Posts from Different types of heroes in Heroes 2.

Vampires are definitely awesome. Liches, however, are a more debatable topic. They are almost like mages, only mages have more attack power, while liches have more defense. Considering that they are the only ranged unit for the Necromancers and will therefore be heavily targeted, they need more defense. And their area-of-effect attack is a great thing. It's just a shame that they also damage their own units. Necromancers develop quite well (+attack and spell power), but I don't like the fact that they have: firstly, one less slot for general skills (necromancy is cool, but there are no other skills this specific; although necromancy is offered to Warlocks, it's still better not to take it). secondly, their troops don't combine well with troops from other races. If, for example, you can take dragons from a captured castle instead of the battered Ruins for the Wizards, and with the Knights and their innate leadership, you can combine troops from many different castles, then you can't take anyone to join the undead. And if a Necromancer hero switches to troops from another city, all his necromancy becomes useless

I agree, the necros have 6 slots left free. Let's see what is actually needed and what can be done without.
Well, they don't give leadership. Archery isn same-//generally not very necessary (there is one exception, but more on that later). Navigation, I assume, just like Eagle Eye, you wouldn't take yourself. Personally, I try not to take Treasurer for the main hero.
Now about what is needed.
Logistics. No question. Pathfinding. Depends on the map, maybe.
Ballistics. I would take it. Luck. Wouldn't hurt... What else? There are two free slots!
Mysticism? Not certain... Scouting/Observation? Also debatable.
So it turns out there are enough slots!
As for archery—there is one interesting option here. Any artifact that increases morale by 1 (there are usually plenty of those), Titans (!!!) plus a necro hero—that's power! Hordes of skeletons protect him, and he shoots away :)))

Yes, that's true. Artifacts are a lifesaver. But even with them, a hero doesn't have much space on a large map.
I mostly agree with you about the skills. Navigation also depends on the map (there are some nasty maps where it's all water :D), and sometimes you almost have to take Logistics – if you're playing on the highest difficulty, where there's almost no money, it's very useful. Otherwise, you'll quickly be overwhelmed – you won't even have time to develop. I also don't really like Ballistics. It only becomes useful when it's well-developed, and that takes time. By that point, the damage from towers is usually insignificant. Of course, you can come up with some exotic combinations, but they usually don't work well in practice.
But I often take Scouting. It's very useful to see what the enemy is planning in advance! ;)
Mysticism, in my opinion, depends on the map. If there are few towns and resource nodes, and the map is large, then take it, and the sooner, the better. But on a small map, especially if there are many towns and each has a resource node, this skill is useless!
Yes, and there's also the problem with artifacts that you don't always get the ones you need... :)

As for Scouting, I take it quite often. It's very useful to see what the enemy is planning in advance!;)

No way! It's better to send out a so-called "//shestak//" (that's how my buddies and I call a secondary collector hero :D ) with Scouting. The main hero doesn't necessarily need it!
Besides, once you open the whole map, Scouting will be of no use; meaning Scouting is a temporary skill (i.e., temporary benefit)

And about Ballistics! It's quite important for a hero who stays in the Castle, for example. After all, managing same shooting towers—that's also useful.
Plus, it will be much faster to break down walls during a siege! That's why Ballistics is very important for Barbarians—since they have no flyers!;)

Yes, for the defending side, ballistics are exactly what they need. It also doesn't hurt the Barbarians:D (and neither does it hurt the Knights - without this ballistics skill, they would have big problems due to the lack of flying units and almost complete absence of ranged units - their female units hit hard, but they die too quickly), but for the others...
Mages don't care at all whether the enemy has towers or walls - the towers still hit Titans, and they have so many ranged units that the enemy's firepower is easily neutralized (evil Hobbits!:D). Walls don't provide cover if you have the Marksman skill, and this skill is simply essential for Mages!
Ballistics certainly don't hurt the Necromancers, but they don't really need it either. They don't have any ranged units (Centaurs are useless!), they have three flying units, and only Hydras remain, which, however, almost never move anywhere:D and are only good for defense, along with Minotaurs. Yes, they fight well, but is it worth taking an entire skill just for them? Especially since the focus is still on magic and dragons?
Ballistics are not very useful for the Necromancers - if the Barbarians and Knights at least have someone to save from the towers (ranged units for the Barbarians and all their warriors for the Knights:)), then the Liches will be destroyed anyway, and the rest will be fine with the holes that are made, so to speak, naturally:)
The Sorceresses almost don't need ballistics - they have many ranged units, they are often offered a corresponding skill, and they also have enough flying units.

