Well, this is it folks: maltz finished his series of articles for the Ylana campaign, the third and final act of the Hammers of Fate expansion. That campaigns lets you revisit the Dungeon faction before the final showdown with a series of well-known characters:
The Spy | The Break | The Meeting | Dragons | The Decoupling
I am really impressed with maltz's work during the past few months. Not only did he write about the whole expansion (and patch 2.1), something which required him to replay a few scenarios more than once, but he updated the standard game walkthroughs based on patch 1.3 (patch 1.4 didn't change much in that area) and the heroic mode. I wish to thank him for his great tips and, until the release of that rumored second expansion, wish him a well-deserved rest.
After the twisted classic Haven, and the snowy novel Fortress, Hammers of Fate brings its third and last campaign back to one of players' all-time favorite, Dungeon - the magic-mighty Warlocks!
The "Mixed" (official name) campaign brings back the Warlocks. Like Hollywood, it's all about explosions mixed with babies!
You are going to control heroine Ylaya (Yee-'la-ya) through the following five missions. Similar to Zehir in the original game, Ylaya will join force with other previous campaign heroes starting at mission 4, to bring the conclusion of the Hammers of Fate story.
So what skills are good for Ylaya the Warlock? Same as Raelag, you can go with the safest route:
- Destructive Magic: The trade mark of Warlocks. In this campaign you can't go far without tons of direct damage. Secret of Destruction is very helpful in mission one. Other feats aren't a top priority because your target will be dead anyways.
- Sorcery: A must for magic heroes. The primary stats for Warlocks are Spellpower and Attack, not knowledge, so Mana Regeneration, Erratic Mana and Arcane Training are all excellent mana-friendly feats. Pick them up as soon as possible.
- Luck: After patch 1.3, Warlock's Luck (200% direct spell damage) stacks with Empowered spell. You can't skip this!
And you can freely choose a fourth skill. Back in Raelag's campaign, Light Magic saved my life in the notorious mission 3 (The Conquest). In Ylaya's campaign, Light Magic works equally well towards the end, since you can simply resurrect fallen troops back. However, you won't have any access to magic guilds until mission 3. Since that mission is a little difficult at start, it is unlikely you can learn Resurrection, or any high-level magic when you most need it. Therefore, I would recommend you temporarily forget about the last skill slot, and focus on developing what matters most. You need to have a competent Warlock when mission 3 starts, at level 16. Then, pick up Light Magic, or something else at mission 3 and expert it.
The following walkthrough is based on Heroic, patch 2.1. Enjoy!
Mission 1 - The Spy
Map Size: Small
Carry Over: Ylaya
Level Cap: 12
Difficulty Index: 3/5
Primary Objectives:
- Find the site of the Rite
- Ylaya must survive
Secondary Objectives:
- Visit the Oracle
- Kill (6 stacks of) creatures marked by Hut of Magi
I like the Shadow Witch bonus. They provide some ranged damage, as well as the Slow magic that brings you the edge for a perfect victory from time to time. Blood Maidens are nice if there is a town or Hill Fort to turn them into Furies, but there isn't any in this mission.
Mission one is basically a quest of reaching a certain spot, Tear of Asha style. Instead of visiting Obelisks, you reveal the treasure map by killing a total of six dungeon creature stacks. However, as long as you reach the designated area, the mission will be completed even if you skipped all huntings.
Ylaya will be able to visit quite a large number of stat bonuses (blue (R)) in this mission. Since she does not know any spell at the start, you must build her spell book by visiting various spell shrines scattered around the map. The spells offered are random, though. In my game, I only had Circle of Winter and Decay the most part, and Circle of Winter does not even come from a spell shrine. (It is a random bonus spell given by the Secret of Destruction feat under Destructive Magic.)
You start in a little NW area of the underground dungeon (1). Take the stairs (green I') up and -- it is the quiet night again! It has been a while since Findan dispatched the Vampire Lord for good.
You are in the NW corner (I). There is a group of skeleton close to you. Even if there are skeleton archers mixed in the group, you might be able to pull off a high morale on the Furies, and demolish the slow archers before they get a chance to shoot. The enemy stacks will be quite large in this mission, but your army, especially that 40 Blood Fury is quite impressive as well. Try your best to keep them alive.
Wait for the Resurrection Scroll, and demolish everything with Fury!
Go east a little bit more, and you will come across a Winged Boots artifact (2) that increases all units' speed (travel distance) by 1. This is a very good artifact for Blood Furies! Now they can reach anybody in turn one, as long as they are aligned with the target in the deployment stage.
Just SE of the boots artifact, you can visit the Oracle in the form of a Seer's Hut at (3). You receive a new secondary objective -- to kill creatures marked by Hut of Magi. There are a total of six huts, each revealing a neutral Dungeon stack to kill. I have marked all of the targets for you (yellow D1-D6). Although the in-game description says you need to visit all huts, they serve no other purpose than telling you what to kill. As long as you kill all six stacks of creatures, this sidequest is completed. On heroic I would recommend you to put all of the hunts on hold for now. There is a nice artifact later that will make your job much easier.
There is a Siege Weapon Workshop here. You have very limited chance to spend cash in this mission, so you may as well invest them on the gears here. If you come across any treasure chest, make them EXP points. There will be enough stakcs to kill for the lv-12 cap, too.
There are some huge dungeon army blocking your way east (red X), so you need to take a detour to the south. When you finish local business, continue east and north for a Stable (4). Note that your starting troop is pretty much all you have throughout the mission, so don't throw them away at high-level shooters and casters. A few stacks might unexpectedly join you on the way, though.
Good things like this don't happen every night!
There are quite a few things to do in this Stable area. You can visit a bunch of stat boosts, and a Witch Hut (yellow W). Maybe you will get lucky like me, to pick up a large stack of Dwarves in front of the mercenary camp.
There are three sets of Two-Way portals in this mission. I marked their connections with green Ts. T1 is connected to another T1. Same goes ofor T2 and T3. At the end of these portals you can usually find some designated Dungeon stacks in the side quest. Behind D1 there is an Artifact Wagon that you can dump your extra cash to. The only creature building, for Blood Maidens, in this mission is hidden behind T3.
When you are confident about your spell damage output, proceed to (5), to face quite a large stack of Druid Elders. You always get Druid Elders here, and this is the only route to continue the mission. You have to fight them! On heroic, there are 38 of Elder Druids, and they will love to electricute your Furies. Don't waste your Fury here, because you are only 1/3 through the mission. Deploy disposable stacks such as the Minotaurs, the Assassins and the Dwarves (if you picked them up), and burn Ylaya's mana on them. Don't feel bad to lose most of your units. The Furies and Witches will help you cruise through the rest. Afterwards, take the stairway (II) down.
You are now at the NE corner (II') of the dungeon. Your goal is to reach the stairway at the SE corner (III'). However, there is a large Deep Hydra stack in the middle (red X), so you have to take the longer route in the west. There is a Trading Post at 6 where you can convert totally-useless resources to next-to-useless cash. Leave the sidequest Dungeon stacks for now. The wait will soon be over.
After taking the SE stairway you are now at the SE portion of the surface (III). You can pick up a very useful artifact at (7) - The Scroll of Resurrection! Now you can go back and handle the sidequest. Here is a list of what they are:
- D1: Dark Raiders (~50)
- D2: Blood Maidens (~150)
- D3: Assassins (~150)
- D4: Assassins (~100)
- D5: Hydra (~30)
- D6: Minotaurs (~90)
Ylaya: "Give me some allowance, mother, I need money for manicure!"
