Nargott
I greet absolutely everyone! I am looking forward to the mod's release. I would like to discuss a couple of topics from this mod, if you have the desire and free time, of course:
1. Orc mage
At first I was thinking it would be cool if dwarves, like barbarians, had no magic (one side has warcries, the other has runes, but their heroes give magic resistance), kind of like Total War: Warhammer 2. Like, 6 races with 6 pairs of magic schools and 2 that cannot cast (why should orcs always be the only ones?).
But then I decided myself that this was overkill: first, dwarves are the only ones for whom Light + Chaos fits well here; second, it is too progressive (the conservatives will beat me with sticks).
But giving an orc the ability to cast spells (for example Chaos + Dark) does not look that stupid. His stats are physical and he will not really want to cast, but the option would exist, like in Heroes 3. Removing warcries as such (as in, one town type benefits from capturing another town for new spells, while orcs are only interested in another orc town) feels kind of unbalanced. And is this even theoretically possible, since the spellbook is different there? What do you think?
Good afternoon!
A town is needed first of all so you can recruit troops there, and an orc already has excellent compensation in the form of gaining experience instead of spells.
For now I have no desire to radically remove things that work well (warcries).
As for magic, though, I would say that right now in WGE the orc shamanesses look very good in terms of their arsenal.
2 A single rare resource
Make one rare resource out of the four types, like in Heroes 6. This seems more balanced to me. It will never sit unused, like some sulfur in some town. That is, leave only crystals, for example. In general, my opinion here is that the fewer types of resources there are, the less useless randomness there is. What do you think?
Here it is a categorical no, because the game should not be built around one town. There should be many towns, and they should be built up. That means resources will not sit idle; they will compete with each other, and there are far more options when there are many of them than when there is only one.
3 Tier reshuffles
It turns out people have been discussing where the griffin should sit by tier in the Castle in this thread since as far back as 2016, which is nice =) I agree with its current position (tier 6). What else I would change, if asked: move the demon from tier 2 to tier 4. To me a demon is a gorilla pumped up to about 3 meters tall that benches at least 200 kg (Disciples 2 had a cool demon). And he is clearly stronger than a guy in plate armor. So swap them with the dogs and make them 4-cell creatures. And dogs are like little hyenas the size of a lynx, gnawing in packs.
I have already experimented with 4 large creatures per race, and in the end I concluded that the optimal lineup is exactly 3 large creatures, no more and no less.
In general, I agree that the demon looks menacing, which is why he was strengthened compared with the original. But he is still mass infantry, like militia or guards, even if stronger.
For now I am not ready to move demons higher.
As for cerberi, I assume that a cerberus can tear apart a lion or a tiger (that was in the Heroes 6 description, which is not an authority for me, but on cerberi specifically I agree).
Besides, cerberi used to be large and felt even more threatening. Now their small size has returned, but I do not yet want to lower their tier.
Maybe their ideological opposition to griffins is simply still alive, as in Heroes 3 (at tier 3). Griffins have climbed all the way to tier 6, while cerberi at least got upgraded to tier 4.
Was the option of making creatures analogues also considered? For example, both the dog and the demon are tier 4 creatures (alternative upgrades of each other), and tier 2 gets outside creatures from the mod. By the way, how hard is it to find a third-party creature online for a Heroes 5 mod? I did that myself for Warcraft 3; there it is very easy to find something online for any theme, but here I do not know.
I would also boldly give the dwarf bear tier 5.
No, radical reshuffles with various expanded neutrals are not planned, because that is a huge amount of work, and that work has already been done for the current creatures. We are not going to throw them away.
Still, a few exceptions like that were made: mages got efreet as one version of genies, and dwarves got ice dragons as one version of dragons.
The bear, yes, can quite honestly claim tier 5. In fact, the bear is currently equal to the tier-5 priest in practice, and the priest's tier is higher only nominally.
4 About Defense
In the original, the Defense skill was must-have. Everyone needed it: warriors and mages alike. I suggest making it weaker so it does not affect things so much (5/10/15 percent).
