• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round/Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 5 / 4
• Untrained / Basic: Target, allied troop receives a +3 attack rating bonus for hand-to-hand attacks.
• Advanced: Target, allied troop receives a +6 attack rating bonus for hand-to-hand attacks.
• Expert: All allied troops receive a +6 attack rating bonus for hand-to-hand attacks.

Just as Precision increases the attack rating for troops with a ranged attack, Bloodlust does the same thing for troops that use hand-to-hand attacks. Since most armies have more melee troops than ranged troops, Bloodlust is a good spell to use; especially if you don't have Bless.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round/Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 6 / 5
• Untrained / Basic: Enemy, target troop creatures deliver minimum damage when attacking (including retaliation attacks).
• Advanced: Enemy, target troop creatures delivers ((80% of their minimum damage) - 1) when they attack.
• Expert: All enemy creatures deliver ((80% of their minimum damage) - 1) when they attack.

Curse is a great spell because it reduces the effectiveness of all of the creatures (both melee and ranged), and it's especially effective against those with a wide damage range. For example, Ancient Behemoths have a damage range of 30 to 50. With Basic Curse, they will inflict 30 points of damage each. With Advanced or Expert Curse, this will decrease to 23 points of damage. I'm sure you can see how useful Curse can be.

• 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 really isn't a specific Magic Arrow spell that's specific to the Fire magic school and from my experience, the level of Magic Arrow is the level of the highest magic school that you have. It's available in most Mage Guilds and can be used for quite some time to whittle down that stack of archers that your creatures can't get to yet. 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 Fire Magic spells is reduced by 30% for target, allied troop.
• Advanced: Damage from Fire Magic spells is reduced by 50% for target, allied troop.
• Expert: Damage from Fire Magic spells is reduced by 50% for all allied troops.

Considering how offense-oriented the Fire Magic spells are, Protection from Fire can be useful against magic users.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round/Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 10 / 8
• Untrained / Basic: Target, enemy troop is frozen until they are attacked. Deactivating attack is retaliated at 50% of base attack rating.
• Advanced: Target, enemy troop is frozen until they are attacked. Deactivating attack is retaliated at 25% of base attack rating.
• Expert: Target, enemy troop is frozen until they are attacked. Deactivating attack is not retaliated.

Blind essentially stops an enemy stack from taking any actions until it is attacked. Blind is most useful for preventing archers or the enemy's strongest stack from attacking until you are ready. You can also use Blind to freeze the opponent's last stack of creatures to give you time to resurrect fallen troops or cast defensive spells. When used correctly, Blind is a very powerful spell.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 2 Rounds
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 8/ 6
• Untrained / Basic: A two hex-wide wall of fire is produced at target hex. A troop passing through these hexes takes ((Power x 10) + 10) damage.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that wall of fire is three hexes wide and damage is ((Power x 10) +20).
• Expert: Same as Advanced Effect, except that damage is ((Power x 10) + 50).

Fire Wall isn't used very often and it's not just because of the low damage but because it only lasts for two rounds and it is easy to avoid. The only time that I'd consider using Fire Wall is if the battlefield is crowded so there are just a few places to walk, and if the enemy consists mainly of troops that can't fly or teleport. So I'd cast Fire Wall in the areas where the enemy is forced to walk though to get to my troops. Still, the damage isn't very high and the duration isn't very long so I think that there are plenty of other more valuable spells to use that have more damage and a wider range of uses.

• 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 and lessening the number of troops that you lose in a battle is also 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 as often as I'd like but it lasts a long time and seems to work on all of your heroes so it's very important to a good battle strategy.

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

Fireball has the same range and spell cost as Meteor Shower but is approximately half as powerful. On the bright side, Fireball is found more often in Mage Guilds than Meteor Shower. Fireball works best if the enemy troops are grouped together. Otherwise, I would use a spell that only affects one creature stack because they tend to be more powerful than Fireball.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Until Touched
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 18 / 15
• Untrained / Basic: Landmines are placed in four random hexes on the battlefield. A troop stepping on a mine takes ((Power x 10) + 25) damage. Enemy creatures battling on their native terrain can see the mines and can cross them safely. To all others they are invisible.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that six mines are placed, and damage is ((Power x 10) + 50).
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except that eight mines are placed, and damage is ((Power x 10) + 100).

Land Mines do a little bit more damage than the Fireball and you're not assured that anyone will get hurt by them. In addition, if the enemy creatures are on their native terrain then they will see these mines and will avoid them; such as if you're facing a Fortress hero in the swamp. So I'd only use Land Mine against a mainly ground enemy at expert level and on a non-native terrain.

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

What happens when you have negative luck? The answer is that you don't get a chance for having a double damage attack. Unlike negative morale, the troops won't freeze or suffer any other drawbacks. Hence, Misfortune is a completely useless skill.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 24 / 20
• Untrained / Basic: All troops take ((Power x 50) + 30) points of damage.
• Advanced: All troops take ((Power x 50) + 60) points of damage.
• Expert: All troops take ((Power x 50) + 120) points of damage.

