Posts from Walkthroughs for custom maps.

There are two great ways to find out: a) ask a question in the map discussion on HeroesPortal; b) write a letter to the author: his address can be found there by hovering the mouse over the words "Write to the author". And could you tell me a little about this map? What are your impressions, how far have you progressed towards the final goal, and so on?

The map seems to be one of the best. I even managed to reach the Knight level, which was enough to get a good understanding. Excellent storyline, well-written, balanced gameplay, and interesting quests.

No, it's French, but translated into English. The main thing is that it's not Chinese. ;) Downloaded from celestialheavens.com; I used to find a collection of maps translated by them there, but I can't find that page now, so I'm attaching an archive with the original map and the translation.
"The Forces of Evil" / "Les Forces du Mal".

Marmot, good afternoon!

Have you already completed this map?

I played it a couple of years ago, playing as Castle; yesterday, I played it again, playing as Necropolis.

If you've already completed it, I'll share my walkthrough so as not to spoil anything (the enemies (except for the Turquoise one) are very weak here; the main thing is to get to the Turquoise one by breaking through the garrison with water elementals. The highlight of the game is the artifacts and Pandora's boxes; they really are forces of evil)).

Xaart, hello!
I'm still at the very beginning of "The Forces of Evil": I'm taking a break from "Wayfarer" - there's only the last enemy left, Finneas, and the toughest battle with him. Yesterday, none of my attempts were successful (I'm trying to figure out how to defeat him myself, I've found some clues, but I haven't put the whole picture together yet; I'll take a break, and if I can't come up with anything, I'll have to watch videos of those who have already won).
You don't have to tell me about "The Forces of Evil" yet, but I think the map isn't very difficult. I chose the green color (Castle). 9 out of 10 monsters on our map want to join. I refuse almost all of them (different race, but the main thing is that I need to gain experience), only yesterday I recruited 9 devils: they will still be useful!
What about the HD mod, does it work for you? Which version?

Xaart, hello!
I'm still at the very beginning of "The Forces of Evil": I'm taking a break from "Wayfarer" – there's only the last enemy, Finneas, left, and the toughest battle with him. Yesterday, none of my attempts were successful (I'm trying to figure out how to defeat him myself, I've found something, but I haven't put together the whole picture; I'll take a break, and if I can't come up with anything, I'll have to watch videos of those who have already won).
You don't have to tell me about "The Forces of Evil" yet, but I think the map isn't very difficult. I chose the green color (Castle). 9 out of 10 monsters on our map want to join. I refuse almost everyone (different race, but the main thing is that I need to gain experience), I only joined 9 devils yesterday: they will still be useful!
What about the HD mod, did it work for you? Which version?

The HD mod didn't work, none of the versions (either my game version has a bug, or I'm just not good enough). After launching the launcher, the game crashes. I'll have to update Windows and reinstall the game.

First, remember to save your savegames and maps (non-standard ones) in a different location!

First, remember to save your games and maps (non-standard ones) in a different location!

This is the most important thing!

I'm playing "Zemsta Mutare," using the corrected version 2 that you provided. It's the 8th month, and I've captured the Dungeon, Darkhold, and Scar factions. I've also visited the white, brown, and red tents. I'm playing as Das (the trick from user kolotok didn't work for me; Kira attacked on the very first day. Das fled and I bought him in Smokownia). The hero has already reached level 48, with stats of 70.

The point is that we can’t *order* the AI to do or not do something, and if Kira attacks Das before he’s ready, he’ll have to die. In my playthrough, Das also managed to escape, and I bought him in Smokownia, but, guided by my understanding of “fair play” (I assumed that the author didn’t want the player to use Das), I didn’t use him as a warrior hero; Mutare was my warrior throughout the game. The only exception was one instance: I killed the enhanced snakes on the road at the very beginning of the journey with Das, as I didn’t want to suffer any losses or wait to hire additional troops.

Map Name: Ray of light
Author: Sergey Petrov
Download: from the maps4heroes map catalog

Just finished the map. My impressions of the game are entirely positive. The map itself is M-sized, but structured like an XL map. It is obvious that the author intended it for a very long walkthrough. The mission goal is to take the angel wings from the seer's hut by killing the Dragon Queen no later than 37.1.7 (the thirty-seventh month!). The map itself is tailored for troop accumulation; there are troop-granting events that activate only after almost two in-game years (for example, receiving Titans in the towers), but I wasn't interested in hoarding, so I finished the walkthrough on 15.2.6. This means all late-game bosses were broken with 2 to 3 thousand Archangels, 10-14 thousand Snipers, and 4-6 thousand Fanatics, depending on the stage of the game. I didn't buy other troops, nor did I have the means to buy them. At the same time, from the end of the fifth month to the beginning of the thirteenth, the game was in a frozen state. Nothing happened on the map except collecting creatures from external dwellings and waiting for resources and money to accumulate to complete the quest for 3000 of each resource; thus, actual gameplay in Ray of light lasted 7 and a half months.

