Hi all. Since release I have been testing out hive, and having a blast! I wanted to share my experience with a fun and rewarding hero - Zoran.
I played on the crossroads template on impossible difficulty, though I imagine it working the same on apocalyptic- just with a tighter gameplay needed.
Did you know he is canonically a waurms-rights activist and union leader?
1.Builds and progression
Zoran is a waurm specialist that starts with nightshade magic. Skill-wise, he does not differ from other hive might heroes (you want offence, battlecraft, etc.). Notably, you can get by with just one level in tactics- as that is enough for your waurms to cross the battlefield. Nightshade seems weak to start with, but can be game-winning later on. I ignored morale and luck entirely, as a tier 3 law gives your waurms enough morale and luck anyway.
For focus generation, we do not need much (unlike other hive builds). Our units will not be using focus, so a single perk that boosts focus for the summoning purposes will be more than enough. We can even do without the focus law, which otherwise is mandatory for hive.
From spells, you will want some for your school- twilight or sleep in particular help immensely. A surprising stand-out is healing water, as on demand healing your waurms can be a life saver in creeping.
Your laws strategy depends on whether or not you can get to 15 crystals first week- enough for the waurms building. It heavily depends on the template- on crossroads I barely managed with the help of marketplace. In general, if you want to rush crystals, you must choose the +1000 law option of the Apiary's Heart III and go for the mining law.
On day 5 you can get the first mining law. By day 7, this nets you three crystals.
2.Early game- sustain is king
Right off the bat your strategy differs from the rest of hive heroes. You start with two waurms, and you must use them to their fullest to win. They are tanky enough to solo enemy units early on and fast enough to retreat once they have taken enough damage.
Their greatest strength early on however, is their Corpse Eater ability. Every time they move on to a tile with a corpse, they heal for 65 HP. This is the main way we will be creeping early: 2 waurms and multiple one-stacks of locusts. The locusts are here as literal fodder- once they have taken an enemy's counter attack, our waurm swoops in to attack and heal. The sustain is incredible, and allows to take hard fights with no real losses.
276 undead pets beaten on level 9 with 11 waurms and no losses
3.Mid game- flying in your face
Archers are the bane of hive as a faction- but not us. We have two ways to deal with them- either with nightshade spells, or rushing them with waurms+tactics. In case of multiple archers, deploying a singular waurm to block one archer stack is viable- it is tanky enough to survive at least one hit.
As for other units, hornets make for surprisingly good auxiliary units. They are usually too squishy for creeping purposes, requiring someone else to go in first. And that is exactly what waurms do- with precise positioning, you can attack with hornets, and then block them off with waurms and summoned eggs to protect them from attacks.
Locusts are primarily waurm fodder, but they are good units themselves, so use them if you can. Parasites are far too slow to be worth using. Scorpions can be nice, but you likely will not have the money to recruit them. Reavers and waurms compete with each other- you commit to one and not the other. Finally, hive queens are easily built once late game hits.
4. Late game- eating your face (and everything else)
By late game, we will need to upgrade our waurms. Here, I believe that devourers are the better option. Pyroboroses have slightly worse stats, do not benefit from offence (which we have by now) and do not utilise their corpse eating well (it can still matter, even late).
Week 3 bot battle. Most devourers survived the battle.
The signature Devour ability is, sadly, not that useful. Executing a stack seems enticing, until you realise that just attacking it would deal similar damage without the focus expenditure. The best way to use it, is to have a single-devourer stack deployed and wait with it for an opportune moment to devour.
And that's it, hope you liked this showcase. Thank you if you have read this far!