Heroes 3: Favorite Death Knight

[UndeadHalfOrc]

My vote goes for Straker, the only Necropolis hero to starts with Haste, and combined with the +1 speed to Zombies makes them somewhat worthwhile to carry around on a main army. Resistance is a nice bonus.
Clavius and Isra are quite useful too.

[HodgePodge]

Voted: Clavius with Magic Arrow, +350 Gold and Offense, he's pretty good for a beginning Hero. Besides, he looks so pitiful, like he didn't really choose to be a Death Knight, but it was just thrust upon him.

[Muszka]

UHO: Haste or not, Straker or not, the Zombies are useless.. so is Straker.
No one can equal Isra, she is ugly, but her skellies make all the differences....
Also I like Moandor in WoG....

Does anyone know, why all the Deathknights start with Spellbook?

[BigThingWithHolesInIt]

Probably because Necro doesn't have a low level shooter.

@ HodgePodge
I think they were going for a look of contempt... but I used to interpret him as being scared ****less.

I went with Isra, the boring choice but I also like her portrait the best so there. She's one of the best heroes in the game.
Tying second: Galthran and Tamika. I still loathe the Armorer bug but it costs Skeletons which I'm used to Animate all the time so it's bearable.
Clavius third, he will of course always be hired, and he's much better suited for exploring and conquering than Nagash. He tends to turn up in the Tavern a lot in my games, too, so I've grown rather fond of him.

Vokial - boosting Vampires isn't crucial due to the way they work, but it's obviously useful and +1 speed is always good but especially on relatively slow fliers. Too bad about the Artillery.
Moandor - boosting Liches again isn't crucial. It's still nice, but a slot wasted on Learning makes this a sub-par choice.
Straker/Charna - boosting a crap unit to a mediocre one. Not my cup of tea.

[darknessfood]

Well, i choose Isra. Just like the other undead, it's just great to have a good Necromancery skill, boosts your army really quick early game!

[Jolly Joker]

Slightly different analysis, this time.
The only Death Knights out immediately are Moandor and Vokial.
Charna is one hell of a hero with Tactics - Necropolis missing a shooter. Clearly, depending on the map situation, she offers a decent alternative to the VL upgrade you won't always get so easy on impossible. With her, going with Wraiths is definitely possible. Moreover, having Tactics for sure is an advantage anyway later on. Since I have a liking for things that allow different tactics she is something.
With Clavius I agree with HP: another hero with only plusses. It's definitely possible to go with him as your main.
Isra is the Crag Hack of the Necropolis. Very obviously very powerful.
Tamika is the solid pick. Useful allaround but nothing special
Galthran is nice, of course, but the speed advantage does matter early on more than later, and here Charna is better. Whether the Skeletons will get additional speed and a few points of attack and defense more is pretty academic, imo: what matters are sheer numbers.

That leaves Straker which I like. I specifically made a map starring him and the Walking Dead because I'd pity him for his special. However, bringing in the Haste spell and speeding up the Zombies with one additional speed is tactically extremely advantageous because early on it gives WD the same speed than Skells which allows using them much more effective as the cannon fodder they are supposed to be. Later the Zombies can actually hit before the Skeletons without having to wait which is advantageous as well in a really tough battle.

Since this is a favorite poll and I abhor the idea that only the quantity of Skeletons is decisive for me the decision is between Charna and Straker, actually. Bacause they both allow different play than usual.

So this time, just because no one else will pick her: Charna.

[enk]

If only Clavius looked better, he might be my pick. But since this is the favorite contest, let's look at others. It's either Galthran, Isra or Tamika. Both Galthran and Isra have pretty clear advantages with skeletons and picking between them is a hard choice. I have little experience with neither however, because I have picked Tamika quite often. There's something I like about her, and hey, dread knights are cool so boosting them can't be bad. Sure, the boost isn't worth much. Tamika is cool. Wins.

For impossible though, I'd go for Isra most probably.

[Pacifist]

Voted Tamika. Very good starting skills (offense) and with 2 black knights she can already do wonders .

[Tress]

voted tamika. great starting skills and death knight is one of best unit of given tier altough it takes some hero level raising until spec starts to take effect.

