Anyone got any tips on how to git gud at HoMM3?

Watch TheKnownWorld videos and wait for his promised new series which he hinted would be a guide.

watch meridian

play a lot

>>2811007
Learn russian.

>>2811007


1) always gold from chests
2) learn to use multiple heroes. learn to ferry troops from one part of the map to another quickly by trading them between heroes ("chaining"). it is good to have a 'main' hero to get the big XP from creeps/go on the offensive with; use the others to move troops around and collect stuff on the map while your main hero fights
3) almost all spells are fun and i recommend you mess with them, but haste and/or slow are overwhelmingly the best/most versatile spells in the game and can instantly make you a better player but using them regularly. expert air magic or expert earth magic are usually prioritize for this reason because it lets you slow/haste all units in a battle (enemies or yours for slow/haste respectively)
4) against the AI, you can win by beelining for capitol and then building units, or you can win by going creatures first. i recommend learning to go creatures first, it is more fun and will make you a better player in the long run. use stuff on the map (gold piles, treasure chests) to keep your economy plugging along. aim for capitol by the end of week 2 though. on poorer maps you may need to prioritize $$ generating buildings though.
5) learn the # terminology (e.g. the difference between a several, few, lots, horde, throng, etc), and learn the unit tiers (e.g. T1 - T7). this will help you understand what you can reliably kill without taking heavy losses
6) shooters are your friends, particularly early. abuse them against 'walking' troops, let them come to you
7) map mobility is huge. logistics is a fantastic skill for this reason.
8) town portal, dimension door (earth and air, respectively) as well as angel wing artifact break the game as they basically let you bounce around the map in a single turn. have fun with them when playing vs AI! though later you may want to force yourself not to use them once you git too good

File: 1346248694650.jpg (23KB, 300x228px) Image search: [Google]

23KB, 300x228px

>>2811007
all you need is the correct answer to one simple question: slow or haste?

>>2813527
>1) always gold from chests

Worst advice ever. You need as much exp as you can get for an early encounter with the enemy and generally for lasting as long as you can outside whitout reinforcements.

OP remember quality allways beats quantity. You can have a fuckton of troops if your hero is shit they wont be of much use. Go for experience as often as you can.

As for the money issue focus on getting capitol as early as possible

try not to hire heroes who don't give a gold bonus

>>2813631
>capitol rush

no this is the worst advice

>>2813631

These threads always devolve to arguments like this, but short version:

Yes, against the AI you can *almost* do anything you want, including get XP from chests. you'll still win, most likely (probably not on impossible though)

but OP asked how to 'git gud'. taking XP from chests is a total waste. 500-1500XP is nothing in the grand scheme of the game, and those first levels are borderline irrelevant. you will end up at level 20+ at the end on most maps regardless of what you took from chests at the beginning. a single 'horde of zombies' (or something similar), which is easy as fuck to kill by week 2, will net you the equivalent of 3+ chests anyway.

on the other hand, you will always be short on money in the beginning of the game, especially if you are playing on expert or impossible. your goal is usually to build T7 dwelling week 1 or 2 (most towns except dungeon can do it pretty easily by day 6 or 7 week 1). you need cash moneys to do that. having a couple T7s during week 2 is infinitely better than having an extra level or 2 on your main.

get necromancy

>>2813814
Well i disagree.

First, you encounter more than just one chest so your argument about 1500 exp being irelevant is stupid.

Secondly, i prefer advancing as much as possible in level right at the begining because i dont like w8ing or going back for upgrades or reinforcements. A stronger hero at the begining and a rapid advance seems like a pretty valid strategy to me.

Anyway, i guess its up to OP to decide which strategy fits him. This is what i do most of the time and i win most of my multiplayer games, against people who pick the gold and rush dwellings.

It doesnt matter how early you build your dwellings if you dont have the money to recruit any creatures. It might matter in the long run but really how much of a difference a handful of extra creatures make?

>>2814169

a couple of angels or dragons can net you more XP than you can dream of

>>2814195
If you cant earn your experience without a couple of angels or dragons then i feel sorry for you

>>2814768

I can, I just prefer to wait a bit instead of abusing the shit out combat mechanics.

It`s just tedious otherwise.

>>2811007
For the standard scenarios and random maps, aim for the following skills: expert earth magic, expert air magic, and intelligence. Get the following spells as soon as you can: town portal, dimension door, and summon earth/air elemental. Once you have built up a hero with those skills and spells, send him/her on guerrilla campaigns against enemy heroes/towns and neutral creatures with 4 to 5 cheap fast units (such as Dragon Flies).

