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BASICS
From a statistical standpoint, the Necropolis is a weak town. When fully built and upgraded, you have 2192 Hit Points (HP) per week, which ranks second to last. (Ramparts has 2650 HP, followed by Tower with 2420 and Stronghold with 2370. Inferno has the fewest - 2035). For your HP, you pay 26920 Gold + 2 Mercury, so on average, one HP costs 12.3 Gold. (Ramparts is the cheapest at 10.05, and the most expensive is Inferno at 13.8). The damage dealt by Necropolis forces is the lowest both relatively (averaging 0.206 damage points per 1 HP) and absolutely (451 damage points per week). The average attack power of Necropolis creatures is only slightly higher than that of the Fortress, so fighting will not be easy. On the other hand, building the town can be quite cheap. To erect all creature generators (dwellings), including the Fort, Tavern, Castle, and Capitol, 85400 Gold is required (only Stronghold is cheaper); furthermore, there is no single resource that you particularly need in excess. You need 105 Wood, 110 Ore, 17 Crystals, 17 Gems, 32 Mercury, and 22 Sulfur. Only the Castle has such a balanced requirement of resources. Building all structures in the Necropolis requires 97400 Gold, which is cheaper than Stronghold and Fortress. Resource consumption is balanced. Of these, you need Mercury (60) most - compare this with the same indicator for Ramparts (95 Crystals).
HEROES
Your heroes are the Death Knight (might) and the Necromancer (magic). The Death Knight develops their primary skills quite balancedly, while the Necromancer from levels 2-9 primarily develops Might and Knowledge, after which priorities even out. A typical level 19 Death Knight looks like 6 7 6 5, and a Necromancer - 4 4 8 7 (without artifacts and visiting map objects). All Necropolis heroes have the secondary skill of Necromancy. The Death Knight cannot obtain the skills: same as Financier, First Aid, and Leadership, while the Necromancer can only not get Financier and Leadership. For the Death Knight, it is difficult to learn Air Magic, Diplomacy, Fire Magic, Luck, and Scholar. There are high chances of obtaining Eagle Eye, Earth Magic, Training, Mysticism, Pathfinding, own Search, Sorcery, and Water Magic. For the Necromancer, Sniper, Armorer, Fire Magic, Luck, Fortitude, Search, and Tactics are unlikely, while there are high chances to learn Air Magic, Artillery, Diplomacy, Financier, Training, Logistics, Offense, and Water Magic. Almost all Necropolis heroes have solid unique abilities. For example, among Death Knights: Clavius (+350 gold), Galtran (Skeletons), Isra (Necromancy); among Necromancers: Nagash (+350 gold), Tant (Raise Dead), Vidomina (Necromancy). 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. Do not pass by Mills, as they give you 1000 (500) Gold and resources once a week. 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 of charge, that is for free (on the house). Since Tactics and Fortitude are very important skills (see section), and the Death Knight obtains these skills with a higher probability than the Necromancer, one of your two main heroes should be a Death Knight. Air Magic is also necessary, as the Mass Haste spell is very important for Necropolis creatures, and it is easier for the Necromancer to learn; therefore, the second hero should be a Necromancer. If you cannot acquire the specified skills through normal means, look for them in Universities or Witch Huts. It follows that you will need a third hero slightly later (to check Huts). If a Hut provides an unnecessary skill, then accordingly, do not lead your main heroes to it.
SPELLS
One of the advantages of the Necropolis is the ability to build all five levels of the Mages' Guild. The first level should be built as soon as possible so that heroes have at least some spells. It is important to note that the Death Knight, being a hero of might rather than magic, nevertheless starts with a Spellbook. The Necropolis cannot have all spells. The following spells are unavailable in the Necropolis: Bless, Heal, Turn Undead, Hypnotize, Prayer, Magic Mirror, and Summon Fire and Water Elementals. Two necro-spells (Death Surge and Raise Dead) have a high probability of appearing in the Guild, but this does not mean they will necessarily appear there. Death Surge is not very relevant, but Raise Dead is simply essential; so if it is not in your Guild, that is very unfortunate, as this spell cannot appear anywhere except the Necropolis. If you do not have Raise Dead in your town and there is no other Necropolis nearby, you can try to obtain this spell in two ways: 1). Hire Tant, who has it initially, and a hero with the advanced Scholar skill to transfer it to others. 2). By checking all level 3 magic shrines - perhaps you will be lucky. Undead are not affected by mind-affecting spells; neither Bless nor Curse works on them, so despite the fact that the Necromancer can easily learn three magic schools and the Knight of Fear two, in reality, few combat spells can actually help the Necropolis. The most important is Raise Dead. Since this is a third-level spell, it is easier to obtain than the similarly acting Resurrection (4th level). Furthermore, raised undead remain with the hero even after the battle ends, even if they do not have a skill in Earth Magic. All this suggests that if you have Raise Dead, you should use it constantly. Necropolis creatures are quite slow, so it is useful to cast Mass Haste; then even Skeletons and Zombies acquire decent movement qualities (speed increase of 5). Mass Slow reduces the speed of all enemies by 50%, which is also good, so the question of what to choose is decided individually. Against roaming monsters, Slow is usually used if they do not shoot, and Haste in battle with shooters. Against an AI hero, you must wait until he casts a spell, and then cast yourself depending on the situation. Against a strong humanoid player, you should adhere to the following: Your magic strategy depends on the main factor: which of the heroes has the fastest monster and, accordingly, who will make the move LAST. If the last word is yours, you can cast Mass Haste at the end of the round and immediately, at the beginning of the next - Mass Slow, which gives you full freedom of movement across the battlefield and the ability to attack all enemies at once before they have a chance to respond. If the fastest monster belongs to the enemy, then you need to wait until the last moment, since you do not know when he will cast his spell. In this case, it is useful to have the Tactics skill (details in section). If you are storming a town and the opponent is strong enough, you will encounter problems. Your Dragons, Vampires, and Ghosts are capable of flying over walls, but Skeletons and Death Knights must be brought into battle. Both Necropolis heroes have good chances to learn Ballistics; also, Earthquake and Teleport spells will provide significant help. Teleporting hordes of your Skeletons behind the walls of an enemy castle never hurts (however, you must be an expert in Water Magic), while Earthquake allows you to quickly bring Knights of Fear into battle, even if your Earth Magic is only at the advanced level. Teleport is also useful in open field battles. You can hit 7th-level enemies with hordes of Skeletons (ideally it's better to strike first with Zombies, but in most cases this is impossible), and attack survivors with your strong creatures, like Dragons. This is possible in the first round when the opponent leaves their troops waiting (or has Titans, which he shoots with but does not move). On the other hand, when the enemy leaves all his units waiting, you provide him easy prey if you teleport your Skeletons directly into his camp, resulting in a risk of irreplaceable losses. In general, among third-level spells, you most need Raise Dead, Teleport, and Earthquake. Mass Counterattack is quite effective, even if it only lasts for one round. Since all your troops receive two additional counterattacks, the number of hits dealt by Skeletons, Vampires, Dragons, and Death Knights will be very high. (from translator: it is especially useful to have additional counterattacks for Vampire Lords, as with EVERY attack on an enemy they drain life from him, restoring their own fallen in the process). This spell makes sense to use at the beginning of a round, but only when the opponent has already moved more than one unit. Shield, Stone Skin, and Weakness have very limited application, even at expert level. There are better spells. Chain Lightning deals good damage, but it is advisable to use it when there is a chance to completely destroy several enemy groups so that the hero cannot escape. Clone is a decent spell, especially with an expert in Water Magic; however, the additional attack it provides to your chosen creature is easily obtained by other town types if the hero has good morale. If you use cloning, apply it either to the group that deals a lot of damage to the enemy (usually hordes of Skeletons) or to Vampire Lords, as there is no counterattack against them, and to destroy the double, the enemy hero will have to either spend a spell or use an attack from one of his units. Summon Elementals can help in a number of situations, as it gives you a and acts permanently throughout the battle. However, keep in mind that summoned elementals appear on your side of the battlefield and will enter combat immediately only if the enemy attacks you. If the enemy defends on their own side, time must be spent to bring the elementals into the thick of events.
