Berserker
elbocoloorc
On the face of things, the Berserker has a lot going for him, but he's not always right for every color.
He is a Valor hero, so that is always good, of course. He is a red dwarf, so unless you are using barracks recruits as an Eradication, he will never be leading any stacks of the same type and give them an efficiency bonus.
He has a standard Melee attack and doesn't cost too much.
The question comes in with his Berserk ability at lvl 14. At its first lvl you will see your PRIMARY and counter abilities go up by 15%, but your health reduced by 6%. As is often the case with TR heroes, this might help its native color, red, the least. Red has very powerful secondary attacks in Chimera and Red Dragons (not so potent, but they will almost certainly be present and represent a lot of net power). Their only really heavy hitting primary attackers are Efreeti and if they get something like mobs of Horned Demons or Wraiths or Fire Giants. But reducing the health of HD/Wraiths can be dangerous.
Add in to this the fact that Red will often be running Battle Chant, which is going to reduce the health of its units by 10% already (for a bonus of 30% to AP/counter).
At high levels, the health reduction increases. A 17th lvl Berserker will offer +12% primary/counter from Valor and +30% primary/counter from Berserk, for a total of +42%! The downside is you'll also be at negative 15% health. If you were running Battle Chant, that would be an incredible +72% Primary and -25% health.
It's a tricky situation. If enemy damaging items/spells get in, -25% health can really hurt. Especially for simple/fodder units. But it's hard to deny the huge bonus to damage.
Berserker is a hero you can build your army around, however. At high enough levels, you should be looking for units with very high primary attacks. Phantasm's Elementals, Verdant's Treants, Nether's Unholy Reavers, Ascendant's Titans/Dominions, are all units with powerful primary attacks and enough resiliance they can withstand the health penalty. Eradication has to be a bit more careful. It's not worthwhile to turn off Battle Chant, at least on offense, due to it's geld-taking power. Red Dragon's still have their sizeable melee attack increased, but where you'd see real gains is from Efreeti, Salamanders, Fire Giants and Hydra's, slightly. You just have to be careful who you attack.
