[ToMM] Dark spells

Dark magic provides spells that weaken and disorient enemy units, or transfer life force.

It is available to Bandit lord, Dark ranger, Death Knight, Ice mage, Pit Lord and the Questing Knight.

Magic resistance reduces the effect of most debuffs from Dark magic. For example, Slow cast with Advanced Dark magic (30%) on a unit with 50% magic resistance will only reduce initiative by 15%.
Many Dark spells do not affect non-living units.

The effect of a spell depends on the hero's Spellpower and Skill level of Dark magic skill.
Basic Dark: 1
Advanced Dark: 2
Expert Dark: 3

Some spells are improved by a secondary Perk.

Shadow vortex - increases Spellpower by 5 when casting non-debuff spells (the spells that do not use Spellpower for their duration), such as Frenzy and Drain life. Also reduces all units Luck by 1.

Cursed ground - when an enemy unit ends its turn where it started, it takes Earth damage. The damage equals 15 + 3x Spellpower.

Mind Flayer - makes Slow and Confusion mass spells, affecting units in a 5x5 square, and halves the time until your next turn after casting them.

Lord of Decay - makes Poison and Disrupting ray mass spells, affecting units in a 5x5 square, and halves the time until your next turn after casting them.

Master of Curses - makes Curse and Enfeeble mass spells, affecting units in a 5x5 square, and halves the time until your next turn after casting them.


Slow [4 mana] - reduces the enemy target's Initiative.
Base effect: 20%
Every skill level increases the effect by 5%
Duration: 1 turn per Spellpower
- Haste is a counter to Slow - whichever is cast later replaces the former.
- Slow is more powerful than Haste, but the effect is reduced by magic resistance.
- This spell is affected by "Mind Flayer" perk.

Curse [4 mana] - reduces the enemy target's maximum damage.
Subtracts from maximum damage a percentage of the difference between min and max. Then the maximum damage is rounded up.
Base effect: 55%
Every skill level increases the effect by 15%
Duration: 1 turn per Spellpower
- Bless is a counter to Curse - whichever is cast later replaces the former.
- This spell is affected by "Master of Curses" perk.

Drain life [6 mana] - leeches health from an enemy unit to heal your own unit.
Base damage: 20 + Spellpower
Every skill level increases damage by 10 + Spellpower
- Does non-elemental damage
- May not target Mechanical units
- Heals the nearest friendly unit to the target, reviving slain creatures; ignores unhurt or completely destroyed units
- Healing done equals to the damage dealt (after all resistances, etc). If the damage is dodged, the spell will not heal
- This spell is affected by "Shadow Vortex" perk.

Disrupting ray [5 mana] - reduces the enemy target's Defence permanently (until the end of the battle).
Base effect: -4
Every skill level increases the effect by -1
- The effect is reduced by magic resistance, rounded to the closest number
- This spell is affected by "Lord of Decay" perk.

Poison [6 mana] - poisons the enemy target, dealing damage over time.
Base damage: 25 + Spellpower (per turn)
Every skill level increases damage by 15 + Spellpower
Duration: 3 turns of the victim
- Damage is dealt at the start of every turn of the victim
- The effect counts as non-elemental damage, resistances are calculated at the moment of casting
- May not target Mechanical or Undead units.
- Poison does not stack with itself or "poison" ability of units. Time is renewed and the highest damage is applied without stacking.
- This spell is affected by "Lord of Decay" perk.

Sorrow [5 mana] - reduces the enemy target's Morale.
Base effect: -1
Every skill level increases the effect by -1
Duration: 1 turn per Spellpower
- Honour is a counter to Sorrow - whichever is cast later replaces the former.
- The effect is reduced by magic resistance
- Does not affect Undead or Mechanical units


Enfeeble [6 mana] - reduces the enemy target's Attack.
Base effect: -5
Every skill level increases the effect by -2
- Righteous might is a counter to Enfeeble - whichever is cast later replaces the former.
- The effect is reduced by magic resistance
- This spell is affected by "Master of Curses" perk.

Confusion [10 mana] - makes enemy units forget how to shoot or retaliate.
Base effect: -30%
Every skill level increases the effect by 15%
- Reduces damage from the target's ranged attacks and retaliations
- The effect is reduced by magic resistance
- This spell is affected by "Mind Flayer" perk.

Sacrifice [3 mana] - sacrifices one of your units to heal the rest of them.
Base damage: 100 +10x Spellpower
Every skill level increases damage by 50 + 2x Spellpower
- The target takes the damage, and may not dodge or resist it
- Then, every other unit in your army is healed by the health lost by the target
- Mechanical units are unaffected by this spell
- Revives slain creatures, but does not heal units that are dead, only ones still standing
- This spell is affected by "Shadow Vortex" perk.


Frenzy [15 mana] - drives an enemy unit mad for a turn.
May only affect a unit with total health less than the spell effect (after magic resistance).
Base effect: 175 + 12x Spellpower
Every skill level increases effect by 50 + 12x Spellpower
- Does not affect Mechanical or Undead units; Black Knights are also immune
- The target is driven mad for one turn. When its turn comes, instead of obeying the hero, the unit will attack the nearest other unit, even friends. If there are several units, the victim is chosen randomly.
- Ranged units and casters driven mad will fight in close combat instead of shooting or casting spells.
- If the frenzied unit can't reach anyone, it will randomly move or wait.
- This spell is affected by "Shadow Vortex" perk.

Blind [12 mana] - blinds the target enemy, reducing its Initiative to 0 for a time.
Duration: effect/total_hp
Base effect: 50 + 8x Spellpower
Every skill level increases the effect by 50 + 2x Spellpower
- Does not affect Mechanical or Undead units
- Ignores magic resistance
- This spell is affected by "Shadow Vortex" perk.

Eclipse [12 mana] - plunges the battlefield into darkness.
Duration: 1% of a turn per effect point.
Base effect: 30 + 3x Spellpower
Every skill level increases effect by 30
- Reduces Morale and Luck of every unit by 1
- Makes all units "Stealthy", so that no one can attack each other from a distance over 6 squares
- Enemy ranged units will be forced to move forward to be able to fire
- This spell is affected by "Shadow Vortex" perk.


Vampirism [13 mana] - makes one of your units vampiric.
Lasts until the end of the battle, or until the target is slain.
Effect: 27% + 1x Spellpower
- The target restores its health by a percentage of the damage deal when attacking in close combat
- May not target Mechanical units
- This spell is affected by "Shadow Vortex" perk.

Hand of Darkness [13 mana] - deals non-elemental damage.
Base damage: 35 + 4x Spellpower
Every skill level increases the damage by 12 + Spellpower
- The spell is more effective for lower-level creatures: the effect is increased Sqrt(6 - level) times, meaning it is ~2.23 times better for level 1 creatures than level 5 creatures.
- This spell is affected by "Shadow Vortex" perk.

Screams of the Damned [13 mana] - deals frost damage to everyone on the battlefield, and drains mana of spellcasters and the enemy hero.
Base damage: 45 + 4x Spellpower
Every skill level increases the damage by 15 + Spellpower
- Drains 3 mana per skill level from Casters and half as much from the enemy hero
- This spell is affected by "Shadow Vortex" perk.