Regarding the map's features, I can note the following:
1) all AI heroes are locked away, and only the first boss, Zepelina, can run around a bit if she is released. This means no one threatens us on this map, so Ray of light can be completed even by non-tempo players;
2) early acquisition of Blindness, Resurrection, Slow, and Teleport. Clone and Prayer appear after defeating the hero King Darius (the third Castle). For randoms, the author set Forgetfulness and Anti-Magic (among those I noticed). I fear that without Forgetfulness, the map cannot be completed at a fast tempo, and while Anti-Magic is not critical, in some moments (for example, the fight with Ekaterina) it would have made my life much easier if I had found it;
3) lack of taverns. There is one external tavern on the map, but it is inaccessible;
4) extremely hidden passages and artifacts; I am not talking about extra Easter eggs, but about objects of key importance for the walkthrough. I only found the Ring of Life near Nemesis's castle via a prospector at the end of the walkthrough (I fought many battles without the Elixir of Life :() and the Cloak of Dragon Wings. I had to think a bit about the path to the hero Luminar, but the experience from the map The Last Crusade paid off;
5) given the quite high tempo of the walkthrough, a significant portion of the battles were very exhausting, especially the late bosses. Although almost all fights were difficult, starting from Zepelina.

Among the unusual things: I killed the hero Gold-Keeper using a clone bug, as I decided not to spend money and resources buying troops for the anti-magic garrison with phoenixes, and victory in the battle with Gold-Keeper and visiting two Trees of Knowledge allowed me to reach level 42 and take 150 Archangels from the seer. As a result, 250 Archangels and 1000 Snipers broke the anti-magic garrison at point 71.32.0 with a loss of 5 Archangels and 20 Snipers. Further battles with AI heroes up to Nemesis were based on using terrain advantages combined with supporting Archangels with the correct troops. After Nemesis, we take the Medal of Vulnerability, but the battles did not become easier, as the subsequent heroes simply have monstrously strong and well-composed armies (referring to Grinner, Wooder, Ekaterina, Crag, and the two final bosses), and terrain assistance could no longer be relied upon. Most late battles followed the principle of "try to survive the first few rounds." The fight with Gidralisk was also interesting; he has only three legion stacks of swamp creatures, but has the Sphere of Banning and morale +3 (almost all bosses on this map have such morale). Crag couldn't be blinded, but he is on fire ground and a Berserker helped in the fight with him (I suspect the fight is unwinnable without one). An even bleaker battle was expected at the very end: Luminar on cursed ground with stats 99 and legions of Archangels, Titans, and Fanatics. For this fight, I prepared reinforcements in the form of skeletons by collecting them via the cloak in tough late battles; I gathered 80k (though I could have had over a hundred thousand if I had thought better) and lost 60k in the fight. Without this, it would have been impossible to get away with non-critical losses given the current game time. The penultimate boss, Hatess Moon, outpaced me in speed regardless of the setup, but by adapting, I also blinded his troops. However, the final boss couldn't be blinded, but sat in a castle, so I managed to kill him using a strategy often used in Metataxers: I let the Titans shoot, drained the AI's mana, and then without much difficulty dismantled the enemy troops with Snipers behind a force field under Frenzy.

Regarding quests: I didn't take the Orb of Permanence for resources; it didn't prove to be critically necessary. I also didn't complete the quest to exchange the Elixir of Life for 5000 Fanatics.

Conclusion: the map is very good, even despite the multi-month gathering of gold and resources. Recommended for various players, including hardcore fans. There was plenty here to sweat over. The screenshots show the last two battles and the game result.

Congratulations! That's great!
The map would be significantly better if you only kept the most interesting parts: battles and searching for objects and paths, and excluded the long accumulation of resources and troops and most of the random factors in battles. But that would be a completely different map.

I actually enjoyed it in the end. Planning to complete the resource-based quest wasn't too tiring, but the battles here are something else :smile33:

This is the most important thing!

I'm playing "Zemsta Mutare," using the 2nd version you fixed. It's the 8th month, and I've taken the Dungeon of Vex, Darkhold, and Scar, and visited the white, brown, and red tents. I'm playing as Das (the trick from user kolotok didn't work for me; Kira attacked on the very first day. Das fled, and I bought him in Smokownia). The hero has already reached level 48, with stats of 70.

Das starts the game with random skills, and not always the ones we need. With a bit of luck, you can get earth + fire + something else useful. But Das isn't the best option. On the map, you can level up one of the armorers (Nella, Tazyk, Mefala) or Craig, or the logistics experts (if you plan to rush) and/or necromancers (Vidomina, Isra). One advantage of Das is that he's an already developed hero with solid stats for a quick start. But if you purposefully level up someone else, and especially take the Pandora's Boxes for stats, then by the end of the map, you'll have a hero who is much better than Das.

