Posts from The most difficult alternative

Bone dragons... also require the "Snake Strike" spell to be available in the city, and the hero to have the Nature magic skill upgraded, or "First Strike" and the Chaos magic skill upgraded.

... 1 combo - a set for defense, the second - a set for attack.

... mechanical golems are only good against creatures with "First Strike", but where are such creatures to be found, on level 2?

... all of this outweighs the disadvantage of hydras in their slowness, which is eliminated by "Haste", "Cat's Agility", and "Vampire Touch".

They will likely only need the First Strike ability against undead, as living creatures don't retaliate against their attacks and retreat. :smile30:

and they are even better against creatures without First Strike:smile10:

...and also with Confusion, Swarm of Bees, and Terror, which will prevent them from using Cat's Reflexes or Vampirism and allow them to die without ever reaching melee range:smile34:

Yes, young man, I don't play as a Witch Hunter – this combination of skills doesn't inspire me. First Strike is one of the most useful spells, practically for any monster, but it will be even more useful against Chaos Dragons with their fear ability. Of course, you need to be careful with Chaos Dragons so as not to harm your own units and lose fewer of them.

...there was a time when I was playing Heroes 5, and I was using a Witch Hunter, level 5, who could single-handedly defeat over 100 Griffins without using any potions of immortality. While this hero might be weak in combat against other heroes, he levels up well on neutral creatures. Considering his "Nobility" skill and leveling up his "Scouting" skill, he doesn't need to be a combat hero and fight other combat heroes; he can be purely a treasurer, focusing on neutral creatures and stealing resources from monsters...

This option intrigued me, so I decided to test it. I took a level 5 witcher, gave him basic artifacts (which is quite appropriate for his level), and the First Strike spell for backup. Of course, I didn't give him Adamantine armor and a Rune Axe. When attacking 100 griffins, the witcher would fall on the first or second hit, without taking down a single griffin, even though the skill was active. This seems inconsistent.

100 griffons by default in one slot?

Well, let's try to summarize. Fear: living creatures don't respond to the attack and retreat slightly. This results in an unreturned strike during the attack. However, retreating doesn't skip a turn, and the enemy also attacks, and after receiving a counterattack, retreats again. The attack and counterattack happen simultaneously, and the Scarecrow may take damage from the enemy's strike (I haven't tested this).
The First Strike ability allows you to strike the enemy first, regardless of whether they are attacking or defending. Therefore, it's natural to cast First Strike on the first turn. This should also prevent taking damage during the enemy's attack. The enemy doesn't necessarily need to retreat from fear – after all, it's not a ranged attack that can be blocked. In this situation, morale only affects the turn order (which doesn't matter for the first strike in a 1-on-1 situation) and the attack strength (which also doesn't matter for fear). Morale doesn't skip a turn. Therefore, neither zeal nor sadness is useful (zeal is still helpful – we'll deal more damage and finish the battle faster).
However, confusion or any similar spell would be very helpful (even without First Strike), but where can you find the guy who will feed two generals? Because if the Scarecrow casts a spell, it can't attack.
If the enemy has 2 or more attack slots, fear won't work on the 2nd and subsequent attack slots. And then the Scarecrow has no chance of surviving.
Summary. The Scarecrow with First Strike can win against a regular melee unit, even on auto-battle. Nevertheless, it doesn't win. What's the problem?

"The computer doesn't summon ice creatures in this battle with devils."
The computer is clearly being slow. It often summons ice creatures, but here it seems to think it can defeat the enemy with a single blow and doesn't bother.

Without the first strike, the witcher takes damage from the enemy's attack - therefore, melee combat 3 or a spell is necessary.
The enemy must retreat when attacking!!! Because fear prevents a counterattack if the creature does not retreat.
Morale - here everything is not so simple - when morale triggers, the attack is performed earlier, and the retaliatory attack does not have time to recover - this has been confirmed by bitter experience. I somehow suppressed the confusion with morale - I don't remember how.
Otherwise, everything is correct.

Skoraj is right, morale gives the ability to make two attacks for one counterattack. Identical neutral creatures have a 10% chance of this. They need to be eliminated.