- Development strategies

Game Strategies for Heroes 3 Races.

Section Contents:

Inferno Game Strategy

Fortress Game Strategy

Necropolis Game Strategy

Ramparts Game Strategy

Fortress Game Strategy

Stronghold Game Strategy

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BASICS


Inferno is not an easy town to play. By building and upgrading all creature dwellings, you receive 2035 Hit Points per week, which is significantly lower than other towns. (Ramparts has the most - 2650, followed by Tower - 2420 and Stronghold - 2370.) Furthermore, your Hit Points are the most expensive, as you pay 28090 gold + 4 Mercury for them, averaging 13.8 gold per point. (Ramparts is the cheapest at 10.05, while Castle, the next most expensive after Inferno, pays 13.2 gold per point). Building the town itself is also costly. To build and upgrade all creature dwellings (including the Fort, Tavern, Castle, and Capitol), you need 95300 gold and, specifically, 62 Mercury. Only Castle requires more gold - 98500, while the most expensive in terms of a single resource are Ramparts (65 Crystals), Dungeon (64 Sulfur) and Tower (61 Gems). In favor of Inferno, however, is the fact that it does not require as much Wood and Ore as other towns (95 of each, including the Fort). To build all structures in Inferno, 115300 Gold is required, which is more than any other town. On the other hand, it requires the least amount of Wood and Ore (120 each). In terms of primary resource expenditure, it ranks third with 86 Mercury (after Ramparts - 95 Crystals and Tower - 89 Gems).

HEROES

Your heroes are the Heretic (magic) and the Satanist (might). The development of both is well-balanced. While up to level 9 the Heretic leans slightly more toward Power and Knowledge, and the Satanist toward Attack and Defense, priorities even out after level 9. This balance is also reflected in the probability of obtaining secondary skills. A typical level 19 Heretic looks like 5 5 7 6, and a typical Satanist - 7 7 5 5 (without artifacts or visiting map objects). The Heretic is the most versatile hero of all; he can theoretically learn any secondary skill, including Necromancer and Leadership (together!), whereas the Satanist cannot learn Necromancer. However, this is not such a great disadvantage, as all other skills can be found on him. For the Heretic, same as Financier, Leadership, Luck, Navigation, and Water Magic are quite rare; Air Magic, Diplomacy, Logistics, Pathfinding, Resistance, and Reconnaissance are also uncommon. He leans toward Ballistics, Fire Magic, First Aid, Intelligence, Mysticism (highest probability), Scholar, Sorcery, and Wisdom (which every Heretic has). It is difficult for the Satanist to learn Air Magic, Eagle Eye, First Aid, Intelligence, Luck, Scholar, and Water Magic. They prefer Armorer, Archer, Artillery, Ballistics, Logistics (highest probability), Offense, Resistance, Reconnaissance, and Tactics. Remember that for Satanists, there is no mandatory skill that every one of them is equipped with initially. It is important to consider the probability of acquiring skills in magic guilds. Both heroes naturally lean toward Fire Magic, followed in descending order by: Earth, Air, and Water. For the Heretic, the probability across all four schools is slightly higher, so an average Heretic always has Fire Magic and very often - Earth Magic, while an average Satanist often has Fire Magic and frequently Earth Magic. Finding either of these heroes with Air Magic, let alone Water, is very difficult. Everyone knows how important it is to increase a hero's primary skills. Another important thing: until you have the advanced spell Town Portal, you need to have AT LEAST TWO GOOD HEROES. One for exploration and capturing objects, another for defending the starting town. One of the problems when playing on Impossible level is that you cannot afford to take experience from found treasure chests in the first week, as you need gold. This leaves your hero without secondary skills and without primary growth. Therefore, you must use every opportunity to train your hero. FIGHT ALL ROAMING MONSTERS that you can defeat, even for 100 - 200 experience points. Visit every object. Capture any mine encountered on the way, even at the cost of most of your meager army. It will pay off. Take every artifact, but only if it is free (for nothing).

