Demon Lord: Skills/Abilities

Gating (Unique)
Basic Unique Demon Lord's skill. Imps and Demons (as well as their upgrades) are granted an ability to gate into infernal plane to bring reinforcements back to the battlefield. Each unit can gate only once per combat. Newly arrived creatures constitute 25% of the gated ones and will disappear after the end of the combat.
Advanced Unique Demon Lord's skill. Imps, Demons, Hell Hounds and Succubi (as well as their upgrades) are granted an ability to gate into infernal plane to bring reinforcements back to the battlefield. Each unit can gate only once per combat. Newly arrived creatures constitute 30% of the gated ones and will disappear after the end of the combat.
Expert Unique Demon Lord's skill. All infernal troops except Devils and Arch Devils are granted an ability to gate into infernal plane to bring reinforcements back to the battlefield. Each unit can gate only once per combat. Newly arrived creatures constitute 35% of the gated ones and will disappear after the end of the combat.
Ultimate Unique Demon Lord's skill. All infernal troops are granted an ability to gate into infernal plane to bring reinforcements back to the battlefield. Each unit can gate only once per combat. Newly arrived creatures constitute 40% of the gated ones and disappear when combat ends.

Gating:  Abilities

Consume Corpse Demon Lord receives special combat ability to consume corpses of fallen creatures to restore mana. Consumed corpses disappear from the battlefield.
Hellfire Creatures under Demon Lord's control are granted a 30% chance to deal additional fire damage on attack. The damage is dependant upon the number of creatures in stack and the hero's Spellpower. Hellfire drains Demon Lord's mana.
Mark of the Damned Demon Lord receives special combat ability to punish the target enemy creature with a powerful Mark of the Damned if that creature is about to attack, retaliate or cast any spell. Once declared, Mark of the Damned is active until next hero's turn. Should target creature remain idle or move without attacking, the Mark will not be performed.
Absolute Gating Gating becomes instant.
Requirements Teleport Assault, Dead Luck, Power of Speed, Quick Gating, Consume Corpse, Pathfinding, Twilight, Critical Gating, Lucky Strike, Weakening Strike, Master of Mind, Mark of the Damned, Excruciating Strike, Battle Frenzy

Dark Magic
Basic Allows to learn Dark Magic spells of the third circle and makes Dark Magic more effective overall.
Advanced Allows to learn Dark Magic spells of the fourth circle and makes Dark Magic even more effective.
Expert Allows to learn Dark Magic spells of the fifth circle and gives maximum power to Dark Magic.

Dark Magic:  Abilities

Master of Curses Grants mass effects to Weakness and Vulnerability spells, but doubles the casting cost of these spells.  Hero wastes only a halve of his current initiative to cast these spells.
Master of Mind Grants mass effects to Slow and Confusion spells, but doubles the casting cost of these spells.  Hero wastes only a halve of his current initiative to cast these spells.
Master of Pain Grants area effects to Decay and Vulnerability spells, but doubles the casting cost of these spells.  Hero wastes only a halve of his current initiative to cast these spells.
Weakening Strike Weakening Strike improves Mark of the Damned ability. Now Mark of the Damned not only damages the target, but also curses it with Vulnerability spell.
Requirements Mark of the Damned

Defense
Basic Decreases damage dealt to your creatures in melee combat by 10%.
Advanced Decreases damage dealt to your creatures in melee combat by 20%.
Expert Decreases damage dealt to your creatures in melee combat by 30%.

Defense:  Abilities

Evasion Decreases damage dealt to your creatures by ranged attacks by 20%.
Protection Decreases damage dealt to your creatures by magic attacks by 15%.
Vitality Increases hit points of all your creatures by 2. Especially effective for armies of great number.
Hellwrath Additional fire damage to enemy creatures would be dealt on retaliation strikes.
Requirements Evasion, Hellfire
Hold Ground Troops under hero's control get an additional +2 defense bonus carrying out the Defend command.
Requirements Hellwrath, Evasion, Hellfire

Destructive Magic
Basic Allows to learn Destructive Magic spells of the third circle and makes Destructive Magic more effective overall.
Advanced Allows to learn Destructive Magic spells of the fourth circle and makes Destructive Magic even more effective.
Expert Allows to learn Destructive Magic spells of the fifth circle and makes Destructive Magic ultimately powerful.

