Posts from Racial abilities

Racial abilities are one of the innovations in "Might & Magic Heroes VI" that significantly influence battle tactics and the outcome of the fight itself. This topic deserves a separate discussion thread. Detailed information about the abilities of each faction is provided below. As a reminder, the first rank of a racial ability is available to heroes from the start, the second upon reaching level 5, the third at 15, and the fourth at 25.


HAVEN — HAVEN



Sanctuary — Guardian Angel

	Guardian Angel I A target friendly unit of basic creatures becomes completely protected from all types of damage for 1 turn. The gauge fills when friendly creatures take damage or when their morale increases.
	Guardian Angel II A target friendly unit of basic or upgraded creatures becomes completely protected from all types of damage for 1 turn. The gauge fills when friendly creatures take damage or when their morale increases.
	Guardian Angel III A target friendly unit of basic, upgraded, or elite creatures becomes completely protected from all types of damage for 1 turn. The gauge fills when friendly creatures take damage or when their morale increases.
	Guardian Angel IV A target friendly unit of basic, upgraded, or elite creatures becomes completely protected from all types of damage for 1 turn. Creatures restore 28% health.

NECROPOLIS — NECROPOLIS



Necromancy — Necromancy

	Necromancy I Raises friendly undead in a quantity depending on the size of your army. Basic creatures can be raised. The gauge fills when creatures take damage. Losses of friendly troops provide more points.
	Necromancy II Raises friendly undead in a quantity depending on the size of your army. Has a stronger effect than "Necromancy I". Basic and upgraded creatures can be raised. The gauge fills when creatures take damage. Losses of friendly troops provide more points.
	Necromancy III Raises friendly undead in a quantity depending on the size of your army. Has a stronger effect than "Necromancy II". Basic, upgraded, and elite creatures can be raised. The gauge fills when creatures take damage. Losses of friendly troops provide more points.
	Necromancy IV Raises friendly undead in a quantity depending on the size of your army, restoring part of their health in a selected area. Has a stronger effect than "Necromancy III". Basic, upgraded, and elite creatures can be raised.

INFERNO — INFERNO



Gating — Gating

	Gating I Select one of your demon units, then a cell where you wish to summon a new unit of demons of the same type. A gate will appear first, and after 1 turn, the summoned unit will emerge from it. The summoned unit returns to Sheol if the original unit is destroyed. Basic creatures can be summoned. The gauge fills when creatures deal critical or clumsy hits.
	Gating II Select one of your demon units, then a cell where you wish to summon a new unit of demons of the same type. A gate will appear first, and after 1 turn, the summoned unit will emerge from it. The summoned unit returns to Sheol if the original unit is destroyed. Basic and upgraded creatures can be summoned. The gauge fills when creatures deal critical or clumsy hits.
	Gating III Select one of your demon units, then a cell where you wish to summon a new unit of demons of the same type. A gate will appear first, and after 1 turn, the summoned unit will emerge from it. The summoned unit returns to Sheol if the original unit is destroyed. Basic, upgraded, and elite creatures can be summoned. The gauge fills when creatures deal critical or clumsy hits.
	Gating IV Select a friendly demon unit and a cell on the battlefield to place a gate. Demons of the same type will appear from it immediately and can enter combat on the current turn. The summoned unit returns to Sheol if the original unit is destroyed. Basic, upgraded, and elite creatures can be summoned.

STRONGHOLD — STRONGHOLD



Rage — Blood Rage

	Blood Rage I On the current turn, all friendly Stronghold creatures receive 5 units of initiative. The gauge fills when creatures attack. Friendly creatures provide more points.
	Blood Rage II On the current turn, all friendly Stronghold creatures receive 5 units of initiative and 10 units of physical strength. The gauge fills when creatures attack. Friendly creatures provide more points.
	Blood Rage III On the current turn, all friendly Stronghold creatures receive 5 units of initiative, 10 units of physical strength, and 1 additional retaliation strike. The gauge fills when creatures attack. Friendly creatures provide more points.
	Blood Rage IV On the current turn, all friendly Stronghold creatures receive 5 units of initiative, 10 units of physical strength, and 1 additional retaliation strike. Additionally, when attacking, they briefly stun enemies, preventing them from retaliating.

