Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

kolotok, awesome! Simply no words!
I thought that the anti-magic garrisons on the Blue lands are broken through with intervals for multi-month recovery of troop numbers.

Regarding farming skeletons, I recall 1-2 maps where you simply cannot win otherwise; the computer gets insane growth from events, and the player cannot gather even remotely close to such troops - only mass skeleton production carries the game. So, after stumbling upon hidden "events" with legions of weak troops on our map a couple of times, I first planned to just accumulate skeletons and sell them (you can make decent money too!), but later this became my main strike stack.
Regarding the 7-4-1 timeframe, I'll reiterate that this is an "average" walkthrough for fun, because I leveled all heroes at once, and that wastes a lot of time. Generally, it's better to start leveling all 3 logistics heroes (for collecting troops + quickly capturing enemy territories in 1-2 days), Tazar (main), and 2 Necromancers (Isra + Vidomina); this is quite sufficient. Also, it seems to me the game can be completed in about 4 months if logistics is optimized. And by this time, you can also gather sufficient troops (skeletons for the 1st largest garrison, about half will be lost), for the rest - another half of the remaining army's creatures are lost.
Breaking through the garrisons, I'll repeat, is only possible with an armor specialist (with must-have "Defense", "Offense", "Archery", "Tactics"), because I tried Vidomina for farming skeletons, but losses are almost across the entire army (after all, 3333 Azure Dragons, 3333 Archangels, etc. simply have nothing to hit; we don't have such forces).

kolotok, But the Dragon can actually be beaten.

When you spend hours playing a map, you often have no patience left for the final boss :) so I didn't kill him. But since the Prospector shows he only has Haste from spells + Prayer from the Angel Alliance, with Berserk and the Medal of Vulnerability, you can do anything to such a hero :)
Yes, I see that in the editor he is supposed to stand still, so the only options to kill him are in the field.

kolotok, And what did you do about the author's errors?
(I played in SoD, and you?)

I didn't quite understand what errors you mean. I only saw one: The Dragon stands still, and there is a Fear guard behind him, behind which is a library + artifacts, and it's clear that since the Dragon stands still, he can't open anything.
I run the heroes3HD file, this is the HMM3 Complete version. As far as I understand, it's SoD. + The SoD_SP mod is connected. I have no crashes; I tried attacking the Dragon.
I didn't dig for the Grail at all, since it's already in several castles. You could, of course, place it in a Castle to get more Archangels, but I simply didn't need it; I didn't look for it (not even in the editor :)
I only started accumulating 1599 Pit Lords after capturing all Inferno castles. In principle, with growth events and recruiting creatures from external dwellings, they can be accumulated, but it's not necessary.
Same with the 2500 Walking Dead. By 7-4-1 I already had over 1.5 thousand, but I completed the map without turning them in at the Guardian pillar.
In other words, 1599 Pit Fiends and 2500 Walking Dead are options if you accumulate forces for months, and this is a certain flaw of the author. I agree, they could have been given somewhere via a quest, but the map is passable even without completing these tasks.
Therefore, IMO, the map has no serious bugs; there are a couple of shortcomings, but you can still complete it with them; nothing needs to be edited in the editor.
The Prospector shows that Mutare and Mutare Drake are BANNED ON THE MAP, i.e., they cannot appear in any way. There is one prison, I think, but it has Fafner with a quest artifact. Therefore, on the map, you cannot open the Guardian that opens the path to the Titan lands; I saw this when I approached this pillar. And this further reinforced my idea that I needed to break through the anti-magic garrisons, i.e., go around.

kolotok, But regarding Necromancy, 2 notes:
1. I did not rely on it and did not accumulate skeletons, and the Cloak of the Undead King and the Vampire's Cape are not on the map, so you can't farm Liches. Moreover, in the final stage of the walkthrough, all the "fodder" has long been exterminated, and there are too few troops from Necropolis towns (by the way, it was the Necromancers who placed the Grail in their town).
.... But, I'm afraid, there was no cunning plan at all; the goal was "to create a cool map that no one can beat!"

