Heroes 5 strategy on Ranger campaign mission 3: The defense
Quebec Dragon
starts with more than enough troops.
2) Interestingly, this starts with a town defense you cannot win. The
best you can hope for is to inflict more casualties. For that, you
have to last the longest time possible. Spread out your units so that
they're not next to each other. This is to lower the casualties
inflicted by the archliches. Defend a lot with your non-shooters. If
you're lucky, some flying undead units will get stuck in your "moat"
and suffer damage each turn. Once the flying units are inside, it
might be better most of the time to defend instead of attacking,
especially if the retaliation would kill most of your stack. I would
not waste attacks on the vampire lords, they will regain their units
anyway. I mostly tried to kill arch liches myself.
3) Findan will try to retake that very same town on his first day.
Visit the fountain of youth first. Cast mass haste with Findan. Do
not rush in with your emerald dragons or sprites right away. They
would get hit upon by every undead stack, not to mention there would
be no more chance of an enemy stack going outside (in my battle, the
wraights opened the gate, if they do, attack with the silver unicorns
or the ancient treants). Cast lightning with your druid elders on the
archliches. Cast mass endurance on Findan's second turn if you have
it, otherwise cast endurance on the emerald dragons (and the sprites)
with the druid elders. Try to counter any mass spell Raven might cast:
such as casting mass divine strength or mass righteous might to
counter his mass weakness. Try to hit 2 stacks when you attack with
your emerald dragons and sprites. In the end, I lost 2 emerald
dragons, all my sprites, 10 silver unicorns and 11 master hunters on
my first try. I lost 4 emerald dragons, 99 sprites and 22 silver
unicorns on my second try. The difference in the second battle was the
luck that the wraiths had on their first retaliation.
4) One of the objectives is to hold Syris Thalla. I left all my war
dancers, all my sprites and all my ancient treants except 2 inside the
town. I probably went a little overboard with the ancient treants but
I knew that on the field, they rarely entered battle and so would not
be terribly missed by Findan. I also left 20 druid elders (split up in
two stacks) and 20 master hunters to protect the town. I kept the rest
for Findan's army, I split his druid elders and master hunters in 2
stacks each .
5) Buy war machines for Findan. Hire 2 extra heroes. One should take
the boat. I suggest the non-sylvan hero with his troops.
6) Don't let Findan take the boat right away. Wait a few days,
exploring east, killing a couple of invading heroes, so you can build
your mage guild to level 5 and the avenger's guild. I got the magical
immunity and word of light spells! I do not know if they are set or
random. As for the favored enemies at the avenger's guild, I picked
spectral dragons and archliches.
7) From the hut of the magi, you will see the teal town of Mensyl.
This should be your objective for week 2. It might be even better to
arrive later than sooner because then it leaves more days for teal to
buy free structures for you.
8) Once Findan starts sailing, you can either go east or west. If you
go east, you will have 2 days of sailing and approximately 3 days of
walking before you reach Mensyl. If you go west, you will have between
3 to 5 days of sailing (depending on navigation) and one day of
walking before you reach Mensyl.
9) Get the dragon altar by the end of week 2. This means being very
careful about buying structures that require either crystals or gems
because those are the 2 resources you will be lacking, especially
crystal. Even after having bought it, be careful about upgrading your
creature dwellings too soon, because otherwise, you will not be able
to get a second dragon altar in week 3.
10) In week 3, Findan should head back east on the road and go through
the first teal garrison.
11) Here are some tips to win against the garrisons with little to no
casualties. Spread out your units so neighboring troops are minimized.
It's not a big deal if there's a few ancient treants next to some
druid elders or silver unicorns next to the master hunters. Resist the
temptation of rushing in with your emerald dragons or unicorns on
their first turn. Wait for the right moment (usually the second or
third time they have a turn after most dangerous undead troops have
moved). Cast endurance on the dragons with your druid elders. Leave
your silver unicorns mostly on your side, perhaps attacking targets of
opportunity such as vampire lords (although I prefer to attack them
with master hunters first). As usual, cast mass haste with Findan and
follow it with a mass spell favorite on his second turn. Concentrate
your early shooting (lightning for the elder druids) against the arch
liches and then on the spectral dragons (chosen favored enemies from
earlier by the way). Move your cursor around to almost always try to
hit 2 enemies with your dragons. Sometimes, even I was surprised at
what I could hit. The master hunters should be particularly aware of
targets who will reach them on their next turn and shoot accordingly.
At the first garrison, I lost 1 silver unicorn. At the second
garrison, I lost 1 emerald dragon and 4 master hunters.
12) A level 24 necromancer should come knocking on your door at the
start of week 4. However, with your accumulated troops and those that
were left on week 1, you should be fine as long as your troops stay
inside the town and as long as you get rid quickly of the archliches
and spectral dragons.
13) Do not attack the paladins or grim raiders on your way. The reward
is not really worth the losses they might inflict.
14) One of the heroes you can rescue, Talanar of level 28, is in the
southwest corner of the map protected by angels. During the battle, do
not attack right away with your emerald dragons. Cast mass haste and
endurance on your emerald dragons with one of the stacks of druid
elders. Use phantom forces if you have it on your emerald dragons and
have the "phantoms" attack the archangels to soak up the retaliation.
Speaking of the spell phantom forces, I noticed that the AI really
loves to target those units. I can understand why but in practice, it
gives you lots of time for the rest of your units to win the battle.
15) Near the middle of month 2, week 2, you should be able to reach
and conquer the next teal town called Nadin-Zakir. I had not brought
reinforcements to Findan from the start. I was still using his initial
army. If you want fresh troops, better cast summon creatures before
the battle than after. Not because you will need them in this castle
siege, but more because when you cast it after the battle, the
summoned creatures will come from this town and not of your nearest
sylvan town. With previous seen tactics, you should be fine. I did
not have much trouble with this battle, except I lost most of my
master hunters to turret fire. When this town is defeated, teal will
be eliminated but the mission is not over yet.
16) At the start of month 2, week 2, another purple necromancer will
attack Syris Thalla.
17) The last hero you need to free from jail is in the underground.
Follow the right paths at intersections to reach her.
18) To finish the mission, you need 10 green dragons, 30 silver
unicorns and 50 druid elders inside the garrison (top row) of Syris
Thalla. If you want to reach that goal a little quicker, you can bring
troops from Mensyl to the capitol.
Finished in month 2, week 3, day 7 at normal difficulty.
The Quebec Dragon