Ranking Faction Units By Tier - FHeroes2: Heroes of Might and Magic 2 Resurrected!

This is a video discussing the troops and creatures found in the 6 factions of Heroes of Might and Magic II! We are ranking all creatures compared to their peers per tier, and hopefully you can find where you agree or disagree with me and we can have a fun discussion!
A snapshot of the final tier rankings is available at the end of the video!
Find fheroes2 here: github.com/ihhub/fheroes2
The rebuild will require a copy of the game. I recommend GoG: www.gog.com/en/game/heroes_of...
0:00 Intro
1:23 Tier 1 Creatures
13:46 Tier 2 Creatures
27:28 Tier 3 Creatures
43:31 Tier 4 Creatures
1:03:30 Tier 5 Creatures
1:29:25 Tier 6 Creatures
1:51:20 The BEST Creature in the Game???
1:53:55 Snapshot

[@Phixfox]

At 1:53:55 there is a final snapshot of each final tier ranking! Otherwise, please find the chapters if you are trying to get to a specific creature! All of my thanks for the support and the warm interest from so many wonderful people and I am grateful that this great game brings us together! Please visit mightandmagic.fandom.com/wiki/Heroes_of_Might_and_Magic_II:_The_Succession_Wars to find the interface on the left that I borrowed for the purposes of this video!

[@user-lh5tn4gg7h]

I don't understand English very well by ear, but you pronounce the words so clearly that I understand almost everything! 🙂 Thank you for your work, the videos are very interesting. I'm a big fan of Heroes 2, but it's very rare for KZbin content to be made in my language.

[@Phixfox]

There are a great many wonderful Heroes of Might and Magic players across the world! And while I am happy to fill that niche for you, I do hope that we find someone in your native tongue or perhaps we persuade you to be that person who will make videos in your language :) I will be your first watch!

[@istvanmatolcsi1786]

It's also worth mentioning how insanely expensive it is to turn a Giant into a Titan. If i remember correctly, it's 10k gold /unit! (someone please check ingame :D) Black dragons are also 1000 gold cheaper than Titan, and against Titans you can use Disruptive ray (-3 defense / use for whole battle duration) that stays on Titan even if they get magic immunity! I'd say that having magic immunity from the start is much better than having potential buffs, as Disruptive ray can be cast multiple times and it cannot be removed!

[@Phixfox]

It is insanely expensive to do any upgrade! The difference in the cost between the units (2000 and 1 gems for Giants, 5000 and 2 gems for Titans) is DOUBLED to make the upgrade to the higher tier unit 😵‍💫 Often I find myself deciding either to use Ogres or to wait for their Ogre Lord upgrade for this very reason, and less often but still as a concern for some upper tier creatures (Paladins to Crusaders, Green or Red Dragons up a level). I wholly agree that 6000 gold plus gems to upgrade one Giant to a Titan just means these poor Giants will probably just stay that way! Yes! I think that when talking about spells, it is easy to want to drop a Chain Lightning spell and do tremendous amounts of damage, but in late game fights you are more likely to get value out of reducing an enemies defense or adding to the attack of your own units as you mention with a Disrupting Ray! I have always wondered if that was always intended from the game developers that Disrupting Ray could not be Cured or Dispelled, but since that is not the case it is an AMAZINGLY powerful way of dealing with power stacks, and all the more reason a Black Dragon is top of the list! Great comment, thank you so much! Is there anything else that you had a thought about?

[@rickwishaupt1978]

Love the Seth reference haha! "You are supposed to work your way up to the best faction, which is Warlock. If you can't get Warlock, settle for Wizard. If you can't get Wizard, settle for uninstalling the game." Ghosts are so good, I would consider finding Barrow Mounds a straight up win condition. I think I agree with most points you made, I have never really considered the Boars to be such a great unit, maybe I should give them another chance! The Unicorn for me personally would be C tier, mostly because I feel there is just not that much to them compared to the other tier 5 creatures. Liches, mages and trolls are shooters and because of that I feel they will always have a role to fill, which Liches definetely being the least favorable of the three. Hydras are excellent defenders and very unique and Champions can cross the battlefield and will allow you to go first ewith spells. Unicorns are just plain horses that run three quarters across the battlefield, hit something and maybe blind it. They are not necessarily a bad unit in terms of stats, I just find them dull.

