Morality, luck, fear, creature resists, random castes of djinn and sorcerers — all these "random" effects in Heroes 3 work on a random number generator. But the very principle of this randomness in the original SoD and in HotA is arranged differently, and this opens up completely different ways for players to influence it.

The chance of triggering morality

  • +1 — 4.2%

  • +2 — 8.3%

  • +3 — 12.5%

The chance of triggering a demoralization

  • -1 — 8.3%

  • -2 — 16.7%

  • -3 — 25.0%

Important: the chance does not grow beyond +3. Even if you increase morale to +10 (artifacts, skills, objects, etc.), the chance to work will remain the same as at +3. The same principle works in the opposite direction — diesel is considered the same, just with a negative effect instead of a positive one.

How Random works in the Shadow of Death (SoD)

In the original SoD, the triggering of morality /luck is tied not only to the numerical bonus, but also to the specific frame in which the action is performed — that is, in fact, to real time. This means that the result is technically predictable if you catch the right moment.

Experienced players, having caught on, are guided by sound or animation and can consistently catch good morale / luck at the right moment.

The ability to guess the right frame is used, for example, to catch morale or luck on the first move and thereby kill or severely damage the enemy stack — or to fly a flying creature into the castle, hit and immediately fly back before the enemy has time to respond.

How random works in HotA (Horn of the Abyss)

In HotA, the random is pseudo-random: if you do not change the order of actions in battle, the result of morality and luck will be repeated one by one from attempt to attempt. The player can know in advance, for example, that the third stack will hit with 100% morality with a certain sequence of actions.

If there is no morality/ luck at the right moment, you can try a different course of action (wait, cast a spell, hit another target, etc.) in order to move the random number generator and catch the desired result with the right unit. It doesn't always work out — the number of available actions in combat is limited, but in long and difficult battles, an attentive player can actually learn the entire sequence of attacks in advance.

Additionally, the number of stacks and the composition of the army affect the randomness in HotA — the same procedure in different armies will give different results.

Random is under siege

The same principle (according to the frame in SoD, according to the sequence of actions in HotA) also applies in siege battles — both when attacking the castle and when defending it. The catapult in HotA always shoots at the pseudo-random if the hero does not have the Ballistics skill.

The same principle applies to other "random" effects

  • Fear of the Azure Dragon — does it work or not by the same logic;

  • Creature Resists to spells;

  • Random castes of genies and wizards — in HotA, you can choose a sequence of actions so that the genie or charik casts exactly the right spell;

  • Creature abilities: petrification from jellyfish and basilisks, wyvern venom, "" manticore roots — are also tied to the same random number generator.