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STARTING A GAME
Every race is designed to excell on a particular map type. Map size, amount of loose resources,
number of mines and towns, and terrain layout are some of the major features constituting a map
type. I will look at three categories, which will be based on map size, but will discuss other variables
as well.
Small-sized maps
On such kinds of maps, it is important to have strong and versatile basic units, because you can
expect early encounters with the enemy. Basic unit strength is also useful in gaining an immediate
advantage through casualty-efficient battles with neutral camps guarding map sites and items.
Another advantage some towns may have over others is the ability to mount successful rushes in the
first week of the game. The infamous Master Gremlin rush is an example of such an offensive
strategy. Hence, the Tower would be a good choice for smaller maps, if you like concentrating on an
early attack plan. Another town type which can have similar success on small boards is the Castle,
because of its strong basic melee units (Pikemen) and excellent basic range units (Marksmen). Castle
heroes tend to concentrate on unit specialties, so there is an immediate bonus in that regard as well.
The Necropolis has a chance to amass a skeleton horde with the aid of the skeleton transformer, but
Skeletons tend to be of limited use due to their inadequate mobility and the lack of early ranged units
for them to protect. For the Rampart, Elves and Centaurs can be a very good starting combo,
especially with Ivor (the elf specialist).
Since small maps have a tendency to contain less resources, it is important to look at town's resource
requirements as well. For example, if the map is very rich on resources, towns such as the Fortress
and the Stronghold can start producing powerful units very fast and quickly gain the upper hand.
Medium-sized maps
The mid unit tree plays a huge role in maps where all sides have a chance to upgrade a little bit before
engaging in serious combat. Necromancers are an obvious choice, since their armies are very strong
at this stage. If they get a chance to upgrade, this advantage will double. Skeletons will also have
time to become a serious threat by the mid game. In addition, most undead heroes do not require too
much development to start utilizing their specialties well. Rampart armies are equipped to deal with
mid game conflicts pretty well, too. Their low cost, excellent stats, and versatility make them perfect
for quick invasion campaigns. Dungeon and Inferno armies are strong in the mid game as well, with
the Inferno having an advantage on low resource maps because most of its units are reliable even
without their upgrades. The Castle is good throughout, but its mid tree units really need their
upgrades, which could prove costly on a short notice.
Might heroes tend to do better in the short to mid run, so it is advisable to pick towns with strong
might heroes (like the Rampart and the Castle).
Large-sized maps
Towns that gain the most from their unit upgrades will do best on larger boards. Strong 7th level units
also come into serious consideration during long games. Titans, Arch Angels, and Black Dragons, to
name a few, are all worth climbing the unit tree. However, they require lots of time and resources to
get to.
Towns such as the Tower, the Stronghold, and the Fortress, which excel on the strengths of their
upgrades, may require bigger maps to build up. Also, the Tower relies heavily on its magic so a high-
story Mage Guild is a must, while both the Fortress and the Stronghold need to find and upgrade Mage
Guilds of alternate town types. The Necropolis also thrives on unit upgrades and if the map is low on
resources, it'd better be bigger so the undead have the time to gather the necessary building material.
BEGINNING A MAP
Basics
Generally, the map is the all-important factor in deciding how the game will play out. Map size,
amount of loose resources, number of mines and towns should all be considered when planning
ahead. As a general rule, small, resource-scarce maps favor might-oriented strategies, since there is
little time (and resources) to upgrade your Mage Guild before the fighting begins. On larger boards,
magic is the key to a successful campaign. On such maps, especially in the late stages of the game,
mobility is paramount. Spells such as Town Portal, Dimension Door, Fly, and even Water Walk will let
you get around the map more efficiently.
The same principle applies to the economy vs. creature generators issue, where smaller maps are
more condusive to battle readiness, while larger ones tend to be territorial races with superior
economies being able to field more fearsome armies.
It's a good idea to choose maps which suit your style of play (this is particularly true when facing
human opponents). For example, micromanagement wizards will like smaller maps, where building
orders are crucial. Larger scenarios tend to bring out a player's skill better, because long-term
planning and careful character development require considerable gaming insight.
The following sections will attempt to guide you through the three major stages of the game.
