Map Objects

Warrior's Tomb. If you send a Hero to dig in a sarcophagus, where they lower their "morale" by 3 units in addition to receiving an artifact, send them immediately into battle with a weak opponent after visiting the Tomb. A small squad of creatures guarding some object is best suited for this role. Then your Hero can painlessly get rid of the consequences of disturbing the dead warrior's peace.

Teleport or Monolith. As soon as your Hero "looks" into one of these magical structures for the first time (we are talking only about two-way ones), once it manifests at the location of another similar structure, you should immediately determine the entire "network" of entrances and exits. Do not be lazy to use the "space" key repeatedly to get a full idea of the capabilities of this group of "teleports" and open areas of terrain in their vicinity. Unfortunately, this tip is only suitable for game add-ons and does not apply to ”Restoration of Erathia”, where space does not work and you have to waste time moving away and entering the teleport again.

Whirlpool. A "teleport", but only on water. It is useful to follow the same instructions given for the Monolith, but there is one problem. The thing is that each passage through a "whirlpool" to another location on water can lead (with a 50% probability) to some losses in the Hero's army (unless they have the Sea Captain's Hat artifact, which protects the sailor from such trouble). Therefore, moving repeatedly through the network of whirlpools is costly. An exception is the case where the Hero has only one squad with one creature. In this case, although a message appears that you lost part of your army, in fact, nothing happens — the Hero simply cannot lose their only soldier. If you plan to transport your Heroes and armies through whirlpools, you should have no more than six squads in the army for minimum losses, so that one weakest creature can be allocated to a separate squad, which will then fall overboard. (Source - astralwizard, Fizban the fabulous).

Cartographer. If you encounter such a structure on your path, consider yourself very lucky. You must visit it, and for only 1000 gold coins, they will open the entire map corresponding to the type of this "cartographer" (land, sea, or underground).

Magic Well. If your Hero is facing a battle with an opponent in the vicinity of a magic well, and the amount of "mana" (spell points) is not at maximum, although sufficient for battle, you should not rush to the well. It is better to conduct the battle first and then satisfy the Hero's "magical hunger," so that by the end of your turn (and the beginning of the opponents' turns), they are ready to fight other armies with a full magical "ammo load."

Learning Stone. Such "stones" are very useful at the start of the game, quickly advancing the Hero from level to level. When your Heroes, already decently "leveled up," encounter such a stone in enemy territories, they may well not be distracted by visiting this object, which will add little to their large experience value (unless, of course, you are a masochist and have set yourself the goal of reaching the maximum possible Experience with each Hero before finally dealing with all your opponents).

Arena, School of Magic, School of War. Obtaining Primary Skills in these buildings involves some choice. If you have no particular need to increase one specific skill out of the two offered, you should choose the one whose probability of increasing for this Hero class upon moving to the next level is lower. You can find out about the probabilities of developing a given Hero's primary skills from the corresponding table in the Manual (Руководства) without even leaving the game (press "F4", select "Help" in the menu, "On Line Manual", "Primary Skill" and read the section "Primary Skill Advancement by Class").

Library of Enlightenment. An object of desire for every Hero, allowing them to simultaneously increase all their primary skills by two units. Only not everyone will be let into the "library" by the discerning keeper — the Hero must have a level no lower than 10! An exception is a Hero possessing the Diplomacy secondary skill. Depending on the diplomacy level, such a Hero only needs to have level 8 (Basic Diplomacy), 6 (Advanced), or 4 (Expert) to visit the ”library”. (Source – Hermann Salzmann).

Shrine of Magic (Incantation, Gesture, Thought). These give one spell of levels 1-3. It makes sense for a Hero who has a Spell Book to visit the first two, and to receive a spell in Thought, the Hero must have Wisdom at a level no lower than Advanced. "Pavilions" higher than the Magic Guild level of your cities (at the very beginning of the game) may be of particular interest. It is not bad to get the Lightning Bolt spell in Gesture if your Hero has decent Spell Power but only has Magic Arrow in their arsenal of attacking spells. I must, however, note (based on my own experience), that such gifts are extremely rare — usually "junk" unworthy of a decent wizard's attention is stored in the "pavilions."

Tree of Knowledge. Each "tree" once per game increases the Hero by a whole level (adds the experience "delta" of the current level). If the Hero only needs a little more "experience" before moving to the next level, it is better to do this elsewhere (destroy a neutral squad or fight an enemy Hero), and then visit the tree. Then your Hero will receive more "experience" because the amount of experience equal to the "delta" of the next, higher level will be added. An exception is a first-level Hero, as moving to the second and third levels requires the same amount of experience — 1000. Such a novice Hero should be sent to the tree immediately, and only then can you think about a "heart-to-heart" conversation with an enemy Hero.

