Heroes of Might and Magic VWalkthrough (using game version 1.4.)

by K.K. Rouhiainen (kullervothecursed@dnainternet.net)

10.2.2007Version 1.0

Table of Contents

A. IntroductionB. Technical IssuesC. Intro to walkthroughThe QueenC1M1.The QueenC1M2.The RebellionC1M3.The SiegeC1M4.The TrapC1M5.The Fall of the KingThe CultistC2M1. The BetrayalC2M2. The PromiseC2M3. The ConquestC2M4. The ShipC2M5. Agrael's DecisionThe NecromancerC3M1. The TemptationC3M2. The AttackC3M3. The InvasionC3M4. The RegicideC3M5. The Lord of HereshThe WarlockC4M1. The ClanlordC4M2. The ExpansionC4M3. The CultistsC4M4. The MarchC4M5. Raelag's OfferThe RangerC5M1. The RefugeesC5M2. The Emerald OnesC5M3. The DefenceC5M4. The ArchipelagoC5M5. The Vampire LordThe MageC6M1. The Defiant MageC6M2. The LiberationC6M3. The TriumvirateC6M4. The AllianceC6M5. Zehir's HopeD. Some general tipsE. CopyrightF. CreditsG. Personal NotesH. Version Notes

A. Introduction---------------

This is a walkthrough to Ubisoft's game Heroes of Might and MagicV (HoMMV). You can find a lot of information (maps) about this gameand other games on the same brand from Celestial Heavens www-pagesat www.celestialheavens.com. Why to write a walkthrough to thisgame? I searched the different forums and www-pages and found outthat some of the issues I knew were not in a brief (text) form,giving you, the reader, freedom to adventure the game but stillpointing the crucial points to really enjoy your visit to Heroes ofMight and Magic Universe.

I want to thank Ubisoft Ltd. and Nival Interactive for a fun andentertaining game. Please keep up the good work in providing thiskind of resource picking and battling game as I have had so muchfun with the series over the years. All the trademarks and otherrights are owned by their respective owners.

B. Technical Issues-------------------

You may have found from the forums and playing the game that therecan be some difficulties to have fun with the game, when technicalissues with your computer slowing down or the gating crashhappening to you. I thought first it happened to me because I wasplaying with a laptop not fulfilling the minimum requirements ofthe game. Later I found the same issues with people with muchfaster computers. Hopefully some ideas I have found will help youto better enjoy the game.

First I would suggest you to update the game to version 1.4. andinstall the newest DirectX. Some may argue to use other versionsbecause new bugs coming with later updates. So please try out howmy suggestions work for you, with your risk of course. I played thegame with version 1.4. without any (major) problems :-) Updates canbe found from Ubisoft's pages at: www.ubisoft.com orwww.celestialheavens.com. Ok. Now to some special issues and how Ihave been able to deal with them.-Gating problem. There seems to be a constant crash when you or theenemy is using gating ability meaning that new creatures aresummoned during battle. First I used game option of automaticbattles for those few battles I could not win without this bug. Butthe last mission of the game do not allow you to use automaticbattles so I was screwed. Here was a solution which I found byaccident: use game option "fastest battle speed" and there shouldbe no problems with this issue. I tried this out many times and itseems to work (for some reason?). Also now version 1.41 should fixthe problem.- Game slowing down / graphics. When playing the game it seems thatyour graphics slow down to very sticky, without any particularreason. There can be more solutions but for me it helped to zoomclosely to your character (using mouse wheel) and then you can move/ end turn. There should be less problems with graphics now (untilnext time). Or you can quit and start playing from the latest save.There seemed to be less problems with the later campaigns...

C. Intro to walkthrough--------------------

In my walkthrough there is first the general idea what to do andsome special issues what could be interesting to characterdevelopment or player further enjoying the game. After that thereare hints which can be special to this campaign / mission or firstintroduced in this part of the game - for example use of the tavernheroes (level 1 heroes). This will help to point average playersome ways to beat the game. There are no big power gamer hints as Iplayed the game with Normal-difficulty and only on occasion usingharder difficulties for testing. Also sometimes there could be morethan one way of ending the mission not mentioned in thiswalkthrough. So this guide is not covering all aspects of the game.Also details of the skill wheel or character development are notpart of this guide. You can find that kind of informationelsewhere.

The Queen

C1M1. The Queen---------------Welcome to the first mission and campaign. Here you will learn howto move and use the camera. So feel free to look and walk around.There is no real threat in this map. Remember to pick those troopsand mark those peasant huts etc. to get you some kind of army. Whenyou have big enough army, you will be given a objective to fight agarrison to end the scenario. What is important is to think aheadwhat kind of skills you will choose as you army will not follow youto next mission, but you skills, spells and attributes will. So payattention what you choose. It would be wise to take some combatskills and at least one basic magic school to be able later to usethose high level spells. This is not so important during the firstcampaign but later strong magic will be your friend from missionone of the campaign.

Hints- it is easy to develop Isabel a might character but also rememberat least one basic magic skill like light or summoning magic.

C1M2.The Rebellion------------------Another introduction mission where you get your first town and findyour first stat increase tombs (take your time to increase yourstats when it is possible). You may be worried about having onlyone week to capture your own town. Well, no panic as you can takethat archers dwelling, hit the Redwood observatory (to see yourtarget) and take the town. After that you should take the nearbyore pit to be able to build the archers building to the town asfast as possible. Still, there are no enemy heroes or other timelimits, so wonder around, develop your town and take the neededstat increase and creature dwellings. When ready, you can take thetown in NE corner of the map.

