The Best Heroes 3 (HOMM) Secondary skills.

The 10 best (not in particular order) secondary skills in Heroes 3.
The images are from the Internet and belong to their original owners.

[@garrettducat5769]

Can't we all just agree that first aid is the worst? I wish they combined first aid, ballistics, and artillery into "war machines" or something cause the only one worth getting is ballistics.

[@karolejak6238]

They did It in Heroes V and 7

[@oknozwystawy2252]

they did it in WoG its expansion for heores 3

[@oknozwystawy2252]

first aid is strong for early part of game when you play Gem with some pegasus or dendroid soldiers you can kill a lot

[@Johannes4233]

Eagle Eye, First Aid and Sorcery are all equally bad.

[@oknozwystawy2252]

@@Johannes4233 as i said, first Aid is not that bad in early Parts of game playing gem (BUT ONLY AT BEGINIGS) , socrecy is much better than eagle eye... When you get eagle eye and sorcery you will always pick sorcery because it improves your spell power So its more usefull. I absolutly cant agree with you that these skills are equally bad

[@ahbraveconscript997]

me: cool witch hut witch: free eagle eye! ...

[@Hardcore_Remixer]

Good thing in WOG you can set the Advanced Witch hut so you can refuse the skill and in HoTa you can simply refuse it without any special setting.

[@Adri9570]

Witchmamu! I come to bargain! (learns something unwanted) Oh, boy, here we reload the match again... Witchmamu! I come to bargain! (and so on) 😅

[@Hardcore_Remixer]

@@Adri9570 That's why in Wog there is an option for advanced Witch Hut and in HoTa you can always refuse to learn the skill.

[@kodytiffany5686]

Ga Damn it foiled again.

[@theodenmannix4362]

The icons are so freakin pretty looking, always loved the aesthetics of this game

[@brianmayabella5992]

Top 5 1. Wisdom 2. Earth magic 3. Logistics 4. Depends on race/ faction 5. Depends on race and faction

[@DelinaX]

Where's diplomacy.. It's literally a broken skill

[@Cons1337]

Wisdom is a dead skill on a lot of maps

[@DOGEreal]

@@DelinaX it was so broken that it was literally banned from the game, that says something?

[@Leance1993]

Earth magic is absolutely "must have" on every map.

[@kodytiffany5686]

I prefer Air Magic. I don't learn Town Portal often enough to want Earth Magic nor do I like most of its support magic; often I find myself wanting Chain Lightning or Prayer; but I do find that I like fire spells the least. To me the magics go Air Water Earth Fire

[@Hardcore_Remixer]

Fire magic: Curse you! Air magic: aCHOO... Water magic: Bless you! Earth magic: Rest you! (I know it is wrong language usage)

[@AeonQuasar]

​@@kodytiffany5686 Combat: Earth Magic > Fire Magic = Water Magic > Air Magic Overworld: Earth Magic = Air Magic > Water Magic > Fire Magic. Overworld: Town Portal is vital in any maps that's Large or bigger. You can still micro without it, but it takes forever and makes the game boring (imo). DD and Fly are amazing on any maps, but it's mostly banned. If allowed, it's super strong and equally as important to TP for their ability to break the map. Combat: In Combat there is no denial that Earth Magic have the best spells. They are insane. Mass Shield, Mass Slow, Mass Stoneskin, Mass Sorrow, Animate dead/resurrection, force field. Meteor shower (decent AOE) and Implosion (highest single target damage spell) for damage. Best summon in Earth Elements as well. Death Ripple is also decent, especially early game for the Necro players. Total: 8 brilliant spells, 2 great spell. (not counting the summon as the other school have that too) Fire Magic have the second best combat skills with Berserk and Armageddon the main attraction, but also Blind, Fire Wall, Mass Curse, Mass Bloodlust and Slayer are decent good spells with good utility. Problem are Fire don't get any unique overworld spells, so it usually fall short in general. Blind can also be used just as good without any skill in fire magic. Total: 2 brilliant spell, 5 great spells. Water Magic are almost equally as powerful as Fire magic with access to Mass Prayer, Mass Bless, Mass Cure and Mass Forgetfulness as their main target. But also decent good options with Mass Mirth, Teleport and Clone. Water Walking and Summon Boat are semi strong overworld spells, but can be learned and used without any skills in water magic. Total: 4 brilliant spells, 3 great spells. Air Magic on the other hand is just like Earth Magic insane in the overworld map, but weakest of the 4 in terms of fighting. Chain Lightning can only be used the first 1-2 rounds in the fight without risking hitting your own units, also the damage is not that insane. It's mostly only used when you are winning the fight anyway. Mass Haste are the only really good spell to pick from, but Air Shield and Destroy Undead are decent ones too. Chain Lightning is a nice spell as well as it is good securing kills and also Lightning Bolt for early game damage. Total: 1 brilliant spell, 4 great spells. If DD and Fly are banned, Water magic or Fire Magic should be the major focus beside Earth magic. Since you always should get Earth Magic, even if Town Portal are banned as well. Since they have so good spells. If DD and Fly are not banned, I always recommend Earth and Air.

[@kodytiffany5686]

@@AeonQuasar Like with Pokemon I have zero intrest in competitive scene. I like playing with my friends on the same computer where we leave the room and wait for our turn. I generally don't use magic unless I must; so I care more about my units (in short I have not experamented much with the buffs and debuffs). As to how I decide which magic is best I go by the worst spell I can think of from each element; Fire I like so little because of Armagedon and Sacrafice... I mean why hurt all my units; I can't afford ANY losses normally. I really should not need to explain Sacrafice. Earth has Vision and View air and Earthquake; Earthquake would be good if I could target with it; the other two are spells I don't use or want to. Water has remove obsticle and Frost ring and Cure. Cure would be good in my book if it did more; Frost Ring is to hard to use for its shit damage; Remove Obsticle has done nothing for me... I want the obsticles there so I can bottle neck the foe and such. Air... I don't remember much bad from it. Its that lack of connecting bad spells to it that has me like it best.

