Heroes of Might & Magic 3: Horn of the Abyss Review

Heroes 3 HotA – Horn of the Abyss – Truly an Expansion

It can be argued that Horn of the Abyss (HotA) is perhaps one of the most extensive mods to ever be released by the community. The amount of work that went into it, while remaining true to the original spirit of the game (and the lore) is truly amazing. It stands on par will all the previous official releases of the game RoE/AB/SoD, and can be classified as an expansion pack.

New Features

The Cove

The Horn of the Abyss (HotA) introduces a new castle called the Cove. HotA is well-regarded for its meticulous design and dedication to maintaining the gameplay and functionality of the original game. In contrast to other mods that rely on the In the Wake of Gods (WoG) engine or the VCMI platform, HotA adds the Cove castle without replacing any existing ones.

The Cove Lore

In the Might and Magic universe, The Cove is a town located on Regna Island that is mentioned in games VI and VII and appears as a location in game VIII. The Cove represents the Regnan Empire, which is also depicted in the Foolhardy Waywardness campaign of Armageddon’s Blade, although in that campaign the Regnan Empire is represented by classical castles. HotA aims to expand upon the lore of the Regnan Empire and the Cove faction in particular with a brand new campaign and it also includes several heroes from previous installments in the series, such as Astra, who are available for use in the Cove faction’s hero roster.

The Cove units

the following table contains all the units available to recruitment in The Cove Castle. Click on the picture to enlarge it

Level 1 units
Oceanids are fast creatures and can be used as blockers and for kiting in the early game, but they have low health and lack any special abilities, which limits their usefulness.
Level 2 units
Those units are superior to Walking Dead in almost every aspect. However, they are still somewhat mediocre
Level 3 units
Those are great tier-3 shooters without any melee penalties. The Sea Dogs have a special ability called “Accurate Shot”. In essence its the ranged version of the Mighty Gorgons “Death Stare”. It can be argued that this ability makes the Sea Dogs the most powerful tier 3 unit in the game
Level 4 units
The Ayssids have a special ability called “Ferocity” that allows them to attack twice. The ability triggers if the Ayssids killed at least one unit and lasts for the duration of the fight
Level 5 units
Sea Witches and Sorceresses cast Weakness or Disrupting Ray on enemy stacks when they attack. Both effects are applied after damage was dealt. Sea Witches cast at basic level, while Sorceresses cast at the advanced level.
Level 6 units
Nix and Nix Warriors are resilient and can ignore enemy’s attack skill. Nix can ignore 30% of an enemy’s attack skill, while Nix Warriors can ignore 60%.
Level 7 units
The Haspids have a special ability that allows them to fight more effectively and suffer less total damage when some of their numbers are killed.

New War Machine

The cannon can replace the ballista as an offensive war machine. It has better statistics compared to the Ballista, costs 4000 gold, and can be purchased either in the The Cove or the Cannon Yard on the map.

Heroes

HotA introduces two new types of heroes, the Captain (offensive) and the Navigator(spell caster) In addition, several balance changes were made to hero rosters. Galthran, Sir Mullich, and Thorgrim are not available by default due to their overpowered abilities while Lord Haart is now playable again. His death knight version has been renamed to Haart Lich

Secondary skills

Changes were made to balance the following skills:

• Mysticism – This skill now regenerates 5, 10, and 15 spell points a day.
• Estates – This skill no generates 250, 500, and 1000 gold per day.
• Intelligence – This still was nerfed and now gives 20%, 35%, and 50% mana increase.
• Logistics – This skill was nerfed and now increases the heroes moving speed by 5%, 10% and 20%
• Necromancy – Due to the overpowered nature the necromancers this skill was nerfed to 5%, 10% and 15%

Interference

Interference skill is specifically designed to counter spellcasters by lowering their spell power by 10%, 20%, and 30%. In addition, three corresponding artifacts have been introduced that reduce heroes Spell power:

• Charm of Eclipse – reduces heroes spell power by 10%
• Seal of Sunset – reduces heroes spell power by 10%
• Plate of Dying Light – reduces heroes spell power by 25%

A new hero named Giselle, who specializes in interference, has been added to the game. If Giselle reaches level 16 and has obtained the three interference artifacts, she will always reduce the spell power of enemy heroes to 1 For all heroes except Thorgrim, the starting Resistance skill has been replaced by Interference. The following classes are unable to learn the Interference:

• Druids
• Wizards
• Heretics
• Necromancers
• Warlocks
• Witches
• Elementalists

Other

in addition to everything mentioned above you can expect to see the following features in Horn of the Abyss:

1.  New artifacts, including the powerful Horn of the Abyss – This is a very powerful artifact that raises Fangarms after a stack of units was killed. the Fangarms will remain with the hero after the battle.
2. New Wasteland Terrain – Those who are familiar with heroes of might and magic II will recognize this terrain immediately.
3. Dwellings on the map now accumulate units over time while you hold them
4. Quality of life improvements such as buying all units with a click of a button
5. Game balance changes, graphical improvements, new buildings, neutral units, and more
6. Fully featured multiplayer lobby

Upcoming faction: Factory

The team plans to release an 11th faction, Factory, as part of update 1.7.0. The town is themed after the wild wild west and steampunk. You can remain up to date with the progress on this website.

Conclusion

Horn of the Abyss is a Vanilla Plus add on for Heroes of Might and Magic 3. It brings a breath of fresh air to the game while remaining true to the original experience. It has a dedicated team of developers behind it and I expect this mod will probably remain the backbone of the community for years to come. If you are interested in downloading the mod, it’s completely free on heroes3wog.net. If you enjoyed this review be sure to share it with your and put a like in the widget above. For anything else, stick with Gamersden.gg.