Mission 2. Uprising, or Onion Mountain
It's time to get a base. To do this, we will suppress the rebellion of archers from the city of Long Luke (why not “Velikiye Luki”?)... This must be done in a week, otherwise the detachment is tired and the queen has not seen a mirror for a month...
Taking the city is not difficult. You need to hire archers in the nearby tower and, bypassing those monsters that do not block the path, turn at the first fork to the west. And Luke’s is not far away. Then you can calmly start shooting local fauna and gaining experience.
Now the queen wanted to accumulate 100 archers and take another city - Ash (it is located in the far north-eastern corner of the map). You can accumulate one hundred archers just by sitting in one place (especially since the speed of completing the campaign is not taken into account anywhere - oh, where are you, Hall of Fame?). But it’s better not to sit, but to move, gathering the inhabitants of the surrounding towers, barracks and farms.
Having recruited a hundred shooters, you can go on the assault without fear; especially since the griffins that have settled on your road will happily join the rightful queen. The enemy army is also quite large (70 archers, a crowd of peasants), but the griffins will suppress the shooting, and your arrows will do the rest.
Mission 3. Siege, or Harvesting Horns and Hooves
The queen settled in Yasen (now the southwest corner of the map). As it turned out, the area was infested with devils, stags, hell dogs and other nasty things. Need to clean it up!
While having fun hunting for all sorts of infernal trifles, one should not forget that this is just the beginning: when the demonic intelligence is swept away, the demonic general Kraal will follow with a very serious army. Therefore, we need, in parallel with clearing the area, to rebuild the city - well, at least up to the knights.
In addition to evil spirits, there are plenty of people loyal to the people around - peasants, men-at-arms, riflemen; both free and in houses for hire. Additional sources of gold can speed up the development of the city and the purchase of an army: a mine guarded by cave lords and a bag guarded by high vampires. Both are not very easy prey, but in the middle phase of the mission it will be possible. On the map you will find the location of all key objects.
When the area is rid of wandering evil spirits, the Kraal will come to visit us. We're ready, aren't we?
Mission 4. Trap, or Wrong Demon
Beatrice succeeded in her negotiations with the elves; Ambassador Faydaen (in the English version - Findan; in my opinion, a much more elven name) promised to send dancers with blades. We need to meet reinforcements (although a smart military adviser would certainly tell the queen that the dancers are, to put it mildly, not the best elf troops).
The first step, however, is to engage in self-preparation. Isabelle skipped several lectures on magic, and now is the time (?) to make up for lost time. For this, the holy father only asks that a couple of floors be added to the magicians’ guild, otherwise there is nowhere to teach students. True, this should be done in the city of Svetlolesie, which, as luck would have it, does not belong to us. Let's fix it for the first time, or what?
Lightwood, as is easy to see on the map, lies to the northwest of us, and along the way we discover many resources, a temple with a spell and other gifts. A dirt road leads to Brightwood; there is a direct reason to take the city first, and then study the side branches.
It is important: If you see neutral monsters on the map that are blocking a dead end with... other neutral monsters, don’t point your finger at your temple and don’t pass by. This curious natural phenomenon almost certainly means that the monsters in the cul-de-sac are mentally prepared to join you. There are such knights on this map, but in general you will see this more than once or twice in the campaign.
Lightwood is ours, the Mages Guild has been rebuilt. Now it’s time to go to a rendezvous with Faidaen. But - alas: the bridge to the west is destroyed. As usual in such cases, a nearby seer suggests the right solution - to look for the boot of levitation in the crypt, which is nearby underground.
There are many monsters guarding the shoes, but Isabel, with the help of Light Forest reinforcements, defeats them and is ready for new achievements. (If you recaptured the above-mentioned knights from the demons, then most likely there will be no problems, otherwise quite serious fights await.)
Strictly speaking, that's all (although those who wish can frolic to their heart's content in the nooks and crannies of the map). You can go meet the elves...
Well, more precisely, not exactly elves. Beatrice leads us straight into the lair of the demon Agrail. And she is not Beatrice, but Biara - a succubus in the service of the same Agrail. Our mentor and friend did not survive the long dangerous road.
The demon, however, behaves somehow in a completely non-demonic way. Not to burst into a dull, drawn-out laugh, like his girlfriend Biara; instead, he makes some strange hints that Isabelle might trust him. They, they say, “will disappear together,” and he, the demon, will protect her. The poor guy has gone completely crazy in the company of succubi. After such a dirty trick and the death of Beatrice, it’s time to rely on his friendship!
Mission 5. Decline of the King, or Why were we waiting for you?
Fortunately, in addition to Beatrice, Isabelle also has Godric; even though he failed to cope with the call for help from the magicians, he himself found himself in right time in the right place. And with a decent army. One can only hope that under the guise of a faithful squire there is not hiding some... hellish horse.
Isabelle languishes in a dungeon near Dunmoor. It is necessary to capture both Dunmoor and the dungeon (and quickly, before Isabelle dies from grief and the lovely company of demons). And Godric draws hope for victory from the idea of finding the Tear of Asha, the sleeping dragon goddess, for which he must decipher the map that is kept in parts in the obelisk.
Dunmoor is to the north, and to the east lies the land of demons. As soon as Dunmur falls under the onslaught of Godric, demons will crawl out of there like cockroaches, just have time to fight back. But since we have two heroes under our command - Godric and Isabelle, one will defend the city, and the other will conduct the search.
This is a bug: At first, I tried to immediately break into the demonic country and destroy the threat lurking in it. I defeated the army of the future invasion and from the video I was surprised to learn that Isabelle was already with me. Apparently, the game developers could not imagine such a turn of events...
The demons do not sleep, and the first to show up is an old acquaintance - Agrail. It is much more pleasant to meet him behind a reliable wall, even though demons, as you know, can call for reinforcements from portals directly behind the wall.
Having deciphered the map of the obelisks (you can see the place where the Tear lies on our map and in the picture next to it), you have at your disposal a rapid increase in troops and other joys of life. And Isabelle, having calmed down about the defense of Dunmoor, instructs Godric to take the fort in the southeast and go to meet Nicholas.
In the southeast, by the way, there are two forts: demons are attacking because of one, but we can’t take it. The other one is quite tough. We go out to meet Nicholas... only to see him killed right before our eyes. You're kind of ridiculous, death...
Worshiper, or Dissident from the Underworld
Good people expected bloodshed from him, but he ate a siskin.
M. Saltykov-Shchedrin, “Bear in the Voivodeship”
This time we have to command demonic armies on behalf of an old acquaintance - the demon Agrail. No, Agrail is not the enemy of all living things, and in general it’s not yet very clear what’s going on with him. One thing is clear: he did not ask Isabelle to trust him out of sadism. Perhaps this is love?
Mission 1. Betrayal, or Harun ran faster than a deer
First of all, Agrail and his good friend Biara must save their necks from Godric. The queen's squire had many pressing questions for them. Our lord and master probably also has some complaints about the failed mission, but we’ll deal with that later. First, get to the lands of Shio, the domain of demons.
Speed is everything in this mission. Fortunately, with the very first level we are offered to improve logistics, there are monks nearby guarding the boots of speed (the monks bite painfully, but without acceleration it will be harder), and soon there will also be stables. Let's run!
Our goal - the gate to the dungeon - is located in the southeast, and the path is blocked by a red gate, from which you need to find the key.
First, let's run along the western corridor (at the end of it there are demons ready to stand under our banner), after which we rush along the forest path to the east to the red key tent. From there the portal will take you straight to the goal...
It may happen that, despite our efforts, the enemy will still be firmly on our tail. In this case, Agrail has a solution that is non-trivial in his situation - to seek refuge in the church. It would seem that what a demon should do there, but come on...
Caves are not fraught with danger; but you shouldn’t get too soft, otherwise we’ll call out Godric.
Mission 2. Promise, or Vertical Race
Agrail finally decided to stand in opposition to his master. Biara supports him in this - in the hope that Agrail will take the place of the ruler and will not forget his old friend.
The Lord sent his faithful general Vayer to retrieve an artifact called the Heart of the Griffin. Weyer and I start the race in two symmetrical corridors. We must not be late - and at the same time come to the Heart with an army worthy of it. By the way, I recommend taking succubi as a starting plus.
There's not much to write about the race; I will only say that you will have time to gather troops. Weyer is also in no hurry.
In the finale, two battles await us: with the knight Stefan, the keeper of the artifact, and, of course, with Vaier. Vaier greatly outnumbers you in strength, but... that won't stop you, right?
This is a bug: the developers don't seem to expect you to be able to handle Vayer. Whether you lose or win this last battle, the ending is the same: Agrail and Vayer fencing in the artifact hall, and from the conversations it follows that Vayer considers himself the winner. Stupid!
And after communicating with the enemy general, we are greeted by a ghostly image. A druid is easily recognized by its characteristic horns. He introduces himself as Tieru, and behind the monitor we feel a slight shame that we don’t know who he is: every literate inhabitant of the world clearly knows Tieru. Agrail is determined to find Tiera and talk with him about how best to go against Kha-Belekh, the lord of Inferno.
Mission 3. Conquest, or the Story of a Hot-tempered Poet
The path to Tier lies through the country of the elves. You will have to make your way, and also break into the source of Druid magic. I wonder if Tier realizes that with his sweet invitation he has doomed the elven lands to swords and fires?
It would be possible to agree - Agrail has nothing against elves, but, alas, along the way he came across a very hot-tempered elf, Gilraen. Offended that Agrail had the audacity to defeat him right at Castle Inferno, he declared war on us. We'll have to capture three elven cities...
This mission is strange - in that we will have to fight with troops that are not typical for us. The Druids have declared "the month of the forest creatures", and in forest castles they grow twice as fast. In addition, the capabilities of our infernal castle are very limited: higher demons are inaccessible. The conclusion is clear: we quickly capture the nearest forest city (Vinlen), fortunately it is guarded literally only by willpower, and begin to rebuild. (Probably, later, when the elven cities gain freedom, the demons will reproach the former colonies for “developing with their money”...)
On a note: although the elves, of course, do not know how to use our Gate skill, but under the leadership of Agrail they regularly beat with hellish fire.
Having taken Vinlan, we will not rush too much: we will gather resources around and acquire a decent army. Well, at least it’s worth growing up to be an Ent. Elven cities do not bother us yet. But development should not be delayed either.
Don't miss the fort on the hill north of Vinlan. It is not easy to clear it of elemental guards, but if this succeeds, you can save on upgrading buildings.
Ur-Kharg, the demonic base, doesn’t need much rebuilding. Or you can make it a reserve army for the second hero: anyway, someone will have to protect Vinlen from invasion.
There are two enemy cities, in the northwest and northeast. We get to the first one in the usual way, along the road. The second can be reached through the north of the map, with a long detour, but this is not our route: there is a ford across the river, and this road is half as long. Finally, having overthrown the Ents and Druids in the center of the map, we victoriously complete the pogrom in the elven lands.
But Agrail will not touch Gilraen. He now has a subtle and gentle soul, and he will not let the elven poet die for the sake of stupid revenge. Biara, presumably, is at a loss...
Mission 4. Ship, or Why are demons ashamed?
Only now does Agrail realize that Tieru seems to be living on the island. Demons can swim, but not well, not far.
The ships are built in the city of Erivel, in the very north of the map. You just have to get there and take the city. Sounds easy...
In reality, everything is somewhat more complicated. Firstly, the path is blocked by a serious garrison. Secondly, the forest army of Agrail is melting before our eyes, and not from battles, but from desertion. There are two ways: honestly take the garrison or... come to an agreement with the twilight dragons that live in the dungeon. They “only” want a hundred elf archers to be devoured for deceiving Agrail in a roundabout way.
In any case, you will have to take both the underground demonic city and the elven cities on the surface, and gather the elves in separate houses. But should we feed the dragons? Even Agrail feels a little... awkward about making this deal.
On a note: If you still decide to negotiate, then keep in mind that any surplus of elves the dragons will gobble up without unnecessary ceremony, and taking exactly 100 with you is pointless - some will scatter, and there won’t be enough elves.
The battle for Erivel cannot be avoided; We are opposed by a fully trained army of elves with emerald dragons in considerable numbers. The main thing here is not to get into close combat. Although the enemy most likely has better arrows, Agrail must certainly have a gigantic advantage in magic.
Mission 5. Agrail's decision, or the Predatory Fog is like a deception
In front of us is a sea with a porridge of small islands. But there is a peculiarity: the fog of war does not move away from the ship, and you cannot enter it. Throughout the mission, we push it with all our might through the magician’s houses on the islands. The islands are connected by underground tunnels, in which there is no particular threat to Agrail. Moreover, all the demons join our dissident.
In general, the whole task is to run for a long time and remove the fog. If anything raises doubts, pay attention to the map. By the way, a cartographer lives in the southeast of the sea.
The meeting with Tieru is surprising for both sides. We finally find out why Agrail behaved so strangely... and it ends with Agrail's rebirth into something else. But more on that in due time!
The Necromancer, or the Bony Helping Hand
I promised you the head of a dragon... So here it is.
- And I promised you the hand of the princess. So here she is.
joke
While Kha-Belekh, numb with amazement, admires the impudence of his military leader, and Isabel suffers for Nicholas, a certain Mr. Markel, a necromancer (everyone has their own shortcomings...), is ready to lend a helping hand to the suffering queen. She has a very unenviable position, and Markel, whatever one may say, is not a stranger - it’s not for nothing that some of Isabella’s relatives have been buried in his burial ground for a long time...
Meanwhile, Isabel is in discord in her kingdom. The dukes, the archbishop and the rest of the brethren demand the enthronement of anyone, but not the widow of Nicholas. And for some reason Isabelle is sorry to give it away...
Nicholas is dead and Isabella mourns her lover, while Agrail must set out on a journey to meet an unknown future.
You will have to go through the Inferno campaign as Agrail, learn his story and the reasons behind his actions.
Worshiper
Demon's Solution
Betrayal
Preface: The Empire's troops, led by the knight Godric, are pursuing Agrail, who has failed the Demon Lord's mission. Death is on his heels, and the unknown awaits him ahead. Agrail will have to find a way out of this situation.
Main mission objectives:
- Find a way to Shio.
- Agrail must survive.
Bonuses
- Artifact "Lion's Collar".
- Cerberus: 8.
- Hell's stallions: 3.
After killing Nicholas, Agrail will have to escape the pursuit of Godric, who has a fairly strong army under his command, and besides, his level exceeds Agrail’s, so under no circumstances should you fight him. We choose Cerberus as the initial bonus. Appearing in the upper left corner of the map, we visit the Magician’s Hut, thereby opening areas of the map within the radius of the magician’s eye.
At the crossroads, turn left, capture the Thieves' Den and pick up the All-Seeing Crown. We move further off-road and visit the Redwood Observatory, thereby discovering the nearby area. At the beginning of the third day, Godric himself appears on the map in the upper left corner, after which we need to be extremely careful, since if we encounter him, we will definitely not survive this meeting. We are heading to the Devil's Tower, thereby, albeit slightly, increasing the size of our army.
In fact, all neutral creatures of the Inferno faction can join your army, thereby increasing its power - do not disdain this.
At the end of our turn, we also learn, thanks to a visit to the Mage's Hut, that Godric is not the only hero who wants to get the head of Agrail. Going out onto the road again, you can get to the Garrison, but the creatures in it are quite strong, and we are again forced to go off-road, fleeing from our pursuer. Moving further, we come across the Border Guard, who can only let us through if we have received the key in the Guardian's Tent of the corresponding color.
We look for the Guardian's Tent, get the key and use the One-Way Portal to instantly move to the Border Guard. We interact with these objects and the path to the Entrance to the underworld opens up for us. If we successfully avoided our pursuers and accumulated enough funds, we can improve the creatures in the Fort on the Hill.
Having reached the Exit from the underground exit, we will save the game, since after interacting with the exit, an army of demons will approach us, with which we will have to fight. After defeating the enemy army of demons, we watch a video, after which we are informed about the completion of the mission.
Promise
Preface: Agrail will have to get ahead of the demon lord Vayer, who, on the orders of the Demon Lord, is going to capture the Heart of the Griffin.
Main mission objectives:
- Capture the Heart of the Griffin.
- Agrail must survive.
Bonuses
- Gold: 2000.
- Succubi: 8.
- Spell "Create a Phantom".
In this mission we have to get ahead of the demon lord Vayer, while we need to strengthen the army as much as possible to clash with him. We choose succubi as an initial bonus. To save moves and find out the current position of the enemy, we visit the Magician's Hut every other time. Again, we are in the lower left corner of the map, and the enemy is in the lower right.
And so, we visit buildings in which it is possible to hire creatures of the Inferno faction. Having captured the Cauldron of Demons and the Hell's Kennel, do not rush to take the nearest Treasure Chest, as there will be an ambush from assassins there. Yes, you can defeat them, but they will significantly reduce the number of creatures in your army.
Continuing along the road and passing the Stables, which we should visit, we again come across a Treasure Chest, and again the assassins lie in wait for us there. We don’t take the chest and move on. We capture Inferno Outposts, thereby increasing the number of high-level creatures. Along the way, we attack the creatures that guard gold reserves and Treasure Chests, choosing gold rather than experience - we will still need it in the Fort on the Hill, where we can improve our creatures.
Having reached the Royal Mausoleum, we have to fight with the hero of the Griffin Empire, who guards it. After the victory, we watch a short video and immediately enter into battle with Vaier. We defeat him and watch a video, after which we are informed about the successful completion of the mission.
Conquest
Preface: Agrail has a difficult path ahead to Tier. The road to him runs through the domain of the elves, and it is unlikely that they will allow the demon lord to pass through their domain with impunity. But Agrail will not let a bunch of elves interfere with achieving his goal.
Main mission objectives:
- Cross the border.
- Agrail must survive.
Bonuses
- Cave demons: 2.
- Fire demons: 43.
- Nightmares: 4.
In this mission we will have to go through the lands of the elves, and believe me - it will not be so easy. We, along with the city, appear in the lower left corner. We take Cave Demons as an initial bonus, since at this level we will not have access to all high-level buildings. In the first week, we do not rush to the Garrison, where Gilraen is waiting for us. We capture the nearest buildings - the Cauldron of Demons and the Devil's Tower. Unfortunately, we cannot capture Inferno Outpost, as we need to find the Guardian's Tent orange color to obtain the corresponding key. In the first week we build a Tavern, Town Hall, Devil's Tower, Level 1 Mages Guild, Hell's Kennel, Cauldron of Devils and Spawn of Chaos. Having waited for the onset of the 2nd week, we leave the city, once again visit the buildings for hiring creatures and go to the border, where the elven hero is already waiting for us.
We attack him, having defeated him, we receive a message that Gilraen managed to escape from the battlefield and Agrail will have to fight him again. The list of tasks is updated with the following: " Capture all the cities of the elves", "Defeat the enemy hero" A "Cross the border" will be considered completed. Moving along the road, we will capture the Mine and the Fairy Trees, after which we will attack the first enemy city of the elves.
After capturing it, we try to capture the nearest buildings that extract resources. With the onset of a new week, the following happens: the druids, using their magic, make it so that with the subsequent new week, creatures of the Forest Union faction will appear on the map, while the growth of creatures in the cities of the elves increases and a secondary task is added "Find the source of Druid magic and destroy it"
. Therefore, it is advisable to hire an elf hero in the Tavern, and then try to replenish his army with neutral creatures of the Forest Union.
As usual, we build up the army, collect resources, raise the level of the heroes until Gilraen himself comes for Agrail. Having defeated him once again, the task "Defeat the enemy hero", will be considered completed. If the situation arises that one of the armies you created is actually destroyed, then we take a hero from whom it is ready to capture enemy cities.
The next city is in the upper left corner and if we have everything ready, then let's go capture it.
After capturing the second city, we can visit the druids who decided to ruin the life of our hero. Finding their grove is quite easy, since visiting the Mage's Hut, which is near the first city we captured, will give us the location of the old people, and the entrance to the grove lies exactly on the way to the last castle of the elves.
After settling scores with the druids, we head to the last stronghold of the elves, attack it, and after the victory we are informed that the mission has been successfully completed.
Ship
Preface: To meet Tieru, Agrail needs to capture Erivel, a major elven port, and sail to Mist Dragon Island. Alone against the whole country, deprived of support and cursed by everyone, Agrail will either die or achieve his goal.
Main mission objectives:
- Capture Erivel.
- Agrail must survive.
Bonuses
- Druids: 10.
- Wood: 40.
- Gold: 6000.
And again Agrail will have to fight against the elves, only the number of cities increases to 4, and we have none at the beginning of the game. Oddly enough, in our hero’s army there are only creatures from the Forest Union faction. We choose Wood as an initial bonus, since we will need it when building structures not only in the city of Inferno, but also in the cities of the elves - but more on that later. We appear in the lower left corner and turn off the road and visit the Mahogany Observatory, so that we can have an overview and find out the location of the Entrance to the Underworld. After the end of the turn, we learn that the creatures under the command of the demon lord Agrail will gradually leave the ranks of his army, after which a secondary task is added to us "Capture Ur-Niberjas" . Therefore, we do not waste time and rush to the walls of the city of Inferno, which is located in the underground world. Once there, we visit the Magician's Hut to find out the exact location of the city we need.
We are not in a hurry to capture the nearest buildings for extracting resources, increasing and purchasing creatures - it is better to leave this for later. Capturing the city, secondary task "Capture Ur-Niberjas"
will be considered completed. I would like to note that it is better to build a structure for purchasing creatures of the Inferno faction, while leaving the creatures of the Forest Union in the city. On the next turn we build a Tavern, and if possible, hire an elf hero and give him the remains of creatures from the elf faction. We capture the nearest structures and erect the corresponding buildings.
We wait for the right moment and return to the surface with the goal of capturing the nearest city of the Forest Union faction. After its capture, we transfer our elven hero into it, who in the future will be able to independently besiege other elven cities. I’ll say right away that you shouldn’t build all the structures right away, since our priority is to improve Agrail’s army as much as possible.
We continue to explore the underground world with the main character, while the secondary one is normal. During Agrail's journey, we may come across Phantom Dragons who can offer us a deal: we bring them 100 elven archers or bow masters, and in return they will open a direct path to Erivel. At the same time, a secondary task is added to us "Complete the dragons' quest" .
Dragons will only accept the offering if Elven Archers or Bow Masters are in Agrail's army at the time of interaction with the Phantom Dragons.
In the meantime, one of the elven heroes can capture another nearby city of the Forest Union, thereby increasing the power of our army. After a successful siege of the city, we capture the nearest buildings.
In the same way, we capture the third city, all the buildings closest to it, after which we increase the power of the elven army.
By now you should have successfully acquired 100 Elven Archers or Bow Masters. We take them and go to the Phantom Dragons and when interacting with them, a literally direct path to the last city of the elves - Erivel - opens up and the task is completed "Complete the dragons' quest" . We leave the dungeon and head towards it. If the city is successfully captured, we watch the next video and can proceed to the next mission.
Now regarding the build-up of the elven army under your control. There are times when a hero who has settled down with his army in Erivel is very strong and is virtually impossible to defeat. Therefore, we send the elf hero and his troops in advance to at least weaken the enemy, after which the capture of the city becomes easier.
