Complete Company of Heroes 5. Inferno Campaign. The Will of Asha Campaign

Carly, my favorite gnome I

This is not a declaration of love, this is a strategy for playing for the Northern peoples in the addon.
The text turned out to be voluminous, get some tea or coffee and sit down more comfortably.

After 30+ games on ubi.com as dwarves in 2.0, here is my experience.
It's very different. There were several exciting games against warlocks, including battles with Iranna, Sinithar and Vaishan (by the way, this was the most vigorous fight). According to my feelings, the League of Shadows is now the most popular on ubi (maybe because they have a lot of pretty ladies?).
I played several times against necromancers, specifically against Kaspar, Deirdre and Vlad. I had a number of games against the elves, Ossir and Vinrael were my opponents. I remember two games with the Order of Order - both against Dougal. There were several games against other gnomes (strangely enough, all against Ingvar), including the only defeat at the moment, thanks to my worthy opponent, he taught me how to use runes of level 3+. I played against a strong player for the Academy only twice, so I won’t judge it in general yet. Naturally, both games are against Hafiz. I haven’t played against Inferno yet, but I want to compete with Deleba in the speed of character development, I’m sure that I’ll be able to overtake him. In general, I still haven’t seen a single strong strategy for Inferno without Deleb, apparently no one wants to waste valuable time gating units and removing replies from them =)
My opponents were of different levels of difficulty. It’s nice that people play 2.0, that there are more people after the add-on was released, the difference is obvious, especially at night. Unfortunately, bright final battles did not happen often. Probably because there are only a few hardcore players in 5x Heroes, and this is unlikely to change in the future. And also quite frequent game crashes and out of sync, but that's another story.
I played on different maps. Through trial and error, I found the most suitable one for the game - City of Wonders.
Therefore, I hope that thanks to the forums and my post in particular, Nival’s marketing and the relative popularity of ubi.com, I will find a larger number of worthy opponents. Who will enjoy being challenged again and again.

While there were lyrics, it’s time to get to the point of the post.
I'll start from the stove. From the characteristics of gnomes.
Characteristics for gnomes are given differently each time, sometimes it turns out a la ranger 2-8-3-5, sometimes a la mage 2-3-6-7, sometimes 4-5-5-5 a la gnome. Because gnomes do not have a pronounced specialization in individual parameters, but only 20%/30%/30%/20%. Even with Skillful formation, a clearly defined peak like 2-3-17-4 (for example, like warlocks or necromancers) does not work. I specifically tried different dwarfs, but have not yet found any patterns in the distribution of parameters. If anyone has seen it, write, it's interesting.
As a result, the parameters each time turned out to be something between a warrior and a magician.
Therefore, a choice arises about which idea to develop for the main character. Here are my thoughts.

Develop a gnome mage?
Experience suggests that a mega-killer-nuker does not come from chaos.
Witchcraft usually does not stand out against the background of other parameters, nor does knowledge.
Usually by level 14-15 there is something like 5-6 or 4-7, sometimes 7-4, naturally without taking into account artifacts. For chaos magic, the most powerful option is obvious - Firelord + Pyrokinesis. This combination is capable of causing maximum harm due to the “Mahmud, padzhigay” technology. This somehow compensates for the hero’s low sorcery, but dwarves are far from real killers like warlocks, magicians with the Mark of the Magician and necromancers. There are no features like arcana wave and powerful growth of Sorcery. It’s also true that the priests of Arcata, who, if they have Constant Luck + Soldier’s Luck, will regularly put an end to their opponent’s stacks, but even with this ability, the damage from spells is significantly lower than that of their comrades described above.
In addition, the fireball is given every other time, and Armageddon, given the huge increase in dwarven troops, seems controversial to me. I don’t consider an option like dragons with Armageddon. Why? Because the initiative of dragons is low, one Armageddon will kill everyone, and seven stacks + the opponent’s hero will somehow outstrip the stacks of dragons and a gnome in terms of damage. In addition, the further into the forest, the greater the chance that the opponent will miss the chip and collect the antidote to our strategy. And each faction has them, thank God the races in the game are extremely well balanced, each has its own pleasant little things.
I see this as an additional argument against dragon-geddon. On veteran difficulty, you can build level 5 magic and a dragon dwelling only by the 4th week, if you do not sacrifice other buildings. And if you sacrifice by going with bears and Tanami, you will fall far behind in clearing out neutrals and developing the hero.
In real games, I came across this option twice. It is also controversial against gnomes. The resurrection rune, magical resistance and dwarven luck from Carly are taken easily and quickly, and the skills from the Defense branch for dwarves are useful in any situation, I will describe the reasons below.

With the magic of light, the situation seems much nicer to me. Dwarfs take "meat", i.e. growth and abundance of hits. Mass effects from light magic are very useful, because they strengthen and strengthen troops. In addition, we can take Eternal Light and make these effects stable if we know that the opponent will remove them or interrupt them with darkness (by the way, I have never seen this yet). At the same time, all Light spells except resurrection do not depend on the hero’s witchcraft, which is to our advantage. The resurrection itself has very good performance even without high witchcraft power.
I took dark magic only once, when they gave me a plague against a warlock. It helped, but I won’t draw conclusions, because there are not enough statistics =)
I have never used summoning magic, so I won’t say anything either. In their native tower, the gnomes have light magic and chaos magic, so I didn’t take it. And I didn’t see the rune armor spell in action by the way. And I don’t know yet what kind of animal this is.

However, taking magic without the accompanying benefits is not enough if we are going to make a gnome-mage. A combination of Sorcery and Arcane Knowledge will make it possible to turn the lives of other magicians into hell with the help of Distraction. Even if they have Sorcery, the loss in the hero's initiative after casting the spell will be very large.
In the education branch there is another, in my opinion, very useful ability. With Runic Rollback, when runes are activated, creatures return GG mana in proportion to their knowledge. At first glance, with knowledge 6, this is only 3 mana, which is quite small. At the same time, in the decisive battle, almost every turn the dwarf troops use runes, and there are usually 6-7 stacks. As a result, the problem with a 20% increase in knowledge can be solved by regenerating mana already in battle, if only the hero had resources and slots.
Erling and Helmar are best suited for the role of the main dwarf in this scenario, and both in different ways.
Since I tried different options - both a gnome-mage and a gnome-warrior, now I will describe the one that I liked better.

Carly, my favorite gnome II

Maybe a gnome warrior after all?
The warrior turns out to be very funny, but effective (may the moderators forgive me the quote from KK).
The characteristics are again average, defense 30%, attack 20%, to be honest, neither this nor that, when compared with demons or knights.
All of the “military” skills are useful, and all in different ways.
Most types of dwarf troops have more defense than attack, while relative to the troops of other factions they inflict average damage. The exceptions are thanes and dragons, both are wonderfully good, but terrifyingly expensive.
At the same time, in terms of the growth of troops of the first levels and the indicators of protection of troops, the dwarfs are on the horse, in the sense, on the MedvedE.
Those who want to do a comparative analysis of the troops of different factions can look at the manual for 2.0 and add their comments regarding the dwarf troops, this is also very interesting to me.
A very important detail is that the dwarven troops are supported by runic magic, which makes them “stronger, more agile and faster” in the final battle. A detailed and very useful guide to rune magic, along with a selection of other very interesting materials about gnomes, can be found here

Taking this opportunity, I express my respect to Protos for collecting this information literally bit by bit – and from a variety of sources. And alexrom66 for writing and providing these excellent texts. Keep it up guys!

Another detail about the dwarven troops is that there are as many as 3 creatures with special abilities that often work with Soldier’s Luck. Cripple wounding of spear throwers is my dream after the release of 5 heroes - as it reduces BOTH the enemy's stack speed AND his initiative. Hitting the bears with its paw means an unanswered attack + a lot of tricks like pushing stacks into a wall of fire, under the attack of thanes, or simply pushing away from shooters. The sign of fire of the Arcata priests is less attractive to me, but it seems useful, in conjunction with fireballs and, possibly, a wall of fire (I still don’t know whether it causes fire damage or not - however, it burns great).
Let’s add here the thunderclap rune, the effectiveness of which also depends on the soldier’s luck, to get another reason to want to take this excellent skill.

At the same time, the Luck skill itself more than compensates for the relatively low rates of damage caused by gnomes, and in combination with runes and leadership makes them living killing machines.

What's the result?
The combination I selected through trial and error helped me win. Consisting of the main character, troops, skills and abilities and the order of building the city. The hero development scanner-planner was also a great help. Here is a link to the download and its discussion.

Since I mentioned the scanner, I’ll add my 5 cents, there will be something to discuss at the same time. In my opinion, as long as the scanner exists, there is a chance that your opponent will gain a powerful advantage from it. I sincerely hope that the author or Nival will figure out how to solve the problems voiced in that topic. Until they are resolved, I use a scanner. And, thank God, I don’t feel alone. More and more often I notice how, in response to an Attack I take, my opponent takes Defense, and vice versa. The game mutates, players adapt.

Who is the main character?
My competition for the main gnome (GG) was won by Carly, a specialist in spear throwers. Why?
It has a soldier's luck at the start, a wagon with ammunition and about 30 shooters.

Everyone who tried to play as gnomes was surprised at HOW MANY GEMS they needed! Indeed - take out 20 and put them in for the thanes, 10 for the priests, 5 for the bonebreakers. And another 10 for upgrading thanes, 10 for upgrading priests, and we also need a School of Runes, a guild of magicians...

In my experience, it is useful to set priorities for building housing. Those. what week and who will we build? And it strives to ensure the flow of necessary resources. Look for and purposefully recapture them from neutrals.

Carly has a nice bonus for times when resources are low. Good luck on your way. It’s very convenient, because you can take it literally at level 3-4, and it more than compensates for the lack of gems and gold. Having luck along the way, the hero can take 500 more gold from the chests, and the hero takes out a larger number of valuables from the resource stacks on the map. Well, from all sorts of mills with gardens of cheerful people too. Those who like to think about strategies will easily find a use for this skill. Personally, I take it when I need a nosebleed, and build BOTH thanes AND priests in the second week, and there are only a couple of piles of gems next to the mine. A rare case, but from life.

The key advantage for me is Carly’s ability to quickly clear out neutrals much better than all other dwarf heroes (and other heroes, judging by the multiplayer). Crippling wound + plenty of shooters + free cart = great start. And a great start = one of the strongest advantages in heroes.
Together with the troops of the second and third heroes and vehicles, he cleanses neutrals in auto battle already from levels 3-4. Using a scanner, I check my clearing speed every time compared to other heroes. So far there is only one conclusion: Carly (at least in my hands) cleans very quickly. I will write below about how and who to clean.

What skills should Carly take?
I’ll describe them as I remember; I chose them from this list in 90% of games. There are two main selection criteria.
First. To help with clearing neutrals and developing the hero. Number one here is Machine Control + First Aid. Number two – Defense + Evasion + Toughness. Neutral arrows in 90% mean losses in personnel; with evasion they are much easier to clean. Details, as already promised, are below.
The second priority is to help in the final battle. A few things help here. First, knowledge of the opponent's main character. Saw Dougal, Ossir, Elaine, Hafiz and any of the necromancers - expect 100,000 shooters. So we take Evasion and Fortitude. If you see Ora or one of the warlocks, prepare Fortitude, Reflection and Dwarven Luck.
Secondly, the scanner helps you make more targeted adjustments by tracking what and when your opponent takes to his main character.
And for the principled opponents of the scanner, there is a tavern, reconnaissance and analysis of troops and the style of clearing neutrals. To do this effectively, you need to have remarkable powers of observation, know other factions well, and conduct reconnaissance, which is not possible on all maps.

So, a list of skills.
If the School has good runes, rune magic. For the final battle, it is useful to have 5-10 resources of the required type, more if you already have the Greatest Rune skill. I take the completed rune in 90% of cases, but the Updated one in cases where I know that the hero will have a minimum of useful magic and it will be possible to spend his moves on updating the runes.
If the main battle takes place at the level of the middle of the second month and later, I consider a full set of runes and skills for them mandatory. The more troops, the more useful the runes. And since at the 3rd level both runes have very strong effects, in combination with thanes and dragons they allow you to send your opponent’s troops to hell quickly and with pleasure.
The only question is when and where to take slots for these skills, and this seriously depends on the map and conditions.

Carly, my favorite gnome III

By the way, about runes.
In practice, there are powerful runes, and there are situational ones. The rune of energy, resurrection, dragon form, intangibility and battle fury have earned my boundless and constant love and affection. Yes, I forgot about the berserker rune. For some reason it is compared to the rune of energy - and is considered less important. In the final battle, you can use the energy rune once at the beginning to run. But berserkerism... I don’t even know how to describe it. 2 attacks for 1 unit of ore is a kill. Imagine Thanes with two attacks equipped with chain lightning. Or bear riders... Or dragons... Or any stack that gets two hits on a double attack...
The only thing I don’t recommend doing is using the berserker rune on Medvedov rugby players in the center of the field. With a soldier's luck, the bear masters will push the stack away instead of a second attack in most cases. But in the corner they paw twice, that’s good.
Moreover, if you were given a resurrection rune, things take an even funnier turn. It allows you to raise 40% of fallen warriors. Those. most effective on numerous stacks heavily beaten by the enemy. Like spear masters, bears and warriors. Especially on the warriors from the watchtower, of which there are already 10,000,000.

Let's return to skills useful for the GG.
Vehicle control + Ballista + First aid. Makes stripping neutrals quick and easy. In the final battle, the tent removes negative effects, and the ballista finishes off enemy stacks. Rune machines are good, if you have slots, take them. The rapid-fire ballista is very good, but it destroys the tent, which is very bad. As a result, we cross out the third shot in favor of healing if we expect harmful buffs. There is another compelling argument for the development of machine control. In the final battle, smart opponents try to quickly kill our ammunition wagon in order to force the shooters to go hand-to-hand. Controlling the vehicles significantly increases the survivability of the cart, and in our case it is worth a lot.

