Part 55: Haven Campaign, Map Three, Part Two

Extra-long update today, as we're starting to wrap up the Griffin-Angel plot.



Heading east brings us to another Haven Fort. You can also spy a stat boost in the upper corner - we won't be able to get to it just yet. Also note the name of the Fort, for it to become relevant three screenshots later.



If we head south, we can also find it leading to the river - this is where the Naga will invade from. Not much we can do about it right now, since we don't have a boat.



We'll head east again. This update is pretty much going to be 'go to X, kill things', unfortunately. Not entirely exciting, but I'll try to supplement it with other Haven talk in the meantime.



At least someone has a sense of humour.



We find a Haven town manned by the Sanctuary here. With the exception of two towns, all the Towns and Forts on this map are Haven. Better for us, since we don't have to waste resources converting them. There was also a Sanctuary Hero in the way, but they were only Might so we walked over them.



Formations like these prevent Intimidated stacks from hitting our Cores (after we get rid of the shooter, of course). You might also notice I've split my Marksmen stack - this gets me more Morale turns, which is always good.

On that point, I'd like to say that Guardian Angel is a bad racial in terms of concept, because it never improves - the only level where it improves from the base version is the level 4 one, which we'll see on Anton's last map. But otherwise, the only point of increasing Guardian Angel levels is so you can cast it on higher Tier creatures. And while invincibility is a powerful effect, there is nothing stopping enemy creatures from just attacking another one or moving away.

The other thing is that the Haven Cores do have strategies involving Guardian Angel - Praetorians can absorb damage without taking damage themselves, or Marksmen can use Piercing Bolt without worry if a creature that would be in the way has GA. But Elites, as I've mentioned in the previous update, don't really make it work as well. I'm not sure how I would change the racial, if I could, as you would be hard-pressed to not make it similiar to Honor while still keeping it in line with the Haven's defensive strategy. One nice effect might be to add the ability to remove debuffs at higher levels, as it would tie in nicely with the Haven's strategy of cleansing and healing. Maybe you guys have an idea of how you would change GA, or maybe you think it's fine?



Back on topic, there's a shipyard southwest of our recent Haven acquisition, where we can sail south to find one of two Sanctuary towns, ripe for the capture. Anton has a secondary quest to convert them, and you get a hefty stat boost as your reward, too.



...Magic Heroes. Urgh.



There's also a small valley northwest of the Haven town we captured - it leads to a couple of stat boosts, including the one we saw earlier by Eastwall but couldn't reach.

Also, I finally get enough resources to build our Champion dwelling.






Note: do due to a bug, Seraphim in the current patch (1.8) have their upgrade's heal ability, Blade of Epiphany, instead of Blade of Mercy. This makes them better than they should be, at the moment. The review below assumes Seraphim to properly have Blade of Mercy.

Remember when Archangels were pretty much the most OP creature in H3? Ah, good times, good times...

The Seraphim is arguably one of the bulkiest creature in the game (losing only to its upgrade and the Fate Weaver). Unfortunately, that's almost all that it's got going for it. While damage is almost consistent (as is customary for Angels of Heroes past), the Seraphim has the lowest damage of all Champions. Curse-style effects aren't in H6 at time of writing, either, so there really isn't a downside in having a higher damage range. It can fly, which is never a bad thing, but it just doesn't have enough Movement. And considering the Haven already has three creatures that can already pass through obstacles, the Seraphim isn't exactly filling a niche here. It has a heal and resurrect, but it's startlingly weak considering you only get one Seraphim a week. At the end of the day, Seraphim aren't bad, they're just... there. Kind of like Juggernauts, they don't fill any vital role in the Haven army - if nothing else, they're good meatshields (you know, if Praetorians and Sun Crusaders weren't already bulky and easier to use Guardian Angel on).



There's a whirlpool south of our latest capture that has two possible exits. One of them leads to the other Sanctuary town, which is guarded by a small army, like most of this map.



Magic Heroes!



We can also take a peek at where Anton is supposed to go next - Mukao is hanging out somewhere over here. Let's go meet him, maybe he'll take us to a far more suprerior protagonist (Irina).



