HoMM 5 >Towns and creatures >Chaos

When the war with Paleandra and Great Arcan started, the policies were changed. The government send sorcerers to the communities to enforce the conscription that was issued and they used force if necesarry. The overall control of the army and the land as a whole was increased, bit it did not even come close to the organization of countries like Paleandra and Great Arcan. Still, it was good enough to maintain control and their forces were large and strong.

Level 1:

Gnoll (Gnoll hut)
The gnoll has returned from its retirement in the swamplands of Axeoth. They are no longer equiped with flails, but rather with quarterstaffs. They are very decent level 1 units, although quite slow. They are better used for the defense of ranged attackers and sorcerers. They have a 20% chance of dodging an attack with their staffs. This includes magical attacks. Direct damage spells are not weakened, they either succeed fully or, in 20% of the cases, fail completely.

Bandit (Thief's tavern)
The bandit still has its stealth ability, but carried it over to the battlefield. It now has the option to do a hidden movement. The bandit is visible at the beginning, but during it's turn, becomes invisible for the enemy and then moves within their normal movement range. They become visible again when either attacking or walking right next to an enemy troop. If bandits stay hidden for three turns and all other troops are dead, then this equals fleeing. Aside from this ability, they are fast, but weak.

Level 2:

Harpy (Harpy cave)
The harpy still has that pesky hit and run attack, but they are fairly weak creatures. If the enemy gangs up on them, they are lost, so use their ability wisely. Their movement is now one of the highest in the game. They are overall quite weak, but compensate for that in numbers.

Evil Eye (Pillar of eyes)
The evil eye has fully joined the ranks of the armies of Chaos. They still come with that irritating random spellbook. Their damage is fair at most and their defenses are horrible. They also suffer from the melee penalty and do not cast their spells when melee attacking. They come in decent numbers.

Level 3:

Minotaur (Maze)
The minotaur lost its ability to block melee attacks, but they gained an incredible hand-eye coordination, which allows them to block ranged attacks 50% of the time. They always have maximum positive morale. Their defense is good and their attack is fair. They are quite slow, though.

Manticore (Cave of wings)
The manticore has returned in a somewhat weakened form, but they are decent creatures for their level. Of course, they can fly and they attack with stings, that always cast a spell, but this can be either "magic arrow" (3d/manticore, 35%), "curse" (35%), "misfortune" (15%), "confusion" (15%). Their attack and defense are not that great, but they are equiped with an order ward and have decent growth.

Level 4:

Gorgon (Gorgon lair)
Everyone's favorite cow is back and they have taken back the death stare that the medusas borrowed in HOMM4. They do not kill creature at a certain chance with a certain number per gorgon, but more with a formula like the medusas. Because of their high levels, their ability will still make the level 6's shiver in fear. They have great defenses, but their attack is no more than average. Medium speed.

Erinye (Avenger's guild)
The Erinye is a tough competitor for the place of the gorgon. They are fast and have good defense, with a slightly below-average attack. Their value mostly shows in long, tough battles. For every Erinye that dies, the remaining Erinyes in the same stack gain 1.5% attack and defense.

Level 5:

Talurin (Thunder dome)
The Talurin is a creature, loaded with the forces of lightning. They can run over the battlefield really fast and punch with their fists as fast as lightning (pun intended), which does good damage and has a 20% chance of paralysing the target for two rounds. They are also fully immume to lightning and have good defenses. Their weakness lies in low numbers. Visually, they look a lot like the HoMM3 energy elemental.

Efreet (Lava pool)
The efreet is back to cause more mayhem. They have gained the spellcasting ability, just like their genie antipoles. Efreeti can cast: Firebolt, Magic Mirror, Aura of Fear and Fire Aura. Next to that, they have a speed and movement that is close to teleporting and are hard to kill, because of high defenses and the fire shield. Their physical damage is not that great though. In a one to one fight, the Talurin would always win, but the efreet numbers are a bit higher.

Level 6:

Black dragon (Dragon cave)
The black dragon can go on with being the one-per-week ultimate big bully. Because of their numbers, they are not that great and there are now many other creatures with speed and mobility to match them. Of course, they still come with absolute magic resistance and a breath attack.

Nightmare (Dark woods)
Nightmares are weaker than the black dragon, but you get two per week and they are a good choice, even next to the dragon. They now cast a cloud of terror, which works the same as the cloud of confusion, except that it causes terror. They have the ability to teleport and have a first strike. Their attack and defense are a little below average of their level, but they have relative high hitpoints.