[@AeonQuasar]

@@kodytiffany5686 every spell group have horrible spell or spells that are hard to use even in the casual scene where i play most of my games (Same as you) in anyway. You cant decide what spell group are worst based on whats spells are the worst in the group or you dont even want to use. Like Armageddon are only good on either A a suicide hero or B a hero with units that are immune to either fire or magic. Still you cant just decide; welp fire magic are bad because their damage or higher level spells are complex or bad. Cure can be used to remove debuffs/curses on your team. Enemy used blind or berserk on your team, remove it with cure or dispel. Having expert water magic gives you the ability to use mass cure. Giving it to all your units and not just one slot. Damage spells are weak in general besides implosion, meteor shower (earth), chain lighting, lighting bolt (air), Armageddon. (fire).

[@mihalybalint8969]

Great video as always! Can't wait for the next one!

[@richiabosuli3193]

Thanks !

[@FourthFloorParkour]

Your “tactics” still left your archers vulnerable...

[@vnaum]

Its Basic Tactics. You need at least Advanced to actially cover shooters ;-)

[@dionatos3875]

When you get wisdom but the entire game becomes a blind/dispel fuckery anyway

[@krzysztofratajski2806]

for me there are 2 skills that change EVERYTHING, I cannot play without them, or is much harder.....LOGISTICS AND EARTH MAGIC

[@Hardcore_Remixer]

In HotA or in the Complete version? In HotA logistics is nearfed to give 5%, 10% and at expert 15%.

[@umutnumanoglu1056]

@@Hardcore_Remixer Still even in HotA, Log, Earth and Earth are still strongest. In some maps Air is also very strong (double DD), but having more movement points on your main is one of the best things you can have. More movement means more fights, more xp, more creatures. Especially in Homm3 having one more move can change everything (like getting an extra town and building tavern/MG there)

[@brianmayabella5992]

3. Wisdom

[@thatdudewelove8498]

Nice video. Intelligence is a nice skill, but from my experience, it's not an absolute necessity. But like you said, on bigger maps, and on especially ridiculous custom maps like Jedi Story or Wayfarer, its worth investing into. Most people from what I've gathered will say the ideal hero will want to have Logistics, Earth, Air, Offense, Armorer, Wisdom, Tactics, and the last one is a free option.

[@richiabosuli3193]

Thanks

[@twanhoekman4726]

it should be noted that armor is bugged and increases damage you take from castle towers. i think the same goes for the spell that reduces ranged damage, and a resistance spell to a element i can't remember.

[@Vodhr]

People like to argue about, which is the WORST secondary in Heroes 3: Well, THE absolute worst... Is Learning!!! Yes... THE WORST! Worse than First Aid! You think First aid suck? You think Eagle Eye is a waste? Mysticism? Navigation... Now, these are alll THE WORST... but even Navigation has a beneficial effect in the right place. (But... why would we ever play a water based map? So let's act like it doesn't exist.) "Learning" has ZERO uses! It is literally less usefull than First Aid! :P It is meant as a Tempo-skill... well, the math is rather simple and paints a gleam picture... Best case scenario for learning: If you start with Learning (+5% xp) Get a chest/obelisk 1000xp (+50xp) to level 2 and get Advanced Learning. Currently, 1050 xp (+10% xp) Get another chest/obelisk for 1000xp (+100xp) to level 3 and get Expert Learning. Currently 2150xp (+15% xp) So far, you have only earned 150xp, and no level, it takes up a skill, and you have sacreficed other early game bonuses. But that is alright, you think, it is meant to invest early to reap rewards faster in the future! Well, if you got the Learning at start, and leveled it to Expert as fast as you could, so you would get 100% effectivity from the Learning skill If you play a giant map and get to level 30: 496,963 Experience. Your learning has amounted toooooooooo.... 74.544 Experience... Whiiiiiiich.... Doesn't even get you ONE extra level. Lvl 31 need: 595,948 xp. Learning amount to NO benefit in the entire game! Not even a single, fucking stat point!!!! It is THE WORST SKILL IN THE ENTIRE GAME!!

[@JoaoSantos-cx7st]

Damn, I'm impressed

[@microbrewlogic6963]

I've learned something about learning...

[@brianmayabella5992]

Learning is ok if pick early. Useless if you are already lvl 10

[@justacatwithghostlygibus9823]

If the hota team buff Learning skill it will be nice Like double the exp gained( at expert learning)

[@kodytiffany5686]

Wait it counts as a Skill? Well now I know, and Knowledge is +1. My only arguement for learning comes to the question of time it shaves off to gain levels; you did not mention that. Do you know if it shaves hours off max leveling. If it does then thats the benifit. I ignore learning unless its a choice between that and Eagle eye that never triggers for me and has taught me exactly nothing in all the games I have played,

[@danielcreed8520]

Intelligence can be super useful for a good magic hero. Or it can make a might hero a decent caster, since some magic is good without spell power (Portal, Clone, etc) Intel is also good early mid and late game, unlike some skills. Can equip good knowledge artifact, refill mana, then equip better artifact and keep MP. I hate giving a slot to Resistance, but it can be devastating when it works. Earth Magic is essential

[@thechurchofdiscountdan7436]

I usually pair my main hero with a secondary hero who has logistics. I let the main focus on the business of heavy lifting while the secondary polices resources and runs reinforcements around. I find I cover a lot of ground fairly quickly that way.

[@McWerp]

Logistics is just great on everyone.

[@John-ih7gp]

I do the same. I usually go quite heavy on purchasing heroes in the game. Even if a tertiary hero can get to a wellhouse or a windmill each will, means that he's worth it to have. 2500 for a hero, when he can cover a lot of ground for you, as well as supply you with nearly 2500 in units when purchased just seems worth it. A bonus as well, is they can hold passive artifacts for your main hero to hold more offensive artifacts. But yeah, to what you mentioned, I love having a runner for your main hero, it just makes sense.

