Heroes of Might and Magic II - Knight Guide By Lord Zero (dskzero@yahoo.com) Version 1.3 ************************************************************************* Index: 1.- File history. 2.- Intro. 3.- The Knight: Highs, Lows and Bottom line. 4.- The Knight's Units. 5.- Strategies against certain enemies 6.- Skills that need to be learned. 7.- Magics that need to be casted. 8.- Worst enemy. 9.- Credits. 10.- Legal Stuff. ************************************************************************* 1.-File History: -1.0 start of the file. -1.1 "severeal" spelling, grammar, and stupidity errors. Also reworked this thing a bit. I don't know why i didn't make this update before but now it's here. -1.15 Copyright Notice changed. -1.2 Copyright changed.(01/09/2001, 15:09) -1.3 Changed My email (10/29/2002, 16:49) ************************************************************************* 2.-Intro: Again ,now I present you another kingdom's guide for HOMMII. Now it's the Knights. I decided to write this file since I've noticed that in these last weeks some people decided to write more files for it...And someone made a Warlock's guide (and he gave me credit!), so I came back. Now going for the good side with the knights, in my opinion the easier kingdom to learn. Very proud of it, I show you my latest faq yet. ************************************************************************* 3.-The Knights:Highs,lows and the bottom line. Highs: Extremely easy to use, fast and cheap units,good at defense,easier to learn magic than the Barbarians, very good in small maps, very good basics units, Archers are easy to find, and most units can be upgraded for free in the map. Very strong against Necromancers and Widzards. Cheapest 6th rank unit. No need for minerals for the Crusaders. Lows: No flying types, only one ranged creature(Though this can easily be an advantage), very low HPs for all units, the worst creature of the whole game, ALL of their critters(Except the peasants) need to be upgraded to face hard hitting enemies, have hellish time to pass castle walls, simply too hard to beat Warlocks and Sorceress. The Bottom Line: Easily, the best non-spell caster kingdom. Their good cost, and very useful units gives this one a great advantage. Still, hard to manage at the end of the game when Dragons and Titans come knocking your door. ************************************************************************* 4.-The Knight's units: Very basic units, still powerful. You will notice certain tendence to defensive capabilities, that's why they are so easy to learn. Peasants: Attack-1-Defense-1-Hitpoints-1-Damage-1/1-Speed-Very slow-cost 20 gold. Dwelling: Peasant Hut. Map Dwelling: Peasant hut. Growth: 10 per week. Unit Type: Horde Stack. Unit rank: 1. Basically, the worthless unit of the game. Really, but really, useless. Still there's something to be noted: 500 Peasants could kill a Dragon in 1 hit,but he will wipe them out if he attacks first. It's a good idea to put them along with Rangers, but still incredible useless. Defensive uses: To take care of their moms... Offensive Uses: ... Attributes: - Ranking: -* Archers: Attack-3-defense-5-Hitpoints-10-Damage-2/3-Speed-Very slow-Cost 150 gold. Rangers: Attack-4-Defense-5-Hitpoints-10-Damage-2/3-speed-Average-Cost 200 gold. Dwelling: Archery Range. Map dwelling: House. Growth: 8 per week. Unit Type: Basic Ranged unit. Unit rank: 2 A very good unit, if you can manage to keep them alive. Cheap, when upgraded, these girlies are killing machines. With two shots, well, people, these girls can cause massive destruction, but they must be in stack of 50 or more to work properly. Keep them protected by all costs, Swordsmen and Pikemen work best here. Even with it's low cost, they shouldn't be understimated, I once managed to save a castle with 24 Rangers and 20 Veteran Pikemen against 20 Swordsmen, 15 Calvary, 10 Elven archers and 15 Rangers ...Yeah, and that's a true history. Defensive uses: As always, the Rangers rock when behind castle walls. They can act as a very good defensive creature in castles, but it's little defensive value in open battle. Offenive Uses: Very destructives. Don't forget them, providing aditional firepower against powerful units like Cyclops. Attributes: Double shot Ranking: *** Pikemen: attack-5-Defense-9-Hitpoints-20-Damage-3/4-Speed-Average-Cost-200 gold Veteran Pikemen: attack-5-defense-9-Hitpoints-25-Damage-3/4-Speed-Fast-Cost-250 gold. Dwelling: Armory. Can be Upgraded. Map dwelling: none. Growth: 5 per week. Unit Type: Basic Attack stack. Unit Rank: 3 One of the two