SPELLS

One of the advantages of Inferno is the ability to build all 5 levels of the Mages' Guild. The first level should be built as quickly as possible, as heroes cannot be left without spells entirely, especially since Satanists do not initially have a Spellbook, and without it, they cannot learn spells along the way from Shrines. So if you start with a Satanist, buy him a Book first. Inferno cannot have all spells. The following spells never appear in its Guild: Bless, Ice Bolt, Death Ripple, Raise Dead, Frost Ring, Prayer, Magic Mirror, Call Air Elemental and Call Water Elemental. In principle, this is not so bad, as all of them (except Necro-spells) belong to the Air and Water schools, which are not leading in your specialization. Earth and Fire spells of the first level start being used early and play an important role for Inferno heroes. It must be remembered that the total Hit Points (HP) of Inferno creatures is very low, so the primary task is preserving HP. Of course, this applies to all town types, but especially for Inferno, as we will see below. Curse, Bloodlust, Shield, Slow and Stone Skin - all have a mass effect at expert level. Curse, Shield, and Stone Skin will reduce damage dealt by the enemy to your units, while Bloodlust and Slow increase damage you deal to the enemy. Magic Arrow may appear in your Spellbook very early and remain your only attacking spell for a long time, as you will lack Mercury to continue building the Mages' Guild. If you manage to build the second level of the Guild and the same Vision spell is there, use it often to view information on neutral monsters, as some may want to join you. Blindness and Berserk in combination with Fire Magic skills are among the best combat spells. Cast at expert level, Blindness causes paralysis of the specified unit, so you can attack it without fear of a counterattack (one way of preserving HP). Berserk at expert level is the most destructive spell, as it not only neutralizes 4 enemy units for one round of battle but also forces them to fight each other, attacking and, note, counterattacking and losing HP. Additionally, it creates significant confusion in the enemy's combat order and tactics. Sacrifice is a spell that allows even a hero with a low level of Spell Power to restore an incredibly large number of HP in battle, but the problem lies in choosing the right moment to cast it and the sacrificial group of creatures. Usually, Imps and Familiars should be sacrificed, but in battle they die first. So it may happen that by the time you need to revive your Arch Devils, Efreets, or Pit Lords, there is no one left to sacrifice. In this case, it would be reasonable to sacrifice Magogs. Meteor Shower is a very destructive spell if enemy groups are crowded in a limited space. In these cases, Fireball or Inferno can also be used, but they are weaker and should be applied when your hero has enough same mana points in reserve. The use of Earth spells like Town Portal, Restore, and Explosion needs no comment. Armageddon is a spell specifically for you, as you have one of the three creatures immune to its effect (Efreets). The other two are Black and Gold Dragons, but Ramparts cannot have Armageddon in its Mages' Guild. (in the Armageddon's Blade version, Phoenixes and Magic Elementals are added - translator's note).

