VAMPIRES ONLY Challenge! - Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (Part 1)

In this playthrough, we must exclusively use Vampires and Vampire Lords to win. While widely considered overpowered, will Vampire Lords offer enough power to beat the map single-handedly?
Full Vampires Only Playlist: • VAMPIRES ONLY Challeng...
Game version: Heroes of Might and Magic III: Shadow of Death
Map: Random Map
Map size: Large with Underground
Difficulty: Expert (160%)
Starting Town: Necropolis
Main Hero: Thant (Necromancer, Animate Dead Specialist)
The Norovo Halloween Special 2020.

[@warrendesenberg]

My favorite HOMM vampires were the HOMM2 ones that would say “bleh!” when attacking 😂

[@sizzlingsquid7451]

still amazed that people are still playing this. I'm not alone!

[@matthewjones6416]

It is a really great game. Heroes 1 - 5 are all really great games.

[@TheYazza1]

Theres huge online multiplayer too

[@mattrichardson4351]

I love it too .. but not 4 … it’s horrible

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

I wrote a series of books and screenplays which have some heavy influences from JVC's HoM&M series. 🐲✨🐲 'Diamond Dragons'. 😉 *Reflection is a crucial key in understanding what lies 'beyond the veil'...* 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ "Before I start, I must see my end. Destination known, my mind's journey now begins. Upon my chariot, heart & soul's fate revealed. In Time, all points converge--hope's strength re-steeled. But to earn final peace at the Universe's endless refrain, We must see all in nothingness... ...before we start again." 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨ -- Diamond Dragons (book 1)

[@siegheilyolo]

Heroes III is the best retirement plan.

[@pastap21]

KZbin algorithm doing good.

[@sunnemi]

im 13 years old and i remenber when my dad used to teach me how to play this game. i love it so much and sometimes i even teach him new things he did not know about the game! so happy i grew up with this

[@SuckMyCurry]

Great opener. Usually with these kind of series you get blokes deliberating over every little move and then second guessing once they commit, it's impossible to watch. This is so much more enjoyable.

[@Turkisshh2]

Hear hear. It's maddening having to listen to several minutes long eloquence before they finally just friggin click and let that Titan fry those stacks of "whopping" 50 Peasants apiece. Or, in Vamp Lords engagements - why bother dragging the comentary on when the battle is already beyond the point of enemy possibly managing to break the Vamps' critical mass? And when it's clear that there's nothing useful left to do this turn, heroes exhausted, cities committed, resources spent etc... but NOOO, "look at me, I'm too scared to click that damn hourglass icon, better mine some screentime, I do like listening to myself anyway". //Don't get me wrong, those videos show some amazing gameplay and vision, the kind of which I couldn't dream attaining even after 20 yrs of my H3 obsession, but some players COULD use a bit of cutting down and editing in their videos sometimes. : ) Peace.

[@LotusOynuyor]

this was fun to watch

[@RaZieL2193]

Seconded

[@darrellid]

Unless you need every possible movement point for your hero for a specific event (castle at end of week, battle with another hero, etc.), it is inefficient of you to leave gold and resources unclaimed. Sure, you might not need them that day, but as was clearly evident in this playthrough, you will need them, usually sooner than later. It is a constant, short-sighted blunder of yours and makes your videos very frustrating to watch. Criticism aside, vampire lords are so much fun to play. This is a very interesting challenge and thank you for sharing.

[@jacekstankiewicz1594]

ahhh old video but i love how you choose thant hahahha, i was playing vampire strat on jebus vs bots and also thought he was the best haha

[@jeffcouey8857]

Thanks for this video. It looked like fun so I tried it on a single player map. I had to start different since my 2 towns did not have even the Skele building built and I did not have enough resources to get vamps. So i used starting armies just to build up to vamps, then facerolled most of the map. I was impressed the first dragon utopia with 60 vampires and no losses. High Atk + Offense (I had a random barbarian hero) was unstoppable. I was annoyed that at the end of the map I had 16 level 4 mage guilds (2 with library) and not one offered counterstrike.

