Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era — Patch #8: Skills Rework, Balance Pass & Exploit Fixes

Greetings, Heroes!

A brand-new patch is now live — and it is a massive one.

This patch covers extensive balance adjustments across multiple game systems: skills, spells, hero specializations, creatures, artifacts, map templates, and the matchmaking system. The expert-level subskills for “Murmuring” have been significantly reworked, and the “Summon Avatar” skill has been fully overhauled to position it as a purely magical ability.

Certain passive creature abilities were recalculated — most notably “Parry.” Additionally, based on collected telemetry and statistics, we have buffed the upgraded versions of creatures that were noticeably underperforming compared to their alternative upgrade options.

Improvements have also reached the random map genertator. The side areas on the popular Jebus Cross template are now much more interesting to play, while the Sprint, Harmony, and Exodus templates have been adjusted to increase overall pace of the game. Along with these changes, we have updated the template pool for the matchmaking.

Finally, we have patched-out a number of exploits and crucial bugs. In particular, we have removed the ability to abuse Alt+F4 to disconnect from games, fixed an exploit that allowed players to peek at the opponent’s setup during the tactics phase, and eliminated a bug that permitted free creature upgrades.

Furthermore, we have taken disciplinary action against players who knowingly exploited these vulnerabilities to secure unfair victories, as well as those who encouraged other community members to use them.

⚠️ A Quick 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!

Full changelog is below. Good luck on the battlefield!

Changelog

v. 0.80.18

Bug Fixes

Combat and Creature Behavior

• Ghouls spawned during combat now correctly leave a corpse on the battlefield upon death.

• Fixed a bug where increasing the maximum health of an Energy Phoenix caused its passive ability "Eternal Flame" to malfunction.

• When creating a copy of a Crystal Iriyad stack, its passive ability "Crystal Thorns" now correctly applies to both the original stack and the copy.

• The Naiad passive ability "Embodiment of Water" now correctly grants the stack immunity to the effects of "Ice Bolt" and "Circle of Winter" as intended.

• Fixed a rare bug where the morale debuff from Avatars of War failed to be removed from enemies when two or more of them died simultaneously.

• Positive and negative effects applied by friendly stacks now correctly expire when the source stack dies.

• Fixed a bug where summoned creatures under the effect of max-level "Heavenly Blades" were destroying themselves.

• Creatures with ranged and long-reach attacks surrounded by other stacks now correctly switch to melee attacks while under the effect of "Berserk."

• Fixed a rare bug where a stack would skip its turn instead of waiting.

• Fixed a bug where creatures in combat could not trigger the positive Morale effect after waiting.

• Fixed a bug where immunity to the Vampirism mechanic, destruction of summoned creatures, and destruction of temporary stacks was not working correctly.

Heroes, Skills, and Spells

• The Lich ability "Death’s Embrace" now correctly interacts with the "Masterful Despair" spell effect applied by Laura.

• Fixed a bug where Spell Power bonuses scaling from the level of Summon Avatar specialist heroes were not working.

• Fixed a bug where the Grove hero sub-skills "Burst of Energy," "Just One More Time," and "Strong Connection" were incorrectly triggering when using abilities that did not actually consume Focus.

• Fixed the "Revenge" sub-skill of the "Combat" skill — the hero now correctly receives a bonus Heroic Strike after a friendly stack dies.

• The "One for All" and "All for One" sub-skills no longer incorrectly grant attribute bonuses for corpses on adjacent hexes.

• Changes to Spell Power during combat now correctly update the numeric values of active effects and spells.

• Magic Defense now correctly reduces magic damage from damage-over-time effects.

• Fixed a bug in the effect applied to a hero by the "Shadowflight" spell.

• The "Thaumaturgy" skill is no longer offered at the "Wise Owl" map object.

• Fixed the synergy between the "Fortune’s Favored" Elite class and "As Luck Would Have It" sub-skill, which was causing abnormally high Defense values on creatures.

• Fixed a bug where the Temple faction's "Chosen One" active ability had no cooldown.

• Fixed incorrect descriptions of the "Temporal Spheres" spell upgrades.

Exploit Fixes

• Alt+F4 protection: Reworked the emergency application close system. If a player closes the game via Alt+F4, the system now correctly assigns an automatic loss to that player and a win to their opponent.