Early Game
Depending on the scenario settings, you should start by hiring several heroes right away. Select a
hero who you'd like to develop over the course of the game and transfer all the available troops from
the other heroes to him/her. Try not to mix too many town types, though. This will be your wandering
hero. Before you send him/her off, make sure to either build a creature dwelling to boost your army
even further or, if he/she is a might hero, get a Mage Guild to purchase a magic book. When you're all
set, pick a direction and start exploring. Fight any neutral army camp you think you can beat without
many casualties and take the experience from any treasure chest you encounter (unless you really
REALLY need the money). Go as far as you can in any given direction and then pick a new one. Don't
be afraid to stray far, you can always run away if things get hairy. If you're lucky, you can keep at it
for a good month or so without feeling the need to go back for reinforcements.
As soon as you send your exploration hero out, send everyone else to explore your immediate
surroundings. Collect resources, get money out of treasure chests, visit map sites, etc.. Start building
your town up. Select a second hero you'd like to advance in levels and put him in charge of your town.
Arm him with the town's populace and send him/her out to clear out mines, invade nearby towns, and
battle neutral camps. Don't stray too far from your base with this one, though, he/she may be needed
to defend against enemy incursions.
Mid Game
At this point you have set up a dynamic game flow, with your wandering hero out exploring the map
and getting stronger, your base hero taming your surroundings, and your other heroes gathering
resources and creatures from external map locations. On a medium or larger sized map with hard
difficulty settings the mid game starts approximately by the end of month one. By this time your town
should be upgraded up to at least a city hall with a castle and a basic level 7 creature generator.
You can start thinking about bringing your wandering hero back to the main base, unless you
established a new one along the way. The mid game is all about assessing the map as a whole. By this
I mean finding important sites such as a heavily-guarded super artifact, an important map location
(Dragon Utopias, Pyramids, Banks and Caches, etc.), an accessible enemy town, and other things
which may potentially play a major role later on. You should really concentrate on
exploring/conquering territory at this point. Be as aggressive as you can afford to be. Don't turtle with
hopes of amassing a huge army from what you currently have, because your enemies are surely doing
the same. Seize the advantage by having more than what they have.
Late Game
This part deals with finding your enemies and deciding on the best course of action in handling them.
In order to learn more about what you're about to face, send numerous (and expendable) scouts deep
into enemy territory to remove every inch of shroud they can before expiring. Reconnaissance is very
important in making the right strategical decisions at any given point of the game. It really depends
on the particular game, but it usually comes down to who's the most prepared at the point of conflict.
For example, a seemingly weak enemy could field a huge army in a matter of days, if his/her economy
can allow it. It is a good idea to learn as much as you possibly can about your opponent before
making a move. Checking your thieves guild for clues on a regular basis is a good way of keeping
track of enemy strength or even his intentions.
As far as engaging the enemy goes, you can experiment with a number of things like hit and runs to
weaken your opponents resistance capabilities. Offensive magic specialists such as Solmyr and
Deemer, armed with a few fast and sturdy creature stacks, can execute quick raids without too much
trouble. Another long time favorite strategy is sacking lighty-defended towns late in the week. When
preparing an all-out assault, try sending more than one strong hero into battle. In case the first hero
fails, that will enable you to finish off your opponent before he/she has a chance to recover.
A little word of advise: never attack an opponent of comparative strength while he/she is behind
castle walls, unless the situation really calls for it. Town defenses can play a huge role in determining
the outcome of a battle. If you ever find yourself in a situation where the enemy turtles inside his
town, it is better to exercise a containment police rather than charging the town right away. By
containment I mean keeping a strong hero near the enemy town, while others steal mines and other
locations flagged by the enemy. This will, in time, weaken you enemy and you can maintain your own
army's strength by bringing reinforcements to your main hero.
ADVENTURING
The main purpose of adventuring is exploration and resource gathering. It can also improve your
heroes in a variety of ways. There are two ways to go about adventuring: scouting, which constitutes
mostly aimless roaming for removing the shroud and taking advantage of anything that is not
guarded, and aggressive expansion, which involves the conquest of territory. Scouts are expendable
heroes with light and relatively mobile troops. They are usually unsuited for any sort of combat, but
can avoid trouble because of their good movement. There are several criteria that determine the
amount of success any exploration mission will have. For clarity's sake, I will cover each one of these
criteria individually.
There are a few things to keep in mind when exploring with scouts. First of all, never equip them with
only a single stack of creatures. An enemy hero can easily dispatch them that way before they have a
chance to retreat. The reason for this is that they can be carrying an artifact or a spell that you wish
to pass on to your main forces. Second, never pick experience from treasure chests, unless you
actually plan on developing the scout. On that same note, only visit free map locations with scouts.