[@latviesumaize1835]

I couldn't continue watching you walk past those piles of gold when you needed it for Castle, City Hall and next week's Vampires

[@TheSwordsman]

thanks for speeding up some of the longer fights, I can't imagine the effort it takes to edit an hour-long video :d

[@chrissheri5731]

When on the campaign map to make the most of your hero's movement place the "x" marker next to a stack of neutral creatures. It saves 1 tile of movement per neutral fight but over the course of the your typical game which lasts at least 3 months with countless encounters with neutral stacks it definitely makes a difference.

[@Norovo]

Oh wow, I didn't realise that actually took extra movement points. Bit of a design flaw. I'll try to keep that in mind.

[@chrissheri5731]

@@Norovo just happy I could help 🙂

[@piotrtoborek2442]

I don't think it saves movement as Your hero stops on the tile before fight anyway

[@baolongbai5679]

@@piotrtoborek2442 it does. But most maps that one move does not matter. There are many challenging maps that makes it critical with that extra move.

[@baolongbai5679]

Also, the hero’s movement can be affected by your units locations.

[@gukutto]

Man, homm3 is so entertaining to watch

[@Turkisshh2]

I can feel with your Sophia's choice of Thant/Vokial so hard, Norovo! T__T

[@jeffgaboury3157]

That was fun to watch!

[@The_Strawberry_Fox]

Watching this a second time. I love vampire lords.

[@TheGentleTotoro]

Amazing!

[@peterstoyanov4169]

I have tryed with skeletons only. It's way harder, but still possible

[@piotrtoborek2442]

Skeletons only is easy, You can get tons of them from Necromancy, Galthran is best hero to use though as movement bonus and stat bonus are really good for skellies

[@turbooggyboy]

Great video!

[@jbassettbassett8489]

I think necropolis has the best town theme song

[@chopcooey]

you don't need to cross the map against pegasi; they are 2 hex length so any corner will work

[@CristianCiupe]

Yeah, he definitely underestimated the vampires strength and avoided a lot of fights early on which are easily won, slowing the progression a lot

[@Skeithalot]

Great content.

[@caseyscott2474]

The steamroll has begun

[@BAMGM]

OwO, what’s this? A challenge that won’t completely cripple you? Mmmmm

[@rhinehard206]

not only have I watched all your videos I've watched some of them twice... how many hours is that xD

[@mariomolnar3184]

Oh god, the indecisevness is killing me

[@ice13ill]

Hi Norovo, what game version do you have exactly, i mean where did you get it from?

[@Zer0_Day]

nice

[@face1854]

you sound like you wear a suit and tie for each of your videos

[@Arafaer]

Really enjoyable to watch but i must ask. Why did u leave the 3 piles of gold just lying there when you clearly needed it to get more Vampirelords when at only 8 of em ? I mean you could only buy 2 cause of no gold.

[@rohenthar8449]

He corrected himself here 22:32, quote; "because of my hubris", and yup, this paints him correctly. I like to watch his series, but I cant stand his enormous hubris.

[@mirrortarget5729]

Does anyone know how to access random maps? I can't seem to find the option anywhere. I'm playing the HD edition, if that matters. Thanks!

[@bryanduke1973]

I used to use thant as my all time hero and used to play games and name my guys Thant.

[@tungphan5023]

Hello Sir, what version of Heroes III is this? I'm trying to get back to the game but wonder which patch seems most relevant

[@mike25500]

good video but i bet you put this artifact on a map . Artifact which gives you 4 more vampires every week :)

[@alesseidler1770]

im new here, but ur really funny H3 player, need to sub u

[@tomgeniewang]

very good video

[@russellwallis2262]

Hey man. How do you get the settings like you have in the fights. Never seen it before with who moves next and how far units can move etc

[@TheCraziestFox]

HD Mod

[@russellwallis2262]

@@TheCraziestFox so if I am playing on steam with the HD edition I should be able to do it

[@TheCraziestFox]

@@russellwallis2262 I'm afraid not. 1) The Steam HD version doesn't include the expansions. 2)These features are made possible by the HD Mod (not Heroes3 HD) that only works with the complete version

[@garryspencer5483]

Ah okay. Thanks man. I will use the gog complete heroes i have and mod that. Thanks again

[@piotrtoborek2442]

@@garryspencer5483 That's the Best way to play H3. Fuck this shitty moneygrab sold on Steam...

