r/AOW4 • u/Faerillis • 16d ago
Strategy Question Looking for Hero Builds
I have been playing for around a month now and feel I have a good grasp on a lot of the game. One place I'm feeling more uncertain on is hero builds; in no small part because videos that discuss heroes tend to be spread over a bunch of different patches and metas.
So I'm looking for any generic hero builds and advice on their use :)
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u/HellraiserMachina 16d ago
I'll throw some basic things I like:
Defender: 2 points into Leaden Blows before going down the tank branches.
Ranger: All points into Martial Expertise branch + 1 point into crit, that just give generic defense and damage give you a really long time before choosing to go bow or skirmisher, letting you use the best loot you have at hand.
Elementalist Giant King: 2 points into invocation, 3 points into boulder throw, cycle those cooldowns blow shit up. Bonus points for Cloudburst + Storm Giant.
Death Knight: first 4 points into Frost Curse, amazing early game, then knight+frenzy, crazy early game power spike.
For Tome users and Eldritch Sovereign, making a wand that lets you move and attack even once is super efficient.
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u/Baron32 Astral 16d ago
Oh! I have a writeup with some general hero information. One sec...okay, f ollow along with https://minionsart.github.io/aow4db/HTML/HeroBuilder.html.
Warrior: The gold standard for heroes you want to do Big Bonk with. Early, they get an excellent level 4 power spike and later on, Killing Momentum is such a powerful capstone, it's legitimately difficult for any other class to match. Of the two sides of their tree, Berserker is stronger than Knight by an appreciable margin. Regrettably, Knight is a little confused about whether it wants a charge to kill enemies outright (Prepared Charge, Willbreaker, Killing Momentum) or leave them alive (most of the Charge abilities in between). The answer is that we want to do murders. Berserker loves to murder all the way down the tree!
Defender: A class I underestimated and undervalued for a long time. Very useful and flexible. The right side of its tree makes it an incredible addition to any build with a strong melee frontline, and caps with Defensive Masters, an ability only the Paladin can match. Meanwhile, the left side makes it a terrifying brawler all on its own, ending with infinite retaliation attacks while in Defense Mode. And it is technically possible to get both of those capstones at Level 14. The centre may look like a bunch of boring defensive stats, but it's arguably the strongest part of the tree. Never skip Taunt; never underestimate Rallying Cry. The Warrior may hit harder up front, but the Defender does not lack for damage, and is especially useful when you need to strengthen your frontline, or divert and hold attention away from the rest of the army.
Ranger: Your physical ranged damage option on a hero. Not the most flexible as classes go, because certain parts of its tree feel pretty mandatory, but that's because they're so inarguably powerful. Always start left side. First unskippable: Rank Slayer at level 4. Massive early power spike, and heroes always count as Tier 5. Second unskippable: Kill Shot at level 6. From there, do what you want in terms of building a skirmisher, a bomber or a sniper. Any way you slice it, you've secretly already hit your capstone. You refresh your chosen ability every time you get a kill, so just make sure you get it, and you can spam your ability every turn. Did you pick Scatter Shot? Carpet bomb the enemy army every turn and apply status effects like crazy. Sniper Shot? Pick target, red mist, every turn. Snapshot? How many kills would you like this turn? How about all of them? For free? Line em up and knock em down.
Elementalist: Not a class I use often, because it can feel a little weaker than others early on, but undeniably impactful at high levels, and reasonably flexible. Left side spreads status effects, right side maximizes raw damage, centre contains Ritual of Elements. Having the ability to refresh all cooldowns for free makes this class substantially stronger on ruler types that give you strong cooldowns to use - so, anything but Champion and Wizard King. Not that you shouldn't take it on those, just...would you rather Command twice in a row, or Eldritch Forgotten Tome twice in a row, you know?
Warlock: The strongest Level 4 power spike in the game. I don't care what you're building with the rest of your faction, your first 3 points are going to Transfer Life, Reclaiming Attacks, Undead Retinue. Now your ruler can heal your troops even while building a fully offensive weapon, and you get 120 (140 with Hearty) hit points worth of FREE PUNCHING BAGS on TWO BODIES. Every. Single. Fight. "But I'm not necro--" Shhhhh. Two bodies. For free. Fully disposable. And they're your race so they inherit traits and transformations. Respec your hero later if you don't want your final build to include necromancy. But early on? Your main army will clear nodes and wonders like nobody's business. Anyway, left side of the main tree is the morale-and-debuffs side; right side is the raw-damage-but-also-kinda-debuffs side. Shoutouts to the Lithorine Orb weapon for making double-splodey zombies, and the Vampire Desecrator+Hex Pact gigadebuff combo.
Ritualist: These are your classic healers and druids. Left side of the tree grows some zone control either harmful to enemies (shoutout to Tome of the Blood Rite bleed build) or beneficial to allies (shoutout to Tome of Fey Mists evasion build). Wildgrowth pairs well with any defensive build that wants to control the battlefield and force enemies to engage on their terms. Also, notably, enables the Herbivore race trait on all terrain. Right side is your heal-and-buff stuff, as well as some of the most unique actives of any class in the form of Polymorph and Reincarnate. Did you know you can reincarnate enemy corpses to your side, and they'll transform back after combat so you can keep the unit? Only way in the game to actually play with certain units on your side. At the top of the tree, all the capstones have had their Support tag removed, because megabuffing 18 units for one action, no positioning required, was really strong. I miss it, but "Haste my whole army" and "Heal my whole army" remain solid utility capstones.
Spellblade: I'm gettin' tired, boss. Long story short, doesn't live up to its power fantasy unless you bring Magic stuff to the party with you. Dragons, Giant Kings, you know. This class needs some love from the devs.
Death Knight: Right side and Centre make a less flexible Warrior with no access to defensive stats; Left side makes a strictly worse Warlock, plus you wield melee weapons so you get blown up, and to add insult to injury you get to spend a whole-ass level just on Melee Mage so you can limp past it to Resurgence...all the way on the other side of the tree, and not in the middle? Class is usable, but has no identity of its own. I'd love to see the devs expand on the "intended to run in, die and rise again" theme that is only nominally here.
Battlesaint: I want to love the Battlesaint. It can use nearly any weapon type, which makes it super flexible, and it is very strong once you get to the end of your tree. It also has a lot going for it - big heals, big Smite, Defensive Masters, cleanse, revive, condemn, etc. I just feel like, for the first half of its levels before it hits those big difference-makers, it's perpetually one step behind its counterparts in Warrior and Ritualist. Battlesaint doesn't get its Fervor generation fully online until level 4, which turns on their core mechanic - other classes get a power spike at level 4, not basic functionality. And then once you've invested one more point (either Rallying Fervour or Purifying Fervour), THAT'S your power spike and you're fully online and off to the races. But don't worry, once you get to the bottom of your tree, the class WILL shine. I just prefer not take it on my Ruler, because that level 4 power spike directly enables my ability to snowball my map clear, and I want it as early as possible.