[@Phixfox]

I am so glad you knew EXACTLY which part I was talking about! Thankfully I haven't had to settle for uninstalling the game so far 😅 When next I replay some of the campaigns, I think I must be on the lookout for ghosts that might join. In fact, the value of Diplomacy as a secondary skill may not be in the ability to maybe persuade high level troops to inconsistently join, but in ghosts... I just need 1 and I will find EVERY Peasant on the map 😆 And I do agree with everything you've said here about Unicorns! When I say that I haven't been a fan of them, it is because of everything you mention here, including the point that they are just, "plain horses". Really, they sort of are and don't do much else other than give that 20% chance to blind! Heroes 3 had the nice bonus of having an area of affect magic resistance aura which is KINDA COOL! But otherwise, you just have stats. Good stats when it comes to damage, surely, but just stats. I will not give you any grief about putting them in C Tier 😄

[@mildlyderanged]

In your consideration of Veteran Pikeman vs Royal Mummies you forgot about the Mummies curse ability, which greatly increases their durability by reducing the amount of return damage they take. Combined with their higher hitpoints mummies will keep their numbers up longer than pikemen, who will start off with a higher stack but will die faster and thus drop damage quicker.

[@Phixfox]

You are COMPLETELY correct! I did not mention their curse ability anywhere and I think that their special ability use case is a tremendous asset and great reason to put them above Veteran Pikeman! Excellent point, you have persuaded me to change my mind and I thank you for it! Any other choices that stood out to you as being a potential miss?

[@mildlyderanged]

Nope, everything else seemed solid, you rated Champions higher than I would but you explained your rationale for it - awesome list and really enjoyed seeing someone doing HoMM2 content in 2024

[@Adragnava]

Love your new haircut and the cat that I see in the background, maybe move the cat to the left or right so that he/she is more visible ? Thank you for all your videos !

[@Phixfox]

She is a great cat and I had not considered that people would be interested in her, I will see what I can do! We will have to see how camera shy she is! I am so glad you enjoy them, thank you so very much for the feedback! It really helps keep me going 😊

[@sydneysmith662]

I agree!! Show off the cat more!

[@Fingolfin3423]

Great video, Phixfox. Thanks for creating this great content. I wish I had time to play Heroes 2 right now. I agree with your rankings here and think you did a great job. It gives me energy to make my own ranking video just for fun, even though I don't create content on KZbin. Some notes to add along the way that may cause some minor adjustments: - Don't forget about the dwarves ability to resist spells. This 25% resistance can be a total game-changer in tight battles. Think of all of the times they resisted an offensive spell. - Don't forget about the mummy's ability to curse enemies, which goes from 20% to 30% upon upgrade. A minor perk but an edge if 1v1 last stack battle. - Don't forget about the golem's 50% damage reduction from elemental spells. This is absolutely huge, especially when defending a castle siege against a caster. - Don't forget that enemy units can't retaliate against vampire attacks. That's another huge advantage they have, especially on top of the vampire lord's leech. - Putting the hydras above the power liches is something I think I disagree with since hydras are very slow and slow down hero movement on the map. I rarely ever use hydras because of this, and that's a shame since they're so good everywhere else. I love how they look, too. Power liches are very fast and ranged, and that gives them the edge for me. It's also way easier to obtain Animate Dead (level 3 spell) than Resurrection True (level 5 spell), which helps the liches. Your point about the cloud attack is a huge one, though. - One more thing to add that makes dragons powerful is using Elemental Storm and Armageddon in conjunction with them. On the flipside, titans and other tier 6 units can all be buffed as you said, but you can also resurrect them and clone them with Mirror Image, making them super powerful. Titans also have no melee penalty. Really big. - Don't forget that bone dragons lower enemy morale. In addition, they can be more easily resurrected than other creates due to Animate Dead being more accessible. - Don't forget that crusaders are also immune to Curse. It's very minor, but it's something. I always underestimate Crusaders, and there's something to be said for that.