To get there, we'll take the whirlpool to the other possible exit. We can also see the portal exit from which Sanctuary Heroes would have exited and moved through the water to invade us.



Unfortunately, Mukao runs inside a gate which shuts in our faces.

Click here to listen to the conversation!
The Naga follow the Dragon Shalassa... all their power is water.

Water hates Fire, and there is lots of dry wood in the region...

Right. Why don't we burn the holiest city in the Falcon Empire to the ground? The emperor would love that. Maybe the Demons will come back and do it for us if we ask nicely.

It's just an idea. I don't know how else we're going to get Liam's precious angels.

That's it! We don't need fire. We need to find a way to break a hole in their walls.

We have catapults, but it would take months...

Valeska, didn't you once teach us of a legendary siege engineer who was born in the lands of Flammschrein?

Yes... you decidedly paid more attention to my lectures than I had imagined. I doubt that he is still alive.

That doesn't matter. Let's visit his home and see if we can't find something useful.

Okay, obligatory padding to make this map longer. We can do that.



Flammeschrein has fallen! The city was invincible. The Naga must have taken it through treachery.

We can't do anything else here except pick up a few stat boosts, so we'll do that and head west. Alternatively, we can head south from our original town and meet up at the same place.



Neutral stacks: still harmless.



Another Town for our taking. The enemies here are all pretty weak, as you could have come here straight from the beginning of the map.



Oh hey, level 2 reputation. I think that's all our Heroes now.


Hour of Judgement we've seen being used by Gerhart. It's... not incredibly amazing. The damage boost is nice, but its shortlived duration and only usable once per battle usually mean Mass Heroism is easier to pull off. At least Anathema can't be dispelled, so you're guaranteed at least one shot with this. Anton's high stats will eventually make it a decent damage boost (especially since Mass Heroism won't get its damage boost increased), so it's not the worst level 2 reputation ability.


The damage cap is unfortunate, and is meant to be used near the end of battle, when your creature stacks are presumably reduced and can't deal that much damage anymore. However it means you would have to have taken over 10,000 damage over the battle to hit the damage cap in the first place.


The living version of Curse of the Netherworld. An okay damage dealer and heal when fighting any faction other than Haven or Sanctuary, a slightly more expensive and powerful Mass Heal otherwise.


The ultimate single target healing ability. The Initiative boost is excellent as well. One thing to note is that should the target stack have a debuff that reduces healing, like the Specter's Death Seal, it will affect the amount healed before it's cleansed off.



MAGIC HEROES!

They actually start packing Implosion now, which is unhealable. Luckily that was the last one for this map.



We can find an Angel NPC in the southwest corner of the map. Given our track record with Angels, maybe we should tread lightly.

Duke Anton... where's Michael? Flammeschrein has fallen.

Tell me. I've been sent by Michael to parley with the Naga.

Parley...? A Naga army has conquered our army and captured our Celestials. They came over our walls under the cover of night, using dark magic. It is too late to parley.

In that case, bring me a map.

Naga would never dare take an Angel hostage. The Eternal Empress is certainly unaware of this. Something tells me the Faceless are near.

But... Naga can't use Dark Magic! Something fishy is going on here. (No pun intended) Normally I'd be inclined to disbelieve Valeska, but... nah. Laurielle must be mistaken.



Guys, I think the game is mocking me.



Another Haven Fort. You can also spot the third Moon Fragment in the upper corner.





Two more easy Forts. Did we even need these?



And the final Fragment, found a little near where we found Laurielle. Anton also gets the Phoenix Moon Disc for his troubles.



The Tear can be found about two days' travel from our first town. Valeska should be able to claim it easily, as the neutral stacks are still laughably weak.



The Haven's Tear building is, not surprisingly, based on resurrection. However, due to HoMM VI making it much easier to get perfect wins, it's not as great as it would be in previous games. Still, it's better than the Inferno one, I think.



The siege engineer's home is found somewhere in the southwest of the map. There's an Inferno Hero there that's very weak and only has Core creatures.



And we get this after the battle. We don't need to equip this, we just need to march back to the gate...



And that happens. Onward to killing snakemen!

