Attack Skill

Attack Skill

Weekly Growth = 12 per week (Horde +6)

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Unaffected by Morale

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Unaffected by Morale

Upgrade Value = Optional

Skeletons are very similar to Pikemen, but favor offense rather than defense. They do have less health, but they are constantly replenished by that handy Necromancy skill. Grab the horde building for these undead minions and add to your massive army.

Skeleton Warriors are one of the most useful 1st level units. High Attack and Defense suit them well for combat early on and late in a game, and Necromancy aids in raising their numbers. Necromancy normally provides Skeletons for a victorious Necromancer army, but when all of the hero's ranks are taken up, the revived Skeletons suit up for battle as Skeleton Warriors, adding to your already existing forces and saving you the time and money of upgrading them.

Attack Skill

Attack Skill

Weekly Growth = 8 per week

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Unaffected by Morale

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Disease Attack: 20% chance of infecting target creature with Disease when Zombie attacks; the Disease lowers the Attack and Defense of the target stack by 2 each for 3 rounds - Extra - Unaffected by Morale -

Upgrade Value = Optional but Useful

Walking Dead pretty much live up to their name. They are...walking...dead. They have low stats and Damage, and are extremely slow. They do have decent health, however, but early in a game, they are usually pretty useless in small battles.

Zombies do not improve much over Walking Dead, but they gain a big Health increase and the ability to Disease enemy stacks. Zombies absorb damage like sponges, so in big fights, they are well-used when placed in front of the Liches to protect them from harm.

Attack Skill

Attack Skill

Weekly Growth = 7 per week

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Unaffected by Morale - Regeneration

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; Grants extra morale penalties for living allies - Regeneration - Mana Drain: A stack of Wraiths drains 2 spell points from the opposing hero every round - Flying - -1 Morale for living allies - Unaffected by Morale

Upgrade Value = Unnecessary

With no particular stat being favored in their array, Wights are purely average minions. They cannot take it or dish it out particularly well, and they cost a pretty penny. Get a good amount of them before testing them in battle against other foes.

Wraiths do not offer much improvement over the already weak Wights, except more Speed and a useful ability or two. Just use them conservatively so as not to lose many of them, because they do help the Vampires in big conflicts. Send stacks of wraiths over castle walls if possible, and attack ranged units, also drawing melee units away from your own forces in the process. Did I mention Wraiths make great distractions(targets) when playing a computer player?

Attack Skill

Attack Skill

Weekly Growth = 4 per week

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Flying - No Retaliation

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - No Retaliation - Life Drain: Damage dealt to living enemies is used as health to bring back Vampire Lords that have perished; amount revived cannot exceed amount started with when the battle began - Flying - Unaffected by Morale

Upgrade Value = Essential

The menacing Vampire is somewhat useful for the Necropolis army. They are similar in ability to Medusas, but instead of Stone Gaze and a ranged attack, they can fly and strike without retaliation, just like in those old horror movies where the victims just stand there and scream as they die. A bit on the expensive side, Vampires help reinforce the weaker flyer, the Wight.

The Vampire Lord upgrade is very important - it helps the undead continue their vicious war on the living. Vampire Lords can absorb life through damage they do to enemies and bring back fallen Vampire Lords or heal living ones. This upgrade gives them extra Speed and a boat-load of extra Health to help suck the most out of every living enemy, so make sure you 're-vamp' your forces before facing larger armies.

Attack Skill

Attack Skill

Weekly Growth = 3 per week

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Unaffected by Morale - Death Cloud: Damage is dealt to all living units surrounding the target of a Lich ranged attack - Ranged

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Death Cloud: Damage is dealt to all living units surrounding the target of a Power Lich ranged attack - Ranged - Unaffected by Morale -

Upgrade Value = Important

Good Attack, Speed, and Damage fit the only Necropolis ranged attacker very well. Liches are good ranged units for any army. Defend them with Zombies for protection, and zap any enemies that try to come their way. Use the Liches's Death Cloud ability to harm groups of living enemies, or allies if you are not careful.

Give a regular Lich a menacing evil laugh and you have a Power Lich. Well, not exactly. A great Health increase and some Speed gives the Power Lich some real power to use in battle. For a ranged unit, Power Liches definitely deserve some bragging rights, just make sure they last, because they are essential in the mostly-melee Necropolis horde. Hey, when death is this good, who needs life?

Attack Skill

Attack Skill

Weekly Growth = 2 per week

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Curse: 20% chance of cursing target at Spellpower 3 after an attack - Unaffected by Morale

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - Curse Attack: 20% chance of cursing target at Spellpower 3 after an attack - Deathblow: 20% chance of inflicting double damage on an attack - Unaffected by Morale

Upgrade Value = Important

Black Knights are good all-around. Very good Damage and very high Health prepares them perfectly for melee danger zones in combat. Black Knights have a definite advantage over other level 6 creatures.

More Attack and Defense make enemies cower in fear of the Dread Knight. Very high price comes with the upgrade, but after using them, it is easy to see how worthy they are. Dread Knights specialize in disrupting enemy forces, and their special ability kicks in sometimes, allowing them to deal double damage. That's when the enemies really start to lose the battle. It is one of the best 6th level units for sure.

Attack Skill

Attack Skill

Weekly Growth = 1 per week

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - -1 Enemy Morale - Flying - Unaffected by Morale

Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies - -1 Enemy Morale - Aging: 20% chance of aging target (reduces entire stack's health by 50%) during an attack - Flying - Unaffected by Morale

Upgrade Value = Essential

Bone Dragons are fairly weak 7th level creatures. They have low Defense and Health, so they will not last as long as other high level units might. Besides that, there is not much to say about these undead monsters.

A stat bonus all around makes a Ghost Dragon an interesting foe. Unsurprisingly, Ghost Dragons are quite fast, and they do decent damage to enemies. Basically, the Ghost Dragon is an average high level monster, but it can use its unique Aging ability to lower the maximum Health of other high level monsters it attacks by half. This will level out the competition and take some pressure off the spectral menaces.

Attack Skill

Flying - 40% chance of Life Drain - Aging (50%) - -2 Enemy Morale - Undead: Unaffected by all Mind Spells and Immune to Poison, Resurrection, Fear, Aging, Disease, Death Stare, Life Drain, Death Cloud splash damage, and Raise Demon; -1 Morale for living allies

1 per week

The Blood Dragon is quite a unit, with completely mixed skills. Very low Attack and Defense, low Health, but high Damage, and good Speed; this automatically makes the Blood Dragon an attack-type unit. A chance of Life Drain makes up for the weaker defensive skills, so I recommend the same or similar play style as the Sacred Phoenix: Use it for what its great at (getting a quick, powerful strike) but with a more relaxed air than the somewhat fragile Ghost Dragon. (Note that the Blood Dragon is only available in the Wake of Gods add-on to Heroes III)