Witch Hut. If a Hero who has 1-2 "slots" left for secondary skills encounters such a hut, they should not take the risk — the witch may teach something useless. It is desirable, before the main Hero visits the mistress of the hut, to send another Hero with few secondary skills ahead. Let them scout how useful this Witch Hut is.

University. If any of your Heroes runs past this building, let them not be lazy and look inside. Even if you have little money and do not plan to provide your Heroes with secondary skills from there right now, it is still useful to know the capabilities of this "university." If you find something interesting for yourself, you can always send the corresponding Hero for training later.

Pyramid. Only a decent wizard with Expert Wisdom should be sent here in search of a fifth-level spell. Otherwise, the visit to the "pyramid" will be in vain. And don't forget to take a strong army with you, because 40 Gold Golems and 20 Diamond Golems guarding it are by no means a gift.

Stables. It should be firmly remembered that field "stables" differ from city ones in that they upgrade Cavaliers to Champions for free. And if they are located near the city, then (at first, while money is scarce) there is no need to do Upgrade Training Grounds in it, periodically sending Cavaliers accompanied by a Hero serving the surroundings of this city for this free "upgrade."

Fountain of Youth, Watering Hole, Oasis. Encountered on the path, they are useful not so much by increasing the Hero's "morale" until the end of the next battle, but by an additional movement bonus on the current turn, which often allows the Hero to reach a place they couldn't otherwise. It should be noted that the oasis bonus (+8 movement) is greater than the other two (+4).

Rally Flag. Same as the previous objects, but here both morale and luck are increased (+4 movement).

Altar of Sacrifice. I am not a supporter of sacrificing any creatures, but I consider getting rid of unnecessary artifacts in exchange for "leveling up" Heroes to be very useful. Trading soldiers for Experience makes sense in a campaign when the mission ends, and the Heroes who will continue the campaign in the next mission have not yet reached the maximum Level.

Tavern. Differs from the "taverns" of your cities in that you can hire other Heroes there, who may currently be better than the "city ones."

Sanctuary. Besides the fact that your weak Hero can hide in this temple (with their entire army, of course) from enemy harassment, sometimes this building can be used in a slightly different tactical key. I'll suggest a couple of options.
If the Sanctuary is located near some important object (a city, for example), then the presence of one of your Heroes with an army will force the enemy to keep a garrison in the city at all times. Your Hero can periodically run out of the "temple" and establish control over resource sources if they are within half a turn's distance (usually Ore Pit or Sawmill), and calmly return to their refuge.
If your and an enemy Hero (with a large army) "accidentally" end up on a small island near a city not yet built, this trick will allow you to delay the enemy Hero on the island, or weaken their army, part of which they will be forced to leave in the garrison.

If you are chasing an enemy Hero and they intend to hide in a temple, it makes sense to occupy the Sanctuary yourself with one of your Heroes to eliminate such a possibility for the pursued.

Prison. Be sure to visit the "prison" and free the Hero languishing in it, who will gladly join your banners. Sometimes a very useful representative of the Heroes Guild may be there. Even very, very... For example, in one of the "Shadow of Death" scenarios, I encountered two "prisons" containing Gelu and Drakon (not to be confused with the "swamp" Dracon).

Golem Factory. Contains all four types of "golems." The best choice among those offered is Iron Golems. Of course, diamond and gold ones are stronger, but they give few (and ask for a lot of gold). In the game, these two types are encountered so rarely, and even then only as enemies (Pyramid, for example), that it makes no sense to form one of the Hero's army squads from them, with very rare exceptions at the start of the game. Stone Golems can also be taken, but only if you quickly "dump" them into a Tower-type city where they can turn into Iron Golems. Carrying them for a long time in the army of a traveling Hero is highly undesirable due to their low movement speed — this will slow down the entire army.
If the Golem Factory is located near your city, Stone Golems must be taken. After their "upgrade" — 12 Iron Golems will be a good addition to its garrison. I should note that cities protected by a crowd of "golems" (besides other squads) cannot be taken by a cavalry rush — the assault will definitely drag on.

Griffin Conservatory and Dragon Fly Hive. Regarding the first object, the following advice can be given: never pass it by and, as soon as you discover it, try to visit it immediately. After victory over the "musical birds" in Ablade and SoD, one to four Angels can be obtained. However, this is not for every Hero — 160 Griffins and 40 Royal Griffins may "accidentally" (with a 10% probability) be in the "conservatory" (that's where the Hero will get four Angels if, of course, hehe, they can destroy such guards). Sometimes it is useful to sacrifice an extra (auxiliary) Hero to find out the possibilities of this "conservatory."
The tree (Dragon Fly Hive) is "poorer" than the Conservatory. Here you will receive 4-12 Wyverns if you free this "tree" from evil Dragon Flies. It's better to go to them without shooters, but if there are any in the army, split them into several squads (provided that your army has fewer than seven squads) to reduce their losses.
The battle with the guards of these objects differs from those that occur when capturing guarded vaults because the speed of the guards (Dragon Flies and Royal Griffins) here is very high, and the requirements for the army composition, magical arsenal, and personal characteristics of the Hero are much higher in this case.
To visit such objects, you need to assemble a corresponding army (40 Griffins or 18 Dragon Flies in one squad is not the same as 60 Imps from an Imp Cache), and before the battle with the guards, you must correctly position the army squads to exclude the attack of the slowest ones.

