Blessed Sacred Troops: what is YOUR view/favorite?

[Cerlin]

My favorite bless is EA Agartha, even though this faction seems underused they are my favorite by far. Give the giants, which can be built anywhere, a E9 bless with F4 and at least N4 and you have powerful weapons. Added to this your already great mages just got that much better when it comes to casting. Magma Eruption ad infinitum is pretty amazing to see, even with low precision. That doesnt even count if you add Earth Reinvig items to said mages, it just keeps getting better.

[Agema]

I'm playing EA Agartha in a newbie MP currently with a heavy bless strategy. I don't know you need a huge Nature bless, and I seriously recommend a Fire bless so they can actually hit anything.

One thing I did pass on was the Earth bless, which I'm regretting in cold provinces, seeing how quickly their cold-blooded bodies fatigue when it's not temperate.

[Maraxus]

I like the Nifel Giants.

The only question for me is: How much nature?

Getting a good Earth/Nature bless with Niefelheim and okay scales is tough. Earth 9 seams like a good idea because reinvigoration and protection are needed.
So is the 4th point of Nature. That regeneration is quite good allready and -iirc- reduces the number of afflictions you suffer. So you have Earth 9, Nature 4 and quite good scales to do some really fast recruiting in the beginning, like:
Round 1: 2 Giants, troops set to patrol, scout is made prophet.
Round 2: 1 Niefel Jarl
Round 3: Jarl and Giants on "Guard commander" and Prophet move out, 2 more Giants
Round 4: 1 Niefel Jarl, 1 Giant
Round 5: Jarl with 3 Giants on Guard commander move out.
...
Every second round another Jarl with 2 or 3 Giant gets ready, what should be enough to fight independants without looses (make sure it's really cold, when you attack Barbariens, though). Against opponents have 2 of your teams join, use mercs or cheap independants to siege the castle.

Your research will start late, focuss on:
Enchantment 1: Breath of Winter
Alteration 4: Wolven Winter, quickness
Construction: Nice stuff
Alteration 6: Sould Vortex

At this point, you should be in the mid-game. Jotun Hirdman make a major part of the troops. Niefel Giants, in bigger packs, run around with much priest and some mage support, Niefel Jarls make thugs in troops of 1 to 4

[llamabeast]

You want to go E9N9 with Niefel giants I reckon. That way they regenerate insanely fast and never run away.

[sector24]

There was a long post about Niefelheim's ideal bless, I don't think any consensus was reached. Some players love N9+ for the huge regeneration and berserk. Others say if you take E8+ you don't need such high regeneration. Others advocated a Water/Nature bless.

[Maraxus]

There is the nice Son of Fenrir for a Water/Nature Bless but for Earth/Nature you best take a Master Druid, so you have to buy Dominion from 1.

It's simple: Do you want good scales? With Order 3/Productivity 3 you can still get One and a half Blesses. You will have many Giants fast. However with two full blesses, you will have fewer but definitily more powerful.

I prefer the first variant, becourse in the time, the second version is better the first is still definitly good enough.

[Zenzei]

My favorite sacred troop is Helheim's valkyrie. Even simple W9 bless makes these chicks ridiculous in combat. The best part, however, is their extreme mobility & stealth ability, which makes it really hard to counter them even if you do have forces capable of fighting them.

[OmikronWarrior]

When I played Big N. I went with a E6N6W4S4B4 bless... OK, the blood and astral were for paths, not the bless specifically.

Specifically, I felt N6 was the sweet spot. N4 gives you 5% regen, while N6 gives you 10%, or twice as much! However, going N8 (to say nothing of N9) means only an increase of 50% more HP per round for a much higher cost. The law of diminishing returns kicks in and when N6 is plenty of regen for taking on most indies I'd say you're set.

As for the Beserk bonus... Neifel giants have pretty high morale to start with. If they're fleeing, chances are they're getting beat bad and its probably for the best.

[Jazzepi]

I really dislike the beserk, actually. They have something like 17 morale after blessing.

I think that E9N6 is a good enough bless for them. The vast majority of the time they kill mundane troops with their stacked frost aura, anyways, not their attacks.

Jazzepi

[Lingchih]

I kind of like the berserk. When I have played them in MP, I won many battles because, even though my army routed, the Niefels who had gone berserk stayed and fought, and killed everything attacking them.