The Tactical Duel Map has been on the bench for a bit, due to the recent Vanilla tournament but now it's back. And so are the hero specials!
Originally, I had removed hero specials because I wanted to focus on faction balance and give people complete build freedom. Unit specialists were very strong at lvl 20, spell specials could turn out a poor match versus some matchups or easily countered, some dictated what build you will pick whether you wanted that or not, some specials could turn out 100% useless and so on. But also, back then I did not have the means to rebalance most of them.
To reintroduce them, I wanted to make them all viable, keep the bonuses grounded and avoid introducing high RNG gameplay. I also wanted players to tell which hero has what at a glance. For instance, [Dougal] is now named [Dougal, Archer Commander]. I have avoided moving around faction emblematic specials and the few I moved, fit their new faction theme and gameplay. Here is a taste:
- Unit specialists get +6 att/def. More down to earth.
- Weaker unit specs like peasants, assassins, wyverns or dino riders get extra units.
- Initiative/Atb specs toned down.
- Mass spell specs like Poisoner or Sacred Hammer down to 40% chance.
- Specs like Reanimator or Flame Wielder up to +10 spellpower.
- Some heroes have access to ultimate racials (as in Ultimate Necromancy, not Howl of Terror ^^)
- Some obvious fixes like weaker Pounder, Centaur Mistress without +Atb.
On a more interesting note:
- Grok can now summon the Avatar of Destruction. Repurposed Avatar of Death, scales similar to phoenix but has more interesting gameplay.
- Alastor can now bypass undead immunity to Confusion!
- Talanar now gives Enraged to the whole faction, plus +1 max damage.
- Dirael starts with Hive.
- Vinrael starts with +8% hp (actually Battle-Hardened)
- Rolf has a FIreball ballista which suits Fortress wonderfully.
- Maahir is the only hero that can see opponent skills/spells/artifacts, plus +1 att/def.
- Nur gains 12 mana/turn and exchanges 1 knowledge for 1 spellpower!
- And more.
Other than that:
- The alt Shaman doesn't wait until lvl 3 rage to gain Regeneration spell. She starts with it at no mastery and increases her spellpower multiplier with each rage level. She can also Entangle and cast slow but no haste (obvious synergy with Regeneration but also, she's designed around the theme of Earth).
- The alt Lich can shoot even when blocked! However, it cannot use spells and the damage within close range is the same as from afar.
- Stalkers can now bypass 25% of the opponent's defence and also retreat when attacked in melee! This takes them farther from harm and makes it easier for them to go invisible again.
- Summons remain fairly strong but now die a bit easier. Stats tweaked to account for the hero's might stats!
- Fortress unique summon was changed from Valkyrie to Einherjar. They are glorious to look at, feel distinctly dwarven and have a fitting Flamewave attack.
- Inferno's unique summon on the other hand, loses Flamewave and gains damage. Now they are closer to the H3 efreet where they charge in with high damage and Fire Shield.
- The Elemental Balance summon, the Lost Souls, exchange Vulnerability Strike with Random Hex. The former could stack up a bit too well.
- The Banshees have a sick new model, special thanks to Justzmp!
- Magic Factions no longer have access to the Mercenary Camp (might stats at the expense of magic stats) because that made their might builds rather strong. Might factions still have Crystal of Revelation (magic stats at the cost of might stats) because their magic builds would not be viable otherwise.
You can look forward to the map's new release and full changelog in a couple of days.
There will probably be a short friendly tourney soon. Cheers.
