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Creature Abilities

By Ubisoft

In Heroes of Might & Magic V most creatures have one or several special abilities. Most of these abilities are special combat skills reflecting the specific power and nature of the creature. The most common abilities are Flyer, Shooter, and Immunity to a specific element or spell (fire, lightning, slow…), or the ability to cast one or several spells. However there are plenty of other abilities, many of them being specific to one creature. Today we will take a first look at six special abilities, covering creatures from each faction in the game.

Have a look at the complete abilities list.

Haven: Archangels, Resurrect Archangels can resurrect friendly units from a stack that have been decimated or partially destroyed. This ability needs to be “activated” by the player. In other words, Archangels can either move/attack in the regular way, or the player can select Resurrect special ability and use it on a stack of friendly units. Archangels can use Resurrect only once during a combat. The number of creatures resurrected by Archangels depends on the number of Archangels in the stack and the HP value of resurrected creatures.

Inferno: Familiars, Mana Stealer Every time a Familiar takes its turn, a certain amount of mana is taken away from the reserve available to the enemy hero. This ability is automatic (it does not need to be activated by the player) and has no cost to the creature: it will be able to move or use another ability in the same turn. The amount of stolen mana is calculated based on the number of Familiars in the stack, and their basic weekly increase. As a result, a stack made of one weekly brood of Familiars "steal" approximately 3 points of the enemy hero's mana every time it takes its turn. The stolen mana is then transferred to the hero who controls the Familiars, and added to the hero's current reserve; note that the total mana value cannot exceed the maximum set for the hero. Having a huge stack of familiar in your army can be a very effective way to reduce the enemy hero’s magic power.

Necropolis: Vampire, Life Drain Vampires can restore their health points (HP) and even resurrect some of the killed units in their stack by using the HP that they extract from enemy creatures. They will extract vital energy from the enemies thanks to successful attacks. For every wound they inflict they will get some HP. They will restore their energy immediately after the attack, even before the enemy retaliates. As a result a big stack of vampires is all the more difficult to eliminate because it will constantly regenerate itself in combat.

Dungeon: Deep Hydra, Six-Headed Attack Deep Hydras are huge creatures occupying a 2x2 tiles surface on the battlefield. Thanks to their 6 heads, they can attack a whole sphere simultaneously – the 12 adjacent tiles around them. However, Hydras always target an actual creature, not an area. Damage inflicted is calculated for each creature positioned on the affected tiles individually.

Academy: Mage, Magic Attack Like War Dancers and Hydras, Mages have a pattern attack, meaning they can damage several creatures with a single attack. However their attack is special in that the pattern is a "tile by tile" vector originating in the tile where the Mage stands, going through the tile where the specified target is positioned and continuing beyond the game field. All units in the line of attack - both friendly and hostile - suffer damage from the Mage’s shot (damage is calculated individually for each target). Combat machines positioned outside of the game field but in the line of attack also suffer appropriate damage.

Sylvan: War Dancer, War Dance Combo Using their two swords and their superior training in fencing, War Dancers are capable of attacking not one but all the tiles that surrounds them with a single attack. The War Dancer must position himself carefully when attacking to strike a maximum amount of the enemy’s creatures. The best strategy is then to target the weakest enemy stack, as only this one will be able to retaliate on the attack, while creatures suffering “indirect” damages won’t.

Thanks to ThE_HyDrA for creating and looking after the Heroes 5 section of Age of Heroes!

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