Inferno Campaign...

[Nom1fan]

Hi guys! my first visit.. nice to meet, my name's Mor.

Anyway, my problem is as follows:

I consider myself a rather good HOMM player, played almost all the games that ever came out (excluding WOG).

And still, I find myself very much stuck in the Inferno campaign in the stage you need to face Agrael on your way to Tieru.

I've played it twice, tried getting to the Sylvan castle as fast as I can and use it because it can reach Capitol, thus alot more useful than the Inferno castle.

Yet, I lose.. the enemy ranks are just overwhelming.. the day I built Dragons (the first level of them..), a hero Already Attacked me with like 6 Dragons, 28 Entlers (I might have mispelled.. I mean the big trees to clarify), etc etc...

I just can't seem to come up with a strategy to defeat these enourmous enemy ranks in this stage.

And by the way, up to this map I've easily gone through the campaign, without having to try any map more than once...

Thanks in advance,
Mor.

[asandir]

Hi Mor,

this particular mission has caused many people grief - it is a big jump in difficulty over the previous missions and the sylvan army is rather strong, there are a couple of suggestions, firtsyl patching to 1.2 (although i am not a great fan of that) if you haven't already done so can help since they apparently made that mission easier, changing difficulty for that mission to Easy may help as well

if you insist on beating it as is, then you need to really rush the enemy, taking the first sylvan town ASAP, then moving onto the NW town seems to work for some, the NE for others, have a go at both and see which works for you, don't build up the inferno town at all - use the sylvan creatures with agrael and a secondary can maybe utilise the inferno troops to clear some mines .... another suggestion involves taking out the elder druids in the rough centre of the map (a little to the north and west of centre from memory) since they spawn the small stacks of sylvan creatures that the enemy then recruits to build up his armies

and one last suggestion, if you can hire a ranger hero, you may be able to recruit some of those stacks yourself, so keep an eye out for a ranger hero in the sylvan town

well, good luck

[DaemianLucifer]

Here and here you may found out more about that map.

Speed is the key in this map.Also,if you didnt pick up phantom forces in the previous map,I suggest you repeat it(its not such a hard mission after all).That spell is a real life saver.Having expert logistics from map 2 also helps a lot.

You need to focus on sylvan troops and forget the inferno town completely(just build the city hall in it).Conquer the towns as soon as possible(it can be done in less then two months),because gilraen gets all of the sylvan neutrals to join him.Also,wait for the day 1 of the second week to conquer the south town because that pospones the druids spawning the neutrals.Also,make gilraen attack you in the town,in order to have an advantage.

If all of that fails,you can always conquer the northeastern town first,then when you get some army the other two towns,because the druids appear just when you take the southern town.

[Lady Farquad]

Speed, speed, speed.

I won this mission with Agrael leading exclusively inferno troops.
With a secondary hero (quickly builded up thanks to so many sylvan neutrals)with throngs of sylvan troops smoothing the path for him.

Without the "hurry hurry ding ding" psychosis.

[Nom1fan]

Thanks alot everyone for answering me so quickly and efficiently!

I'm glad to know this map gave grief to many and not only to me, because I started thinking I was a really lousy player of Heroes V

It is an especially difficult map for me as I am really bad when it comes to speed , speed , speed...

I will try your suggestions one last time (I think i'll just arm Agrael with as many Sylvan troops as I can, and a secondary hero with Inferno troops to try and conquer as many mines in the meanwhile, as I've seen this time, Gold is not an issue on this stage)

And if that doesn't work, i'll try installing patch 1.2 as was also suggested.

Thanks a plenty

[asandir]

No worries Mor, we help where we can.

Good luck.

[Killroyan]

Don't worry, I am an above average player also (completed all Homm-games on highest setting) and have problems with the map also. I tried it in 3 different ways now and haven't succeeded yet. Check the inferno campaign map 3 post to get more pointers.

[JurK]

this is how i fixed it:

RUSH

first castle in 4 or 5 days and his 2nd 1, the 1 in the left top corner in the 10th day. now make sure u have 2-3 explorers so u can see the enemy heroes come from far. now be sure to keep blocking the road of a strong hero thats heading for ure castle. while u have 2 castles and he has only 1, ure armies will rise faster then his. if u have enough army u can kill the druids in the middle and finish it with killing the last hero

[maltz]

In my experience 1.2 has made this mission a little harder on heroic. Probably Gilraen malfunctioned in the previous patches .(doing nothing at all, etc.)

You really want to kill the druids as soon as possible, or Gilraen's army will rise way faster than yours.

[Killroyan]

I always find this funny. The answer is rush??? I am sorry but that is not an option at heroic levels. Capturing the town is ok but after that I have to take the NW castle on day 10??? To do that I have to go through a stack of 7 phoenixes!!!! with something like 80 imps, 40 demons, 20 hounds, 6 succubi and 1 pit fiend. Tell me how I am going to do that when I have to conquer the castle on top of that? Interesting strat, have to try it out sometimes.

[DaemianLucifer]

I always find this funny. The answer is rush??? I am sorry but that is not an option at heroic levels. Capturing the town is ok but after that I have to take the NW castle on day 10??? To do that I have to go through a stack of 7 phoenixes!!!! with something like 80 imps, 40 demons, 20 hounds, 6 succubi and 1 pit fiend. Tell me how I am going to do that when I have to conquer the castle on top of that? Interesting strat, have to try it out sometimes.

There are many ways to finish this map.And the third town can be taken in the second month,even on heroic.Or,if not that,you can rush the druids,and take the town with ease.You need to rush until you hamper your enemy significantly.Of course,even if the above is done,youll still need some luck against gilraen.

[Killroyan]

I do however get the feeling that I need more magic to do this. I have at this moment expert gating, expert attack and expert logistics when I start the map. I wanted summoning magic or destructive magic but never got it so far. So what are your builds when you enter this map?

[DaemianLucifer]

It was a long time ago,but I think I had advanced gating,logistics,attack and dark magic when I entered the map.Oh,and I had luck.I used mass slow+phantom forces very much,and tactics was great for clearing neutrals.Especially on the last map.Also,hellfire is a very,very good skill,especially combined with soldiers luck.

[asandir]

i think you hit it there DL .... phantom forces is pretty much a necessity, esp on heroic, and mass slow helps a bunch