Tower

Fully built Tower, as seen on the adventure map Fully built Tower, as seen on the adventure map. (Horn of the Abyss)	Towns
	Castle
	Rampart
	Tower
	Inferno
	Necropolis
	Dungeon
	Stronghold
	Fortress
	Conflux
	Cove

Tower is a good alignment town with alchemist and wizard hero classes. Tower represents Bracada.

"Wizards and Alchemists study their arcane craft in Towers. Tower populations are comprised of creatures bound into service by powerful magic, made on the spot, or allied with the town through ancient pacts. Tower armies have uniformly good morale and some of the best range attack units available." ^{RoE manual}

Tower's native terrain is snow.

Tower building tree

[Switch to Horn of the Abyss]

[Switch to Shadow of Death]

In Horn of the Abyss the building tree was changed: Altar of Wishes, Golden Pavilion, Upg. Golden Pavilion, Cloud Temple and Upg. Cloud Temple no longer require Mage Guild and Mage Tower. Golden Pavilion and Upg. Golden Pavilion now require Altar of Wishes. Upg. Altar of Wishes no longer requires Mage Tower (Mage Guild is still required).

Fully upgraded Tower in Shadow of Death

[Switch to Horn of the Abyss]

[Switch to Shadow of Death]

Fully upgraded Tower in Horn of the Abyss

[Switch to Horn of the Abyss]

[Switch to Shadow of Death]

Building Category	Cost
Common	45     40         37000
Mage Guild	25   28   25   28   28   28   6000
Dwellings	55   15   60   10   16   56   54300  47800
Unique	10   5   10   5   5   5   14500
Total Building Cost:	135   48   135   43   49   89   111800  105300
Troop Cost / Week:	30800 , 4

Common Buildings and Mage Guild

Halls		Fortifications		Miscellaneous		Mage Guilds		Banned spells
	Village Hall (existing)		Fort   20     20         5000		Tavern   5             500		Mage Guild level 1   5     5         2000
	Town Hall       2500		Citadel       5         2500		Marketplace   5             500		Mage Guild level 2   5   4   5   4   4   4   1000
	City Hall       5000		Castle   10     10         5000		Resource Silo (1 )       5         5000		Mage Guild level 3   5   6   5   6   6   6   1000
	Capitol       10000				Blacksmith   5             1000		Mage Guild level 4   5   8   5   8   8   8   1000
							Mage Guild level 5   5   10   5   10   10   10   1000
Total Common Buildings:					45     40         37000	Total Mage Guild:	25   28   25   28   28   28   6000

Creature Dwellings

Structure	Base Cost	Upgrade Cost	Creature	Max Grw	Upg Cr Cost	Cost/ Week
Workshop	5     5         300	1000	Gremlin  Master Gremlin	32	40	1280
Parapet	10         1000	5         1500	Stone Gargoyle  Obsidian Gargoyle	22	160	3520
Golem Factory	5     5         2000  1500	5   5   5         2000  1500	Stone Golem  Iron Golem	12	200	2400
Mage Tower	5   5   5   5   5   5   2500  2000	5             2000	Mage  Arch Mage	8	450	3600
Altar of Wishes	5     5     6   6   3000  2500	5             2000	Genie  Master Genie	6	600	3600
Golden Pavilion	5   2   5   2   2   2   4000	3     3   3   3   3000	Naga  Naga Queen	4	1600	6400
Cloud Temple	10     10       10   5000	5     5       30   25000  20000	Giant  Titan	2	5000 2	10000 4
Total Dwelling Cost:	55   15   60   10   16   56   54300  47800		Weekly Troop Cost:			30800 4

Unique Buildings

Structure		Effect	Cost
	Lookout Tower	Increases the visibility range of the town to a radius of 20 squares.	5             1000
	Library	Every level of Mage Guild has one more spell.	5   5   5   5   5   5   1500
	Wall of Knowledge	Gives +1 knowledge to visiting hero.	5         1000
	Artifact merchant	Allows the visiting hero to buy/sell artifacts.	10000
	Sculptor's Wings	Horde Building. Growth +4/week for  Stone Gargoyle /  Obsidian Gargoyle	1000
	Skyship	Grail Structure. +5000 /day, +50% creature growth Reveals the entire map for the player who owns it. Increases the spell points of the defending hero by 150, replenishing immediately after the battle.	n/a
Total Cost:			10   5   10   5   5   5   14500

