Water Magic

The Water magic school consists mainly of creature-enhancing and adventure map spells which will benefit both Might and Magic heroes. The two damage spells available (Ice Bolt and Frost Ring) do less damage than others available but since there are no artifacts that prevent their use (as with Lightning and Chain Lightning) they have their uses.

Level 1

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round / Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 5 / 4
• Untrained / Basic: Creatures in target, allied troop inflict maximum damage when they attack.
• Advanced: Creatures in target, allied troop inflict maximum damage + 1 when they attack.
• Expert: All allied creatures inflict maximum damage + 1 when they attack.

Bless is one of the main reasons that the Water magic school is so useful in battle. Many creatures have a wide range of damage that they can inflict and this is especially dramatic with the low level creatures that you can hire large numbers of. Bless can also be used to counteract the Curse spell.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 6 / 5
• Untrained / Basic: Removes all negative spell effects from target, allied troop and heals it for ((Power x 5) + 10) health points.
• Advanced: Removes all negative spell effects from target, allied troop and heals it for ((Power x 5) +20) health points.
• Expert: Removes all negative spell effects from all allied troops and heals each for ((Power x 5) + 30) health points.

Cure's usefulness comes mainly from it's ability to remove all negative spell effects with its curing ability being frosting on the cake. Many creatures have a chance of inflicting ailments when they attack, such as Medusa Queens and Greater Basilisks turning your creatures to stone. While you can counter some spells with their opposite (haste both hastes your troops and removes slow), many others can only be removed with the Cure spell.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 5 / 4
• Untrained / Basic: Removes all spell effects from target, allied creature troop.
• Advanced: Removes all spell effects from target allied or enemy creature troop.
• Expert: Removes all spell effects from all creatures and the battlefield.

Using Dispel might be considered stupid to use because who would want to remove all spell effects? However, it is possible that the enemy hero cast Curse or Weaken on your troops and their troops could be casting beneficial spells on each other. In this case, you want to bring everyone to the same playing field by removing all weaknesses and all strengths. In addition, Dispel will remove the Quicksand and Land Mine spells at Expert level. A useful spell but it has limited uses.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 5 / 4
• Untrained / Basic: Troop in target hex receive ((Power x 10) + 10) damage.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that damage is ((Power x 10) + 20).
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except that damage is ((Power x 10) + 30).

There isn't a Magic Arrow spell that's specific to the Water magic school and from my experience, the level of Magic Arrow that you use is the level of the highest magic school that you have. It's available in most Mage Guilds and is good for clearing out the low-level wandering stacks around your starting town. It's a cheap spell and useful in the early parts of a map.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round / Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 5 / 4
• Untrained / Basic: Damage from Water Magic spells is reduced by 30% for target, allied troop.
• Advanced: Damage from Water Magic spells is reduced by 50% for target, allied troop.
• Expert: Damage from Water Magic spells is reduced by 50% for all allied troops.

This isn't a very important spell because there are only two offensive Water magic schools and they aren't used often enough to make protecting your own troops from them worthwhile.

• Type: Adventure
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 8 / 7
• Untrained / Basic: Summons one of your hero's boats to their current location. If none of those boats are available, then one of your other heroes' boats is summoned. Spell has a 50% chance of working. The spell fails if there are no unoccupied boats available.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that if no boats are available, a new one is created. The spell has a 75% chance of working. There are a maximum of sixty-four boats allowed on the Adventure Map at one time. The spell fails if all are occupied.
• Expert: Same as Advanced Effect, except that the spell has a 100% chance of working (unless all sixty-four boats are occupied).

This spell can be very useful on a map that has any amount of water because there is often a lot of wood, gold, and artifacts to be found there. Very useful in the early parts of a map where there aren't a lot of resources available and you can also use it to sneak behind enemy lines even if there isn't a shipyard available. I used it on Steadwick's Fall to get around the garrisons with the anti-magic field and dozens of very tough creatures which made the fight against Steadwick much easier.

Level 2

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 8 / 6
• Untrained / Basic: Target, enemy troop receives ((Power x 20) + 10) damage.
• Advanced: Target, enemy troop receives ((Power x 20) + 20) damage.
• Expert: Target, enemy troop receives ((Power x 20) + 50) damage.