Agrail's solution
Preface: Agrail's search is coming to an end - the last thing left for him to do is to find Tiera in the magical fog of the island.
Main mission objectives:
- Find Tiera.
- Agrail must survive.
Bonuses
- Demonesses: 4.
- Hellhounds: 12.
- Artifact "Sextant of the sea elves."
Here we come to the final mission of the Inferno campaign. All we have left to do is find the elven druid Tiera. On this map we have to travel not only by land and in the underground worlds, but also by sea. We appear in the lower left corner on the ship. We choose Demoness as the initial bonus. The only problem with completing this mission is that we can only explore the area from land or when visiting special objects - Mahogany Observatories and Mages' Huts. To begin with, we land on the first island and interact with the objects that I mentioned above, after which we open locations on the map. Then we return to the ship and set sail to this island.
On the mainland we go to the underworld - after all, moving by land is much faster than by sea. At the crossroads, we first turn left and go out to the next continent, on which we do the usual actions. After that, we go back down and head to the crossroads and follow the remaining road. Coming out of the dungeon, we find buildings for hiring creatures of the Inferno faction, which we should capture.
After capturing and clearing, we return to the exit from the underworld where the Shipyard is located, where we hire a ship and set sail. We can improve the creatures near the Shipyard on the nearest island by visiting the Fort on the Hill. We can also accept creatures of the Inferno faction, which are scattered across the islands. Next we head to this island and descend into the underworld.
On this island there is a Temple of Magic Enchantments, when visiting which you can learn the “Summon a Ship” spell, which will make the journey easier, since there will no longer be a need to return for the ship.
Also below the same island there is a Cartographer, from whom it is possible to buy a map of the seas, which again will make completing the mission a little easier.
We descend into the underworld, visit the Stables and move on. At the first road intersection we can turn off the road and get to the treasures and Cerberus. Moving along the road, at the next divergence in the path, we turn right and go out to this island.
Continuing our progress around the island, we find the next entrance to the underworld, with which we can get to the central upper island. There we find a Two-way portal that will transport us to the island in the upper left corner, after which we go to the underworld and find ourselves on the island, which is located below the previous one. There we find the Shipyard and hire another ship, on which we need to sail to the next island and lower it into the underworld.
When their underground world exits, we find ourselves on the treasured island of Tieru. We go along the road, defeat the Emerald Dragons and cross the bridge, after which we watch the final video of the mission.
Congratulations, you have completed the second campaign of Heroes of Might and Magic 5.
The walkthrough of the Life campaign is written based on version 1.0, difficulty is normal (intermediate). People who play on high difficulties hardly need such guides.
Introduction
You will get a lot of heroes in this company, and while leveling them up you should pay special attention to Lysander. In the last scenario, he will have to fight one on one with the enemy, so he must be as strong as possible. Also, if possible, you should upgrade Lysander to the rank of Lord Commander rather than General, since the bonus from the former is better.As for the troops of Life, then best choice will become Pikemen, Monks and Angels. Ballistas are a good ranged troop, but they are slow as turtles, so if you have Monks and Archers, you won't need Ballistas.
Scenario 1: The Drawing of the Blade
Target:1. Defeat Normic and Caileen
1. Lysander, Proetho and the two best heroes from the rest. Maximum level 18.
You start with three cities and three heroes. Each city has troops stationed, plus some can be hired. So, visit the nearest city with each hero and recruit the maximum possible number of troops. With troops, the heroes will be able to defeat the neutral creatures around.
Next, you should send your heroes to explore the area around the cities, while trying to collect all possible resources. There is a lot of gold scattered around, so you should choose experience when finding chests. After about a week, combine three heroes into one army (portals will make your task easier), place one squire in the second army, so that the main army does not waste turns collecting various resources.
The heroes, together with a variety of archers, squires, spearmen and monks, are capable of defeating everything inside the triangle formed by your three cities. (However, the Griffins in the southwest can create some problems). At the same time, try to build your cities and do not forget to equip each city with a Caravan. Next, buy troops in each city and send them to the easternmost city, since this city is closest to the road leading outside your zone.
Pay attention to several quests in the scenario.
1.
At location (81,43) you will find Adamus Retreat. If you bring Adamus the Ankh of Life, he will help you (in the form of Proito, a level 11 priest). This task must be completed, since Proito will move on to the next scenario, and it is advisable to complete it as quickly as possible. The necklace is found by Venom Spawn at (53,74).
2.
At location (38,56) you will find a hut in the water. If you kill several groups of Mermaids with a green flag and Harpies in the east, you will receive a Seaman Hat. The quest is optional and not very useful, but you will still need to get into the water to visit the blue keymaster's tent (49.31). Also, if you need money, you can find the oracle (32.50), which will lead you to a treasure of 6000 gold. If you open the island to the east, there are several peasant huts for hire. Peasants pay taxes, so it's worth hiring them. Use the caravan to direct the peasants to the city, and then leave them there.
Once you're ready to rush south, gather your four heroes together and take the remaining three empty spots with archers, monks and angels or champions. Once you get through the Monastery (you'll capture it and get some more monks) move east to a small dead-end area with a gold mine and some shooting ranges. If Proito is a higher level than the rest of the heroes, you can leave him in the triangle of your cities so that he visits all the huts that teach the skill, while your rest of the army searches the dead ends. Then you can gather everyone together and head west.
To the west you will find lands captured by the Red and Blue (Teal) players. But first you have to complete one more task. At (86,79) you will find the house of a woman willing to exchange 5 health potions for 10 peasants. Since you have several heroes who wield Life magic, health potions are not very necessary, so you can refuse.
Also, before meeting the Blue and Red players, you will finally have to fight the Griffins. But with a large army you can easily deal with them, mostly Angels will help in this matter because of their ability to revive the dead.
To the west of the Griffins is the city of the Blue Player. It has a lot of shooting troops stockpiled, but you can use Angels or Champions to approach the wall and take the fire while the rest of your force clears the towers. Use Song of Peace whenever possible. In any case, the losses should be taken for granted, since the Blue and Red players only own four cities, so you gain a numerical advantage with each turn.
Note: if you use angels, don't waste them on resurrecting heroes. Your heroes will be revived automatically if you win. It's better to use the resurrection ability on the angels themselves.
There is another one to the west of the city, and that's where you'll most likely find Kaylin. Destroy her army and capture the city, then explore the surrounding area. At (129,93) you will find a gate with a task that you can go through with Proito in your army. Behind the gate you will find another gold mine and a purple keymaster's tent.
Near the first Blue City there is a blue gate. Behind the gate is another gold mine and several Black Dragons. You need to kill the dragons to access the quest hut (106,115), so get to work. Then capture the mine and visit the quest hut, where you will receive a Dwarven hammer, which you will need for another quest. To the east of the gate are the lands of the Red player, so if you suffered heavy losses during the battles, now is a good time to replenish your army. Using the capabilities of your five cities, you can create a fairly strong army.
Then head east to meet Red.
Next, you just need to destroy Red, just like you destroyed Blue. The only difference is that Normik is very cowardly and hides behind Clodman's Wall. So go to Clodman's house (85,105) and give him his hammer. After which he will break the wall.
Normik is a level 24 general and has a strong army, so you may have to wait a bit and gather strength before attacking. With seven cities behind you, it's not that long of a deal. Once you kill Normik, the scenario will end.
Scenario 2: The Trials
Target:1. Talk to the Oracle of Dawn
Transfer to the following scenario:
1. Lysander, Proito and the two best heroes from the rest. Maximum level 25.
If you approach the gate with a task, you will learn that you need to give 10,000 gold to pass. You start with 5,000 gold, there are enough chests near you to collect the corresponding amount. But your best bet is to go to the portal in the corner and explore the area beyond it. There you will have to kill several armies of Gargoyles and Trolls (not too difficult if your heroes know the Combat Skill), after which you will capture a gold mine and several piles of gold. Thanks to them, you can choose to gain experience from chests.
The second quest gate is to the west at (29,26). To pass, you must possess the Sword of the Gods. The sword is located in the southeast corner of the map, but it is guarded by several Efreeti and company. The battle would be quite tough, but luckily you can hire Crusaders and Monks nearby. In addition, the Tree of Knowledge is located nearby, so you can increase the level of the heroes. If the battle is still problematic, you can wait until the Crusaders and Monks are born, then you can overpower the enemy. Otherwise, use spells like Song of Peace and mass healing in battle.
The third task is underground at (35,44). Along the way, you must take Saint Ranan's Staff, guarded by several creatures of Nature. The staff is necessary to pass through the gate.
Next, follow underground. You will come to the last gate with the task at (65,36). The gate allows only Lysander to pass through. There is a purple dragon portal nearby. When you go through it, you will see that the tunnel to the north has changed, and there is now a new area to explore. At the end of it there is a portal leading to Pandora's Box. Open the box to get Lysander back (along with one Angel). Next, through the blue dragon portal, go back to the gate with the task to pass through it.
Then you need to rise to the surface and go to the Oracle. As soon as you reach it, the scenario ends.
Scenario 3: The First Step of Many
Target:1. Talk to Wharton's mother, Desette
Transfer to the following scenario:
1. Lysander, Proito and the two best heroes from the rest. Maximum level 30.
You'll have to fight a lot in this scenario, since each of the four enemies (Red, Light Blue, Blue, and Orange) each own two castles. You don't need to capture them all, but this option is preferable - you will receive additional experience and troops.
Therefore, group your troops into two armies. By the end of the campaign, you'll get three more high-level heroes, so it's best to put two random heroes in one army (since you don't need to develop them further), and put Lysander, Proito, and five starting troops in the other. Let the army fight with Lysander, and the other gather resources.
At first you will have only one path, so kill all neutral creatures, collect resources and various objects. Go ahead. Along the way, you will come across a prison with a level 25 hero inside (it seems to me that he is always a General). You can add this hero to Lysander's army (instead of, say, spearmen) or add it to an army of two random heroes. Since we need Lysander to be as powerful as possible, the second choice seems to me to be the best.
Someday you will come to the city of Red. Capturing the first one will not be difficult, as will the second city of Red to the northwest. When you capture both, Red will be destroyed and you will have an excellent springboard for further operations. Plus, the second city is protected by the first, so you don't have to guard it from attacks. However, you should think about building a Castle in the first city.
Now you have a choice where to go. You can go south (to Blue) or east (to Orange). They're both relatively easy to defeat, but if you attack Orange first, you'll be able to defend your lands easier. So I like this option better. At the same time, develop your cities and choose between champions or angels. (You probably won't be able to create angels everywhere). Then, when you are ready, gather Lysander, Proito, Champions, Archers, Monks and Angels into your army.
Once you take the cities of Orange and Blue, you will again have a choice. You can attack Blue (in the southwest) or you can end the mission. On the territory of Blue there are several buildings for improving skills, plus experience, so the first option is preferable.
If you are tired of battles, then head to the southeast, but do not attack the garrison. Instead, use the bridge south of the one that leads to the garrison. It will be guarded by high-level Force creatures, and it will be quite difficult to deal with them, but this is your last battle in the scenario, so it doesn’t matter how many corpses you lay down. Then simply visit the Tree of Knowledge and use the portal to Desetta to complete the scenario.
Scenario 4: Seeking the Steel
Target:1. Defeat Mastero to save the squire, Sir Kentaine.
Transfer to the following scenario:
1. Lysander, Proito, Desetta and the two best heroes from the rest. Maximum level 33.
The scenario takes place on a small map and there is no underground level. However, you still need to move quickly. The army you have now (with five heroes) will not become stronger, but the castle you have to take at the end will only strengthen your armies. So move quickly and don't waste time.
You will encounter several groups of high-level creatures of Nature, and depending on how well you have developed your heroes, you will have an easy or hard time. If you have developed combat skills, then nothing will be difficult, and you will be able to choose different ways to kill creatures. If, for example, the Water Elementals kill the hero with the first shot, you will need spells like Song of Peace, Nature Ward and Martyr (for example, to divert all the damage to the spearmen).
A little to the west you will find three guardhouses (you can hire Spearmen there) and Knight's order(Champions). You should capture all the buildings, and a few Spearmen can be sent to the second army. They will collect various resources, and your army will move faster without them. But let the Spearmen not be too far behind - they may be needed in battle.
Continue west, killing whatever you need. (Levels will now increase more when visiting the Tree of Knowledge, rather than from simple fights). You'll soon come to a blue gate, but the blue keykeeper's tent is on the other side. Forget about her. This is one example of computer players getting a one-way gate for themselves. Therefore, you won't be able to kill Blue. All you need to do is find the squire before the Blue player. (And if you don't touch the Afrits in front of the gate, then Blue may never come out of them).
So ignore Blue and continue west, north, and finally east. Along the way you should capture the second Order of Knights and the Forge, but only stop at the resources if you really need them and if the Spearmen are far behind.
At the end of the path you will come across a gate to the lands of Orange, they will be guarded by two groups of Chaos creatures. Defeating them shouldn't be difficult, but concentrate your first fire on the Medusas as they can kill the hero in one shot. Go through the gate, you may need to visit the Sacred Fountain or the Stone of Knowledge, but the Oracle will only lead you to the Calling Scarab (which doubles the summoning power), so you can skip it. Then attack Orange. If you moved quickly, then Orange will not accumulate many troops, and you can easily defeat him. Plus, Mastero (Level 30 Pyromancer) is probably grazing somewhere outside the castle, so you won't even have to take the castle. Once Mastero is killed, the scenario will end.
Scenario 5: The Rightful Heir
Target:1. Defeat Worton.
You start with six heroes above level 20. Nothing on the map can stop such an army. This is the only campaign in the game where you get so many high-level heroes, so gather them all in one army to relish the feeling. Maybe, the best solution will combine "named" heroes into one army and two random heroes into another. Named heroes will take on all the hard work of exterminating enemies, and the second army will collect resources.
Once you've dealt with the army grouping, head east. You must find two quest gates and a Tree of Knowledge. The first gate with the task will not necessarily be completed. If you send a hero with three Vial of acid, you can go through the gate and visit several buildings that improve the hero's skills. The second gate leads to one of the three neutral cities on the map. You will get through them if you have Desetta and Kentain in your army. Next, as soon as you walk a few steps after the gate, the neutral city will switch to your side. (Two other neutral cities will also come over to your side in a few days). The Tree of Knowledge requires gems, so only approach it if you have something to pay.
Once you've cleared the area near your first city (be sure to go into the city to install a governor and teach Dezetta some extra spells), send your main army back to the start and your second army into the portal. The portal connects three cities that will become yours, and your second army has enough strength to clear the area around the cities and capture resource buildings.
Your main army should then head south into the fenced area. There you will find a hut with a quest (optional, defeat the Blue Peasants to the west for eight health vials), many buildings for hiring creatures (peasants, ballistas, monks) and a Forge. Be sure to visit the Forge to provide the heroes with the necessary equipment.
Next, head south again and finish clearing the area surrounding your three cities. At this point you will have several resource buildings, and you will come across another Tree of Knowledge. At the same time, continue to improve your cities and choose to create Angels in each city. You will be able to build them in this scenario, although the altars will take some time to create.
In the future, you will have to fight with three computer players, but keep in mind that all attacks on your territory will be directed at the southern city. So build up this city to the maximum and gather an army there in case the computer attacks (although it probably won't).
You can fight as much as your heart desires. Blue is in the southwest, which is very convenient since your southern city is blocking enemy access to this territory. So if you defeat Blue, your southern city will be in just the right position to protect all your cities. In order to get to Blue, you will only need to defeat a group of Hydras. Well, since Hydras are healthy and slow creatures, killing them will not be a problem.
Orange is in the east. The path there is guarded big company Thunderbirds, but they can create a problem. But you still have to go through them, since this path also leads to Red (Wharton's color). The best way kill the birds - cast a Mass Slow spell and then destroy them before they can reach you. However, if you don't have a massive slow, let your heroes take the brunt of the attack and then find a use for the Angels. After you defeat (or just pass by) Orange's first town, you'll notice the entrance to Red's lands. The entrance is blocked by a quest gate that only allows the army with Lysander to pass through, so Red can't exit through it. So calmly finish the second city of Orange (if you wish). Well, now it's time for Red.
When you capture Red's city, you will learn that the scoundrel Wharton has escaped. You'll find it to the east, behind another quest gate. However, this gate only allows Lysander to pass through it, so make sure your main character has maximum good equipment and bottles of drugs. Outside the gate you will find Worton with a group of bandits. If you have developed Lysander's Combat Skills, then victory will be easy. You can even kill Worton before he gets to you. Otherwise, use the potion of immortality and health. Once Wharton is killed, the scenario and campaign will end.
In general, the rules remained the same as those familiar to us from the previous “Heroes” (especially the third part). Heroes walk around the map and lead armies of fairy-tale creatures with them; When confronted with an enemy, including a neutral monster, a tactical fight occurs. All this is done step by step.
Armies are acquired in cities; To do this, you need to capture the city (if it is not yours initially) and rebuild the necessary buildings in it. There are seven resources, as has been the custom since 1995: gold, wood, ore, mercury, sulfur, crystals, gems. All of them are mined in mines (which need to be captured for this), collected on the map, and the city itself produces gold and the “main” resource of the race.
All this has always been there. But if you look a little deeper, changes will appear immediately.
Advice: if you want classic “hero” gameplay without script frills, you should play network cards. Single maps here are something like mini-campaigns.
City and economy
In early Heroes, construction in the city was arranged according to the “wood” principle: to create, say, a green tower, you need to have a labyrinth and a swamp (plus a fair amount of gold, sulfur and ore). Nowadays, demands in the form of “such and such buildings are needed” are encountered, but not very often.
The main parameter in construction is the so-called city level: this is simply the number of buildings already built in it. Therefore, if a monster’s home requires level 10, it doesn’t matter what 10 buildings you build. Improvements to existing buildings also count.
Note: in the lower right corner of the right menu during construction there is a button that allows you to see those buildings that cannot be built yet (due to the level or lack of other necessary objects). Turn this mode on immediately and do not turn it off. It is completely unclear why this “good service” was needed - to hide most of the construction menu from the player. Otherwise you won’t understand whether the level of the city is not enough or something specific is needed.
What can be built right now is shown in green (available improvements are shown in blue), what there are not enough resources for is shown in red, already completed buildings are drawn, as they say in heraldry, “in the proper colors.”
The buildings of the races do not differ too much. Therefore, in the chapters devoted to races, we will talk about the special structures of each race, and here we will talk about what is common to all. True, the requirements may differ slightly; for example, in the Academy, to build a town hall, you need to create a magic guild, which is quite natural, but other cities do without it.
Monster dwellings. They have different names, but it is always clear from them who lives in them: for example, “garden of unicorns” or “workshop of gremlins.” All buildings have an improved version, some also have an “extension” attached to them, accelerating their growth.
The house of elders and its improvements determine the rate of money growth in the city (house - 500 gold per day, town hall - 1000, magistrate - 2000, capitol - 4000). For improvements, city levels 3, 9 and 15 are required, respectively, and a capitol can be built only in one city for the entire power.
This is important: if you already have a capitol, then by capturing the enemy’s, you will automatically destroy it.
The magic guild grants heroes in the city the right to learn spells; the assortment is random. The first level of the guild opens the first circle of enchantments, the second - the second, and so on. In the first three circles, 3 spells are given, then their number decreases. Building guilds is not as expensive as it once was: the first level requires 1 unit of each rare resource, the second - 2, the third - 3, the fourth - five, the fifth - 10. In the second "Heroes", I remember, already 4 units were needed for the second level.
The market allows you to exchange some resources for others; the rate, as before, depends on the number of markets (with one market, for example, one rare resource costs 20 units of ore or wood, 10 units of a rare resource, or 5000 gold). Improving the market - a warehouse - gives 1 unit per turn of a key rare resource for the race. Another building next to the warehouse provides random resources once a week.
Note: the concept of a “key resource” is no longer as strictly defined as it once was. For example, for the Dungeon, sulfur is considered such, but the development of the city is quite in need of crystals and gems.
The fort and its improvements strengthen the city; in addition, the next stage - the citadel - increases the growth of creatures by one and a half times, and the castle - by 2.
The forge allows, as in the third "Heroes", to purchase combat vehicles - a first aid tent, a ballista and an ammunition cart.
This is important: one of the main advantages of owning such a cart is that the enemy AI has an irresistible passion for its destruction, and this often saves the lives of much more valuable combat units. Passion, by the way, is unjustified, since the battles in the fifth “Heroes” are quite fleeting and dynamic, and most shooters do not have time to run out of charges. The AI also likes to mock the first aid tent. But less.
Resources are extracted, as before, in deposits or in the form of “gifts” freely scattered around the map. Fans of the old "Heroes" will quickly notice that on many maps, mines and sawmills are much more heavily guarded than was previously customary. True, the initial amount of resources at low difficulty levels is such that sometimes you can build a dragon’s dwelling without collecting anything at all. Unless, of course, you try to build everything.
In general, we can say that housekeeping has become easier and at the same time more interesting. Choosing an order of actions is now far from being as banal as in previous series. Quite often, to hire “higher” monsters, you don’t need anything other than the city level; but you have to choose the right moment. The main thing is to quickly rebuild the town hall, magistrate and capitol as far as possible, and not put things off for a long time: there will certainly be a shortage of gold.
One of the most important issues when managing - is it necessary to improve the monsters' homes? If previously the answer to this question was almost always “Yes! Certainly! As soon as possible!”, now this is not so obvious, because improvements are very expensive and can greatly slow down development. But for added convenience, we have introduced an “improvement rating” for each monster you will meet in the “Races” chapter.
How to fight
As in all NoMMs, with the exception of the fourth part, life comes to a standstill without a hero. Only the hero has the right to lead troops into battle (as well as for a walk), only he explores the map and captures prizes. At the same time, he must have at least one soldier with him, otherwise the hero, offended by such inattention to himself, goes on a long pilgrimage and can then, if the chip works out, be hired again. And it’s not a fact that it’s coming to you.
Everything has returned to the ideals of the third part, you say? Yes, but not so. In battle, the hero no longer stands aloof, occasionally conjuring something.
Initiative and turn order
The entire structure of the battle has changed. Now there is no such thing as “blue move” and “red move.” Each fighter, including the leader, has his own initiative, that is, his own turn of the move. If previously monsters with initiative 10 simply acted each turn earlier than creatures with initiative 5, now in the time it takes a lazy creature to take one action, a nimble monster will have time to act twice. As a result, initiative becomes almost the most important characteristic.
At the same time, the concept of “move” has changed. That is, for example, most creatures can respond to an attack once per turn - this means once in the interval from one to the next of their actions.
In order not to get confused in this system, a bar with the order of moves is displayed below the battlefield, and you can see the order of actions. Just don’t treat it as final: it is modified by morale effects. Thanks to its high spirit, the creature sometimes moves in the order of moves closer to the beginning of the list. During a fight, morale can grow from victories over enemies - in other words, from the destruction of enemy fighters. But you can firmly count on the fact that enemy moves will not move to the top of the list on your turn; Changes favorable to each side occur only when that side moves.
