Rise of the Necromancer
Back to Heroes of Might and Magic 3
Sandro, after tricking other heroes to gather the artifacts for him, must battle his former master. Sandro then meets Finneas Vilmar and makes plans set him up as the new ruler of Deyja, with Sandro as the puppet master behind the scenes.
When Sandro equips the artifacts he becomes a very powerful necromancer. One of them increases Sandro’s necromancy skill and turns undead into Zombies, Wraiths or Liches depending on Sandro’s necromancy skill. For this reason you want to level up Necromancy to Expert as soon as possible in the first scenario.
Target
You can choose the Scroll of Lightning Bolt, +2 Attack or 8 Walking Dead for your starting bonus. The +2 Attack is probably the best as it carries with you through the rest of the campaign.
From the start grab whatever units you can from the Necropolis and make sure the rare artifacts are equipped on Sandro. Examine the nearby treasure chests and take the experience. Try to level Sandro up to Expert in Necromancy. This allows him to raise Liches after every battle.
With a growing army of Liches you shouldn’t have any trouble taking out the 5 enemy factions. The ones further north will have had more time to build up so might pose more of a threat. Once all enemies are defeated the mission is complete.
Master
This scenario is played on a small map and you begin with either 3000 Gold, +2 Knowledge or 3 Liches. You must defeat Ethric and his 2 allies to win. You’ll have Vidomina with you to help defeat your enemies.
From your starting Rampart town you can head west to the Blue player or north to the Green player. To get to Orange you’ll need to travel through the subterranean tunnels. Take the cave entrance to the east and then pop back out in the northwest. Once you’ve taken the enemy towns and defeated the heroes the mission will be complete.
Finneas Vilmar
Sandro has teamed up with Finneas to defeat their numerous enemies. There are 6 enemy factions to deal with, 4 above ground and 2 hidden in the tunnels below. You begin with either 15 Wood and Ore, +2 Defense or 8 Vampires.
Sandro’s artifacts let him convert dead units into Liches. This makes it fairly easy to build a powerful army quite quickly. Take out the surrounding neutral monsters to begin building your army. Finneas can help out but you must be careful to keep him alive or you’ll lose the scenario.
A good strategy is to head a little way north and then go through the garrison to the west. Head down to the south-west to take over the other Necromancer town. Now you’ll have two towns producing the same units as well as Sandro’s liches. Clear the rest of the map to win the scenario.
Duke Alarice
For the final scenario Sandro must slay his old master, Duke Alarice. Choose either 5 Vampires, a Citadel, or 10 of all rare resources as your starting bonus.
Light Blue and Dark Blue both have 2 necromancer towns each. You’ll also need to visit a number of keymaster’s tents. First you need Dark Blue, then Light Blue, then Black, then Brown, then Purple. From purple you can go through the garrison to the final necromancer town and visit the Red Keymaster’s tent to open the shortcut.
There’s another Keymaster tent chain that leads to a neutral town, and a quest guard that leads to a second neutral town that can only be opened once you’re level 25 but this isn’t necessary. There are 5 Trees of Knowledge so if you want to level up quickly keep your eyes open for them.
The enemy towns are built up so make sure you take them quickly. Use View Air to see where the enemy heroes and towns are located. Once you’ve defeated them the campaign will be complete.
Next: Unholy Alliance
Back: Birth of a Barbarian