Posts from Which creatures from the alternative upgrade options do you choose?

The Zealots with Ossir are a special case, and as you know, every rule has exceptions. Everything depends on the circumstances; it's clear that the reds are not a good match against Ossir.

I just don't understand why the red cavalry is bad against Necromancers?
If the Necromancer doesn't position his troops correctly (or if the Knight is just lucky with the positioning), he can hit 2 key stacks (you shouldn't rely on the opponent being a noob, but still...). I think this is a perfectly good replacement for the Paladin's ability.

To be honest, I just didn't think about the Warlock case.
But I prefer magic golems only because of their ability to resurrect using magic. If they end up in the thick of the battle, and the hero plays as a Chaos Knight, you can not only kill enemies but also resurrect the golems.

If a demon finds a couple of artifacts for magic power (I once played with a friend, and he managed to dig up one of the artifacts of Sar-Iss, which increased magic power by 6, the battle was fierce). And the upgrades depend very simply:
Better to have imps, because mana goes to the hero, and not to the Cave Lords (although if the hero has enough mana, you can take devils).
Elders are better for attackers (especially when jumping and under the Blessing spell, with their scatter), but they are simply not suitable for a Chaos Knight, because after 1 jump, they will take a lot of damage in return.
Fire hounds are better for breaking through defenses, again for attackers (although they will also work for Chaos Knights, the difference is not that big).
Temptresses are generally excellent, they should be taken without hesitation if the enemy is not immune to magic and not a Necromancer.
Cave Lords, although they cannot deal much damage to low-level creatures, are very good against large creatures and provide very good fire support to the Chaos Knight (and summoners really hate them, the phoenixes cry).
The upgrade for devils is clearly better for Chaos Knights, because having another stack of cave creatures is a good thing, and for attackers, the alternative upgrade is better, because you can pull out any creature from any artifact and kill it with demons.

I agree, they are weak, but doesn't the fact that they hit everyone on the way compensate for this disadvantage?)
Although... if the enemies surround him and don't let him move, the riders will have big problems, and the regular one will also have a lot of problems in this case.

There are plenty of decent ranged units in the game. Elves, humans, and mages can deal significant damage with any hero, and there are also artillery units with ballistae.

Humans don't have that much mana. If you start casting dispel and anti-magic spells from the beginning, it will hinder your ability to cast other spells and weaken the human in a prolonged battle, and you'll also run out of mana. At the same time, there may be situations where paladins can dispel mind control or berserk before the hero can. Also, white horses are immune to berserk. The Necromancer is tough and difficult to kill in a few turns.

Academics are good because they can play in any school and in various combinations of schools. Chaos may not even be present. Steel Golems can be buffed, and under Stone, it's difficult for a combat unit to kill them.

Dwarves have Armageddon with resistances and signs and 30% spell power, academics have the same 30% and a mark, the League has Arcane and elemental wave and a whole 45% spell power. The Necromancer simply has the same 45% spell power and is tough. And demons have no skills or abilities for chaos and only 15% spell power increase. That's just funny.

I wrote a little about demon upgrades above, if briefly:
1. Only the mana drain itself is important. If they can pump mana unpunished for a couple of turns, then black. No? Then red.
2. Only the jumping ones, someone will dispel the retaliation anyway. Red has a weak ability. I don't see any connection between the upgrades depending on chaos. The survivability is approximately the same for all upgrades, and nothing else matters.

The task of the lizardmen is to run with a dash, deal a lot of damage, and die after that. The old ones will deal a lot of damage due to ignoring armor, and the exchange will pay off. The new ones will simply die. And the League has no troop survivability, so they die quickly, and it's important to kill the enemy faster than he kills the League.

I doubt anyone would waste a turn using a ballista on them if there's even one more priority target. And the ballista might even break by the time those priority targets are gone.

If the hero is going to buff everyone, then it wouldn't be a bad idea to take Adepts and use the dispel magic spell to remove mind control or berserk, allowing the hero to buff the creatures without interruption.

It seems like we're not talking about effectiveness compared to other factions, but about the fact that there are demons that play a chaotic role, and such demons exist (even if there aren't many).

1) The ability to upgrade Imps isn't just about draining the enemy's mana; you also need to use the fact that the mana goes to the hero/cave dwellers, and that also plays a role.
2) What guarantee is there that a counterattack will definitely be removed? Even though other Inferno creatures have high initiative, this doesn't guarantee it 100%, especially in the middle and at the end of the battle.

Can't agile units compensate for the damage difference with the damage they deal through "hit and run"?

The main purpose of armored units is to protect their allies from ranged attacks.

The "Remove" spell doesn't work on Berserkers. Subjugating a hero with a lower level than yours doesn't happen very often. Plus, you can only use it once (or more with magic skills). It's not very reliable.

