Comparison of Armorer, Offense and Archery
Facts (valid for Horn of the Abyss)
- At Basic, Advanced or Expert Level, Armorer reduces all damage inflicted by 5%, 10% or 15%.
- At Basic, Advanced or Expert Level, Offense increases hand-to-hand damage by 10%, 20% or 30%.
- At Basic, Advanced or Expert Level, Archery increases ranged damage by 10%, 25% or 50%.
- 9 heroes (+ 1 campaign hero Roland) start with Armorer as a secondary skill and 3 specialize in it Mephala, Neela and Tazar.
- 23 heroes (+ 4 campaign heroes Kilgor, Catherine, Bidley and Tark) start with Offense as a secondary skill and 3 specialize in it Crag Hack, Gundula and Corkes.
- 9 heroes (+ 1 campaign hero Gelu) start with Archery as a secondary skill and 1 specialize in it Orrin.
Notes
- Armorer will benefit all your troops while Offense will benefit shooters less (only when they attack in melee).
- Archery has the biggest bonus, but only works for shooters.
- Inferno, Necropolis and Fortress have 1 shooter, Tower has 3 and all other towns have 2 shooters. Probably, because Archery applies to fewer stacks in your army, the bonus is bigger to balance the skill.
- Beastmasters from Fortress are most likely to learn Armorer (10% chance), followed by Alchemists from Tower (8% chance).
- Barbarians from Stronghold are most likely to learn Offense (10% chance), followed by Captains from Cove (9% chance).
- Captains from Cove are most likely to learn Archery (9% chance), followed by Rangers from Rampart and Planeswalkers from Conflux (8% chance each).
Table of specialties percentages
Assuming Expert Level in the secondary skill, the bonus will increase to the following values at certain levels: (Level 74 is the maximal level in Horn of the Abyss).
| Bonus Percentages from Specialty | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Armorer | Offense | Archery | |
| Base % | 15% | 30% | 50% |
| Level | |||
| 0 | 15% | 30% | 50% |
| 1 | 16% | 32% | 53% |
| 2 | 17% | 33% | 55% |
| 3 | 17% | 35% | 58% |
| 4 | 18% | 36% | 60% |
| 5 | 19% | 38% | 63% |
| 10 | 23% | 45% | 75% |
| 15 | 26% | 53% | 88% |
| 20 | 30% | 60% | 100% |
| 25 | 34% | 68% | 113% |
| 30 | 38% | 75% | 125% |
| 40 | 45% | 90% | 150% |
| 46 | 50% | 99% | 165% |
| 47 | 50% | 101% | 168% |
| 50 | 53% | 105% | 175% |
| 60 | 60% | 120% | 200% |
| 70 | 68% | 135% | 225% |
| 73 | 70% | 140% | 233% |
| 74 | 71% | 141% | 235% |
Discussion
Note that all three skills' percentages increase linearly when their respective specialty heroes reach higher levels.
Now, for Offense and Archery the resulting advantage also increases linearly: Offense specialty adds a 100% (linear) bonus every 66 2/3 levels after level 46 2/3. Archery specialty adds a 100% (linear) bonus every 40 levels after level 20.
Armorer behaves non-linear. This is because the change from 15% reduced damage to 20% reduced damage is less of a difference than 90% reduced damage to 95% reduced damage. From 15% to 20% the change is only a 5.9% improvement, but 90% to 95% halves the damage taken!
Tabular Overview #1
Here a tabular overview of what levels would be needed to double/triple/... the damage or to receive only half/one third/... of the damage:
| Armorer | Offense | Archery | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base % | 15 | 30 | 50 | ||||||
| Level | Total % | Effective Reduction Factor | Level | Total % | Effective Increase Factor | Level | Total % | Effective Increase Factor | |
| Two times / One half of damage | 46.67 | 50% | 2 | 46.67 | 100% | 2 | 20 | 100% | 2 |
| Three times / One third of damage | 68.89 | 67% | 3 | 113.33 | 200% | 3 | 60 | 200% | 3 |
| Four times / One fourth of damage | 80 | 75% | 4 | 180 | 300% | 4 | 100 | 300% | 4 |
| Five times / one fifth of damage | 86.67 | 80% | 5 | 246.67 | 400% | 5 | 140 | 400% | 5 |
| Ten times / one tenth of damage | 100 | 90% | 10 | 580 | 900% | 10 | 340 | 900% | 10 |
| At max level | 74 | 71% | 3.39 | 74 | 141% | 2.41 | 74 | 235% | 3.35 |
Tabular Overview #2
Here the table for achievable levels:
| Effective Increase / Reduction Factor | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Armorer | Offense | Archery | |
| Base % | 15% | 30% | 50% |
| Level | |||
| 1.18 | 1.30 | 1.50 | |
| 1.19 | 1.32 | 1.53 | |
| 1.20 | 1.33 | 1.55 | |
| 1.21 | 1.35 | 1.58 | |
| 1.22 | 1.36 | 1.60 | |
| 1.23 | 1.38 | 1.63 | |
| 1.29 | 1.45 | 1.75 | |
| 1.36 | 1.53 | 1.88 | |
| 1.43 | 1.60 | 2 | |
| 1.51 | 1.68 | 2.13 | |
| 1.60 | 1.75 | 2.25 | |
| 1.82 | 1.90 | 2.50 | |
| 1.98 | 1.99 | 2.65 | |
| 2.01 | 2.01 | 2.68 | |
| 2.11 | 2.05 | 2.75 | |
| 2.50 | 2.20 | 3 | |
| 3.08 | 2.35 | 3.25 | |
| 3.31 | 2.40 | 3.33 | |
| 3.39 | 2.41 | 3.35 | |