• Fixed an exploit that allowed seeing the enemy army placement during the Tactics Phase using a creature with high Speed.

• Fixed a bug that allowed dishonestly swapping low-tier creatures for high-tier ones by switching their positions.

Sieges and Cities

• Fixed a bug where traps created during a siege were not dealing damage to creatures that stepped on them.

• Defensive tower damage during sieges now correctly scales based on the number of buildings in the city.

• Fixed a bug causing a "zero" stack to appear when sending a hero to the "Guild of Six Winds" in a Temple city.

Multiplayer and UI Bugs

• Fixed a bug where interacting with a map object in the last second of a player's timer would lock that object for the rest of the match.

• Fixed a bug where Tier-7 creatures in the diplomacy window were blocking the purchase of all other creatures in that window.

• Fixed incorrect display of a player kicked from a match when reopening the connection issues window.

• Fixed incorrect display of the current income and point totals for Laws and Astrology when passing the turn in hotseat mode.

• Fixed the Spellbook automatically closing when the opponent performed certain actions.

• Fixed incorrect behavior of the hire window when there was insufficient gold to purchase creatures.

• The tooltip for "Pocket Dimension" now disappears from the screen on its own.

• The ~ hotkey (by default) now correctly resumes and stops hero movement.

• Fixed the objects controlled by Black Player incorrectly marked as controlled by Red Player.

Description Fixes

• Fixed incorrect numeric values for the Dungeon faction law "Leaders of the Nation."

• The Dungeon faction law "Triumvirate’s Agents" now correctly applies only to heroes of that faction, as intended.

• Fixed incorrect values in the description of the Minotaur Vanguard passive ability "Adrenaline Surge."

• Fixed errors in the descriptions of the artifacts "Singing Pan‑Pipe" and "Clenching Ring."

Campaign and Scenarios

• ⚠️ This fix will not apply to saves made inside a mission before the patch ⚠️ The victory screen no longer covers the final story dialogue.

• ⚠️ This fix will not apply to saves made inside a mission before the patch ⚠️ Fixed broken quest and event triggers when loading certain missions.

• Fixed a bug that locked artifact item slots when carrying them over from one mission to another.

• The "Restart" button is no longer locked when loading a save.

• Autosaves made within the same in-game day no longer overwrite each other — a save number in parentheses is added instead.

UI Improvements

• Fixed a visual bug with creature movement range display during the tactics phase.

• Holding Shift on elite class tooltips (in the hero window) now allows you to view details about the skills required to unlock those classes.

• Positive and negative effects applied to heroes and creatures are now significantly more visible.

• Various other visual improvements.

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Balance

Skills

"Summon Avatar"

The skill has been significantly reworked and now the summoned avatar has its own unique scaling rules.

• The summoned Avatar no longer receives a Defense bonus, and the Attack bonus now scales from the hero's Spell Power (not from Attack).

• The Avatar no longer has a regular HP. Instead, it can survive a fixed number of hits: 2, 3, or 4 (depending on skill level).

• The number of hits the Avatar can survive is increased by bonuses that increase creature HP.

• The Avatar's HP cannot be restored during combat via healing spells or abilities.

• Changes to the Avatar's base stats:

• Damage increased: 6–6 → 12–12.

• Initiative decreased: 6 → 5.

• Speed decreased: 6 → 5.

• Changes to stat bonuses (per 1 point of hero Spell Power):

• HP changed: 12/18/24 → N/A.

• Damage increased: 6–6/12–12/18–18 → 12–12/18–18/24–24.

• Restriction: the Avatar can no longer be copied using the "Mirror Copy" spell.

Sub-skill updates:

• "Avatar of Fury": now increases the summoned Avatar's Damage by 25%. The bonus is doubled if the hero has the "Leadership" skill.

• "Avatar of Toughness": now allows the Avatar to survive one additional hit. The bonus is doubled if the hero has the "Defense" skill.

"Murmuring"

• Child of the Woods: Maximum mana granted has been reduced: 30 → 20.

• Expert-level sub-skills have been significantly reworked.