Leadership + Diplomacy + Runic Harmony. Diplomacy is a good skill in itself, and Rune Harmony is VERY powerful in the final battle where the runes fly away with a whoosh. At the same time, I spend runes and just for the loss of morality, it’s worth it. If you are well versed in the game, you have already realized that for runic harmony you need Developed leadership, and this is +4 to morale in the final battle, if the dwarf only has native troops. And +3, if there are good strangers among the gnomes. Since +5 to morale = maximum bonus, Runic Harmony replaces the skillful leadership slot in cases where we do not expect morale-lowering effects from the opponent (like the aura of fear of hellish horses, rings or the cry of a banshee).
+5 to morale, and even with constant luck, runes and soldier’s luck, this is a very strong combination, believe my experience.

Defense + Evasion + Toughness. Already wrote about this. I take it against heroes with a lot of shooters. These are necromancers, Ossir, Dougal and other training lovers.
Defense + Reflection + Durability against warlocks. Inexperienced warlocks think that with the help of huge nukes like earth shock and meteor shower they can defeat crowds of dwarves. And they assemble the main character as a pure magician - with witchcraft, education and the luck of a sorcerer. Pipes. There is enough meat for everyone, and the dwarf troops, under runes, luck and morale, carry away their regular troops with a whistle.
Experienced and strong warlocks try to kill the huge gains of fat gnomes using a combination of huge nukes and powerful blows from furies and riders. They take the attack, sometimes, if you're lucky, the lead. Defensive Hird + Readiness helps with this. This combination allows you to respond to all attacks, including attacks from hydras and furies.
It also helps from the gnomes, who, under the leadership of Ingvar or Ibba, often resort first using tactics and runes of energy.

Light magic + skills depending on the spells in the guild. I already wrote about the benefits above, in my opinion, the most effective magic for dwarfs.
Ideally, you always want skillful light magic + resurrection; in real life, I only received this combination twice. But the punishing blow and acceleration = mass acceleration + massive punishing blow, that’s it. Especially if both spells were given in the guild. Again, the scanner helps you understand this already on the first turn of the game. And this, in turn, helps when choosing a winning strategy.

Attack + Combat Frenzy + Shooting + Tactics. I take it less often, the priority over protection and light magic is lower. Why? Constant soldier luck gives double damage. Light magic increases damage, strengthens and speeds up troops. Yes, and runes too.
And the attack in patch 2.0 increases damage by 15%, in addition, this skill eats up valuable hero levels. Why take a skill whose effect can be compensated by others?
However, if you were given the Wanderer's Boots, the tactic is useful in order to guarantee a blow to the thanes and bears on the first turn. Combat frenzy is often more useful than shooting, because opponents, seeing Carly on the first turn, try to cripple the spear throwers or the ammunition cart. And the priests in the second place, because the wall of fire and evasion burn. And they do it right.

What troops?
If the game is fast and there is a lack of gems - Warriors, Spear Masters, Bear Masters. Upgrades are expensive, but worth it.
If there are enough gems, we choose priests or thanes; improvements for bears and small gnomes can wait.

Who comes first - Thanes or priests?
If the opponent loves shooters, priests are the first 100%. In other cases, the tans are very strong.

Whom I 100% won’t take.
Berzerkers with bonebreakers. No matter how I twisted it, I didn’t see 100% benefit from them. There are fewer hits than bears, characteristics are no higher, speed is lower, the only advantage is the maximum initiative among dwarf troops - 12 (for bears it is 11). I see Berzerker's rage as a very ambiguous ability, and brass knuckle lovers themselves are an easy target. In addition, their home requires gems and wood. And both of these resources are usually valuable and run out quickly. As a result, I say a strict no to the berserkers and save the gems for the thanes and priests.

What to build and when?
If the city level is 1.

First day – Tavern. The troops of the second or third hero are simply necessary for quickly clearing neutrals and developing the main character. The third hero is useful for reconnaissance and additional troops; I decide to take him or not depending on the map. In addition, starting from the second day, he delivers troops and military vehicles to Carly while the second one collects resources for the main gnome.
Day two – Shield Halls. More dwarfs, more troops, everything for Carly, everything for victory.
Third day - Forge or Halls of Blades, depending on what will be more useful - a tent with ballista or additional spear throwers. And Carly already has a cart at the start.
The fourth day - see the third day, according to the residual principle.
Fifth day – School of Runes or Mages Guild, depending on the availability of gems at the start and nearby lands. If there are enough of them for both thanes and priests, a school of runes. Otherwise - the guild of magicians.
Sixth day – town hall. Otherwise, by the beginning of the second week we will be overtaken by an economic crisis (on Veteran difficulty, of course). If for some reason there is a lot of gold, the Chambers of the black bear.
The seventh day - see the sixth day, according to the residual principle.
The eighth day and beyond - depends on the circumstances, priority No. 1 - the Capitol on the 14th day, priority No. 2 - thanes and / or priests on the second week.

If the city is level 3 (usually a built tavern and a fort), then there are many options and the final one seriously depends on the map and the nearest neutrals.
In any case, by the end of the week you need to have at least 3 buildings for troops, a town hall and a choice of the Mages Guild or the School of Runes.

I promised to write how I clean the neutrals.

Carly, my favorite gnome IV

What is there at the start?
About 30 spear throwers, a cart, troops of additional heroes. In the first days, a ballista with a tent is also added to this. On the first day of the second week there is an increase in spear throwers. I note that at the start, Carly has no runes or magic, so for the first days he stupidly pokes neutrals with his... wand. But then useful spells appear, especially from chaos magic, which greatly facilitate the clearing of complex neutrals. I’ll list the neutrals by category.

Stupid meat. These are peasants, militias, landlords, demons, devils, bone warriors, fairies, dryads, mountain defenders and warriors, simple and plague zombies, and ordinary demons. Their diagnosis is death from autofighting. With a soldier's luck, everyone listed below is sent to hell by express train. In rare cases, you have to play against fairies, dryads and devils yourself. How does this happen?
The basic principle is several stacks of shooters, several stacks of cover from among the troops of additional heroes, in difficult cases we substitute units from the cover to remove a retaliatory attack. To do this, we set up 2 stacks of shooters, 1-2 multiple cover stacks and 2-3 units. Spear throwers cripple neutrals, reducing their initiative and (!!!) movement speed. Therefore, we attack stacks of neutrals with them one by one until the crippling wound works. And we remember the formula for soldier’s luck when we put troops on the field. Plus, the more shooter stacks, the greater the chance that Crippling Wound will work - especially with Carly's built-in Soldier's Luck =)

Arrows and others like them. These are gremlins and elder gremlins, infiltrators and assassins, bone archers, javelin throwers, spear masters, archers, crossbowmen and renegade marksmen. Here in 100% of cases there are losses if there is no machine control and first aid. What helps to significantly reduce losses?
1-2 stacks of shooters, 1 numerous stack of cover and 3-4 stacks of dummy units. Medveds (albeit a pity), gargoyles and dancers are best suited for the role of dummy units - all of them reach the shooters on the second turn. Their task is to run and stand stupidly in front of the shooters, holding back their shots until the defenders of the mountains reach them.
There is trick number 1 here. If Ingvar was given as the second hero, you don’t have to field your shooters at all. 60+ mountain defenders with losses, but they will carry away the shooters due to the built-in evasion. And for further clearing out the neutrals, as you will see, we will only need defenders as dummy units. The main work will be done by the spear throwers, the hero and, if available, war machines.

Which of the above should not be attacked immediately?
On renegade archers, a horde of archers, a horde of javelin throwers, a horde of elder gremlins. It’s better to clear them with a tent, since dwarves are given the skill of driving machines with a 15% probability, and the forge is a walk-through building for the town hall in the city.

Fast meat. These are ordinary and fiery demons, dancing with blades and with death, beasts and furies, various bears, hellhounds and Cerberus. Tactics differ from blunt meat only in that stacks of shooters should either be placed in different corners or covered with units. Here it is important to choose the right number of shooters in the stack for optimal triggering of soldier's luck. I'm not good with numbers, I do it based on intuition and experience. Each triggered crippling wound significantly reduces personnel losses, so it is worth selecting the correct number of shooters before each such battle.
A separate subspecies of fast meat are stone and obsidian gargoyles and steel golems. They all move briskly and are immune to crippling wounds. So we clean them with the help of arrows covered with units.

There is a very interesting trick No. 2 here. If you tightly cover the shooters with single units and leave the neutrals an unprotected ballista with a tent, they will most likely kick cars instead of troops. This is where the skill of controlling machines comes in handy, which increases their survivability. I checked it many times, the veteran often works on difficulty. You understand that in this situation you can also clean complex neutrals like lizard riders and others like them; in extreme cases, you will have to buy new equipment =)

Dumb meat-2. These are swordsmen, men-at-arms, zealots of the faith, various minotaurs and iron golems. The difference compared to blunt meat-1 is only in the number of shooters required for clearing. For example, for a group with “many swordsmen”, it is advisable to have 2 increases in javelin throwers, if you have not yet mastered the subtle art of leading neutrals aside with dummy units. Golems, by the way, are in this category due to their very low speed and initiative. They can be easily cleared without crippling wounds by simply poking them with the hero and arrows.

To clear the remaining neutrals, a larger number of troops is required, but otherwise the principles remain similar. It is useful to remember that the archilichs have a plague, the thanes and jarls break through the formation of units through and through to the death. And the royal griffins make their first move to dive at the shooters (on veteran difficulty), against them it is worth collecting the shooters in one stack, covering it with units, and leaving a free space nearby for retreat.
Trick number 3. Starting from 2-3 weeks, the GG accumulates 4+ stacks of different troops. And to clear neutrals from this moment on, you need 1-2 stacks of shooters, 1 numerous stack of mountain defenders or warriors and a few cover units. The neutrals themselves love to take revenge on medvEds and poorly standing troops. As a result, you need to have troops on hand and as many units in battle as possible. The following helps here. Usually a second hero follows on the heels of the GG to collect resources. It makes sense to give him “extra” stacks before difficult battles. And after the fight he will return them back. It’s better to lose one than the valuable meat of Medvedov.

Just like that. Why did I call it "Carly, My Favorite Gnome"?

Because, thanks to Nival, another strong hero appeared in the game, which I like to play and win.

Thank you for reading this far!

I will be glad to see your comments and thoughts, write.

Life is change, chaos, depravity and suffering. Death is peace, order and eternal beauty. From the very first issues of the series to the present day, the castle of necromancers has undergone all sorts of modernizations. Even within the framework of the fifth heroes, the changes became global and irreversible, which forced the adherents of Necropolis to develop new tactics and strategies for the development of their heroes and cities. What is the Dark Energy innovation worth alone!? In the current version, such drastic changes have not occurred, however, you still have to be sensitive to innovations. But first things first.
Our recommendations are addressed to fairly experienced Hero fans, but also to players who are beginning to master the wisdom of Heroes; we think they will be interesting and useful.

Let's start with, perhaps, the most important and difficult issue - the definition of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It is important not only to learn how to choose the right hero, but also to develop it in the most appropriate way. On the first day of the first week, we have a starting hero, and another one is available in the tavern (we won’t count on luck when we can hire as many as two necromancers there). Let's take a closer look at the eight candidates:

Vlad, "Resurrectionist". Once one of the strongest, but now experiencing a decline in its former popularity. Is it legal? Of course, the time of “Inhabited Mines” has already passed (although in passing tournaments it still firmly holds the leadership bar), and the specialty provides a not very tangible plus (at level 21 - an additional +5 to witchcraft when calculating the “Raise Dead” spell "), but it’s too early to write it off into the archive. It's all about his starting skills - having the basics of Summoning magic, he quickly gains the "Fire Warriors" skill.

Why does the strategy concern playing on the Forsworn Land map?
This map has become popular due to its very small size, the absence of monsters between players' starting locations, and the ability to play a duel within just one hour. Which is very important when playing on, where any delays are fraught with disconnects, desynchronization, disappearance of the enemy in real life and other bummers. By the way, the duration of my games rarely exceed 30-40 minutes. Probably due to the rarity of strong players on .

What is in this text?
Below I will describe the following: choosing the difficulty level for the game, features of the Outcast Lands, choosing the main character, features of reconnaissance, choosing the main troops, the order of building the city, the order of hero development, optimal ways to clear out neutrals, an overview of four strong options for playing against Kaspar. And a bonus: what to do when your opponent is a beginner and thinks of himself as a hero.

What is the essence of the strategy?
Kaspar, Rogue Lands, Veteran difficulty, minimal losses, large army.
Kaspar is the only necromancer who can reduce losses to zero when clearing neutrals at the beginning of the game by specializing in the tent. Using the strategy described below, victory is achieved by gathering a large army in a short time and hitting your opponent with one powerful blow.

What difficulty level do I choose?
I will describe it for the game on Veteran difficulty, since I choose it for the game as the most balanced.
On a Hero, the advantages of Necropolis are obvious; I always suggest reducing her to Veteran to even out the chances.
On Warrior, the game becomes easy and uninteresting - a lot of resources, weak neutrals, all buildings are available, you don’t need to make a choice - build whatever you want, no need to think. For me, this means 5-6 heroes with long chains of troop transfers, easy victories over neutrals and long turns, which quickly gets boring.
On Veteran, resources are limited, which makes it necessary to carefully choose a strategy and fight for all available resources on the map. And in such conditions it is easy to see the strength and experience of the opponent in action. And it becomes more interesting to play.

What are the features of the Forsworn Lands?
The card is classified as “regular” in size. Games traditionally take place between blue and red players. Reds start in the northwest, blues start in the southeast. There is an underground part on the map, the entrances to which are guarded by very well-fed monsters. It is useful to remember the two gold mines, the dragon utopia, the magical stream and other tasty things that are on the surface. Before starting the game, I highly recommend that you view the map through the editor. You can download the map file for viewing in the editor from here:

The distance between the starting cities is small, and there are no obstacles in the form of monsters on the way to the adversary. Which often means a rush-style game, where the first encounter occurs within the first two weeks - and sometimes becomes the last for one of the parties. The levels of heroes on this map only rarely exceed level 10; most often, the first battle takes place between heroes of levels 5-8.
An important feature when playing on Lands is the surface of the ground around the starting castles. For the Reds, this is grass, which means there are no movement penalties for heroes of all factions. And for the blues, this is soil, which is the native type of terrain for necromancers; heroes of other factions move noticeably slower there, even with the combination of Logistics + Pathfinding skills. You can read more about territory types and home areas in the excellent HeroesV Guide here:
I take this opportunity to express my unconditional respect to the creators of this manual for their incredibly useful titanic work =)

Which Necromancer should I choose when playing in the Forsworn Lands?
My choice is between Vlad and Kaspar.
In my experience, the other necromancer specializations provide significantly less useful effects when playing this map. After all, the full potential of Lucretia, Deirdre, Orson and Ravenna is revealed closer to levels 10-12, while the main battle on ZI often occurs much earlier - already at levels 6-9.