If you do not want that or disagree with such a change, then please pay attention to the combination of heroes with strong Spell Power and Attack. If he takes Chaos, the hero will want his army to survive longer while the hero casts, not to rush forward with it. And that hero will still want to look for Defense, not Offense, even if his stats are in Attack. That was the problem of the dark elves in the original. I do not know how it will be here, but in the original, for me, it was a flaw and a problem in the game mechanics.
Defense is not must-have, but it is a very strong skill. It is just that it is far from always important how much damage you take from enemy attacks (for example because the enemy hero is killing with magic).
Cutting Defense to 5/10/15% means lowering it to the same beggarly numbers as Offense in the original.
There are two possible paths here:
1) a small Defense nerf to 5/15/25
2) buff other skills up to Defense's level
I chose the second path, because a strong balanced bonus is better than a weak balanced one. Perks in WGE are stronger than in the original, and because of that Defense will not be such a clear winner.
I disagree about the dark elves. The problem in the original was very weak Offense (5/10/15) and Battle Frenzy being irrelevant for Dungeon troops. That is, they simply did not have good tools for accelerating physical damage. But Attack itself is useful even to a warlock, because it fits perfectly with the strategy of dealing damage as fast as possible before the enemy has time to recover (both with magic and with troops). This is a maximum-tempo game.
In duels specifically, this is already visible now: dark elf troops are rather fragile, but all of them are dangerous, and that wild tempo keeps the opponent under pressure. Hesitate and you will be erased by Chaos; rush forward headlong and you can take a pile of damage from the troops as well.
But this combination of parameters (Attack + Spell Power) works best against enemy mages, because it is precisely what gives a tempo advantage when magic is conditionally equal (Defense does not; it only slows the opponent's tempo if he himself is running into trades).
Also, one of the key problems of the original is excess mana. That means the question is not how much damage your mana will be enough for, but whether you have enough troops to hold out long enough.
In WGE, thanks to its special pricing policy, you can spend mana very quickly, and you do not need to stand on defense for a long time in order to quickly inflict critical damage on the opponent, after which the troops will finish him off just as quickly.
In other words, players now have the option to additionally accelerate magical tempo instead of slowing the opponent's tempo by taking Defense.
Demons = Logistics + Dark + Chaos (all classes have very rare Light and Summoning, 1% each)
Dark = Offense + Dark + Chaos (all classes have very rare Light and Summoning, 1% each, rare Logistics - 2%)
Moved this here from some page in the thread. Logistics is needed more by Dark, since it increases initiative at the start, and that is exactly what he needs. And the dark one has Offense and Chaos, which is what I was writing about.
Maybe with the new game mechanics it is profitable to rush and throw Chaos around, but most likely not =).
It is cool, by the way, that speeds here are low: a demon will at least have time to open gates; in the original it was more profitable for me to run and hit than to summon. And what about giving the demon Dark + Summoning? He surely has low Spell Power, and nobody will level Chaos.
That information is outdated. Now it is exactly like that: demons get Offense, dark elves get Logistics.
Summoning for the demon was tried, but it did not work out.
No, it is not a given that the demon has low Spell Power. Each race here has 3 classes, and the only parameter that unites demons is maximum Offense; everything else depends on the class.
5 Adding heroes
Right now each race has nine heroes. Are you planning to add one more of each class? 12 per race?
No, not planned for now. It is better to work out the existing ones as well as possible, especially since there are no new specialties.
Someday, maybe, but it is definitely not the first priority.
6 About creature specialties and "+" to creatures
I noticed that some heroes buff an existing troop type, like Ellaine strengthens peasants, while someone gives themselves new creatures per level, like Alaric: + 2 monks for every 2 levels, conditionally (additional creatures). I suggest merging this into one specialty. Like, you get them per level and also give them upgrades A and B. That seems more logical to me (if my specialty is +2 monks per level, and I am level 24, and I lose my monks in battle, then to hell with them all) I will create a new army without monks and who cares that my specialty is tied to them. I lost the old ones, I am unlikely to gain a new level, so let the footmen be split into 2 stacks instead; I am no longer losing anything. That is, the meaning of the monk specialty is lost if you accidentally lose them.
There is no way to create new specialties. And the +monks specialty is scripts; their capabilities are limited.
