Tribes of the East → Flying to the Rescue → Tearing the Veil

[SephirothIII]

I found the tear of asha and did everything else,but when I want to start the ritual nothing happens.The priests just say that I'm....and when I close the message nothing happens(I am trying to do the ritual with Zehir,like you sad,and I try to put him in the centre of the circle but he can't go there - the message opens again and nothing happens).btw do I have to build the tear of asha in my town(i dont see how to do that,because when I go there with the tear it doesnt give me option to build the tear and everything else is build)

[Veganas]

Ok, this is a really silly question.. Im ready to move to the second part of the level, but where can I sell the artifacts?

[anime007]

Veganas at 2011-01-23 21:47 wrote:

Ok, this is a really silly question.. Im ready to move to the second part of the level, but where can I sell the artifacts?



marketplace or artifact merchant click the 3rd tab

[Karmaz]

Heh, Its a fine question, in your city there is a building where u can sell em. just look at 3 line

[cjlee]

Guys, just take note that no matter how Zehir builds his city, it will appear as a level 16 city in the next mission with only a fort and level 2 mage guild. (At least, on heroic)

[xiilus]

I've been going through the campaign again trying to complete maps quickly, achieving good Hall of Fame scores. Even if this is not your goal, I've found a very helpful method of preparing Freyda. Try to upgrade Enlightenment to advanced quickly, then prioritize Arcane Intuition.



It may be old news to some, but this ability allows you to learn spells from your own units in combat. This means you can learn Divine Strength and Endurance from Inquisitors, and Righteous Might and Divine Vengeance from Seraphs (Zealots also have Righteous Might). Since Freyda knows Haste, Cleansing, and Deflect Missile from the start, this means she can learn all level 1-3 Light spells except Regeneration without visiting a magic guild, let alone building one. Because her special works best with mass spells, you can easily learn all 6 mass spells this way. It is even possible to learn high level Light spells through the Arcane Library.

[blackdead222]

I tried to bait Demon hero out from the castle so I wouldn't have to fight gates and waste all the luck and moral bonuses for next fight, so i used one random lvl 1 hero and put it next to Sanctuary and Freyda in Sanctuary, Demon hero actually came out so I attacked him, and guess what, he surrendered without doing a single move on Heroic while having nearly 2-3 times the army then me, maybe helps. After his retreat Al will just make some new heroes, his castle is so under built that they can't even make anything upgradeable or tier 8-9 creatures if your fast enough!



Also is the good damn army guarding Dragon Shield supposed to be that huge and it even grows alot bigger every week, I went there quite fast first time and couldn't do it, then few weeks after when i rebuilt Freyda and got all other Artifacts I went there again and it was like 30+ Dragons, nearly 130 Treants and like 500 Rangers, sadly they all make first move so u can imagine the hole they make in your army...
Edited on Tue, Sep 04 2012, 13:38 by blackdead222

[Tyber Zann]

Zehir is such a cheap ass! I mean he's awesome, actually my second favorite character in HoMM (next to Raelag of coarse), but his unique ability can be abused to the extreme. Iv read the posts and it seems like a few people r a little confused as to how to take full advantage of this awesome ability. For those who never quite figured it out, ill explain a few ways to make good use of it.



At first glance, Zehir's unique ability seems rather mediocre. Iv never been a huge fan of elementals. They usually appear in small numbers and its near impossible to accumulate them on the map. So, how r a few humanoid tornados and a walking pile of rocks supposed to help u in a fight? Well, they just happen to make excellent cannon fodder, especially since they require no physical resources and are not technically part of ur army. They are entirely disposable, which can be taken advantage of in several ways.



The way Zehir's ability works is, whenever a stack of creatures in ur army dies in battle (the entire stack), the stack is immediately replaced by a stack of elementals which u can control for the remainder of the battle (all summoned elementals are not part of ur army and will vanish after combat) (the type of elemental is supposed to be random, but I find its usually either earth or wind elementals.)



Now, here's the important part. The NUMBER of elementals that appear in this replacement stack is based solely on the LEVEL of Zehir. It has nothing to do with spellpower or any other stats, or the number of creatures that died to create the elemental stack. (Using the "Summon Elementals" spell follows normal rules, these rules apply strictly to Zehir's unique ability).



So, what this all means is, when a stack dies, weather it had 1 unit or 1000 units in it, its death will still yield the same number of elementals. This is where we can take advantage of the ability.



Basically, the idea is to create a wall of elementals, losing as few units as possible, in order to give Zehir time to cast spells to win the battle. The trick is to not lose ALL of the units on the field who are part of ur army (remember, summoned creatures don't count, this includes elementals summoned through Zehir's ability). Much like a demon lords gated units will vanish if their "army" units die, Zehir's summoned units will vanish if his "army" units in the field die.



