What do you think of these Runepriests?

[Warfield]

A few months ago Heroes of Might and Magic 5 came out with an expansion called Hammers of Fate, which introduced a Dwarf faction. One of the units is a Dwarf caster. I've cropped a few screenshots for folks to take a look at. I know there's been some debate regarding the looks of the Runepriest (I should know, I started one a while back).

Anyways, here are a couple of Runepriests from HoMM5. Personally, I like the circlet more than the skull cap the WAR Runepriests get, the mail gauntlets look great, and it appears they have a metal breast plate. All they need to do is swap out the shortsword at his side and replace it with an ale mug or hammer!

I'm curious to know what folks think of these screenshots:

Lower Level Runepriest (http://members.shaw.ca/archives/homm5_02.jpg)
Higher Level Runepriest (http://members.shaw.ca/archives/homm5_01.jpg)

[versuvius]

woo! the last one looked badass! i am hoping for that kind of thing in WAR

[azhrarn]

They indeed look pretty good. :) Hoping we'll see something equaly impressive in WAR.

[Kulgur]

Bit bright for my liking

[Theal]

ok... so instead of saying kill the guy in the dress, it's kill the guy in the kilt!

anyways... personally I think the beard is too thin and smooth for a WAR dwarf.

[DEVLiN]

Circlet looks neat.

No idea how it fits with the iconic look though. I very much prefer the circlet though - but either will work. :)

[Barundin]

Well, the second one looked better than the first. He infact looked like how some kind of Dwarf loremaster/priest should look IMO.

[Warui]

I think the WAR runepriests look way better than those. :\

[Jest]

Anything you've seen in videos of WAR's runepriests is pre-alpha footage. Anything you've personally seen in-game is Beta footage, meaning it's only the surface of the game! Just because they get a skullcap early on doesn't mean they will always have Iron Skullcap as their helmets! There will be over 6 Tiers of armor in the game, not counting random items you come across. Just wait and see!

[Slappywag]

Dwarves look funny, no matter how you dress 'em.

[Okri]

Apart from the obvious sword-error, and the fact that their beards are odd (How can you have two braids like that down the side, longer than the actual beard itself, without *gasp* cutting your beard!), plus the fact that they look almost cheery, then yeah, I suppose they could stand in for a Rune-priest.

[Vman]

I like all the knockback abilities seems like it'd be cool to send a bunch of Greenskins flying through the air with a gesture.

[Perp]

I'll likely play whatever caster has teh best CC/survivability with the ability to do some damage. If the runepriest has/keeps some solid DPS specs I'll seriously consider going order to pay one. In all they look pretty solid and could be one of the more devastating casters in the game; also they'd be the only reason I'd roll dwarf (the only order race worth a poop).

I'll still like the way magus is shaping up though, but we still haven't seen the DE/HE caster.

[Okri]

I'll likely play whatever caster has teh best CC/survivability with the ability to do some damage. If the runepriest has/keeps some solid DPS specs I'll seriously consider going order to pay one. In all they look pretty solid and could be one of the more devastating casters in the game; also they'd be the only reason I'd roll dwarf (the only order race worth a poop).

I'll still like the way magus is shaping up though, but we still haven't seen the DE/HE caster.

You don't seem to to keen on the healing part of a Rune Priest. Sure, they do damage, but their "primary" skill is healing. I say "primary" because supposedly they are just as much about offensive spells, but seeing as they are the only Dwarfs who heal, you can expect to be expected to put those healing skills to good use before dealing damage. Notice I say 'before', rather than 'instead of'.

[Thoden Firehammer]

ok... so instead of saying kill the guy in the dress, it's kill the guy in the kilt!

anyways... personally I think the beard is too thin and smooth for a WAR dwarf.

Do you really want to kill the guy in the kilt?, you know they don't wear anything underneath that :P

[Nezumiiro Kitsune]

Aye tha' first one looks a bit like a confused Elf, thats just been sat on by a Warboss then had a beard shoved on it. The second looks like a true Dwarf runepriest, though a little too light again for my liking.

[Vithren]

The Dwarf Rune Priest looks like the best Dwarven unit in my opinion. I'm going to play a Warrior Priest first and a Witch Hunter second but at the moment, unless KotBS really starts to shine during gameplay, it looks like I'm going to play a Rune Priest third.

The engineers look too unpredictable, they could pretty much be completely over or underpowered.
Hammerers are your standard DPS class and I'm not really a fan of little men with big weapons.
Ironbreakers look to me to be a dullard's class. What's more simplistic than being a dwarf in heavy armour and soaking up damage?

I'm not saying the Rune Priest is the ONLY good class for dwarves but I wouldn't play the others for the reasons above. Rune priests look really cool and their runes are practically buffs and I sure love buffs! :p Still... WP and WH all the way!