Heroes 3: Favorite Barbarian

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Note that Stronghold gets the only two Offense specialists in the game, Crag Hack and Gundula, while there is one Armorer specialist in Tower, Rampart and Fortress.

I like Gurnisson. Of all Ballista specialists, he has easily the most potential.

[jeff4815]

I also chose Gurnisson

[Pol]

Tyraxor can be a killer from the start. Even later he can be deadly if you wiseplay with your crittters potential.

[Jolly Joker]

Well.

One of the rare cases I actually prefer the magic hero, so Barbarians are second rate for me.

If you have to go with a Barbarian it's difficult.

Crag's special is great, but the problem is his starting with one skill on advanced level. Still, he's going strong from the beginning.
Krellion is a solid hero. Resistance plus the Ogre special ain't too bad.
Tyraxor is cool. He comes with Wolves from the start, and the additional speed comes as great as Tactics.
Yog will be the Barb of choice when it comes to taking cities.
Gurnisson and even Jabarkas offer options. I think, though, that Gurni's Ballista won't be of use much.

For no special reason except that I like him I feel well with Tyraxor. He gets my vote.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

I think, though, that Gurni's Ballista won't be of use much.

Though the special itself is not remarkable, Ballista damage is directlly determined by the Attack skill of the hero (and Artillery), and being a Barbarian it's at its highest. Starting out with a Ballista (most of the time) is nice considering your other heroes will need to build the blacksmith, plus ballista yard, and then pay 2500 gold.

Well, Gurnisson and Tyraxor look like twins anyway

[BigThingWithHolesInIt]

Ballistas (like all War Machines) are also a liability though, what with fighting Liches and Magogs, and Meteor Showers (that the AI will be much less likely to cast when it can hit two targets max).
I like Hack much better - the damage increase per battle round will generally be higher with him anyway, and portioned out much more handily. Plus I just don't like how Gurnisson's special relies on 250 HP.

I chose Hack but like Jolly Joker I would pick almost any Battle Mage over any Barbarian. But if we must rely on one primary skill only, better make the most of it.

[enk]

Crag Hack. He's the most typical barbarian - all about offensive power. I like that. Not much else to say here really.

[Banedon]

Crag Hack, because there is no other choice. Stronghold's key units are Thunderbirds and Behemoths. The Thunderbird specialist starts with Scouting, which immediately rules her out. There are no Behemoth specialists.

This pretty much concludes the issue. Jabarkas specializes in a weak unit. Gretchin specializes in an even weaker unit. Gurnisson has a speciality that will only be useful in the first two weeks (unlike in H5, the Ballista hardly plays a critical role in the final battle, and even if it does it is easily destroyed). Krellion is weak; Ogres do not need attack / defense, they need to cast Bloodlust. Tyraxor specializes in a unit that dies much too fast to be useful, and isn't really needed anyway. Yog specializes in an OK unit, but are you really going to take Cyclops over Behemoths?

Crag Hack wins by default because there is no competition.

[ThunderTitan]

Shiva... coz she looks cool...


@Banedon

No love for the one eyed rock throwers?!

[Yurian Stonebow]

Voted for Crag Hack.

Offense is a valid specialty and can soon help develop your Hero into a powerful warrior. Like others have pointed out, Mr. Hack has 7 skill slots left which means that you have more options to go with, higher chance to build up your favourite kind of general. And also, Mr. Hack gets my symphaties thanks to his straightforward character. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.




Yurian

[Muszka]

Exactly Yurain, "man's gotta do what a man's gotta do" - Mr. Hack - as Sandro told - is one of my favorite heroes in all HoMM games. His Ancient Behemoths are a pain to fight even in smaller numbers...

[Jolly Joker]

No, starting with one skill on advanced level is a disadvantage. If you start with two skills, let's say basic offense and basic tactics you will have FOUR level-ups time to pick a new (third skill). If you start with advanced offense, your first level-up pick will be between Expert Offense and Basic Something New. If that Basic something new isn't first raste, like Scouting, War Machines, Pathfinding, Ballistics and so on, you'll pick Expert Offense, and then the next pick is already crucial and pure luck.

[Metathron]

Crag Hack, because there is no other choice. Stronghold's key units are Thunderbirds and Behemoths. The Thunderbird specialist starts with Scouting, which immediately rules her out. There are no Behemoth specialists.

This pretty much concludes the issue. Jabarkas specializes in a weak unit. Gretchin specializes in an even weaker unit. Gurnisson has a speciality that will only be useful in the first two weeks (unlike in H5, the Ballista hardly plays a critical role in the final battle, and even if it does it is easily destroyed). Krellion is weak; Ogres do not need attack / defense, they need to cast Bloodlust. Tyraxor specializes in a unit that dies much too fast to be useful, and isn't really needed anyway. Yog specializes in an OK unit, but are you really going to take Cyclops over Behemoths?

Crag Hack wins by default because there is no competition.

Perhaps for you favourite coincides with best, but just as a reminder, this poll is about your favourite hero.

[Muszka]

No, starting with one skill on advanced level is a disadvantage. If you start with two skills, let's say basic offense and basic tactics you will have FOUR level-ups time to pick a new (third skill). If you start with advanced offense, your first level-up pick will be between Expert Offense and Basic Something New. If that Basic something new isn't first raste, like Scouting, War Machines, Pathfinding, Ballistics and so on, you'll pick Expert Offense, and then the next pick is already crucial and pure luck.

That's a two edged sword you know. Of course bad luck can kick in and you receive a scouting or luck or first aid or something you don't really want. But you can also be lucky and get a good ones. And how Yurian said you can evolve in a more flexible way. But what can Mr. Hack do on battle field compensates for a lost skill.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

. Jabarkas specializes in a weak unit.

