Tips and tricks-Academy

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Night_Heaven
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Tips and tricks-Academy

Unread postby Night_Heaven » 02 Aug 2006, 22:55

I hope this is not bother anyone.Here are some good tips I found playing with Academy.(sorry for my english-not a native language)

First-combo skills with heroes.
*Razzak(golem specialist)-good against Dungeon and Necropolis> priority for those 2 skills- Leadership and Logistic
>For leadership>Estates>artificial glory(golem affected only by good morale so undead penality morale dosen't apply)
>For Logistic>Pathfinding>March of the golems(+2 speed and initiative)> Teleport asault(increased initiative).

*Jhora(windspeaker)> good against spellcasters.A heroine that can achive Arcane Omn-ultimate skill.>Priority skills>
>For sorcery-Arcane Training>Counterspell(then expert sorcery)
> Sumoning magic>Master of counjuration>banish
Important thing with Jhora> Mark of the wizard and banish> 2 stacks of gated or summoned creatures are geting banished-depend of hero level.
> She can cast a spell and still come before the enemy hero does so cast counterspell(works excelent for rise death or empowered spells)
Great skills-Attack,luck and enlighnement.

Creatures combo.
> 90% Ai attacks genies.
> For every artefact you put on a creature choose initaitive for the first shot in a battle.Hight level heroes can put up to 40% initiative.
> Split magy in 2 stacks when genies are not up to.one stack has increased initiative,spell damange reduction and defense(for casting righterous magic) and other one defense,attack and life(for offensive spell)
Good spells
> wall of fire better when you cast that in front of the gremlins and magy.
> sumoning pheonix is good when you have expert sorcey.After that you can cast counterspell(with Jhora only)
> Every spell is good as long as you can use counterspell after that.

Just that for now.I will post some new tricks tomorow)2 more good heroes and spell combos).After that I can post some tricks for Sylvans.Bye bye I hope you don't mind for this things.

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cornellian
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Unread postby cornellian » 03 Aug 2006, 01:56

There should be an Academy tactics topic around here, but thank you for the good tips; though I'd like to note some points for people that might try multiplaying with Academy..

- Don't pick up Jhora if you play MP; fair or not, strategy or not, people will almost always call you a 'cheap b..rd' :hoo: for counterspelling their every spell in the combat (especially when she is high enough level to really make a difference), and perhaps rightfully so, as it's simply frustrating.. Besides, you'd risk getting yourself an allied enemy force helping each other just to get rid of you, and in a MP game this means certain doom..

- Under no circumstances fight against a human player before upgrading your magi. True, AI targets Genies, but then again AI is hardly a worthy opponent; I've yet to encounter a human player that doesn't have a grudge against magi :D.. However, with such a huge hitpoint boost from the upgrade, your archmagi can take a lot more punishment then they'd normally take. You should alson prioritize Magi artifacts that give them life, defense and initiative..

- Night_heaven is right, initiative is by far the best bonus for any troop, save for 5-6+ health bonus for gremlins if you can get that high, but still, if you need to choose, choose magi health, especially if you have Light Magic (see below), and especially if you play 1.2 now that MGs aren't that strong.

- Get Light Magic if you can, instead of Nature.. Pretty much everyone expects Nature for Academy and Necropolis and many of your opponents would be hard pressed to change their tactics on the battlefield and will be likely to make mistakes. As a ranged focused town, you won't gain a lot from a single phoenix: if those paladins can reach you, you are dead anyway. Try hasting you Titans, magi, gargoyles, and rakshasas, in that order if you have to choose, or deflect missile if you face the Undead.. Or, as you are likely to have a good supply of mana and a fairly good spellpower, put them to good use with Resurrection.. As for the skills, Suppress Light and Refined Mana are very helpful, but you have to sacrifice mass haste for the latter; though against a human player that likes to resurrect paladins, which they do, you'll feel like you got the better part of the deal.

- Place your magi not in the middle of the field but on the edges if you can, this way he probably will be able to make an orthogonal shot to get 2-3 guys at once, and your opponent will have to break his/her front lines to reach the magi, allowing you to fill the space with rakshasas and golems:D ..

- Gargoyles are grossly underrated, don't hesitate to send them to their deaths against humans, that's what they are for.. Get to their archers, they probably won't be walled in to avoid collateral damage from archmagi's line shot and/or fireballs..Get to them and stay there until backup (rakshasas/genies) arrive. That's also why for Gargoyles, speed and initiative bonuses are best, followed by life or defence according to your stats.

