Dream Team

[Mytical]

Ok I am trying to peice together what would be the idea squad of creatures. Keeping in mind that with this : Don't factor morale penalties (ie can have a creature from each city with no morale penalty). All special effects like the Mistresses would not hit your own creatures. Your hero isn't a factor (ie don't worry about what skills your hero might or might not have). You can only have 7 creature types, and only 1 creature per teir. Each tier has to have creatures from its own teir (tier 1's have to have tier 1 critters). Only the creatures actually in HoF or original h5 count. While hurtful effects won't hurt your own creatures, helpful still benifit them (AA's ressurect, paladins lay on hands, ect). Now personally I had little trouble up to lvl 4..still working on mine but my first 3 tiers are...

Tier 1 Scout (poison rules the day for me).
Tier 2 Fury (no retal, nuff said).
Tier 3 Hunter (double attack at range, enough said).

So far teir 4 has some hard to choose from creatures and I suspect it wont get easy again till tier 7 (Black dragons more then likely).

Magi
Succubi
Vamp...*sighs*
there are a lot of good units in tier 4. May not be able to choose.

What is your dream lineup?

Edit:
Tier 4 Succubi, but this is a very toughly contested tier. I like the chain effect of the Mistress so went with them. All of them are decent however.

Tier 5 - Hydras, another really tough call. These tiers seem to be very packed with excellent creatures. Their toughness and regen tipped the scale for me.

Tier 6 - Treants well for me it came down to 3 ..wights, treants, paladins. All the others are great but these three seem to shine. Tier 7 killer regardless (harm touch), Durability (treants), or fast and can heal..hmmm. In the end I decided that since I have no flyers yet (up to tier 6) I went with the creature that can soak up a lot of damage (so I have time to take down those blasted walls. Others may be better, but lack of flyers hurt this town bad.

Tier 7 - Titans. To make up for lack of flyers had to go with range here.

[DaemianLucifer]

1 - Imps(because of the mana steal)
2 - Furries
3 - Hunters
4 - Succubi(a tough choice here,but I went with the hottest one )
5 - Nightmare(another really tough one,but I didnt play FoH,so I dont know what patriarchs are like)
6 - Paladins(another tough choice,but I want with the speed here.Pit fiends would be my next choice)
7 - Angels(because of resurrection)

[Jolly Joker]

You should clarify this, imo. You said the hero was irrelevant. With the racial skills playing such a big role, I'd think you should expand that to dream team under a certain hero (just because of the racial, not because of other skills). The question to be answered by you would then be the following: would the special be true only for the creatures of the hero race, or would we assume it would work for all creatures.
Or would we assume that we could have all creatures with their racials?
Example: Would Assassins under a Necro produce Assassins with Necromancy (or could they be gated under a Demon Lord? Could a Wizard give artifacts to all creatures?
Or would simply each creature in the dream team be able to do their racial?

[Mytical]

Well go ahead and put your chosen racial and assume that the creatures could all benifit from it. (Ie if it is necromancy then whatever unit you put in tier 1 would be the one necromancy 'raised') I still don't think for the dream team that racials should be an issue. This is basically who you think is the best of each tier keeping in mind they have to work with the other creatures in the town. So knock yourself out . If choosing racials I think I would have to go with Necromancy here (I don't like necropolipse but in this instance it may be THE skill to beat). Keep in mind all drawlbacks of racials as well.

Edit:actually lets go one step farther. Lets create a generic hero for our generic town. Each stat has a 25% chance of being selected, they start out with 1 in each stat, and apon creation you can set their racial skill (once set you can not alter it). Each creature can benifit from said racial equally and without penalty. Better?

[Jolly Joker]

Well I don't want to discuss this to death. What I just think is, that it makes a lot of difference whether you
a) have no racials considered at all (which is something contrary to experience, if you think about Skelly Warriors or gating Cerberi and so on.
b) have one and the same racial for all (and here you could go wild giving something Furies something like berserker rune, Thunderclap, Dracoform and so on
or c) Having each unit come simply with their racial, so that ONLY Dwarven creatures could get runes (but this would be considered as possible), ONLY skellies could be raised, only Inferno creatures could be gated, only Dungeon creatures could do additional elemental damage (while BDs would be vulnerable against an own Armageddon), only Sylvan creatures would be able to get favored enemy (and the chance to do double damage - which would leave to define a regulation for the Haven special.

I find c rather interesting here.

[Mytical]

You are entitled to your opinon and to make your dream team however you see fit. So go with a, b, or c as you personally see fit. I would be the last to force my opinon on you. A lot of people, sadly myself included, put a lot of opinon on threads, that is not a bad thing. It is an opinon after all. One thing to consider; however, is that it is just an opinon. Even your posts, JJ are opinons. I don't mean that in a bad way. I realize that you and I differ in opinon on a lot, that is ok. Just remember it is opinon regardless how you cut it. Ubi/Nival expressed their opinon on how the game should run, I agree with a lot of their opinons, but disagree with a lot as well. You have said you do as well, which is fine. My opinon that specials should not come into play is an opinon, far be it from me to say it is the correct one just because I started the thread. Nothing is writen in stone (and even things writen in stone can be considered opinons). So I agree we should not discuss this to death. Make your dream team with any criteria you see fit, but remember only 1 unit per teir, only 7 units total. Feel free to explain why or not as you see fit.

