[thejeff]

I haven't actually tried the N4 version. I assume that's just for the affliction resistance. They don't have enough hp for the regeneration to really help with survival.

By comparable losses against independents, you mean almost none, right? More interesting would be losses against significant enemy armies, which if your opponents are smart will have lots of archers. N4 helps not get afflictions from the archers, F9 helps slaughter the melee troops to get to the archers (and mages) faster.

My take on Helhirdings is that they're all about speed. Cross the field as fast as possible, kill the enemy as fast as possible. N4 may keep you from getting an affliction once you've been hit, but once you've been hit your glamor is broken and you'll probably be hit again. Breaking the enemy faster decreases the number of times they can try to hit you, and thus increases your survivability.

The N4 bless being cheaper certainly helps, especially in a longer game. Better scales, more dominion => more helhirdings early and more mages all game.