Heroes 3 Strategy: Town tier list

In this video I rank that towns and discuss their strengths and weaknesses as they apply to pvp (mostly JC template).

Here are some more videos for more detailed overviews and gameplay demonstrations for some of these towns:

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#heroes3 #homm3 #themagician #alexthemagician #heroesofmightandmagic3

[KoongYe]

Stronghold is the best town. You can't lose with town theme that majestic.

[pandaman]

Just from an offline perspective I think that some towns are actually superior. Most of you guys propably only play the large maps but on the small maps towns like Rampart are actually very good because they have very good early units.

[blainethemono]

For Jebus, this is a solid list. I think Castle and Dungeon are tied at S, but everything else made sense. Outside of Jebus, I think Cove is on par with Conflux. The speed, specials and hero specials make Cove a nightmare to deal with. Cove hero with Resistance is super cheap.

[JarethGT]

The fact that Inferno is so underpowered makes the wins so much more satisfying for me. But I do wish they'd buff them a little more.

[ivomollov]

One thing you overlooked about rampart is the fact that Jazel exists. Given how common interference artis are her specialty makes a colossal threat to any hero especially magic ones. Your Solmyr has 40 spell power? Nah, more like 7. It's not to be underestimated

[MarkBelain]

Low key wish you went with worst first, because after I saw Necro & Conflux, I kinda sat there feeling like I knew the most relevant info, and skimmed the rest.

[ernstkristianstlen]

I thought i was good at heroes 3 until i started watching this guy's videos..

[MaegnasMw]

A few thoughts (not that any of them matter really, see shortly afterwards as to why) on your rankings. You said up front, and thanks for that, that your main focus is the performance of each town in JC template games under HotA, my thoughts are for more "generic" games, perhaps longer games, campaign scenarios and stuff like that, you know, Heroes 3 stuff! So, JC/HotA aficionados can safely disregard my post completely.

Necropolis IS the king of the endgame, if you let it. Their ability to amass skeletons (and Power Liches in So D, with that darned Cloak!) is truly overbearing but you CAN hold them off by using a combo of high attack, high battle speed units AND good numbers of effective shooters (with a sprinkling of Expert Earth to Mass Slow their bony behinds while you shoot them to...death? Undeath? I'm confused here.)

Dungeon IS the most well rounded town in any game. It has THREE flyers, one of them invulnerable to magic, one a really good hitter that paralyzes you and one that hits like a boomerang with no retaliation! TWO shooters, one suffering no mellee penalty and the other able to stone your a$$. TWO ground units, one that is one of the best hitters out there, always with at least +1 morale (Minotaurs/Kings) and the other....kinda of "meh" but it is a level 1 unit so what did you expect? Dragons?? 😋

Castle is higher in my book, for a variety of reasons. Early game Marksmen can make or break you, unlimited retaliation from Royal Griffins (yes, they only have 25 HP, kinda standard for lvl 3, but they generate in good numbers), ressurection by your Archangels (plus, you go first in ALL battles except Phoenixes and Azure Dragons). Castle also has some decent heroes, Valeska as you mentioned, rules early on, and so does Adela, if you can get her (level her twice, get Expert Diplomacy, some money flow and you can hire half the map on week 1!), Christian and his Ballista can do wonders early on, especially if you land Artillery in his first level up, Edric, Whatshisname with the Monk specialty and Tyris rock their respective creatures with their specialties so you want to make armies for them that are ONLY their specialty creatures (I know, it is hard to have many Cavalries/Champions for Tyris on week 1 but we can dream, right?). Adelaide and Loynis with their Water Magic dependent spell specialties (I know, Water Magic is a pariah in JC, I am discussing H3 now and I maintain that it has its uses and they are many. You want Mass Bless? Mass Weakness? Mass Forgetfulness? Mass Prayer? Clone your Archangels? Teleport over walls? Get Earth....sorry, Water Magic to expert!).

Rampart also has a "hidden" use in longer games (generally, "longer"=anything that sees week 3) and it is being your BANK! 10% for cash on hand on day 7 for each Treasury?? Yes please! You mean, if I roll 3 Ramparts by the end of month 1 (easy there fellas, again, it is NOT JC!!) I get 30% MORE MONEY on the start of next week, EVERY week?? YES, PLEASE!! Plus, Kyrre STILL rocks the roads in my games, nobody nerfed her!😉

For the others I don't have much to say, even though you were talking about a different game (see postscript) you said, more or less, what I would say about them (not about Cove, never saw it, never wanted to see it).

P.S. Having a game like Heroes 3, with its campaigns, expansions, stand alone maps AND PvP templates (which are not solely for PvP but are mainly used for it, no?) and focusing on an unofficial expansion and, more than that, ONE specific template is kinda like having 100 fingers and using only ONE to type! Or, perhaps more aptly, having 100 fonts to choose from and always using Ink Free.

[peterjohnjimenez]

I'm glad I have some validation with Necro and Conflux. I keep arguing with a friend that Necro and Conflux has weaker units overall. That it will depend on the hero to make it work.

[SynAstra]

1 - Necropolis
2 - Conflux (Elemental)
3 - Castle (Humans)
4 - Tower (Mages/Magical Creatures)
5 - Dungeon (Underground/Mythical)
6 - Rampart (Nature/Elf/Dwarf)
7 - Fortress (Swamp Creatures/Gnolls/Lizards)
8 - Stronghold (Orcs/Ogres/Cyclopes)
9 - Inferno (Demons)
10 - Cove (Pirates)

This is my ranking based on a consensus from multiple good sources and from 20+ years of experience with the game.
Having no lv4 and 5 magic guild on Fortress is a considerable drawback sometimes, so much that I find it basically on the same ranking as Stronghold.
I personally really like Dungeon and Inferno.

