Crystal Dragon: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:19, 19 November 2024

Neutral creatures

Level 1

Peasant

Halfling

Level 2

Rogue

Boar

Leprechaun

Level 3

Nomad

Mummy

Level 4

Sharpshooter

Satyr

Steel Golem

Level 5

Troll

Gold Golem

Fangarm

Level 6

Diamond Golem

Enchanter

Level 7

Faerie Dragon

Rust Dragon

Crystal Dragon

Azure Dragon

Towns

Statistics

Crystal Dragon

Cost per troop
20000	10

Attack	40
Defense	40
Damage	60–75
Health	800
Speed	16
Movement	Ground
Size	2
Growth	1
AI Value	39338

Special abilities:

• Dragon
• Crystal generation
• Magic resistance 20%

Portraits

	[[File:{{{U_name}}} portrait.png]] [[File:{{{U_name}}} portrait (HotA).png]]
	[[File:Mini Portrait {{{U_name}}}.png]]

Crystal Dragons are level 7 neutral creatures recruited from the Crystal Cavern.

"Made entirely from red crystal and brought to life through magical means, the Crystal Dragon is literally semitransparent, lit from the center by its magical heart. Used frequently as a training tool for young dragon slayers, many wizards also create these creatures for the crystal they shed." ^{AB manual}

Unlike the majority of dragons, Crystal Dragons cannot fly and they don't have a breath attack, i.e. they damage only the troops directly attacked by them. Placing Crystal Dragons (as well as any living Dragons) in the Skeleton Transformer will give you Bone Dragons instead of regular Skeletons.

Although they are described as magically-created "dragon golems", they are considered living dragons.

Special Ability: Crystal Generation[edit | hide | hide all]

Crystal Dragons have vaguely phrased special ability called crystal generation. It produces three crystal at the beginning of each week if the player has at least one crystal dragon in any of their armies. The effect is not cumulative, which means that having more than one Crystal Dragon in the kingdom will not yield more crystal.

Heroes with a specialty[edit | hide]

Mutare the Overlord and
Mutare Drake the Overlord have dragons as a specialty. All dragons receive +5 Attack and +5 Defense.

Appearance[edit | hide]

Crystal Dragons were added in Armageddon's Blade, so there are no Crystal Dragons or Crystal Caverns in Restoration of Erathia. They also appear at the end of the Crystal Dragons scenario from the Dragon Slayer campaign in Armageddon's Blade.

Official Renders[edit | hide]

User commentary

[Show user commentary]

[Hide user commentary]

Some may find the information in this section subjective or irrelevant.

Even though in the game files themselves the Crystal Dragon and other neutral dragons are considered to be level 7, the official editor shows they are level 10 (8 for Faerie Dragon). This is either due to code limitations and impossibility of creating a unit with tier higher than 7, either because the developers didn't have time, motivation or reason to add a new creature level in the game code and invest time in that, just telling us they are level 10, respectively 8. As such, even now their levels are still being debated.

They are also the second strongest creature in the game in raw stats, the first being the Azure Dragon. Crystal Dragons can also be resurrected, probably due to their magical heart, even though they are at one point referred to as golems in the campaign.

Toughness

Crystal Dragons have the second highest defense and health value, right behind the Azure Dragon. In all stages of the game, these dragons are terrible foes, fast and hard to get rid of.

Offense

Just like toughness, they have the second highest attack and damage value in the whole game. With their fast speed and excellent stats, they are the perfect troop to kill and block the enemy archers and withstand the blows of the enemy.

Efficiency and cost

For a pretty high cost in gold , these dragons are still a good deal. However, don't rely only on them and make sure you have money for other troops too.

Tactics

There are not that many strategies involving them, since they are a pretty simple, but effective creature. Fast speed allows them to reach any unit on the battlefield, and high stats make them effective tanks and attackers at the same time. However, unlike all other dragons, Crystal Dragons do not fly, so they will have to navigate around obstacles (their high speed helps) and will be blocked by castle walls and moats.

Skill bonuses

If you want your dragons to be even scarier, Offense and Armorer are excellent choices, skills from which most other creatures benefit from.