[@snobey]

- It's alive! - Speak my child -_earth magic is better than wisdom_ - oh f- I forgot to give you a brain

[@averagelizard2489]

That child is smarter than every single person who agreed with that comment combined

[@snobey]

@@averagelizard2489 the best earth magic spells are town portal, ressurection, implosion, but you can't even use them without wisdom

[@babasemka]

It depends on what map you are playing for you to get Wisdom. In Jebus Cross or Blockbuster or any other map that has a treasury zone, you don't need wisdom, cause the chance to get toms from utopias or just by hoarding the aforementioned treasury zone is very high. Hence, you don't need to waste a SS slot for Wisdom. Another thing is that you can't count so much on spells in the "final battle" when the red orb exists. My must have are Armorer, Offense, Earth magic, Tactics and Logistics. Archery and Resistance and Air magic are close favorites. P.P. Pathfinding does not increase the hero movement in rough terrain. It decreases the penalty that the rough terrain gives to the hero.

[@brianguevara3]

Eagle Eye..... Cherry

[@KamusRetroGamer]

My skills: Wisdom, Logistics, earth magic, wind magic, archery, offense, armorer. Last space for Necromancy if i use Necrópolis. If not (Dungeon is my favourite) Leadership or maybe Sorcery. Diplomacy sucks. Tactics is a good skill for a slow team (Fortress). Pathfinding depends maps style. Intelligence is good but with Mana Vortex is not necessary :)

[@mangaranwow2543]

Very nice list. The one "gem" that didn't seem to make the cut was Scholar, although the skill won't be taken on my main, if a hero presents itself in my tavern with Scholar e.g. Alamar i will immediately pick it up. It is like having a mobile "mage guild" and being able to recruit new heroes based on the spell they start can be very useful since you can immediately learn them to your main.

[@petervlcko4858]

Exactly. For example inferno has this quite a frequent. On top of that they get often mysticism (which is often considered weak skill) but then you can stay in combat and away from your town with all benefits of it. When you thing about it then you do not need town portal as much.

[@the_major]

Good list! Certain skills depend a lot on the environment. If you are on a smaller map, diplomacy is extremely useful overall but on larger maps, it won't be as useful in the long run as some other skills. Pathfinding and navigation are also similarly useful in the right circumstances. If the map has lots of harsh terrain or water, those are extremely valuable skills. Also, I find intelligence very overrated. Unless you have a main hero with limited knowledge, you can always beef up the stat or make use of wells and artifacts. Definitely agree that Earth is the best elemental magic.

[@ivaylotsankov7292]

Hah...ahhahaha

[@laprepper]

BTW Mana pool will double sp oncea week . Combined w intelligence its uber cool

[@laprepper]

Diplomacy when it works is stupid op, just make sure you have a empty spot or weak stack

[@Cerulean0987]

I play Wizards almost always. My faves are Wisdom, Earth Magic, Logistics, Air Magic, and Archery in that order. Many don't recommend Moral and Luck but I love them. Least favorites are probably Eagle Eye, Navigation, First Aid, and Diplomacy.

[@Jebu911]

Even tho you dont like diplomacy its still definitely one of the strongest skills in the game if not the strongest.

[@ivaylotsankov7292]

@@Jebu911 By far stronger than all others combined.

[@crilleedara]

Necromancy, Logistics and Wisdom totally stomps all the others, imo xP

[@pedro6508]

experter earth stomps them all, town portal gives you more mobility than logistics, slow fucks the horde of skeletons, and wisdom is nothing without earth magic

[@DelinaX]

wdym, diplomacy stomps every single skill in the game all by itself, thats how broken it is

[@bluetounge]

And this is why Conflux is actually the second best town in the game; the Magic University allows you to purchase all 4 schools of magic for each hero, combine this with one hero who has wisdom and scholar and you have an army of heroes with all the expert spells. The Only thing stronger than this is Necro with the Cloak artifact, that thing wins the game by itself.

[@bozhidardimitrov7830]

U r pretty right!

[@naftalit3090]

Not to mention unlocking all spells if you find the grail, insane

[@livedandletdie]

U probably never heard of Diplomacy...

[@neoplante]

don't forget phoenixes the fastest unit in the game is from conflux. even if you have a stronger army because of phoenix enemy will act first and if he casts berserk on your fastest unit like archangel you're done. this makes conflux really op.

[@user-pp7pf4sy8x]

Magics are the game changers... I cant believe so many people recommend on offense and etc.

[@TK-nn8jd]

Honestly I'd consider Resistance a top-tier skill. A 20% chance to dodge enemy magic might not seem like much, but it can be a game-winner if it triggers at the right moment.

[@livedandletdie]

Hence Level 20 Thorgrim for +40% Magic Resistance... Or Level 80 Thorgrim for +100% Magic Resistance... + Armageddon... Running around with 40K Centaurs casting Armageddon... Feels like a king...

[@mythdweller]

Am I wrong or does pathfinder actually reduce terrain penalty?

[@TommyD1021]

Ideal hero has: Wisdom, Logistics, Tactics, Earth, Air, Offense, Armorer and the 8th is dealers choice depending on your faction and hero. For a Necromancer, obviously you want Necromancy. For Cove, Rampart and Dungeon, I would probably choose Archery. Leadership for Castle (just morale the hell out of your enemy), maybe Luck for Stronghold (those guys hit hard). Probably Fire Magic for both Inferno and Conflux (Armageddon domination). Probably water for Fortress to teleport your army over castle walls.

[@Hardcore_Remixer]

Actually logistics is nerfed in HotA to half bonus (5, 10, 15). Also if you wanna travel far you may need friendly terain or roads. Otherwise even a 25% movement penalty will make movement take 125% which means 5/4 so your movement will be reduced to 4/5 which is 80%. Which if you multiplay by 115% will not get you back to 100. In this case basic Pathfinding makes up for more than Expert Logistics does.

[@Catinkontti]

I think that Leadership is one of the best, because then you can really troll enemies and take out larger armies as an underdog. Leadership is also needed for gathering some powerful artifacts.

[@calise616]

No!