Hints- you can build a structure to buy war machines which are usefuleven if you do not have the skill, but it would not be a bad choice

to take that skill- you will have enough gold in this mission so you can freely takeexperience from the treasure chests, but actually you have alsoenough neutral stacks to hit the experience cap...

C1M3.The Siege--------------This mission offers a good change to learn some of the basicelements of HoMM5. Now you can recruit more heroes to carry troopsto your main hero Isabel and also mark those resources / windmills. The general idea of the map is to develop your town andtroops enough to be able to beat the enemy hero. You should explorethe whole map without panic and when ready attack those archdevilsin the middle E of the map. After this fight you will face theenemy hero and enjoy the biggest fight so far. End of mission.

Hints- still no magic for you so develop those might skills but rememberthat one magic skill (not essential but without one skill, you arenot able to learn those most powerful spells of thatspecialisation)- out of resources? visit those trading posts which offer bestprices for your resources (you will need ore a lot, also crystals)- also some advice about the battles. You may want to protect yourarchers from melee opponents. So use blockers to circle the troopneeding protection or move blockers to the place where they blockthe enemy. You can use for example peasant (only one) for that, orseveral one stack peasant.- experience different battles and you will start to see thatdifferent troops should be in different places and overall tacticsmode is important to prepare for the fight (you may even want toleave some troop out of some difficult fight)

C1M4.The Trap-------------As usual you appear on the corner of the map. Your generaldirection is revealed to you. I suggest you to take those peasanthuts and resources as there is no hurry. Just advance N until youhave to choose the path thru mountains or the path to the right. Iwould go right as there is a very interesting building on thatpath: hill fort. Use it to upgrade your forces. You should beenough gold to do it if you chose to take gold from the treasurechests. You can also visit underground if you wish but it is notobligatory. When you have enough troops, pay a visit to the onlytown and take it. Now you will develop the magic guild, also visitthe town with Findan to get those spells (also very useful summoncreatures spell). Now is your time to adventure and take the restof neutral stacks and stat bonuses. When ready you will have tovisit the seer near town and after that visit crypt underground.You will get boots of leviathan which can be used to cross thenearby broken bridge. Advance a little bit to find a surprise andend of the mission.

Hints- when you take peasant huts etc. early you can leave them and

order later low level hero to visit them to get for free a lot oftroops.- remember always to visit towns with new magic spells as they willfollow you to next mission- also archangel near one portal will join you and you will foundthat one powerful creature with special abilities is quite strongcompared to a bunch of low level creatures

C1M5.The Fall of the King-------------------------This mission is important story wise. Also you will get Godric as ahero and he is very important. Develop Godric and have him as yourmain hero during this mission as he will be participating otherimportant missions later. I would suggest to take light magic toGodric also, for later missions. The basic mission is simple, youmust go to the first town as capture it within one week (you may aswell take it on the last day to have a good start on your troopsand resources). After you have taken the town there will be enemyheroes going to your town from the S path (S and then E). Preparefor these attacks. You will also have a lack of resources so youmay start to capture resources as fast as possible. Also rememberto develop your magic guild fast to have town portal and summoncreatures spells. After those you have quite a freedom to adventurewithout worries about the attacks as you can town portal (Isabel)to your town as needed. I would also give your main army to Godricand have Isabel do the backup work like capturing mines etc. Youcan also venture to enemy territory SE but you will not be strongenough to take the garrison, so you may as well clear the road andgo to underground and check there. When you see obelisks, visitthem and you will be give the place where the Tears of Asha is.Just follow the main plot and when ready get Godric to Nicolaiquest and you will be almost finished. The mission ends to the fallof the King.

Hints- Develop Godric, light magic is useful also logistics (but not toohigh yet) for later missions- You can also train your troops to higher tier. I like to usedeveloping peasants to archers (if you have the money, right heroand building)- Cavaliers on the S will join you if you are strong enough- Imperial griffins can be very effective against ranged or magictroops

The Cultist

C2M1. The Betrayal------------------Some words about Agrael. You should develop Logistics for him (theS witch hut gives it). If you gave Godric (?) also logistics, youmay have to hurry this mission very fast. Still, I was able to doit even when developing also Godric. I would suggest you to saveoften and try where you can go. I would not pick any resourcesduring this mission but gold is a different story. First I took theS path thru witch hut and to demon tower (you can mark it if you

want but no need). Then back to the road again by taking thosefriendly imps with you. Now you can take the S road to the red keymaster, and from there one way portal. Go underground as fast aspossible. Now if you have time, you can take those creaturedwellings or not. Try at least take those joining troops. Just goforward until hill fort (which you should use), and to the end ofmission (try not to fight any unnecessary fights). On the surfaceyou will have to fight to end the mission.

Hints- Gating is a good skill, develop it to preserve your troops andblock the enemy

C2M2. The PromiseDo you like running? Here is your second change. Well, it will slowdown later. Your task is here to take the road up and to be therebefore the enemy hero. You may want to see how your opponent isdoing by hitting those huts of magi (not necessary). Basically youshould move along and take the resources and creature dwellings tobe ready for the end. As earlier, you may want to save yourprogress and try some variations to get just in time to the end. Atthe there are fights as usual.