Heroes

[Switch to Horn of the Abyss]

[Switch to Shadow of Death]

Tower heroes (Shadow of Death)
Name	Class		Specialty		Skill 1		Skill 2		Spell
Fafner	Alchemist		Nagas		Basic Scholar		Basic Resistance		Haste
Iona	Alchemist		Genies		Basic Scholar		Basic Intelligence		Magic Arrow
Josephine	Alchemist		Golems		Basic Mysticism		Basic Sorcery		Haste
Neela	Alchemist		Armorer		Basic Scholar		Basic Armorer		Shield
Piquedram	Alchemist		Gargoyles		Basic Mysticism		Basic Scouting		Shield
Rissa	Alchemist		Mercury		Basic Mysticism		Basic Offense		Magic Arrow
Thane	Alchemist		Genies		Advanced Scholar				Magic Arrow
Torosar	Alchemist		Ballista		Basic Mysticism		Basic Tactics		Magic Arrow
Aine	Wizard		Gold		Basic Wisdom		Basic Scholar		Curse
Astral	Wizard		Hypnotize		Advanced Wisdom				Hypnotize
Cyra	Wizard		Haste		Basic Wisdom		Basic Diplomacy		Haste
Daremyth	Wizard		Fortune		Basic Wisdom		Basic Intelligence		Fortune
Halon	Wizard		Mysticism		Basic Wisdom		Basic Mysticism		Stone Skin
Serena	Wizard		Eagle Eye		Basic Wisdom		Basic Eagle Eye		Dispel
Solmyr	Wizard		Chain Lightning		Basic Wisdom		Basic Sorcery		Chain Lightning
Theodorus	Wizard		Magi		Basic Wisdom		Basic Ballistics		Shield
Dracon	Wizard		Enchanters		Advanced Wisdom				Haste

Tower heroes (Horn of the Abyss)
Name	Class		Specialty		Skill 1		Skill 2		Spell
Fafner	Alchemist		Nagas		Basic Scholar		Basic Interference		Haste
Iona	Alchemist		Genies		Basic Scholar		Basic Intelligence		Magic Arrow
Josephine	Alchemist		Golems		Basic Mysticism		Basic Sorcery		Haste
Neela	Alchemist		Armorer		Basic Scholar		Basic Armorer		Shield
Piquedram	Alchemist		Gargoyles		Basic Mysticism		Basic Scouting		Shield
Rissa	Alchemist		Mercury		Basic Mysticism		Basic Offense		Magic Arrow
Thane	Alchemist		Genies		Advanced Scholar				Magic Arrow
Torosar	Alchemist		Ballista		Basic Mysticism		Basic Tactics		Magic Arrow
Aine	Wizard		Gold		Basic Wisdom		Basic Scholar		Curse
Astral	Wizard		Hypnotize		Advanced Wisdom				Hypnotize
Cyra	Wizard		Haste		Basic Wisdom		Basic Diplomacy		Haste
Daremyth	Wizard		Fortune		Basic Wisdom		Basic Intelligence		Fortune
Halon	Wizard		Mysticism		Basic Wisdom		Basic Mysticism		Stone Skin
Serena	Wizard		Eagle Eye		Basic Wisdom		Basic Eagle Eye		Dispel
Solmyr	Wizard		Chain Lightning		Basic Wisdom		Basic Sorcery		Chain Lightning
Theodorus	Wizard		Magi		Basic Wisdom		Basic Ballistics		Shield
Dracon	Wizard		Enchanters		Advanced Wisdom				Haste

Banned secondary skills:

Some skills are not available for certain hero classes, which means they can only acquire them from Scholars, Witch Huts (except for Necromancy and Leadership, if not allowed by a map-maker), Seer's Huts, Events or Pandora's Boxes.

