Hero tier list

[Witch Doctor]

This is only my opinion feel free to disagree. Note for this list i'm heavily considering how the heroes do against monsters, other heroes, how much they cost, how much is the upkeep (sovereign spells), how often do they die, and what does the hero bring to the table. Some heroes have unique abilities that can make them useful in certain situations in a way that other heroes cannot match.

16. Rogue
There's nothing that a rogue can do that other heroes can't do better. They have stealth, but honestly I never find that useful. They don't have high damage output, vulnerable to everything without armor to protect them, and not surprisingly they die a lot. The two times when I find them useful is when I want to meet the palace hero requirement cheaply and if I want to tear down the elves lounges and gambling halls. You get the Rogues guild for its abilities which are great, not the heroes, which aren't.

15.Cultist
I really like them but they're not very useful. The animals charmed can be useful on maps with many wild animals but once you engage with powerful monsters like dragons, rock golems, yetis, etc they all die quickly. On top of that cultists aren't capable of doing too much damage, they can take a lot, and have low stats in parry, dodge, and resist. They do get a bit more durable at level 7 but even then they still die a lot and aren't super useful.

14. Gnome
Not the worst surprisingly, I actually consider them to potentially belong higher on the list. Their ability to quickly build can be incredibly helpful on certain missions. Plus they're cheap, expendable, and have surprisingly high parry and dodge which can make them difficult to kill at times. Problem is whenever they take a hit, its almost a one hit kill. The northern expansion has boosted them though. I'd be interested to hear what strategies competitive players have made with them. Anyway the big disadvantage is once you've built up they're not super useful and you can get many graveyards in a kingdom with them. They're a pain to get rid of too.

13. Warrior of Discord (WoD)
Talking about them makes me sad. They can dish out incredible amounts of damage but can take a lot too. They have low parry, dodge, and resist making them susceptible to taking A LOT of damage. They have armor to mitigate this but also low intelligence so they don't go to upgrade it and their weapons enough in addition to purchasing items like healing potions and rings of protection which would make them far better in survivability. This means they require a lot of upkeep in addition to the high upfront cost they have of 900 gold. They get cooler in Northern Expansion but that doesn't offset their flaws. Other heroes can do what they do and a lot cheaper.

12. Ranger
The best heroes to get early in the game in most cases. They explore the map for free and do it well. This helps you expand your kingdom and upgrade your palace. Problem is once you get past the early mission stages they aren't so useful which is why they're low.

11. Warrior
Surprisingly durable and affordable. They can become tanks once they reach a high enough level and are smart enough to get upgrades to increase their effectiveness. Problem is other heroes can do what they do a lot better albeit at a higher cost. Warriors have incredible synergy with healers though and a mission with both of them will create some incredibly powerful gangs of warriors being supported with healing.

10. Barbarian
They are the better glass cannons over all compared to WoD. Incredible strength, decent parry and dodge which gets better after leveling up, and fairly cheap. Individually they stink but they are easy to mass produce especially given their temples capacity increase in Northern Expansion. Problem with them is without numbers and rage of Krolm they're not super great, but when would you ever just want a lone barbarian?

9. Wizard
The midway hero. They can be demigods if you level them up enough to the point that they can lay waste to super powerful monsters such as rock golems and yetis. Problem is getting them to that level. They are more fragile than gnomes, die alot, and expensive. Its especially annoying to lose them after they level up which happens considerably.

8. Elf
They're not great in Southern Expansion but with the magic bazaar in northern their arrows can be lit on fire and dish out some hefty damage. Their long range means they can kill enemies before they reach them. Of course they're screwed if the monsters reach them, though their chain mail helps mitigate it a bit.

