Posts from What skills should Necromancers take when facing Orcs on a very large map?

What if you develop the Necropolis? Light. All mass spells. Education. Logistics. Luck. And the rest, as you choose:) Machines, Darkness for vampirism, or something else.

But the Necromancer won't even have time to walk around for 3-4 turns, what can be done in that time? Light won't help much, nor will luck! The only way is to overwhelm with numbers and subjugation, which is quite difficult because goblins block it effectively. I think the best approach is to fight to the last, focusing on education, wizardry, and darkness.

In my opinion, Necropolis should focus on artifacts. Because on a small map, it's really hard to stand against the Orcs.

In a battle against a Necromancer on a large map, it's better for Orcs to focus on increasing magic resistance (reflection, magic defense, and barbarian luck) rather than using the "Darkness Shield" spell (it doesn't work as well as the "Chaos Shield" spell) + a set of magic defense artifacts + goblin shamans. This is a great strategy for a battle with a focus on domination.

The video is very interesting. In this case, you should focus on dominating not the Centaurs, but the strongest unit - the Executioners. And attack the second strongest unit, the Cyclops, with them. Apply Berserk to the rest, and you'll be successful :)

P.S. The Necromancer is not leveled up correctly, and I would choose different troops.

The Necromancer has a good chance against the Orc, especially on a large map. The main thing is to use Subjugate to eliminate two of the Orc's main attacking stacks – the Chieftains/Executioners and the Cyclops. After that, the rest of the Orc army can't do much. And on a large map, Leadership is definitely a good skill to have. Especially if there are many mines. If there are any problems, you can try Hit and Run. Here's a replay, although it's against the AI. But it really depends on the map. If the number of Castles is equal, then the Orc has a small chance. But if the Orc has only one home Castle, and the Necromancer has many Castles, then there's no chance of the Orc winning. Regarding skills, it all depends on the hero you choose. Against the Orc, I would probably choose a Necromancer with a focus on Strength – Orson or Lucretia. Although you can choose others, the main thing is to find Subjugate. P.S. I reviewed the replay provided by VarvarHawk. It seems that, judging by the Necromancer's small army, the number of Castles is the same for both players. As for the tactics and chosen upgrades, they are completely wrong. First, it's stupid to use Bone Archers against Haghesh, as they are only good for clearing neutral creatures. Second, it's stupid to try to Subjugate different stacks – you need to Subjugate one and use it, otherwise there's a chance of the Goblins disrupting the spell. Third, in a battle against the Orc, you shouldn't attack different stacks; you need to focus on one and actively reduce its Fury. You also shouldn't expose the Vampires like that, because you need to try to Blind as many as possible with them. So the tactic is: Subjugate the Cyclops or Executioners, Berserk the others, attack only ONE stack, and Blind as many as possible. You also need to take other Liches to get rid of the tent as quickly as possible, which removes Blind and the wagons.

There's no point in arguing here; it all depends on the situation.

Here's a question about the Orcs. Why do you think the "Darkness Shield" spell is ineffective? I actually like it a lot. Firstly, it prevents Cyclops from being controlled. And that's a significant advantage! Since Cyclops are the main strength of the Orcs, and they also deal damage to two units simultaneously. Secondly, Berserk and Control can be weakened so that they only last for one turn, and the Necromancer would have to reapply them each time. And Necromancers are always short on mana, so this would be a considerable nuisance.

When playing late game against an Orc player, I can suggest the following:
Hero = Zoltan, level 25-26
Chain Lightning is great against Orcs. But while the hero is casting, we get pummeled. The key is to prolong the battle and give the hero more opportunities to contribute.
Here's the strategy:
Skills:
Education + Logistics = Keen Mind + Attraction
Defense = Ballistics + Fortitude
Magic = Distraction
Darkness = Pain/Mind/Earth
Battle (based on the hero's turns): the army stays in place, and if possible, moves out of the way of attacks:
1) Cast Subjugation on the Assassins. Deploy Centaurs.
2) Then, Berserk.
3) If the hero gets a 3rd turn and Subjugation and Berserk are active, cast Mass Slow.
4) Repeat actions 1 and 2.
The result is that the Orc will defeat himself.

In total, the Orc will take quite a long time to reach us, and it will take him 2-3 turns to eliminate one of our stacks.

I also advise destroying his wagon with Liches and stealing ammunition from the Centaurs if you decide to eliminate them early. Although this is a priority.

Troops (by level):
1) Elite Archer (no point in regular Archers, +defense against Centaurs and Cyclops + Silence)
2) Elite Archer (will last longer)
3) Elite Archer (but you can also use regular ones if it works; if so, we can reach the Shamans)
4) Elite Archer (if you throw regular ones into battle, there will be no response, but we will lead them to the enemy, and they will be defeated. Elite Archers can also Stun)
5) Elite Archer (maybe thanks to them, we will last even longer)
6) Elite Archer (attacks without response)
7) Elite/Standard (Mournful Strike/immediately reduces the defense of his entire army by 1). It's up to you to decide what's more important.

The above has been effectively used in practice.

