Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era – All Magic Spells & Effects Explained

by Fernando Diaz / Articles, Heroes of Might and Magic, Upcoming Games / 11 Jun 2025

For any veteran of the Heroes of Might & Magic series, the magic system is the heart and soul of the experience… While many of us have fond memories of the classic Air, Earth, Fire, and Water schools, the upcoming prequel, Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era, is shaking things up in a big way. Developer Unfrozen is introducing a completely new system built from the ground up, designed to offer more strategic choice and less random luck.

Daylight Magic

This is your go-to for building an unkillable army. Daylight Magic is a “protector” school focused on buffing your own troops & punishing enemies who dare to attack them… if your strategy revolves around creating an empowered durable force that wins through superior stats & retaliation -> you’ll feel right at home here.

Best for: Players who want to command an unstoppable army and focus on unit strength.

Daylight Magic Spell List

Tier I

Blessing: Target friendly creature deals +10% Damage with basic attacks.

From a Bird’s Eye: Reveals the borders of all zones, including those hidden by the fog of war.

Healing Water: Target friendly creature restores HP. Does not revive fallen units.

Haste: +2 speed to target friendly creature.

Tier II

Weakening Ray: Removes 1 counterattack charge from a targeted enemy creature.

Shorten Shadow: -3 Attack and Defence to the target enemy.

Favourable Wind: Target friendly creature deals +10% Damage with ranged and remote attacks.

Inner Light: Target friendly creature gains +1 Focus Point when attacking.

Tier III

Riposte: Target friendly creature counterattacks before enemy attack lands.

Song of Power: Resets the cooldowns of the target friendly creature.

Arina’s Touch: Target friendly creature gains 1 Speed, 1 Initiative, and 10% maximum HP.

Taunt: All enemies within 2 hexes from the target friendly creature are forced to attack it. Each instance of Damage makes the effect 1 round shorter.

Tier IV

Radiant Armour: Target friendly creature takes -20% Damage from any source.

Clear Fog: Reveals 5 squares around the selected space on the global map that is no farther than [2x hero’s sight] squares away from the hero.

Heavenly Blades: Target friendly creature deals +50% Pure Damage upon attack and restores the same amount of HP. Does not revive fallen units.

Vengeance: Surrounds the target friendly creature with a shield. Whenever an enemy attacks it in Melee, that enemy takes Magic Damage.

Tier V

Arina’s Chosen: Target friendly creature cannot have less than 20% of their current units. Taking Damage reduces the duration of the effect by 1 round.

Judgement: Strikes target enemy four times, dealing Magic Damage.

Nightshade Magic

For players who love to be devious. Nightshade is the polar opposite of Daylight, focusing on control, manipulation, and debuffs. This school is all about weakening your enemies, denying their actions, and even turning their own creatures against them. It’s for the strategist who wants to win by outsmarting their opponent and dismantling their plans.

Best for: Puppet masters who enjoy controlling the flow of battle and using underhanded tactics!!

Nightshade Magic Spell List

Tier I

Enlarge Shadow: Target friendly creature has +4 Attack and Defence.

Despair: Curses the target enemy. Once per round, Cursed creature takes Pure Damage at the beginning of its turn. This effect is stackable.

Web: -2 Speed to the target enemy.

Unnatural Calm: Target enemy deals -10% Damage with basic attacks.

Tier II

Fatal Decay: Target enemy cannot restore HP. This effect remains after the target’s death.

Shade Cloak: Target friendly creature cannot be targeted until the end of round or until it takes any action.

Umbral Grip: Deals Pure Damage to the target enemy. This Damage cannot be modified in any way.

Read Minds: Shows the precise number and intentions of all neutral squads within 5 squares of the hero.

Tier III

Naira’s Veil: Creates fog of war in a square radius around the hero, concealing them from opponents.

Sleep: The target enemy falls asleep and cannot take any actions. Dispelled upon taking Damage. After awakening, the target cannot fall asleep again until the end of the battle.

Silence: Target enemy can’t use abilities and generate Focus Points.

Twilight: Target enemy cannot use ranged attacks.

Tier IV

Vulnerability: Target enemy takes +20% more Damage from any source.

Berserk: Target creature immediately and uncontrollably attacks the closest random target in the attack radius, be it friendly or enemy creature.

Summon Starchild: Summons a stack of Starchildren at an adjacent hex. It disappears at the end of the battle.

Tier V

Shadow Army: Increases the number of units in target friendly stack. These units are temporary.

Naira’s Kiss: Attack and Defence of the selected enemy creature always equal zero.

Coup de Grace: Target enemy will die after taking any Damage if its number of units in the stack is lower or equal to 20% of their original amount.

Primal Magic

Primal Magic harnesses the elemental forces of the world to unleash pure, direct damage. So if you just want to watch your enemies’ health bars disappear, this is the school for you…

Best for: Players who love big, flashy damage spells and want to end fights decisively.

Primal Magic Spell List

Tier I

Wean: Removes all positive effects from target and all adjacent enemies.

Lightning Bolt: Deals Magic Damage to the target enemy.

Thick Hide: Target friendly creature takes -10% Damage from Melee attacks.

