Heroes Of Might And Magic II - Playing Guide

Heroes Of Might And Magic II is a very impressive game - managing to keep all 
the good aspects of its predecessor, Heroes Of Might And Magic, while at the 
same time improving upon and adding to it in almost every respect.
One of the key changes was the newly upgraded Artificial Intelligence of the 
computer opponents, making the game much more challenging than the original. 
Beating the AI on the higher difficulty levels is very tough - and this playing 
guide will help you to do just that.
Unfortunately, as Heroes Of Might And Magic II has so many random elements 
that modify each game, it’s impossible to detail a single route to victory that will 
work on every level, every time. Even the character type you choose can have a 
great effect on the correct strategy to use.
As such, this guide is a combination of advice and tips, rather than a straight 
walkthrough. Therefore we can’t guarantee you’ll win every game of HOMMII 
you play, but we can help you to feel as if you’ve made fewer mistakes.

It’s a game of two halves
To be successful requires you to master the two aspects of the game - strategy and 
tactics. Strategy is all important on the main adventure screen, where you must 
capture, develop, and protect castles, deciding how best to use your heroes. 
Tactics, on the other hand, come into play when you’ve made the decision to fight 
or an enemy attacks you. 
The strategic side of Heroes Of Might And Magic II is by far the most important, 
as the stronger army tends to win most fights, but in close battles your skill at 
deploying and using your troops on the combat screen can make the difference 
between victory and failure. 

Strategy - the Adventure Screen
The main Adventure Screen is where most of the key action in HOMMII takes 
place. It’s here that you build your castles and move your heroes. And it’s here 
where the game is normally won or lost.
Strategy revolves around three key concepts - heroes, castles, and resources. Of 
these, castles are the most important. Castles not only form your key source of 
gold (they, of course, generate the 1,000 gold pieces a turn), but are also the 
places that will generate most of your troops and provide spells for your heroes. 
Resources and heroes are a means to an end - and that end is to capture more 
castles.
The whole aim of the game, then, is to capture castles, collect more gold, use it to 
fortify these before advancing to capture more. Never forget that this is what 
you’re aiming to achieve - everything else is secondary. Because castles are so 
vital, if you let your opponents get more than you, they’ll probably win the game. 
Balancing the rate of your expansion without over-extending yourself is the most 
crucial skill in the game but only comes through experience.

First steps
Of course, at the start of the game, everyone is in possession of one castle (on 
most maps, anyway). As such, your first (and probably most important) strategic 
decision is which class of hero to begin the game with. Your starting hero is likely 
to end up being your strongest, and your starting castle will become the centre of 
your empire.
The HOMMII manual covers the strengths and weaknesses of each type of hero 
(and their associated castles) in a fair amount of depth, and the game is fairly 
balanced. The stronger heroes tend to have castles that cost more to develop, 
while the weaker ones tend to be cheaper, and thus have an advantage at the start 
of the game.
Barbarians, Knights, and Sorcerers have the cheapest castles, requiring less gold 
and fewer resources to develop. In addition, Barbarians and Knights tend to have 
limited spell-casting ability, and thus save you the expense of developing high 
level mage guilds. All three are good choices for small maps, where the other 
classes don’t have time to fully develop their castles. None of these classes have 
particularly good high level creatures, but they get them early, and they’re cheap. 
On larger maps, they need to take an early lead and build on it quickly, playing an 
aggressive game and taking the fight to the enemy. The computer frequently opts 
for a longer term approach to success and by focussing mainly on the military and 
going for a series of quick strikes at the start you can sometimes hit him before it 
gets going.
Necromancers are the intermediate starting hero. As such, they are a good all-
round choice (being fairly cheap but at the same time having some powerful 
creatures). If you’re a beginner, they are possibly the most simple and rewarding 
as they allow for mistakes, but after a while their Jack-of-all-trades qualities can 
become annoying. 
Warlocks and Wizards are the most powerful of the heroes. At high levels, with 
access to the best spells in the game, they can be potent forces in their own rights. 
Their units are also the toughest - there’s some argument as to whether Dragons 
or Titans are the best - but the forces they have to draw on make them a 
formidable force once established.
The problem with Wizards and Warlocks is that, like all spell-casting heroes, they 
are weak at low levels. Also, their castles cost lots of gold and resources to 
develop and their units cost lots to buy. They also require mage guilds to make the 
best use of them, which likewise costs lots.
As is often the case, the type of hero you play is largely a matter of personal 
playing style and taste. Remember also that your starting hero is just that - at later 
stages you can capture castles of different classes and gain access to the units and 
resources that they can build. A Barbarian, for example, should make every effort 
to capture a Warlock or Wizard castle in order to gain access to the powerful units 
they can build. Therefore, you are not railroaded by your first choice, but it does 
establish some fairly strict guidelines to begin with.

