Elwin and Shaera C A M P A I G N G U I D E BY URUNUS Table of Contents: +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= 1. Introduction 2. Tutorial 3. Preparations 4. Walkthrough 5. Miscellanous 6. Credits --------------------------------------------- 1. Introduction --------------------------------------------- Hey guys, this is my second faq in this website and I'm doing it on one of my favourite strategy games of all time, Heroes of Might and Magic IV. I personally like it because of the campaigns, which should be very obvious by now since this faq is on the Nature campaign. I plan to do one on every campaign in this game, or just some of my favourite and harder ones. However, I won't make a complete walkthrough on them all in one whole faq as I like splitting things apart so that I'll be able to put as much info on them as possible. As for myself, I usually don't say much as my identity is secret since I'm a spy working for 390 gangsters.....just kidding. If you would like to ask me a question just tell me on the question board, but NOT my email as I rarely check and I really dislike getting hate mail. If you want to post this faq on some other website you know then just tell me first, but NOT without getting permission or else here are the consequenses: 1. I'll make Lord Harke kidnap you..... 2. Worllarc will turn you undead... 3. Elwin will make you eat purple hats.... That's about it for my introduction, have fun with the tutorial.... --------------------------------------------- 2. Tutorial --------------------------------------------- Ah, the tutorial. Heroes of Might and Magic IV is a little hard to get used to when you're just a beginner, so I suggest that you take the game's custom-made tutorial first. DON'T do the campaigns until you know how to do everything right and as well as tried out at least five intermediate scenarios. Campaigns also usually give you a set objective unlike about 65% of the scenarios so likely you won't have to become the strongest army and defeat all your opponents. That is especially good in this scenario as you will rarely become the strongest. Lets start off with the basics, shall we? First, the alignments. They are: Might, Nature, Chaos, Death, Order, and Life. It really depends on how you fight and as well as what kind of magic which you would like(or, even no magic at all). Might is a good beginners one, as it requires on pure strength and likely you won't get used to the magic until you know the strength in them first. Next, Nature. The best one there is, actually as Nature usually makes you invincible to enemies.....sort of like Death, since you can just keep on summoning enough creatures until either you run out of MP or until the enemy has been defeated. This means that, you can even go one-man on the enemy and still win. Nature also has two level four recruits if you use the Creature Portal, but you need lots of wood if you're thinking of playing that alignment. Chaos time. This alignment I really hate because the things cost too much, plus I'm not really into the evil side. But you should know that evil is usually the stronger one if you're not used to tactics, so it might make a good beginner alignment but its just the cost and also the annoying music when you enter the Asylum. Now lets talk about Death. This alignment is... well, really...evil? You really have to rely on magic if you want to make THIS alignment good, because the evil part of it is that you get to kill your enemies and then resurrect them as your allies! It also has lots of cursing magic, and no, I don't mean swear words, I mean that they put curses on your opponent such as mire, which makes them move slower on the world map. Other than that the only good things which you can get by playing Death is vampires and Bone Dragons as they're all undead which means they are immune to most spells, plus the vampire also have a very useful life sucking ability. Ah, Order. This alignment is my second favourite as you get LOADS of ranged units. Halflings, for example, are very useful if you have a lot of them. Next are Magi, who can cast a variety of spells. They can also lure your enemies out of their castles with poison, not to mention magic fist works well on the attack side. Gold Golems and Dwarves have very strong attack, defense, and magic resistance but they move slow. Genies are much better than Nagas-their Ice Bolt really rocks if you have a ton of them, not to mention create Illusions works well if you need a defense against your weaker units. Nagas, on the other hand, have a lot of HP and attack, but they probably won't get to the enemy in time to stop someone like genies. Finally, on to Titans. This guys really rock but not as much as they do in Heroes 3. Dragon Golems are a good new creature with their high movement, HP, and attack. As for the Order spells, the only good one is actually hypnotize which allows you to control most creatures ENTIRELY! Think about it, with an army of Hypnotizers then they can even defeat one other one no matter how powerful they are....unless you're up against 1200 Faeries Dragons or something. Finally, life. These guys are also very good on the ranged side, but that's pretty much just it. They don't ever seem overpowering, and champions are just very weak for a level 4 unit, too. They're magic is good, however. Divine Intervention cures an insane amount, while Guardian Angel can be useful when trying to protect a weaker, main attacking unit. Mass Bless and Regeneration works well, too. Overall a decent unit. For this walkthrough, however, you'll be using Nature so get used to summoning.....or else. ------------------------------------------ 3. Preparations ------------------------------------------ Nature is definitely NOT a beginner's alignment, as, unlike other ones, your level one creatures' stats just suck. Really, even though Sprites have no retaliation and wolves can hit twice, None of