Posts from Which magic schools should I choose for the late game? Or should I go for a specific artifact? Auto-translated

If there's an opportunity for long-term development, then definitely choose the Sorceress. Reasons: excellent progression path (spellcasting and education; we don't count the unnecessary Katar skill), all, ABSOLUTELY all spells cast at the maximum level are readily available, so there's no point in searching for them or leveling up magic: everything is already great! Then, get a mini-artifact for speed for the Rakshasa, equip them with Heavenly Shield, and they're ready to cut through the enemy's front lines! And then you can cast Divine Retribution, Subjugation, and Phantom. If desired, you can also hit them hard with Earth Shock. The Ogre will "recharge" quickly + it has initial skills specifically for the Sorceress: there are still 22 levels left!

I've been reading here, and everyone is so detailed about hero builds, saying to take spellcasting, education, and summoning. Okay. I leveled up 11 times, and summoning never appeared... :( How is that possible? A 15% chance, but instead, light magic keeps appearing, several levels in a row... And what happens is, by the time you level up summoning with this setup, an opponent will come and defeat you easily. And you've basically lost with your Hafiz, gremlins (I don't understand where you see their super-mega damage, even if you consider the bonus from the hero, what's the point?), the only good thing is that the ballista shoots strongly, and that's it. In the Mage Guild, some useless spells like "Sorrow" and "Wasp Swarm" appeared. Has anyone ever used Wasp Swarm? Is there any effect? (
Anyway, I'll try playing again.

Grief helped me with skillful use of darkness. It also lowered morale well. There is also information that the wasp swarm, when skillfully summoned, pushes the enemy back on the scale so much that it's almost too much.

It pushes the enemy back so far on the scale that it's almost not enough.

Undead :( I like to play against undead. What kind of Hive is this? Because it's aggressive, there are a lot of them, it's the most difficult race to defeat, in my opinion, and so on. And in general, I think the developers did a bad job. Why should I rely on chance to win the game? I wanted to upgrade a trap and build a tactic around it, but no! It didn't appear in the Guild of Mages. Okay. I think I'll build a library. And again, some kind of nonsense. So, should I change all my plans and turn my hero into a Chaos Mage? Because almost all the spells that appeared were like that. Enchantment... I've been waiting for it for a long time... it appeared only at level 12.
So, I replayed a bit. I took Razazak... hmm. Somewhere I heard a tactic about golems + goblins, that they are not very well healed. And here's another thing, in what year will I be able to upgrade the Golem March? I would like to take it by level 15... that is, I would have to pump three abilities - leadership, logistics, and attack for retribution (I don't remember the name, the one where they swing a red sword and get +5% damage from the amount of morale)... but no, it doesn't work out that way... Summoning appeared, Education appeared... even Defense, the racial skills are annoying... So, it turns out that even if I take three other skills and upgrade them while hoping that leadership and logistics will appear later, but this is unknown at what level the hero will be... and I usually play up to level 16-17... and there either I lose because I walk around and let the AI do things and I upgrade as I want, or I lose because I didn't take the skills I needed and by level 15-16 the AI comes to visit... :(

It's difficult for mages to get good logistics. Around level 20+, you might find a Golem March spell, but I don't think it will appear earlier. If you're playing against the Necropolis, I would recommend taking light magic. With Righteous Fury and Blessing. Otherwise, the Necropolis really likes dark magic. They also have summoning spells, so you could learn Banish. And also: since they are powerful mages, why not take Jaliba for an experiment?

I’ll try it the way you suggested, thanks.

)) A funny situation in the picture. I think I wasted a level right now, and it will also bother me later. Before that, I got Spellcasting as a skill, but I chose Magic Resistance. In general, I understand that I need to prioritize skills.

yes, I shouldn't have done it that way. The manual says that you get a new Skill to develop, then a Skill to improve an existing one, and finally Abilities. Since it's level three, Jalib usually has Luck developed, so the first time, he got Magic Resistance and Spellcasting. I shouldn't have taken the Ability. I should have taken a Skill. I'll learn from my mistakes.

yes, here it's still a game of luck anyway. That's just how the game is. Whether you get lucky with artifacts or not, whether you get the skill you need or not xDD. (For example, on small maps, unnecessary skills can ruin the whole game). And vice versa =) We once played against Hafiz on Underground Treasures (Hafiz already hates this map =)). Every time this map comes up, he has to play with this hero =). Anyway, I took Nur =P, and on the first level, I got Machines. So, the build-up went just as well as Hafiz's. (If the Oracle was a better hero, but I like Nur more =)). Regarding magic, you can level up Summoning and take Fire Warriors (when you're far away from your castle), or Light with Dodge if there are a lot of archers. (Darkness is so-so - it depends too much on the chance of getting it in the castle). But I like Chaos much more. (I can't give any advice for huge maps because I don't play them).

question: how to play a duel with Razazak against Marbas? or Oroi against Marbas.
The golems of Razazak are useless. They are destroyed by archdevils in one or two turns. There are only 9 mages, and they heal with fireballs, but not much. Razazak doesn't have fireballs at all. The golems are falling apart. Teleport to the enemy's rear? To whom? Sorry. To the succubi? 60 of them, plus hellfire. It's great. 1 three-headed dog destroys 18 gremlins with it... :(

question: how to play a duel with Razazak against Marbas? or Oroi against Marbas.
The golems of Razazak are useless. They are destroyed by archdevils in one or two turns. There are only 9 mages, and they heal with fireballs, but not much, and Razazak doesn't have fireballs at all. The golems are falling apart. Teleport to the enemy's rear? To whom? Excuse me. To the succubi? 60 of them, + hellfire. It's great. 1 three-headed dog destroys 18 gremlins with it... :(

Actually, there is a special topic about counter-heroes in duels. There are many interesting duels there.
Well, if we talk about the essence of the question, I will post a replay of Razazak against Marbas (Marbas played not very well, but I think you can understand the main ideas).
As for Oroi, it's quite simple: just stand in defense and cast Armageddon.

Thanks for the replay; I found the thread about counter-heroes and downloaded more replays. Basically, I did as shown in the video, sending golems to the rear, but I must have done something wrong later, and those golems were quickly destroyed. The Black Archdevil immediately switched to targeting them. Well, never mind. We'll keep trying. Sorry for the off-topic, I just started writing in this thread.

Added after 3 hours and 4 minutes
And I also wanted to know, what advice can you give when playing as Razazak? Or in general, when playing as mages. Well, I understand that obsidian golems should be held back until the end of the battle, especially against Helmar, who likes to cast spells and other magic. And I should bring in steel golems more often. What else?

I also wanted to know what advice you can give when playing as Razazak? Or in general, when playing as mages.
Well, I figured out that obsidian golems should be kept closer to the end of the battle, especially against Helmar, who likes to cast spells and other curses. And it's better to bring in steel golems into the battle more often. What else?

It's hard to give general advice, as each pair has its own characteristics, nuances, and ideas (which is why we love duels), so the best advice is to play as much as possible and, if possible, with strong opponents.

Do you think it makes sense to build an artifact smithy in the first or second week? In general, earlier? To create 1-2 level 1 amulets and give them to the golems. For example, to increase speed or initiative.

There is no balance in those duels, and there never was.