[@Phixfox]

I would love to see you tier ranking, please go for it! And all excellent points, especially remembering the Vampire Lords with no retaliation, the negative morale when facing Bone Dragons, and ESPECIALLY animate dead! I think it’s a mistake to not talk about spell interactions and it did come into play when discussing the hydra for me noting that haste or teleport changes their usefulness in battle. Excellent comment, and those unique abilities absolutely are critical :)

[@KlaymenSk]

Regarding what you said about Warlock - which unit to take with you. You said you prefer to put the griffins away, I keep them instead of hydras. The only exception is when the hero has logistics and maybe even one artifact to increase movement points *and* I have either haste or teleport spells. Hydras both aloe you down and are slow on the battlefield, therefore I keep them as dedicated castle defenders and take griffins instead, unless I have a way to mitigate both od their weaknesses.

[@Phixfox]

I think you and I see the exact same problem and I completely agree with your assessment! There does come a point in my mind where I am looking to try and end the game or break the enemies offensive and I need all the high quality troops I can get, and I suppose that in that circumstance it is where I will end up leaving the Griffins for Hydras, but otherwise for general adventuring the 3 speed is such a burden. I like that you also make your choice dependent on available spells! It has given me an idea for a new topic... what is generally the best buffing spell for each creature! You may get a lot of the same answers, but Hydras exemplify that there are some major strategy defining interactions.

[@KlaymenSk]

@@Phixfox the topic about best buffing spell may be interesting, however I presume there would be quite a few cases where it would be depending on what are you facing. For example rangers or centaurs are only shooters in their respective armies. When you are facing mostly walking enemies, bloodlust/bless isthe way to go. Against more shooters or fliers, the better option may be stone/steelskin for unit preservation. And when fighting enemy caster hero, anti-magic could be a very good option to prevent blind (unless you have the All-seeing eye pendant).

[@Phixfox]

@@KlaymenSk Excellent point! Off hand I can think of only a few high-synergy unit-spell combos that might be worth talking about like Hydra Haste/Teleport, Dragon Armageddon, Phoenix Elemental Storm etc. The real strategy is finding those combinations that fit the circumstance you indicate. Perhaps it is best that way, as there are already a few spells that change any game once they appear (Berserk, Dimension Door), and too many would crowd out good strategy. I'll keep mulling over the idea!

[@KlaymenSk]

@@Phixfox maybe except for some clear-cut cases (like the black dragon & armageddon as you have mentioned), add some general rules - like units with wide damage range benefit really well from blessing. At least in Heroes 2 the debate is much simpler, unlike in Heroes 3 with more utility spells like precision or frenzy (and even taking available magic schools skills into account).

[@Phixfox]

Sounds like a good idea to me, that sounds like a fun video :) Aha, someday we will worry about schools of Magic in Heroes 3, but that day is not today 😆 Thanks for all of your input, I appreciate it!

[@Borasdk]

Good Video one thing i don't really like about heroes 2-3 is that speed is tied too who is acting first and how far they can move in battles instead off doing too stats like speed and initiative when they made the game.

[@Phixfox]

I think that is a great great point and makes for more inflexible troops because those two stats are tied. The idea that a creature doesn't have to move very far but still gets to attack first would be great for nimble creatures like halflings!