[@Jalraxe]

In my opinion there are 3 ranks of skills. Rank 1 skills are the must have skills like Wisdom, Logistics, Air Magic, Earth Magic, Offense, Diplomacy. All of these are game changing, in multiplayer you will probably loose without any of these. Rank 2 skills can be useful but not crucial and not useful in every situations. Some of these can be replaced with items, spells, buildings, etc like Leadership, Intelligence, Luck, Resistance. Some will have little or no use in later game like Ballistics, Tactics or just simply not as powerful then rank 1 skills (Fire, Water Magic, Armorer, Sorcery, Archery). Pathfinding and Navigation can be rank 1 and rank 3 skills depending on map you play. Finally there are some totally screwed Rank 3 skills what I never use in main heroes. These rank 3 skills are First Aid, Mysticism, Eagle Eye, Scholar, Artillery, Scouting etc. Necromancy is a different skill, rank 1 for necromancers but rank 3 for the rest. I tend to apply these categories to every other aspects of the game too (spells, factions, heroes, creatures etc)

[@zongchengyang921]

why do you think Diplomacy should in Rank1?

[@marcgroetsch2216]

Rank 3 skills are the bane of witch huts and scholars 😢

[@modycebula8161]

I don't think Necromancy is the worst skill for no-Necro heroes. I got that skill on Fortress hero (don't ask me how, idk) and it was quite useful, Skeletons were a strong point of my army.

[@gabbiyobro4020]

My top 3 are Diplomacy, Earth magic and Intelligence! :-)

[@grumpysorc3744]

I'd say wisdom, earth and water are mandatory for your main char, all the rest depends on maps... those Chinese high difficulty maps, where you always have to fight superior forces of enemies with superior stats, sometimes require armorer as a main specialisation, both logistics and pathfinding because you have to rush all the time, intellect because 2000-3000 mana is normal for a mid/end game fight against thousands of azure dragons etc.

[@agbrenv]

I'd say Ballistics is also worth a mention, much easier to damage castle gates and archer towers, also Magic Resistance is pretty usefull, especially for Rampart with the Unicorns and Dwarfes being magic resistance based creatures, also you get extra % from the 3 magic resistance artifacts which gives you 50% magic resistance alltogether for all units, 90% for Dwarfes

[@laprepper]

I love expert air(haste lightning) expert earth (slow shield), Intelligence, logistics, pathfinding, to name a few

[@michazmuda1477]

Expert Water has better combat spells, like Bless, Forgetfullness, Teleport, Prayer, Clone.

[@Managarmr482]

Air magic also allows you to just break the game with d door

[@CragHack]

I wouldn't say Fire magic is any weaker than Water or Air. Berserk is an amazing spell and Curse and Bloodlust can be very useful Mass spells. Not to mention Armaggedon if you have Dragons or Efreeti. But Earth is far superior to all 3 for one reason only - Town Portal. If listed in an order the list would look something like this: 1. Logistics 2. Wisdom 3. Earth 4. Offense 5. Tactics 6. Armorer 7./8./9. 3 other schools 10. Diplomacy

[@richiabosuli3193]

True about fire magic, and I pretty much agree with your list.

[@ksi4621]

Roko Škrabić tactics should be 1

[@Dezu123]

earth>everything because of mass slow

[@jorgediaz3409]

7./8. Air and water. 9. Fire.

[@60b1in]

Expert curse can do miracles. It's a shame beastmasters can't learn fire.

[@Catinkontti]

Wisdom, Logistics, Air Magic, Armorer, Earth Magic, Leadership, Diplomacy, Archery, Necromancy, Offence

[@rockelino]

My top-10: 1. Wisdom 2. Expert Earth Magic (so I can have ideal town-portal spell) 3. Logistics 4. Pathfinding 5. Fire Magic 6. Air Magic 7. Water Magic 8. Diplomacy 9. [enter random skill here] 10. [enter random skill here]

[@kornelwozniak9269]

top 5 jebus king player: 1 tactics 2 earth magic 3 offense 4 logistics 5 armor

[@adriansaw7718]

9. First Aid 10. Eagle Eye @Roy B. correct?

[@chuwahwoot9713]

I play in king difficulty and i don t take diplomacy because it's almost cheat.

[@samarnol3808]

If you don't agree that Logistics and Wisdom are one and two we have issues.

[@nemezis14563]

Add Earth Magic to that and we shake hands.

[@McWerp]

@@nemezis14563 Air and earth are about even. Earth only surpasses air on the absolute hugest maps. But one or the other is 100% necessary. If a hero ends up with neither they are a bust.

[@mitromney]

Armorer is probably the most broken of all, simply because of synergy you can achieve with certain other heroes and spells. - Expert armorer reduces damage you take by 15% - SHIELD spell on either advanced or expert will give you additional 30% of damage reduction. - If you happen to have high armor value units, or just have a hero with lots of armor (Fortress heroes for example) you can reduce incoming damage by up to 30% more. To achieve this your unit needs to have 12 points defense more than its attacker. With certain units and certain heroes, its not that hard to achieve. - Next, what if you have an armorer specialty? Like that of Mephala, Neela or Tazar? Extra 5% damage reduction PER LEVEL. So, for example, if you take Tazar - who's from the earth magic town (easy to get armor spell and earth school speciality) happens to have a lot of armor by default even very early in the game, and comes from Fortress, a town known for units with high defense stat... You can potentially have 100% damage reduction (15+30+30+[5x5]) at level 5... which can happen almost instantly, like at week two. That's right. If you pick Tazar, you can actuall take hives without taking any damage at level 5. Thanks armorer. You're not broken. I'm sure this will be fixed... never.

[@kabukijo3148]

Archery pew pew pew !

[@muzdravmachaka3647]

Does anybody know, what is the first soundtrack called?

[@richiabosuli3193]

It's called Highlands, it's a new terrain theme added to the horn of the abyss expansion.

[@muzdravmachaka3647]

Thank you!

[@alexc302]

Are ranged units also affected by offense?

[@repeahlfors9951]

No. You have archery skill for that. Armorer skill in the other hand boosts the armour of all your troops with the same percentage that archery or offense boost your damage. So one could say armorer is a better skill since it affects the balance of damage you take and damage you give more greatly.

[@clamchowder2010]

1. Wisdom for high lvl spell 2. Earth spell for slow, res and town portal 3. Air spell for haste and teleport, fly

[@FarkasAbel91]

It upsets me a little that the icons of basic, advanced, and expert earth and water magic are not in the correct order.

[@marcgroetsch2216]

I also noticed and it’s bugging me too

[@DoomedDragonz]

Honestly Diplomacy is only good early game (about 1-2 months in game) and it really depends on the map and size. Diplomacy truly shines as one of the better skills in smaller maps in my opinion

[@ivaylotsankov7292]

You will never complete the 3 hardest maps ever without it.