Traiding Post. A very useful market that allows economic operations for exchanging resources according to a rate equivalent to the trade network rate of five city Marketplaces.

Magic Spring. An analogy to the Mana Vortex building in a Dungeon-type city. Restores the Hero's spell points to maximum and then doubles them. If you encounter such a "spring," try to become its full master and do not allow enemy heroes access to it until you have tasted a sip yourself. The restoration of "mana" will occur once a week for the Hero who managed to drink first (this is not a free Magic Well), and therefore — all late Heroes will simply be left empty-handed.

Strategy

If the location of an enemy city has been determined, it is best to storm it on the first day of the week. Then, after the storm and possible numerous losses, you can receive reinforcements from the creatures of this city; it's especially pleasant if they are of the same type as yours.

Field creature sources are convenient to visit on the last day of the week so that on the next (first day of a new week) you can immediately take another reinforcement. Moreover, if the Hero has few "movement points" left after receiving the first reinforcement and there are no other useful objects nearby, they should be left in place so as not to waste time getting the second reinforcement on the next turn.

If a Hero has the Resurrection spell (best at Expert level, but in extreme cases Advanced will do) and a significant Knowledge value, it makes sense to equip their army with only one squad of the most senior non-dead (Titans, Angels/Archangels, Red Dragons...). Such an army will have no losses in battles (thanks to Resurrection), if its commander can replenish their "mana" reserves in time. It should not be forgotten that the Resurrection spell at Basic level restores fallen creatures only for the duration of the battle (after which they "die" again).

If your Hero has Blind in addition to the Resurrection spell, and the opponent lacks Dispel Magic and Cure, you can fully restore your Hero's army at the end of a battle if you manage to cast "blindness" on the last enemy unit so that it does not flee. In doing so, you must be sure to destroy the ballista and first aid tent if any are present in the enemy army. The presence of a ballista with your own Hero may hinder this plan, as the ballista fires automatically and will remove "blindness." In this case, having the Artillery secondary skill will help you control the ballista (Source - astralwizard, Gavin Watkinson).

If you start a scenario on a small island, you should capture or build a Shipyard as quickly as possible (a coastal town will provide such a facility immediately). This is especially true if various items are floating on the open water, just waiting for you to pick them up.

It is advisable (in the mid-game) to leave some gold cash at the end of your turn (and other resources, if there is a Marketplace). "Computer" Heroes love to pop out from the "darkness." If, in such a case, one of them happens to be near your town, you can change your plans on the next turn and use all resources for its defense. Naturally, if this becomes necessary.
If an enemy unexpectedly pops up "from around the corner" and attacks your Hero, you can use the gold left (for a rainy day) to buy your way out from a stronger opponent and preserve your Hero's army.

At the start of the game, as soon as the opportunity arises, you should assign one of your Heroes a "scout" mission. With an army consisting of a single, fastest soldier, he should set out to open new (unexplored) territories, not forgetting to visit all useful objects available to him. Dragon Fly, Thunderbird, Royal Griffin, etc., are convenient for this purpose. Give the trailblazer one soldier and send him into the unknown distances. If you also have the sea "at hand," there should be at least two such "scouts" (one on land, another at sea). Thanks to the high speed of his companion, the Hero will quickly open new territories (and, by the way, not fear any whirlpools at sea), and when attacked by a stronger but slower enemy army, he will get the right of the "first move." This will allow your Hero to buy his way out for "ridiculous" money (since there is only one soldier) or run away (don't forget to "treat" the enemy to some attacking spell before disappearing). By the next turn, you can re-hire this Hero, who has gained skills, magic, and artifacts during his journey and managed to rise several levels.
The high HP of a Thunderbird can serve as protection against the loss of your Hero, even if the first move belongs to the enemy.

Weaker creatures that also have low movement speed (6-9) may not withstand a hit from an opponent who moves first. You should give such creatures to the scout Hero in several units, splitting them into squads of one soldier each. The probability of defeat will thus be minimized (except for encounters with a wizard possessing the Chain Lightning spell, or a Hero with Expert Tactics and several fast units).

If your scout Hero does perish, the benefit from his raid will be much greater than the hiring cost, especially considering that his army was transferred to another of your Heroes and continues to be useful.

If your Hero, who has the Tactics skill, is attacked by a stronger opponent and you are offered the chance to arrange units before starting the battle, you can immediately (in this phase) begin peace negotiations or simply run away, leaving the army to fate. This is especially true if the right of the "first move" in battle belongs to the opponent, and your Hero has a small army that could be destroyed before there is an opportunity to flee from combat.

