Now, I feel like in Vanilla, most towns have choices that are more or less no-brainers. SO I figured I'd put my views out here just to see what people think. I start by assessing from Tier 1 up because sometimes that influences strategies like number of heroes.
a) This is opinion. Pure and simple.
b) This is from PvAI observations. PvP would probably change some of the valuation

Starting with probably my favourite: Chaos
Tier 1: Bandits and Orcs. Both relatively inconsequential, but I often forgo bandits entirely as a stack to replace with either a Hero or a high-tier stack of allied alignment.
Tier 2: Minotaurs v Medusas. Missile against a relatively solid melee unit-Game to the medusas. The 50% negation is cool, but the minotaurs aren't going to participate in the first round.
Tier 3: Nightmares v Efreeti. Flying melee vs Walking melee.... with a suprise!-game to the Nightmares unless you're purely fighing death and/or order due to high chances for negation. Taking a stack of ANY power out of the game for two rounds is BIG man.
Tier 4: Black Dragons v Hydra's. Game to Black Dragons. I don't think I need to explain that one.

Nature:
T1: Sprites and Wolves. I often end up dropping wolves once I get higher tier troops due to being too slow to impact the early combat. Sprites look flashy with their no retaliation but are very squishy.
T2: Elves v Tigers. I always go Elves, but I think here's one of the few *very* tactical choices. Elves are slow growing and easily lost, AND are the hardest T2 building in the game to build thanks to the obscene wood requirement to build prerequiisites, but are far better missile troops than T2 has any right to claim. Tigers are walking melee-but very effective due to first strike. In a tight race campaign the tigers may be the choice, but elves are superior if you can avoid losing them to attrition.
T3: Unicorns v Griffins. Flying Melee vs Walking melee... with a suprise! (sound familiar?) Now, Griffins can be good shock troops because of unlimited retaliation, but in my experience the only way to use them in this regard would require several rounds of defensive buffing, otherwise they get murdered too fast to significant after the second attack. Unicorns have a chance of blind, which is a very significant debuff. Game to Unicorns-see comment about nightmares though.
T4: Faerie Dragons v Phoenixs. This one's tight. I tend to prefer Faerie Dragons, because I prefer them. One's a spellcaster with some direct damage, and one very fun disable-although it's arguable about getting value from t4 troops to use it. Phoenix's are fast, slightly squishy for a t4, but resurrect when the stack gets dropped. Very useful if you're confronting the main army-also useful as shock troops on troublesome heroes.

Since the first reply concerned it, Necropolis! (Death)
Heroes seems to love the necropolis. In H2 I think it had the reputation as the best faction, although I feel that H3 nerfed it a little (still very competitive, I think H3 did a good job with town balance overall), H4 allows a good player to bring it back to the powerhouse position-probably competing with might as best overall.
T1: Skeletons and Imps. Skeleton's only strength is in number, but Imps have none really. The only thing these adorable evil munchkins have is the ability to steal mana from enemy casters, which I've never found more than an annoyance to me-so I tend to turn them into skeletons to free up a stack.
T2: Cerberi vs Ghosts. Cerberi have the cool ability of a multi-attack with no retaliation, although the change from hex-based has made it harder to trigger reliably. That said, glass cannons. Ghosts are flying, and have reasonably good defense, as well as annoying little debuff that goes off on any target it can. Easily the Ghosts win here-especially since your undead converter AND your hero get to make more!
T3 Vampires v Venom Spawn. Oh the glory of this tier. Vampires are amazing even for Tier 3. No retaliation, solid hitters, a touch weak on defense maybe, but they can resurrect themselves just by attacking. PLUS YOU GET TO MAKE MORE OF THEM. On the other side, you have the venom spawn. These horrific looking piles of goo are deadly ranged attackers, hitting VERY hard, and applying poison on top of it. Vampires are probably the better option, but its hard to go too far wrong here-although see Post two about how easy they apparently are to get. And if you run a necromancer, you're going to be making more.
T4: Bone Dragons v Demons. Bone Dragons, fly, hit hard, and have a fear effect that gives them no retaliation against anything that that works on. Demons summon Ice Demons and teleport. Demons make good shock troops if there are squishy stacks, but they'll get slaughtered due to lack of defense. Bone Dragons clear advantage here.