[@Borasdk]

Yeah it have allways bother me and made the game a bit worse for me, also makes the slow/haste spell much better then it should be in my mind still love the game alot played it so long ago and wanna play some more when more updates is coming out maybe with other players but iam not that good at the game. I have no Idea about the tier list becouse i don't play heroes 2 much but i like these kind of videos and hope you make more of them in the future. Two thing i would change is problely Cyclops over paladin and Bone dragons over Phoenixs becouse you can get bone dragons on week one i know you don't calculate in the building cost so phoenix is problely better unit so thats fine with me too put them over bone dragons but cyclops must be better then paladin at least i thing so even if they cost more with building and unit thanks for the video hope for more.

[@Phixfox]

@@Borasdk Aha! I overlooked that and you are the first person to point that out! Cyclops over paladin is a very very good call and I believe the correct call! Perhaps nearing two hours I should have taken a break so I could have my wits about me :D Thank you for the kind words, I will plan on doing more like this in the future! I know that fheroes2 does have plans to have online play someday, but that is still some time down the road (first up is the completion of the map editor). Perhaps someday I will see you in a friendly game! Otherwise, I appreciate your input very much ☺

[@KlaymenSk]

@@Phixfox multiplayer should work through programs like Hamachi that simulates LAN connection. I played Heroes 2 and 3 a few times that way many years ago (before fheroes2 or VCMI), so it should work here as well.

[@Phixfox]

@@KlaymenSk Very true! I am only vaguely familiar with Game Ranger as an alternative to Hamachi, but the online play is certainly possible! I love seeing communities in other games come together to create their own ranked ladders on third party websites and then matchmake through such clients! What HoTA has done for Heroes 3 in online play is stupendous to keep interest going for new and long time fans. I am not so interested in competitive Heroes, but I love nice friendly games ☺ Were there any hiccups in the Heroes 2 Hamachi use that you remember?

[@xkimo19]

I personally think Rocs vs. Vampires (un-upgraded) leans in favour of the Rocs from where I’m sitting. They can be blessed for 8 damage and benefit from morale. If you put 10 Rocs vs. 10 vamps, the rocs would come out on top. And if you can amass 15 sulfur in week 1 you could rush Bone Dragons instead of getting vamps too. Not to mention cost of dwellings and first possible day to acquire. Team Roc!

[@Phixfox]

Aha! Nice to see you over here on youtube as well as on Reddit! 😄 I think that is a great argument that you are making there! One thing that I did not do nearly so good of a job pointing out is exactly what you said: morale does not affect the undead! That must be accounted for and overall I would say is a net negative for all undead troops given that the ability to occasionally go twice in combat is fairly easy to achieve for other factions and wandering heroes to achieve. I just ran 10 Rocs and 10 Vampires through the Battle Simulator on fheroes2 and I was surprised to find this: without positive morale and even going first, the Rocs only won 2 out of 20 attempts! However, when I gave them positive morale their wins boosted to 5/10. It is a very small sample size, but I think that it highlights the point on morale. When I pit 25 Rocs against 25 Vampires, Vampires win nearly every time, especially if Vampires attack first (no retaliation). When Rocs attack first they won twice out of 33 attempts. When we consider the way damage is calculated, however, I think that creatures with a higher range get better at 10 or less creatures in a stack, and this is how I mean: at 10 or less creatures in a stack, the AI will roll the dice to determine the damage for EACH creature. If the stack size is greater than 10, it will roll the first 10 and extrapolate that data to the rest of the creatures in the stack as a sort of average. It feels like, although I struggle to account for it, that the way damage is calculated favors each creature from a high variance damage stack rolling rather than getting an average. I am sorry for the essay, but you put an excellent comment out and I had to do some digging! But truly, the cost of the dwelling, the accessibility, and all the other factors mentioned makes me think that Rocs are still the way to go even if they do lose in the head to head comparison (this video is rife with examples where the 1 on 1 fight winner is ranked lower due to various factors). Thank you SO much for the great comment! Thoughts?