If the warrior whose turn it is to move has nothing to do at the moment, he can either skip a move by increasing his defense (D key or the central menu button), or postpone it, shifting his initiative “to later” without other positive effects. This is done using the W key, but there are no tools for this in the menu, and therefore not everyone knows about this possibility.
Hero in battle
Accordingly, the hero also has his own initiative and his own move, and only then can he use his spells (and not whenever he pleases).
What if there is no reason for him to cast spells right now? Then he can carry out a normal attack on any of the enemy creatures. The attack power depends on the hero's level; however, it does not appear to deal normal damage, but instead kills a fixed number of creatures, quite small. In other words, in the absence of compelling arguments against, it is more profitable to attack the “fattest” of the enemy creatures if the hero kills at least one creature from the squad with his attack. By attacking weaker opponents, he will remove significantly fewer hit points. In general, this attack is not strong enough to outweigh the effect of the spell; but still she is worth reckoning with. In particular, because it reduces the role of high-level creatures.
The hero himself still cannot be harmed by anything other than the destruction of his army. It is impossible to direct your attacks at him.
Creature Actions
Normal creatures can attack in melee combat, and some can also shoot or cast spells (or both). You can also move, but after that only melee attacks are allowed, no shooting or spells.
The “grid” of the battlefield is no longer hexagonal, but a regular square one. And the majority of creatures occupy one square on it, but many (the “large creature” property) occupy four at once, in a square. Thus, they often block the path, sometimes even (if there are many obstacles on the field) blocking each other.
If any spell or ability hits an area and hits at least one of the four squares of a “large creature”, it will be hit. And it doesn’t matter whether the fireball covers, say, one or all four cells with a genie - the damage will be the same. But you can aim such a spell at any of the creature’s cells - the effect differs in what additional cells will be covered.
Combat vehicles (ballista, catapult, first aid tent, ammunition cart) cannot move, but operate on their own turn and can be destroyed, including by spells.
The damage of most shooters depends on the distance: at a long distance it is halved, the same happens if the shooter fights in close combat. Magic depends only on the number of creatures in the squad. Conjuring creatures have their own mana, not borrowed from the hero, and is restored after each battle. A shooter cannot shoot if there is an enemy next to him, but this does not prevent a magician from casting spells.
A melee attack is counterattacked; it is counted after the damage is dealt, so if everyone is killed, there will be no one to respond to. Only succubi can respond to shooting. If the opponent has already responded since his previous move, he usually cannot do so again; whether he responds or not will be visible when you point the attack cursor at him.
There are also special abilities of creatures that always work or (like, say, being blinded by a unicorn) randomly. Other abilities are under your control. But more about this in the chapter “Race”.
What can heroes do?
The role-playing system is not too different from the fourth part of the game. Namely, the hero has:
classic basic parameters, unchanged since the first “Heroes” - attack, defense, witchcraft, knowledge;
skills developed to one degree or another, and abilities dependent on them;
a set of spells in the book;
equipment;
secondary parameters calculated from all this: luck, morale, maximum mana;
current amount of mana.
Now - in more detail.
Nothing fundamentally changed with the basic parameters. Attack and defense are added to the attack and defense of your creatures. Thus, the hero constantly influences the parameters of his entire army, regardless of his actions. Affliction is a magical power, a number by which the damage of combat spells is multiplied, as well as the duration (in turns) of all long-lasting spells. Knowledge is multiplied by 10, and the maximum supply of mana is obtained - magical energy.
Equipment, as has been the custom since the third part, is distributed by position: the hero can carry one headdress, one weapon, one shield, and so on, all “extras” are put into a duffel bag and do not work. It’s a pity, between ourselves, but realism requires sacrifices, and for some reason many do not refuse them.
Spells are determined by which magical guilds or individual buildings the hero has visited - and what power of magic his skills allow him to learn. By default, only level 1-2 magic is available to the hero; everything else must be obtained through abilities.
But with skills, the system is so serious that it deserves a separate chapter.
Hero Skills
The skill system is organized like this. There are several basic skills that grow from level 1 to 3, and abilities that can be learned through them. Some abilities must be learned to obtain new level skill.
Sounds simple... but it's not that simple. The trick is that many skills are specific to the type of hero. Let's say a knight has not only his own line of skills (“Counterstrike”), but also a whole series of dependent skills that are available only to him. Let's say, where a knight receives a rapid-fire ballista, a ranger gets the opportunity to enchant its shells with his spell, and a magician learns to steal other people's combat vehicles...
However, we will still try to present this system in an accessible form, dividing the skills into groups. Moreover, in the official game manual, alas, there is not a word about this... While this information is very important: you often have to learn a useless skill just to get to the next one in the chain, which is very necessary.
Education
The basic skills of the group - primary, secondary and higher education - give, respectively, +10%, +20% and +30% bonus to the experience gained (any, including battles, experience chests, and so on). In addition, for primary education you increase one basic parameter per 4 levels (including those already achieved!), for secondary education one per 3 levels, for higher education - 1 per 2 levels. In other words, the hero higher education actually enhances its basic parameters by one and a half times! These units are distributed in the same way as regular ones earned during levels - that is, randomly and with the same probability. A warlock is more likely to get a bonus to witchcraft, a magician - to knowledge...
In long games, education is the undoubted key to victory. Don't you dare ignore him.
Education opens access to secret knowledge, self-contemplation and the skill of a scientist. The first is the former "Eagle Eye", a chance to learn the spell used against you. The second simply increases the maximum mana reserve by one and a half times. Considerably! And the title of scientist allows you to exchange spells between heroes; the advantage is very controversial, if not...
The fact is that it is the scientist for most classes (the ranger and warlock require arcane knowledge) who gets access to the special skills of this group, unique to the classes. Something like this:
Mage: skills witchcraft reward and graduate. The first is +2 to witchcraft and 1000 gold, the second is +2 to knowledge and 1000 experience.
Demon Lord: Keeper of the Secret and Dark Revelation. The first is +2 to witchcraft, the second is an instant gain of a new level.
Knight: the same as the magician, but in reverse order.
Ranger: forest cunning (+10% to critical strike when using the “avenger” skill) and keeper of the secret.
Warlock: Dark Revelation and Sorcerer's Reward.
Necromancer: Lord of the Dead (+1 knowledge, +5% necromancy), dark revelation.
This is important: here and below, special skills are listed in the order in which they were acquired. That is, a magician, in order to become a graduate, first needs a witchcraft award, and a knight - vice versa. Many skills, as you can see, are repeated - in these cases I describe them once, when they are mentioned for the first time. If you notice an unfamiliar skill in the list of requirements, look for it in the class skills of the corresponding character.
Attack
The base skills of this group increase the damage your units deal in melee combat by 5%, 10%, and 15% respectively. Please note - the efficiency is lower than it was before! And yet, the attack is very helpful in fast-paced games.
Attack makes available the following skills: shooting - +20% to damage from shooters, tactics - the space for placing troops expands by one row of cells, combat madness - +1 to the minimum and maximum damage of creatures. Please note: this skill can increase the usefulness of low-level creatures by one and a half times!
Special abilities:
Mage: Greek fire (ballista ignores defense and deals additional fire damage) and cold steel (troops deal additional cold damage). Shooting opens access to all this.
Demon Lord: Devil Strike and Haste. The first enhances the “Mark of the Damned” ability, giving a 40% chance of doubling damage. The second allows you to cast an acceleration spell for free. For all this you need to have the sign of the damned (a unique skill of the demon lord).
Knight: Punishing Strike (damage dealt by troops increases based on morale) and haste. Access unlocks combat madness.
Ranger: Forest Fury (+1 to maximum damage of all Forest Alliance creatures) and Greek fire. Access unlocks combat madness.
Warlock: the same as the knight, but access is granted by tactics.
Necromancer: cold steel, acceleration. Access unlocks combat madness.
Basic skills reduce damage taken in melee combat by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively.
Defense grants evasion (-20% shooting damage), deflection (-15% magic damage) and tenacity (+2 hit points). The whole bouquet is recommended primarily for demons and knights.
Special abilities:
Mage: resistance (+2 to the hero’s defense) and endurance (the stone skin spell is cast for free). Reflection opens access.
Demon Lord: fiery retribution and blind defense. The first strengthens the “hellfire” ability and makes it applicable during a counterattack. The second makes it possible to increase the defense of troops by 60% with one action. For all this you need to have hellfire (a unique skill of the demon lord). Access unlocks evasion.
Knight: blind defense and battle to the last (if an enemy unit destroys your unit with its unit, one creature with 1 hit remains alive). Access unlocks resilience.
Ranger: the same as the knight, in reverse order.
Warlock: Reflection unlocks resistance and Fortitude unlocks stamina.
Necromancer: Grave Cold and Resistance. Grave Chill is a spell cast on an undead unit - it then deals additional cold damage in combat. Reflection opens access.
Basic skills increase luck by 1, 2 and 3 points respectively. They make travel luck available (all prizes found contain more resources), soldier's luck (uncontrollable creature abilities, such as being blinded by a unicorn, are used more often), and magical resistance (reduces the damage of the entire army from spells by 15% and gives a chance to completely evade spells). Luck is useful for almost all heroes, and the skills it gives are simply excellent.
Special abilities:
Mage: Asha's patronage (Asha's tear will be dug up, even if the location is not determined exactly) and trophies (each won battle brings some resources). Luck along the way opens access.
Demon Lord: Wide Gate of Hell (has a luck-based chance to summon twice as many demons through the gate) and Deadly Failure (reduces opponent's luck by 1). Access is granted by soldier's luck.
Knight: the same as the magician.
Ranger: Elven Luck (chance to increase damage by 25%) and Deadly Failure. Access is granted by soldier's luck.
Warlock: Arcane Luck (double damage chance applies to spells!) and Asha's auspices. Access is granted by soldier's luck.
Necromancer: only fatal failure, and requires the cry of a banshee to open...
Leadership
Basic skills increase morale by 1, 2, 3 units. This opens up access to treasury management (+250 gold per turn), diplomacy (increases the chance of creatures joining, and not the disgusting thing that existed before under this name!) and the collection of troops (increases the growth of fighters of levels 1-3, but only in the case of , if on the last day of the week the hero remains in the castle). The usefulness of these skills is rather doubtful, except perhaps for diplomacy.
Special abilities:
Mage: Machine Devotion (war machines and golems become susceptible to morale bonuses, but not to morale minuses). Access opens to treasury management.
Demon Lord: Master of the Gate. Increases reinforcements from hell by 20%. Access is opened by collecting troops. Perhaps the demon is the only one worth pursuing the special leadership ability.
Knight: inspiration (an ability that allows you to make a unit’s moves more often) and an aura of speed (all troops move 1 square further). Surveillance (knightly skill) opens access.
Ranger: forest leader - +2 to attack and... reinforcements from those dancing with death, the size of which is more impressive the more time has passed since the beginning of the game. A very strange skill! Access is opened by collecting troops.
Warlock: aura of speed, access opens to gathering troops.
Necromancer: harbinger of death (all neutrals who join turn into undead of the same level). Access is opened by collecting troops. It would be great, but why would a necromancer need leadership as such - the undead are inherently immoral...
Logistics
Increases movement speed on land by 10%, 20% and 30% respectively. Provides access to navigation (speeds up swimming by 50%, but there are almost no seas on current maps), pathfinding (cuts the penalty for rough terrain by 50%) and reconnaissance (+4 to the viewing radius and the right to see the exact number of creatures in the enemy troops ). One of the most valuable branches of development: everyone needs speed!
Special abilities:
Mage: march of golems (golems get +2 to speed and initiative and finally become effective fighters) and surprise attack (the hero receives a teleportation spell, and it increases the initiative of transported creatures). Access unlocks pathfinding.
Demon Lord: Fast gate opening (gates open 60% faster) and surprise attack. Access unlocks pathfinding.
Knight: native lands (+1 speed in the meadows) and death's stride (+4 speed during siege). Access unlocks pathfinding.
Ranger: silent hunter (very valuable in a multiplayer game: the enemy sees only the hero’s strongest creatures, and without indicating the number) and native lands. Access unlocks pathfinding.
Warlock: Sudden attack and death's stride. Intelligence opens access.
Necromancer: Death's Tread and Silent Stalker. Access unlocks pathfinding.
Machine control
Basic skills provide a whole series of effects: they increase the attack and damage of ballistas, the effect of the first aid tent, ammunition carts increase the attack of shooters by 1, 2 and 3 units respectively, and the catapult has a 30% (40%, 50%) chance to shoot down a tower or gates.
These include ballista, catapult and first aid skills. They allow the corresponding devices to be controlled manually, and in case of destruction, they are restored after the battle; in addition, the ballista and catapult in this case fire twice in a row.
Special abilities:
Mage: power over machines (stealing one machine from the enemy at the beginning of the battle) and earth shaking (the hero receives an earthquake spell, which also injures and stuns all enemies behind the wall). Access is opened by a catapult (to shake, you also need to be able to absorb artifacts).
Demon Lord: Brimstone rain (another catapult shot) and ground shaking. A catapult opens access.
Knight: Rapid Fire Ballista (one more shot for the ballista). Access is granted, naturally, by the ballista.
Ranger: enchanted ballista (the effect of enchanted arrow - a ranger ability - also affects the ballista) and rapid-fire ballista. Access is provided by the ballista.
Warlock: Earthquake and Plague Tent (allows the tent to deal damage). A catapult opens access.
Necromancer: Plague Tent. Access is provided by a first aid tent.
Witchcraft
Basic skills reduce the pause between spells in battle by 10%, 20% and 30%, respectively. They provide access to secret knowledge (all spells are 20% cheaper), wisdom (all 3rd level spells are available) and mana replenishment (mana is restored twice as fast).
Special abilities:
Mage: counterspell (cancels the enemy's next spell at twice the mana cost) and variable mana (each spell's cost is reduced randomly, up to 50%). Secret knowledge opens access.
Demon Lord: Exploding Corpses (bodies destroyed by a soul eater sometimes explode, dealing area damage) and Arcane Revelation (+2 spellcasting and a new spell in the book). The soul eater opens the door.
Knight: secret advantage (+100 mana for a while and +2 spellcasting forever). Secret knowledge and prayer open access.
Ranger: Secret Revelation and Counterspell. Access unlocks mana replenishment.
Warlock: Volatile mana and counterspell. Access unlocks mana replenishment.
Necromancer: protection of undead from magic (-20% damage to your undead from Chaos magic) and secret advantage. Wisdom opens access.
Chaos Magic
Basic skills increase the effectiveness of chaos magic and allow you to learn spells of 3, 4 and 5 circles, respectively. They provide access to the Fire Lord, Cold Lord and Storm Lord skills: these enhance fire, cold and lightning spells respectively, with fire having a chance to weaken the enemy's defense, cold to freeze, and lightning to stun. Most heroes who rely on spells give credit to this school.
Special abilities:
Mage: Magic Drain (reduces magic damage to your minions by 20%) and Fire Rage (all your fighters and marksmen deal additional fire damage). A magic mirror opens access.
Demon Lord: withering flame (hellfire hits one and a half times harder) and an explosion of mana (burns the enemy's spellcasting creatures with fire every time they cast a spell). The fire lord opens the door.
Knight: fiery fury. The fire lord opens the door.
Ranger: Mana Burst and Chaos Mystery (+2 Knowledge and new Chaos spell). The fire lord opens the door.
Warlock: Secrets of Chaos and Mana Burst. Access is unlocked by a dark ritual.
Necromancer: Deadly Cold (enhanced cold spells, they are guaranteed to kill at least one creature) and secrets of chaos. Access is granted by the lord of cold.
Light magic
Basic skills increase the effectiveness of light magic and allow you to learn spells of 3, 4 and 5 circles, respectively. They provide access to the skills that bestow blessing, righteous anger and magical protection. These abilities provide massive variants of spells, respectively: divine power and removal of enchantments, punishing blow and acceleration, evasion and stone skin. Mass options cost twice as much as regular ones.
Oddly enough, this is also available to demons, warlocks and necromancers - and they even have special abilities in this school...
Special abilities:
Mage: seal of light (light magic costs twice as much for enemies) and the mysteries of light (for all spell-casting creatures the cost of spells is halved). Access is granted by magical protection.
Demon Lord: Fire Protection (reduces fire damage to all your units by 50% and allows you to ignore the effect of the Fire Lord). Access is granted by magical protection.
Knight: guardian angel (after defeat in battle, the angel resurrects the strongest squad and saves the hero) and the secrets of light. Access is granted by the one who gives the blessing.
Ranger: Spirit of Light (all enemy flying creatures receive -1 to initiative and speed) and protection from fire. Righteous anger opens access.
Warlock: secrets of light and burden of darkness (afflict +3 with Dark and Light spells). Righteous anger opens access.
Necromancer: burdened by darkness. Access is granted by the one who gives the blessing.
Dark magic
Basic skills increase the effectiveness of dark magic and allow you to learn spells of 3, 4 and 5 circles, respectively. They provide access to the skills Curselord, Mindlord and Painlord - they provide massive variants of spells (at double the price): weaken and frailty, slow and distract, disruptive ray and plague.
Special abilities:
Mage: Seal of Darkness (reduces magic damage to your creatures by 20%) and dark replenishment (if your spell did not affect the enemy, the mana for it is returned to you). The mind master opens the door.
Demon Lord: Dark Replenishment, Debuffing Strike (Debilitation is added to the effect of Mark of the Damned). The mind master opens the door.
Knight: fallen knight (-1 to morale, but +5 to Darkness magic), weakening blow. Access is granted by the Lord of Curses.
Ranger: Cursed Earth (as soon as an enemy creature moves, it takes damage depending on the hero's level) and Seal of Darkness. Access is granted by the lord of pain.
Warlock: Darkness Replenishment. The mind master opens the door.
Necromancer: spiritual connection (if you cast this spell on a unit, then when they receive damage, the necromancer will restore mana) and cursed earth. The owner of the curses opens the door.
Summoning Magic
Basic skills increase the effectiveness of summoning magic and allow you to learn spells of 3, 4 and 5 circles, respectively. They provide access to the skills master of life (+4 to witchcraft for the raise dead and magic fist spells), master of enchantments (same effect for summoning elementals and phoenix) and master of earth (fire trap, earthquake).
Special abilities:
Mage: Banish (eliminate creatures summoned by the enemy) and Fog Veil (enemy arrows reduce damage and initiative by 10%). Access is granted by the master of enchantments.
Demon Lord: fire warriors (the hero receives a spell to summon elementals, which always summons fire elementals and is 40% stronger than usual) and elemental balance (if the enemy summons elementals, they also appear for you, and of the opposite element). Access is granted by the master of enchantments.
Knight: elemental balance. Access is granted by the master of enchantments.
Ranger: Veil of Mist and Warriors of Fire. The lord of the earth opens access.
Warlock: exorcism (chaos magic deals double damage to summoned creatures). Access is granted by the master of enchantments.
Necromancer: inhabited mines (inhabits the mine with ghosts) and exile. The lord of life opens access.
We have listed the directions available to all classes (no matter how surprising it may be that necromancers and demons can move along the path of Light - but come on!). Now let's talk about the unique schools of each class.
The basic skills of these schools are usually implemented through a special building that is built in the city of the corresponding race. That is, if you do not have an elven city, then the avenger skill will not help you much...
The base skill family for a mage is called Artifact Master. This is a very interesting thing: it allows you to create mini-artifacts for your troops that strengthen an individual squad. The first three skill levels give the right to one artifact effect (that is, there can be a maximum of three), the fourth reduces the cost of all mini-artifacts by half. As a result, the magician’s weak creatures turn out to be noticeably stronger than they could be (the weaker the creature, the more important the artifact’s effect is for it).
These include:
The magic mirror reflects spells (with some probability) at a random target. Yours or someone else's - as it turns out.
Mark of the Wizard is a great ability: a sort of free spell that is cast on a party, causing your magic to have a much stronger effect on them.
Absorbing artifacts - in battle, you can “eat” an artifact from a creature, turning it into mana. Very rarely needed.
Arcane Omniscience - the right to use any spell in the game. Simple and tasteful... You don’t even need to look for them - they will find you.
Demon Lord
Demons have perhaps the most valuable skill of all: they train their creatures to summon new demons onto the battlefield. This is called opening the gate. Each unit can do this once per battle and bring reinforcements equal to 25% (at subsequent skill levels - 30%, 35%, 40%) of its number. It becomes a separate detachment; if all the uncalled demon troops are destroyed, the summoned ones will scatter themselves. At the end of the battle they will leave you anyway.
Mark of the Damned is a spell that causes damage to a creature if it moves, attacks, or otherwise acts. The additional abilities described above further enhance the effect of the sign.
Hellfire - a 30% chance of any creature attack to inflict an additional fire strike, depending on the strength of the creatures and the hero’s sorcery. The mana for this operation is written off from the hero, so this is quite a ruinous matter.
Soul Eater - restores mana by absorbing corpses. In the presence of hellfire, this is a necessary thing.
Call of Urgash - reinforcements from hell arrive instantly.
Knights are masters of a mysterious art called "counterstrike". Counterstrike gives an increase in the retaliatory strike of troops (+5%, 10%, 20%, 25%, respectively), but this is not why we love it at all. The main thing is the opportunity... to transfer your creatures to the next category! For example, from peasants to archers, and from those to swordsmen... Agree, this opportunity changes a lot. Just keep in mind that this is not free at all - the knight must take care of a very tight wallet. Well, training rooms will be needed.
This is important: unfortunately, this operation does not preserve the improvement of troops. That is, take even simple archers, even highly skilled crossbowmen - they will still turn out to be ordinary swordsmen.
An experienced military leader reduces the cost of retraining by 10%. Useful, but not too "conceptual".
Overwatch is a pretty funny thing: it allows you to select your squad and deal damage to everyone who attacks it. But if you develop it to an inexorable force, when the damage triples, this is a very serious ability! Especially good against AI, whose attacks are too predictable.
Prayer - when used at once, it increases initiative, morale, attack and defense of all your troops.
Ranger
The ranger's basic skill, vigilante, is one of the strangest in the game. It allows you to select one (two, three, four) sworn enemies, against whom your troops will then have a 40% chance of dealing double damage. Moreover, the regular and “advanced” versions of the creature are considered different... Moreover, in order to declare someone a “sworn enemy”, you must first prove this - kill at least the double weekly growth of such creatures. True, having done this, you can choose either a regular or an improved version of the selected creature. Oh yes, and this must be done in the Avengers Guild.
In general, it won't be easy. In principle, this can bring an important advantage in a network game (if you only have one opponent), but it is damn difficult to implement. It seems to me that the requirement to beat the double weekly increase was already unnecessary. However, perhaps I just haven’t understood something about the delicate ranger soul yet. (I also didn’t understand why it was so stupid to translate it, spoiling my own work. But oh well.)
The additional skills of this school improve the impression somewhat.
Shower of arrows. An attack on all “sworn enemies” in the enemy army at once, with triple damage. Not bad, but... given the above, it doesn't apply often.
Deadly shot. When shooting at an enemy, the hero's level increases by 3, and if the enemy is a sworn enemy, then the damage is doubled, and at least one creature will certainly die.