Onto Death's enemy, Life.
T1: Squires and Crossbowmen. They've given you a T1 Ranged unit that can actually keep pace with higher tiers thanks to no ranged penalties and decent growth. Yep, they're great. Squires are very good early game, but later on I sometimes trade them out for maybe a third hero or keeping two stacks of T3/4 because the computer didn't build the same ones I did-they just don't have any ability to shape combats after the early game.
T2: Ballistae v Pikemen. I used to be biased very heavily towards Ballistae, but Pikemen aren't bad either. Pikemen negate first strike, have reach (which effectively gives them no retaliation), don't die too easy, and hit pretty hard. But then there's Ballistae. These things hit at full power even over walls in a Siege, and they hit HARD. Weak on defense as you'ld expect, but being mechanical gives them a nice set of immunities. Ballistae have the advantage here.
T3: Monks vs Crusaders. Oh, the cruelty to have to pick only one! Crusaders inherit their doublestrike from H3 (and before?) and have Death Ward (or is it death immunity? to boot). They're a bit on the slow slide, but tactics can help to fix that, and their staying power and damage output (especially offensive damage) make up for it. On the other side, you have monks. Deadly range troops that fire bolts of energy, once again they are Warded against Death, and can actually survive some suprisingly heavy hits. It's up to you here, I tend to lean towards monks.
T4 Angels vs Cavaliers. Angels are fast. They fly, and they resurrect. And still hit pretty hard. Cavaliers are also pretty fast, and get bonuses based on how far they move. I think Angels are the clear winner here.

Last of the aligned town, Order. I find that this is arguably one of the weaker towns, but there are some very simple ways to change that-Nobility, one of your trademarks, and the Treasury, which with a bit of management can give you lots of extra cash.
T1: Dwarves and Halflings. Dwarves are amazing... but slow. This lack of speed can sometimes lead me to leave them out inf avor of that 3rd Hero once I get T4's. Halflings are weak missile troops that make up for it by being extra nasty to T4 troops. You work with what you get.
T2: Gold Golems against Magi. Gold Golems are magic reistant, have tons of defense, and hit hard. But are somewhat slo :(. Magi are one of the softest T2 units in the game-you sneeze at them, you kill half the stack. But their magical attacks make them great at countering enemy missile stacks... if they fire first. They also have poison, which can be cast without line of sight. I tend to build Magi.
T3: Naga's v Genies. Naga's are nice melee troops with no retaliation. Not that special though. Genies have reasonably hard hitting magic, as well as Slow, Mirth, and Song of Peace, allowing them to be a very versatile spellcasting stack. Don't expect them to stand up to sustained hitting though. Genies definitely do it for me here.
T4: Titans vs Dragon Golems. I need to play with Golems more, but they're fast, and they have first strike, and they're mechanical. They also hit hard, and take hits alright. In the red corner, the Titans. Big bulky missile units, their sizzling bolts hurt anything. They're also suprisingly able to mix it up in melee with most other stacks. Titans for me.

