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Patch #13 — The Mysterious Island

August 20, 2026 · v0.80.45

In short

  • ›New single-player map “The Mysterious Island”: six playable factions, an official remake of the cult Heroes III map by its own author.
  • ›Temple: law overhaul — most adoption costs drop, and creature-upgrading laws gain a third tier.
  • ›Hive: Parasites and Waurms weakened, Scorpions strengthened.
  • ›Arena Mode: starting bonuses for certain heroes, a reroll system during drafts, guaranteed tiers for specialist heroes.
  • ›Dungeon: new “Arcane Knowledge” law (+15 maximum mana for all heroes), and “Triumvirate's Agents” reworked.
  • ›The Shift+U hotkey to hide the user interface is back.

New single-player map: “The Mysterious Island”

Buff

Papyjama, creator of one of the most played custom maps in Heroes of Might and Magic III, returns with the official remake of “The Mysterious Island” in Olden Era.

The Mysterious Island

  • •A large-scale map with six playable factions, whose storyline draws inspiration from Jules Verne's novel.
  • •The story is only just getting started: it will be expanded in future updates as essential mechanics arrive, notably the underground level.

Arena Mode

Mixed

A series of functional additions and balance mechanics. This is by far the most heavily reworked part of the patch in the game files.

Hero starting bonus

  • •Depending on their current Arena Mode performance, certain heroes receive an additional starting bonus that increases their primary attributes. These bonuses will be adjusted dynamically in future updates.

Reroll system

Starting reroll points▲4
Gained during the artifact draft▲+1
Gained during the creature draft▲+1
  • •It is now possible to refresh the choices offered during the artifact, spell, and creature draft phases.

Creature specialists

  • •A hero specializing in creatures of a given tier now guarantees that units of that tier appear in the draft pool, for both players.

Spells and unit counts

  • •Certain high-power spells offered during the draft can no longer exceed level 1 by default.
  • •The unit counts offered during the creature draft phase have been adjusted.

Temple

Buff

The Temple was underperforming in the late game. The developers are rolling out a substantial overhaul of its laws, the core change being an extra tier on every law that upgrades creatures.

Temple Elite Creatures

Maximum level2▲3
  • •Every law in this tree gains a third tier. In practice, the Swordsman, Crossbowman, Griffin, Lightweaver, Cavalry, and Inquisitor laws each receive one extra level, at an adoption cost of 2.

Tax Collectors

Adoption cost3 / 3▲2 / 2

Training: Scouting

Adoption cost4▲2

Execute Excellence

Adoption cost3 / 3▲2 / 2

Architect’s Mastery

Adoption cost6▲2

Power of Faith

Adoption cost4▲3
  • •The law now affects only faction heroes, instead of all heroes owned by the player.

Hero’s Blessing

Creature attribute bonus derived from hero stats25 %▼20 %
Adoption cost6▲4

Elite Angels

Bonus per tier25 / 50 %→20 / 40 / 60 %
  • •The Angels' attribute bonus derived from hero stats goes from two to three tiers, with a revised progression.

Heroes of Tales

Maximum level2▼1
Adoption cost2 / 2▼3

Encouragement

Maximum level3▼2
Adoption cost1 / 1 / 1▼2 / 2

Necropolis

Nerf

Pestilent Lich

Tier 5
Cooldown1 round▼2 rounds
Activation cost1 charge de focus▼2 charges de focus
  • •The “Death's Embrace” ability is significantly reined in: the over-time damage effects it activates now deal only half of their full damage.

Specialist heroes

Weekly creature growth bonus+2▼+1

Tomb of Warriors

Repaire de tier 6
Tomb of Warriors I construction6 000 or▼6 500 or
Tomb of Warriors II construction4 000 or▲3 500 or

Gifts of the Afterlife

Maximum level3▼2
Adoption cost2 / 2 / 2▼3 / 3

Terror and Dread

Law tier4▼5

Grove

Nerf

Qilin

Tier 6
Hit points135▼130
Defense22▼20
Luck3▼2

Thunder Qilin

Tier 6
Hit points135▼130
Defense22▼20
Luck3▼2
  • •Values read from the game files. The official notes swap the Defense of the Thunder Qilin and that of the Mist Qilin — see “Found in the data”.

