Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era — Patch #11: Necromancy Update, UI Tweaks and Balance Changes

Greetings, Heroes!

We are excited to present a massive and fresh update, with a special focus on balancing faction mechanics, fixing exploits, and improving overall gameplay convenience. Based on your feedback and collected statistics, we have prepared a series of large-scale changes that will noticeably refresh the current meta. Main highlights of this patch:

• Necromancy. We have completely reworked the core logic for raising undead after combat. You can now raise enemy units into undead even if you did not have creatures of that exact tier in your army. Along with this, the energy cost to raise creatures has significantly changed, and we have added helpful elements to the UI, including the ability to manually recycle fallen enemies into Necromantic Energy directly in the combat results window.

• Other Faction Skills. Changes have been made to Schism's "Abyssal Communion" (the effect now applies to non-Schism faction units as well), as well as to Hive's larvae mechanics, shifting their gameplay focus toward their explosive potential.

• Battle Magic and Summon Avatar. Following recent balance adjustments and nerfs to Might heroes, Mages have significantly solidified their position. We are reverting the base stats of "Battle Magic" to their original values. The heavily debated "Summon Avatar" skill has also been adjusted — the base version is weakened, but you will now have more options for situational upgrades via its sub-skills.

• New “Tournament” Win Condition Templates. New competitive templates have been added to the random map generator — Jebus Tournament and Outcast Tournament, featuring uninterrupted simultaneous turns, alongside the hybrid templates called Mix and Galaxy.

• Template Rotation. The template rotation pool has been updated for both Classic Mode and Single Hero Mode, and the faction pick-and-ban order between players has been slightly adjusted.

• Bug Fixes. Among other fixes, we eliminated an exploit that allowed Temple players to infinitely gain resources on the Global Map, resolved an issue with incorrect Dungeon dragons alternative attack damage, and fixed errors related to loading multiplayer saves. ⚠️ Reminder: Intentionally exploiting in-game bugs in competitive play can result in a temporary or permanent multiplayer ban! Engaging in such behavior may also violate the rules of the platform you're playing on, risking a platform-wide ban. Don't jeopardize your account for a dubious advantage — play fair! ⚠️

Thank you so much for your support, for developing the official community wiki, and for helping us make the game better!

Steam Reviews: Keep Them Coming!

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We read every single review — and this patch is proof. Your feedback on Necromancy directly shaped the changes you see today. If you haven't left a review yet, now's a great time: it helps us understand what matters most to you and guides what we tackle next.

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Changelog

v. 0.80.31

Bug Fixes

Combat and Creature Behavior

• Fixed a bug where dragons dealt half damage with their alternative attack when choosing certain strike directions.

• Fixed the description of the "Vampirism" passive ability for Vampire Lords and Vampire Scholars.

• Fixed a bug where Stinging Ra’Shoth counterattacked while under the effect of "Staggering Hits".

• Fixed a bug where the "Weakening Venom" and “Poisonous Blood” abilities of Chthonic Hydras and Infernal Hydras increased damage dealt instead of reducing it.

• Fixed a bug where the "Mirror Copy" spell effect could be dispelled, leading to the indefinite existence of the created copy on the battlefield.

• Added the correct cooldown time for the "Lightning Bolt" ability of Thunder Qilins.

• Fixed a bug where the max-level "Guillotine" spell failed to trigger on stacks with full HP.

• Activating active skills or performing a counterattack animation in combat no longer resets the player's current selection from the active abilities panel.

• Fixed a bug where Grove faction Might heroes in Arena Mode were offered an incorrect set of skills to choose from.

• Fixed an incorrect creature type indicator for the summoned Avatar.

• Enemy traps now become visible strictly upon being stepped on, rather than when stepping onto adjacent hexes.

Global Map and Objects

• Fixed a bug where the "Scales of Worth" object granted its bonus only to the first hero who visited it.

• Fixed an exploit that allowed Temple players to infinitely gain resources on the Global Map.

