Could someone explain some alt. upgrades?

[ahoover]

1. Master Hunter vs. Arcane Archer- Ok, I have always loved the Master Hunters and considered them the best lv. 3 creature out there, so naturally I find it hard to say goodbye to them in favor of the Arcane Archer. However, with No Range Penalty I find myself asking if the Archers are a slightly better unit. What do you all use?

2. Familiar vs. Vermin- Vermin steal mana twice for other creatures, while Familiars steal it only once for a hero. Vermin have better defense and seemingly a slightly better attack. So unless you are low on mana, is there ever any reason to not take the Vermin? They seem like better units.

3. Blood Fury vs. Blood Sister- The Sister seems better to put it simply. They are relatively the same but the Sister has more health and slightly better defense. Is there any reason for still using the Furies when we have the Sisters at our disposal now?

4. Grim Raider vs. Brisk Raider- With a better attack and initiative, is there any reason to not take the Brisk over the Grim? The Grim seems to have simply become obsolete.

5. Berserker vs. Battlerager- From what I can tell personally, the Berserker is clearly still the better upgrade over the new Battlerager. The No Retal Berkserker Rage is just too valuable to pass up, and otherwise they are relatively the same creature. It seems like they both die too fast to take advantage of the Battlerager's "Battle Rage" ability.

I know that I must be missing something here to think strictly the way I do, so I was wondering if someone could tell me when you want which upgrades here. These perplex me. Thanks, guys!

[Panda Tar]

1. Master Hunter vs. Arcane Archer- Ok, I have always loved the Master Hunters and considered them the best lv. 3 creature out there, so naturally I find it hard to say goodbye to them in favor of the Arcane Archer. However, with No Range Penalty I find myself asking if the Archers are a slightly better unit. What do you all use?

Actually, as I'm not used to send blade dancers in battle, I do 2 stacks of archers: 1 arcane and other master hunter, as long as I don't have all units available for hiring. After that, I usually dismiss sprites to have 2 stacks of archers. It works better for my kind of strategy.

2. Familiar vs. Vermin- Vermin steal mana twice for other creatures, while Familiars steal it only once for a hero. Vermin have better defense and seemingly a slightly better attack. So unless you are low on mana, is there ever any reason to not take the Vermin? They seem like better units.

Hum, Familiars, I like them against other casters. Vermins, I used them against might troops. It all depends on the scenario in a general view. I don't use them much either way, but gating them next to shooters to block their attack for a while. Nothing much more significant.

3. Blood Fury vs. Blood Sister- The Sister seems better to put it simply. They are relatively the same but the Sister has more health and slightly better defense. Is there any reason for still using the Furies when we have the Sisters at our disposal now?

Furies are not retaliated. Sisters are, aren't they? That's the main reason I don't like Sisters much. Furies are oftenly taken by main target, and having another reason (retaliation) to lose them is not really cool.

4. Grim Raider vs. Brisk Raider- With a better attack and initiative, is there any reason to not take the Brisk over the Grim? The Grim seems to have simply become obsolete.

That I agree. I'd say something similar to other unit upgrades, like goblin witchdoctor (I've never seen any good from them), bardguy, nightmare (with the hellmare, nightmare seems like a soft dream).

5. Berserker vs. Battlerager- From what I can tell personally, the Berserker is clearly still the better upgrade over the new Battlerager. The No Retal Berkserker Rage is just too valuable to pass up, and otherwise they are relatively the same creature. It seems like they both die too fast to take advantage of the Battlerager's "Battle Rage" ability.

I rarely use that unit in combat, in fact. Can't say much.

I agree in the fact that some alternate upgrades seem more like an upgrade of the other than a new alternative.

[Elvin]

Arcane archers are better, end of story. A lot better.

Vermin steal half the amount a familiar would and can't gate and drain at the same time. No thanks.

Blood furies are better in earlygame as they depend on initiative to get by. Against a horde of squires a few successive morale triggers could kill you but not with 16 init.

Brisk raiders are amongst the worse upgrades ever, there is no reason to pick them. Grim raiders reduce enemy def by 20% per tile why would you give that up?

Actually battleragers are superior. They don't get 0 defense that makes them fall like flies and get extra protection/damage against large units. They can take it.

[Panda Tar]

Brisk raiders are amongst the worse upgrades ever, there is no reason to pick them. Grim raiders reduce enemy def by 20% per tile why would you give that up?

Odd. I had always better battles using brisk raiders than grim.

[Elvin]

Their special is weak, the only improvement over the others is the +1 initiative.

[durin]

When attacking with large numbers of Battleragers their Bash ability quite often triggers which means they don' get retaliated and keep their defense

[Borsuc]

As I see it now: Alternative upgrades =/= Alternative choices, unless we're talking about noobs

Alternative upgrades = huge imbalance in most cases (see e.g: even the Horned Grunt/Leaper whatever)

[Asheera]

I agree with everything Elvin said, except that I find the Sisters a lot better at the final fight than the Furies. They gain too much HP for just 2 Initiative

[Mirez]

[quote="Elvin"]
Vermin steal half the amount a familiar would and can't gate and drain at the same time. No thanks.
[/quote]
vermin can steal multiple times, even after gating whle familiar only steals 1 time, it can be quite usefull when your pit lords can cast 4 or 5 fireballs instead of 2