Hints- you should learn more spells now whenever possible- should you take experience over gold from chests?- phantom forces is a nice spell but costs a lot, still not a badchoice

C2M3. The ConquestYou are in a disadvantage on this map as you have only one townwhich is quite isolated. Your first task is to capture all thepossible creature dwellings and rush forward, to meet the enemyhero for the first time. After the initial confrontation it is timeto advance to E to capture the first Sylvan town (best to be donein the beginning of the second week because of the side effect). Itmay be worthwhile to capture the needed resources also beforemoving on. There are NE and NW town left. It is up to you which oneyou take. I took the NW town, left a small garrison there andrushed thru the middle road to the last town. Enemy heroes can cometo your NW town or try to sneak from down from the E, so beprepared to clear the fog of war and to fight. Only Gilrael issomewhat strong so you Sylvan troops should be able to handle thesituation. I was able to defeat Gilrael near the last town in NE,after which I left my other hero to block the way to the town andstarted to conquest the land, also killing the source of the druidmagic (access is from the N middle of the map). When you are ready,go to the last town and capture it to win the mission. Remember tomove your troops to the main army (armies) so that you have alwaysmore troops than you enemy. Also remember that your main hero isthe most efficient leading demon army (gating etc.).

Hints- being fast crushes enemy's plans- two different strong armies should hold enemy resistance

- secure your lines and watch what enemy is doing or planning- use hill fort (remember to use chain of low level heroes ifneeded)- handle logistics well to win

C2M4. The ShipYou start again without towns or own resources. So, take hit thehut of magi to get the general picture, take the first Sylvan town,mark the nearby resources and hurry up to the demon towndownstairs. I made one demon army and Sylvan army to my new Sylvanhero to avoid leaving troops. This tactics worked ok. There is twoinitial towns left. Town on middle E was more active so I capturedit, following the capture of the town middle W. If you did thisfast, all what is left is to adventure the map, develop your heroand troops. You can go the target town using shadow dragon's offerunderground, but you can also take the series of garrisons startingfrom the NE direction of the map. If you do not capture the targettown but go past it, you can take all the stat bonus and resourceswhich the shadow dragon route would have given. What is left is thetypical end fight which you should win with your demon army ormixed army.

Hints- You can save some initial money if you use hill fort in E toupgrade your troops- there are a lot of resources and hunter's cabins which add up ifyou take them early

C2M5. Agrael's DecisionThe last mission of Agrael can be quite long. Hopefully you pickedlogistics as one of your skill (maybe also navigation?). The basicidea is to clear the sailing route by using different huts of magior moving on the ground. The fog of war will not disappear when youare sailing. Your target is on the middle of the map, but youcannot go there directly. If you have developed Agrael well, theend fight should not pose any treat. Generally I used widely thegating tactics to block and kill any enemies finishing the job withranged troops or powerful spells.

Hints- hill fort- there are not so many creature dwellings around so you may wantto stay waiting for the end of the week if there is only a few daysleft.

The Necromancer

C3M1. The TemptationIf you like to have a massive army, welcome to Necro campaign. Iwould suggest to develop Markal early to raise his troops (skeletonarchers) and learn (only) dark magic. Then you should have nodifficulties with this campaign. Mission one is again aboutavoiding confrontation against enemy. First you may want to hit thehuts of magi and get some more troops from E. Next it is up to you

to avoid the enemy and to first go up, E and down again and tounderground (visiting hill fort if possible). The end of themission is thru underground to the N. What happened to me was thatI captured the underground town from the W, avoided the enemy whichcaptured the town and garrisoned there. I was able to go to thesurface again and clear the N part of the town. Then back tounderground and N to end of the mission and fight.

Hints- as said raising skills and dark magic is your friend at least- hill fort- remember that every necro troop joins you so take those troopswhen possible

C3M2. The AttackGodric will you again. You can use him or you can develop Markal'sarmy if you have difficulties with the enemy army. First clear yourisland and develop the town. There could be some enemy attackswhich you should counter trying to minimise your losses. Whenready, you should ship with hero(es) and maybe visit thatcartographer to see your enemy. You can go to the E landing pointand take Lorekeep. After that it is just developing Markal andGodric to be ready to fight the last fight. When Lorekeep isdeveloped enough, the (easy) way to enemy town is cleared. Whenready, take the enemy town to win the mission.

Hints- it is not necessary to fight the Titans early, you should comeback and take the exp and artefact when ready- starting town can have level 5 mage guild (I got Puppet masterfrom guild which is very useful)- when you have blindness or other similar spells, you should notuse ballista if not skilled (as uncontrolled ballista wakes blindedColossus / Titan for example)- you may have noticed the importance of the hill fort to save yourmoney (not upgrading all your buildings).

C3M3. The InvasionHere you will learn how to build your necro army and towns. Youwill have two towns, one necropolis and one haven. I did fine onlyusing necro units and converting towns and haven troops to necro.You first task is to explore your island, hitting the hut of magias usual to find how your enemies just go mindlessly back and fort.When ready you should take the three enemy towns. I took the lowerE towns first and left some troops and secondary hero (Isabel)there as it is possible that NE town will send some troops thru theone way portal. Also thru middle N is a hill fort which you canuse. Actually after the first (?) town taken elves will send anarmy to be you can take and convert to necro troops. It is on shipcoming from the middle of map - the river. You may as well take theelves with Markal and continue until you see two shipyards. To theleft is the town and some demon land and to the right another town.Take them and after that explore, make necros to join you as usual.When ready, you can take go thru those garrisons to the last town.Take the town and go to the portal which you enemy just took to end

the mission. You should do it this way to avoid any scriptingproblems.