General hints
Heroes Of Might And Magic II is too complex to provide a complete guide to the 
strategic side of the game, but here are some factors to bear in mind...
The key to winning in HOMMII is to expand as fast as you can, while still 
maintaining a strong defence. Because the computer opponents normally gain 
more resources than you anyway (see ‘Know your enemy’ on page 132), if you 
play a waiting game you’ll lose. Like Civilization, Red Alert and all the best 
strategy games, you must ensure that the enemy doesn’t get too far ahead or you’ll 
probably never be able to catch up. Don’t be too cautious - play aggressively at 
first, and make use of saved games. If you’re not sure you can win, save and give 
it a try (see ‘Save, save, save’ on page 133). It’s not cheating as long as you don’t 
reload too often, and this approach also provides valuable experimentation 
experience.

Using heroes
The Superhero: One strategy is to invest in one hero, making him as powerful as 
possible, and then use him as your main army. You’re unlikely to be able to make 
all your heroes as tough as the computer’s, so concentrate instead on building up 
one - the computer doesn’t specialise like this, and one really tough hero is more 
than a match for several medium level ones. Although it sounds like a simple 
tactic it’s the best way to win, particularly at higher levels.
The right hero for the job: Another way to optimise your heroes is to specialise. 
Have one hero with only your fastest units, and build up his movement skills. Use 
this one to grab all the resources you can, and explore quickly. Follow up with a 
powerful superhero-esque character to take on lair monsters and cities as you find 
them. Likewise, hire Knights to defend your castles - even a first level Knight is 
better than the captain of the guard you can hire, and he’ll go up in level over 
time. Also, use weaker heroes to ‘ferry’ units to your superhero, preventing him 
from having to ‘return to base’ to restock, wasting valuable time. This co-
ordinated approach is much harder to master.
Save up: Don’t buy creatures to defend your castles until you have to. Rarely will 
you be able to buy enough defenders to protect every castle all the time. Instead, 
let the units build up, and wait until an enemy hero makes a move - then buy the 
units in the target castle.
Let the computer help: At the start of a week, move away from one of your castles 
and let the computer attack it. Wait a few days, then recapture the castle - the 
computer will nearly always have upgraded the place for you.
Timing: Always try to attack a castle at the end of a week - preferably on day 
seven. That way, on your next turn you’ll be able to stock up on units to defend it, 
freeing up your hero. 

Tactics - the Combat Screen
Because of the limited size of the battlefields in HOMMII, there’s not a great deal 
of influence you can have over the outcome - the biggest, toughest army tends to 
win. However, good tactics can still help you to win with fewer losses (or inflict 
the most losses on an unbeatable opponent), and these are the deciding factor in 
close fights. The HOMMII manual explains the mechanics of combat very clearly, 
but it doesn’t give you any help with tactics or tell you how the computer fights.

The computer’s tactics
The computer has a fairly simple approach to combat and you can exploit this if 
you’re careful. The computer always attacks ranged units first, then fliers, then the 
strongest and/or nearest of your units. The only time it alters this plan is if the unit 
it wants to attack is out of range, and another is closer. As such, the computer is 
fairly easy to predict, and tends to charge in immediately in every fight.
You can take advantage of this in several ways. The simplest is to always bring 
along some ranged units, scatter them about to use as bait for the computer and, 
while it’s attacking them, move your stronger units into a better position before 
properly laying in.

