Nature's Luck

[jaq]

It seems that Sylvan will be my preffered fraction. It has good overall design of it: look and feel of the city, consistent set of hero skills, insane damage, small HP of army (with the exception for the trees), four units with no retaliation (including shooters) and last but not least - Light oriented magic. All this reminds me HIII Barbarian army, who's Air Batle Mage with no shooters (for some reason I did not feel good with Cyclops while those Orcs were just humble) was my best.

It also has a good path to Ultimate Racial Skill.

Luck - basicly all six skills are no-brainers.

Defence with Vitality are quite vital for low-HP-ish Sylvan army. Last stand can be good against enemy shooters, sucking retaliation or to prevent Mana Drain of Demon Lord (very nice perk). Stand Your Ground is thought exclusively for Dendroids and it suites them well.

Offence with Battle Frenzy and Natures Wrath makes Sylvan army even more offence-oriented, much like HIII Barbarian. Flaming Arrows with Triple Imbueded Ballista is eighth [how should I spell this?] stack in the army, thus you can be quite sure enemy will target ballista first with his shooters or spell.

Logistics - a must for every main hero (unless teleport or air walk spells will be introduced in some undefined future), Scouting maybe less. Silent Stalker - I'd rather depend upon my play skills, this perk is not my playstyle. Familiar Ground can vary from map to map.

So most picks for skill or perk are good and you're all the way up to the Nature's Luck very dangerous - unless your army is decimated. Here Light magic and its Ressurection can be important. And Mass Haste if we want to be a properly tatooed barbaric War Dancers :-)

We don't need no yelling Might in the expansion - we need something like very defensive HIII Fortress with a lot of specials (still remember those scarry Gorgons, squadrons of Dragonflies and weak but fast Wyvens).

[Bandobras Took]

Except if you've taken War Machines, the game will be over before you ever get the ultimate. Which is, in general, the counterbalance in ultimate skills; no time to get them.

Luck on every roll is nice. But you will have absolutely no magic skills. Or Leadership. One good Banshee's Howl and your troops won't ever get to act to use their luck, anyway.

On the other hand, I'll cheerfully agree that Sylvan faction makes for a strong line-up.

Personally, I'd like to see the Ranger who's gotten Storm Wind, Corrupted Soil and Wall of Fog. Talk about Defensive.

[ThunderTitan]

Yes, it's not only overpowered (OK, it's Luck that's overpowered, but whatever), but it also gets the best skill selection on the way to it.

[Bandobras Took]

I'd argue that one, too. Inferno gets Logistics, Attack, Luck and Dark Magic.

[jaq]

Except if you've taken War Machines, the game will be over before you ever get the ultimate. Which is, in general, the counterbalance in ultimate skills; no time to get them.

Agree 100%. I think there'll appear maps which will be done especially for Ultimate duels.

Luck on every roll is nice. But you will have absolutely no magic skills. Or Leadership. One good Banshee's Howl and your troops won't ever get to act to use their luck, anyway.

Well, did I mention something about Barbarians? Anyway, the preferred hero for the ultimate is Ylthin.
But then, Banshee Howl is a problem. Maybe an artifact and some on-map boosters? Unicorns' aura? Or maybe Magical Immunity spell, if we're talking about Necros?

Personally, I'd like to see the Ranger who's gotten Storm Wind, Corrupted Soil and Wall of Fog. Talk about Defensive.

That's completly different kind of Ranger. Less woodish I'd say.

[juventas]

Except if you've taken War Machines, the game will be over before you ever get the ultimate. Which is, in general, the counterbalance in ultimate skills; no time to get them.

Hmm, imbued triple ballista... yummy... Twice as effective with flaming arrow (negates defense!) and master of ice/lightning (reduced initiative!).

My problem is getting attack. For some reason I can't get it to show up with my ranger. Sorcery shows up all the friggin time though.

[DaemianLucifer]

I can see only two counters against sylvan at the time being:necro with loads of skeleton archers,raise dead and banshee howl,and tactics(coupled with loads of luck)for inferno(but youll have to sacrifice cerberi or nightmares for this),haven(forget the paladins after that)or dungeon.Without you destroying those hunters and/or druids before they act,youre dead.Not to mention that even if you do,you still have to worry about war dancers,dragons and incredebly strong balista.

[Gus]

1) I have only ever been offered "War Machines" for my Ranger _once_. It's far from being a common offer in my experience.
2) Mass Confusion is your best friend against Sylvan, i guess. Or Mass Deflect Missile.