Hints- there are a lot of strong necro troops willing to join Markal- also use the tools and help to advance your sailing, you will doit a lot- there is nothing special in demon land, but on the middle thereare islands which have status boosters

C3M4. The RegicideYou will not see any towns but if you have built your necro heroright, you will not have any problems to clear this mission. Hitthe hut of magi and follow always the general route opened to you.It will be complicated route visiting different tents and openinggates but generally you will do fine following the route. My way todo the battles was: puppet master (blindness for Titans), raisedead and phantom forces (you can direct enemy retaliation to theseforces also). When you come back to the middle of map andunderground, it is near the end fight. Actually you can fight theblocking Titans also, maybe blinding the other stack and using mytactics to achieve victory. The last fight should be possible towin if you have enough forces, spells and mana.

Hints- you have to choose which forces you want to keep. If you take toomany large units, it may be impossible to get them all to thebattle ground- there is no hill fort so plan your forces according to that- there is not much to buy so mostly you should take experienceover gold from the treasure chests

C3M5. The Lord of HereshThe general idea of this mission is as usually to gather a strongarmy and attack the enemy. There are some directions to remember. Sof your Necro town there is a hill fort and level up (and possibleenemy army) so clear that area. Also take the resources in themiddle and explore the map. One enemy army can come from the see,so prepare for that. Also, as Haven troops leave you, you may wantto be evil and turn them to necro or transfer them to other herothan Isabel. One good way to win the map is acquire angel's wingsby trying to take the prisoner to your necro town. After that youcan fly over mountains to the last fight. Nothing special there ifyou have the right spells and a large necro army. Still, prepareto fight twice.

Hints- keep a (slow) secondary army near your resources as they arecaptured from time to time- to get a big necro army, use Markal to fight and turn otherstroops to necrocreatures

The Warlock

C4M1. The Clanlord------------------A new hero will appear. Raelag will be participating to the lastmission so pay attention to develop him well. Because he has someweak forces in several missions you may take war machines skill andalso look those handy magic skills. During this mission you onlyhave about 4 weeks to prepare so use your time well. I used thetactic to take the weakest stacks first and returning to the townfrom time to time for more troops and spells. At some time youshould use the portal to get to the place where there is creaturedwelling and other stuff. Also there is boots of swift journey nearyour time which could help you. Before the time ends, try to reachyour town to get the last troops (the time ends in the middle ofthe week) and sell all the resources to get maximum of troops. Nextyou will be transferred to the fight area. You could a littleclever and take only the weak opponents and let the two strongestenemy players to fight first for an easy fight with the weakenedlast enemy. And also remember to use the magic well before yourfirst turn in the competition ends. When you win, just go up to thehallway to take the ring to win the mission.

Hints- You can spare your Blood Fury troops if you do not place them tothe battlefield every time when playing shooters etc.- There is an mana well near the portal's other side- Try if you can rush from the Blood maiden arena to your time inone turn (near the end)- Do not panic if you do not clear all the neutral troops, you willhave plenty of time to level up later

C4M2. The Expansion--------------------Here is a good map to level up. First you can take the creaturedwellings from the upper path underground and go round this sectorof underground. Finally the seer will give you instructions how tobeat the level. On normal map you can just explore and beat theenemy heroes when needed. There is an important logisticscrossroads in about middle of the map where different undergroundpassages etc. cross. You can keep some of your forces here if theenemy keep attacking you from different directions. Also Shadyawill join you for the end of the campaign. She could for examplesupport you in acquiring magic skills and a way to transfer them toother heroes. Also level her up. Just capture the enemy towns andvisit obelisks to get the location of the tears of Asha. It couldbe difficult to locate the tears of Asha from the poor picture, butjust keep digging and put your all heroes to work and check whatdirections you get from digging. When you bring the tears of Ashato you starting town, you should win the game.

Hints- you should try to maximise your heroes magic skills and thenvisit to Dragon Utopia in NE corner of the map for some goodartefacts and level 5 spells, and also Mage vault- Do you have a lot of money? Artefact sellers in different townscould have something for you

- You can defend the crossroads so that enemy spies do not getthru, but easier is just to let the enemy get some help and killthe not so powerful enemy rescue army- If you teach Shadya how to transfer spells to other heroes, incampaign 6 mission 4 that can be useful if she is also expert asmany magic skills as possible

C4M3. The Cultists------------------This mission means that you can not use the tactic with only onebig army. You have to defend your possessions against attackscoming from different directions. First I would take the towns fromW and N side of the first island. Also prepare for the first demonattacks and possibly enemy hero attacks. After defending the enemyretaliations it is your time to move, take the N or SW portal totake the battle to enemy island. Here are total of 5 new tows whichyou have to take to end the scenario. All depends now on enemyarmies and your movement, so try to take the initiative from theenemy heroes and use the logistics and slowly developing armies tobeat the enemy heroes and towns. Also pick the needed stat bonusesall around and from portals. One way of knowing what will happennext was to clear and spy the map as fast as possible to know wherethe enemy is moving. You can also use the load - reload tactic ifall fails. When you are ready and levelled, you can take the lasttown to continue.

