Posts from Secondary skills in Heroes 3.

Hello everyone, I'm new here, so please don't judge me if I make any mistakes! I like Earth Magic (expert) and Wisdom (expert).

Hi! No one will judge you; everyone on this forum was once a newbie.
Yes, the skills you chose are indeed useful. However, two skills for a hero seem a bit few.

Yesterday, I was playing a hot-seat game with a guy on a map without water, and he gave me a navigation spell as a Witch (I felt like an idiot – my hero was well-leveled). Now, whenever possible, I'll send secondary heroes there... although it's better to capture the Conflux and learn Earth and Air magic:)
Magic resistance + Dwarves + a leveled-up Thorgrim = a lot of fun...

That's pretty funny. And how far this hero will travel with these dwarves – that's even funnier...

Torgrim is a very interesting hero, not an easy one, but when leveled up to 20, he starts reflecting every other spell.
And with dwarves, he only belongs in the Castle))) I don't see him as a main hero. IMHO, there are some "lucky heroes" and some "unlucky ones." For Druids, these are Alagar and Torgrim. Although they should be super heroes, it's always difficult to play with them. Alagar's specialty is "Ice Bolt," a second-level spell, but he doesn't always get water magic, and it's generally not a very effective spell. I still don't understand which magic works best on which creatures, and which units are strong against others. For example, swordsmen are very effective against flying creatures. This isn't mentioned anywhere, but I think there are some bonuses.
P.S. Sorry if this is off-topic.

On topic. Once, Alagar did something so impressive that I gained a lot of respect for him. He somehow acquired water, and by chance, captured a castle in the center of a cluster of player-controlled towns in an alliance. After enduring ten sieges from mega-strongholds, which he withstood thanks to his magic, he emerged and showed what a beautiful city he had created...

Thorgrim is a very interesting hero, not an easy one, but once you level him up to 20, he starts reflecting every other spell.
I still don't understand which spells work best against which creatures, and which units are strong against others. For example, swordsmen are very effective against flying creatures. This isn't mentioned anywhere, but it seems like there are some bonuses.
P.S. Sorry if this is off-topic.

What will you do with just dwarves? Will only they reflect spells, and will you ignore the rest?
To understand what and how, read Fizmig, you'll find out everything there;)

The most important skills are earth magic, attack, defense, and logistics. Everything else is a matter of personal preference!

The most important skills: earth magic, attack, defense, and logistics. The rest is a matter of personal preference!

What good is magic without wisdom? Will you achieve much by casting spells at two levels? What about pathfinding? What about water magic? What about air magic?

Wisdom is granted at levels 6 and 12, so it will be obtained regardless. The feasibility of pathfinding depends on the specifics of the map. Being able to cast spells at two levels is quite good. Mass slow is, in my opinion, a spell that is second only to movement spells, and perhaps even resurrection and summoning spells, although that's not certain.

Earth magic still rules! It has a city portal, an explosion, and many other useful spells!!!

What will you do with just dwarves? They'll only reflect spells, and you'll just ignore the rest?
To understand what and how, read Fizmig; you'll find out everything there.

I didn't say anything about dwarves; you're just imagining things. Read my previous post again.
Thorgrim, at level 20, reflects every other spell, provided he's an expert in magic resistance (which is inevitable), targeting any creature in his army. If you cast on dwarves, it's useless because the chance of success is around 10%. Try casting a mass slow spell on Thorgrim, level 20, and you'll see that the spell won't affect all units.
I read the hero physics section carefully. It's a detailed work, but it only contains factual information about who hits whom; there's no information about how.

Torgrim, at level 20, reflects every other spell, provided he is an expert in magic resistance (which is inevitable), aimed at any creature in his army. However, if you cast on dwarves, it's useless, as the success rate of the spell is around 10%. Try casting a mass slow spell on Torgrim at level 20, and you'll see that the spell won't affect all units.
I read the hero physics section carefully. It's a detailed work, but it only describes exact facts about who hits whom, and there is no information about probabilities.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, these are all probabilities...
So, in online games, it's risky to rely on them!!!
But in offline games, it's useful to take advantage of them!;)

Although, there are things worse than Torgrim – it’s called the Sphere of Prohibition...

I think that the combat machine skill (not catapult) is very useful at the beginning of the game. I only upgrade it for warriors, for example, Thorosar or Christian. It's the best skill for a warrior, especially after level 15-17. It's almost like a separate unit of level 5-6. Also, for a warrior, the following skills are useful:
attack
leadership
defense
archery
ballistics
wisdom (it's always needed)
School of Magic (depending on the circumstances)

As for a mage, I upgrade all magical skills. I make the mage a true mage. He becomes incredibly powerful, although he has many weaknesses, but the main thing is to turn all his weaknesses into advantages.

Yes, the ballista is not such a useless unit at the beginning of the game. The ballista deals damage equal to (2-3)*(Hero Strength + 1). Let's say we have a Barbarian hero (not Gurnisson!). Then, without any upgrades, his ballista will deal
(2-3)*(4+1) = 10-15 damage.
I agree, it's not much, but it replaces about 4-3 extra Orcs. Next, let's just look at how much damage it will deal as the Strength skill is upgraded:

5: Ballista damage - 12-18
6: Ballista damage - 14-21
7: Ballista damage - 16-24 As you can see, you can achieve quite good results already in the first week. For example (I once calculated), the damage dealt by an army, using basic creatures of levels 1-4, is on average about 70-150 damage units. If you add the ballista's damage to this, the benefit will be obvious. But there is one "BUT" - at the beginning of the game, the ballista is too expensive a unit, and, frankly, I would prefer to buy, for example, 3 Rocs instead. Cheaper, more practical, and more powerful. :) It's a different story when you have a hero who specializes in ballistas. My favorite is Gurnisson, who already has a free ballista and the Artillery skill, which now needs to be perfected. Without going into details about how much damage the ballista deals at levels 1 and 2 of the Artillery skill (I don't like probabilities), let's immediately consider the Expert damage, which Gurnisson will be able to achieve very easily:

(2-3)*(Strength + 1)*(2 shots)*2 Damage Dependence on Strength:

4: Damage - (40-60)
5: Damage - (48-72)
And so on. All this, of course, does not take into account the distance, as well as the secondary skills Attack or Accuracy. Just keep in mind that if the enemy is within firing range without a penalty, the damage will be maximum.
And all this can be easily achieved in the first week. It's worth considering... As for the Wisdom skill for a warrior, in my opinion, it is only useful at the end or in the middle of the game. In the early stages, you can easily do without light spells: Blessing, Curse, Shield, or Stone Skin.