CREATURES
Skeletons/Skeleton Warriors Skeletons mean a great deal for the Necropolis. For first-level creatures, they and their upgraded brethren have good attack and defense stats, deal sufficient damage, and have 6 HP, making them worthy warriors. Their only drawback is that they are SLOW. With a speed of 4, you constantly face situations in battle where they do not reach a certain part of the field. This is bad, especially in the early stages of the game when you have no fast units, a small arsenal of spells, and few magic points in reserve. Another drawback resulting from the slowness of Skeletons is that your hero slows down while moving across the map. On the other hand, you need the support of Skeletons in any battle. The number of Skeletons your hero can raise from fallen warriors after a battle ends depends on the development of their Necromancy skill, so this skill should be improved at every opportunity (exceptions - developing Logistics and acquiring Wisdom, Tactics, and any of the magic schools ONLY at basic level). The power of Necromancy can be increased by building a Necromancy Amplifier (see ). Expert Necromancy and the presence of an Amplifier allow you to raise 40% of the number of killed enemies as Skeletons (excluding artifacts). This is quite a lot. To quickly accumulate hordes of Skeletons, it is necessary to become an expert in Necromancy as soon as possible. When all slots in your army are full and you have Skeleton Warriors instead of Skeletons, you will raise Skeleton Warriors from the fallen, but in smaller numbers. They are faster and more dangerous than simple Skeletons, but it is better to have a free slot in the army to raise Skeletons and then upgrade them in Hill Fort (for free!) or in one of the Necropolises, though Logistics is required for these purposes. In the early stages of the game, you will buy Skeletons because you need them. Later, do this only if you have spare funds, as you will have enough Skeletons after battles. When a group of roaming monsters wants to join your hero, you have a choice. You can enter battle with them and get part of the killed enemies as Skeletons plus experience. You can accept the monsters into your army and transform ALL of them into Skeletons in the castle, but then you will not receive experience. Make it a rule: if relatively high-level monsters want to join (usually in small numbers), it is more rational to enter battle with them. This question is decided based on the Skeleton/Experience ratio. Let's explain with an example: say, 70 Gnolls want to join. If you kill them, you will get 420 experience and 28 Skeletons (with expert Necromancy and Amplifier). If you take them with you and transform them in the Necropolis, you will get 42 more Skeletons but no 420 experience. Thus, one Skeleton equals 10 experience, so it makes sense to let the Gnolls join. Another example: 15 Nagas want to join. If you crush them completely, you will get 1650 experience and 6 Skeletons versus 15 if you use the Transformer. One Skeleton equals 183 experience, so it makes sense to fight. In general, without going into details, the average price of one Skeleton is equal to 50 experience points; decisions should be made based on this. Dead/Zombie Dead are even slower than Skeletons and do not deal much damage. They have 15 HP, which is little, so you might feel a desire to send them back to the graveyard; however, they also fulfill their mission until you have Vampire Lords and even later. In the initial stages of the game, while your hero has few Skeletons, the goal is to lose as few Skeletons in battles as possible. Thus, Dead can be used as <cannon fodder>. If they are all destroyed, buy new ones. At a cost of 100 Gold, they are quite cheap; furthermore, you do not need much money for construction in the first week, and you can spend it on buying Dead. Wait with Skeletons; first strike with Dead and then finish off with Skeletons. You do not need much Wood and absolutely no Ore to upgrade the Graveyard, so it is advisable to do it early. The upgrade to Zombies adds HP and speed, making Zombies comparable to ordinary Skeletons; moreover, the special ability of Zombies is very relevant in the early stages. If you have Skeletons in your army, Zombies will not slow down your movement (which is already small), so why not use Zombies as the first strike force before Skeletons (and even before Dragons)? Place Zombies to the left of Skeletons and to the right of Liches, and Dragons to the right of Skeletons. When it is the Zombies' turn, attack the most powerful enemy group with them (they can do this if Mass Haste is cast). Even if a counterattack kills them, it is not a problem. Later they can be resurrected using Raise Dead. Do not buy Zombies for the purpose of turning them into Skeletons in the Transformer—that is simply a waste of money. There are already plenty of free Skeletons obtained after battles. The special ability of Zombies (disease) does not seem so destructive (reducing the enemy unit's defense and attack by 2), but if it happens, dealing with a strong enemy group will be easier: Many still consider Zombies to be poor fighters. However, it should be noted that your enemy must certainly take into account that you can use Zombies as . Since you place Zombies next to Skeletons, Liches, and Dragons, whoever attacks these strong groups will inevitably deal with suicidal Zombie attacks. Ghosts/Wraiths Many Necropolis heroes already have several Ghosts in their army upon hire from taverns. This is good, as their specific ability—to fully restore damage taken by those remaining alive before their turn—is relevant specifically in the early stages of the game. Like Zombies, they can be used to deliver a preemptive strike before the Skeletons' attack, but thanks to their peculiarity, Ghosts do not take as much damage as Zombies. It is interesting to note that the Soul Grave stands apart among the Necropolis dwellings—its presence is not a requirement for building any other buildings, so in principle, it can be left unbuilt. Whether to build it or not depends on your ability to get Vampire Lords at your disposal. If you see that in the near future you will not be able to have Vampire Lords, then you must not only build the Soul Grave but also upgrade it and hire Wraiths, as you need faster creatures. Wraiths have decent speed and can cross the battlefield in two turns, which is important when encountering ranged monsters. They cost 230 gold, which is quite expensive, but the costs pay off since the Wraiths' ability to drain mana from an enemy hero is especially useful at the start of the game, while heroes do not have high Knowledge stats and the loss of mana in each battle round is quite significant. If you have enough Wraiths in your army, you can divide them into several stacks, as EACH of them drains 2 mana points per round and each is capable of restoring damage taken before their turn (of course, there is no point in dividing Ghosts, as they do not possess the ability to drain mana). In the late stages of the game, Wraiths no longer provide significant support, as they are very vulnerable and often it simply makes no sense to take them into battle. Vampires/Vampire Lords Vampire Lords are magnificent fighters, so your goal is to build the Mansion in the first week and upgrade it as soon as possible. They are fast, have average attack, defense, and HP stats, and do not deal much damage to the enemy, BUT: with two excellent features—regeneration when attacking living creatures and the absence of a counterattack—Vampire Lords, along with Super Gorgons, have the best price/quality ratio. The more Vampire Lords you have, the stronger they are due to a sharp increase in regeneration ability. Note this fact: it is significantly harder for five Vampire Lords to restore one than for fifty to restore ten. Example: for 5000 gold, you can buy 10 Vampire Lords or 1 Archangel. If 1 Archangel fights 10 Vampire Lords, he will win (Round 1: Archangel deals 100 damage; 8 Vampire Lords counterattack with a strength of 20-32, then attack and most likely (87.5%) will not restore any. Round 2: another 100 damage, the number of Vampire Lords decreases to 6, they counterattack and attack and possibly restore one. Then the Archangel relentlessly finishes off the remaining Vampires.). Now let 10 Archangels fight against 100 Vampire Lords. With the first strike, Archangels will destroy 25 Vampire Lords, but the remaining 75 will counterattack with a strength of 187-300 and restore 4-7 of their own, then attack with a strength of 198-328, restoring 5-8 Vampires in the process, thus destroying one or two Archangels per round. In the second round, 8-9 Archangels already fight against 84-90 Vampires and it becomes obvious that the Vampires will win (you can check for yourself). From this it follows: DO NOT BUY VAMPIRES, and if you do, leave them in the city. You cannot afford to lose a single Vampire while waiting for the Mansion upgrade. As soon as you have Vampire Lords, many problems will resolve themselves. Vampire Lords may not lose a single unit over many battles, while the number of Skeletons in your army will steadily increase! With Vampire Lords present, do not buy Zombies and Wraiths until you have surplus funds. When fighting undead or non-living creatures (like Gargoyles or Golems), protect the Vampire Lords! Send Skeletons into battle. If Vampire Lords nonetheless make contact with such an enemy, try by all means not to lose a single one. Support them with all available spells like Stone Skin or Shield. Unfortunately, Blessing cannot be applied to them, but Curse does not scare them either. Liches/Greater Liches Another good monster. Greater Liches are some of the best shooters and are a real pain for your enemies. Try not to buy Liches; it is better to upgrade the Mausoleum. Greater Liches have 10 more HP, they are faster, have a larger shot reserve, deal more damage, and are only 50 gold more expensive. Do not place them at the edge of the battlefield and try to cover them with your other units, as Inferno has Magogs with their Ball Lightning attack, Dungeon and Sylvan have Dragons capable of attacking two units in front of them, and Tower, Castle, and Rampart have good shooters in their armies. Only in battle with swamp creatures does it make sense to put Liches in the corner and cover them with Zombies and Wraiths (and perhaps Dragons—on the right). When choosing a target for Liches, look for a spot where their ability to deal a strike that spreads to adjacent areas can be manifested. Black Knights/Knights of Terror Again, excellent warriors. Along with Naga Queens and Efreet Sultans, they are among the best 6th-level creatures. As soon as you have built the Hall of Darkness, hire Black Knights. Even without an upgrade, they are good enough. In a week, you get 4 Knights of Terror, who have more HP than 2 Ghost Dragons (also per week); moreover, they deal more damage even without manifesting special abilities. Black Knights have a 20% chance to cast Curse on the attacked squad. Knights of Terror additionally have a 20% chance to deal double-strength damage. Imagine a group of Knights of Terror dealing a double strike, especially if Luck smiles upon them! Knights of Terror are fast, fight well against any monsters, and moreover, they are very tough, so do not be afraid to use them in battle. Bone Dragons/Ghost Dragons Your seventh-level monsters are quite weak. Bone Dragons are very vulnerable, so it is better not to hire them into the army at all. Their speed does not matter, as they are no faster than Vampire Lords and Knights of Terror. Ghost Dragons are better, mainly due to good speed, but with 200 HP and only 19 attack and 17 defense, they are also quite vulnerable. They have a 20% chance to age the enemy stack attacked, after which the HP of all its components is halved, but this happens AFTER the Dragons' attack. Both types of Dragons reduce the morale of the enemy army by 1 upon appearing on the battlefield, but usually in practice, this is not very