Editing Strategies (section)

=== Choosing a good primary (main) hero ===

* A good main hero should be good in battle, and some heroes are equipped with unnecessary secondary skills like [[Eagle Eye]] and [[Learning]]. Avoid them. [[Archery]], [[Offense]] or [[Armorer]] are much better.
* Might heroes are better with big armies than magic heroes. Every point in [[Attack]] and [[Defense]] is useful for every creature, while too much [[Spell Power]] or too much [[Knowledge]] can be of limited use. Sometimes you need a simple spell more than very advanced spells, that need much more power and knowledge to be effective.
* On the other hand, powerful mages with high [[Spell Power]] and [[Knowledge]] can often win battles against neutral creatures without any army whatsoever: [[Solmyr]], [[Aislinn]], [[Luna]] and other spell specialists that focus on damage of their spells can go through battles with only a few {usually fast) units in their army. 
* Heroes that can be better with each level are generally better than ones that do not benefit much from having a lot of experience. [[Crag Hack]], [[Mephala]] or [[Malekith]] are better and better with each level, while also combining their specialty with specific primary skills. Obvious exception to this rule include heroes with great specialties that do not scale, such as [[Lord Haart the Death Knight]], [[Luna]] or [[Ciele]]. 
* Good hero can move fast. Someone with [[Logistics]] (or [[Navigation]] on water maps) is much better than slow heroes. Not only can fast heroes collect more resources, they also gain experience faster. This makes, [[Gunnar]] or [[Kyrre]] good options, especially when playing without {{hota}}.
* [[Estates]], [[Scholar]], and other similar skills are useful, but normally the main hero does not have enough skill slots to have room for them. There are simply more important skills needed for those slots.
* No magic skills? Not good. Try to obtain at least one or two. Your main hero shouldn't have all four though since there will be not enough slots for other important skills.
** [[Earth Magic]] is usually the best choice, due to spells like [[Slow]], [[Resurrection]], and [[Town Portal]] having vastly different effects between Basic and Expert level. 
** [[Air Magic]] is often considered a reasonable choice because of [[Fly]], [[Dimension Door]], and Haste. The same applies to [[Fire Magic]], because of [[Curse]], [[Blind]], and [[Berserk]]. 
** [[Water Magic]] is generally considered to be the weakest of the [[Schools of magic]], especially outside of Island-maps (where [[Water Walk]] could be useful) - it does not have any powerful spells that significantly change their results based on the secondary skill proficiency. As an example, Exper [[Bless]] is only better than Basic when the hero has multiple units dedicated as their main offensive force and all of these units have low damage (as then the +1 damage bonus becomes more relevant). [[Clone]] and [[Teleport]] can be utilised to almost their full potential without the [[Water Magic]] skill. The only exception is [[Prayer]], which becomes significantly better at the Expert level. 
* Some [[Secondary Skills]] are great in combination. For example, if you like to use the spell [[Chain Lightning]], the combination of [[Air Magic]] and [[Wisdom]] is very powerful. (You may also consider using [[Sorcery]], however even at Expert level it only increases spell damage by 15%.) Adding [[Intelligence]] or [[Mysticism]] can improve it even more.
* Some heroes start with a lot of creatures. Heroes that have unit specializations of creatures between 1st and 3rd level start with a significantly greater amount of the creatures they specialize in. Using these creatures, the player can create a strong attacking force (often dubbed "powerstack") much more easily. This applies to [[Bron]], [[Illor]], and [[Todd]] as well, who all start with the level 4 creature they specialize in. 
* When choosing heroes with creature specialties, consider the bonus of speed they provide. Heroes like [[Josephine]] or [[Ryland]] have a much bigger impact on the usefulness of the troops they specialize in than heroes such as [[Korbac]], whose specialized unit is already very fast. 
** Remember that hero specialty bonus to speed of creatures affects the number of [[movement|movement points]] they have at the start of their turn. 
* There are a lot of good heroes and bad heroes. Use the forums and Wiki to know more about them. 
* Find your build. Different towns need different heroes, but some of the heroes are great in any town, while others are usable only in one town. For example, [[Valeska]] is only good in [[Castle]] towns, while [[Orrin]] is good in every town - and even better in towns with more ranged units - or when using archers from multiple towns. Having [[Marksmen]], [[Magi]], [[Zealot]]s and [[Titans]] in one army is preferable for him.
* Choose your hero based on the map. For example, if you are playing a map with a lot of snow or swamp, consider a hero with [[Pathfinding]] (such as [[Corkes]]).
* Some magic heroes are great in the hands of a skilled player. Some examples include [[Eovacius]] {{withhota}}, [[Thant]], [[Luna]], [[Victoria]], and [[Jeddite]].
* Overall, [[Overlords]] and [[Barbarians]] are among the strongest heroes, while [[Planeswalkers]] and [[Alchemists]] are among the weaker heroes.

Some of the best primary heroes include: {{Hn|Orrin|0=}}, {{Hn|Mephala|0=}}, {{Hn|Kyrre|0=}},  {{Hn|Gunnar|0=}}, {{Hn|Crag Hack|0=}}, {{Hn|Dessa|0=}}, {{Hn|Tazar|0=}}, {{Hn|Corkes|0=}}{{-wh}}, {{Hn|Dury|0=}}{{-wh}}, {{Hn|Murdoch|0=}}{{-wh}}.