There is an option to take a Dryad and go into Chain Lightning. But in reality, it's not a fact that the enemy will spend more time on us because of Chain Lightning than with the strategy described above. I tried it once... it turned out to be the opposite

I'm planning to play Necropolis against the Orcs with a friend. I'll be playing Necropolis (as always:cool:). The map will likely be medium-sized, with or without a dungeon, but we always agree to level up to level 30 before fighting. Our skill levels are about the same, as proven in several scenarios. He claims he'll easily beat me, but I disagree, although I don't see any particular advantage for the Necromancers in this battle. To avoid mind control and other tricks, he's already warned me that he'll be increasing his magic resistance, especially against dark magic and summoning (knowing how much I like raising the dead + Kaspar + High Liches). This is 100% certain. So, I've decided not to rely on magic and instead choose a combat-oriented hero and draw the Orcs' rage and strength by forcing them to attack me. Possible options are Orson (most likely), Naadir, or perhaps Deirdre or Lucretia. After thinking about it, I've chosen this build, and I haven't fully allocated all the skills yet, but attack and defense will be developed exactly as planned. I'll focus on Light Magic if possible; I reread the article and realized that I'm basically on the right track. If that's not possible, then I'll probably focus on dark magic and summoning after all.

I'll add that the hero from the Stronghold faction will be Hagesh.

Even with the darkness resistance debuff, the spells of this school are still the strongest weapon against orcs, especially at level 30. Of course, you can try to develop light magic: again, by level 30, I don't think it will be difficult to find the necessary spells, either in your main guild or in secondary castles/guilds on the map/spell libraries. But the only question is: are you sure that light magic will appear? And if not? And if it appears too late, around level 22? What, will you just run around without magic until then?

but I don't see any special advantage for necromancers in this battle.

The advantage is that, with at least one secondary castle, you will be able to gather such large armies by level 30 that nothing will save the orc. And another question: are you going to level up in a circular pattern? This set of skills looks... hmm.

The Darkness Shroud is useless; it won't save him from Berserk/Subdue. A Necromancer without magic is a Necromancer who has already lost, so magic is a must. Besides, if an Orc spends as many as 2 skill slots on Darkness Shroud, that's even worse for him. For the late game, Lucretia is the best choice.

An Orc can be dangerous if it has decent magic resistance. And it's not hard to find a Berserker with a Dwarven shield. On the other hand, with all these drawbacks, it won't be easy to level up its Spell Power skill. That's a plus. Also, you don't need to take the Summoning skill; it's better to focus on Darkness and level up Luck and Soldiers skills so that the vampires can control the Cyclops. There shouldn't be any problems with the rest. Yes, and it's desirable to have a larger army.

well, the skills arranged in a circle are just a rough draft, and as I said, if Light doesn't drop, I'll focus on dark magic and summoning.

Your build is completely useless. Why do you need as many as 3 schools of magic? Firstly, without Enchantment, you simply won't have time to cast that many spells. Secondly, Necromancers have a very low chance of learning Light spells, and since it's not their primary school, you won't learn Light spells anywhere except in libraries and secondary towns. Thirdly, Summoning isn't relevant in the late game, and it's hardly worth investing in just for Phantom.
Here's my Necromancer build:

Let me explain why I built it this way:
1) Dark Magic => Curse Master + Mind Master.
Dark Magic is the strongest weapon against Orcs: Berserk, Dominate, and mass debuffs will severely cripple the Orcs.
2) Enchantment: Lucretia starts with Enchantment, which is good because the more often your hero gets to act, the more nasty spells you can cast. Wisdom allows you to learn some useful spells from other schools, such as Phantom.
3) Attack: We mainly take Attack for Battle Fury; skeletons get a huge bonus to damage, plus an additional 20% from ranged attacks. Since the Necromancer's army is quite slow, we also take Haste, and +30% initiative for all units is always useful.
4) Defense is a must, because the core mechanic of playing as a Necromancer is that your troops shouldn't take more damage than they can withstand. Dodge reduces damage from Centaurs by -20%, which also contributes to survivability. And mass Stone Skin is also useful.
5) Necromancers are primarily spellcasters, so they need more spell power, knowledge, and mana; therefore, Education is essential. And the bonus to experience will allow you to level up faster.

Sure, you made a decent plan. But did you forget that the Orc will be leveling up "Suppression," and all my Berserkers, debuffs, and other abilities will be much less effective?
Also, I don't see the point in investing in "Education"; we reach level 30 without any problems anyway, and I think only one point in "Magic Affinity" is useless. If other skills were also leveled up, it would be a different story.
Why level up "Stone Skin"? It's not that useful, and it wastes an entire turn. I think "Sturdy Defense" is better.
By the way, I always take archer skeletons, but this time I'll probably take shield skeletons, mainly because of the Centaurs, and they also have a chance to stun. Skeletons deal almost half damage most of the time, and that damage is further reduced by the opponent's defense, so 20% from ranged attacks won't make much difference.

Added after 59 seconds
Ah, I understand, the bonus from "Education" gives a lot of additional stats, and by level 30, there will be quite a few of them.