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 Half-Dead 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. You'll have to be my target practise when I
play soccer.
2. You'll have to be my target practise when I
play soccer everyday.
3. You'll have to be my target practise when I
play soccer everyday for five hours straight.
4. Ask me why I do this over and over again and
you might become Gauldoth's Former Master's
Master's Master dirt chef(which, in case you
don't know, is the psycho trying to destroy
all living flesh in the world). This is NOT
A threat, a punishment.
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 Death
units so get used to Necromancy before we start...
------------------------------------------
3. Preparations
------------------------------------------
Now I've never been a fan of Death, but it would
still be nice to get used to it as this campaign
is hard. First thing to note: you might want to
try out nature as this campaign's main character
starts off with that kind of magic, too. Since
both of them has to do with summoning up creatures
you'll usually start to go one-man Gauldoth
once you get something like summon Venom Spawn.
As for the Death units, you'll most likely not
need skeletons or imps as they are probably
the most worthless level one creatures. Cerberi
would be a good start on level two creatures,
but it is still only decent compared to the
Gold Golems. Level Three creatures is when Death
finally starts to become stronger....much in
fact. Vampires are the strongest kind if you
get a load of them-Venom Spawn are better for
summoning. Vampires, however, can be raised
through grandmaster Necromancy so it would be
recommended to learn that right after grandmaster
death magic. If you spent a lot of time getting
them then you'll likely have 100+ vampires ready
for battle at the end, and with all that blood-
sucking they will likely become your strongest
units. The choice between Bone Dragons or Devils,
however, is a little hard. Both of them move
fast-but Bone Dragons have better offensive
stats so I usually pick them over Devils. It's
just too bad you can't upgrade creatures in
this game.
(The next paragraph will be full of sarcasm)
The final preparation is......fast reading.
Yeah, seriously, if you want to know what's
going on in this campaign you gotta read
FAST, FURIOUS, FANTASTICALLY, and.....
Faithfully. Otherwise, you've already lost
the scenario as if you don't finish a
dialogue in 3.5792468 seconds then you'll
go into battle with thirty two thousand
six hundred seventy six Black Dragons,
upgraded style known as.......
The Mighty AZURE dragon........2!
---------------------------------------
4. Walkthrough
---------------------------------------
Good, its finally time to fire up the real
game itself. Lets start with.....
F I R S T S C E N A R I O: Eater of Children
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You start off with Gauldoth Half-Dead, a
level 2 hero with, surprisingly, basic
nature magic too. In usually one more
level he will become a demonlogist which
is bascally a hero with basic demonology
and basic nature magic. First thing to do
is to get some troops from the nearby
dwellings and then split your party up.
Have Gauldoth go alone collecting treasures
while your main undead army fight through
the dozens of berserkers awaiting right
beside the might castle-but don't take
it yet. After eliminating the berserkers
have your party head down into the caves
below, defeat the two vampires standing
guard here, and go get about three vampires
for Gauldoth. Then quickly attack the
castle nearby. Once its yours you can
start by building a City Hall if you
could, otherwise just a caravan. That
is required to get a Nomad Tent, which,
in my opinion, is better than the Harpy
Peak. Then, recruit a sizeably army, and
head east to loot out the mines near.
You can locate and finish off the orange
player here. Then take over its castle,
and use it for your income for now.
Get about six vampires, then defeat the
cyclops guarding the ferry leading over
to green's side. Keep your might army
in your two castles and recruit everyday
so that your army will always be the
stronger one and will not "provoke" the
enemy to come over to your starting side.
Alright, if you think you're strong enough
then go and take over greens castle. It
is a nature town so you most likely won't
need it unless you want bad morale for
your sprites and wolves and....you know.
Once green has been eliminated head north,
loot the various treasures, then head
underground again. Make sure you have more
than eight vampires by now, so go pass the
border guard here and defeat every enemy
except for the Bone Dragons along the way.
