HOMM2 - Arrax The Jerk - A Dirty Trick You Really Should See

How 5 low level heroes destruct 60% of the Arrax army (not using the Berserker spell).
See the walkthrough:
/ heroes-of-might-and-ma...
Related videos:
• HOMM2 - Arrax The Jerk...
• HOMM2 - Pandemonium - ...
• HOMM2 - More Dirty Tri... (SECOND PART OF THE TRICKS)

[@bartoszstarszobracki8675]

KZbin recomendations may have choosen you, in couple months there will be a lot of guys saying that they came here from recommended and don't even play the game

[@romkobomko3200]

But admit, you have hears about HOMM franchise

[@NoNameAtAll2]

I came from recommended and don't even play the game

[@MetalTizi]

Here I am

[@Cedar_Wolf]

Yep. I've never heard of this game before, but it seems like the player is intentionally losing the first few fights for a pittance in order to wear down the enemy defenders before mopping them up.

[@folechno]

That’s a cute trick, blinding the wolves so the cyclops move first and laser attack to kill their own units

[@bobsprite6711]

Yes. And "slow" works fine too!

[@MeLlamoBauti]

a warm thanks to the many members of the merchants guild

[@bobsprite6711]

;)

[@PlanetZoidstar]

For funding, and bankrolling these videos.

[@TehDrewsus]

you're all.... truly wonderful.

[@PlanetZoidstar]

@@TehDrewsus Have a good one.

[@Fingolfin3423]

Great video. The only recommendation I have is to NOT cast blind on the trolls at 4:12. Rather, wait for the enemy hero to take his turn first with the wolves. He'll cast his spell first that way, and then you can blind the trolls after before you attack with your druids, forcing him to cast dispel/cure at the start of his next turn. This is min-max stuff, though, as you defeated him handily anyways.

[@bobsprite6711]

Thanks! You are absolutely right. I realized this mistake but was lazy to redo the battle.

[@Mudamir]

"if all those tactics seem unbalanced thats the point. The game thrives on you staying its mechanics, rewarding experimental and punishing established conventions. Winning and victory is about maticulously knowing every intricacy of the game while making sure your bullsh*t strategy woll beat your opponents bullsh*t strategy." seth tzenach

[@bobsprite6711]

Yes! (late reply, sorry)

[@Mudamir]

@@bobsprite6711 Hey no problem its not my quote its was seths 😅

[@bobsprite6711]

@@Mudamir Hehehehe

[@joeyoung6987]

I dunno why these are all in my recommended, but I realize now that I needed them.

[@bobsprite6711]

xD

[@NinaNightray]

I love this trick !! It's always funny. Also casting berserk on the wolfs would have accelerated the process

[@bobsprite6711]

Yes!

[@blackdesign8197]

genius! u had me laughing all the way. this technique can actually speed up many months to win.

[@bobsprite6711]

Yes! This is efficient and funny! xD Try this one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKLPkpVrnK2Ar8k&pp=ygUfamV6ZWJlayB3YW50ZWQgdG8gZmluaXNoIG1lIG9mZg%3D%3D

[@blackdesign8197]

​@@bobsprite6711 yeah, dragons, phoenix, cyclops will do trick. its very effective for the score rate. maybe i will try it on wild dragons.

[@nichevideogameguides8986]

Cyclops: Checkmate! Lone Gargoyle: You may be able to defeat me *points at the massive amount of creatures behind it* , but they shall also perish. Cyclops: *does laser attack anyways* Hero: I lost how many units?! The opposing army only had 4 centaurs and a gargoyle! How?!

[@bobsprite6711]

xD

[@aleccampbell7707]

Why did it cost you Cyclops? Everything

[@Wizzy88]

Very smart, thanks for the tip!

[@sozhran]

So Arrax is no longer THE Jerk :D

[@bobsprite6711]

Hehehehe

[@TehDrewsus]

