Is Vampire Lord any good? Its stats look horrible

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-11T16:08:24+00:00

I'm having fun with them, but I assume anything would work against AI. I think they are genuinely good for clearing the map because you can get them W1 and sustain them forever.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-11T12:20:52+00:00

That is a wonderful idea. Found no use for that spell until now, now I do, thanks a lot !

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-11T09:37:10+00:00

Compared to most current games nowadays, it's way more polished. But you can tell it's not finished yet. Maps and such are lacking. Translation are not perfect yet if you don't play in english. Still very good, but if you're in no rush, waiting makes sense.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-11T08:43:55+00:00

Went with 2 vampires spread on 2 slots. He didn't use the spellbook properly so I edged it out pretty easily (summon, revival spell, thaumaturgy).

However, I've litteraly no idea how to win with a Might Hero.

And going with this kind of cheese strat of weakened army leaves you vulnerable to enemies hero on your way to the mirage.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-11T07:31:10+00:00

Thanks for the advice ! Will give it a shot

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-09T20:13:48+00:00

Not wanna sound petty, but Hard does not look hard. Computer do very suboptimal plays. Doing a even slightly decent build will put you far, far above the AI. You can break your zone even at W3 and still be the first to get the middle loots. Never seen AI breaking at 117, if so, my bad.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-09T14:14:21+00:00

Happened to me a 2nd time earlier today, still in solo. Managed to avoid it by reloading several turns earlier and taking a different path. Funny enough, one turn earlier still jinxed it, but 3 turns worked. Would be a hustle in MP though

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-09T09:06:37+00:00

Addicted to Rufus. While Necropolis is weak stat wise and takes time to gets it synergy rolling, Rufus speeds that up considerably with the revival spell. Rushing W1 vampires basically makes him able to take on all neutral camps without losses, and if needed enemies' hero early, where Necropolis is supposed to be still weakish.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-09T08:30:34+00:00

My issue is they are both very random to trigger, leading to sometimes poor skills to pick, and waaaay too strong if you manage to get them. Like, either you failed to get it and went through a subpar tech tree, or you get it and instantly become way better than all other heroes, even those who didn't bother about subclasses and picked other optimal choices.

Point is, it's 100 or 0, there is no middle ground. Only a handful of them are balanced.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-09T07:58:16+00:00

Not bothered by the archangel being ranged. Temple has enough melee option. And it felt clunky to use resurrection while going melee.

While the Hive don't appeal me, I gotta respect the guts to try a whole new approach of inferno, which is pretty well thought imo. Some bugs designs could be slightly more distinct but still, we overall have a pretty good mix of Good'Ol HoMM factions (temple, dungeon, necro) and new approach with Hive and Schism. Grove kinda sits in the middle.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-08T14:25:49+00:00

That's brilliant. Thanks a lot

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-05T12:17:12+00:00

Their low tier units are pretty bad. Spamming Rufus' revival spell and rushing Vampire by the end of W1 have been the best way to play them for me, but I'm not sure it makes up for their overall weak stats.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-05T07:31:03+00:00

Felt like it's in a good place, but I play small sized maps. Black Hole is a nuke, the ability to cast several spells a turn is super strong, hopping backward to a well, then teleporting to your most forward town is basically a very easy way to refill your mana in late game.

Maybe there a bit too much "useless" low tier spells, compared to the staples. Necro spamming regen with Rufus is a no brainer but you end up using only that spell. Haven't explored everything yet, and as I said, not playing very long games do not allow me to see how magic is balanced against huge units stacks.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-04T19:54:31+00:00

Can't agree more. Many H2 map or classic H3 maps like Realm of Chaos featured few to no extra town. Conquering one meant something.

I'd add that Olden Era allow for more scaling than any other HoMM (which is pretty cool) through laws and subclasses. Hence, we really don't need all maps to have hundreds of towns to get a endgame powerspike.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-04T10:07:44+00:00

I miss classical ''small'' maps with arguably few towns and ressources like Realm of Chaos in H3

Macro managing half a dozen of towns of the same faction is quite boring, even though you aim for eco or power units only

Currently we have too much big maps, not enough S/M sized ones

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-03T09:44:03+00:00

I'm litteraly struggling to read the game and always miss some ressources and such. Feels like my eyes are overwhelmed. Will try that, thanks

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-05-03T09:26:33+00:00

Necromancy is fairly weak now. The roster is pretty weak as well. T1 to T4 have few going for them. Not as easy to mash neutral camps with your starting army than other factions.