Groundsight: Shows the location of all neutral armies on the global map (including those in the fog of war).

Tier II

Icebolt: Deals Magic Damage to the target enemy and reduces their Initiative by 2.

Fireball: Deals Magic damage to all units in a 1-hex radius.

Crystal Crown: Places up to 2 crystal obstacles. An obstacle is destroyed upon taking 1 hit from attacks.

Tier III

Firewall: Makes 2 hexes burn. A ground creature that steps unto a burning hex takes Magic Damage.

Cave In: A barrage of rocks falls from the sky, dealing Magic Damage to the target enemy. All adjacent empty hexes are filled with rock obstacles. An obstacle is destroyed upon taking 1 hit from attacks.

Stone Fangs: Deals Magic Damage to up to 3 different target enemies.

Earth’s Rage: Deals Damage to defensive structures. Also deals normal Damage to all creatures within castle walls.

Tier IV

Primordial Chaos: Affects a neutral target in a [1x Hero’s sight]-square radius. Transforms it into another unit of the same strength.

Anti-Magic: Target becomes immune to magic. Cannot be dispelled.

Circle of Winter: A blast of ice shards and winds erupts, dealing Magic Damage to all units adjacent to target hex. All enemies hit are pushed away from the centre if possible.

Chain Lightning: Deals Magic Damage to the target enemy. Then jumps to a random target within 2 hexes. Deals -50% Damage with each jump.

Tier V

Summon Primal Remnant: Summon a stack of Primal Remnants. It disappears at the end of battle.

Hksmilla’s Rampage: A primal rage infuses a target friendly creature, granting them double strike and making them deal and take extra Damage.

Armageddon: All units on the battlefield take Magic Damage. All life must come to an end, but sometimes such destruction begets a birth of a phoenix.

Arcane Magic

The wild card. Arcane Magic is the school of utility and unconventional strategies. It’s less about direct damage or buffs and more about bending the rules of the battlefield.

Arcane Magic Spell List

Arcane Magic lives up to its name with a spell list full of unique utility, battlefield manipulation, and reality-bending effects.

Tier I

Energize: Restores +1 Focus Charge.

Early Start: A clarity of mind is given unto a target friendly creature -> granting them additional +1 Initiative.

Energy Explosion: All units in a 1-hex radius receive 50 Pure Damage per Focus charge.

Tier II

Trap: Jaws: Place up to [1] invisible traps. A ground creature that steps into a trap receives % HP of one unit as Pure Damage.

Reinforcements: Instantly interact with any external dwelling the hero controls within [2x hero’s sight] squares.

Optical Illusion: A spatial distortion envelops target friendly creature, reducing Ranged Damage taken by 20%.

Blink: Teleports targeted friendly creature for up to 3 hexes.

Tier III

Assemble!: Instantly interact with an allied hero within [2x hero’s sight] squares. 1 time per day.

Carapace: Target friendly creature receives a barrier that blocks one instance of Damage.

Impending Fate: This is a powerful Area-of-Effect (AoE) spell that hits every enemy on the battlefield. Its damage scales with the quality of the enemy units—the higher their tier, the more damage they take. This makes it an excellent tool for softening up an entire army, especially one filled with elite creatures.

Shackles: Target enemy cannot retaliate.

Tier IV

Black Hole: Deals Magic Damage to all enemies in a 2-hex star around the target. Pulls the furthest targets towards the centre if possible.

Rewind Life: Target friendly creature recovers HP. Revives fallen Units.

Mirror Copy: A classic and highly strategic spell, Mirror Copy creates a duplicate of one of your own creatures. This summoned copy is a fragile “glass cannon”—it takes massively increased damage and deals significantly less with its basic attacks. However, its true power is that it can use the special abilities of the original creature. This allows for incredible tactical plays, like getting a second use of a crucial heal, a powerful debuff, or a unique unit-specific skill.

Guillotine: Deals 10% +5x spell power of target enemy’s maximum HP as Magic Damage. The next Decimate on the same target deals +100% Damage. This effect stacks. It deals -75% Damage and takes +300% Damage. It can use special abilities.

Tier V

Reality Distortion: The target takes no Damage. Instead, at the start of each round, it takes all Damage that should have been taken in the previous round as Pure Damage.

Trap: Snare: Place up to 2 invisible traps. A creature that steps into the trap stops and ends turn if the trapped hex was not their final destination.

Doreath’s Tide: +1 Speed & Initiative to all friendly creatures. -1 Speed & Initiative to all enemies.

Analysis:

This is the ultimate toolbox for a clever player. It features battlefield repositioning (Blink, Black Hole), adventure map utility (Reinforcements, Assemble!), and powerful control options (Shackles, Trap: Snare). It even has the game’s first revealed resurrection spell (Rewind Life) and the iconic Mirror Copy. Capping it off with Doreath’s Tide, a single spell that acts as both Mass Haste & Mass Slow, Arcane Magic is clearly designed for players who want to win with superior strategy rather than brute force…

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Fernando Diaz

Fernando is doing what he always did, sharing his honest opinions about games whenever he can. The difference is now he is writing and not talking about it.
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