So how is all this put into practice. It sounds confusing. well, here's the most common example.



Seven stacks of Stone Gargoyles. 6 that have 1 each, and 1 with the remainder.



Why Gargoyles?



Gargoyles are the most cost effective "tank" unit the game. In RPG/TBS terminology, a "tank" is a unit that is designed to be able to take a lot of damage. The main function of a "tank" is to soak up damage while your other units dish out damage. A "tank" unit acts as a wall or shield to protect your more vulnerable specialist units (shooters/casters).



Gargoyles do this job so well because they are cheap, numerous, and have excellent defense stats for a tier 2 unit. Lots of HP, good armor rating, and immunity to most elemental magic. While they are fast and can fly, they have minimal attack capability, and as an offensive unit are basically only good for rushing enemy shooters to prevent them from getting shots off.



So, in a normal battle, ur Gargoyles would likely be sitting in front of one of ur shooter stacks. However, with Zehir at the wheel, we can take the little flying stone cubes and

[Tyber Zann]

Continued..



And use them alone as a meat shield while Zehir single handedly dominates the battlefield.



Take all ur Gargoyles (Stone Gargoyles have the best defensive stats of the 3 types) and give them to Zehir. Give all other units to a different hero, or just leave em in town.



Split ur Gargoyles like this.



6 stacks with 1 gargoyle each, and the 7th stack with all the remaining gargoyles. Place the large stack in a corner, with the 6 single stacks surrounding the big one to protect it. As the battle unfolds, the enemy will rush ur square of cubes. Any enemy capable of hitting ur big stack will do so, but most will be stuck fighting ur single stacks. When a single stack dies, it will be replaced with free elementals, which will act as another shield for ur big stack.



While this is happening, Zehir will be free to unleash his spellbook. I have summoning magic with the "fire warriors" ability, which makes the "summon Elementals" ability summon fire elementals every time, and in greater numbers. Fire elementals are ranged units so they make excellent fire support. Once iv summoned elementals (and a pheonix is available) I move on to destruction magic.



In most cases, my fire elementals will tear the enemy to pieces before they manage to get past my wall of single gargoyles and their elemental spawns. Sometimes they get a few hits on the big stack, but since they have such great stats, all but the most viscous attacks will do nothing more than irritate them.



Using this tactic, I walk away from most battles with no more than 6 casualties (all cheap gargoyles). What this means is, I can save all my other units for the BIG battles. Just let ur army sit at home while Zehir and his gargoyles do all the dirty work.



Against early small enemy groups, using 3 single stacks is often enough to protect the big one.



I hoped this helped clarify. If I think of more ill add it on

[Tyber Zann]

Correction:



I accidentally mentioned that STONE GARGOYLES where the optimal "tank" unit.



I meant to say OBSIDIAN GARGOYLES. The black ones. I was thinking of them but thought stone for some reason. They all work well, but obsidian gargoyles will last the longest.

[Tyber Zann]

[Zehir's ability cont...]



Certain skills will make this much easier. Sorcery will allow u to cast spells much faster, allowing u to finish battles quickly and therefore lose less units. Defense will also give ur units greater endurance, which will buy u more time to cast spells and result in fewer casualties. With the introduction of the Memory Mentor, we are now free to use whichever skills we please without fear of permanently losing skill slots.



Now that iv described the basic principles of abusing Zehir's ability, ill explain how to deal with different types of enemies.



First, enemy heroes are ur biggest threat (as always) and are the most likely to foil this near-flawless strategy. However, it still works against some, and can even be applied to more generic tactics (using x1 gargoyle stacks to guard ur gremlins or mages).



As for neutral creature stacks, virtually any can be vanquished with relative ease using Zehir's gargoyle square formation.



First, ill list the different types of units ull face (ones that will require different tactics), in order from easiest to most difficult.



1] Large Walkers



2] Small Walkers



3] Large Flyers



4] Small Flyers



5] Casters



6] Shooters





Ok. First of all, groups 1-4 can all be dealt with the same way.



3 stacks of 1 gargoyle each surrounding a large stack in the corner.



(The easiest units to defeat using this tactic are slow, walking melee units like zombies, golems, horned demons, footmen, etc.)



(Large creatures are easier to block since they occupy a 2x2 square. You can space your x1 gargoyle stacks out, and even keep extra x1 stacks on the field to replace fallen ones)



(Flyers are more difficult to block since they can fly to any open space in their movement range. A walking unit may have to spend a turn walking around ur square, while a flyer will simply fly to its destination)



Casters and shooters require a little more thought.