noticeable. After the Dragons' attack, those remaining alive counterattack and deal a lot of damage, perhaps even killing one. For more effective use of Ghost Dragons, it is desirable to strike with them at already attacked creatures so that there is no counterattack, but in practice, this is not always possible. If you cannot immediately destroy all enemies (by casting Mass Haste and attacking with Dragons, Knights of Terror, Vampire Lords, Liches, and maybe even Wraiths or a Chain Lightning strike followed by finishing survivors with Dragons), then do not attack with Dragons immediately. Wait with them. Never attack those monsters who can survive in sufficient numbers to perform a decent counterattack. Here is an example of unsuccessful use of Ghost Dragons. Magik Ogres are a worthy example of 4th-level creatures, as they have a high HP stat. You have 10 Ghost Dragons, and the opponent has 50 Magik Ogres. Your heroes are equal in strength. With the first attack, Dragons will deal 400-800 damage, killing at most 13 Ogres. The remaining 37 Ogres counterattack with a strength of at least 200, destroying 1 Dragon. This is the best case. In the worst case, 44 Ogres survive and deal 475 damage in return, killing 2 Dragons. In general, when the first round ends, you will lose 3 Dragons, and this is in a battle of level 7 against level 4! The losses are great. Compare this to a case where 10 Archangels encounter those same 50 Ogres. With the first strike, Archangels deal 1075 damage, killing 17 Ogres. The surviving 33 counterattack with a strength of 114-228, not destroying a single Archangel. With their own attack, they will still kill one. But only one! The difference is obvious. On the other hand, if Dragons attacked 50 Ogres without fearing a counterattack, they would deal substantial harm, and in case of aging the Ogres after the strike, they would lose half their HP and practically become easy prey for you. Remember that an aged army does not lose its attacking potential! Aged Archangels still deal massive damage. Ideally, Zombies should attack first, and then Dragons strike. See below for more detail.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
The following recommendations are primarily valid when playing on large and huge maps, and on very hard and impossible levels. Smaller maps and easier levels require faster development of your creatures. When you play on the impossible level, you have neither money nor resources at the start (except in cases where you receive a bonus for them). Therefore, 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 a Gem Pond or Crystal Cave, capture them immediately. You need these resources to upgrade the Mansion. Sulfur is also required, as it is needed to build the Mausoleum, which in turn is necessary for constructing level 6 and 7 dwellings. Thus, although Mercury has the highest consumption of all resources, you should first pay attention to the others. On the very hard (but not impossible) level, you need to hire another hero; fortunately, both the Necromancer and Black Knight appear already with a Spellbook. If you start with two cities, focus all your attention on one of them. Build the Town Hall (Prefecture) in the second city as quickly as possible, but then ignore it until you have enough Wood. Then build a Mages' Guild, Market, Forge, and City Hall (Municipality) there. Further development of the second city can begin once you have managed to capture the first enemy city, but in this case, it is important to decide whether it would be better to upgrade the captured one, since there are usually already many buildings there and they are quite advanced. If you are not playing on the impossible level and a hero from the Tower appears in the Necropolis Tavern, it makes sense to hire him, thereby obtaining 60-70 Gremlins, which should be immediately sent to the Transformer, thus receiving 60-70 Skeletons (which costs 3600-4200 gold) for only 2500 gold (the hero's price). After this, you can use the Tower hero depending on the situation or simply dismiss him. First Week 1. Magic Tower 2. Necromancy Amplifier 3. Town Hall (Prefecture) 4. Graveyard 5. Mansion 6. Market 7. Forge It is desirable to hire a second hero as quickly as possible so that they collect resources, and the 2500 gold spent on them will be quickly recouped. Ideally, the Necromancy Amplifier should be built before your first battle. So if you are not scheduled to participate in a fight on the second day, it is better to build the Prefecture first. The construction order may change depending on the availability of certain resources and money. The Mansion must be built. The seven listed buildings cost 10000 gold, 20 Wood, and 15 Ore, plus 2500 Gold for the second hero. If you lack Wood, build the Skeleton Transformer instead of the Forge. If it is obvious that in the near future you will not be able to upgrade the Mansion due to a lack of Crystals or Gems, it makes sense to build the Soul Grave on the 7th day and upgrade it on the eighth (the upgrade requires neither Wood nor Ore, so it is a good alternative). Second Week The priority tasks are the earliest possible upgrade of the Mansion with the hiring of Vampire Lords and the construction of the City Hall. Later, a Capitol will also be needed. Everything is very expensive, so you will have to save on something. Here is a list of what is desirable to build in the second week: 1. Upgraded Mansion 2. City Hall 3. Citadel 4. Castle 5. Mausoleum You can add the Skeleton Transformer/Exhumed Graves/Shroud of Darkness to the construction budget at any time. If you cannot upgrade the Mansion first, then upgrade the Soul Grave (in which case you need to build the Soul Grave on the 7th day of the first week). Buy all Vampire Lords or Ghosts, equip one of your heroes with them, and capture every mine you come across. Try to find and capture a second Sawmill and Mine; then it will be possible to build the Hall of Darkness earlier (but not on the impossible level). Third Week You must buy all Vampire Lords. You need to upgrade the Mausoleum, build the Capitol and the Hall of Darkness. Later, it is desirable to continue constructing the Mages' Guild, but only up to the third level. If you have a hero like Tant and any other hero with an advanced Scholar skill, DO NOT UPGRADE THE GUILD AT ALL UNTIL YOU BUILD SOMETHING ELSE. Building a resource store makes sense only if you were unable to find a second Sawmill and Mine. On the impossible level, even if you have enough money on the third week to build the Dragon Crypt, DO NOT DO IT! Save gold and buy all Vampire Lords, Powerful Liches, and Black Knights, as Dragons are not the main force right now. Fourth Week Upgrade the Hall of Darkness, buy all Vampire Lords, Powerful Liches, and Knights of Fear, and then build the Dragon Crypt. Bone Dragons are not an essential component of your army, so it is better to wait with their hiring until the Crypt is upgraded. You need at least one Ghost Dragon in your army so that your hero has a speed advantage on the battlefield. COMBAT TACTICS During the game, Skeletons gradually accumulate and become one of your main striking forces, so they must be brought into battle as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, they are slow, so you will often have to cast Mass Haste in the first round. It is better to cast Haste immediately before the Skeletons' turn, as the opponent may respond to your early Haste by using Mass Slow and the entire effect of your spell will be lost. This does not matter, of course, when you have the fastest monster on the battlefield or your hero is strong in Tactics. Zombies should be used as . Ghosts may face the same fate if necessary. When you attack a city that is not very well defended, and your Vampire Lords, Powerful Liches, and Ghost Dragons can handle the enemies together, there is no point in casting any spells early. It is desirable to save mana for Raising Dead during the battle. If the city is reasonably well-defended and Vampire Lords cannot cope even with frequent use of Raise Dead on them, it is necessary to provide support from Skeletons and Knights of Fear as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do this is via Teleport, but for this you must be an expert in Water Magic. If you lack this skill, you need to destroy the walls quickly. Ballistics combined with Earthquake and Mass Haste spells will help here. Remember that you need to either be an expert in Water Magic and have Teleport, or be an expert in Earth Magic and have Earthquake, as in the late stages of a large game, the enemy may destroy your catapult and then simply shoot down the remaining ground creatures. The Master Gremlin rush and Skeleton/Vampire lord rush (of course, the heading is translated clumsily, but if anyone can translate it in the following context "The Master Gremlin rush and Skeleton/Vampire lord rush" — they are great, and we are just their sons — translator's note). The Master Gremlin rush is notoriously infamous. This is when a Chapel upgrade is made in the Tower, all income structures are built, along with the Library, Mages' Guild, Artifact Shop, and then a hero armed with hordes of Master Gremlins devastates the map. In case of obvious defeat, he surrenders, keeping the surviving fighters, then immediately re-hires at the Tavern, all money is again invested in acquiring Master Gremlins, and the hero continues his dark work. This tactic is recognized as stupid, boring, uninteresting, and disgusting, but since such a phenomenon exists, it requires close attention and study. Theoretically, any city can act as described above, but this is usually difficult because lower-level creatures do not spawn in such quantities as Master Gremlins and furthermore do not possess the ability for ranged attack, thus suffering heavy losses in battles against shooters. However, Necropolis is quite suitable for such a tactic, since Skeletons appear in very decent volumes, especially if you have a hero like Galtran (Black Knight, has about 50 Skeletons upon hiring); he can be hired, then he retreats and reappears in the Tavern and again provides you with a decent number of Skeletons. (as I understand it, the author is describing the situation for Restoration of Erathia. In Armageddon's Blade, the hero who fled the battlefield appears in your tavern with a single first-level creature, so Galtran after such an operation will appear with one Skeleton — translator's note). The Necromancy skill provides you with Skeletons for free, in large quantities far exceeding the losses you will incur in battles with roaming monsters. Additionally, you have two more trump cards: first, Vampire Lords can become available to you quite early — you only need to build the Necromancy Amplifier and Graveyard, after which you can upgrade the Mansion and hire fast, flying, self-regenerating monsters against whom there is no counterattack and mind-affecting spells do not work. Second, you have a structure such as the Skeleton Transformer. There, you can turn into Skeletons not only those monsters who joined you on the road, but also, as mentioned above, hire a hero from the Tower for the purpose of turning his Master Gremlins into Skeletons (thus receiving 60-70 Skeletons for only 2500 gold). However, do not plan for a blitzkrieg. The combination of Skeletons and Vampire Lords is not invincible. For a successful assault on a city, they need powerful magic support (Raise Dead) and the hero must have Ballistics at expert level. In light of this, it becomes clear that capturing a city located on Cursed Ground can become a very difficult or even unsolvable task, especially if the opponent has strong shooters. It will also be difficult to fight against Arch-Devils, against whom there is also no counterattack. Hordes of Skeletons on Cursed Ground can lose to just one Arch-Devil. Therefore, after capturing any enemy city, it makes sense to add strong creatures from there to your army. In the late stages of the game, when your opponents have strong armies and strong heroes, you need fast