Posts from Stronghold vs. Haven

Regarding the ice block and the beams. It doesn't matter what tactic you use. The ice block and the beams won't move even one square.

I didn't think about the ice block. I was trying to use Blizzard to stop two stacks of beams at once. Blizzard reduces the movement range by 1. And in this case, the tactic actually helps Alliance 2. But the ice block is a different story. It turns out that one beam won't attack on the first turn, which is fine, thanks. I really underestimated the ice block. :) And in combination with the ice hammer, you can use it to then hit those same cyclops with a lucky attack. Cool! It's easier to deal with the warrior this way, just disable a stack for a turn and it doesn't cost much mana. Okay, I'll use it!

The pushers should be positioned near the guards. In this case, they won't be removed so easily. You need to take two stacks of brilliance into a duel.
What is "cleave"? Which skill tree is it in?
Slippery ground against humans? What's the point of that? You need to increase the damage and take down the blue units faster, instead of trying to slow someone down. Slippery ground is definitely not the right choice. I won't even try it.

Uhhh. In patch 1.8, you can't take 2 stacks of Radiance in duels. Now everything is fine: Alliance is wiped without any problems, and if it's a strong player, there are still plenty of chances and it all comes down to skill. Bravo to the developers, the balance has been adjusted. :)

Added after 58 minutes
Recently, after the patch, I was figuring out how to equip a hero against an Alliance mage. It worked out great. First of all, against such a hero, you should only level up in Blood, as Tear abilities aren't needed there: there's no point in reducing magic damage with Magic Resistance, because the Alliance mostly heals rather than deals damage, plus Radiance dispel. Removing shackles is also unnecessary, as the Alliance has no Dark magic. But Blood skills are needed. Blood Rage with the racial ability extension helps maintain high initiative for one of the units, allowing them to move first on the next turn. And when playing a warrior against mages, it's very important who moves first. Horde Might helped me a lot in wiping out summoned Light Elementals, and they need to be wiped out quickly, otherwise they—along with Radiance—will paralyze all squads and that's it. In short, against the Alliance, you must go exclusively into Blood.

Now for the skills. Against the Alliance, there's no point in leveling up Counterattack, as Knights and Radiance don't take return damage at all. Vestals take it occasionally because they blind, archers shoot, griffins strike from the skies, angels resurrect. And on top of all that, there's always someone paralyzed standing there, and everyone successfully hits them without a counter. In short, this part of the skills is definitely useless. Taking Reinforcements lvl. 2 is also irrational, as it's better to spend 1 skill point on a passive.

Taking defensive cries is also garbage, because first, our specialization is Blood, and second, we cannot let the battle drag on. It's better to deal with mages based on the Brazilian football principle: "It doesn't matter how many they score, we'll score more anyway." That's the only way; otherwise, by the end, their racial ability will be much stronger than ours, and their healing will restore more than our units can deal. Therefore, cries only from the Blood category. Moreover, I only take one—Push Back, which allows the hero to strike twice. A simply essential thing if the battle drags on and units are few. (I don't say "scarce," because then we've probably already lost!) I'm sure someone will ask: "What about Heroism?!" The thing is, with Alliance mages, it's important to simply hit first and just hit, so that no one gets paralyzed. The strike power won't be an issue—it will be ensured by the racial ability and passive skills, as well as the fact that our units are Orcs, meaning their damage is good.

Now, what you absolutely cannot live without is General Inner Flame. This is probably the most important skill of all we have. It allows many stacks to hit before Radiance moves (if the panthers are still alive, of course). So: panthers have higher initiative, we move first. Cast General Inner Flame and go. The Alliance has another problem with Orcs—they have 3 large creatures. This is very convenient for our Cyclopes and panthers. In a lucky scenario, we take out the griffins with Cyclopes on the very first turn, after which they get another turn, and morale and initiative increase. I don't know yet how the Alliance should properly position themselves—I've opened them up quickly everywhere. Well, I'll run into a strong player eventually, and it will become clear. For now, I see problems for the Alliance everywhere with my tactics, regardless of how they position themselves.

Moving on to skills. You need to take the ability to dispel in the Dark branch, otherwise petrification plus restoration on Angels or Radiance and that's it. In passives: Defense, Leadership, Luck, Attack—up to lvl. 3—totaling 12 skill points. Then Tactics 2, Ambush, otherwise we won't see a fast start. Next: Endurance lvl. 3, Archery lvl. 3, Cleave, Giant Slayer, Rage, Resilience. Also Reinforcements lvl. 1. And that's it! With such passives, our task is simply not to let everyone be paralyzed.

Regarding active skills, it might seem like there are few. But! Their recovery speed is 3 turns. And we have: General and Individual Inner Flame, Horde Might, Blood Rage, Dissipation, Push Back, Reinforcements. Total 7. Plus the hero's strike. By the way, that can also sometimes be used to speed up units: after the strike, the once-per-battle ability gauge fills up, we use it, and thus increase initiative—a simple little trick. General Inner Flame lasts two turns and recovers, if I'm not mistaken, in 3 turns. So it must be cast regularly. Plus, you can apply it individually if the general one hasn't recovered yet. Push Back—recovery is 3 turns, doesn't consume mana, can be applied regularly.

In short, I consider the ratio to be correct. I haven't thought of anything better. Online duels showed that defending against people there is very difficult, even for a skilled fighter. As for noobs, it's obvious—3 turns, and then it's just formalities. :) And as for the hero, the best is either specialization +2 to Leadership or +2 to Attack (like Sandor from the Campaigns).

I'm curious, can anyone suggest a troop deployment for the Alliance against such a hero with such tactics?