In my twenty-three centuries of loyal service to Elrath, I haven't seen anyone use a siege engine that well since the Demon Azkaal destroyed the sky city where I was born.

How old did you say you were?

Lady Jezebeth... it's never polite to remind a woman of her age.



MAG- oh, it's just a Might Hero. Whew.

Flammschrein is ours but the Naga leader has escaped, and the prisoners are missing.

I know how to find him.

You... you do? Did Anton gain some kind of omnipotence since the last I checked?

Alright, buckle up, time for some plot, hard and fast.

Click here to listen to the conversation!
During the Elder Wars, Sarah and Uriel found a way to capture and store the souls of our fallen warriors.

You haven't answered my question. Why?

We needed to share their memories as the Faceless do. The death of a Faceless means little, as the others remember all that he knew.

These souls I hear... where are they kept? I need to free them.

They are in the Hall of Memories.

Ah yes. But why would you need a dead duke to bring them back?

The Ancestral Swords of the Holy Empire, forged by Sarah and our finest smiths, prepare you to recieve an Angel's soul. The dynasties of your dukes and emperors have wielded them for generations, all the while preparing these families to recieve souls from the Hall of Memories. No other receptacles could stand this.

So when I die, you'll be taking my spirit somehwere and filling it up with a dead Angel's soul?

Your soul must be in accordance, attuned completely with Elrath... for the two souls mingle and share the body of a Celestial.

I now know why my father was killed, and what the motive was!

Okay, so we have a motive for Slava's death now. And we have a few suspects on who it might be now... why would Laurielle so willingly give up this information, though?

And does that mean every week when we've been hiring Celestials from our towns...



A portal now opens up just south of this last town. There are no more invasions, so we can run around and collect any last stat boosts we need (there's another one just near this last town).



Well, there's Mukao at last, and the last fight for this map.



Mukao's army is pretty weak though - he has only about 400~ Cores and about 100~ Yuki-Onna and Kensei. This would have been a tougher fight early on, but now we can just easily stomp him.

Click here to listen to the conversation!


Why would a Naga take Angel prisoners and cloak his crime in dark magic?

Duke Anton. Anyone can call upon Dark Magic. A Naga, even an Angel or a Celestial. Do you know the difference between them? Has Michael told you why your father died?

What would you know about that?

The Naga is a Faceless... dangerous... he divides... He knows no truth...

What? That's just ridic-

Show yourself, Faceless. I'm tired of playing games.

We are the Faceless, and Mukao is one of us.



Did you kill my father?

What would the Faceless have to gain from killing Slava Griffin? Was he not our ally? Did he not ask Jorgen to save his son from Angels' voices?

Who killed my father?

Why do you want to know?

To bring his murderer to justice... And to set these voices in my head free, once and for all.

Then we will help you... it benefits us both.

I'll admit, the first time I played this, I never saw this coming. Does... does Irina know one of her closest advisors is a Faceless?



Still pregnant, I see. Is that thing ever going to pop?

Click here to listen to the conversation!
If you don't leave peacefully, I'll push you back into the sea! These lands are under the protection of the Falcon Empire!

These lands belong to the Duchess of the Wolf! If the Falcon Emperor wants them, he can come and get them himself.

Duchess of Wolf? There is no... wait, Irina? Is that you?

Anton? You've got some serious explaining to do.

Ha! And so do you!

One fade to black later...

It's incredible. All that you have been through. I'm so proud of you.

No one will ever tell me what to do again.

You are already a better ruler than I. You already have an heir...

This child is the future Duke! But I'll see to it he has the heart of a Griffin.

I would like to stay longer, but a Demon army threatens Falcon's Reach.

I'll give you supplies, Anton. But I won't aid Liam. He condemned me - twice.

We need you in the south, Irina. If the Orcs are overrun, you'll be all that's left to defend the Empire.

Fare well brother! Go save our pretentious Emperor. And tell him that he owes me an apology!

Now that's a pretty good ending. And I guess Sandor made it back to Griffin lands, after all.



And that's that. We have only a few loose ends to take care of, so over the next few maps, we'll be finishing off Anton, Anastasya, and Kiril's stories.