The Vampire's Cape is on the map, as are the Necromancer's Boots and Amulet. But the Cape needs to be given away, I think, for the Crown of the Magi, which also needs to be given to another quest giver. Therefore, in theory, the Cloak of the Undead King cannot be assembled, because it is given in parts, the second of which is turned in before obtaining the third. Maybe the author wanted to create a difficult map, but "experience is the son of difficult mistakes." In short, if a Heroes player has 5-10 hardcore maps in their experience baggage, like Wayfarer, Xiedu, 6424 Heroes, First Blood, etc., then a map like Zemsta Mutare should, in theory, pose no challenge. As I said, 90% of the map is quite passable by any hero.
Here are the screenshots:
1) How I broke the 1st, fiercest garrison of 9999 creatures. On Tazar, you need to equip the Elixir of Life + Angel Alliance + Cape of Speed + luck artifacts + visit all objects that boost luck.
Bone Dragons + Arch Devils for the garrison's anti-morale; 1-2-3 stacks can be affected by anti-morale. Azure Dragons are meant to take the first hit from the garrison's Azure Dragons and Archangels. The general task is that in the first round, the Titans do not hit whoever you put against them, but run very close to the skeletons (for this purpose, 1-hex Efreet). The skeletons should kill the Titans in 1-2 rounds (i.e., they deal 6-8 thousand skeletons per shot from a distance) and hide in a terrain nook to fight a maximum of 2 stacks at once. By playing with the garrison's anti-morale and the luck from the skeletons' attacks, I managed to finish the battle with -96 thousand skeletons out of 180 (i.e., half).
2) Tazar himself. Specifically for this map, Tazar needs Offense + Defense + Archery + Tactics for the garrisons. And the usual ones for author maps: Wisdom + Earth + Water. The 8th slot is optional: Logistics (for tempo), Fire (Berserk for the fight against the Dragon). I randomly got Air Magic, which wasn't needed anywhere.

Final conclusion: the map is passable; editing in the editor is not necessary (nor is making Mutare available); take Tazar and Necromancers for the walkthrough. By the way, on the Polish site for this map, as far as I remember, the author, in response to players' complaints that Mutare is missing and the map can't be passed, wrote something like: "It's a puzzle, think about how to get through, it's not critical." The passage through the anti-magic garrisons is exactly that alternative for how to pass this map. Map rating 7/10, "-" points for relative ease, weak opponents (who offered NO resistance), minor flaws, corridor-like design. But overall, for the experience, it's worth playing. Thanks to the author!
PPS. A couple of times, reading the eternal debate on forums about who is better, Tazar or old man Crag Hack, 30% Offense or 15% Defense, I always cite such author maps XL, where Tazar is SIGNIFICANTLY better than Crag. Crag is good for online games against live opponents, where you need to break through everything very quickly on tempo. But for author maps, Tazar is unequivocally the best daddy :)

Zemsta Mutare
Heroes players, for those experiencing crashes while playing the map, I used this version, and it works perfectly! Everything can be completed without issues!
If you're still encountering crashes, it's likely a problem with your Heroes 3 installation, not the map itself. Try downloading the latest version of Heroes 3 from the internet (e.g., from heroes3.tv).

Xaart, since you really want to try and beat this challenge, ;) I'm posting 3 versions of the map: the original, a version with 2 fixes that I myself am using for my playthrough, and another version with 2 fixes made just now based on the results of my playthrough.
Fixes in the file "Zemsta Mutare (corrected)":
1) Instead of "hero camps," I placed the heroes Mutare and Alamar themselves.
2) I removed the Angel Alliance from the Dragon's hand and put it in his backpack.
Fixes in the file "Zemsta Mutare (corrected) 2":
3) I placed 1599 Hellhounds in cell 63,17,1.
4) I placed the Grail in an area inaccessible to enemies.
I strongly recommend playing version 2.
The version that kolotok posted above is the original; don't play it! I just compared it to the original, and it's the same 147954 bytes.

kolotok, Mutare is needed in one place; without her, you can't proceed further into the Blue enemy zone: the passage guardian in cell 114,40,1 requires her. Can you provide a save file and tell me how you got past this point? There are no Teleport, Dimension Door, Tomes of Air, Wizard's Hats, or Angel Wings on the map. And the 1599 Hellhounds also need to be given to the soothsayer to exchange for the artifact needed by the guardian. From your screenshot, I see a miracle: you somehow ended up in the Dungeon in the northeast corner without going through the cities before it. How?
As for the author, on that website, in response to complaints from several players, he wrote something like, "Mutare will appear in the tavern; you have to think logically." In reality, when I started the original, uncorrected version for the first time, I definitely determined that it is impossible to obtain Mutare in it precisely because she is placed in a "hero camp," even when using the HD mod. So, the author is an idiot, and I don't want to communicate with him (if he were reasonable, I would calmly ask how, in his opinion, the Blue enemy should be defeated. Now, he might find your report, translate it into Polish, and, without batting an eye, say that his plan was exactly that).
I'll read your response more carefully and completely now; I was in a hurry to respond to Xaart with the attachment.

the map Zemsta Mutare

Xaart,
kolotok, Mutare is needed in one place; without it, you cannot proceed further into the Blue enemy zone: the passage guardian in cell 114,40,1 requires it. Can you provide a save file and tell me how you passed this point? There are no Flight, Dimension Door, Tomes of Air, Wizard Hats, or Angel Wings on the map. Could it be that you have a "suddenly" different version of the map?

