HIII -----> Ballistics Skill

[The Mad Dragon]

I've often wondered if this is a decent skill to take...

[Dread Knight]

Wow The Ballistics skill is not very important,but i works.In begging of the game it is very helpfull for the cleaning of the mines.

[Pol]

I'm getting it with armies like Fortress and Tower or against them. From begining is extreme usable, later on become weaker.

[Mytical]

For heroes you confine to towns this is always useful, as well as estates. For ones you send out to terrorize the neighborhood, yeah more at the beginning then later. For a town garrison hero (if I can get the exp I need) I like estates, ballista, defense, attack, air (haste) or earth (slow) preferrably the mass versions, and luck..depending on what you can get and in that order of importance. Attack is all well and good, but you want to reduce damage to your troops not raise damage to the other guys. Of course depending on faction this changes.

[Phobos]

Who would ever have Ballistics on a defending hero? They don't have access to Catapult so the skill slot would be totally wasted! I could, however, consider Artillery, which lets you decide where to shoot with the towers in addition to improving the ballista.

[Gaidal Cain]

I would generally hope for something more useful (Water or Earth magic with teleport or earthquake comes to mind), but it's a skill that's not a total waste of a slot. I'd only pick it up if I'm running out of levelups and need some breathing space for getting better choices, or if my hero of choice comes with it (Theodorus comes to mind).

Pol: Why'd you take it with Tower? You're most likely going to outgun the enemy even if he's in the castle, and the only unit it's going to help is the (albeit excellent) Naga.

[Banedon]

Wow The Ballistics skill is not very important,but i works.In begging of the game it is very helpfull for the cleaning of the mines.

I think you confused Ballistics with Artillery. Artillery's the skill that helps with clearing mines but not Ballistics - Ballistics is only useful in assaulting a castle, and therefore I never pick it if possible. It's quite useless in my opinion.

[Pol]

Pol: Why'd you take it with Tower? You're most likely going to outgun the enemy even if he's in the castle, and the only unit it's going to help is the (albeit excellent) Naga.

Because I usually have heap of nagas as well as golems but lack in gremlins and mages. That's in the middle game or other occasions, really it depends on from what your army is composed and which type of hero do you have.

[Mytical]

Sorry yes I got confused (again) artillery instead of ballistics for a defending hero. Now earthquake is quite useless for a defending hero, but Mass Slow isn't . Also any spell that reduces ranged damage is great for a defending hero. And if you can give them the legion artifacts well all the better .

[EDN]

I like ballistic, it helpes a lot when I am attacking towns...

[Le_Faucheur]

you need it if you play with town like fortress or stronghold,or your level 7 units will never attacks during a siege...(or very few times)
but if you play dungeon or inferno for example,you don't really need it as your 2 strongest units can fly/teleport.

[BoardGuest808888]

I've often wondered if this is a decent skill to take...

In maps with 6 or more towns, it would be useful.

[Banedon]

In maps with 6 or more towns, it would be useful.

I don't think it's ever useful. In maps with 6 or more towns that've all been upgraded to Castle, you're better off just defending them with Town Portal and making full use of the castle towers...

[kitcat0]

For me it is a better skill than artillery. It helps minimizing losses when you go with army which mostly cosists of ground-pounders. Against AI not that useful since they are mostly stupid enough to open the gate and come out. But good thing about ballistics is also that it gives you first spell when attacking the castle.

[kitcat0]

In maps with 6 or more towns, it would be useful.

I don't think it's ever useful. In maps with 6 or more towns that've all been upgraded to Castle, you're better off just defending them with Town Portal and making full use of the castle towers...

I think you too are confusing it with artillery. Ballistics is an offencive skill, artillery mostly defencive.

[Kareeah Indaga]

I’ve found Expert Ballistics to be moderately useful. If nothing else, it can remove the enemy towers from play sooner in a long siege, so your poor range units don’t get pounded by attackers you can’t hit back or block otherwise.

[Banedon]

I think you too are confusing it with artillery. Ballistics is an offencive skill, artillery mostly defencive.

Actually, what I meant was that you should not lose the castle in the first place and, if you do, you should not lose a Castle (as opposed to a Citadel or Fort when taking it back is a relatively simple matter).

[BoardGuest808888]

I don't think it's ever useful. In maps with 6 or more towns that've all been upgraded to Castle, you're better off just defending them with Town Portal and making full use of the castle towers...

Yeah, that be why it's more important. Since they've been upgraded to castle, a little more firepower to break them down is always welcome.

If the towns don't have castles guarding them, probably you won't need ballistic whatsoever.

I think you can't attack towns and castles with Town Portal ? also, maps with more towns would see lot more sieges too, how'd you think about that ?

[Banedon]

I meant defending them. It's a lot easier to defend a Castle than a Fort, and Town Portal simplifies the task. You Town Portal to the town before it gets attacked.

Maps with more towns might see more seiges, but those seiges might not be so significant. Seiges hurt until you get a powerful army that can absorb the damage taken with little pain (for example, if you have 200 Ancient Behemoths and 600 Thunderbirds, losing one Thunderbird to the arrow towers isn't going to mean much). If your opponent's main army is inside the castle then of course you don't attack it (it being far too dangerous).

There are some replacements for Ballistics as well. For example, Expert Water Magic would allow you to use Teleport and burst across the wall. Expert Earthquake would take down the walls very fast (albeit taking up your spell that turn - still, if you're attacking a castle chances are it's not that heavily defended and it won't matter). I think Ballistics is a boon, but hardly a necessary skill.

[kitcat0]

Defending your town(s) is one thing, but you cant win the map by just defending. I am not saying that ballistics is a good skill, but it is not bad either. I find it mostly very annoying when I have a secondary army in town and AI comes with main army. It is possible to defend a town against much stronger army, but when your enemy takes down the gate with first round, most of the times you are screwed.

I tend to think that the skill is more useful against human player. Because they are more tactical and it is important to take down gate fast. Plus getting the first spell - for me it is very important against human opponent. For example starting with mass haste - destroying the gate and being in town and killing his defence before he manages to react at all.