Hints- use your tavern heroes for logistics and taking resources- use also heroes to spy and clear the area- that hut of the magi will reveal some important parts of thesurface map giving you time to prepare for demon army attacks- you can level both Shayda and Raelag here when the main attackforce of enemy is cut down- your defence force could be positioned so that army can reach thedefendedportals or surface gateway without giving towns to your enemies

C4M4. The March---------------During the mission you will not see any towns so reserving yourtroops is essential. Use the mighty destructive spells to clear theway. You can also change the troops between Raelag and Shaydadepending on the mana left. There are also some dungeon troops whocan be joining you so try to attack them first to check your luck.The idea is to check the key master tent and to clear theunderground map using portals (sometimes you have to use the sameseveral times to get you where you wanted). When ready, just takethe stairs up to meet your enemy. Beat him and go back to the keymaster to end the mission.

Hints- use one big army at the start, later two armies for both of yourheroes if you want- use your spells to crush the enemy- there may have been an artefact merchant?

C4M5. Raelag's Offer-------------------This mission can wear your huge army or you can skip the largefights and when hitting the level cap, you can finish. In version1.4. there were quite a powerful armies all the time on the surfaceso I would use both of the underground routes (Raelag and Shayda)and take those creature dwellings as fast as possible. You can takethe underground passage to your target which is SW of the map,where you have to beat the enemy hero. One tactic I used was tocrash the enemy towns on surface and just run for safetyunderground as the strong patrolling enemy heroes do not follow youunderground (patch 1.4 only?). You do not have to take all thegarrisons as at least I lost some troops in these fights even withresurrection spell. There is a hill fort close to the exit to Eunderground exit and also nice creature dwellings to the SE corner.Using underground routes (which are connected with portal) andupgraded troops, you should be able to reach the SW corner of themap to fight the last enemy.

Hints------ do not be impressed with your starting troops, really reservethem as the enemies (not neutral stacks) has several times morestrength - do not lose your troops, at last (m)any high level- you can hide from enemy in underground level- you can take surface resources and towns but prepare to flee isthe enemy is coming with too much troops - you can come later whenenemy is patrolling somewhere else- enemy towns give you nothing more than experience - they justcollapse- there can be creatures to join you- you can use the other hero (Shayda) to pick those high leveltroops to your army at the beginning of week- there is a trade post where you can change your resources togold, as that you need and also resources for dragon upgrade- in version 1.4, is it supposed to take all the garrisons andcrush enemy heroes? Maybe if you are fast enough to take all theenemy towns quickly to slow down the enemy heroes but even I tookall the enemy towns, several very strong enemy heroes and garrisonswere too much for me...

The Ranger

C5M1. The Refugees------------------Here you must defend your garrison. For me it was enough to leavethem as they were. The early attacks were easy and if (when) youlose a garrison you can take it or if the demon (red) army havearrived, you can safely lose one and prepare for the attack in yourhome town. The main issue should be rising your attributes andwaiting for demon attack. You can try and explore freely but atfirst you may have to take the easiest stacks and next week takethe needed troops to start more serious adventure. There are somecreature dwellings, witch huts and hill fort at the lower S part ofthe map, which you can use. You should also develop the town to the

enemy attack. The mission ends when you beat the demon army withouttwo of your garrisons been on enemy hands at that time.

Hints------ you can use tavern hero for logistic operations- the skill set is up to you but using ranger's special things likeavenger ability could be useful- here and later also the ranger skill to be able to attack beforethe battlestarts is very useful (later you can easily kill 3000+ skeletonarchers before the battle even starts). For that skill to work youneed ranged Sylvan troops like druids and hunters- Findan was never for me direct damage expert rather than a lightspells expert using mass haste or resurrection. This made theranged attacks even more frequent. Also phantom image worked wellwith master hunters. How about dark magic and puppet master? Well,works well also.

C5M2. The Emerald Ones----------------------Here is an interesting mission. It may be a challenging case so Itry to provide more information how I was able to beat the game.First I mapped the resources to the E but did not attack Subbacusnor underground entrance. After that I went back to my town forspells and creatures. Then to the boat and to NE town. You shouldbe there quite early and should equip yourself before attacking.When you have taken this strategic town, you may as well go backand take that gold mine and underground exit and go to the secondtown. After capturing these two demon towns, you are in goodposition to repel the possible attacks from the last enemy town. Ifpossible map the sea route before the enemy comes to you so youknow when to wait an attack. You may as well take the last town byunderground route (building a boat in NE island or taking the longsea voyage. The last town should not be so well prepared as youwill be for your attack. If you have problems, you canco-ordinate to get your demon and sylvan army to the SW island atthe same time. You had a mission to get 20 emerald dragons...it maybe best to do that mission after you have taken care of the enemy.Now is your time to visit the obelisks and get those dragons. Alsonow your sylvan town can build emerald dragons. When ready, youmust just put at least 20 emerald dragons to Findan's army to winthe mission.

