Update 13: The Enigmatic Isle

Hail, Heroes!

We are thrilled to unveil our latest major update, headlined by the legendary single-player scenario: “The Mysterious Island”! Alongside this grand adventure, we have comprehensively restructured Arena Mode, rolled out key quality-of-life features, eliminated numerous community-reported bugs, and brought back the option to hide your HUD for clean screenshots. Read on for comprehensive balance tuning, template improvements, and system updates.

New Single-Player Scenario: “The Mysterious Island”

Renowned map creator Papyjama, the mind behind one of the most celebrated custom maps in Heroes of Might and Magic III history, returns with an official reimagining! This landmark scenario has been meticulously recreated from the ground up to showcase the factions, tactical mechanics, and evocative atmosphere of Olden Era.

Drawing narrative inspiration from Jules Verne’s timeless novel, “The Mysterious Island” provides a sprawling battlefield featuring six playable factions. This marks just the prologue of the island’s journey—future updates will expand the overarching storyline as upcoming features, including deep subterranean layers, are brought into the game.

Update Notes & Full Changelog

Version 0.80.45

⚠️ Fair Play Notice: Exploiting unintended game vulnerabilities or glitches during competitive multiplayer matches will lead to temporary suspensions or permanent account bans. Disciplinary actions may also escalate to platform-level penalties. Protect your account integrity and uphold the spirit of honorable competition!

Bug Fixes

Tactical Combat & Unit Mechanics

• Resolved an anomaly where combat stacks remained trapped in the Overwatch state indefinitely until the combat round concluded.
• Corrected an issue where damage-over-time effects triggered by the Pestilent Lich’s “Death’s Embrace” erroneously persisted into subsequent rounds.
• The “Summoning Rite” ability (Ra’Shoth, Grand Shoth, Abyssal Envoys, and upgraded variants) is now strictly capped: it can no longer resurrect more creatures from an allied remnant than the stack possessed at the beginning of the battle.
• Fixed an issue causing Archangels to inflict reduced damage on retaliatory strikes.
• Addressed a bug where Vampire Scholars generated 2 Focus Points instead of the intended amount when delivering standard attacks.
• Angels and their upgraded counterparts now consistently replicate spell effects across allied forces via the “Forging Perfection” passive ability.
• Pyroboros standard attacks are no longer improperly amplified by retaliation-specific damage multipliers.
• Fixed missing damage amplifications on retaliations for Fauns (and upgraded tiers), Barghests, Armored Hounds, Avatars of War, and Hollow Reapers.
• The damage dealt by Energy Phoenixes’ “Supernova” is now properly classified and calculated as Magic Damage.
• Fixed an unintended complete immunity to unit abilities previously granted by the Dragonslayers’ “Dragon Blood” ability.
• Chanters’ “Whisper of Doubt” passive now inflicts its weakening status for uniform durations on both regular attacks and retaliations.
• Fixed a glitch where Fire Larvae mistakenly generated 1 Focus Point on baseline attacks.

Spells, Magic & Hero Talents

• Diplomacy Adjustments:
  • Fixed inconsistent calculations where Diplomacy bonuses were failing to apply properly.
  • In the recruitment interface, the purchase button now immediately deactivates if the recruit quantity is set to zero.
• Resolved an instant game crash triggered by casting “Back to Town!” without owning any settlements.
• “Pocket Dimension” can no longer be summoned on terrain impassable to your hero.
• “Assemble!” now strictly permits interaction with the visiting hero located in the town gate slot.
• Max-rank “Favorable Wind” now functions correctly, eliminating movement range penalties.
• Adjusted the “Masterful Web” sub-skill duration to match its intended design values.
• Resolved a stacking calculation flaw where the “Enlarge Shadow” spell only registered a single stack.
• Riposte: Corrected duration scaling issues tied to hero Spell Power attributes.
• Corrected “Temporal Spheres” to deal Magic Damage instead of Pure Damage.
• Fixed a recruitment roadblock on player-made maps featuring zero-cost Diplomacy where units cost 0 Gold.

Artifacts, Decrees & Adventure Objects

• Closed an exploit allowing players to convert dragons at the “Eternal Dragon” shrine despite having an insufficient creature count.
• Fixed a disruption where Murmurmancers could not properly dispel the negation aura of the “Orb of Inhibition”.
• Laws amplifying Fire Larva explosions now correctly bolster passive explosion triggers.
• The Temple decree “Power of Faith” now exclusively bolsters faction-aligned heroes instead of your entire army roster.
• Artifact Merchant: Corrected irregular resale values for “Ribcage Armor”, “Bone Boots”, and “Dark Hatchet”.