7. Dwarf
I've decided to push the dwarf up a rank compared to my original hero tier list. This is due to the fact that most monsters in game are melee fighters and how useful durability is for heroes. Dwarf's have strong armor, decent parry that gets better as they level up, and good strength makes them tough to take down as they level up.
Basically dwarfs are slightly tweaked versions of the warrior. They are overall better due to their high magic resistance making them useful in maps with magic using monsters or magic using enemy heroes. Their building abilities are useful too allowing them to build structures like warriors guilds and their ballista towers that would be difficult for peasants to make quickly. My main complaint with them is that they have ♥♥♥♥ for dodge so they die a lot from ranged attacks. Also, their magic resist does not increase as they level up so it will stay at 70 until they get a ring of protection at which point it becomes 80 which is really good. They become almost untouchable to magic users making them strong on maps with black phantoms, evil occulus, and even vampires.

6. Preistess
I actually don't think they're as good as a lot of people make them out to be. Their damage is limited to one move and they depend upon their undead allies to help them out. Their slow speed means its easy for those allies to keep up with their preistess and that gives them protection almost all the time. In groups they can be devastating with all the skeletons they produce, but individually they're not strong and die frequently. On maps with fire dragons the preistess is a must. Other than that I never found them more useful over the Agrela and Dauros heroes. Most of their undead allies can get flattened by the powerful monsters in the game aside from skeletons vs dragons of course.

5. Adept
At lower levels they're not great but as they level up they can be amazing. Outside of wizards they have the biggest gap in performance from low levels to high levels.They can protect your kingdom well, have the ability to take care of issues across the map quickly with their long teleport, and with their high dodge and parry they can survive. They get especially durable once they level up and great a ring of protection in which case they become almost untouchable unless facing magic users. Unfortunately they have ♥♥♥♥ for armor so if they take a hit, it hurts. Ultimately the wait time you have to undergo before they get good is what holds them back.

4. Monk
The second best balance between durability and killing power. They have excellent parry and dodge right off the bat and if they get to level 7 their iron will spell compensates for their one weak field which is resist. They have no armor but their buff spells can help them survive. They can dish out a surprising amount of damage and Iron Will also lets them do critical hits giving them incredible killing power. They're also funny too.

3. Healer
When you look up support class in the dictionary this is what you see. They keep everyone alive for free, they're cheap, require little upkeep, and hard to kill thanks to their 'rebirth' mechanic. There are so many missions where they have saved my kingdom by keeping the fighters alive. Obviously on their own they can't fight, but they fill a role that no other hero can do and are incredibly good at that.

2. Paladin
The OP unit of the game according to some players. They are incredibly durable. Right off the bat they have excellent parry, good dodge, strong armor, and good damage. As they level up their durability increases due to stat growth and their shield of light spell. If they decide to get a ring of protection once they reach level four they're almost untouchable. They're quick too, smart, and will basically take care of any task for you. The only problems with Paladins are magic resist and their expense. Anti magic shield will make them really untouchable, but without it they can die against magic users which is why...

1. Solarii
The overall best hero in the game. The Solarii are the best balance between durability and killing power. They can dish out an impressive amount of damage with their mace, have good parry, decent dodge, chain mail to mitigate any damage taken, good speed, decent intelligence. The Solarii is the only hero in the game that can do both melee and magic damage simultaneously giving them a unique ability to fight on pretty much anything. There durability isn't great as a Paladin but its still good and they're smart enough to get items to make them hard to kill. Main reason I rank them over Paladins is because if a Paladin and a Solarii get in a fight, the Solarii will win since they can use magic attacks which are the one vulnerability of Paladins. Plus they're half the cost to recruit.

Alright that's my tier list and the reasons why. Feel free to let me know what you think.

[Reality]

I like your list, and I think except for Monks I would agree with it pretty hard a couple years ago.

Today though I would make a Table for the Heroes with : Multiplier, Normal Play, Expert Random Freestyle, and Fastest Quest Completion --

The differences can be very extreme - In Freestyle, Gnomes and Priestess are way more important than normal, and for Fast Quests, Rogues and Barbarians absolutely slam everyone else (to the point that most of the levels where you get temples as a starting building you would want to delete your own building to make room for them).

Anyway, for normal play, I have to agree that the "self sustaining" heroes like Paladins and Solari who take care of themselves are very nice.