SANCTUARY — SANCTUARY



Honor — Honor

	Honor I On the current turn, all friendly Sanctuary creatures receive 7 units of physical and magical defense. The gauge fills while attacking enemy creatures that have not yet been attacked this turn.
	Honor II On the current turn, physical and magical defense of all friendly Sanctuary creatures increase by 7 units, and maximum health increases by 14%. The gauge fills while attacking enemy creatures that have not yet been attacked this turn.
	Honor III On the current turn, physical and magical defense of all friendly Sanctuary creatures increase by 7 units, and maximum health increases by 14%. Additionally, they receive "Frost Shield", which deals 2 units of damage (Water) per creature in the unit. The gauge fills while attacking enemy creatures that have not yet been attacked this turn.
	Honor IV On the current turn, physical and magical defense of all friendly Sanctuary creatures increase by 7 units, and maximum health increases by 14%. Additionally, they receive "Frost Shield", which deals 2 units of damage (Water) per creature in the unit, and causes enemies to freeze.

I consider Necromancy to be the most effective, but also the least interesting. It's just another healing skill.
Opening portals is the most interesting, but also the least effective, because you'll be waiting forever.
That's why I'll vote for Angel. It's useful and moderately unique.
All other skills are useless, in my opinion.

Haven and Necropolis are strong, and their faction abilities are useful. Necropolis does have only a resurrection ability, but it's an effective one :). Haven also has a resurrection ability at level IV – perfect for a decisive battle, and before that, the Guardian Angel is an interesting tactical ability.

Opening portals only works in the later stages of the game, and only if you have a lot of troops... Honor and Fury strengthen the army regardless of the number of units, but Fury's first level ability is also effective, and Honor reveals its potential at level four (based on my observations).

Overall, I also vote for the Guardian Angel :). In my opinion, it's the most unique ability.

All abilities are good in their own way. The Orcs' ability makes them incredibly fast, and the Necromancers' ability works well with their other healing spells, making them virtually invulnerable. Humans find it difficult to use their ability because it's impossible to predict which unit the computer will choose, and a player can easily change the target. But, if used wisely, remarkable success can be achieved! Nagas have it easier in this regard: there's no need to guess, as all creatures receive a decent resistance to damage, albeit not absolute. Demons will have a slight numerical and noticeable tactical advantage thanks to their ability. In short, nothing should be dismissed.

The first three tiers of the Light Faction's racial ability are quite tolerable, but the last one, in my opinion, somewhat disrupts the balance. In general, this skill is very helpful when used on guardians/guards protecting several nearby friendly units. The scale fills up quite quickly. As for "Necromancy," there's nothing to say. Most inexperienced players choose the undead because even they can somehow manage to win with them. An extremely unfair ability. The effect is incredible, and the scale fills up faster than for the other factions (with the exception of the Barbarians, but that's forgivable for them). Let's hope for a balance adjustment that weakens the Necropolis army. If any faction didn't get lucky with its racial ability, it's the demons. "Gate Opening" only reaches its proper effectiveness on the fourth level. Of course, the previous three can also be used, for example, to block enemy archers... But no, Inferno is already claiming the title of the weakest faction out of the six, and this ability, which fills up much slower than the others, only makes things worse. Unfair. Fortunately, the upcoming patch will strengthen the demon troops, which will at least help them. For the Barbarians, the scale fills up very quickly, but this is compensated for by a not-so-impressive basic effect. The last two tiers of the orc ability are much more useful. Everything is fine here. I consider "Honor" to be one of the most interesting abilities (both in concept and in practice). An original ability. Starting from the second level, it begins to provide a pleasant 14% health increase, from the third – damage reflection, and from the fourth – freezing. "Eternal Winter" will be very useful here. I don't know, I like it: well-thought-out, moderate, interesting. In short, the conclusion is that there is an imbalance. It is necessary to halve "Guardian Angel IV," significantly weaken "Necromancy," and strengthen "Gate Opening." Otherwise, humans and the undead will continue to lead, while the demons... will be last.

