I'm glad to see I'm not the only one saying what's up with Zmey.
Perhaps this may be off in terms of reasoning, but I'm trying to think of what to compare a Zmey to. I chose a Red Dragon.
Zmey Red Dragon
HP 80*3 125
Str 24 25
Prot 22 22
AS 18 15
Mor 18 30
DS 16 11
MR 18 18
Pre 10 12
Enc 1 2
Both have fear, FR100, but the Zmey has PR50. The Zmey has 3 bites, 2 claws, 1 tail and AOE3 range 0 fire breath. The RD has a bite, a claw, and a ranged AOE3 fire breath.
So what's the deal? Zmey can destroy crap better than the Red Dragon Chassis which is also a god chassis? People use the Dragon chassis so all is well, and it has fewer slots/stats, so it seems Zmey are a bit out of hand.
On another note, then I look at the Ettin. Big fan! BUT the amount of gems I have to pop into them ... ugh it leaves me disappointed when I compare it to the Zmey cost wise. Ettins NEED gear to be useful (full kit imo), Zmey need nada. At this point Kit Lions (why did they lose their commander status btw) seem to be a better deal than the Ettin.
Also Valerius I'm curious what thugs you're sending to fight Zmey. I tried Shishis, tested it first equipped with fire rings (or was it dragon helms and burning pearls? I forget
) and pendants of luck. In the trial Zmey went down but so did 1 shishi. LOL I then decided fine, I'll lose a shishi and did it in game and due to map positioning lost them both. The only other thug type counter I could think of would be multiple sword of heroes (?) with perhaps an axe of hate wielder or 2. But still cost wise that's just nuts.
So then right now imo it's just mind hunt spam to take them down, or if you're lucky a full army backed with mages doing insta kill or fatigue spells.