Hints- If you have problems to take the NE town, try to be faster andthink new logistic solutions such as using summon creatures(meaning developing your home town magic guild quickly) or usingtwo boats to get your army to the top condition before taking thetown- Having problems with the sea attacks from SW town? Well, you mayeven recruit troops from the middle town by using summon creatures(which is overall very useful spell)- Also before taking SW demon town, you may use summon creatures ifyou need more (high level) troops

C5M3. The Defence-----------------Your main town is under attack! First you play a fight where youare supposed to lose and just wear the enemy forces. I like best tokill enemy ranged units first. If you move your forces a bitforward but not outside of the wall (?) enemy melee units shouldcome and stick to your defences next to your wall. After losingyour unknown hero, you gain control of Findan who has a mightyarmy. With this army you should wipe the enemy from your city. Asbefore taking enemy ranged units makes the melee units to dosomething they will regret, like trying to harm my troops...By theway, I tried to save my dragons and other high level creatures butyou may have to sacrifice some troops (as I did not haveresurrection yet). When you own the sylvan town again, it is timefor your next move. As I wanted to upgrade my hero, I went to the Eto clear the road to purple army and during my journey some enemieswanted to challenge me (and gave me some good experience). Afterhave mage guild 5 (and resurrection spell) I was ready to sail tothe next town pointed friendly by the hut of the magi. I split myforces so that the new hero gave me his weak forces and I only tookthe emerald dragons and left all other forces to save my only town.When I went to the next town to the W, I also plundered all the seatreasures etc. as my town needed the resources badly. Still Imanaged to take the second town before the 3rd week. After that itis time to take the resources and advance to the general directionof E. The road leads you to some enemy garrisons. You can usesummon creatures if you need more troops or use your other heroes.When you have gone to the middle S of the map, you can turn to theW or E. If you turn to W and pick the first needed hero, enemy herocan go past you. If you turn E, you will get to last enemy town andunderground exit that leads to the second hero. Well, it is up toyou. This road is quite straight forward so adventure forward untilyour objectives start to end. At some time you should check if yourfirst town is hitting the objective (you can stop buying dragonsfor example so that you have enough time to check the whole map).

Hints------ You can use tavern heroes to clear the sea and also pick thehunters cabin near the E landing place (be alert for enemy hero andgo to your ship if in trouble)

C5M4. The Archipelago---------------------No towns during this mission so reserve your troops and usecreature dwellings. You can take a boat or go straight underground.There is nothing special on the sea, but it is up to you. Now theunderground is a way to get to the islands on the surface. Thereare some twists and turns and dead ends. Generally you just goforward and take the neutral stacks as you go, also picking themany status boosters. You may want to go to the NW corner first andthe NE corner road leads to the end of the mission. During yourexploration, you will finish the objective of finding ancientartefacts. When you are about to leave underground at the middle ofthe map, you are about the meet some small demon armies, which you

will destroy. The mission ends when you kill (or not?) Biara.

Hints- hunters are quite good forces here. There is a start bonus andhunters cabin- also hill fort to upgrade your forces (hunters)- take your time to level up Findan- you do not need much gold or resources here so concentrate onexperience and your army- you wonder if at the end you should sail with your boat toanywhere else? Well, there is absolutely nothing there so justfinish the mission...- there are forces who want to join you

C5M5. The Vampire Lord----------------------This mission was very joyful as there are many towns to conquer andsome necro troops to kill. It is also mission where you mostly donot need to worry about many battle frontiers, just go forward anduse the logistics solutions like low level heroes, summon creaturesand town portal spells. First you have your own island with twotowns. You can mop out the stacks and mark resources, after whichyou can take the blocking garrison. By now your hero should be sostrong that those troops inside the garrison should not cause anyproblem. Using portal you end up on island in S side of the map.Here you can visit the seer to get the mission to win the game. Youshould also take the necro town to the E side of the island,looking for possible enemy heroes coming from the N portal.Underground you have a quest to get those dwarfen artefacts, whichare easy to find when adventuring underground. There are two enemytown in SW corner of the underground and middle of the underground.You can take them as seems fit. Be careful not to let enemy hero toslip your defences when taking either town (mapping the route tothe town helps to plan you actions). Also remember that summoncreatures works also underground, taking the nearest town fromunderground or surface. In NE corner of the underground is a portalto the last island of the map, where you can meet powerful necroheroes or not depending your speed and logistics skills. One way ofwinning the mission is to get all the dwarfen artefacts back to theseer when underground is secured and take the portal to the lastisland and look for our last enemy - Nicolai. After beating him(happened me for the first town), you win the mission if you haveat least one phoenix with you when the fight ends.

Hints- here are a lot of the intelligent ways to move your troops to themain fighting hero (hopefully Findan).- level up Findan, he will be the only one appearing on the latermissions- keep your enemies where you want them, in front of your mostpowerful hero and army- there are also uses for your two other powerful heroes likemapping the not so well defended resources etc.

The Mage

C6M1. The Defiant Mage----------------------Welcome to the last campaign. You will have a new hero Zehir. Zehircan be an efficient mage. I would took only luck as might skill andconcentrated on magic. Summoning magic is good for him, also anyother. You cannot not come wrong with dead magic for example orlight magic. Just develop magic skills fast to expert level andmaybe use intelligence (from enlightment skill set) to boost yourmana pool. Zehir is one of the characters doing the last mission.

First mission can be challenging or easy if you know the tactics.Usually bonus do not matter but here I would take Djinns tostrengthen your weak army. First you should mark those troopbuildings (horned demons) and skeletons in the middle of map.Second you can go to the enemy town before hitting level 10 (todevelop it to your benefit) or you can take care of other business(rising attributes) and hit the town later. Your key to victory isnot to loose much of your army by using efficiently your troops,skills and summoning.

The town is in the east side of the map. When you win the town andyou are at level 10, you will win the mission.

Hints- you start with the element summoning spell, so use it in toughplaces- as usual slowly moving enemy troops are much easier than rangedtroops- your troops turn to elements if the stack (even small one) dies,use it at the end or as needed- artefact merchant can have something for you- did you know that Gremlins can repair your mechanical troops likegolems and gargoyles?- if you know what to do, you can sprint to enemy town and take itfast- do we really want to beat those phoenix out there?