So what? He starts with Archery, which is great for Stronghold (2 shooters). And having one more speed sure gives you a fair chance of Orc Chieftains shooting before Marksmen and Magogs.

Krellion is weak; Ogres do not need attack / defense, they need to cast bloodlust

I disagree. They should cast bloodlust only when they cannot reach the enmy to club them in one turn; and an addition speed point sure goes a long way to accomplish that goal.

Yog specializes in an OK unit, but are you really going to take Cyclops over Behemoths?

I'll use both, thank you very much.

[Banedon]

@UndeadHalfOrc -

Starting with Archery doesn't matter. Sure Stronghold has 2 shooters, but that doesn't make Stronghold shooter-based. Given that Orc Chieftains are fairly terrible and that Cyclops are out of the build chain, Stronghold does not rely on Archery. At all. Until much later in the game when they field Cyclops.

For Ogres, sure, you can use them to whack enemy units. It's not like you'll use them for that much though. Stack of Ogre Magi = split them and Bloodlust your Ancient Behemoths, Thunderbirds, Cyclops if you have them, themselves maybe, and then attack (hopefully backed by Mass Haste, because otherwise they are still painfully slow).

And yes, every Stronghold player will use both. Eventually. But not at once. Both the Cyclops dwelling and the Behemoth dwelling cost heavy Crystals. Where are you going to find the Crystals to fuel both dwellings early on? You are going to have to choose one, and I doubt you'll choose Cyclops over Behemoths.

No, starting with one skill on advanced level is a disadvantage. If you start with two skills, let's say basic offense and basic tactics you will have FOUR level-ups time to pick a new (third skill). If you start with advanced offense, your first level-up pick will be between Expert Offense and Basic Something New. If that Basic something new isn't first raste, like Scouting, War Machines, Pathfinding, Ballistics and so on, you'll pick Expert Offense, and then the next pick is already crucial and pure luck.

It may be a disadvantage, but if the choice is between starting with Advanced Offense and Basic Offense + Basic Artillery, I'll take Advanced Offense any day.

[Jolly Joker]

No, starting with one skill on advanced level is a disadvantage. If you start with two skills, let's say basic offense and basic tactics you will have FOUR level-ups time to pick a new (third skill). If you start with advanced offense, your first level-up pick will be between Expert Offense and Basic Something New. If that Basic something new isn't first raste, like Scouting, War Machines, Pathfinding, Ballistics and so on, you'll pick Expert Offense, and then the next pick is already crucial and pure luck.

@Muszka

That's a two edged sword you know. Of course bad luck can kick in and you receive a scouting or luck or first aid or something you don't really want. But you can also be lucky and get a good ones. And how Yurian said you can evolve in a more flexible way. But what can Mr. Hack do on battle field compensates for a lost skill.

No, it's not a two-edged sword, and there is no discussion of it. The simple meachanics of skill picking and probability make it a lot more probable to get a sucky skill when you start with with one skill on advanced level (like advanced Offense) than with two good skills on basic level (like basic Offense and basic Tactics). With Hack (and the others who start with one skill only) you had better get a good skill offered right on your first level-up because if you don't it boild down to a complete gamble in the second level-up. This is obviously quite different if you start with two skills.

@Banedon

It may be a disadvantage, but...

There is no but. It's a disadvantage. It's by no means an advantage, like someone else pointed out, so there is no but involved.

[BigThingWithHolesInIt]

It's an advantage over Shiva who has a 100% chance at a crappy skill.

[Jolly Joker]

Yes. But what I answered to was this:

... Mr. Hack has 7 skill slots left which means that you have more options to go with, higher chance to build up your favourite kind of general.

The simple truth is, however, that you have much bigger chances to build your favorite general when you start with a hero that comes with TWO favorite skills on basic level that with one on advanced.

Of course, starting with one good skill on advanced level is better than starting with a good skill and a bad one.

Still, in terms of starting skills, Hack is inferior to Tyraxor, at least, that's not even worth a discussion.
I'd rate Hack inferior to Krellion as well, but I'm prepared to admit that Resistance is not the most useful skill in the beginning of a map.
If Ballistics IS needed due to the map and the kind of game, it won't be a problem to get it for a Barbarian, so Yog is NOT better here, since Hack has more flexibility and Ballistics is no helper either in the beginning.
Shiva's indeed worse and since I agree about the fact that War Machines can be a big liability as well I'd rate Gurni worse as well, although he may be fun to play once in a while.

Gretchin IS better when you start at a random location on unfavorable grounds which is actually the case on many of the expansion maps - on many of them the whole map is swamp, snow and so on. On every other map he's worse.

Lastly, the only debatable case at all is Jabarkas. Building the Orc Tower and grading it up immediately is certainly possible to do with him, especially when there is an outside Orc Dwelling, and an additional 50% damage for them as for the Cyclopses is of use, considering the extremely good attack value the Orcs will have with him. It's certainly something different than the usual Stronghold tactics and should be fun, mostly.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

And yes, every Stronghold player will use both. Eventually. But not at once. Both the Cyclops dwelling and the Behemoth dwelling cost heavy Crystals. Where are you going to find the Crystals to fuel both dwellings early on? You are going to have to choose one, and I doubt you'll choose Cyclops over Behemoths.

*Looks at old Cyclops Cave stats*
Holy crap...
I have played with my H3 balance patch for so long (since 2001 !!) that I had forgotten how friggin expensive the Cyclops Cave was. I had lowered it to 15 Ore and 10 Crystal (and increased behemoth dwelling to 15 ore). That was one of the very first change I did years ago.

Well, thats's one more reason to play with my balance patch. The cyclops is among the weakest Level 6s yet had easily the most expensive dwelling cost. How can you guys play with those ridiculous values is beyond me