The best faction

[RustedSorrow]

I am rather confused by this debate on which faction is the best. Are they really that well balanced?

[Mirez]

the dwarfs are pretty overpowered imo

[Akul]

The latest Favourite Faction in H5 poll for those who are interested in reading older discussions:

viewtopic.php?t=7942

[Angelspit]

We have had a similar poll on the front page for months...

Speaking of which, any suggestion for a new poll?

[Banedon]

There's a pretty big difference betweeen favourite and best though.

I'm not sure what to vote, seeing that I still have not the experience necessary to make a good judgment. I certainly favour Haven right now, but my brothers (who have considerably more experience than me at multiplayer Heroes 5) tell me Necropolis and Inferno are the most imbalanced races at present. I don't agree with them (yet) since Inferno has a hard time clearing early neutrals and Necropolis units are fairly weak, but I can definitely see where they're coming from. Inferno's units are weak, but there can be huge numbers of them; Necropolis simply won't lose units in battles once past the first few days.

At the other end of the spectrum, I consider Fortress fairly weak, but my brothers vehemently disagree with me and we have an agreement to test my hypothesis in a game sometime. I also think Sylvan is still quite hopeless, Stronghold quite luck-based (you get the anti-magic you need, your opponent is in trouble), Academy mediocre and Dungeon no better. I stress, though, I have very little multiplayer experience at present, having played only one game.

[tb5841]

The poll on the main page has over 700 votes, and results are still fairly even...

I voted Academy. They are the most versatile team and can adapt well to anything. Necropolis a close second. Dungeon get my vote as the weakest team, as they are so predictable.

I think it's extremely close, no team is significantly better than any other now.

[Corelanis]

I voted Haven mostly because they have access to high level spells from both light and dark magic which i have lately been favoring over my beloved summoning magic. They have a decent creature pool barring imho peasants and griffins and better than average heroes when it comes to starting skills again imho. Downside is from my experiance is a low mana pool.

[parcaleste]

Barbarians! Bloodrage is SICK! With just three Cyclops you can do miracles on the map

[Corribus]

I can tell you what is the WORST: Academy. Either I'm not playing it right, or this faction is completely underpowered. I'm playing the Zehir campaign in TotE and I keep getting steamrolled by the Dungeon faction in map 1.

[Metathron]

The creatures are on the weak side, but the hero is key. Specialize in as many magic schools as possible and take sorcery along for the ride, use Mark of the Wizard, and in the early stages of the game split gargoyles into all free slots and surround your gremlins with them (preferably saboteurs). Another great tactic is regeneration + colossi/titans.

[Corribus]

Well thanks for the tips - but against the dungeon my troops are just so slow. The dungeon troops have high initiative and several of them can get across the map in one turn. So, by the time I even get a turn, half my army is wiped out!

[tb5841]

Campaigns are a bad way of judging balance, in my opinion. Play Academy vs Dungeon in a multiplayer map and you should win easily... Not that that helps you much.

Try making sure you have a Fort before they get to you, if this is possible. Dungeon have weak ranged units, and Destructive Magic is very weak against Academy, so you can hide behind your walls while you destroy them with spells.

[Metathron]

Well thanks for the tips - but against the dungeon my troops are just so slow. The dungeon troops have high initiative and several of them can get across the map in one turn. So, by the time I even get a turn, half my army is wiped out!

Yes, I know what you mean, a similar case occured when a Sylvan hero attacked my Wizard and made short work of my army. Granted, I only had Titans, because conquering a gold mine on day 5 and making short work of any guardians so far had gotten to my head and I arrogantly decided to go adventuring further with only titans.

Anyhow, in case of a fast opponent, such as Slyvan or Dungeon I think your best bet may be Mark of the Wizard + Resurrection/Regeneration/Divine Vengeance and perhaps also Consume Artifact.

[Corribus]

Try making sure you have a Fort before they get to you, if this is possible. Dungeon have weak ranged units, and Destructive Magic is very weak against Academy, so you can hide behind your walls while you destroy them with spells.

Well definitely in siege I have an advantage. I've found that taking out the enemy catapult early is a way to really win such a battle easy, as most of their troops become useless at that point.

But the problem with this particular map is that the enemy has 3 (fully built) dungeons and I have a single tower. Thus, to win the map I eventually have to take to the field, where I get massacred. It's especially a problematic map because of the way the portals are situated - as soon as I leave, the enemy sends a powerful army through the back door to my castle, which cuts off my supply line. I think I'm just going to have to ditch the academy troops and try to build a dungeon army.

But for the question at hand... erm, I don't know - most of the towns seem pretty well balanced to me. All in all I think one of H5's biggest plusses is how differently each faction plays, which is really in contrast to H3.

[PhoenixReborn]

On xl map on heroic?

on tiny map on easy?

How many castles?

All random?

Is the question, if the map size was random and castle choice was random who would you want to get?

I voted for orcs. Nice start and blood rage is pretty solid in late game.

[danhvo]

Well thanks for the tips - but against the dungeon my troops are just so slow. The dungeon troops have high initiative and several of them can get across the map in one turn. So, by the time I even get a turn, half my army is wiped out!

Ah, you're not making good of the wizard's specialty. Have him equip your troops with Initiative-boosting artifacts, and your troop won't be so slow.

[Corribus]

Yeah, you're probably right. I don't like to use the Artificer ability - it's so tedious and micromanaging.

[decebalus]

I would vote for Academy...seems that I cant do it here..
From my point of view, they do fit almost any situation, don't mention here they can rush almost any map, using specific spells, like mark of wizard...

[Slepytchee]

I agree, though I´d also include the Dungeon... they have a swift and powerfull army capability...