General hints
Once again, there isn’t space to cover everything, so here are some key points to 
bear in mind...
Planning: Your troops are arranged on the combat screen from top to bottom in 
the order they appear on the hero screen from left to right. In an army with strong 
ranged attacks, but the ranged units at each end, and strong, slow units next to 
them, put your fast units in the middle. In this way you can protect your ranged 
units, letting them pepper the computer as it advances.
Planning (again): In an army without ranged units, put the fast units at the edges, 
with the slow ones in the centre. This lets the fast units sweep in from the sides 
while your slower units push forward.
Planning (last time): As a rule, the ‘spread out’ formation is better than the ‘close 
ranked’ one - it prevents the computer from hitting lots of your units with area 
affect spells.
Strike first: Try to time your movement so that your units always get the first 
attack. In many battles this will be the deciding factor in who wins or loses - a few 
hundred peasants can actually kill a dragon if they get the first strike, but the 
dragon will wipe them out in a turn if the situation is reversed. Because the 
computer tends to charge in, simply wait until its units are within range, and then 
go for it.
Tie up the archers: When facing an army with good ranged units, use fast-moving 
units of your own to close in as quickly as possible and prevent the enemy from 
firing while your slower units move in. Fliers are particularly handy here.
Choose your targets: Identify the enemy unit that poses the most threat, and pick 
on it first. It’s no good wasting time with goblins or peasants while the dragons or 
crusaders tear your army to pieces.
Ganging up: Try to take out big, tough enemies by ganging up on them. Most 
units only get one retaliation attack a round, so strike first with either your 
toughest unit or the one you don’t mind sacrificing (depending on what is 
available), then follow up with the rest of your army, allowing them to attack 
safely without being hit back in return. 

Spells
Most of the HOMMII spells that affect the adventure screen are less than critical, 
but the combat spells can mean the difference between success and failure. There 
are two broad types of combat spells - those that directly inflict damage, and those 
that affect a unit in some other way.
Knights and Barbarians should steer clear of damage spells, as their Spell Power 
stats will rarely be high enough to inflict significant damage. They should stick 
with unit spells such as Bless and Curse.
Spell-casting heroes, on the other hand, can be devastating, with damage spells at 
high levels. As a rule, those that target a single unit are better than the area affect 
ones because they have greater damage potential.
Towards the end of the game, though, when units consist of large numbers of the 
toughest creatures, damage spells become less efficient again.
There are several combat spells in the game that are best to focus on. Bless and 
Curse (especially Mass Bless and Mass Curse) can easily turn a battle when 
properly used - never underestimate their effects. Stoneskin, Steelskin, and 
Bloodlust are often more powerful than you think, especially when used in 
conjunction with baiting units. 
Blind and Paralyse - use them to negate the enemy’s best units, mop up the rest 
(for once), and then gang up on the big guys.
Lightning and Chain Lightning - the best combination of damage for spell points.


Know your Enemy
One of the keys to beating HOMMII is understanding the computer opponent and 
how it thinks. If you can predict what your enemy is likely to do, your plans have 
a greater chance of succeeding.

The difficulty levels
Although the AI is largely the same regardless of the difficulty level you choose, 
it does change in a couple of important ways as the difficulty increases:

Easy: The Easy level is the only one that actually limits the computer AI. As such, 
it will often make bad decisions, typically attacking when it can’t win and 
ignoring resources that it should collect or secure. In addition, while the human 
player begins the game with 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, and 10 of each of 
the rare resources, the computer starts with only 7,500 Gold, 20 Wood and Ore, 
and 5 of each rare resource.

Normal: On Normal level the computer AI is more or less identical to that used on 
higher levels, although not quite as cautious. Its only regular failing is to start 
fights that it might not be able to win. On this level the human player starts with 
7,500 Gold, 20 Wood and Ore, and 5 of each rare resource, while the computer 
opponents have 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, and 10 of each of the rare 
resources, giving them an early advantage.