Vlad is a specialist in raising from the dead, has the Basics of Summoning Magic and the Lord of Life at the start. Already at level 3, he is able to populate mines with ghosts, which can be attached to the main army. His specialization is relevant despite the powerful nerf to the spell in patch 1.3. It now costs 9 mana and reduces the number of hit points of the selected stack by 1/5. The main disadvantage of Vlad is the need to replenish mana at wells and in the city, which, during a fast game, slows down the development of the character and the receipt of the necessary resources from the map.

Kaspar is a specialist in treating and crippling enemies through the first aid tent, has the Basics of machine control and the First Aid skill at the start. With some luck, already from the third level he receives the Plague Tent skill, which turns the first aid tent into a portable rocket launcher capable of inflicting severe injuries on enemy units (with the exception of mechanical creatures and the undead).
The combination of a tent that can resurrect its troops and raise dead means minimal possible losses when clearing neutral monsters. The main disadvantage of Kaspar is the lack of magical skills at the start.

Based on this, my choice is to play for Kaspar. I choose Vlad only if the enemy plays for the necropolis and beat me to it, taking Kaspar for himself.

If the opponent chooses Vlad himself, I take Zoltan, who already at level 3 can get the very useful Lord of the Dead skill (+1 to knowledge and +5% to raising undead in addition to Necromancy), and his specialization gives a chance that Vlad can Raise skeletons only 1 time. Zoltan also progresses through levels faster and receives bonus stats, which is quite nice if the game drags on.

Necromancer Tactics in the Forsworn Lands II

Is it worth exploring on this map? And if so, how?
Yes, it's worth it. In addition to obtaining information about your opponent, it is worth considering that there are a large number of resources on the map that are not protected by neutrals. This means that the scout hero will also be able to collect some of the things available to the enemy, which gives an advantage in development.
In addition to the scout hero, it makes sense to start each turn by watching the news of the thieves' guild. There you can find out the parameters of the strongest enemy hero, which at the beginning of the game sometimes tells you what exactly he is doing. For example, if our opponent plays red Inferno and is going to visit us from the second day, then on the way he will only have two chests, one dolmen of knowledge and one tree. And by changing his parameters, it will be possible to judge whether he ran to us right away or decided to spend time clearing out the neutrals.

Which troops makes sense to bet on?
I'm not offering you anything original here. Our main troops will be skeleton archers, they will be covered by zombies, ghosts and vampires, and sometimes liches. Since the main clash takes place in the second week, I suggest forgetting about useful troop upgrades. And focus on quickly creating a large army.
At the start, players are given a level 3 castle, so the choice between liches and vampires is relevant for the seventh day of the first week and determines who will grow more in the second week. In the future, it makes sense to have both homes.
In my experience, due to the small size of the map, it does not come to the point of building the Tomb of the Dragons, and the wights represent the most powerful necropolis unit in the Rogue Lands. And with the strategy that I will describe below, it won’t even come down to the dead =)

What and when to build in the city?
The first day is a cemetery.
This move gives 20 additional skeletons, which help when clearing the mine and sawmill.
Second day – churchyard.
On the second day we get 50-70 skeleton archers, with whom we can clear out neutrals with a minimum of losses.
Third day - magic guild.
Firstly, without a guild you cannot build a bone pillar, which is necessary to increase the raised skeletons and implement the strategy of a large army. Secondly, if the guild rolls Slow, there is a compelling reason for the hero to take a very strong combination of Dark Magic - Mind Master. Or, if you get a magic arrow or stone spikes, meditate on chaos magic. In any case, I write down the spells I receive on paper and, when offered to take this or that magic, I check the list. Due to this, you can avoid stupid situations when you take a magical skill, but the guild doesn’t have the spells you need for it.
The fourth day is the bone pillar.
Our happiness is in skeletons. +10% necromancy means more skeletons. 10 sulfur is expensive, but the effect justifies the cost. An important detail - it makes sense to build a pillar at the beginning of the turn, so that after the battle Kaspar is already under the influence of its effect..
The fifth day is a damned crypt. First of all, I really like zombies. When clearing neutrals, these troops are indispensable. And in the final battle, the zombie stack very often deals the decisive blow. Secondly, you can’t build a town hall without a crypt.
Day six: Tower of Spirits. In the first week, the influx of gold is easily ensured by collecting poorly lying resources from the map. But the number of troops cannot be ensured in any other way. The second reason is my affinity for ghosts. And their super powers to evade any harm. Which is indispensable in a decisive battle, and even when clearing neutrals. There's nothing better than seeing a stack of Gremlin Masters led by Hafiz shoot at an incoming stack of Wraiths and... miss! Or how Sinitar launches enhanced lightning at them for 1,000,000 damage and receives the inscription “miss” in response...
Seventh day – Vampire estate or mausoleum. Another dwelling to increase the number of troops. An experienced reader knows that lychees in the first week of Veteran difficulty are only possible if you manage to collect some sulfur. On the other hand, I prefer liches to vampires when I know that the opponent is going to rely on large numbers of living archers, covered by other troops. In other cases, I like vampires more due to their unrequited attack and self-healing.
The eighth day is a market or a forge. Usually on the evening of the seventh day, Kaspar returns to the castle to learn spells, restore mana and recruit troops. And since we don’t have a town hall until this point, money is becoming quite scarce. That being said, I usually count on building the Capitol at the end of the second week, and it requires a city level of 15. That’s why I’m building something inexpensive on this important day. If gold allows, and the hero does not have a cart with ammunition, I choose a forge. If there is little money, the market.
Ninth day and beyond. I arrange the buildings in such a way that by the end of the week I will accumulate 10,000 gold for the Capitol. Priority number 2 is the citadel, priority number 3 is the presence of five troop dwellings at the end of the week.

What do the heroes do during this time?
On the first day I hire two. The necromancer gives Kaspar everything except 4-5 zombies and runs non-stop to the enemy to collect poorly lying resources and scout the territory. Necromancers run on the ground without penalties, which means, regardless of color, this feature will speed up the movement of reconnaissance.
The second hire, most often a hero of another faction, gives the entire army to Kaspar, receiving 1 zombie in return. His task is to collect resources and artifacts for Kaspar during the first days, take mines, and then, having given away everything valuable, run to collect free resources on our side of the map. At the end of the week he should be standing at the mill if we are playing for the Reds or at the garden of the merry people if we are playing for the Blues. To get fresh resources on the first day of the second week.
What does a scout do?
His task is to run to the only passage in the middle of the map, from where the opponent can run. And, further, collect the maximum amount of resources before meeting with his reconnaissance or the main army. And in battle, escape, killing as many of the adversary’s troops as possible. To do this, zombies are divided into 4-5 stacks of units and placed separately so that stone spikes and fireballs do not hit more than one. By the way, if the opponent was greedy and gave his scout 1-3 units, most likely our reconnaissance will defeat him.
What is Kaspar doing?
His task is to make a short journey through the dolmens of knowledge and chests of experience closest to the castle. During the journey, Kaspar clears out neutrals and, very importantly, avoids collecting free resources. There are collectors for this, and his task is to develop and capture key objects. At the same time, he must visit the castle again as soon as possible to learn spells and restore Mana. Most often this happens at the end of the seventh day, when reconnaissance is already far away, and the second hired hero is already at the gold distribution point. By this point, its level should be around 5-8, depending on the neutrals we got.
Priorities in developing his skills and useful tips on clearing neutrals are below.
If I plan to strike a quick blow to my opponent, then on the first day of the second week I buy another hero, if only the availability of gold allows. Usually they give you one necromancer, which means skeletal archers and 7+ zombies. And if it’s Orson, then it’s generally a holiday - 27-33 zombies. If Orson was given in the first week, it makes sense to specifically attack his opponent with him and escape according to the scheme described above. At the beginning of the second week, there is a good chance he will return - but with new zombies!
After leaving the castle at the beginning of the second week, Kaspar heads to his opponent, clearing out neutrals along the way already in the adversary’s territory. And then there are two options - either a meeting in an open field, or a siege of his castle. In the first option, the advantage is on our side - due to the high efficiency of the plague tent and a numerical advantage (and often an advantage in the hero’s level). In the second case, it makes sense to attack the castle in the third week after receiving fresh reinforcements. It seems to me impossible to describe a specific recipe for the further development of events, because the number of options is incredibly large.

Necromancer Tactics in the Forsworn Lands III

How to develop Kaspar?
In the first week there are two main priorities: machine control and necromancy.
Driving cars is a very powerful skill early in the game. The plague tent not only reduces losses, but is also capable of causing significant damage both when clearing neutral monsters of levels 3-5, and during a skirmish with an opponent’s hero. At the end of the first week, with skillful control of the machines, this miracle of technology takes away a week's increase in archers at a time. Or it brings the growth of skeletons to “life”.
The probability of increasing Knowledge when receiving the next level for them is only 15%. If the hero has only 10 mana, he can only raise fallen undead once, but the tent works three times per battle. Therefore, the plague tent also saves the hero’s mana, which greatly helps necromancers at the first levels.
After patch 1.3, the number of hit points of a tent inspires confidence, and the First Aid skill returns an entire tent if it was demolished in battle by adversaries. Therefore, among machine control skills, priority number 1 is the plague tent, then the ballista. The catapult is relevant only if the enemy likes to sit in a castle. In addition, skillful control of vehicles around the base gives a 50% chance of destroying city towers or gates. By the way, it’s especially good when the starting city is Adad-Usur, where the ballista is sold at the usual price of 1500 gold versus 4500.
Among necromancy skills, the priorities are as follows. Everlasting service is number one in the first week. Because it significantly reduces losses when clearing neutrals. Raising archers is priority number 2 in the first week, because at the end of the week Kaspar will return to the city and give each skeleton a bow. But in the second week, priorities change exactly the opposite.
I avoid taking the Banshee's cry. The reasons are as follows. Living neutrals usually have positive morale, -1 to it only reduces the chance of them getting an extra turn, but it is impossible to intimidate them with a scream without Deirdre's specialization. And golems, gargoyles and undead simply do not react to a decrease in morale. In this case, the opponent’s troops most often have +2 to morale, and the shout has the same effect on them as on neutrals. If Haven plays against us, and even with a strong leader (which is very rare), -1 will not have a powerful effect.
Reducing initiative by 10% is a strong bonus. However, its influence is stronger the faster the enemy’s troops. And the weaker the units are, the slower they are. There are quite a few very fast troops, which means that shouting will have a strong influence on the initiative only in certain cases. In my opinion, a situational skill is not worth a slot, especially if we play quickly and by the time of the fight Kaspar will be level 7-9. Much more important are 100% useful skills that will be needed in every battle, and we will leave the screaming to Deirdre, she screams better than Kaspar.
Starting from the second week I add the following priority: get a magic skill.
The options are as follows - dark magic + skill depending on the spell learned. In my opinion, the most useful ones would be TM+Mind Master = Mass Slow and TM+Curse Master+Spirit Link = Mark of the Necromancer. The first makes our troops move more often, the second helps restore mana in battle and cast more spells, which is very important, given the low knowledge indicators of necromancers. TM+Lord of Pain makes sense to take against amateurs of level 1-2 live shooters if they gave the plague on the second level of the tower. This spell has a striking effect on the number of level 1-2 troops, surpassing the impact spells of chaos magic by many times in terms of casualties.
Summoning magic + life lord is the second strong option. Due to the high Witchcraft indicator and the presence of the Raise Dead spell built into each necromancer, we will restore even more troops - and even faster.
Chaos magic is a good choice if you somehow manage to get the second level in the guild with lightning or an ice block, and get an artifact for them with increased damage. In a long game, Frostlord + Deadly Cold deals unexpectedly huge amounts of damage.

What situational development options are useful?
I choose them when playing against strong opponents and when the game gets long. The purpose of this option is fine tuning for a specific enemy. For example, the combination of Developed Defense + Fortitude + Reflection helps against Sinithar = our troops are thicker and his spells do 1/5 less damage.
Against archer lovers, I choose Advanced Defense + Fortitude + Evasion, especially if I expect Ossir with 10,000,000 archers.
I rarely take such popular skills as Logistics and Attack.
Why not logistics? The Forsworn Lands is a small map, with many narrow passages, grass and dirt as the main terrain (after all, games are traditionally played between red and blue, without dungeons). Using the strategy described here, it is not difficult to plan your movements in such a way as to eliminate the possibility of chases (in which Kaspar, without logistics, is frankly weak). Thanks to early reconnaissance, it is possible to see key passages on the map and, if necessary, block them with a hero. And with a fast game, Kaspar manages to run from his castle to his adversary’s castle on the seventh day.
On the other hand, if you take on logistics early, you will have to sacrifice either collecting skeletons using necromancy or controlling machines, which will increase losses when clearing neutrals.
Why not an attack? First, the strategy is based on the abundance of our troops. And victory is achieved through numerical superiority. We have a couple hundred archers in the middle of the second week + 40-80 zombies + 15-20 ghosts + 10-11 vampires or 6 liches + plague tent + ballista and cart. The opponent has a two-week increase in troops + his possible equipment - possible losses when clearing neutrals, which we compensate for with a tent, the Raise from the Dead spell and the Eternal Service skill.
Secondly, the main characteristics of necromancers are protection and witchcraft. And the choice of skills that enhance defense plays to our strengths, giving greater effect. A nice addition is the fact that the effect of the popular Battle Frenzy skill can be partially imitated by obtaining a Bloodstone Necklace from neutrals or from an artifact merchant's shop.

