Trivia

Trivia is a collection of small but useful bits of information about Heroes of Might and Magic III.

Verified Statements

General Trivia

• Adventure map objects can be reactivated by pressing the space bar, or pressing the gate on the panel on the right, below the map (only in Horn of the Abyss 1.7.0). This action doesn't cost any movement points and allows, for example, unlimited cycling through two-way monoliths. This does not work in Restoration of Erathia .
• The odds of wandering creatures joining you depends on what troops you have with you (and whether or not you have Diplomacy).
• It is possible for a hero to have no troops if you deposit them at a Seer's Hut or Quest Guard. Upon entering a battle, you will instantly lose as soon as the pre-battle music ends.
• You can delete artifacts by trading with an allied hero in multiplayer and having the artifact selected with your mouse (as you're dragging it) as the other player exits the trade window.
• On the build screen of any town you own, each structure's further building prospects are signified by the status colors red, green or yellow. While playing any kind of multiplayer game, and you are not the current player, browsing your own build screens will show your red status structures as green for each of the structures where the current player has enough of each resource & gold to satisfy the build requirements of those structures.
• You can mark a path max. 60,000 movement points away (both on land, sea and when using an Airship ).
• In a campaign, if a hero is transferred from the previous scenario together with an equipped artifact that provides knowledge bonus, the extra spell points will be in place. Unfortunately, if such artifact is selected as the optional bonus at the start of the scenario, no matter whether in a campaign or not, the extra spell points for the hero it's given to will be missing on Day 1.
• If troops in the garrison are removable, there will be a flag on the first slot of the garrison. Otherwise, the troops are irremovable.
• Holes and Events prevent heroes from disembarking from ships.
• The AI cannot open Ocean bottles.
• Temple visits on day 7 grant +2 Morale.
• Idol of Fortune visits on day 7 grant +1 Morale and Luck.
• Lighthouses found on adventure map counts as a mine, so don't forget to flag them if the special victory condition is "flag all mines".
• Tree of Knowledge gives experience equal to the difference between a hero's next level and current level.
• Windmill never produces wood .
• In the game files, Morale variable values have names: Treason (-3), Awful (-2), Poor (-1), Normal (0), Good (+1), Great (+2) and Blood! (+3)
• In the game files, Luck variable values have names: Cursed (-3), Awful (-2), Bad (-1), Normal (0), Good (+1), Great (+2), Irish (+3).
• The background of Necropolis creatures' large icons shows the pre-release version of the Necropolis' Castle and sky.
• Almost all the default town names are unique, with the exception of "Strongglen" applying to both Rampart and Stronghold.