If one of the Heroes is facing a battle with an uncertain outcome, it should be conducted first, while you have not yet spent your money. Then, if necessary, the Hero, in case of obvious defeat, can buy his way out (surrender) at any moment of the battle and preserve his remaining troops.

If there are Necromancers among your Heroes, entrust battles with large crowds of weak neutral units only to them. A free increase in the ranks of Skeletons (Skeleton Warriors) is guaranteed. And another nuance: if your Hero has only Skeleton Warriors among his skeletons (if there are also a small number of ordinary skeletons - dismiss them), then before the battle, split his army into seven squads so that the "freebies" also come in the form of "warriors" rather than ordinary skeletons.

The most suitable candidates for filling "empty slots" are Wraiths with their ability to steal two units of mana with each of their squads.

If you start with a town (towns) of the Dungeon type, it makes sense to be more selective about establishing control over field objects that produce creatures weekly. Since the Portal of Summoning, one of the buildings of this town, allows hiring creatures from "flagged dwellings," it makes sense not to waste time on trifles and establish control only over those dwellings that produce higher-level creatures, preferably seventh level. Then every week in such a town, you can additionally hire one more such creature.
However, keep in mind that building a Portal of Summoning in the town only makes sense after the first field dwelling of creatures appears on your path - the scenario might not contain such objects. In that case, spending on the "Portal of Summoning" is unlikely to make sense.

If you start with a town (towns) of the Necropolis type and your main force consists of undead soldiers, remember an inexpensive way to instantly obtain a large (60-100) number of Skeletons. For this, you only need to build a Skeleton Transformer in the town and find a Hero for hire in the tavern whose squad consists of a large number of first-level creatures (such as Shakti from the Dungeon castle with a hundred troglodytes). Spend 2500 gold, put the horde of troglodytes or gremlins to death – and your skeleton squad will grow significantly. As for the Hero, you can act depending on the situation: keep him in your armies or dismiss him. Interestingly, if you are playing RoE, such a Hero must not be dismissed under any circumstances. Give him one fast creature and send him to search for an enemy Hero. When such a "victim" is found, your Hero attacks them and quickly surrenders. Immediately in the Necropolis tavern, he is hired again with a new pile of food for the Transformer. In Ablade and SoD this trick will not work, as the Hero after surrender appears in the tavern with only one creature.
When you play a campaign or a separate scenario with a large map, you almost always have eight Heroes (or even more) at your disposal. It is very desirable to have at least one among them with the Expert Scholar secondary skill. Then very useful spells such as Chain Lightning, Town Portal, Meteor Shower, Resurrection, Armageddon, Clone, Prayer, Water Walk, held by individual Heroes, will pass to the "scholar," and from him to all other wizards who have reached Advanced Wisdom in their development. Moreover, this will happen much faster than Hero raids to towns whose magic guilds have such spells.
Tactics

If your Castle type town has a building called Stables, don't forget to stop by the town at the beginning of the week so that the Hero already there can "change his horses for fresher ones" (receive a new movement bonus for the entire upcoming week).

If you have a Tower type town, which allows adding an additional tower called Lookout Tower to the Castle to increase the range of territory observation, its construction (which is very often declined) can, in some cases, bring significant benefit.
Here is an example from one scenario. North of the Tower is an enemy town, separated from it by water and reachable by land (by a detour) in many days. Your powerful mage Hero has the Fly spell, but there is no landing spot on enemy territory - everything is covered in darkness (including the town). The construction of the Lookout Tower "opened" new lands and allowed capturing the enemy town in one day.

The movement range of a Hero's army depends on the "speed" of the slowest squad. While the Hero is in the town, all squads of his army except for the fastest should be moved to the garrison. Then, on the day he leaves the town, his movement range will be the maximum possible.
If faster creatures can be hired (or built and hired) in this town, you should do so, hiring one for now and giving it to the Hero as the fastest squad.
However, keep in mind that the maximum movement range of a Hero on the map (during one turn) occurs when the slowest creatures in his army have a speed equal to eleven. Further increasing the army's speed will not increase the move distance. Additionally, the Hero's movement range will be the same if the slowest creature in the army has a speed of 3 or 4, 6 or 7, as well as 9 or 10. The values specified in the Manual (15-20 squares) are valid for simple terrain (Dirt, Grass, Lava, Subterranean) and assume movement in a straight line. Other types of land make adjustments, reducing the specified movement range.

If two Heroes are in the town and both face a long journey on the next turn, it is better to lead one of them out of the town with the fastest squad. Leave the other Hero with the fastest squad as well, and send the rest (if possible) to the garrison. Then both Heroes will have the "longest" move the next day.

If two Heroes are in the field nearby, and you want one of them to have the maximum possible path length on the next turn, exchange at the end of the turn so that this Hero has only the fastest squad. At the beginning of the next turn, return his army and - forward!

