Sauron is way to cool the way he is. Sorry

Maybe Smaug's passive ability can be split up - the constant damage over time to enemies stays as a passive, but setting the ground on fire could become active. He'd still set allies on fire as well with that, but it would be much easier to use him with your army.

Really interesting post and suggestions, Le Sournois!

I also like playing a lot with Ring Heroes, and even though balancing should not be the biggest concern about them compared, for example, to a fun, original and lore-accurate design, ignoring balancing just make the Ring Heroes boring and unusable.

- Boromir: I fully agree with your suggestion
- Gandalf the Corrupted: I'd suggest a small movement speed and armor buff to make him more viable; he doesn't perform well compared to other Ring Heroes
- Gandalf the Challenge Master: I think he is perfect considering lore and balancing aspects
- Theoden and Elrond: agreed
- Saruman: for me, he has always been the biggest problem concerning balance of Ring Heroes; an insane leadership, which I feel that is not even that fitting, for a faction that surely doesn't need it (possibly has the strongest army in late game) + strong AOE regular attacks that may even knock back heroes, which are the realible tools that you would need to try killing him; I am not even gonna talk about his powerfull spells
I don't know if the nerfs you suggested would be enough or would be the best solution, but surely something has to be done; playing against him is not fun at all, and with him is absolutely broken
- Sauron: I feel like making a level requirement would just not fit logically; I would not change him, to be honest; yes, he is definitely very strong, but he is Sauron afterall, and yes, he is an easier hero to purchase, but he is the most canonically accurate Ring Hero, isn't he? Sauron getting the Ring always seem alright and a good challenge to me in a match, and due to his slow movement speed, he can quite often be defeated (differently to Saruman with the Ring)
- Smaug: it's design overall isn't that great to me, but I have no suggestion to improve it; I agree that the flames are not that good, and the friendly fire is really bad indeed

Ist eine Überlegung wert, zu stark sind Grabis zur Zeit sicherlich nicht.

Beachtet die KI eigentlich taktische Befehlsmarker des Worldbuilders und wenn ja, welche und wie?
(Mich interessiert die Antwort und ich würde anbieten, sie ins Wiki einzupflegen da sie bestimmt auch für andere Mapper interessant ist)

Um die Antwort zu vereinfachen, in einem generellen SUM2-Mapping-Tutorial ohne Edain-Bezug steht folgendes:

Das Thema in der längeren Vergangenheit wurde schon häufiger angesprochen: Die Gruft ist zu teuer als dass sich eine Grabunholdstrategie lohnen würde.

Vorschlag: Kosten der Gruft auf 300, Levelupkosten für Stufe 2 (mindestens) verdreifachen (von 1 auf 3 Tributkarren) und für Stufe 3 vervierfachen (von 1 auf 4). Die Anzahl der defensiven Grabunholde je Level sollte zum Ausgleich um 1 gesenkt werden. Auf Stufe 1 wäre sie damit also tatsächlich nur defensives Gebäude.

Ein weiterer Nebeneffekt: Wenn der Spieler auf Zuchtmeister setzen und auf Carn Dûm verzichten möchte, hat er andere sinnvolle Investitionsmöglichkeite n für überschüssige Tributkarren.