Creatures

• Any creatures with double attack can get Lucky twice in a row.
• Almost all non-upgraded wandering creatures look to the right side, while upgraded creatures look to the left side. The exceptions are  Water Elementals and  Earth Elementals (fixed in Horn of the Abyss ).
•   Pikemen and Halberdiers are immune to   Cavaliers and Champions' jousting bonus (+5% damage per hex they cross).
•  Cavaliers are upgraded to  Champions for free at Stables located on the Adventure Map.
•  Archangels resurrect fewer creatures with health artifacts on, but  Pit Lords and the Horn of the Abyss raise more creatures with additional health points with health artifacts.
•  Gold Dragons are susceptible to  Dispel cast by heroes, the Sacrificing part of  Sacrifice (but not the Resurrection) (fixed in Horn of the Abyss ) and  Ghost Dragons' Aging.
•   Stone and Obsidian Gargoyles cannot be raised with  Resurrection because they are non-living creatures. However, they are still affected by Morale, unlike Golems or Elementals.
•  Master Genies can and will cast  Cure and  Anti-Magic on their allies.
•  Master Genies can cast Mass spells if the battle takes place on Magic Plains, Rockland, Fiery Fields, Lucid Pools or Magic Clouds.
•  Dread Knight's Death Blow stacks with Luck.
•  Black Dragons are immune to most creature abilities (e.g. stone gaze), but they can still be bound by   Dendroids and die from  Mighty Gorgons' Death Stare.
•  Black Dragons are immune to all spells apart from  Dispel, but they still receive damage from  Fire Shield.
•  Thunderbirds' Lightning Strike does extra damage to   Air and Storm Elementals
• Elemental units attacking the opposite Elemental unit do double basic damage ( Air Elemental vs.  Earth Elemental and  Water Elemental vs.  Fire Elemental).
•  Magic Elementals receive damage from Fire Shield and Efreet's Fire Shield.
•   Mechanics and Engineers  can only repair Mechanical units. This does not include Golems, Bloodless, Elementals or War Machines.
•  Rogues being present in a hero's army grant the same effect as Expert  Visions. This is still applicable with just one Rogue being present.
•  Hypnotized  Fangarms will hypnotize creature for their opponent.
•  Berserked  Fangarms will hypnotize creatures regardless of which hero they or their target belongs to, transferring control over them to the target's opponent.
•         Dragons,   Hydras, and   Couatls  become  Bone Dragons in the Skeleton Transformer.   Bone and Ghost Dragons become  Skeletons, but in Horn of the Abyss 1.7.0  they turn into  Bone Dragons.
•  Ghost Dragon's Aging ability is resisted by creatures immune to level 5 spells.
•  Beholders,  Evil Eyes, and  Gold Golems have a different death animation when they die to a spell instead of a creature attack in Horn of the Abyss .
•  Ammo Cart and  First Aid Tent's passive effects work in creature banks, despite not being present on the battlefield; however, they cannot be damaged and the First aid tent cannot heal in a creature bank.
• Standing next to a War Machine prevents ranged units from attacking.

Artifacts

• Having two (or more) duplicate Legion artifacts on one hero only gives the growth bonus once. However, two heroes with the same Legion artifact in the garrison and visiting slots of the town give the growth bonus twice (one count per artifact).
• Badge of Courage has a hidden ability that provides immunity to all mind spells (removed in Horn of the Abyss ). The spell book and wand symbol do appear, but spells like  Berserk will have no effect.
• Orb of Vulnerability breaks creatures' natural immunities to magic but not artifact-granted immunities. Additionally, it negates the Magic Resistance artifacts and Resistance but does not negate Spell Damage Reduction.
• Orb of Vulnerability works differently for the owner and the opponent. It allows the owner to cast all spells on any creature, ignoring their magic immunities. The opponent, however, can only ignore creature immunities of the owner's troops (not their own).
• Armor of the Damned, Angelic Alliance, and Ironfist of the Ogre  spells still work in an Anti-Magic Garrison.