- Don't feel like you have to take Attack if it's offered. Archery is good, no doubt, but the rest of the skills don't match with your strengths very well.. Luck on the other hand, as for any other faction, is a top choice.

- If you don't have Light Magic, consider taking Logistics for the extra mileage, and for Teleport Assault.. March of the Golems is very useful, and you'll get it on your way to the aforementioned skill, but why walk when you can teleport and get intimate with their archers right away :D?

- Last, but not the least, take Destructive Magic if you know you're against a Necro player. Take out not the skellies, but the ghosts first; some people really make great use of them, and if you encounter one, you will only realize it when it's too late... If the ghosts are raised back again, then your opponent, being slower than you are -as you have sorcery (you took it right?), won't have the chance to save his precious vampires or lichs... Skellies, actually, are not your major concern, they won't do a great deal of damage to your higher troops and can be easily countered with gargoyles in the very first turn by taking out his ghosts (which are likely to be walling skellies) with a spell and filling that square with your gargoyles. They will hold their ground pretty well against vampires and zombies, at least will give you enough time to compensate for your loss..

- Against a Haven or an Inferno opponent, take your magi to the very edge of the screen, and if you don't have any cover you can use, say a prayer for your Titans, as Paladins and especially Nightmares love to see them up & close..

- If you are going 1-1 against a Sylvan, definately consider having artifacts that lower defense.. You wouldn't want to have 30 treants that have more defense than your first four tiers combined, and are coming to get you; and focus on boosting your troops if they have silver unicorn, you don't want to waste your precious hero turn for nothing..

- Focus on counterspelling against a warlock, few things are worse than an empowered, lucky implosion that wipes away an unfortunate part of your army...

A long post, but should be a nice introduction to what you can expect to fight against in a multiplayer game.. Good luck...

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soupnazii
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Unread postby soupnazii » 03 Aug 2006, 03:49

wow.... 8|

thanks.

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Night_Heaven
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Unread postby Night_Heaven » 03 Aug 2006, 11:38

Wow cornellian.Now that are more tips for me thanks for sharing.Big hug for you :-D

Also,I know light magic is much more better than sumoning magic but sumoning magic is one of the skills required for Arcane Ominescence(sorry for screw up the name).This ultimate skill alow you to learn all spells in existance and cast them on expert level.

I agree Jhora is a little unfair but remember so is Vladimir and other heroes.and for people who thinks the best heroes are in necropolis or inferno,they are wrong. Playing Jhora can be more unfair at highter levels where with expert sorcery and incrased initiative she CAN CAST 3 SPELLS(remember counterspell however) before the enemy hero does.

Another tip>Mark of the wizard may seem a little boring at the begining but if Jhora knows vulnerability she can use mark of the wizard on the liches(for example) and casting on the skellies.Liches would have defense lowered twice as fast as the skellies.Is like casting 2 spells at the time but one has effect doubled.With Jhora you can cast mark of the W. and vulnerability very fast :)

Another unfair tip can be Jhora with Teleport Assault(as you say).She can cast a spell on golems and then she will come before the enemy hero does to cast tel. assault.

Another good hero is Galib>good against spellcasters.His speciality can make even empowered implosion not to work on your creatures.However,the strategy with him is limited since he can reject only bad spells not like Jhora who can totaly make from a spellcaster a hero that does nothing

About artefacts...more likely is to put initiative and attack because your Academy hero will not have a great attack.The third is your choice but life and spell damange reduction are both good.

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Unread postby GatorG » 03 Aug 2006, 16:08

Very good tips...and never apologize for helping people...they don't have to accept, but never apologize for it.

G (-:

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Caradoc
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Unread postby Caradoc » 03 Aug 2006, 17:12

Excellent advice. I might add that when you're attacking a neutral shooter in the first couple of weeks, you may wish to hold your Gremlins out of the fight. Chances are they will be targeted and take heavy losses. Better to lose some Gargoyles and save the Gremmies to take out walkers.

Since the Gremmies benefit more proportionately from Attack and Damage boosts, after I have a good number of Mages, I retire the Gremmies to the castle until the hero is up to level 20 or so. Then when they take the field again, they are a force to be reckoned with.
Before you criticize someone, first walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you'll be a mile away. And you'll have their shoes.

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Orfinn
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Unread postby Orfinn » 03 Aug 2006, 18:19

Nice guide there :-D

But I wonder why did they remove the damage factor you could add to the artifacts? Was it because it would be overpowered?