The final town-Might. This town gives you one of the fastest growing raw armies, presumably to compensate for the lack of magic. Oh well, build your melee hero that can stand up to black dragons and laugh at the puny spellcasters!
T1: Berserkers and Centaurs: Berserkers are deadly. They hit twice, they hit hard, they're fast for T1... and the AI controls them. This makes them very hard to preserve, and if you use them, dictates a certain amount of your strategy-I often end up swapping them out due to lack of numbers. Centaurs are crappily average missile troops that hit hard if you actually get into their range.]
T2: Harpies v Nomads. Harpies have a no retaliation hit-and return, wheras Nomads are simple cavalry.. with First strike. Nomads are also suprisingly hard hitters and have more defense. I tend to prefer Harpies, but see Post 2 for reasons to go with Nomads.
T3: Cyclopes vs Ogre Magi. Cyclopes. Cyclopes, Cyclopes, Cyclopes. AoE ranged, hurts like anything, reasonably tanky for a missile unit.... against... casting bloodlust and walking round.
T4:Thunderbirds vs Behemoths. Thunderbirds are the second fastest unit in the game as far as I know, and hit their enemies with a bolt of thunder after a weak for T4 melee attack-but it's still definitely a T4 hit. They're also rather weak on the defense side. Behemoths reduce their enemies defence, meaning that they hit like anything, especially against traditionally tough targets. It's a close one here, but I tend to go for the Thunderbirds, as their speed and flight can allow them to deal with problem stacks before they become a problem.

Whew! Enjoy the discussion wars to come!

Hey Solar saw your post in another thread that lead to this so decided to check it out.

My main problem with Heroes 4 is that to much of it was unbalanced in 2 major areas.

1 - Might Heroes had to much of an edge over Magic. They could easily become IMMUNE to harmful spells and still had way to easy access to Potions of Immortality to just keep a Super Tank alive. Magic needed to much investment to unlock all their spells.

2- Creature and requisite Building Requirements - Some creature choices were no brainers because of how much trouble it took to get the alternate. For instance Stronghold T2 Harpies vs Nomads. These guys are actually kind of equal in strength and usefulness but Nomads are easier to get with only needing Caravan compared to Harpy needing Citadel.

Vampires from the Necro town were by FAR and away the most unbalanced creature of the game as well. So easy to get that you could usually get them on turn 2 or 3 and only needed to get 2 of them to take out early stacks. Not to mention that send him out with a Necro mage and ounce you managed to get Grand Master Necromancy you were raising 2 more Vamps after every combat as long as you didn't have to face massive amounts of Undead/Mechanical/Elementals then you had it super easy.

If you managed to avoid those 2 things the game could be fun sometimes and is worth playing. However it's just not on a par with H3 at all for any long term enjoyment. Short term it's cool but gets old fast.

I have to agree with much of what you've said, although Vampires are a little less of a no-brainer choice than you suggest-in that the parallel unit is very good as well-ranged with BONUS damage. Undead just have a great T3, and I don't recall them being THAT easy to get in most games. Need to edit ease of access into Nature too, thanks for reminging me.
Necromancy was definitely going to figure in my necropolis breakdown.

However, I've played H3 heavily, and I enjoy H4 more. The prestige class system and hero customisation are amazing-although the magic immunity does need *some* way of being counterbalanced (in situations I come across it, my normal reaction is just to disable the rest of the army then blast them with the large stacks of T4 you have by the time hero's are likely to have the top tiers-although, I should experiment to see how fast RNG will let you have GM resistance). Mass spells are *very* effective, especially things like Mass Slow. (H4 seems to follow the line that cursing is better than blessing-I know there is removal as well, but that's hero-based as well, and on a hero that probably doesn't have magic resistance...) It's hard to unlock level 5 spells, but I don't actually use them too much except in campaigns-by the time you get them, the armies are big enough that enabling/disabling is a vastly more powerful option, and very few level 5 spells do that on a battlefield wide level. The level 3-4 mass spells are my favourites, allowing vast changes in power level of armies with relatively little time.
I also feel that bringing the heroes down onto the battlefield and allowing multiples creates a much more enjoyable game dynamic, and makes them much more functional. It's really a matter of preference, but there's a lot to like about both games.

H4 is good for a taste of something different but sadly it's not LONG term enjoyable really. Long term enjoyment needs more balance imho and this is something that H3 excels in with perhaps the exception of the Conflux town as Phoenix's just grow twice as fast as the others.