You might wonder what use Armageddon would have since it hurts every creature on the battlefield. However, there are a number of creatures that are either immune to spells or to fire spells in particular. Simply use Black Dragons, Efreet, Efreet Sultans, Fire Elementals, Gold Golems, or Diamond Golems and cast Armageddon until the enemy army is wiped out. You can also use advanced or expert Anti-Magic to make some of your troops immune. Armageddon is a very powerful spell that is difficult to defend against.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 18 / 15
• Untrained / Basic: Target attacks nearest troop. All creatures in a 1 hex radius affected.
• Advanced: Target attacks nearest troop. All creatures in a 7 hex radius affected.
• Expert: Target attacks nearest troop. All creatures in a 19 hex radius affected.

I consider Berserk to be a better form of Hypnotize because Berserk doesn't take into account the health of the target troops. Just be careful that your own troops aren't considered to be the nearest troop or they will be attacked. Berserk also can cover a huge range which means that you can prevent a good portion of the enemy's troops from attacking you. If you can't kill the enemy, then the next best thing is prevent them from attacking you and Berserk does the latter very well.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round/Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 16 / 12
• Untrained / Basic: 20% of hand-to-hand damage inflicted on target, allied troop is counter-inflicted on attackers of the troop.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect except that 25% of damage is counter-inflicted.
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except that 30% of damage is counter-inflicted.

Fire Shield is good to cast on strong creatures that typically get surrounded. For example, when attacking a town you could cast Counterstrike and Fire Shield on a flying unit and have them fly over the moat. Then they'd be much more effective at damaging the enemy, especially if they are strong enough to last many rounds.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Until target troop's next action
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 24 / 20
• Untrained / Basic: Target troop's attack rating is increased by 100% of the troop's defense rating, and its defense rating is reduced to zero.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except attack rating is increased to 150% of the troop's defense rating.
• Expert: Same as Advanced Effect, except attack rating is increased to 200% of the troop's defense rating.

You definitely don't want to cast Frenzy on a surrounded creature stack because they will take significantly more damage than usual. Frenzy is best used when there is little chance of retaliation or when you can kill most of the enemy so that its retaliation will do little damage. As can be expected, the computer will target the creature with Frenzy so you could always use it as a diversionary tactic while you move your other creatures to better positions.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Instant
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 16 / 12
• Untrained / Basic: Strikes target hex, and all hexes within two hexes for ((Power x 10) + 20) damage.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that damage is ((Power x 10) + 40).
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except that damage is ((Power x10) + 80).

Inferno is a slightly improved Fireball with a small damage increase and a bigger range for about the same cost. Unfortunately, the damage is still not very much and I would only use it if I was able to target many creatures at the same time.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: 1 Round/Power
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 16 / 12
• Untrained / Basic: Target, allied troop's attack rating is increased by eight against behemoths, dragons, and hydras.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that attack bonus also affects devils and angels.
• Expert: Same as Advanced Effect, except attack bonus also affects titans.

While Slayer increases one stack's attack rating more than the other spells that do the same thing, Slayer has a few weaknesses. Firstly, it only works on one stack and not your entire army. Secondly, the attack rating is only effective against level 7 creatures. Precision, Bloodlust, Bless, and Shield all have similar affects and can apply to all of your troops and against any enemy creature. In my opinion, Slayer is not worth using.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Combat
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 25 / 20
• Untrained / Basic: A troop containing (Power x 2) fire elementals appears on the side of the casting player. Only one type of elemental can be summoned.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that (Power x 3) fire elementals are summoned.
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except that (Power x 4) fire elementals are summoned.

Fire Elementals are a bit faster than the Earth Elementals and almost as strong, which makes them a good choice. The computer likes to attack Fire Elementals even more than your archers but they can usually last long enough for you to resurrect your troops or to cast some defensive spells. All of the summoned Fire Elementals will disappear at the end of the battle.

• Type: Combat
• Duration: Permanent
• Untrained Cost / Trained Cost: 25 / 20
• Untrained / Basic: Target, non-undead troop is sacrificed (destroyed). Then another target dead troop has ((Power + Destroyed Troop's Creature Base Health + 3) x number of Creatures Sacrificed) in health total of creatures returned to life.
• Advanced: Same as Basic Effect, except that health total of creatures resurrected is ((Power + Destroyed Troop's Creature Base Health + 6) x number of Creatures Sacrificed).
• Expert: Same as Basic Effect, except that health total of creatures resurrected is ((Power + Destroyed Troop's Creature Base Health + 10) x number of Creatures Sacrificed).

At first glance, you might wonder why you'd ever sacrifice your own troops. However, you can resurrect many more creatures than you can with the Resurrection spell. Good creatures to sacrifice are those that joined your army or a low level creature stack that won't be effective against the enemy. However, undead creatures can't be the target or the recipient of this spell. Overall, Sacrifice is a much better way of resurrecting some of your troops as long as you have other troops that can be sacrificed.