Actually, I ended up liking everything... but the battles here are terrible :smile33:

I'm still struggling with the final battle against Finneas in "Wayfarer" - you'll probably like it too. ;) I don't know how the author intended for him to be defeated. I've tried one tactic now (similar to the ones in previous battles), and it's basically correct, but to make it work, this method requires a lot of luck: if the fear of the enemy's Azure Dragons or low morale triggers at the wrong time (in this battle, as I've found out through my attempts, you need to use Cursed Armor instead of the Alliance of Angels, so such a situation is quite likely), the battle will be lost. I need to cast Power Field every other turn. The right idea came to me because (as can be seen in the editor) Finneas has Healing, but not Remove Curse. And, by the way, at least in all my attempts, he doesn't cast Healing: this also works in our favor.
I'm not going to write everything down right now: try to struggle with it yourself if you haven't finished it yet, and I'll tell you everything later when I succeed.

Map name: Ray of light
Author: Sergey Petrov
Downloaded: from the maps4heroes map catalog.

Marlo, congratulations :smile49:! Wonderful review, I never cease to be amazed at how you conduct battles, with very few losses against enemy legions.

Added after 8 minutes

Dace takes random skills at the start of the game, and not always what we need. With a lucky combination of circumstances, you can get Earth+Fire+something else useful. But Dace is not the best option. On the map you can level up one of the armor specialists (Nella, Tazik, Mephala) or Crag Hack, or logistics specialists (if you plan to rush) and/or necromancers (Vidomina, Isra). One advantage of Dace is that he is already a developed hero with solid stats for a quick start. But if you purposefully level someone else, and especially take Pandora's boxes for stats, by the end of the map we will have a hero much better than Dace.

Well, why not, while Dace carries, he'll hold out until the end, he must! :D. I won't have time to level anyone else to his stats anyway.

Agreed about necromancers, I often play as them (Cloak of the Undead King rules). True, I had to give the Vampire's Cowl to the seer (maybe there's another one on the map), I'm thinking of giving Dace a necromancer as a partner after capturing the Necropolis, I have the Dead Man's Boots, and the Amulet is lying behind Darkhold.

Mutare's Revenge

Well, why not — as long as Das is carrying, he'll hold out till the end, he must!:D. I won't have time to level anyone else up to his stats anyway.
I agree about the Necros, I often play as them (Cloak of the Undead King rules). True, I had to give the Vampire's Cloak to the Seer (maybe there's another one on the map), I'm thinking of giving Das a Necromancer as a sidekick after capturing Necropolis, I have the Dead Man's Boots, and the Amulet is lying behind Darkhold.

One or two of Das's stats usually turn out to be unsuitable (Artillery, Air Magic, Estates, etc.), but a new hero can be molded however you want. By the end of the map, my Tazar had almost all stats at 99. So Tazar with 70/70/70/70 is better than Das with 99/99/99/99 (though it's debatable, of course :)
The Vampire's Cloak needs to be given for a quest, and there is no second such cloak on the map (this is clear from the Prospector). Maybe, I haven't checked, such a cloak can be obtained from an Artifact Merchant, or at the external Artifact Market, but I'm not sure it will show up. In my opinion, the Cloak of the Undead King cannot be assembled on this map by fair means :)

Added after 7 minutes

I'm still chewing on the final battle with Finneas in "Wayfarer" - most likely, you'll like it too. ;) I don't know how the author intended him to be defeated.

As far as I know, there is only one strategy for killing the final boss, and everyone kills him that way — it's Mass Berserk. At least, there are a couple of videos on YouTube that everyone copies for this final fight. Using the same strategy, I killed one of the previous Necros (Sandro, I think), in a similar way, by disabling the Tactics skill so that ALL of the enemy's stacks would end up in ONE place opposite my strongest shooters. Meanwhile, the Phoenixes give us first speed + Mass Berserk.
This won't work on Finneas, I think, but I only know one strategy using Gem as the attacking hero.
And this is not the hardest fight IMO on this map, because there is a strategy for conducting the battle. Figuring it out on my own, of course, I lacked the experience at the time, but now, most likely, I would have managed this fight.
P.S. Yes, I remember. That guy who completed this map in OVER 70 months simply accumulated enough power to beat the final boss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72D_ey7xpxE&index=287&list=PL9dUiByRY4VfaEcOZue9O9LrW9cwzf13G
3k Arch Devils, 4k Titans, 2.6k Bears, 3.4k Archers, 5.3k Cyclopes, 0.5k Azure. Quite a substantial amount of "meat" for the final battle :)

And the guy in the comments under the video writes that in 30-40 months he gathered 200k Harpies from joins, and that became his main striking stack :) so in 30-40-70 months a multitude of strategies can emerge :)