Mist Qilin

Tier 6
Hit points135▼130
Defense24▼22
Luck3▼2

Murmuring — “Burst of Energy” sub-skill

Heroic Strike damage bonus per Focus Charge spent15 %▼10 %

Shroomwood Shack

Repaire de tier 5
Crystals6▲3
Gold+0▼+500
  • •Construction of both levels becomes cheaper in crystals but more expensive in gold.

Schism

Mixed

Ferocious Ra’Shoth

Tier 1
Attack4▼3
Defense4▼3
Initiative5▲6

Hive

Mixed

After the recent Hive adjustments, Parasites (tier 1) and Locusts (tier 2) began overlapping: highly mobile, Parasites covered the same tactical zones while dealing ranged damage without taking counterattacks. Meanwhile Waurms (tier 6) became overly dominant and Scorpions (tier 4) were among the least played units. This patch therefore tones down Parasites and Waurms, reallocating their power budget toward Scorpions.

Parasite

Tier 1
Speed4▼3

Warden Parasite

Tier 1
Speed5▼4

Ravager Parasite

Tier 1
Speed6▼5

Scorpion

Tier 4
Hit points45▼40
Initiative3▲5

Volcanic Scorpion

Tier 4
Hit points60▼55
Initiative4▲6

Spelaean Scorpion

Tier 4
Hit points45▼40
Initiative4▲6

Waurms

Tier 6
Initiative8▼7

Devourer

Tier 6
Initiative8▼7
Damage26-28▲27-29

Pyroboros

Tier 6
Initiative9▼8

Dwellings

Neglected Housing (tier 1)1 250 or▲1 000 or
Chitinous Ziggurat I and II (tier 4)3 500 / 1 250 or▼3 750 / 1 500 or
Apex I (tier 5)5 500 or▲5 000 or
Tower of Love II (tier 7)15 000 or, 5 bois, 5 minerai, 25 cristaux▲12 500 or, 15 bois, 15 minerai, 20 cristaux
  • •Four dwellings have their construction cost adjusted.

Mana Devour, Hive Magic, and Great Conquest

  • •The effects of these three laws now apply exclusively to Hive heroes and creatures.

Dungeon

Buff

Targeted tweaks to Dungeon laws, to better align them with the faction's lore and strengthen its early-game capabilities.

Arcane Knowledge

Adoption cost→2
  • •New law: increases the maximum mana pool of all heroes by 15 points.

Celestial Maps

  • •The law that carried the old “Arcane Knowledge” effect has been renamed “Celestial Maps”.

Triumvirate’s Agents

Adoption cost5 / 5▲4 / 4
  • •The effect now applies to all heroes. The all-attribute bonus is replaced by a bonus to Attack, Defense, and Spell Power.

Multiplayer and templates

Mixed

Template names are not translated in the game; they stay in English.

Mix

  • •The template's final battles take place on week 2 day 2, week 3 day 2 (instead of day 4), and week 4 day 1 (instead of day 6).
  • •Starting bonus gold and common/valuable resource counts adjusted.
  • •Pre-built town structures adjusted, and treasury zone objects aligned with each player's home faction.
  • •Reduced guard difficulty at treasury zone entrances.
  • •“Legion's Leg” can no longer generate on this template.
  • •Extra connecting passages added between the standard treasuries and the ultra-rich treasury zone.

Galaxy

  • •Template size reduced from 128 × 128 to 112 × 112, with adjustments to zone proportions, object density, and entrance guards.
  • •Terrain elevation smoothed to remove steep height drops.
  • •The road leading to the main treasury near the home town is now always a dirt road.
  • •An extra town is added to each player's secondary expansion area, along with an external “Town Gate” in the starting and secondary areas.
  • •Pre-built town structures adjusted.