[@felix_christopher]

Back with your usual mic? Great to see another run of Heroes of Might & Magic! Halloween specials the third year in? (I know, you said no to it before, but any chance for a new go at Stardew Valley? It's gotten a pretty big overhaul since 2016!)

[@Norovo]

Third Halloween special, although the first was a long time before the 2nd/3rd, and yup this is the original mic. It's always at the back of my mind that Stardew Valley is the one playthrough I never finished. But I also have much less free time now and it was never a big success for the channel for the amount of time it took. I'd like to think I might revisit it one day.

[@BestM0nster]

How can you go back throught Subterrain gate if there is an guard on you? It never let me turn around until I kill that guard...

[@Pvt-Lenny]

played agaisnt a mate once who thought he was invincible with his vampires. I played as magic focused hero and one shot his stack with implosion. Its hard to kill a vampire, but in all honesty its total HP is not that great when facing the higher lvl units and powerful spells.

[@JoLiKMC]

It's weird to watch this _after_ the 2022 Skeletons Only run - if only because there's no mod that gives you fight projections in 2020. (Or it just wasn't installed?) Kind of nice to see a more vanilla-ish playthrough of a random map, though. As nice as that mod is, I rather like doing things "the old, archaic way". Heh heh.

[@renekipshoven1184]

Omg.. i miss playing this game..

[@todortodorov338]

this is no proplay. was fun for watch

[@hoosierflatty6435]

Which template did you roll for this map?

[@Norovo]

Didn't check until after I finished recording the series but it's 6LM10

[@hoosierflatty6435]

@@Norovo Cool. I've found selecting 6lm10a in single player to produce some solid maps.

[@Valdore1000]

Vampires is challenge...for enemies hehe

[@mortanos8938]

I know this is now 2 years ago, but I will comment nonetheless. It was painful to watch some of your decisions, especially regarding pickups like gold lying at your feet whilst you chose to ignore them only to come back later for them. I also could not understand why of all heroes you would pick Nymus, given that his speciality are pit fiends. Oh and it is of no use to stand him infront of your castle doors with the Legions head, you need to have him stationed within the walls for that artefact to take effect. But enough criticism. I am thrilled to see that others out there still have such a passion for this beautiful game as I do, and your overall knowledge and strategies within this game speak for you.

[@alexssain]

I was coming to say the same thing

[@mkaali]

How long have you been playing Homm3?

[@EmiliaKaida]

How are you dealing with the copyright claims for the music ? Won't viewers go away from our videos once we change the music though ?

[@jeppejensen2684]

torso of legion only Works when its ind the city

[@thomasneal9291]

yeah, I was laughing when he took the hero with it all the way back to town... then immediately left. *shrug*

[@Volkaer]

Trying to play homm3 on my linux laptop, but cant get sound :(

[@comicsansseraphim4934]

HoMM 2 vampires were superior. They went "bleh!"

[@user-ve9mn8jb1h]

He's got quite a particular English accent. 🤔 Anyone knows where he's from?

[@Lordziuf]

16:20 jakby ktoś z ciekawości oglądał ten film to zaczyna się tak naprawdę od tego momentu

[@user-li6cm5kq8i]

where is the skeletons after a fight？

[@Wolfogre]

What's the rationale behind not recruiting necromancers?

[@Norovo]

If I got Necromancers, I would have to dismiss Skeletons after every battle due to Necromancy

[@Wolfogre]

@@Norovo Aha, yes that would explain it. Thank you.