Enchanted arrow. Something that's worth bothering with "deadly shots" for. From this moment on, you can cast spells on arrows, and the target, in addition to the damage from the shot, will also receive the effect of the spell! That is, having loaded your arrows once at the beginning of the battle, you can both shoot and cast spells every turn! True, all this is done at the expense of the hero’s mana, but the effect is very good. Moreover: it applies to a shower of arrows, and even to an enchanted ballista, which, by the way, shoots three times per turn! In general, there would be enough mana... By the way, you can borrow it from the druids.
True luck. All attacks of your troops are always successful. True, you need to fully upgrade your luck (including special skills), but what is the result!
Warlock
Overwhelming Magic allows you to overcome the magical defenses of creatures, dealing 20% (40%, 50%, 75%) damage to protected creatures. The usefulness of this is very moderate; you won’t come across magical protections very often. Although, of course, it’s still a surprise for the enemy!
The dark ritual allows you to fully restore mana by skipping a turn. Warlocks don’t have excess mana (knowledge grows slowly), so...
Feeling the elements. It’s a strange thing, and it also requires a special building. Allows you to feel which elemental spells will now inflict increased damage on a particular enemy. Only often the repertoire of spells is not enough for this. Elemental Fury further enhances this ability.
Wave Arcana. All combat spells receive enhanced versions - twice as expensive, one and a half times more effective.
Resume is not the most valuable set of abilities, although it allows you to deal with the enemy faster. Powerful, but a demon, necromancer or knight probably looks more convincing.
Necromancer
It’s not hard to guess what necromancers do, right? The necromancy skill raises 5%, 10%, 15% or 20% of the fallen as bone warriors. But at the same time, it is weakened compared to previous games in that it does not work with undead, constructs (golems) and elemental creatures (gargoyles). However, he is beautiful in this form too! And if you consider that with the proper use of spells and abilities, the necromancer practically does not lose his troops...
Rise of the Archers. This needs to be explored as quickly as possible! From this moment on, necromancy raises not warriors, but skeleton shooters, who are many times more useful.
Eternal slavery. After the battle, you can raise one of the dead undead units.
Banshee scream. All living creatures receive -1 to luck, morale and -10% to initiative. And if you enhance this with a cry of horror, the enemies will receive -6 to their morale!
The strongest set of abilities, which, in my opinion, can only compete with the demonic. True, the necromancers’ armies are mediocre... but they can’t do it all at once?
Order of Order (knight)
Table 2 Troops of the Order of Order
Peasant 1 1 1-1 3 4 8 – 20
New recruit 1 1 1-2 6 4 8 – 30
Archer 4 3 2-4 7 4 9 10 50
Crossbowman 4 4 2-8 10 4 8 12 80
Latnik 4 8 2-4 16 4 8 – 90
Squire 5 9 2-5 26 4 8 – 130
Griffin 7 5 5-10 30 7 15 – 260
Royal griffin 9 8 5-15 35 7 15 – 360
Monk 12 12 9-12 54 5 10 7 650
Inquisitor 16 16 9-12 80 5 10 7 900
Knight 23 21 20-30 90 7 11 – 1250
Paladin 24 24 20-30 100 8 12 – 1550
Angel 27 27 45-45 180 6 11 – 3200, 1 cr.
Archangel 31 31 50-50 220 8 11 – 4200, 2 cr.
At first glance, the Children of Light are not very impressive with their military power. With the exception of angels, they are significantly inferior to most other races, especially in hit points. But don't forget that the knights train them! This means that with a properly structured economy, a knight can gather such an army that it will not seem small. What would happen if all the crowds of peasants were turned into crossbowmen? And if…
Most often, Order makes itself a shooting army with monks and crossbowmen, leaving the griffins to deal with the enemy's magicians and archers.
Peasant and militia
The only useful feature of the peasant is that he brings a coin per turn. But on some maps you can get so many peasants... He is a mediocre fighter, to put it mildly, but no one sends him into battle. First, let him earn money, and then we will give him a bow.
The militia is much more convincing in battle (damage is one and a half times more, hit points are two times more!), and besides, sometimes it hits with a shield, but nevertheless there is no need to improve it. Firstly, as soon as you take the pitchfork away from a man and hand him a halberd, he, the bastard, immediately stops working and paying his dues. And secondly, if you’re going to strengthen a peasant to the level of an archer, half-measures are inappropriate here!
Archer and crossbowman
The good thing about a basic human shooter is that there is a lot of him - after all, you can recruit from the peasants. In addition, he hits areas - that is, his arrows deal half damage to the target's neighbors.
His crossbow counterpart boasts greatly increased damage, as well as the fact that he deals more hit points at a distance of 2-3 cells. True, it shoots a little slower and has forgotten how to hit areas.
Is it worth improving? In general, yes, the crossbowman is indeed much stronger (close formation is not so common these days...), but there is one consideration against it. The fact is that we will always have a choice - to recruit more archers from the gray-legged peasants or to buy more expensive shooters? And there will often not be enough money for both tasks.
Armor and squire
Both know how to cover themselves with a shield (which reduces the damage from arrows by half), both sometimes hit with a shield, preventing the enemy from responding to their blow, and if an ally dies, they become enraged. These gentlemen are very cheap, superbly protected - even at the fourth level, few can compete with them, but they hit incredibly weakly. In general, ideal “tanks”... but how to lure the enemy to them?
The squire has an additional advantage: his shield protects not only himself, but also his neighbors from arrows. Therefore, at least a little of them will be extremely useful to you, especially in the fight against a legion of necromancer archers or elven flying troops. But it is not at all necessary to transfer all the men-at-arms to squires - for the enemy this is not such a tempting goal, a small detachment will be enough for you. In addition, squires are very expensive compared to men-at-arms.
Is it worth making men-at-arms from archers? If this is the ultimate goal, then no.
Common and royal griffin
It flies, is immune to blindness (why would that be?) and, as has been the custom since time immemorial, responds to all opponents. Decent damage - in general, the griffin looks quite decent compared to other fighters of the same level. But... if there is even the slightest opportunity, do not lead them into battle, make them royal. Indeed, in its enhanced version, this beauty becomes the best weapon against magicians and shooters!
The royal griffin, on a special command, soars into the sky and disappears from the map, only to fall in a dive on the enemy after a while. He will not answer and will receive double damage, and the griffin will land somewhere to the side. While the bird is flying, no one can do anything with it, but when it returns...
One problem: you need to select the target as a cell on the field, and not as a squad. The target will crawl away - alas and ah. And if you suddenly forget and bring your squad there... the griffin doesn’t care about pecking. That's why he's only good against magicians and shooters. But in this matter he has no equal.
Monk and Inquisitor
A fairly powerful shooter who doesn't make much sense to block - he has no penalties in close combat. If you improve it, the damage will remain the same, but the hits will increase greatly, and the attack and defense will increase.
And in addition, he will become a magician (12 mana points) and learn to cast enhancing spells (acceleration, endurance, divine power). But just for this reason, it’s not worth spending money on strengthening a large squad - witchcraft power doesn’t play a big role here. And the enhanced version costs almost one and a half times more. So don't rush to create the Holy Inquisition.
Knight and Paladin
Big, attacks with a run, excellent damage, but not enough hits, which is why knights die too quickly. And yet it is an important striking force, and one that moves quickly and frequently.
Knights and paladins must always attack from a distance: this gives +10% damage for each square passed! And it doesn’t have to be in a straight line: letting it rush around the target is also an option.
If you upgrade him to a paladin, he won’t improve his stats too much, but he will learn to heal (monks, you see, don’t know how, but this one can!). The ability is valuable, but you don’t always have time to use it - there are a lot of other things to do on the battlefield.
Angel and Archangel
A large flying creature with guaranteed damage - here short description angel in this game. It cannot be compared in power to a black dragon or titan, but it is quite comparable to the others. In the Arkhangelsk incarnation, it flies faster, all the characteristics are higher, but most importantly, it resurrects allies; and the one who loses less in battle will sooner or later become the winner.
It’s hard for me to write about him: I don’t like angels in computer games. They don't suit the style. It’s not for nothing that you can hardly find them in “heroic fantasy”. But if you leave this point aside, you will turn out to be a good fighter.
Inferno (demon lord)
Table 3 Inferno Troops
Fighter Attack Defense Damage Hits Speed Initiative Shots Cost
Demon 2 1 1-2 4 5 13 – 25
Damn 3 2 2-3 6 5 ‘13 – 45
Demon 1 3 1-2 13 5 7 – 40
Fire demon 3 4 1-4 13 5 8 – 60
Hellhound 4 2 3-5 15 7 13 – 110
Cerberus 4 2 4-6 15 8 13 – 160
Succubus 6 6 6-13 20 4 10 6 240
Demoness 6 6 6-13 30 4 10 6 350
Hell's Stallion 13 13 8-16 50 7 16 – 480
Nightmare 18 18 8-16 66 8 16 – 666
Cave demon 21 21 13-26 110 4 8 – 1550
Cave Lord 22 21 13-31 120 4 8 – 1850
Devil 27 25 36-66 166 7 11 – 3666, 1 sulfur
Archdevil 31 29 36-66 199 7 11 – 4666, 1 sulfur
This race is also strong primarily because of its hero. If demons are placed in the service of a “step-native” leader, they will be of little use. The demon must fly to hell for reinforcements, otherwise it is a bad, worthless demon!
In addition, almost everyone needs to be improved, otherwise things are bad. In its original form, the demonic army mostly causes healthy laughter among opponents. Where can I get money?
But don't worry - in the company of a competent ruler, the demons will show themselves!
In addition to summoning allies, demons are good at speed; Thus, they perform very well against shooters and magicians.
The devil and the devil
This little dead thing is present on the battlefield not to fight, but to “work” with enemy mana. The demon just eats it, but the devil carefully brings it to you. And therefore, for the first meeting with the enemy hero, the demons must be improved!
Devils fight, however, also well... but they are very expensive. Since their ability is useless in battles with neutrals, and they have few hit points, you need to be careful with them.
Demon normal and fire
Pa-a-a-kost! Try to find at least one creature of the second level so that it is worse than an ordinary demon! He's sick, he's no good for anything, kick him, don't mind. The only ability is rage (intensifies when an ally dies).
If we improve it... well, in this form it will at least look like something. In addition, he learns to damage all enemies around him with an explosion. Let's face it: without acquiring fire, a demon is not fit for the devil. There is an opportunity - strengthen it, no - spend these creatures on anything, don’t mind.
Hellhound and Cerberus
Dead thing again? Not certainly in that way. The dog runs briskly across the battlefield and attacks twice as often as other thoughtful characters. And if you strengthen her, then they stop answering her, and she hits three squares at once. In general, not bad.
It is necessary to strengthen the dogs, because then they live much longer. They are flimsy, don’t want them to be hit back...
Succubus and demoness
And here is the best news! The succubus is one of the best shooters, who also knows how to return shots (a unique ability!). True, there are few hits. But the true potential is revealed only when strengthened: then the demoness pleases us, no less, with chain lightning!
But beware: if you take mortal spawn with you, and do not use exclusively evil spirits, then the chain lightning, breaking loose from the chain, may inadvertently not be sorted out and scurry away towards your own people. She recognizes demons...
The main thing is to take care of succubi and demonesses! This is your most important combat potential. Alas, the enemies are also aware of this.
Hell's stallion and nightmare
A decent and incredibly fast combat unit. The unicorn will probably be stronger, but it won’t rush across the field so quickly. With an attack, the horse has a good chance of forcing the enemy to retreat; in this case, he does not respond and runs away to the edge of the map, losing all accumulated initiative (!). This means that with a couple of squads of such horses you can pretty much drive the enemy; not to mention the fact that they easily destroy the defensive system.
Well, if you strengthen it, it will become even faster and more powerful, and within a radius of three cells around itself it will give enemies -3 to morale. Considering that it is large in itself, this is a rather large area.
Cave Demon and Cave Lord
A hefty creature, and also a magician, conjures a fireball and reduces the enemy’s defense. True, he is only so-so in close combat, but is it really that important?
But again we understand that its potential cannot be revealed without strengthening. In this case, he receives a new spell - meteor shower, and, what is especially nice, a “shearing sword”: this thing is guaranteed to kill at least one creature during an attack or counterattack. Can you imagine how much fun you can have with dragons?
This is interesting: not everyone knows that the extremely popular Vorpal Sword in games, which cuts off the head with one blow, comes from “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” where it was used to fight the Jabberwocky. That’s why the game’s authors translated it as “shearing.” Remember - “Out and out! - shears the sword..."?
But still, do not rush to strengthen the cave dwellers (how do they fit into a cave with such dimensions?!): after all, strengthening almost does not affect combat qualities, and fireball magic is, in principle, enough.
The Devil and the Archdevil
The famous teleportation of devils is no longer as powerful as it once was: it is limited by distance! Yes, the devil can easily jump over a wall or a stone, but what's the point?
Strengthening does not make the devil stronger (only healthier), but it gives him the right to revive killed cave lords. This creates a good, but very expensive combination. Therefore, do not rush to pay exorbitant prices - you will probably need the devil more in hand-to-hand combat. And it's not worth that kind of money. Is it ever heard of - more expensive than a black dragon! Well, why?!
League of Shadows (Warlock)
Table 4 Troops of the League of Shadows
Fighter Attack Defense Damage Hits Speed Initiative Shots Cost
Scout 3 3 2-4 10 5 10 5 60
Assassin 4 3 2-4 14 5 12 5 100
Bestia 4 2 5-7 16 7 14 – 125
Fury 5 3 5-7 16 8 16 – 175
Minotaur 5 2 4-7 31 5 8 – 140
Minotaur Guardian 5 2 4-7 35 5 8 – 200
Lizard rider 9 7 7-12 40 6 11 – 300
Dark Rider 10 9 7-14 60 8 11 – 450
Hydra 15 12 7-14 80 5 7 – 700
Cave hydra 15 15 9-14 125 5 7 – 900
Twilight Witch 18 18 17-24 80 4 10 4 1400
Lady of the Shadow 20 20 17-27 90 4 10 4 1700
Twilight Dragon 25 24 45-70 200 9 10 – 3700, 1 sulfur
Black dragon 30 30 45-70 240 9 10 – 4500, 2 sulfur
For many years, Warlock led all sorts of monsters from the Underdark... and suddenly it was decided to give the army at least relative national unity. From now on, this is an army of dark elves, sung by Salvatore. Draw, to put it simply. And although some minotaurs remained in their ranks, this was simply a concession to the glorious past. And dragons and hydras fit nicely into their ranks... But about this - in the “Source of Inspiration”, chapter “ADDITIONAL”.
The League of Shadows is extremely compelling with its low-level creatures; at medium-high it looks worse, but then the black dragon himself appears, which, as at all times, remains the most dangerous creature in the game.
In addition, the warlock himself stands out among other heroes with his magical power and provides his army with worthy support. Perhaps the special abilities of the League heroes are so-so, but these are minor things.
The weakness of the League troops is that they have few good shooters in the middle and high levels and there are no flyers except the dragon. This means that the League looks pale when it comes to storming cities.
Infiltrator and Assassin
The best fighters of the first level. Dot. True, they shoot with half strength, but they have no disadvantages in close combat. But what is their half strength? This, by the way, is the full damage of some master gremlin! Despite the fact that there are hits - God forbid everyone, the initiative is simply excellent...
And if you strengthen the scouts, there will also be poison, which works for three turns after the shot. And such an army (and you can recruit a lot of them!) will work great not only at low levels. In general, beyond all praise.
As for strengthening, you can wait with it until the average levels of fighters appear, but if possible no further.
These guys really cost a lot of money. But they are worth it. And on early stages the advantage they provide in combat is more important.
Bestia and Fury
Again - huge damage for its level and a huge initiative, however, the defense is somewhat let down. The beast, like the harpy from the fourth "Heroes", returns after the attack; and the furies still don’t answer.
In the first battles, the beasts are irreplaceable. They can, for example, block some archers and cut others. Who else can do this? Subsequently, they are less relevant than assassins (they still shoot and are poisonous), but at first they provide the dark elves with a reliable advantage.
Minotaur and Minotaur Guardian
A brave minotaur always has a fighting spirit of at least +1... but a normal general usually doesn’t have less, unless in the presence of a hellish horse. The minotaur is poorly protected, but it has the envy of everyone, and it hits pretty hard. In general, it is not a mystery how to use it under such conditions.
Until cavalry, druids and other high-level fighters appeared on the battlefield, the minotaur was the king of battles. He is especially good at destroying demons who cannot shoot.
The guardian minotaur, with almost the same characteristics, strikes twice per attack. But it also costs one and a half times more.
Lizard Rider and Dark Rider
Magnificent fast cavalry; like the paladin, it accelerates the attack. It’s not just the damage that depends on it; For each cell he passes, the enemy loses 20% of his defense, down to 0.
The attack of the dark riders surprisingly vigorously demolishes all kinds of genies and other well-protected creatures, which should be used; however, they themselves are not very tenacious, and the AI simply causes an irresistible desire to shower them with hats, lightning and fireballs. And therefore, a boost that increases their hit points by one and a half times should be a desirable goal! In addition, when attacking, the dark horseman strikes twice - once by himself and once by his lizard, albeit with half the strength.
Take care of the lizards, they are tender and vulnerable. If you save a decent amount of cavalry for the late game, you'll find that they're pretty good against dragons too! With a running start, 20 horsemen, even with luck, demolish five dragons with one blow. This is almost four times more than they themselves cost! Remember about such unusual opportunities, few people can do this.
Hydra and cave hydra
A healthy lazy creature that attacks three cells at once (and in the enhanced version - all six, but where can you get so many enemies?). And furious, and the enemy does not respond, and there are plenty of hits, and God grant everyone armor... only as long as she moves her tail, all your fighters will go twice. And therefore it is suitable mainly as a living barrier, and only so-so. However, shooters and magicians controlled by AI are very fond of harassing hydras, apparently out of love for difficult tasks.
Twilight Witch and Mistress of the Shadow
I'm probably wrong about something, but I don't like this lady. It shoots quite hard, it's true, but you can't get a lot of them. Her magic is stupid - it slows down and weakens, somehow unconvincing. True, the mistress of the shadow in melee combat often uses a whip attack to cast one of her spells on the victim. But still not very convincing. The witch is not capable of key striking power. At one time I tried to take them into operation in the early stages, I thought the witches would show themselves - nothing like that. Some rakshasa would be in their place...
And the gain is completely unconvincing. It gets a little steeper, that’s all. Moreover, he learns the spell of absent-mindedness - also a gift for me. In general, it is clear: at such levels the warlock himself must cast magic, not otherwise.
Twilight and black dragons
So, fanfare! The most powerful monster in the game has arrived!
Yes, the black dragon is still worth all its glory. And it flies, and breathes fire, and is immune to magic (alas, its younger brother, the twilight one, is the last to be deprived), and the attack is the strongest, and it has the most hits. In general, it has no equal, period.
Does it need to be strengthened? Yes, a thousand times yes! Even if it costs you 4500 coins, even if your spells don’t work on him, at this stage your troops will suffer the most from enemy magic. This means that the black dragon is a weapon of victory!
Forest Union (Ranger)
Table 5 Troops of the Forest Union
Fighter Attack Defense Damage Hits Speed Initiative Shots Cost
Fairy 1 1 1-2 5 7 12 – 35
Dryad 2 1 2-2 6 7 14 – 55
Blade Dancer 3 2 2-5 12 6 11 – 65
Dancing with Death 4 3 3-5 12 6 15 – 90
Elven Archer 4 1 4-7 10 5 10 12 125
Bow Master 5 4 5-8 14 5 10 16 190
Druid 7 7 7-9 34 5 10 5 310
Archdruid 12 9 9-14 33 4 10 7 425
Unicorn 12 12 10-20 57 7 12 – 700
Battle unicorn 17 17 10-20 77 7 12 – 900
Ent 19 27 7-17 175 6 7 – 1200
Ancient Ent 19 29 10-20 181 6 7 – 1500
Green dragon 27 25 30-50 200 8 12 – 3500, 1 cam.
Emerald dragon 31 27 33-57 200 9 14 – 4700, 2 stones.
Elves are a light, dynamic race, strong at a distance. In close combat, she has to rely on fairly expensive creatures, and therefore the main weakness of the elves is fully consistent with the canons of fantasy. Difficult to recover losses.
The elf player must be fast and energetic, otherwise he will lose to the heavy tread of warlocks, necromancers or magicians. His main strength is in the mid-game, and this is when he should solve most of his problems.
Often, if a valuable nook is guarded by creatures like demonesses or archmages, he has to leave his shooters to a backup hero - otherwise the losses will be more important than any prize. Elves protect their own.
Fairy and dryad
And the fairy with its wings, blah blah blah blah... Well, it’s small, well, it’s dead, but it flies, and they don’t answer it! And with her incredible initiative, she will have time to bite twice, or, if she is fighting with enemy hand-to-hand fighters and not shooters, bite and fly away. And don’t you dare underestimate her!
Losing fairies is not as harmful to health as losing archers, so you can afford not to skimp on them if something happens. If you promote them to dryads, they will cast swarm, but not too much. While it's fun to have a level 1 creature with magic, it's not always something you can afford. However, in all respects, a dryad is much stronger than a fairy, and you should not abandon it rashly.
Dancing with Blades and Death
Frisky (after improvement - indecently frisky!), but not too powerful hand-to-hand combatant. True, no special abilities. That is, completely. Somehow even indecent.
If strengthened, the ability appears - hit all enemies around with half strength (the main goal is with full force). There is only one argument against strengthening dancers: the fact is that at high levels they have nothing to do, like flies, despite their amazing speed. Maybe it's better to move on to the Druids quickly.
Elven archer and bow master
The elf is known to always shoot twice. And this one is no exception. He is one of the two most important fighters in your army.
Its strengthening gives advantages, in general, to the characteristics that are secondary for the shooter: hits, defense. Only now his arrows have a chance to slow down the enemy’s next action. But it is still advisable to improve the elves as soon as possible. Why? Because the losses in the elves are on early stages games lead to defeats late. Take care of the elves and druids like the apple of your eye! Their double shots will be the backbone of your army's striking power until the very end, even when the dragons appear.
Druid common and supreme
And these gentlemen, like the elves, serve as the basis of the military power of the Forest Union. And they also need immediate reinforcement! True, it is much easier for them to understand: the Archdruids are almost twice as powerful and only one and a half times more expensive. And in their book of enchantments they add stone spikes to lightning, striking several cells at once.
The Archdruid is without a doubt the best shooter of his level, he is surpassed only by liches, titans and witches, and there are doubts about the latter - after all, the druid also casts very modern magic. In general, this is the main fighter of your army... and, of course, the main target of your opponents. Be carefull.
Unicorn simple and fighting
The “workhorse”, a strong and fast fighter, also occupies 4 cells, that is, it effectively covers the shooters. What is especially valuable is that it gives neighboring cells 30% resistance to magic, that is, it saves your elves and druids from hostile lightning.
The unicorn's stats are quite compelling, and it will give your army's rifle brigades a lot of extra chances. If you strengthen him, he will receive the famous unicorn blindness plus a fairly powerful increase in characteristics, so it is, without a doubt, worth doing this... although he does a good job in the basic version.
