Heroes of Might and Magic IV (PC)
Hero Skills and Classes FAQ v2.01
By: Lena LeRay
E-mail: riivaj@hotmail.com
July 6, 2003
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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1) Introduction
2) Skill List
3) Starting Classes
4) Hero Recruitment
5) Full Class List
6) Legal Shiznit
7) Updates/Thanks
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1) INTRODUCTION
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The information in this FAQ can be found in the manual. There's an excellent
chart on pages 41 - 42 that shows the combinations of skills needed to get most
of the classes. More detail on the classes can be found on pages 116 - 120,
including why you should bother with the classes -- their special abilities.
So... why write a FAQ if it's all there already? Well, if you're like me, you'd
rather have an easy to find web page or text file sitting online somewhere. If
you're like some friends of mine, you are guaranteed to lose or destroy the
book at some point. Maybe you've installed it on a laptop and forgotten the
book.
Whatever reason you choose, on with the real reason you're here.
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2) SKILL LIST
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Knowing how the skills in Heroes of Might and Magic IV (HOMM IV) work is an
important part of understanding how to get the most out of the hero classes.
It's the skills your hero has that define which class he takes on and,
subsequently, which class bonus he receives.
In HOMM IV, your heroes can learn up to twenty skills in total; however,
fifteen of those will be offshoots of the other five. In other words, You can
choose up to five paths of learning for your character to walk, and three other
skills get built up on top of each of those foundations.
For instance, the Tactics skill increases the speed and movement of all the
friendly units traveling with the hero. In addition, it makes it possible for
the hero to learn the Offense, Leadership, and Defense skills. Each of these
has its own separate function. All four of these skills depend on each other;
some upgrades of a given skill can't be learned until other skills in the
Tactics skill group are learned or upgraded first.
When a hero gets two or more skills in a group, he's considered to have
specialized in that group of skills. Every hero you get in the game starts with
one skill group, even the already higher-level heroes that join you at certain
points in the single-player campaigns. This first skill defines the hero's
starting class.
Once a hero specializes in two skill groups, a higher class is determined for
him. If you manage to get his other skills up in level, you CAN change to a
different higher class. This is, however, rather difficult due to the fact that
once a character takes on a certain class, he will almost always only get to
upgrade his specialized skills upon leveling up. Without other influences
(beast masters' huts, witches' huts, seminaries and other learning
institutions), chances of gaining new skills are small.
There are two classes which require three skill specializations to attain;
these are the Archmage and Witch King classes. The Archmage class is defined by
specializing in three different types of the five magic skill sets. The Witch
King Class requires Chaos Magic, Death Magic, and Nobility.
The following list of presents a general overview of what each skill does and
which classes each skill group is needed to obtain.
Conjuration........Increases the hero's spell points and spell
point regeneration
Pyromancy..........Increases the effectiveness of Chaos Magic
Sorcery............Increases hero's spell damage
Classes............Archmage (optional)
Fire Diviner
Fireguard
Heretic
Lich
Pyromancer
Sorcerer
Warlock
Witch King
Wizard
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Combat
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Combat increases hero's melee and ranged defense.
Melee..............Increases the hero's melee attack and lowers the
target's defense against it
Archery............Increases the hero's ranged attack and lowers the
target's defense against it
Magic Resistance...Increases the hero's magic resistance
Classes............Archer
Assassin
Barbarian
Battle Mage
Beastmaster
Fireguard
General
Paladin
Ranger
Warlord
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Death Magic
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Death Magic allows the hero to cast Death spells.
Occultism..........Increases the hero's spell points and spell point
regeneration
Demonology.........Increases the effectiveness of Death Magic
Necromancy.........Allows the hero to raise skeletons from the dead
of a defeated army
Classes............Archmage (optional)
Assassin
Dark Lord
Dark Priest
Demonologist
Lich
Necromancer
Ninja
Reaver
Shadow Mage
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Life Magic
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Life Magic allows the hero to cast Life spells.
Healing............Increases the hero's spell points and spell point
regeneration
Spirituality.......Increases the effectiveness of Life Magic
Resurrection.......Allows the hero to resurrect some of his dead
troops; some restrictions apply
Nature Magic allows the hero to cast Nature spells.
Herbalism..........Increases the hero's spell points and spell point
regeneration
Meditation.........Increases the effectiveness of Nature Magic
Summoning..........Allows the hero to summon varying creatures
Nobility allows a hero to become governor of a town, increasing
creature growth.