Outcast Tournament

  • •Distribution of Pandora's Boxes and high-tier external dwellings adjusted in the starting areas.
  • •Increased the unlock progression rate for Global Map spells.

Sprint

  • •Final battles take place on week 2 day 2, week 3 day 1 (instead of day 2), and week 3 day 6 (instead of week 4 day 2).
  • •The dirt road in the final zone now leads to an Artifact Merchant instead of a “Town Gate” (both objects remain present in the zone).
  • •Reduced the unlock progression rate for Global Map spells.
  • •The “Pocket Dimension” spell is available again on this template.

Jebus Tournament

  • •Pandora's Boxes containing army units are fully blocked from generating in the central zone.

General changes

In-game notifications

  • •The layout and indicators of on-screen notifications have been reworked (loss notifications, victory conditions in tournament templates, and so on).
  • •This information is now displayed at the top of the screen, and the block can be hidden.

Artificial intelligence

  • •Preparatory work has begun on reworking AI heroes on the world map. Numerous minor adjustments lay the groundwork for future improvements and may already subtly influence computer opponents' behavior.

Bug fixes

Combat and creature mechanics

  • •A stack no longer remains in the Overwatch state until the end of the round.
  • •Over-time damage effects activated by the Pestilent Lich's “Death's Embrace” no longer keep dealing damage on subsequent turns.
  • •The “Summoning Rite” of Ra'Shoth, Grand Shoth, and Abyssal Envoy (and their upgraded versions) can no longer raise more creatures from a friendly corpse than the target stack had at the start of the battle.
  • •Archangels no longer deal reduced damage when executing a counterattack.
  • •Vampire Scholars no longer generate 2 Focus Points when performing basic attacks.
  • •Angels and their upgraded versions no longer copy spell effects from an inconsistent number of friendly creatures via the “Forging Perfection” passive.
  • •Pyroboros basic attacks are no longer erroneously amplified by bonuses meant strictly for counterattacks.
  • •Counterattacks by the Faun (and its upgraded versions), Barghest, Armored Hound, Avatar of War, and Hollow Reaper are now correctly amplified by counterattack bonuses.
  • •Damage from the Energy Phoenix's “Supernova” ability is now classified as Magic Damage.
  • •The Dragonslayer's “Dragon's Blood” ability no longer grants immunity to creature abilities.
  • •Chanters' basic attacks and counterattacks now weaken enemies via the “Whispers of Doubt” passive for the same duration, as intended.
  • •Fire Larvae no longer mistakenly generate 1 Focus Point when performing basic attacks.

Spells and skills

  • •Diplomacy: the skill's bonuses now apply correctly, and the purchase button in the recruitment window is properly disabled when all unit quantities are set to 0.
  • •Casting “Back to Town!” while owning no towns no longer crashes the game.
  • •“Pocket Dimension” can no longer be summoned on locations impassable to the hero.
  • •“Assemble!” now allows interaction only with the hero positioned in the town's visiting slot.
  • •Max-level “Favorable Wind” now correctly removes the distance penalties.
  • •The “Masterful Web” sub-skill effect is now applied for the correct duration. (This sub-skill has no official localized name in the game files, so the English label is kept rather than inventing one.)
  • •The “Enlarge Shadow” spell effect stacked only once: fixed.
  • •“Riposte”: fixed incorrect duration scaling derived from the hero's Spell Power.
  • •“Temporal Spheres” still dealt Pure Damage instead of Magic Damage: fixed.
  • •It is possible again to recruit units on player-created maps with free Diplomacy, where the price of 0 gold was blocking recruitment.