Ent common and ancient
Ent is a pronounced tank. He has more hits than other level 7 fighters, and he is one and a half to two times higher than those of equal level. Almost as protected as a black dragon (and better than a green one). The damage is inconclusive? Well, it’s not necessary, because the Ent binds the enemy to itself with its roots, and he is simply forced to fight with the Ent. It’s a pleasure to tie a pack of vampires to yourself in this manner and watch them unsuccessfully try to drink birch sap from the ent.
By strengthening it, you will give the Ent the right to go on the defensive when he is protected even better than usual and responds to all opponents. But...usually this is not required. If you have problems with money, you can easily do without it.
Dragon green and emerald
Like a dragon... but not really. Without immunity to magic, the valuable reptile will be burned on the spot. And it doesn’t matter that it has a lot of hits and breathes for two cells, like a real dragon: it’s still too easy to kill. He has only one serious advantage: he is fast, unlike most 7-level heavyweights.
There is no point in improving it... if there is not an abundance of money. Immune to earth? Unconvincing. At this point you can always switch to lightning, fire and ice. Does it hit a little harder? There is no reason to pay almost one and a half times more for it. And, although you usually want to strengthen your main creatures, the dragon can easily wait its turn. Until there is a lot of money.
Necropolis (necromancer)
Table 6 Necropolis troops
Fighter Attack Defense Damage Hits Speed Initiative Shots Cost
Bone Warrior 1 2 1-1 4 5 10 – 17
Bone Archer 1 2 1-2 5 4 10 8 30
Zombie 1 2 1-2 17 4 6 – 45
Plague Zombie 2 2 2-3 17 4 7 – 65
Ghost 4 4 3-7 8 5 10 – 100
Ghost 4 4 5-7 12 5 10 – 140
Vampire 6 6 6-8 30 6 11 – 240
High Vampire 9 9 7-11 35 7 11 – 350
Lich 15 15 12-17 50 3 10 5 700
Arkhilich 19 19 16-20 55 3 10 6 900
Death 24 22 20-25 95 6 11 – 1400
Messenger of Death 26 24 25-30 100 6 11 – 1800
Bone dragon 27 28 15-30 150 6 11 – 2400, 1 mercury.
Phantom Dragon 30 28 25-35 160 7 11 – 2900, 2 hg.
The undead are incredibly cheap, but although many of their fighters are weak in themselves, they easily win in numbers and special abilities. Flyers, archers... And most importantly, of course, a necromancer who raises more and more archers. A thousand shooters is a force, even if each one only removes 1-2 hits!
The undead are very mobile, tenacious, and the only harm they have is the inability to have a high morale. All in all, a solid choice.
Bone Warrior and Archer
As they say in Ukraine, it’s great to beat your dad with a herd. Skeletons are made by a necromancer from everything that moves, and it would be better if they were shooting ones, because skeleton fighters are still of little use. At first this is not a force, but soon there will be a lot of them... I think comments are unnecessary.
Zombie simple and plague
Weak, slow, joy - a lot of hits... Battle rage doesn't improve them much either. Strengthening - with each hit the target loses 2 attack and defense points. It’s useful, but you have to hit it for a very long time to get a decent effect, and who’s going to give it?
In general, zombies are needed so that there is something to spend in the early stages. Then - ballast.
Ghost and Ghost
The ghost is needed to drive the enemy into a frenzy: the ethereal dirty trick has a 50% chance of deflecting any physical attack. If not for this, they would be of little use - they don’t fight with 8 hits at this level.
If strengthened, they will learn to steal mana, but not from the hero, like the devils, but from the troops - and due to this, restore their ranks. Okay, of course, but who will let them in to see the magicians?
Vampire and High Vampire
The joy, beauty and pride of any necromantic army. The vampire is not responded to the attack, and he (even without reinforcement, not like in the second “Heroes”!) is healed and resurrects his squad at the expense of killed enemies. Vampires should not be lost under any circumstances!
You definitely need to strengthen them: it’s not that they will learn to jump over obstacles, it’s just that they are your main combat unit. There are situations when vampires are irrelevant, but... rarely.
In battle, the main thing is not to expose them to the Ents, who fix them in place and deprive them of the opportunity to fight for life.
Lich and archlich
There is only one magician in the army of the undead, and only one shooter above the first level, and all in one person... but what a one! Shoots immediately across an area of 3 by 3 cells, causing enormous damage. The only thing better at shooting is titanium.
However, liches will certainly be killed. And rob.
He becomes a magician only after strengthening, and receives only one really valuable spell - plague. It is especially great against creatures with high initiative - primarily elves and demons of different suits.
Wightness and the Messenger of Death
This creature in your army has a very defined and fixed role: to destroy enemy “heavyweights”. To do this, it needs to be improved; then he is guaranteed to kill at least one enemy creature, and also remove all positive spells from the unit.
The undead have a big problem with dragons, ents, devils and so on: except for the herald, almost no one can fight them effectively. The conclusion is clear.
Bone and ghost dragons
Another “almost a dragon, only very small.” Any self-respecting dragon, even a green one, brings such cubs for training. Perhaps the weakest of the level 7 creatures. And even the curse that appears after strengthening does not make him much more noble. But where to go? There is no other!
Academy (mage)
Table 7 Academy Troops
Fighter Attack Defense Damage Hits Speed Initiative Shots Cost
Gremlin 2 2 1-2 5 3 7 5 22
Master Gremlin 3 2 1-2 6 5 11 7 35
Stone gargoyle 3 4 1-1 15 6 9 – 45
Obsidian Gargoyle 3 5 1-2 20 7 10 – 70
Stone Golem 5 5 3-5 18 4 7 – 90
Steel Golem 6 6 5-7 24 4 7 – 130
Mag 10 10 7-7 18 4 10 3 250
Archmage 10 10 7-7 30 4 10 4 340
Genie 13 12 12-16 33 7 12 – 480
Sultan of the Jinn 15 13 16-22 40 8 12 – 700
Rakshasa Princess 25 20 15-23 120 5 9 – 1400
Raja Rakshasas 25 20 23-30 140 6 8 – 1770
Colossus 27 27 40-70 175 6 10 – 3500, 1 kam.
Titanium 30 30 40-70 190 6 10 5 4700, 2 stones
The first levels of the Academy troops will hardly please you, although they are cheap. You will have to fight mainly with magic. True, with a little training, your hero will be able to supply this little thing with mini-artifacts, and this must be done without fail. Without them... well, you'll see.
Things begin to improve with the appearance of magicians and genies. But in general, the Academy’s army was and remains weak. All hope lies in the hero's charms. It's not easy to play as him, but it's fun.
Gremlin and Master Gremlin
Shooter, although frail, but still. However, if you enhance it with an artifact, it will play, and how.
Strengthening it is only necessary to repair golems with it. It's not bad to expose golems to attack and not suffer losses... but it doesn't work out very well. In general, don't expect any special benefits from Gremlin Masters.
Stone and obsidian gargoyle
Remove 1 hit per attack? I would be ashamed in front of my friends! In general, do not expect the gargoyle to kill anyone, even after strengthening. This creature is needed only and exclusively to block shooters. It flies, after all. In general, don’t feel sorry, don’t call, don’t cry... and don’t improve.
Golem stone and steel
The golem is designed to take a blow. A lot of hits, durable, protected from magic. In addition, gremlin masters repair it, and after strengthening it responds to all attacks.
The only question that remains is: who will make the hits? And so, in general, not bad.
Mage and Archmage
Your first striking force. Guaranteed damage of 7 units, no penalties for distance, plus enchantments - magic fist and purification. Please note that the magician hits in a straight line, hitting everyone in the path of the projectile to the very end of the map, his own and others. This makes it extremely difficult to defend; but if you had to block the magician’s view, he still has a spell. Overall, he’s a decent fighter, just flimsy. And make no mistake - Druids, for example, are much stronger.
Archmage, his older colleague, studied the fireball, but we also love it because it makes spells cheaper for the hero. And there are almost twice as many hits.
Jinn and Sultan of Jinns
One of the strangest fighters. Casts...random dark magic spells. How lucky? It also flies. At first glance it is unconvincing and there are few hits, but at second glance it turns out to be quite worthy.
Having become stronger, the genie also learns light magic for his companions. But he still does mischief somehow better, he puts more soul into it, or what? In addition, he begins to fly faster - and from that moment on he is good at suppressing enemy shooters.
Princess and Raja Rakshasa
Here is the first warrior of the Academy, who is good without any “buts”. Powerful, strong, and the enemies do not respond. He copes well one on one with most equal opponents.
A strengthened rakshasa can, by skipping a turn, speed up his actions in the future. If you do not urgently need to suppress enemy shooters, this is a very useful property.
By the way, when strengthened, a rakshasa changes gender. An original solution, don't you think? However, I remember this also happened in the third “Heroes”.
Colossus and Titan
The Famous Titan is the strongest marksman in the game, immune to mind control and has no melee penalties. In addition, he has lightning, although it is weak compared to his shot (but sometimes comes in handy). True, he is a little expensive, but he is quite a worthy fighter of his level.
And the colossus? What about the colossus? He doesn't shoot. And therefore it is not needed. Never. Don’t even think about spending money on it, unless you really need it.
School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Before moving on to the description of spells, let us briefly recall the rules. In order to learn a spell, you need to visit a city where it is in the magic guild, visit a temple with this spell, or receive it from another of your heroes (which requires the skill of a scientist).
Any hero can learn first- and second-level enchantments (the process of “purchasing a book of enchantments” for low-magic characters has become a thing of the past). For subsequent levels, you must have knowledge of the basics of the corresponding school of magic (3rd level), developed (4th level) or skilled magic (5th level). In addition, the wisdom skill gives you the right to learn any level 3 spells, and omniscience (a unique ability of a magician, very difficult to obtain) gives access to all spells at once. There are also scrolls with spells.
The above skills, in addition to access to spells, affect their strength, and quite significantly.
This is important: the system when the damage from combat spells was directly proportional to the magic power of the magician has sunk into the past. For example, a magic arrow (without additional skills) removes 48 + 8 * K hit points, where K is the caster's sorcery. And lightning - 11 + 11 * K hits. Therefore, with a low value of witchcraft (up to 12), the magic arrow will be stronger, and with a high value, lightning will strike more painfully. Fortunately, you don’t have to learn all this by heart: the right mouse button will tell you how much this or that spell blows in your hands, taking into account all the parameters and skills.
More details - below, in the section “Sorcerers on the battlefield”, chapter “Additional”.
A number of skills add massive or enhanced versions of spells; Such charms naturally cost more.
Now let's list the enchantments existing in the game.
March Spells
These enchantments are learned in the guild, like all others, but the process differs in one feature: they do not require a skill, but simply a certain level. They are used, as the name suggests, not in battle, but when moving around the map.
Calling a ship. As usual, he calls the ship to the magician. To do this, it is necessary that a free ship exists, and also that it is possible to board it in this place (you need such shallow water - the heroes do not jump into the boat from a steep bank). The spell level is 2, anyone can learn it. Costs 4 mana.
This is interesting: it would be a mistake to think that such a spell has no strategic use. For example, in a mission where boats are in short supply, sometimes it is possible to “steal” someone else’s boat with a freshly purchased hero and block the enemy army on the island... Why “freshly purchased”? So, if the hero gets off this boat, she will be teleported back...
Summoning creatures. A wondrous spell - summons your creatures from the nearest city (not from the hero standing in the city!). The price is 1 mana per piece, so it’s not profitable to summon any small fry. Level 3 spell, hero level 10 required.
Astral gates. This level 4 magic takes us across the map; but it's very difficult to figure out where you can teleport and where you can't. You can only use magic at the beginning of your turn. Sometimes this is a weapon of victory (to jump over an obstacle and get behind enemy lines...), but the conditions for use are not always created. Requires level 15. Costs 15 mana.
This is important: are you planning a risky assault, and reinforcements are being prepared at home? Don't forget to call them in advance. Then the closest city will be a newly captured city...
Portal to the city. Transports the hero and his entire army to the nearest friendly city for 20 mana and “eats” the rest of the movement for the turn. Requires level 20. Level 5 enchantment.
Summoning Magic
This includes all the enchantments that add creatures to the battlefield (except for resurrection), and something else. You will find the numerical parameters of spells in Table 8. Level 5 spells are described in full in the text.
Table 8 Summoning Magic
Magic Fist 5 20 + 4 * K 30 + 6 * K 40 + 8 * K 50 + 10 * K
Fire Trap 8 2 Traps 4 Traps 6 Traps 8 Traps
Summon Wasp Swarm 5 10 + 2 * K 20 + 4 * K, slow 20% 30 + 6 * K, slow 40% 40 + 8 * K, slow 60%
Raise Dead 6 120 + 15 * K 160 + 20 * K 200 + 25 * K 240 + 30 * K
Creating a Phantom 6 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7
Earthquake 7 100 200 300 400
Summon Elementals 9 K Elementals K Elementals K Elementals 2 * K Elementals
Wall of Fire 8 50 + 10 * K 50 + 10 * K 50 + 10 * K 75 + 15 * K
Note: why are parameters given for proficiency levels at which the spell cannot be learned? Because of the wisdom skill, scrolls and so on.
Level 1
Magic fist. A typical combat spell, although not very strong. But... it deals normal physical damage, not magical damage, and therefore ignores protection from magic.
Fire trap. Creates several traps on the battlefield that explode if stepped on (they are not visible to the enemy). A spell of dubious usefulness is very unpredictable. Skills do not change damage (it is standard - 50 + 10 * K), but the number of traps.
Level 2
Raising the dead. Revives your dead; if they belonged to the undead, then permanently, otherwise until the end of the battle. The most important spell - it can prolong the battle many times over. There is an opinion that his level was somewhat underestimated... The total hits of the animated creatures depend on the witch's power.
Summoning a wasp swarm. Without special skills, it is just a very, very weak combat spell. But if you have trained summoning magic, then the spell not only removes hit points, but also moves the target back along the action stack, that is, makes it act later than it otherwise could. In skillful hands it works wonders... but when used thoughtlessly it is almost useless.
This is important: witchcraft power for the last effect does not matter at all!
Level 3
Earthquake. Powerful damage to city fortifications. The amount of damage depends on the level of proficiency in summoning magic (but not on witchcraft power).
This is important: according to the description, the “lord of the earth” ability increases magical power during an earthquake. It is quite possible, since, according to my observation, the effect of the spell also does not depend in any way on the ability. Did you miss something?
Creating a phantom. Makes a copy of your squad, which, however, disappears when the first hit points are removed from it. A spell of questionable usefulness, rather a time delay, although it works well against neutrals. Summoning magic skills determine the maximum level of a creature that can be copied.
Level 4
Wall of fire. Stands and fires at everyone who passes through it. Lasts as many turns as the magician's magical power.
Summoning Elementals. Summons elementals; their type depends on the type of territory where the battle is taking place.
This is a bug: as we found out while playing Duel Club, in duel mode this spell can cause the game to freeze. The fact is that the choice of the type of elementals in a duel is random, and it is thrown separately for each side. Can you imagine what will happen if they don’t see eye to eye?
Level 5
Heavenly shield. Covers the squad from attacks, softening blows. It cuts damage taken in half, but its durability is finite (meaning it also has its own hit points of 300+30*K).
Summon the Phoenix. Once upon a time, the phoenix was an ordinary fighter of the “forest” faction, but now it is the Most Important Monster in the game. There can only be one phoenix on the battlefield. Its parameters directly depend on your magical power and level: attack and defense - 10 + 2 * level, damage - from 10 * K to 15 * K, hits - 300 + 30 * K. Initiative and speed are constant - 15 and 7, respectively.
Thus, for example, a level 30 hero with 20 sorcery summons a phoenix with 900 hit points, removing 200-300 hit points with one blow without taking into account attack-defense... Such a bird feeds its chicks with dragons!
Chaos Magic
Everything here is quite simple - all spells belong to the “hijack” category and differ only in damage and area of effect. True, special skills (lord of fire, storm, cold) add additional effects to these enchantments. Fire spells begin to destroy the target's defenses, lightning spells to stun, and cold spells to slow down.
Detailed parameters of chaos spells can be found in table 9.
Table 9 Chaos Magic
Mana Spell No Skills Basics Advanced Magic Masterful Magic
Magic arrow 4 48 + 8 * K 56 + 8 * K 64 + 8 * K 72 + 8 * K
Stone spikes 5 24 + 8 * K 32 + 8 * K 40 + 8 * K 48 + 8 * K
Ice Arrow 6 60 + 12 * K 72 + 12 * K 84 + 12 * K 96 + 12 * K
Lightning 5 11 + 11 * K 14 + 14 * K 17 + 17 * K 20 + 20 * K
Fireball 6 11 + 11 * K 14 + 14 * K 17 + 17 * K 20 + 20 * K
Ring of Cold 7 60 + 12 * K 72 + 12 * K 84 + 12 * K 96 + 12 * K
Meteor shower 8 15 + 15 * K 15 + 15 * K 20 + 20 * K 25 + 25 * K
Lightning chain 8 20 + 20 * K 20 + 20 * K 20 + 20 * K 25 + 25 * K
Earth Shock 9 20 + 20 * K 20 + 20 * K 20 + 20 * K 40 + 40 * K
Armageddon 12 15 + 15 * K 15 + 15 * K 15 + 15 * K 30 + 30 * K
Level 1
Magic arrow. One goal. The damage is not elemental, so protection from fire, lightning, etc. will not help.
Stone spikes. They hit 5 cells with a cross. As with other “area” spells, if the spikes hit several cells of a large creature, this does not increase the damage. Element of Earth.
Level 2
Ice arrow. Single target, cold damage.
Lightning. Single target, lightning damage.
Aside from the element, the difference between the two is that Ice Bolt does a lot of damage at low Affliction levels, while Lightning does a lot of damage at high Affliction levels. Look at the table: arrow has a large "base" damage, and lightning has a larger multiplier.
Level 3
Fire ball. Hit a 3x3 square, fire damage.
Ring of Cold. Hit the same square, but without a central cell, cold damage. It is very helpful in destroying the creatures surrounding your fighter without harming the latter.
Level 4
Meteor Rain. Square 5x5, Earth damage.
Chain of lightning. It hits the creature, then with half force it hits the one closest to it (does not distinguish between friends and foes), and so on - a total of 4 targets.
Level 5
Earth Shock. The most powerful of the spells that work on a single target.
Armageddon. Covers the entire battlefield - friendly and foe. Fire damage. For the lucky owners of creatures immune to magic... But it is very difficult to use - because of the ability to pierce even dragons with spells.
Magic of light
In addition to the already traditional enhancements of all kinds and the “holy word,” teleportation came into play here. We can say that this magic is good for not very strong sorcerers, who, however, received a couple of abilities from the corresponding branch. Because massive accelerations and other similar enchantments cast on the entire army at once are a thing! Separately, they are, in principle, also nothing, but they pay off much worse.
Spell power for light magic is really only important for level 5 enchantments and for removing enchantments. In all other cases, it determines the duration of the spell, which means 3-5 units are quite enough.
The parameters of light spells are in table 10.
Table 10 Magic of Light
Mana Spell No Skills Basics Advanced Magic Masterful Magic
Divine Power 4 50% 65% 80% 100%
Acceleration 4 10% 20% 30% 40%
Disenchant 5 40% 60% 80% 100%
Stoneskin 6 3 6 9 12
Punishing Strike 6 3 6 9 12
Evasion 6 25% 40% 55% 70%
Antimagic 7 No special effects
Teleport 8 No special effects
Holy word 11 16 + 4 * K 16 + 4 * K 16 + 4 * K 64 + 8 * K
Resurrection 9 60 + 15 * K 60 + 15 * K 60 + 15 * K 240 + 30 * K
Level 1
Divine power. Increases damage from enchanted fighter's attacks. More precisely, it seems to “push” the minimum damage towards the maximum. How close the minimum is to the maximum depends on your skill in light magic. For example, if the damage is 10-20 hits, then a beginner in light magic will reduce the distance by 50% (see table) and get 15-20 hits, and with developed magic (80%) - 18-20 hits. As you might guess, this spell works best on creatures with a wide range of damage - like crossbowmen or most demons (no matter how strange it may sound from the point of view common sense). And, say, for magicians or dryads, divine power will not give anything at all.
Acceleration. Increases the fighter's initiative by a certain percentage of the initial one. The most important spell of the school, it is especially good to cast it on shooters and “runners” like hellhound(I wonder why the best targets for light magic are always demons?).
Level 2
Removing the spell. Removes enemy spells cast on fighters. The probability of success depends on the witchcraft power. The base probability is given in the table, but the ratio of the strength of the magician who cast the spell and the magician who removes it changes this probability.
Stone skin. Increases the target's defense by a fixed amount.
Level 3
Punishing blow. Increases the target's attack by a fixed amount.
Evasion. Reduces damage from enemy shots by a very significant percentage.
Level 4
Antimagic. Removes all spell effects from the target and makes them immune to magic. Can only be applied to your own troops.
Teleport. Transports a friendly target to another location on the battlefield.
This is interesting: teleport is the only combat spell in the game for which neither witchcraft power nor skill in the corresponding magic is important at all.
This is important: on a dueling server, many are misled by the fact that for some heroes, after teleporting a unit, the unit receives a plus to initiative and, as a rule, an extraordinary move. They consider this a standard effect of the spell, and it is completely in vain: this is not a property of the spell, but of the “Surprise Attack” ability.
Level 5
Holy word. Like Armageddon, it hits the entire battlefield, but only deals damage to the undead and demons. Unfortunately, it also differs from Armageddon in its cheap damage, and therefore is not used often.
Resurrection. Revives dead soldiers. This spell is, in fact, weaker than Raise Dead, but Raise revives only for the duration of the battle (and only undead for good), and Resurrection is permanent.
Dark Magic
It is similar to the magic of light, but it does not strengthen its own, but weakens its enemies. Many of these spells are simply mirror images of the corresponding "light" spells. In addition, controlling and immobilizing charms were included here. Like the magic of light, the magic of darkness is not too demanding on the magic power of the magician - skills in this area are more important. For most spells, only the duration of the spell's effect depends on the spell.
Parameters - in table 11.
Table 11 Dark Magic
Mana Spell No Skills Basics Advanced Magic Masterful Magic
Weakening 4 50% 35% 20% 0%
Slowdown 4 25% 30% 35% 40%
Destruction Beam 5 3 4 5 6
Plague 6 2 turns 3 turns 4 turns 5 turns
Absent-mindedness 7 50% 70% 90% 100%
Frailty 5 3 6 9 12
Berserk 8 1 turn 1 turn 1 turn 2 turns
Blind 9 No special effects
Suggestion 12 No special effects
Unholy word 9 16 + 4 * K 16 + 4 * K 16 + 4 * K 64 + 8 * K
Level 1
Weakening. Brings the creature's maximum damage closer to its minimum; The logic of action is the same as that of divine power, only the effect is the opposite.
Slowdown. A complete inversion of "Acceleration". Even the numbers are the same.
Level 2
Destructive beam. A permanent spell that reduces the target's defense. It can be cast multiple times and the effects will stack (but the defense will not drop below 0). Witchcraft power does not play any role.
