First up looks-wise. Second in terms of which one you find the best/most powerful/useful.

For me, the squire is an awesome piece of design-work. They look so sturdy and noble, really captures their "character" perfectly.

I've only played up to the dungeon campaign so far but again, the squires have to be one of my favourites to play with: they soak up massive amounts of damage, they provide an excellent backbone to the Haven army. I use them to guard my archers, they have saved me from defeat on many occasions.

Looks/Design:

Shadow Witches or any derivative of them (Upgrade/Alternate Upgrade).

What I find most useful:

Hydras or any derivative of them. For me they are useful because they can attack mutliple enemies at once, and are tough to take down(regeneration). For me they are versatile and can be used defensively or offensively. Their main weakness is they are slow, which balances the unit from being too powerful.

I'll list the factions I like:

Dungeon: The Shadow Mistress/Matriarch. Both look awesome - dangerous and beautiful - and are my favourite units in the game. I just wish the Matriarch lived up to her looks, and were more deadly. The Blood Fury looks hardcore as well, but the more dull Blood Witch is in fact superior. Generally I like the dark elven units, the dragon and the new hydra.

Necropolis: I love the Lich and its upgrades. It looks great and is powerful. Same with the vampire.

Fortress: The entire faction looks great with its new upgrades, but I think the Rune Priest and Thane (and their upgrades) are the best for their cost. Powerful units and they look good.

Haven: I like the high tier units. Otherwise a very dull faction.

Academy: Again another faction that looks awesome on the whole - especially the Mage and the Raksasha (and upgrades.) Not impressed by the djinn.

It depends on what one means by "favourite".

Best to guarantee a VICTORY ? A victory against A.I. players or against skilled humans ? A victory in a scripted scenario or on a free-for-all map ?

Or is it "favourite" in the sense of personal PLEASURE -- independently of the optimal performance of a unit in the context of a must-win perspective.

I never play scripted scenarios -- the campaign ones and the stand-alone ones. Consequently, I have no idea which might be the "favored" units to maximize scenario-resolution performance.

I never play against skilled humans, so I have no idea what units would work best to beat human players who also have an expert knowledge on the ideal must-win qualities of certain units.

I only play for my personal RPG-style pleasure, on self-edited maps, against 7 hard "comps".

Consequently, "favourite" would signify, for me, which units give me imaginary, fantasy fun when I command them. The Shadow "sorceresses" and the Succubi then come to mind -- for example.

On another recent thread, concerning an eventual 3.01 patch, I am surprised that nobody wants to "nerf" the Necro faction. If I really wish to win, I will take a hero who has great "raise dead" powers : Vampire Lords and upgraded Ghosts, then, can be almost unstoppable. I rarely play the Necro against the "comps" : no way they can win when my upgraded Vampires and Ghosts keep on coming back, again and again -- and when my dark power points give me more Vampires and Ghosts after a victory.

Maybe you experienced PvP gamers know something I do not know : always competing against "comps" must cloud my evaluation of what a "favourite" unit must be.

However you wish to define it is fine sorceress. YOUR favorite so to speak.

Personally I like the hydra, it always seems to be left standing at the end of the battle and when it can use it's multi-head it it is awesome.

Then there is the untamed cyclops. Elemental force!

quote:

Personally I like the hydra, it always seems to be left standing at the end of the battle and when it can use it's multi-head it it is awesome.

I agree. Recently, my weak starting hero purchased 2 or 3 upgraded Hydras (the ones that regenerate) during the very first week -- in a Refugee Camp. You should have seen all the mileage, rampage & pillage that hero got out of them -- before a strong enemy hero finally killed them.

Appearance: Arch Devil - though IMO the HoMM V creature looks worse than the "Kreegan" Arch Devil from HoMM III, it's still one mean, savage, evil ba$tard. And the teleporting animation is pretty good too. On the other hand, in-game this is one very good cutthroat.
Overal efficiency: Emerald/Crystal Dragons - note that this is, by any means, NOT my favourite creature. I hate the entire Green Dragon line, honestly! They all deserve... something very humiliating AND painful. Still, I can't deny that this is the most universal creature in the entire game - excellent initiative, excellent speed, good damage, breath attack, flyer, the Ranger makes it pretty durable too. As I said - pain and humiliation is what it needs!

By the way it's quite difficult to pick a "real" favourite creature in HoMM V. In HoMM III it's much easier to point at the Archangel (for example), 'couse he owns pretty much everything in 1:1 combat, if the stats of the two heroes are similar. In HoMM V all the creatures are part of unique factions and thus hard to evaluate as single brawlers/super-models (depending on whether you take the "raw power" of the creature or its outlook). The Black Dragons are supposed to be, to some extent, the most powerful factional creatures (one can argue that the Magma Dragons are more powerful) - but when it comes to actual hero vs. hero combat, there's a wide variety of creatures, otherwise roughly weaker, which make these overgrown lizards look rather funny. And this is just one example.