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Unread postby juventas » 03 Aug 2006, 21:17

I also want to remind people that Mark of the Wizard works on your own troops, but only with Summoning/Nature spells. This means you can Phantom Force multiple troops at the same time, guaranteeing that you'll always have at least one cloned troop hanging around (unless you clone two stacks that are really close to each other)

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Unread postby Sir_Toejam » 04 Aug 2006, 13:12

all great tips except for one thing, which of course actually relates to warlocks, so it doesn't really apply to wizards.
few things are worse than an empowered, lucky implosion
AFAIK, this is not possible with 1.2. I've tested over and over, and the lucky spell booster will not stack with an empowered spell.

it's still a great skill to get if you're a warlock though, as with max luck, you can still get double power spells quite often, and save quite a bit of mana (over the empowered versions), and of course the luck bonus to all your troops as well.
I rather like it better this way, as it makes it a tough choice to decide whether to cast that guaranteed 50% boost, that might not wipe out the enemy, or take a chance that you will get that lucky shot and totally wipe out a stack before it can retalliate (or more likely, so the enemy hero never gets a chance to cast his next spell). adds to the dynamic nature of the battles.

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cornellian
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Unread postby cornellian » 04 Aug 2006, 16:15

Thank you for correcting me Sir_Toejam, I haven't played against a Warlock yet in 1.2, that is some news you have there, a relief actually :) ..

I was hoping to post another message about possible strategies of expansion and town management according to the map size and your opponents, but apparently my half-insane professors had different plans for me :(.. If more people can contribute, then perhaps we can filter out the obselete ones (like mine above) and make the thread a sticky for beginners...

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Unread postby Sir_Toejam » 05 Aug 2006, 00:33

more power to ya! Your style is good, information detailed and easy to read.

I'd say any guides you manage to put in formal form would be well worth taking the time to peruse. I'd be happy to contribute. Just PM me.

cheers

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Unread postby Mightor Magic » 05 Aug 2006, 22:32

I love Academy and the Hero specialty is the only one in the game that really makes a difference based on how you play:

Primary Hero skills:

Enlightenment.
Every Wizard has to have this skill as Creature Artifacts base the iniative directly on Knowledge on a 1 for 1% ratio and every 1% counts. Pick Scholar, Wizard's Reward and Graduate for the +2 knowledge. Max as soon as probable {never pick the upgrades over any necessary base skills}.

Attack.
Attack is nice but Archery is a must, this faction does have 3 ranged units after all. Battle Frenzy is also good as it increases O Gargoyle damage from 1-2 to 2-3. Wow! Not impressive at all but it works wonders on Gremlins and Mages when combined with the Archery skill.

Secondary skills:

Luck or Leadership, Logistics or War Machines.

Pick Luck or Leadership, whatever comes up first and let Creature Arifacts and regular Artifacts pick up the slack. 5 and 5 is not that hard. I prefer Estates over Spoils of War but that's just me, they are about equal. Wizards are far more likely to be offered War Machines than Logistics. The Ballista is a real killer when combined with Fiery Arrows from Attack and an immortal Ammo Cart is great. March of the Golems and the Logistics skill can be faked by using Artifacts but they're even better when combined {Golems with +5 speed are better than any flying unit}. So whichever comes first.

Magic skill:

Depends on what spells you get and on your hero. I've had success with Faiz {Dark Magic and the three Masters} and Nathir {Destructive, Spell Sap and Fiery Wrath}. See, the problem is that by the time you get a knowledge of 30 to 40, your ranged army should all have attacked by the time you get to cast a spell. If you casting first then you're doing something wrong. Dark Magic Slow and Confusion {Vulnerability, Suffering, Blindness, Frenzy, Puppet Master and even Weakness} are your best friends here and are not part of the Light or Summoning school.

Best Magic Skill: Dark Magic if you get the spells {Think about it: Creature Artifacts adds Haste, Endurance, Righteous Strength where you need it, all prior to the battle. And Summoning skills are only useful when you can cast before your army attacks. Resurrection? I like to keep the losses small instead. Dark Magic is Creature Artifacts for the Enemy}

Defense: No, no, never. You'll get further with +8 HP than with this skill. Razzak's out.

Sorcery: You have the SPs. Always cast the Master skill levels of Dark and Light first and get a 50% sooner casting. Good with Summoning but that's about it. I don't recommend for Nathir as you'll do better using his fireball for the 50% defense reduction than as direct damage.

Ultimate skill: Well, it is helpful with the Scholar skill but even though you cast at Expert level, you cannot cast the Mass versions. It's good for the Summoning spells though, if you only got Earthquake and Firewall from your Guild {I always get Earthquake and Firewall}.

