Posts from The most useful spell.

Regeneration is better than resurrection; it doesn't ruin your army.

strangely enough, it's antimagic.

I really like the Plague faction; if you take the Pain Lord, it helps me a lot until more complex spells are learned. Phantom is very useful against neutral creatures when you have a couple of stacks of ranged units or units that deal damage without taking damage in return. Divine Retribution is simply overpowered. Under the right conditions, the damage from this spell is just insane. I like Berserk more than Subjugation, although I don't know why. And even though no one has mentioned it, Heavenly Shield shouldn't be underestimated either.

Ah... I could give a lecture here about all the spells... but never mind...
in my opinion...
magic arrow = a good starting point...

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the rest depends on the situation and a bunch of other criteria...

Counterspell

Massive Dispel. The entire enemy army doesn't attack or retaliate. Combined with the "Sharp Mind" ability, it's an incredibly powerful combination. And with the "Sandro's Cloak" artifact, it becomes even more devastating. For example, against mages, you can immediately disable three stacks of ranged units: gremlins, mages, and titans. Of course, if you're playing against a Necromancer, Dispel is useless, unless you have Sandro's Cloak.

Perhaps, the combination of Wall of Swords and Raise Dead is effective. It allows you to defeat large groups of melee neutral creatures early in the game with a single stack.

Chaos Magic: Meteor Shower. Combined with "Emerald Boots," it can obliterate a huge number of enemy units. Light Magic: All spells from the first three circles. From spells above the fourth circle, I would choose "Antimagic." Because it provides excellent protection against powerful magic. Dark Magic: All spells from the first three circles. From spells above the fourth circle, I would choose "Dominate." Capture the best enemy unit and have it attack other important and dangerous enemy creatures. Summoning Magic: Summon Phoenix. This is a monster of victory if there are no Cave Lords, Death Knights, or a hero with the "Deadly Chill" skill in the army. One strike can kill a huge number of low and medium-level creatures. The only drawback is its extremely high cost.

Phoenix is still heavily reliant on spells and vulnerable to darkness. I don't know about the most useful ones, but here are some of the most interesting ones for me. Summoning: Summon Hive I like both the appearance and the effect of this spell. Place hives and watch the enemy rest on the battlefield. Darkness: Vampirism A very useful spell with many functions. Not only does it heal, but it also provides immunity to many different things. Light: Teleport A useful spell with many applications. Chaos: Stasis Field Not only is the visual effect cool, but it's also the only spell of this school that can be used for more than just dealing damage.

Massive confusion. The entire enemy army doesn't attack or retaliate. Combined with the "Sharp Mind" skill, it's an incredibly powerful combination. And with the "Sandro's Cloak" artifact, it's even more devastating. For example, against mages, you can immediately disable three stacks of ranged units: gremlins, mages, and titans. Of course, if you're playing against a Necromancer, confusion is useless, unless you have Sandro's Cloak.

Interesting and unconventional approach.

Crystal of Secrets. Thanks to the tactical gameplay and the AI's shortcomings, you can devise incredible scenarios on the map, much like in chess. Block a passage? Sure. Block an archer? Sure. Thanks to the crystal, you can eliminate absolutely any single stack of archers. And how did I defeat thousands of phoenixes with a thousand gremlins? It was all thanks to teleportation and crystals; by the end of that game, there were over 20 on the battlefield. This is the most useful spell from the summoning school. Chaos spells are useless when playing on huge maps; I never upgrade this school. Darkness. A top-tier school, thanks to mass slow, berserk, mind control, and vampirism (an absolute top spell). Recently, I used 16 red dragons to defeat 500+ dusk elves. It was all thanks to vampirism. A high-level stack under this spell is virtually invincible; there is only one countermeasure: Titans and their lightning. On huge maps, these are the most terrifying units. The school of light is useful for buffs and the "storm wind" ability. Therefore, the top 5 spells are: Crystal of Secrets, Vampirism, Berserk, Mind Control, and Mass Slow.

And what about the Wall of Swords?

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And is it as powerful as removing enchantments, or the Doom spell? What about regeneration and resurrection?

What about the Wall of Swords?

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Is it as powerful as Dispel, the Doom spell? What about regeneration and resurrection?

The Wall of Swords requires a summoning skill, while the Crystal is always available. Plus, it consumes less mana, which is relevant when you place 20 of them. Also, this tactical defense is usually aimed at large units; you don't need to completely block everything, especially if the terrain is complex.

Dispel? We need to cast spells, not dispel them. It should be noted that I'm not playing against players, but against the AI on huge maps at the "Hero" difficulty, which I've further enhanced in the editor with powerful stacks. For example, a million peasants, 10,000 level 7 units, 20 level 6 units, etc. Who wins is a matter of luck, but the goal is to eliminate everyone. Of course, it's impossible to defeat the army head-on, so strategy comes into play, especially when facing undead, against which Berserk is ineffective, and mind control and vampirism are useless.

I'm not sure what "Doom" is; it might be a nuance of localization. Is it the "Darkness Weakness" skill? It's a useless thing.

Resurrection is weak, suitable for battles with weak units, not the main army. Regeneration is also a good thing. But vampirism is better

Strategy truly begins when you play against live opponents, aiming for victory rather than simply clearing the entire map – that's just min-maxing. Exploiting AI weaknesses is less about tactics and more about technique, relying on pre-honed strategies. There's nothing inherently wrong with this, but for a truly engaging strategic experience, you need a live opponent, not an artificial substitute. Imagine a chess master playing against absolute beginners who barely know how the pieces move (the AI in Heroes), giving them a massive material advantage. Can such a game be called a strategy game? Can you truly hone your skills in a real game in this scenario? By exploiting AI bugs, you can kill unlimited dragons on the Crystal. In general, summoning is extremely useful against a clueless opponent, and, of course, High Magic is essential when playing against "millions" that cannot be defeated through honest means without exploiting loopholes. If we disregard PvE battles as the most boring and pointless, then in PvP, the most important spells are: Light – Vengeance/Hide (for a warrior – Dispel/Wrath) Dark – Dominate/Plague (for a warrior – Berserk/Slow, against a dark mage – Vampirism) Chaos – Meteor (Armageddon for certain tactics) Summoning – Phoenix (for a warrior – Phantom)

Yeah, I know the difference between PvP and PvE, just like in a few other games. We also have newcomers on our forum who talk about their PvE skills, and you always smile at that :) Of course, the gaming experience differs, at least in terms of scale. I followed the Heroes 3 tournaments, and I myself played them for countless hours. The difference between solo gaming and PvP was obvious. These are two different universes. But still, most people in Heroes 5 (which is much less suitable for competitions than Heroes 3, at least because of the non-turn-based combat) play solo. Therefore, I think the discussion here is primarily from that perspective :)