1. View Earth (earth) - good for scouts on the prowl for more resources. At expert it lets you see the
layout of the map and the location of all mines.
2. View Air (air) - useful for artifact hunting. At expert it allows you to pinpoint all heroes and towns
on the map.
3. Visions (all) - a natural compliment of Diplomacy. Very useful early on when clearing out mines and
other important locations. At expert it gives information about enemy heroes and towns as well.
4. Disguise (air) - a very tricky spell that lets you escape some hairy situations unscathed.
5. Summon Boat (water) - as the name suggests, it's useful when you have no other means of making
a boat at a specific location. It can also be used to deprive the enemy of one of your stranded boats.
At expert it creates a boat if none is available.
6. Scuttle Boat (water) - this is a dirty spell that can seriously cripple your opponent's expansion
capabilities, not to mention it is extremely annoying to the person on receiving end :)
Coveted prizes
To say that artifacts are an important part of the game would be an understatement. Artifacts are of
extreme importance, so having the right assortment of those can spell victory or defeat in most
situations. Since we are on the topic of adventuring, here are some items that may make yours a
successful one:
1. Land mobility artifacts - rings, gloves, and boots that increase your movement points. All I can say
about these is you can never travel far enough. If you can't learn Logistics, these artifacts are a good
substitute.
2. Sea mobility artifacts - necklaces and caps that increase your movement on sea. The ultimate
seafaring artifact is the Sea Captain's Hat, which also allows you to summon/destroy boats and
protects you from whirlpools.
4. The Boots of Levitation - puts you in auto Waterwalk. Top of the line mobility artifact.
5. The Angel Wings - puts you in auto Fly. The best mobility artifact.
6. The Spellbinder's Hat - arguably the most powerful artifact in the game is not an adventure artifact
per se, but it allows you to cast adventure spells like Fly and Dimension Door.
On a concluding note, it is a good idea to memorize what individual artifacts look like, because they
appear the same on the world map, but without a description. It can save you tons of frustration
during an actual game. Also, it is a bad idea to equip an expendable scout with any artifacts other
heroes may need. In fact, it is a bad idea period, because they are EXPENDABLE. Make a habit of
transferring artifacts from scouts to regular heroes as often as possible.
Important locations
Naturally, some map locations are more critical than others, mines and towns being the most
important of all. Below is a list of sites you should never pass by.
1. Sites that give you extra movement. These include Stables, Rally Flags, Fountains of Youth,
Watering Holes, and Oases. They will also provide a variety of other bonuses. The only exception
(which should not apply to Stables) is going out of your way to visit them, effectively slowing your
progress.
2. Sites that remove the shroud. These include Magi Huts, Redwood Observatories, and Cartographers
(for land, underworld, and sea).
3. Keymaster's Tents. Not all are essential or even important, but some are. So unless you know what
it's guarding, I suggest visiting each and every color tent you encounter.
4. Seers. Again, you never know what they may give you as a reward and it might be big.
5. Prisons. This is a no-brainer, just make sure your hero ranks are not already full before going after
an imprisoned hero.
6. External creature dwellings. This is another no-brainer, but only if it helps you in some way. For
example, you wouldn't go out of your way to flag a Cursed Temple if you are a Knight, but you might
consider flagging a Dragon Cave in most situations. This also presents an intriguing alternative if you
are playing as the Dungeon. Since that town can build a Portal of Summoning, you may be well-
advised to be careful of what you flag. If you flag only high-end dwellings, you will be able to recruit
powerful creatures on a regular basis. Keep in mind that in order to get the most out of your external
dwellings you'll need to visit them each week. Be prepared to set aside "collector" heroes for this
purpose.
7. Sites that contain considerable rewards. Dwarven Treasuries, Naga Banks, Cyclops Stockpiles, Imp
Caches, Medusa Stores, and Griffin Conservatories all reward you handsomely for the effort. The best
fight-for-reward site is the Dragon Utopia. DO NOT pass it by if you have the chance to beat it.
8. Trees of Knowledge. The only downside to these is the occasional resource prerequisite. But even
then they are worth the price, especially for high-level heroes who would not find an easier way to
grow.
10. Magic Springs. Mimics the effects of the Dungeon's Mana Vortex building and the Expert
Intelligence skill, although the Intelligence bonus is permanent.
11. Covers of Darkness. These are very very important in multiplayer games since they set back the
adventuring efforts of others. They are also good for staging ambushes as well as escapes.