• "Just One More Time." The cooldown reduction for all spells in the Spellbook when using Focus has been increased: 1 → 2 rounds.

• "Burst of Energy." The bonus Damage to the Heroic Strike has been increased from 5% to 15%, but it now only lasts until the end of the current round.

• "Strong Connection." The hero attribute bonus has been increased from 1 to 2, but now only lasts until the end of the current round.

"Righteousness"

• Sub-skill "Chosen One." Stat bonuses granted to a creature from the hero's attributes have been reduced: 100% → 50%.

• Sub-skill "Strong Faith." The bonus to additional attribute per round when a stack dies has been reduced: 2 → 1.

"Sorcery"

• Sub-skill "Piercing Spells." Magic resistance ignored on targets has been increased: 20% → 25%.

• Sub-skill "Magical Influence" has been replaced by a new sub-skill "Summoning Sorcery": All summoned creatures in battle gain +25% health and deal +25% damage.

"Insight"

• Sub-skill "Civic Innovation." Bonus Law points: 100% → 30%.

"Offense"

Bonus damage from regular attacks reduced: 15/20/25% → 10/15/20%.

"Defense"

Damage reduction from regular attacks reduced: 15/20/25% → 10/15/20%.

Hero Specializations

• Spell specialists have been slightly buffed. They now gain 1 additional Spell Power for their spell for every 2 hero levels (previously every 3 levels). Affected heroes:

• Temple: Julius, Vesper, Anastasia the Meek, Nadir.

• Necropolis: Marl, Laura, Lord Rufus.

• Grove: Old Pilgrim, Faleor, Aeliniel, Glacia, Vim, Halon, Echolily, Sullie.

• Schism: Changeling Urgo, Ra'Davok, Sister Keiri.

• Hive: Mila.

• Dungeon: Tellaris the Betrayed, Sister Deira.

• Diplomat heroes have been slightly buffed. The base diplomacy power bonus has been increased from +5% to +10%. They also now gain +1% to persuasion power for every 3 hero levels (previously every 4 levels). Affected heroes:

• Necropolis: King‑of‑Kings.

• Grove: Alluring Sh'a.

• Dungeon: Ylwari.

• Morale specialists have been slightly nerfed. The additional morale trigger chance now increases by 1% for every 6 hero levels (previously every 4 levels). Affected heroes:

• Temple: Aeos the Exalted.

• Hive: Goldentongue.

• Physical damage specialists have been nerfed. Base and specialized stack damage now increases by 1% for every 4 hero levels (previously every 2 levels). Affected heroes:

• Necropolis: Bulwark.

• Grove: Gorel Spearhead.

• Schism: Grellekh the Betrayer, Icequeen Hel’Ghat.

• Hive: Niev.

• Magic Damage specialists have been buffed. Magic damage now increases by 1% for every hero level (previously every 2 levels). Affected heroes:

• Schism: Blackhorn.

• Dungeon: Zakron the Great.

• Lord Edgar (Temple) has been nerfed. Bonus attack and Defense granted to creatures from the hero's attributes reduced: "20% + 5% per 6 hero levels" → "10% + 5% per 6 hero levels."

• Aeliniel (Grove) has been buffed. Additional duration of Firewall increased: +1 → +2 rounds.

• Tarius and Funerella (Necropolis) have been buffed. They now gain a 2% bonus to Necromancy power for every 5 hero levels (previously 1%).

• Tavi (Hive) is now a Magic hero, and Pauper (Hive) is now a Might hero.

Starting Spell Changes

Temple

• Heretic Avis: started with no spell → "Groundsight."

• Pip: "Early Start" → "Clear Fog."

• Lia the Untethered One: "From a Bird’s Eye" → "Inner Light."

• Clarissa: "Energize" → "From a Bird’s Eye."

Necropolis

• Zam: started with no spell → "Primordial Chaos."

• Adahn: "Silence" → "Shade Cloak."

• Ethric: "Shade Cloak" → "Song of Power."

• Guildmaster Klastor: "Read Minds" → "Naira's Veil."

• Shadespinner Oona: "Sleep" → "Umbral Grip."

• Funerella: "Shackles" → "Read Minds."

Grove

• Eith: "From a Bird’s Eye" → no spell.

• Mreowa: started with no spell → "Berserk."

