Is there a Faction that is good against Klaus, Haven Faction

[Banedon]

You're no worse off. The only two units that cannot damage your troops anyway on the first turn are the peasants and squires. I assume that your opponent doesn't have them, since the original post infers that he trained them to shooters and cavaliers. I would, if I have the resource. In fact, if your dragons fly over and somehow block the champions, the champions will do a lot less damage than if they attack your dragons from across the board.

I think you don't get it. There will be - or should be - a couple of Squires around, if only to add the Large Shield effect to his allies. And in any case even if all the creatures can damage you, you've just put your Emerald Dragons in front of the entire enemy army, making it easy for your opponent to absorb retaliation + mass damage. Even though the Seraphs can hit your army in their first turn they cannot hit any stack they so choose. Moving the dragons across in the first turn means every stack can now hit them, which is going to be painful.

In general, with the Favored Enemies skill, I think playing Sylvan will give you a slight edge IF you know ahead of time what faction you'd be fighting and select your favored enemies appropriately. At expert Avenger, 40% to inflict critical hits is no laughing matter. Under this condition, I would even choose Sylvan over Necro.

I find Avenger quite weak to be honest. What if you don't find the creatures necessary to use it?

[danhvo]

[
I think you don't get it. There will be - or should be - a couple of Squires around, if only to add the Large Shield effect to his allies. And in any case even if all the creatures can damage you, you've just put your Emerald Dragons in front of the entire enemy army, making it easy for your opponent to absorb retaliation + mass damage. Even though the Seraphs can hit your army in their first turn they cannot hit any stack they so choose. Moving the dragons across in the first turn means every stack can now hit them, which is going to be painful.

I understand. I'm just saying that it's not as bad as you think. I used to think like this too, alway afraid to go to my opponents first for fear of being ganged up on. Probably a die-hard impression from a previous version of HoMM where the battlefield was much bigger, and when "delay" meant acting at the end of the turn and not doing nothing for half a turn.

But against haven troops where 2 of the 3 large creatures have a speed of 8, and the other can battle-dive, you're better off attacking first. I don't think you'd want to see the champions under Klaus charge 8 tiles to attack you (hence the reason for this thread). If they attack, they certainly will pick a stack that they can gang up on to limit retaliation, whether you come to them or not.

[Ya5MieL]

Just make sure you attack first with everything you got. Sylvan is currently top ranked faction in Tournament of Honor, and while i do not play them, most of players that do play them aggressive way, attack with everything they got and use arcane archers to wreak havoc to most dangerous enemy stack. If it works for them, it should work for you.

Defense is good on paper, but in reality you just allow opponent to tear you apart.

[dralutz]

I appreciate everyones input and will let you know how it goes. And on paper, pending artifacts of course. It appears that with Wyngaal, possibly sprites, blade dancers and dragons would be able to move first. If so, then would it be a good idea to attack the paladins with sprites and dragons, making sure to place them so he cannot move without moving another of his creatures. And then with the blade dancers, moving them into the fray to hit as many as possible with the eight tile attack? Let me know if this seems logical. Also, usually I can lay my hands at least one artifact that will boost my initiative, so hopefully between that and wyngaal's ability, my army will act first, more than just the three. Does anyone know what the initiative of the ballista is?

[Ya5MieL]

Ballista should have initiative of 10.

Runic machines can increase that.

[yuritch]

One of the Dragon artifacts (AFAIR it's the Crown) also increases War Machines initiative. Runic Machines is a Dwarven only skill, while the Crown can be found by anyone.

[theGryphon]

Yeah, I agree that Sylvan+Wyngaal is your key to victory. I also suppose you can win with Necro+Deirdre (or Vladimir) but Sylvan victory would be easier.

1) Attack: Archery+Battle Frenzy or Flaming Arrows

(Flaming Arrows is very neat with Triple Ballista. However, if you go for Leadership, you really should pick Battle Frenzy+Retribution.)

2) Luck: Soldiers Luck+Elven Luck

3) War Machines: Ballista+Triple+Imbue

(Sylvan heroes are not offered War machines too often, so take it the first time it is offered. If you miss this, go for the Ultimate and pick Logistics: Familiar Ground, especially if you agree to meet on grass terrain. Another very good (maybe better) alternative is Leadership: War Dancers+Swiftness.)

4) Light Magic: Wrath+Storm Wind+Refined Mana (req for ultimate but if you don't go for the ultimate, I suggest Abjuration, then you can also get Suppress Light and ditch Storm Wind, maybe)

5) Destructive: Ice+Storms+Sap Magic or Cold Death

(Sap Magic is good against divine vengeance, while latter is very good with Imbue(with cold spell)+Triple ballista. With that combination, I suggest imbuing with Lightning Bolt for use against Champions, since the ATB multiplication by 0.7 is cumulative and ATB value will be multiplied by 0.7^3=0.343. However, if you have high knowledge, I suggest Deep Freeze which will do much higher damage).