Destructive Magic:  Abilities

Master of Fire Grants armor-damaging effect to Fireball and Armageddon spells.
Master of Ice Grants freezing effect to Ice Bolt and Frost Ring spells.
Master of Lightnings Grants stunning effect to Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning spells.
Demonic Flame Demonic Flame improves Hellfire ability. Fire damage dealt to enemy creatures by Hellfire ability is increased by 50%.
Requirements Master of Fire, Hellfire
Sun Fire The hero calls upon the forces of nature to affect enemy casters. Any time enemy creature is going to cast a spell it will receive fire damage. Inflicted damage equals hero's level.
Requirements Hellfire, Insights, Elemental Balance, Soulfire, Consume Corpse, Fire Affinity, Shake Ground, Master of Conjuration, Triple Catapult, Mark of the Damned, Cannoneer

Leadership
Basic Increases moral of all creatures in hero's army by 1.
Advanced Increases moral of all creatures in hero's army by 2.
Expert Increases moral of all creatures in hero's army by 3.

Leadership:  Abilities

Diplomacy Allows to effectively negotiate with hostile creatures. Increases chances and reduces costs of creatures that wish to join your army.
Estates Hero contributes 250 gold pieces per day to your cause.
Recruitment Increases weekly growth of 1st, 2nd and 3rd level creatures by +3, +2 and +1 respectively. Hero must be stationed within the friendly town for the last day of the week for effect to take place.
Gating Mastery Gating ability becomes more potent, bringing 20% more reinforcements than normal.
Requirements Recruitment

Learning
Basic Increases hero's earned experience by 5%.
Advanced Increases hero's earned experience by 10%.
Expert Increases hero's earned experience by 15%.

Learning:  Abilities

Eagle Eye Allows your hero to learn any unknown spell used by an enemy hero or by any creature in combat (hero must be legally able to learn the spell).
Intelligence Increases normal maximum mana by 50%.
Scholar Allows heroes to teach each other various spells, effectively trading spells between spell books.
Master of Secrets Delving deep into the secrets of spellcraft, hero gains +2 Spellpower permanently.
Requirements Scholar
Dark Revelation Hero qualifies for additional free level up.
Requirements Master of Secrets, Scholar

Light Magic
Basic Allows to learn Light Magic spells of the third circle and makes Light Magic more effective overall.
Advanced Allows to learn Light Magic spells of the fourth circle and makes Light Magic even more effective.
Expert Allows to learn Light Magic spells of the fifth circle and makes Light Magic ultimately powerful.

Light Magic:  Abilities

Master of Abjuration Grants mass effects to Deflect Arrows and Stoneskin spells, but doubles the casting cost of these spells.
Master of Blessings Grants mass effects to Dispel and Bless spells, but doubles the casting cost of these spells.
Master of Wrath Grants mass effects to Bloodlust and Haste spells, but doubles the casting cost of these spells.
Fire Protection Creatures under Hero's control gain 50% resistance to all fire-based attacks and are immune to armor damaging effects of Master of Fire ability.
Requirements Hellfire, Master of Abjuration
Twilight Increases Spellpower: +3 for all spells of dark and light magic schools
Requirements Weakening Strike, Master of Mind, Mark of the Damned

Logistics
Basic Increases hero's movement speed over land by 10%.
Advanced Increases hero's movement speed over land by 20%.
Expert Increases hero's movement speed over land by 30%.

Logistics:  Abilities

Navigation Increases hero's movement speed at sea by 50%.
Pathfinding Reduces penalty for moving through rough terrain by 50%.
Scouting Allows the hero to see much farther over terrain.
Quick Gating Demon Lord masters the ways of transferring creatures to infernal plane and back. Gating becomes 50% quicker than normal.
Requirements Pathfinding
Teleport Assault Hero acquires Teleport spell and the ability to cast it with assault effect, increasing the initiative of creature being teleported.
Requirements Quick Gating, Pathfinding, Consume Corpse

Luck
Basic Increases luck of all creatures in hero's army by 1.
Advanced Increases luck of all creatures in hero's army by 2.
Expert Increases luck of all creatures in hero's army by 3.

Luck:  Abilities

Fortunate Adventurer In the course of adventures the hero tends to find more gold and resources and be more lucky overall.
Lucky Strike More chances to trigger for useful combat abilities of creatures in hero's army (like footmen's Shield Bash, for example)
Resistance Increases magic resistance of all creatures in hero's army by 15%.
Critical Gating There's a 15-30% chance (depending on hero luck) that the gated stack will summon twice more reinforcements than normal.
Requirements Lucky Strike
Dead Luck The hero has gained an ability to affect the Luck of enemy creatures. The Luck of all enemy troops is decreased by 1.
Requirements Twilight, Critical Gating, Lucky Strike, Weakening Strike, Master of Mind, Mark of the Damned

Attack
Basic Increases damage dealt by your creatures in melee combat by 5%.
Advanced Increases damage dealt by your creatures in melee combat by 10%.
Expert Increases damage dealt by your creatures in melee combat by 15%.