Necromancer Tactics in the Forsworn Lands IV

How to clear neutrals in the first week?
The level of Kaspar, his strength and the number of skeleton archers with whom we will go to the adversary depend on how many neutrals we can clear during the first week.
The main priority when clearing is the ratio between troop losses and experience gained. The second priority is collecting skeletons. By the way, it is useful to remember that skeletons do not rise from undead, golems and elementals.
What troops do we have to clean up? Usually these are 50-70 skeleton archers, 20+ zombies, possibly several ghosts or a vampire (Lucretia brings him with her) + living troops of the third hero.
General principle: we use raising the dead on skeleton archers only if we cannot raise them with a tent. Zombies and living troops play the role of defenders of the shooters and cannot be raised. Ghosts and Vampire are only placed on the battlefield if the neutrals are strong and the battle is very important. For example, if we are cleaning a crypt or there are two chests behind the neutrals.

Gremlins and older gremlins, scouts and assassins, bone archers, archers and crossbowmen (only if there is a squad or many of the latter).
We place 2 stacks of zombies on the field (1+ all others, both stacks in the center) and shooters (in the corner), hide the rest of the troops. We focus the archers and the hero on one stack of neutrals, crawl towards it with a lone zombie (to block later), the rest of the zombies crawl towards another. Neutrals focus our archers until the zombies come within striking distance, so we heal the skeletons with a tent, remembering that it has 3 charges. We heal zombies only if the skeletons have already been cured.
If there is already a plague tent and we can kill a stack of shooters with one shot, we think about the consequences and decide to treat or cripple according to the situation.
“Pass” if you lost few zombies and not a single archer.

Stone and obsidian gargoyles, swordsmen, simple and plague zombies, minotaurs, iron golems, simple and fire demons dancing with blades.
We place archers on the field in the corner, surround them with three stacks of zombies (1+1+all others), separately in the center we place a lone zombie (HP) or two, if there are enough slots. We display the rest only if there are a lot of neutrals. And preferably in another corner to save until better times. Alternatively, if there are a lot of neutrals, we use living ones as HP in the center.
We focus the hero and archers on one stack of neutrals, move the HP towards them so that she (it?) is within the radius of their attack. In this case, it is desirable that she distracts one of the stacks to herself. So that he could run as long as possible to reach the shooters and their guards.
Once the neutrals have killed the HP and reached the main group in the corner, the archers' damage increases sharply. Now the task is to give at least 0 zombies and 0 archers. If it works, that's great.

Demons and devils - similar to the previous paragraph, with one exception. We clean them either with the second hero for the sake of chests or the dolmen of knowledge, or with Kaspar, if we know where he will restore mana. Which these degenerates will pull out of him on the very first move.

A separate evil is those who dance with death. It is better to clear them when you have a plague tent + skillful machine control. We place zombies in one stack in the center, archers in the corner, with 3 HP around them, and hide the rest. Next, we focus the stacks one by one with the hero and the archers, with the tent we first cripple the dancers, then we heal the archers. We put the HP around the archers in defense while they are alive (until the first arrival of the archers). It’s great if you lost few archers and few zombies.

What strategies are strong against this?
I've seen four of them so far.

Deleb, Inferno
The first one is called Deleb, she is a demon lord, a ballista specialist, and just a hell of a woman =).
Its ballista, as a rule, shoots twice, and each time it throws a fireball that hits targets around the main one. It hits accurately, it hits hard, and the skeletons fly into another world with a whistle.
When meeting face to face in an open field, I do this:
A) I divide the skeletons into 2-3 packs, place them in the center, and place the usual defense of ghosts and zombies at a distance of 2 cells on the sides so that they don’t get caught by ballista or stone spikes.
B) I play the game “who will bury who first”: I try, with the help of a tent, a hero and archers, to carry away his units faster than he does mine. In this game I have such advantages - a strong spell for raising undead and the ability to bring back troops using a tent. And he has endless shots from a ballista and an abundance of mana against our weak knowledge and a tent that only works 3 times. Moreover, the imps will suck up a piece of mana, which is already scarce.
Hence there are two possible responses:
Quickly clear out the neutrals closest to your castle along with the crypt and build at least a citadel by the time he arrives. If the arrival is expected in the first week, due to the logistics received along the way and the bonus from the moral fountain (which is very rare). If Deleb reaches our castle at the beginning of the second week, God himself ordered to take the growth of the second week and fill her with her demonic hmm... face =)
In any case, before meeting her, it makes sense to teach Kaspar first-level magic in the hope of attacking spells like stone spikes or a magic arrow. And increase the amount of mana with one of four options: take the initial education and mana attraction, take the +1 bonus to knowledge with battle (easier if we play as red), take the magic stream with battle and double your mana (if the enemy is not a fool, he will catch us there), purposefully develop dark magic to the sign of the necromancer and regenerate mana already in battle.
Some useful tips and observations:
1. Do not agree to play against Deleb on Hero difficulty - this will give the adversary more advantages than us. The same goes for the choice of colors - she gets a significant advantage for red ones if she gets logistics along the way. This means that if you play against such a frankly unbalanced hero, then on Veteran and with reds.
2. You don’t need any special ability to win with Deleb, which attracts many players who want an easy victory. But the games against her are fast - once he carried away her troops, threw her back to the castle, and while the demon runs to us a second time, we raise the hero and recruit skeleton archers.
3. A good answer to the ballista would be Basic Defense + Reflection, the ideal option is Advanced Defense + Reflection + Fortitude, although most likely you will have to sacrifice necromancy. And, naturally, it makes sense to take your ballista to shoot reinforcements called from behind.
Hafiz, Academy
A strong and popular answer to Kaspar is Hafiz from the academy with the ability to control machines. By the middle of the second week, his gremlins usually have the characteristics of higher vampires, and the adversary almost always plays on defense - covering the gremlins with golems and gargoyles, summoning elementals, attacking with genies and magicians.
It is very important to have a higher level than him by the time of the meeting. From my experience, power over machines works less often if Kaspar is higher than Hafiz in levels. And more often, if it's the other way around. In addition, this skill takes away the tent with some probability. And Hafiz often lacks first aid skills, not to mention a plague tent. And by the middle of the second week, this mage’s magical skills are rarely well developed compared to Nazir or Ora.
Therefore, for the decisive battle, I use the following tactics.
I place two stacks of skeletons in the corners, if there are lychees, put them in the center. I also put the rest of the troops in the center - ghosts with vampires and a stack of zombies. The priority targets for archers are mages, then master gremlins (MG). There will be 2-3 stacks of mages, so 2 stacks of skeletons will find targets. Ghosts play a key role in such a fight. Their task is to get to the MG and stand next to them, preventing them from shooting. An experienced mage will try to kill them as quickly as possible with magicians, MGs or his spells. Therefore, it makes sense to be ready to treat them with a tent or raise them from the dead.
The role of the vampires in this fight is to cut out the attacking genies and cripple the MG guards so that the ghosts get to them. If the liches are on our side, their target, of course, is the MG, because by the will of Nival, their attack for some reason damages the golems and gargoyles. With which the adversary will cover the MG.

Necromancer Tactics in the Forsworn Lands V

Vittorio, Order of Order
The battle against Vittorio, a siege engine specialist from Haven, looks similar. Experienced players try to quickly prepare archers from peasants. So by the time of the fight there will be a horde or more of them. Which means a similar arrangement on the battlefield as Hafiz - archers or crossbowmen in the corner (or in the corners), nearby swordsmen or men-at-arms with large shields (one or two stacks), royal griffins (one or two stacks) in the center. If there are monks, then usually in the corner opposite from the archers (they are afraid of the attack of liches and rightly so). If there are knights or paladins, then place them in the center next to the griffins to intercept our vampires and ghosts. Vittorio is strong with a three-shot ballista, some of his opponents take Leadership for the sake of Inspiration and Aura of Speed ​​and Attack for the sake of Tactics and Retribution.
Therefore, our answer to such a strategy will be Developed Defense + Evasion + Fortitude. Evasion will reduce damage from shooters and ballistas, I won’t repeat about durability =)
In a fight, I place a stack of skeletons in the corner, diagonally from it a stack of zombies, in case of attack by knights or ordinary griffins. Vampires, ghosts - in the center, if there are lychees - in the other corner. The adversary usually launches royal griffins into the sky, aiming at skeletons. Therefore, I place only one stack of skeletons, which should simply move aside after the griffins move. At the same time, the high initiative of griffins sometimes allows them to land before the skeletons turn:<.
Priorities for attacking with skeletons and tents are griffins, monks and archers. The job of the ghost vampires is to block the archers. Zombies guard our archers and often finish off griffins after they fly in. An important detail is the enemy tent, which not only heals and raises from the dead, but removes harmful spells. Therefore, it makes sense for the damage to destroy your opponent's stacks between tent turns - or spread the damage across different stacks to make it harder to heal.

Sinitar, League of Shadows
For dessert, I left tactics against Sinithar, the warlock. His strengths are his powerful spells and thick troops. By the end of the second week, 6 cave hydras with regeneration allow the adversary to play his favorite game of “attack, hit with a spell, run away.” And warlock reconnaissance most often strives to attack Kaspar and, after beating up the skeletons, escape.
What do I do with intelligence? I set up a stack of zombies (at least 20) against the usual 7 scouts. The tent heals the zombies, while the hero methodically knocks the spirit out of the infiltrators.
What am I doing with the main character? If it’s a quick game, then the situation is usually like this. He has 2-4 stacks of one hydra, furies, minotaurs and scouts. Everyone plans to stand on defense, except for the furies. I place all the troops at intervals of one cell in the letter G to avoid being hit by stone spikes and fireballs. Skeletons in the corner, zombies nearby, then vampires and ghosts. Targets for archers and tents are furies, hydras. Usually one charge of the tent is enough to stop the furies from running. By this point, they usually manage to take a painful bite once or twice due to the enormous initiative and initial randomness in the arrangement. Then the zombies crawl forward, and the game comes down to focusing on the troops of hydras and minotaurs and healing and raising their own from the dead. Between meat, tent, and Raise from the Dead, I haven't lost an early battle yet. Often the adversary throws lightning once and runs into the castle. At the same time, part of the killed returns due to eternal service, and Kaspar runs on.
During a late battle (end of the first month), it makes sense to prepare by selecting Developed Defense + Reflection + Fortitude. The second counter against warlocks are archiliches. Even for the sake of building them alone, it makes sense to clear the mines. What's the matter? But the fact is that, besides the hydras, the rest of the warlock’s troops have a relatively small number of hits. And extremely vulnerable to the plague spell. Which two stacks of arch-liches in the final battle quite quickly impose on the enemy’s army. And the warlock has a serious choice - to hit the skeletons with Earth Blow or do it with the arch-liches.

At the moment, I have not seen a single strong strategy against mine for the elves. And there are somehow few fans of eared ones if you play in the Rogue Lands.

Thank you for your interest and patience! I am sure that this text is an occasion to discuss interesting points in the game for and against the necropolis in the Rogue Lands.

Bonus: How to Play Against Newbies for Rankings
Before I met really strong players on , I had to deal with newbies many times. Who imagined themselves to be experienced and seasoned. And still, due to the glitchy rating system, in which the numbers in the profile do not guarantee the presence of a skill, I come across them. Such games are interesting to me only if a person is mature, educated and wants to learn to play well. In such cases, it’s nice to communicate, and it’s not a sin to continue acquaintance. In other cases, you have to listen to crying about bugs, mistakes of developers, etc., when the adversary begins to lose, and I don’t like that.
Against such beginners (and there are quite a few of them) I play _very_very_ aggressively. Those. Having captured the mines on the first day, Kaspar immediately ran after the scout. The third hero catches up with Kaspar on the third day and brings either a ballista with a cart of ammunition or a pack of zombies. Along the way, Kaspar does the following things:
A) cleans the Dolmen of Knowledge in the middle
B) comes to drink from a magic stream, which is very useful if you did not lose knowledge during development
C) takes all the chests for experience. At the same time, which is very important, I choose, first of all, two things - Necromancy and controlling machines. And, naturally, a plague tent as soon as the opportunity presented itself. I ignore the rest of the skills, because with each new skill line that is opened, the chance that they will give us the things we need like a plague tent, ballista and catapult is lower. And naturally I take skills like eternal service and banshee scream only if they don’t offer necromancy or machines. I take the raise of archers if I have covered half the path - and it is not possible to give back the skeletons for an upgrade.
D) cleans the crypt if there are 100+ archer skeletons and 20+ zombies. The only problem with the crypt may be if there are 5 liches or 5 wights in it. We focus the wights with the hero, cover the shooters with zombies or ghosts, and while they are running towards us, we feed 1-2 units to gain time. It’s more interesting with liches - we divide the living troops into different corners, try to save the tent’s charges for the end of the fight, let the liches remove the archers, and ignore them until we bury the rest of the inhabitants of the crypt. The fact is that the liches have only 5 charges in their staves, after 5 shots they slowly crawl towards us, which makes them easy prey for the remaining troops, while the hero raises the skeletons and heals them from the tent (you probably know that after raising skeletons, the tent works even better for them =)).
D) cleanses neutrals who are not like archers, high vampires or druids with archmages. At the same time, monsters of the first three levels, when meeting with a hundred archers, themselves rush to replenish their troops. We don't even discuss Melee monsters up to the third level. Who else can be cleared out with a minimum of losses? A squad of unicorns, a squad of nightmares, a squad of hydras, a squad of simple griffins, a squad of genies - the tactics are the same. We cover the archers with zombies and ghosts, and send forward lonely zombies or, if very important, ghosts. Since all the monsters described above are large creatures, it is often possible to simply stop them by blocking the road with suicide bombers. It makes sense to send them to the next world stack by stack, focus the hero, tent and archers and put the defenders in defense. A little practice and losses when clearing these creatures will be minimal - like 3-4 zombies and/or 1 ghost.
E) if necessary, visits the well. It is located in front of the entrance to the blue territory.

When meeting with enemy reconnaissance, I hide both skeleton archers and their regular colleagues, because the adversary usually focuses them with his hero or spells before running away from the battlefield.
Victory in such games occurs on the 7th-8th day in the area of ​​the opponent's castle.