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
   | AI_Value   = 39338
   | Growth     = 1
-  | Name       = Crystal dragon
+  | Name       = Crystal Dragon
   | Attack     = 40
   | Defense    = 40
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
   | ResCost    = 10
   | Cost       = 20000
-  | Special    = • Crystal generation<br>• [[Magic resistance]] +20%<br>• Counts as [[dragon]]
+  | Special    = • [[Dragon]]<br>• [[Crystal generation]]<br>• [[Magic resistance]] 20%
   | Onlyone    =
 }}
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 '''Crystal Dragons''' are level 7 [[neutral creature]]s recruited from the [[Crystal Cavern (dwelling)|Crystal Cavern]].
-''"Made entirely from red crystal and brought to life through magical means, the Crystal Dragon is literally semitransparent, lit from the center by its magical heart. Used frequently as a training tool for young dragon slayers, many wizards also create these creatures for the crystal they shed."{{-}}<sup>[[Armageddon's Blade Manual Page 20|AB manual]]''</sup>
+''"Made entirely from red [[crystal]] and brought to life through magical means, the Crystal Dragon is literally semitransparent, lit from the center by its magical heart. Used frequently as a training tool for young dragon slayers, many [[Wizard|wizards]] also create these creatures for the crystal they shed."{{-}}<sup>[[Armageddon's Blade Manual Page 20|AB manual]]''</sup>
-Placing Crystal Dragons (as well as any living Dragons) in the [[Skeleton Transformer]] will give you [[Bone Dragon]]s instead of regular [[Skeleton]]s.
+Unlike the majority of dragons, Crystal Dragons cannot fly and they don't have a [[breath attack]], i.e. they damage only the troops directly attacked by them. Placing Crystal Dragons (as well as any living Dragons) in the [[Skeleton Transformer]] will give you [[Bone Dragon]]s instead of regular [[Skeleton]]s.
-Crystal Dragons were added in {{ab}} so there are no Crystal Dragons or [[Crystal Cavern (dwelling)|Crystal Cavern]]s in {{roe}}.
+Although they are described as magically-created "dragon golems", they are considered [[living]] [[dragon]]s.
-They are also the second strongest creature in the game in raw stats, the first being the [[Azure Dragon]]. Crystal Dragons can also be resurrected, probably due to their magical heart, even though they are considered to be golems.
+== Special Ability: Crystal Generation ==
+Crystal Dragons have vaguely phrased [[special ability]] called ''crystal generation''. It produces three [[crystal]] {{C}} at the beginning of each week if the player has at least one crystal dragon in any of their armies. The effect is not cumulative, which means that having more than one Crystal Dragon in the [[kingdom]] will not yield more crystal.
-== Crystal generation special ability ==
+== Heroes with a specialty ==
-Crystal Dragons have vaguely phrased [[special ability]] called ''crystal generation''. It produces three crystals (3x {{C}}) at the beginning of each week if the player has at least one crystal dragon in any of his armies. The effect is not cumulative, which means that several crystal dragon stacks in a hero's army or several crystal dragon stacks in different heroes' armies does not produce more than the three crystals.
+*{{H|Mutare|Overlord}} {{withmaped}} and
+*{{H|Mutare Drake|Overlord}} {{withmaped}} have dragons as a [[Specialty#Creature_specialties|specialty]]. All dragons receive +5 Attack and +5 Defense.
-== Trivia ==
+== Appearance ==
+Crystal Dragons were added in {{ab}}, so there are no Crystal Dragons or [[Crystal Cavern (dwelling)|Crystal Cavern]]s in {{roe}}. They also appear at the end of the [[Crystal Dragons]] scenario from the [[Dragon Slayer]] campaign in {{ab}}.
+{{video|AB CD-Heroes3-DATA-Heroes3 vid-H3ABds1-smk-H3ABds1|550px}}
+== Official Renders ==
+<gallery mode="packed-hover">
+Crystal Dragon render.gif
+</gallery>
+{{user commentary|
 Even though in the game files themselves the Crystal Dragon and other neutral dragons are considered to be level 7, the official editor shows they are level 10 (8 for [[Faerie Dragon]]). This is either due to code limitations and impossibility of creating a unit with tier higher than 7, either because the developers didn't have time, motivation or reason to add a new creature level in the game code and invest time in that, just telling us they are level 10, respectively 8. As such, even now their levels are still being debated.
+----
+They are also the second strongest creature in the game in raw stats, the first being the [[Azure Dragon]]. Crystal Dragons can also be [[Resurrection|resurrected]], probably due to their magical heart, even though they are at one point referred to as [[Golem|golems]] in the campaign.
+=== Toughness ===
+Crystal Dragons have the second highest defense and health value, right behind the [[Azure Dragon]]. In all stages of the game, these dragons are terrible foes, fast and hard to get rid of.
+=== Offense ===
+Just like toughness, they have the second highest attack and damage value in the whole game. With their fast speed and excellent stats, they are the perfect troop to kill and block the enemy archers and withstand the blows of the enemy.
+=== Efficiency and cost ===
+For a pretty high cost in gold {{g}}, these dragons are still a good deal. However, don't rely only on them and make sure you have money for other troops too.
+=== Tactics ===
+There are not that many strategies involving them, since they are a pretty simple, but effective creature. Fast speed allows them to reach any unit on the battlefield, and high stats make them effective tanks and attackers at the same time. However, unlike all other dragons, '''Crystal Dragons do not fly''', so they will have to navigate around obstacles (their high speed helps) and will be blocked by castle walls and moats.
+=== Skill bonuses ===
+If you want your dragons to be even scarier, [[Offense]] and [[Armorer]] are excellent choices, skills from which most other creatures benefit from.
+}}{{end of user commentary}}
+{{creature 'see also'|up=*[[Dragon]]
+* [[Neutral creature]]}}
+* [[Comparison of Level 7 Creatures]]
-{{creature 'see also'|up=* [[Neutral creature]]}}
+{{Resource generator navigational box}}
 [[Category: Creatures]]
 __NOTOC__

Resource generators
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Artifacts	Endless Purse of Gold • Endless Bag of Gold • Endless Sack of Gold • Inexhaustible Cart of Lumber • Inexhaustible Cart of Ore • Everflowing Crystal Cloak • Everpouring Vial of Mercury • Eversmoking Ring of Sulfur • Ring of Infinite Gems • Cornucopia • Golden Goose
Town buildings	Freelancer's Guild • Halls • Grail • Marketplace • Mystic Pond • Resource Silo • Treasury • Bank
Creatures	Crystal Dragon
Secondary skills	Estates
Heroes	Resource specialty