Updates and changes to Heroes of Might and Magic V
As you know, the release version of Heroes of Might and Magic 5 is out. It has version number 1.0 (you can see that on the main menu screen in the game), and as technical as it may seem, it is of primary importance regarding gameplay. Why? Because all the game mechanics and texts (unit stats, buildings costs, heroes names, skills prerequisites...) are subject to change in future balance patches.
As always, we do our best to deliver you the most up-to-date information about Heroes 5: our content is accurate — 1.0 status — since the day of the release (and even before it if you're in the US!!). To help you go through one version to another, and better understand what has been changed, we'll detail here the relevant changes of those patches. So, let's start that with the changes from the demo (0.8) to the 1.0 retail version.
Changes from the demo (0.8) to the 1.0 retail version
Creatures
- Sylvan: Green Dragon now costs 3500 Gold + 1 Gem (was 3500 Gold).
- Sylvan: Emerald Dragon now costs 4700 Gold + 2 Gems (was 4700 Gold).
- Sylvan: Druid Elder now have the Stone Spikes spell instead of Ice Bolt.
- Dungeon: Shadow Dragons are not immune to magic anymore (Black Dragons still are of course).
- Inferno: Imp and Familiar names have been swapped (yet again!!). Graphics did not change. Familiar is now the upgraded unit.
- Graphics: Some units have a new icon (Master Gremlins, Blood Fury, Shadow Dragon, Spectre, Inquisitor, Treant and Treant Guardian). Others have swapped icons with their upgraded version (Shadow Witch, Unicorn).
Skills
- Artificer/Magic mirror can now reflect creature spells as well.
- Artificer/Mark of the Wizard now affects the marked target even when other creatures as targeted.
- Enlightenment/Arcane Intuition: hero can learn spells cast by creatures as well.
- Leadership/Battle Commander joiners are now War Dancers (instead of Blade Dancers).
- Light Magic/Guardian Angel: the angel now resurrects the most powerful group of dead creatures (instead of fighting alongside the hero) and disappears.
- Logistics/Death March now gives +4 speed during the siege of an enemy castle (instead of increased movement speed near enemy castles).
- Logistics/Scouting now gives info on towns and garrisons as well.
- Logistics/Silent Stalker no longer gives exact number info (was a duplicate of Scouting).
- Demon Lord: Attack/Excruciating Strike now requires Mark of the Damned.
- Demon Lord: Dark Magic/Dark Renewal replaces Light Magic/Twilight -> Urgash's Call no longer requires Light Magic!!
- Necromancer: Attack/Power of Speed replaces Attack/Retribution.
- Wizard: Summoning Magic/Wall of Fog replaces Summoning Magic/Exorcism.
Note that absolute abilities of all factions now require 3 abilities of 4 different skills, for a total of 12. Plus 2 or 3 of the racial unique abilities.
Spells
- Town Portal: the portal is always to the nearest town (no more randomness).
- Phantom Forces: Incorporeal ability of phantom forces is now documented.
- Graphics: new background color for the 4 adventure spells.
Heroes
- Some new heroes have appeared, and Maahir made his comeback.
- Missing heroes faces have been added, some being used for two heroes. Some names have been swapped.
- Haven/Maeve now is Windrider (was Paragon Knight), and her skills have been changed.
- Haven/Rutger now has Pathfinding (instead of Navigation).
Duel Heroes
There are now 18 preset duel heroes to choose from. The 6 heroes from the demo have been balanced, according to players feedback.
Artifacts
- Necromancer's Helm now increases hero's knowledge by +2 (was +10% exp gained).
- Graphics: new Artifacts now have an icon (Moonblade, Necromancer's Helm, Armor of Valor, Tunic of the Carved Flesh, Pendant of Conflux, Cursed Waistband, Elemental Waistband, Ring Of Celerity, Ring of Caution, Ring of the Unrepentant, Emerald Slippers, Sandals of the Blessed, Windstrider Boots, Cloak of Sylanna, Sandro's Cloak).
Buildings
- Blacksmith now allows other warmachines to be bought for triple price.
- Resource Silos now all provide 1 precious resource per day, matching the resource cost of their tier 7 creatures:
- Dungeon Resource Silo now provides 1 sulfur/day (was 1 wood + 1 ore).
- Haven Resource Silo now provides 1 crystal/day (was 1 wood + 1 ore).
- Inferno Resource Silo now provides 1 sulfur/day (was 1 mercury).
- Necropolis Resource Silo now provides 1 mercury/day (was 1 wood + 1 ore).
- Sylvan Resource Silo now provides 1 gem/day (was 1 crystal).
- Academy is still 1 gem/day.
- Dungeon: Resource Silo now costs 5000 Gold + 5 Ore (was 5000 Gold).
- Academy: Artifact Merchant now requires Marketplace (was Tavern)
- Sylvan: Sparkling Fountain now requires Mystic Pond (was Unicorn Glade)
- Inferno: Infernal Loom now increases the number of gated creatures by 5% (was +30% gating speed)
- Many dwellings have been renamed
Thanks to sfidanza for the work on this page.
Thanks to ThE_HyDrA for creating and looking after the Heroes 5 section of Age of Heroes!