them actually have a formidable defense against other creatures, and they can't shoot either. Death is the only other alignment which has no level one shooters. Nature's advantage will be summoning. NOT the skill summoning, you'll get like Sprites and Leprechauns every day which will be of no use on the last levels. The Nature Spells, however, are awesome. Dragon and Giant Strength can boost your stats quite a deal high, and Mass Snake Strike is just cool. So is Mass Fortune, but the summon Water Elementals are the main advantage once your characters learn it. From then on, you can easily go one man on all neutrals and continue that way when you learn the best spell ever: SUMMON MANTIS!!!!!! We'll take a short break to admire that spell. Ok, enough joking. Sprites and Wolves may be bad, but not any creatures on the higher level (of course). Choice: White Tigers or Elves? Getting Elves would be a good choice (you'll know why on the last level), but White Tigers are the third best level two creatures, so I usually prefer them. Next, Unicorns or Griffins? Well, Griffins have unlimited retaliation and high Hp as well as stats, but Unicorns have better stats in my opinion, their damage is decent and their ability to inflict Blind with every strike is just too good to be true. Pick the pretties! Lastly, we have....Faerie Dragons! Don't even bother with Phoenixes, unless you really need to go on the melee side. Otherwise, get the Faeries and get ready to magic rumble..... Only if you're short on troops or high on money would you want to recruit Creature Portal units. Personally, I find Mantises the best, but having Summon Mantis is already good enough. So, when you get the choice, what should you pick? Water Elementals are splendid, but you might consider Fire as they can shoot. Air Elementals are my pick, their defense and magic defense are too high, not to mention insane growth. Finally, we have Waspworts, who are only good in large numbers, but leave them with summoning. Anything else I don't recommend, as they are too weak. Now that we understand nature well, shall we get started? Of course, don't forget about fast reading! --------------------------------------- 4. Walkthrough --------------------------------------- Let the story begin.......I love Purple Hats! S C E N A R I O O N E: The Lovers !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Elwin is a level one elf, with absolutely NOTHING WITH HIM! Don't worry, though, as the enemies are currently very weak, and some summon creatures will get you through the first part. Claim the treasure 'round here, then get the creatures from the level one dwellings nearby. Now go and defeat the Troglodytes in your way, and claim your castle! Build a Sacred Grove first. Now continue claiming ye many treasures around here, then head east and recruit evles if you want. Capture the Jagged Den castle, too, for some storyline entertainment. Those Orcs.....burned down everything......agh.... Have Purple Hat go northeast into the might region. Kill any troops there may currently be in this area, including the blue player. Capture the Might Town to really increase your money income, and now head southeast. You should see a cave here. Defeat the neutrals guarding it, and head underground. Purple Hat should go west here, and defeat the Trolls guarding the orange Keymaster Tent. Head back to your nature castle. Get all your current troops (you should have Unicorns at this point) and go north. past the orange border. Watch out! The rest of the players lies in this deadly region. If you visited a blue keymaster tent in the Might Region, you can (optional) go through the teleportal here leading into the islands Elwin and Shaera has to face. There are some artifacts here which you may like. Quickly, have Purple Hat zoom through the area. The enemies are probably way too overwhelming at this point, so unless you recruited a Whooping lot run! If you think you can thanks to Giant Strength and Fortune, take over some of the castles here. To win this scenario, have Purple Hat make his way to the town of Dolphin Jump. Make sure, however, that Elwin manages to reach the level limit for this scenario. Have him recruit your last bunch of creatures, then fight the enemies one by one till they are completely annihialated. Good luck.... Time recommended to be taken: Two Months, one week. S E C O N D S C E N A R I O: Mark of the Tiger !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Note: Do not attack the teal player! The first thing to do is to get the Summon Water Elemental Spell! Without it, winning this scenario will be much harder. So, have Elwin bring up a sizeable army and have him loot out the treasures in this region. The Trolls guarding the bridge east of your starting point might prove a challenge, but Summon Elf should be able to handle things nicely, that is, if you haven't already got the Summon Water Elemental. After claiming all the stuff here, put all of your army in your castle garrison to protect from the annoying heroes who just love coming out of a portal which is just a dozen steps away from your castle. Then have Elwin enter a portal of your choice: left, or right? I think heading west would be a wiser choice since there are more trolls to fight there as well as a ton of nature castles....but lots of high- level heroes, too, which ain't definitely a good thing. So, make your way there and then, when you come out, you'll arrive at another portal leading over to your starting castle, which isn't really important for now. Head north, claim the treasures here, then continue west over to a nature castle! For now, use it to get you some Mantises since we don't have the spell yet. The go south over to a third nature castle. If you can capture it, then please be my guest, but since it is at the center of the green player's castles it will usually attract lots of attention.....if the AI is smart enough to know it, that is. Now you can either head east to a likely neutral nature castle at this point, south to green's last nature castle, or west over to blue's area. First head east to quickly take over the nature castle, and, since you have either three or four by now, your troops should be harvested by the multiple. Now, head west. The castle here will be a little hard to take over, but then, there are also a good number of Troll stacks which you can kill. When you're done with them head over to the south to finish off green. By now, you should be the strongest army, all only because of a one-elf Purple Hat............ Take any of the teleportals leading back to your starting castle. Don't recruit yet. Head to the eastern teleportal leading over to most of blue's area. There are only two castles to capture here, both which are chaos, so you really don't have much business with them except for the spells. Finish off the rest of blue's animate army and the Trolls. The final Blue player can be found at the southern most part of the screen around your nature castle. Gather up your Mantises, folks, time for the last battle! The Troll Lord here has 80 Trolls with him, so be careful, but ten Mantises which I had at this point are good enough to take care of them.....but wait! After defeating Blue, you'll realise that you haven't won yet! Continue north for a sad scene, and now head west to the red keymaster tent which is required in order to head underground. You'll immediately be ambushed by an army nearing the red border guard. Shouldn't be that hard, though. You can if you want have fun with the neutrals living in this area but otherwise they are pretty useless to fight against. Worllarc is your main enemy, he's the guy causing the greatest tragedy of the White Tigers. He shouldn't be too hard to defeat, just watch out for plague! And oh yeah, keep Elwin alive. Time recommended to be taken: 3 months, four weeks. S C E N A R I O T H R E E: True Love !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have Elwin make his way up north over to his first nature castle in this scenario. A group of White Tigers will join you on your way there. Put them out of your party and have Purple Hat do the job himself with Summon Water Elemental. Once the castle has been captured you can leave your party there and have him go one-man on every neutral around this place. Your first task is to find the potion of Mirth, Endurance, Resistance, and quick- ness. They are all located in this area of the map. Now have Elwin head back to the quest hut east of your castle to gain excess to a blue keymaster tent. After visiting it, head past the blue border to one of green's nature town. Capture it if you can, but note that the heroes that dwell here are very strong, so one-man Elwin may not work well against an invasion. Upon capturing, head north over to a gem mine. You will need forty gems in order to create a Cloud- Silver frame. Defeat the Earth Elementals guarding the mine, then bring an army to protect both of your castles and then have Purple Hat explore the wide open area here thoroughly. This is also one of the times when you may need to bring a few Mantises with you since the enemies here are very overwhelming. You'll find various teleportals throughout the area as well, two of which leads to great artifacts but they are guarded by several level four creatures, which, if I remember, are Titans, Dragon Golems, and Hydras. They do, however, lead to a level 4 shrine as well. If you get Mass Snake Strike or Mass Fortune, tough luck. Summon Unicorn, Griffin, or especialy Waspworts will be an invaluable magic to this level. By now you should have forty gems, so go and give it to the Dwarven Blacksmith living beside the gem mine to receive Cloud Silver! Now you can start your quest of conquering the area by first eliminating green, but note that there are about six castles in this region, so Purple Hat may have some trouble keeping up with the heroes around here. Another quest hut can be found in between a triangle formation castle. Pay 10,000 GP to receive a vast amount of sand.....which will be required to pass onto a fourth quest hut located at the eastern shores of this area. A Black Dragon's dear mate has been captured by the townspeople living a little north of its cave. Once you've made sure that all of the enemies' towns are captured, you can make your way into Aleta's realm. In case you don't know, I like reading biographies and Aleta tends to be the hero who frequently appears in that area with a large army. Gather up your Mantises folks, this may get tough. If you want, just let the computer do it, but, if you don't think AI can handle it just do it your- selves. If you breezed through this level and you don't have the time to get a formidable army then of course, you'll have to wait till you get a strong enough army. Don't even think about going one-elf with her. It's best to, however, fight every neutral possible to spend the time instead of sitting beside your castle everyday waiting for a strong enough army. Instead, take the time to level up and explore this scenario thoroughly. Once you have annihilated the red player and have captured red's last castle, you'll get yourselves one Black Dragon. Bring him over to the mate to receive the sand needed to create the Mirror's glass...and win the scenario! Time recommended to be taken: Four Months S C E N A R I O F O U R: Reflections !