Stronghold

Fully built Stronghold, as seen on the adventure map Fully built Stronghold, as seen on the adventure map. (Horn of the Abyss)	Towns
	Castle
	Rampart
	Tower
	Inferno
	Necropolis
	Dungeon
	Stronghold
	Fortress
	Conflux
	Cove

Stronghold is a neutral alignment town with the barbarian and battle mage hero classes. Stronghold represents Krewlod.

"Stronghold towns are built by alliances of tribes and are frequented by the Barbarian and Battle Mage hero types. Armies composed of Stronghold-based units have a balanced mix of ranged and hand-to-hand attackers. With the inclusion of the stronger units, these armies are particularly well-equipped to deal with attacks on other towns." ^{RoE manual}

Stronghold's native terrain is rough.

Stronghold creature dwellings

• Goblin Barracks
• Wolf Pen
• Orc Tower
• Ogre Fort
• Cliff Nest
• Cyclops Cave
• Behemoth Lair

Stonghold specific buildings

• Ballista Yard - Allows visiting heroes to purchase ballistas in addition to the ammo carts provided by the blacksmith.
• Freelancer's Guild - (Unique building, allows to sell troops for resources)
• Mess Hall - (Goblin horde building, +8/week)
• Escape Tunnel - (Unique building, allows defending heroes to retreat during a siege, but not to surrender)
• Hall of Valhalla - (+1 Attack to visiting hero)
• Warlords' Monument - (Grail building, +20 Attack to defending hero, +5k gold, +50% creature growth)

Stronghold building tree

Fully upgraded Stronghold

Resource	Basic	Upgrades	All
	28700	28000	91200
	60	47	157
	70	47	157
	30	20	60
	0	5	15
	0	0	10
	0	0	10
Troop cost/week:		24530 + 2

Common buildings

Halls		Fortifications		Tavern, Marketplace & Resource Silo		Mage Guilds		Banned spells
	Village Hall		Fort		Tavern		Mage Guild level 1
	Town Hall		Citadel		Marketplace		Mage Guild level 2
	City Hall		Castle		Resource Silo Produces +1 & +1		Mage Guild level 3
	Capitol				Blacksmith

Heroes

[Switch to Horn of the Abyss]

[Switch to Shadow of Death]

Stronghold heroes (Shadow of Death)
Name	Class		Specialty		Skill 1		Skill 2		Spell
Crag Hack	Barbarian		Offense		Advanced Offense
Gretchin	Barbarian		Goblins		Basic Offense		Basic Pathfinding
Gurnisson	Barbarian		Ballista		Basic Offense		Basic Artillery
Jabarkas	Barbarian		Orcs		Basic Offense		Basic Archery
Krellion	Barbarian		Ogres		Basic Offense		Basic Resistance
Shiva	Barbarian		Rocs		Basic Offense		Basic Scouting
Tyraxor	Barbarian		Wolf Riders		Basic Offense		Basic Tactics
Yog	Barbarian		Cyclops		Basic Offense		Basic Ballistics
Boragus	Barbarian		Ogres		Basic Offense		Basic Tactics
Kilgor	Barbarian		Behemoths		Advanced Offense
Dessa	Battle Mage		Logistics		Basic Wisdom		Basic Logistics		Stone Skin
Gird	Battle Mage		Sorcery		Basic Wisdom		Basic Sorcery		Bloodlust
Gundula	Battle Mage		Offense		Basic Wisdom		Basic Offense		Slow
Oris	Battle Mage		Eagle Eye		Basic Wisdom		Basic Eagle Eye		Protection from Air
Saurug	Battle Mage		Gems		Basic Wisdom		Basic Resistance		Bloodlust
Terek	Battle Mage		Haste		Basic Wisdom		Basic Tactics		Haste
Vey	Battle Mage		Ogres		Basic Wisdom		Basic Leadership		Magic Arrow
Zubin	Battle Mage		Precision		Basic Wisdom		Basic Artillery		Precision

