Bless

School of Water Magic

Level 1

Bless

Cure

Dispel

Magic Arrow *

Protection from Water

Summon Boat

Level 2

Ice Bolt

Remove Obstacle

Scuttle Boat

Visions *

Weakness

Level 3

Forgetfulness

Frost Ring

Mirth

Teleport

Level 4

Clone

Prayer

Water Walk

Level 5

Summon Water Elemental

School of Air Magic

School of Earth Magic

School of Fire Magic

Bless
	School:	Water Magic
	Level:	1st
	Cost:	5/4
	Duration:	1 Round/Power
Basic effect
Causes the selected friendly unit to inflict maximum damage when it attacks.
Advanced effect
Causes the selected friendly unit to inflict (maximum damage +1) when it attacks.
Expert effect
Causes all friendly units to inflict (maximum damage +1) when they attack.
Probability of occurrence (%):
Castle   54 Rampart   32 Tower   39 (31*) Inferno   0 Necropolis   0 Dungeon   19 Stronghold   20 Fortress   31 Conflux   31 Cove    53 Factory    20 * Without Library

Bless is a 1st level spell in the School of Water Magic. The Bless spell counters the Curse spell.

This spell is most effective on creatures which have a large damage range and, at Advanced and Expert level, stacks of troops with low damage but large numbers of creatures in them.

The +1 extra damage bonus from Advanced Water Magic is more beneficial to units that normally deal low damage as it's greater percentage of their base damage, so it's even more useful to low level units with high numbers and large damage bracket. Many 1st level units deal 1-3 damage values - Pikemen, Troglodytes, Sprites (Skeletons too, but as Undead, they cannot be Blessed). Harpies & Harpy Hags with 1-4 damage are perhaps most affected, as Advanced Bless causes them to deal 5 damage instead of 1-4, average 2,5, doubling their output. Air Elementals & Storm Elementals deal similarly proportioned 2-8 damage.

Because of its mechanic, normal and basic Bless is useless to cast on troops with fixed damage value: Angels, Nagas, Peasants, Enchanters and Rust Dragons. Advanced Bless has a very minor effect, as 1 point of damage is more or less a negligible amount on such troops. With the exception of peasants; where +1 basically doubles their damage output. This boost could be a game changer in numbers massive enough. However, getting to that point is only reasonable on paper and even then, it is really hard to keep them alive.

Heroes starting with Bless:

• Adela the Cleric
• Spint the Navigator 
• Gem the Druid  * Only on maps without water.

Heroes specialising in Bless:

• Adela the Cleric

Creatures immune to Bless:

• Undead

•   Green and Gold Dragons
•   Red and Black Dragons
•  Azure Dragons

•  Magic Elementals

Creatures capable of casting Bless:

•  Master Genies (advanced level)
•  Enchanters (expert level)

User commentary

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The spell is most effective on creatures which have a large range between their minimum and maximum damage and, at Advanced and Expert level, troop stacks with a large amount of creatures in them. - More precisely, it's most effective on creatures which have large relative proportion of max damage to average damage and low damage but high stack numbers. Think of Gremlins with their min 1, avg 1,5, max 2 damage that becomes fixed 2 (+33% from average 1,5) or 3 on Advanced+ (+100% from avg 1,5). Giants and Titans have larger numerical variance (40-60) but their min-avg-max damage ratio is lower - min 1, avg 1,25, max 1,5, so they only get +20% from normal Bless and 22% from Advanced. The +1 extra damage bonus from Advanced Water Magic is more beneficial to units that normally deal low damage as it's greater percentage of their base damage, so it's even more useful to low level units with high numbers and large variance. Like anything that has 1-3 or so damage values - Pikemen, Troglodytes, Sprites. Hags & Harpy Hags with 1-4 are perhaps most affected. Air Elementals & Storm Elementals have 2-8, same proportions, but they don't get as dramatic powerup from Adv Bless - it's only 1/8th and not 1/4th of "normal" max damage. Bless also almost completely eliminates damage variance, which is helpful as it makes combat much more predictable, particularly the possibility and strength of counter-attacks.