creatures in your host. Like Archangels. Otherwise, the following unpleasant thing is possible: a strong enemy hero, having only one Efreet or Black/Gold Dragon, attacks your army, immediately casts Armageddon or Fireball on the hordes of Skeletons and flees the battlefield, but then immediately returns and repeats this until his mana supply runs out. Artifacts that increase morale are useful to you if your army consists of more than just undead. Since we mentioned artifacts, let's talk about those you need most. First, these are three artifacts that enhance your Necromancy skill: Undertaker's Amulet (+5%), Vampire's Robe (+10%), Dead Man's Boots (+15%). These three artifacts simply allow you to get even more skeletons after a battle. The next group — artifacts that increase the health of your warriors, since one of your striking groups consists of first-level creatures. Ring of Vitality and Ring of Life increase health by 1, and Ring of Living Blood by 2. The Legion's Torso artifact allows you to get 3 more Vampire Lords per week. Artifacts that increase the speed of your troops in battle also hold a significant place: Necklace of Swiftness, Cloak of Speed, and Traveler's Ring. Try to capture another Necropolis to build a second Necromancy Amplifier in it. Upgrade Skeletons to Warriors, preferably in the Hill Fort (for free). If you encounter a Tower hero who has a huge number of Master Gremlins in his ranks (and no one else), the initiative belongs to you, as the first word is yours (Vampire Lords are faster), and you can simply blind the Gremlins, then bring up your Skeletons and attack. However, be careful if the enemy has a Ballista or First Aid Tent, as he may have the Artillery or First Aid skill, and when it's his war machine's turn, he can cast Dispel Magic on the Master Gremlins and neutralize your Blindness. If the enemy has a Ballista and you have the Tactics skill, cast Haste on the Skeletons. If you lack Tactics, you will have to take the first hit yourself, then teleport the Skeletons to the Master Gremlins and attack. If the enemy has more than one stack of Gremlins, divide the Skeletons into the same number, and if you have Tactics, cast Mass Haste and attack. If you lack Tactics, similarly take the first hit, then cast Mass Haste (or Mass Slow if the opponent hastened their Gremlins, and in the second round — Mass Haste) and attack. Practice shows that you should win. Special questions of Necropolis tactics applied to various opponents. It is very important to position your troops correctly. Here is an approximate order (right to left): Powerful Liches, Zombies, Skeletons, Dragons, Knights of Fear, Ghosts, Vampire Lords. Remember: if you cannot leave the Skeletons aside and cannot organize<kamikaze attack> on strong enemy units; never use Bone Dragons for the first strike, except in cases where they will immediately destroy an enemy stack; Dread Knights are better suited for this purpose, as they can deal double damage (and even quadruple, with good Luck). Tactics and Resilience skills are very important. Expert-level Resilience allows you to neutralize one of five enemy spells cast on your units, which could happen at the most critical moment. But Tactics is even more important. Try to reach expert level in it as soon as possible. With Tactics, you can reduce the distance to the opponent on the battlefield (if necessary, of course!). If you have reduced the distance, you can cast Haste to try and destroy all enemies before they can attack themselves. At least 3 of your creatures (and perhaps 5) will be able to attack first—these are Dragons, Vampire Lords, Dread Knights, and possibly own powerful Liches and Ghosts. You should prioritize attacking fast enemy units; then, after their destruction, you can finish off the remaining slow ones using Skeletons and Zombies. If the opponent has the first turn, there is obviously no need to reduce the distance using Tactics. Since your fastest units are Dragons, they should be positioned so that the opponent cannot destroy them with their first attacks if they use Haste. If the Dragons survive, you will get the chance to make a counter-move sooner and, accordingly, use magic. On the other hand, the opponent might first cast Slow. This will reduce your Dragons' speed to 7, allowing the enemy to attack consecutively with all their units whose speed is greater than 7 without hindrance. Therefore, before the battle begins, you must position your troops so that the enemy deals minimal damage to your most useful units and their attacks are least advantageous. In short, if you are playing against a strong humanoid player, the Tactics skill is simply essential (translator's note: when I play against the computer, I try to make sure my heroes NEVER learn Tactics. It is useless against the computer; it only takes up space in the skills list). Moving on to specific questions of Necropolis combat tactics relative to different opponents, I note that the most dangerous cities for you are Inferno and Dungeon. However, their heroes rarely have Air Magic in their arsenal of skills, so they usually will not use Haste. Castle The strength of the Castle lies in its ability to deal massive damage; furthermore, it has the fastest creature in its composition, so it gets the LAST word in a battle round. You must place Skeletons in such a position that they fight against Archangels and Champions, then cast Haste or Slow. Unfortunately, the enemy may, in turn, dispel them. Focus on your advantages. Keep your troops together, so if the enemy attacks your important yet vulnerable units (Dragons, Liches), you can strike back with your slow but numerous creatures. At the right moment, cast Haste to quickly bring Skeletons and Zombies into battle. Attack Archangels and/or Champions first with Zombies, then with Skeletons and/or Dragons. Destroy Crusaders with Dread Knights. Focus Vampire Lords on lower-level creatures and Fanatics. The best target for Ghosts is Archers; however, they can be used as to absorb the counterattack of a strong enemy group. Do not forget to bring back the dead using Raise Dead. Dungeon Zombies perform suicide attacks on Dragons and/or Minotaurs. Vampire Lords strike at shooters and Harpies. Your Ghost Dragons either deal a second blow to Black Dragons or Minotaurs, or attack Scorpiods or hordes of Troglodytes. Dread Knights hit Minotaurs and/or Scorpiods, while Skeletons attack Black Dragons (after Zombies have absorbed the latter's counterattack). If Black Dragons avoid Skeletons, strike them with Dread Knights. The best target for Ghosts is Harpies. Do not hesitate to sacrifice them if necessary. In a battle with Dungeon, the initiative belongs to the opponent, as their Dragons cannot be slowed by spells, so Slow does not have such an effect. It is better to use Haste. But the main spell is Raise Dead. Fortress Fortress is not very dangerous for you, as undead are immune to the Deadly Gaze of Super Gorgons. Additionally, your shooters are incomparably better, and the initiative belongs to you, as the enemy is forced to bring their main forces toward you slowly, by land. Cast Haste in the first round, but later; at the beginning of the second—Slow, after which focus on striking Hydras, as they represent the greatest danger to you. Destroy them quickly and mercilessly. Gorgons are tough but will not deal much damage. Great Basilisks can cause even more damage, as can Monarch Wyverns. In general, you should not fear swamp dwellers once you have dealt with the Hydras. Inferno Since Archdevils do not deal much damage and have a relatively low HP count, they are the only level 7 monsters that your Ghost Dragons can attack immediately without waiting to absorb a counterattack. Dread Knights are very effective but should be used to strike Demons and Pit Lords. Since Magogs deliver a Ball Lightning strike, position your forces correctly. Try to attack Efreet Sultans with Liches or using magic, or organize a suicide attack with Zombies and/or Ghosts. Vampire Lords can fight well against all creatures from Inferno, but their primary targets are Cerberi and Magogs. Dragons attack Devils or Pit Lords. Ghosts are used as or attack Leeches and Magogs. An Inferno hero holds the initiative on the battlefield, so cast Haste in time and use Raise Dead. Sylvan Your Liches will do little harm to enemy Elves, Dwarves, and Dendroids (distance!), so you will have to attack them with Dragons, Vampire Lords, and Ghosts. Vampire Lords will have no problems fighting Dendroids, and ideally, that is who they should fight. Treat Gold Dragons the same as Black ones, while Dread Knights attack Unicorns. Pegasi are an ideal target for your Dragons. Ghosts fight Dwarves well. The opponent has the initiative (Gold Dragons!), so cast Haste in time and use Raise Dead. Rampart There are no fast creatures here. Cast Haste at the end of the first round and immediately follow with Slow, which will give you full control over the situation. Absorb the counterattack of Behemoths and Mag Ogres, then finish them off with Dragons and Skeletons. Attack Thunderbirds with Dread Knights. Vampire Lords attack Cyclops, while Ghosts and Liches strike lower-level creatures. Tower There are good shooters here, so the enemy will not approach you on their own. One problem is that three of the four non-shooting units—Gargoyles, Golems, and Nagas—do not restore health for Vampire Lords. The second problem is that your powerful Liches will not last long against a combined attack of Titans, Archmages, and Master Gremlins. The third problem is that Master Djinns can cast positive magic on their troops. Whether you like it or not, you will have to take the first hit from enemy shooters. Do not panic and advance toward the enemy with Dragons leading. Your best course of action is as follows: the last word in the first round belongs to your Dragons. As soon as the opponent casts any spell, cast Haste and immediately at the start of the second round—Slow (but when attacking a city, your first task is to destroy the walls). After that, each of your units should choose a target. Hit Titans with Zombies and Skeletons; attack Golems with Dread Knights (but only if there are many Golems; otherwise, Dread Knights should fight Nagas). Ghosts attack Master Gremlins, Dragons attack Gargoyles or Djinns (depending on enemy numbers—if there are many Gargoyles, Dragons attack them; otherwise, the Djinns). Vampire Lords attack Mages. If Djinns are near Mages, position Vampire Lords so they prevent Mages from shooting, but deliver the strike to the Djinns. If Nagas far outnumber Titans, let Zombies and Skeletons attack them. Starting from the third round, use Raise Dead
From a statistical standpoint, the Necropolis is a weak town. When fully built and upgraded, you have 2192 Hit Points (HP) per week, which ranks second to last. (Ramparts has 2650 HP, followed by Tower with 2420 and Stronghold with 2370. Inferno has the fewest - 2035). For your HP, you pay 26920 Gold + 2 Mercury, so on average, one HP costs 12.3 Gold. (Ramparts is the cheapest at 10.05, and the most expensive is Inferno at 13.8). The damage dealt by Necropolis forces is the lowest both relatively (averaging 0.206 damage points per 1 HP) and absolutely (451 damage points per week). The average attack power of Necropolis creatures is only slightly higher than that of the Fortress, so fighting will not be easy. On the other hand, building the town can be quite cheap. To erect all creature generators (dwellings), including the Fort, Tavern, Castle, and Capitol, 85400 Gold is required (only Stronghold is cheaper); furthermore, there is no single resource that you particularly need in excess. You need 105 Wood, 110 Ore, 17 Crystals, 17 Gems, 32 Mercury, and 22 Sulfur. Only the Castle has such a balanced requirement of resources. Building all structures in the Necropolis requires 97400 Gold, which is cheaper than Stronghold and Fortress. Resource consumption is balanced. Of these, you need Mercury (60) most - compare this with the same indicator for Ramparts (95 Crystals).