I can't say anything about the author's idea, what he was thinking, or what he wanted. There is a map, and it has been completed.
The prospector Mutare and Mutare Drake are banned, FORBIDDEN, so cell 114,40,1 CANNOT BE OPENED IN ANY WAY. I passed into the blue zone through the antimagic garrison at 134,22,0. And then – all the other garrisons on the blue side. That is, I entered not through the back door (through the cell), but through the front – through the garrison :)
I did not use the magic you mentioned; it is banned.
P.S. :) and why immediately "you can't complete the original version!"? :) you can complete it; it's just that the author's idea is, hmm..., stupid (if you think linearly), or you simply need to think about how to complete it with the initial data, but in a different way :)

Xaart,
kolotok, According to your screenshot, I see a miracle: you somehow ended up in the Dungeon in the northeast corner without passing through the towns before it. How?

The Deep Shadow castle in the northeast is one of the two starting castles that you are given at the beginning. Your hero, Das, is in it, with 55 troglodytes, 55 harpies, and 5 pikemen. You need to use this army to kill the blue hero, Kira, with angels, mages, nagas, and cyclops. This can be done! That is, you don't give up the castle; you defend it. And then, in SMOKOWNIA or another town, you learn the town portal and fly there. In my opinion, that's what was intended! :) Then, keep this castle throughout the game, even when the blue player opens the blue cell and can visit you through the garrison. You just need to place a guard and a more or less developed unit to guard it.

(Map "5th element episode 1")

What should I do in episode 1 at the end of the game near the Conflux castle? I traded the Fire Magic book for Archdevils in the middle of the game, and now I can't open the passage to the castle. Also, I don't have enough parts for the Angel Alliance, although I might have given some away for a quest. Is this a trick by the author to confuse and make you give away the necessary items?

This is why the overall rating of the map ended up being significantly lower than expected. It's a scam, there's no other way to put it. Too bad, I haven't finished my report yet, I really need to post it.
Attention to everyone who will play this map! You must not give away the magic books or the parts of the Angel Alliance to anyone, under any circumstances, except for the guardians of the passage before the Conflux M. University in the very final! Otherwise, you will have to start over!

map Zemsta Mutare
Prospector Mutare and Mutare Drake are banned, FORBIDDEN, so column 114,40,1 CANNOT be opened in any way. I went to the blue zone through the antimagic garrison 134,22,0. And then - and all the other garrisons on the blue respawn. That is, I entered not through the back door (through the column), but through the front - through the garrison :)

Incredible! In the very first days, Kira kills Das and captures the Deep Shadow Dungeon! And somehow, it remained in your hands! Maybe Das survived? According to the plot, he MUST die, because that's why Mutare is taking revenge on the Dragon!
On the same map, at the very beginning, there are such radical differences, and because of them, you can do everything differently, just level up the hero and army and beat the Dragon, without going through anything else! And do it many times faster!
Can you send your save file, I really want to see this with my own eyes? I'm attaching my save file for 1-2-1.

Marmot, thank you!! We'll give it a try)) while also playing "Legion of Monsters"))

kolotok That's the problem, the original Mutara is unplayable, it gives an error. It's incompatible with my version of the game).

Incredible! In my very first days, Kira kills Dace and captures the Deep Shadow Dungeon! And in your case, it somehow mysteriously remained in your hands! Maybe you even have Dace alive? According to the story, he MUST die, after all, that's why Mutare takes revenge on the Dragon!
On the same map at the very start, such radical differences, and because of them, you could do everything differently, just level up the hero and army and beat the Dragon, without having to go through anything else! And do it several times faster!
Can I still get your save, I really want to see this with my own eyes? I'm attaching my save on 1-2-1.