Attack:  Abilities

Archery Increases damage dealt by hero's creatures in ranged combat by 20%.
Battle Frenzy Minimum and maximum damage inflicted by each creature under hero's control is increased by 1. Especially effective for armies of low level creatures.
Tactics Allows you to rearrange your creatures just before combat in additional area.
Excruciating Strike Excruciating Strike improves Mark of the Damned ability. There's a 40% chance that Mark of the Damned performed by Demon Lord would deal double damage to a target.
Requirements Battle Frenzy
Power of Speed Hero acquires Haste spell and the ability to cast it with no cost.
Requirements Excruciating Strike, Battle Frenzy

Sorcery
Basic Speeds up hero's casting in combat. Interval between two consecutive spell casts is reduced by 10%.
Advanced Speeds up hero's casting in combat. Interval between two consecutive spell casts is reduced by 20%.
Expert Speeds up hero's casting in combat. Interval between two consecutive spell casts is reduced by 30%..

Sorcery:  Abilities

Arcane Training Reduces casting costs of all spells by 20%..
Mysticism Doubles spell point regeneration.
Magic Insight Allows a hero to learn magic spells of the third circle regardless of actual skills in respective schools of magic.
Soulfire As Demon Lord consumes corpses to restore mana, corpses may suddenly explode in a burst of fire, damaging all adjacent units including those under hero's control.
Requirements Consume Corpse
Insights Adds +2 to hero's Spellpower permanently. Also hero receives a new spell in his or her spell book.
Requirements Elemental Balance, Soulfire, Consume Corpse, Fire Affinity, Shake Ground, Master of Conjuration, Triple Catapult, Mark of the Damned, Cannoneer

Summoning Magic
Basic Allows to learn Summoning Magic spells of the third circle and makes Summoning Magic more effective overall.
Advanced Allows to learn Summoning Magic spells of the fourth circle and makes Summoning Magic even more effective.
Expert Allows to learn Summoning Magic spells of the fifth circle and makes Summoning Magic ultimately powerful.

Summoning Magic:  Abilities

Master of Animation Makes Raise Dead and Magic First spells more powerful (effective Spellpower increases by 4 for casting those spells).
Master of Conjuration Makes Conjure Phoenix and Summon Elementals spells more powerful (effective Spellpower increases by 4 for casting those spells).
Master of Quakes Makes Land Mines and Earthquake spells more powerful (effective Spellpower increases by 4 for casting those spells).
Fire Affinity Hero is granted the knowledge of Summon Elementals spell. Regardless of circumstances this spell would summon Fire Elementals from now on. The number of Elementals summoned is 40% greater than normal.
Requirements Master of Conjuration
Elemental Balance Superb knowledge of summoning magic allows the knight to counterbalance the combat situation when battling against skilled summoners. Each time the enemy uses Summon Elementals spell a small group of elementals of opposite alignment is automatically summoned to fight for the knight's cause.
Requirements Fire Affinity, Shake Ground, Master of Conjuration, Triple Catapult, Mark of the Damned, Cannoneer

War Machines
Basic Makes war machines more effective overall. Increases Attack, Defense and Damage of Ballistae. Increases Catapult's Damage and grants it a 30% chance to hit. The First Aid Tent receives increased Healing Power. Ammo Cart gains an ability to increase offence of ranged units in hero's army by 1.
Advanced Makes war machines more effective overall. Increases Offence, Defense and Damage of Ballistae. Increases Catapult's Damage and grants it a 40% chance to hit. The First Aid Tent receives increased Healing Power. Ammo Cart gains an ability to increase offence of ranged units in hero's army by 2.
Expert Makes war machines more effective overall. Increases Offence, Defense and Damage of Ballistae. Increases Catapult's Damage and grants it a 50% chance to hit. The First Aid Tent receives increased Healing Power. Ammo Cart gains an ability to increase offence of ranged units in hero's army by 3.

War Machines:  Abilities

Ballista Allows manual control of the Ballista. Ballista gains one extra shot. Restores the ballista after the battle if it was destroyed.
Cannoneer Allows manual control of the Catapult. Catapult gains one extra shot. Restores ammo cart after the battle if it was destroyed
First Aid Allows manual control of the First Aid Tent. Restores the First Aid Tent after the battle if it was destroyed
Triple Catapult Catapult gains another extra shot (up to 3 consecutive shots total if hero is proficient with catapults).
Requirements Cannoneer
Shake Ground Hero acquires Earthquake spell and the ability to cast it with shaking effect, damaging and stunning all creatures behind fortress wall
Requirements Triple Catapult, Cannoneer, Mark of the Damned