[@laprepper]

I find waterspells harder to come by personally

[@andreimiga8101]

I would say Learning is a lot more important than Wisdom or Earth Magic.

[@laszlokiss4409]

There is no way that 15% more xp is worth more than lvl 3-5 spells.

[@andreimiga8101]

@@laszlokiss4409 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️Please search on Google: "What is sarcasm?"

[@blackmore1030]

I think fire magic is at least as useful as water magic. Casting berserk on the enemy's best troops can win you a battle against a stronger army.

[@maximilianorlius336]

you have prayer in water magic and bless, and clones. It's better than fire magic

[@Quitarstudent]

offense and armorer are must have, you can have 30+ lvl hero and filled with skills that do nothing in combat, non-combat essentials: logictics intelligence is useless unless u play on small map or XXL map with dimensional gate/fly/town portal allowed, which in lot of HotA maps isnt, because its pure op, otherwise you have plenty of mana because on big maps you have lot of xp and +pernament knowledge points

[@user-tv2of7zg3p]

1. WISDOM 2. Logistic 3. Earth Magic 4. Air Magic 5. Attack 6. Intelligence 7. Armor 8. Artillery 9. Archery 10. Tactics

[@kraklovich]

i disagree, i believe archery should be higher and armor and offence are equal with wisdom. but i agree with the first four

[@simontollin2004]

@@kraklovich archery is very situational, if your town have 3 ranged unit's like tower it's fantastic, if your town only have one then it's pointless

[@martii0120]

You forgot navigation on water based maps -.-

[@simontollin2004]

Expert air + dimension door, you can teleport the boat and even on a water map you don't spend much time on a boat anyway

[@lazygamer7469]

Guys, you can only cast once per round. Choose one or two magic skills only. Personally, id want air with tactics. lol

[@Agirmetal]

Lazy Gamer Exactly I think earth and air

[@slayerovski]

Actually you can cast twice each round, just click Wait on all your units.

[@lazygamer7469]

IF you have the fastest unit in the field. lol It is more correct to say, you can cast consecutively.

[@BuscoAlmas]

water + mass prayer = OP (Angelic Alliance)

[@laprepper]

Expert tactics is ok but the enemy will almost always come to you. Expert offense is dope, 2x as good as armorer. 30% more attack vs 15% less dam taken

[@jsy1851]

i think best skill number one is diplomacy

[@4rgenn]

1 Wisdom ( obvious, the strongest spells make you far stronger than the others hero) 2 Earthmagic ( with expert wisdom and expert earth, you have already win. Town portal is fucking op, slow, resurrection and implosion make the rest) 3 Logistic (if you move faster, than you are always in a better place) 4 Water magic ( incredible usefull and powerfull spells. Water walk is awesome in water maps. Prayer, cure, dispel, teleport, clone etc... ones of the best in the game.) 5 Air magic ( same as previous) 6 Tactics ( incredible usefull, you cant put an end against weaker enemy without give him time to even lunch a spell. All creatures with low speed are lethal as they have 12 speed or higher. With slow, haste or prayer tactics is unstapable.) 7 Offense ( i'ts obvious a must) 8 Pathfinding ( insane usefeull in 50% of the maps, in combo with logistic your hero can go everywhere!) 9 Archer ( Fortress is the only town that don't need it, cause has only one ranged) 10 Armor Bonus: Necro is obvious a Must but is only for one faction. Fire Magic is pretty shitty if you don't use Inferno, Conflux or Dungeon, and you don't have armageddon, for crazy combo, so it's too limited and situational. Intelligence is very good, but is less important than others, cause in a battle you can use 3-8 spells before the end. Plus knowledge in the map is enough. Diplomacy is very strong, but HOTA reduced it's effect and it's only for rush, after mid game you want your faction units. Morale and luck is very nice and usefull, but not as previous ones in the list.

[@mizuday2709]

i totally agree. But all expert magic config still works fine for me running with conflux all fire immune creature, finding arma trough the map and blastering all enemis to ashes til all seven of them annihilated

[@4rgenn]

@@mizuday2709 yeah, with Conflux, expert fire is a must!

[@Ruslakall]

Eagle eye is the best skill!

[@AquaLangistify]

😂🙈

[@tranjimmy5643]

I think Estates is the most importand ( for main hero ) ^^

[@Catinkontti]

what about Scholar :D but for some secondary Hero it might even work.

[@phatxity9948]

Bs

[@LinhPhan-sq2wr]

ok bro hahaha

[@igorvaleriobioterapia1147]

Земля очень важна для телепортации по городам. Особенно важно на больших картах. Одним сильным героем можно легко защищать все города и развивать экспансию

[@karlklopfer]

1. Wisdom, 2. Logistics 3. Earth Magic, 4. Air Magic, 5. Water Magic, 6. Fire Magic, 7. Offense, 8. Tactics, 9. Archery, 10. Pathfinding

[@BaSsFrEaK04]

Karl Mane pathfinding depending on the map, if you play a dungeon, swamp or inferno map, pathfinding is pretty useful in combination with logistics and I set it over fire magic. I‘d set air magic over earth magic, because of hast. On expert level it makes every one of your team a first hitter with only 5 mana points. Especially when you fight many units, who are strong because of their number and not because of their actual damage it helps you win the fights with as less units losses as possible;)...

[@user-sr6pi5lp3q]

Firr magic is least useful of magic

[@Catinkontti]

what's the Tactics for when you can just expert your air magic and use haste?

[@000Karesz000]

@@BaSsFrEaK04 Expert Air is very good, but I would not put it ahead of Earth. Earth gives you so much potential. And I think expert slow is better than expert haste. Besides the slow there is the shield and stone skin which could be massive.

[@000Karesz000]

@@Catinkontti The main reason is the ability to reorganise your troops without losing rounds because of the movements. You can surrender without taking any damage, even if you have way troops with way less movement speed. Tactics are not only used for getting closer to the enemy, but it can be an effective tool for that for sure.