Necromancy is not available for alchemists.

Necromancy, Resistance and Interference  are not available for wizards.

Creatures

Tower creatures
Name	Town	Lvl	Att	Def	Dmg-	Dmg+	HP	Spd	Grw	AI Val	Cost		Special
Gremlin		1	3	3	1	2	4	4	16	44	30
Master Gremlin		1+	4	4	1	2	4	5	16	66	40		Ranged (8 shots)
Stone Gargoyle		2	6	6	2	3	16	6	9	165	130		Unliving, Flying
Obsidian Gargoyle		2+	7	7	2	3	16	9	9	201	160		Unliving, Flying
Stone Golem		3	7	10	4	5	30	3	6	250	150		Unliving, Spell Damage Resistance +50%
Iron Golem		3+	9	10	4	5	35	5	6	412	200		Unliving, Spell Damage Resistance +75%
Mage		4	11	8	7	9	25	5	4	570	350		Ranged (24 shots), No melee penalty, No obstacle penalty, Spells cost -2 sp
Arch Mage		4+	12	9	7	9	30	7	4	680	450		Ranged (24 shots), No melee penalty, No obstacle penalty, Spells cost -2 sp
Genie		5	12	12	13	16	40	7	3	884	550		Flying, Hates Efreet and Efreet Sultans
Master Genie		5+	12	12	13	16	40	11	3	942	600		Flying, Spellcaster, Hates Efreet and Efreet Sultans
Naga		6	16	13	20	20	110	5	2	2016	1100		No enemy retaliation
Naga Queen		6+	16	13	30	30	110	7	2	2840	1600		No enemy retaliation
Giant		7	19	16	40	60	150	7	1	3718	2000	, 1	Immunity to Mind spells
Titan		7+	24	24	40	60	300	11	1	7500	5000	, 2	Ranged (24 shots), No melee penalty, Immunity to Mind spells, Hates Black Dragons

Town names

Unless specified by the mapmaker, towns will generate with a random name. Tower towns will use one of these following names:

Athenaeum	Ayer	Cloudfire	Cloudspire
Corona	Equinox	Facture	Fallen Star
Machina	Manufactury	Mystos	Silverspire
Silverwing	Stronggale	Tirith	Valtara

If there are more Tower towns on the map than possible names, they will use names taken from other towns.