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a pretty short and thorough level. Since you can now get up to level five spells (at last) Elwin himself could pretty much breeze through everything so far. First thing to do is make him learn Summon Mantis (don't waste your time on anything else, if you don't get it in the mage guild restart), and have him collect every single treasure around this area. Do not go up north, though, as that leads farther into the enemy realms......our worst nightmare. A quest Hut will offer you a Dwarven Shield if you defeat the Medusas beside a backpack. An orange player's castle can be found somewhere to the south of that quest hut. Make sure that you obliterate all of their forces there first beforre continueing on. Also make sure that their mage guild contains Dragon Strength, but don't restart if you don't get it since it is all chance, but the DS spell sure proves a huge help in ye last battle of ye scenario. Anyways, back to your starting castle, make your way north. Capture the castle here by defeating Mirilass's brother (who looks like a woman....erh.....) and then continue west. Hopefully you learn summon Faerie Dragon for this castle. If you don't, then note that there's always another time for it, right? I won't mention much about the next part of your journey as it is just a huge bunch of neutrals and the last of that orange player's army. Watch out, though, there is a blue keymaster tent located just west of orange's last castle but Mirilass's army will ambush you as you near that area. You should be able to defeat her/?him with just Elwin. After the battle a short converstion will happen, and then you'll be able to visit the tent. After doing that bring the full bulk of your nature armies over to Harke Manor and finish off blue player. Time recommended to be taken: 2 months, 4 weeks. S C E N A R I O F I V E: Together !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lord Harke is in this scenario! WEEPEE! Now we can get him...for once. The storyline was weird, though. Anyways, for players in this scenario, you (purple), red, and teal. Green? That's Shaera, she is on level 15.....well, she might have at least tried beating LH up when he captured her. Anyways, since you have a level 32 nature hero and some almighty skills (tactics are the recommended ones), you can just about pretty much take on everyone. So, have Elwin make his way south and defeat the neutrals 'round this place. There are for castles to capture, so make sure that you've got them all under your control. Since Elwin is the new Elf King, he gets the Bow of the Elven King: very good especially for the Elves, but I still got White Tigers since I like them better with some serious tactics. Same with Unicorns. And Faerie Dragons, and finally (optional) Air Elementals. Since this a large map, having lots of scouts to cover your starting area will be very important. Red's heroes tend to always appear out of nowhere, so it will be almost necessary to have a few heroes to guard your mines and castles. Have Elwin first uncover up southern Aranorn, then take it away to the north through a linear forest mountain path. Of course, Purple Hat should be able to do it by himself but note that you may wish to bring part of your army with you since the neutrals are much tougher than the last scenarios'. At the northern most part of this level is a blue teleportal guarded by some Black Dragons. You might be able to defeat them right now, but if you can't, level Elwin up a bit (although it's much harder getting a level 32 hero up any more levels at this point of the game without Tree of Knowledges). Summon Mantis should be able to do it, just make sure they don't go after Purple Hat himself. Alright, now for the teleport destinations. It leads to many different places all of which the neutrals Elwin should be able to handle without any help at all. After exploring every area and Purple Hat has collected every single treasure, powerup, artifact, etc. have him bring up a full army and make your way to the southeast. A large number of Behemoths guard your next destination, but Summon Mantis should soundly be able to beat them. Most of teal's castle lie here, but otherwise there is really no point in collecting the treasures. Lord Harke's army is located straight to the west, right beside a random nature castle. Since he is a guard hero, not a moving one, you really don't have to worry about rushing towards him just in case he decides to hide inside his castle on his turn.... Don't be fooled by what Elwin said about how Lord Harke's strategy was so good, all he has are about 9 Mantises, around 12 Faerie Dragons, some level three creatures (with some of them elementals, I remember) and a level 15? Priest or priestess. First thing to do is eliminate Harke, as he has some major Tactics and combat skills. Have Elwin cast Dragon Strength on the Mantises first thing and aim for Lord Harke, who will probably crumble under their might in about 2-3 hits. Meanwhile, have your Faerie Dragons attack their Mantises and your Creature Portal elementals to attack the Air Elementals or Earth? Your Unicorns should aim for the priest and your White Tigers/Elves attack either Lord Harke or any other creatures on the field. This is actually a good and hard final battle unlike other ones so be up for a challenge! After Lord Harke is in jail have Purple Hat go through the border guard north of the castle and visit the keymaster tents along the way. Once you're back at your starting point, have Elwin visit the blue border guard and claim the ship here. Make your way to Shaera to win! Time recommended to be taken: 4 months, 2 weeks. ---------------------------------- 5. Miscellanous ---------------------------------- Nothing man, sorry. Elwin and Shaera is an elven story that should be kept private from diary invaders or else: It is actually recommended for people above thirteen to play, since those people who don't follow the game rules won't be interested in love.....unless....unless.... Seriously though, unlike Half-Dead, all it talks about is Elwin and his journey to defeat Lord Harke and claim Shaera back. That's about it. He also wears purple hats. How charming...... ------------------------------------ 6. Credits ------------------------------------ -Thanks to some of SWcarter's walkthrough. which helped me rember where some things were. -Me? -Gamefaqs Staff Creators.