Posts from Tactics for complex battles.

I'll write separately about the Orcs. Due to the lack of magic and the difficulty in duels, the popularity of this Faction is relatively low. However, on the map, the Orcs feel quite comfortable. Kents – in my opinion, will be the main way to creep; fighting mobs with Warmongers or someone else is a real perversion. However, in the actual battle, may the Kents get a turn. The Orcs have rather modest initiative, and it won't be possible to hide the Kents from enemy attacks even with tactics. To be honest, I haven't played much with Tilsec; his ability might be useful, as Warmongers usually die last, but such a hero won't give any real tactical or strategic advantage. Warmongers are solid mid-range units, and betting on them, if you don't know that you can get the maximum number of them, is not always justified. I prefer to fight with Kigan or Krag, whom you ignored. I'll explain my choice. Kigan is an excellent hero for long maps. The Leadership skill at the beginning is, in my opinion, useful for an Orc hero; you'll have to take it anyway. And if you are careful when creeping and try to get help from the Goblins from the Logistics skill line as soon as possible, and (optionally, but already in the endgame) "Protect Us All" from the Defense skill line, then the number of your (yes, useless and stupid) Goblins will become quite unpleasant for the opponent. They can also inflict serious damage on their own and will add extra flavor to the "Wrath of the Horde" spell. It is especially useful to get "Battle Frenzy" and the "Bloody Claw Necklace" with this hero; with high morale, it is worth taking "Retribution" as well, and "Resilience" from the Defense skill line will be good for defense. To complete the picture, "Magic Dampening" will do if we know that the opponent will mainly cast spells of a certain school. Now about Krag. He looks more interesting than Kigan from the very start and remains relevant at the end. His "Disruptor" ability is useful when creeping, especially with "Stunning Blow" and "Devil's Strike." Combined with "Reinforcements" and a large number of Kents, this hero can very successfully deal with large, high-level creatures (just not with ranged units), especially if there are natural obstacles. You can make any bet; Krag's ability to gather a dozen level 6 creatures and delay their turn even before the battle starts will be useful. With some luck, Kigan and Krag can achieve the final ability, which, in my opinion, is worth all the hype. Of the other Orc heroes, it is worth noting Goshak and Garun first of all; you can take a risk and play as Hagresh, but the latter forces you to go for a blitz strategy. Don't be fooled by the "Wyvern Tamer" ability; the meager bonus to HP is garbage. On large and long maps, you can try to rush forward with Argat, and if successful, you will outpace the opponent in hero development due to greater speed.

The best combat tactic is simple: you need to divide as many spellcasters as possible. For example, when playing as Elves, Druids and High Druids have a very powerful "lightning" spell, and if you divide them into 2-3 groups, say 15 Druids on one tile, it will be a real force. Agree that it will be stronger to have 45 Druids on one tile or 15 Druids on 3 tiles; it is immediately clear who will be stronger, and the same applies to Dryads. It is also recommended to divide ranged units; this way, the strength of your army will increase many times over. Just don't divide melee units: they are easier to destroy individually; you can divide them, and even should divide Archangels: the more Archangels you divide, the easier it will be for you to win the battle. :smile54:

Does the "Lightning" spell depend on the number of Druids?

Does the "Lightning" spell depend on the number of druids?

I don't think it depends:smile26:

It depends, and it depends a lot :) Roughly speaking (as stated in the manual), 1 druid casts Lightning as a hero with a magic power of 1, 3 druids with a magic power of 2, 10 druids with a magic power of 5, and so on. This applies to all spellcasting creatures. In addition, the LEVEL of development of the corresponding magic, assigned separately for each creature, is also taken into account. For example, an archmage casts such a devastating strike as if he were an expert in light magic (+12 to offense), while the mistress of shadows casts Weakness at a basic level (half the stack). At some point, the effectiveness of damaging spells drops sharply (when there are approximately 50 creatures). Then, it is better for the same archmages to switch to ranged attacks or split into stacks. P.S. This issue is discussed in detail in the manual.