Estates............The hero earns extra gold for his kingdom
Mining.............The hero earns extra resources for his kingdom
Diplomacy..........Allows the hero to bribe some outnumbered enemy
units into joining his side
Classes............Beast Lord
Cardinal
Dark Lord
Guildmaster
Lord
Lord Commander
Warlord
Witch King
Wizard King
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Order Magic
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Order Magic allows a hero to cast Order spells.
Enchantment........Increases the hero's spell points and spell point
regeneration
Wizardry...........Increases the effectiveness of Nature Magic
Charm..............Allows a hero to convert a small number of
outnumbered troops to his side
Pathfinding........Makes it easier for the hero to travel in the
adventure map
Seamanship.........Makes it easier for the hero to travel in the
adventure map
Stealth............Allows the hero to travel without being seen when
by himself and not adjacent to others; Allows the
hero to see others with an equal or lower level
of stealth
Classes............Bard
Field Martial
Fire Diviner
Guildmaster
Ninja
Prophet
Ranger
Seer
Thief
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Tactics
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Tactics increases the speed and movement of all friendly creatures.
Offense............All friendly creatures get +10% to melee and
ranged attacks
Defense............All friendly creatures get +10% to melee and
ranged defense
Leadership.........All friendly creatures get +1 Luck and Morale
Classes............Crusader
Death Knight
Field Martial
General
Illusionist
Knight
Lord Commander
Pyromancer
Reaver
Warden
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3) STARTING CLASSES
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Every hero starts out with one skill group under his belt. This group defines
his starting class. Starting classes only require one skill, and give no
special class abilities.
Of the six factions (Life, Order, Death, Chaos, Nature, and Might), all but
Might have a starting magic-using class and a starting non-magic class. Might,
finding magic distasteful, has no default magic class.
Below is a list of all of the skills, what starting class they correspond to,
and to which faction that starting class belongs. In the case of the
Barbarians/Archers and the Knights/Death Knights, the only difference between
them are their original factions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skill Starting Class Faction
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Life Magic............Priest.....................Life
Order Magic...........Mage.......................Order
Death Magic...........Necromancer................Death
Chaos Magic...........Sorcerer...................Chaos
Nature Magic..........Druid......................Nature
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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4) HERO RECRUITMENT
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You will always start a map with at least one hero. What sort of "Heroes" game
would it be without them? However, as the war wages on, chances are good that
you will want to expand your hero repertoire. This is done through taverns. You
can recruit one hero a week from any given tavern.
Every town has a tavern. You do not have to build them. In the tavern of a
town, however (unlike the taverns you will occasionally encounter on the
adventure map), you will only be able to recruit heroes from certain factions.
When you enter an adventure map tavern, you are shown a diagram something like
the following:
Any of these heroes can be recruited. You even get to pick their gender and
what background story you want them to have. A town tavern is set up in similar
fashion. However, you will not have a full range of heroes to choose from. The
only heroes available will be those of the town's faction and of that factions'
natural allies.
Natural allies of a faction can be determined by looking at the following list,
finding said faction, and looking at the factions above and below it on the
list. For instance, Chaos' natural allies are Nature and Death, while Life's
natural allies are Order and Nature.
Life
Order
Death
Chaos
Nature
Life
The Might faction is not in this list. Might has no natural allies. Any tavern
in a Might town will be unable to recruit any magic-users; instead, they can
recruit non-magic heroes from any other faction.
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5) FULL CLASS LIST
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This is an alphabetical list off all of the classes, their skill specialization
requirements, and their special abilities.
