Good heroes?

[Skull]

What heroes are very good to choose with (insert race here)?

We all know Claus is uber, but what about the other races?

[Alamar]

I don't know about "good" hereoes but some powerful and/or popular ones are:

Vlaad / Necros -- He's a Raise Dead specialist and the only Necro hero in the game that is guaranteed to get the Raise Dead spell. This alone makes him powerful.

Deleb / Inferno -- Ballista shots made with Deleb explode into fireballs [or similar] that don't hurt her own troops. This can be used to clear neutrals pretty fast. As an alternative I like Nymus because he gets bonuses to troops that are gated in - this is quite good in the late game.

Havez / Academy[although boring] starts out with 1 of each war machine and a TON of gremlins so he usually gets off to a fast start.

Sinitar / Dungeon has the ability to cast empowered spells with low mana cost. This can be useful early but isn't as useful later in the game or depending on how lucky you get with skills.

Ossir / Sylvan specializes in Hunter & Master Hunters so this makes and already great troop too good. Plus he starts off with a small handfull of hunters instead of his normal troops. I also find Wyngaal very strong because [late in the game] his special ability causes his troops to generally act before the enemy -- 1st strike is very powerful.

Dougal / Haven specializes on Archers & Marksment. In the late game you'll possibly have millions of them so specializing in these guys isn't a bad idea. In addition Dougal starts off with a lot of Archers so he gets off to a relatively fast start. Klaus can become a beast late once you have a lot of Cavaliers / Paladins.

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

I'll mention a couple of other academy heroes.

Jhora starts with eldrich arrow plus sorcery and arcane training (cheaper spells.) She is decent to start with and becomes very powerful at higher levels. My favorite of the academy heroes.

Nathir starts with the fireball spell and gets better with fire spells as he levels. Though destructive magic is not my favorite for a wizard, he can get you off to a good start.

GOW

[asandir]

i was just gonna throw a few in, but you guys beat me to it .... these suggestions are generally the ones to go with

as an addition though, get the haven hero that specialises in bonus cash from peasants (lost her name for the moment) as a secondary hero, helps raise some much needed cash early

[Caradoc]

I also like Rutger -- Logistics+Pathfinding. And Grok with the same skills plus a Teleport spell.

[asandir]

Ellaine is the haven hero with the gold bonus ....

[Bonzer]

Skull, I expect this thread is to gain opinions about best heroes, but if you want to see a comprehensive list of their abilities and starting creatures have a look at

https://www.celestialheavens.com/557

I usually keep this open when playing, and "Tab" or use the "Windows" key to check anything I need to know.

The most often used part for me is to get Artefact descriptions when they are not shown in the game, and creature abilites so I know why all mine are dying!

I don't have any favourite heroes yet, having just finished the campaign, where I tended to buff those I was given, I have yet to really start seriously on the single player maps. But when I do, I will certainly have some favourites, and this guide will be invaluable. Thanks to all at CH for producing and making it available.

[Caradoc]

An interesting side question would be which heroes make the best castle sitters and squires.

For instance, Ellaine is an ideal castle sitter because of her Peasant tax special and Recruitment skill.

[Bonzer]

An interesting side question would be which heroes make the best castle sitters and squires.

For instance, Ellaine is an ideal castle sitter because of her Peasant tax special and Recruitment skill.

For "Sitters" I would say
Haven - Isabel - 250 gp / day (same as 250 peasants)

Sylvan - Talamar - Recruitment


For Squires (meaning defenders?) anyone with missile troop ability e.g.
Demon - Jezebeth - Succubi bonus / lvl

Haven - Dougal - Archer bonus / lvl

Necro Zoltan - Arcane Intuition - the spells come to him! He can block enemy spells as well, and if one of your other heroes has Scholar he gets to learn more spells on returning to Town.

Sylvan - Findan - Storm of Arrows before combat begins

Warlock - Shadya - Distant dmg reduced
Warlock - Lethos - enemies could be poisoned at start of combat

Academy - Havez - Gremlin bonus / lvl

Of course all the "Squires" mentioned above make equally good mobile heroes as well, but are better than others at defending.

[Caradoc]

'Squires' are usually thought of as secondary heroes that accompany a main force. They carry spare troops, pick up treasures, flag mines, and occasionally help shuttle armies. I like to have a squire for every main hero.

[asandir]

ditto caradoc, my sitting hero's are used to earn bonus income, or generate additional creatures where possible, my squires like extra movement

[Bonzer]

'Squires' are usually thought of as secondary heroes that accompany a main force. They carry spare troops, pick up treasures, flag mines, and occasionally help shuttle armies. I like to have a squire for every main hero.

Actually Caradoc that does sound like what a "squire" would do. I assumed it not because whenever I have tried it, some dastardly enemy rides up out of the blue and knocks them off. Shameful behaviour I know. But a luxury that I have found to be pointless. Good idea though if you make it work.

