Posts from Development of a Wizard hero from the Haven faction.

Which skills should a cleric learn starting from level two? Which reputation should I focus on improving? Which troops are best to bring along? Which spells should I use? I am especially interested in advice for the campaign playing as Haven and in multiplayer games. Thank you in advance for your helpful answers!

While playing through the campaign, I made an interesting choice. Below is my guide for the Light Alliance mage hero in the campaign. Which reputation is best to level up? Tears, which enhances all our healing and provides TWO additional heals and resurrection. Which troops are best to take with you? Magic Power increases the effectiveness of Vestals and Radiants. Both become a formidable weapon starting from the second map. Acolytes heal better thanks to Light magic and deal very impressive damage under the protection of the Guardian Angel, our special ability. Upgrading to Vestals should be one of the first things you do – they have a higher number, better stats, and a very pleasant control ability thanks to Pacification, which affects living targets; the fewer units there are, the higher the chance that after the Vestals attack, the enemy will freeze in place for a couple of turns. This is an excellent synergy with the mage's spells, as described below. And, of course, you need 2 stacks of healers. This is 4 heals per battle, which often saves a lot of the hero's valuable mana. Radiants are good from the moment they appear in the game – on the second map of the campaign. The mage enhances their damage, and thanks to the lack of a retaliatory attack, the Radiants literally burn. They also remove useful magic from enemies and harmful magic from our troops. The upgrade to Luminous Radiants appears at the end of the second map of the campaign and allows them to blind an enemy stack for 2 turns every 3 turns and inflict a small wound on themselves. This is another wonderful synergy with the mage's abilities. The other units are just units. I will only note the very high usefulness of horses for this strategy. Riders and Light Crusaders are a large unit with a lot of hit points and high speed. Crusaders can also, every three turns (or exactly 3?), dash through obstacles towards the enemy. This is very valuable during a siege – they can easily run through the gates, and under the Guardian Angel, they quickly bring light and justice there. The role of horses is to tank and draw enemy attacks. In combination with the healing of the mage, Vestals, and the resurrection of angels, horses can buy enough time for Radiants, archers, and griffins to inflict enough damage to win. Which spells should be used? At the beginning of the game – Light magic for Healing and Greater Healing. Both spells help clear out monsters and capture castles. Up to level 15, Earth magic for Restoration and Greater Restoration will be very useful. These spells restore huge amounts of health compared to Light magic, but gradually (hello, resto-druids from WoW). The key level for the cleric is 15, which can be obtained as early as the third map of the campaign. It gives access to the most powerful spells in the Light mage's arsenal – Summon Light Elementals, Stop Time, and Meditation. Light Elementals immediately add 3 powerful effects to the mage. First, they can be summoned to any point on the battlefield. Usually, this is right in front of enemy archers. The elementals have a lot of hit points and decent stats, which makes them excellent tanks. In addition, both monsters and enemy heroes controlled by AI try to kill them in every possible way. This gives our Radiants and archers enough time to tear the enemy apart. Secondly, the elementals can put living enemy stacks under control. The higher the ratio of elementals to the enemy stack, the higher the chance of control. This is another synergy with our strategy. Thirdly, the elementals retaliate against all enemies around them and, in addition, heal nearby friendly troops (and sometimes even resurrect them!). It is not surprising that playing as a cleric up to level 15 and after level 15 differs greatly in difficulty and content. With the appearance of Light Elementals, everything becomes easier and faster. Stop Time is another excellent way to control. Especially for the most dangerous enemy troops – usually these are skilled creatures like Kirins, Cyclops, and other angels. For 3-4 turns (3 without investing points in Primal magic, 4 after 1 point), this miracle spell immobilizes the enemy stack and allows all our troops to attack it without counterattacks. For example, if the enemy has only one stack of Kirins left, the game is already over. In 3 turns, all our army, with summoned elementals and the hero's attack, can destroy a huge number of enemies. In battles with AI heroes, it is better to use it on a particularly thick and aggressive stack, such as Kappa from the Nagas or Radiants from the Light faction. Both of these spells cost huge amounts of mana. And to use them in every battle, mana regeneration is simply necessary. This is possible with Meditation. Its principle of operation is simple: the more mana you have, the more mana you will receive. That is, you need to cast Meditation when you have about 50% mana. 1-2 points in Primal magic gives a solid increase in mana, which, by the way, is not yet reflected in the tooltips. Another plus of Meditation is that it SIGNIFICANTLY enhances the hero's magic power (perhaps this also enhances the damage of our Radiants?). That is, our healing spells after meditation are very, very good. In total, the combination looks like this: Turn 1: Summon Light Elementals into the thick of the enemy, control the most unpleasant enemies with Radiants and elementals. Turn 2: If there are still many enemies, use Stop Time on the most dangerous stack and control the approaching enemies with Vestals. Turns 2-3: Meditation and restoration of troops with the healing of Vestals and the resurrection of celestial warriors. If the enemy is still alive after this, cast Greater Healing or Restoration while the remnants of the enemy are under our control. With three active ways to control enemy stacks (Vestals, Radiants, elementals) and two additional ones (Stop Time and Blind), the cleric is undoubtedly the best controller in the game. And this advantage can be enhanced by summoning earth elementals (even more control!), Petrify (even more control!), and Mana Drain (control of enemy hero resources). Yes, the cleric is an excellent choice for those of us who like to enjoy complete order on the battlefield. Useful artifacts for the Light mage will be initiative enhancers (Ring of Swiftness) and mana-economy items (Dynastic Weapon Sorrow Song, Cloak of Sar-Iss). In my opinion, the best starting set of items will be the Prophet set (bonus for two items: +4 mana regeneration). Skills for our cleric logically follow from the strategy described above. Thanks to the licensed version, I created a cleric specializing in Education and a 10% bonus to it. The goal was to reach level 15 with minimal losses – and also get achievements for excellent completion! My debut turned out like this: 1. Logistics – we run faster = we reach our goals faster. 2. Healing – without healing, there are many losses, an essential skill. 3. Restoration – to heal while Healing is on cooldown. 4. Affinity for Magic – +30 mana is more healing and more mana regeneration. 5. Greater Healing – simply gold for sieges. 6. Learning – so that the second and third heroes immediately become level 5. After level 6, there are a number of situational skills, such as Pathfinding (faster through rough terrain!), Scouting (more actions!) and Ambush (our troops go first more often). The main thing is to start saving skill points for level 15 somewhere around level 12. And hurry up to get it. That's the breakdown. I wonder how clerics are doing in duels and scenarios these days.