[@pwnagenuss]

Why dont you collect wood or gold at the start

[@dyabolyk3000]

Can you tell me where you bought the game from? Steam or somewhere else?

[@Shane10panther]

You can buy it on gog.com

[@slimesplash_wiz]

Yeah don't bother with the Steam version, it doesn't have any expansions or the map editor from what I've heard; and the GOG version includes everything

[@leafsfanforever2896]

Plus, you can also download the HD mod and the fanmade expansion pack, Horn of the Abyss

[@TheSpinlippy]

Cool special, man. Don't fast forward through all the stupid fights, like one in five just show each lifedrain in its full glory xD

[@shadowpriest2574]

How come Thant dose not have Necromancery and has learning instead?

[@Norovo]

I removed it in the map editor so I don't have to dismiss Skeletons after every battle. I wanted to replace it with a useless skill so picked Learning

[@jimijokela6053]

@@Norovo If would have been more of meme to replace it with Eagle Eye or Navigation. (Possibly First Aid too, but it could actually save a Vamp or two.)

[@DJFrizzBizz]

@@Norovo How did you get to map editor? I am not seeing map editor anywhere on my HD mod.

[@tomenward4120]

@@DJFrizzBizz it should be in the games folder as a separate .exe file

[@TheValinov]

@@Norovo i wonder why you call this skill useless... after lvl 12 or so you have huge benefits making your OP champ godlike even faster. in longer games i always waited with these lvl-up-trees for later so i get 200k exp instead of like 5k in the early game :D

[@ranransun8795]

who else is still playing this in 1999?

[@oliveroenfermo1469]

o/

[@jkovesi]

How can you take 2 actions with the vampires?

[@madreshekel1003]

If the vampires are the fastest stack, they can use the 'wait' option and then when the opponent has used up all their action for the turn, the vampires can then go last. This means when the next turn starts, they get another action right after the last one. Think of it as last to move one turn, first to move the next :)

[@jkovesi]

@@madreshekel1003 Thx!

[@alexanderkuznietsov932]

Vampires go twice at turn?

[@thomasneal9291]

high initiative. wait until others take their turns, then you take yours, then your high init means you still get to go before the enemy on the next turn.

[@marekogarek6329]

How is it a challenge for playing against AI? Vampire lords are OP. For playing against a human opponent you need to break very quickly, so vampire only would be a big handicap and unwinnable against a strong opponent, but against AI it's all you need.

[@jakubl4353]

this game crashes for me every time :(

[@leafsfanforever2896]

Me: (downloads the HD mod) Hope this works. The game: *_That should not have happened but it happened! Critical error occurred!_*

[@stanimirgeorgiev.87]

You can beat dwarves and other slow units with 4 vampires. It's just that the battle will be much longer. You know, you wait , you hit, then you run, then you wait again, you hit again, you run again, and so on. btw did you play in some professional game channels?

[@0yotam]

the problem here is morale. during the course of a fight that long it is pretty much guaranteed to happen. and speaking of morale there is a mistake at 9:45. there are'nt enough gnolls to kill a vampire if he attacks instead of moving

[@thomasneal9291]

Too risk averse. you easily could have taken much tougher fights with only a dozen upgraded vamps.

[@MartinX192]

Not hard vampire lords were easily top tier. My friend back in the day I would play hotseat with would roast me for not investing in shadow dragons and just put everything in vamps. Absolutely would destroy him everytime

[@cxvxcbcxn]

HoMaM 3 vampires look so gay compared to HoMaM 2 vampires...

[@LUCKIEI]

The amount of ads on your videos is absurd.

[@bombonelnastase8031]

That's not a challenge . Vampires are very very OP . Back in the days , we used to ban certain stuff in multiplayer games and Necro castle was on that list. Along with conflux , dimension door , fly , diplomacy , etc

[@user-xt4ub7lq6m]

Yeah, let's take all the fun out of the game, why not.

[@thisweatherisbullshit]

anyone know what version of the game this is?