Guide: Yet Another Hinnom Guide

[P3D]

I agree that Hinnom is not a full Blood nation, however, Hinnom has very good access to some applications, validating to hunt a few provinces.
For example, cheap thug equipment. I realized that a Kohen can be truned useful without much equipment. Give a E or S Kohen one (two) Flesh Eaters and a Ring of the Warrior (+5 attack for 3/5 slaves) and an additional item or two depending on the opposition and budget (bracers, AMA, shield, immunity/water breathing items, skullcap+coin to teleport, Pendant of Luck). They have the Prot 2 robes which is affected by the E9 bless.
Cast Bless, Body Ethereal+Luck/Ironskin, Reinvigoration with a slave.

Send (Lesser) Horror.
Call Lesser Horror is unfortunately cannot be exploited by Hinnom. Initially the expansion should be handled by Melqarts and the starting army, one should not waste the capital to buy Kohens which has 1:3 chance to get Astral.

And the Se'irim are still relatively easily massable demon troops if that's needed, 8 for 33 slaves.

About using Fire resistance: not immunity, thus would require an immunity item. Not that a big problem though, your thugs can get either Fire Brand or Dragon Helmet.
I realized that I could have done so, but my research speed was abysmal and was not preparing by forging F boosters.
I won't bother with Falling Fires though, Hinnom cannot afford to mass F2-3 combat magi. Even F1+2 boosters+phoenix Power +crystal shield can cast Fire Storm.

[P3D]

I started correcting a few mistakes in the OP, and then ended up rewriting the guide - it should worth a BUMP.

[Doo]

I always like reading guides, cheers for the bump

[Redeyes]

If there's anything I would like to know about Hinnom it's how to pronounce the nation's weird names like Avvite, Rephaite or even Samyaza.

[13lackGu4rd]

a-vit, re-fa-it and sam-ya-za.

[JonBrave]

May I ask a quick question?
I [newb-ish] am playing a (vanilla) SP as EA C'tis. I have just bumped into Hinnom armies with "Dawn Guard" guys. My "swarm with my (cheapest) light infantry" --- which seemed to work against MA Jotun gianties --- seems to cause no damage...
From where I am now, quickly, what troops do I need to use against these Dawn Guards, please? Thanks!

[13lackGu4rd]

well, Dawn Guards are perhaps the best regular(as in non sacred) infantry unit in the game. however, this doesn't mean they're invincible. there is no way you're troops "cause no damage" as Dawn Guards only have 1 protection. they do have 12 defense and 25 hp though, which means that you probably just don't have enough numbers to finish them off during the battle. Dawn Guards are size 3 which means that they can be swarmed by size 2 troops(basically all your troops).

so the key to fighting Hinnom, and any other giants for that matter, is to have superiority in numbers. but, if you also care about your own troop composition than your Elite Warriors will be the best match for them, with their 12 attack skill, but really any of your troops will work. just have enough numbers and script them properly and you shouldn't have any trouble against them.

[JonBrave]

>>as Dawn Guards only have 1 protection
I beg your pardon? I have just re-checked --- they have 13 protection! Umm, also 17 defence, 25HP is all I see which agrees with what you say!
17 def + 13 prot is what I am facing!

[13lackGu4rd]

you said you were playing vanilla, so the wiki pages are generally pretty accurate for vanilla values, and I took it strictly from the wiki page: http://dom3.servegame.com/wiki/Dawn_Guard
that's without experience, HoF abilities, buffs, etc obviously. in any case, even with 13 protection, the same thesis still stands, and you need to stop being so tense and nervous about fighting the AI...

[thejeff]

I think the Protection listed in the wiki entries is natural Protection. Protection from armor is added to that (in a complicated fashion of course.) Probably the same with Defense. Shield and weapon bonuses.
Those entries are auto-generated which is why you get the less useful value.

Dawn Warriors are nasty. No question about it. Swarm tactics are probably still your best choice for regular troops. I'd suggest the slave warriors rather than the Elite. A little more expensive than your Light infantry, but better (two) attacks and lower resource so they're easily massable. Dawn Guard hit really hard so the Elite's armor isn't likely to help them survive a blow. They also have fairly high encumbrance so they'll be more vulnerable as the battle drags on.

The other answer, of course, is skellispam. Raise Skeletons/Dead from enough Sauromancers to hit critical mass and overwhelm them.