I did something similar. I didn't have blind, so I recruited the genies in the SW corner of the screen from the lamp. Recruited a bunch of heroes, mostly warlocks that had gargoyles and centaurs. I doled the troops out so there were 3 stacks of 1 centaur, a genie, and a gargoyle. gargoyle would go first, and get between the wolf and the cyclops. the wolf would then take out the gargoyle on its turn, the genie would fly over, and the cyclops would do my dirty work for me. did this over the course of 6 heroes, then ran Bikko up against him. He only had cyclopes, war trolls, and ogres at this point. Before I had Bikko go up there (it's important to have all heroes fight the same day), I had him go down to the SW region and get water from the spring down there to double spell points. Anyhow, engage in battle, wipe out everything but most of his cyclopes, he had around 78 I think. Surrender, re-recruit Bikko with my remaining troop, about 70 ogre lords. Grab the 4 red dragons I had recruited by another hero, in stacks of 1 each. attack again, pound the cyclopes with lightning bolt. I began the battle with 178 spell points, so this wasn't an issue. each lightning bolt would take out 5 cyclopes. It eventually became a cat and mouse game between the cyclopes stack and my 2 red dragon stacks, I'd move them to each corner every turn in between lightning bolts. Luckily he only got good morale once, and by that time he couldn't kill my red dragon. Victory was mine!! On a side note, shouldn't blind only cost half its normal spell points on a cyclops? ;)

[@bobsprite6711]

Hello! 1) If you don't have Blind you can use Slow, on wolves. The result is the same. 2) The bait creatures (gargoyles) must not attack. If the bait attacks, the attacked stack may retaliate, killing the bait. That is why you should not use a genie as bait, because a genie attack has a 10% chance of halving an enemy stack. Hence, a genie should be used to hit (and eventually die by retaliation). 3) If you need more gargoyles, do this: go with any warlock (with only one stack, only one wolf in the stack) against the genies (or even Arrax). In the battle just make the warlock flee; then you recruit him again. 4) I liked your tactic of two flying baits (one for the wolves, the other for the cycs). Just a remark: sometimes Arrax casts some spell (Lightning, for example) that kills one of our (weak) unities; then we lose the battle (tower kills 3, wolves kills 1, Arrax kills 1), before the cycs move. If Arrax is killing we have 2 options: A) using stronger unities (probably a dragon receives all shots from tower, but it would be killed by the war trolls) and B) sending some heroes up front, just to waste Arrax mana. 5) I liked this other tactic too: shooting Lightning while making the dragons flee. And if you could use Slow on the cycs it would make a good difference. ;)

[@TehDrewsus]

@@bobsprite6711 Well, I didn't have blind or slow. I think my mistake early was not capitalizing on resources and building up mage guilds. That or I just got a terrible spell draw 😂 I never attacked with the gargoyles, I just let them get next to the wolf so the wolf would attack them instead of moving down to protect the trolls and keep the cyclops from doing his job. I had a lot of gold so I did a lot of recruiting. Although thinking about it, having a couple of gargoyles individually stacked, and a genie would definitely be advantageous since the genie attacking last wouldn't be retaliated versus the stack that the second gargoyle attacked. Lots of different strategies available out there! Fortunately, anthrax only ever used steel skin, he must have had a bad spell draw as well

[@bobsprite6711]

@@TehDrewsus I know your gargoyles did not attack, as you told. I just mentioned that in order to explain the best role for the genie. Maybe if there are two baits alive (gargoyle and genie) when cycs move, the cycs may attack the wrong bait. ;)

[@TehDrewsus]

@@bobsprite6711 I have a good game save out there, I might make a video outlining different ways that this can be accomplished. I'm going to try the strategy with two gargoyles and a genie. Gargoyle one stands next to wolf. Wolf destroys first gargoyle. Second gargoyle attacks stack of choice, and is destroyed upon retaliation. Genie attacks the same stack with a chance to half, and then Cyclops does the dirty work. I'm really glad I saw this video, it's opened up an entire new avenue of strategy for me even though I've been playing this game for two decades! I'm learning more and more everyday, as Ssethtzeentach says, it's more appropriately called heroes of magic, and sometimes might if you're really unlucky 😂

[@bobsprite6711]

@@TehDrewsus The funny thing: two decades ago I played a demo and disliked it. Now I am addicted, playing many missions tens of times each. If you try your tactic with weak stacks, maybe this happens: 1. You place one gargoyle near wolves. 2. Wolves kill gargoyle. Towers kill 2 centaurs and another gargoyle (or the genie). 3. You only have a genie or a gargoyle to play (but you need both). Anyway, I would like very much to see your video (this tactic or another)! Let me know when you publish it, please.

[@barrymays069]

Excellent tactics, Dirty Bob 🤘

[@bobsprite6711]

Thank you!

[@marcevony8003]

nice job, cool tricks

[@andreimiga8101]

4:10 you shouldn't cast Blind at that time. Skip wolves, enemy is stupid and will cast something like Steelskin on their wolves turn. Then you can safely Blind on the -elves'- druids' turn.