Take a swim
The seas, while often disregarded on predominantly land-based maps, can be the source of
considerable riches. Hence, it is advisable to take advantage of them whenever possible. Aside from
wood and gold, many useful artifacts can be fished out from the waves. The map may also contain
remote islands unreachable by any other means. The sea Cartographer will reveal every area covered
with water. You can also scout the seashores, which can give you valuable information of enemy
outposts and movement. Just make sure you don't end your turn near the beach, where you can be
boarded. Lighthouses and Shipyards, therefore, are locations you should be keeping an eye out for.
There are three towns which can build shipyards of their own, if they are close enough to the shore -
Castle (the best on island maps), Fortress, and Necropolis.
When sailing the seas of Heroes3 beware the Whirlpools. Never enter one unless you're running for
your life or there is no other way to get from one section of the map to another. Never EVER enter a
whirlpool with a full compliment of troops. Only the Sea Captain's Hat artifact makes it safe for sailors
to cross these treacherous vortexes. Note: if you have only one troop left, your boat will not sink
when passing through a whirlpool. It is, in fact, the best way to cross multiple whirlpools with scouting
heroes.
BUILDING STRATEGY
Building sequence can determine the outcome of the game. This plan works quite well on Easy and
Normal difficulties, otherways it may take longer to complete.
Now you have an income of 4000 gold per day, 200% population growth and castle walls with 3 arrow
towers! Once you have the Capitol, have your town well defended, you don't want to face your walls
nor spend 10000g on Capitol again! (Capitol is destroyed if the town has been captured by an enemy
who already has a capitol).
Next thing to do is to build all Creature Dwellings as soon as possible. Build the most important ones
first and don't upgrade until you've got all 7 creature dwellings! The reason is to have the highest
number of creatures possible.
Another important building on Week 3 is the resource silo, the sooner you build it, the more resources
you'll get. If your town is rampart, think about Mystic Pond and Treasury around Week 3. Before
upgrading Creature Dwellings, build all the special structures which increase population of particular
dwellings (ex. Cages or Griffin Bastion or Mess Hall).
Okay, now you're ready to kick some butt! Build/upgrade the rest of structures as you please.
Exceptions: If the enemy is near, or big army early on is crucial to winning the game, build creature
dwellings and recruit your army instead of building a Capitol, this way you will have an army
advantage, but don't forget to build Capitol on Week 3 or 4, otherways you won't have enough money
to buy the troops.
If one of your cities or towns is going to be captured, buy up all your remaining armies and either
leave them (in this case recruit a hero to get those little spell and attack/defense advantages) or run
away with them to give to a stronger hero. NEVER leave armies for the enemy to recruit. Often it is
better to take a city over a hero. A hero needs armies in order to survive a city can always hire a new
hero.
If an enemy hero is nearby jump into the nearest castle. This will defend your armies better giving
you the ultimate advantage.
Always capture mines even if you have heaps of resources: few Marketplaces will give you about 150
gold for one unit of resource - every mine is a gold mine! Also, you will prevent enemy from building
some expensive troops and structures. Try to build as many market places is possible before trading.
If you have less than 3 marketplaces in towns, it's a good idea to visit marketplace map location.
When you pass by cover of darkness, be sure to visit it - large area around will be shrouded on
enemy's adventure map. Believe me, cover of darkness on the map or in Necropolis town is one of the
most annoying things that can happen.
Necropolis towns have a great strength / weakness when using the "cover of darkness". It is
mentioned on other tips that the cover of darkness is very beneficial to the user to "hide from others."
However, it unfortunately gives away the location of the Castle. By looking at the circle it creates,
even if you can only see a small portion of it, is all you need to b-line it to your enemy's location. Also,
if a non-castle cover of darkness is used, you at least know of the position of the enemy, a very
powerful bit of knowledge.
Gold mines should be taken as soon as possible. If you need sulfur for dragons or crystal or whatever
for the highest level creature, do everything in your power to get IT. Sometimes it is well worth
trading a lot of wood for a few resources.
If you are playing with an ally, DO NOT BE GREEDY if you have a resource you don't need give it to
your partner this strengthens both of you especially if you have different cities. You may not even
need any sulfur at all where as she/he may need a lot.
Know what the artifacts are by sight, some artifacts are worth losing many armies over and others are
just useless nice-looking pieces of jewelry. Age of Heroes has complete illustrated list of artifacts for
you to learn.