At the beginning of each battle, keep summoning earth elementals and use them to whittle down the enemy. Once you run out of mp or your last unit is about to die, retreat. Hire him/her back at the town nearest the enemy you've just attacked and use dimension door to get back to the enemy quickly. Keep building up your army at your towns, but only send a small amount of units to battle at any time. Never field a large army unless you're 100% sure you can defeat the enemy with it or at least destroy most of his/her troops.

>>2813631
>Worst advice ever. You need as much exp as you can get for an early encounter with the enemy and generally for lasting as long as you can outside whitout reinforcements.

More gold = more units you can buy = more fights you can fight = more exp. And much, much, much faster expansion - more mines, more resources, etc.

I always went for early exp until I tried going for money once - it was completely different and much more efficient. You couldn't go full autism on levelling your hero, but you could gain SIGNIFICANT map control extremely early, and then build up a big enough army to get lots of experience anyway.

>>2814169
>Secondly, i prefer advancing as much as possible in level right at the begining because i dont like w8ing or going back for upgrades or reinforcements. A stronger hero at the begining and a rapid advance seems like a pretty valid strategy to me.

You cannot advance without an army, regardless of how strong your hero is. You need an army, which you can only get by having enough gold.

>>2811007
All luck. All leadership.

Diplomacy is OP unless you play random generated maps with max agression lvl set on neutral monsters.

>>2813536
Against a human opponent, mass haste. Against neutral stacks on the map, slow

>>2814169
>i win most of my multiplayer games, against people who pick the gold and rush dwellings.

no offense, but your friends don't count. i really doubt that you win any legit multi games with this strategy.

extra creatures make all the difference in the world, much moreso than an extra level on your hero. it lets you clear the map faster, netting you the XP from these early encounters, effectively giving you the gold from chests + more than making up for the XP.

furthermore, i'll reiterate that if you only take XP you wont be getting your T6/T7 creatures early. a single angel can take on a ridiculous number of encounters that you'd otherwise be forced to ignore until week 3ish with your strategy.

>>2811007
Learn to cast no spells other than Mass Air Magic Haste.

Use Blind. Blind is OP as fuck. It makes an enemy stack unable to do anything for like 3 turns and its cheap.

>>2815586
>Blind
>cheap
You could cast two Expert Air Magic Hastes.

Two.

At the cost of casting a Blind.

>>2815614

Blind is meant for early game. Expert magic will take several levels to get to, buddy

>>2811007
Just don't play the campaign game or the autistic russian mods.

>>2814169
Ur a retard.

>>2815619
At early levels you will be able to use Blind maybe once or twice and it lasts 2 turns because you have 2 knowledge 2 spellpower because you're not stupid (you didn't pick a Magic hero did you? haha).

>>2814169

There have been so much competitive gaming in HoMM3 that this issue have been settled for more than 10 years. You take gold until your level 7 building, capitol and important units can be paid for. If you play on the highest difficulty this means, always take gold week 1 and 2.

There are very few exceptions to this rule that I can think of: you might take xp on your main hero if you are going to risk a decisive battle far from your base and cant use the gold to chain troops to him/her. You might take xp if you have basic diplomacy as your starting skill on certain maps. Both of them seem like very risky play that should only be done if you have to gamble to win.

This just means

that your opponents were bad. There is no shame in clubbing baby seals but neither any glory.

>>2817410
This just means??

This just means!

Thank you for the advice, wise sage Vasiliy.

File: ..jpg (50KB, 667x548px) Image search: [Google]

50KB, 667x548px

>>2814195
>>2814778
>>2814830
>>2815574
>>2816221
>>2817410

Does anyone even know what else if could have Crag Hack?

File: 1318214061677.png (9KB, 250x250px) Image search: [Google]

9KB, 250x250px

>>2819589
did you smoke some hag crack, anon?

>>2813714
It's legit against AI

>>2820739
It's also legit to cheat against the AI, what's your point?

>>2818107

but it's not an opinion.

OP asked how to git gud, taking XP from chests is literally the opposite of what any gud player would do.

if you just wanna do it for FUN, that's fine, but it's not good play in homm3. like >>2817410 said, the game has been analyzed to hell and back for well over a decade in terms of competitive play, there's just no debate about it anymore.

>>2820784
What's YOUR point?