As for standard creature specialists, they are already very strong because in practice they doubled their bonuses when the role of parameters was increased from 5 to 10%.
7 Chilling Bones
The one that returns 5 percent of damage. Why did you throw it out? Does the number not change? If it changes, you could pick something interesting.
I threw it out because the number is inadequately weak and does not change. Only recently did I find out that people have learned to change it by editing the executable after all, but not arbitrarily, only to specific values. For now there is only 10%, and I am not sure that is enough. We will wait for stronger bonuses. As such, in essence, the perk is interesting (with good numbers).
8 For the future
This is purely a question for myself: is adding a 9th town to the game possible? Say I wanted to add nagas. In theory, is that possible without replacing an old town, namely adding a new one? Or is it not even theoretically possible because of the game mechanics?
At the moment the answer is no, and it is the very last priority. 8 races, a huge number of creatures, classes, and much more - all of that should first be brought into shape, and only then should new content be taken on.
9 Holy and unholy
Well, it is very situational (damages specific races). So what are the options: unholy always damages all enemy targets (even if they are undead), while holy resurrects all your own stacks a little, if that stack is not fully dead. Or remove holy entirely. Or, at worst, make them equal in the number of races that take damage (humans-elves-dwarves-mages from unholy, and orcs-demons-undead-darks from holy).
It cannot be done that way. Since they are situational, they have been moved out as bonus spells for school combinations, meaning the player usually goes for them deliberately, and they no longer clutter mage guilds.
10 Attack and Defense perks
3) Tactics -> Haste (orcs +1 initiative) and 3) Preparation -> Stoneskin (orcs +2 defense)
I will note here that this is not very equivalent: as I understand it, Haste is like in the original, you cast Haste on your troops, and for an orc just +1 initiative is not impressive. Same with Stoneskin. I would remove these 2 perks entirely. If you want to cast mass Stoneskin, learn Light.
Maybe. I am not ready to give an answer here yet, since I am not working with skills and abilities right now. When I return to them, we will see then.
11 CHAOS MAGIC
1) Master of Fire -> Pyrokinesis (additional +Fire Wall) / Mana Burst
2) Master of Ice -> Deadly Cold (additional +Freezing Cold)
3) Master of Lightning
Why are lightning spells so deprived =) I would definitely not level them; a lot of Chaos's strength is in the perks. I would give each element 3 strong perks, so the hero would be a specialized master in one of them. Like, fire as the third perk strongly eats defense, while lightning as the third strongly stuns, and you cannot take both.
There is no way to create new perks, so the tastiest existing ones are used and distributed, and lightning has only one perk.
12 Idea
What if starting heroes were made with Expert racial and all its perks leveled? Plus a standard skill and a perk from it, and also with 10 total stats instead of 5. In effect this gives +5 levels of development from the start. But without boosting specialties, so already at level 13 you could get heroes analogous in perk set to standard level-18 heroes.
The decision here is fundamental, because with this approach racial perks have to be returned to the base pools, in addition to the 3 standard ones.
Why was the idea not supported? ) I would be in favor. What I just want to emphasize: in the original, only the army of the main hero is considered strong. That is, if my main has one week's growth, even battered, and the computer hires a new level-1 hero with two weeks' army, I would confidently run at him because I knew my 4 knights would kill 7 out of 10 death heralds on attack, and his retaliation would not kill even one. So I am in favor of the starting hero already being something in himself. So that the army under his command is weaker, but not completely insignificant. Say, compare not day 1 and day 25, but already day 10 and day 25. 25 is still cooler, but 10 is already dangerous too, not a miserable useless one. Especially since in this mod it seems profitable to split troops. And why split them if giving them to a support hero instead of the main makes them weaklings?
We will see how it turns out in the end.
Maybe specialists at levels in the 20s are not that scary, and there will be no need to artificially accelerate starting heroes. Such accelerations are not "free"; they reduce variability.
13 Note on magic
3 Righteous Might (5 mana) = +(Spell Power+4) to attack for 1/2/3/4 rounds. Mass Might (10 mana) affects a 4x4 area.
3 Exorcism (6 mana) = removes spells with 100% probability, but works only on allied targets (that is, it does not remove buffs from the enemy). Mass Exorcism (12 mana) affects a 4x4 area.
and here 1 Weakness of Mind (1 mana) = only 1/3 of enemy creatures can shoot and retaliate, for 1/2/3/4 rounds. Mass Weakness of Mind (2 mana) affects everyone.