(new) If in Ablade and SoD your Hero established control over a resource source and his turn ended, it makes sense to "drop" all squads of his army on "defense" of the source, except for the fastest. Then on the next turn, the Hero's path will be maximally long. Just don't forget to return his guard soldiers back to the army.

If in Ablade and SoD you need to transfer some soldiers from one Hero to another, they do not necessarily have to meet. It is enough to leave reinforcements at the nearest resource source and move on with your business, and the other Hero will visit this "resource point" and take the guards. Using this possibility in the game for its intended purpose - placing guards against enemy attacks - is only possible if you have soldiers "galore," or in the case of a scenario where victory requires capturing all resource sources.

It is useful to use the possibility of a Hero "relay," when one reaches another and transfers additional troops so that he can defeat an enemy Hero nearby, or storm a town with a more powerful army.

In Armageddon’s Blade and Shadow of Death, there is no need to make preliminary exchange calculations before visiting a Trading Post. After the Hero enters this establishment, you can temporarily exit to the Travel Screen without leaving the market with this Hero. If it becomes necessary to continue exchanging, just select this Hero, press "space," and continue trading operations. Unfortunately, this tip only works for the game's add-ons and is not suitable for ”Restoration of Erathia,” where space does not work and you have to waste time moving away and re-entering the Trading Post.

If an opponent wants to dock at your shore where there is only one landing spot, you can occupy this spot with your Hero, and the enemy will be unable to reach the shore.

If eight Heroes (the maximum for traveling) are already participating in your troops, and there is an opportunity in the Tavern to hire an advanced Hero (of those who lost a battle and returned to the Guild), and you want to do so, do not rush to dismiss one of your own. It is enough to send some Hero to the town garrison so that the possibility to hire a new Hero appears. You can immediately transfer him to the garrison if you need (on this turn) to lead an old Hero (whom you put in the garrison) out of the town for some urgent actions.

Sometimes it is very useful to have your Hero attack an enemy one and surrender or run away, even if your Hero is stronger (in this case, it's useful to reduce the opponent's army to a minimum, although this will not bring experience to your commander), in order to appear in one of your towns on the same turn.
I highly recommend doing this if an opportunity has arisen in one of your towns to acquire the Town Portal spell, and the Hero already has the Earth Magic secondary skill at Advanced level, but it would take many days for him to run to that town.
Another need for such a maneuver may arise if you need to defend your town which has no Hero, and the capabilities of a novice from the Tavern do not satisfy you, or you have no possibility to hire one (full set of traveling Heroes, none of whom can be transferred to the garrison).

If a Hero entered some creature dwelling and his "turn" ended, hiring creatures is necessary only if they are needed to strengthen the army of a Hero who may be attacked by enemy armies on this same turn. Otherwise, it is better to use gold for other acquisitions and hire these creatures on the next turn (select the Hero and press "space"). If the "speed" of the hired creatures is lower than those already in the Hero's army, then even without experiencing gold problems, you should postpone the purchase of these creatures until the next turn, so that the movement range for the next turn (which depends on the "speed" of the slowest squad in the army and is set at the beginning of the turn) does not decrease. Unfortunately, this tip only works for the game's add-ons and is not suitable for ”Restoration of Erathia,” where space does not work and you have to waste time moving away and re-entering the creature dwelling.

When an enemy Hero with a strong army appears near your town, you face a dilemma: do you want them to attack the town (and "fail miserably," of course), or not? Experience suggests that the opponent's behavior toward your town depends on how you position the troops within it. If you put all units into the garrison except for the "fastest" one (if they don't attack, the Hero will have the "longest move"), the probability of an attack is very high. Putting the entire army of the hero "on display" very often cools the enemy Hero's enthusiasm, and they abandon their claims to your town.

Remember that a guest Hero may surrender or flee when attacking a town, but a host Hero (the garrison commander) cannot (with the exception of a Stronghold type town in which an Escape Tunnel is built). If a strong enemy appears in the vicinity of your town and you want to preserve your Hero (who will certainly be the "host" if there is only one in the town), do not rush to leave the town. The town may not be attacked yet, or the enemy Hero may not have enough movement to reach it on this turn. However, to fully protect yourself from losing an important Hero, hire another one in the town (after first moving the existing one into the garrison). Then swap the Heroes so that the "big shot" becomes a "guest" and wait for the opponent's move. If the town is attacked, the guest Hero will be the first to engage in battle, meeting the enemy in the open field (but he can surrender or flee). Try to reduce the size of the enemy army as much as possible before "slipping away." It may turn out that the new Hero, protected by shooting towers and reinforced by the town's garrison, seems too tough for the weakened enemy or "holds out" during the siege. And the "big shot" can reappear in your forces as early as the next turn.