Barbaric technique on the warpath I

According to tradition, we will quickly get acquainted with the contenders for the role of commander-in-chief - and also according to tradition, we will make a division into sprinters and stayers, although, in relation to barbarians, this division is rather arbitrary. So, in the first group we included typical rushers...

Haggesh is the leader of the centaurs.
The vast majority of players, without hesitation, take this one when starting the game - the presence of almost three dozen shooters in her army and their overall strengthening by +1 to attack/defense for every two levels allows you to immediately get a fairly powerful punching fist, against which many are powerless neutrals. In addition, her specialty increases the starting initiative of the centaurs - at high levels this is an almost one hundred percent guarantee of making their salvo first. However, in this very strength, oddly enough, lies its main weakness - it is Haggesh, of the entire line of barbarian heroes, who is easiest to leave without specialization.

Tilsec - Khan's fist.
Those who are hesitant to take Haggesh take it. A strong hero with "Machine Fundamentals" and equipped with a ballista starts just as quickly as Haggesh. Even without the “First Aid” skill (but with the presence of the tent itself), he is able to clear out strong neutrals with minimal losses (several units of simple goblins), using the “Rage” skill of his orc warriors.

Krag is an interloper.
Introduced into the game by the will of the developers in memory of the unforgettable Craig Hack from the third heroes. Good at the start, but reveals itself especially brightly closer to the finish line in the fight against high-level creatures - capable of defeating hordes where the Haggesh centaurs cannot do without serious losses.

Argat is a bloodhound.
Of all the walkers (Grock, Rutger), she is the fastest in all respects - her specialization brings more movement points and the start, thanks to the same “Logistics,” is successful. On maps densely populated by neutrals with the presence of “War Path”, it clears both its own and enemy lands with a hurricane - and this leads to the fact that the enemy does not have enough time to successfully complete its development.

In the second group we conditionally included heroes whose specialties are most fully revealed in long games - however, one should not think that their start is much worse and we are dealing with outsiders.

Keegan is the goblin king.
At one time, I had the opportunity to test the Kigan-Haggesh pair - in almost all cases, it was he who was ahead of the leader of the centaurs in development. It's all about having the basics of "Leadership", which quickly becomes skillful, and thanks to this, both centaurs and goblins begin to walk like crazy in battle. In addition, this hero has the most direct path to Super Skill and we will definitely talk about this later. The second part of the specialization causes some regret - canceling betrayal is not very relevant at the start and does not play a role at all in the final battles - however, one can understand the developers who managed to take into account the disadvantages of Ingvar's sharp strengthening to the detriment of other heroes.

Haruna is a blood drinker.
Along with Keegan, she is also one of my top five favorite barbarian heroes, and just like Keegan, she is underestimated by most players. Her specialty is more clearly felt the higher the heroine’s level - however, her start, thanks to the quick acquisition of “Fire Arrows” (usually no later than levels 4-5), is very good.

Goshak is the blade of Khan.
Strengthens killers, executioners and leaders. Has a developed "Blood Rage" (which instantly becomes skillful) and "Help" - the main prerequisites for a successful start to the game.

Shak-Karukat is a wyvern tamer.
Gives an increase to his charges in the form of 2 units of health for each level, starting from the first - in comparison with the already mentioned imbalanced Ingvar, this is not so noticeable (in quantitative terms), however, the presence of "Fundamentals of Defense" makes it very likely that they will soon receive BDP - and with it Punching, as you know, is made much easier.

Hero development

Let's now talk about possible ways of development of our heroes (and heroines). But first, let’s look at the so-called “Universal Development Scheme”, which includes acquiring power skills - “Attack”, “Defense”, “Machines”, “Leadership” and the fifth point “Luck”, “Logistics” or “Education” (in depending on the card or the random occurrence of a particular skill, for example, in the witch’s hut). It enjoys considerable popularity among players not so much due to its well-known ease of execution, but because of its viability.

In “Attack”, all skills without exception are useful to the barbarian - it’s a pity that you only have to choose two out of seven possible ones (why two? - because we take “Combat Madness” for any attacking scheme). For example, “Tactics” would help cover the centaurs (or, for example, the goblins located in the very corner - the cyclopes during the assault on utopia) during the deployment of troops before the start of the battle - and so you have to waste the initiative of the covering units of goblins. Still, there are usually two options most often encountered: going to “Fire Arrows” through the intermediate “Shooting” or striving for “Devil’s Strike” (taken after “Help” and “Stunning Strike”) - we recommend the latter development as the most optimal, because the effectiveness of “Fire Arrows” (and “War Machines” in general) decreases in a long game; In addition, there is an alternative way to replace “Fire Arrows” - more on that a little later. There is also a wonderful skill “Retribution” (damage increases by 5% for each unit of morale) - its influence is noticeable in the late stages of the game and it is equivalent to “Devil’s Strike”. True, there is also a significant drawback - although barbarians are perhaps the only race that can accelerate the morale indicator to around 12-15 units, the bonus damage from “Retribution” will still not exceed 25% (this limit was set by the developers in order to maintain balance) . However, this is also a lot, as the reader can see for himself in a battle where a large number of creatures are involved.

“Defense” is the most important skill for all races, and barbarians are no exception. The most popular desire is to get the “Battle to the Last” (in common parlance - BDP), taken after the “Evasion” - then instead of single goblins in the penetration, twos are used and it is already possible to eliminate a fairly strong large-sized neutral guard with virtually no losses (with “First Aid” - so and no losses at all). The second branch is obtaining "Fortitude" and then - "Deafening Defense" (very effective when breaking through through the regeneration of wyverns or when taking utopias). The “Readiness” skill, in our picky opinion, is unlikely to ever be useful and is an empty acquisition - instead there is a good alternative in the form of “Reflection” (reduces magic damage by 15%) or “Resistance” (the hero receives a one-time increase in the defense parameter by +2), although instead of the latter we would prefer “Protect Us All” - not only increases defense by +2, but also adds level 1 creatures to the army. However, all this is encountered sporadically by the main character - and most often they take “Evasion”, “Fortitude” and “Reflection” with various additions in the form of BDP or “Deaf Defense”.

Barbaric technique on the warpath II

In the evolution of the Fifth Heroes, engineering did not stand still, and in “Machines” a unique skill “Goblin Help” appeared - now the hero, if he has a cart with ammunition, receives a new addition to the army in the form of a trapper every day. Most often practiced by several secondary heroes, but occasionally used by the main one in a long game - you need to remember that this skill is one of the intermediate ones on the way to the super skill “Pure Rage”. However, for an easy start, it is more important to quickly get “Ballista” and “First Aid” - increasing your own and leveling the consequences of the enemy’s damage in one bottle. Ideally, this bottle is also filled with “Rapid-Fire Ballista” - since the “Plague Tent” is practically useless in penetrating neutrals (its damage is not comparable to the damage of centaurs or ballista) and can only occasionally be useful in the final battle (for example, it is guaranteed to deal with a phantom), and Catapult followed by Brimstone Rain [after the intermediate Goblin Aid and Forces vs. Magic] is good in a long game with the desire for a super skill. There is an important nuance here - it often happens that in the initial stage of development they don’t offer “Machines” at all - and therefore the hero has to fill out previously acquired skills and abilities in anticipation of better times. Here it is important not to be nervous about this (the barbarian is capable of successfully carrying out quite complex penetration even without technology), but to adjust his development - after about the 15th level of “Machines”, if they were not offered earlier, it is better not to take them at all and switch to other branches development - fortunately there is plenty to choose from (see paragraphs above and below).

We can observe a similar picture with regard to skills in “Leadership” - two lines of development with slight variations: “Diplomacy” with “Empathy” (and here, perhaps, the only acceptable alternative in the form of “Treasury Management”) and “Gathering Troops” plus “The ecstasy of battle” and then “Inspiration” (as one of the paths to the super skill) or “Aura of speed” - the last skill we will recommend for taking, especially since in the attacking scheme of Maxim Sorokin (more on it later) - this is an important link.

Now we have smoothly approached the notorious “fifth point” (see note), which includes what, for some reason, we could not take earlier.

So, Lady Luck. And here we also see the same two lines of development - however, even more subtle (that is, meager) than above: “Magical resistance” with “Barbarian luck” and “Soldier’s luck” with “Deadly failure”. True, in practice, these two thin lines merge into one line, just as thin as these - this is due to the fact that the bug with “Barbarian Luck” has not yet been fixed - this skill reduces the damage received by barbarian units from magic by a constant 5% - neither a ten-nor, much less a fifteen-percent reduction can be achieved even with the “Luck” parameter of five or more units! “Luck on the Way” (as well as “Trophies” and “Asha’s Patronage”) remained the prerogative of minor characters.

A similar situation can be considered in “Education” - going to “Mentoring” (after the obligatory “Military Knowledge” and “Attraction of Magic”), which is relevant in long games, occurs as often as taking the “Fire of Fury” skill - its effectiveness is very significant, and for this reason we recommend it. "Endurance" and "Dark Revelation" are taken, as a rule, only when there is nothing else to choose from.

And in “Logistics” these traditional thin threads practically turn into one - in fact, nothing can replace the effectiveness of the link “Finding the Way” - “Path of War”. It, of course, can be diversified with an addition in the form of “Looting” (in our opinion, this is the best thing) or, at worst, “Reconnaissance” or “Treads of Death” (also have their positive aspects) - however, there is a strong feeling of the only option when all visible variety of skills. (Very important: the "Sharp Mind" skill is an important component of Maxim Sorokin's attacking scheme (see below)).

Antimagic

Now it’s time to talk about anti-magic directions - especially since, in our opinion, this is where the “only correct” solution to the issue of hero development lies. Despite the seeming obviousness of choosing one or another skill (depending on the race/hero of the enemy), there are options, the choice of which is influenced by what we ultimately strive for. Let's proceed to a more detailed consideration, but at the beginning (for better assimilation by readers of the presented material and so as not to repeat ourselves in the future) we consider it obligatory to make the following clarification: “Damage” increases the cost of enemy spells by 50%; “Hold” shifts the caster on the ATV scale by 25% (and can throw the latter into a negative position - in other words, the shift is always at least 25%); “Weaken,” as the name implies, when calculating the effect of spells, reduces the enemy’s spellcasting power by the same 25%.

“Anti-Darkness” is considered by many to be the least effective of all anti-magics - after all, it only slightly weakens the most unpleasant spells for orcs, “Submission” and “Berserk”. However, in fact, this “light” weakening is very sensitive for the caster - “Berserk”, even at the expert level, lasts only 1 turn and therefore this procedure has to be repeated constantly (and it’s not a fact that it’s successful - because “Magic Resistance” can work, if it exists, of course), and now it will no longer be possible to subdue the cyclops, and, in general, when calculating the effect of the spell, you need to subtract another 25% (cumulatively with “Weakening Darkness”, which also removes 25%). So this muffling can be recommended not only against Letos. Of the skills, in our opinion, the standard combination of “Corruption”, “Weaken” and “Hold” looks best - if only because “Weakening Strike” reduces the target’s attack by only 3 units, and “Cursed Earth” significantly loses its effectiveness in a long game and can be good only in the initial stages of the game, and in the fight against invisibles (however, against the latter there is another, no less effective way - see the section on tactical aspects).

Another unpopular anti-magic is Summoning. Still, not taking it, for example, against necromancers would be an unforgivable mistake - it’s important for us not only to knock out his main trump cards in the form of “Raising the Dead” or “Fire Trap” - the “Return to the Void” skill (base - “Strength against magic") and "Misty Veil" (base - the skill "Weakening Summoning") will also be quite useful - the first in the fight against a phoenix or summoned elementals (of course, against demons summoned from hell), the second - for reducing initiative (by 20% ) and damage (by 10%) to enemy rifle units (of course, in a game with elves, “Anti-Summon” is rather exotic - however, God himself ordered it to be taken against Dirael). We believe that other skills (“Holding Summon”, “Corrupting Summon”) should be taken when for some reason we do not take the above-mentioned “Misty Veil” with “Return to the Void”. (Very important: the artifact “Ring of Exile” also weakens the magic of Summoning - its effect is cumulative with “Muffling Summoning”.)

Barbaric technique on the warpath III

Here, “Chaos Muffling” is already more valued by players - especially in the early stages of the game, when the barbarian is very sensitive to impact spells, not only those emitted by warlocks (even knights and elves with their ridiculously low witchcraft parameter deal decent damage with a regular “Magic Missile”). In addition, there is an excellent replacement for “Fire Arrows” - the “Fiery Fury” skill, which is taken after the “Corruption of Chaos”, allows you to inflict an additional ten percent damage with the element of fire to all our units (including the ballista). Very important: against the enemy BDP, “Fire Fury” is effective at any time in the game! The only thing you need to clearly understand is that the effectiveness of this skill is not very noticeable in the early stages of the game and is useless against creatures that have protection from fire. In addition, it will not be possible to combine “Fiery Fury” and “Fire Arrows” - their effects do not stack, and additional damage to the ballista in the form of 50 units for each shot will not be awarded (in fact, this is an obvious bug, but you need to be aware of it! ) is another reason to think about optimal development. “Mana Burst” has a dual effect - against sorcerers in the enemy army it is effective in the early stages of the game; in protracted ones, its role noticeably decreases (and sorcerers already inflict more damage with regular shooting) - however, this skill cannot be called useless, if only because of the well-known factor of unexpected surprise.

Well, we also like the last anti-magic - “Dimmer of Light” - for its powerful potential. There is a very attractive penetration option ("Storm Wind" [basic skill "Holding Light"] + "Protection from Fire" [basic skill - "Strength against Magic"]), which will show itself well in the final battles, and there is also an interesting scheme with an emphasis on the daughters of the sky - with the skill “Secrets of Light” [taken after “Corruption of Light”], they enter the battle inflicting cross-strikes on the enemy with chain lightning (this damage can be doubled through the half-set of Sar-Issa). It goes without saying that “Anti-Light” is good against gnomes, elves, academicians (and even in the case when they develop not the magic of Light, but Chaos) - the combination of skills “Storm Wind” - “Protection from Fire” claims to be of some universality applications. Very important: Dim Light does not reduce the level of spells cast on light unicorns as a result of the Child of Light skill.