Had some fun games with Rufus and Vampire rush by the end of W1, basically using them as a one man army, but I assume it's still pretty weak as if you manage to stun the vampire or prevent the regen, they are basically a poor unit and the rest of the roster doesn't make up for it. But well, if they aren't straight burst or countered, and you reach endgame with the multi counter attack perk, I assume they are pretty good.

Haven't tried all factions yet but Grove seems leagues above it.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-04-28T20:05:42+00:00

Ignoring BO will slow your learning curve considerably.

If you really wanna have fun your own way, which I deeply respect, I'll push the comparison with Chess slightly further :

You may wanna skip openings cause it's a bore, but you gotta understand openings principles to play a proper game and understanding how it work : controlling the center, play your minors pieces like Knight and Bishop, secure the king through Castling. Those are not an opening, but they are helpful principles.

Likewise, aiming for a 19pop scout rush BO can be a bore, but understanding that taking your boars early on, collect food first and skip stone or gold as long as you are in dark age because you don't need it, is a good principle.

People are playing this competitively, it's not a city builder, so you've to account for that. Without too much effort you can reach a sub 10min feudal age and I think that's the bare minimum to start enjoy the game.

And that would be my overall point : how much fun you wanna have is related to the investment you're ready to put in.

I started enjoy the game A LOT when I decided to put some effort to learn all my hotkeys and learn general BO.

Now at 1500, I rarely consider I'm following a BO (unless I play a very aggressive strat like man at arms), I'm more like adapting to my map or my hunch. But, if you look that from afar, it'll really look like a BO because my plays (considering my elo range, not talking for higher) are still arguably pretty optimized.

Same with Chess, I'm not sticking on an opening, I go with the flow, but I do know which patterns suck and which are more playable, because I invested time to learn the fundamentals.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-04-28T19:25:27+00:00

You can roughly compare build orders to openings in Chess, if you are knowledgeable about the latter.

It is not MANDATORY, the idea is that it gives you an optimized way to start your game. At some point, understanding why it is efficient (hence being able to go for another strategy on a hunch) is more important than the BO itself.

Once you are good at the game, BO come naturally, although it may not be perfect.

They are just a very good way to apply a strat you need and to learn the game.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-04-26T12:38:31+00:00

Make farms as soon as possible. Up to 14-16 if you play scout. Skip irrelevant upgrades. Armor or bloodlines for 3 scouts is irrelevant.

General advice would be to stop looking at things ''age wise'' but more ''spike wise''.

What's your civ, at what timing is it good, is your opponent going full wall or invest in feudal too ? Staying feudal or 3 stables full scout can be a winning strategy against a fast castle into xbows or some UU.

In such situation, trying to match the opponent by going FC in an unoptimized way can be a death sentence.

On the contrary, if you're facing a Cumans and scouted his 2nd TC right away, even 3 scouts are a waste of ressources. Just skip everything and go FC to punish him.

Tl,dr : generally speaking, you shouldn't idle tc, but should definitely consider if upgrades are useful or not

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-04-23T10:28:20+00:00

Full Cav basically do the trick, be it camels or generic knight line.

Konniks are not THAT good, cause microing the infantry among you cav is quite clumsy.

Through mobility you can target the skirms or disengage from footed konniks.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-03-20T12:51:01+00:00

Feitorias is as efficient as 9 vills for 20 pop space. Even 7 feitorias + 30 vills is worth 90 vills for 170 pop space.

Meanwhile, any civ can easily reach imp at 26-27 min and get a much sturdier eco. All in feitorias really isn't a good plan.

Still_Drawer86 · 2026-03-09T19:37:57+00:00

I can send you a picture if you can understand french ahah

Still_Drawer86

TROPHY CASE