Heroes 3: Favorite Beastmaster

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Ungoliant, come back, we miss you!

Anyway, my vote goes to Bron because of the guaranteed Resistance skill.

It is my opinion that of all hero classes, Beastmasters need Resistance the most: while Barbarians' kill-them-before-they-kill-me philosophy works well (with Haste support) vs heavy spellcasters, Beastmasters' mighty defense does nothing to help them against mass slow, implosion, berserk, meteor shower.

[Pacifist]

Tazar can be very good but you can have bad luck with his skills too. So the perfect beastmaster is Alkin for me! Almost guaranteed to have a perfect hero:)

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Yes, I came very close to vote for Alkin because Offense is sorely needed for Beastmasters if your stats end up like 2/11/2/3.

[BigThingWithHolesInIt]

Hm. I don't play Fortress a lot, but here's my take on things anyway:

Best secondaries are on Alkin, Bron and Drakon.

Alkin - Boosting Gorgons hell yes, since they're primary the ones attacking the lv6 and 7s this is probably the most efficient BM.
Broghild - Boosting Wyverns is a good idea. Scouting ruins it. My scouts don't tend to grow beyond level 6. On a large map, maybe, but I'd prefer a Witch then.
Bron - Only hero that comes equipped with lv4 units I believe. An obvious favorite for rushing. Basilisks are a very important unit overall and I agree with UHO on Resistance being a great asset for Fortress.
Drakon - Fortress' overall low speed and damage makes morale important. Boosting Gnolls is pretty neat, since they deal good damage off a now reasonable Attack value. Speed +1 also helps big on them.
Gerwulf - Ballista may seem to make sense because of the lack of a good shooter, but remember that you won't get a very high Attack value. If you're expecting lots of annoying low level units (Skeletons, Harpy Hags, etc) he might be a better pick than Tazar. Still, War Machines are a liability in many cases.
Korbac - Makes DF the fastest non-lv7 unit in the game (beating only Efreet Sultans in the process however). The flies are the penultimate harassers and need every boost they can get. I'm not sure how the Pathfinding works - does it still consider terrain rough if it's native terrain? If not, it's a bit disappointing because the biggest possible penalty has already been taken care of. Still doesn't hurt to have it in most cases.
Tazar will drive your opponent nuts IF he can level fast and well. Get Offense and Earth Magic and off you go to victory.
Wystan - spends a special and a skill slot so the lizards do passable damage at long range. Meh.

I'm going with Alkin. A teddybear leading deathbringer cows, THAT, mr. King, is the stuff for a disturbing horror plot.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

I'm not sure how the Pathfinding works - does it still consider terrain rough if it's native terrain? If not, it's a bit disappointing because the biggest possible penalty has already been taken care of. Still doesn't hurt to have it in most cases.

Correct... Pathfinding is wasted for beastmasters. Swamp terrain is the most difficult terrain but is 100% negated if you have nothing but Swamp troops.
Only good if the map also has lots of Snow or Rough terrain, OR you plan to incorporate another town's units (Titans, Black Dragons, Archangels)

I'm going with Alkin. A teddybear leading deathbringer cows, THAT, mr. King, is the stuff for a disturbing horror plot.

[BigThingWithHolesInIt]

Correct... Pathfinding is wasted for beastmasters. Swamp terrain is the most difficult terrain but is 100% negated if you have nothing but Swamp troops.
Only good if the map also has lots of Snow or Rough terrain, OR you plan to incorporate another town's units (Titans, Black Dragons, Archangels)

Whoa, I thought the movement penalty just took the hero type into account! So the minute you get a foreign join, you lose half of your movement? That's pretty harsh...

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Indeed, heroes don't have a native terrain, only creatures. But on the upside, you could play as Fortress, and get Crag Hack (if he shows up in your tavern) and use all Fortress troops, have no movement penalty (and no need for Pathfinding) and kick some major butt with him leading your swamp critters!

The Dragon Slayer campaign (From AB expansion) was a major pain in the ass because upgrading Magi to Enchanters meant gaining the Snow penalty.

[Jolly Joker]

Tazar's special beats out Alkin and Bron for me ON LARGER MAPS. On smaller maps it's Bron which means Alkin loses out somehow between the two of them.
I pick Tazar for face paint.

[BigThingWithHolesInIt]

Indeed, heroes don't have a native terrain, only creatures. But on the upside, you could play as Fortress, and get Crag Hack (if he shows up in your tavern) and use all Fortress troops, have no movement penalty (and no need for Pathfinding) and kick some major butt with him leading your swamp critters!

I can't believe I never figured out it works like this!
That's good to know though, I once had Hack lead a Fortress army and it was great indeed, much like Orrin leading Tower.
Fortress heroes don't seem to get the good skills a lot with me so that really rekindles my interest in the faction, cheers for that.

The Dragon Slayer campaign (From AB expansion) was a major pain in the ass because upgrading Magi to Enchanters meant gaining the Snow penalty.

Ugh. As if it needed more inconvenience. I honestly can't bring myself to beating the Rust Dragon scenario. Whoever designed this campaign is a master of tedium.

I pick Tazar for face paint.

That reminds me - Tazar deserves an honorable mention because I used to play with him a lot while listening to Mr. Bungle's self-titled, evil-clown-themed album.

[enk]

Gotta go with Tazar here. Pretty much the same reasoning as JJ's, including the face paint as a winning factor.

[Bimbasto]

Voted Gerwulf for the face.

[Yurian Stonebow]

Voted Wystan.

People seem to think that the lizards are not worth receiving any attention, let aside the fact that someone would voluntarily use Wystan as the main hero. In my opinion, boosting lizards and lizard warriors isn't a bad thing at all and with archery skill, they inflict (of course) more damage. That's a good combination.

While we're on the subject, the late NWC's decision to boost the lizards was not unbalancing on the grounds that the unit is after all the only shooter of the entire faction. People used to complain that they were weak and some even claimed that the lizards ranked as the second worse shooter in Heroes III: RoE. Magogs usually received the sharpest negative feedback.
The update was needed to prolong your lizard unit's lifetime.

With all this said, I go with Wystan and his shooting reptiles.




Yurian

[HodgePodge]

… I'm going with Alkin. A teddybear leading deathbringer cows, THAT, mr. King, is the stuff for a disturbing horror plot.

…………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………

I voted for Alkin too. I've always loved his cuddly face. Starting out with Offense and his Gorgon Specialty, for me he's the best Beastmaster.

[Angelspit]

I pick Tazar for face paint.

Absolutely! In a multiplayer match, some opponents will fear you more with a screaming maniac at the head of your army than some wimpy nature-lover.

[Corlagon]

Tazar? Hmm, that reminds me... I found a high-res image of his screaming maniac face and thought, for no reason, I'd post it here.



On-topic, he gets my vote too. Armorer and Offense specialists are ridiculously powerful.

[Muszka]

I'm going with Alkin. A teddybear leading deathbringer cows, THAT, mr. King, is the stuff for a disturbing horror plot.

I played with him once in a while, just because I like those cows... He's the only creature specialist with whom I played in SoD beside Dace...

[Deni]

voted Wystan

[Avonu]

Generally I don't like beastmasters so I choose random hero in this castle. But if I have to choose one, it will be Tazar (for his speciality).

[darknessfood]

Broghilt: Well, i loke Wyverns, you can get them early game. So when they are REALLY hard to kill, it makes them even better !

[Lord Lakely]

My favourite is Bron