Luckily, Obsidian Gargoyles are immune to all elemental damage except for Earth magic (stone spikes/meteor shower). The only two casting units I know of who can use these spells are Elder druids, (stone spikes) and Pit Lords (Meteor Shower). Pit Lords have low initiative so you can usually set up ur spells / zap em before they have a chance to move (unless there's a lot of them), so really, Elder druids are the only caster who poses any real threat to the Obsidian Gargoyle. The exception here would be casters who can cast light magic on their own troops, or the spell Vulnerability, which can be cast by shadow witches/matriarchs and Pit Lords (again).



And so, the only unit class that may actually have you biting you fingernails is the all mighty shooter.



Shooters can bypass ur wall of x1 stacks, making them useless as guards. Therefore, the best way to dispatch shooters without losing all ur gargoyles is to try to use only x1 stacks, with no "large" stack at all. This will deny the shooters the opportunity to kill more than 1 gargoyle at a time. Of coarse this will only work if the group of shooters isn't too large to defeat, and u will need a secondary hero to take the extra gargoyles off of Zehir's hands if u want to use 7 stacks of x1 gargoyles.



Basically, u have to judge weather Zehir can wipe out the enemy shooters before they kill the 7 stacks of x1 gargoyles. U can always just save and load and try again, but eventually ull get a good sense of how much Zehir can handle, and its quite a lot.



If the enemy shooters are too numerous to use 7 stacks of 1, use 6 stacks of x1 with the rest of them in a 7th stack. Then, use ur x1 stacks to rush the shooters and block them off so they can't shoot ur big stack. The big stack will likely take a hit or two before u block their shooters, but gargoyles have high speed and initiative stats, and can fly, so they can usually reach the other side before the enemy can let off a second volley. (This rush can be used with the 7 x1 stack formation as well, just keep 1 or 2 at the rear while the rest advance).





And of coarse, there are stacks of mixed units. In most cases, u will need to use the 6 stacks of 1 and the big 7th stack in the corner formation and simply eat the shots from their shooters before u can wipe them out (which u should do immediately).



That's about it for that strategy. There's more possibilities, just get creative. Summon a pheonix and use it to block units as well. This will allow u to hold out almost indefinitely against most melee units.

[hprwhg12]

It has been years since the post about not getting Tear of Asha because the shovel wont appear. Just hit "D", It is the keyboard shortcut for "Dig". It has to be the start of your turn of course. Surprised no one thought or mentioned this.

[dettmaaw]

For the second half of the campaign, if you defeat the easy Infernal town before claiming your knight's castle, you get a free hero with a pretty decent army included. The hero does not appear if you get the knight's town first.

[danielson]

dettmaaw,



You meant the knight hero in the knight territory? If you did then you can get him/her by claiming your knight castle normally. (that level 1 knight hero already appears behind the garrison for me when you get move on the road to that weak Inferno town)

Otherwise what did you mean? I got no more additional hero.
Edited on Mon, May 04 2015, 09:42 by danielson

[Wheeler Dealer]

Hard 3.0

Reading the old posts (even my own) had me worried about the last battle for Zehir. Not so. At that point Zehir was Level 28 with his ultimate skill. He also had expert leadership with 3 feats and an open skill slot.

I sent him in with 185 obs. gargoyles. He lost about 30 of them.

I used Duncan very little in the second half. Got him just enough experience to reach Level 20 so he could town portal away when he got in trouble. Grawl moved out in week 3 but didn't really get serious about chasing my heroes for a couple of weeks. Freyda was level 27 and had already visited the Memory Mentor when she attacked him. (Moderate) He fled without firing a shot. She reached Level 28 in the final battle, needed 4000 xp and earned 5000! Her final build was Light, Dark, Sorcery, Leadership and Attack. Her Dark Magic spells were pretty scarce until I realize the spell shop changed spells, I think every 2 weeks but maybe just monthly.

[ivica]

recruited hero, got new lvl, :applause:E:\PIRATE\plan razvoj grada\Screenshot_246.png,and it's worth nothing! everything is canceled in the middle of the game! my effort was in vain!!! :canthear:https://imgur.com/a/pOUZeh6

[Pol]

recruited hero, got new lvl, :applause:E:\PIRATE\plan razvoj grada\Screenshot_246.png,and it's worth nothing! everything is canceled in the middle of the game! my effort was in vain!!!

That picture is on your computer, you need to upload it to some image uploading service like https://imgur.com/upload and link it here (Use Img tag above).