[davidmccormick]

Mine, but I play offline.
Castle-Like the theme, like the units(except halberd) and overall a great town. Only flaws are crossbowmen and crusaders are slow, but overall great! A+.
Heroes: Valeska, Loynis, Clerics.

Conflux: Best mage town for me, as the Spell school rocks! Overall great group. A+
Heroes: Any are good, they all have a use.


Stronghold:
Quick Rocs/Thunderbirds. Wish the Cyclops weren’t gated behind orcs and Ogres, but.. B+
Heroes: Battle Mage all the way, and Shiva.

[kalu]

Rampart is S tier. 10% interest on gold at the end of the week? That spirals out of control fast.

[Novocane]

Ghost Dragon is very weak but 1 stack Age gamble can seriously pay off - with Ageing attack being possibly one of the most powerful debuffs in the game.
It's not as powerful against weaker units with a lot less health (it is still quite powerful, almost halving the damage needed to destroy the whole stack) - but it's very strong against high HP, sturdy, units.

[klazareth]

Hi! Just arrived and subscribed to your channel, I'm French.
What is the cove exactly? I did not remember thus town... How can we play this? Is this an unofficial Russian mode or something like that? I remember that some years ago I've downloaded something in Russian language, but I do not remember how I found that. Sincerly,
Kad

[the_real_swiper]

I always go for Armageddon und the spicy bois and golden/black dragons. I often reach the point of dealing almost 4.000 damage with armageddon.

[SouthpawHare]

I thought a big part of Horn of the Abyss was buffing Inferno in a bunch of ways. They're *still* the worst even after that? Can't they just... keep buffing them some more, then?

[petervlcko]

I like inferno but it is true it is hard town. Many things need to roll for them. I like dogs for me they are like low tier cavalry. I like to go for magic quick 2nd level is crucial. Lightning and blind are my go to spells if you get them. Imps are crap but at least they are quick. I like about them their ability to stay on assault. They trade spells, are good in movement and get offence quick. I know that mysticism is weak but it helps. Saw many videos recently where a lot of players opted not to cast when they played inferno to save points. Imo they are quite versatile and because of price I rather spent resources to buy guilt and work from there. For me fire is most for them. Mass curse, bloodlust is op if you manage to get it early plus splash dmg units and spells nicely add up. Inferno is weak and thus I exploit weak mobs on the map to get them rolling resources. 😂 overall I agree on your video but I guess people should give inferno another chance and go against the norm and play more spell power oriented characters trade spells from other heroes they get in tavern. With so many tricks inferno has in sleeves they can be jack of all trades. Their units are for me like cage warriors each is good when has to face equal tier or bloodlusted or cursed, or blinded and difference is significant. Devils with it has more attack then archangels and with their speed and situational slayer or frenzy mlem. Frenzy on magogs or dog is also pretty strong when you are safe to do so. And then is there cherry on top sacrifice imps or other units to overturn the tide. Some of the things I mentioned don’t work again people but could help you start rolling more quickly into stronger units in town which are quite good. All in all they shine when you can get hands on more than one town and weakly grow is transferred and upgrades not need in all of them which a bit counter their cost.

[ingolf]

my favourite town, ever since I started playing the basic version of HOMM3 is Castle. I think Fortress and stronghold are my least favourite. I know Inferno is the weakest by far, but it's way more fun to play than those 2. After buying Armageddon's blade back in 2000, I can't say I've played Conflux alot. in Heroes of Might & magic 2, warlock was my favourite class to play, because it got black dragons. Wizard did get titans which were the second strongest unit. HOMM2 has classes instead of the towns being called something.
I did install Horn of the Abyss, but I can't say I've played that version much. I prefer the original. I know they nerfed Necropolis in HotA.
Adela is a good castle hero right? she starts with diplomacy.

[CragHack]

Good video. A few disagreements and 2 major mistakes. The first big one is the Luna comment. Yes, she is OP, but she is never the only or the biggest reason why Conflux is strong. Conflux without Luna beats ANY other town in any map, EXCEPT Necropolis on a larger map. Those two belong in the OP category together.

You also underestimated Castle, Stronghold, and especially Rampart. Having Fortress and Tower above Rampart is the second major mistake.

IMO this would be the tier list with no specific order inside the tiers:
OP - Necropolis, Conflux.
A - Castle, Dungeon, Rampart.
B - Tower, Fortress, Stronghold.
C - Inferno.

[ahmadabughazaleh]

Stronghold are very good town with cheap army and great growth with super offence heroes, If I want cheap buildings and get stronger very fast this is the right castle (Watch out for mage heroes), I saw that most its missions in story got upgraded as fast as you can and do money or attacking in time limit .
Inferno for me is stronger than castle by himself: I would say the two has nearly same towns (Not strategical, power or mage towns) they are in center and his some own specials, but Inferno mostly spawn in underworld (just enough thats its good strategy for another good town there) its in lava terrain, even so when you find multiple Inferno towns you will control the underground with gates, for me its solid town and sometimes I got afraid of it more than castle in most times (wothout sultan with Armagedon) .
See that everyone else have different idea, still I'm afraid of this town .