Hero Rankings

[magian]

Reading another thread made me curious about how other players perceive the relative strength/utility of the heroes. So, please feel free to join in on ranking the heroes from most to least useful. Explanations are also most welcome.

Here is my ranking
1. Barbarian
2. Ranger
3. Valkyrie
4. Assassin
5. Dreadknight
6. Horselord
7. Paladin

This ranking is not actually as linear as it seems. I decided to go with frequency of use as a ranking system. Ranks 1-4 are all possible first heroes for me (depending on the situation). The DK, and HL have their roles as well. The only hero I rarely use is the paladin, he just seems a bit lukewarm at everything, and lacks a clear role (although he can be a beast with some items). So, I might consider a paladin as first hero on a map with many level 3s.

[KGB]

Hero rankings have to take into account game turn since the value of heroes changes dramatically from turn 1 to turn 10+.

Percentages indicate what I take on what turn.

Turn 1:
1) Barb - 80%
2) Ranger - 15% (low gold start and/or lots of L1 ruin maps)
3) Assassin - 5% (usually only with starting Ghost unit)
4) HorseLord - Outlands/Central Sahara only
5) DreadKnight - 0%
6) Valkrie - 0%
7) Paladin - 0%

Turn 2-5: (2nd hero, will always be L1 at this point)
1) Ranger - 80% (basically when I took Barb first)
2) Barb - 15% (basically when I took Ranger first)
3) Assassin - 5% (Ghost ally)
4) HorseLord - 0%
5) DreadKnight - 0%
6) Valkrie - 0%
7) Paladin - 0%

Turn 6-10: (2nd or 3rd hero, almost always L2 esp if it's my 3rd hero)
1) Assassin - 40% (almost always to counter nearby enemy Barb esp when arriving with Ghosts)
2) Barb - 30% (only if I lost my 1st Barb / don't have a Barb yet)
3) Ranger -30% (only if I don't have a Ranger yet or she arrives right next to several L2 ruins)
4) HorseLord - 0%
5) DreadKnight - 0%
6) Valkrie - 0%
7) Paladin - 0%

Turn 10+: (3rd - 5th heroes, L3+)
1) DreadKnight - 30% (now extremely viable since he is best late game hero)
2) Assassin - 20% (to defend cities against strong enemy stack esp when arriving with Ghosts)
3) Ranger -15% (If I don't have a Ranger or she arrives right next to several L2/L3 ruins and comes with Ghosts)
4) Valkrie - 15% (only if she arrives right on front line and can attack immediately with +10-+14 hitting power)
5) Barb - 10% (only if he arrives right on front line and can be added to existing hero stack for extra firepower)
6) HorseLord - 10% (only on maps with lots of open terrain)
7) Paladin - 0%

Basically there is no reason to every take a Paladin. Other heroes do everything he does but don't max out at +10 at L5. If he went to +13 he'd be a viable mid/late game hero or if he could raise his strength to 55 and hits to 3.

The rest of the leadership heroes (DreadKnight, HorseLord, Valkrie) need to be at least L3 to be worth taking. Prior to that other heroes are more versatile/effective for expansion and don't suffer the annoying Archon negate which even at 6 destroys all their value.

KGB

[Igor]

My usually taken heroes at start:
1. Barbarian, if starting group contains battering ram, yeti, or when some weak cities are near the capital.
2. Valkyrie, when starting group very weak.
3. Ranger, when both: some medium danger ruins are near the capital and starting group is strong enough.
Almost never take other heroes at start.

[Moonknight]

A lot depends on the map (ruins, guardians at cities, how far away the opponent is, terrain, etc.) and my starting units for turn 1.

But, I'd say 75% of the time, Barb first turn.

I have been liking Assassin on large maps where there are a lot of 1 unit guardians, and my opponent is really far away. Getting an Assassin to 100% personal ambush, he can roam free on a lot of the big maps. Of course, you need a lot of starting units or a unit like the elemental or catapult to get the Assassin up to that.

I'll do Ranger first for the maps that have a lot of level 1 and level 2 ruins near by.

Horselord or Valk may be an option on specialty maps, Valks are needed sometimes for maps that have multiple guardians and you start out with low power units.

I only like getting DK towards later in game when he can come level 4+.

The Paladin gets very little love from me, but I do still see him being used a lot by others.

[magian]

So, does he Paladin get any love from anyone?

I myself find it a bit odd that it seems to take longer for me to level up some hero types, than it does to save up enough money to buy them as higher level hero offers. The DK in particular is just so painfully slow.

[tabanli]

My usually taken heroes at start:
1. Barbarian, if starting group contains battering ram, yeti, or when some weak cities are near the capital.
2. Valkyrie, when starting group very weak.
3. Ranger, when both: some medium danger ruins are near the capital and starting group is strong enough.
Almost never take other heroes at start.

Exactly the same here. Often I substitute Horse Lord with Ranger in some maps and I know Igor does it too for example for Waste, Sahara, Frozen Tundra.

I have been liking Assassin on large maps where there are a lot of 1 unit guardians, and my opponent is really far away. Getting an Assassin to 100% personal ambush, he can roam free on a lot of the big maps. Of course, you need a lot of starting units or a unit like the elemental or catapult to get the Assassin up to that.

I also start with an Assassin in large maps where every city has one defenders and strong starting units. I am playing FFA west Illuria and at turn 7 I plundered every single Power Ally city at the center and nearby. That's around 4000 gold. Especially when a sage gives you an ability point you can have 80% personal ambush and 8% group ambush at level2. With an additional orc I can always go above 90 which guarantees a win for my level 2 Assassin.

[piranha]

So, does he Paladin get any love from anyone?

I pick paladin quite often if there is a good amount of ruins especially higher level ruins on the map. The ranger with a few ghosts may be a faster ruin hunter but I prefer the leadership over the rangers bonuses in the long run.

[tabanli]

So, does he Paladin get any love from anyone?

I pick paladin quite often if there is a good amount of ruins especially higher level ruins on the map. The ranger with a few ghosts may be a faster ruin hunter but I prefer the leadership over the rangers bonuses in the long run.

I also see a lot of people picking Paladin as the first hero in 4 vs 4 games and I can see the logic. The game is fast and heroes can rarely level up to level 4 before critical battles . You need ruin search and leadership by turn 1. He is also a good companion to Barbarian and Assassin.

[KGB]

I laugh when I see people picking him first in any game.

He (like the DK, Valk, HL etc) provides nothing at L2 so until he reaches L3 he has no real extra value. Meanwhile Ranger, Assassin, Barb all provide value of some kind at L2 in case you meet really early.

There is no reason to ever take Pally/DK as first heroes (I tried to address this by giving the DK a huge pillage value but too many players thought that was too much so he's back to never used again as a 1st hero). Even Valk/HL require special circumstances (certain map or very weak starting units) to take as a 1st hero. That's why there are only 3 real choices for 1st hero.

KGB

[tabanli]

Also can we replace catapult with battering ram for L1 ruin rewards. It is a 3 turn item who can take cities all by itself.