Here's a list of race/class favorites of mine that you can try in WBC2:
- A Daemon Pyromancer. Summoner seems to be the apparent choice, and it's not bad at all to have quasits from L1, and an ability giving +4 combat to daemons, but daemons have summoning as an ability, anyway. Summoning mastery gives you more and better creatures (of which less than half of the spells actually benefit), while pyromancy mastery, in wbc1 & 2 makes you the avatar of destruction.
- A Barbarian Ranger. Also not the apparent choice. Barbarian^2 that would be, which sucks. I use it to lead the Fey, even without a racial morale bonus, just Unicorn and flyers bonuses. Besides, a Fey hero can't be any type of warrior, regretfully, so a barbarian it is :-)
- Barbarian class, ironically, makes amazing human heroes, due to the cavalry bonuses (half-time cavalry, combine it with the half-price race bonus of humans and you have flooded the map with knight lords in no time). Barbarians in wbc2, unlike 3, have no decent cavalry. But you want (or wanted, 3 years ago) to try something else, other than humans, so I guess that's not an option.
- An Undead Deathknight. You wont miss necromancy, DK may not have it as a class in wbc2, but the Undead have it anyway. You gain 2 other spell schools (ice and chaos, both mediocre but not entirely useless) and good fighting abilities. Compared to an Undead Necromancer, this one is a warrior who can raise the Undead's low staring-strength. Not to mention that a necromancer's skills are subpar: Necromancy is in both race and class, Vampirism does not scale up and Summoning is redundant for the Undead.
- A Minotaur Shaman. Shaman has this ability (+2 to all skills) that practically makes it a few levels more powerful than its actual level. Other non-good-aligned races make good shamen, too, but pyromancy supplement as a race feature, makes it, I think, the best. Chaos school is my least favorite, but at least in wbc2 drain mana was still a good spell, and you didn't have to spend the points of 30 levels to cast plague in chaos grandmastery.
- A (Dark) Dwarf Fighter. Well, if you want to play it nice and easy, that's an option. He's invulnerable, but a bit boring. Dwarves slowness doesn't make it better and rune magic definitely can't save it. Lead the fey, again, protect them and repair their buildings. Minotaurs and Daemons may be even better fighters, but I prefer the above choices for them. Dark Dwarves specifically have two spell schools (chaos + rune), so he 'll also have serious spellcasting abilities.
- Ice mages are interesting due to very high staring intelligence and an ability giving them (+1 armor + immunity to fire). At least Fey, Humans, High/Dark Elves and Undead mages can take this specialty. Ice magic school can be described as "freeze and other interesting, but subpar spells". Freeze magic is a tragedy, Ice flow is nice but hard to handle, and its ultimate spell (ice storm) is nowhere close to pyromancy's armageddon (due to what is probably a bug, it can miss all targets). On the other hand, immunity to magic is rarer that to fire (only archmages get it) and freeze alone is worth it. "Calm" can also save the day in rare occasions, provided that you remember that it's there.
You'll notice I didn't suggest any Elf class. That's because 1/3 of their race skills is wasted with getting a single cheaper rune (which is also true in wbc3, but you can just ignore it there). Compare this with "Jack of all Trades": "-25% to every skill cost" of humans and you can't make an Elf class in good conscience. If you want to play any Elves (I otherwise like them), it might be better to pick another race hero and conquer them. That said, a Dark Elf Alchemist could be a bit of fun, though. Alchemy solves the problem of turning everything to crystal, especially for races that don't have trading facilities. An Assassin could be fun, too, but I'd prefer it to be an Orc. Or a human. Or a daemon. Or a Dark Dwarf. Dark elves may become the best at assassination, but spending 5/7 abilities for it is just too much for me.
I like playing the Fey race, as well, but fey heroes are not the best choice. They begin with very low strength and their class choices make it expensive to raise it in pre-wbc3 mechanics, which means you are doomed to low hp and combat. Archmages can cast from every school in wbc1 & 2, making them perhaps the best choice overall (although they can't get to mastery in wbc2). The reason it's not among my suggestions is that I'd rather be it a human. You can give the Fey Archmage a chance, nonetheless, and enjoy his speed bonus to run away from combat. I'd like the Fey rogues to have the option of an Assassin or a Merchant, but instead they can only be Thieves or Bards. The Bard is awful and the Thief has illusion (Fey already have it) gold bonus (more useful for any race other than the Fey), a merchant bonus (well, that's useful) and a slight chance to assassinate (a fey hero is a touch choice to enter combat, although invisibility might help). Their priest can only be a healer, which is not the OP healer of wbc3.
Regretfully, the Humans still have the most interesting choices, which is, almost all the choices: Paladin, Thief (similar, but much better than a Human Merchant in wbc2), Barbarian, Archmage...
You may have noticed that I dislike magic "synergies", meaning race and class having the same spell school. For non-mages, it may actually help in spellcasting chance to have enabled both abilities, but, then again, if you had to spend 2 abilities to be efficient at a single school, perhaps you have to wonder if you picked the right class in first place.
Post edited November 24, 2023 by mudragreas