Plague. The spell places the fighter on bed rest and deals damage whenever the target takes an action. The damage is 32 + 8 * K, and the duration depends on the skills in dark magic.
Level 3
Absent-mindedness. With some probability (see table) the target will miss its turn.
Weakness. Reduces the creature's attack; acts like a punishing blow, only in reverse.
Level 4
Berserk. The creature considers everyone around as enemies and attacks the closest fighter to it (combat vehicles count).
Blindness. The target has no effect until someone attacks it. As before - long-term and reliable way take the enemy out of the fight, but the duration was greatly reduced - K / 4 moves.
Note: the enemy is still not completely powerless against Blind. You can try to “wake up” the enchanted person with area-of-effect spells or similar attack effects (like dragon breath... hmm).
Level 5
Suggestion. Places the target under your control. Duration - K / 4 moves.
Unholy word. The reverse spell to the “Holy Word” - causes damage, just as penny, to everyone except the undead and demons.
Six campaigns
Since the game's campaigns tell a single story, go through them ( traditional way, without using special files) is possible only in order - like this, as described below.
Campaigns correspond to the six types of heroes in the game; however, your main character is not taken from the list of characters available in the network game. Some, even at a quick glance, look completely different from their colleagues...
This is important: in each campaign, your main character will move from mission to mission, retaining all the acquired skills and parameters, but not artifacts. Why was such a strange decision made? Apparently because the limited set of slots for equipment would make the search for new prizes uninteresting from the middle of the campaign...
This is important: you will find mission maps on the August LCI poster.
Queen, or Knights start and lose
Don't trust a young maiden
The device is more complex than a broom.
tourist song
This campaign will not cause you any difficulties: it is, in fact, educational. They will show you for a long time and strainedly “how this is generally played,” and so that you do not get lost in the abundance of possibilities, in the first missions they will cut down to the very ears the ability to build buildings and make troops.
As you know, in RTS since the days of Dune 2 it has been customary to introduce equipment into campaigns little by little. It would seem, what does “Heroes” have to do with it? So I thought it had nothing to do with it...
Note: do not forget about the main skill of the knights - counterattack. Thanks to him, you can, by building a training camp, turn your peasants into archers, swordsmen, and so on.
Young King Nicholas prepares to repel the invasion of demonic legions. He intends to do this without allies: the gnomes in their graves saw an alliance with people and marched in formation to continue, the elves were too battered by the last war, and the leader of the magicians Cyrus was too much on his own. Isn’t it possible to negotiate with necromancers? This means you have to rely only on yourself.
Whether the king knows what he is doing is a big question; his subjects almost out loud doubt the general knowledge of their young ruler. However, he himself is not too confident in himself - and therefore sends his wife, Queen Isabel, to a safe (as he believes) place. Giving her the knight Godric and the nun Beatrice as companions.
But the queen does not want to sit in a safe place. On the contrary, she is determined to help her husband. This is what we will do together with her.
First of all, the queen violates Nicholas's will regarding his allies. No, we won’t fight alone. Beatrice goes to persuade the elves, Godric goes to persuade Cyrus (who would be much more correctly translated as “Cyrus”). Well, since these annoying guardians have been fused, you can fight yourself!
Mission 1. Queen, or Gather, working people
Not all is well in the rear of Nicholas’s kingdom. The slaves sensed that power was not firmly in place. The cry flew out - “everyone for himself, save yourself who can!”
Some of the people are still loyal to the royal family and join upon request. The rest intend to resist both her and the demons (if they appear here).
And our task is simple: gather 100 infantry and 25 men-at-arms (more is possible) and storm the fortification in the south. You are not entitled to a castle, look for volunteers...
On the map you will find many farms where they come to your service for free. Men at arms (they are hired in the barracks) need money, but not too much. And among the free detachments there are quite enough volunteers.
The only thing worth advising here is: don’t get into a fight for gold. You won't need it in large quantities.
Mission 2. Uprising, or Onion Mountain
It's time to get a base. To do this, we will suppress the rebellion of archers from the city of Dlinkiye Luki (why not “Velikiye Luki”?)… This needs to be done within a week, otherwise the squad is tired and the queen hasn’t seen a mirror for a month now…
Taking the city is not difficult. You need to hire archers in the nearby tower and, bypassing those monsters that do not block the path, turn at the first fork to the west. And Luke’s is not far away. Then you can calmly start shooting local fauna and gaining experience.
Now the queen wanted to accumulate 100 archers and take another city - Ash (it is located in the far north-eastern corner of the map). You can accumulate one hundred archers just by sitting in one place (especially since the speed of completing the campaign is not taken into account anywhere - oh, where are you, Hall of Fame?). But it’s better not to sit, but to move, gathering the inhabitants of the surrounding towers, barracks and farms.
Having recruited a hundred shooters, you can go on the assault without fear; especially since the griffins that have settled on your road will happily join the rightful queen. The enemy army is also quite large (70 archers, a crowd of peasants), but the griffins will suppress the shooting, and your arrows will do the rest.
Mission 3. Siege, or Harvesting Horns and Hooves
The queen settled in Yasen (now the southwest corner of the map). As it turned out, the area was infested with devils, stags, hell dogs and other nasty things. Need to clean it up!
While having fun hunting for all sorts of infernal trifles, one should not forget that this is just the beginning: when the demonic intelligence is swept away, the demonic general Kraal will follow with a very serious army. Therefore, we need, in parallel with clearing the area, to rebuild the city - well, at least up to the knights.
In addition to evil spirits, there are plenty of people loyal to the people around - peasants, men-at-arms, riflemen; both free and in houses for hire. Additional sources of gold can speed up the development of the city and the purchase of an army: a mine guarded by cave lords and a bag guarded by high vampires. Both are not very easy prey, but in the middle phase of the mission it will be possible. On the map you will find the location of all key objects.
When the area is rid of wandering evil spirits, the Kraal will come to visit us. We're ready, aren't we?
Mission 4. Trap, or Wrong Demon
Beatrice succeeded in her negotiations with the elves; Ambassador Faydaen (in the English version - Findan; in my opinion, a much more elven name) promised to send dancers with blades. We need to meet reinforcements (although a smart military adviser would certainly tell the queen that the dancers are, to put it mildly, not the best elf troops).
The first step, however, is to engage in self-preparation. Isabelle skipped several lectures on magic, and now is the time (?) to make up for lost time. For this, the holy father only asks that a couple of floors be added to the magicians’ guild, otherwise there is nowhere to teach students. True, this should be done in the city of Svetlolesie, which, as luck would have it, does not belong to us. Let's fix it for the first time, or what?
Lightwood, as is easy to see on the map, lies to the northwest of us, and along the way we discover many resources, a temple with a spell and other gifts. A dirt road leads to Brightwood; there is a direct reason to take the city first, and then study the side branches.
This is important: if you see neutral monsters on the map that are blocking a dead end with... other neutral monsters, do not twist your finger to your temple and do not pass by. This curious natural phenomenon almost certainly means that the monsters in the cul-de-sac are mentally prepared to join you. There are such knights on this map, but in general you will see this more than once or twice in the campaign.
Lightwood is ours, the Mages Guild has been rebuilt. Now it’s time to go to a rendezvous with Faidaen. But - alas: the bridge to the west is destroyed. As usual in such cases, a nearby seer suggests the right solution - to look for the boot of levitation in the crypt, which is nearby underground.
There are many monsters guarding the shoes, but Isabel, with the help of Light Forest reinforcements, defeats them and is ready for new achievements. (If you recaptured the above-mentioned knights from the demons, then most likely there will be no problems, otherwise quite serious fights await.)
Strictly speaking, that's all (although those who wish can frolic to their heart's content in the nooks and crannies of the map). You can go meet the elves...
...well, more precisely, not exactly elves. Beatrice leads us straight into the lair of the demon Agrail. And she is not Beatrice, but Biara - a succubus in the service of the same Agrail. Our mentor and friend did not survive the long dangerous road.
The demon, however, behaves somehow in a completely non-demonic way. Not to burst into a dull, drawn-out laugh, like his girlfriend Biara; instead, he makes some strange hints that Isabelle might trust him. They, they say, “will disappear together,” and he, the demon, will protect her. The poor guy has gone completely crazy in the company of succubi. After such a dirty trick and the death of Beatrice, it’s time to rely on his friendship!
Mission 5. Decline of the King, or Why were we waiting for you?
Fortunately, in addition to Beatrice, Isabelle also has Godric; Even though he failed to cope with the call for help from the magicians, he himself was in the right place at the right time. And with a decent army. One can only hope that under the guise of a faithful squire there is not hidden some... hellish horse.
Isabelle languishes in a dungeon near Dunmoor. It is necessary to capture both Dunmoor and the dungeon (and quickly, before Isabelle dies from grief and the lovely company of demons). And Godric draws hope for victory from the idea of finding the Tear of Asha, the sleeping dragon goddess, for which he must decipher the map that is kept in parts in the obelisk.
Dunmoor is to the north, and to the east lies the land of demons. As soon as Dunmur falls under the onslaught of Godric, demons will crawl out of there like cockroaches, just have time to fight back. But since we have two heroes under our command - Godric and Isabelle, one will defend the city, and the other will conduct the search.
This is a bug: at first I tried to immediately break into the demonic country and destroy the threat lurking in it. I defeated the army of the future invasion and from the video I was surprised to learn that Isabelle was already with me. Apparently, the game developers could not imagine such a turn of events...
The demons do not sleep, and the first to show up is an old acquaintance - Agrail. It is much more pleasant to meet him behind a reliable wall, even though demons, as you know, can call for reinforcements from portals directly behind the wall.
Having deciphered the map of the obelisks (you can see the place where the Tear lies on our map and in the picture next to it), you have at your disposal a rapid increase in troops and other joys of life. And Isabelle, having calmed down about the defense of Dunmoor, instructs Godric to take the fort in the southeast and go to meet Nicholas.
In the southeast, by the way, there are two forts: demons are attacking because of one, but we can’t take it. The other one is quite tough. We go out to meet Nicholas... only to see him killed right before our eyes. You're kind of ridiculous, death...
Worshiper, or Dissident from the Underworld
Good people expected bloodshed from him, but he ate a siskin.
M. Saltykov-Shchedrin, “Bear in the Voivodeship”
This time we have to command demonic armies on behalf of an old acquaintance - the demon Agrail. No, Agrail is not the enemy of all living things, and in general it’s not yet very clear what’s going on with him. One thing is clear: he did not ask Isabelle to trust him out of sadism. Perhaps this is love?
Mission 1. Betrayal, or Harun ran faster than a deer
First of all, Agrail and his good friend Biara must save their necks from Godric. The queen's squire had many pressing questions for them. Our lord and master probably also has some complaints about the failed mission, but we’ll deal with that later. First, get to the lands of Shio, the domain of demons.
Speed is everything in this mission. Fortunately, with the very first level we are offered to improve logistics, there are monks nearby guarding the boots of speed (the monks bite painfully, but without acceleration it will be harder), and soon there will also be stables. Let's run!
Our goal - the gate to the dungeon - is located in the southeast, and the path is blocked by a red gate, from which you need to find the key.
First, let's run along the western corridor (at the end of it there are demons ready to stand under our banner), after which we rush along the forest path to the east to the red key tent. From there the portal will take you straight to the goal...
It may happen that, despite our efforts, the enemy will still be firmly on our tail. In this case, Agrail has a solution that is non-trivial in his situation - to seek refuge in the church. It would seem that what a demon should do there, but come on...
Caves are not fraught with danger; but you shouldn’t get too soft, otherwise we’ll call out Godric.
Mission 2. Promise, or Vertical Race
Agrail finally decided to stand in opposition to his master. Biara supports him in this - in the hope that Agrail will take the place of the ruler and will not forget his old friend.
The Lord sent his faithful general Vayer to retrieve an artifact called the Heart of the Griffin. Weyer and I start the race in two symmetrical corridors. We must not be late - and at the same time come to the Heart with an army worthy of it. By the way, I recommend taking succubi as a starting plus.
There's not much to write about the race; I will only say that you will have time to gather troops. Weyer is also in no hurry.
In the finale, two battles await us: with the knight Stefan, the keeper of the artifact, and, of course, with Vaier. Vaier greatly outnumbers you in strength, but... that won't stop you, right?
This is a bug: the developers don't seem to expect you to be able to cope with Vayer. Whether you lose or win this last battle, the ending is the same: Agrail and Vayer fencing in the artifact hall, and from the conversations it follows that Vayer considers himself the winner. Stupid!
And after communicating with the enemy general, we are greeted by a ghostly image. A druid is easily recognized by its characteristic horns. He introduces himself as Tieru, and behind the monitor we feel a slight shame that we don’t know who he is: every literate inhabitant of the world clearly knows Tieru. Agrail is determined to find Tiera and talk with him about how best to go against Kha-Belekh, the lord of Inferno.
Mission 3. Conquest, or the Story of a Hot-tempered Poet
The path to Tier lies through the country of the elves. You will have to make your way, and also break into the source of Druid magic. I wonder if Tier realizes that with his sweet invitation he has doomed the elven lands to swords and fires?
It would be possible to agree - Agrail has nothing against elves, but, alas, along the way he came across a very hot-tempered elf, Gilraen. Offended that Agrail had the audacity to defeat him right at Castle Inferno, he declared war on us. We'll have to capture three elven cities...
This mission is strange - in that we will have to fight with troops that are not typical for us. The Druids have declared "the month of the forest creatures", and in forest castles they grow twice as fast. In addition, the capabilities of our infernal castle are very limited: higher demons are inaccessible. The conclusion is clear: we quickly capture the nearest forest city (Vinlen), fortunately it is guarded literally only by willpower, and begin to rebuild. (Probably, later, when the elven cities gain freedom, the demons will reproach the former colonies for “developing with their money”...)
Note: although the elves, of course, do not know how to use our Gate skill, they regularly use hellfire under the leadership of Agrail.
Having taken Vinlan, we will not rush too much: we will gather resources around and acquire a decent army. Well, at least it’s worth growing up to be an Ent. Elven cities do not bother us yet. But development should not be delayed either.
Don't miss the fort on the hill north of Vinlan. It is not easy to clear it of elemental guards, but if this succeeds, you can save on upgrading buildings.
Ur-Kharg, the demonic base, doesn’t need much rebuilding. Or you can make it a reserve army for the second hero: anyway, someone will have to protect Vinlen from invasion.
There are two enemy cities, in the northwest and northeast. We get to the first one in the usual way, along the road. The second can be reached through the north of the map, with a long detour, but this is not our route: there is a ford across the river, and this road is half as long. Finally, having overthrown the Ents and Druids in the center of the map, we victoriously complete the pogrom in the elven lands.
But Agrail will not touch Gilraen. He now has a subtle and gentle soul, and he will not let the elven poet die for the sake of stupid revenge. Biara, presumably, is at a loss...
Mission 4. Ship, or Why are demons ashamed?
Only now does Agrail realize that Tieru seems to be living on the island. Demons can swim, but not well, not far.
The ships are built in the city of Erivel, in the very north of the map. You just have to get there and take the city. Sounds easy...
In reality, everything is somewhat more complicated. Firstly, the path is blocked by a serious garrison. Secondly, the forest army of Agrail is melting before our eyes, and not from battles, but from desertion. There are two ways: honestly take the garrison or... come to an agreement with the twilight dragons that live in the dungeon. They “only” want a hundred elf archers to be devoured for deceiving Agrail in a roundabout way.
In any case, you will have to take both the underground demonic city and the elven cities on the surface, and gather the elves in separate houses. But should we feed the dragons? Even Agrail feels a little... awkward making this deal.
Note: if you still decide to negotiate, then keep in mind that any surplus of elves will be gobbled up by the dragons without unnecessary ceremony, and it is pointless to take exactly 100 with you - some will scatter, and there will not be enough elves.
The battle for Erivel cannot be avoided; We are opposed by a fully trained army of elves with emerald dragons in considerable numbers. The main thing here is not to get into close combat. Although the enemy most likely has better arrows, Agrail must certainly have a gigantic advantage in magic.
Mission 5. Agrail's decision, or the Predatory Fog is like a deception
In front of us is a sea with a porridge of small islands. But there is a peculiarity: the fog of war does not move away from the ship, and you cannot enter it. Throughout the mission, we push it with all our might through the magician’s houses on the islands. The islands are connected by underground tunnels, in which there is no particular threat to Agrail. Moreover, all the demons join our dissident.
In general, the whole task is to run for a long time and remove the fog. If anything raises doubts, pay attention to the map. By the way, a cartographer lives in the southeast of the sea.
The meeting with Tieru is surprising for both sides. We finally find out why Agrail behaved so strangely... and it ends with Agrail's rebirth into something else. But more on that in due time!
The Necromancer, or the Bony Helping Hand
I promised you the head of a dragon... So here it is.
- And I promised you the hand of the princess. So here she is.
joke
While Kha-Belekh, numb with amazement, admires the impudence of his military leader, and Isabel suffers for Nicholas, a certain Mr. Markel, a necromancer (everyone has their own shortcomings...), is ready to lend a helping hand to the suffering queen. She has a very unenviable position, and Markel, whatever one may say, is not a stranger - it’s not for nothing that some of Isabella’s relatives have been buried in his burial ground for a long time...
Meanwhile, Isabel is in discord in her kingdom. The dukes, the archbishop and the rest of the brethren demand the enthronement of anyone, but not the widow of Nicholas. And for some reason Isabelle is sorry to give it away...
Mission 1. Bait, or Let the elephants run
However, so far Markel has only a small army and many insidious plans. Moreover, there are some difficulties on the way to Isabel: patrols of magicians riding on faithful elephants roam along the road. Once you catch the eye of even one, the case is lost.
But there is a way to replenish the troops - at the expense of all the surrounding undead, who joyfully join Markel completely free of charge, although not in full force. Fighting with magicians is still futile, but it will help you avoid neutral monsters.
The first step is to find a way to cross the river. There are plenty of fords, but some of them end in a dead end. You will find the ones you need on the map.
On the way to the ford, you need to collect troops, other useful resources (the resources are of no use - they will not be useful!) and elude the patrol elephants, hiding in the nooks and crannies of the map. Don’t get too carried away with collecting experience: it’s very easy to get level 10 on this map, but you still won’t be able to go higher.
On the other side, all that remains is to go down into the underground passage and, having defeated the hydras and twilight witches of the underground, come out on the other side. The moment was very successful: a rebellious knight appeared under the walls of the city. Having dealt with his army, Markel will have his audience with Isabel...
Markel's proposal is simple: bring Nicholas back to life. Well, not exactly to life, of course... but they don’t take the pulse of a gifted spouse! Yes, at the same time he will have to quarrel with Cyrus, the archmage king, but he has already refused to help Godric, and very impolitely, which means that the alliance has already been broken... In general, Godric is against it, but no one asks him. The alliance is concluded.
Mission 2. First difficulties, or Titanic efforts
Our necromancer does not yet have his own base where he could produce the undead dear to his heart. It is necessary to capture Mythograd - an old necromantic fortress - and rebuild the dead hordes there. Well, at the same time, in order not to get up twice, take the nearby city of Academy, where the first item for the ritual planned by Markel is kept.
Therefore, Markel performs in the same harness with Godric. Godric, in addition to transporting reinforcements, is responsible for training archers from peasants and monks from swordsmen. The mutual hatred of our two heroes is not an obstacle to the matter.
First of all, you need to master the southern continent, acquiring a mine and a sawmill, as well as collecting all the undead (which still regularly join Markel). Then you can sail across the sea. Some authorities recommend avoiding "orange" maritime patrols; In my opinion, this is not healthy. It’s better, on the contrary, to destroy them all: you don’t have to guard your city later, that’s one thing, and extra skeletons won’t hurt, that’s two things.
Mythocity is taken without problems, but then... There are two ways to the city of Academy, Hikam: through the garrison and through the portal. The portal is guarded by about 100 titans; At the sight of this modest guard of honor, a ghost hiccupped behind me, even though it had not breathed for seven hundred years. It’s hard to believe, but with the garrison everything is even worse...
Having gathered all my forces (254 crossbowmen, a dozen ghostly dragons found nearby, more than 600 skeleton archers...), I dealt with this team with some difficulty. As it became clear later, it was worth getting a cart with ammunition. After this “warm-up” I somehow didn’t even notice the capture of the city itself...
Mission 3. Invasion, or Checkmate to the elephant
Our suspicions are now confirmed: Markel is planning to bring Nicholas back as a vampire. In fact, a skeleton or a ghost somehow does not fit the contract with Isabelle at all...
Our base is Mythograd, and together with Isabel (who plays the role of an auxiliary hero under Markel), we have to obtain the missing artifacts for the vampirization of Nicholas. And at the same time complete a few more tasks “along the way.” This mission is truly gigantic in size.
It is best to start our expansion with the landing of Markel (namely him) on the southeastern peninsula, where bone dragons are waiting for us, ready to serve an unjust cause. Isabelle, meanwhile, will begin to develop the shore to which fate has thrown you.
This is important: you definitely need 10 dragons, sooner or later a task will appear to collect them.
Then it’s time to move on to the cities of the Academy. The smartest thing for Markel to do would be to work at the same time as Isabelle, with the queen taking care of the city to the west and Markel taking care of the rest. There are no difficulties with the first cities, except immediately after landing. But then the dark begins...
An elven ship arrives to help Cyrus, and we are not allowed to ignore it - the goal of the mission urgently requires us to deal with the invaders. This task is easier to entrust to Isabel, that fleet is not so large, because Markel will first have to overcome three garrisons, each more nasty than the other, and then fight face to face with the archmage king himself (and at the same time Markel’s fanaberies also demand to collect 1000 skeletons - to Fortunately, this is not difficult, since there is an abundance of material for them).
The staff - one of our goals - is capable of turning academies into necropolises. In other words, nothing prevents us from settling in the desert and polluting the cities there. But it’s a bit of a pity to do this - after all, in the last city you can’t hire anyone...
It is not yet possible to fight Cyrus face to face - he slipped into another reality through the monolith. Let's go!
Mission 4. Murder of the ruler, or Markel through the Looking Glass
Well, did anyone really think that we would leave the archmage alone? Moreover, he once killed our teacher, Sandro (the same one who smiles at us from the cover of the July LKI)? Of course, by doing so he cleared the way for a brilliant career for the humble student Markel... but we will forget this detail for now.
The mission is reminiscent of Agrail's run across the islands to Tier: a long chain of monoliths does not leave us much choice. There is probably no need for advice here, just look at the map. We need to reach the end along the long path, collect the keys from all the tents and catch up with Cyrus. That's all…
There is no particular need to collect resources (perhaps except gold). In my opinion, it is absolutely impossible to lose a fight with Cyrus.
Mission 5. Ruler Erisha, or Flying Necromancer
Our cupid Markel just can’t connect Isabelle with Nicholas! Now the vile Godric intervened, who decided that “it was wrong to revive Nicholas in this way,” took the amulet to Hickam and locked himself from the inside. And Hickam, as we remember from mission 2, is surrounded by mountains.