Skills Required....Combat
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Archmage
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Any 3 Magic Types
Class Ability......Hero gets +20% to all spell effects
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Assassin
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Combat
Death Magic
Class Ability......Hero's speed and movement increase by 3
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Barbarian
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Combat
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Bard
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Nature Magic
Scouting
Class Ability......Hero has maximum Luck at all times
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Battle Mage
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Combat
Order Magic
Class Ability......Automatically learns Magic Fist spell;
Hero gets +20% to Magic Fist and Ice Bolt spells
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Beast Lord
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Nature Magic
Nobility
Class Ability......Hero gets +20% to Summon Wolf and Summon White
Tiger spells
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Beastmaster
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Combat
Nature Magic
Class Ability......Hero gets +20% to Summon Wolf
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Cardinal
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Life Magic
Nobility
Class Ability......Hero gets +5% to resurrection skill
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Crusader
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Life Magic
Tactics
Class Ability......Hero has maximum Morale at all times
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dark Lord
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Death Magic
Nobility
Class Ability......Hero's melee attack causes target maximum
negative morale
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Dark Priest
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Death Magic
Life Magic
Class Ability......Hero gains 1 hit point for every 2 melee damage
he deals
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Death Knight
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Tactics
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Demonologist
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Death Magic
Nature Magic
Class Ability......Hero gets +50% to all demon summoning spells
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Druid
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Nature Magic
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Enchanter
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Nature Magic
Order Magic
Class Ability......Hero gets +20% to all summoning and illusion
spells
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Field Marshal
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Scouting
Tactics
Class Ability......All friendly creatures get +10% to melee and
ranged attack
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Fire Diviner
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Chaos Magic
Scouting
Class Ability......Hero gets +20% to the effects of all fire-based
spells
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Fireguard
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Chaos Magic
Combat
Class Ability......Hero is immune to fire-based spells; Hero takes
half damage from fire-based melee attacks
--------------------------------------------------------------------
General
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Combat
Tactics
Class Ability......All friendly creatures get +1 morale
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Guildmaster
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Nobility
Scouting
Class Ability......Hero's melee attack has a chance of Stunning the
target
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Heretic
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Chaos Magic
Life Magic
Class Ability......Hero can ignore the effect of all wards
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Illusionist
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Order Magic
Tactics
Class Ability......Hero gets +20% to the effects of all illusion
spells
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Knight
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Tactics
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lich
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Chaos Magic
Death Magic
Class Ability......Hero's melee attack has a chance of Aging the
target
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Nobility
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Lord Commander
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Nobility
Tactics
Class Ability......All friendly creatures get +2 morale
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mage
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Order Magic
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Monk
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Life Magic
Order Magic
Class Ability......Hero has Chaos Ward at all times
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Necromancer
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Death Magic
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ninja
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Combat
Life Magic
Class Ability......Hero has Death Ward at all times
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Priest
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Life Magic
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Prophet
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Life Magic
Scouting
Class Ability......Hero has Spiritual Armor at all times
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Pyromancer
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Chaos Magic
Tactics
Class Ability......Any unit using a melee attack on Hero takes fire
damage
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ranger
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Combat
Scouting
Class Ability......Hero gets ranged ability and +5 ranged attack
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Reaver
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Death Magic
Tactics
Class Ability......Hero has Bloodlust at all times
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Seer
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Order Magic
Scouting
Class Ability......Hero's scouting radius increases by 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Shadow Mage
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Death Magic
Order Magic
Class Ability......Hero has Blur at all times
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorcerer
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Chaos Magic
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Summoner
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Life Magic
Nature Magic
Class Ability......Hero can summon +20 experience points worth of
creatures per day
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Thief
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Scouting
Class Ability......None
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Warden
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Nature Magic
Tactics
Class Ability......All friendly Creatures get +10% to melee and
ranged defense
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Warlock
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Chaos Magic
Nature Magic
Class Ability......Hero gets +10 spell points and can regenerate 1
extra spell point per day
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Warlord
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Combat
Nobility
Class Ability......Hero gets +5 to melee attack
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Witch King
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Chaos Magic
Death Magic
Nobility
Class Ability......Hero's attack keeps target from retaliating;
target runs away for a short distance
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Wizard
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Chaos Magic
Order Magic
Class Ability......Hero's spell costs decrease by 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Wizard King
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills Required....Nobility
Order Magic
Class Ability......Hero's melee attack gives target maximum bad Luck
--------------------------------------------------------------------
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6) LEGAL SHIZNIT
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You know what? I don't really care what you do with this as long as you don't
try to say its yours and don't try to sell it. After all, as I mentioned in the
intro, I just collected the info and put it in one spot anyway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7) CONTACT ME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can be contacted at riivaj@hotmail.com. I also have a web site at
http://www.sasdomain.us/, but at the time of this writing the site hasn't been
updated recently and the only reason to go there is (shameless plug!) to check
out the video game and anime desktop wallpaper I have made.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8) UPDATES/THANKS
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"Updates" is pretty self-explanatory. "Thanks" refers to the people who've
pointed out little errors I made, which will be noted next to the update they
inspired. The exception to that is the first dude to point out a typo, but
that's only because I lost the e-mail he sent me. -_-' Sorry!
v2.01
- Fixed/Modified:
- Formatting
- A couple of typos
v2.00
- Fixed/Modified:
- Formatting
- A couple of typos
- Skill List section
- Legal Shiznit section
- Starting Classes section
- Full Class List
- Added:
- Hero Recruitment section
v1.12
- Fixed/Modified:
- Typo under Battle Mage class (Thanks to justin@cs.duke.edu)
- Contact Me section
v1.10
- Fixed/Modified:
- A couple of typos
- The Legal Shiznit section
- Added
- Contact Me section
- Updates Section