Battle cries

Briefly about "Battle Cries". The skill itself is quite interesting in a long game, and even in combination with “Empathy”. In addition, such skills as “Cry of Fury”, which doubles the number of rage units received by our troops from the hero’s battle cries (cumulatively with “Fire of Fury”), and the anti-magic chain to “Distraction” [through the intermediate “Development of Combat cry" and "Mighty cry"]. In general, this skill is quite useful with popular shouts such as Fury of the Horde and Frightening Roar, but not only with them - which we will mention later.

Racial skills and abilities are best taken in this order - “Help”, then bringing “Blood Wrath” to a masterful level, and only then “Memory of Our Blood” and “Strength against Magic”. This is based on the effectiveness of these skills in penetration - in it, “Help” brings the greatest benefit.

A little about hit runs

At the very beginning of the release of Lords of the Horde, one could hear many indignant exclamations from barbarian players: indeed, the confrontation between a ten times stronger army of orcs and a handful of hunters looked quite ridiculous; among other things, after two or three such “battles,” the tenfold superiority in manpower disappeared and the warlock called for reinforcements and won an easy victory. However, these troubles were caused, rather, by a misunderstanding or, perhaps, by the confusion or inexperience of the players - both in version 3.0 and in the current 3.1, hunters who had gone into invisibility could be easily detected using traps placed by trappers - you just need to remember the cells with those located on them invisible (this is easy to do at the very beginning of the battle, when the hunters are just preparing to jump into the unknown) and set traps in them. There is another well-proven method - daughters of Heaven with the “Secrets of Light” skill (or any two items from Sar-Issa’s set - or even better, both the skill and artifacts!) immediately gain the ability to inflict damage with “Chain Lightning” - their initiative the same as that of the hunters, and it is almost always possible to destroy most of the invisible ones who did not have time to hide.

About creatures and their alternatives

We have already mentioned the usefulness of trappers in repelling attacks by hit wounders; Their role is also great in ordinary penetration - even just a few slow down various neutrals quite well, and their combat initiative is higher than that of goblin shamans. In addition, there is also 2 points more health, which is of great importance. It would seem that the issue here is clearly resolved in favor of trappers - however, there is one important nuance: in the later stages of the game they can completely block enemy magic. To make it easy to calculate the required number of blockers even without a calculator, you should keep in mind the following formula: (sorcerer level + spell level + 17)* 25; that is, a level 10 hero casting a level 4 spell will be blocked by 775 goblins; if you need to block a 5th level spell cast by the same hero, you will need 800 goblins. A level 30 hero with a level 5 spell is blocked by 1300 goblins. In general, to be fair, even a single goblin shaman has a chance to block an enemy spell - but there this probability is not too high (however, it is always at least 5%!). So, in the finals, at a later stage, you have to think about who to give preference to.

But with centaurs, the situation, on the contrary, is very simple. Here, combat centaurs have no competition - both due to their higher health parameter and the absence of a penalty for hand-to-hand combat. The maneuvering of nomadic centaurs is more a minus than a plus - as a result of running away, they fall under the blows of several enemy units and, as a result, quickly die. In addition, they suffer greatly from “Walls of Fire” or “Fire Traps”.

Most players give their sympathies to warmongers - again due to the difference in health (and here it is very significant - as much as 8 points!). However, orc fighters have their own trump cards - above average initiative (11 units versus 9 for warmongers) and the Assault skill. True, to increase the likelihood of the latter triggering, you should take care of purchasing “Soldier’s Luck” - but it’s worth it.

The Daughters of Heaven and the Daughters of Earth are approximately equivalent to each other - you just need to understand that if your army is focused on a strong melee attack, then the Daughters of the Earth will be in favor (as well as trappers); if you have obtained the regalia of Sar-Issa or developed the “Secrets of Light” - then the choice of the Daughters of Heaven is no longer in doubt.

The situation is the same with executioners/leaders. It all depends on your development option. For example, in the previously mentioned attack scheme of Maxim Sorokin, an important role is assigned to the leaders - accelerated by the daughters of the Earth, they practically do not participate in direct hand-to-hand combat and use their “Order of the Leader” skill to alternately adjust the cyclops, warmongers or sorceresses.

In a situation with wyverns, the choice is rather determined by the enemy - against necromancers, paokai should be taken not only because of immunity to “Blinding” or the uselessness of the dark wyverns’ “Animal Poison” skill, which does not affect undead, elementals and mechanisms, but also because their ability Scavenger can confuse the cards of an enemy hero planning to use Raise Dead. In general, these improvements are approximately equivalent, but in most games they are almost never seen, perhaps because of the main disadvantage of these creatures - “Blood Wrath” does not affect them in any way, as a result of which their survivability is sometimes lower than that of the same warmongers.

Barbaric technique on the warpath IV

Free cyclops have 10 units less health, and they often trap friendly creatures - as a result, many prefer to take blood-eyed cyclops into their army. However, the free ones have a good ability “Crushing Blow” - a chance to throw the target to the end of the ATV scale and the ability to break fortress walls and gates (however, the latter is effective when the number of Cyclops is around 20 heads \ for each damage inflicted to fortifications is 10 units).

Brief summary by levels:

I - 50%-50%
II - 20%-80%
III - 45%-55%
IV - 50%-50%
V - 50%-50%
VI - 60%-40%
VII - 50%-50%

A little about barbarian magic (or war cries)

The most popular among players were “Frightening Roar” and “Rage of the Horde” - sometimes it even goes so far that the main reason for defeat is said to be bad luck with getting the right cry: instead of “normal” ones they were given “weak” ones (“Word of the Leader” or “Battle Cry” ). However, “bad luck” is caused primarily by the inability to use “unprofitable” calls (or ignorance of their features). In fact, no one will convince me that “Battle Cry” (essentially a strengthened analogue of the general “Punishing Strike”) is an empty acquisition. At high levels of the hero (above 20), and even in combination with the “Mighty Cry”, it not only exceeds the attacking bonus of the “Punishing Strike”, but also gives +1 to the speed of all its creatures (of course it also adds rage points) . The only negative is that the call lasts only one turn; however, when combined with Empathy and Masterful Battlecry, this disadvantage is almost invisible. “Word of the Leader” is extremely effective in relation to low-level troops (goblins, centaurs and warmongers) - it is undesirable to use it in relation to, say, cyclops due to the peculiarity of causing direct damage by the hero (for example, a hero of the 21st level kills with a direct attack of 8 creatures of the first level, 6 - of the second, 4 - of the third, ....., 1 - of the seventh - to lose 1 cyclops or 8 goblins the difference is noticeable).

About urban planning

Barbarians are capable of not only sowing death and destruction, but also erecting very interesting structures. We are interested in the priority order of construction in the first and second weeks - because this is where the foundation for a future victory is laid. Usually a scheme is practiced with the construction of a citadel on the 7th day (in order to get an increased increase in the main punching fist in the form of centaurs and goblins at the beginning of the second week) - on some maps (for example, “Land of the Outcasts”), if there is a fort, they also manage to stick in the dwelling of shamans - then on Monday, a chain of minor heroes transfer the increments to the commander-in-chief, and he conducts the final battle. The main thing here is to take care of a sufficient amount of the necessary resources (primarily ore and mercury) - usually, even when playing at the “hero” difficulty level, you can successfully solve these problems. There is another scheme - the quickest laying of a wyvern lair. Here it is already more priority to have wood and sulfur. However, the option with wyverns is quite rare - for reasons of later appearance (usually in the second week), high cost and when difficult-to-pass neutrals are located in key strategic positions (forest marksmen, archmages, arch druids, etc.).

Maxim Sorokin's attack

The attentive reader has already encountered the mention of this surname above. It's time to take a closer look at one of the many developments of this talented man, known in the heroic world as Psionic. The attacking potential of his great idea is most clearly revealed in long games, when it is possible not only to gather an impressive amount of manpower under your banners, but also to acquire good artifacts and, what is perhaps even more important, to give your hero the necessary set of skills and abilities. We will begin with the latter (remembering Shakespeare’s saying: “Last but not least”).

In general, it would be useful to immediately mention that it was developed as an alternative response to elven aggression - in the final battle, almost half of their troops (and under the control of Vingael - almost all) manage to go before the enemy’s turn and destroy most of our army and, as a result, This means inevitable defeat awaits us. However, it is possible (and necessary!) to fight this. As in ancient times, here, too, everything rests on three pillars - that is, the skills: “Aura of Speed”, “Storm Wind” and “Sharp Mind”. Here is a complete list of the required skills and abilities: skillful “Leadership” (“Gathering troops” + “Aura of speed” (required) and “Intoxication of battle” (recommended)); skillful “Dull Light” (“Hold Light” + “Storm Wind” (required); “Protection from Fire” (recommended for penetration, but can also be useful in the finals)); skillful “Logistics” (“Intelligence” + “Sharp Mind” (required, but usually taken before the final battles through retraining from a mentor, and before them, in preliminary penetration of neutrals, the recommended “Pathfinding” is practiced in conjunction with “Way of War" and “Looting” "); skillful "Attack" ("Tactics" (required - most often relevant for leveling a similar enemy skill; very important: against Nibros (Inferno faction) you need to take any other skill, since with his specialization he levels our "Tactics", at the same time while retaining the ability to use your own), “Battle Madness” (recommended, but in our opinion almost mandatory) + “Retribution”, which can be replaced with “Stunning Blow”); fifth - a choice between “Protection” (in most cases it is preferable ) and "Luck", which in this context seems more appropriate to us, especially enriched with "Soldier's Luck" and "Magical Resistance". Those who know how to compare disparate factors together will immediately draw their attention to the fact that key importance in the proposed development scheme is given to the "Speed" indicator - all the skills that affect it are used here. Therefore, a good addition to it is the “Boots of Speed” artifact and at least two items from the “Embrace of Death” set - although personally I would prefer “Dragon Leggings” instead of boots. Of the creatures, leaders are required (they drive the cyclops), divided into 2-3 squads, daughters of the Earth (also divided into 2-3 squads) and 1 squad of free cyclops (although their speed and initiative are 1 unit lower than those of the blood-eyed ones) , taken thanks to Crushing Blow. At the very beginning of the battle, our daughters cast “Acceleration” on the leaders and cyclops, the barbarian hero shouts out “Battle Cry” (not only a significant increase in the “Attack” parameter, but also the most important thing: +1 to speed! ) and after that you will not envy the enemy troops who fell under the power of the Cyclopes crushing everything.

Briefly about artifacts

In conclusion, let’s touch a little on the issue of equipping our hero. Unfortunately, we very rarely see the special racial set “Weapons of Power” in action - the catch is that a barbarian can derive the greatest benefit from owning them in the early stages of the game - but the whole question is: how to get them? And in the middle and late stages of the game, when we are able to get them, it turns out that instead of them there are more useful things (for example, “Shield of the Dwarf King” or “Fiery Dragon Tongue”). In addition, the following bug is associated with this prefabricated artifact - contrary to the description, when using “Help” our hero does not move along the ATV scale. In general, usually the hero is equipped with everything found on the road (taken from neutrals), but in the later stages of the game there is already a choice - here artifacts that influence the initiative of creatures, as well as the “Pendant of Mastery” and the “Golden Horseshoe” will bring the greatest benefit. Very important: the following bug is associated with the full set of “Dwarven Kings” - the level of “Stone Skin” and “Evasion” applied at the beginning of the battle depends on the mastery of Light magic; therefore, for barbarians who are deprived of the opportunity to study magical sciences, these spells are cast at the “No Skill” level, that is, they only provide +3 to defense and 25% reduction in damage from ranged attacks. Alas, Dimming the Lights does not improve the situation.

Security and treasures of the Dragon Utopias

1. General Provisions

The reward received for winning Utopia depends only on the type of Utopia (a detailed description of the types is below).
Plundered Utopia is updated after 28 days. Unplundered Utopia is NOT updated after 28 days.
All rewards are generated at the beginning of the game, that is, unchanged upon loading.
2. Types of Utopias

2.1 “Random” Utopias.
"Random" Utopias are characterized by a randomly generated garrison and the number of gold coins received as a reward.

Main characteristics:

2) The number of dragon stacks in the garrison is 2.
3) Composition: random combination of two stacks from two groups, one stack from each group:
Group 1: 9 green dragons, 7 emerald dragons;
Group 2: 6 twilight dragons, 4 black dragons,.
Thus, there are 4 different garrison combinations:
1. 9 green dragons + 6 twilight dragons.
Chance of appearance = 25%
2. 9 green dragons + 4 black dragons.
Chance of appearance = 25%
3. 7 emerald dragons + 6 twilight dragons.
Chance of appearance = 25%
4. 7 emerald dragons + 4 black dragons.
Chance of appearance = 25%
Note: the probability of the appearance of one of the four garrisons is calculated from the 40% chance of the appearance of a “random” Utopia. That is, in the general case, the probability of a certain garrison appearing will be equal to: 0.4*0.25=10%.

4) Reward:
1. Gold: 12000-20000. The value is determined by a random generator and does not depend on anything.
2. Artifacts:
1) 1 relic + 2 great artifacts. Probability ~90%
2) 1 relic + 3 great artifacts. Probability ~10%
3. Spells:
2) 2 spells of 5th circle. Probability ~50%
Note: (points 1,2,5 are common to all types of Utopias)
1. The classification of artifacts is taken from the manual.
2. Spells are chosen randomly from those that can be studied, but not studied by the hero (in the case of studying several types of magic, the spells obtained can be either from different or from the same school of magic).
3. If 2 spells of the 5th level are dropped as a reward, but there are no unstudied spells of this level, then they are replaced by 2 spells of the 4th level (but not vice versa). If you receive 2 spells of the 5th level as a reward, but there is only 1 unstudied spell of this level, then the second spell is lost (i.e., you cannot receive spells from different levels as a reward).
4. Spells below the 4th level cannot be obtained.
5. Travel spells can also be obtained: “dimension door” (equal to the 4th circle) and “portal to the city” (equal to the 5th circle), but for them the required hero level is required.