Interface & Quality of Life

• Streamlined the Adventure Map recruitment interface: players can now manage their active army without closing the recruitment modal.
• Pre-selected recruitment quantities in town menus and quick-recruit docks are now preserved when loading save files.
• Re-implemented the custom HUD visibility toggle shortcut: press Shift + U to hide/show the interface.
• Fixed unresponsive keybind behavior with hotkey [3] during secondary skill selection in the Level-Up screen.
• The Mentor upgrade prompt is now automatically disabled if resource thresholds are unmet.
• Resolved an interface bug where unit dismissal tooltips lingered indefinitely on screen.
• Corrected multiple combat-related audio and particle display glitches.
• Fixed the bug reporting window from locking controls when combat begins while the report form is open.
• Advancing the calendar day inside town view no longer forces an exit to the Global Map.

Multiplayer, Editor & Template Generator

• Resolved structural asymmetry bugs affecting competitive template generation.
• Fixed uncounted vote inputs when requesting the resumption of simultaneous turns.
• Addressed an issue where a turn skipped due to the turn timer could inadvertently skip the player’s subsequent turn.
• Hero selection for Classic Mode tournament matches now loads without hitching.
• Fixed alignment and side allocation errors inside the Map Editor.
• The “Involuntary Summons” auxiliary building in Schism settlements now functions as intended.

Visual Polish & Localization

• Refined artifact set tooltips for the “Ethereal Knowledge” collection.
• Corrected spell descriptions for advanced ranks of “Circle of Winter”.
• Updated text discrepancies on the Hive Queen’s “Soul Assimilator” and the Hollow Reaper’s “Reap without Sowing”.
• Polished hazard zone overlays and combat spell visual layering on the Global Map.
• Synchronized gold income descriptions with actual in-game acquisition numbers.

General & Gameplay Updates

• Dynamic In-Game Notifications: Redesigned top-screen banners displaying critical status updates, such as match conditions and tournament defeat/victory states. Players now have the freedom to collapse or expand this header at will.
  
  
• AI Modernization: Foundational architecture has been laid for a major overhaul of computer-controlled heroes on the Global Map. Subtle navigational and decision-making enhancements are already live.

Arena Mode Overhaul

A suite of tactical mechanics and balancing features have arrived in Arena Mode:

• Hero Baseline Adjustments: To foster a competitive meta, underperforming heroes receive stat boosts to their core attributes based on live analytical data. These modifiers will evolve dynamically across future updates.
  
• Draft Reroll System: Added the ability to refresh draft options across artifacts, spells, and creature selections.
  • Contenders begin with 4 baseline Reroll Tokens.
  • Earn +1 bonus token upon entering the Artifact Draft and Creature Draft phases.
    
    
• Specialization Guarantees: Drafting a hero with unit tier specializations guarantees creatures of that tier appear in draft choices for both competing sides.
• Tier-capping applied: Top-tier high-impact draft spells now default to Level 1 caps during initial rounds.
• Fine-tuned overall unit stack sizes across the draft pool.

Faction Balancing

Temple

Developer Insight: Temple armies historically lagged behind opponents during late-game engagements. We have redesigned faction laws to offer higher upgrade ceilings, adding extra progression tiers to core unit improvement decrees.

• Laws & Decrees:
  • Tax Collectors: Cost reduced: 3/3 → 2/2.
  • Training: Scouting: Cost reduced: 4 → 2.
  • Execute Excellence: Cost reduced: 3/3 → 2/2.
  • Heroes of Tales: Max rank reduced: 2 → 1. Cost adjusted: 2/2 → 3.
  • Encouragement: Max rank reduced: 3 → 2. Cost adjusted: 1/1/1 → 2/2.
  • Hero’s Blessing: Hero stat scaling reduced: 25% → 20%. Cost reduced: 6 → 4.
  • Power of Faith: Cost reduced: 4 → 3.
  • Architect’s Mastery: Cost reduced: 6 → 2.
  • Temple Elite Creatures: Max rank for all branch upgrades increased: 2 → 3.
  • Elite Angels: Angel stat scaling adjusted: 25/50% → 20/40/60%.

Necropolis

• Tier 5 — Pestilent Lich:
  • “Death’s Embrace”: Triggered damage-over-time burst now deals 50% of total potency. Cooldown increased from 1 to 2 rounds. Cost increased to 2 Focus Charges.
• Heroes: Weekly creature growth bonus granted by specialist heroes reduced from +2 to +1.
• Buildings:
  • Tomb of Warriors I: +500 Gold cost increase.
  • Tomb of Warriors II: -500 Gold cost reduction.
• Laws:
  • Gifts of the Afterlife: Max level lowered from 3 to 2; cost adjusted: 2/2/2 → 3/3.
  • Terror and Dread: Moved from Tier 4 to Tier 5.