I think for your write ups -

I feel like the Ranger has a nice chance of leveling up a lot from non combat experience (exploring gives experience) and you can commonly see a couple get to about the strength of fighting off a minotaur while elves/rogues usually can't manage the crucial level 1>6ish period without a lot more luck or a fairgrounds, and they benefit as much from the very strong fire balm as elves do. I think both Elves/Rangers once they get leveled up are medium to above-average, I think the ranger's advantage is just that it happens more reliably.

Priestess - I used to feel like they were "only for the Dragon levels" but the wither spell is surprisingly strong - in theory it seems very expensive to use it all the time, but compared to (rage of krolm) or heal spam that you might do with the other temples , it is actually the MOST cost efficent of the three- Skeletons can beat most medium strength (Minotaurs and Werewolves) melee monsters with help from wither support, and even Vampires if you cast the Wither before their shield goes up.

Healer - I personally dislike the Healer a little - the healing is very nice when it happens, but behaviour wise they will only intentionally follow and support normal warriors, wizards, and tax collectors - so healing for Everyone else only happens if the Healer pathfinds near them while doing something else, which feels like it depends too much on luck.

Barbarians - I feel like they are overpowered both ways. If you on a short gold budget you still get the benefits of the having MUCH cheaper cost for each hero AND a cheaper cost for the 2nd/3rd temple (compare with the crazy amount a 2nd wizard Guild or Daurous costs), so you can still flood the level with their numbers. --- If you DO manage your economy, Rage of Krolm will never run out and you can smash every level, and most multiplayer people as well.

Solari/Adepts - I think you nailed what each of them actually do really well... but I think the oppurtunity cost of needing a level 3 palace instead of level 2 is a much bigger deal in some situations than others, so you get in situations where they are just a nice bonus when you have mostly already won the level using the heroes that helped you build up to that point.

Monks - Can't use Fairgrounds or Marketplace (can use magic bazaar, but it doesn't make up for the downside)- I think their hero behaviour is really weird and much like wizards they run away from fights that stat-wise, they would totally win, which is really annoying to me. They are crazy once leveled up, but because of the no-fairgrounds and their weird personality I usually pass on them completely and just pretend their Temple is a "tech building" that is only there to unlock Paladins.

[Andi]

I like most of the list, but I would add some points to the favor of priestesses.

#1) Non Skeleton Followers. Sure if you leave priestesses to their own devices, 99% of the time their 3 follow slots will all be taken up by simple low level skeletons, however with a bit of intervention by the player, you can ensure that they have a much more formidable entourage.
Priestesses will prioritize charming enemy undead if they have fewer than 3 undead followers, so with strategic use of the Wizard Lightning Bolt, or Solarus sovereign spells, you can kill one of their skeletons yourself, just before they encounter a new undead friend. I agree on the above points with normal priestesses, but a priestess walking around with 3 vampires or 3 shadow beasts in tow is a 1 woman army.

#2) The summon skeleton follower Sovereign spell is much too useful not to receive any mention. Don't use it on the priestesses of course, per point #1. However, dropping a little bit of gold to give a skeletal linebacker to your low level elves and wizards is the single best answer to their 'infant-hero mortality rate'. Even without healing their skeleton, having it body-block a couple of enemies for them is a golden ticket to level 7 without constantly being baby-sat with more sovereign spells on their enemies.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally posted by Andi:

I like most of the list, but I would add some points to the favor of priestesses.

#1) Non Skeleton Followers. Sure if you leave priestesses to their own devices, 99% of the time their 3 follow slots will all be taken up by simple low level skeletons, however with a bit of intervention by the player, you can ensure that they have a much more formidable entourage.
Priestesses will prioritize charming enemy undead if they have fewer than 3 undead followers, so with strategic use of the Wizard Lightning Bolt, or Solarus sovereign spells, you can kill one of their skeletons yourself, just before they encounter a new undead friend. I agree on the above points with normal priestesses, but a priestess walking around with 3 vampires or 3 shadow beasts in tow is a 1 woman army.