HEROES
Your heroes are the Death Knight (might) and the Necromancer (magic). The Death Knight develops their primary skills quite balancedly, while the Necromancer from levels 2-9 primarily develops Might and Knowledge, after which priorities even out. A typical level 19 Death Knight looks like 6 7 6 5, and a Necromancer - 4 4 8 7 (without artifacts and visiting map objects). All Necropolis heroes have the secondary skill of Necromancy. The Death Knight cannot obtain the skills: same as Financier, First Aid, and Leadership, while the Necromancer can only not get Financier and Leadership. For the Death Knight, it is difficult to learn Air Magic, Diplomacy, Fire Magic, Luck, and Scholar. There are high chances of obtaining Eagle Eye, Earth Magic, Training, Mysticism, Pathfinding, own Search, Sorcery, and Water Magic. For the Necromancer, Sniper, Armorer, Fire Magic, Luck, Fortitude, Search, and Tactics are unlikely, while there are high chances to learn Air Magic, Artillery, Diplomacy, Financier, Training, Logistics, Offense, and Water Magic. Almost all Necropolis heroes have solid unique abilities. For example, among Death Knights: Clavius (+350 gold), Galtran (Skeletons), Isra (Necromancy); among Necromancers: Nagash (+350 gold), Tant (Raise Dead), Vidomina (Necromancy). 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. Do not pass by Mills, as they give you 1000 (500) Gold and resources once a week. 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 of charge, that is for free (on the house). Since Tactics and Fortitude are very important skills (see section), and the Death Knight obtains these skills with a higher probability than the Necromancer, one of your two main heroes should be a Death Knight. Air Magic is also necessary, as the Mass Haste spell is very important for Necropolis creatures, and it is easier for the Necromancer to learn; therefore, the second hero should be a Necromancer. If you cannot acquire the specified skills through normal means, look for them in Universities or Witch Huts. It follows that you will need a third hero slightly later (to check Huts). If a Hut provides an unnecessary skill, then accordingly, do not lead your main heroes to it.
SPELLS
One of the advantages of the Necropolis is the ability to build all five levels of the Mages' Guild. The first level should be built as soon as possible so that heroes have at least some spells. It is important to note that the Death Knight, being a hero of might rather than magic, nevertheless starts with a Spellbook. The Necropolis cannot have all spells. The following spells are unavailable in the Necropolis: Bless, Heal, Turn Undead, Hypnotize, Prayer, Magic Mirror, and Summon Fire and Water Elementals. Two necro-spells (Death Surge and Raise Dead) have a high probability of appearing in the Guild, but this does not mean they will necessarily appear there. Death Surge is not very relevant, but Raise Dead is simply essential; so if it is not in your Guild, that is very unfortunate, as this spell cannot appear anywhere except the Necropolis. If you do not have Raise Dead in your town and there is no other Necropolis nearby, you can try to obtain this spell in two ways: 1). Hire Tant, who has it initially, and a hero with the advanced Scholar skill to transfer it to others. 2). By checking all level 3 magic shrines - perhaps you will be lucky. Undead are not affected by mind-affecting spells; neither Bless nor Curse works on them, so despite the fact that the Necromancer can easily learn three magic schools and the Knight of Fear two, in reality, few combat spells can actually help the Necropolis. The most important is Raise Dead. Since this is a third-level spell, it is easier to obtain than the similarly acting Resurrection (4th level). Furthermore, raised undead remain with the hero even after the battle ends, even if they do not have a skill in Earth Magic. All this suggests that if you have Raise Dead, you should use it constantly. Necropolis creatures are quite slow, so it is useful to cast Mass Haste; then even Skeletons and Zombies acquire decent movement qualities (speed increase of 5). Mass Slow reduces the speed of all enemies by 50%, which is also good, so the question of what to choose is decided individually. Against roaming monsters, Slow is usually used if they do not shoot, and Haste in battle with shooters. Against an AI hero, you must wait until he casts a spell, and then cast yourself depending on the situation. Against a strong humanoid player, you should adhere to the following: Your magic strategy depends on the main factor: which of the heroes has the fastest monster and, accordingly, who will make the move LAST. If the last word is yours, you can cast Mass Haste at the end of the round and immediately, at the beginning of the next - Mass Slow, which gives you full freedom of movement across the battlefield and the ability to attack all enemies at once before they have a chance to respond. If the fastest monster belongs to the enemy, then you need to wait until the last moment, since you do not know when he will cast his spell. In this case, it is useful to have the Tactics skill (details in section). If you are storming a town and the opponent is strong enough, you will encounter problems. Your Dragons, Vampires, and Ghosts are capable of flying over walls, but Skeletons and Death Knights must be brought into battle. Both Necropolis heroes have good chances to learn Ballistics; also, Earthquake and Teleport spells will provide significant help. Teleporting hordes of your Skeletons behind the walls of an enemy castle never hurts (however, you must be an expert in Water Magic), while Earthquake allows you to quickly bring Knights of Fear into battle, even if your Earth Magic is only at the advanced level. Teleport is also useful in open field battles. You can hit 7th-level enemies with hordes of Skeletons (ideally it's better to strike first with Zombies, but in most cases this is impossible), and attack survivors with your strong creatures, like Dragons. This is possible in the first round when the opponent leaves their troops waiting (or has Titans, which he shoots with but does not move). On the other hand, when the enemy leaves all his units waiting, you provide him easy prey if you teleport your Skeletons directly into his camp, resulting in a risk of irreplaceable losses. In general, among third-level spells, you most need Raise Dead, Teleport, and Earthquake. Mass Counterattack is quite effective, even if it only lasts for one round. Since all your troops receive two additional counterattacks, the number of hits dealt by Skeletons, Vampires, Dragons, and Death Knights will be very high. (from translator: it is especially useful to have additional counterattacks for Vampire Lords, as with EVERY attack on an enemy they drain life from him, restoring their own fallen in the process). This spell makes sense to use at the beginning of a round, but only when the opponent has already moved more than one unit. Shield, Stone Skin, and Weakness have very limited application, even at expert level. There are better spells. Chain Lightning deals good damage, but it is advisable to use it when there is a chance to completely destroy several enemy groups so that the hero cannot escape. Clone is a decent spell, especially with an expert in Water Magic; however, the additional attack it provides to your chosen creature is easily obtained by other town types if the hero has good morale. If you use cloning, apply it either to the group that deals a lot of damage to the enemy (usually hordes of Skeletons) or to Vampire Lords, as there is no counterattack against them, and to destroy the double, the enemy hero will have to either spend a spell or use an attack from one of his units. Summon Elementals can help in a number of situations, as it gives you a and acts permanently throughout the battle. However, keep in mind that summoned elementals appear on your side of the battlefield and will enter combat immediately only if the enemy attacks you. If the enemy defends on their own side, time must be spent to bring the elementals into the thick of events.