2.2 “Non-random” utopias
“Non-random” Utopias are characterized by a predetermined garrison and the number of gold coins received as a reward. Divided into 2 types:

2.2.1 First type.

Main characteristics:
1) Probability of occurrence = 40%.
2) The number of dragon stacks in the garrison is 4.
3) Composition: 8 green dragons + 6 twilight dragons + 4 emerald dragons + 4 black dragons.

4) Reward:
1. Gold: 20000.
2. Artifacts:
1) 2 relics + 3 great artifacts. Probability ~90%
2) 2 relics + 4 great artifacts. Probability ~10%
3. Spells:
3 spells of 5th circle. Probability = 100%.
Note:
You cannot get spells below level 5.

2.2.2 Second type.

Main characteristics:
1) Probability of occurrence = 20%.
2) The number of dragon stacks in the garrison is 3.
3) Composition: 6 twilight dragons + 5 black dragons + 11 ghost dragons.

4) Reward:
1. Gold: 14000.
2. Artifacts:
1) 1 relic + 2 great artifacts + 1 small artifact.
Probability ~10%
2) 1 relic + 2 great artifacts + 2 small artifacts.
Probability ~80%
3) 1 relic + 2 great artifacts + 3 small artifacts.
Probability ~10%

3. Spells:
1) 2 spells of 4 circles. Probability ~50%
3) 2 spells of 5th circle. Probability ~50%
Note:
1. If 2 spells of the 5th level fall out as a reward, but there are no unstudied spells of this level, then they are replaced by 2 spells of the 4th level (but not vice versa). If you receive 2 spells of the 5th level as a reward, but there is only 1 unstudied spell of this level, then the second spell is lost (i.e., you cannot receive spells from different levels as a reward).
2. Spells below the 4th level cannot be obtained.

3. The probability of obtaining artifacts.

The probabilities of obtaining various artifacts in Utopias are different even for a specific group; approximate data is provided here.

Campaign 5: The Ranger
Difficulty: Heroic
Mission 1: The Refugees
Mission goals and conditions:
Hold the border
Don't cross the border
Findan must survive
Bonuses:
Druid Elder:2
Crystal:10
Master Hunter:4

It doesn’t matter what you take, let there be druids.

This time our hero is nothing special. After the monsters Agrael and Raelag, Findan’s ability is very mediocre: shooting part of the enemy army before the battle. His skills are, of course, Avenger. Well, Attack with the tactics ability. There are no spells.
The army is as follows: 4 hunters 5 blade dancers 23 pixies.
We have one castle and there is almost nothing in it. True, there is a tavern. The computer also has one necropolis, but that doesn’t matter. Castle abroad. We can’t get there. There are also 5 of our garrisons on the map. This is the border - you can’t go beyond them. You cannot unload troops from them directly, but there is a way. More about him later.

Hero development:

Findan is limited to level 12. We have an attack skill. And tactics in it.
In the hut next to the castle they give us a skill; it would be better if they gave us something useful, like light magic or protection. There are a couple more huts on the map, but they are guarded and it depends on your luck. But this one can be controlled by restarting. Luck and Leadership will also be needed. Moreover, these must be increased as soon as they are given; on the next map they will be desperately needed.

Walkthrough of Heroes 5:

The difficulty is still Heroic. We need favorable conditions to start. The tavern needs two native heroes. The best of Ylthin's native heroes. Free unicorn and tent. The second one is not important, as long as it’s yours. We look at the garrisons. We save and start skipping moves. Having looked at where the first two attacks will go, we give Ylthin all the available troops and, with one dancer, run along the road to this garrison. Ylthin days beats the guards of the sawmill and the ore quarry, as well as the dwelling Hanters, without losses. And with minor losses he takes the crystal mine to the right of the castle behind the stream. (You don’t have to take it, but there’s nothing else to do yet. The second hero collects the piles of resources that have become available. We’re slowly building the castle.
Findan stands inside the garrison we need, visiting flags and a statue that increase morale, if found along the way. Now the garrison is attacked by the computer. It is unlikely that he will be able to lose, but it is necessary for as many troops as possible to survive. We leave the garrison and see that the troops have followed us.
If the garrison is surrendered, nothing terrible will happen, they will show a video and send it back to recapture it. Two garrisons under enemy control at the same time means defeat.
On day 30, an army of demons will appear. If the enemy goes through the central garrison, you can use this in an already known way. In the two weeks of calm before the demon arrives, we run around several boosters with Findan. We go into the house for magic. If there is diplomacy, you can attach troops. For example, 190 marksmen will not be superfluous. The army will come in a solid size, but even auto combat can cope with it. We win, watch the video and move on. The levels ahead are more difficult and therefore more interesting.

Addition from dost_sir:

In version 1.2, one significant detail has changed: troops cannot be taken from garrisons. No way. Even if you stand in a garrison and wait for an attack: only the hero’s troops will participate in the battle. Hence the disappointing conclusion: you can’t get around everything on the map, you can’t recapture all the objects. We have few troops, and their austerity is paramount. We clearly begin to realize that in the castle we only have a citadel (the growth is not to its fullest), there are no dragons, there are no improvements to homes from druids and above. There is no Capitol. And you will need money. There are few resources for the Hero, so our initial bonus is 10 crystals.
I allowed myself to “choose” a couple more bonuses at the beginning: Ossira in the tavern (he has archers) and a useful skill in the nearest witch’s shack. As advised by many experienced players, at the very beginning I found out where the nearest attack would be and whether I could fight it off without outside support (we save at the beginning, click on transfer until Friday, there will be an attack on Saturday night).
Through bitter trial and error, I chose several key objects that were important to take control of. In addition to those listed (to my taste), there is a resurrection scroll, traveler's boots and a bow on the map. The importance of each object may vary depending on the situation. My choices in my playthrough are:
The dwelling of the elf archers near the house (taken on the second day).
The 2nd archers' dwelling (a little further away), is defended by an impressive group of master archers. It is taken when the total gain from housing in the future exceeds losses in battle. I wonder if anyone will have the luck to join the elves guarding the home? Despite the desire for the object, despite the successful passage for me, I never bothered to drop in there, preferring to spend my time on other needs.
Gold mine in the east. I had enough money from her after capturing her at the beginning of the third week.
The gem mine closest to the city. To avoid building a storage facility in the castle. We'll take over in the first week.
Fort on a hill. It is important that by the middle of the third week it is repulsed and there is money for improvement. I only improved the Ents, that is, for the final battle I had troops of levels 1-3 improved in the castle, druids, unicorns, and improved and unimproved Ents (bought in the castle in the fourth and early fifth weeks).
Arena (+2 attacks), other improvements: what you can get around without significant losses.
Warehouse of magicians. Visited in the fourth week, having a light magic expert to minimize losses. Made do with 17 dryads.
What is also important: which garrisons will be attacked by enemies and when, and the strength of the attackers matters. Time is our enemy, so we must try to fight off the attack with garrison forces. I managed to repel two out of three attacks (1st and 3rd). Thanks to this, Faidaen had more time to run around for upgrades and resources. It is especially important that the central garrison be left alone until Biara arrives: we must weaken this upstart as much as possible. If the garrison is beaten, then Biara will pass almost without losses. And so, I managed to endure all the demons, some of the mares, succubi and Cerberus.
In the castle, it is quite possible to build druids in the first week, and unicorns and ents in the second. I didn’t build the Ent alcoves, I was too busy with sulfur. Improved housing if possible, second level mage guild, improved racial building, market, fountain +2 luck.
In the end, you can use the “scorched earth” tactic: Biara for some reason does not go further if she kills two of our heroes. That is, she can be detained. Issue price: 5500 per day - the cost of two heroes (if they are 2nd and 3rd after Faidaen). That's why the money at the end is so important. If Biara is not restrained, she will come to the castle before the end of the fourth week. And so, I held out until Monday and bought up the increase in the castle. Our victims to Biare must be active: we provide six single stacks so that our hero-victim takes out someone on his turn. I fell into a block of ice in the castle, which carried away one mare per battle. And this is not little :e)
In battle, the only useful spell was resurrection, taken from the magicians. He cast a spell on him. It was not easy, there were two elf archers left, but this was the first time in a manual battle, without replaying the battle.

Walkthrough Mission 2 - The Emerald Ones

Campaign 5 (Ranger)
Difficulty: Hero
Mission 2 (Emerald)
Prerequisites
Faidaen - level 12, 4-13-6-5 (attack-defense-sorcery-knowledge).
Skills and abilities - merciless arrows, fatal shot, enchanted arrow, shower of arrows, developed attack, tactics, shooting, skillful logistics, great luck, the basics of light magic.
Magic - stone spikes, lightning, stone skin, divine power, punishing blow, removal of enchantments, plague, magic fist.
Starting bonus
We select two shooters. There is no desire to take dryads, because they are only for finishing off; a donkey swarm is generally useless (without summoning magic, of course).
General idea of ​​the passage
The fastest passage to the north-eastern enemy castle, then depending on the situation - if the enemy was rebuilding the north-eastern castle, then return to the city for reinforcements, and through the dungeon to the central castle, otherwise transfer of troops to the sea, and by sea to the south-eastern castle , trying to make it before the end of the third week.
The main striking forces are archers and ents (archers first, ents later), the rest works as meat, at first try not to lose much.

Castle development
By the end of the first week you should have ents, archers, and a ranger guild.
1st day - town hall. To raise the level of the city, you need to build something, on heroics it won’t be superfluous to worry about money, fortunately the building pays for itself in 4 days.
Day 2 - arrows (tree houses). The first offspring is handed over to the hired hero Faydaen - for the comfortable slaughter of demons.
Day 3 - dancers (halls of the forest guard). They won’t be buying them out in the near future; they are building for the future, because something needs to be built for the 9th level of the city. You can consider upgrading the shooters (high halls), but in general it’s all the same.
4th day - magistrate. Until the 8th day it does not bring any benefit (the balance is zero), but then it will be easier with money, given that we will miss the gold mine.
Day 5 - glade of unicorns. They will not be buying out in the near future; they are building for the future, because... something needs to be built for the 12th level of the city.
Day 6 - Rangers Guild.
7th day - Ent vaults.

Walkthrough of Heroes 5
1st day.
We are building a town hall.
Talanar fell out in the tavern. We buy Talanar, redeem 10 fairies in the city, hand over the troops and the ballista Faidaen.
Faydaen (starting 10 archers + 19 death dancers and 5 blade dancers received from Talanar + 21 fairies + ballista) kills the nearest bunch of devils (we lose three fairies in a quick-combat). We collect two piles of stones, crystals, flag the ore mine, run to the second pile of devils (on quick-combat we lose four fairies and one dancing with blades), flag the sawmill, collect two piles of wood, run to the pile of stones.
Talanar takes the robbers' fire and returns to the city.

2nd day.
We are building archers.
Talanar buys up the archers, gives them to Faidaen, and runs back.
Falanar picks up ore, visits the source of eternal youth, kills a horde of demons guarding the crystal mine (quick-combat - no losses), flags the mine, picks up crystals, a chest next to the gem mine (take money), gems. The mine is skipped because it is not needed, and it is too lazy to kill the Cerberus.

3rd day.
We build dancers, buy a ship, and put Talanar there.
Faydaen picks up a pile of gold, a pot of mercury next to the alchemical laboratory, simultaneously destroys the demons (quick-combat - no losses), flags the alchemical laboratory, picks up another pot of mercury, runs to a pile of stones.

4th day.
We are building a magistrate.
Talanar rescues a drowning peasant and swims north to the wreckage.
Faydaen lifts the pile of rocks, past the gold mine to the demons guarding the piles of gold and rocks. We kill the demons (quick-combat - no losses), collect groups around the demons.

5th day.
We are building a clearing of unicorns.
Talanar picks up the debris and swims back to shore.
Faidaen runs back, kills the hellhounds (quick-combat - one blade dancer and five fairies), and takes navigation at the level-up. We collect gold, a chest (take money), mercury, visit the source of eternal youth, and run back to the city.

6th day.
We are building a ranger guild.
Talanar runs into the city.
Faidaen also runs into the city, sets up Cerberus, non-upgraded demons, and devils as his sworn enemies, and then boards the ship. In a good way, you can make a save here in order to accurately position the enemies (the computer sometimes upgrades demons, and sometimes Cerberus), but this is not critical.

7th day.
On the 7th day He built the Ents, and saw that it was good.
Faydaen and Talanar spin their lanterns and rejoice. One is sitting on a ship, the other is sitting in the city.

8th day.
Talanar buys four ents, eight archers, thirteen fairies, and nine blade dancers. Gives them to Faidaen.
"Farewell of the Slovyanka" is playing. Faydaen sets off north, taking with him four ents, twenty-five archers, nineteen death-dancers, twelve blade-dancers, twenty-two fairies, a tent, a ballista, and a cart.

9th day.
Faidaen is swimming, Talanar is sitting.
Faidaen sails to the northeastern island, Talanar, out of idleness, builds a brotherhood of rangers.

10th day.
Faidaen kills zombies on the shore (quick-kombat - six fairies), and on the way to the castle kills two plush enemy heroes without losses.
Talanar, sitting in the castle, builds a flowering grove out of boredom.

11th day.
Faydaen kills one plush hero in front of the castle, takes over the castle. Quick-combat - minus all troops except two Ents :). We get a green serpent, having sold a few resources, we ransom the devil, and we run to kill the idle heroes.
Then everything is trivial, especially if on the 11th day you fight with your hands and save half of the army (the troops get bored on the eve of fireballs and spikes, the archers play corners, the Ents powerfully hold the defense at the gate, Faidaen on the bench spits at the enemies with a shower of arrows, the remains of magic and a fatal shot).

Walkthrough written by: akuznetsov

Campaign 5: The Ranger (alternate playthrough)
Difficulty: Heroic
Mission 2: The Emerald Ones
Mission goals and conditions:
Collect 20 emerald dragons
Findan must survive
Occupy all inferno castles (will be given out later)

Bonuses:
Hunters:2
Sprites:10
Wasp Swarm
Let's take archers.