C6M2. The Liberation--------------------

This is a mission where you can use that Artificer skill, so havefun and use it. You must build a town structure, make artefacts andput them on to your troops (only one per troop, sorry) with town'sspecial ability. Magic guilds end up to level 3 so no fun from thatside.

At the beginning you may guess what to do; take those resources asfast as possible. Generally direction south do not possess anythreats so you may take some demon stacks and concentrate to movingnorth to portal. There will be enemy coming before the end of theweek, but you should be able to beat him. Next you can go afterthose other heroes and take the Necro towns from the other island.I would not suggest you to take your target town at the early stageof the mission as it is heavily guarded. After rising yourattributes and gathering experience. You do not have to take down

all the neutral stacks if you do not want as it takes quite muchtime and there is the experience limit anyway. Are you ready tomeet quite a lot of Cavaliers/Paladins? Go to the middle south ofthe map to the town and beat the Cavalier stack. It could bechallenging but just have enough troops and good logistics. Youwonder if the other side of the island would be easier with thoseWrights? You may try yourself if you want challenge. Now takingthose two enemy towns (including Lorekeep) should be easy afterthat Cavalier stack. You can go back now if you want to your firsttown thru southern demon land and pick the necessary items /resources. Now you can adventure and when ready go to your targettown. I liked the end fight with strong Academy troops. If you havedark magic (Puppet Master), it will be easy. I had summoning andlight magic which worked ok also. The fight is normal with largearmies but with no enemy hero!

Hints- leave resources which you have difficulties to take withoutcasualties. You can take them later- you can again use your weak and small stack troops to turn themto elements to win some battles- you wonder if you need those Haven troops (they can not beupgraded) on the second island? Well, I did not have any use forthem as Academy and Necro troops were enough for me- you should develop Necro towns as you have more than enough ofmoney. You can use those forces as cannon fodder or backup- develop Colossus as fast as possible as you will be fightingthose later and you need high level troops- use for once those amulets to your troops when taking the enemyAcedemy town- take care of your logistics (other heroes carrying troops to yourmain hero etc) as there are some powerful stacks out there and youwant to be prepared

C6M3. The Triumvirate---------------------This mission you start on the road looking for someway to go. Iprefer to go underground to pick Godric as you need him to finishthe mission. You can also capture those peasant huts on the way.Once underground, just take the upper road to Godric, who iscaptured in the upper middle, road starting from the east. One ideacould be that Godric continues with Haven troops to surface asZehir takes more time to capture all the mines etc. as you may needthose resources later. With Godric on your side, troops in thefirst garrison will join you and you have easy time to capture thefirst town after the garrison. There are total of four Haven townsto capture. I would take next the one S to your first town and thenone in the middle of town, leaving the NE town to the last. I hadsome difficulties to take the last town as the enemy heroes andtroops are quite powerful in version 1.4 at least? Well, you canpick up Findan to help you out or make some of the Colossus neutralstack to join you. When you are ready with Heaven and levelling up,you should go to Southern way to enemy necro town. I took it but ifyou prefer summon creatures spell or town portal to work with Haventown, maybe you can leave it. But still I got a good level 5 spellfrom that so...After taking what you want, you should go to SW

corner of the map to face Markal. All your heroes must fight theMarkal once so adjust your troops and artefacts accordingly. Findanneeds to take the town so keep that on mind. After this series ofbattle, the mission is over.

Hints- Try to make Colossus to join you and use the hill fort to upgradethem is needed- Summon creatures can speed up the process of capturing and movingyour forces as there are no low level heroes to be your troopcarriers- You may take Findan early to support your plans

C6M4. The Alliance------------------Here is a joyful map as you can advance like a attack force fromthe south to north. You will be fighting with three of yourprevious heroes: Godric, Findan and Zehir. Generally I did wellusing method to advance every hero to their natural directions;Godric to the left, Findan to the middle and Zehir to the right.There are also three Necro towns for each other. I worked well withthe initial troops for the whole scenario, taking Godric the laterHaven troops and towns. I also took only those resources and mademarket places and town structures to Necro towns and rushed to theHaven territory. There are two gates to the left and middle of themap, where Godric and Findan should go. Zehir can take a littlelonger way to the portal to the key structure and portal to theright middle. You can use portal several times to get to level upthree. This mission is about capturing towns so just use the herowho needs the levelling and capture all the towns and do somecharacter development before going to Raelag. After that you canjust advance to town where Isabel should be.

Hints- Summon Creatures spell can be handy as no chaining your level 1heroes to move your troops around- Any spells you need (Mage Guilds in 8 towns)?- You can also transfer all the interesting spells if one of yourcharacters (Shadya) had that skills, very useful as in the lastmission resurrection and summon phoenix spells would be handy- I managed to do with the creatures from Haven towns, they weremore than enough- Of course you used those hill fort after the two garrisons beforetaking the first towns and later for creature updates?- after this mission there is no real possibility to get spells orrise attributes other than rising your level- This means that in the last mission you should have well balancedheroes or you have to move the troops between heroes which couldmean problems with morale - so prepare

C6M5. Zehir's Hope------------------The last mission. Your party will include Godric, Realeg, Zehir andFindan with their natural troops. Now almost all of the spells andlevels have been achieved already so it is pure fighting to the

end.