1 Curse (2 mana) = minimum damage for 1/2/3/4 rounds. Mass Curse (4 mana) affects everyone.
Weakness of Mind and Curse are equivalent spells to me; I will be happy with either one.
But Righteous Might is much stronger than Exorcism in my opinion. And I will consider that if I did not roll Might, I was unlucky. Under the new formula it boosts damage very, very strongly on a top stack. But dispelling is not necessarily profitable (or not always profitable), because dispelling means spending your turn to protect yourself from an enemy one. So I would rather let my stack hit my own under berserk, while another under Righteous Might deals top damage. In general these 2 spells seem unequal to me (Might is always good, while Exorcism is situational and sometimes useless).
I also noticed that Vulnerability eats a lot of defense and forever. Maybe it would be better if it ate even more, but for 3-4 turns, like Light? It turns out that with Light you must cast a buff before the rush and fit into the duration, while with Dark you get a guaranteed infinitely useful effect. What do you think?
And I will note that 2 magic schools give new spells. They need to all be guaranteed good. So there are no specific bindings like Light and Dark are great because they have Vampirism, while Chaos and Light can never be leveled because Holy Word is useless by comparison. Otherwise only "specific" combinations will appear.
The spell information is outdated.
Might is level 2, costs 2 mana, and gives a Spell Power + 2 attack bonus.
Exorcism is level 3 and costs 5 mana.
Weakness of Mind is level 1, costs 0 mana, and affects 50%.
Curse is level 1 and costs 0 mana.
Might is an excellent spell, and it scales both with Spell Power and with the skill (it demands both factors).
Exorcism, however, does not scale with anything; it is simply stable and demands only mana. That is its advantage.
You can build a hero almost without magic and Spell Power, and still cancel the enemy's high-level Dark up to 15 mana (Puppet Master), while that enemy invested in both Dark and Spell Power.
Exorcism is also a counter to level 1-3 Dark debuffs, which may be cheaper, but the opponent may still have invested in the skill and in Spell Power there. Or simply placed a double debuff, and Exorcism will remove all of it.
Also, Exorcism is a level-3 spell, not level 2, precisely so that such an effective and universal cancellation tool is not available to everyone indiscriminately, and you need at least to level the school (or Wisdom) for it.
There is a similar example with Anti-Magic. Not long ago it seemed that the price was inadequately high (10 mana is like 40 in the original!), and Teleport for 6 mana was far more useful. In practice, however, Anti-Magic turned out to be the most unpleasant thing for anyone relying on Light, because it can cancel any powerful buff at arbitrarily high Spell Power, and can also cancel double or triple buffs, neutralizing several with one simple action. At the same time, unlike the original, buffs here scale with Spell Power and can be extremely harsh, up to doubling initiative, damage, or survivability.
For example, an elf with huge Spell Power cast Skin + Might on some stack, doubling its strength, and then a simple spell effectively halves the stack back down, with no Spell Power requirements at all.
All this is true in duels, of course, against enemy heroes. Against neutrals, neither Exorcism nor Anti-Magic is usually especially needed.
Added after 8 hours 59 minutes
In general these 2 spells seem unequal to me (Might is always good, while Exorcism is situational and sometimes useless).
I also noticed that Vulnerability eats a lot of defense and forever. Maybe it would be better if it ate even more, but for 3-4 turns, like Light? It turns out that with Light you must cast a buff before the rush and fit into the duration, while with Dark you get a guaranteed infinitely useful effect. What do you think?
And I will note that 2 magic schools give new spells. They need to all be guaranteed good. So there are no specific bindings like Light and Dark are great because they have Vampirism, while Chaos and Light can never be leveled because Holy Word is useless by comparison. Otherwise only "specific" combinations will appear.
At maximum skill and high Spell Power, yes.
Dark's debuffs, apart from Curse and Weakness of Mind, are weaker, so they are stretched over more time. Light's are powerful, but short.
