There are many scenarios where you have to deliver a certain artifact to a Seer's Hut or equivalent to be able finish the game. Then an enemy player can find the artifact first and, while battling you, retreat (with the artifact). If you at first don't notice this and don't immediately buy the defeated hero from the tavern (when you already destroyed the enemy) is it possible to buy heroes from the tavern until the needed hero is purchasable again? Should you instead wait for weeks to pass and wait until the needed hero is available?
Ps. I tried this for a while as I realized what had happened, but gave up after buying about 50 heroes with no luck.
Best Answer
If an enemy hero retreats from battle, he will immediately reappear for rehire in their taverns and will not be available to you for the remainder of the week. If the enemy cannot or does not rehire the hero, he returns to the normal hero pool at the beginning of the next week and may appear in your tavern, too.
If the player this hero belonged to can recruit heroes (depends on the scenario, but basically, if the AI-player has the gold and a town where he can recruit heroes in), they will nearly always be rehired by them and you can fight him again to get his artifacts.
A completely defeated hero can appear in the tavern again, but, in my experience, not in the same week he was defeated in. In that case, exercise some patience and let time pass, eventually you can get the required hero unless he gets recruited by another player.