Synergies

[jaersavo]

Hey,
I've got more than 600hours down in aow3 and i think that i still haven't seen everything. I just discovered 100ingame hours ago how cool it is to play a frostling dreadnought, especially meaning the synergy of the ice queen with her ice nova + chill and the frost tank.
Other synergies I really liked were goblins + necromancers, weakning enemies, may be putting a smelly goblin next to the enemy and then lets see whether it gets a ghoul curse.
Third synergy is tigran + rogue. Flanking enemies is one thing humans do much better than the ai and I love getting backstabing + the agility of the tigrans.

I haven't played for some time and would like to start a new single player map. What are your suggestions? The combination doesn't have to be good/competitive. I just want some variety and challenge

[Eagle 11]

1 Earth + 1 Creation + Expander Human Warlord.
2 Destruction + 1 Fire Sorceror Highelf.
2 Fire + 1 Creation Tigran + Theocrat. Bonus points if you make him an 'Pharaoh Rho-Purr Cathotep'.
natural synergies of Dwarf + Dreadnought and Goblin + Rogue.
Have to state im playing with a lot of mods: Empire Building, PBEM Balance, Racial Heritage, etc... so YMMV.

[Dunadd]

Would suugest just a large or huge single player map along with mods like Empire Building (gives racial skills for heroes , new units for each race, some new economic and research buildings), The Spiders' Gift mod (lots of new units for each race, new exploration locations, new mounts), extra Support units (tier III mounted or flying support unit for each race), Racial heritage mod (choice of additional good or evil units for each city of each race) ,New Arsenal mod (more tier III and IV units for each race), etc.

You need both the main DLCs for these mods, but it's well worth getting them for what the DLCs themselves and the mods on top of them add to random maps.

[Staythecourse]

It's unfortunate that the strongest builds are inevitably for mass snowball and relentless aggression which is generally unfun against the AI. IMO, max SP fun is in strengths that you have to work for, and come online mostly in the midgame then further transition in the lategame. Early snowballing ends the game before the AI or roamers come up with fun things to fight, while pure lategame strengths means too much generic boredom before the good stuff.

As for some fun, though not necessarily that powerful synergies:

1) Neutral Draconian Archdruid: You can use the Elder to buff the damage of the Flamer, taking advantage of the no damage falloff and AOE of the firebomb. As the firebomb is the only medium range attack that can hit 6 hexes away, it can combine with the speed of Archdruid archers to do some extreme kiting/hit and run. It's pretty good in general too besides the gimmick, as fire damage covers some of AD's weaknesses and the cheap support RG is useful for Shaman spam.

2) Orc Theocrat: everyone already knows how great that is, but it's amazing how everything seems to fit together when a tireless Shocktrooper with Touch of Faith and Instant Wrath charges foward, rendered unkillable by an extra hp Exalted Martyr sitting in the far back together with a battery of Orc Priests alternating between Cursing and healing the Exalted Martyr. Obviously, dreadnaught artillery, or steal enchant + mind control can mess this up quick, but it's basically impossible for the AI to beat once these stacks are up and running.

3) Good Explorer Human Rogue: Again a case of everything fitting together. Good + Grimbeaks + Courtesan Ambassaders mean huge vassal income fast. Priests offer some much needed healing and anti-undead options. Fast human scoundrels are viable against T1 and T4 alike, plus careful use of nets help with XP farming for evolving shadow stalkers. Stalkers and the human scoundrels they evolve from are amazing complements for one another. Scoundrels have nets to shut down low protection supports and Sabotage against machines, while Stalkers own everything else. Finally in the lategame, Peacekeeper and Rogue morale abilities combined can instantly trigger a revolt anywhere.

4) Tigran Theocrat: Sunshield Predator Crusaders and Exalts that can move 8 tactical hexes after advanced logistics are interesting. But the real gimmick is Mystic spam. Theocrat fixes the Mystic's problem with having no healing or buffing abilities, while the Theo medal upgrade is the only class support buff that affects the Mystic's panther shape, unlike Archdruid speed, or Sorcerer stun. The panther shape is roughly comparable to the Tigran berserker (i.e. the best berserker). It lacks charge, demolisher, or overwhelm, but has better resistance and an extra hex of movement (2 hexes over other berserks). So an all Mystic army can handle almost all tactical needs as required, with much fun in optimizing when to transform Mystics. Then RG4 lets the all Mystic army seamlessly transition to giving your heroes infinite turns. You can for example, gear for ranged attacks and forge multiple elemental staves to get a machine gun that always hit for max damage. Or melee is just as viable since you can keep up with a moving hero with chain reinvigorations.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Halfling Warlord!

Sure, all your troops are meant for melee but suffer physical weakness, and you're way too relient on physical damage as even your support units don't have a magic attack, and... I forget where I was going with this.

Oh, right. Fireworks shooting monster hunters! Also, very lucky eagle riders.

Not a strong combo, but quite a fun change of pace.