Artifacts, laws, and map objects

  • •Fixed an exploit that allowed converting dragons at the “Eternal Dragon” even without owning enough of them.
  • •Murmurmancers now correctly dispel the blocking effect of the “Orb of Inhibition”.
  • •The law that amplifies Fire Larva explosions now also applies to explosions triggered by their passive ability.
  • •The Temple law “Power of Faith” now affects only faction heroes.
  • •Artifact Merchant: fixed the sell prices of “Ribcage Armor”, “Bone Boots”, and “Dark Hatchet”.

UI and controls

  • •Refined interaction logic for the adventure map creature recruitment window: there is no longer any need to close it to manage the hero's army panel.
  • •Creatures selected in the recruitment window and in the town quick-recruit panel are now preserved when loading a save.
  • •The Shift+U hotkey to hide the user interface is back.
  • •Fixed hotkey 3 misbehaving when selecting a sub-skill in the level-up window.
  • •The creature upgrade button in the “Mentoring” window is now correctly disabled when resources are lacking.
  • •The tooltip for the stack dismissal button now correctly disappears from the screen.
  • •Fixed a bug that broke various visual and audio effects in combat.
  • •Fixed the behavior of the bug report window when entering combat while it is open on the world map.
  • •Changing days while inside a town view no longer kicks the player out to the world map.

Multiplayer, maps, and generator

  • •Fixed issues of varying severity that caused asymmetrical generation on competitive templates.
  • •Votes to resume simultaneous turns are now correctly registered.
  • •Skipping a turn due to timer expiration no longer also skips the player's next turn.
  • •Hero selection for tournament battles now works correctly on Classic Mode tournament templates.
  • •Fixed incorrect side assignments in the map editor.
  • •The “Involuntary Summons” structure in Schism towns now works correctly.

Descriptions and visual effects

  • •Fixed the description of the “Ethereal Knowledge” artifact set.
  • •Fixed the descriptions of the upgraded versions of the “Circle of Winter” spell.
  • •Fixed description errors for the Hive Queen's “Soul Assimilator” ability.
  • •Fixed a description error for the Hollow Reaper's “Reap Without Sowing” active ability.
  • •Fixed visual layering issues with guard hazard zones after casting a spell on the world map.
  • •The text description of gold resources now matches the amount actually granted.

Found in the data

Collected by comparing the game files v0.80.34 → v0.80.45: 320 files modified, 124 added, 2 removed. The official #13 notes are markedly more reliable than previous ones — the 10 Temple laws, the Necropolis, Dungeon, and Hive laws, and the 12 building costs are accurate to the number. What remains is one swap and four changes passed over in silence.

The notes swap the Defense of the two upgraded Qilin

Thunder Qilin — Defense22▼20
Mist Qilin — Defense24▼22
  • •The official notes assign Defense 24 → 22 to the Thunder Qilin and 22 → 20 to the Mist Qilin. The game files say exactly the opposite. The values shown above on this page are the ones read from the data, not the ones from the notes.
  • •Practical consequence: the Mist Qilin remains the sturdiest of the three, at 22 Defense.

Scorpions cost more, which is not announced

Scorpion280 or▼300 or
Volcanic Scorpion390 or▼420 or
Spelaean Scorpion390 or▼420 or
  • •The notes present the Hive rebalance as a simple power transfer from Parasites to Scorpions. In practice, prices moved in the same direction: Scorpions are both stronger AND more expensive.

Parasites cost less, which is not announced either

Parasite90 or▲80 or
Warden Parasite110 or▲100 or
Ravager Parasite110 or▲100 or
  • •Symmetrically, Parasites are both weakened AND made cheaper. The real trade-off is therefore harsher than described: the Hive does not merely lose speed on its tier 1, it also gains cheaper access to that tier.

Mews II (Temple): more expensive construction

Construction1 250 or▼1 500 or
  • •The notes list no building changes for the Temple. Yet the upgraded tier 2 dwelling has become more expensive.

Ashen Dragon: ability rank lowered

Ability rank5▲2
  • •No mention of the Ashen Dragon in the official notes. Yet the rank of its second ability drops from 5 to 2, which changes how it can be used.