What am I not getting about the Legions?

[cbinetti]

The Legions are a very popular faction. I would think that it is more popular than Dwarves or Undead and maybe Elves. I just do not get it. Why does everyone love it? It has no great theme unlike the other four factions. It is boring. Why do people like it so much?

[pray]

cause demons are cool :D
(my favourite is undead btw)

[Blue Valk]

Where are you getting your information from? What about the Legion (or this forum) suggests that they are the most popular? I couldn't help but notice that you didn't list the Empire in your initial post... and they are arguably the most powerful faction.... ;)

[Clown Reemus]

Gameplay-wise they got sick mages and that Gargoyle and Demon promotion trees, but otherwise yes, even back in the day I tried to avoid playing as demons as much as possible.

[asdoemo]

Demons have some of the wildest tricks down their sleeve: invisibility, global paralysis, doppelgangers, transformations, lvl 1 armored unit, phantoms... They also have some of the best visuals in the game, on par with the Undead.

But I'd say that the Legion is also perhaps the hardest faction to play. You can easily end up with a party that ultimately lacks something important: magic damage, AoE, control effects etc.
For example, to get paralysis/transformation/doppelganger, you have to upgrade the magic branch in a specific way, which means you have no AoE. You have to either pick a archdevil hero who takes a lot of levels to become relevant, you can upgrade a demon into a Tiamat - a path that requires abnormal amounts of exp and gold - or you can give up on having AoE damage at all. Each of the paths has significant drawbacks.

Compare that to the Undead, which start with a unit that has a paralysis and upgrade it to stronger units with paralysis all the way long. Yeah, the Incubus might be a little stronger than the Shadow at the end, but getting the latter takes less exp, gold and does not affect you mages. And as Undead you have a consistent control unit at every level, not only starting from lvl 4.

Doppel is an extremely powerful unit... if you have something to turn into. And they do not scale well, so you mostly use them on small maps. Succubus' control effect is the most powerful, yet inconsistent. The enemy might as well turn back to normal just before making a turn. Gargoyle is the best damage sponge in the game, but it is still weak at lvl 1 and takes 400 exp to upgrade to lvl 2 where it actually becomes strong.

Playing as demons always feels like a mind task. You have to plan your party in advance, you have to utilize some tricks where you could just use brute force for other races. It's challenging.

[Hermit]

From what I've seen, the Legions are arguably the least popular faction because of how difficult they are to play. Usually people like the Undead or Empire more.

As for the Legions, they have raw power and good mobility, leading to offensive plays and and great map presence. And though they lack utility and crowd control, what they do have is excellent in their own right. The problem is they require precision to play well, so you have to know what to do, and you have to execute it well. But if you can pull it off, you could get away with some of the most audacious and absurd plays the other factions could only dream of.

[Clown Reemus]

Originally posted by Aristotle's Axolotl:

From what I've seen, the Legions are arguably the least popular faction because of how difficult they are to play. Usually people like the Undead or Empire more.

As for the Legions, they have raw power and good mobility, leading to offensive plays and and great map presence. And though they lack utility and crowd control, what they do have is excellent in their own right. The problem is they require precision to play well, so you have to know what to do, and you have to execute it well. But if you can pull it off, you could get away with some of the most audacious and absurd plays the other factions could only dream of.

I mostly hate them for their aesthetic, but basically their problem is they do not become viable against other races until they level themselves up. Especially in regards to their mages or the gargoyle. They are great for large maps with a lot of experience and challenge, but normally it just takes too much time to enjoy their power.