Posts from Mages vs. Mountain Clans

Not long ago, I decided to revisit the past and play some Heroes of Might and Magic V (I play with friends on version 3.1 without mods). It's practically impossible to defeat the Dwarves on a map where the game transitions into the late game, around levels 25-29 for the heroes. The games are very close, but their resurrection rune is incredibly powerful, and other runes also cause significant problems. I usually start as Hafiz (if possible, I buy weapon artifacts in the first 1-2 weeks). The opponent either plays as Ingvar and focuses on rushing or as Helmar and turns him into a powerful war unit with strong buffs. If I don't get lucky with artifacts, it's almost impossible to win. If you have any advice, I'd be happy to hear it...

Runes are certainly cool, but is it really that difficult for late-game mages with a lot of knowledge and mini-artifacts to use them? Mini-artifacts that grant initiative or speed shouldn't be much worse than dwarven runes. And there's an artifact for health for low-level characters... What about an ability to destroy mini-artifacts during battle and thus resurrect units?

Yesterday, I was playing with a friend, and I wasn't very lucky with the artifacts, so I only had 26, which meant only medium-strength mini-artifacts. The resistance units gain from mini-artifacts doesn't give much of an advantage when looking at the army as a whole (the Dwarves get resistance twice for each artifact, if I'm not focusing on it, of course).

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As I already said, it's very difficult without good artifacts.

And what about the magic?

darkness and chaos (on ice and lightning) against fire against dwarves is pointless.

Chaos definitely goes in the trash, all of it. The dwarves have the Rune of Elemental Immunity, and besides, with your current stats, Chaos, even without enemy resistances, is equivalent to a mosquito bite. I wouldn't choose Darkness either. Its dragons are resistant to mind control, and all the other units, in my opinion, are not very suitable for mind control and berserkers. And let's not forget the dwarf set. Light or Summoning... Mass Haste, combined with mini-arts for initiative, and rings for initiative, can give you a huge advantage in speed. Dispel will help if the dwarf casts something nasty on you. Resurrection and regeneration, of course. And Divine Vengeance will hit hard at these stats, much harder than Chaos. Regarding Summoning: I just love this school, and I consider it more or less universal for anyone with high magic skills. In particular, the scholars have many archers, and it's always good to phantom them. Elementals, phoenix... a useful school. But in this situation, I think Light is even better. Why am I offering an alternative? I believe that one school is better than two. There are too many useful skills in the game, and when studying two schools at once, something will suffer. What skills do you take, by the way?

Last time, I started as a machinist, but on the first day, I took the weapon skill. Chaos with Lightning is very effective during leveling, and Deep Freeze is good in the late game (especially against Dwarves with their high defense). I take Darkness to cast mass slow, weakness (if the opponent has a lot of attack or the hero has retaliatory strike), and to use enslave on Titans and vampirism on my own units; it looks good overall. I also take attack skills (Cold Steel, Battle Fury, and Ranged Attack; there's not much point in tactics because the Dwarf will have 100% accuracy), defense skills (Resistances is a must, the rest depends on luck), and magic skills.

Summoning on the home tile is as good as Chaos. The Hornet Swarm reduces initiative more effectively than any Chaos spell. I probably don't need to talk about the benefits of clones and elementals. Light is generally weaker, but if you manage to get regeneration, it's very useful for breaking through defenses.
Okay, vampirism and cold might be okay for the endgame... But there are better options, in my opinion. At the very least, it's worth experimenting, because you're losing anyway, so there's no chance of winning by sticking to the same strategy.
Attack is good. It's still worth taking Tactics to disrupt the Dwarf's tactical formation. It's easier to build an effective defense in three lines than in two.
Sorcery is an option. Even if you still choose Light, as I recommend, casting Resurrection and Divine Retribution more often is a good advantage. But you definitely need Education.
So, magic (one skill) + attack + defense + sorcery + education. In my opinion, that's ideal. Defense would be good for effective breaking through, especially with Battle to the Last. BDP + regeneration = death to all living things.

Ment, doesn't resurrecting troops happen when artifacts are destroyed (absorbed)? O_O Author, look for a post about artifacts for mages (the key phrase is "rollers for brakes"). Personally, my experience playing as mages against dwarves (against Ment). Hero - Zieher. Skills - Summoning (Lord of Magic, Fire Warriors, Elemental Balance), Luck (Magic Resistance, Soldier's Luck, Deadly Luck), Defense (Sturdiness, Reflection, Dodge), Attack (Tactics, Ranged Attack, Fire Arrows), Darkness (Curse, Lord of Curses, Lord of Pain). My main spells were "Phoenix, Elementals, Clone, Hive, Crystal Secret, Berserk, Subjugation, Vampirism, and Plague). I sometimes cast Slow and Confusion, but rarely. What's good is that dancers and berserkers are easily controlled, and then everyone is doomed)
Artifacts: Ring of Speed "22% initiative", Ring of Elementals, Sandro's Cloak, Sar-Elam's Staff, Amulet of Absorption, Golden Horseshoe.

Ment, and when an artifact is destroyed (absorbed), do the troops get resurrected? O_O

That's essentially the point of the ability. According to the skill wheel, the formula is 10 * Hero Level * (1 + artifact level) health. With the parameters mentioned by the user, this is quite impressive.

Ment, wow! And I never destroyed artifacts and healed everyone with various resurrections, vampirism, healing, and other nonsense))) So many of my warriors fell because of ignorance((((
Now, hold on, Oshan!

You also need to figure out how to balance attack and defense, as 2% skills are not very effective, but with a lot of gold and a mentor, you can still improve them. It is essential to have fire resistance or an ice shield, as the Ancients with Light magic can burn you both literally and figuratively. Therefore, focus on developing Light magic, and ideally, also learn Dispel. There's not much point in focusing on Dodge, so prioritize skills that increase initiative and attack. The rest depends on the artifacts you find. Artifacts that boost leadership, luck, and initiative are good, as are the Ranger set and Blood Claw. Alternatively, a powerful mage build is also a good option: develop a non-native hero (Knight, Dwarf, Elf) and the native hero in Knowledge. Use the native hero to craft minor artifacts for the troops and then transfer these troops with the minor artifacts to the warrior hero. This gives you the strongest mage build: a hero with good stats (unlike a mage) who can also learn Light magic from the mage guild and improve attack and defense. Even if you don't learn Dispel, it's not a big deal; a Dwarf with Dodge can easily defeat Gargoyles, Golems, Rakshasas, and Titans in melee combat with buffs. In the late game, the Dwarf is not as strong due to his low initiative and damage, while the mage usually has twice the initiative.

As an alternative, you could take Oru, create builds as suggested, but make a VERY strong effort to get 2 rings with 22% initiative each, and equip them with mini-artifacts. Then, just copy Thunderbirds and Rakshasas... and then just burn them down...

but try VERY hard to get 2 rings with 22% initiative each

I think these 2 rings don't work together (you can have 1 with 20% and the second with 10%).

Yes, Sanchez is right) thanks for clarifying!)))