Posts from The strongest castle in Heroes of Might and Magic IV.

1)Haven, Necropolis
2)Barbarian, Sylvan
3)Life
4)Chaos

1)Haven, Necropolis
2)Barbarian, Chaos
3)Life
4)Sylvan

Order is great. Djinns are impeccable. I usually play them like this: Hobbits, Dwarves, Golems as tanks, Djinns, and Titans. Chaos is all-powerful. I build like this: Rogues, Orcs, Medusas, Horrors, Dragons. Death is terrifying. My build: Skeletons, Ghosts, Vampires, Devils, or Dragons, depending on the situation. I always transform Imps, and eventually, I end up with a huge army of skeletons. By the way, doesn't it annoy you that Imps, no matter how many there are, only steal 2 units of mana each? Humans are deadly. I advise never building Ballistas; they move very slowly on the map. You'll barely crawl 15-16 steps; Spearmen are much better. Definitely include Monks; they stand very well on towers. And Champions – there are more of them, and they deal more damage than Angels. Nature is beautiful. In the Portal, their Water Elementals are just as good as Djinns. Archers on towers are also not bad. Unicorns are useless against Death, so Griffons with their infinite retaliation are better. Against Death, of course, Dragon Mages are better. By the way, why are Griffons for Humans in all the other games? And oh, the horror! Strength. Those cursed Harpies annoy everyone, and Cyclops on towers with their splash attack... Oh yes, the birds deal 4.5 damage per week with lightning, which is no joke. The downside of this faction is that there are no mages; all the birds are hypnotized, and the horde falls. By the way, why can the AI control Berserkers? You can notice this during a castle siege; they just stand in place. It shouldn't be like that.

By the way, why can the AI control Berserkers? You can notice this during a castle siege; they just stand in place.
It shouldn't be like that.

The issue isn't that the AI controls the Berserkers. Berserkers in our army will behave exactly the same way when defending their castle. Berserkers are uncontrollable in battle – on each of their turns, they either attack an enemy or move towards them (Berserk). The exception is the castle siege – as long as there are no enemies within the inner territory, the Berserkers, being its defenders, are in the Defend state.

I would say this:
- Barbarians, with their rush strategy, are superior to all others on small maps, but the larger the territory, the lower their chances become; the lack of magic cannot be compensated for even with a fortified position.
- Chaos is good at all stages thanks to its fast start, formidable Medusa + Nightmare combo, and Black Dragons – a curse for mages.
- Nature, with its fairies that decimate neutrals, powerful griffins (especially with the snake strike), and mass creature summoning from the druid + portal, is also versatile.
- I haven't fully explored Life yet, but theoretically, on large maps, it can develop super-hero paladins, and resurrection (angels and the skill) equals minimal losses.
- Death is weak at the beginning, but – the further you go into the Necropolis, the more vampires there are, and the harder it is to withstand them...
- Order also feels comfortable on large maps. Its "slowness" is no longer a factor, but the stacks of Djinns and heroes with, in my opinion, the best magic in the game are.

An interesting situation arises. You say that the Black Dragon is the best unit and that if you have it in your army, it will easily defeat everyone. I must disagree. Hydras, with their 250 HP, high damage, and splash attack, are just as good. Also, those cursed Djinn-Ifrits are interesting units. I like them more than Nightmares. What's interesting is that their shield is completely unpredictable. A General's cat-like reaction to Hydras or Ifrits, and suddenly, you become invincible. Of course, a mass buff on Hydras, plus their high damage, is much better than the Black Dragon's attack, and they are also immune to blessings. And in general, if you apply Accuracy to Titans and place them on a tower, they will easily take down any dragons, including Black Dragons. The hardest thing is to capture a Castle with Chaos, of course. Imagine you have 5 dragons, and you've been saving up and collecting them for 5 weeks, and then 30 monks under a blessing, plus 250 archers on a tower, also under a blessing, instantly kill your hero and damage dealer, and suddenly, the Nightmare's terror and our mass failure are easily neutralized by the enemy's priest. The result: we were completely defeated.

30 Monks, even with a blessing and standing on a tower, won't be able to take down half of the Dungeon's hit points.

As a rule, Hydras are weaker than Black Dragons. You can choose them against Barbarians, or when you lack resources for Black Dragons, or to surprise your opponent, but... firstly, they are slow. Secondly, vulnerability to buffs is good, but against, say, a Haven Mage, Hydras are a death sentence for yourself. They will be hypnotized, slowed down, teleported, and subjected to the Song of Peace, etc. Nature and Death will also slow them down so much that they will only reach the end of the battle. And these buffs might not even drop in the Magic Guild - so what do you do then? P.S. Titans on the Tower generally destroy everyone, but there's a catch. And Hydras definitely won't reach them in time, unlike the Dragons.
And Ifrits are good guys, I agree. But Nightmares are not inferior to them in battle and combine much better with Super Archers and Medusas.

The strongest faction is, of course, Haven. Genies, Titans, very powerful. You can defeat everyone with it.

As a rule, Hydras are weaker than Black Dragons. You can choose them against Barbarians, or when you lack resources for Black Dragons, or to surprise your opponent, but... firstly, they are slow. Secondly, their susceptibility to enhancements is good, but against, say, a Haven Mage, Hydras are a death sentence for yourself. They will be hypnotized, slowed down, teleported, and subjected to the Song of Peace, etc... P.S. Titans on the Tower generally defeat everyone, but there is some confusion. And Hydras definitely won't reach them in time, unlike the Dragons.

And I won against Schnurov with Chaos, using Hydras and Nightmares. He was playing Haven, had accumulated Titans, Nagas, and even had Sorceresses :)

I actually won against Shnurov playing as Chaos with Hydras and Nightmares. He was playing as Haven, had amassed Titans, Nagas, and even had a Sorceress.

We need more details here!))

More details are needed here!))

The battlefield turned out to have stumps. Shnurov stood in a square formation. In the second round, the Hydras gained the ability to attack the square formation. The Spot layout was without Dark Dragons and Ifrits. I had to play. I was, of course, happy to win the Book of Life to transition into Sanctuary, but with my poor layout, I had to get lucky somehow.

I was just playing against 7 AI opponents on Champion difficulty as Sylvan. I assembled an army of water elementals and magic dragons and completely crushed everyone. My hero was also incredibly powerful, level 28, with strong nature and death magic, making me virtually unbeatable. These magic dragons are much more effective than phoenixes; they deal massive lightning damage. The map is huge, with about 5 Sylvan castles, and the AI doesn't recruit units through portals. I'm giving my vote to Sylvan solely because of the ability to summon Devils and the lightning attacks of the dragons.

One antimagic spell – the dragons just snarl menacingly.
Devils can be summoned not only by nature. Demonology is equally accessible to both nature and death.

One antimagic spell – the dragons just snarl menacingly.
Devils can be summoned not only by nature. Demonology is equally accessible to both nature and death.

But it's not a certainty that the hero will develop demonology well.

I was just playing against 7 AI opponents on Champion difficulty as Nature.

7 AI opponents, that's 7 armies?
Dragons and water elementals are certainly strong creatures. But, like djinn, as soon as they run out of mana, they're practically useless. Phoenixes are better in this regard because they can tank and don't depend on external factors like running out of mana. However, strength and nature still dominate.