EVERY week check your tavern to see the new heroes to buy. There may be higher ranking heroes
that have died in combat. They may even have some artifacts in their backpack. Also look for heroes
that have estates or 350 gold per day or any ANY resources buy them as soon as possible, its like a
walking mine.
Always always take an enemy city or town even if it means losing a lot of armies ESPECIALLY right
before the beginning of a new week. This takes gold and armies away from the enemy.
Chest decision is more complicated than it seems! There are 3 possibilities: 1) 2000g or 1500e. 2)
1500g or 1000e. 3) 1000g or 500e. In number 1 you pay 1.3 gold per 1 experience point. In number
2 you pay 1.5 gold per 1 experience. In number 3 you pay 2 gold per 1 experience. Always take gold
from 3rd option. If you want experience, take it from 1st and maybe 2nd option, depending on
situation.
Always have autosave enabled (it is by default) it saves your game every turn. When the game
crashes, autosave saves the day. When loading, look for autosave.gmX files. X represents the number
of human players. Be sure to give players correct spots before loading that game.
In multiplayer games always put spell book animation off and combat speed to fastest to save the
time.
While it's not your turn in multiplayer, take time to check the thieves guild, look for the grail and think
your plans.
When deciding between flagging a mine or taking a resource, you will always want to flag the mine
because the resource will remain there in the same quantity, while a mine will bring you an extra day
worth or resources.
Sanctuaries are places where no hero can attack you. What you do is land a good hero on one that is
near a busy place, crossroads for example, and wait for an enemy. If the enemy is too strong you
don't have to worry about attacking, but if it is a sure win, go!
Credits: Jeffrey Hilton (8 tips), Ryguy273 (1 tip), Nemo (1 tip) and Todd (1 tip).
HEROES AND SKILLS
Scout Heroes are needed to explore and collect undefended resources. They are especially important
in the beginning of the game. Recruit a hero (gold/resource producing speciality is best for scout
heroes to make them even more useful to your kingdom), take all troops off him and give him 3 of
your fastest units (speed 11 or higher is the best). Put each unit in a different slot: ex. Slot1 -
Dragonfly, Slot2 - Dragonfly, Slot3 - Dragonfly. Buy a SpellBook for this hero if he hasn't got one. Fast
units are making hero move further each turn. Dividing units in 3 stacks gives your scout hero 90%
chance to be able to retreat. 3 fast units and some spells give your scout hero an advantage over
other scout heroes.
Artillery skill is useful for one more reason: when you have control over your Ballista, you can run
away on Ballista's turn!
Always learn at least one magic school secondary skill to any good hero, even if he/she is a might
hero, expert Shield or Curse or Haste or Bless would help a lot.
Knowing your enemy is very important in multiplayer. Here's how you can identify enemy hero's
secondary skills: If Ballista takes time before it shoots, if it does double damage or if it does two shots
per turn, he's got Artillery skill. If Catapult takes time before it shoots or if it does two shots per turn,
he's got Ballistics. If First Aid Tent takes time before it heals, he's got First Aid skill. If an offensive
spell does some extra damage (it says that in the bottom of the screen), he's got Sorcery. Identify at
which level he casts his spells. Casting a weakening/stats-improving spell on all troops means expert
level for sure. You cannot determine magic school secondary skills on magic plains where all spells are
cast at expert level. If his maximum spell points almount is higher than his Knowledge X 10, he's got
Intellegence. If he can position his troops or you can't position your troops while you got tactics
means he's got Tactics. Well, that's all the secondary skills you can determine for sure.
Sometimes it's a good idea to have a smaller reserve army behind your main hero. It carries all the
fresh troops to rebuild the main army after a big battle.
Put a hero in the water as fast as possible. There is always lots of flotsum, survivors and chests to be
had. Not to mention Magellan's Maps can uncover much of the Map on some maps.
Always buy a spell book ASAP just a few weak spells can save you in combat.
Build build build your heroes! One really good hero can win the game even with weak creatures. This
means sometimes get experience over gold and always visit the skill raising structures.
Your Ballista can be really annoying: enemy has the last troop and you blinded it so that it can't run
away. Then Ballista does a shot and doesn't kill it of course, but the enemy is un-blinded and can run
away. Anyway, as you can see on secondary skills page, Ballista is almost useless to heroes with low
attack ratings.
Don't forget Arch Angels' abbility to Resurrect once per combat - you can often have a battle with no
causualities if you divide Arch Angels into few stacks.
