful, and mobile blades. We can eliminate various enemies just as effectively as shooting from a distance, and on top of that, the ents can act as stunners here – they root the enemy, remove their defense, and then finish them off with blades.

The only downside to Ent mages is that they are as weak as all the others... By any chance, do you know how to defeat mages without significant losses?

Are you talking about neutral mages or the Mage faction itself? 1. If you mean neutral mages, then either use Forest Archers + at least one artillery unit for initiative! Or, with the Regeneration spell and a well-developed Light skill, you can kill all the mages. Place Ents, cast Regeneration, and rush forward! The Winged creature can easily finish them off. 2. As a faction, it's more complicated: In a quick game, the Mage will dominate with Fireballs or Stone Skin + Mage's Mark and possibly Golems. The chances of winning are only good if you have a Winged creature. In a medium game, there's still a chance: Luck (always take it), Resistance perk + artifacts + War Unicorns! Arrange your army around your unicorns and try to shoot. Use tank units like Blade Masters to run towards the enemy; you can even cast Stone Skin on them. If you have Ents, keep them near the Unicorn. If you manage to shoot effectively, great! If not (if your ranged units and archers are wiped out after the enemy's first turn), the combination of Nymphs + Ents + Unicorns should work. The Mage will take a big risk if they cast spells on us! However, Golems are a problem for us; either rush into melee or try to eliminate the Ballista if possible, but it might be repaired. If you have a couple of Dragons, use them to attack the Archmages and try to hit someone else. Once the Dragons are in attack range, you can follow up with Unicorns, using their 30% reflection aura + 15% from Luck = 45%. This will make the Mage nervous when preparing to cast spells. In the late game, our problem is mini-artifacts for initiative... we'll probably go first only if our heroes are level 30. That's why I think we NEED to take Defense and hope that the guild gives us mass evasion. In Defense (without it, we'll take a beating from all three of the Mage's archers): Evasion + Damage Reduction + Reflection (Divine Vengeance, Traps, and Chaos Magic - though Chaos Magic is questionable in the late game) will reduce the damage. Light: All perks for mass spells, i.e., Protection and Blessing + Righteous Fury (evasion is very important). Attack: Tactics + Impact (we need to move forward quickly, otherwise we'll be shot down). Leadership: Speed Aura + Forest Leader. Luck: Magic Resistance (we need to resist powerful mind control and Berserk spells), Soldier's Luck can also be taken. From racial skills: Rain and Enchanted Arrow. From artifacts: stack as much defense as possible (the Mage will only get attack from mini-artifacts, especially Titans), and look for initiative like crazy! (rings are the best). Wear resistance artifacts: Armor of the Forgotten Hero or Boots. Boots are better with +1 speed. The Unicorn Bow is not desirable; our archers will be taken out by Titans. It's better to strengthen the Dragons! (they are our main attack force), i.e., have at least 4 Dragon artifacts. The Staff of the Underworld can also be used. Tactics through Empathy will be very useful; in Attack, take either Shooting or Forest Fury. If you have artifacts from the Knight's set, save up for it + Horseshoe. From Dragon artifacts, the best will be: Shield, Ring, Cloak, and Sword. As I said, the torso should ideally be the Armor of the Forgotten Hero. But if you don't have it, you can wear the boots. If you have the Dwarven Shield or Boots, wear them! About the enemy: The Mage will most likely go for Darkness and Summoning. They will take Education and Sorcery. And Defense, so we have Tactics (if the Mage takes Attack and sacrifices some magic, it's better for us, but in that case, we definitely need to boost our units' speed). Dragons can decide a lot! If the speed is good, the Blade Masters and Nymphs will reach the enemy. Use them in the attack too! The problem is that we need to withstand the attacks of all the enemy archers. Cast mass evasion + speed on the hero, and then either Antimagic or Divine Vengeance. Everything I wrote can also be useful for myself; I just have nothing else to do:smile27::smile20:

Thank you! You explained everything clearly. I was actually asking about neutral creatures; it was interesting to read about how to play against mages.

Castle: market, warehouses, dancers, town hall, archers. And then it will develop on its own.
For the hero (depending on what skills are available), attack (shooting, combat, frenzy, forest rage), light magic, education (for forest cunning + more experience), luck, leadership for a larger initiative.