[@bobsprite6711]

Exactly! When I realized my mistake I thought on restart the battle. But I kept it going just to see what was going to happen. As I won the battle I decided to publish it that way.

[@galahad695]

the level of disrespect is too high XD i can't

[@bobsprite6711]

Hahahahaha!

[@ximmanate2154]

I've always liked how the Ai enemy hero casts "blessing" on one or two creatures, remaining in his army at the end of the battle... I wish everyone such faith in their future))))))

[@bobsprite6711]

Hehehehehe ;)

[@filipstancel7315]

Very satisfiyng to watch! :-)

[@bobsprite6711]

Thank you!

[@the_kombinator]

This works with dragons too - send a fairy beside one, watch them burn each other.

[@bobsprite6711]

For phoenixes: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gmK9ZH6XitSoaJI

[@MyNigellus]

That's ....dirty!

[@bobsprite6711]

Yeah!

[@MB-cz8ko]

awesome!

[@dmitryivlev850]

Used one like in Roland campaign maze scenario and final scenario with black dragons 🤝🏻❤

[@bobsprite6711]

Cool xD

[@dmitryivlev850]

@@bobsprite6711 well the hardest thing for in the maze scenario was to realise that t you had to build the major army in the final city (Warlock)

[@bobsprite6711]

@@dmitryivlev850 Moving the low mages on heavy and narrow terrain is a bit tedious in Arrax. I hope Archibald appreciated your effort xD

[@dmitryivlev850]

@@bobsprite6711 well, I chose Roland))) only one time managed to make 16 black dragons in that scenario to be transfered for the final mission

[@bobsprite6711]

​@@dmitryivlev850 I know you were on the Roland's side. I was being ironic about Archibald "appreciating" your effort xD

[@tikitak6813]

Nice

[@shahbazsheikh3545]

That IS dirty.

[@bobsprite6711]

xD

[@tolikkazan9889]

Emm, What's up with the sound?

[@bobsprite6711]

Yep. At the time I didn't know how to record wutih sound xD

[@Catinkontti]

sounds are missing?

[@bobsprite6711]

Yep. At the time I didn't know how to record wutih sound xD

[@aleccampbell7707]

Yet only Druid rating?

[@fyrestorme]

finally a legitimate video of this map

[@bobsprite6711]

Thanks!

[@hubertk9051]

great job, what is the name of this map?

[@bobsprite6711]

Thanks. "Arrax The Jerk". It is the first mission of the expansion package (included in the gold edition).

[@hubertk9051]

@@bobsprite6711 hmmm sounds familiar, i heave to check it, thx again for the top tips!

[@bobsprite6711]

@@hubertk9051 xD

[@hubertk9051]

@@bobsprite6711 :)

[@AgeofNoob]

Haven't seen this game before. :D

[@bobsprite6711]

I recommend: www.gog.com/game/heroes_of_might_and_magic_2_gold_edition

[@hunam3876]

I miss Tsabu. Who tf is Bikko?

[@bobsprite6711]

nickname

[@kevinnitta3576]

I did the same thing in the campaigns.

[@bobsprite6711]

xD

[@5434345]

Does not work in fheroes2. AI is better at handling creatures with 2-hex attack.

[@alext5497]

What is the f

[@5434345]

@@alext5497 fheroes2 is opensource project to remake Heroes2 with modern gameplay enhancements, improved UI, AI improvement and more.

[@alext5497]

@@5434345 did they rebalance? Or is wizards and warlocks still the only playables

[@5434345]

@@alext5497 Still don`t.

[@bobsprite6711]

Someday I will play fheroes2

[@KOTYAR1]

So... Paul Romero is a cool guy, isn't it? You ever play WOG, or other multiplayer HOMM maps?

[@bobsprite6711]

You game me a good hint. Whoever is missing music in my videos can play this in background: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHukl3ymdt-Uhqc I never played HOMM in multiplayer mode.

[@oleksandrvovk5149]

I won this map on Impossible without any tricks and all battles I fought with my main hero. I had a chance that Diplomacy dropped early…

[@bobsprite6711]

Without tricks, I use these 3 ways: 1) Hit-and-run by mage casting armageddon/elemental storm. 2) Mage summoning and blinding/slowing. 3) Warrior making heavy use of shooters (4 stacks); waiting Arrax cast some spell, then blinding one of its shooters and attacking the other.