• Highlighting and Outlines:

• Fixed the outlining algorithm for interactive objects: outlines now correctly update after visiting them and at the start of a new week.

• Interactive object highlighting logic now correctly accounts for the currently selected hero.

• Fixed a bug where the "Infernal Cirque" object offered level-1 skills as a reward instead of the maximum level.

• Hero Map Behavior:

• Heroes now correctly disappear from the Global Map after fleeing from combat.

• Heroes now correctly disappear from the Global Map upon losing a battle for the Grail.

• Fixed the specialization of the hero Xirr — it now correctly protects him from negative effects on the Global Map.

• Fixed a bug where combat against neutral squads failed to trigger in certain situations.

Multiplayer, UI, and Lobby

• Fast clicking of the Tab key while transitioning to the combat screen no longer breaks the battlefield rendering.

• Fixed a bug where entering a tournament combat from a city placed the player on the Global Map with a broken game UI.

• Fixed incorrect calculation and display of Law points and Astrology Points.

• Lobby**:**

• Players can no longer occupy locked slots in the lobby prior to match start.

• Fixed a bug with map areas generation if player slots were locked in the lobby.

• Fixed a bug that caused map generation failure under certain lobby settings.

• Fixed a bug where a host leaving the lobby set an unknown password for that lobby.

• Settings and Saves

• Language changes are now applied instantly, but are saved only upon confirming the settings.

• Fixed a bug where Necropolis heroes appeared in the Tavern with no Necromantic Energy.

• Fixed a bug where settings were reset after editing the emote wheel or confirming the configuration.

• Using a period (.) in a save file name no longer cuts off or corrupts the save file name.

• Detailed tooltips have been added to the UI, informing players of specific reasons why fleeing or surrendering is currently impossible in combat.

• Fixed a bug where certain extra heroes were incorrectly shown as unselectable on some maps and templates.

• Fixed an issue where some saves in multiplayer were loading incorrectly.

• Fixed a visual bug where an oversized Aga’Shoth Rider could be displayed on the battlefield.

• The Black Player color is now correctly displayed on the initiative bar.

• Combat stances for Dungeon heroes are now displayed in the correct order.

• Fixed the position of the numbers in the selected spells during arena’s draft phase, which were shifted after the previous update.

• Positive and negative effects are now correctly displayed in the hero inventory window.

• Fixed the position of the "Already Visited" text for the "Four Scholars Shrine" object.

• Fixed an issue where the Tactical Phase timer overlapped the battle timer in the first round, making them unreadable as a result.

• Artifacts included in a set are now correctly highlighted on the city screen, whilst within the hero inventory window.

New Features

• The Necromancy interface has been significantly redesigned: additional information has been added to guard tooltips on the map and in the end-of-battle window. You can now switch between accumulating Necromantic Energy and turning creatures into Undead of the same tier directly in the battle results window.

• The Dungeon Heroes' Combat Stance interface has been improved.

• The retreat button has been disabled in single-hero mode, and tooltips have been added explaining the reasons for blocking an escape or surrender in various situations.

• Selected spells are now displayed in the arena's final window.

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Balance

Skills

Offense

• "Reality Wardens": Effect reworked. The sub-skill now reduces the enemy hero's Spell Power by 10%. The effect is doubled if the hero knows "Nightshade Magic."

Luck

• The base chance to trigger a Lucky Hit per 1 point of Luck has been increased: 6% → 8%. This chance is now twice the base trigger chance of the high Morale effect.

Wisdom

• "Rhythmic Cadence": Max mana bonus increased: 30% → 40%.

• "Stargazer": Daily Astrology Points gained increased: 250 → 500.

Battle Magic

Following recent balance adjustments and nerfs to Might heroes, Mages have significantly solidified their position. We are reverting the base stats of "Battle Magic" to their original values while balancing its individual sub-skills.

• Creature Attack and Defense bonus scaling from the hero's Spell Power and Knowledge: 15/25/35% → 15/20/25%.

• Sub-skill Updates:

• "Battle Mage’s Authority": Attack bonus scaling from Spell Power reduced: 20% → 15%.