better units of the Knights. Many people underrate them, because they are very cheap, and have low attack power. Forget about that. These guys, when upgraded, in stacks of 40 are a reliable force. With their fast speed, they can cross the battlefield in a couple turns, and can face big units by themselves. Their high defense help their low hit points, and that makes them a fearsome army. If you have about 200 of them, you have a mighty army. Very useful. Defensive uses: Basically, they can easily help Rangers defending castles. They can be relied on a castle defense along with the rangers. Ofensive units: All the Knights units have hellish time passing castle wall, but they are still important. Be sure to never let Dragons line your troops. Attribute: - Ranking: **** Swordsmen: Attack-7-Defense-9-Hitpoints-25-Speed-Average-Damage-4/6-cost-250 gold Master Swordsmen: attack-7-defense-9-Hitpoints-30-Damage-4/6-Speed-fast-cost-300 gold Dwelling: Blacksmith. Map dwelling: none. Growth: 4 per week. Unit Type: Advanced attack stack. Unit rank: 4 Again, another realiable force. Along with Pikemen, they are amazing. They have better attack than them, aiming them more to the offense. They are never the primary target of the AI so you can always rest that their casualties won't affect you too much. The Master Swordsmen work very well with Rangers, but still are another piece of the reliable Knight Army. Defensive uses: With their higher attack, it's better to leave the defensive work to the Pikemen, and use the Swordsmen to it's max ability-Still,it's reliable with Rangers to take care of castles, if played right. Offensive units: As before, all knight units are vulnerable when attacking a castle. The Swordsmen are good for frontal attacks, and taking care of main enemy stacks. Attribute: - Rating: **** Calvalry: Attack-10-defense-9-Hitpoints-30-damage-5/10-Speed-Very Fast-Cost-300 gold. Champion: Attacl-10-Defense-9-Hitpoints-40-damage-5/10-Speed-ultra fast-cost-375 gold. Dwelling: Jousting Arena.Can be Upgraded. Map Dwelling: none. Growth: 3 per week. Unit Type: Speed Stack. Unit Rank: 5 The first (and only) knight unit that has higher Attack than defense, the Champion is an important unit to have in the battlefield not only for it's heavy attack, but also for it's speed. They can give you the chance to cast spells before enemy, to make better choices, and generally, it's always good to have the first strike. About it's stats, the Champion is very destructive and takes two hexes, thus giving him even more mobility. The Champion is always intended to look for enemy shooters. Defensive Uses: Champions, Crusaders and Swordsmen should always lead the attack when battling out with an all knight army. The Crusaders are ussually the first ones in attacking, so it's better to keep pikemen back with Rangers. Offensive Uses: Always in the front. The Champions have very low Hp, but can cause lots of damage, and with Bless on, you can easily wipe out Archmagi and greater Druids. Attribute: - Rating: **** Paladin: attack-11-defense-12-Hitpoints-50-damage-10/20-Speed-fast-cost-600 gold. Crusader: attack-11-defense-12-Hitpoints-65-damage-10/20-Speed-Very Fast-cost-1000 gold(!) Dwelling: Cathedral.Can be upgraded. Map dwelling: none. Growth: 2 per week. Unit Type: Power Strike Stack. Unit Rank: 6 Back to defensive units :) The Crusader is the most powerful unit in the knight army, but it's also the weakest one out of the 6th rank armies, in all stats, defense, attack, HPs, damage, and everything. It's also very expensive to it's uses, but it's still an excelent unit. Basically, the Crusaders are a critical piece of your army for several reasons, First, the Crusader has double damage bonus agaisnt undead, and believe me, withouth an stack of crusaders, you won't last long against a good Vampires stack. This does not applies to the Paladin, however. Also, the Crusader cannot be cursed, which is very good, since AI players are extremely fond of that spell. Defensive Uses: The Crusader's low hit points and fewer numbers than the Pikemen makes them not as useful in defensive tasks. The Crusaders are excelent units to defend against Bone Dragons and Vampire Lords, but against Phoenixes and Archmagi don't do very well. Offensive Uses: They have high speed and are very destructives. They should always take the lead on the attack. Attributes: Can't be cursed, x2 damage against undead,double hit. Ranking: ***** ************************************************************************** 5.