[@oleksandrvovk5149]

​@@bobsprite6711 yeah, that works for sure, but I meant that I haven't used none of that, just had a chance to join 70+ archmages and 70+ minotaur kings in the end of the game before the siege.Arrax had three times bigger army than mine, but I had better ATK and DEF.

[@bobsprite6711]

@@oleksandrvovk5149 I understood you. By the way, maybe you meant "cyclops", not "minotaur king".

[@oleksandrvovk5149]

@@bobsprite6711 no, I have joined minotaur kings and put them in the place of ogre lords, they deal more damage, I had nearly 75 of them

[@bobsprite6711]

@@oleksandrvovk5149 Where did you find minotaurs? There is no warlock castle, and the wild camps are always the same (no minotaurs in this map). EDITED: in fact, there are minotaur kings at the gem mine. Sorry!

[@Shoenin]

hah, thats clever

[@eyeofhorus1301]

+Shoenin what even happened? why did he go through so many defeats with a useless army and then suddenly last time his army was decked out?

[@Shoenin]

@@eyeofhorus1301 He would suicide the Gargoyles and placed them in a position where the Cyclopses would hit them and the orcs/ogres/wolves, killing a messload of his own units. He kept blinding the Wolves because they're very fast so they'd go first, and because the Cyclopses were above the trolls, they would go before them, attacking the gargoyles and another unit because of their 2 hexagon attack.

[@eyeofhorus1301]

@@Shoenin oh lol first time I've seen this game, I didn't notice he was doing friendly fire damage thanks to the gargoyle. Also I assumed whenever you're defeated and go back to fight again the enemy units would all regenerate to full health and you're starting the same fight all over again. But apparently not

[@DaburuTori]

Yeah luckily heroes 2 and 3 has realistic gameplay. No childs play for ai or player.

[@bobsprite6711]

@@eyeofhorus1301 When the battle ends, enemy units regenerate to full life (not to the initial amount of creatures). But the *hero* (not the castle captain) mana dosen't regenrerate in the *same day*.

[@infernoredlotus]

why don't you use 3 centaurs only so cyclops could end the battle directly?

[@bobsprite6711]

Which moment in the video are you talking about?

[@infernoredlotus]

@@bobsprite6711 Every battle. Is there any reason you let troll kill your last unit? If there are only 3 centaurs, cyclops could defeat hero immediately, am I right?

[@bobsprite6711]

@@infernoredlotus I understand your question now. Good point! I can't go with 3 centaurs + 1 gargoyle because sometimes *Arrax shoots a centaur*. Then towers shoots 2 centaurs and the gargoyle, so Arrax wins the battle before the cyc's stack move.

[@infernoredlotus]

@@bobsprite6711 I see, clever!

[@bobsprite6711]

@@infernoredlotus ;)

[@Weralxet]

Why bother with blinding? Let those wolfs burn first and make an lightning strike.

[@bobsprite6711]

Because, when wolves disappear, the position of other stacks change, making the trick less productive.

[@fyrestorme]

why not use the genies as well for halving the stacks first?

[@bobsprite6711]

Because the genie trick can be used at any time, but the cyclops trick requires special positions and number of enemy stacks; and these conditions tend to disappear over time. So I save the genies for the end.

[@jaceklutrzykowski]

💻🖥️🕹️🎮👍👍

[@qunli6179]

Homm2 is really not that smart. But it is one of the sources of enjoyment for the game.

[@bobsprite6711]

xD

[@neihgnot8320]

Did you even need 4 centaurs? 3 would have worked

[@bobsprite6711]

Sometimes Arrax shoots and kills a centaur. That's why we need the forth one.

[@michaelsamchuk1819]

Couldn’t his army just kill the initial army without any of this

[@bobsprite6711]

Nope. His army is much stronger than mine. He has 2 strong shooter stacks. My shooters have 50% less effect when the target is behind the castle wall. The castle auto attacks with towers. My sorcerer stacks have weak defense and little life. His ogre stack has a lot of life. His cyc stack is very fast, paralyzes and has strong defense and life. His wolves go fast on my shooters. You can win without tricks but you will need more +- two months rasing your army.