Stronghold heroes (Horn of the Abyss)
Name	Class		Specialty		Skill 1		Skill 2		Spell
Crag Hack	Barbarian		Offense		Advanced Offense
Gretchin	Barbarian		Goblins		Basic Offense		Basic Pathfinding
Gurnisson	Barbarian		Ballista		Basic Offense		Basic Artillery
Jabarkas	Barbarian		Orcs		Basic Offense		Basic Archery
Krellion	Barbarian		Ogres		Basic Offense		Basic Interference
Shiva	Barbarian		Rocs		Basic Offense		Basic Scouting
Tyraxor	Barbarian		Wolf Riders		Basic Offense		Basic Tactics
Yog	Barbarian		Cyclops		Basic Offense		Basic Ballistics
Boragus	Barbarian		Ogres		Basic Offense		Basic Tactics
Kilgor	Barbarian		Behemoths		Advanced Offense
Dessa	Battle Mage		Logistics		Basic Wisdom		Basic Logistics		Stone Skin
Gird	Battle Mage		Sorcery		Basic Wisdom		Basic Sorcery		Bloodlust
Gundula	Battle Mage		Offense		Basic Wisdom		Basic Offense		Slow
Oris	Battle Mage		Eagle Eye		Basic Wisdom		Basic Eagle Eye		Protection from Air
Saurug	Battle Mage		Gems		Basic Wisdom		Basic Interference		Bloodlust
Terek	Battle Mage		Haste		Basic Wisdom		Basic Tactics		Haste
Vey	Battle Mage		Ogres		Basic Wisdom		Basic Leadership		Magic Arrow
Zubin	Battle Mage		Precision		Basic Wisdom		Basic Artillery		Precision

Banned secondary skills

Some skills are not available for certain hero classes, which means they can only acquire them from Scholars, Witch Huts (except for Necromancy and Leadership, if not allowed by a map-maker), Seer's Huts, Events or Pandora's Boxes.

Necromancy and Water Magic are not available for barbarians.

Necromancy and Navigation are not available for battle mages.

Creatures

Fortress creatures
Name	Town	Lvl	Att	Def	D-	D+	HP	Spd	Grw	Val	Cost		Special
Goblin		1	4	2	1	2	5	5	15	60	40
Hobgoblin		1+	5	3	1	2	5	7	15	78	50
Wolf Rider		2	7	5	2	4	10	6	9	130	100
Wolf Raider		2+	8	5	3	4	10	8	9	203	140		Double attack
Orc		3	8	4	2	5	15	4	7	192	150		Ranged (12 shots)
Orc Chieftain		3+	8	4	2	5	20	5	7	240	165		Ranged (24 shots)
Ogre		4	13	7	6	12	40	4	4	416	300
Ogre Mage		4+	13	7	6	12	60	5	4	672	400		Cast Bloodlust x3
Roc		5	13	11	11	15	60	7	3	1027	600		Flying
Thunderbird		5+	13	11	11	15	60	11	3	1106	700		Flying, Lightning strike
Cyclops		6	15	12	16	20	70	6	2	1266	750		Ranged (16 shots), Can attack siege walls
Cyclops King		6+	17	13	16	20	70	8	2	1443	1100		Ranged (24 shots), Can attack siege walls
Behemoth		7	17	17	30	50	160	6	1	3162	1500		Defense -40% to enemy target
Ancient Behemoth		7+	19	19	30	50	300	9	1	6168	3000	, 1	Defense -80% to enemy target