-Strategies against certain enemies: -Necromancers: Very easy task when you get crusaders... Hard as hell before. Don't even THINK about sending Peasants against them. Vampire Lords will last forever and you will find yourself facing someone with 200 Skeletons. You have certain lack of counters against Necromancers, but, once you get Crusaders, you will have a bit of advantage. -Barbarians: The Barbarians lack of flyers gives you a break in the start, and your Champions will give you the upper hand. All the Firepower should be concentred on Trolls and Ogres, since Cyclopes rarely will come in such numbers like to be any threat. Barbarian Units have incredible attack skill, so be on the look for spells to help your defense. Bless, Blood Lust and Steel Skin can make your Crusaders invincibles. -Wizards: Titans are the only potential problem here, since you already have all your counters, plus your army is a bit faster. Archmagi should fall to your Champions, and Titans should be toned down with any spells you may have. As for Rocs, your Pikemen should be able to take them out. -Warlocks: Dragons are always bad news... Dragon Slayer, Bless and Blood Lust may prove to be useful here to your Champions and Crusaders. The rest of the warlock army, with the exception of Minotaurs, it's very weak and should fall easily to your knights. -Sorceress: Uhh..problems. The Phoenix will easily mop the floor with your Rangers, so be ready to back them up- if they survive. Not much of any other problems, your high defense rating will give you a hand. Curse Phoenixes, that cuts their damage to the half. No other unit should give you problems. ************************************************************************** 6.-Skills that need to be learned: -Leadership :Your units are extremly weak in HP matters.Basically,extra attacks are still the best asset when fighting with the Knights on your side. (In the original game, the good Morale was an innate ability of the knight. Why should you break tradition?) -Pathfinding: much more useful than you may think, this helps you out when fighting Barbarians in the map. The Knights have good learning chance for this, so don't miss it. -Archery: For god's sake, DON'T FORGET THIS ONE!You NEED this. Rangers are a very important piece of your army, and with this extra bost, you may lost without it. ************************************************************************** 7.-Spells that need to be casted: -Bloodlust: Since your units have higher defense than attack, bloodlust is always useful. The Crusaders are excelent for this. -Bless:Your crusaders and Champions get twice the normal damage with this one! Be careful with Curse though. Remember that Crusaders cannot be cursed. -Shield: This helps you when sieging castles. Though it does not affect ballista or tower fire,still is good for your plans, since you don't have any flying unit and that can bring a high hell to crush you when attacking castles. ************************************************************************** 8.-Worst Enemy: Titans. The Wizard have three ranged stacks, and you have NO flyers. That's no good. The Wizard also have very high spell power. Be careful when fighting them. ************************************************************************** 9.-Credits: -Me... I wrote it! -Vincent Telamon. Sort of inspiration. -New world Computing for making this game and not a RTS one like C&C. -Skie Priestly for giving me a lot of info. ************************************************************************** 10.-Copyright: This file is owned by Lord Zero (dskzero@yahoo.com) You MAY distribute, print, read, show to your friends or enemies this guide freely, AS LONG as you credit Lord Zero as the author, keep the copyright on it, and is used for non-profit purposes. You MAY NOT change ANYTHING on this guide, adding or taking anything out of it, including banners, links, or anything else. You MAY NOT distribute this guide on any non-electronic media. All I ask from you if you wish to publish this guide on your site, is to keep it updated, and to notificate me of your URL. All Rights Reserved. Anything not mentioned on this text can be discussed via email to the address below. Copyright 2000-2002 By Lord Zero (dskzero@yahoo.com). The last version can always be found in gamefaqs.com. __ / ||/ ______ ______ |||| <_____ <_____ |||| ____ __________________________ ______ __||||______ / / Lord Zero (dskzero@yahoo.com) / |||| / / /| / < --------------------------------< ||||/ / / | < @ __________________________ ______ _||||_/_/__| / / _____/ / _____/ / |||| _/__/ <______/ <______/ |||| |||| /|| __/