Dear Marmot, don't fall for what the authors usually feed us on the initial respawn! ;)
We generate a normal Dace (see screenshot) - artillery is mandatory!
1-1-1 Dace DOES NOT FIGHT, but eats a few resources, settles on point 135,9,0 - an observation tower and spends the night there. Kira eats the resources, captures the fort, and rides down for the garrison. Even though her army is stronger, Dace's stats are much higher, and the computer doesn't want to lose forces. At night, the computer builds a mage guild and spends the night below near the blue pillar.
1-1-2 Dace recaptures the fort, learns the mage guild (slow, curse, shield, haste) - Dace is expert in everything. Then either we spend the night in the fort, or we go back out to cell 135,9,0 (I don't remember)
1-1-3 - 1-1-4 we buy a blacksmith + ballista in the fort and spend the night in the fort. We give Dace 5 spearmen + a troglodyte, put the rest in the fort. :) Old baiting tactic against the computer! If you take all the forces, Kira won't attack. In short, we fool Kira by putting 1 creature each in Dace's 7 stacks, and the rest in the fort. Kira attacks, and with expert artillery and ballista + expert slow, Kira gets taken out in no time. The ballista takes out 1-3 angels, I don't remember exactly. And the fort is in your pocket! I just passed the battle on the first try; with the ballista it's a truly easy fight :)
Then we split on tactics in the anti-magic garrison with Dace heading to the southern castle and start the walkthrough in normal mode.

Unbelievable! In my game, Kira killed Das and captured Deep Shadow in the very first few days! And somehow, it remained in your possession! Maybe Das survived in your game? According to the plot, he's supposed to die, and that's why Mutare takes revenge on the Dragon!
On the same map, at the very beginning, there are such radical differences, and because of them, you can do everything differently, simply level up your hero and army and defeat the Dragon, without going through anything else!
And you can do it many times faster!
Could you share your save file? I really want to see this with my own eyes. I'm attaching my save file for week 1-2-1.

I think I understand what kolotok means. This isn't the author's intention, but rather how the AI, i.e., Kira, behaves. I'll describe what happened in my game before it crashed:

1. Kira captured Deep Shadow on the very first day. It's impossible to defeat her with Das's pitiful army. How could it be possible?? Then, an error occurred on week 1 of the game.
2. Kira checked the Dragon's guard, made sure that I wouldn't release him for any treasure in the world, and went down, not touching Deep Shadow (!), and exited through the underground gate at the top. This option suited me, but the computer decided otherwise, and an error occurred on week 2 of the game.

kolotok, I think I understand what happened! The author made a mistake at the very beginning, although he simply didn't expect anyone to disrupt his plan. Did you manage to defeat Kira Dasom? Or did she just move south and not return? Then everything is clear. When I started, I didn't even hope for that; Dasom just picked up a couple of resource piles and revealed the map with the Observatory, and then died in an unequal battle with Kira.
It's so frustrating that I might as well start the game over! I'll probably do that sometime later. Thank you for taking on this map; otherwise, I would never have found out what the author's unforeseen "secret" was for successfully completing it!
And I wanted to share my joy this morning: yesterday, before going to bed, I defeated Mutare Drake on the "Wayfarer" map using a Berserker, attention, and luck. Not immediately, but on the 3rd attempt. It was important to destroy her black dragons and prevent her from killing my azure dragons. In the final, the remaining red and crystal dragons under the Berserker no longer moved, and the enemy couldn't cast spells, so I just kept shooting and resurrecting the fallen. As a result, the battle was completed without losses, and the Turquoise one disappeared. Only the Pink one remained...

kolotok, I think I understand what happened! The author made a mistake at the very beginning, although he simply didn't expect anyone to disrupt his plan. Did you manage to defeat Kira Dasom? Or did she just move south and not return? Then everything is clear. When I started, I didn't even hope for that. Dasom just picked up a couple of resource piles and revealed the map with the Observatory, and then died in an unequal battle with Kira.

I tried to kill Kira on day 1, it's impossible, no matter how hard I try - there's no magic or ballista. That's why it's not worth fighting on day 1! We spend the night nearby :) we learn a decent guild (curse, slow, shield, and speed!), we buy a ballista - and it's an easy game! Battle on day 114.
It was too risky to give the computer a fort on the other side of the map. Somehow, intuitively, I wanted to keep Deep Shadow in my hands; I just needed to find a way to defeat Kira.
Again, the map can only be completed with modifications in THIS way - THROUGH ANTI-MAGIC GARRISONS. At the same time, Deep Shadow cannot be given away! Otherwise, it's a failure! :)
There's a similar "flaw" on the map, I warn you, regarding the Fire Sphere. You'll get 2 Seers for it, or 300 Azure Crystals, or a ring with +1 speed. If you take the dragons, you won't be able to open the Guardian column on the Inferno zone later, and the map will again be impossible to complete! Please keep this in mind! You can't take the Azure Crystals for the sphere, no matter how much you want to! It's either a trap from the author or a mistake - it's up to you to decide! :)