Mark of the Wizard? Pointless as I rarely get more than three castings in any battle, even though my Wizards, Titans and Gremlins get 6 or 7 attacks each. Now, if it doubled Mages and Titans spells as well, that would be something.

Magic Mirror: Select it and forget it. Only Galib can use it correctly and he starts with it.

Consume Artifact: No, no, no. Now, if it was Contruct Artifact than yes but no way should you use this skill.


Most Important Advice: Individual Turns are based on Iniative and Extra Turns are based on Leadership. It is possible to get multiple attacks even before the opponent moves {35 Knowledge means 35% Iniative and +4 Morale}. Not fair but whatever. Far more important than Attack.

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Unread postby LordErtz » 05 Aug 2006, 22:40

Very interesting insight.

I like how your advice uses the creature artifacts to pick up whatever you don't choose in skills. Good evaluation. I prefer summoning, but starting with faiz could do some good too.


Oh and Mark of the Wizard isn't so useless. You can double summoning spells like phantom forces :)

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Unread postby Sir_Toejam » 06 Aug 2006, 00:45

I might have missed it, but has anyone tried the power caster wizard model with obs. gargs and armageddon yet?

obviously, this strategy no longer works for the warlocks, as their specialty actually makes all their own creatures no longer immune, but with wizards, I've seent the AI do it on multiple occassions, but haven't heard whether it is a worthwhile strategy for players.

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Unread postby LordErtz » 06 Aug 2006, 01:40

Sir_Toejam wrote:I might have missed it, but has anyone tried the power caster wizard model with obs. gargs and armageddon yet?

obviously, this strategy no longer works for the warlocks, as their specialty actually makes all their own creatures no longer immune, but with wizards, I've seent the AI do it on multiple occassions, but haven't heard whether it is a worthwhile strategy for players.
Another brilliant thing I just never thought about. You'd have to go destruct with your wizard but interesting...

Also, if Warlock's are ever fixed like they should be, it'd be an interesting tactic with black dragons.

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Sir_Toejam
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Unread postby Sir_Toejam » 06 Aug 2006, 03:18

yes, I've noticed that with the limited spell availability at towns now, going "cross class" with your caster could be quite limiting.

I'm just about through the warlock campaign, so haven't played with the wizards much yet, but am I correct in thinking that their two primary magic schools don't include destruction?

If so, it could be well nigh impossible to actually get the armageddon spell to begin with, if there isn't a dragon utopia on the map, or competing town with the spell.

Still, when I do the wizard campaign, I'll give it a shot and let you know how it works out.

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cornellian
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Unread postby cornellian » 06 Aug 2006, 06:09

In my MP games, the mage towers seem to focus on Nature and Dark magic, with Light magic spells getting available usually only with the library. Higher Destruction spells are rarity, a 4th tier spell like meteor shower might even not show up in the second town... A shame really, as Academy heroes are the only ones that can effectively use Armageddon..

I can't remember which spells I got in the Academy campaign but I'm sure Armageddon wasn't one of them. Hmm, that might also be because I might not have taken Destructive magic of course :D, I'm not sure...

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Unread postby SmokeyTheBear » 06 Aug 2006, 10:38

Academy Mage guilds focus on Light and Summoning Magic. You will always get one Light and one Summoning spell per level.

The extra spells from the Library are randomly either Destruction or Dark. You cannot get two level 4 or two level 5 Light spells, nor can you get two level 4 or two level 5 Summoning spells.

For the lower tier Mage Guilds 1-3, you get one Light and one Summoning per level, and the remaining spells, including those from the Library will randomly be Destructive or Dark and will never be Light/Summoning.

So at lower tiers you might find yourself having more Dark/Destructive spells than Summoning/Light spells if you have a Library.

The thing about going for Dark is that it could give you Destructive for the level 4 and 5 slots in the Library and vice versa. It is risky but even the low level Dark spells are really good. The lower tier Destruction spells don't really cut it though, as the Wizard doesn't have Empower and has only moderate Spellpower.

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Unread postby jaq » 06 Aug 2006, 10:39

cornellian wrote:In my MP games, the mage towers seem to focus on Nature and Dark magic, with Light magic spells getting available usually only with the library. Higher Destruction spells are rarity
http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com/he ... ells.shtml says Academy is lightie-summonic.
Isn't HV dark elven history Polish-driven?

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Orfinn
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Unread postby Orfinn » 06 Aug 2006, 11:28

I ask yet again. Any Idea why we cant add damage to our artifacts as it was possible in the beta?


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