#2) The summon skeleton follower Sovereign spell is much too useful not to receive any mention. Don't use it on the priestesses of course, per point #1. However, dropping a little bit of gold to give a skeletal linebacker to your low level elves and wizards is the single best answer to their 'infant-hero mortality rate'. Even without healing their skeleton, having it body-block a couple of enemies for them is a golden ticket to level 7 without constantly being baby-sat with more sovereign spells on their enemies.

I considered the different allies Preistesses can have. The downsides are that they can only get the powerful allies on certain maps and even then the strongest allies can get flattened by powerful monsters like yeti's and rock golems which appear a lot on higher difficulties. That fact kept them at rank 6 in my opinion, Preistess is too situational to belong higher on the list IMO.
As for the sovereign spells, I'm not considering them in the tier list, i'm just considering the hero properties themselves.

[happyscrub]

1# Paladins. They rarely die and take care of themselves. You can also get them fast.

2# Wizards. They win the game, all you got to do is babysit them.

3# Priestess. The Skeleton spam slows advancement of strong enemies and soak the damage from monsters coming out the fog of war that your heroes can't deal with and don't expect.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally posted by happyscrub:

1# Paladins. They rarely die and take care of themselves. You can also get them fast.

2# Wizards. They win the game, all you got to do is babysit them.

3# Priestess. The Skeleton spam slows advancement of strong enemies and soak the damage from monsters coming out the fog of war that your heroes can't deal with and don't expect.

I love me some Paladins, but they are super susceptible to magic users and are expensive to replace should they die. Again Solarri can take care of themselves once they level up and they can kill Paladins in a fight with ease which is why they go higher.
I like wizards too, but there is no guarantee that they can win the game. I neglected to mention in the original thread that there are many monsters with high magic resistance in Majesty compared to those with high dodge and parry. This means on a map with say greater gorgons wizards are a no go. Overall they aren't reliable enough to be put higher on the list.
As for the Priestess a lot of people are saying skeleton spam is great, but I'm still not so sure. I'll give it a try though. Tons of skeletons don't help when your facing loads of monsters that can flatten them in an instant such as yetis or rock golems.

[Zergonicon]

Barbarians are way underrated with wizards and a good blacksmith they can do some good damage and they do well in hoards against the big monsters like dragons and golems. Plus, they are way cheap, they are massively expendable and make comebacks easy.

[Zergonicon]

Barbarians are definitely a hoard animal though, and their cheap guilds play into that well. Especially when you throw in that blacksmith.

[happyscrub]

I also think rogues should be higher on the list because they the only ones that have access to the gold they get looting corpses. In the early game, it helps a lot

Lesser the same for rangers who can wander lands off map and bring in gold.

[mafilux]

I'd probably bump Wizard up a bit on the list. Wizards themselves may need some babysitting to get strong, but once they do it's kind of obscene - but also the wizard spells are just too valuable not to have in a lot of missions. Making a daisy chain of wizards towers can make normally tough missions rather easy, and they even build themselves! The Wizards tower also provides weapon enchantments, +1 for a level 1 tower, and +3 for a level 3 tower.

I'd frankly tank the Monk quite a few notches. You say they're durable but in my experience they are so painfully slow that if they do need to flee it's near-guaranteed death. I've never found them particularly good against anything but skeletons or similar lower tier undead, as well, but maybe I'm just missing something. (Addendum, they do rather well against daemonwoods now that I think about it). The spells aren't as useful as the Krypta wither or raise skeleton spells imo either, or the Fervus ones for that matter.

Now for my bias opinion! I'd put dwarves higher, I feel like they're underestimated. They too are rather slow but they bring a huge amount of magic resistance to the table, something many heroes are severely lacking in. Something I noticed you didn't mention - they also do significant damage to lairs and buildings, and always seem to respond to attack flags (the only hero to my knowledge that does extra damage to structures). I've seen dwarves solo dragons more times than I can count, but being only a little faster than a monk makes them just as vulnerable if they need to flee (I quite like pairing adepts into missions I use monks and dwarves in, for the speed boost spell - really makes a difference!). And I mean ballista towers are just so good as well.

