Editing Angel and Archangel (section)

== Official Renders ==
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{{fanopinion|
Archangels are among the strongest level 7 units recruitable from a town. They have the highest [[attack]] and [[defense]] (both 30) out of all level 7 creatures that you can recruit from a town and only [[Azure Dragon]]s and [[Crystal Dragon]]s have higher attack and defense ([[Rust Dragon]]s have the same). Only [[Phoenix]]es (21) and [[Azure Dragon]]s (19) have higher base [[speed]] than Archangels' 18. The only creatures that can defeat an Archangel in a one-on-one combat are the [[Ancient Behemoth]],  [[Titan]] (by defending 4 times and then attacking), and in {{hota}}{{-wh}} the [[Haspid]].

Archangels have the highest AI Value of any creature in {{roe}} with 8776. 

Casting the [[Clone]] spell on a stack of Archangels before the stack has cast its [[Resurrection]], enables the clone to cast it (in [[Horn of the Abyss]], a cloned stack can always cast Resurrection, even if the original stack has already casted it). Typically the Resurrection cast by Archangels (100 x number of casting Archangels) is more powerful compared to a hero's Resurrection (40/80/160 + 50 x hero's Power) and is always permanent, unlike hero spell which requires Advanced [[Earth Magic]] to last longer than the current battle.  (However, the hero instead needs Expert [[Water Magic]] to clone the Archangels.)  After the clone has cast the Resurrection, it is almost preferable to let the enemy destroy it in order to cast Clone on the Archangels again. Additionally, spells like [[Fireball]] or [[Meteor Shower]] can be used to destroy the clone. The clone can also be used as expendable stack to use up enemy retaliation, with added bonus of striking very hard and possibly another clone coming soon.

One Archangel can resurrect up to 100 health, so in Castle army 1 Archangel can raise 0.4 Archangels (five can resurrect two), 0.5 Angels, 1 [[Cavalier and Champion|Cavalier or Champion]], over 3 [[Monk and Zealot|Monks or Zealots]], just under 3 [[Swordsman and Crusader|Swordsmen or Crusaders]], 4 [[Griffin and Royal Griffin|Griffins or Royal Griffins]], 10 [[Archer and Marksman|Archers or Marksmen]] and 10 [[Pikeman and Halberdier|Pikemen or Halberdiers]]. Because of these numbers, it could be wise to divide them into stacks of 3 or 5, 8, 10, 13 etc. so they can resurrect each other.

Archangels' extremely high speed makes them very useful to resist [[Dragogeddon]] tactics. As they are faster than [[Green Dragon and Gold Dragon|Gold]] and [[Red Dragon and Black Dragon|Black Dragons]], use only Archangels and cast [[Anti-Magic]] on them, making [[Armageddon]] spell completely useless on the battlefield.

Because their damage is not based on a range of numbers, but is instead set at 50, spells like [[bless]] and [[curse]] have almost no effect, making them a sure-fire unit. Use spells affecting attack or defense instead, like [[Bloodlust]], [[Weakness]], [[Stone Skin]], [[Disrupting Ray]]. [[Shield]] has additional benefit of not being Defense buff, so it stacks with Stone Skin and protects better against [[Behemoth]]s, as they partially ignore opponent's Defense. [[Slayer]] is strongest possible attack buff without downsides, but requires specific enemies or [[Fire Magic]] [[secondary skill]] to work against all level 7 creatures instead of just the "monstrous" ones. [[Counterstrike]] is potentially very strong, as by their nature as powerful, fast melee
troops they will often be amidst enemy troops, taking multiple hits each turn and with this spell they will fight back, as if they had additional turns. Similar effect can be achieved by good [[morale]], as it's practically a given considering their +1 bonus, same town type army bonus, cheap and common +1 [[artifact]]s, and [[Mirth]] spell. At best it's only 12,5% though, or average of 1 bonus action per 8 turns.

Casting the [[Frenzy]] spell on a stack of Archangels and then casting the Clone spell on the same stack, removes the effect of the Frenzy spell from both the clone and the targeted Archangel stack.

Their great weakness is their lack of immunities - while this allows them to be resurrected as mentioned previously and buffed by beneficial spells, it also means they can be [[slow]]ed, [[blind]]ed, [[berserk]]ed, and in extreme cases even [[hypnotize]]d. If facing a powerful magic [[hero]], it might be worth it to just cast [[Anti-magic]] on Archangels in the first turn to prevent them from being disabled. As Angels have 200 health and Archangels 250, they are not particularly threatened by [[direct damage spell]]s, but such spells are still something to expect - Angels have very high Defense stat, so if the opponent cannot kill them using their army, they might try to do so using magic, like [[Implosion]] or [[Lightning Bolt]].