I think they needed to really have a max of 2 Heroes allowed in the battle per side really though. The reason for might being so overpowered though is as follows.

- Barbarian Heroes all start with Basic Combat, Melee and Resistance.
- Both Grand Master Resistance and GM Melee only require Expert Combat (lvl 3)
- GM Resistance can be gotten by level 7 therefore, 2 for Expert Combat and 4 for Resistance.
- 4 Levels after that you could have GM Melee
- 2 more levels and you have GM Combat

So at only level 13, with no altar or other powerups, you can have a Barbarian with GM Combat, Melee and Resistance. Your Hero would have the following stats and abilities with the above skills

- FIRST STRIKE
- DOUBLE ATTACK
- *40 Attack. 35-52 Damage (155-231 damage vs Orcs/Bandits, 140-208 vs Black Dragon PER ATTACK)
- 60 Defense, Melee AND Ranged
- *** Immunity to HOSTILE Spells ONLY ***
- 220 HP (each level gives +10HP)

*** That's right, unlike how Black Dragons are Immune to ALL Spells both ones that hurt and help,

* GM Melee Divides defense by 4 but does not reduce below 10 or reduce enemy Heroes Defense.

I used a cheat to get my barb to level 13 first turn so I could check out his stats and damage. He took on 15 Nightmares, lvl 3 chaos creatures, (1 stack) and using Potions of Immortality, died ounce and got lost half hp before he finished them off. Was able to take on a single Black Dragon as well no real problem. Remember this is using no artifacts/equipments as well.

Compare the above with the fact that any magic Hero needs to get to at least level 14 to get their Grand Master Magic, added to the fact that they only have 60 spell points at that point as well normally, 50 of which are from one of their skills. They only have 10 Attack & Defense and 230 HP.

Did this test for a Chaos Magic Hero and also used the cheat to give him all chaos spells (otherwise you only get the few from your guild). His Disintegrate spell does 528 Damage, Magic Arrow 144. Keep in mind that vs that barb these are totally useless and he would have to just buff his troops.

Another thing that makes the Barb potentially even more tough is if he say manages to get level 1 Life, Nature or even Chaos Magic. Spiritual Armor and Stone skin would increase his Defense upto 75, and Bloodlust would increase his attack to 50 letting him deal 175 - 260 damage to that Black Dragon.

To be a bit fairer I beefed up a Nature Magic Hero to level 14 and GM Nature Magic for his summons to see if they would stand upto might Hero. Same 230 HP and 10 Def/Atk and 60sp pool. Summon Faerie Dragon, Pheonix and Mantis each summon only 2 guys for 12 SP. Now if you at least 3 time before engaging the barb, or before he gets to your Hero, then you may stand a chance if ti's just Hero vs Hero.

If armies are involved then it still would not be even really as he would have more guys able to go stright for your Hero who would be super weak and squishy. Not to mention Might army would probably be larger or the fact that you may not get the right summon spells.

Ah well this is certainly enough to prove my point.