User commentary

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Tower armies have some of the best ranged-attack units available. A good strategy for Tower is to upgrade Workshop as soon as possible in order to upgrade Gremlins into shooting Master Gremlins. With relatively fast Stone Gargoyles it is possible to form protective wall of gargoyles around a stack of Master Gremlins. This works especially good against wandering creatures. The downside is, that Master Gremlins only have 8 shots, which can sometimes run out. Additionally, casting Haste on Master Gremlins makes them typically act first. Another useful strategy is to form few strong troops and to fill the rest of the slots with one (or few) Master Genie each. During the combat Master Genies' can use their special ability to cast spells on the strong troops to furthermore boost their abilities. This way it is possible to cast 4–6 spells per turn. This is especially useful when playing on Difficult/Impossible difficulty. Buy the Tower hero from the Tavern in the first weeks. Collect all Gremlins into one stack and upgrade them to Master Gremlins. The moment you can recruit Master Genies, fill the 6 other slots with one each, or make two stacks of Gremlins and use 5 Master Genies. With about 200-300 Master Gremlins you can defeat most wandering creatures without losses and your army is very cheap which lets you save Gold for the upgraded Cloud Temple. In the first round of every fight you cast spells onto your Gremlins until they got Haste and/or Prayer to be faster than the enemy creatures. Then they will get ~ 2 full arrow shots out. Because they often get Precision, Bless, or Frenzy as well, their attack becomes ridiculously strong. Mirth often boosts their morale to let them maybe shoot an additional time. Tower's town defense is made easy by cheap, resilient, and rapidly growing golems. When defending in the early game, fill all slots of your town with equal numbers of golems. In the first round, spread them behind the walls to minimize the effect of area-of-effect spells like Fireball, Meteor Shower, Frost Ring, Inferno, etc. The golems also have a good damage reduction against spells so spells will not bring you down. Then, always defend and don't attack yourself. Your towers will take care of all enemy troops because it takes a long time to kill golems. Giants are not much use until they are upgraded to Titans. In fact, they only have 150 health which makes them quite vulnerable. However, upgrading them is very expensive. Tower towns are very powerful in the late game, and draw much of their lore from the "wizard" hero in Heroes of Might and Magic II. Their creatures and structures are fairly pricey and on maps with scarce resources, you may find it difficult advancing your dwellings and especially acquiring titans. One tip for the thrifty wizard is skip upgrading some of your low level creatures. Gargoyles benefit with a speed boost to obsidian gargoyles, and master gremlins are a must (the Workshop is very cheap to upgrade), but until master genies, most creature upgrades are not necessary. The lookout tower is a very helpful addition in the early game (especially on small maps), and never underestimate the incredibly effective library structure. Despite its high resource cost, the ability to gain extra spells for all levels is invaluable, and secures the tower as one of the strongest overall towns in the game. However, after assembling a decent army consisting mostly of Titans, Naga Queens and several other support units like a few Master Genie stacks to buff your creatures, you can defeat almost any neutral stack at the time, especially if the hero knows Expert Slow. If you have in the army both Titans and Black Dragons who hate each other, be very careful, as the latter will deal 150% damage on their own Titans having attacked them by mistake. Pros: Powerful units. Three ranged units and two fliers. Blacksmith is producing Ammo Carts, which gives Master Gremlins, Magi, Arch Magi and Titans infinite shots. Magic themed town. Library allows extra spells for each level of the Mage Guild. Both hero types begin with a Spell Book and a starting spell. Golems take lower spell damage than any other town units (not regarding those who are completely immune to this or that spell), thus are very good for defending towns. Magi and Arch magi decrease spell cost by 2. Master Genies cast spells. Good support heroes, with many Scholars. Powerful protection of the town via Land Mines. Tower's native terrain is snow, so without Logistics and Pathfinding, the enemy will have complications to reach you. If you play against Dungeon, your Titans will have 150% damage output against Black Dragons and an opportunity of shooting them; while Black Dragons cannot be resurrected in any way. Tower is the only town besides the evil ones where Curse is not banned. Giants and Titans are the only 7th level units against whom Slayer spell does not work until your enemy has Expert Fire Magic. Cons: Expensive units, with troops costing 30,800 gold and 4 gems to buyout every week. Gargoyles and Golems cannot be resurrected in any way. Requires lots of valuable resources. Relatively slow town (fastest troops move at speed 11). Nagas which are often Tower's main power are among the slowest on 5-7 level. Prior to their upgrade, many units have significant weaknesses, and basic Gremlins and Giants are on the bottom of their level. Spellcasting of Master Genies is random, and they can cast a generally useless spell like Magic Mirror, a spell which doesn't make much sense in the current situation (e.g. Cure on a stack with 108 HP out of maximum 110), or even a spell which would be bad right now (Anti-magic, Frenzy). The most expensive town to build up. Apart from Dungeon, Tower is perhaps the worst town to play on Impossible level, as Mage Tower which is necessary for 5-7 level dwellings requires Mage Guild and every type of resources (in Dungeon, 3rd level dwelling takes all types of resources). The ability of Master Gremlins to shoot is a big advantage, though. Playing against Inferno, beware of Efreet who can easily destroy your Genies due to 150% damage output. Efreet are one level higher than Genies (6th vs. 5th), and generally much stronger and faster. Moreover, Efreet Sultans have Fire Shield ability, which reflects 20% damage dealt on them. As any type of Genies deals 150% damage on any type of Efreet, the Fire Shield will therefore deal higher damage on Genies. 3rd level creatures' dwellings on the map are guarded, which may cause complications in the early game.

See also

• Town Comparison
• List of creatures
• List of creatures (HotA)
• List of heroes
• List of heroes (HotA)