When you're about to attack a castle, divide Cyclops into as many equal stacks as possible - you will
be able to bring the walls and towers down in a matter of few turns!
Ammo Cart seems so harmless on the battlefield... But if you know that battle will take long, destroy it
first because some shooters can only shoot for 8 or 12 turns without it.
It's very important to use Wait and Defend commands properly in combat. Defend command skips the
current action but gives troop 20% bonus to their total defence until the next action. Wait command
makes the troop wait until all the rest of the troops finished their actions. If more than one creature
stack waits, slowest will have to act first. The fastest wating stack will get to move last in a comat
turn. If one of your troops is the fastest on the battlefield and you give them the wait comand, that
troop will virtually have 2 actions in a row: it will be the last to go on the first turn and it will also be
the first to go on the second turn. Wait comand is useful to be able to attack before attacked. When
opposing forces are equal, there often is a wating contest. Eventually, the fastest units outwait the
rest and attack before attacked. Haste spell can be useful also for that matter, specially at expert
level.
Your army should have one stack of level one creatures at all times. These weak units are cheap but
plentiful. Using defending commands grants them a 20% bonus to defense. Now they are harder to kill
off for your attacker. If possible use the wait command for level 2 units and above, then use your level
one stack to attack an enemy. Once the enemy has retaliated your stronger units can attack freely on
them! (Griffins and Counterstrike spell are exceptions to this strategy).
A few creatures MUST be upgraded (Archers, Elves, Genies, Giants, Swordsmen, Vampires, etc) while
upgrading others is a waste of resources. See monster pages for detailed comparison.
Your main hero's army will consist of level 3-7 creatures. (Mainly level 5-7). They can take more
beating and cause more damage. I think it's useful to build their dwellings (especially level 7
creatures) as early as possible. By the end of the 2nd month you should have a formidable army.
When the "strong" armies are gone, it's time for level 1-3 creatures to step up... there'll be hundreds
of them by that time.
If you're playing with Tower start collecting Giants early, and when you have lots of gold and gems,
upgrade them to Titans. Titans are probably the best creatures: the only lev7 shooters with 300
health! A smaller group of Nagas can defend a town in the early stages of the game. Master genies
are great spellcasters, although their activity is very random. However, they know powerful spells like
Fire Shield, Frenzy or Slayer... great.
Attacker: try to kill an enemy while they are on the draw bridge to keep it open; If they have a castle
and you dont have ballistics then be VERY careful. Defender: try to take out the flyers and ranged
attackers first, also try to take out the catapult and other siege weapons.
Master Genies are useful if split into groups. Good tactic is to have a medium group of naga queens
and 6 groups of Master genies. Very effective. Same strategy works with Mighty Gorgons. Need to
fight 4-6 dragons? Just split a group of 7 Mightly gorgons into 7 separate units, and attack. Each
gorgon will get at least one chance to kill 1-2 dragons per hit. You have a good chance to win and a
relatively cheap way to kill off some powerful creatures.
Never underestimate the power of ranged attackers. When you run into a non-ranged creature stack
on the board, you can often halve their numbers before they even reach you in hand-to-hand combat!
Also, if you start with two towns, get the best ranged attackers from both towns and put them into
one arny. It's worth the decrease in morale. With expert archery and precision spell cast, you can fell
the mightiest of armies. Use a few stacks of Mighty Gorgons to take out the enemy BIG STUFF with
their awesome death stare. Good luck, mortal.
An oftern good tactic is to have a hero with one large stack of range attackers and 3 stacks of those
'slow but mean' troops such as golems or ogres, before combat arrange troops so that the range stack
is at the top, followed by the slowest to the fastest of the other stacks. At the start of the battle
surround your range troops with the other troops to create a 'living wall' that only other range
attackers and v.fast creatures can penetrate!
When attacking a enemy town it's always important to attack on the 7th day or earlier for many
reasons including that your enemy will have not received his new creatures yet, if you win the town
you'll get the creatures the next day.
Credits: Wyvern (3 tips), Sir Benjamin (1 tip), Tim Fiscus (1 tip), David Foster (1 tip), Ryguy273 (1
tip), Todd (1 tip).
Berzerk spell is really devastating, especially on expert level. Cast it to affect stronger creatures, also
cast it on creatures with good specials like Wyren Monarchs can poison their own allies when
Berzerked or Mighty Gorgons can stare at some Hydras or Wyrens.