Overall, there is more than one way to accomplish the task. Although you're not a fan of Leadership, combined with Retribution, it's a killer considering the Swiftness perk. Logistics is suggested only for the Ultimate.

I agree with other suggestions that you should rush to kill first, and Wyngaal will help you a lot in this. Your Sprites, War Dancers and Dragons will most probably attack before the Imperials, maybe all if your friends does not get luckier than you do with the artifacts. Your shooters might attack before the Champions too.

In terms of creature selection, Sprites and War Dancers are a must. I suggest Ancient Treants and Druid Elders but alternatives are just as good. I strongly suggest Crystal Dragons combined with high Luck. Arcane Archers will do better damage especially to high level creatures and have higher (11>10) initiative, but if you get the Unicorn Bow, than Master Hunters ftw. MH might prove better even without the Bow, thanks to their specialty.

Selecting Angels, Champions and Griffins as favorite enemies, you should have a fairly easy time actually...

My 5 cents... Let us know!...

[theGryphon]

Yeah, I agree that Sylvan+Wyngaal is your key to victory. I also suppose you can win with Necro+Deirdre (or Vladimir) but Sylvan victory would be easier.

1) Attack: Archery+Battle Frenzy or Flaming Arrows

(Flaming Arrows is very neat with Triple Ballista. However, if you go for Leadership, you really should pick Battle Frenzy+Retribution.)

2) Luck: Soldiers Luck+Elven Luck

3) War Machines: Ballista+Triple+Imbue

(Sylvan heroes are not offered War machines too often, so take it the first time it is offered. If you miss this, go for the Ultimate and pick Logistics: Familiar Ground, especially if you agree to meet on grass terrain. Another very good (maybe better) alternative is Leadership: War Dancers+Swiftness.)

4) Light Magic: Wrath+Storm Wind+Refined Mana (req for ultimate but if you don't go for the ultimate, I suggest Abjuration, then you can also get Suppress Light and ditch Storm Wind, maybe)

5) Destructive: Ice+Storms+Sap Magic or Cold Death

(Sap Magic is good against divine vengeance, while latter is very good with Imbue(with cold spell)+Triple ballista. With that combination, I suggest imbuing with Lightning Bolt for use against Champions, since the ATB multiplication by 0.7 is cumulative and ATB value will be multiplied by 0.7^3=0.343. However, if you have high knowledge, I suggest Deep Freeze which will do much higher damage).

Overall, there is more than one way to accomplish the task. Although you're not a fan of Leadership, combined with Retribution, it's a killer considering the Swiftness perk. Logistics is suggested only for the Ultimate.

I agree with other suggestions that you should rush to kill first, and Wyngaal will help you a lot in this. Your Sprites, War Dancers and Dragons will most probably attack before the Imperials, maybe all if your friends does not get luckier than you do with the artifacts. Your shooters might attack before the Champions too.

In terms of creature selection, Sprites and War Dancers are a must. I suggest Ancient Treants and Druid Elders but alternatives are just as good. I strongly suggest Crystal Dragons combined with high Luck. Arcane Archers will do better damage especially to high level creatures and have higher (11>10) initiative, but if you get the Unicorn Bow, than Master Hunters ftw. MH might prove better even without the Bow, thanks to their specialty.

Selecting Angels, Champions and Griffins as favorite enemies, you should have a fairly easy time actually...

My 5 cents... Let us know!...

[theGryphon]

Yeah, I agree that Sylvan+Wyngaal is your key to victory. I also suppose you can win with Necro+Deirdre (or Vladimir) but Sylvan victory would be easier.

1) Attack: Archery+Battle Frenzy or Flaming Arrows

(Flaming Arrows is very neat with Triple Ballista. However, if you go for Leadership, you really should pick Battle Frenzy+Retribution.)

2) Luck: Soldiers Luck+Elven Luck

3) War Machines: Ballista+Triple+Imbue

(Sylvan heroes are not offered War machines too often, so take it the first time it is offered. If you miss this, go for the Ultimate and pick Logistics: Familiar Ground, especially if you agree to meet on grass terrain. Another very good (maybe better) alternative is Leadership: War Dancers+Swiftness.)

4) Light Magic: Wrath+Storm Wind+Refined Mana (req for ultimate but if you don't go for the ultimate, I suggest Abjuration, then you can also get Suppress Light and ditch Storm Wind, maybe)

5) Destructive: Ice+Storms+Sap Magic or Cold Death

(Sap Magic is good against divine vengeance, while latter is very good with Imbue(with cold spell)+Triple ballista. With that combination, I suggest imbuing with Lightning Bolt for use against Champions, since the ATB multiplication by 0.7 is cumulative and ATB value will be multiplied by 0.7^3=0.343. However, if you have high knowledge, I suggest Deep Freeze which will do much higher damage).

Overall, there is more than one way to accomplish the task. Although you're not a fan of Leadership, combined with Retribution, it's a killer considering the Swiftness perk. Logistics is suggested only for the Ultimate.