Another downside is that great as they are in battle, they are also appropriately expensive - while Angels are decently priced at 3000 {{g}} and 1 {{gem}}, Archangels cost 5000 {{g}} and 3 {{gem}}, making them the most expensive town-aligned unit in game. [[Portal of Glory|Their dwelling]] is also one of the most expensive in game, requiring 20000 {{g}} and 10 each of {{crystal}}, {{gem}}, {{mercury}} and {{sulfur}} and again this amount for upgrade, and to fulfill its requirements [[Monastery]] must be built first, for another 2000 {{g}}, 5 wood and 5 ore, and 2 each of [[magical resource]]s. Considering that Castle's [[Resource Silo]] produces ore and wood, it might cause shortages without external sources.

Angels also lack any form of area attack, so they must rely on cutting their way through tightly packed enemy troops to reach the shooters or valuable troops shielded by others, and will inevitably take many hits in the process, possibly even being wiped out if the opponent can focus on bringing them down while other Castle units cannot keep up with them due to their Speed being 9 at best (not counting any bonuses).

As both kinds of Angels are flying, fast, very strong creatures, it might be tempting to just unleash them in the middle of enemy formation, but take care to ensure they are not overwhelmed - all-around strong as they are, they are not invincible, they cannot reliably deal with multiple enemy stacks at once, and they do not particularly excel in any single area. They are especially vulnerable to "wasting" counterattacks on a sacrificial, expendable, or tough stacks, so the more vulnerable, expensive or hard hitting troops remove chunks of their health with impunity. Thus when attacking ranged unit with other stacks nearby, either cast [[Counterstrike]] on Angels, or try to position them beyond reach of some defenders. Another great spell to use before committing Angels to all-out assault is [[Shield]].

With 18 Speed Archangels are the second fastest town-aligned unit after [[Phoenix]]es. This alone makes them useful to have in army, even if your main town is not Castle - having almost guaranteed first move can be decisive in battle and allows to win at cost of far less casualties than more evenly matched meat grinder would cause. This is particularly important advantage for towns whose armies are otherwise slow, like [[Fortress]], [[Stronghold]] or [[Tower]].

Because Archangels are 2-hex sized, exercise some caution when using them and other melee units against creatures like [[dragon]]s - targeting the weaker stack on adjacent hex will still deal full damage to both main target and Archangels, but only the main target will be able to retaliate. This also concerns [[Frost Ring]] spell - while you can use it safely with Angels, it's not possible with Archangels.

Large size also means they can be blocked from attacking ranged unit in the corner by blocking just 2 of 3 hexes adjacent to it. While they usually can simply hack their way through any screening stacks, it might take some time as Archangels lack any form of area attack, especially if the defenders are tough troops like [[Iron Golem]]s or [[Ogre]]s and do nothing but defending, while the ranged unit can keep firing on Archangels with full power shots, safe from retaliation.

Best [[secondary skill]]s for both types of Angels are [[Offense]] to capitalize on their great attack power and [[Armorer]] to help them live longer, as they are natural damage magnets.
[[Leadership]] is made mostly redundant by their +1 morale bonus, because morale only goes up to 3 and their inherent +1 bonus stacks with all other morale benefits like adventure map objects, artifacts, single town army type +1 bonus and, when defending a town, [[Tavern]]'s +1 or Castle's [[Brotherhood of the Sword]]'s +2.
[[Tactics]] offers a dubious benefit to them in offense - usually they have first turn in combat and unless [[Mind spell|disabled]], [[slow]]ed down or [[Dendroid_Guard_and_Dendroid_Soldier|bound]] they can fly anywhere on the battlefield. Starting in player-made formation might benefit the rest of your army that does not have 18 speed though, or if you use defensive strategy. Having Tactics might also be useful simply to deny its use to the enemy, especially if they have vulnerable ranged units that you'd like to force into melee before they can be blocked by defending melee troops. [[Luck]] can be helpful as both types of Angels hit very hard already, so if they get a lucky strike it can be quite devastating for the enemy.

Because of the above, the best [[hero]]es to combine with Archangels are those of martial class and well-scaling specialties, like [[Crag Hack]] or [[Tazar]]. [[Neela]] and [[Mephala]] also have good specialties, but not-so-good secondary skills - [[Scholar]] isn't good for main hero and [[Leadership]] is largely redundant in Castle army with Archangels.
Decent starting Castle heroes are [[Sorsha]] with [[Offense]] and [[Edric]] with [[Armorer]]. [[Loynis]] is surprisingly good because of his [[Prayer]] specialty and good chance to learn [[Water Magic]] skill, which will eventually allow him to clone Archangels.
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{{creature 'see also'}}
* [[Comparison of Level 7 Creatures]]

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[[Category: Creatures]]