Take the treasures here if you like, then
continue north till you reach a blue
keymaster tent. Visit it then head all the
way back to your starting might castles
and get all the troops you have. I usually
get Behemoths since there is no nearby
alchemist lab(I think) for the Thunderbird
production. Then head underground to recruit
up to as many vampires as possible, suggested
10+. Now head back to green's area and go
east till you reach blue's area. All you need
to do capture their castle named Vitross
and you'll win this scenario, but it maybe
a little hard if blue's strongest army awaits
in there.
Time recommended to be taken: 2 months, 3 weeks.
S E C O N D S C E N A R I O: The Fiery Realm
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goody, this scenario starts you off with one
vampire! Not like that's a lot, but it will
do for the next several battles to capture the
various mines here, then head west over to
our first Death castle in this campaign!
Capturing it should be a cinch with summon
imp and your vampire.....which hopefully you
haven't lost yet. Now go get yourself a City
Hall first thing, then you can star exploring
this area freely. I suggest hiring another
hero to speed up your progess. Give Gauldoth
the vampire and the rest of his army(as well
as the ones which you recruited in your castle)
to your new hero. Have Gauldoth head east again
to finish up where he started while the other
army head west to the mini-pond. Don't, however,
fight the Bone Dragons at the portal, though.
Instead explore around the perimeter of the
pond, capturing every mine.
Meet back at the castle at the end. Don't forget
to build along the way! You should at least have
a mansion by now so that you can get more of
those goody vampires. Now, once you have enough,
give all your army to Gauldoth and have him
defeat the Bone Dragon guarding the portal.
Meanwhile, go and build a Dragon Graveyard
if you can-if you can't, wait till you get
one. Then replenish your army and have your
two heroes head through the portal. You might
consider hiring a third one to patrol your
castle just in case blue or green arrives.
The portal will lead you to the south. Follow
the path here down south and take over blue's
stuff here. Now you'll probably find blue here
again, so trap him in his castle and teach
him a lesson. Once you have your second castle
continue west to a Dragon Graveyard. North of
there is yet your third Death castle. Take over
it and supply your armies well. Next, go to
the border here and give up eight bone dragons
to pass and visit the green keymaster guard.
From there on head east and finally you'll
be in green's area. Hopefully blue has been
defeated by now so that you won't get anymore
of them messing around. Then find and take
over green's lands and make sure that you
claim some of their mines too. To the south
of here is an angel's blade, exactly what
you need to advance on.
Now head back to your three death castles and
recruit as many bone dragons as you can
from them. I had 20+ at the end and also
40+ vampires. Also the Hand of Death Spell
as well as sacrifice works well in the next
battle.
So, head east from your second castle
which is surrounded by walls and here go
past the border guard to the new portal
here. Get ready....you are now advancing
into the point of no return. Head through
the various portals in this underground area
here until you come to a yellow one which
leads to orange. This guy has 1400 skeletons,
20 bone dragons, and 45 venom spawns.
To defeat him just have your vampires go
after the Venom Spawn while your Bone
Dragons attack the enemy's. Your other
troopers should attack their hero and then
have everybody go ballistic onto the
remaining skeletons. A tough but not
unbeateble battle-make good use of the
spell sacrifice here.
After the battle head west and unlock
the prison here to rescue......
good ol' Kalibarr!
Time recommended to be taken: 4 months, 1 week.
T H I R D S C E N A R I O: Points of Power
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This scenario is harder than the last two,
so beware. Luckily, Gauldoth starts of with
a castle so you don't need to capture one.
Start off by building a Tavern, then a
Mansion. There is a Point of Power(they look
like tall towers with a shining crystal on
top) right at the beginning of this scenario
so go and defeat the creatures guarding it
and activate it. One down.......four to go.
Now head south and defeat the enemies along
the way until you reach a Spawning Pit.
Flag it, recruit some Venom Spawns, and
now head west to take over the mines here.
Also note that the purple player and the
teal player starts off somewhere to the
south of here....right beside your two starting
garrisons so beware off them! Once you're done
with the mines you can start the raid on
your enemies by heading west first over to
the purple player. They shouldn't show much
of a challenge so take over their castles
first, eliminate them, then their mines.
There is also a point of power to the north
of their area, so go there and activate it.