Well, the need for healing at level IV of the Guardian Angel is unclear, but it's just a nice bonus: it's easier to use I on the guards, as it's quick and effective due to their ability to protect adjacent units. Necromancy is overpowered, especially the IV mass level. I liked it more in the previous installments.

Ment, there's no need to guess the unit;). First, it works well on the guards, second, you can cast it on the attacking unit to avoid retaliation, and third, you can save a heavily damaged unit from being killed... In my opinion, this is the most versatile ability.

Adagio, is it worth waiting for "Honor" to reach level IV? Does freezing play any role with large armies (and level 25 and maxing out the faction skill imply this)?
P.S.: Thank you for the beautiful design of the topic.

Is it worth waiting for "Honor" to reach level IV?

Much depends on the balance of power between the warring sides. Sometimes it is indeed easier to simply attack at level 3.

Does freezing play any role with large armies?

Of course, it does. It reduces the enemy's movement range by 2 turns, considering the presence of "Eternal Winter." In my opinion, slowing down is extremely important in battles with numerous armies. It's so nice to see how some large enemy unit, due to freezing, cannot reach your archers, who automatically get the opportunity to engage in ranged combat for another turn (and for them, this is almost always good, since in melee combat, for example, the same Yuki-Onna are no more frightening than a tickle).

Thank you for the beautiful design of the topic.

I had to show off somewhere... :smile04:

Necromancy is the best! And the Guardian Angel is good too!

If any faction didn't get lucky with its racial ability, it's the demons. "Gate Opening" only becomes truly effective at level four. Of course, the previous three levels can also be used, for example, to block enemy archers... But no, Inferno already claims the title of the weakest faction in the sixth installment, and this ability, which fills up much slower than the others, only adds to that. It's unfair. Fortunately, the upcoming patch will strengthen the demon troops, which will at least help them.

+ the ability fills up at the same rate as the Haven faction, although, if you attack instead of standing still, it fills up faster :) And a well-applied level 2 ability of the Inferno warrior's blood will fill your meter in half a round :)
+ unopened gates block infantry.

Let's see how they strengthen the demons...

All skills are good and interesting. Humans and Necromancers have the strongest ones. But Inferno's skills are just a joke!

All skills are good and interesting. Humans and Necromancers have the strongest ones. But Inferno's skills are just a joke!

Inferno's skills are good in duels against the Legion, where there are many troops.

I voted for "Each skill deserves attention." Because I also believe that all skills are good in their own way.

I don't understand, is this a new bug? I'm replaying the campaign for Sandor, and the racial skill bar only fills up to 3/4 for Sandor himself, after which it stops being active. For other heroes, including "Kamaza," it works properly. As a result, it can only be used in the first, at most, second round, and then it simply stops working.

There's no need to even discuss "Necromancy." Most weak players choose the undead because even they can somehow manage to win with them. It's an extremely unfair ability. The effect is unimaginable; the resource bar fills up faster than for other factions (with the exception of the Stronghold, but that's forgivable). Let's hope for a balance adjustment that weakens the Necropolis army.

There's no need to insult Necropolis here. Their ability is just average. People are always complaining: "Necropolis is overpowered, overpowered." It's getting old, guys. Let's just play peacefully. The developers are at least not as foolish as you are, so they won't create an imbalance. And instead of weakening Necropolis, it would be better to strengthen the "weak" races, like the demons.

There's no need to insult Necropolis here. They have mediocre abilities, that's for sure. People are always yelling, "Necromancers are overpowered." It's getting old. Let's just play the game peacefully. The developers are at least not as clueless as you are, so they wouldn't create an imbalance. And there's no need to weaken Necropolis; instead, let's strengthen the "weaker" factions, like the demons.

First of all, I am expressing my opinion correctly, and I have every right to do so. There's no need to silence me. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Secondly, if a significant number of people are talking about an imbalance, then to some extent, it really exists. I have already provided my arguments in the excerpt you mentioned. Moreover, the developers themselves, whom you referred to, acknowledged the excessive power of the undead, which is why they are making changes in the upcoming update to weaken Necropolis.