Posts from Hero leveling during the first 2 weeks.

Let's start a discussion about which monsters and with what army composition we can attack to level up the hero as quickly as possible, capture valuable resources, and avoid losing too much...
In my opinion, this is the main skill of a good Heroes player.
For example, a very large RMG map.
At the beginning, the hero is random, and by day 3, we have: 60-80 gremlins, 30-35 gargoyles, possibly a mage, and perhaps 5 more units, plus the first spell.
Which path should we choose – systematically clear the starting zone until day 5-6, or immediately break into neighboring areas?
And what is needed (army composition, spells, hero level) to capture various treasure troves, meaning the fastest possible development?
The question is quite complex and general, but I think it's very important.
We can discuss specific games (map, sequence of clearing areas).
Important points. We can also post recordings of difficult battles.

And by the 3rd day, the pace is already lost. On the first day, armies from two heroes are enough to break through nearby armies. Specifically, for the Mage, it's best to have Nur, Narhiz, or Hafiz, in general, someone with ranged attacks or a lot of gremlins. The most important thing here is to get lucky with the guards – to avoid red archers or upgraded sprites, as they require a special tactic. Of course, you need to place mages, sometimes gargoyles are brought in, and golems, if the cover for the gremlins is running out, or you need to hold back the enemy for a long time. On the 3rd day, you can even take out the Necropolis, even if there are 5 liches there. The most dangerous are casters and powerful archers; here, it depends on how the initiative plays out – this determines the losses, although you can attack with single units and powerful artillery. In fact, on each map, the actions are probably slightly adjusted; sometimes it is beneficial to clear out weak nearby neutrals and gain experience from chests, and sometimes on the 3rd day, you already need to go into an adjacent area and may not return for 3 weeks.

, and sometimes on the 3rd day, you already need to go to an adjacent area and might not return for 3 weeks.

Could you elaborate on this? How can you level up for 3 weeks with 5-6 mages, even with 100 gremlins, 40 gargoyles, and level 1 units? I assume you're not just defeating, say, a horde of warmongers, but also larger and more powerful enemies? Do you need to send reinforcements? Can you give a specific example?

Added after 8 minutes
Well, if you have a ballista and fire archers, that's clear, but mages don't attack as often, and you can only quickly level up machines with Hafiz.

Alex, since you brought up the "special tactic," please explain to the person what it is; otherwise, they'll be racking their brains for no reason. :)
By the way, a common mistake among players is starting to build minor structures early on; this slows down city development (they say that in some cases, this is also necessary, although I don't know, I've never done it).

Can you give a specific example?

Well, it depends on how the map is laid out; sometimes, if magic skills are good and there are mines, you can manage without reinforcements or artillery.
Here's an example Replays of battles for mages, including ones against ten angels (if I remember correctly).
Of course, with reinforcements and artillery, it will be easier, but it also depends on the map – naturally, I’m not sure everything is that easy in random maps, especially at the difficulty level of the current tournament, but maybe someone more experienced can confirm this tactic.
P.S. This is based on any standard maps and relatively small layouts, at Veteran difficulty.

Alex, if you're going to talk about a "special tactic," please explain what it is.

It's usually difficult to break through gray fairies without losses, so the tactic is as follows.
Ideally, it's good if a Necromancer with skeletons and zombies arrives as the third hero in the tavern; then, take only undead troops and kill them. If there is no Necromancer, then you need to take 7 Goblins, divide them into groups of one, and eliminate the fairies with ranged attacks (usually there are 3-4 squads of them). Of course, you need to primarily kill and finish off entire stacks, as they can cast spells 2 times, and even 3-4 fairies can cast spells almost as well as 13 fairies.
For backup, you can take 1 stack of 3-4 Gargoyles.
The same applies to red archers, but there you will have to sacrifice either Gargoyles/Golems or take a weaker army, for example, Goblins and Centaurs from a Barbarian hero - it should be enough until you kill them with magic or block them with Gargoyles.

I’m not a pro, of course, but I play on veteran difficulty. So, there were some upgraded fairies sitting on a tree, and I split the gargoyles into three or four stacks of 4 or 6. That way, they didn’t do much damage, and I easily took them out with my hero using arrows or fireballs. Why sacrifice gremlins? ;) Sorry if my answer confused anyone.

Similarly, against fairies, I only use gargoyles. There's also a tactic of upgrading golems to obsidian and getting any mass chaos unit. Or a Nazir. You can exit without losses by sending the golems to the enemy and attacking with both of them. And we'll revive our own and defeat the enemies.