kolotok, I think I understand what happened! The author made a mistake at the very beginning, although he simply didn't expect anyone to disrupt his plan. Did you manage to defeat Kira Dasom, or did she just move south and not return? Then everything is clear. When I started, I didn't even hope for that; Dasom just picked up a couple of resource piles and revealed the map with the Observatory, and then died in an unequal battle with Kira.
It's so frustrating that I want to start the game over! I'll probably do that sometime later. Thank you for taking on this map; otherwise, I would never have found out what the author's unforeseen "secret" was for successfully completing it!
And I wanted to share my joy this morning: yesterday, before going to bed, I defeated Mutare Drake on the "Wayfarer" map using a Berserker, attention, and luck. Not right away, but on the 3rd attempt. It was important to destroy her black dragons and prevent her from killing my azure dragons. In the final, the remaining red and crystal dragons under the Berserker no longer moved, and the enemy couldn't cast spells, so I just shot her and resurrected the fallen. As a result, the battle ended without losses, and the Azure one disappeared. Only the Pink one remained...

Cool! :smile20:
I haven't reached "Wayfare" yet; even YouTube didn't help:D; I can't capture the Castle within 7 days.
In my case, victory depends more on the sword, but magic, unfortunately, needs to be improved (I often play with quick battles if there is a clear advantage in strength).
In the evening, I will post a picture of one of my heroes (map Fastrivers: http://heroesportal.net/maps/search/fastrivers); the entire army consists of neutrals (diplomacy rules), and legions of crystal dragons ran away from me, flashing their heels. For the first time in my experience, I had to kill 180,000 angels. It was something.

That's the problem, the original Mutari is unplayable, it gives an error. It's incompatible with my version of the game.

If the crash issue is related to the overflow of stats of the enemy hero, then the plugin SoD_SP will help fix the situation.

Wayfarer

kolotok, I wanted to share my joy with you: yesterday, before going to bed, I finally defeated Mutare Drake on the "Wayfarer" map using a Berserker, attention, and a bit of luck. Not immediately, but on the 3rd attempt. It was important to destroy her black dragons and prevent her from killing my azure dragons. In the final stage, the remaining red and crystal dragons under the Berserker's control were no longer moving, and the enemy couldn't cast spells, so I kept shooting and resurrecting the fallen. As a result, the battle was completed without any losses, and the Turquoise hero disappeared. Only the Pink one remained...

Congratulations on Wayfarer! It's a great map! You could say that my understanding of the beauty of complex, custom maps began with this map. As usual, everyone thinks they know how to play Heroes, easily beating random maps with 200% power against 7 AI opponents. But you can truly learn to play custom maps only on maps like Wayfarer. Write down how many days it took you to complete it. The last time I managed to finish it in 6-1-7, but I don't really feel like repeating such a fast playthrough.
693 (!) saves in a special folder for Wayfarer! :)
Mutare Drake was defeated by me on day 522 with the following forces, also a screenshot of the formation + strategy. As far as I can see, it's an easy battle - we kill the archers, and the Archdevils on Prayer and Antimagic don't outrun us.
2 ranged stacks (Cyclops and Titans) + Archdevils behind a Force Field - this is more profitable than just Titans or Titans with Archangels. The ability to immediately kill the enemy's archers + the ability to create 2 clones instead of one.
I also see in a YouTube video that the AI has an additional stack of Evil Eyes (and I don't have them in the screenshots), because it's desirable to open the column to Mutare and attack on the same day. If you open the column but can't reach her and attack the next day, she will buy Evil Eyes and add the rest. This should also be taken into account. :)

After reading the age-old debate on forums a couple of times about who is better, Tazar or old Craig Hack, 30% attack or 15% defense, I always use such author-made XL maps as an example, where Tazar is SIGNIFICANTLY better than Craig. Craig is good for online games against live opponents, where you need to quickly defeat everyone. But for author-made maps, Tazar is definitely the best dad :)

In this regard, the Chinese map Heroes of Jin Yong is indicative, where we have both Craig and Tazar at our disposal. Craig carries the entire first half of the game, crushingly defeating approximately equally strong computer heroes, not letting anyone escape so that we don't lose important artifacts. But after descending into the dungeon, all enemies are many times stronger than us, Craig cannot defeat anyone and remains a runner until the end of the playthrough, while Tazar defeats everyone.