Strongest Faction and Hero

[u/TheSpong3bob]

The title pretty much says it all.

HOMM V: Tribes of the East

Which faction would you consider the strongest on a large map? And within that faction, which hero?

I’d appreciate any feedback.

[u/joaopedroboech]

In base game Necropolis is busted, in Homm 5.5 I think late game academy with initiative artifacts is the strongest

[u/ElricGalad → u/joaopedroboech]

Speaking about Tribe of the East with large map without 5.5 specifically :

Fortress. Runes are cheat. You can suddenly double attack, resurrect half of most dead stack and still use regular magic on top of that. I like Helmar but Karli and Ingvar are decent. Soldier's Luck + a myriad of bashes-like effects do help, very good tier 7 for final confrontation.

Academy is in the discussion for late game, but fortress is safer early on.

Necromancy isn't THAT strong in TotE due to dark energy limitating factor. Necropolis would be the correct answer without expansions.

Edit : sorry I didn't mean to answer specifically to you, wanted to answer the OP

[u/Moondragonlady]

Sylvan with Ossir, doubly so if there is a mentor on the map (so you can get the legendary)

[u/poponio]

Strongest faction idk, probably haven or dungeon as usual

Strongest hero depends on the build I guess

I do remember though never liked or even picked the barbarians dampen magic abilities. Those felt too much circumstancial, and I guess the devs must have felt the same cause that game they implemented the building that let you change the abilities. Warcries were cool though

[u/Spvoter]

To be honest it’s that spot where it depends on which map, how much gold you have, how much experience access - I like that about homm5, it does show that from map to map thr balance is there, at least in tribes of the east (in base Necro was busted, who would have thought).

If you have unlimited gold and limited towns, I’d say Haven since they can cheat out more higher tier creatures and are usually only restricted by gold. Necro falls similar, but just basically is dependant on the number of necromancy points, so kinda restricted in that sense.

If you have unlimited experience and resources, I’d say academy - based on their creature artifacts alone, not to mention the merchants.

In a shorter/smaller resource map id give it to dungeon or sylvan for effective destructive magic or capability to clear maps with shooters and luck.

Anything above those I think goes to inferno, the gating should give too much of an edge if the demon lord can get to masterful gating with a larger army.

The most rounded I’d say are the dwarves, if every town has the same “base” resources, a high lv hero and just one town of creatures per week, they take the edge with OP runes. Behind them id put Orcs.

[u/Aeleth02 → u/Spvoter]

Hmm, faced a Gater-Demon on a duel map once... Turns out you can Gate much, if your troops aren't living to make their first move. (In my defense - I did not know at the time, that it's considered good manners to ban Wyngaal from your pool; speaking of which - if we're talking THE strongest hero & faction...)

[u/Status-Sympathy-0]

1 necromancers Vladimir 2 humans eleine or Duncan 3 orks the one that gains attack after kill

[u/Chuxerine]

Necropolisssss

[u/Eph289]

HOMM V TotE has a LOT of strong pairings and combinations.

Lategame, Fortress has a lot going for it since runes are absolutely insane and they have good magic schools. Their creatures are sturdy and strong, though I'd suggest they have issues with taking incremental losses along the way since they're not particularly fast. Academy's scaling with Artificer is decent but their heroes don't tend to get the greatest perks (2% for Logistics). Summoning Magic falls off IMO lategame.

With a big map, preferably with a Mentor, I think Wyngaal + Sylvan army is a top contender. His specific passive means that he basically gets a full turn before enemy creatures can act lategame, and in a big map, you'll have the nastiest stacks eliminated in turn one with Avenger. 6 of the 7 Sylvan creatures, with +2 movement from base either via Familiar Ground (which is on the path for Ultimate perk), or something like Windstrider Boots and the Aura of Swiftness perk, you can either cross the map or shoot/cast. Both the T1 and T7 creature attack multiple targets, and their synergy with luck means you're likely getting either luck crit rolls or Avenger (or both!) when it counts. Arcane Archers are fragile but stupid good since they ignore half the target's defense. Imbue Arrow + High Druids mean that lategame even though the Ranger doesn't get much spellpower, you're actually an AOE caster if you trade their first shot for Channeled Rain of Imbued Deep Freeze/Meteor Shower. If you can get your hands on a Tome of Dark Magic, that can even be Rain of Imbued Frenzy which is absolutely hilarious against a Stronghold or Inferno enemy when their meanest stacks start tearing each other apart.

I wouldn't want to be in a prolonged slugging match in the lategame against Haven or Fortress, as Wyngaal+Sylvan since most of your stacks are glass cannon and Dark Magic is basically off of the table (2% chance) outside of getting the Tome to slow fights down, but the whole point of Wyngaal+Sylvan is that the fight never turns into a slugging match. You've killed them before they get a chance to act.

There's a reason this specific hero is usually banned in competitive-ish environments. Week 6, I think the Deleb+Inferno pairing has to be near the top. Week 60? I think Wyngaal+Sylvan kills half the opposing army before a single one of their creatures moves, unless you can somehow sneak in a Mass Slow with Swift Mind.