My initial build was as follows:
1. Logistics - faster movement = faster achievement of goals
2. Healing - without healing, there are many losses; it's a must-have skill
3. Regeneration - to heal while Healing is on cooldown
4. Magic Affinity - +30 mana means more healing and more mana regeneration
5. General Healing - simply gold for sieges
6. Learning - so that the second and third heroes immediately reach level 5

After level 6, there are a number of situational skills, for example, Pathfinding (faster movement on rough terrain!), Plunder (more actions!) and Ambush (our troops move first more often).
The main thing is to start saving skill points for level 15 around level 12, and rush to get it.

That's the setup. I wonder how clerics are performing in duels and scenarios these days.

Magic Affinity is a completely useless bonus of 30 mana; it's not needed for spells costing 40+; we increase the amount of mana with artifacts throughout the game. Why do you need Regeneration? I always level up a light healer, which gives me excellent resistance with a bonus to initiative and a pretty good resurrection. As for Logistics and the like, it's generally a matter of taste; I level up Logistics last, especially now that there are so many possible teleports.
I haven't lost a single battle with a light healer in duels; I haven't had time to play in regular battles yet. :)
And yes, you have interesting battles that last 3 turns, considering that in the Campaigns, they can last much longer than 10

The inclination towards magic is a completely useless bonus; 30 mana is unnecessary for spells costing 40+ mana.

In duels, I leveled up a mage, and these 30 mana helped me make the last important cast; without them, it would have been a little more difficult.

Magic Affinity is a completely useless bonus; 30 mana is unnecessary for spells costing 40+; we increase the amount of mana throughout the game using artifacts. Why do you need Regeneration? I always level up a light healer, which gives me excellent resistance with a bonus to initiative and a pretty good resurrection. As for Logistics and similar skills, it's purely a matter of taste; I level up Logistics last, especially now that there are so many possible teleports.
I haven't lost a single battle with a light healer in duels; I haven't had time to use it in regular battles yet. :)
And yes, you have interesting battles that last 3 turns, considering that in the Campaigns, they can last far longer than 10. :)

The game is great because you can complete it in so many different ways. So, without a doubt, you can complete the Campaign without Logistics.
I prefer to have 160+% skill and a high Hero level at the end of the map. So, speed, zero losses, and a large mana pool are clear priorities. :)