Now head back to your starting castle and
recruit! Hopefully you have Bone Dragons
by now. Continueing south, you'll find the
teal player. First weaken them then head
straight south to their starting castle.
Capture it, and then hunt down any remaining
scouts. There should only be one hero of the
teal player left: the one guarding the last
Point of Power. First recruit, then head
west to find a castle which you should
capture(though most likely its teal's).
There's a third point of power here, but
watch out for the Devils guarding it!
Now head back east and, continueing
from teal's first castle which you captured,
you'll find another point of power. Defeat
the Bone Dragons guarding it and now
activate the fourth point of power! The
last one is located northeast of the
fourth Point so head there, but note
that the last and the strongest of the
teal player lies here so make sure that
you have a very strong army such as 50+
vampires, 30+ Venom Spawns, and up to 20
Bone Dragons. That should be enough, so
go and defeat the teal player here,
and activate the last Point of Power
for a saddening dialogue(don't forget
to read fast), but at least the scenario
is over.....
Time recommended to be taken: 3 months, 4 weeks.
F O U R T H S C E N A R I O: Life and Death
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The scenarios just keep on getting harder,
don't they? Like the first and second
scenario, you start off with no castle.
The pathway leading TO your first castle,
however, is also extremely well guarded.
Hopefully Gauldoth has summon Ice Demon
by now, so have him dismiss your weak
starting army and now head west, defeating
and claiming mines along the way. Your
toughest battle, however, will be against
about 4 Bone Dragons. Place Gauldoth in
the back row and have him summon as many
Ice Demons as possible(you should be able
to summon up to 17+ by now) and have them
do the job for you. Once that battle's
over continue west until, finally, you
arrive at your first castle. Now for the
next part of this scenario things are
going to get really hard. Continueing
claiming mines and dwellings here, then
build either a Dragon Graveyard or a
Temple of the Damned, I personally find
Devils better in this scenario because
for some reason all the garrisons are
guarded by them so you need a quick
counterattack just in case they teleport
to you right at the start off this battle;
make sure you visit the Oracle of the Dawn
beside your castle, too, to earn a quest.
Put all your vampires and your devils
in one army(which, of course, should
be Gauldoth's) and have them attack the
garrison to the west. Have your Devils
attack their's first thing, then wait
for the hundreds of Zombies and Mummies
to come out, meanwhile just summon
Ice Demon like crazy. Once you have
enough of them then have them finish
off the rest of the garrison's troops.
Might be a hard battle, but with enough
magic you should be able to win.
Go back and recruit, then continue west
of the garrison which you just captured
and, here, go and take over teal's castle.
Use it for your income, and, once you
have enough money, substitute for any
fallen low-level troops. Now to the
south is another well-guarded garrison,
this time with Devils and Venom Spawns,
so beware. Just use the same Devil attack
Devil strategy and the Summon Ice Demon
thingy. Now go back to supply your troops
again, then head back to your second
captured Garrison. Here you'll find more
mines as well as a castle to take over
further to the south. Capture it, use
it once again for substitute troop
supplying(by now you should have enough
income ready for a lot of buying), and
now head east. A Black Dragon dwells
here, guarding the Armor of Death.
Defeat him, retrieve the artifact,
then head back over to the oracle
to get the Life Shield. Supply your
troops again, head back to your third
captured castle, and now go east to
another garrison! This one should be
really easy to capture if you have
enough vampires and Devils. Just,
once again, use the same old strategy.
Continueing east, your fourth ready-to-
be-captured castle. Take over it, loot
out all the mines and treasures located
here, then head northeast to some
scores of Venom Spawn guarding the
pathway leading underground. Defeat
them. Head into the cave to find the
last of teal's players. First defeat
them and take over their fifth castle,
which you should use to get your last
set of troops. Now continue south and
you'll find Malvich the Vampire, guarded
by a red border I think. You should have
already found the keymaster guard leading
there, so ram into battle with Malvich.
Your vampires are going to be the main
offensive force for this battle, so
make sure that you have a healthy supply
of them. Otherwise, its just like any
other last-battle-of-this-scenario
battle which is just so common in this
campaign for some reason....oh well.