For example, +10 Attack from Might increases damage by +100%, while -10 Attack from Weakness reduces damage by about 50%, per unit of time. With equal round counts, the buff is much stronger in terms of damage difference.
Holy Word is given in addition to Vampirism for Light + Dark precisely for that reason. Two spells increase the chance that at least one of them will be useful.
Besides, Holy Word is not that limited: it is useful against 35% of troops (demons, undead, orcs without wyverns).
Added after 29 minutes
Updates on abilities:
Power Channel: reduces the hero's spell costs by 20% (instead of 25%).
The correction became possible thanks to executable modification.
In WGE, spell cost is fundamentally important because mana is not infinite (there is no excess). In addition, this ability is no longer on mages, whose Knowledge is already maximum, but on druids, who have less mana.
A 20% cost reduction is still very strong, and gives prettier prices than 25% (for example, 15 mana drops to 12, not 11).
Entangling Roots: in addition to infinite retaliation, doubles the defensive bonus from +50% to +100% defense.
This ability has become even stronger than in the original. Real damage to rooted treants drops by 2-4 times.
Consume Mana, Mana Steal, Mana Drain: 1 mana for every 10 imps.
Formally this is a weakening of the ability, but in reality each unit of mana is worth 4 times more than in the original.
Vorpal Sword: deals 5 damage for each enemy creature (only 2 in the original). That is, it is truly deadly for tier 1, and fairies or goblins can all fall from one hit.
The ability has been brought in line in strength with Cleave, which has also become several times more dangerous because troop counts are low, including tier 7.
Searing Aura: deals 200% no-retaliation damage (only 150% in the original).
The ability of red dragons, as well as fire elementals, which thanks to it effectively shoot at point-blank range (without penalties or retaliation).
Explosion: deals 30 damage for each point of demon Spell Power (150 damage from a full stack in duels).
Bomb: deals 5 damage for each demon after death (in duels this is 120 damage).
The numbers on both abilities are very respectable given the troop scale.
Explosion is not trash like in the original, but a powerful ability comparable in strength to 200% damage, and in an area besides.
Bomb is so strong that it is often profitable simply to sacrifice the stack for it.
Liquid Flame: deals 20 damage per dragon, applies over the full 2x2 area on each tile (i.e. a large creature that stays there will take 80 damage), duration - 10 rounds (eternal fire).
Dragon fire looks too beautiful to extinguish early.
Sabotage: steals 1 shot for every 10 gremlins, radius speed + 4 (i.e. 8). Makes the mini-artifact for +2 speed to gremlins useful. This radius is also enough to counter enemy shooters by running out (and sometimes even with Tactics).
Traps, Magic Blight: chances increase by 5% for every 10 goblins.
For convenience, technical growth values are generally fixed as follows:
- tier 1 = 10 creatures
- tier 2 = 8 creatures
- tier 3 = 6 creatures
- tier 4 = 4 creatures
- tier 5 = 3 creatures
- tier 6 = 2 creatures
- tier 7 = 1 creature
Except for casting unit types, whose technical growth is always equivalent to 1 dragon (i.e. in duels the starting Spell Power of all casters is the same = 5).
Magnetism: redirects 100% of damage if there is at least 1 golem growth (in duels at least 50% of the stack - 6 out of 12).
By the way, Magnetism remains only on Gold Golems and is removed from earth elementals, which will instead get Stun, much more suitable for them.
In general, Magic Blight is balanced so that against a high-level hero it is very difficult to raise the chance of a complete spell ban above 5%.
Mostly this ability should work against caster units, while against the hero it should usually just penalize mana (40%); a full ban on hero spells is too harsh, while banning unit spells is already acceptable.
Technical growth values will not affect real growth on the map in the future, because all real growth is implemented by scripts (and still is not displayed in the town interface). But they remain a convenient tool for balancing the strength of abilities and Spell Power.
Added after 26 minutes
For spells, the most current information at the moment:
Compared with the original formulas, the scales are as follows:
Damage or Health 1:8 (in WGE troops have 8 times less HP because of low numbers, so the weight of 1 point of damage or health is 8 times higher).
