Combat System
Battles in Heroes of Might and Magic take place on hexagonal battlefields. Your army is positioned on one side, with the enemy army on the opposite. Combat is divided into rounds. During each round, unit stacks take turns moving across the battlefield and attacking enemy units. A round ends once all units from both sides have acted or used their abilities.
Turn Order & Movement Speed
The order in which unit stacks take their turns is determined by their Initiative (
). Units with higher Initiative act earlier in the round. On their turn, a unit can move up to a number of hexes equal to its Movement Speed (
). Units may move to an unoccupied hex or, if they are Melee or Long Reach units, move and attack in the same turn.
Attacking
Units can use one of three basic attack types on the battlefield:
- Melee Attacks: Used against units in adjacent hexes. Will trigger a counterattack, in most cases.
- Long Reach Attacks: Target enemy units exactly one hex away. These attacks do not provoke a counterattack. Units with Long Reach attacks can often also engage in melee if needed.
- Ranged Attacks: Can target any enemy on the battlefield, except when an enemy is in an adjacent hex; in that case, the unit may only move or perform a melee attack. Ranged attacks deal reduced damage if the target is more than three hexes away: damage decreases by 10% per additional hex, up to a maximum of 50% reduction.
Damage
When one creature attacks another, the damage inflicted is modified by the attacker's 'Attack' value and the defender's 'Defence' value. Having a higher Attack value than the defending creature's Defence value will result in more damage, whereas if the Defender has a higher Defence value than the attacker's Attack value, the Damage will be reduced.
The basic formula for calculating how much damage is actually dealt is: (20 + Attack Value) / (20 + Defence Value). For example, if a Swordsman (4 Attack, 4 Defence) were to attack a Skeleton (4 Attack, 1 Defence), the modifier would be (20 + 4) / (20 + 1), for a result of 1.14. This means that when the Swordsman attacks the Skeleton, it will deal 2-3 Damage (its Damage value on its stats page) multiplied by 1.14. This results in a final damage calculation of 2.28 - 3.42 (Damage is rounded up to next whole number if over .5, and rounded down if under .5).
Below is a Table showing common Attack Modifiers and how they impact final Damage numbers:
| Damage Modifiers | Damage Formula | ||||||
| Basic Attack | ( (20 + ATTACK) / (20 + DEFENCE) ) | ||||||
| Basic Attack + Offense (10%/15%/20% Dmg Bonus) | ( (BASIC ATTACK) * (1.10-1.20) ) | ||||||
Waiting & Skipping Turns
Other than Attacking or using Abilities, unit stacks also have two additional options to take when it is their turn.
- Wait: The 'Wait' option will push that unit's action to the end of the turn order. Once a unit has taken this option, their initiative will essentially be flipped, with the highest Initiative units taking their turn after everything else has acted. Having your units wait during battles can be very advantageous, as you can force lower initiative to take their turn first, either having to stay in place or move towards you, allowing you to get the first hit in.
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