[@emildimitrov7615]

1. Logitistic 2. Earth magic 3. Offense 4. Armorer 5. Air Magic, 6. Tactics 7. Wisdom 8. Pathfinding/ Archery/ Artillery/ Necro ;)

[@oknozwystawy2252]

good, but tactics as 4

[@emildimitrov7615]

@@oknozwystawy2252 By priority, yes, agree with you. Mb also good to change Offense as 2, earth take 3 place. Many pro players raise secondary heroes who have tactic, and they easy fight vs archers. In HOTA Leadership is good skil because is many artifacts with minus moral, and u combine Cyclops, Wyverns, Titans with no problem :)

[@oknozwystawy2252]

@@emildimitrov7615 also if we talk about XL+U map air magic is more important (2 DD per day), so we cant agree on 1 secondary skills priority list, it depends on situation

[@emildimitrov7615]

​@@oknozwystawy2252 Whatever is the situation, logistics, earth and offence always a priority as first 3 skills. Just because they give you too much bonus then others for flying start. Air magic and DD you get late after 2nd-3rd week.

[@user-pp7pf4sy8x]

Wisdom, Earth magic, Wind magic, water magic, Fire magic, Logistics, Pathfinfing. There's no other way

[@michazmuda1477]

+ Inteligence your Magic Hero will rule.

[@60b1in]

Armorer>Offense losing less units over the game will make up for the damage output bonus by having numbers.

[@Antalijczyk]

Nah, offense is far better, if you play well and use power stacks ,fodders and wait command correctly, you shouldn't be taking unecessary damage, and having more offence means you can deal more damage before they can get to you, thus hurting you far less when they do. In pvp tier list, offence is right below earth magic, tactics and maybe logistics.

[@gavinwightman4038]

Václav Lacina also, the earth spell resurrection exists... making armorer a waste of a slot.

[@60b1in]

Playing offense is a glass cannon, not everything can be outplayed by tacticizing around. One bad battle and your army is wiped out. You must also avoid both stacks of shooters AND fast units until you can mass slow them or something, which can paralyze you for a big deal of a game/block you from taking on Utopias. Ressurection is fine to eliminate the little losses you have, but not very cost effective with a hero with low deffensive stats either. It is better to save your mana and castings for supportive or offensive spells than burning it on ressurection on every turn which will happen to you in major battles. I will beat any offence specialist with Tazar anytime.

[@Antalijczyk]

Well it's not like I don't value armorer at all, it's top tier skill, you can't go wrong with it, but still, early offence gives you edge defence simply cannot provide, you can't go around dealing damage, but there are numerous ways of avoiding it. Of course not everything can be outplayed, but the limits are so high it's insane realy, it all comes down to game knowledge. Counter to fast units is tactics (second best skill) or in some cases good knowledge of what are spliting preferences of praticular units, if you know that certain unit tends to stay in one or 2 stacks, then more than often you can find that sweet spot, which is outside of their movement range, for your power stacks, so that they cant get to you in first round, before you can respond. The way you can deal with most shooters is placing t6/t7s into separate stacks, filling all available unit slots, with good res management you can have at least one of them available before 121 every time on almost every template, and you can get them from pickets, so you can deal with shooters on both micro and macro level. Ressurection is great but it's mid/endgame spell, for the most part you won't be able to use it, at least in pvp, where even XL maps mostly end before 211. Oh and Tazar is best waifu, but all beastmasters are great tbh, beast masters, overlord nad barbarians are the best possible mains you can get.

[@oknozwystawy2252]

offense>armorer because you win fights by dealing dmg, not receiving, also if you are good you fight with no losses

[@arthurkrech3158]

Navigation, Eagle Eye, Scholar and Scouting are clearly the best

[@justacatwithghostlygibus9823]

U forgot learning

[@alexbarac]

Fire magic + Berserker + Popcorn = win

[@paijokoplak4457]

1. Wisdom, 2. Diplomacy 3. Earth Magic, 4. Air Magic, 5. Logistic, 6. Intelligence, 7. Leadership, 8. Water/Fire Magic

[@r2zdena]

For me logistics is 2. And i would put offence and archery on the list ahead of leadership as i like to play Dungeon

[@TheValentineEnemy]

Nice list. Would put Earth magic first because of the broken town portal but it is still good enough. :P

[@richiabosuli3193]

thanks

[@Cerulean0987]

Thing is you can't have town portal without wisdom.

[@hungnguyenhuynh584]

neko

[@tunaman44]

I was elected to lead, not to read

[@monokhos]

- wisdom - inteligence - logistic - earh - wind - water - fire - (necromancy, offense, path finding, archery, armorer, diplomacy)

[@michazmuda1477]

For Dessa one of best combo is Log, Wisdom, all Magic Skills(Earth, Air, Water, Fire), Inteligence and Pathfinding(mix with Logistics you can maximize movement on any terrain).

[@AnishChari]

Might - Logistics Offense Armorer Wisdom Air Magic Earth Magic Tactics and one of (Archery/Necromancy) Magic Hero - Logistics Offense Armorer Wisdom Air Magic Earth Magic Sorcery and one of (Water Magic/Fire Magic/Tactics/Necromancy/Diplomacy)

[@AeonQuasar]

I say: Might: 1. Offense, 2. Armorer, 3. Wisdom, 4. Earth Magic, 5. Tactics, 6. Air/Water or Fire magic. 7. Diplomacy, Logistic or Navigation. 8. Interference Magic: 1. Offense, 2. Armorer, 3. Wisdom, 4. Earth Magic, 5. Tactics, 6. Air/water or Fire magic. 7. Diplomacy, Logistic or Navigation. 8. Intelligence 6. Air if DD and/or Fly is available, Fire if you play around Armageddon or the Berserk strategy, Water if you don't know. 7. Diplomacy if there is a lot of creatures and rich map. Logistic if not or if movement are more important than strength (usually in free for all maps, but in maps where you target one dangerous foe in the end, movement are less important than strength) Only Navigation if the map have a lot of sea and is huge. 8. Magic Heroes can't learn Interference unless they are Battle mage or Navigator. (they suck anyway) You can skip Tactics if you got trapped with two bad skills. It is important, but not critical.