CREATURES
Skeletons/Skeleton Warriors Skeletons mean a great deal for the Necropolis. For first-level creatures, they and their upgraded brethren have good attack and defense stats, deal sufficient damage, and have 6 HP, making them worthy warriors. Their only drawback is that they are SLOW. With a speed of 4, you constantly face situations in battle where they do not reach a certain part of the field. This is bad, especially in the early stages of the game when you have no fast units, a small arsenal of spells, and few magic points in reserve. Another drawback resulting from the slowness of Skeletons is that your hero slows down while moving across the map. On the other hand, you need the support of Skeletons in any battle. The number of Skeletons your hero can raise from fallen warriors after a battle ends depends on the development of their Necromancy skill, so this skill should be improved at every opportunity (exceptions - developing Logistics and acquiring Wisdom, Tactics, and any of the magic schools ONLY at basic level). The power of Necromancy can be increased by building a Necromancy Amplifier (see ). Expert Necromancy and the presence of an Amplifier allow you to raise 40% of the number of killed enemies as Skeletons (excluding artifacts). This is quite a lot. To quickly accumulate hordes of Skeletons, it is necessary to become an expert in Necromancy as soon as possible. When all slots in your army are full and you have Skeleton Warriors instead of Skeletons, you will raise Skeleton Warriors from the fallen, but in smaller numbers. They are faster and more dangerous than simple Skeletons, but it is better to have a free slot in the army to raise Skeletons and then upgrade them in Hill Fort (for free!) or in one of the Necropolises, though Logistics is required for these purposes. In the early stages of the game, you will buy Skeletons because you need them. Later, do this only if you have spare funds, as you will have enough Skeletons after battles. When a group of roaming monsters wants to join your hero, you have a choice. You can enter battle with them and get part of the killed enemies as Skeletons plus experience. You can accept the monsters into your army and transform ALL of them into Skeletons in the castle, but then you will not receive experience. Make it a rule: if relatively high-level monsters want to join (usually in small numbers), it is more rational to enter battle with them. This question is decided based on the Skeleton/Experience ratio. Let's explain with an example: say, 70 Gnolls want to join. If you kill them, you will get 420 experience and 28 Skeletons (with expert Necromancy and Amplifier). If you take them with you and transform them in the Necropolis, you will get 42 more Skeletons but no 420 experience. Thus, one Skeleton equals 10 experience, so it makes sense to let the Gnolls join. Another example: 15 Nagas want to join. If you crush them completely, you will get 1650 experience and 6 Skeletons versus 15 if you use the Transformer. One Skeleton equals 183 experience, so it makes sense to fight. In general, without going into details, the average price of one Skeleton is equal to 50 experience points; decisions should be made based on this. Dead/Zombie Dead are even slower than Skeletons and do not deal much damage. They have 15 HP, which is little, so you might feel a desire to send them back to the graveyard; however, they also fulfill their mission until you have Vampire Lords and even later. In the initial stages of the game, while your hero has few Skeletons, the goal is to lose as few Skeletons in battles as possible. Thus, Dead can be used as <cannon fodder>. If they are all destroyed, buy new ones. At a cost of 100 Gold, they are quite cheap; furthermore, you do not need much money for construction in the first week, and you can spend it on buying Dead. Wait with Skeletons; first strike with Dead and then finish off with Skeletons. You do not need much Wood and absolutely no Ore to upgrade the Graveyard, so it is advisable to do it early. The upgrade to Zombies adds HP and speed, making Zombies comparable to ordinary Skeletons; moreover, the special ability of Zombies is very relevant in the early stages. If you have Skeletons in your army, Zombies will not slow down your movement (which is already small), so why not use Zombies as the first strike force before Skeletons (and even before Dragons)? Place Zombies to the left of Skeletons and to the right of Liches, and Dragons to the right of Skeletons. When it is the Zombies' turn, attack the most powerful enemy group with them (they can do this if Mass Haste is cast). Even if a counterattack kills them, it is not a problem. Later they can be resurrected using Raise Dead. Do not buy Zombies for the purpose of turning them into Skeletons in the Transformer—that is simply a waste of money. There are already plenty of free Skeletons obtained after battles. The special ability of Zombies (disease) does not seem so destructive (reducing the enemy unit's defense and attack by 2), but if it happens, dealing with a strong enemy group will be easier: Many still consider Zombies to be poor fighters. However, it should be noted that your enemy must certainly take into account that you can use Zombies as . Since you place Zombies next to Skeletons, Liches, and Dragons, whoever attacks these strong groups will inevitably deal with suicidal Zombie attacks. Ghosts/Wraiths Many Necropolis heroes already have several Ghosts in their army upon hire from taverns. This is good, as their specific ability—to fully restore damage taken by those remaining alive before their turn—is relevant specifically in the early stages of the game. Like Zombies, they can be used to deliver a preemptive strike before the Skeletons' attack, but thanks to their peculiarity, Ghosts do not take as much damage as Zombies. It is interesting to note that the Soul Grave stands apart among the Necropolis dwellings—its presence is not a requirement for building any other buildings, so in principle, it can be left unbuilt. Whether to build it or not depends on your ability to get Vampire Lords at your disposal. If you see that in the near future you will not be able to have Vampire Lords, then you must not only build the Soul Grave but also upgrade it and hire Wraiths, as you need faster creatures. Wraiths have decent speed and can cross the battlefield in two turns, which is important when encountering ranged monsters. They cost 230 gold, which is quite expensive, but the costs pay off since the Wraiths' ability to drain mana from an enemy hero is especially useful at the start of the game, while heroes do not have high Knowledge stats and the loss of mana in each battle round is quite significant. If you have enough Wraiths in your army, you can divide them into several stacks, as EACH of them drains 2 mana points per round and each is capable of restoring damage taken before their turn (of course, there is no point in dividing Ghosts, as they do not possess the ability to drain mana). In the late stages of the game, Wraiths no longer provide significant support, as they are very vulnerable and often it simply makes no sense to take them into battle. Vampires/Vampire Lords Vampire Lords are magnificent fighters, so your goal is to build the Mansion in the first week and upgrade it as soon as possible. They are fast, have average attack, defense, and HP stats, and do not deal much damage to the enemy, BUT: with two excellent features—regeneration when attacking living creatures and the absence of a counterattack—Vampire Lords, along with Super Gorgons, have the best price/quality ratio. The more Vampire Lords you have, the stronger they are due to a sharp increase in regeneration ability. Note this fact: it is significantly harder for five Vampire Lords to restore one than for fifty to restore ten. Example: for 5000 gold, you can buy 10 Vampire Lords or 1 Archangel. If 1 Archangel fights 10 Vampire Lords, he will win (Round 1: Archangel deals 100 damage; 8 Vampire Lords counterattack with a strength of 20-32, then attack and most likely (87.5%) will not restore any. Round 2: another 100 damage, the number of Vampire Lords decreases to 6, they counterattack and attack and possibly restore one. Then the Archangel relentlessly finishes off the remaining Vampires.). Now let 10 Archangels fight against 100 Vampire Lords. With the first strike, Archangels will destroy 25 Vampire Lords, but the remaining 75 will counterattack with a strength of 187-300 and restore 4-7 of their own, then attack with a strength of 198-328, restoring 5-8 Vampires in the process, thus destroying one or two Archangels per round. In the second round, 8-9 Archangels already fight against 84-90 Vampires and it becomes obvious that the Vampires will win (you can check for yourself). From this it follows: DO NOT BUY VAMPIRES, and if you do, leave them in the city. You cannot afford to lose a single Vampire while waiting for the Mansion upgrade. As soon as you have Vampire Lords, many problems will resolve themselves. Vampire Lords may not lose a single unit over many battles, while the number of Skeletons in your army will steadily increase! With Vampire Lords present, do not buy Zombies and Wraiths until you have surplus funds. When fighting undead or non-living creatures (like Gargoyles or Golems), protect the Vampire Lords! Send Skeletons into battle. If Vampire Lords nonetheless make contact with such an enemy, try by all means not to lose a single one. Support them with all available spells like Stone Skin or Shield. Unfortunately, Blessing cannot be applied to them, but Curse does not scare them either. Liches/Greater Liches Another good monster. Greater Liches are some of the best shooters and are a real pain for your enemies. Try not to buy Liches; it is better to upgrade the Mausoleum. Greater Liches have 10 more HP, they are faster, have a larger shot reserve, deal more damage, and are only 50 gold more expensive. Do not place them at the edge of the battlefield and try to cover them with your other units, as Inferno has Magogs with their Ball Lightning attack, Dungeon and Sylvan have Dragons capable of attacking two units in front of them, and Tower, Castle, and Rampart have good shooters in their armies. Only in battle with swamp creatures does it make sense to put Liches in the corner and cover them with Zombies and Wraiths (and perhaps Dragons—on the right). When choosing a target for Liches, look for a spot where their ability to deal a strike that spreads to adjacent areas can be manifested. Black Knights/Knights of Terror Again, excellent warriors. Along with Naga Queens and Efreet Sultans, they are among the best 6th-level creatures. As soon as you have built the Hall of Darkness, hire Black Knights. Even without an upgrade, they are good enough. In a week, you get 4 Knights of Terror, who have more HP than 2 Ghost Dragons (also per week); moreover, they deal more damage even without manifesting special abilities. Black Knights have a 20% chance to cast Curse on the attacked squad. Knights of Terror additionally have a 20% chance to deal double-strength damage. Imagine a group of Knights of Terror dealing a double strike, especially if Luck smiles upon them! Knights of Terror are fast, fight well against any monsters, and moreover, they are very tough, so do not be afraid to use them in battle. Bone Dragons/Ghost Dragons Your seventh-level monsters are quite weak. Bone Dragons are very vulnerable, so it is better not to hire them into the army at all. Their speed does not matter, as they are no faster than Vampire Lords and Knights of Terror. Ghost Dragons are better, mainly due to good speed, but with 200 HP and only 19 attack and 17 defense, they are also quite vulnerable. They have a 20% chance to age the enemy stack attacked, after which the HP of all its components is halved, but this happens AFTER the Dragons' attack. Both types of Dragons reduce the morale of the enemy army by 1 upon appearing on the battlefield, but usually in practice, this is not very noticeable. After the Dragons' attack, those remaining alive counterattack and deal a lot of damage, perhaps even killing one. For more effective use of Ghost Dragons, it is desirable to strike with them at already attacked creatures so that there is no counterattack, but in practice, this is not always possible. If you cannot immediately destroy all enemies (by casting Mass Haste and attacking with Dragons, Knights of Terror, Vampire Lords, Liches, and maybe even Wraiths or a Chain Lightning strike followed by finishing survivors with Dragons), then do not attack with Dragons immediately. Wait with them. Never attack those monsters who can survive in sufficient numbers to perform a decent counterattack. Here is an example of unsuccessful use of Ghost Dragons. Magik Ogres are a worthy example of 4th-level creatures, as they have a high HP stat. You have 10 Ghost Dragons, and the opponent has 50 Magik Ogres. Your heroes are equal in strength. With the first attack, Dragons will deal 400-800 damage, killing at most 13 Ogres. The remaining 37 Ogres counterattack with a strength of at least 200, destroying 1 Dragon. This is the best case. In the worst case, 44 Ogres survive and deal 475 damage in return, killing 2 Dragons. In general, when the first round ends, you will lose 3 Dragons, and this is in a battle of level 7 against level 4! The losses are great. Compare this to a case where 10 Archangels encounter those same 50 Ogres. With the first strike, Archangels deal 1075 damage, killing 17 Ogres. The surviving 33 counterattack with a strength of 114-228, not destroying a single Archangel. With their own attack, they will still kill one. But only one! The difference is obvious. On the other hand, if Dragons attacked 50 Ogres without fearing a counterattack, they would deal substantial harm, and in case of aging the Ogres after the strike, they would lose half their HP and practically become easy prey for you. Remember that an aged army does not lose its attacking potential! Aged Archangels still deal massive damage. Ideally, Zombies should attack first, and then Dragons strike. See below for more detail.
CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT
The following recommendations are primarily valid when playing on large and huge maps, and on very hard and impossible levels. Smaller maps and easier levels require faster development of your creatures. When you play on the impossible level, you have neither money nor resources at the start (except in cases where you receive a bonus for them). Therefore, 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 a Gem Pond or Crystal Cave, capture them immediately. You need these resources to upgrade the Mansion. Sulfur is also required, as it is needed to build the Mausoleum, which in turn is necessary for constructing level 6 and 7 dwellings. Thus, although Mercury has the highest consumption of all resources, you should first pay attention to the others. On the very hard (but not impossible) level, you need to hire another hero; fortunately, both the Necromancer and Black Knight appear already with a Spellbook. If you start with two cities, focus all your attention on one of them. Build the Town Hall (Prefecture) in the second city as quickly as possible, but then ignore it until you have enough Wood. Then build a Mages' Guild, Market, Forge, and City Hall (Municipality) there. Further development of the second city can begin once you have managed to capture the first enemy city, but in this case, it is important to decide whether it would be better to upgrade the captured one, since there are usually already many buildings there and they are quite advanced. If you are not playing on the impossible level and a hero from the Tower appears in the Necropolis Tavern, it makes sense to hire him, thereby obtaining 60-70 Gremlins, which should be immediately sent to the Transformer, thus receiving 60-70 Skeletons (which costs 3600-4200 gold) for only 2500 gold (the hero's price). After this, you can use the Tower hero depending on the situation or simply dismiss him. First Week 1. Magic Tower 2. Necromancy Amplifier 3. Town Hall (Prefecture) 4. Graveyard 5. Mansion 6. Market 7. Forge It is desirable to hire a second hero as quickly as possible so that they collect resources, and the 2500 gold spent on them will be quickly recouped. Ideally, the Necromancy Amplifier should be built before your first battle. So if you are not scheduled to participate in a fight on the second day, it is better to build the Prefecture first. The construction order may change depending on the availability of certain resources and money. The Mansion must be built. The seven listed buildings cost 10000 gold, 20 Wood, and 15 Ore, plus 2500 Gold for the second hero. If you lack Wood, build the Skeleton Transformer instead of the Forge. If it is obvious that in the near future you will not be able to upgrade the Mansion due to a lack of Crystals or Gems, it makes sense to build the Soul Grave on the 7th day and upgrade it on the eighth (the upgrade requires neither Wood nor Ore, so it is a good alternative). Second Week The priority tasks are the earliest possible upgrade of the Mansion with the hiring of Vampire Lords and the construction of the City Hall. Later, a Capitol will also be needed. Everything is very expensive, so you will have to save on something. Here is a list of what is desirable to build in the second week: 1. Upgraded Mansion 2. City Hall 3. Citadel 4. Castle 5. Mausoleum You can add the Skeleton Transformer/Exhumed Graves/Shroud of Darkness to the construction budget at any time. If you cannot upgrade the Mansion first, then upgrade the Soul Grave (in which case you need to build the Soul Grave on the 7th day of the first week). Buy all Vampire Lords or Ghosts, equip one of your heroes with them, and capture every mine you come across. Try to find and capture a second Sawmill and Mine; then it will be possible to build the Hall of Darkness earlier (but not on the impossible level). Third Week You must buy all Vampire Lords. You need to upgrade the Mausoleum, build the Capitol and the Hall of Darkness. Later, it is desirable to continue constructing the Mages' Guild, but only up to the third level. If you have a hero like Tant and any other hero with an advanced Scholar skill, DO NOT UPGRADE THE GUILD AT ALL UNTIL YOU BUILD SOMETHING ELSE. Building a resource store makes sense only if you were unable to find a second Sawmill and Mine. On the impossible level, even if you have enough money on the third week to build the Dragon Crypt, DO NOT DO IT! Save gold and buy all Vampire Lords, Powerful Liches, and Black Knights, as Dragons are not the main force right now. Fourth Week Upgrade the Hall of Darkness, buy all Vampire Lords, Powerful Liches, and Knights of Fear, and then build the Dragon Crypt. Bone Dragons are not an essential component of your army, so it is better to wait with their hiring until the Crypt is upgraded. You need at least one Ghost Dragon in your army so that your hero has a speed advantage on the battlefield. COMBAT TACTICS During the game, Skeletons gradually accumulate and become one of your main striking forces, so they must be brought into battle as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, they are slow, so you will often have to cast Mass Haste in the first round. It is better to cast Haste immediately before the Skeletons' turn, as the opponent may respond to your early Haste by using Mass Slow and the entire effect of your spell will be lost. This does not matter, of course, when you have the fastest monster on the battlefield or your hero is strong in Tactics. Zombies should be used as . Ghosts may face the same fate if necessary. When you attack a city that is not very well defended, and your Vampire Lords, Powerful Liches, and Ghost Dragons can handle the enemies together, there is no point in casting any spells early. It is desirable to save mana for Raising Dead during the battle. If the city is reasonably well-defended and Vampire Lords cannot cope even with frequent use of Raise Dead on them, it is necessary to provide support from Skeletons and Knights of Fear as quickly as possible. The easiest way to do this is via Teleport, but for this you must be an expert in Water Magic. If you lack this skill, you need to destroy the walls quickly. Ballistics combined with Earthquake and Mass Haste spells will help here. Remember that you need to either be an expert in Water Magic and have Teleport, or be an expert in Earth Magic and have Earthquake, as in the late stages of a large game, the enemy may destroy your catapult and then simply shoot down the remaining ground creatures. The Master Gremlin rush and Skeleton/Vampire lord rush (of course, the heading is translated clumsily, but if anyone can translate it in the following context "The Master Gremlin rush and Skeleton/Vampire lord rush" — they are great, and we are just their sons — translator's note). The Master Gremlin rush is notoriously infamous. This is when a Chapel upgrade is made in the Tower, all income structures are built, along with the Library, Mages' Guild, Artifact Shop, and then a hero armed with hordes of Master Gremlins devastates the map. In case of obvious defeat, he surrenders, keeping the surviving fighters, then immediately re-hires at the Tavern, all money is again invested in acquiring Master Gremlins, and the hero continues his dark work. This tactic is recognized as stupid, boring, uninteresting, and disgusting, but since such a phenomenon exists, it requires close attention and study. Theoretically, any city can act as described above, but this is usually difficult because lower-level creatures do not spawn in such quantities as Master Gremlins and furthermore do not possess the ability for ranged attack, thus suffering heavy losses in battles against shooters. However, Necropolis is quite suitable for such a tactic, since Skeletons appear in very decent volumes, especially if you have a hero like Galtran (Black Knight, has about 50 Skeletons upon hiring); he can be hired, then he retreats and reappears in the Tavern and again provides you with a decent number of Skeletons. (as I understand it, the author is describing the situation for Restoration of Erathia. In Armageddon's Blade, the hero who fled the battlefield appears in your tavern with a single first-level creature, so Galtran after such an operation will appear with one Skeleton — translator's note). The Necromancy skill provides you with Skeletons for free, in large quantities far exceeding the losses you will incur in battles with roaming monsters. Additionally, you have two more trump cards: first, Vampire Lords can become available to you quite early — you only need to build the Necromancy Amplifier and Graveyard, after which you can upgrade the Mansion and hire fast, flying, self-regenerating monsters against whom there is no counterattack and mind-affecting spells do not work. Second, you have a structure such as the Skeleton Transformer. There, you can turn into Skeletons not only those monsters who joined you on the road, but also, as mentioned above, hire a hero from the Tower for the purpose of turning his Master Gremlins into Skeletons (thus receiving 60-70 Skeletons for only 2500 gold). However, do not plan for a blitzkrieg. The combination of Skeletons and Vampire Lords is not invincible. For a successful assault on a city, they need powerful magic support (Raise Dead) and the hero must have Ballistics at expert level. In light of this, it becomes clear that capturing a city located on Cursed Ground can become a very difficult or even unsolvable task, especially if the opponent has strong shooters. It will also be difficult to fight against Arch-Devils, against whom there is also no counterattack. Hordes of Skeletons on Cursed Ground can lose to just one Arch-Devil. Therefore, after capturing any enemy city, it makes sense to add strong creatures from there to your army. In the late stages of the game, when your opponents have strong armies and strong heroes, you need fast creatures in your host. Like Archangels. Otherwise, the following unpleasant thing is possible: a strong enemy hero, having only one Efreet or Black/Gold Dragon, attacks your army, immediately casts Armageddon or Fireball on the hordes of Skeletons and flees the battlefield, but then immediately returns and repeats this until his mana supply runs out. Artifacts that increase