• Elder Tss'kish: "Song of Power" → "Energize."

Schism

Important! Since all heroes of this faction are hybrids between Might and Magic, each of them now receives a starting spell. In addition, their starting army sizes have been averaged and no longer depend on the hero's specific class.

• Nihil: started with no spell → "Energize."

• Blackhorn: started with no spell → "Ice Bolt."

• Matastala the White: started with no spell → "Optical Illusion."

• Jänhei: started with no spell → "Early Start."

• Mara Mat’ha: started with no spell → "Unnatural Calm."

• The Iron Master: started with no spell → "Silence."

• Changeling Urgo: no spell → "Shackles."

• Martyr Tho: started with no spell → "Assemble!"

• Grellekh the Betrayer: "Blessing" → "Enlarge Shadow."

• Icequeen Hel'Ghat: "Ice Bolt" → "Shorten Shadow."

• Kwinri: "Groundsight" → "Riposte."

• Eye Collective: "Wean" → "Reinforcements."

• Tölketh: "Reinforcement" → "Circle of Winter."

• Ulkuth: "Unnatural Calm" → "From a Bird’s Eye."

• Dhüvri: "Blink" → "Thick Hide."

Hive

• Nor: "Impending Fate" → no spell.

• Pauper: "Fireball" → no spell.

• Leira: "Vulnerability" → "Wean."

• Khariset: "Anti-Magic" → "Fireball."

• Tavi: started with no spell → "Anti-Magic."

Dungeon

• Creta, Daughter of Navarr: "Groundsight" → "Mind Reading."

• Gleard the Grey: "Shackles" → "Temporal Spheres."

• Kelarr, Son of Navarr: "Groundsight" → "Wean."

• Glastor: "Thick Hide" → "Clear Fog."

Starting Skill Changes

Temple

• Vesper: "Daylight Magic" → "Battle Magic."

Necropolis

• Zam: "Battlecraft" → "Recruitment."

• Adahn: "Recruitment" → "Battlecraft."

• Funerella: Advanced "Necromancy" → Basic "Necromancy" and "Summon Avatar."

Grove

• Mreowa: "Sorcery" → "Combat."

Dungeon

• Motley: "Luck" → "Recruitment."

Hive

• Pauper: "Battle Magic" → "Luck."

• Oriax: "Summon Avatar" → "Recruitment."

Spells

Daylight Magic

• "Healing Water." Base HP restored increased: 25/25/25/25 → 50/50/50/50.

• "Inner Light." Base reduction to negative effect duration changed: −2/−3/−3/−3 → −2/−4/−4/−4.

• "Vengeance":

• Base Damage dealt reduced: 100/100/100/100 → 60/60/60/60.

• Damage scaling from Spell Power reduced: 20/20/30/30 → 15/15/20/20.

• "Judgement." Base damage dealt changed: 200/300/300/300 → 200/400/400/400.

Nightshade Magic

• "Web." Casting cost reduced: 11 → 9.

• "Umbral Grip." Damage scaling from Spell Power increased: 8/12/16/16 → 10/15/20/20.

• "Summon Star Children":

• Base number of summoned creatures increased: 4/4/4/4 → 8/8/8/8.

• Number of summoned creatures scaling from Spell Power reduced: 2/2/2/3 → 1/1/1/2.

• "Naira's Kiss":

• Base Damage dealt reduced: 200/300/300/300 → 150/200/200/200.

• Damage scaling from Spell Power reduced: 20/20/30/30 → 15/15/20/20.

Arcane Magic

• "Shackles." Casting cost reduced: 9 → 6.

• "Mirror Copy." Casting cost reduced: 24 → 20.

• "Impending Fate." Damage per target level changed: 20/25/35/35 → 20/30/45/45.

• "Reality Distortion." Casting cost reduced: 21 → 15.

Primal Magic

• "Wean." Base reduction to positive effect duration increased: −1/−2/−2/−2 → −2/−4/−4/−4.

• "Ice Bolt." Initiative reduction on target increased: 2 → 3.

• "Firewall." Base damage dealt increased: 60/60/90/90 → 80/80/120/120.

• "Anti-Magic." Casting cost reduced: 18 → 16.[