[Jolly Joker]

Ah, okay.
With no racials at all:
Familiars
Blood Furies
Cerberi
Imperial Griffins
Nightmares
Warlords
Emeralds

This is simply going for Initiative with the mana-destroyer of Familiars.

Putting all under one racial (B) offers a lot of options. For example, the MG-Golem connection under the Dwarven or Necromancy special might not be that bad (it's a good combo with the Academy special either).

c) would be probably

Skeleton Warriors
Skirmishers
Blackbear Riders
Archmages
Nightmares
Warlords
Titans

[Banedon]

Speaking from a non-HoF point of view -

1. Familiars - mana steal plus Gating for fast speeds.
2. Blood Furies - with Gated Familiars to tank, they'd work well.
3. Master Hunters - obviously.
4. Archmagi - tough choice, but more Ranged firepower is really useful.
5. Nightmares - more Gating, and the ability to neutralize ranged stacks early.
6. Paladins - obviously; they just deal too much damage.
7. Black Dragons - more damage. Angels would be good as well.

Jolly Joker - your line-up is curiously lacking in ranged creatures. Are you positive it'd work? I don't know what the Warlord is though.

There're possible problems with my line-up. Skeleton Archers at level 1 would give some deadly Ranged power early. So would Marksmen at level 2. If I take that path though the Archmagi would be serious overkill; might replace with Vampire Lords or Imperial Griffins. It would take tweaking and playtesting to be certain.

[Jolly Joker]

Yes. I'm exclusively using extremely high initiative units, even though the Warlord can act ONCE per battle ranged.
With Emeralds, Griffins, Furies, Nightmares and Cerberi it gets difficult for ranged creatures to even get ONE halfway decent shot. Since you cannot guard the ranged creatures decently against Emeralds I consider them relatively useless in such a free line-up except Titans.

[tb5841]

L1 - Familiars (obvious choice IMO)
L2 - Blood Furies (factoring in growth I acually think marksmen are better, but blood furies work so well with grim raiders)
L3 - Cerberi
L4 - Grim Raiders
L5 - Archliches
L6 - Paladins
L7 - Black Dragons

Though could be fun to make an exclusively ranged lineup:
L1 - Assassin
L2 - Marksmen
L3 - Master Hunter
L4 - Archmagi
L5 - Archlich
L6 - Pit Lord
L7 - Titan

[Silence]

L1 - skeletons perhaps (ranged, particularly good growth if raise archers is allowed)
L2 - possibly gargoyles. Furies are excellent for creeping melee fighters, but with ranged lvl 1 and 3, their role would be lower. Thus considering the growth and abilities of other early levels, gargs could be better team members.
L3 - hunters.
L4 - a magican like the mage or druid could be a good idea. Will go with the mages.
L5 - unicorn with resistance aura is tempting, but other choices would be good as well.
L6 - treant as a heavy support unit and guard for the ranged ones.
L7 - black dragon for magic immunity would be good, but since the rest of the army are more range/defend oriented Titan would fit in better.

With neutrals allowed,
Lvl5 would be nightmare (to support phoenixes), lvl 6 possibly death knight and lvl 7 phoenix.

[okrane]

My dream team:

1) Scouts - best lvl 1
2) Furies - they can take out neutrals all by themselves
3) Hunters - really strong archer
4) Vampires - flyer, sustains itself, great all around unit
5) Unicorns - fast, blind attack, good unit overall
6) Champions - really strong damage dealer
7) Angels or Black Dragons... can't really decide but anyway you can get the picture

[DaemianLucifer]

Though could be fun to make an exclusively ranged lineup:
L1 - Assassin
L2 - Marksmen
L3 - Master Hunter
L4 - Archmagi
L5 - Archlich
L6 - Pit Lord
L7 - Titan

Pit lords arent ranged.They are melee casters

[Mirez]

tier 1 asassin (poison rules + their better in melee so they can defense other shooters)
tier 2 spearwielders (crippeling wound = teh pznz0r)
tier 3 vindicator (they just keep amazing me)
tier 4 battle griffin (yeay a flyer)
tier 5 archlitch (yeay another shooter)
tier 6 warlord (they own they pwn their everywhere!)
tier 7 archangel (quick, lotta hp, flyer lotta hp, ressurection lotta hp)

[Mightor Magic]

Mounted units and flying units defeat ranged units and defensive units defeat fast units so with that in mind {Tactics and Light magic}. I can see this on a Knight:

Level 1 units:
Shieldguards. Wow, nasty level 1 unit, hard to kill with might or magic. Not the strongest but they will do the job the name implies.

Level 2:
Well, the unit that the level ones are guarding, Marksmen. Notice the Light magic ability? Well, Teleportation hurts. A lot.

Level 3:
Minotaur Guards. Great on attack or defense. They are great but the Furies tend to overshadow their power. Let them loose, I say. Teleportation helps them, too.