CREATURES

Imps/Familiars At a cost of 15 gold per HP, Familiars are very wasteful. They lose to other creatures in everything except speed and the ability to pump enemy mana into their hero's disposal. The AI opponent loves to destroy them first, so they can safely be categorized as <cannon fodder>. Upgrade the Retort early enough if you cannot upgrade something more useful or simply want to save money. In many scenarios, you have one or two Retorts in the vicinity of your castle, so it makes sense to hire 15 Imps there for free weekly and upgrade them in town. This results in 15 Familiars for 150 gold - quite cheap. However, Familiars should not be bought directly in town until you have extra money. Gogs/Magogs These second-level shooters are decent creations. Unfortunately, low-level shooters are quite useless in the early stages of the game when you don't have the money to hire them in large numbers and your heroes are still weak. The loss of half the damage dealt from a distance is a significant reason not to spend scarce funds on more valuable creatures. Do not buy them until you have an excess of cash. You do not need them at the start of the game. Moreover, Gogs are very slow (speed 4) and will significantly slow down the hero in his travels, so it's better to leave them home at first. The Hall of Sin upgrade should not be done early, although many believe otherwise. Of course, Magogs are better than Gogs in all parameters, but their Ball Lightning attack performs well in the middle and late stages of the game when the enemy usually has all 7 stacks occupied by units plus three war machines, and a hit on one target spreads to two adjacent ones. This is not the case at the start of the game. Therefore, it's preferable to upgrade later; besides, it takes 5 Mercury, which is a scarce and extremely necessary resource for you. Hell Hounds/Cerberi These are creatures of choice for you. Kennels should be built in the first week (should be the first creature dwelling you build) and must be upgraded on the first day of the second week. They are fast, have good Attack and Defense stats, and the enemy does not counterattack after their hits. All this for 250 gold, which is quite cheap, especially compared to other Inferno monsters. Give one hero all the Cerberi born in the first week, preferably dividing them into two stacks, and send him on a campaign. To strengthen him, you can also give him Familiars if you already have them, but only that. Do not attach other types of creatures, as they will significantly slow down the hero's movement without providing significant support during clashes with enemies. Capture every mine, fight any monsters that can be defeated with current forces. You will be pleasantly surprised by how effective Cerberi are in battle, and your losses will be minimal. Support all their attacks with spells, keeping in mind the idea of preserving HP. Thus, Cerberi will be your main fighters for a while. Demons/Horned Demons In battle, they cover the rear. The epithet <substantial> fits Demons and Horned Demons. They have no special abilities, but they give your hero strength in the struggle against tough creatures such as all types of Golems, Elementals, and 4th-level monsters. It is desirable to upgrade them quickly to get greater speed and additional HP. Once you have Horned Demons, reinforce the main hero's Cerberi with them. Demons play a special role in the Inferno army, as Pit Lords can restore killed groups of creatures specifically in the form of Demons (see below). Pit Fiends/Pit Lords Another expensive monster. You do not need to upgrade the Pit early, as you need the second level of the Mages' Guild (4 Mercury), and the upgrade costs 5 Mercury, which must be saved for building the Abandoned Palace. Do not buy Pit Fiends. Both they and their elder brethren are quite fragile creatures with only 45 HP, and in small numbers, they provide no benefit. Therefore, accumulate them in town until you can perform the upgrade. The special ability of Pit Lords is not so easy to use correctly. To revive using them, one of your stacks must be completely destroyed. Pit Lords restore Hit Points calculated as Demons, so after revival, you do not receive more HP than was there before. This means that 9 killed Familiars are revived into 1 Demon, which is not very impressive. If you have Pit Lords in your army, you should organize Familiars into a stack that is a multiple of 9, for example 27. If there is free space in the army, create 2 stacks of Familiars; then one of them will be <sacrificial>, actively attacking and taking damage to be completely destroyed, and