But Markel came up with a vile plan: in a prison not far from the starting city of the knights, Godric’s young daughter is languishing (for what?) and with her help we will lure the old warrior out of Hikam. We just need to gather more troops first.
As soon as the prison gates open (and maybe earlier, if we are developing very slowly), a couple of magicians with rather large armies come to visit us. However, Markel doesn’t really care about this, the main thing is that Isabelle is not left completely unprotected.
Godric did not come for his daughter, but sent angels. Well, this is no worse: Markel makes wings from their feathers and flies over the mountains! Hikam is equipped with a good garrison of titans, colossi, rakshasas and other academic creatures, and after the “academics” die, Godric’s personal guard - angels, paladins, swordsmen and archers - enters the battle. But this is no longer a hindrance...
So, Markel finally has everything he needs! Godric is in shackles; Markel suspects excessive mercy in this, but the queen knows for sure: we will certainly need him for the plot.
Warlock, or Someone in Elven Skin
I was once strange
A nameless toy...
m/f "Cheburashka"
While knights, demons, magicians and necromancers dance around Queen Isabel and try, each in their own way, to console her in her grief, somewhere far, far away the children of the Dungeon have no leader. Well, no, that’s all. Lost. A new one is needed.
We present a promising candidate. Young, handsome, extremely magical, he holds up well in the saddle of an unusual pink iguanodon. And the name is somehow vaguely familiar: Railag.
Mission 1. Leader of the clan, or only one can remain
There were a large number of candidates. According to ancient dark elven custom, they are supposed to carry out democratic elections by cleaning each other's faces. Of course, not personally, they are not some kind of barbarians: with the help of loyal subjects. Whoever gives more to the underground people deserves to be a ruler. After all, it has long been known: the main function of the leader of the drow clan is to regulate the number of this cute tribe so that they do not devour the rest of the world... But I seem to digress.
The rules are as follows. We are given a month to gather an army, after which all applicants are transferred to the dungeon for a fight to the death.
The city was not initially rebuilt, but nothing prevents us from quickly building all the “incubators” in it, up to the home of the twilight witches (we are not allowed dragons anyway), as well as improving everything or almost everything. Some of the resources are hidden behind the nearby portal. A fast and elegant mission.
This is interesting: according to some data, 90% of players spend half the allotted month feverishly looking for the entrance to the dungeon. There is no need to do this - everyone will be taken there automatically!
All the heroes line up in a ring around the magic well, and the games begin. In the final battle (or rather, the chain of battles), there are few tricks, but there is one simple tip: save enough movement units so that you can finally take a sip from the well.
Mission 2. Expansion, or Where did the dragon cry?
The leader of a clan is not bad, but a good leader among the dark elves always aims to become an emperor. We need to unite the clans
The soothsayer Malassa, a dragon who lives by the lake almost next to the city, will help with this. Her advice is simple and disgusting: to find Asha’s tear, that is, to collect information from all the obelisks and...
The map in front of us is cyclopean in size and, moreover, two-story. The upper part is occupied by various resources, and below there are underground cities that are not connected to each other. One is ours (by the way, it is almost completely rebuilt - only the dwellings of witches and dragons are missing!), the rest are from the orange player, that is, the Shards of Darkness clan. We don’t like this clan and we will fight it to the death.
But the cowardly Shards do not want to fight to the death: as soon as we capture the first city, they begin to try to send messengers to another clan. This must be stopped, otherwise the mission will be lost.
The nearest city - to the south of ours - is the best developed. And they should start with him before their hero becomes cooler than Railag. Almost the entire army could lie down there; what to do, the vicissitudes of war. But after this we have with us a city with already improved black dragons, plus another heroine, level 10 warlock Shadia; Having heard about Railag’s exploits, she is ready to help him to the best of her ability.
From this moment on, the war becomes more and more like a beating. Together, with the arsenal of two completely rebuilt cities, Railag and Shadia should not face any problems, except that they need to keep an eye on the messengers. If suddenly two heroes are not enough, then in the southwest, behind the garrison of people, there is a prison in which the necromancer Vlad, ready for exploits for the glory of no matter who, is languishing with a retinue of (it’s not hard to guess) vampires.
And everything would be great if it weren’t for the need to look on a huge map for the place where Asha cried. The scoundrel sculptors placed obelisks everywhere, including dungeons and the most disgusting nooks and crannies. In general, if you get bored of looking for a place, a picture will help.
Mission 3. Cultist, or Conquering Hearts
There is only one large clan left that is not ready to join our ranks: the Hard Hearts. This is because they are on friendly terms with demons and hope that abroad will help them.
The clan is large and abundant, populated a gigantic dungeon and built as many as seven cities in it. We face a long and tedious war in a vast labyrinth. Well, at least there is nothing on the surface - except for the bridge, on which infernal armies materialize from time to time.
At first we don’t have a city at all, but there is some tasty prey nearby. Another city is within a few days' journey, then you will have to jump through portals.
In fact, the trick is not to successfully storm cities, but to deprive the enemy of powerful heroes. Vaishan is the most dangerous; this warlock is not inferior in charms to Railag himself and, moreover, is armed with very unpleasant artifacts. In addition, the sorcerer, as befits a true dark elf, tries to get out of the battle in time. But a third hero will be added to us (alas, not forever).
Sometimes another demon general appears from the overworld. After the third defeat, the demons calm down, and the task of pacifying them is considered completed.
Having captured the last, seventh city, Railag looks into the magic mirror - and learns both about Markel’s tricks and that Kha-Belekh, angry at the successes of the necromancers against his hordes, is sending our old acquaintance Vayer after Isabel. And without her, they say, don’t come back...
At this point, Railagu will have to remember the past. He rushes to help Isabel. I wonder what Shadia thinks about all this?
Mission 4. March, or Strange Jumps
All you have to do is take the key from the red guardian and go through the gate guarded by a couple of hundred men-at-arms. True, we need to look for our army with a magnifying glass, but the spells are more than enough. The main thing is to beware of demons and devils who threaten to leave us without mana; This is where it’s sometimes a good idea to let Shadia go ahead in order to spend the mana of more than one hero.
Alas, the keeper of the key is killed by the demon Grol. And instead of a short journey, we have a long run through the dungeons.
There is nothing to talk about here; Better take a look at the map. The monoliths form a bizarre mess. You need to “drive” Grol to the surface and take away the key. That's basically all.
Mission 5. Railaga's proposal, or the Queen of nonsense
Now we need to go through, as Railag put it, “vile old Shio.” The goal is the imperial border, it is at the opposite, southwestern end of the large tract.
This is important: both heroes - Railag and Shadiya - must get there. I was very confused when I couldn't complete the mission because I left Shadia in the rear. No, I don’t understand this: it seems like it’s not used anywhere else...
The entire tract is garrisoned; and if at first they are quite tough (Railag from somewhere dug up not just an army, but a super-army - a dozen and a half black dragons, for example), then soon the hellish dogs begin to be counted not in hundreds, but in thousands.
Anyone who has reached this mission has long learned by heart: garrisons in this game exist mainly to bypass them. So it is here. Having looked for the key to the red gate at the imperial outpost to the north of the road (by the way, here you can get combat vehicles!), Railag returns a little back and through the mentioned gate goes into the dungeon.
The defense there is much weaker. There is a fork between the “red” and “green” roads; both lead to the goal, but the red one is a little more difficult, and the green one does not lead directly to the goal; you need to go through one more garrison.
We purchase artifacts in the tent, pass the last outpost and...
Hurray, everyone is assembled: Railag, Shadia, Isabel, Markel, Vaier. But the dark elf will have to fight the demon - the rest are here for company.
This is interesting: at first I thought that Vaier had to be defeated first of all - that’s what the script dictated, in general. And I became friends with Vayer even before the last garrison; it was very difficult (the archdevils went after tens, thousands of dogs...), but it was possible. Imagine my disappointment when I learned that I had accomplished the feat in vain: after passing the gate, the “scenario” Vaier appears with an insignificant army. 9 archdevils! Ha!
Of course, Railag’s offer of protection and security is rejected by Isabel. For what? Thanks to the underground leader for his timely help, but Markel and I have important things to do. The kingdom must be restored. Revive your dearest spouse.
“Someday I’ll get tired of saving her life,” says Railag, who by this point only the most incurious player did not recognize. How I understand it! I must admit, I’m also starting to get bored with this process... In my opinion, without Isabel the whole world would be much happier. Even if you don’t think about why Kha-Belekh needed it.
Ranger, or Strategic Virshi
You haven't forgotten that once upon a time the Griffin Empire had allies? Well, of course - the king of the elves and archmage Cyrus. Cyrus refused to help (and had already paid at the hands of Markel), and the elf had no chance to answer - Beatrice did not reach him. So we will deal with the elven leader.
Of course, they won’t trust us with King Alaron himself: it’s not due to his rank. Instead, we are given a brilliant diplomat and poet, former ambassador at the court of the Griffin Empire, Mr. Faidaen. The same one that Isabelle hoped to meet near Brightwood, remember?
During the campaign, this gentleman intimidates his enemies by reading freshly composed battle poems. At least I hope they are combative. I'm already terrified.
Mission 1. Refugees, or Try to go everywhere more often
They are fleeing the Griffin Empire. They run to us, the elves, because, you know, there is nowhere else - not to the dungeons to Railag, where hydras run around and eat children. Being decent humanoids, we cannot not let them in, which puts the elven kingdom in a strange position relative to the Empire (in which power finally went to the necromancers: Isabelle is a little out of her mind, because it finally dawned on her what a benefit she had shown to her beloved husband).
Faidaen is tasked with the following: to guard the five border outposts, not to succumb to provocations, not to try to retaliate with blows, and not to take a single step beyond the walls.
Fortunately, the outposts do not need to be protected alone: they already have a garrison, and a rather large one. And Faidaen is here more for insurance.
This is a very, very strange mission. If you know how to conduct tactical battles well enough, then until the very end of the mission, Faidaen is needed at the front like an elf needs a razor. He can calmly walk around the map, indulge in self-improvement, lazily gather troops... The garrisons of the outposts will do an excellent job anyway. And getting to level 12 on this map (they won’t give it anymore) is not a problem at all.
There is no need for mines either: we are not allowed dragons anyway, and the starting stock is enough for the rest. Only firewood and, of course, money will be required.
If you want to know in advance where and when to expect an attack, you can clear the way to the cartographer. Then you will see enemies approaching some time before the battle (a cheaper way is to use observatories, but their visibility is very poor).
Sooner or later, the necromancers will get bored with their weekly visits to our border, and an old friend, Biara, with a demonic army will come to their aid. That’s what we prepared for, gathered troops, improved our levels. If the soldiers were not transferred in vain, then no problems are expected.
Mission 2. Emerald, or Where dragons spend the winter
So that we don’t think that the elves are alone in all this disgrace without sin, Alaron admits: it was because of him that Alex, Isabel’s father, died. No, he didn’t betray him, he was just... a little too slow. Elves are like that: they sit down to think, write poetry, and then it turns out that their friend-ally died of old age twenty years ago...
But Alaron apparently surpassed even elven standards. At least the emerald dragons considered his behavior inappropriate and hid. Guess who will be looking for them.
The area where the dragon nests are located is infested with demons. We'll have to take all three of their cities. The first one hardly resists; we can easily get to it through the dungeon. There we will get the first emerald dragon - and information on how to look for his fellow tribesmen.
This mission, unlike the previous one, is one of the most difficult in the game. To find the dragons, you need to visit six obelisks. Some of them are guarded, for example, by about forty devils or fifty ancient ents. Each obelisk opens one group of dragons on the map (there are 3-5 of them). According to the terms of the task, we need to collect 20 dragons. This means that not only do you need to find all the groups, but also not lose anyone! That is, they are practically useless in battle. It's better to hide behind the city walls.
But this wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the highly developed city of Inferno in the northeast. Almost from the first move, everyone is there, including devils, and it is extremely difficult to resist him. And to combine both of these activities... And, as luck would have it, the mission has “very low ceilings”: only 6 levels are allocated for Faidaen to do everything about everything.
It is very difficult to give any reasonable recommendations here. Just a brutal test of strategic and tactical skill. Demons can come to your home, squeeze you into a narrow bay (if you go to fight a city in the southwest), intercept you at sea...
I once managed to orchestrate the trick I wrote about in the chapter “Campaign Spells”: trapping a demonic army on an island. Not for long, they still had a source of boats somewhere, but this gave the decisive pace. But I’m not sure that such a maneuver can be “reproduced in series.” This is more luck than strategic success.
Mission 3. Defense, or Necromancers on schedule
How everything has started! While Faidaen was fighting the devils with murderous rhymes, the capital was besieged and even, one might say, taken. We, that is, the player, are given command of the city's garrison during the assault, but it will be truly amazing if we manage to defend the city. (However, this is not a reason not to try: the more enemies we defeat, the fewer remain.)
As soon as the city fell, Faidaen appears, all in white. With him are twenty dragons and many other living creatures. Taking the capital back is a matter of technique.
And now the most important thing begins. King Alaron is tired of life. Further command is in the hands of Faidaen. And we know what to do - look for Tiera (do you still remember him?). But first we need to ensure adequate defense of the city.
“Worthy Defense” is ten dragons (can be green), thirty fighting unicorns and fifty arch druids. In addition, someone needs to command the defense; For this purpose, two elven commanders should be released from captivity. Presumably, it is customary for the elves to command according to the Roman principle - two consuls...
Finding commanders is not too difficult: you just need to swim to the southern shore and go around the long gut of the road in a circle. On the map you will see one of the dungeons, and the other is located in the dungeon, which, contrary to usual, is arranged quite simply.
There is only one subtlety: every week necromancers show up in the capital for a friendly visit (the first two, by the way, are already on their way). Therefore, it will not be possible to take the entire army with you; It is recommended to leave at least half of the elves and, probably, the druids in the capital, and even in this option it will not be particularly easy. To make your life even a little easier, you need to capture the elven city in the bay and immediately begin transporting reinforcements from it to the capital.
Of course, you need to hire a hero to defend the capital. Have you ever seen a hero reach level 12 without leaving the city at all? A? That's it!
Note: Avenger skills are especially useful for such cases. You see who is coming, and, starting with the second necromancer, you can customize your “sworn enemies” according to the composition of his army.
Mission 4. Will of Tieru, or Late to Summer
And here we are again - on the Tieru archipelago. That is, Faidaen is there for the first time, and we have already been there - in the bosom of Agrail.
This time there is no “predatory fog”, Tieru removed it, but since the shores of most of the islands are steep, we will still have to wander underground.
The mission is in many ways similar to “Agrail’s Solution”: you still have to make do on your own and gather “volunteers” for your faction (almost all the Forest Union warriors join you), and still go through the intricate chain of islands. There is also a drawback: you need to simultaneously collect some artifacts “against the undead.” In the plot they are not sewn on the mare’s tail, they were added, apparently, simply so that “déjà vu” would not arise.
Alas, no matter how much Faidaen hurries, it turns out to be too late: the demon lords Nebiros and Biara show up to Tier. And if we, not without difficulty, manage to figure out the first one, then Biara is doing her dirty deed. And all that remains for us to talk about is the ghost of Tieru.
He gloomily mocks the deceased Alaron (and in response to Faydaen’s attempt to pull him back, he remarks that, they say, I can do it - I’m also deceased), and explains why Kha-Belekh needs Isabel. It turns out that according to her plan, she is supposed to give birth to a cute baby who will pull Kha-Belekh out of the Fire Mountain, in which he is imprisoned. I read this somewhere... Well, in order to prevent this unpleasant outcome for everyone, it is necessary to erase the sign of prophecy from Isabel’s forehead. Archmage Cyrus would be the best person for this, and in his absence, his son, Zehir. The scroll that will do this has already been written by Tieru - and taken away by Biara. Let's catch up!
Biara is very close, and this finishing push should not cause big problems, unless Faidaen lost his entire army in the fight with Nebiros. The succubus is rude, it should be noted, very professionally...
Well, soon we can go to Zehir. True, there is one little thing left. On our lands - how could we forget! - the high vampire, also known as Nicholas, roams with a large army. Before dealing with Isabelle, it would be a good idea to put her hubby to rest first!
Mission 5. High vampire, or Killing must be done according to the rules
After Faidaen's departure, things went surprisingly well for the elves (apparently the lack of poetry helped), and they almost managed to clear the country of the undead, fiction, hatred and evil spirits. With one small exception, which is called ex-King Nicholas.
The task is simple: kill Nicholas. But it would be a mistake to think that we will be allowed to do this so easily.
The first thing you need to do is visit the prophet in the north-west of the map so that he can tell you how vampires are killed. There is no hint that this should be done, and yet it is so; otherwise we will have to kill Nicholas many, many times (and his modest army of a couple of thousand skeleton shooters, several dozen wights, etc.) without the slightest sense.
The first step is to gather troops; The fact is that, in addition to our goal, there are many necromancers wandering through the swamps, each with at least a thousand shooters. It won't seem enough. It’s worth trying to find Asha’s Tear, things will go faster this way. Some advise, having captured the cities of necromancers, to build a horde of the living dead, but, in my opinion, this is not our path; among other things, native archers cope much better with shooting bony crowds.
The Prophet (by the way, don’t even think about being a non-main character to him - he won’t even talk) demands four spare parts of the ancient dwarf kings, which are stored in the dungeon, for his services. We will have to wage a large-scale campaign; In principle, no one forces us to touch the cities of the undead, but it’s better to get rid of them, otherwise the wandering necromancer heroes will not give us peace.
In exchange for the dwarven relics, we receive a flock of phoenixes; it is they who will provide sunlight, without which you cannot kill a vampire.
This is important: phoenixes must survive until the end of the battle, and - oh horror! - in natural, not resurrected form. Otherwise, you will be severely disappointed. They gave us some dead, defective phoenixes (our heroes call for birds 10 times heavier); therefore, they should not be exposed at all.
The Magician, or They Found Each Other
But let the army be led by someone less talented -
We will perform well even without an army...
M. Shcherbakov
Well, the last among our alter egos is a magician. Yes, not an ordinary one - the son of the late Cyrus, persecuted by Markel, that is, now the king-archmage, even though he is only of the first level...
Since school, Zehir (that is the name of the archmage) has been able to summon elementals. Moreover, his dead troops also turn into elementals, which will come in handy for us more than once.
Mission 1. Daring magician, or practicing a blow
Zehir needs to prove that he has learned something: take the city and at the same time grow to level 10. If you choose genies as your initial plus, then there is no problem; If something happens, the elementals will fight. This is how Zehir will live most of his career. What does he need troops for? Just hold the blow while their master and master deals with the enemy!
It's impossible to make a mistake. Anyway, don’t go into the desert, Zehir has not yet been recognized, and even his native “academic” troops will not join.
Mission 2. Liberation, or What's Bad
Remember when we once captured the Silver Cities? Well, we are given the opportunity to repeat this, but for the other side.
There are two ways: fast and tedious. The tedious one consists of accumulating titans, and the fast one looks like this: having grown to rakshasas, we quickly look through the monolith to the other side. We are noticed by the main enemy hero (who is also the only one with a decent army). We run back (be careful - there is a system of not 2, but 3 monoliths, and you may need to jump twice) and bring the brat on our tail to our castle (hopefully, fully fortified). There you will put it down with great losses, and then you can safely frolic and capture those two of the Silver Cities that have become necropolises.
This is important: there are practically no crystals on this card. Not a single mine within reach. Save!
More cunning - with Al-Safir; there is already a decent (and quite) army there. The key is in the crowds of elementals. While the enemy is killing the genies (for some reason they irritate him very much), you can manage to accumulate three hundred or three hundred of these useful little animals. A fire elemental during an assault is what you need!
Now Mythograd awaits us (it’s in the south, we’ll have to swim). The main thing here is not to be distracted by any nonsense, like a meeting committee of a couple of hundred knights (!) at the place of disembarkation from the ship. There is absolutely no need for us to fight with them. Are we magicians or what? The astral gate is on the other side, and let this shock battalion of knights look with stupid eyes at the empty beach. And there is no need to take the imperial city either, it does not threaten us. All attention is on Mythograd. By the way, if you stand very close to the coastal knights, you can call for reinforcements from your city (move further and one of the necropolises will be closest).
Mission 3. Triumvirate, or the Spiders agreed
Zehir enters the lands of the Empire. He does this somehow strangely - without the retinue appropriate for an archmage king. Therefore, it is worth choosing rakshasas at the start, they will help you survive to victory.
We need to rescue Godric from prison and meet another ally - Faidaen. But let's start with Godric: he lives in an almost unguarded dungeon at the eastern end of the road, in the inner loop of this giant "kalach". At the same time, you can capture a bunch of mines; Not that they are vital, but they will come in handy.
Godric will easily negotiate with the garrison (and take him into his squad). But in order to please the old warrior, all four imperial cities must be captured. Let's do it simply: Godric will lead the troops, and Zehir will lead several knights or angels so that he is not immediately trampled, and will make do, as usual, with magic. After which we go south to meet with Faidaen.
A very strange scene follows here... We learn about three artifacts (oh my God!) that help Markel, and which must be taken away from him. The heroes share the authority to select artifacts among themselves, and from the outside it may seem that they should go look for artifacts. So: this is a mistake.
We need to gather troops and all go together to fight Markela (he lives in the city west of the place where the heroes met). We will have to fight him three times - once for each hero, so we need not one, but three armies.
For the first time, Markel has unlimited mana and the ability to constantly, even without a separate action, summon new and new undead to the battlefield (note: to win, as usual, you don’t need to destroy those called upon!). The second time - only the call of the undead. The third time we fight as usual, but he has a larger army and outside the city walls.
The first battle is led by Zehir: he needs to be given troops that are thicker and stronger, like angels. The second is Godric: he also needs mainly hand-to-hand combatants. We ferry all the shooters to Faidaen so that he can smoke the brat out from behind the walls (ents will be enough for cover, dryads will also come in handy - as you know, they lure the fortress shooters to themselves). Goodbye Markel...
Mission 4. Alliance, or Triple Jump
In this mission we need to get to Isabel. The map is shaped like a trident, and our heroes (the same trio) start in different places on the south side.
There is absolutely nothing difficult in the task if you don’t yawn and quickly, almost without stopping, take the earth into your hands, moving north parallel to each other. The army, of course, will be useful to you, but not very much... Speed here greatly simplifies the matter.
Having reached the northern cities, we meet two more old friends - Railaga and Shadiya. Having made sure that we are not faced with the task of definitely killing Isabel, Railag will agree to accompany us. That is why we did not need an army: his troops, with a small addition of ours, would form an assault detachment. I recommend entrusting the command to Railag: he is usually well versed in siege weapons, and his magic is the most lethal.
Alas and ah! Shadia turned out to be fake, just like Beatrice once was. And hidden underneath is the same tireless Biara. Which at the last moment escapes with Isabel in her clutches. But... he forgets the useless Griffin Heart on the floor (remember, Vaier and I fought for it?), and with its help, our young talent Zehir will send everyone to Shio. Let's go!
Mission 5. Zehir's Hope, or Repeat until the curtain closes
This battle continues until the wall is destroyed. It is “taken” by catapults and everything that hits the squares.
