Walkthroughs for custom maps.

Title: Metataxer's Revenge
Version: 20.0/English
Author: Nautilus/Biobob
Difficulty: 200%

In 2017, I first learned about this map and started streaming it completely blind. Unfortunately, at the time, I lacked the experience to survive the trial of endurance during the first game month, which resulted in me abandoning it. At that moment, it seemed that the difficulty was artificially inflated and required regular morale/luck procs to continue battles.

I returned to the map in 2020 after the season quadrology and completing several other interesting maps. And only then was I able to look at this scenario with completely different eyes. The battles in it seemed, in some places, on par with that same season, but some of them deserve special attention.

1. Gameplay

1.1 Battles

It is absolutely striking that the map is over 8 years old, as many people to this day cannot handle its battles due to a lack of proper knowledge of mechanics and AI behavior principles. An amazing introduction to the scenario in the form of a battle against Sir Lock-a. Moreover, this fight is truly difficult, and the author understood perfectly that if he provided exactly the right set of spells, the task would be reduced to methods of applying specific spells. However, everything is much more complicated, as the author gave a whole series of spells that may only seem necessary, and especially the fact that spells unrelated to the solution do not create any shortcuts. This battle can boldly be called the calling card of the scenario. Several initial battles similarly reflect the idea of choosing the right spells, since we are given djinns who have a whole set of spells in their magic book. In this way, the capture of the Dungeon has an identical structure with correct spells and their application.

A number of battles in that same beginning are built on the skill of leading the enemy around in circles. And the most memorable such clash was with 800 golems, where I had to kite the iron things back and forth using one stack of titans paired with a ballista. For me personally, the truth was revealed that there could be any number of golems; it is only a question of time and patience.

After surviving the beginning, the difficulty level of the clashes, and indeed the scenario in general, dropped significantly. Mr. Melange comes to mind with magical elementals and black dragons, but I cannot say that the battle was difficult, as "no-answer" units with different numbers of units in a stack were immediately apparent. Epic, beautiful, but seemed obvious enough.

And a completely different level of madness began with the siege of Golden Heart castle, where Arthur Dent eats, drinks, and reigns. We passed this battle using a recently discovered bug-feature with open gates: link Of the clashes, One Eye with the icon and the insane siege of Whipwhoop castle stand out. I had to actually struggle with them. After that, everything was passed more or less calmly again, and difficulty arose in the battle against the second frifix: link . Completing MR coincided with the period of creating a special edition of the first scenario Shadows of the Forest. During development, I realized that blindness has a certain peculiarity when cast on a friendly stack, and this very peculiarity played a decisive role in the battle against frifix. There were also problems with the hero ScytheScorge, where I never figured out how to kill him in the field. I had to lure him into the castle and finish him off there using the open gates feature.

A grid-based level appeared in the battles against Bellpel and Resus, but once the right cell was found, the battle was cleared of all problems. However, the battle against Guy le Forte caused some indignation, as it was completely unpleasant to drain 1800 mana from the opponent. This was very confusing, because until the end I didn't believe that draining mana was mandatory for victory. But credit should also be given for the use of the Sorrow spell; it is rarely used at all.

And the absolute pinnacle is in the battles against the third frifix and Nosferatu, who should be considered final bosses in terms of difficulty. With the first one, I even wanted to post a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUFdkxza10I We bypassed it, again within the framework of the blindness peculiarity on a friendly squad.

Metataxer himself and the clash with Damelon did not cause any particular difficulties. Except that it was amusing to cast berserk and fun to throw Armageddon as Metataxer onto the archangels.

As a result, it turned out to be a kind of sine wave with its own ups and downs in battle difficulty. In my opinion, the map does not become worse because of this, and this variance is actually a plus.

1.2 Logistics.

Nightmarishly difficult logistics at the very beginning make many people abandon the map, as it seems to them that it will be like this throughout the scenario. You have to consider literally everything without the slightest possibility of error, but then a wonderful world of Damelon and full freedom open up. This very freedom makes the game times easier, which is why it's hard to say that Metataxer's Revenge is a very difficult map. There are trigger heroes who emerge on a timer, but there are few of them and they appear quite late, even during a calm playthrough without accounting for all the details. Despite full freedom, the author still came up with some logistics tasks, such as Brewster's passage to Whipwhoop castle and Friend's passage through anti-magic garrisons, but there are no time limits for their completion.

1.3 - Scenario Concept.

As I said at the beginning, the author likes to provide a set of tools where the choice is not obvious. 5 heroes, 5 different specializations, and a wide range of actions add special notes of dynamism to the scenario. However, in my opinion, most battles lack a sharp focus. I don't know if this is good or bad, but that's how it is. For example, Friend only needs to visit the mana doubler to refill his reserve to 2000 units, and such an amount is quite enough to decide almost any battle. On the other hand, this magic source is far away and requires game time, but since there are no strict limits in logistics, it's not a problem at all to ride to the nearest fountain. It would be different, of course, if the author intended for many people to speedrun. In that case, LLB is an indispensable character. I didn't like that there were too few battles using Sepello's peculiarity. I only remember clashes against dragons using only vampires. Brewster is well-tuned, as only he can enter certain areas. The wide and even use of all heroes is extremely difficult to balance, but I liked that there are no 100% useless heroes. Even Mr. Vertigo plays the role of a provider-teacher, and the author even tried to tie some battles to him.

1.4 - Game Progression

If you don't count the beginning, progression on this map is very fast. In the early stages, already having resurrection, forgetfulness, rage, and dispel in the arsenal gives too big a jump in progress, which, in my opinion, is why the difficulty of the clashes dropped.

2. Design.

I came to the conclusion that the World of Damelon differs in nature from the world we are used to. Here you have a wooden boat sailing on lava, a lake with gems on fire fields, a whirlpool in the thick of corpses on cursed land (?), and strong oaks growing green right out of the depths of lava — beauty! At first it's an eyesore, then you get used to it. Well... that's the person's style, what can you do? It's for those who like it.

3. Plot and its connection with gameplay.

Oh... it's hard to give an adequate assessment of the plot, as 99% of the text is tied to Biobob's local humor. Among all these jokes are plot hints, but otherwise, they are just dialogues between heroes. I perfectly understand that being a "10-in-1" person is very difficult and I understand him as an author. I won't call it nonsense; I'll just say that apparently not all the jokes and references were clear to me. And to be honest, although I read everything, I barely paid attention. I will not give a rating.

Summary: Metataxer's Revenge is one of the best maps at the moment, and much is owed to this map, as another leap in the gameplay potential of Heroes of Might and Magic III is due specifically to it. For those who are planning to start playing it, my advice is not to be intimidated by the scary first three weeks; and to those who have just started and abandoned it, I wish you to return and sweat a little more. It's truly worth it!