Attack, defense, Spell Power, Knowledge 1:2 (parameters in WGE matter twice as much: Attack and Defense have a 10% coefficient instead of 5).
Mana 1:4 (because 1 Knowledge in WGE gives 5 mana, but is valued like 2 Knowledge in the original, which gave 20 mana).
Pokes:
tier 1) 20% per hero level (2 creatures in duels)
tier 2) 10% per hero level (1 creature)
tier 3) 8% per hero level (80%)
tier 4) 6% per hero level (60%)
tier 5) 4% per hero level (40%)
tier 6) 2% per hero level (20%)
tier 7) 1% per hero level (10%)
Considering the new scale, pokes roughly correspond to hits against tier 5-6 in the original, are noticeably stronger against lower tiers, and noticeably weaker against tier 7. The hero (without upgraded Deadeye Shot) is no longer the scourge of titans and dragons, but must rely on magic, because physically he is no match for a dragon.
Pokes are also balanced so that in most cases they do not exceed the strength of a free Magic Fist or free Magic Arrow, so that these low-level spells have meaning and can be used effectively.
Chaos Magic:
0 Arrow = 3 x (SP + 0/2/4/6)
0 Spikes = 2 x (SP + 0/3/6/9)
1 Fireball = 3 x (SP + 0/2/4/6)
2 Boulder = 6 x (SP + 0/2/4/6)
3 Ring = 4 x (SP + 0/2/4/6)
5 Lightning = 10 x (SP + 0/1/2/3)
6 Meteor = 3 x (SP + 0/3/6/9)
10 Chain Lightning = 10 x (SP + 0/1/2/3)
15 Disintegration = 10 x (SP + 0/3/6/9)
4 Fire Wall (from Summoning) = 6 x SP, 1/2/3/4 rounds
8 Freezing (from Dark) = 6/8/10/12 x SP, +100% physical damage for 1 round
12 Armageddon (from Light) = 6 x (SP + 0/2/4/6)
Summoning Magic:
0 Magic Fist = 3 x (SP + 0/1/2/3)
0 Wasps = knockback 20/30/40/50%, damage = 1 (symbolic)
1 Crystal = 3/4/5/6 x (SP + 3)
2 Blade Wall = durability 50 x SP, for 2/4/6/8 rounds, returns 10% melee damage back
3 Phantom = clone up to tier 4/5/6/7
5 Mines = 2 x (SP + 9), 4/6/8/10 mines
6 Elementals = SP + 0/2/4/6 elementals
10 Celestial Shield = absorbs 25/50/75/100% damage, up to 15 x (SP + 3)
15 Phoenix: Speed = 7, Initiative = 15, Damage = 20-40, Health = 120, Attack/Defense = 20 + SP
4 Earthquake (from Chaos): damage (1 - 2) x 50 x SP
8 Hive (from Light): init = 15, health = 6/9/12/15 x SP, Defense = 20
12 Raise Dead (from Dark) = 10 x (SP + 0/3/6/9), without bogus health penalties
Light Magic:
0 Deflect Missile = 50% protection from ranged attacks for 2/4/6/8 rounds (mass - on everyone)
0 Bless = max. damage for 2/4/6/8 rounds (mass - on everyone)
1 Stoneskin = +(SP + 2) to defense for 1/2/3/4 rounds (area - 4x4)
2 Righteous Might = +(SP + 2) to attack for 1/2/3/4 rounds (area - 4x4)
3 Haste = +(SP + 1) x 10% initiative for 1/2/3/4 rounds (area - 4x4)
5 Exorcism = 100% removal of negative effects from your own stack (area - 4x4)
6 Teleport
10 Anti-Magic = Removal of all magical effects from any stack + Magic Immunity for 1/2/3/4 rounds
15 Resurrection = 15 x (SP + 0/2/4/6), without bogus health penalties
4 Regeneration (from Summoning) = +(SP + 1) x 10%, duration 1/2/3/4 rounds
8 Divine Vengeance (from Chaos) = 15/20/25/30 x Kills
12 Holy Word (from Dark) = 1/2/3/4 x (SP + 6)
Dark Magic:
0 Confusion = 50% of creatures shoot and retaliate for 1/2/3/4 rounds (mass - on everyone)
0 Curse = min. damage for 1/2/3/4 rounds (mass - on everyone)
1 Weakness = -(SP + 2) to attack for 2/4/6/8 rounds (area - 4x4)
2 Vulnerability = -(SP + 1) to defense, stacks (area - 4x4)
3 Slow = -50% initiative for 2/4/6/8 rounds (area - 4x4)
5 Plague = 3 x (SP + 9) damage for 1/2/3/4 rounds (area - 4x4)
6 Blind = 0.3/0.4/0.5/0.6 x SP rounds, on Expert the enemy does not retaliate against attacks
10 Berserk = attack nearest target with 100% damage (always for 1 turn)
15 Puppet Master = 50% initiative + control for 0.15/0.2/0.25/0.3 x SP rounds, on Expert can target tier 7 creatures
4 Sorrow (from Chaos) = -3/4/5/6 to luck and morale for SP rounds
8 Vampirism (from Light) = 100% vampirism and undead for 2/4/6/8 rounds
12 Death Wave (from Dark) = 3/4/5/6 x SP, damages enemies only
Added after 31 minutes
The most current information on skills (already published several pages ago):
This will all be implemented at the next stage, after the release of duel mode.
