--Level 3 Magic--

Explore Level 3 Magic in Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, including Mass Haste, Teleport, and Anti-Magic.

Mass Haste

This spell makes all your own monster stacks quicker. It is extremely useful when you have a fast army or better (think Sorceress). Your opponent cannot dispel all those hastes, even if he has Mass Dispel, because he may not even have the chance to get his turn. Watch out for the remaining couple of enemy troops, they could flee.

Teleport

A very rare spell but very good when you manage to find it. This can teleport any one of your ground troops on the other side of the map, therefore providing you with a quicker attack. Use it on tough very slow, slow, or average troops (Hydras are the best) when it is their turn. Expect this teleporting stack to suffer some heavy casualties. Useful for teleporting ground troops inside or outside castles. You can also teleport ground troops next to the enemy's shooters most of the time (between 2 stacks of shooters if you can).

Paralyze

A better version of the already nice Blind spell. You use it the same way as Blind except you don't have to worry about retaliation so much anymore. Therefore faster and weaker creatures that would die from a retaliation (against a blinded enemy) can give the first strike (against a paralyzed enemy). It's a little more expensive than Blind but most of the time it's worth it.

Anti-Magic

This is a must-have spell if you go up against powerful spellcasters. In general, cast it on your strongest, highest-level, or more damaging stack. If you have shooters in your army that you want to keep, then it's a good idea to cast Anti-Magic on them before your best stack since the AI will almost always attack the shooters first. If you also have an all-damaging spell (like Elemental Storm or Armageddon), then you can attack with only one tough monster stack, casting Anti-Magic on the first turn and the all-damaging spell on the second turn. If you see that a spellcaster is constantly casting negative spells on the same unit stack, by all means cast Anti-Magic to protect this valuable stack.

Mass Bless

The spell to use if you want to beef up your offensive potential. Most of the tips for the simple Bless also apply here. Very good if your stacks have a big "range" of damage (ex: Phoenix with 20-40 points or Nomads with 2-5 points each).

Mass Curse

The spell to use when the enemy has a lot of very damaging units. Most of the tips for the simple Curse also apply here. Very good if the enemy's stacks have a big "range" of damage.

Animate Dead

The resurrect spell for the Necromancer hero! Only a 3rd level instead of 5th level, therefore providing a certain advantage to the Necromancer player if he manages to get it. You have a better chance of getting it than the resurrect spell, but it's mostly useless for the other types of heroes. A specialized spell that should be rated much higher if you play the Necromancer and lower if you play any other kind. You usually cast it on your Vampire Lords or Bone Dragons.

Mass Dispel

The spell to use when a lot of your stacks have negative spells on them. It won't happen very often though since the AI seems to prefer casting many different negative spells on the same unit (most of the time: your best shooter stack). The Dispel is useless against Disrupting Ray. Most of the tips for the simple Dispel Magic also apply here.

Earthquake

An underestimated spell. Destroys the castle walls sooner, therefore making the castle ballistas destroyed sooner. Castle ballistas destroyed sooner means a lot less casualties for your shooters. A lot less casualties for your shooters means a stronger army. A stronger army means a quicker victory! Particularly good if you cast it 2 consecutive times at the beginning of the battle. Less useful if you attack a new lightly-built castle with only one ballista.

Death Wave

Stronger version of Death Ripple. Cool spell effect that damages all living troops. Only useful for Necromancer players. Can serve as a mini-Armageddon spell. If your Necromancer gets this spell, the Death Ripple spell will almost never be used anymore. Having a good spell rating for the hero casting it is a "must". Death Wave is rated higher for Necromancer players and much lower for all the other types of players.

Holy Word

Very good if you go up against a Necromancer player that doesn't have the item countering it. Specialized spell only useful against undead. Useless for the necromancer army and of limited use for the other hero types if there is no Necromancer present on the map. Can be used to kill wandering undead troops.

Fireball

First general area-damaging offensive spell. Because of its lack of "destroying" punch, you might prefer to use the good old Lightning spell. This spell should be given a power boost. Useful if you have a high spell-rating and/or when you attack low-level stacks (like halflings or goblins). Also good for stopping the enemy from fleeing if he only has a couple of stacks left.

Cold Ring

Similar to Fireball but with a slight twist. It creates a "ring" of damaging ice around one of your units, not killing your own stack. Not bad if one of your good units is surrounded. Good against low-level troops, useless against high-level troops. Also nice to have when you go up against wandering low-level shooter stacks (cast it between the 2 enemy stacks). Like Fireball, it badly needs a power boost.

View Heroes

Not bad but not extremely good either. Can show the exact number and location of heroes that each of your opponents has. Frequent use of this spell can save your scouting heroes from ambush. Useless when you have explored most of the map.

View Towns

Only useful to give you a general overview.