Grove

• Tier 6 Units:
  • Qilin: Health reduced: 135 → 130 | Defense: 22 → 20 | Luck: 3 → 2.
  • Thunder Qilin: Health reduced: 135 → 130 | Defense: 24 → 22 | Luck: 3 → 2.
  • Mist Qilin: Health reduced: 135 → 130 | Defense: 22 → 20 | Luck: 3 → 2.
• Faction Skill — Murmuring: “Burst of Energy” bonus Heroic Strike damage per Focus Charge trimmed from 15% to 10%.
• Buildings: Shroomwood Shack I & II now cost -3 Crystals but +500 Gold.

Schism

• Tier 1 — Ferocious Ra’Shoth: Attack: 4 → 3 | Defense: 4 → 3 | Initiative: 5 → 6.

Hive

Developer Insight: Parasites (Tier 1) and Locusts (Tier 2) shared too much tactical overlap due to high map mobility and free ranged harass. Meanwhile, Waurms dominated late fights while Scorpions saw minimal battlefield presence. We’re rebalancing power away from early harass and Tier-6 spikes directly into Tier-4 frontline stability.

• Tier 1 Units:
  • Parasite: Speed 4 → 3.
  • Warden Gnat: Speed 5 → 4.
  • Ravager Gnat: Speed 6 → 5.
• Tier 4 Units:
  • Scorpion: Health: 45 → 40 | Initiative: 3 → 5.
  • Volcanic Scorpion: Health: 60 → 55 | Initiative: 4 → 6.
  • Spelaean Scorpion: Health: 45 → 40 | Initiative: 4 → 6.
• Tier 6 Units:
  • Waurm: Initiative: 8 → 7.
  • Devourer: Initiative: 8 → 7 | Damage increased: 26-28 → 27-29.
  • Pyroboros: Initiative: 9 → 8.
• Buildings:
  • Neglected Housing (T1): -250 Gold.
  • Chitinous Ziggurat I & II (T4): +250 Gold.
  • Apex I (T5): -500 Gold.
  • Tower of Love II (T7): -2500 Gold and -5 Crystals, but +10 Wood and +10 Ore.
• Laws: Decrees “Mana Devour”, “Hive Magic”, and “Great Conquest” now exclusively benefit Hive heroes and creatures.

Dungeon

Developer Insight: We’ve restructured several decrees to deepen thematic identity and bolster Dungeon’s initial expansion tempo.

• Triumvirate’s Agents: Now affects all owned heroes. Cost reduced: 5/5 → 4/4. All-attribute bonus redistributed into Attack, Defense, and Spell Power.
• New Decree — Arcane Knowledge: Expands max mana reserves by +15 across all heroes.
• The legacy law carrying the former Arcane Knowledge property has been rechristened as “Celestial Maps”.

Multiplayer Templates & Map Generation

Mix

• Climactic Battle Milestones Updated:
  • Month 1, Week 2, Day 2.
  • Month 1, Week 3, Day 2 (Shifted from Day 4).
  • Month 1, Week 4, Day 1 (Shifted from Day 6).
• Recalibrated starting resource bundles and base gold allocations.
• Treasury sector encounters now dynamically mirror player home factions, featuring decreased barrier guard difficulty.
• Removed “Legion’s Leg” from generation tables.
• Added connecting paths bridging regular treasuries directly into rich cache sectors.

Galaxy

• Map boundaries scaled down from 128 × 128 to 112 × 112, alongside density and guard recalculations.
• Smoothed severe elevation spikes across generated terrain.
• The road linking starting strongholds to immediate treasuries is now reliably set as a dirt path.
• Added an extra expansion city and Town Gates landmark to secondary expansion regions.

Outcast Tournament

• Balanced Pandora’s Box rewards and elite dwellings within opening zones.
• Accelerated global map spell unlock tempos.

Sprint

• Final Battle Schedule: W2D2 | W3D1 (formerly W3D2) | W3D6 (formerly W4D2).
• Final road paths now connect to an Artifact Merchant instead of Town Gates.
• Reduced global adventure map spell acquisition rates.
• Re-enabled the “Pocket Dimension” spell.

Jebus Tournament

• Pandora’s Boxes containing unit reinforcements are strictly barred from spawning in the central zone.