then Pit Lords can revive it as Demons. If you do this, ensure the complete destruction of the chosen stack, because if even 1 Familiar survives, all your efforts will be in vain (and the Familiars will die for nothing :). Therefore, strategic planning of your actions is important, as is an objective understanding of the enemy's ability to deal damage to your army, in order to skillfully create a <sacrificial> unit in your army. The following deserves attention: if the battle is going poorly and you have lost some of your very important units, such as Efreets or Devils, organize a <kamikaze attack>for the few survivors, so that after their death they can be returned in the form of Demons to restore lost HP. For example: you have lost three of your four Efreets. You need the last Efreet to perish as well to restore this stack in the form of Demons. Four fallen Efreets will ultimately yield 10 Demons (provided, of course, that you have at least 10 Pit Lords), and the lost HP will be restored. Sometimes, Magogs with their Ball Lightning attack can be used to destroy your own monsters. However, after the Magogs have done their dirty work, the enemy may prevent you from using the Pit Lords to their full potential (blind them, attack powerfully and sharply reduce their number, etc.), so be careful. Any resurrection via Pit Lords returns HP more expensively than you purchased them in the town, with one exception: when a stack of Demons is completely destroyed, you resurrect them without losing money, but this happens infrequently; moreover, in such a case, you will likely lose the battle anyway. Furthermore, you probably won't have enough Pit Lords to resurrect all the Demons. Therefore, the following tactic can be applied: if there is a free slot in your army, divide the Demons into two stacks, one of which should not exceed the number of Pit Lords estimated to survive the upcoming battle. This stack will be . Let it attack first, losing HP and taking the enemy counterattack. When the stack is destroyed, resurrect it. This path is the most economical use of the Pit Lords' ability, but it is quite difficult to execute and requires corresponding practice. Efreets/Efreet Sultans As soon as Efreets appear in your town, hire them immediately. Do not wait for the upgrade. You will not be able to do it quickly, as you need Mercury to build the Abandoned Palace, but you need the Efreets. They are fast (speed 9), they have a lot of HP, they deal significant damage to the enemy, and they are immune to fire magic (Blinding, Berserk, Curse and, importantly, Armageddon). In melee combat, Efreet Sultans have a natural Fire Shield that deals 20% of the damage produced back to the attacking enemy. Therefore, the opponent usually tries to attack Efreet Sultans using shooters or magic, so attack them immediately; move the Efreet Sultans to the front line and have them attack the shooters before the shooters can attack first. If you have a hero with good Spell Power and the Armageddon spell, you can give him 7 Efreets, placing them 1 per stack. Since Efreets are immune to Armageddon and Blinding, you can effectively strike the enemy by casting Armageddon, but only if there are no Gold or Black Dragons in their army. The described tactic is not foolproof. If the enemy survives your first Armageddon attack, they may counterattack with Chain Lightning (and destroy 3-4 stacks of Efreets). The fastest creatures, such as Archangels or Ghost Dragons, can attack the Efreets in the first round of battle, so there is a chance you could be crushed. However, it should be noted that usually any average army can be quickly destroyed using this method if it lacks a stack of creatures with high HP (such as a horde of Magik Ogres, several Titans, or a crowd of Knights of Fear). Devils/Archdevils They have little HP. They are expensive. They do not deal as much damage as other level 7 monsters. They have high Attack and Defense. They are fast. They reduce the enemy's luck. After their attacks, the enemy does not counterattack. As soon as you build the Abandoned Palace, hire Devils immediately. If your heroes are far away, leave the Devils in the garrison. No Devil should remain unhired, because during a Plague week (epidemic), you lose half of them. Do everything possible to preserve them. It is excellent if you have Resurrection or Sacrifice spells that can be used to revive Devils fallen in battle. If you do not have such spells, be very careful. Do not carry out reckless attacks against groups of sturdy ground creatures, such as those from the swamps, because in this case your Devils may perish very quickly.

CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT

As before, these tips are given for large and huge maps on Very Hard and Impossible difficulty levels. When you play on Impossible, you have neither money nor resources at the start (except in cases where you receive a bonus). So, to build something on the first day, you must immediately move your hero to collect money and resources. If you find a treasure chest, take gold rather than experience. When you discover an Alchemist's Laboratory, capture it immediately if there is any chance at all. You need mercury. On Very Hard (but not Impossible), you should hire another hero and equip them with a Spellbook (if they don't have one). If you start with two towns, focus all your attention on one of them. Build the Town Hall (Prefecture) in the second town as quickly as possible, but then ignore it until you have enough Wood. Then build the Mages' Guild, Market, Smithy, and City Hall (Municipality) there. Further development of the second town can begin once you have managed to capture the first enemy town, but in this case, it is important to decide if it is better to upgrade the captured one, as there are usually already many buildings there and they are quite advanced. First Week 1. Mages' Guild (buy a Spellbook for the Satanist) 2. Town Hall 3. Market 4. Smithy 5. City Hall 6. Kennel 7. Cages This will be possible on Very Hard. On Impossible, there may be problems related to a lack of resources or money. The budget for the described construction is as follows: 13500 gold (+ 2500 gold for the second hero + 500/1000 gold for Spellbooks), 25 Wood and 5 Ore, so you need to find wood supplies three times (and capture a Sawmill), as well as Treasure Chests and gold. Remember that you will need 5 Sulfur on the eighth day to upgrade the Kennel. The minimum construction for the first week is: Mages' Guild, Town Hall, Kennel, and Cages (7000 gold, 15 Wood, 5 Ore). You must hire a second hero as soon as possible. He will collect gold and resources, which will quickly pay back the 2500 gold spent on him. If Fiona is in your tavern, hire her. She has Pathfinding at an advanced level, which will allow you to quickly scout the location of mines and resources. Additionally, her ability improves the attack and defense of Cerberi, which will be relevant in the second week. Second Week 1. Upgrade Kennel (buy Cerberi) 2. Upgrade Retort 3. Hall of Sins 4. Demon Gates 5. Stronghold 6. Fire Lake 7. Abyss/Castle It is unlikely you'll be able to build everything described. Most likely, some resource or money will be lacking, especially if you didn't build every day during the first week. Without the last building, you need 12000 gold, 5 Wood, 25 Ore, 3 Gems, 3 Mercury, and 8 Sulfur. Due to the high consumption of Ore, it may be impossible to build the Castle on the last day (another 10 Ore is needed). In this case, the Abyss is a good alternative, as it requires no resources (only gold). Third Week 1. Upgrade Demon Gates 2. Castle/Abyss Hire Cerberi, Horned Demons, and Efreets (only). From this point on, you need to save funds for building the Capitol and Abandoned Palace. In the third week, you will face a choice: whether to build the Resource Storehouse or not. You need Mercury, but 5000 gold is also useful, so act according to the situation. If you are playing on Impossible, you still won't be able to build the Abandoned Palace before the 4th week, so the mercury shortage will not be as acute. 3. Capitol 4. Order of Fire 5. Birth Pools/Resource Storehouse Fourth Week 1. Abandoned Palace/Resource Storehouse After building the Abandoned Palace, the Mercury problem remains acute, so the Resource Storehouse is necessary. Every important upgrade, including the construction of the Mages' Guild, requires Mercury. Since the second level of the Mages' Guild is necessary to upgrade the Abyss, it needs to be built early, which requires 4 Mercury. The Abyss upgrade is needed because in this case you have Pit Lords capable of restoring fallen fighters as Demons. Building higher levels of the Mages' Guild is a double-edged sword, as you spend many resources and the appearing spells may not be worth it. On the other hand, obtaining useful high-level spells is MORE IMPORTANT than upgrading the Abandoned Palace. A difficult choice:

MILITARY FORCES

If you are fighting a weak opponent, your Devils and Efreets can quickly decide the outcome of the battle. However, if the enemy is strong enough, it makes sense to leave your units in wait mode during the first round. The opponent may shoot, but due to the distance, their shooters will not deal significant damage. Let the enemy's slow creatures move, then cast mass Slow, thereby gaining a double attack effect for your army. In any battle, your priority task is preserving same-unit stacks (PU), as you have relatively few of them. Below are several examples of correct spellcasting with this goal in mind. You initially leave your fastest units without moving to be able to cast 2 spells before the battle fully unfolds. If the enemy occupies 5 or more stacks, you can use a combination of Curse and Shield, naturally at the expert level. Here is an example of the effectiveness of this combination: your army of 60 Cerberi and 30 Horned Demons (+ someone else) meets an enemy army of 80 Royal Griffins and 40 Crusaders (+ someone else). Suppose the heroes are roughly equal in strength, and on the first turn, the enemy used some spell—for example, blinded your Magogs or dealt damage with Chain Lightning, or something else. In the first round, you cast mass Curse; in the second, mass Shield. Enemy shooters (Archers or Monks) will certainly deal some damage in the first round, but not much. Curse will reduce the same-unit stacks' ability to deal damage for Archers to 1 and for Monks to 9; furthermore, distance will halve these values even further. So, Griffins attack Cerberi. Without Curse and Shield, the effect of a Griffin attack would be between 240 and 480 damage, which would destroy 9 - 19 Cerberi. With Curse applied, Griffins deal 160 damage. Shield reduces this by another 30%, so 80 Griffins deal 112 damage, destroying only 4 Cerberi. FOUR! Feel the difference! The heroes' strength is the same, but 80 Griffins kill only 4 Cerberi. Now let's see what the Cerberi do. In the first case, the remaining 41 - 51 Cerberi counterattack with a force of 82 - 255 damage. When it is their turn to attack, they will do so without fearing a counterattack. Thus, they destroy 6 - 20 Griffins (compare this to 9 - 19 killed Cerberi). In the second case, 56 Cerberi counterattack with a force of 112 - 280 damage and deal the same damage during their own attack. Thus, they destroy 8 (worst case) - 22 (lucky case) Griffins. So, in the first case, the number of fallen Griffins and Cerberi is roughly equal. In the second, the number of killed Griffins per round will be 3 - 4 fewer than the Cerberi you lose. Now Crusaders attack Horned Demons. With their double attack, Crusaders deal a lot of damage and are quite devastating. Usually, 40 Crusaders deal 280 - 400 damage on the first attack, killing 7 - 10 Demons. The surviving 20 - 23 Demons counterattack and deal 140 - 207 damage, killing 4 - 5 Crusaders (let's assume 5). Now the remaining Crusaders deliver a second strike (245 - 350 damage), killing 6 - 8 Demons. Your losses: at least 13, at most 18 Demons. The remaining 12 - 17 Demons make their attack and deal 84 - 153 damage, killing 3 Crusaders in the luckiest scenario, and the remaining Crusaders counterattack with a force of 224 - 320 damage. Total Crusader losses: average 8. Demon losses: 18 - 26. Not good. With Curse and Shield applied, the first attack by Crusaders deals 168 damage, destroying 4 Demons. Surviving Demons counterattack with a force of 182 - 234 damage, killing 5 - 6 Crusaders (let's assume 6). The second strike from surviving Crusaders deals 142 damage, killing another 3 Demons. Feel the difference: 7 killed Demons versus 13 - 18 in the first case. The remaining 23 Demons attack with a force of 161 - 207 damage and kill 5 or 6 Crusaders (let's take 5). The remaining 29 Crusaders counterattack, deal 122 damage, and kill 3 Demons. Total Crusader losses - 11. Total Demon losses - 10. Impressive? Moreover, the 2 spells you cast continue to work in subsequent rounds of battle, while you can cast new ones, including direct attacking spells like Chain Lightning. If you do not have the Curse spell or are fighting forces of the Necropolis (Curse and mind-affecting spells like Blind and Berserk do not work on undead), a different tactic is required. Mass Slow cast in the first round allows almost all your creatures to move before the enemy does. Let all your units initially remain in wait mode. Then you will have a double turn—at the end of the first round and at the beginning of the second. In the second stage, you cast mass Shield and gain full advantage on the battlefield. If you are not fighting undead, casting Blind completely removes an enemy stack from participating in the battle; however, this spell is easily removed (and if done at the right moment, it will be an unpleasant surprise for you, so be careful). When casting spells, choosing the right moment is very important. If you cast mass Slow or mass Curse and the opponent immediately responds with mass Haste or mass Bless, they not only neutralize your spell but also gain an advantage. So the general rule is as follows: if you want to cast a spell, wait as long as possible until the last moment it still makes sense. The opponent may cast before you, in which case you have control over the situation. Mass Slow can be used quite early, but if the opponent decides to leave their fast units in wait mode, you can slow them slightly later (but within the same round). And even if they don't wait, the effect of Slow will not be significantly reduced by waiting a little bit. The same recommendations apply to mass Curse. As long as the opponent allows it, there is no need to rush. The secondary skill Armorer should be chosen, as it reduces damage dealt to your army, which plays an important role in preserving PU. Based on this same reasoning, if you have to choose between improving attack or defense, choose defense. You need it. If you are choosing between Spell Power and Knowledge, take the skill that is currently lower for you, as both of these skills develop roughly equally. Spell Power determines the duration of your spells, and you probably won't like it if a spell you cast lasts only 1 or 2 rounds, but you also need Knowledge to be able to cast high-level spells.

COMBAT TACTICS DEPENDING ON THE OPPONENT.