Ice Bolt is essentially double the damage of Magic Arrow for only 2 more spell points. Once I get Ice Bolt I use it instead of Magic Arrow when I want to target a single stack of enemy troops.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 7 / 5
• Untrained / Basic: Removes one, non-magic obstacle from the battlefield. Integrated obstacles, such as cliffs are not affected.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except Fire Walls may also be removed.
• Expert: Same as Advanced Effect, except all, non-integrated obstacles can be removed.

Do you hate it when enemy archers hide behind a stone outcropping, lake, Force Field, or Fire Wall while they slowly whittle your once mighty army to nothing? Are your troops taking too long to get within melee range because they have to go around the obstacles? If you have this spell then all of your worries are over because all obstacles (except castle walls, cliffs, or cracks in the earth) are removed with just one cast of this spell. I don't see many uses of this spell but it can be very powerful in the right circumstances.

• Type: Adventure
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 8 / 6
• Untrained / Basic: Spell has 50% chance of destroying a boat, unless occupied.
• Advanced: Spell has a 75% chance of destroying a boat, unless occupied.
• Expert: Spell destroys a boat, unless occupied.

This spell can be one of the most devastating spells on a map with water. Let's say that an enemy is taking their main force on a little boat ride and land on a nice island. However, there is no way off except their boat and you just happen to be riding along in your boat. Hmmm, you say, I wonder how they'll get off this island if I happen to destroy their boat? The answer is that they won't unless they have the Summon Boat spell or the means to hire another hero and get another boat to rescue them or have Town Portal. While they are doing that, they can't hurt you with their huge army which will give you time to capture their town or defeat their scouts in relative safety. The downside to this scenario is that not many maps have water so there is no need to scuttle any boats.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 day
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 4 / 2
• Untrained / Basic: Displays number of monsters in a wandering monster troop and whether or not the troop will offer to join the casting hero's army. Range is equal to Power or three, whichever is greater.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except an enemy hero's primary skill stats, and the composition and quantity of that hero's army can be viewed. Range is (Power x 2) or three, whichever is greater.
• Expert: Same as Advanced Effect, except an enemy town's statistics and garrison composition and quantity may be viewed. Range is (Power x 3) or three, whichever is greater.

Knowing the enemy is an essential part of combat because lessening the number of troops that you lose in a battle is very important. Many times I have skipped battles with wandering stacks since I knew that there were too many of them and they would not flee or join. Many times I have waited for another week's troops or used another hero before attempting to take over a town. I don't see this spell in Mage Guilds as often as I'd like, but it's very important to a good battle strategy.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round / Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 8 / 6
• Untrained / Basic: Target, enemy troop's attack rating is reduced by three.
• Advanced: Target, enemy troop's attack rating is reduced by six.
• Expert: All enemy troops' attack ratings are reduced by six.

All enemy troops have their attack rating reduced and thus do less damage in combat. If your hero is weak on defense, Weakness can turn the tide in your favor and works well with the Shield spell. Weakness can also be used to counteract the Bloodlust spell.

Level 3

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round / Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 12 / 9
• Untrained / Basic: Half of the creatures in target, enemy troop, with ranged attack forget to shoot.
• Advanced: Target, enemy troop with ranged attack cannot use its ranged attack.
• Expert: All enemy troops with ranged attacks cannot use their ranged attacks.

Forgetfulness is a spell that is best used when facing large amounts of archers, and it's especially useful when you're attacking an enemy's castle where it's hard for your troops to get to the archers. Forgetfulness also works with Ballistas but not with the archers in the Stronghold and Castle towers. The usefulness of this spell depends on how many archers are in the enemy's army and as such, is less useful than the Blind spell in most cases even though Forgetfulness can affect all ranged troops and Blind only works on one stack. However, Cure and Dispel can't cure Forgetfulness while Blind is affected.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 12 / 9
• Untrained / Basic: Troops in hexes surrounding target hex receive ((Power x 10) + 15) in damage. Target hex is unaffected.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except damage is ((Power x 10) + 30).
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except damage is ((Power x 10) + 60).