[@xkimo19]

@@Phixfox strange I didn’t see your reply until just now 😳 I’m not surprised the vampires would fair much better when they have the first strike, especially when considering the Necromancer always has access to the haste spell. Factoring in a level 1 Necro vs. A level 1 wizard leading an army of end of week 2 creatures, say the Necro went for vampires over bones being deprived of resources becauses it’s on impossible. You have your 8 vampires vs. 8 Rocs Let’s say mages and liches are off the table. Your rocs have +1 morale and stoneskin and boars had the first move (Unless the wizard attacked purposefully without boars to give the rocs the first move on attack) That first strike might ultimately determine how the battle goes because the vampires are the best chance the Necro has at taking down the golems, whereas with boars and halflings for support you can easily handle the remaining Necro troops. I kind of made this wizard vs Necro, But I guess my point is admitting your research has highlighted how integral vampires are to their faction whereas Rocs are more complementary to their role posturing. 🤓

[@Phixfox]

@@xkimo19 Well said, and a good read when it comes to theory in army composition and identifying our win and loss conditions in a battle. Thanks for the well thought out response!

[@pollograssopollo]

Why you do not consider cost at all? I think it's fairly important in a game

[@Phixfox]

You are absolutely correct, and my small disclaimer at the 6 tier creatures does not do justice to the Barbarian or Knight factions, especially when I lament that there units are "just alright". The two things that went into that decision making process were this: 1) It was already going to be a long video without diving into the cost of the dwelling/prerequisite buildings, and 2), this video is meant to set up a follow up video ranking the factions that WILL go into the costs associated. But it's a secret, don't tell anyone 😉

[@TheStisen]

I wonder why you didn't try the peasant apologist approach, and try to fool us into believing that you'd rank it as an S-tier creature! 😃 I have several comments, and there's more to come, as we discuss... 1. If you end your tier list by mentioning a neutral creature, and even rank it above black dragons, why didn't you bring in the neutral creatures in the first place? 😉 The ghost is a lvl 4 unit, a genie is a lvl 6 unit. 2. I wonder why you don't understand or get why the Iron Golem receives +2 attack when upgraded, and no more than +1 speed. And you are not the only one, who says something like that 😉 Steel is a stronger metal, therefore it hits harder, thus more attack skill. Speed? Well Steel is heavier than iron, so naturally it should become slower. But golems are created and controlled by magic. And in some myths, since the Steel Golem is tougher and heavier than the one of iron, the stronger magic seal can be contained within it. So... It gets a small speed buff... 3. I'd rank Steel golems a bit higher. Because of their monster toughness, they don't get much attention on the battlefield. Therefore they grow in numbers and snowball into bigger numbers than the veteran pikemen would... I believe... I want to believe it 😃 I looove steel golems! Those animation sounds, uf. And you feel that impact on their enemies, when they hit them. 😍 4. For some reason I would rank red dragons higher than black dragons. For more than one reason. They cost 500 gold and a whole 1 sulfur less than the black dragons. On a map with scarcity on ressources, this means a lot! I cannot get many titans on scarce maps! But red dragons are more likely to buy out. Plus, the dragon cities offer red dragons! That's neat! 5. I wonder why you'd value those centuars so highly, when they, as you said, are hard to cover up against melee creatures! I tend to abandon them rather quickly, because they die like flies.

[@Phixfox]

