Firebird and Phoenix

Conflux creatures
Level 1
Pixie
Sprite
Level 2
Air Elemental
Storm Elemental
Level 3
Water Elemental
Ice Elemental
Level 4
Fire Elemental
Energy Elemental
Level 5
Earth Elemental
Magma Elemental
Level 6
Psychic Elemental
Magic Elemental
Level 7
Firebird
Phoenix
Towns

Statistics
Firebird
Cost per troop  1500
	Attack 18 Defense 18 Damage 30–40 Health 150 Speed 15 Movement Flying Size 2 Growth 2 AI Value 4547
Special abilities:
• Immune to fire (Magic Arrow included) • Breath attack
Phoenix
Cost per troop  2000 1
	Attack 21 Defense 18 Damage 30–40 Health 200 Speed 21 Movement Flying Size 2 Growth 2 AI Value 6721
Special abilities:
• Immune to fire (Magic Arrow included) • Breath attack • Rebirth
Portraits

Firebirds and Phoenixes are level 7 creatures of Conflux town. They are recruited from the Pyre.

"Firebirds are worldly manifestations of creatures from the elemental plane of fire. These magnificent beasts are as quick as fire itself and immune to spells of the same nature. Phoenixes, the more powerful incarnation of the Firebird, can resurrect some of its number from the ashes of its own demise." ^{AB manual}

Rebirth special ability

Rebirth is a special ability of Phoenixes. It causes part of them to "rise from the ashes" if the whole stack is killed. The effect is similar to Resurrection spell, and it is permanent. The ability works only once per combat per stack.

Every Phoenix in the stack increases the chance to one of them to be reborn by +20%, but no more than one unit per a group of five Phoenixes may be reborn. In other words, one Phoenix will have a 20% chance to raise one unit with rebirth ability, three Phoenixes will have 60% chance to raise one unit, and 6 Phoenixes have 100% chance (always) to raise one unit with a 20% chance of raising a second.

Horn of the Abyss

• AI Value of Firebirds was decreased to 4336.
• The basic weekly growth was reduced to 1.
• External dwelling guard was reduced from 6 to 3 Firebirds.
• The cost in gold was increased to 2000 for a Firebird and 3000 for a Phoenix.
• Fire immunity of Firebirds was replaced with 50% Fire resistance.
• Phoenixes are vulnerable only to the central hex of Magog's attack.
• Vault of Ashes was added. A new Conflux structure that increases the growth of the Firebird and Phoenix by 1.
• Shadow was added to the adventure map view of a Phoenix.

Tactics and info

User commentary

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Although Firebirds and Phoenixes are immune to fire magic, they are not unaffected by fire-based creature attacks. For example Magogs' fireball attack or Dragons' breath attacks are not considered to be magical and therefore they do harm Firebirds and Phoenixes. In the original game, they are considered to be one of the most overpowered level 7 unit because of their double growth, speed and specialty.

Though Phoenixes are not the strongest tier 7 creature, their main strength lies in their incredible speed. They are easily the fastest unit in the game and can cover the span of an entire battlefield with one movement. Even in low numbers, they are extremely handy in the ranks of a hero wielding powerful Expert spells like Slow, Haste or Prayer. An army containing Phoenixes is next to guaranteed to strike first, unless the foe has multiple speed-boosting artifacts like Cape of Velocity and/or is Sir Mullich. This gives the Phoenix controller the ability to immediately buff their entire army or cripple the opponent's.

The Phoenixes' ability to resurrect themselves, although it only works on a very small number of creatures compared to the original stack size, can be quite annoying for an opponent. For instance, it can make it harder to get rid of a stack of phoenixes forcing a shooter into melee, or to kill all of a weaker hero's army before they retreat or surrender with their artifacts.

Like all creatures with Breath attacks, Phoenixes can be a double-edged sword as a crafty opponent may lure them into hitting your own units with their retaliation.

Trivia

They are creatures summoned from the Elemental Plane of Fire.

See also:

• List of creatures