If you really need to find out the characteristics of an enemy Hero, and your Heroes do not have suitable magic or Rogue at hand, you can hire a new Hero, give him one creature whose speed is higher than the fastest unit of the enemy, and send him to attack the Hero of interest. The cost of such information is not that high.

If your Hero has visited some useful object and there are a few "steps" left until the end of the turn, and an enemy Hero is nearby, it makes sense not to move yours anywhere else. Let the opponent try to win the right to visit this object in battle, especially if it is a Hill Fort or Obelisk.

Before directing a Hero into battle with the defenders of a treasure vault or objects such as a Dragon Fly Hive and Griffin Conservatory, it would be wise to know the number of guards to reduce the risk of defeat. To do this, perform the following manipulations: Place the cursor on the object and send the Hero there. When asked by the guards, ”Do you wish to attack the guards?”, answer ”No”. Right-click on the object to get information about the creatures protecting it and their approximate number. In most cases, this will answer whether it is worth attacking the guards with this Hero or sending another, stronger one. (Source – astralwizard, Quebec Dragon).

Magic

Summon Boat. Having the secondary skill Water Magic at a level no lower than Advanced and this spell allows the Hero to not worry about buying a ship. If such a need arises and there are no free ships in your fleet, this Hero will provide a ship for himself, pulling it "out of his pocket." Obviously, such a Hero can easily provide you with any number of ships, and completely for free.

Fly. "Flight," of course, loses to Dimension Door in terms of the Hero's movement distance, but it has one invaluable property. It allows you to "steal" items scattered on the ground that are under the constant guard of neutral troops. A Hero using this spell flies past and, as if by chance, picks up the item, leaving the guards to watch an empty spot. This property of Fly is especially impressive when collecting artifacts and "scrolls" with "cool" spells.
View Air. A very useful and, importantly, cheap spell. If you play "fairly," the location of enemy Heroes (provided your Hero has the Air Magic skill at Advanced level) located in unexplored lands will not be a "closely guarded secret." As a result, the danger of an attack on your Heroes "from around the corner" will sharply decrease, and it will shorten the search for enemy Heroes at the end of the game when they are hiding from your righteous wrath in still-hidden territory.

Town Portal. Having this wonderful spell with any of your Heroes (with Earth Magic skill no lower than Advanced) will immediately solve the problem of town defense and free other Heroes from this difficult duty. After casting the spell and moving your Hero to the selected town, do not send him on his way immediately; actually enter the town so that the Hero receives everything in it (magic, possible primary skills, etc.).
Having this spell with a Hero who has Basic Earth Magic (or none at all) transports him, as is known, to his nearest "own" town, but only on the current map level (surface or underground). If there are no "own" towns on the current level, using this spell is useless—it will not send the Hero to a town on another level.

View Earth. If you have a Hero with Expert Earth Magic who has such a spell in their arsenal, it is convenient to use the services of such a wizard to view all unexplored lands (including the underground world), which will open at the wave of his magic wand.
In addition to learning the location of enemy towns (images of the towns themselves are not on the opened map, but they are easily guessed by the roads leading from their gates), you can see traces of "Grail" searches on the map—holes dug in the ground if one of your opponents has started this difficult task (the computer usually does not try to get information from all "obelisks" and may start digging after visiting only one of them). In this case, you should try to obstruct such an operation if you do not want to be left without the "Grail."

If a Hero has a choice between several Elemental magic skills (as a result of leveling up or those offered in the University), and you don't know which to prefer, I advise first choosing Earth Magic, which has a whole set of magnificent spells: Slow (in the form of Mass Slow, of course), Animate Dead, Meteor Shower, Resurrection, Town Portal, Implosion, and only secondarily Air Magic (Chain Lightning, Fly, Dimension Door).

Artifacts

If your Heroes have artifacts that increase creature population, do not forget to "place" the Heroes with these artifacts in selected towns by the end of the week (on the seventh day).

A Hero has only 5 "pockets" for artifacts. If the number of "pocket" artifacts the Hero possesses is greater, a problem arises regarding their use. You should ensure the timely movement of such artifacts from the backpack of unused items into "pockets" and back. When a Hero is moving, mana restoration artifacts are useful in the "pockets," which can be replaced before battle, for example, with artifacts that extend the duration of spells.

If you have several artifacts competing for the same equipment slot (head, hands, torso, shoulders, feet), they should be handled just like "pocket" ones.
For example, a Hero has Boots of Speed (feet: movement speed) and Dragonbone Greaves (feet: SP+1, Knowledge+1). The Hero travels with the first artifact on their feet, but when approaching a Magic Well, changes shoes, drinks from the well, receives an extra 10 units of "mana," and puts the first artifact back on.


The Grail

If you have dug up the Grail and you have several different towns, it is preferable to take it to the Tower. The Skyship built on its basis, in addition to three usual "gifts," will give you a fourth—it will open all unexplored territory of the map (which is very valuable if such territory exists and the game is still in full swing).