Regarding scouting, on large maps, it's good to have two heroes with scouting skills to explore in different directions. In general, my main hero usually travels through unexplored territory, as he strives to quickly collect artifacts, mines, resources - and enemy cities, if they happen to appear;-) - and it is not only inconvenient but also impossible to send someone ahead of him - the passages are constantly guarded by some neutral creatures. So, scouting is, in my opinion, a useful thing

GUYS, LISTEN, STOP DISCRIMINATING AGAINST NECROMANCERS!!!!! :mad: They are good heroes and level up pretty well! And the fact that they have a slot occupied by necromancy doesn't hinder them, because free units, no matter how weak they are, are still useful!

To begin, let me remind you: for the defender in a castle, ballistics is an ABSOLUTELY useless skill that doesn't affect anything. It is impossible to control towers in the second game.
Ballistics is good for prolonged sieges or in the case of a large number of low-health archers (the Elven castle!!!). If it is offered for free, in special buildings, I almost always take it.
Star Wars definitely rules, as do necromancer heroes, as the highly respected and experienced Horn has written about extensively.

Thanks, Qwerty! I completely forgot about that. And it seems like just recently, I was playing the second game:(
Regarding the Necromancers – I just don't know, maybe it's because I'm not very good at playing as them. I just don't like that you can't properly replenish your troops in captured castles! Of course, skeletons recover and even increase in number after battles, but you can't get very far with just one skeleton:(
In general, regarding skills – I didn't say that Ballistics is completely useless! It's just not very useful. There are, in my opinion, six (or five) very useful skills that you should take, no matter what other options are offered: Logistics, Marksman, Leadership, Luck, Wisdom, and – on most maps – Pathfinder.
By the way, the Sorceresses have even worse skills than the Necromancers – they have a ton of Navigation skills, but it's only useful on a few maps:D
And there are skills that I would ban altogether to prevent the AI from becoming too weak: Eagle Eye and Diplomacy (it's terrible when all the neutrals practically stop running away and demand a huge fee for passage! The only good thing is that it's easier to get to Xanadu, as they are not encountered at every turn). You definitely shouldn't take Navigation – unless there is three times more water than land on the map.
Skills like Mysticism, Ballistics, and Treasurer – you can take them. Well, I already talked about the Treasurer separately in some post:)

I agree with almost everything, however, I would like to remind you that diplomacy in the second Heroes game does NOT affect the free recruitment of monsters; there is a corresponding topic in this forum ("Recruitment Conditions"). In general, the importance of diplomacy in the second Heroes game is significantly lower than in the third Heroes game.

I usually hire a Wizard, regardless of the race I initially choose. He provides 2-5 Gargoyles, which are essential in the early game for breaking through neutral ranged units, plus he helps to explore the map (Scouting), and often becomes the main hero (due to his magical power and the availability of Lightning Bolt/Ice Bolt spells).

To begin, let me remind you: for the defender in a castle, ballistics is an ABSOLUTELY useless skill that doesn't affect anything. It's impossible to control towers in the second Heroes game.
Ballistics is good for prolonged sieges or in the case of a large number of low-health archers (the Elven castle!!!). If it's offered for free, in special buildings, I almost always take it.
Star Wars is definitely awesome, as are Necromancer heroes, as the highly respected and experienced Horn wrote.

But why did I sometimes control the towers?:smile29:

2 Darth Saruman
In none of the versions of Heroes 2 that I know, there was a feature for managing towers. It seems that the aforementioned management system was implemented in the third game, not the second.

It definitely used to be the case (though not always). I don't remember why. I think it was either when you hire a captain in a town, or after you upgrade ballistics...

Not because of the captain – that’s for sure. Regarding ballistics… I don’t remember tower control in the second game at all. :smile32: But I can’t guarantee it…

In the second game, the Captain allows you to use the magic guild even when a hero is not present.
There is no city tower management in the second game (it exists in the third game).