Hard: Playing at Hard level is much more of a challenge. Although the AI is 
largely the same as on Normal difficulty, it won’t attack you unless it has a 60-
40% hit point ratio advantage over your forces. It does take into consideration 
other factors, but it’s the total hit points of each army that plays the largest part in 
its thinking. As such, it only makes occasional mistakes. The computer also starts 
with an even larger resource advantage, having 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, 
and 10 of each of the rare resources, while the human player only gets 5,000 
Gold, 10 Wood and Ore, and 2 of each of the rare resources. In addition, it 
receives a 10% bonus to its Gold income and 1 free Wood and Ore each turn.

Expert: Things start to get really tough here. The computer only attacks when it 
decides it has a 75-25% hit point advantage, meaning that if it starts a fight with 
you, you’re probably going to lose. Making matters worse, the human player 
starts with only 2,500 Gold and 5 Wood and Ore. The computer, on the other 
hand, gets 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, and 10 of each of the rare resources. 
The computer also gets a 25% bonus to its Gold income and 1 of every resource, 
every turn.

Impossible: An aptly named difficulty level, Impossible is often just that - no 
matter how good you are, you’re unlikely to win more games than you lose at this 
difficulty. The computer only attacks if it has a 90-10 advantage, so you will lose 
any fight it starts. The human player starts the game with nothing, nada, zip. The 
computer, on the hand, gets 10,000 Gold, 30 Wood and Ore, and 10 of each of the 
rare resources, plus it generates double the Gold, and gets 2 of each resource free 
every turn.

How the AI thinks
As well as the income benefits that the computer AI enjoys at all but the Easy and 
Normal levels, it also knows more about what’s going on than you do. For a start, 
it always knows the exact military strength of your heroes, towns and castles, and 
their locations. This means that it won’t overlook any weakness you might have, 
but will instead always make use of it.
In addition, as the difficulty level increases, so does the computer’s knowledge of 
the map. It knows the locations of all resources and treasures without having to 
explore the map, which is a huge advantage in itself. It’s one of the last remaining 
problems with computer opponents.
So, that covers the computer AI’s advantages over you. But how does it actually 
play the game?
The answer is ‘annoyingly well’. The computer doesn’t attack unless it feels it has 
an advantage, always goes for your weakest heroes or castles, and is careful to 
always guard its own territory well. Rarely, if ever, will a computer opponent 
leave one or more castles weakly defended - it tends to spread its attention (and 
resources) equally,
meaning that it has few if any weak spots
for you to exploit.

Beating the computer
Despite its advantages, though, the AI is far from unbeatable. As it doesn’t have 
many weaknesses, you have to learn to use its strengths against it.
The computer’s greatest strength is its consistency and its knowledge. The AI will 
always know more about the current situation than you, regardless of how many 
thieves guilds you build and how much exploring you do. Likewise, the AI always 
tends to do the logical thing, and tends to protect all its territory equally. Potent as 
these strengths are, they are also the two things you can exploit.
The computer is always quite obvious about its intentions, and isn’t sophisticated 
enough to bluff. For this reason you should always play with the ‘show enemy 
heroes moves’ option on. Simply by watching the computer’s heroes and seeing 
where they go you can learn a great deal about its plans. If the computer sees a 
weakness, whether a hero or a castle, it will move directly towards it. By watching 
where (and in which direction) the computer moves, you can normally spot its 
target early enough to try doing something about it. Likewise, if an enemy hero is 
within range of one of your heroes but doesn’t attack, you know that the computer 
isn’t happy about the odds. This is especially useful on the higher difficulty levels 
- the computer simply won’t attack unless it has an overwhelming advantage. 
Thus you can prevent attacks without needing huge armies.
You can also use the computer’s directness to test your defences. Not sure if your 
castle’s garrison of units is strong enough to prevent an attack? Move your hero 
out, and if the computer makes a beeline for the castle, you know it’s too weak. 
You can even tie up the computer’s big armies by moving away from one castle, 
then the next turn moving back and moving away from a different one. The 
computer will get stuck moving towards first one and then the other castle.
The other way to exploit the computer’s strength is to concentrate your efforts on 
building one ‘superhero’. As most of the computer’s castles and heroes tend to be 
of fairly even strength, concentrating your forces means that you should be able to 
defeat any one of its castles or heroes on a one-to-one basis. The concept of the 
superhero was covered earlier in this guide, but it becomes more and more useful 
at the higher difficulties.