morale are useful to you if your army consists of more than just undead. Since we mentioned artifacts, let's talk about those you need most. First, these are three artifacts that enhance your Necromancy skill: Undertaker's Amulet (+5%), Vampire's Robe (+10%), Dead Man's Boots (+15%). These three artifacts simply allow you to get even more skeletons after a battle. The next group — artifacts that increase the health of your warriors, since one of your striking groups consists of first-level creatures. Ring of Vitality and Ring of Life increase health by 1, and Ring of Living Blood by 2. The Legion's Torso artifact allows you to get 3 more Vampire Lords per week. Artifacts that increase the speed of your troops in battle also hold a significant place: Necklace of Swiftness, Cloak of Speed, and Traveler's Ring. Try to capture another Necropolis to build a second Necromancy Amplifier in it. Upgrade Skeletons to Warriors, preferably in the Hill Fort (for free). If you encounter a Tower hero who has a huge number of Master Gremlins in his ranks (and no one else), the initiative belongs to you, as the first word is yours (Vampire Lords are faster), and you can simply blind the Gremlins, then bring up your Skeletons and attack. However, be careful if the enemy has a Ballista or First Aid Tent, as he may have the Artillery or First Aid skill, and when it's his war machine's turn, he can cast Dispel Magic on the Master Gremlins and neutralize your Blindness. If the enemy has a Ballista and you have the Tactics skill, cast Haste on the Skeletons. If you lack Tactics, you will have to take the first hit yourself, then teleport the Skeletons to the Master Gremlins and attack. If the enemy has more than one stack of Gremlins, divide the Skeletons into the same number, and if you have Tactics, cast Mass Haste and attack. If you lack Tactics, similarly take the first hit, then cast Mass Haste (or Mass Slow if the opponent hastened their Gremlins, and in the second round — Mass Haste) and attack. Practice shows that you should win. Special questions of Necropolis tactics applied to various opponents. It is very important to position your troops correctly. Here is an approximate order (right to left): Powerful Liches, Zombies, Skeletons, Dragons, Knights of Fear, Ghosts, Vampire Lords. Remember: if you cannot leave the Skeletons aside and cannot organize<kamikaze attack> on strong enemy units; never use Bone Dragons for the first strike, except in cases where they will immediately destroy an enemy stack; Dread Knights are better suited for this purpose, as they can deal double damage (and even quadruple, with good Luck). Tactics and Resilience skills are very important. Expert-level Resilience allows you to neutralize one of five enemy spells cast on your units, which could happen at the most critical moment. But Tactics is even more important. Try to reach expert level in it as soon as possible. With Tactics, you can reduce the distance to the opponent on the battlefield (if necessary, of course!). If you have reduced the distance, you can cast Haste to try and destroy all enemies before they can attack themselves. At least 3 of your creatures (and perhaps 5) will be able to attack first—these are Dragons, Vampire Lords, Dread Knights, and possibly own powerful Liches and Ghosts. You should prioritize attacking fast enemy units; then, after their destruction, you can finish off the remaining slow ones using Skeletons and Zombies. If the opponent has the first turn, there is obviously no need to reduce the distance using Tactics. Since your fastest units are Dragons, they should be positioned so that the opponent cannot destroy them with their first attacks if they use Haste. If the Dragons survive, you will get the chance to make a counter-move sooner and, accordingly, use magic. On the other hand, the opponent might first cast Slow. This will reduce your Dragons' speed to 7, allowing the enemy to attack consecutively with all their units whose speed is greater than 7 without hindrance. Therefore, before the battle begins, you must position your troops so that the enemy deals minimal damage to your most useful units and their attacks are least advantageous. In short, if you are playing against a strong humanoid player, the Tactics skill is simply essential (translator's note: when I play against the computer, I try to make sure my heroes NEVER learn Tactics. It is useless against the computer; it only takes up space in the skills list). Moving on to specific questions of Necropolis combat tactics relative to different opponents, I note that the most dangerous cities for you are Inferno and Dungeon. However, their heroes rarely have Air Magic in their arsenal of skills, so they usually will not use Haste. Castle The strength of the Castle lies in its ability to deal massive damage; furthermore, it has the fastest creature in its composition, so it gets the LAST word in a battle round. You must place Skeletons in such a position that they fight against Archangels and Champions, then cast Haste or Slow. Unfortunately, the enemy may, in turn, dispel them. Focus on your advantages. Keep your troops together, so if the enemy attacks your important yet vulnerable units (Dragons, Liches), you can strike back with your slow but numerous creatures. At the right moment, cast Haste to quickly bring Skeletons and Zombies into battle. Attack Archangels and/or Champions first with Zombies, then with Skeletons and/or Dragons. Destroy Crusaders with Dread Knights. Focus Vampire Lords on lower-level creatures and Fanatics. The best target for Ghosts is Archers; however, they can be used as to absorb the counterattack of a strong enemy group. Do not forget to bring back the dead using Raise Dead. Dungeon Zombies perform suicide attacks on Dragons and/or Minotaurs. Vampire Lords strike at shooters and Harpies. Your Ghost Dragons either deal a second blow to Black Dragons or Minotaurs, or attack Scorpiods or hordes of Troglodytes. Dread Knights hit Minotaurs and/or Scorpiods, while Skeletons attack Black Dragons (after Zombies have absorbed the latter's counterattack). If Black Dragons avoid Skeletons, strike them with Dread Knights. The best target for Ghosts is Harpies. Do not hesitate to sacrifice them if necessary. In a battle with Dungeon, the initiative belongs to the opponent, as their Dragons cannot be slowed by spells, so Slow does not have such an effect. It is better to use Haste. But the main spell is Raise Dead. Fortress Fortress is not very dangerous for you, as undead are immune to the Deadly Gaze of Super Gorgons. Additionally, your shooters are incomparably better, and the initiative belongs to you, as the enemy is forced to bring their main forces toward you slowly, by land. Cast Haste in the first round, but later; at the beginning of the second—Slow, after which focus on striking Hydras, as they represent the greatest danger to you. Destroy them quickly and mercilessly. Gorgons are tough but will not deal much damage. Great Basilisks can cause even more damage, as can Monarch Wyverns. In general, you should not fear swamp dwellers once you have dealt with the Hydras. Inferno Since Archdevils do not deal much damage and have a relatively low HP count, they are the only level 7 monsters that your Ghost Dragons can attack immediately without waiting to absorb a counterattack. Dread Knights are very effective but should be used to strike Demons and Pit Lords. Since Magogs deliver a Ball Lightning strike, position your forces correctly. Try to attack Efreet Sultans with Liches or using magic, or organize a suicide attack with Zombies and/or Ghosts. Vampire Lords can fight well against all creatures from Inferno, but their primary targets are Cerberi and Magogs. Dragons attack Devils or Pit Lords. Ghosts are used as or attack Leeches and Magogs. An Inferno hero holds the initiative on the battlefield, so cast Haste in time and use Raise Dead. Sylvan Your Liches will do little harm to enemy Elves, Dwarves, and Dendroids (distance!), so you will have to attack them with Dragons, Vampire Lords, and Ghosts. Vampire Lords will have no problems fighting Dendroids, and ideally, that is who they should fight. Treat Gold Dragons the same as Black ones, while Dread Knights attack Unicorns. Pegasi are an ideal target for your Dragons. Ghosts fight Dwarves well. The opponent has the initiative (Gold Dragons!), so cast Haste in time and use Raise Dead. Rampart There are no fast creatures here. Cast Haste at the end of the first round and immediately follow with Slow, which will give you full control over the situation. Absorb the counterattack of Behemoths and Mag Ogres, then finish them off with Dragons and Skeletons. Attack Thunderbirds with Dread Knights. Vampire Lords attack Cyclops, while Ghosts and Liches strike lower-level creatures. Tower There are good shooters here, so the enemy will not approach you on their own. One problem is that three of the four non-shooting units—Gargoyles, Golems, and Nagas—do not restore health for Vampire Lords. The second problem is that your powerful Liches will not last long against a combined attack of Titans, Archmages, and Master Gremlins. The third problem is that Master Djinns can cast positive magic on their troops. Whether you like it or not, you will have to take the first hit from enemy shooters. Do not panic and advance toward the enemy with Dragons leading. Your best course of action is as follows: the last word in the first round belongs to your Dragons. As soon as the opponent casts any spell, cast Haste and immediately at the start of the second round—Slow (but when attacking a city, your first task is to destroy the walls). After that, each of your units should choose a target. Hit Titans with Zombies and Skeletons; attack Golems with Dread Knights (but only if there are many Golems; otherwise, Dread Knights should fight Nagas). Ghosts attack Master Gremlins, Dragons attack Gargoyles or Djinns (depending on enemy numbers—if there are many Gargoyles, Dragons attack them; otherwise, the Djinns). Vampire Lords attack Mages. If Djinns are near Mages, position Vampire Lords so they prevent Mages from shooting, but deliver the strike to the Djinns. If Nagas far outnumber Titans, let Zombies and Skeletons attack them. Starting from the third round, use Raise Dead