Spells

• Not all spells can be disabled in a map. There must be at least one spell from each level enabled.
•  Anti-Magic can only be removed with  Dispel or with   Serpent or Dragon Flies' dispel ability (the ability was introduced in Restoration of Erathia 1.4).
•  Berserk can be cast on Undead creatures if Orb of Vulnerability is present. However, they are still immune to  Blind.
•  Cloned creatures are affected by artifacts.
•  Cloned creatures copy their Special Abilities, including the ability to cast spells.
  •  Cloned  Ogre Mage can cast  Bloodlust.
  •  Cloned  Archangel can cast  Resurrection.
  •  Cloned   Couatls and Crimson Couatls  can become immune when using the Meditation ability.
  •  Cloned   Automatons and Sentinel Automatons  can detonate at death.
•  Cure can remove Poison (from  Wyvern Monarchs or   Sea Serpents and Haspids ).
•  Dispel can remove all effects of creature abilities (e.g.   Dendroid Guard and Dendroid Soldier's Binding), except for  Wyvern Monarch's and   Sea Serpent and Haspid 's Poison.
• Expert  Dispel can remove  Fire Walls,  Force Fields,  Land Mines and  Quicksands from the battlefield (with the exception of Quicksands at Dunes  magical terrain).
• ALL the troops without Sphere of Permanence, including corpses and creatures with magic immunity (e.g.  Black Dragons) will play the animation of  Dispel. This means actually ONLY Sphere of Permanence can provide immunity to Dispel, though in most cases, Dispel casted on corpses or creatures with magic immunity doesn't have any effect.
•  Disrupting Ray cannot be removed by either  Dispel or  Cure.
•  Disrupting Ray can be used to reduce a unit's defense below 0, so long as it is cast on a creature affected by  Stone Skin or  Prayer, and the positive spell's duration ends.
•  Fire Shield deals damage to creatures with magic immunity (such as  Black Dragons), but not to those with fire immunity (such as  Efreeti).
•  Land Mines do not affect creatures with magic immunity (e.g.  Magic Elementals) (Restoration of Erathia 1.2 or Complete Edition).
•  Land Mine cannot be cast if any enemy troops are on their native terrain (this includes Cove troops if a Lodestar is controlled by any player).
•  Quicksand affects creatures who are on their native terrain, but they can always see the quicksands (only placed by heroes, not included Dunes) and try to bypass them. Flying creatures are always immune to  Quicksand.
• When there are  Quicksand (only placed by heroes, not included Dunes) or  Land Mines on the battlefield (included Tower moat's landmines), you can locate them without casting a spell by selecting  Remove Obstacle with Expert Water Magic and mousing over hexes on the battlefield. Just cancel the spell when done!
•  Resurrection can appear in the Mage Guild of Necropolis despite the fact that it cannot be used on any of the creatures it creates, hence the use of  Animate Dead.

Combat

• Arrow towers cause more damage to heroes with Armorer, although it should be the other way round. This also applies to  Air Shield. In Horn of the Abyss  this bug had been fixed.
• Stronghold does not have a moat in Restoration of Erathia .
• Normally, the minimum amount of damage a unit can deal is 1. However, if a  Hypnotized creature that attacks all hexes around them (such as a  Hydra) retaliates, it deals 0 damage.
• Battles in the subterranean level are always considered to take place on subterranean terrain. However, movement works normally. In Horn of the Abyss , the battles take place found in the respective terrain in the subterranean level.
• Battles in Crystal Caverns, Gold Mines and Abandoned Mines are always considered to take place in Subterranean terrain.
• Tower moat's  Land Mines are treated similarly as the spell, and therefore are affected by  Dispel, creatures with magic immunities are unaffected by them, and Orb of Tempestuous Fire increase their damage.
• With Necromancy, you get more  Skeletons than  Skeleton Warriors after combat.
• The Lodestar works for all Cove units (both friend and foe), not just your own troops.
• The right corners of the battle map only have 2 adjacent hexes, while the left corners have 3.

Unverified Claims

•  Disguise is completely useless against Hard/Expert/Impossible AI?
• Occupying the bottom right of your screen is the 'Status Window' showing the portrait of your currently selected hero. Clicking on that portrait shows how many towns you own and their level of development (village status, for example Capitol). However, when it is not your turn in any kind of multiplayer game, those town statistics displayed, are for the current player.?

False Claims

• A horde building protects those particular creatures in that town from plague, which means that the dwelling with a horde building will produce creatures normally. [Tested in RoE, SoD (HD+) and HotA by ShushMaster (talk) 18:27, 30 July 2018 (CEST)]
• Elementals that are summoned in combat are not affected by Planeswalkers' (e.g. Kalt) bonuses. [Tested by Kapteeni Ruoska 06:37, 4 August 2014 (CEST)]
• In the first versions of the game,  Witches had a chance to learn Necromancy. [Tested in v1.0 by Kapteeni Ruoska 07:55, 28 March 2014 (CET)]
•  Psychic Elementals do half damage to all enemy creatures when the opposing hero has the Sleepkeeper  artifact. [Tested by Csaros 17:52, 9 January 2024 (CET)]
• Pendant of Courage has a hidden effect: While wearing this item, neither you nor your opponent will be able to cast level 3  Land Mine during combat. [Tested by Csaros (talk) 14:22, 15 February 2024 (UTC)]