[@user-cx2zm1jn9e]

земля интеллект атака мудрость огонь логистика

[@longlehoang7192]

as a heroes of might player,i dont really need wishdom

[@NizziNine]

Leadership (unless you're undead ofc), offense, logistics, pathfinding, armorer, air magic, tactics, ballistic and luck are the skills I personally always take if given, doesen't matter the hero type. Wisdom is not necessery on a warrior type always IN MY HUMBLE OPINION. Very surprised ballistics didn't make the list! It can really save your ass while fighting a castle and speeds things up making you're losses smaller in big maps with many towns.

[@elirantuil5003]

I don't think you understand how immensely broken expert earth magic is. with enough mana, you can resurrect your entire army after a near defeat and you get to keep it. if there's an enemy hero near your town, you can just town portal to it and defend it, no matter where you are. if you need to get to the other side of the xl map your'e playing and you have a town there, you can cross the entire map instantly with town portal. slow works on every single enemy unit that doesn't resist it implosion does massive damage pretty sure I forgot some of it since there's way too much good stuff in earth magic.

[@lolipopi503]

Sorcery, Earth magic, Fire magic, Water magic and Air magic..

[@suprljnh5003]

diplomacy and farming demon , strongest secondary skills

[@justacatwithghostlygibus9823]

Necromancer + clock of undead king( farming liches)=balanced

[@suprljnh5003]

@@justacatwithghostlygibus9823 we talk about secondary skills not items

[@justacatwithghostlygibus9823]

@@suprljnh5003 oh then Diplomacy with leadership are better choices

[@markbardos380]

1. Wisdom 2. Diplomacy 3. Air 4. Earth 5. Water 6. Fire 7. Archery 8. Intelligence 9. Offense 10. Armorer In my opinion :3

[@likenot3073]

Top3 skills 3 basic earth magic - allows you to get advanced earth magic 2 advanced earth magic - allows you to get expert earth magic 1 expert earth magic

[@AeonQuasar]

Combat: Earth Magic > Fire Magic = Water Magic > Air Magic Overworld: Earth Magic = Air Magic > Water Magic > Fire Magic. Overworld: Town Portal is vital in any maps that's Large or bigger. You can still micro without it, but it takes forever and makes the game boring (imo). DD and Fly are amazing on any maps, but it's mostly banned. If allowed, it's super strong and equally as important to TP for their ability to break the map. Combat: In Combat there is no denial that Earth Magic have the best spells. They are insane. Mass Shield, Mass Slow, Mass Stoneskin, Mass Sorrow, Animate dead/resurrection, force field. Meteor shower (decent AOE) and Implosion (highest single target damage spell) for damage. Best summon in Earth Elements as well. Death Ripple is also decent, especially early game for the Necro players. Total: 8 brilliant spells, 2 great spell. (not counting the summon as the other school have that too) Fire Magic have the second best combat skills with Berserk and Armageddon the main attraction, but also Blind, Fire Wall, Mass Curse, Mass Bloodlust and Slayer are decent good spells with good utility. Problem are Fire don't get any unique overworld spells, so it usually fall short in general. Blind can also be used just as good without any skill in fire magic. Total: 2 brilliant spell, 5 great spells. Water Magic are almost equally as powerful as Fire magic with access to Mass Prayer, Mass Bless, Mass Cure and Mass Forgetfulness as their main target. But also decent good options with Mass Mirth, Teleport and Clone. Water Walking and Summon Boat are semi strong overworld spells, but can be learned and used without any skills in water magic. Total: 4 brilliant spells, 3 great spells. Air Magic on the other hand is just like Earth Magic insane in the overworld map, but weakest of the 4 in terms of fighting. Chain Lightning can only be used the first 1-2 rounds in the fight without risking hitting your own units, also the damage is not that insane. It's mostly only used when you are winning the fight anyway. Mass Haste are the only really good spell to pick from, but Air Shield and Destroy Undead are decent ones too. Chain Lightning is a nice spell as well as it is good securing kills and also Lightning Bolt for early game damage. Total: 1 brilliant spell, 4 great spells. If DD and Fly are banned, Water magic or Fire Magic should be the major focus beside Earth magic. Since you always should get Earth Magic, even if Town Portal are banned as well. Since they have so good spells. If DD and Fly are not banned, I always recommend Earth and Air. Rarely do you need more than two schools as there are so many other important skills to pick from (as this video highlights), but I guess there are a few scenarios where I would want a few expert spells to counter other heroes. Rarely needed against the AI though.

[@AzIgaziMakk]

Well for normal Shadow of Death. Diplomacy Top1 everything else is garbage compared to it. However luckily in Horn of the Abyss it's more balanced you have to pay and still max half of the stack and it's still amazing but not broken at least.

[@Mirolo12]

Why there is no mysticism D: ?

[@justacatwithghostlygibus9823]

Wizard Well:exist

[@Mirolo12]

@@justacatwithghostlygibus9823 oh right lol

[@user-kz3nx9rj8f]

Ahahaha, i cant make a success in the map The Empire of the world 2, in this episode when Maximus goes on the water in this fucking maze))) and this episode is in the video))) Logistic, earth magic and Air magic are the best skills

[@richiabosuli3193]

I made it when I visited the Stables in the beggining of the week.

[@ksi4621]

Никита Тимашков logistics I never use

[@applesauce5810]

Ehh, Necromancy is still overpowered as hell, especially once you get the necromancy amplifier.

[@richiabosuli3193]

very true

[@Antalijczyk]

Play horn of the abbys, it's unofficial mod, but it's the main game for the pvp community, it's well balanced (huge nerf to necro, and even bigger nerfs to conflux,) adds new town, in game pvp lobby, in game template system, and alot of bigger and smaller changes here and there, it's the best heroes 3 you can get.

[@kim-jongun1133]

The real fun beggins when you assable the cloak of the undead king and start reviveing liches instead of skelletons(dead man's boots+vampire's cowl plust that necromancy amulet) but you need the shadow of death expansion to asample artefacts

[@60b1in]

The reason why Homam III are so good/fun/eternal is they are unbalanced as fuck. There are many strategies/tricks and ways to exploit information. Strategies/counterstrategies and so on... Take that away and you end up with Homam V.