Old wicked strategy is to buy some Black or Gold Dragons, give them to a hero with high spell power
rating and an Armageddon spell. Attack anyone you want! For every 10 spell power Armageddon will
do 500 damage to all creatures on the battlefield, except for Black or Gold Dragons. There are,
however some issues: 1. Enemy might have the same Black or Gold Dragons which are unaffected. 2.
Make sure your Dragons are strong enough to last for a few attacks - enemy might have some really
fast units. 2. Dead terrain prevents all spellcasting, remember that! 3. Beware! Enemy might have
some artifacts which prevent spellcasting, they are: Orb of Inhibition, Recanter's Cloak and Orb of
Vunerability which Negates all natural magic resistance of all creatures in combat. Advanced or Expert
Anti-Magic spell will protect a single unit from armageddon. Protection From Fire spell can decrease
the damage.
Lightnings and Implosions are cool, but if you do it against a real strong army, you're just wasting
your mana. Try Blind, Berserk, Slow instead. You should also cast spells on your own troops like Clone
(any creature with Exp. Water Magic), Fire and Air Shield. (That's why I like Master Genies... :)
Town Portal with good Earth Magic is the most useful non-combat spell. You'll only need one hero to
build up huge armies and defend all your towns.
Shackles of War... have you ever been annoyed by a strong enemy that escaped with only a few
creatures left? This artifact is the solution :) Unfortunately it's rare, and can backfire when the enemy
is stronger.
Some artifacts are good to keep and put on right before combat. Example: wear boots for movement,
but just before combat put on the boots of polatiry. If you get creature producing, money producing,
resource producing artifacts give them to a weak city defending hero. This will save artifact room for
your combat heros, and does not put the artifacts in jeopardy in case of a combat heroes failure.
The rule in opposing necromancers is "always attack a high level necromancer with huge numbers of
low level troops": necromancers "hate" armies with say 500 master gremilins, o god he would have to
"waste" 1 whole blind spell, then your castle towers would use the practice of shooting at those extra
300 skeletons he "showed up with" at your castle gate). The only thing a good necromancer should
fear (except titans but hey every player should fear titans anyway) is high level spell casters with high
power ratings. They can oppose you with relatively small armies, whittle you down and retreat. 15
power + armageddon or expert destroy undead is a particular pain in the butt even if all he has is 3
black dragons. The biggest key to any necromancy campaign is to loose as few of high level troops as
possible for expert necromancers can go for longer periods with out having to get fresh troops from
his castle (thus allowing you to build up another necromancer or anthor army without wasting alot of
effort by retooling your main hero with runners). Another thing to watch out for is your morale if you
add troops from other castles. Adding just 1 or 2 other stacks of troops from the one different castle
won't be too bad usually, but anything more and you're asking for trouble.
UNFAIR RUSH STRATEGIES
Master Gremlin Rush:
Start a game and choose Tower as your starting town. Tower heroes start with around 60
Gremlins, around 4 Stone Gargoyles and sometimes around 2 Stone Golems. Leave all troops but 1
Gremlin in your town. Attack the nearest wandering creature stack with your 1 Gremlin hero and
retreat. Go to your Tavern straight away and recruit the same hero you just retreated with. He will
have a whole fresh and juicy army. Leave all troops but 1 Gremlin in your town. And again attack the
nearest wandering creature stack with your 1 Gremlin hero and retreat. Recruit him again... etc...
Repeat this for as long as you have gold to do so. On Easy difficulty you can re-recruit your hero 12
times, 8 on Normal, 6 on Hard and 4 times on Expert difficulty using just your starting gold. It costs
only 1000 gold to upgrade Workshop, original Workshop is the only requirement. Then it costs only 10
gold to upgrade each Gremlin to Master Gremlin. Don't attack shooters or creatures with high speed
because they will kill you before you can retreat! When you re-recruit your hero, he will have as much
movement left as he had when he retreated, this will slow down the process. One of two heroes
available for recruitment will be Alchemist or Wizard, so recruit him/her too to speed up the process.
Piquedram starts with around 8 Stone Gargoyles only, so don't start with him nor recruit him. There is
no Tower hero which has Gremlins as his specialty.
Ok, let's put it to the test! You have chosen Normal difficulty and nearest slow wandering monster
stack is half a day's movement away. All creature quantities are average.