As an opposition to Gorgons, Minotaurs, or even Dendroids, Pit Lords are ineffective. They are more vulnerable, so it is advisable to keep them in reserve and use them to attack lower-level creatures or those who cannot counterattack because they have already been attacked this round. Crawlers have the same speed as Pit Lords, so in the combat formation, they should be to the left of the Pit Lords. Use them to deliver the first strike on an enemy unit, then attack that same unit with Pit Lords. Efreets and Demons are also suitable for taking counterattacks (but not Cerberi or Devils). Demons are slower than Pit Lords, so it makes sense for the latter to wait initially and move after the Demons. Never rush. Your creatures have good speed stats, which gives them a tactical advantage; furthermore, you need to buy time to cast spells. It is possible to use Demons as a force to attack the enemy in order to absorb their counterattack. If you do this, aim for the complete destruction of the Demon stack in battle, and then use the Pit Lords' ability to resurrect them. You need a of heroes with good Logistics to reinforce your main hero with fresh troops and to move resurrected Demons back to the castle for upgrading. When attacking a city, you have a significant advantage because your two strongest monsters can fly over its walls. Therefore, poorly defended cities can be captured by Efreets and Devils alone. With the Berserk spell and expert skill in Fire Magic, fear no one. Go forward and conquer! Castle Fear nothing. Cast spells. If Archangels attack immediately, your goal in the first round of battle is clear. Let the Devils wait for now; let the enemy approach you. Beware of Crusaders. If possible, break them with Devils. Do not worry about enemy shooters. As long as you are at a distance, they will not cause significant harm. Mass Slow is very useful, especially for fighting Champions (reduces their tournament bonus). Dungeon Difficult. Dragons and Minotaur Kings are a headache; furthermore, there is no counterattack against Harpy Furies, and Evil Eyes and Medusa Queens are very strong shooters. Magic does not work against Dragons, so hand-to-hand combat with them is unavoidable. It would be good to destroy Dragons quickly so the enemy hero doesn't use Armageddon, if they have it. When all 7 of your stacks are occupied, Dragons can attack two in one strike, so it makes sense to enter battle with Dungeon using only 6 stacks. If you have the Tactics skill, arrange your troops to eliminate the double attack of Dragons. Attack Minotaurs and Scorpicorns with Devils, and hit Dragons with ground troops. The Curse spell is especially effective against Harpies and Minotaurs. Cerberi are very effective against lower-level creatures, especially against Harpies. Necropolis Undead are insensitive to Curse, but they are slow, so it's a good idea to slow them even further. Ghost Dragons are easy to deal with, but Dread Knights, Liches, and Vampire Lords are quite dangerous. Hit Vampire Lords with Devils, attack masses of Skeletons with Cerberi, then Demons; avoid Dread Knights as much as possible and attack Liches in the second round. If you have cast mass Slow and are waiting out the enemy's turn to create a double-attack effect on your side, remember to move ground troops so that Liches can only attack one stack with their shot. Fortress Same as Castle. Don't be afraid. There are no clever shooters or dangerous fast creatures. Attack Gorgons using magic. Cast mass Slow, then blind Gorgons and Hydras if the enemy casts their own spells rather than neutralizing yours. If they neutralize, organize a double turn with Devils and Cerberi: wait, then attack and return back at the beginning of the second round. Remember, swamp dwellers have high defense stats, so it will take a lot of work to destroy them. Sylvan Here there are no medium-speed monsters, so the enemy can either wait until they bring up their Dendroids and Dwarves, or attack with only Dragons, Unicorns, and Pegasi. If they approach you, great. If not—arrange your troops. Remember that if nothing happens in the first round, your Archdevils will have the last turn in the first and the first turn in the second round of battle. Attack Elves with them and then immediately return back. As in the case with Dungeon, it makes sense to enter battle with only 6 stacks due to the presence of Dragons. Stronghold Devils attack Behemoths. First wait, then attack twice in a row without a counterattack from their side. Remember that Barbarians are strong in attack but weak in defense, so a fast attack pays off. Mass Slow works well. Your Cerberi are ideal for fighting Goblins and Wolf Riders, while Crawlers attack Ogres and Thunderbirds to take their counterattacks. Tower Attack! The enemy has strong shooters and may wait. Beware of Naga Queens, as there is no counterattack against them, but you have no choice. Efreets were created to destroy Genies, so use that. Of course, it would be preferable to first hold the Devils and Efreets in place to manage to move ground groups, but you simply don't have time for that.