Good list though on the whole!

[happyscrub]

I also think dwarfs should be lower on the list because they don't freaking do anything. They just sit at home, then they go outside to look for something to repair but get there too late, then they go back home. If their home is not in danger, they usually never level up. A lot of times they end up being useless when left alone.

Rogues don't want to do anything productive either besides looting , but at least when rogues loot, it puts them in situations that force them to fight and level up.

And comparing them to warriors, atleast warriors go out there and train and fight. Dwarfs stay home broke and can be content being lvl 1 all game.

[mafilux]

Originally posted by happyscrub:

I also think dwarfs should be lower on the list because they don't freaking do anything. They just sit at home, then they go outside to look for something to repair but get there too late, then they go back home. If their home is not in danger, they usually never level up. A lot of times they end up being useless when left alone.

Rogues don't want to do anything productive either besides looting , but at least when rogues loot, it puts them in situations that force them to fight and level up.

And comparing them to warriors, atleast warriors go out there and train and fight. Dwarfs stay home broke and can be content being lvl 1 all game.

I don't think you're using enough attack flags if your rogues and dwarves aren't doing anything ;/
I mean its fine if you don't want to have to micromanage heroes, but rogues will got for any flag at any value, and dwarves will go to every attack flag 200 gold+ you put up. (Depends on level and stuff but yeah). It's kind of ignoring one of the mechanics that makes the game great.

Rogues also won't loot from your kingdom if you build a statue.

[happyscrub]

Originally posted by mafilux:

[

I don't think you're using enough attack flags if your rogues and dwarves aren't doing anything ;/
I mean its fine if you don't want to have to micromanage heroes, but rogues will got for any flag at any value, and dwarves will go to every attack flag 200 gold+ you put up. (Depends on level and stuff but yeah). It's kind of ignoring one of the mechanics that makes the game great.

Rogues also won't loot from your kingdom if you build a statue.

Them going for attack flags more readily isn't that big of a bonus. Dwarfs are slow and don't train in the mean time and rogues are not the best fighters. So the things you put just small flags on are not threatening. It's just cleaning up. Many other heroes clean up things themselves. Things that are threatening, you put bigger flags on anyway to get more heroes.

[Witch Doctor]

Originally posted by happyscrub:

I also think dwarfs should be lower on the list because they don't freaking do anything. They just sit at home, then they go outside to look for something to repair but get there too late, then they go back home. If their home is not in danger, they usually never level up. A lot of times they end up being useless when left alone.

Rogues don't want to do anything productive either besides looting , but at least when rogues loot, it puts them in situations that force them to fight and level up.

And comparing them to warriors, atleast warriors go out there and train and fight. Dwarfs stay home broke and can be content being lvl 1 all game.

Lol, they are greedy, they will go out. They get there at the same speed as a lot of other melee fighters. Surprisingly enough I'm thinking of pushing dwarf's higher on the list now. After playing several missions with them and elves I'm finding them more useful as heroes overall for several reasons.

[happyscrub]

Originally posted by Witch Doctor:

Lol, they are greedy, they will go out. They get there at the same speed as a lot of other melee fighters.

All the other slow melee heroes actively hunt. So when you do put a flag up, half of them are already out there in the field. Dwarfs be sleeping at home. That makes them usually always late to the party.

[davidottokrause]

Monks are top tier when paired with a level 2 Library, and level 3 Magic Bazaar. They can learn Power Shock, which helps them level any other enemy. While Monks don't use health potions from the Marketplace, they do make a beeline to the Magic Bazaar to stock up on potions. To be honest, I feel Monks are OP when paired with a level 3 Temple to Agrela. If a Monk dies, I simply revive them. I often build a Wizard's Guild to build a Library. Oftentimes I don't bother with Wizards as I don't like babysitting them.