If one of your opponents has dug up the Grail, under no circumstances should you attack this Hero to seize the great artifact. After losing a battle, they will unconditionally give up all "ordinary" artifacts they have, but the winner will not get the Grail—it will disappear forever! Therefore, it is worth tracking where the lucky owner takes their find and capturing the town that already has the corresponding unique structure. The building, unlike the artifact, will not disappear anywhere and will immediately start working for you. A small nuance concerns your result for winning a separate scenario: since you did not dig up the Grail, the corresponding bonus is not due to you.

Preparing the army for battle

It is useful to divide the Hero's army into seven detachments, filling empty vacancies with units consisting of one weak creature, and placing them to the left of the main detachment of the same creatures (so that they move earlier). Such suicide loners are useful for the first strike on enemy detachments or serve as an additional line of defense for a "fortress" with shooters inside.
However, it should be kept in mind that such army division is very problematic if there are Liches (Power Liches) or Magogs in the opponent's ranks. As well as when meeting Heroes who have the Meteor Shower spell in their arsenal (for example, Deemer or Aislinn). If your Hero does not have an advantage in the Tactics skill or superiority in speed, it is practically inevitable that the central group of three detachments will be covered by fire or a spell. In this case, six detachments and no military equipment are better!

If your hero's army, having fewer than seven detachments, is defending a town and a siege is imminent, it is necessary to divide it into seven detachments to increase the number of units capable of "plugging" breaches made by the catapult.

To reduce losses in battles with defenders of guarded resource vaults and creatures, it is important to correctly determine the formation of your Hero's army before the battle so that weaker and slower (compared to enemy detachments) units do not immediately fall under their attack. Remember that the arrangement of army detachments on the battlefield depends on their number. Keep in mind that the likely presence of stronger and faster brethren among them (bottom left detachment) requires some correction (this detachment will start the battle first).
Thus, in a battle with defenders of guarded resource vaults and creatures, the Hero's detachments are located in the center of the field in several horizontal rows (the number of rows depends on the number of detachments). Placement on the field occurs as follows: rows are filled with detachments taken from the Hero's initial army formation, starting from the leftmost (until they run out). In the maximum version (7 detachments), the first (top) row contains two detachments, the next (below it) three, and the last one again two. Thus, the arrangement on the battlefield depending on the number of detachments in the army takes the following form: 2-3-2; 2-3-1; 2-3; 2-2; 2-1; 2; 1.

Battle
Strategy

At the beginning of a fight, it is useful to use "Wait" for your detachments rather than rushing forward headlong as the AI does, in order to: first, not expose detachments to enemy attack and instead be the first to "strike" reachable opponent detachments; and second, ensure that your detachments, which are faster than the opponent's, get two strikes in a row (at the end of the first and beginning of the second round). If you also have units that enemies do not respond to, as a result of such actions after two rounds, the enemy army will suffer significantly greater losses than yours.

If you have the Tactics skill and the field has only a few narrow passages, and the enemy has strong detachments, it is useful to place detachments consisting of one soldier in these passages to slow their advance toward your shooters.

One of the recommended ways of fighting against defenders of guarded vaults (most acceptable against slow but sturdy Dwarves):
If you are able to destroy one detachment of guards in the first round, a detachment of shooters is placed in the leftmost position of the army formation (before entering the vault), and the army begins by destroying the top-left detachment of guards. All detachments gradually converge into this corner and perhaps arrange a "living" fortress for their shooters.

If a mage Hero has the Ballistics skill and has many shooters, then during a town siege, you can block the gates with some detachment, decline the services of the catapult, and destroy everyone in the town who does not fly, without letting them enter close combat.

The Ballistics skill gives the Hero attacking a town one undeniable advantage—in the initial phase of the siege, even before the catapult fires, the Hero has the opportunity to cast a spell! Blind or Berserk, cast on the fastest detachment of the garrison defenders, are very useful in this case. The use of collective magic such as Mass Haste or Mass Slow is also possible, which will give the attacker a great advantage in speed. (Source – astralwizard, Qurqirish Dragon)

If your town defender possesses a powerful spell that allows removing 1000 HP in two-three rounds (better, of course, in one, but such cases are quite rare), and the besieger's army is numerous (although "flyers" are not that many), it is useful at the beginning of the siege to destroy the catapult to prevent the main forces of the opponent from entering the town and to preserve the city towers (note that Implosion does not work on a catapult!). After "dealing with" the enemy "flyers" who have entered the town, your defender's magic together with the shooting towers will finish off the besieging Hero's troops if he doesn't manage to flee. Your own "flyers" with speed 11 and above can be involved in the operation to destroy the catapult, positioning them behind the walls so that they reach the catapult. First use Wait, attack the catapult at the end of the turn, and move back under the protection of the walls at the beginning of the next. And so on until the catapult is destroyed.

