User Guide

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There are four types of alliances:
Ethereal Truce Attacking the other party in ether or casting offensive global spells is not allowed.
Helpful global spells act for both parties.
Land Truce Attacking the other party’s heroes or structures is not allowed.
Shared Access to
Shops
Parties can buy spells and runes in each other’s shops.
Shared Field of Vision Territory and objects seen by one party’s heroes or structures are visible to the other
party too.
All alliances can be formed and terminated independently from each other. A party willing to make an
alliance sends a proposal to the other party. This happens during one game turn. The receiving party
may accept or deny the proposal or send a counter-proposal with a different offer.
Trade
In a multiplayer game, partners can send each other proposals to exchange resources, artifacts, or items
containing global spells. You can trade with any partner regardless of his current diplomatic status. In
the campaign game, the player can also swap or donate resources (for example, to help his allies).
Only accumulative resources (plants and minerals) can be exchanged; ether cannot be exchanged.
Resources can be only exchanged for other resources. Artifacts or global spells can be traded for other
such items or for resources, but you can only trade one artifact or global spell in a single transaction.
The price of resources or artifacts is completely negotiable. Both sides agree on the price and strike a
deal.
Similar to alliances, the party wanting to exchange resources sends a proposal to the other party. The
other party receives the proposal within the same game turn. The receiving party may accept or reject
the proposal or make a counter-proposal.
Combat (Tactical Mode)
The game switches to a tactical combat mode every time a hero enters a monster’s interception area or
is directly ordered to fight an enemy on the Territory map. Combat takes place in an arena representing
a section of the map. Throughout the fight, the combatants (heroes or monsters) stand at a distance
from each other and never make direct contact, using only their spells or summoned creatures to fight.
Combat ends when one or both rivals dies or surrenders. When combat starts, the time count on the
Territory map stops; combat takes place on that same game day. A variation of tactical combat that
happens according to the same rules but takes place in a special arena is “Ether combat.” It begins
with the casting of certain global spells and doesn’t involve any direct confrontation between heroes on
the Territory map (See “Global Spells” section for more).
Combat Phases
Combat proceeds in a turn-based fashion. There are two phases to each combat round: the attack
phase (when you cast spells and attack your enemy) and the defense phase. The phases alternate as
follows: your attack phase, the enemy’s defense phase, the enemy’s attack phase, then your defense
phase. The combat round then ends and the next round begins.
Who attacks first? The first attack belongs to the hero who started the combat. The hero who remains
on his own territory (terrain of "his" color) has the advantage over an enemy hero or