User commentary

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Armies composed of stronghold-based units have a balanced mix of ranged and hand-to-hand attackers. With the inclusion of the stronger units, these armies are particularly well-equipped to deal with attacks on other towns. Hobgoblins are excellent 1st level creatures due to their high speed. Giving them to secondary heroes they will give them a lot more movement points (only Sprites and Centaur Captains are faster). With 70-80 Hobgoblins, you can already take down 3 Behemoths and conquer a Behemoth Crag in the first week. Similar for other tough but slow monsters that are a single stack. This is possible due to their speed. Make 6 stacks of one Hobgoblin and the last stack has all remaining. This big stack is in the last slot (on the bottom when fighting). The strategy is as follows: The Behemoths are in reach of the Hobgoblins but the Hobgoblins are just outside the Behemoths reach. The big stack of Hobgoblins waits. One single Hobgoblin attacks the Behemoths to take the retaliation. Then, the Behemoths approach but can't attack because nothing is in range. After the Behemoths moved, the big stack attacks on the side where they have more space to run away. The round ends. In the next round, everyone runs out of reach in one direction, only one Hobgoblin stays behind in reach of the Behemoths to lure them away. Then, you get the same situation as before and repeat until the Behemoths are dead. You should get ~4 hits before they retaliated once against you. That is sufficient to take down the rest in melee 1v1. Be aware that Tactics and Haste are incredibly important to get the rather slow Stronghold units engaged into combat. Always have your Wolf Riders strike not as the first one so they won't receive the retaliation. They deal an immense amount of damage but are very fragile. Expert Teleport and Earthquake are your spells when besieging a town with a castle (Teleport is hard to get though). Expert Teleport lets you teleport troops behind walls. You have only two mediocre damage-dealing shooters and one expensive flier. You need to get the Behemoths and/or Ogres involved. Consider splitting your Cyclops Kings into 2-4 stacks so you can take down the walls effectively. After 18 hits, the entire defensive structures are destroyed. With Expert Ballistics and two stacks of Cyclops Kings you can get 2 + 2*2 = 6 attacks onto walls per round this way. After 3 rounds, you have destroyed everything. In Round 2, some towers will already be destroyed. If you additionally have Expert Earthquake, you can take down the entire defensive structures in only two rounds. With four Cyclops King stacks and neither Ballistics nor Earthquake you will still destroy all defensive structures within two rounds. Don't be fooled by the low AI value of Behemoths. Yes, they don't have a 2-hex breath attack, they can't resurrect dead allies and they are not immune to spells. However, they defeat all other level 7 units in 1v1 combat, except Haspids, and are also the cheapest level 7 unit. Because they are not immune to spells, they *can* get resurrected. Their only downside is that they are slow - but that's what you can fix with Tactics and Haste. Their building has the fewest prerequisites of all level 7 buildings so you can start amassing them early. In late-game their defense-reducing ability scales very well and they deal absurd amounts of damage. Beware of saving lives of your Thunderbirds. The more Thunderbirds is in a stack, the more additional damage will their lightning strike do. Cure them if necessary. Strategy Guide for Stronghold from Jolly Joker on Celestial Heavens Pros Stronghold is the cheapest town to fully build up. Hero classes. Battle Mage is one of the most balanced classes in the game with a host of useful specials. Barbarians are the best fighter class available, expect attack ratings to rise fast and keep on rising. With great specials like Offense, a high-level Barbarian is a tough opponent. Escape Tunnel: it is great to be able to retreat from a siege, so that you don't lose your best hero this way. However, it doesn't allow surrender and thus won't save your army. Cyclopes and Cyclops Kings can attack castle walls with their ranged attack. This is a vastly underestimated special that can tip the scale in an attacking force's favor very quickly, especially when combined with a fast initiative-giving unit and Haste (Expert level for best effect). If you have the room in your army, every additional stack gives additional shots at the wall! A stack of 1 Cyclops King 'sieges' as well as a stack of 1,000 (and twice as well as a stack of Cyclops). Ancient Behemoth can win a 1vs1 against most 7th level creatures. Crag Hack is one of the best Heroes in the game, at later stages, he will deal incredible amounts of damage thanks to his Offense specialty. Least expensive town as far as weekly troop cost is concerned for gold, though the Rampart town will often have a better economy in general by making use of the Treasury. Possible to get Behemoths on third day, provided sufficient resources. Freelancer's Guild may be helpful to get resources you need by getting rid of units which aren't very important (being weak, slow, and/or not from Stronghold). Opportunity to get two war machines. Gurnisson with his artillery ability and high attack, can quickly take many mines, artifacts, enemy heroes, and artifacts quite easily in early-game. The ballista doesn't phase out with a high attack Barbarian until way later in late-game, so this is a great strategy to get a fast start on Stronghold, and get Behemoths quickly. Cons Stronghold creatures have the lowest defense rating of all towns. Slow units, the fastest is the Thunderbird with a Speed of 11. Ancient Behemoth has 9. Magic, Mage Guild is limited to level 3. Only one flying unit, namely the Thunderbird. Cyclops and Behemoth lairs both require a lot of crystal to build. This competition makes it hard to have them both out in the earlier times - you have to choose between one of them, while both are very useful.

See also

• List of creatures
• List of creatures (HotA)
• List of heroes
• List of heroes (HotA)