Heroes Of Might And Magic V Creatures Special Abilities
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.
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 the 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 health point (HP) value of resurrected
creatures.
Familiars: Mana Stealer Every time a Familiar takes the 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 three points of the
enemy hero’s mana every time it takes the 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.
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 of enemy 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.
Vampire: Life Drain Vampires can restore their 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.
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 (damages are calculated individually for each target). Combat machines
positioned outside of the game field but in the line of attack also suffer
appropriate damage.
Deep Hydra: Six-Headed Attack Deep Hydras are huge creatures occupying
a 2×2 tiles surface on the battlefield. Thanks to their six 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.