[Muszka]

@JJ
Actually what does it matter if you have speedier zombies or wraiths if they can't pack damage in? That 5-6-7 attack what they get at mid-end game offers no real boost.

Of course all that is just besides that this is a favorite poll.

[Jolly Joker]

@JJ
Actually what does it matter if you have speedier zombies or wraiths if they can't pack damage in? That 5-6-7 attack what they get at mid-end game offers no real boost.

Of course all that is just besides that this is a favorite poll.

With Charna you can go all the opening game with Wights/Wraiths. That's extremely important when you play on impossible and don't get the resources for the VL upgrade. Not that Tactics would be too bad with VLs, mind you. Tactics is simply the best skill to start with, so Charna has the best skill combo of all of them. Moreover the att/def bonus will roll in earlier and plentifuller for the Wraiths than for the Knights but that's secondary anyway.

For Straker and the Zombies. In the beginning, when you take the easy things it matters a lot weather your Walking dead have speed 3 or 4 (or even 5 due to terrain). With Walking Dead on one speed with Skeletons you can make sure that Walking dead move before Skeletons which is very important for absorbing retaliations and being able to guard-shield the Skeletons without being a hindrance for them. In the begining 20 Walkind Dead with Skeleton speed are worth more than 20 Skeletons, and Straker has the Haste spell as well which means his WD can take on light shooters.
Later on, Straker's specials makes sure that, no matter which way you play with the Skeletons, whether you upgrade them or not, the Zombies will be able to move prior to the Skeletons which is what you need - a Zombie attack followed by a Skeleton attack is a lot better than the other way round.

[Bimbasto]

Voted Tamika. I like Black Knigts.

[Kilfire]

Voted Vokial.

NWC giving him Artillery skill is an admission that any boost to Vampires & VLs is unfair With +1 speed Vampires can cross the battlefield in 2 turns, add a first aid tent and some sacrificial skeletons and you can take out light shooters very early in the game. And on any decent size map you'll find somewhere to buy him a ballista sooner or later.

Charna's good but I rarely build the Wight dwelling until the mid-game. At higher difficulties there's usually something more pressing to spend wood and ore on.

[Yurian Stonebow]

Voted Straker.

Boosting the speed of the slow walking dead and zombies is always a good choice. Other good attributes the Hero comes with are possessing the important haste spell, magic resistance as a secondary skill and last, my favourite, that hideous portrait of his. No need to wear the hideous mask anymore, he has it on permanently.




Yurian

[Baduum]

Voted: Clavius. Solid starting skills + nice special.

[BigThingWithHolesInIt]

the book on Charna and Straker

Interesting points for Charna, I agree that Tactics is priceless for Necropolis. I'll give her a chance sometime, though it still worries me a bit that the Wraiths' pathetic HP remains untouched, and speed is still the lowest of all upgraded fliers.

As for Straker, I used him a bunch of times but I really don't see the point. Sure now the Zombies can strike prior to Skeletons without having the latter wait, but it hardly makes a difference because the unit they want to attack will generally be faster than both of them. When fighting wandering stacks, Slow/Haste do the trick just fine.

[Banedon]

With Walking Dead on one speed with Skeletons you can make sure that Walking dead move before Skeletons which is very important for absorbing retaliations and being able to guard-shield the Skeletons without being a hindrance for them. In the begining 20 Walkind Dead with Skeleton speed are worth more than 20 Skeletons, and Straker has the Haste spell as well which means his WD can take on light shooters.
Later on, Straker's specials makes sure that, no matter which way you play with the Skeletons, whether you upgrade them or not, the Zombies will be able to move prior to the Skeletons which is what you need - a Zombie attack followed by a Skeleton attack is a lot better than the other way round.

You can always wait with the Skeletons.

I'm surprised so few people went for Galthran, when the Skeletons are so crucial to a Necropolis army.

[Jolly Joker]

You can always wait with the Skeletons.

You can always lose as well.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

You can always wait with the Skeletons.

You can always lose as well.

Classic.

[Banedon]

You can always wait with the Skeletons.

You can always lose as well.

You can always win, too.