Asterios, the monster in the maze
 

Hi just got Asterios, The Monster in The Maze joining my empire and I am wondering if he's strong enough without buffs or equipment to handle small provinces by himself without to high a risk of death?
SC's and thugs are definetly the weak part of my game. I only play SP non-cbm, usually on Glory of the Gods, map so have time to develop a character to his full potential.

Re: Asterios, the monster in the maze
 

He'd make a capable thug, but probably not a SC, especially vs. the AI which tends to build hordes of units. His protection is 18 + berserk bonus, which is high, but not high enough to mean that he's "invulnerable" (despite the unit description.) His main weaknesses are probably going to be:

1) With berserk + trample, he'll fatigue quickly, which greatly mitigates the value of his protection.
2) He'll only berserk once wounded, and without regeneration from other items or spells the wound is likely to add an affliction causing additional fatigue problems.
3) He's only size 4 and his shtick is trampling, so don't send him against cavalry.
4) He's not holy, so you can't cast bless him.
5) He's only middling MR at 11, so he'll be vulnerable to enemy spells.

If you can afford to invest a few gems toward some low-cost items, I'd give him a cheap Lychantropos' Amulet, that will give him auto-berserk + regen (albeit at risk of eventually becoming a mere skinshifter.) Something to give him some recuperation to offset the fatigue would go a long way to help too. With some minimal armor (fire/black iron plate, for instance) his protection is quite respectable, but his encumbrance increases too, of course; depending on your bless, a shroud could make sense too.

Re: Asterios, the monster in the maze
 

Indeed, trample creates a lot of fatigue, as is berserk, both together will rack up fatigue even faster, probably past the point you want to try to fix it. The high fatigue means his high prot including berserk bonus becomes largely ineffective due to critical hits. As long as he's not in extended battle he can handle it, but I guess naked he can only take small amounts of pd, maybe a bit more with some gear.

But really, ethereal+luck behemoth/leviathan and maybe some extra speed (haste works with trample?) / iron warrior (behemoth) if you can swing it is probably better if you want a more solid trampling. Hell, just a couple ethereal elephants can probably outperform the cow.