I suppose Stefan's point about extra movement means they could hang back a bit, stay within half a day of the main hero. Hmm, may try this again one day.

[JurK]

best hero?

the swift striker from sylvan and the cavalier specialist from haven..

who is claus? whats his specialty? or is he the cavalier nub?

[PhoenixReborn]

I'm fond of Zoltan and Lethos because of their specials.

[DaemianLucifer]

who is claus? whats his specialty? or is he the cavalier nub?

(santa)Claus gives massive bonus to the cavaliers charge ability(I think its 2% per level),which makes them able of doing ~400% more damage then usual.

[Sathasarus]

I have yet to lose with the vampire mistress...

[Cyrox]

Lethos is cool- he casts decay spell on possibly multiple creatures at the start of each combat (can anyone confirm if it lasts the whole battle?)

[ShadeOfSandro]

(santa)Claus gives massive bonus to the cavaliers charge ability(I think its 2% per level),which makes them able of doing ~400% more damage then usual.

I don't know quite how you come up with 400%. Even if you managed to get your paladin to cover 10 tiles in movement, withought Klaus that is 200% bonus dmg. Factor in Klaus at level 40 and you have 280%. If you were to figure that 2% was added to the 10% per tile instead, then a level 40 Klaus would have Pallys and Cavs doing +90% dmg per tile covered!!! That is insane. A pally could move 7 squares and do 730% dmg! This doesn't seem to be the case in my experience as I rarely see Pallys doing more than 3x dmg, but I will experiment with it some more and see.

After looking over your post Im guessing you're factoring a level 20 Klaus(which is reasonable) and adding the bonus to the per tile effect.

[DaemianLucifer]

The bonus is added to the per tile.

Check here.There are tables for both pre 1.2 and post 1.2 cavaliers,and they can do up tp ~900% more damage.

[Mightor Magic]

Good Heroes. For me, I like the Heroes that have good starting skills and special abilities that actually work together. I like Lucretia but her starting skill is Sorcery, which combines well with Summoning and Raise Dead. However, that skill combo doesn't mesh well with giving Attack and Defense to self resurrecting Vampires. Mass Slow and suffering {which don't need Sorcery} would be much better choices.

So good starting Heroes in my mind:

Nethir for Academy who starts with Destructive magic and Master of Fire.

Grok for Inferno: Logistics and Pathfinding, with a cheaper Teleport.

Vladimer for Necropolis. Boringly obvious for Summoning, Master of Life and Raise Dead. The game really needs some better Necros like one that specializes in Skeletons or Liches.

Klaus and Dougal for Haven: Attack and Attack with Archery makes for a very good starting point for any build.

Kythra for Warlock: I like starting with Leadership and Estates. Plus, Leadership, Aura of Swiftness, Minotaurs, Blood Furies and Grim Raiders combine really well. Sinitar's good too and the Blood Furies, Scouts and Grim Raiders Heroes have their good points. Actually, any Warlock that doesn't start with Dark Magic can be great.

Sylvan leaves me stumped. Every Hero has a starting skill with a pointless feat already attached to it. Wyngaal comes the closest to being useful with Attack and Tactics but I would prefer to start off with Battle Frenzy and save Tactics for later to use with Dragons and Unicorns.

But look at the other choices:

Unicorn master starts off with Light Magic and Master of Blessing but no Divine Strength {oops}. So close but at least she can still get Storm Wind. And that First Aid Tent is so useless. Wait, that's not a good thing.

Hunter Master starts with Luck and Magic Resistance {Akward}. Luck and Attack would have been great. You know, there's an Inferno Hero that specializes in Magic Resistance and he should start with these abilites, not this guy.

Battle Veteren starts off with Intelligence {Stupid}. Scholar or Arcane Intuition would be more useful for the knowledge heavy Sylvan warrior. I still like him but he could have been better.

Sword Dancer and Avenger both start off with Defense and Protection. {Vitality? What's that? Evasion for an Infantry unit? Don't be stupid}.

Wasp queen starts with Summoning and Master of Conjuration {Bad}. Imbue arrow, anyone? Sorcery? Advanced Summoning Magic? Rain of Arrows? War Machines? Anything would have been better than Conjuration. The Ranger that's most likely the only one to have Summoning Magic can't get Fire Warriors {with a free 4th level Summoning spell}. The Hero has a lot of end game potential {especially for one on one battles with lots of Favored Enemies} but she is hindered right from the start.

Elven Fury with Leadership and Recruitment: Well, he has a bad specialty that never gets any better than level 1. And Recruitment for a main Hero? I only pick it if it leads to Aura of Swftness.

And that's it. Wyngaal wins by default? Where's the fun in that?