Starting conditions and idea of ​​passing:

One of the most difficult missions. We have Findan who came with level 12. His troops are 19 War Dancers and 10 (8+ 2 bonus) Hunters. If he is not an expert (well, at least advanced) of leadership and good luck, the mission will be even more difficult. Again, one castle. Almost empty again. And again there is a tavern. At first you cannot build dragons in the castle. The Tower of Magic is limited to the third level.
The computer has 3 Inferno-locks. All are on different islands. You need to swim to two. Go to the third through a cave. The entrance is in the north of our island. There are several obelisks on the map. They are not standard. They do not show Tear of Asha, but small groups (usually 3, once 4) of friendly emerald dragons. The obelisks are seriously guarded and begin to work only after receiving the quest for all the castles on the computer. It will be given if you take one of the castles. So for now we don’t pay attention to the obelisks.

Hero development:

Findan is capped at level 18.

Walkthrough of Heroes 5:

Everything needs to be done as quickly as possible. Now we definitely need our two heroes.

The first day.

Even before the heroes, we buy a ship. All troops to Findan. One hero per boat. The second is to select resources. We build a Town Hall in the castle.
Even an auto battle can take an ore quarry without losses; it’s unlikely to succeed with a sawmill without losses, but a couple of pixies won’t change the weather. With another hero, we put flags on the mines and pick up what’s lying around. With Findan we move towards the fountain, which increases morale.

Second day.

We swim north by waterfowl, through a drowning peasant to a pile of firewood. So as not to return to him again, I will immediately describe his route. We do not swim into any branches. We sail north to the island with the archliches. We disembark there, take a fire and a chest and sit there, not far from the ship.
Findan visited the fountain. There are lots of Hell Hounds nearby. But in this case, lots is not 20 but 46. You can break through without losses, but you need to be careful with morals and luck. Let's not touch it for now. There are demons a little further away at the crystal mine. We kill them. We place a flag over the mine with Findan. The second hero has some work to do. He rushes to the castle. Hunters are being built there.

Day three.

Findan takes the laboratory. Losses are standard - 0. Blade dancers are built in the castle. Everything is bought up and dragged to the second heroes to Findan.

Day four.

Findan still visits the same fountain. He receives help and demolishes the dogs. Unicorns are being built in the castle. Findan again visits the same fountain. You can take the gold mine, but the succubi will lay down a lot of troops, so we pass by to the next demons and kill them. There are no losses. (If there is a last stand, then we take the gold mine. The losses are then acceptable)

Day five.

If there was no completely fatal neper with chests both at sea and on land, then a City Hall is being built in the castle. Findan enters the temple for morality and goes to beat the Cerberus.
An unpleasant opponent. We need to substitute one for them to lure them under a straight arrow.

Day six.

A citadel is being built in the castle. Findan moves through the temple and fountain to the mine of precious stones.

Day seven.

The second hero collected everything they could and sent him home. Treants are being built in the castle. There should be enough resources. I even have 500-something gold left. Findan takes the chest. Cerberus again, well, they don’t care. The mine is not urgently needed.
I won’t write further every day. Because the schedule depends on the computer. There is not much left to do on the home island. Build an avenger's guild, add a list of succubi, cerberus and imps. Well, disembark on the ship. We run with the heroes to the castle. There is not enough money. Enough only for oaks and hunters. Well, we buy another part of the pixies for change. We build a ship (before buying troops) and put Findan in it. With the last pennies we buy the rest of the troops. We drag the last ones in when Findan is already on the ship. We don’t build anything in the castle - there is no money. If suddenly there is enough money, then you can improve the hunters.

We sail to the island to the right of our “Columbus”. By the way, he is preparing to jump into his ship and repaint the second set of mines.
The island is crawling with enemy heroes. There are 6-7 of them there. But mostly weak. One or two relatively decent ones can be caught, but no stronger than Findan.
Now two situations are possible. The computer has three castles, but at first it cannot rebuild all three. The capital is built in the castle where we are sailing. That’s why we are sailing there. And with the troops there are two options.
Almost everything has been built. This will do. We buy troops and board the ship. We need to sail around the large island to the lower left corner of the map. There we take the second castle.
Or almost nothing has been built. Then we move on to plan B.

We load and do not land on the island with the capital. We swim immediately to the lower left corner. If Deleb swims out from there, we don’t touch her. She will kill herself on our native castle over time. We take that castle on the first day of the 4th week (with navigation you can swim faster, but I don’t recommend taking a meaningless skill. Swimming is all you need to do equals nowhere). And then back to the capital of red.
Then all that remains is to finish off the computer (this is quick) and accumulate dragons (this is not fast, the script was written by evil perverts. Normal people would give not 5 dragons but 20 for the third castle of the computer)
After capturing all the castles in your native one, they give you the opportunity to build dragons. So obelisks are no longer particularly needed.
P.S. You need to collect exactly 20 dragons, if there are 21 then the script does not work. The excess will have to be fired.

Walkthrough written by: Captain Smollett

Walkthrough Mission 3 - The Defense

5 is a strategy game that gamers have loved for a long time. The whole point of the game is this: the player has a certain hero (or heroes) who can develop his own magical skills, abilities and, of course, his army. The game features several races: barbarians, humans, undead, demons, magical and underground creatures, gnomes. In a single player game, the player can choose any side and fight for it to the bitter end.

The campaign in the game Heroes of Might and Magic 5 is a separate, interconnected story, which has its own unique heroes, plot, non-standard twists, etc. It should be noted that the campaign in this game lasts a very long time (at least 12 hours of gameplay), and in addition to the original The game has two special additions that continue the story. As a result, there is no way to complete the game in one or two evenings.

Walkthrough of the game Heroes of Might and Magic 5

It is worth noting one important nuance that will lead to final and unconditional victory - the player needs to develop his hero as quickly as possible and at the same time not forget about his army.

The plot of the game itself begins with a campaign for people. The first one does not contain anything complicated. The player simply needs to follow the road to the end of the journey, while developing the skill of logistics and vehicle control. In the second mission, you need to capture the city of “Longbows” and “Ash”. To capture the second one, a small army will be required, so you need to stock up on materials and develop. After capturing the castle, you should hire 100 archers and the mission will be completed. The third task is to capture the gold mine and destroy all enemies on the map. The mission will end when the last enemy hero is destroyed. The fourth task involves the capture of the city of “Svetlolesye”, after which you need to meet with the plot hero. The fifth task is the most difficult of all the above. The player must hold back the siege of the castle and at the same time protect his ally, Godric.

The second campaign is for demons. In the first mission you have to walk along the road, fighting hordes of enemies along the way. In the second task, everything is approximately the same - you need to follow the path to the fort and capture it, after which the siege of the castle will begin. The first enemy must be killed, but the second one can be lost. This completes the task.

The third campaign involves the capture of all enemy forts. To do this, you need to gather a good army and capture each of them one by one. In the fourth mission, everything is also extremely simple. The player has a castle that needs to be gradually developed (hire creatures, build buildings, etc.). When the army becomes strong enough, you can walk along the road, destroying all enemies, and eventually capture an enemy ship. In the fifth mission, everything is very confusing. To complete it, you need to explore a number of islands, on one of which there is a dungeon. In this dungeon you will meet, which can only be destroyed if the army is strong enough. After their destruction, the player finds himself on another island and the final video appears.

Game description

The fifth part of the extremely popular and ancient fantasy series Might and Magic and the first game with a full-fledged 3D world.

The game received the most varied reviews from critics and players. But, despite this, in general, it is a worthy continuation of the series itself, which then immediately received 2 plot additions and a continuation in the form of a first-person RPG slasher Might And Magic: Dark Messiah.

Plot

The story is told separately from the rest of the Heroes of Might And Magic series and appears to have a separate universe behind it.

The game's plot is divided into 6 Campaigns from 6 races: Order of Order, Inferno, Necropolis, League of Shadows, Forest Union and Academy of Magic. Each subsequent Campaign opens the next one (the game begins with the available Order of Order) and follows the plot scenario, despite the fact that it is already conducted on behalf of a different race and a different Hero.

Campaign Plots:

1) Order of Order (Queen)

The story is told about Queen Isabel. O strong queen, who cannot sit quietly on the throne while an army of demons attacks her lands. Therefore, she decides to take up a sword for the first time and command her kingdom right on the battlefield.

She will face many challenges in order to learn to command her first army and adequately defend everything that is dear to her.

2) Inferno (Demon)

The story is told about Agrail. Demone who, secretly, fell in love with Isabelle. Bound by the power of Inferno, he cannot help the queen in any way and, in this case, is forever doomed to be an enemy of the Order.

Agrail will have to find a way to rid himself of connections with demons and find out how he can help the Order.

3) Necropolis (Necromancer)

Forgotten and expelled by everyone from the Order, the necromancer Markell learned about the problem of his former masters. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he manipulates the feelings of Queen Isabel and offers her a deal that she cannot refuse.

The Queen has no idea how subtly Markell manipulates her.

4) League of Shadows (Warlock)

A tournament takes place in the League of Shadows in which any dark elf or warlock has the right to participate. The tournament is a duel in which the winner will become the Leader of the League. Everything would be fine, but among the applicants a new dark elf, Railag, unfamiliar to everyone, appears.

From now on, Railag, like Isabel, will have to not only prove his leadership strength to the League, but also manage it wisely. And Isabelle has no idea how well she knows him.

5) Forest Union (Ranger)

The story follows Faidaen as he guards the borders of his forest kingdom. But soon the corruption of Markell and the curse of demons reaches his territory. Faidaen has no choice but to get involved in the beginning of a new war and provide assistance to the Order.

6) Academy of Magic (Mage)

The story tells about the magician Zehir, whose father died in a war with the undead. Zehir, using the skills of magic and a tactful mind, plans to first liberate his ruined home. And then help your future allies the Order of Order, the Forest Union and even the League of Shadows resist the army of the undead and demons.

Gameplay

A lot can be said about the gameplay in any game with a genre like TBS. But we can talk about something like Heroes Might and Magic V forever. Especially when compared to other parts.

Therefore, in general terms, we can say the following:

As expected, TBS game does not play in real time. Everywhere and everywhere the gameplay process is divided into moves, for each of which you need to carefully think through all your plans for the future and their options.

The game has an extremely well-developed RPG system for leveling up your character, city, military, magic, and even the location itself in which the game takes place.

Each race has its own unique RPG elements, despite the fact that all races can learn the same magic and have a common military hierarchy.

Each race in each map has at least one City. In the City you can create and develop your army. If the City falls to a hostile race, in most cases this marks the defeat of the defeated race.

You can extract resources in mines, ores, and other sources that are always guarded by a group of monsters.

The entire army and city are controlled by the Hero, who is controlled by the player himself. The hero also studies magic, organizes battles, keeps an army with him, etc.

The Heroes themselves cannot fight each other, just as their own troops cannot harm the Heroes. Therefore, in battle, they have the unpunished right to attack the enemy army and strengthen their own. But as soon as the Hero’s last unit falls, he himself will fall. In many cases of the Campaign, this also marks the end of the game.

The races themselves in Heroes Might and Magic V and the battles between them can best be compared to chess: everyone has their own “bishops, queens, pawns, rooks,” etc. but everyone’s colors are different and, therefore, each race and each “figure” has its own battle strategy.

Races:

Order of Order

Focus on protection and healing. Their peasants can bring income to the City, Angels and Priests can heal, buff and resurrect.

Inferno

Demons specialize in debuffs, attacks, and creating portals from which they can summon even more of their minions. Their Devils can drain the enemy Hero's mana, and Cerberus and Succubus can attack multiple targets at once.

Necropolis

Necromancers hit with numbers and “debuff” magic. Capable of reviving dead enemy troops or mercenaries in the form of undead and transferring them to their side.

League of Shadows

Among players, they are considered the strongest race, as they are completely focused on attack and offensive magic. In addition, they can find the enemy’s weak points (for example, weakness in front of any element) and strengthen their attacking properties.

Forest Union

Light Elves also specialize in attack, but no longer in magic and finding weaknesses, but in keeping their distance. Among all races, it is the best “long-range race” and the fastest in moves, thanks to the increased power of initiative and luck.

Academy of Magic

Sorcerers, Magicians, Miracle Workers, Wizards, etc. completely devoted themselves to magic at the expense of defense. They can craft items that give various reinforcements to troops. Accordingly, they have the highest magical attack and can learn the most powerful spells.

In the battles themselves, only Heroes level up (and receive the corresponding skills). The military can only be strengthened in its own Cities.

Speaking of military, battle strategy relies not only on quality, but also on quantity. During battles, each “figure” displays not the health of the unit, but the number of which you have obtained of the corresponding type. Each unit has its own health, but when there are many of these units, the power of all their abilities and attacks increases. Therefore, it also happens that a thousand half-dead peasants can kill one super-strong Archdemon unit, since they attack all at once. Therefore, when you attack enemy units, you not only remove health, but also simply kill them, thereby thinning out the army and reducing their number.

Bottom line

Many people criticize the game, remembering the past Heroes Might And Magic III or Heroes Might And Magic IV. Others, on the contrary, praise the progress and bold revolutions in graphics and gameplay.

But one thing is for sure. It's still the same Heroes Might And Magic. One of the best and oldest TBS series ever released, thanks to its extremely developed strategy and RPG systems.

Perhaps you may not like it, but perhaps you will consider it the best. But the main thing remains: it exists. And if you love TBS, then it will definitely be in your collection of completed games.

Heroes of Might and Magic V: Hammers of Fate

The first addition to the game Heroes of Might and Magic V, which brings a lot of interesting things to the game.

The most important component of the addon is the new “Northern Clans” formation, which adds a new race of gnomes to the game, with unique creatures and a rune magic system. The plot of the game continues from the end of the original game: the war with demons is about to end, but peace has not come - Isabelle, upon returning from the kingdom of Shio, is not the same as before, the lords of the empire are indignant about her power, all this leads to a civil war, into which the dwarves who have remained on the sidelines enter. The player will have to participate in this war over three campaigns of 5 missions each.

Also with the addition were introduced:

• random map generator
• pseudo-simultaneous moves mode
• new neutral monsters
• new objects on the map and artifacts
• new cards
• caravans for transporting reinforcements
• new semi-faction - Renegades

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 the new map, we begin to move through the area and at the beginning of the 2nd turn, a building 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 obtaining the maximum level for Isabelle, which is 22 for this mission and building 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.