Note: Battle Frenzy will now work like Forest Rage, giving +1 only to maximum damage.
As we can see, Swift Mind and Stone Toughness are no longer in the corresponding skills. All skills are standardized and work the same way.
Leadership is useless to necromancers, so their chance for it is 0%, just as orcs have 0% chances for Enlightenment and magic.
ATTACK (10/20/30%)
1) Battle Frenzy -> Cold Steel
2) Archery (30%) -> Attacking Style (+3 Attack to each hero on the battlefield)
3) Tactics -> Attacking Hird
DEFENSE (10/20/30%)
1) Vitality -> Endurance (+10% health)
2) Evasion (30%) -> Defensive Style (+3 Defense to each hero on the battlefield)
3) Stand Your Ground (x2) -> Defensive Hird
LEADERSHIP (1/2/3), unavailable to undead
1) Recruitment (50%) -> Retribution
2) Rally Troops -> Last Stand
3) Diplomacy -> Empathy
Rally Troops: for every 4 hero levels (including levels already gained), level 1-3 creatures join the hero (+3/+2/+1).
Diplomacy: before battle, creatures from a stack already present in the hero's army, but of a different upgrade, join the hero until the end of combat, for a value of no more than 500 gold per hero level.
LUCK (1/2/3, 50% luck bonus)
1) Soldier's Luck -> Critical Luck (100% luck bonus)
2) Luck on the Road -> Warlock's Luck (when luck triggers, the hero spends no mana)
3) Magic Resistance -> Double Resistance (Dwarven Luck)
Soldier's Luck: additionally +1 to luck.
Luck on the Road: for every 4 levels (including already gained), the hero receives a random minor artifact.
LOGISTICS (10/20/30% bonus to hero movement on the map and to unit movement at the start of battle)
1) Warpath (+1 initiative) -> Aura of Swiftness
2) Scouting (additional penalty to enemy hero -1 initiative) -> Fog Veil (-30% init)
3) Spoils of War (additional penalty to enemy hero -1 speed) -> Storm Wind
ENGINEERING (+100/200/300% machine health and +1/2/3 attack to shooters for the ammo cart).
1) Ballistics -> Rapid Fire
2) First Aid -> Plague Tent
3) Artillery -> Elite Machines (Rune Machines)
Ballista damage and tent healing do not depend on the Engineering skill.
Ballistics, First Aid, and Artillery do not double the health of the corresponding machines.
Artillery (catapult): additionally, before battle in open field, kills 10% of the opponent's creatures (killed count rounded down).
ENLIGHTENMENT (+2/4/6 random parameters), unavailable to orcs
1) Counterspell -> Distraction (30%)
2) Intelligence (+40% maximum mana) -> Scholarly Style (+3 Knowledge to each hero on the battlefield)
3) Scholar -> Wisdom
Scholar: additionally, the hero learns 1 random level 1-2 spell for every 2 levels, including levels already gained.