1. The alternate upgrade for Cavern Stalker is almost always better, and it doesn't cost mana. Heroes usually have a lot of mana anyway. So, the process of using the ability is more important than where the mana goes.
2. Heroes often have the "Dispel" skill, which allows them to move around without being targeted. All demon upgrades have lower initiative, so someone will always be able to remove the debuff.

So, without considering the abilities of both upgrades, the damage is approximately the same. The damage increase completely ignores armor. Let's say the target has 40 armor, and the Lizardmen have 20 attack. Completely ignoring armor would result in an approximate 200% damage increase. For the alternate upgrade, you need to hit 8 targets along the way. But the enemy might have even more armor.

Okay, but what if the enemy has Chaos and keeps adding it? Or if the enemy is a Dhalebb.
Then, if you defend the formation with a Spearman, you could lose up to half of your stack.

1) If a demon has magic, this ordinary mana might not be enough. Besides, the ability itself is then used incompletely; you need to try to use all its aspects (but not at your own expense, of course).
2) And if you choose maps where each player has only one city, and there are few players (or only 2), there's a chance that a hero will learn a spell in the city. But what if no spell drops in the city? Relying on altars is foolish; the drop rate is quite low, and there's nowhere else to learn spells (unless the enemy uses it, and you have the "Uncover Secret" perk, but even then, the probability isn't that high). + If you make a move with cavalry attacking another stack (or they manage to move after the cavalry but before the demon), and the Imps (or their upgraded versions) don't reach, what then?

What if the enemy is a Dwarf? (We're talking about the "Armor" skill).
Or what if the enemies have less than 12 initiative, but more than 11? (Swift Riders have 12, just 1 more than that...)

Vadimh is slightly mistaken.
Imps (an alternate upgrade for Fiends) steal twice as little mana as Devils (the standard upgrade). Therefore, if you skip a couple of turns with Imps due to mana drain, the effect will be the same as with Devils at the very beginning of the battle without skipping turns. So, if the goal is simply to drain the mana of a Necromancer, Imps are not very suitable. It's better to open a gate with Devils.

The only thing that matters is the mana drain itself. If they can drain mana unpunished for a couple of turns, then Imps are the way to go. Otherwise, it's Cherubs.

It says, "a couple of turns." I declare that a couple of turns is not enough.
Let's assume we have 200 Imps and 200 Familiars. In the first turn, the Imps steal 50 mana from the Necromancer and open a gate. In the first turn, the Familiars steal 25 mana and don't summon anyone. In the second turn, the Imps become an independent combat unit (by the way, they are not as vulnerable to general weakening as the Familiars). 80 Imps are summoned (with skillful gate opening). The Familiars steal another 25 mana (if they are not accidentally hit by Archliches or the Ring of Cold, or some other general plague, if they even survive, because Necromancers love to lower morale). In the third turn, the Imps are still fighting, if they survived, of course. The summoned Imps steal 20 mana (if they haven't been wiped out before the turn) and run into battle. The Familiars steal the same 25 mana, and they simply don't have time to summon anything.

In total, by the third turn, the Imps steal 70 mana, while also being able to fight. By the third turn, the Familiars will steal 75 mana if their number has not decreased. That is, for the sake of argument, in the third turn, you exchange 280 fighting Imps for 5 extra units of mana (and if the Necromancer feels the need to stop spending mana, he will simply blast the Familiars with bone arrows/Archliches/magic). In my opinion, it's not worth taking Familiars just to deprive the opponent of mana – they need to be protected, and it's not worth sacrificing a combat unit for dubious gain. By the way, it's unclear how you can determine in advance whether it will be possible for the Familiars to stand for several turns or not – it all depends on the Necromancer's desire. I can't imagine a battle in which the Necromancer allows his mana to be stolen for more than three turns if it's critical for him.

If there are a lot of Imps by chance (for example, creature dwellings, no losses of Imps against neutrals, joined troops), then due to their speed and with some randomly obtained divine power, the Familiars can be an excellent unit. Also, if the armies are not too large, and the Cave Lords can still change things with their magic, then the Familiars will be useful. In all other cases, Imps, which don't miss turns, are more reliable.

P.S. I didn't quite understand how the Familiars would prevent the Necromancer from using Spiritual Link? It gives a lot of mana with large armies, and the hero is only pushed back by half a turn. And if the armies are small, then the Familiars won't pump up much mana either.
Besides, you are only looking at Dark spells cast by the Necromancer. Has Chaos been officially banned? Necromancers quite like the Ring of Cold with cold perks.

It is important to maintain distance so that the Necromancer can only hit one stack of Black Imps with a single spell.

If the Necromancer is using Chain Lightning, and he keeps casting it on a single stack of Imps, that gives the Demon a huge advantage.

After summoning, there's only a half-turn cooldown.

At the same time, it's not that easy to reach the Imps with an army.

The point against Spiritual Link is that the Imps will drain all the new mana.