I am so glad to have you here in the comments section ☺ 1) That is a VERY good point! I wasn't sure how exactly to integrate the neutral creatures and I can honestly say that I don't feel qualified to discuss them in depth (nuances among elementals, for example). I suppose I may have to adjust that in the future, yes? But I am glad that the video had a twist at the end, all the same! 2) I LOVE that you are taking a practical and real world sense in explaining that buff to Steel Golems, and truly that is the way I want to approach all of the upgrades! Same reason the Giant and Titans are basically different creatures, because they basically ARE! 3) I suppose I could see myself into thinking about them more closely with their other Garrison comparison, the Hydra, a bit more. The idea is that eventually you MUST deal with them somehow, that their stats are tremendous despite their low speed, and they have the added benefit of reducing spell damage all make them a great unit. I still have not forgotten that my "Who Am I" run ran afoul of Golems 🥲 4) That comment about Red Dragons tickles a very nice spot in my brain! Dragon Cities coupled with the reduced cost... generally the 500 gold wont matter as much, but you are correct that the sulfur could ABSOLUTELY stop you from getting additional creatures, and clearly you would rather have 2 Red Dragons than 1 Black Dragon! You have given me a lot to think about here, especially the Dragon City comment! Good strategy sir! 5) I like things that go "pew pew pew"! Do you believe that they are worse than Halflings? Worse than Goblins? I really value their 5 HP because that allows them to scale into the late game in a way that other level 1 creatures cannot, and I do think that they fill a nifty niche being the only Warlock ranged troop. Granted, when you have 3 flying creatures in your army you don't need to worry so much about ranged damage, but there is some strategic advantage to having a balanced attack in my opinion. Those were my general thoughts at the time, but to your point only if you can maintain a decent stack of them! I humbly and patiently await your follow up thoughts 😁

[@TheStisen]

@@Phixfox 4. I never go beyond red dragons. I rarely even use titans. They are too damn expensive when seeing things in the big picture. Those resources can be spend somewhere else to balance out the total cost to run a sizable empire. With unlimited resources and/or a garanteed win, sure, I'm gonna buy black dragons and titans :) 5. The thing about centaurs, in a warlock army at least, is that they are often too slow to shoot before getting hit. They are too hard to cover up, the hydras could help, but they are even slower than centaurs AND the ones who wanna piece of horse meat! Also... I agree on the benefits of the hydras. I love 'em just as much as you do! But they tend to be even MORE efficient if flyers don't fly away from it, because they want to hit your shooters, and instead go for you hydras! If you center your hydras and blitzkrieg 'em towards the middle of the battlefield, the AI will often close in on it, so you can beat 3-4 creatures all at once, once per turn! :D You need the have the hydras be registered as highest point of interest to the enemy hero!

[@Phixfox]

@@TheStisen They really are expensive, and I am 100% on board with the thought process with the Red Dragons over Black Dragons argument on maps with scarce resources, but I must balk at avoiding Titans! Titans are truly SO expensive, but if I am not getting Titans then I definitely wont get Giants, and then I might as well not even invest in a Wizard castle in the first place! Although 5 Cyclopes beats 1 Titan in a head to head fight, I think that with reasonable support from other troops or a good heroes stats or spells that they can carry a fight. Ooops, I started typing and then read "With unlimited resources and/or a guaranteed win, sure, I'm gonna buy black dragons and titans :) " 😂 My apologies, we are on the same page, friend 🤣 I agree very much on your point with the Centaurs. I feel like a person being walked through exactly why its a bad idea to go to a Volcano and touch the lava, but there is a part of me that still wants to even in the face of solid reason and facts 😁 I think everything you have said is correct and I may want to consider altering my in-game strategy a bit. For the purposes of the ranking video, are they less than an A tier creature? Below the Halflings? Into the B-Tier?

[@istvanmatolcsi1786]

@@Phixfox I wish Green dragons were not the weakest out of the 3 colours, because in my opinion they look the best :D Upgrading them for 50 hp sometimes is not that big of a deal, but unfortunately their speed also changes with upgrades. In my opinion it's just hard to justify running with 5 speed units when you can get together a potent 6 speed army. Movement points are so essential its crazy

[@TheStisen]

Hobbits, oh, I mean halflings, are better than centuars because of two things: 1) They stack up by visiting the popular map object: Halfling Holes 2) halflings are welcome in ANY army early/mid game composition. The centuars doesn't always fit well ( in a sorceress or a wizard army for example) 3) stack up defence, and your griffins easily get more efficient on the offensive AND defensive side, so the centuars will be left in your town faster than the halflings. They need to stay in the same tier though.

[@stazz316]

theres a tier 10 creature behind you

[@Phixfox]

My wife says that its not real and it can't hurt me 😅