(Day1) 20.000 Gold. With your starting hero1 you get 60 Gremlins and 4 Stone Gargoyles, you move
him to garrison. You recruit another Tower hero2 and he has 60 Gremlins, 4 Stone Gargoyles and 2
Stone Golems. Leaving hero1 in town with 120 Grem, 8 SGar and 2 SGol, you waste hero2 and re-
recruit him. Hero1 in garrison now has 180 Grem, 12 Sgar and 2 SGol, you waste hero2 again and re-
recruit him. Hero2 has no more movement, so you move him to garrison with all the army of 240
Grem, 16 SGar and 4 SGol. Waste and re-recruit hero1 two times. You now have 360 Grem, 24 SGar,
6 SGol, 7.500 Gold and 2 heroes with no movement. Upgrade Workshop = 1000 Gold. Upgrade 360
Gremlins = 3600 Gold. 2.900 Gold left. End your turn.
(Day2) 3.400 Gold. Build Town Hall = 2500 Gold. Recruit 16 master gremlins = 640 Gold. Give your
preffered hero 376 Master Gremlins and 13 Stone Gargoyles. He/she will be the warrior hero. I
suggest that you leave Stone Golems because they will slow down your hero and castle will be
defended against quick explorer heroes. Give 3 Stone Gargoyles to another hero, put each one in
different army slot, so that he/she will have time to retreat for sure if attacked. Second hero will be
the explorer hero. You now have 260 Gold left, but what an unstoppable army! You are simply
undefeatable!
(Note) Numbers of Monsters, Gold, Distance, Time to Complete this 2-Day plan depend on Chance,
Difficulty and Map.
Well, the most terrible thing is that you haven't cheated! If you calculate the price of creatures that
Tower heroes start with, it will be about 2500 Gold which is the price of the hero! So you are basically
getting the hero for free while buying army which has endless population - with no price penalty
whatsoever! Isn't this the biggest bug HOMM3 has? Allright, the computer isn't using it, but it's so
tempting for human players... I suggest that you never ever use this, fight with honour!
Skeleton Transformer Gremlin Rush:
Skeleton Transformer costs only 1000 Gold, requires only Cursed Temple - Skeleton dwelling -
and converts any creature to skeleton for free instantly. What you do is recruit some tower heroes and
convert their Gremlins to Skeletons. There is 1/8 chance of having tower hero to recruit in your tavern
once the game starts. If there isn't a tower hero to recruit, recruit other hero with most troops and he
might make space for a tower hero. So, this is pretty much a Master Gremlin rush except that you
conver them to Skeletons. It costs 400 Gold, 5 Wood and 5 Ore to Upgrade Cursed Temple. Pay 10
gold to upgrade each skeleton and you've got an unstopable army! And if you strted the game using
Thant (speciality: Animate Dead), you're undefeatable, Skeletons will rise when killed. If you are lucky
to get some Stone Golems, don't transform them, they are perfect for Necropolis army in the
beginning: they have same speed as Walking Dead (they won't slow down a hero who has Walking
Dead), they are quite tough and they are always a neutral morale just like undead! If you have a
faster army, Stone Golems are still excellent to defend your castle from fast scout attacks. If you want
your necropolis hero to resurrect Skeleton Warriors instead of Skeletons after the battle, make sure
your army has no non-upgraded Skeletons and that all 7 stacks are occupied throughout all the battle
(you can split creatures by holding shift in hero or town screens). Note: necromancy skill will resurrect
2/3 of normal number of Skeletons as Skeleton Warriors. That's about as evil as evil necro can get!
When you start a game a fortress, choose Bron as your starting hero. He comes with
about 5-7 Basilisks usually. Basilisks are solid level 4 creatures with 35 hit points. By re-recruiting
Bron you can accumulate quite a number of Basilisks which are pretty unstopable remembering that
it's a first week. Even if player doesn't choose Bron as his starting hero, player still has 6.25% (1 out
of 16) chance of having Bron available for recruitment in the tavern at the start of the game. When
you're about to rush, buy a first aid tent and a spellbook, they will really help. If we assume that Brok
comes with 7 Basilisks, they would cost 325 X 7 = 2275 gold, this way again you are paying virtually
nothing for Bron himself. Bron's Basilisk Rush is easy to put up with compared to Master Gremlin Rush
or Skeleton Transformer Gremlin Rush... Best prevention is not to allow players to start with Bron.
Morale Effect Luck Chance
3 12.5% to act again 1 4.2%
2 8.3% to act again 2 8.3%
1 4.2% to act again 3 12.5%
0 nothing
-1 4.2% to freeze
Undead don't
-2 8.3% to freeze have Morale!
-3 12.5% to freeze