Time recommeded to be taken: 4 months, 2 weeks.
S C E N A R I O F I V E: The Unholy Breath
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This scenario will likely be the shortest
of them all mainly because of the four-
month time limit. Luckily, that's what
also makes it easy. You start off for the
fourth time WITHOUT A CASTLE. Don't
worry, though, with summon Venom Spawn,
which you should definitely have by now,
it ain't that hard. Start off by heading
south until you reach a dead end; make
sure that you take over all the mines
around here. Heading northeast will lead
you over to a portal that takes you to
the upper ground. The city of Nekross
lies here, but you can't excess to it..
yet. Claim the mines then take the portal
here to go over to your first can-be-
taken-over castle! It starts off already
pretty well developed so building
shouldn't be a problem. Now head north
and defeat the neutrals along the way,
Of course, don't forget to collect the
treasures-you don't need to rush that
much.
As you near the ferry here, Suraze will
join you. Have him be your scout for
the rest of this scenario, give his
army to Gauldoth. Now once you're done
head back to your castle to recruit all
your currently available troops, then
enter the portal at the far end of this
treasure-filled path where you found
Suraze. This will take you back to the
Plane of Death.....in other words the
underground section of this map.
Gauldoth's master Kalibarr will usually
be found strolling here, so defeat him
but note that he has summon Devil, which
could really give you a headache when
you think that you have the advantage
of the battle. Have Gauldoth summon
Venom Spawn first thing to quickly
eliminate Kalibarr, then its all just
vampire, devil, venom spawn, and bone
dragon mayhem. By strategy, you should
just be able to come out on the top.
Now continue north and take over the
castle which you couldn't have earlier,
then take the portal here once again
to be lead over to Nekross. All you
have to do is to capture it, and,
if you're lucky, then Kalibarr should
be waiting inside. Congratulations!
You have finished the Half-Dead campaign!
Time recommended to be taken: Anytime
as long as its under four months.
----------------------------------
5. Miscellanous
----------------------------------
All that I can say about the miscellanous
is...the story. And maybe a few left-out
parts off the walkthrough, too. If I
can find them, that is.
*Major Spoilers*
The story of this campaign is about a
being named Gauldoth Half-Dead whose
body was consumed in a fire during the
Reckoning. He was later then brought up
by a vampire who turned him after a spell
gone wrong half-dead and half-alive.
Gauldoth didn't really like being trapped
in some ancient spooky crypt so his master
Kalibarr rescued him, but later Gauldoth
lost his prescence and had to live in
the dark and dank woods eating worms
everyday. A few years later, an angry
mob chased him throughout the forest
and later Gauldoth decided to raise
an army strong enough to stop them.
After that(the first scenario) he
rescued Kalibarr from his underworld
prison only to find that Kalibarr's
master, a demented being from another
world wants to eliminate all living
flesh in the universe. It is up to
Gauldoth now to stop Kalibarr, his
own master, but along the way he finds
a priest who teaches him the ways of
good, and Gauldoth himself learns
a few things about the universe.
Challenges which you can do:
1. Defeat the Bone Dragons which
guard valuable treasure in the
first scenario.
Difficulty: 4.3
2. Defeat the guard of the Kalibarr's
prison with only recruited creatures
from the creature dwellings found in
"Hell."
Difficulty: 9
3. Activate the Points of Power in an
opposite order so that you'll be
fighting the Bone Dragons first.
Difficulty: 6.7
4. Do not capture any of the castles
in the fourth scenario other than the
first one.
Difficulty: 7.4
5. Claim every mine dwelling,
treasure, and defeat every single
player before time runs out in the
fifth scenario.
Difficulty: 8.5
6. Read every dialogue in three
seconds.
Difficulty: 100
----------------------------------
6. Credits
----------------------------------
I will put very few credits regarding
on the creation of this faq because
I did it all by myself, believe it
or not. I also revise the faq very
carefully each time I make one so
all my versions are final.
-Gamefaqs.com if he puts this faq....
or was it Cjac however you spell
that name.....
