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.
Generally speaking, having a higher initiative value is advantageous as you are more in control of the flow of battle and can dictate when some units are forced to move or skip their turn. When two units have the same initiative value, the unit with the higher speed will go first. If those two values are equal, then the attacking side will move first.
In a case where there are multiple units on both sides of the battlefield with identical initiative and speed, the two sides will alternate between taking turns, with the attacker having the first opportunity to move in the first round, the defender getting the first move in the second round, the attacker getting to move first in the 3rd round, and so on.
Below you can see an example of a battle with units that all share the same initiative and speed, and how the first turn of the round switches back and forth between sides.
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 take the first attack.
- Skip Turn: This option will simply end your unit's turn without them having taken an action or moving. While it is generally a good idea to always be maneuvering your units into better position or attacking your enemy's units, it is sometimes the best move to do nothing. Sometimes you will want your weaker units to not attack a powerful enemy stack because the retaliation will greatly hurt or kill them, or perhaps you have a small stack of a weak unit positioned next to an enemy ranged unit to prevent them from shooting at your more powerful stack of creatures. Other times you may be blocking your ranged units from being attacked by having small stacks of weaker creatures standing in the way of the enemy, and you want them to waste their actions killing off them instead of attacking the ranged units behind them.
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 a creature attacks another, the damage inflicted is increased by the attacker's Attack (
ATK) value and reduced by the defender's Defence (
DEF) value.
The Attack and Defence of the hero is added to the Attack and Defence of the creatures under their command.
The damage is multiplied by (1 + 5% × attacker's ATK), then divided by (1 + 5% × defender's DEF). An other equivalent formula is: (20 + ATK) / (20 + DEF).
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 Modifier | (20 + ATK) / (20 + DEF) = (1 + 5% × ATK) / (1 + 5% × DEF) | ||||||
Basic Modifier +  Offence (10%/15%/20% Dmg Bonus)
|
BASIC MODIFIER × [1.10;1.15;1.20] | ||||||
Basic Modifier + Defending Creature has  Defence (10%/15%/20% Dmg Reduction)
|
BASIC MODIFIER × [0.90;0.85;0.80] | ||||||
| Overall Formula for Damage Calculations | (20 + ATK) / (20 + DEF) × Bonus1 × Bonus2 × ... × BonusN × Crit = (1 + 5% × ATK) × Bonus1 × Bonus2 × ... × BonusN × Crit / (1 + 5% × DEF) | ||||||
| Example : Attacking creature: 12-16 damage, 10 creatures, 13 ATK + 9 ATK from the hero + hero has skill Offence 2 (15% Dmg Bonus) The attack is a  Lucky Strike Defending Creature: 10 DEF + 8 DEF from the hero + hero has skill Defence 3 (20% Dmg Reduction)
|
(20 + 13 + 9) / (20 + 10 + 8) × 1.15 × 0.80 × 1.5 = 42 / 38 × 1.38 = 1.5253 10 × 1.5253 × [12–16] = [183–244] | ||||||
Spells & Hero Abilities
Moving and attacking with your units is not the only thing you can do while in Combat. Your Heroes are also able to cast powerful spells which can alter the flow of battle in your favor. Spells can damage enemy units directly, bestow positive effects on your units and negative effects on enemies, create obstacles on the battlefield itself, and more. Spells require spell points in order to cast them, which are determined based on your Hero's Knowledge stat. Spells can range in tiers from 1 - 5, and each tier of magic has increasingly more effective spells belonging to it. As spells rise in tier, their cost in spell points also rises, meaning that unless you have a very knowledgeable Hero, you are going to have to weigh your choices in combat. Individual spells also have their own levels of effectiveness that cause them to become more powerful depending on how skilled your hero is at magic. A full breakdown of spellcasting may be found here.
Creature Abilities
Aside from Spellcasting, Heroes & Creatures may also have access to several different Abilities they may use during battle. An Ability is similar to a Spell in that it is another way to interact with the battlefield, directly or indirectly, but they are powered by something called Focus Points instead. Focus is generated through the course of a battle by attacking and being attacked by enemy creatures, by certain Sub-Skills heroes can learn, and through certain kinds of Spells.
Morale & Luck
Morale & Luck are combat modifiers from your hero that can impact how effective your creatures are in combat. High Morale will give your units a chance to act twice in combat, while creatures with negative Morale may lose their chance to act at all that round. Each point of Morale will grant a 4% chance to act twice or lose their action.
Another thing that can influence creature morale is the number of different factions in your army. Having all of your creatures belong to one faction will give you +1 to their morale, while each additional faction present in your army will reduce morale by -1.
Luck is the potential for a unit to deal extra damage (or reduced damage for bad luck) during combat. Each point of luck will give a 6% chance to get a Lucky or Unlucky strike during battle.
Different creatures have different potential ranges of Morale & Luck, depending on their Creature Type.
There are many gameplay modifiers that can influence Morale & Luck, such as Hero Skills, Faction Laws, & Artefacts. You may also receive temporary effects from Map Objects that can increase or decrease these stats.