[@michazmuda1477]

@@60b1in First Heroes 5 version was mess. Especially that Heroes 5 Necropolis has upgraded skeleton transformer which allow you to convert any living unit to corrensponding tier of undead. Like Mages will become Vampires etc.

[@neoplante]

wow you added water magic but left out fire magic. water magic is the least useful of all four magic skills. fire magic is very good when fighting against very strong neutral stacks. you can cast berserk and make them kill themselves or you can cast blind on one of the stacks and focus on the others and kill them afterwards. also mass curse, mass bloodlust. water magic doesn't have enough spells to compete with fire magic. my order would be air magic , earth magic , fire magic then water magic

[@AlexPrime9]

top 10 it s too easy: u can win a game even with crappy skills, it s just going to be more painful...these 5 are a must : Offense, Earth, Wisdom, Logistics, Intelligence...

[@aniruddhbhatkal1834]

You realize that you have mentioned most, if not all, of the secondary skills?

[@richiabosuli3193]

I've mentioned 10 out of 28 secondary skills. and 15 out of 28 if we are counting honorable mentions.

[@aniruddhbhatkal1834]

Richi Abosuli lol sorry it felt like all of them.

[@Cerulean0987]

I never use diplomacy. The costs are just too much and can be used on better things like tier 7 units. Intelligence I don't find useful either. I find I have more than enough spell points at the endgame. Leadership and luck I find are better options as they seem to go off quite often. 1. Wisdom 2. Earth Magic 3. Air Magic 4. Logistics 5. leadership 6. luck 7. archery 8. anything but eagle eye or diplomacy. These are listed in no particular order. Logistics and earth magic town portal is great for baiting AI into attacking empty castles. Just tp to an empty castle about to be attacked and wipe low troop enemy armies.

[@marcgroetsch2216]

Blind last unit, spam resurrection for 5 rounds, slow then skip turn, blast unit with Direct damage and power stack and get all the artifacts 😂

[@joenoname9909]

I never use Diplomacy and Water Magic. Once you have expert Logistics and expert Earth Magic (for Town Portal) you have won the game.

[@maximilianorlius336]

if you have not town portal, windmagic is necessary for Dimension door

[@dominikdavid3044]

Leadership is so useless, you almost always get some item with +1 morale.

[@HuyNguyen-jl7go]

armorer increases the amount of dmg you take from turrets . So no, it's not that great...

[@cl8804]

Armorer is bad option, because of the competition. Offence is great, but how you fail to note that it only affects melee attacks, I don't know.

[@dzsun4413]

Im sorry but fucking leadership and pathfinding shouldn't be mentions they should be on the list couse pathfinding is more usefull then logictics (as not every. Place has roads) and leadearship is basiclly the 3rd best 2nd skill

[@Agirmetal]

Water magic sucks dude totally unnecessary if you could have earth and air

[@elirantuil5003]

prayer is insane when cast on all units. that alone makes it almost as good as air. earth is on a whole different level.

[@TheDoritoFan80]

Earth Magic - Town Portal/Implosion

[@felisamici]

/Slow/Resurrect

[@taomahNEGEV]

Expert Prayer and Cure can save the day.

[@oknozwystawy2252]

dispell is op against expert anti magic, and also many usefull spells in water magic so its usefull sometimes

[@tastybekonn]

wisdom is not "must-be" skill. Some of the most powerful spell are first level - mass haste/slow/bless/cure/dispel/curse diplomacy is for pussies leadership is not worth cause many artifacts grant you with morale buff for your army

[@evanrobrowski9019]

Diplomacy is shit but sorcery and mysticisam are worth mentioning

[@Polemion]

true

[@Puuppamies]

Diplomacy in smaller maps is crazy OP. Intelligence however, is hot garbage if there are any magic replenishing places/building in your area.

[@arnigeir1597]

Sorcery, is great, and diplomacy can be broken in small maps if you are lucky (think they nerfed it in later uppdates). mystics is a waste of a slot, where intellegence is even better the more mana replenish is on the map. it doubles your max pool and is strictly better then mystics. even early on, 100 mana is better then 50, especially in large fights and might save you the detour to a few wells on the way.

[@kingstannis1158]

diplomacy is shit? lol have you ever tried it? And mysticism is garbage and sorcery is ok but there is better options

[@viking_II]

Diplomacy is usually banned, could be a mess in small maps while half of the stacks can join your army in early times, when the enemy barely can buy few 3rd level units. Mysticism is total garbage, Sorcery is good only if you have very good offensive spells and not so good support/curse spells like mass bless or mass slow which usually are better options.

[@Tyrfx6]

grammar lol

[@mitromney]

DIPLOMACY?? Over freaking resistance or fire magic? It's garbage! Not only the units demand loads of money you just dont have but 90% of the time they are from wrong castle and they'll screw up your morale. Fire magic though... expert berserk is one of the most powerful spells in the game. So is armageddon if you can make a fire-resistant team. Both can literally end the entire huge battle in an instant, with a single cast. Resistance is also just broken, especially if you have already some other items/units that protect you from spells. Nothing gets an enemy more frustrated then when his implosion just bounces off.

[@sirsecular1277]

You dont use Diplomacy correct if it screws up your morale. You are not supposed to mix units but have a separate hero for them. Also on expert level you barely have to pay money for them

[@60b1in]

When 20 dragons join your cause without payment, you will change your mind... ;)

[@Agirmetal]

Let me tell you this way diplomacy is so game breakingly op that it is banned in most mp games. If you don't like the creatures then you can fight them, simply dismiss after you pass them, get leadership, use them as meatshield in the very next battle, pass them to the collecting hero or castle...

[@60b1in]

...sell them in the stronghold. Sacrifice them at the altar... I hate the ban on Diplomacy tho. It's only op on large+ maps, where you have the chance to cerrypick soldiers with Visions. On smaller maps, you probably lose before you get the big hit like 15+ Titans or so.

[@5mwa]

The only good skills are the 4 magic skills, Wisdom, Intelligence, Logistics & Pathfinding. The rest are trash skills.

[@michazmuda1477]

I agree. I always build Ayden/Elleshar/Andra(Inteligence specialist) with these 8 skills.