Best non-pretender SC's?

[Taqwus]

One that might be overlooked would be the amphibious Elemental Queen of Water. If memory serves, she comes with all item slots, decent although not outrageous hp, zero base encumberance without the vulnerabilities associated with being undead (can't recall whether she has the 'magic unit' flag however, possibly), and most niftily she regenerates half her hit points every turn.

[Edit (Correction): QoW do not get feet slots. This is somewhat alleviated by the fact that with water magic they can cast Quickness themselves, but it does make it harder to, say, have them fly (no Winged Shoes -- do you want to give them Stymphalian Wings instead and take the armor lot) or reinvig (no messenger shoes) or tough skin (no Boots of Stone, so prot needs to come from armor slot mostly, which probably means no ethereal unles you use a Wraith Crown, etc)].

If you wanted to go to an absurd extreme, a Tartarian Titan with Sun Slayer or Mage Bane, Aegis, Amon Hotep, Elemental Armor (or Robe of Shadows?), Boots of Quickness, Pendant of Luck, Talisman of Antimagic would be pretty nasty. For more fun, prophetize it and replace a misc item with the Ark.

[Edit: Sun Slayer is 2-HD, so cannot be combined with Aegis on a Tartarian Titan. Since the Sun Slayer's effect is 'Area Death', however, it may be a worthwhile exchange...]

[ May 20, 2004, 00:59: Message edited by: Taqwus ]

[NTJedi]

The best SC I've seen was from Ermor... I believe it's one of his heroes. In any case it's defense was 35 with almost no items equipped plus his movement pts on the battlefield were very high.

Someone who has played Ermor could probably give the details.

[Norfleet]

Etimmu the Wraith Lord: One of the best heroes in the game. His base defense is only 16, though, so even with experience, unless he had a defense-increasing heroic attribute, it wouldn't have given him 35 defense with no items.

But still, if you get him relatively early in the game, which is not uncommon, you can slap a Wraith Sword and perhaps some Jade Armor on him, and he's a complete terror, able to plow through indies with ease. He's also immortal! Mine has Heroic Quickness. Muhahahaha.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Cheap & unlimited (in numbers) SC chassis I like -

Bane Lords.

Jotun Herses/Scouts.

Firbolgs, although I use them mainly as leaders, with an occasional ranged weapon.

Cream of the crop - if you're lucky enough with Tartarian Gate to get non-crippled undead leaders, my favorite is the earth/air Cyclops - cheap, incredibly tough, access to good buffs, and - Last but not least - can cast Cloud Trapeze to hit your enemy where it hurts the most (before he can move).

Troll Kings and Sea Kings - who may qualify as 'cheap' if you see them as a mere byproduct of the not-so-cheap Court rituals - also deserve a mention.

[DLC]

the elemental queen of water that regens 50 hp/sec with the amulet of the fish + misc if you dont kill her in one hit she'll keep coming.

[Cainehill]

Certainly not the "Best of the Best", but ... Recruitable on turn 2, Niefel Jarls are pretty awesome, especially with any of several high blesses.

72 HPs; Very high strength, good defense and protection, decent attack and precision; D2W3 for magic, and starts with Breath of Winter.

With N9, one Niefel Jarl Prophet was able to take 8 consecutive provinces with independents 9, starting on turn 4 - no magic items equipped. Berserk means he won't get dispirited and decide he'd rather be elsewhere; the combination of high hitpoints and regeneration means very few wounds (even against a heavy cavalry province, he received no wounds), and breath of winter helps kill any swarming human sized opponents.

W9 would also be an awesome bless, giving 1/2 haste and a defense of 20; E9 would give fatigue restoration and protection 19, and it's relatively painless to get one high blessing, without taking unpleasant scales.

Side question : Anyone know how much better Breath of Winter is than the inherent Chill aura?

[ May 19, 2004, 23:18: Message edited by: Cainehill ]

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Cainehill:
Side question : Anyone know how much better Breath of Winter is than the inherent Chill aura?

They're not comparable. Breath of Winter KILLS PEOPLE. Chill Aura, by itself, does not, it merely inflicts extra fatigue and occasionally a chill effect.