• "Mage Protector’s Authority": Defense bonus scaling from Knowledge reduced: 20% → 15%.

Summon Avatar

Based on collected statistics and your feedback, we are introducing a series of adjustments to this skill. The new version significantly reduces the power of the base version of the summoned Avatar, but allows you to heavily upgrade it depending on your preferences and the game situation.

• The Avatar can now survive strictly 3 hits, regardless of the skill level.

• The number of hits can no longer be increased by bonuses that "increase creature HP."

• Base damage reduced: 12-12 → 10-10.

• Damage scaling per 1 point of hero Spell Power reduced: 12–12/12–12/12–12 → 6–6/8–8/10–10.

• The spell has been moved to Tier 4, meaning its cooldown is now 5 rounds (including the round of casting).

• Sub-skill Updates:

• "Avatar of Fury": Base damage bonus to the Avatar increased: 25% → 40%.

• "Avatar of Celerity": Base Speed and Initiative bonuses to the Avatar increased: 1 → 2.

• Replacement skill: "Fields of Mana" has been replaced by a new sub-skill, "Summon Destruction": The hero and friendly creatures deal +50% Damage to all summoned creatures.

Combat

• "Effortless Strike": This sub-skill is now learned at the Expert level of the skill.

• "Swordcraft": This sub-skill is now learned at the Advanced level of the skill.

Thaumaturgy

• "Ancient Scrolls": This sub-skill is now learned at the Expert level of the skill.

• "Thaumaturge Brilliance": This sub-skill is now learned at the Advanced level of the skill.

Faction Skills

Necromancy

The current version of Necromancy is powerful enough, but overly complex to grasp. With this update, we are removing the strict restriction that ties undead raising to the current composition of the hero's army. Now, even if your army lacks creatures of a certain tier, you will still be able to raise high-tier units after a victory.

To balance this change, we are adjusting the starting energy values and its recovery after combat — the total number of raised units has been noticeably decreased.

🎨 Additionally, we have made major improvements to the Necromancy UI.

• Reworked the core logic for raising undead after combat:

• You can now raise enemy units into undead even if you did not have creatures of that exact tier in your army.

• By default, fallen enemies are resurrected as their base versions: Tier-1 units become Skeletons, Tier-2 units become Wights, etc.

• If your army already includes undead of the required tier, the type of unit raised depends on its composition:

• If the base creature is present — the base version is raised.

• If only the upgraded creature is present — the upgraded version is raised (at an increased energy cost).

• If multiple upgrades of the creature are present — the undead type whose stack is numerically larger in the army will be raised.

• Information regarding which exact creature will be raised has been added to map tooltips.

• In the combat results window, you can now cancel the summon decision and manually recycle fallen enemies into Necromantic Energy.

• Base Necromantic Energy capacity for heroes increased: 1000/1250/1500 → 3000/4000/5000.

• Energy cost to raise creatures (values in parentheses indicate upgraded versions):

• Tier 1: 5 → 20 (26)

• Tier 2: 10 → 40 (54)

• Tier 3: 25 → 100 (140)

• Tier 4: 50 → 200 (290)

• Tier 5: 100 → 400 (600)

• Tier 6: 200 → 800 (1280)

• Tier 7: 500 → 2000 (3500)

• Tier 8: 2000 → 7500

• Energy recovery values chosen instead of raising units remain unchanged.

• The elite class for Necromancers — "Chronomancer" — has been reworked. It now fully replenishes the hero's Necromantic Energy pool daily.

• Sub-skill Updates:

• "Death Herald": Max Necromantic Energy bonus for the hero: 500 → 1000.

• "Eternal Service": Base health restored reduced: 80 → 50 HP.

Abyssal Communion

Following recent adjustments, Schism still performs under expectations in Classic Mode while remaining dominant in Single Hero Mode. We are making a series of adjustments to faction laws (see below), expanding the effect of their faction skill to cover all units instead of just Schism faction units, while reducing numerical bonuses.