Dwarf Sorcerer Fire Master!

Sure, you get exactly zero boosts to your magical ability, but your best racial units are fire immune. Combine with Fire Mastery and Age of Magic, and you can flatten entire armies with Hellfire, whilst your Rune Priests, Firstborn and Fire Elementals roast marshmellows.

Oh, and before that end-game combo kicks in, you actually have some very solid muscle + healing.

There are many more obvious combos out there, but these are fun examples of out-of-the-box thinking.

[Nefrogitis]

A Theo Halfling synergizes better than the Dread class. The Theo class has many skills that keep your people happy, and the more happy your people get, the luckier they can get.

Any specializations that give your leader early access to different damage spells is necessary, in order to offset the Halfflings weak composition.

[jaersavo]

Thanks for your replies.
I have decided to try a game as Draconien Archdruid. It's the race and the class I both have played the least till now.
What magic/specialization should i take with this combo. Fun and interesting is again more important than a strong combination.

[BBB]

Wild magic :).

It's always fun and interesting. If you can get degenrate on your enemies, your high racial fire availability will come into play quite nicely.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Plus druid just feels right for Wild Magic.

Wild magic is good at either adept (degenerate, elemental summoning) or master (extra casting points, mutation).

You can add in Fire to stick to the Draconian theme, which is also great at adept (hellhounds, fireballs, skin of oil) and master (fire elementals, hellfire, tropical empire.) The disadvantage of Fire Master as Draconians, though, is that Tropical Empire also turns the volcanos into jungles. Mechanically not a problem, but I prefer Draconians living amidst the lava streams.

[jaersavo]

I don't want to take wild magic, because it's one of my favourits that I have played many, many times. I personally also love the position swap, escpecially when besieging.

Fire sounds logical from a lore point of view, but it would put a heavy emphasis on fire damage. Units immune to fire like firstborns could really be a pain.
I like the idea of roleplaying and fire master fits perfect.
The remaining point I will spent on one of the alignments.
Now I only think about what alignment I want to be.

Thanks for your answers.

[BBB]

I would take air. Get seeker and watch your ranged units do soe beautiful work. Very nice in sieges.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Also, from a thematic level, what is a dragon but a combination of fire and air?

And on a gameplay level, the Archdruid is the one class lacking a dedicated scout. Hunters can pitch in, but they're rather lacking in vision range. So this the class that benefits most from the Zephyr bird.

That said, an alignment specialisation also helps. Which one? Grey Guard if you like the D&D idea about druids keeping the balance, or see Draconians as more of a neutral force, or if you want the maximum unit upgrades and defensive boosts.

Keeper of the Peace if you see druids as more peaceful and/or want to expand through diplomacy. Also helps with sieges.

Shadowborn if you want to be a "burn all cities and let the bodies feed the trees" kind of druid. Honestly, I've never tried this one. Doesn't really interest me and the spells from Shadowborn adept are rather weak. The only good one is Embrace Darkness. Well, getting a discount on Flyers is nice, but it's only 5%.

Another option would be to take 1 of fire, air AND an alignment specialisation. No mastery, but tons of early game options and a fun mix of abilities.

[Gloweye]

Frostling Necromancer with Shadowborn. Your Royal Guards will have 3 life steal stacks. You can build infinite stacks of 3 guards + 3 white witches. buff yourself start of each combat, and literally destroy everything you encounter with T2 units.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

That combo is very effective, but I like the Goblin version slightly better: 3 butchers + 3 reanimators.

Butchers also get the triple life-stealing. They don't have the nifty bodyguard ability, but crucially they CAN be reanimated by your Goblin reanimators. (Royal guards can't, since they explode, which is why they're better paired with White Witches.) If you can get reanimators with Resurgence, they're practically invulnerable.

The Frostling version is also great, though, and has the added benefit of fire damage and better ranged debuffs. Probably stronger as long as you can avoid taking casualties in the first place.

[Gloweye]

In strat v strat, I think the frostlings might edge out. No life steal, but better support damage, and a bit more HP. Also, Tireless. Royal Guards get ff-ing tireless on gold medal. And while the protection might be nice, the real deal is that it gives them even more defense, and they also get a point from RG.

Other neat combo's include draconian chargers with elders. They get more fire damage, and can fly and flank+charge....ouch. Also, those get regrowth with RG, and their HP can get pretty high pretty easy.

I dont know why, but necro always makes me gravitate to pikes...

[bbolto]

Originally posted by Iguana-on-a-stick:

Also, from a thematic level, what is a dragon but a combination of fire and air?

And on a gameplay level, the Archdruid is the one class lacking a dedicated scout. Hunters can pitch in, but they're rather lacking in vision range. So this the class that benefits most from the Zephyr bird.

Eh. The dedicated Archdruid scout is the "animal summon you can't evolve"

Go forth, young dread monkey!

I mean, if I had a lot of spare mana/casting points I'd go with the Zephyr bird? But the regular animals you can start popping out every turn pretty early.