Best Unit in the Game... Any thoughts?

[mathusalem]

Devourer of Souls of course

[Edratman]

I found that this is like a paper/rock/scissors game. Whenever I think I've found the best unit, it usually gets chopped up at some point by a counter strategy that I was oblivious to.

So how can you truly judge a unit? Some are merely good by themselves, but really trick up well with buffing.

Personally I love the rare, but strong independent mages that cover magic paths that I don't have. That may because you cannot tuly buy or make them, you have to get lucky and stumble upon them.

But think the correct way to answer your question would categorize the units as:
1. Very strong
2. Good
3. poor
4. Too expensive for what you get
Even with this, units change relative strength from early to late game. A prime example of this are mages. Without much magic research, most of them do not contribute much early and what they can do requires mundane troops to keep them out of melee. However, by the late game 4 or 5 of the right mages and the right spells can devestate a 500+ army.

[Shovah32]

Heavily equipped seraphs and doom horrors(equipped or unequipped) are probably some of the best. Specially built pretenders could over-take seraphs and maybe some of the doom horrors.
Gift of reason is a spell that turns regular units into commanders(even wishing for a commander gives you it as a unit) and so is required if you wish for a seraph.

[SlipperyJim]

I like my GoR-ed Tarrasque, empowered to S4 so she can Gateway her buddies in Team Tarrasque all over the map.

The original question is a bit off, though. As Edratman wrote, it's really hard to pin down the "best" unit in a game this complex. Best at what? Best thug? Best mage? Best support unit? And even if you manage to narrow down your terms, you'll find that someone has a counter-tactic that will leave your uber-unit crying for mercy.

So, yeah, there is no "best" unit in Dom3. Certainly, any of the unique summons are very powerful. For example, the King of Banefires makes a fantastic supercombatant. Air Queens can use the Cloud Trapeeze - Staff of Storms - Wrathful Skies trick to wreck entire armies. Arch Devils can lead a powerful raiding force behind enemy lines. Etcetera....

In a different line of reasoning, I also like units that are reasonably powerful, versatile, and easily available. According to that standard, I like the Barbarian Heavy Horseman from Late-Age TC. Those guys are great! You can buy them in any fort, they have a strategic move of 2 (yay, horses!), and they'll grind up nearly any mundane army into dust. Just set them to "Hold & Attack (whatever)": they'll send three volleys of composite-bow arrows at the closest enemy, which will then be followed by a devastating charge. They have good defense and adequate armor, so they're reasonably survivable. Yeah, I'm a cavalry fanatic.

[Yrkoon]

If you include blessable unit in your pool of units to choose from, then I'd say blessable non-capitol only units are the best.
Being non capitol only they can be recruited in large numbers, and being blessable they can be made much much powerful than regular units. Sure, one tarrasque will eat one blessable unit for breakfast. But armies of units can be easily raised, and they will mop the floor with the tarrasque (or any very very strong expensive unit)

[quantum_mechani]

Yrkoon said:
(or any very very strong expensive unit)

Not quite, SCs can be built that will mop the floor with most unsupported sacred troops.

[General_Jah]

Edratman said:
However, by the late game 4 or 5 of the right mages and the right spells can devestate a 500+ army.

Could you please give me an example or two of this? With non pretender scenarios

[Shovah32]

Flame storm hits 40 squares(which would hold 120 human units) with a strength 15+AP fire attack. Shimmering Fields hits 50 squares with 10+AN shock damage. Rain of Stones hits the entire battlefield with 14 mundane damage and earthquake does the same with 8AP damage. Wrathful Skies(in a storm) hits a certain %(might be 10%) of the squares on the battlefield every turn with a powerful shock attack. Fire storm and astral tempest are both powerful battlefield enchantments. Master Enslave, when cast by a powerful mage with penetration items, can enslave a large portion of the enemy army in a single casting and as an odd example bloodletting, a spell requiring only 4 blood magic and 4 slaves, does 1AN damage(MR negates) over the whole battlefield and adds damage done to the mages life force which means a few mages casting it at a very large army could keep going until it was decimated.

[MaxWilson]

General_Jah said:

Could you please give me an example or two of this? With non pretender scenarios

I recently had a handful of Umbrals (20-odd) and some unblessed Blindfighters (15 or so), plus 2 Ktonian Necromancers, take out 1200 or so underwater R'lyeh troops (sea lions, sea serpents, polypal spawn). Essentially the game plan was Army of Lead + Plague. Army of Lead kept the umbrals alive, and Plague killed all the enemies. I lost the battle because Plague eventually infected my own necromancers and killed them both, but only after the whole battlefield had caught the plague. I think only one enemy unit survived, a Mind Lord.

So anyway, Plague is a great army devastator.

-Max

[PvK]

I still think Tartarians are about the "best" bang for buck, generally speaking...