Hopefully your heroes have top attributes, skills and magic (likesummon phoenix and resurrection from magic guilds or learnt fromsomeone else - remember end of the previous mission).

Before the first castle everyone has an enemy Garrison between themand enemy castle. You may just rush to the enemies for the first ofseries of large fights. Try not to loose much of your troops here.

When everyone has done their job to kill some demonic creatures onecan hit the castle. You may think of arranging your troops betweenheroes depending your heroes strengths and weaknesses. I saw noneed to do any changes during the whole mission as every hero wasdoing just fine.

I will not spoil the surprise but you may found some additionalenemy creatures coming to play when hitting the right (wrong)target. Think also when and who will hit the target if needed. Youmay have wondered where you should use the Banish skill - here youfound the very satisfying answer. The mission is quitestraightforward always involving every hero to fight in a row.There is no special tactics rather than spare your troops withresurrection skills and using clever blocking / fighting / tactics.If you use a lot of mana points, remember to use the magic wellbefore taking the other castle. Also remember that you do not needto put all of your (low level) forces to play if they are friedduring the fight. Just experience and enjoy the always good feelingof finish something. If you have problems with Gating (computercrashing), you may use my experience mentioned earlier to avoid thecrash. Hopefully it works also for you.

Hints- use banish ability for (too) easy victory (Raelag at least)- enemy is using area damaging spells so think where to positionyou weaker and stronger forces to counter the enemy damage or evenspare your weak troops for the next battle- Raeleg gets all war machines at the beginning of the mission(hopefully you have that skill developed for him). For other heroesyou can exchange war machines if needed.- Also troops can be exchanged if needed

D. Some general tips--------------------

1. Save often and to different places. This is normal but sometimesoverlooked. You may have to come back to your earlier save ifsomething special happens making the game unbeatable

2. Generally the game can be played as you wish but mostly thepreviously selected skills of your characters are worthwhile to bedeveloped fast

3. What is the purpose of the game really? It is to beat yourenemy; with your stronger army or better use of your skills andtactics. Logistics and fighting skills are both important.

4. Developing towns or capturing creature dwellings is important. Itry to think for the current week to have optimum troops which canbe recruited / created at the first day of the next week.

5. You can not carry your precious troops to next mission sodeveloping your attributes, experience / levelling and magic skillsare also important. It could mean that before rushing to the nextmission you could use some time developing your character.

6. Overall tactics is surprisingly important (and the skill is alsonot a waste). Where you position your troop before the battle startquite much decides how the fight will start (computer AI).

7. You do not have to position all of your (weak) troops iffighting ranged troops or troops with magic skills.

8. I like higher tier troops more than low level as you have morehit point to cover from retaliation and overall performance isbetter. But this depends on situation as for example Necros shoulduse those skeleton archers and other troops as their main attackingfist.

9. There are a lot of small details you can do to achieve betterperformance with your troops and skills. Many times with carefulplanning and tactics you may end of losing no troops at all.

10. Initiative. I love the initiative system as it makes newtactical things possible. For example you can slower or haste yourtroops or cast the next enemy character supposed to move withpuppet master etc. You can also plan when is your time to move andwhen not. Sometimes your faster troops can even hit and returnbefore enemy troops reacting.

11. This can be personal but I prefer mass effects and indirectways of damaging more than direct damage. Direct damage is cool onearly on the mission but against 50+ Paladins may not be enough -but spells like mass slow, confusion, puppet master or ArcaneShield to your strongest stack could mean more on the long run.

12. Most of skills are really useful if practiced in the right way.So keep thinking the way to use them in different situations. Forexample Phantom Forces spell can be useful to double your rangedstrength, in focusing enemy fire (and hopefully missing the turnbecause of the incorporeal nature of the spell), blocking yourenemy to reach your weak ranged force etc.

13. Every battle is different so positioning your troopsremembering the current terrain and to protect your weaker troops,to think your enemy positioning, using blocking or troops with only1 unit as blocker or spell users can all be useful. Tryingdifferent things is part of the fun!

14. You usually win if you take the initiative during the mission,attacking first, be faster capturing resources etc.

15. Remember. In campaigns enemies are the dumb and controlled by

computer, you are the only real heroes of might and magic there!

E. Copyright------------

This document is copyright 2007 of K.K.Rouhiainen. It is intendedfor private use only and no part of it may be posted anywhere elsewithout my permission. Please contact me by email if you want useit in some other form or forum than www.gamesfaq.com.

If you have any comments or ideas how to make this walktru evenbetter, please email me and I will include your effort with propercredit to this document. I appreciate if you use the same layoutthan I have used in hints, or tactics for example.

F. Credits----------

Thanks to every people who have been involved in creating such agreat games of Heroes of Might and Magic over the years. Thanks toUbisoft and Nival Entertaiment for HoMMV.

Thanks to you helping to finish and reading my guide. You know whoyou are.

G. Personal Notes-----------------Having experience of several decades of computer gaming I stillwonder why the stories or story development have not been moresophisticated overall. I know a lot of interesting modern storiesfrom books, movies or theatre, but game industry seem to lack theways to make the story the centre of the product. Maybe it is sucha new industry but hopefully it starts to develop also new ways ofmaking sense of wonder. This do not relate only to HoMM 5, it is alarger issue. And I do not mean I could make better stories, ratherthan there are good stories around. Also some great computer gameswith good stories but not too many. Also I may be too old but thereare many of us around.

H. Version Notes-------------1.0: Fist version which needs comments from the readers to findmistakes and misspellings.