Oh God! Someone at Nival liked the idea of killing Markel multiple times.
In this monstrous mission we have everything to do - everything! - do four times. Each hero will get his chance to punch Biara in the face, then destroy the castle walls with catapults (this is a separate battle!), then grapple with Kha-Belekh himself.
During battles, demons and undead are summoned in abundance, so be careful. Moreover, this time it is also necessary to destroy those called up during the battle! They appear instantly and often close to your ranks. And Kha-Belekh also rains down waves of fire. But it’s quite possible to cope, and, I would say, even easier than with Markel: our heroes recruited a very impressive army, I don’t understand where, on the way to Shio!
What then? Well, kind of a happy ending. But you haven't forgotten the name of the next game in the Might & Magic series, right?
Arithmetic of combat
Not everyone is interested in exact battle formulas, but a real strategist must understand exactly what will happen if you increase your squad by several creatures or add one to your defense. Therefore, we bring to your attention detailed game formulas.
Squad attack on squad
To calculate the damage that will be inflicted by the attacking unit on the defender, you must first take the minimum and maximum damage values inflicted by the attacker, and apply to them all modifiers that directly affect damage (for example, Blood Claw Necklace).
After this, random damage is taken within specified limits for each of the creatures - and summed up for the entire squad.
1 + (attack of the attacker - defense of the defender) * 0.05, but not more than 3
if the attack is less than the defense, then the damage is multiplied by
1 / (1 + (defender’s defense - attacker’s attack) * 0.05), but not less than 0.1
if they are equal, then the damage does not change.
Finally, luck is taken into account: a positive one doubles the damage, a negative one divides it by 2. If the attack is carried out using shooting, and the distance is more than 6 cells, then the damage is divided by two; it is also divided by two if the shooter attacks in close combat.
When all modifiers are taken into account, damage is rounded to the nearest whole number.
Let's look at an example of how this works.
Let's say 10 men-at-arms attack 10 fire demons. Taking into account the advantages for the hero, the characteristics of the armored warrior are attack 6, defense 10, and the demon - 3 and 4, without advantages: he is wild.
Damage from one armored warrior is 2-4, from 10 - 20-40. We took ten random numbers from 2 to 4 and got, for example, 30 (average expected damage).
Modifier: the armored man's attack is greater than the demon's defense, which means we have
1 + (attack - defense) * 0.05 = 1 + 2 * 0.05 = 1.1
We multiply - we get 33 hits. The demon has 12 hit points, which means we killed two, and took 7 hit points from another.
What if a demon attacked a man-at-arms? Damage from 1 to 4, we get an average of 25 hits. Attack 3 is less than defense 10, we have:
1 / (1 + (defense - attack) * 0.05) = 1 / (1 + 7 * 0.05) = 0.74
We multiply, it turns out 18.5, round up to 18 hits. 1 armored soldier dies, 2 hits were removed from another.
This is interesting: although average damage is most likely with this method of calculation, many believe that it will usually be higher than average. The reason for this belief is simple: the fact is that the game often shows the approximate number of killed, “cutting off” the upper limit by the number of fighters in the squad. For example, if the unicorns have to kill 50-100 gremlins, and there are only 70 of them in the squad, she will show us the numbers 50-70. And it will not be at all surprising that most often all 70 gremlins will actually die.
Hero attack on squad
The damage dealt by the hero is calculated completely differently. To do this, use a plate (see Table 1) and a formula.
Table 1 Damage dealt by the hero
Creature level Level 1 Hero Level 30 Hero
1 2 12
2 1 9
3 0,8 6,5
4 0,5 4,5
5 0,3 3
6 0,2 2
7 0,1 1,5
8 0,01 0,15
The table shows how many creatures are killed by the attack of a hero of level 1 and 30, respectively. As is easy to see, it doesn’t matter what kind of defense they have or how many hits they have; an attack on, say, ancient Ents and knights works the same way, even though the former have twice as many hit points.
This is interesting: what is a “level 8 creature”? After all, there are only 7 levels in castles? And this is a phoenix, which can only be summoned by a spell. As you can easily see, the hero's attack against him is woefully ineffective!
What if the hero is not level 1 or level 30? You can plot a graph in the form of a straight line through these two points and calculate. In formula form it looks like this:
Losses = Tab1 + (Level - 1) * (Tab1 - Tab30) / 30
Here Tab1 and Tab30 are values from the table corresponding to the level of the target creature.
This is such an unusual system.
Sorcerers on the battlefield
And by what rule is the power of spells of magical creatures - druids, magicians, cave demons, dryads - calculated? It turns out that the formula is very unusual, it is far from direct proportion...
So, let's take the number of creatures in the squad and divide it by their base increase per week. Let's multiply the result by 10, take the whole part and add 10. From the resulting number you need to... take the decimal logarithm, then multiply it all by 21, subtract 22 and take the whole part again.
Is your head spinning? No surprise, that's how it was intended. No one in their right mind and solid memory would count all these numbers in the heat of battle. What you really need to remember is this:
The more creatures in the squad, the slower the magical power grows. Therefore, it is often more profitable to divide a large squad of magicians into two smaller ones. You can read more about this in the advice of masters on demons (LKI No. 8/2006).
As long as the number of fighters in the group has not exceeded approximately a six-fold weekly increase, you can not engage in these shuffles and lead them in one squad. Then the usefulness of the separation increases rapidly.
Of course, this is just an estimate. Therefore, in the future we will provide tables for calculating damage from spells in the advice of masters. Otherwise, it won’t take long for these calculations to break your head.
We will save...
From playing for a long time on single maps (in the previous “Heroes,” as we all remember, campaigns were given a more modest place), many “heroists” developed a conditioned reflex - when taking a chest, they automatically press to gain experience. In campaigns, this approach, frankly speaking, does not pay for itself.
In the initial missions we have “very low ceilings”: we almost always manage to grow to the limit allotted for the mission long before its completion. In the end, there are no ceilings, but still money often turns out to be more valuable than experience. After all, the most casual fight there brings 5-10 thousand experience points...
Source of inspiration
The authors of the game seem to be very fond of the Warhammer Fantasy universe, as well as the tactical board game based on it. They are not the first: even the famous Warcraft borrowed a lot from there... by the way, do you know where the tradition of making orcs and goblins green-skinned came from? Yes, yes, exactly from there.
Well, in the fifth “Heroes” the love for Warhammer found its expression in the inhabitants of the Dungeon. Dark elves are unmistakably recognizable. Here is the famous riding lizard, originally called “cold” - Cold One; and the furies, who do not hide their close acquaintance with the rabid witches of Cain; and favorite pets - hydra and black/twilight dragon, and very familiar features are seen in the appearance of the cave hydra. Mistresses of the shadows and assassins with the famous elven crossbows are also clearly akin to the game (although these images seem to be everywhere where the dark elves appear). Only the minotaur in this company was inserted from the outside - apparently, to maintain continuity from the sorcerer's castle of the first parts of the game.
Warhammer influences can also be found in some other races - for example, the war dancers of the elven castle were originally born in the forest of Athel Loren, the home of the wood elves. And the face of the highest vampire from the Necropolis looks at us straight from the cover of the book Vampire Counts.
However, as I already said, everything is borrowed from Warhammer. It doesn’t surprise us that halflings all have hairy legs, right? Warhammer, of course, but Tolkien, but still a solid and extremely popular source.
Table 12 Maximum levels in the campaign
Campaign Mission 1 Mission 2 Mission 3 Mission 4 Mission 5
Queen 5 12 18 22 24
Worshiper 10 18 24 30 –
Necromancer 10 20 26 30 –
Warlock 12 18 26 28 –
Ranger 12 18 24 30 40
Mag 10 20 25 30 –
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At its core, the first campaign is designed to familiarize players with the mechanics of the game, its main aspects and plot. It is recommended to be attentive to the game tips and to familiarize yourself with our website for this game ahead of time.
Queen
Decline of the King, Rise of the Queen
Queen
Preface: The demon invasion has become a cruel reality for the Griffin Empire. King Nicholas was forced to interrupt his wedding to lead the knights into battle. While waiting for him in the relative safety of the Summer Palace in Whitecleave, Lady Isabel receives bleak news.
Main mission objectives:
- Recruit 100 peasants.
- Recruit 25 swordsmen.
- Isabelle must survive.
Bonuses: none.
The world map is small in size, so we can’t get lost. We move along the road and when we meet a unit of peasants, we agree that they should join Isabel. On the way, we select a resource in the form of gold, which we will need when hiring swordsmen in a building called “Barracks”. Don’t forget to use objects that will temporarily increase certain parameters of Isabelle, such as the Torn Flag and the Fairy Circle. Following the road on the left on the map there will be a Peasant Hut, the path to which is blocked by a detachment of swordsmen. After they join, we visit the hut and accept the peasants into our army.
Next we find the “Barracks”, in which we hire swordsmen. We are again accepting the next detachment of peasants into the army. After (see 2 screenshots below) we are faced with a hostile detachment of peasants, upon interaction with which a video starts and Isabel, like you, will have to fight on the battlefield for the first time.
Having won, we gain experience and the opportunity to move on. Next, we again accept a detachment of peasants and along the way we visit the Barracks, after which the task "Recruit 25 swordsmen" will be considered completed. If you want to gain more experience and hire more peasants, then there is the opportunity to turn off-road near the Windmill. Be careful - at the end of the path, a squad of Plague Zombies will be waiting for Isabelle. This unit is quite tenacious, so you shouldn’t rush headlong - they won’t be able to destroy the entire army, but they will certainly be able to harm you.
After clearing the off-road, we return to the road, where we meet swordsmen. Moving on, we again leave the road to the Peasant Hut and receive a detachment of peasants on the way to it. After visiting the building you should have a sufficient number of peasants to complete the task "Recruit 100 peasants".
After this, the mission task list will be updated with the following: "Occupy the Garrison". And here the choice is yours: you can, following the road, immediately reach the garrison and capture it, thereby completing the mission, or clear the map of neutral creatures, thereby gaining an additional level for the hero. In my opinion, the second option would be better. Therefore, we attack the zombie squad and destroy it, after which we are given the opportunity to pick up a treasure chest. I recommend choosing a reward in the form of gaining experience, thereby raising the hero’s level to 3.
We return to the road, meet a detachment of men-at-arms, after which a garrison appears before us.
We attack him and after capturing, we watch the video and we are given a window stating that the first mission of the campaign has been completed.
Riot
Preface: The path to the theater of operations lies through the lands of the Griffin Empire, ravaged by the raid of demons, where despair and fear reign. The Queen will have to strengthen her army and resolve internal conflicts that are preventing her from completing her task.
Main mission objectives:
- Occupy Longbows for a week.
- Isabelle must survive.
Bonuses
- Gold: 900.
- Swordsmen: 10.
- Peasants: 45.
Once on new map, we begin to advance through the area and at the beginning of the 2nd turn a structure called “Archer Tower” will appear to our eyes, in which we can hire units based on the name of the building. Next we meet a unit of undead who are guarding the artifact - we defeat them and move on. The “Mahogany Observatory” opens before our eyes, having visited it the fog of war will be revealed to us in a radius from the tree and the camera will automatically show us the first objective of the mission - the city of Long Bows. It is advisable to immediately head towards him and capture the settlement.
After his capture the task "Occupy Longbows for a week" will be considered completed, after which a new one will be added - "Recruit 100 archers". Since the week is not over yet, we can build a structure if the resources allow us to do so. Until we recruit the required number of archers into the army, we can explore the world, gaining experience, capturing mines with resources, visiting objects, increasing Isabelle’s parameters, taking control of buildings that increase the growth of creatures and the ability to hire them in controlled buildings .
After a couple of moves, we watch a short video, after which another task is added to us - "Capture Ash". It is advisable to capture the city of Yasen only after completing the task of hiring archers. By this point, we should have a fairly good army assembled, since creatures for hire appear at the beginning of each new week.
When performing a task "Recruit 100 archers" We head along the road and when visiting the next “Mahogany Observatory” the camera automatically shows the location of the city of Yasen, which we need to capture.
I recommend continuing to explore the map until Isabelle reaches level 12, after which experience will not be awarded, since the hero cannot exceed it in this mission. We move along the road to the city of Yasen until the Griffins block our path. When attacked, they will want to join the hero’s army, which we agree to.
So we reached the settlement. We attack him and move to the battle arena. I would like to say that this battle will differ from the previous ones in that the enemy army is in the castle behind the walls and they can only be attacked by units with a ranged attack or those who can fly/teleport beyond the walls of the city to the enemies. Melee units will only be able to fight the enemy behind the walls when the catapult makes a hole in the fortification.
After the battle is over, we watch the next video and see the usual window, indicating that the mission is completed and we can proceed to the next mission.
Siege
Preface: As expected, the infiltrators were only the vanguard of a large army of demons led by a demon lord. They ruled throughout the Empire, leaving behind only ashes. Now Isabelle must pass her first important test - defeat the enemy hero in battle and protect the area around Ash. To succeed, she will have to apply everything she knows and can do.
Main mission objectives:
- Clear the area of enemy infiltrators.
- Build the Order of Paladins.
- Isabel must survive
Bonuses
- Archers: 15.
- Swordsmen: 10.
- Ore: 10.
As it was written in the preface, for the first time we have to fight with an enemy hero, who also gains experience, increases the level, recruits troops, captures buildings and much more. However, you should not leave the city completely empty in order to avoid the possibility of its capture. We take ore as a bonus, since we will not have buildings extracting this resource.
In the first week we do not carry out particularly strong active actions. It is enough to collect resources on the map and capture the nearest Peasant Huts, Archer Tower and Barracks in order to have additional reinforcements for the army and increase the growth of creatures of the corresponding type. This week it is advisable to build the following buildings in the city: Peasant Huts, Town Hall, Archers' Tower, Market, Forge, Barracks and Farms. The screenshot below shows the area that can be explored in a week. If you have difficulties due to a lack of resources, then you can use the Factory, in which the exchange of resources is much cheaper than in the city when building the Market.
In the second week we build the following buildings: Magistrate, Tavern, Griffin Tower. Let's use the service of the Mahogany Observatory and explore the nearby area. We can take more active actions and begin to attack neutral creatures of the Order of Order (there is a great possibility of joining your army) and weak Inferno units (Demons, Horned Demons).
In the third week, it is advisable to hire an additional hero who will visit captured creature buildings, purchasing them and exchanging them with Isabelle. This week we will build the following buildings: Warehouse, Citadel, Stables, Knight's Arena. We continue to explore the world further, without attacking creatures of medium and high danger.
Fourth week. We are building the Capitol, Peasant Houses, and the Castle. We again solve the problem with the stone with the help of the Factory, try our luck at the Windmill for the necessary resources and continue to explore the map, accepting neutral creatures of the Order of Order into our army. Don't rush to upgrade Peasants as you will lose extra gold income due to their Taxpayer ability.
In the coming weeks, we continue to open the map, improve the remaining buildings, such as the Crossbowmen's Tower, the Garrison, the Griffin Bastion, the Order of the Paladins, the Training Halls and the Hall of Heroes. I would like to note that it is better to leave one unit of neutral Inferno creatures closer to your castle - this is how it is when completing tasks "Clear the area from enemy infiltrators" And "Build the Order of Paladins".
Before that, we try to clear the entire map and increase Isabelle’s level to the maximum, which is 18 for this level. Only after clearing the map of demon scouts do we return to the Fire demons we left behind to destroy the latter, watch the video and receive the task "Defeat the enemy army."
The Inferno army appears on the mini map in the upper right corner, which we need to defeat. If you have done everything that was said above, then we are ready to defeat the enemy. Let's make a save immediately after updating the mission objectives and go attack the enemy. We meet the Inferno army, defeat it, watch the corresponding video, complete the last task of the mission and gain access to the next mission called “Trap”.
Trap
Preface: The demon lord Agrail is preparing to defeat the elf forces seeking to aid the Empire. Isabelle must outrun the enemy army and stop the demons from putting their plan into action. The united armies of Isabelle and the elven king Alaron will be able to put an end to the invasion of demons and save Nicholas.
Main mission objectives:
- Meet with Alaron's army.
- Capture Brightwood.
- Isabelle must survive.
Bonuses
- Knights: 1.
- Armor: 9.
- Crossbowmen: 15.
We appear in the lower right corner of the map with a small squad at our disposal. As an initial bonus, we choose Crossbowmen, since they deal quite good damage and can weaken enemy melee units. In this mission we will get acquainted with the basics of magic, which can not only raise certain parameters of the army, but also cause enormous damage to enemy creatures. More information about schools of magic and spells can be found in the section.
In the first week, we try to capture Peasant Huts, select resources on the global map, and capture buildings for resource extraction. If you turn off the road from the Stables, you can come across the Witch's Hut, when visiting which your hero can learn a new skill or improve an existing one. I recommend saving the game before visiting the witch, since a skill or improvement to it is given completely randomly, and you may simply receive unnecessary abilities. Don’t forget to visit Dolmens of Knowledge, Planetariums and other objects that increase the hero’s parameters or give temporary bonuses. At the end of the second or at the beginning of the third week, moving further along the road, you will meet a neutral detachment of Demonesses. I do not recommend that you force a battle on them, as you may suffer considerable losses among your army. Yes, after passing them, you will quickly reach the city of Lightwood, but I cannot guarantee the chances of further victories in battles and capturing the city.
Therefore, I strongly recommend turning off the road to the right and taking a detour. Nightmares will stand in your way, but believe me, when fighting them, your losses will be less than with Demonesses. After defeating them, we move further and capture the Peasant Hut and the Archer Tower. To explore the area, we will visit the Mahogany Observatory. You can upgrade the archers in the Hill Fort by paying a certain amount of gold.
We go further off-road and come out again onto the road, which leads us straight to our goal - the capture of the city of Svetlolesye. We capture it, watch the next video, after which we are informed about the completion of the task "Capture Brightwood" and getting a new one - “Increase the level of the mages guild in Brightwood”.
Having got the city at our disposal and the opportunity to regularly replenish the army, we can return to those places where we missed resources and neutral creatures. We will build the following buildings: Archer Tower, Barracks, Magistrate, Citadel, Griffin Tower, Monastery and Farms. We continue to explore the map in search of new resources, objects for increasing the hero’s parameters, buildings for resource extraction, and so on. We continue construction and erect: the Capitol, the Stables, the Knight's Arena, the Crossbowmen's Tower, Peasant Houses, the Order of Paladins, the Guild of Mages of the 2nd level. At this point, we can return to the city, replenish the army with a small number of creatures and go to those places where you missed resources and so on. Next, we build the Altar of Light, the Castle, the Garrison and the Griffin Bastion. At this point, we return to the castle again, hire and improve creatures, and again go in search of adventure. In this case, I took the direct road in order to clear it and gain experience by going to the Demonesses, about whom I wrote earlier.
Next, we build the Cathedral, the Heavenly Altar, the Training Halls, the Hall of Heroes and, having built the Mages Guild of the 3rd level, we complete the task “Increase the level of the mages guild in Brightwood.” After this, if you are confident in your strength and army, you can try to free the Archangels, who can join the hero’s army. After receiving maximum level for Isabel, who is 22 for this mission and the construction of all the necessary buildings in the city, we can head to the Garrison, crossing which we must meet with the army of Elves.
But that was not the case - the bridge was destroyed and we need to look for another way to the other side. After the video, we are given a secondary task - . From the destroyed bridge we turn left and head to the Prophet's Hut. When visiting it, we watch the next video, completing a secondary task "Visit the Prophet, the Blind Brother" and getting a new one - "Boots of Levitation" . To complete it, we need to go down to the underworld, the entrance to which is located not far from the Prophet's Hut and is guarded by the Messengers of Death. If you did what I described earlier, then you must have a strong enough army that can easily cope with these creatures. We go down after defeating them, find the Crypt and interact with it. After defeating the guards of the building, watch a video, after which a secondary task "Boots of Levitation" is considered completed.
Then everything is very simple - we put on the received artifact and head to the destroyed bridge, getting the opportunity to walk on water. We cross the water to the other side and go to the meeting place with the elven army. The time comes for the next video, after which we are informed about the successful completion of the mission.
Decline of the King
Preface: As a result of the cunning intrigue of the demon lord Agrail and his assistant succubus Biara, Isabelle is captured. Soon she should be sent to Shio - a prison in which the Lord of Demons has been imprisoning his enemies for hundreds of years.
Main mission objectives:
- Rescue Isabel and capture Dunmoor.
- Isabelle and Godric must survive.
- Capture any city in 1 week.
Bonuses
- Royal griffins: 4.
- Artifact "Four Leaf Clover".
- Gold: 1500.
Here we come to the final mission of the Order of Order. Isabelle was captured, but Godric, one of the main characters of Heroes of Might and Magic 5, comes to her rescue.
As an initial bonus, we choose Royal Griffins. Since we need to capture the city within a week, we immediately head along the road and turn left at the crossroads. Along the way, you can capture the Outpost of the Order of Order and the Mine. If the siege of the city is successful, we are given two messages that say where Isabelle is being held and, if she is not saved by the end of the current week, she may die or worse.
I recommend attacking the dungeon on the last day of the week, having previously erected buildings in the city, such as Peasant Houses, the Forge, the Barracks and the 1st level Mages Guild. After defeating the Cave Lords, we interact with the Prison. After watching the video and freeing Isabelle, she can again be under our guidance. Task «
Rescue Isabel and capture Dunmoor" becomes completed, but the next one appears - "Prevent Dunmoor from being captured".
We divide Godric's army: we leave the Royal Griffins and Knights to him, while we give Isabelle all the other parts of the troops and wait for the arrival of the demon army in the city of Dunmoor. Meanwhile, we send Godric to open the map and, if possible, capture buildings and resources. This week we are building the Magistrate, the Griffin Tower and the Stables.
The appearance of the enemy occurs in week N - evidence of this is the appearance of the enemy on the minimap. In the third week we build a Warehouse, a Castle and a Monastery. We continue to explore the map and do the same thing as I described earlier. When Agrail attacks, we defend ourselves in the castle and continue the game. Having survived several waves of attacks, we watch the video, after which we are given another task -. It is possible to find the Tear of Asha by visiting the obelisks, screenshots with their locations are located below.
I would also like to note that armies of demons are not always active, so sometimes you have to attack them yourself in order to continue the storyline.
After finding the Artifact, we take it to Dunmar and a message appears about the possibility of building a unique building called “Elrath’s Sentinel”, the construction of which increases the growth of creatures, brings 5000 gold daily and increases the luck of all your heroes. We agree to build the structure and watch the next video and see a message about the completion of the task "Find and install the Tear of Asha in Dunmoor".
A few days later, Dunmoor will be raided again and after a successful defense, a new task is added to us - but for this we need a strong enough army both to defend the city and for Godric to go for help to his king Nicholas. We have to go through the lands of demons, cross the Garrison guarded by demons, after capturing which we send Our hero to the edge of the map - "Send Godric to Nicholas" The task is considered completed and we can only wait for help. Literally the next day, allies appear led by Nicholas and the next task - "Come to Nicholas's Aid". You don’t have to rush too much and just skip the move, after which we watch the final video.
Congratulations, you have completed the first Heroes of Might and Magic 5 campaign.
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