Tried henchmen instead of heroes, surprised at results

After failing the Nightfall "Hidden City of Ardashim" quest several times lately, I tried using a party of henchmen instead of heroes (not counting Margrid) and was surprised; they seemed to cut through the genies with no problem. I guess it shows that I need to continue to build up my heroes.

Have you noticed when soloing in the games that it's sometimes better to use henchmen instead of an all-hero party after all? I don't think this will always work, but I'm glad I tried a different tack.

Maybe you use bad builds on heroes and/or don't have them equipped properly?

True. Their runes and equipment are mediocre by most standards, though I'm continuing to work on it. I've been playing since last summer or so.

its a common misconception.
yes, true heros will always be better then henchies....
but the henchies are not bad, its the player and how they go about using and controlling them. YA know we always didn't have heros and players managed

Henchmen, after their builds got updated, got quite useful. They have solid, non-abusive builds. Not the extreme ones that we all carry around these days on 7 heroes, but still solid.

Before 7 hero parties, I sometimes got asked to help some friend/guildie, and it was kinda hard to get them too understand that I'd rather use the henchmen for the 5-7 slots than their heroes who often had quite abysmal builds.

Henchmen generally are disliked by the playerbase. This isn't a matter of them being bad however, it's just that a decked out team of heroes outclasses them with ease since you have the ability to edit your heroes and their builds however you want. Their builds are solid enough to get the job done regardless of one's skill level, it's just a matter of dealing with their shortcomings by picking the right henchmen and aggroing carefully.

Before you can get the over the top, abusive builds (and equipment to go along with them) that everyone knows and loves for their power and stability, henchmen are certainly an option, one that I've used occasionally before 7 heroes became available on any of my newer characters. When playing with randoms it also applies, I've found that a balanced team of henchmen works wonders over the uncommon (for good reason, usually) builds people sometimes end up selecting for their heroes.

Yeah, henchmen really aren't that bad, especially if you don't have your heroes set up well and equipped and everything.

Only a few of my characters have heroes that are all kitted out with runed armor and stuff, and a few that I don't play too much don't even have enough level 20 heroes to fill out a full party. So I still use henchmen with them. They work fine.

Humans>Heroes>Henchmen>PuGs

Yes, henchmen are not that bad. Now that I am better at builds I do not usually bring henchies but before that henchmen saved my butt more than once.

And I rather miss them at times. I like the Fractions archers like Aidan and Zho and the nerco Su, Silverwing and Sister Tai. Usually I would bring that same group of hencies in all my missions before the heroes update. I sometimes miss them...

if I dont have a good build or (with my mule accounts) enough skills unlocked, yeah henchies are better (I need to unlock a few more elites). My mule accounts usually use some of the henchies, and sometimes it fun to watch mehnlo et al run around like dead chickens!

henchmen > poorly equipped heroes

As long as you don't have your seven heroes fully equipped with decent builds, weapons and runes it's probably better to focus on just a few with builds that can not be filled by henchmen.

since the henchmen got updated they've got pretty useful builds, better then most pugs in non 8 man areas for sure and surely better then heroes with bad equips/their default skill bar.

Henchmen are much better now than they used to be - their skill bars have been updated a few times.

But for a player that understands the game/area he is doing, the ability to create synergies and exploit the mobs is incomparable.

Raisu Palace is also a good place to use henchmen (celestial skills) over questionable heroes.

I can actually agree with all of that - did a test before using my normal 3 heros and other 4 i setup with same hench builds as i would normally use before 7 update.Weirdly my last 4 heros did worse than the 4 hench would normally.
Could be a slight variation in hench ai and hero ai but was interesting none the less.
Times i feel hench act better than heros at times and i cant really think of any hench glitches in last 2 years but i can think of livia and olias having ai issues in last 2 yrs.

Henchmen aren't bad i completed all but 4 dungeons in HM before 7 heroes update..

Some of the nightfall henchmen are far better than average. I wished I had a VoR and SF ele in other continents. And those factions monks can still go die in a fire.

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Some good points made.

True, but success with endgame NF or EoTN hench does not equate to success with Proph or Factions hench particularly in the early stages.

Something like Crystal desert with just lower level hench can be quite painful.

I finished proph pre hench upgrade with just Hench, it is not something I ever want to do again.

Hey, I played for years with 7 henchmen in tow then switched to 3 heroes and 4 hench. I didn't have a problem finishing most stuff, including most vanquishing and HM missions. Those hench really aren't that bad, especially in NF and EotN. I've even finished tombs with my heroes and 4 Zaishen buddies.

The only time hench weren't up to the task was when they simply weren't allowed on the missions (fow, uw, etc). Those are the areas where 7 heroes shine. Otherwise, I still will occasionally bring along a hench if I just don't feel like setting up a hero for a specific build that a hench has available. Earth Ele for example. "Hey Herta, you busy? I gotta job for ya!"