In a battle with a strong enemy Hero, strive not to let him escape, even if you need to sacrifice several extra warriors. In addition to your Hero receiving the maximum amount of Experience in this case, you will remove an already "leveled-up" Hero from the enemy army for a long time (if not forever). If you are lucky, he may appear at the beginning of next week in your town's tavern, and you can invite him to serve under your banners. At the same time, you will get some information about the magical arsenal of the opponent he previously servedTo prevent the Hero from fleeing the battle, lull them into a false sense of security. Do not overwhelm them immediately; plan the engagement so that in the final round you have enough strength to completely destroy all remaining enemy squads.

Do not ignore enemy machinery. If a "free" squad or a magical strike becomes available, destroy the Ammo Cart, Ballista, and First Aid Tent. If the Hero flees, the enemy will have to spend 4250 gold on new equipment.

If the enemy is standing at the gates of your city, which houses a powerful mage with high Spell Power and Knowledge stats, while the city garrison (together with the Hero's troops) leaves much to be desired, the following well-known practice is quite likely. Leave the Hero with one squad consisting of a single fast soldier, attack the enemy, strike with magic, and then surrender or pay them off (which also solves the problem of the new fast soldier). Hire this same Hero in the tavern and go back into battle... Further progress depends on the duration of the Hero's turn, their "mana" reserves, the amount of gold in your treasury, and the size of the enemy army. Eventually, the mage may "thin out" the opponent's army so much that they can no longer capture the city.
Such a powerful mage can also be used as an initial strike against a strong enemy field army before your main Hero enters the fray.

Tactics

To protect shooters from melee combat with enemy soldiers during a battle, you should surround them with other squads, creating an artificial "fortress" around the shooters. The easiest way to do this is as follows: before attacking the enemy, divide the Hero's army into several squads (four or more, but five is optimal). Arrange the squads so that the shooter squad is on the far left, placing them in the corner of the battlefield. To the right, place three (or two, if there are creatures that occupy two cells on the field) squads, which will act as active fortress walls (they can attack the enemy and respond to hits while staying in place). Beyond those, you can place "dummy" squads consisting of a single weakest soldier, needed only to "shift" the shooters into the corner of the field and deliver the first strikes against enemy squads.

It is also possible to build a "fortress" in the center. In this case, the army must consist of five squads. The shooter squad is placed in the middle, and the combat formation is set to "Tight". Then the shooters on the battlefield are covered on the flanks by neighboring squads; you only need to place one of the outer squads in front of the shooters on the first turn. Such a formation is advantageous if only one of your squads manages to make a move (placed first or fifth) before the fastest enemy squad gets the right to move and can immediately attack your shooters due to high speed or the enemy Hero's Tactics skill. If the enemy squads are not that fast, and you have at least one squad of creatures that occupy "two cells" in your army, you should prefer the "corner" fortress, which in this case is created by only two squads, as described in the first option.

To avoid wasteful losses of weak squads (when the Hero has the Tactics skill), they can also be placed inside a "fortress" created from soldier squads with high HP values. While the "long-livers" hold back enemy strikes and the shooters rain their deadly weapons upon the foes, the weak squads can watch the battle as spectators.
If the enemy Hero has the Resurrection or Animate Dead spell, then to ensure a certain squad of the enemy army cannot be "revived" after its complete destruction, you must place one of your own squads on its position. Of course, not a "frail" one, so that it cannot be destroyed too quickly.

The presence of weak flyers within a "living fortress" who deliver unanswered strikes (Sprites or Harpy Hags) will allow them to take direct part in the battle without any losses on their side. The former can strike at the end of the turn and flee at the beginning of the next, while the latter can make sorties every turn, returning to their starting position independently. (Source - Hermann Salzmann)

Use of Magic

During an assault on your city, it is useful to use the Blind spell to "patch holes" in the fortress wall and breached city gates. You should place one of your squads (preferably the smallest number of "weak" creatures) in front of the breach so that enemies cannot slip past. When an enemy squad (usually the strongest and most numerous squads push through the defensive "moats") hits your barrier and stops, likely destroying the obstacle, you cast Blind on it and pray that the enemy Hero does not have Dispel or Cure spells. If they have already used magic in this round, you can put off the prayer and, in the next round, avoid rushing to use another spell, instead watching how the enemy reacts (magically) to the "blinded" situation.
The Force Field spell can also be used for these purposes, but remember that it only lasts for two rounds of battle.

The application of magic depends on the situation: sometimes it is useful to wait until the enemy Hero says their "magic word" (especially if your spell does not attack, but only changes the combat qualities of some enemy squad), and only then use your own spell. For example, it is dangerous to be the first to cast Slow on an enemy squad — the opponent might have Haste, and your magical "shot" will be a blank.

If the opponent uses Mass Cure, especially at Expert level, you should only attack those squads where you can reduce the "headcount." Otherwise, your attack or shot will be wasted.