I agree with other suggestions that you should rush to kill first, and Wyngaal will help you a lot in this. Your Sprites, War Dancers and Dragons will most probably attack before the Imperials, maybe all if your friends does not get luckier than you do with the artifacts. Your shooters might attack before the Champions too.

In terms of creature selection, Sprites and War Dancers are a must. I suggest Ancient Treants and Druid Elders but alternatives are just as good. I strongly suggest Crystal Dragons combined with high Luck. Arcane Archers will do better damage especially to high level creatures and have higher (11>10) initiative, but if you get the Unicorn Bow, than Master Hunters ftw. MH might prove better even without the Bow, thanks to their specialty.

Selecting Angels, Champions and Griffins as favorite enemies, you should have a fairly easy time actually...

My 5 cents... Let us know!...

[theGryphon]

Yeah, I agree that Sylvan+Wyngaal is your key to victory. I also suppose you can win with Necro+Deirdre (or Vladimir) but Sylvan victory would be easier.

1) Attack: Archery+Battle Frenzy or Flaming Arrows

(Flaming Arrows is very neat with Triple Ballista. However, if you go for Leadership, you really should pick Battle Frenzy+Retribution.)

2) Luck: Soldiers Luck+Elven Luck

3) War Machines: Ballista+Triple+Imbue

(Sylvan heroes are not offered War machines too often, so take it the first time it is offered. If you miss this, go for the Ultimate and pick Logistics: Familiar Ground, especially if you agree to meet on grass terrain. Another very good (maybe better) alternative is Leadership: War Dancers+Swiftness.)

4) Light Magic: Wrath+Storm Wind+Refined Mana (req for ultimate but if you don't go for the ultimate, I suggest Abjuration, then you can also get Suppress Light and ditch Storm Wind, maybe)

5) Destructive: Ice+Storms+Sap Magic or Cold Death

(Sap Magic is good against divine vengeance, while latter is very good with Imbue(with cold spell)+Triple ballista. With that combination, I suggest imbuing with Lightning Bolt for use against Champions, since the ATB multiplication by 0.7 is cumulative and ATB value will be multiplied by 0.7^3=0.343. However, if you have high knowledge, I suggest Deep Freeze which will do much higher damage).

Overall, there is more than one way to accomplish the task. Although you're not a fan of Leadership, combined with Retribution, it's a killer considering the Swiftness perk. Logistics is suggested only for the Ultimate.

I agree with other suggestions that you should rush to kill first, and Wyngaal will help you a lot in this. Your Sprites, War Dancers and Dragons will most probably attack before the Imperials, maybe all if your friends does not get luckier than you do with the artifacts. Your shooters might attack before the Champions too.

In terms of creature selection, Sprites and War Dancers are a must. I suggest Ancient Treants and Druid Elders but alternatives are just as good. I strongly suggest Crystal Dragons combined with high Luck. Arcane Archers will do better damage especially to high level creatures and have higher (11>10) initiative, but if you get the Unicorn Bow, than Master Hunters ftw. MH might prove better even without the Bow, thanks to their specialty.

Selecting Angels, Champions and Griffins as favorite enemies, you should have a fairly easy time actually...

My 5 cents... Let us know!...

[tb5841]

Nobody has suggested this yet, but I think playing as Inferno would work well. Knights have so little Knowledge that a large stack of Familiars will completely negate his casting power. Nightmares and Cerberi should act before his Paladins do, so hit one stack with them while you seduce the other. Dark Magic with Mass Slow and Mass Confusion should then make the battle easy. Unsure who the best hero would be though.

[yuritch]

Alastor can work great - enemy Inquisitiors won't have any mana left after his Mass Confusion, so they cannot use their Haste to counter your Mass Slow (and his hero won't have mana thanks to your Familiars).
So you should start the battle with Mass Confusion and then Mass Slow, they will only take 0.5 turn each, so after one full hero turn enemy army will be slowed, unable to shoot and retaliate, and the Paladins will probably be blocked by your fast units so they cannot charge.

[fiur]

well one thing who will for sure suprise your "buddy" is.... rain of frenzy... try that

(or maybe summ magic and rain of hive....)

then lets see what he can do?

[dralutz]

The only drawback I have for rain of frenzy is that most likely, at least one of his creatures that is going to be in my favorites is going to have moved to my side of the board, that is unless I am able to up my initiative enough with wyngaal. Even then, in the hopes of stopping his champions from getting a nice long run across the board, I will have placed my dragons and at least my sprites right at his front lines. so who is to say that he won't attack my creatures and then I have given him a bit of a boost with the rain of frenzy. Also, it would only work well if my hero was to have his turn come prior to his champions, which I don't know if it would, even with having logistics and swift mind.

[theGryphon]

Necro win is a longer stretch as they don't have high initiative. Champions and Seraphs will crush your army before you even move. Sheer numbers might help Necro out but Sylvan has much better a chance imo. Even Haven vs. Haven has better chances imo, which also has Dark magic at disposal.