Magic | Information about gameplay Heroes III HD Edition Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Magic is a very important in-game mechanic - even the weakest, most basic spells can turn the tides of every battle, which is why they are welcome in both a mage's, as well as a knight's arsenal, who is focusing primarily on attack and defense attributes of his/her units. Spells are divided into four general "schools" of magic: fire, water, earth and air.
Things affecting the strength of spells:
- Abilities and their levels focused on the usage of different schools of magic;
- Artifacts, which increase the Power attribute of the hero;
- Hero's Power attribute, which is increased as he/she gains experience;
- Artifacts influencing various schools of magic and/or elements: Orb of the Firmament, Orb of Silt, Orb of Tempestuous Fire and Orb of Driving Rain.
- Hero's secondary ability, Sorcery, which increases the damage your spells deal by 5/10/15%, depending on the level of the skill.
In the following chapters you will find tables representing each and every spell present in the game, coupled their effectiveness on various levels of given schools of magic. Some of the spells are common to more than one element - some of the spells are "element-less", which is why various schools of magic influence their effectiveness (but the effects aren't cumulative).
Damage in the tables are represented like this: (Power*10)+50. It means, that a Hero with a Power equal to 5 is going to deal 100 points of damage with a given spell, a hero with 7 points of Power will deal 120 points of damage, and so on. This value is, of course, increased by various items and / or skills featured few paragraphs earlier - the exact amount of damage can be inspected by pressing and holding the right mouse button over a given spell.
Where you can use magic
Spells can be cast in two different "places" - during combat, as well as while being on the world map. In the first case, the player can only use offensive, or defensive spells, which directly influence units on the battlefield (dealing damage, changing their stats, etc.), and in the latter case you can only cast "support" spells, which simplify, or change the map exploration process. The second group includes spell such as: View Air, Disguise, Visions, Dimension Door, Fly, View Earth, Town Portal, Summon Boat, Scuttle Boat and Water Walk. The rest of the spells are used only during combat.
To use a spell, you have to select it from a spellbook (if you don't know how to do that, check out both of the Interface chapters at the beginning of this guide) and select the target. If the player has a mastery over a given school of magic, the spell, depending on its type, will be either cast on the whole allied / enemy units, or it will "simply" be empowered (i.e. will deal more damage).