Level 4:
Vampire Lords. Teleportation and no retaliatation. Life steal, too. Light magic will make them very, very hard to kill.

Level 5:
Silver Unicorns. With a little bit of Luck and Magic Resistance, this will make a good partner for the Vampires or Marksmen. And Blind, got to love Blind.

Level 6:
Treants. Hold the enemy still while the Minotaurs double attack with Luck, Morale, Retribution and RM. Urk.

Level 7: Well, with the skills my Hero has, I cannot go wrong with Titans, a total monster at either melee or range. If I use them as melee first, then I use them with no range penalty afterwards, at the same time preserving the number of shots.

With only three large units, all of them highly defensive, I can use tactics to its fullest potential.

Knight skills:
Attack, Tactics, Archery, Retribution.
Defense, Vitality, Evasion, Stand your ground.
Light magic, all masteries.
Luck, Soldier's Luck, Magic Resistance, Resourcefulness.
Either Leadership or Logistics. Depends on how many Castle I have to take and grassy areas there are.

[Lyan]

From what you said as an intro, races and hero skills should not be taken into consideration. IMO it's some handicap for the dwarves which are highly affected by the runes. Since it doesn't consumate initiative it's someway an inherent ability... so i will make my listing without taking rune in consideration, then set between () the runed dwarves.
Let's try it :

1) assasin, you can always find a use for their poison. ( shieldguard)

2) furries, bwah make the eraly stages of a game so much easier.

3) Hunters, power and warding arrow, i just love em so much. Though i hesitate a lot with the bear riders.

4) Magi, well since i already go furries and hunter, i think a third cookie cutter unit would complicate the (who should i kill first choice of my opponents:p). vampire where also in my mind.

5) Inquisitors, i'm sure this would draw incomprehension, but i love their style so much, plus i really needed something stocky after my 4 first tiers.

6) Paladins, i think they are so much overpowered... as well having em with me-

7) titans, a ranged tier 7, how could i hesitate :p

The whole thing is not very balanced, mybe too much offense oriented, but well i think it would definitly worth a try especially if by any mean i would come to find some cool initiave booster artifact on the way

[Phoenix_1973]

The hero - Eruina .

Skills - Irresistable magic + Arcan wave + Vision of elements
Chaos magic + Master of ligtnings
Enlightment + Intellect
Luck + Warlocks luck
Attack + Tactics + Power of haste + Retribution
Sorcery + Double mana regeneration + Erratic mana

Artefacts - Lion's crown ( +2 morale and luck ) , Unicorn's bow ( No range penalty ) , Tunic of Sar-Isa ( +6 spell power ) , Pendant of mastery ( Ultimate irresistable ) , Ring of speed ( +20% initiative ) , Ring of dragon eye ( +1 to all primary stats and +10% initiative to shooters ) , Emerald slippers ( +50% earth spells damage ) , Golden horseshoe ( +2 luck ) .

Creatures :

1) Familiars - it would be great to steal mana from enemy's hero to our .

2) Blood furies - hot and deadly maidens

3) Master hunters - with unicorn bow

4) Grim raiders - tough and fast defence ignoring crushers

5) Deep hydras - best protector for my lvl 3th and 6th , with tactics ability especialy

6) Shadow matriachs - on high heroine levels they'll support her cast almost every time with a no range penalty shoot cause unicorn's bow

7) Black dragons - I don't want see how someone Dark magic adept would turn my strongest stack against me .

[Mytical]

Some interesting set ups here, and a really thorough one as well *points to the post above*. Yet there is a core similarity and that does make me wonder. Anyhow this was an interesting diversion, keep up the good work.

[Banedon]

Lyan I think your choices are a bit too focused on the Ranged side. It's normal, it's natural, but for an army to be viable you can't have all Ranged creatures only...just like you can't pick the best creatures of every level and throw them together, you have to consider which units benefit the rest of them.

[okrane]

The hero - Eruina .

Skills - Irresistable magic + Arcan wave + Vision of elements
Chaos magic + Master of ligtnings
Enlightment + Intellect
Luck + Warlocks luck
Attack + Tactics + Power of haste + Retribution
Sorcery + Double mana regeneration + Erratic mana

Artefacts - Lion's crown ( +2 morale and luck ) , Unicorn's bow ( No range penalty ) , Tunic of Sar-Isa ( +6 spell power ) , Pendant of mastery ( Ultimate irresistable ) , Ring of speed ( +20% initiative ) , Ring of dragon eye ( +1 to all primary stats and +10% initiative to shooters ) , Emerald slippers ( +50% earth spells damage ) , Golden horseshoe ( +2 luck ) .

Creatures :

1) Familiars - it would be great to steal mana from enemy's hero to our .

2) Blood furies - hot and deadly maidens

3) Master hunters - with unicorn bow

4) Grim raiders - tough and fast defence ignoring crushers

5) Deep hydras - best protector for my lvl 3th and 6th , with tactics ability especialy

6) Shadow matriachs - on high heroine levels they'll support her cast almost every time with a no range penalty shoot cause unicorn's bow

7) Black dragons - I don't want see how someone Dark magic adept would turn my strongest stack against me .

Blasted Damn minotaurs