Wisdom: additionally, the hero learns 1 random level 3 spell for every 4 levels, including levels already gained.
When Knowledge changes, the hero's mana always scales: NewMana = OldMana * (NewKnowledge / OldKnowledge).
RESISTANCE (+10/20/30% to creature health), available only to orcs
1) Weaken Light (-50%) -> Corrupt Light (+100%)
2) Weaken Dark (-50%) -> Corrupt Dark (+100%)
3) Weaken Summoning (-50%) -> Corrupt Summoning (+100%)
SORCERY (10/20/30%), unavailable to orcs
1) Arcane Training -> Elite Casters (Secrets of Light)
2) Mysticism -> Mana Burst
3) Arcane Intuition (30%) -> Spellcasting Style (+3 Spell Power to each hero on the battlefield)
Mysticism: each hero turn in battle restores 2 mana, but this bonus burns off after battle.
WARCRIES (10/20/30%), available only to orcs
1) Arcane Training -> Elite Casters
2) Mysticism -> Mana Burst
3) Rage Cry -> Mighty Shout
LIGHT MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to orcs
1) Master of Wrath -> Sudden Attack
2) Master of Blessings -> Eternal Light
3) Master of Abjuration -> Seal of Light
DARK MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to orcs
3) Master of Mind -> Dark Renewal
2) Master of Curses -> Weakness of Darkness
3) Master of Pain -> Seal of Darkness
CHAOS MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to orcs
1) Master of Fire -> Pyrokinesis
2) Master of Ice (40%) -> Deadly Cold
3) Master of Lightning (60%) -> Magic Exhaustion
SUMMONING MAGIC (3/4/5), unavailable to orcs
1) Master of Earth -> Cursed Ground
2) Master of Life -> Shield of Immortality
3) Master of Elements -> Elemental Balance
COUNTERSTRIKE (+50/100/150%), available only to humans
1) Double Strike -> Supervision
2) Prayer -> Guardian Angel
3) Preparation (does not work against no-retaliation attacks)
Double Strike: double damage from hero attacks.
OCCULTISM (additionally +1/2/3 mana at the start of battle for each hero level; after battle this bonus burns off), available only to dark elves
1) Mark of the Damned -> Weakening Strike
2) Fallen
3) Arcane Wave -> Elemental Vision (warlock only) or Arcane Luck (assassin and witch only)
DEMONOLOGY (50% for levels 1-2/4/6), available only to demons
1) Quick Gating -> Wide Gating
2) Hellfire -> Withering Flame
3) Corpse Eater
RUNES (exactly 6 of each resource are additionally issued for battle), available only to dwarves
1) Refreshed Rune
2) Greater Rune (200%) -> Runic Harmony
3) Fine Rune (discount does not work on Greater Rune) -> Rune Rollback
Now resources for using runes in each battle are fixed and effectively do not depend on the map (you can freely use the racial in creeping, and it will not be overpowered in the final battle).
AVENGER (double damage chance 50%, favored enemies are tied to the whole tier - default 1/2/3), available only to elves
1) Imbue Arrow -> Imbue Ballista
2) Forest Leader (during battle the hero level is considered +5 higher)
3) Deadeye Shot -> Rain of Arrows
BLOOD RAGE (30% damage absorption), available only to orcs
1) Memory of Blood -> Battle Elation
2) Fire of Rage
3) Reinforcements -> Stun (50%)
NECROMANCY (10/15/20%), available only to undead
1) Banshee Howl -> Deadly Misfortune (-2)
2) Lord of Death (1 Death Knight joins the hero for every 2 levels, including levels already gained)
3) Spiritual Link -> Chilling Bones (20%)
CRAFT (additionally grants 1/2/3 random resources for every 2 hero levels; wood and ore bonus is doubled), available only to mages
1) Wizard's Mark
2) Consume Artifact -> Machine Devotion (additionally +1 morale)
3) Magic Mirror -> Uncover Secret
Added after 3 hours 27 minutes
In general, some skills will need to be rethought anew.
For example, magic schools will no longer grant spells through perks (they will be granted as bonuses for school combinations), and therefore some perks lose attractiveness.
But I have not gotten around to that yet, so the current version is what it is.