[@lucaslc7150]

You did not take into account the amount of gold spent by the lost heroes

[@bobsprite6711]

The cost of the suicidal heroes is (around) only 13% of the cost of the main hero creatures (see below). Without the suicidal heores I would have to spend much more gold on the main hero army. So, yes. I had everything in account. It was a great deal! suicidal heroes: =============== heores: 5 * $2,500 = $12,500 TOTAL: $ 12,500 main hero creatures: =================== wolves: 40 * $200 = $8,000 greater druids: 23 * $400 = $9,200 grand elves: 34 * $300 = $10.200 war trolls: 61 * $700 = $ 42,700 orc chieftains: 148 * $175 = $25,900 TOTAL: $96,000

[@pwnstick4972]

@@bobsprite6711 Is anyone playing this game online vs real players?

[@bobsprite6711]

@@pwnstick4972 I never played PvP. Try find people here: www.reddit.com/r/HoMM/

[@BuddyLee23]

I dig it, Bob. I love that people come in here to criticize your strat and you come back at them with knowledge backed by numbers. I am glad folks like you are keeping this game alive. 👍🏻

[@bobsprite6711]

@@BuddyLee23 HAHAHA! Thank you xD

[@adrianaleksiev7230]

Week spell caster. Do not use spells properly.

[@bobsprite6711]

Like Andrei Miga commented, there was a mistake in the timing of casting Blind on the war trolls. And Mass Slow should be the first spell for the main hero to cast. But as the battle had a good result I decided to not redo it.

[@Wiktorino1984]

Its just bad AI.

[@bobsprite6711]

Bad AI. Nice trick. xD

[@Wiktorino1984]

@@bobsprite6711Scripts in old games where incredibly primitive so i could call that abuse mechanics.

[@bobsprite6711]

@@Wiktorino1984 I don't think it is an abuse. But, in case it is: the game abuses a LOT: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f4qcdIV4qZuChbs

[@Wiktorino1984]

@@bobsprite6711 Well you did well job with this tactic. But still computer should w8 with atack on harder difficulties. I Heroes 3 with mods computer don't make such a foolish things. I know general computer allways will be more stupid then human but killing self units is little silly.

[@ab-qj3wo]

Pretty sure you could just kill him easily without this trick. I don't know how AI actually works in Heroes 2 as I only played Heroes 3 but it looks like an overcomplicated way to kill an army that is weaker than yours. You almoust killed his trolls on turn 1 despite a Castle protection and when they finally fired back they dealt almoust no damage. His ork stack is weaker than trolls so you could easily kill all his archers in 2 turns with next to no losses, than everything else is easy with mass slow and blind. Your hero looks way more stronger than his hero too.

[@bobsprite6711]

1) For SURE my army is NOT stronger than his (compare stack by stack, I lose always): wolves: 173 Arrax x 40 mine war trolls: 111 Arrax x 61 mine orc chiefs: 224 Arrax x 148 mine other: 67 cyclopes Arrax x 23 greater druids mine other: 101 ogre lords Arrax x 34 grand elves mine 2) Indeed, my hero is stronger than Arrax, but most of the time it gets not so strong, so the trick is useful. 3) Very important: You are not considering that thanks to this tactic, Arrax has no more mana to cast Blind, Cure, Haste or Paralyze. 4) Very important2: Also, very often Arrax takes advantage of Luck and High Morale, which means: very often (without tricks) Arrax destroys 2 and half of my stacks in the first round. 5) The purpose of this video is to demonstrate a technique. If you think it was not necessary, because my hero was stronger, see this video where the enemy hero, Jezebel, is the (much) stronger one: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKLPkpVrnK2Ar8k

[@ab-qj3wo]

@@bobsprite6711 I honestly don't know how can he kill 2 or more stacks of yours in one turn if you can kill most of his trolls before they even shoot (could probably kill all of them if you used mass slow) and orks are not very strong. Unfotunatelly I don't know how AI in Heroes 2 uses magic. In Heroes 3 he is pretty bad at it and usually it is not hard to slow and blind all enemy units even if AI has a dispell. I am perfectly fine if that video is just to show the trick but you mentioned several times in the comments that you would not be able to win a straight fight without this trick that does not look so.

[@bobsprite6711]

@@ab-qj3wo You { don't know how can he kill 2 or more stacks... } This happened in other playings, when my hero was not so skilled (no magic skill, no good spells, poor artifacts). You { I don't know how AI in Heroes 2 } In HOMM2 if you send very weak heroes against strong hero you can burn all his mana, because he does silly things against very weak heores. You { I am perfectly fine if that video is just to show the trick... } Cheers!

[@Dimiluk]

If use true resurrect?