• The Abyssal Communion effect now applies to non-Schism faction units as well.

• Maximum level of Abyssal Communion reduced: 4/5/6 → 3/4/5.

• The percentage of temporary creatures summoned per Communion level has been reduced: 3% → 2.5%.

• Sub-skill Updates:

• "Call of the Void": Mana restored per level of Abyssal Communion reduced: 3 → 2.

• "Celestial Abyss": Bonus to the number of temporary creatures per Communion level reduced: 1% → 0.5%.

Summon Swarm

Recent changes have had a positive impact on Hive's power, particularly in Single Hero Mode. However, in the late game, their faction skill allows them to create a massive extra unit that is extremely difficult to counter. We are adjusting the stats of summoned larvae and shifting gameplay focus toward their passive explosive ability.

• Other summoned or temporary stacks are no longer counted when calculating the number of larvae to summon.

• Larvae health increased: 8 → 16.

• "Unstable Concoction": Damage increased: 8 → 15 per hero level.

• "Fiery Embrace" and "Blow Up": Damage increased: 16 → 30 per hero level.

Murmuring

• The effects of the sub-skills "Just One More Time," "Burst of Energy," and "Strong Connection" now trigger as many times as there were Focus Charges spent to activate the ability.

• "Just One More Time": Spellbook cooldown reduction reduced: 2 → 1 round.

Hero Specializations, Starting Skills, and Resources

Temple

• Kestrel. Starting skill: Offense → Luck.

• Keandra. Starting skill: Battlecraft → Offense.

• Lord Edgar:

• Starting skills: Advanced Righteousness → Basic Righteousness and Battlecraft.

• Creature Attack and Defense bonus scaling from hero attributes: "10% + 5% per 6 hero levels" → "10% + 5% per 5 hero levels."

• Merry Elias. Max mana capacity bonus increased: "10% + 5% per 5 hero levels" → "20% + 5% per 4 hero levels."

• Zenith. Starting skill: Wisdom → Summon Avatar.

• Lia the Untethered One. Starting spell: Inner Light → Judgement.

• Julius. Starting skill: Resistance → Defense.

• Vesper. Starting skill: Battle Magic → Daylight Magic.

• Nadir. Specialization reworked: this hero's spell effect can now stack.

Necropolis

• Kel’Ghul. Number of Dread Knights in the starting army increased: 2-3 → 3-3.

• Ethric. Wights removed from the starting army, but the number of Liches increased: 3-4 → 4-6.

Grove

• Gingertail: Starting skill: Battlecraft → Leadership.

• Octavia: Lucky Strike chance bonus: "2% + 1% per 4 hero levels" → "3% + 1% per 4 hero levels."

• Vatawna: Max mana capacity bonus increased: "10% + 5% per 5 hero levels" → "20% + 5% per 4 hero levels."

• Elder Tss’kish: Number of Herbomancers in the starting army increased: 2-3 → 3-4.

Schism

• All Might Heroes:

• Starting Defense: 2 → 1

• Starting Knowledge: 1 → 2

• Jänhei: Starting skill: Wisdom → Battlecraft.

• The Iron Master:

• Starting skill: Resistance → Wisdom

• Number of Concubi in the starting army increased: 2-3 → 3-4

• Martyr Tho: Starting skill: Daylight Magic → Arcane Magic.

• Eye Collective: Starting skill: Summon Avatar → Leadership.

Hive

• Maelstrom: Number of Reavers in the starting army increased: 2-3 → 3-4.

Dungeon

• All Might Heroes:

• Starting Spell Power: 2 → 1

• Starting Knowledge: 1 → 2

• Tellaris the Betrayed: Specialization reworked. The hero's spell now affects all friendly creatures.

• Rhea: Lucky Strike chance bonus: "2% + 1% per 4 hero levels" → "3% + 1% per 4 hero levels."

• Kelarr, son of Navarr: Starting spell: Wean → Stone Fangs.

Factions: Creatures, Laws, and More

Temple

• Tier 2:

[list