MjTh
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Yeah, if you take Markel, you can also take Railag from the Hammers of Fate for tactical advantage and see how the elves' initiative grows by 50%, while yours decreases by the same 50%, so you barely even move.
Here, especially if you also level up Railag with the same speed magic and dark magic, you'll have a hero at level 14 who gives you a total of +34% initiative and -54% to the enemy, effectively slowing them down twice as much. However, you can minimize this difference by using undead and taking a couple of rings, and also using speed magic when leveling up attack.