At the beginning of the Campaign, the Cleric has very little mana, and the map settings are "normal hero development," meaning experience is gained very slowly. Even if you find a well, you can only drink from it once a week. So, if you need more mana, you also need mana regeneration.
Without set items, you regenerate mana slowly – only 8 per turn with 80 mana. Increase this number by 30, and you get additional Healing "for free" and an additional 3 mana per day. This is great at the beginning of the Campaign, but later, these 30 mana may not be enough in a crucial battle to achieve zero losses. Verdict: you should take it. ;)

Logistics is interesting if you want to get a high percentage for completing a mission. The faster you complete it, the higher the percentage at the end. Plus, you get an achievement for completing it quickly, so why not?
Even on the third map of the Campaign, the speed of your main hero determines whether you will be able to capture the second city before the third week or whether you will be stuck with three Naga increases and have to wait another couple of weeks.

Regeneration is great when you want to complete missions in the Campaign without losses. Healing has a long cooldown, but you often need to quickly heal stacks before the battle ends. Mass regeneration is perfect for sieges – battles are long, usually more than 5 turns. So, using it on turn 3-4 allows you to have a full number of troops by the end of the battle. However, after level 15, it is best to drop Regeneration – battles become very fast, and losses are minimal.

Excuse me, is it possible to reset a skill while playing a campaign? If so, please enlighten me. Regarding the very fast battles after level 15, are we playing the same game? Or is it possible that you're not playing on a difficult setting?

Of course, you can. There is such an option when transitioning between reputation levels. At level 16, I made my cleric a Confessor and reset unnecessary skills.
According to the manual, this option should appear at levels 10-20, but it doesn't work that way in the campaign :(

I wonder if it's possible to reset talents when changing reputation for the first time.

Of course, it's possible. There's an option to do this when transitioning between reputation levels. I made my cleric a Confessor at level 16 and reset unnecessary skills.
According to the manual, this option should appear at levels 10-20, but it doesn't work that way in the campaign :(

I wonder if it's possible to reset talents when changing reputation for the first time.

It's a shame I didn't know about this earlier :( But in any case, thank you, I'll keep it in mind for the future. ;)

I completed a campaign map, specifically checked the translated "mastery" skill, achieved 157%, and read the description. It turns out it's awarded for completing battles without any losses, so the speed of completing the map doesn't affect this parameter at all. Therefore, it's unlikely that this parameter can be increased thanks to logistics.

I partially agree – it doesn't directly affect the outcome.
However, from one mission to another, the same situation applies: the faster you conquer the entire map, the faster you can gather troops to defeat the local main boss. And the fewer troops he will have – as a result, there will be fewer losses in the battle with him.
So, it's the same as everywhere else – the faster you arrive, the faster you will achieve other goals. Logistics forever :)

I also appreciate the logistics – ever since "Heroes of Might and Magic V," it's easier to catch up with fleeing heroes or intercept them before they reach your city. And thank you very much for the information about resetting skills.

Regarding the inclination towards magic and the 30 mana bonus, especially in duels, it's actually better to upgrade mana absorption in duels. In the final battle on the bridge against the Sanctuary, this skill helped me win the battle with almost a single Seraph (one stack), as the enemy mage hero ran out of mana.
I appreciated logistics until it started making me lose. In Heroes of Might and Magic V, you had to spend 5-6 levels of upgrades on it, which significantly weakened the hero. This isn't about island maps and looting.
P.S.: Regardless, our mastery percentage (judging by previous posts) is practically the same, 157-166, so you can play with or without logistics. It's a matter of taste.
P.S.P.S.: If I'm wrong, and your mastery is above 180, let me know, and I'll upgrade logistics on the first campaign maps as well.

While playing the first mission of the campaign for the Haven faction, I encountered a problem: the main hero (Anton) has no third-level spells. In other words, magic can only be developed up to the second level. As I understand it, this is because the hero has a preference for strength rather than magic. Is there a way to change this, or is he destined to be a warrior and not a mage?

You will have to start the campaign again and then choose a wizard hero. Step 1: Step 2:

You will have to start the campaign again and then choose a mage hero.
Step 1:

Step 2:

Klivren, thank you very much for the information; I didn't know that you could change the specialization at the beginning. I was already on the last mission of the campaign... I think it's still more interesting to play as a mage for the Haven faction, because both the sprites and the novices attack with light magic.