Frost Ring is a maligned spell because of its low damage and odd area of effect. However, one tactic is to send out a stack that only takes up one hex space (if it takes up two spaces, it will get affected by the Frost Ring) and have it surrounded by the enemy troops. Then Frost Ring will damage the surrounding troops while leaving yours alone. It could be hard to keep your stack alive but First Aid and Cure are two ways to do this in addition to Curse, Shield, and Stoneskin. In addition, Fire Shield and Counterstrike increase the effectiveness of your stack in defeating the enemy troops while it's surrounded.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round/Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 12 / 9
• Untrained / Basic: Morale of target, allied troop is increased by one.
• Advanced: Morale of target, allied troop is increased by two.
• Expert: Morale of all allied troops is increased by two.

Having high morale gives you a chance for your troops to take a second action, but it doesn't happen 100% of the time even with the maximum morale of 3. Undead, elementals and non-living creatures are not effected by this spell at all and you can never go above a morale of 3 so if your hero has the Leadership skill this spell will usually be useless. The only time that this spell is useful is after visiting a crypt or if your army is composed of creatures from many different town types and you don't want your troops to lose their turn due to negative morale.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost / Advanced Cost / Expert Cost: 15 / 12 / 6 / 3
• Untrained / Basic: Target, allied troop instantly moves to an unoccupied target hex. Troop cannot teleport over walls or moats.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except troop cannot teleport over walls.
• Expert: Troop can move to any unoccupied hex.

This spell is wonderful for slow-moving ground troops or for any troops that can't fly and can't get over castle walls or the moat. You could teleport a stack of troops to be right next to enemy archers or make sure that the slow troops get to the enemy when the fast ones do. You could also teleport your archers out of the way of enemy troops when they get within melee range in order to protect them from harm. Teleport has many varied uses and can turn a well-defended enemy army behind their Castle into a dead one, especially if you have mainly ground troops.

Level 4

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 24 / 20
• Untrained / Basic: Creates a duplicate of target, allied troop level 1-5. The duplicate can attack but is dispelled if it receives any damage.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except the duplicate may be of a level 1-6 troop.
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except the duplicate may be of a level 1-7 troop.

The duplicate troops have the same powers as the original so if you clone a creature with a special ability then the clone has that power too. If you clone Archangels, the clones can resurrect friendly troops, or you can clone Ogre Mages to cast Bloodlust on friendly troops even if the original troops already used their special ability. However, don't use cloned creatures to fight because they won't last for longer than one round if you do.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round/Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 16 / 12
• Untrained / Basic: Target, allied troop's attack, defense, and speed (hexes per turn) ratings are increased by two.
• Advanced: Target, allied troop's attack, defense, and speed ratings are increased by four.
• Expert: All allied troop's attack, defense, and speed ratings are increased by four.

This is the best spell available for making your troops stronger and faster and is good enough to make a Might hero consider getting Wisdom. Prayer combines the effects of 3 spells; Haste, Bloodlust, and Stone Skin and can be used along with the Bless spell. It's a super spell.

• Type: Adventure
• Duration: 1 Day
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 12 / 8
• Untrained / Basic: The casting hero may follow a movement path across water, provided the end destination is an unoccupied location on land. Water movement may be up to 60% of the hero's normal movement.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that water movement may be up to 80% of the hero's normal movement.
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except that water movement may be made at the hero's full, normal movement.

There are many maps (especially single-scenario maps) where islands or other continents are very close to each other. You could buy a boat and cross but that will take up three whole days at the very least. If you have Water Walk you can get across in one round which sometimes means that you could attack an enemy's town on day 6 instead of day 1 or 2 after they have purchased more troops. If a shipyard is far away from an island that you want to visit, Water Walk will even save more time because movement is decreased on water without the Navigation skill and few heroes have it unless they start out with it.

Level 5

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Combat
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 25 / 20
• Untrained / Basic: A troop containing (Power x 2) water elementals appears on the side of the casting player. Only one type of summoned elemental is allowed on the battlefield at once, so other school's summon elemental spell castings will fail.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that (Power x 3) water elementals are summoned.
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except that (Power x 4) water elementals are summoned.

Water Elementals are quite strong and durable. This makes them a handy force for your army and the computer likes to attack Water Elementals even more than your archers so they can last long enough for you to resurrect your troops or to cast some other spells. Plus, they look cute when they whack the enemy with their tail.