Tactics
If two opposing heroes both have Tactics, the following applies:
- Same level of Tactics:
- Cancelling each other out, neither hero may arrange their army before combat
Advanced Tactics (2) vs
Basic Tactics (1):
- 2 - 1 = 1, therefore the hero with Advanced Tactics instead "gains" Basic Tactics, and the hero with Basic Tactics may not arrange their army before combat
Expert Tactics (3) vs
Basic Tactics (1):
- 3 - 1 = 2, therefore the hero with Expert Tactics instead "gains" Advanced Tactics, and the hero with Basic Tactics may not arrange their army before combat
Expert Tactics (3) vs
Advanced Tactics (2):
- 3 - 2 = 1, therefore the hero with Expert Tactics instead "gains" Basic Tactics, and the hero with Advanced Tactics may not arrange their army before combat
Heroes with Tactics as a starting skill:
Boragus the Barbarian
Charna the Death Knight
Dace the Overlord
Erdamon the Planeswalker
Gunnar the Overlord
Ignatius the Demoniac
Kalt the Planeswalker
Lacus the Planeswalker (Advanced)
Mutare the Overlord
Mutare Drake the Overlord
Shakti the Overlord
Terek the Battle Mage
Thunar the Planeswalker
Torosar the Alchemist
Tyraxor the Barbarian
Tyris the Knight
Xeron the Demoniac
Cassiopeia the Captain
Dargem the Navigator
Illor the Captain
Sam the Mercenary
Murdoch the Mercenary
Todd the Artificer
Chance to get[edit | edit source]
Out of total 112 for Shadow of Death, and of (112 + Interference chance) for Horn of the Abyss .
Banned skills change the probability.
Town | Class | Chance to learn |
---|---|---|
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Knight | 7 |
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Cleric | 2 |
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Ranger | 5 |
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Druid | 1 (lowest) |
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Alchemist | 4 |
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Wizard | 1 (lowest) |
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Demoniac | 6 |
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Heretic | 4 |
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Death Knight | 5 |
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Necromancer | 2 |
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Overlord | 10 (highest) |
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Warlock | 1 (lowest) |
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Barbarian | 8 |
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Battle Mage | 5 |
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Beastmaster | 6 |
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Witch | 1 (lowest) |
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Planeswalker | 8 |
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Elementalist | 1 (lowest) |
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Captain | 6 |
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Navigator | 4 |
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Mercenary | 8 |
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Artificer | 3 |
User Commentary
Overview
- The battlefield is 15 hexes wide (and 11 high).
- Usually, you need a creature with at least 13 speed to be able to reach a 1-wide creature on the exact other side in one turn. Apart from neutral or upgraded Dragons, only the following creatures can do this: Phoenix, Archangel, Arch Devil, Firebird, Efreet Sultan, Dragon Fly. Silver Pegasi and Haspids are 2-wide and have Speed 12 so they can attack a creature on the exact other side immediately as well. Angels with Speed 12 are able to attack if the creature on the exact other side is 2-wide. Ayssids, Scorpicores, Red Dragons, Thunderbirds and Wyvern Monarchs are 2-wide and have 11 Speed. They can thus reach the exact other side if the creature is also 2-wide.
- With Basic/Advanced/Expert Tactics, the distance is reduced to 11/9/7 hexes which means 11/9/7 speed is needed to immediately reach the other side (1 less if the creature you attack is 2-wide).
With upgraded creatures and Expert Tactics, all your creatures can strike immediately except:
- Stronghold: Ogre Magi.
- Necropolis: Zombies and Skeletons/Skeleton Warriors.
- Inferno: Demons/Horned Demons.
- Dungeon: Infernal Troglodytes.
- Conflux: Magma Elementals.
- Tower: Iron Golems.
- Castle: Halberdiers and Crusaders.
- Cove: Seamen.
- Fortress: Gnoll Marauders and Mighty Gorgons.
- Rampart: Dendroid Soldiers and Battle Dwarves.
Note that Haste gives on Basic/Advanced/Expert level +3/5/5 Speed. Tactics lets your army start 3/5/7 hexes farther ahead. Expert Haste allows less creatures to strike immediately than Expert Tactics. With Haste and Expert Tactics, any creature can immediately reach the other side to strike.
Tactics is a helpful skill if used properly. It becomes really valuable on advanced and expert levels, allowing ranged units to shoot without a penalty (while it's a double-edged sword since enemy shooters will do it as well), and fliers with mediocre speed, e.g. basic Griffins, to reach the opposite battlefield edge in one turn. The latter is especially vital when sieging a town. Tactics may help to save your troops from a strong and fast enemy stack, to defend your shooters, and to avoid dragons' breath attack, Liches' death cloud, and spells like Meteor Shower which damage multiple stacks adjacent to each other.
Tactics is one of the best secondary skills in the game. At expert level, it allows a hero's army to advance 7 hexes, which is almost half of the battlefield's total length of 15. This also allows hero to arrange his troops most in suitable way for his army's capabilities. Furthermore, hero may take full advantage of the obstacles on the battlefield as a tactical element. Also a valid action is to "turtle" the troops, meaning that arrange the melee units to protect the ranged units. Combining Tactics with speed increasing spells like (mass) Haste or (mass) Prayer, allows even the slowest army to reach enemy lines on the first round of combat.
The downside of the skill is, that same level Tactics cancel each other out. When heroes with the same level in the skill confront each other, neither of them may benefit from the skill, and therefore have one secondary skill less to utilise during the combat.