Hero management

[Rvatina]

Hey guys, can anyone give me some advice on hero management? The way I'm currently playing is just recruiting heroes into the lord's army for combat purposes. I'd like to learn something new about hero actions. I've heard that it's good to have heroes outside the army for scouting purposes. So I'm wondering how many heroes I should have outside the lord's army and which ones are best for using their actions on the map? Is it best for heroes that will be used on the map to only level up action-related talents first? One of the reasons I haven't used heroes on the map so far is that they have a low probability of successfully performing an action.

[trooperrob]

The heros have a low chance at low level.
put points into the specialty (eg steal tech / assasinate) and the general one that reduces cost. Also higher level.

Your success chance is 1/2 if you succeeded last turn so you need to skip action for that hero / turn.

having heroes outside the army can help scout the area, and lower ambush chances.

For actions:
I use steal tech a lot:
sack a town - gain a level, steal tech gain a level.
army takes town, heroes rejoin army.
Costs a bit but gains levels fast.

Assasinate / wound hurts enemy heroes that may spot your army or commit actions against you. - extra useful for vampire counts as blood kisses.

your choice whether you do combat / skills first.
If your lord is a mage, you may want a good fighter.
some heroes very race specific - eg skaven engineer build undercity.
check the success chance.
Actions useful but also a good way of getting levels outside combat.

Also can send agents across the map to identify trading partners and expose the map.

I play on low difficulty levels though.

[wpegg]

I rarely use hero actions (I do occasionally). The more common reason for leaving heroes outside the army is to utilise their passive ability on provinces. Best examples of this are entrepreneur mages for High Elves (increase province income), masters for dark elves (reduce slave decline rate and boost growth), or one of the other stimulate growth heroes if I want to turbo charge growth in a settlement.

Another reason to use heroes detached from your army is to scout ahead. In this situation I will also use the hero actions as a cherry on top to both level them up, and to get some diplomacy shifts for enemies of that faction, the effect is rarely the goal.

The few times I will use hero actions are:

Gain influence - High Elf Nobles - I will spam this with as many nobles as possible, influence is key to high elves and Nobles are not that useful in an army compared to standard elven units.

Damage walls - if I don't have a siege attacker then this is useful to allow me to attack on the same turn. Becomes less relevant later in the game when I can put a siege attacker in my armies.

Assassinate - if a hero is scouting and has a chance to weaken an army I know I'll be fighting then I'll try and knock a hero out of their army.

Assault units/Assault Garrison - as above, just to increase my chances, reduce auto-resolve chances.

Block Army - some people use this a lot, but I've usually found the heroes with it are useful when embedded, and if you're having to do it then you're in a situation you shouldn't have got yourself into.

Reduce Corruption (Passive) - for Empire if you use the witch-hunter cheese you can station on in each norscan province and reduce corruption to zero, massively reduces norscan aggression as they keep armies back to maintain public order.

[Kusarigama]

Originally posted by Rvatina:

So I'm wondering how many heroes I should have outside the lord's army and which ones are best for using their actions on the map?

Depends on faction obviously. Vampire Counts for example heavily rely on Necromancer and Vampire heroes to do the heavy lifting surrounded by skeletons/zombies while Banshees and Wights are more map centric heroes.

Empire loves to use Arch Lectors to boost Warrior Priests/Inquisitors and have Priest tank and use Inquisitors for corruption and blocking armies. It’s hard to find a use for Captains. Mages are obvious.

Again depends on factions.

[Booba]

The only heroes I use consistently are the ones capable of assassination: especially the High Elf Noble, because I just can't say no to a Chracian Scout.

This is one of those about things about Total Warhammer though. By the time you have the infrastructure to recruit and support dedicated scouts for your armies, you no longer need heroes scouting for your armies, because you're essentially unbeatable in battle, with your stupidly overpowered legendary lord(s), spell caster(s) and/or artillery. I usually just put sight-range boosters on embedded heroes and call it good.

[RomanRingOnIt]

Originally posted by Kusarigama:

Originally posted by Rvatina:

So I'm wondering how many heroes I should have outside the lord's army and which ones are best for using their actions on the map?

Depends on faction obviously. Vampire Counts for example heavily rely on Necromancer and Vampire heroes to do the heavy lifting surrounded by skeletons/zombies while Banshees and Wights are more map centric heroes.

Empire loves to use Arch Lectors to boost Warrior Priests/Inquisitors and have Priest tank and use Inquisitors for corruption and blocking armies. It’s hard to find a use for Captains. Mages are obvious.

Again depends on factions.

As someone who has the rare Legendary victory for VC's that is incorrect, you will want to use Necromancers and Vampires to spread Vamp Corruption and on Prov roles, Banshees and Wights are a 'Centre of the battle Line' support troop.