When playing on Champion difficulty: Bandits are excellent for scouting around. Their ability to pass level 1 guardians unnoticed and steal their treasure gives you an early boost in resources. Still, a single sprite can defeat all slow (naturally or magically) walkers. Eventually. After a very long time. But still useful on some maps, though not in multiplayer (most opponents frown upon three-hour-long battles in which they can't participate). While I personally prefer Might, Death is easily the most powerful faction in the early game. The Vampires+Fatigue combo is insanely powerful against most units, especially around day 3 or so, and when you combine it with the movement boost a hero gets, it's easy to see why games played for the top score usually require Death. Stealing mana is incredible when fighting against neutral spellcasting stacks, e.g. Nightmares (a single mana-drain renders them useless), Phoenixes (dtto), Angels (dtto)... Vampires are stronger than a great number of L4's. Not in a fair one-on-one combat, sure, but a combination of Hero+Vampires is almost always stronger than Hero+L4, and always stronger than L4 alone. Actually, there's no choice here. Venom Spawn is only useful if I am about to lose a town and want to make sure the opponent can't build vampires. Generally, I don't use either, because they are way too slow. Pikemen are sometimes useful, though, when attacking castles - their long reach allows them to reach heroes hidden behind the walls who don't expect to be reachable :-). Even after all these years I have yet to see a game in which the Nobility would be useful. I mean, if I could get it to grandmaster for free in a secondary hero, then it might be nice, but as it is, it is way too expensive (as in, would you rather have a full-GM Nobility or full-GM Combat or Order?) and it tends to waste a skill slot of the main hero while a secondary hero can't usually build it up enough to be useful. Magi are very useful when attacking castles, as long as the opponent's defending heroes don't have GM Resistance. As far as I am concerned, both are worthless. By the time I can get them, the hero is far more powerful than either. While Berserkers are difficult to manage, it is possible to control them to a certain degree and they easily beat many L2 units this way. Thunderbirds are excellent for taking out PoI-ed heroes.

I disagree. Long term also needs new and innovative ideas and the excellent mapmaking options of H4 beat H3 easily here. A good mapmaker can not only create enjoyable maps, but he can, to a large degree, overcome most of the inherent flaws of vanilla H4. Including "poor balance", even if it is there - in my experience, a better player can triumph over a worse one regardless of which factions either of them uses. (Also, I consider the player's ability to exploit the racial differences to his best advantage, to be an important strategic skill. So if a certain faction is better for a particular map, all the more power to the player who can realize it and choose that faction.) The most useful spells tend to be Expert level, which can be achieved by level 4 (3500 experience points or so - that's about 3-4 treasure chests). Then you can focus on Combat, with just a little delay after the Barbarians. Sure. But you could also cast e.g. a whole lot of Quicksand, which does work against a GM Resistant barbarian. Or you could summon some creatures. Or make illusions of them. Or Teleport yourself out of reach whenever necessary. Or a whole lot of other things. Of course, if you limit yourself to direct damage, then you are at a disadvantage against a GM Barbarian, but that's just a poor tactics, not a result of poor balance. Each of these spells is a waste of the Barbarian's turns, IMHO. It would be better to e.g. summon a leprechaun and use it to waste the opponent's retaliation. If the point is that in a battle of two poor tacticians the one with GM Combat Barbarian would triumph over GM Magic Magician, then I have to agree. Otherwise, not really.

While I agree that there are quite a few really good 3rd level spells, it does not give enough of an edge vs might to truly turn the battle.

Really there are not many troops useful vs the barb with GM magic resist and a 60 Defense rating. Therefore wasting what little mana you have on summoning or flooding the battlefield with quicksand is just delaying the inevitable. Standard troops just are not much use vs them unless they have an edge perhaps like Mantis's locking them in position.

Sorrow, Confusion or Slow their T4, slam the hero with a significant stack of T4's, and they're done.
Haste and Mirth your troops so that they hit first and then REALLY hit first.
Mass Snake/First strike so that retaliation damage goes down.

Pure damage spells are arguably the worst spells in any given tier.

Ok I think I see where I made a bit of a mistake when pointing things out about how strong might is over magic.

Unless there are really effective super strong defenders blocking the might hero from coming after you, or unless it's a really long game where you actually get a chance to have some serious stacks of T3 and T4 units might will just steamroll ftw. IF the game manages to go long enough yes you can get huge armies and time to beef your heroes up to meet them.

Small and Medium maps = Might Win unless guards between you are insanely tough. Might can level more quickly except for Death/Vampires/GM Necro

Large and XL maps = Armies are going to be quite big it's more of a factor but just don't forget that the Barbarian is going to have his own big army helping him out and he can quite easily dual class as a General to pump them up with tactics. Also depends how many towns are around because might can hire Nobility Hero and has Breeding Pit (increases all creature growth by 50% for the town it's in).