|
Buggy Feature |
| As of Master of Magic v1.31, Invulnerability is known to be malfunctioning in at least one way. Please read the Known Bugs section below. The earliest game version that does away with (all of) these, thus in which Invulnerability works fully as intended, is v1.50. |
| Invulnerability | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Realm |
 Life | |
| Spell Rarity | Rare | |
| Spell Type | Unit Enchantment | |
| Casting Cost |
 200 | |
| Combat Cost |
40 | |
| Upkeep Cost |
5 | |
| Research Cost |
 1,040 | |
| ||
|
The first two | ||
Invulnerability is a Rare Unit Enchantment belonging to the Life Magic realm. For 200 it may be cast on any friendly unit on the overland map to give that unit a unique type of protection, whereby the first 
2 Points of Damage suffered by the unit from any attack are automatically blocked. Furthermore, the unit receives a protective effect identical to the Weapon Immunity ability, raising its Defense score to 
10 whenever attacked by a unit carrying 
Normal Weapons.
Alternatively, a cheaper version of the same spell may be cast for 40 during combat, in which case it will temporarily bestow the same bonus on a unit for the duration of the battle (with no permanent effects or upkeep costs).
Effects[]
Invulnerability gives the targeted unit a very powerful divine-energy shield that will stave off some damage from any source. It also makes the unit very resilient in the face of Normal Weapons.
Damage Reduction[]
While Invulnerability is affecting a unit, it has a very interesting and unique protective effect. Any attack, spell, or other damage-dealing event that inflicts Damage on this unit will inflict 2 fewer damage points than it otherwise would.
For example, imagine a unit being struck with a damage-dealing spell. After To Hit and Defense rolls have been made, the spell is slated to deliver 10 to the unit. However, thanks to Invulnerability, the spell will deliver 2 fewer damage points, for a total of only 10 - 2 = 8.
More precisely, each time a figure uses its Shields to defend against an incoming attack (even if it has 0 shields, or if shields are reduced to 0 by Illusion Damage), Invulnerability will reduce the incoming damage by 2 further points, potentially negating the remaining 1 or 2 Damage Points. Beside Melee, Invulnerability will also reduce the damage done by Immolation, 
Thrown, 
Breath and Ranged Attacks (
Bow, 
Rock, 
Magic), as well as spells triggering the unit's defense such as Fire Bolt, Lightning Bolt, Psionic Blast, Ice Bolt, Fireball, Warp Lightning and Call Lightning. On the other hand, a figure won't defend when under the effect of Black Sleep or struck by Doom Damage (e.g. Doom Gaze or Doom Bolt). Also note, that Invulnerability has no effect, if resistance rolls are made. This means, it doesn't reduce damage done by Stoning Touch, Poison, Life Steal, Stoning Gaze and Death Gaze or spells such as Life Drain, Wrack, Petrify, and Word of Death.
In other words, this effect is roughly as strong as increasing the number of shields by +7. It's even stronger, if the enemy does Illusion or Armor Piercing Damage or if the enemy reduces shield efficiency with Eldritch Weapon or if the enemy's strength is 2 or less. Even if shield efficiency is increased by Lucky or Prayer, it's still worth +5.
Damage Reduction and Multi-Figure Units[]
Invulnerability reduces the damage done by 
Multi-Figure units considerably When the Invulnerable unit is attacked by a Multi-Figure unit, Invulnerability's damage-blocking effect occurs after each figure in the enemy unit has made its To Hit rolls, but before the damage is dealt to the Invulnerable figure. In other words, Invulnerability does block 2 from each figure in the enemy unit.
Example[]
- A 6-figure unit of Skeletons is attacking a Guardian Spirit which is under the effect of Invulnerability.
- Each Skeleton makes a Melee Attack with a strength of
3. The Guardian Spirit defends against each of these attacks with its Defense score of 4. The Weapon Immunity is not applied, because it works only against normal units wielding normal weapons.
- On average, the Skeletons should have problems getting through this defense. Any skeleton causing 2 or less with its attack would be completely blocked by the enchantment (causing 2 - 2 = 0).
- In other words, in order to cause any damage to the Guardian Spirit, at least one of the Skeletons needs to succeed with each To Hit roll it makes, while the Guardian Spirit fails all of its Defense rolls against that Skeleton - thus causing exactly 3 points of damage (a Skeleton's maximum). Such an outcome isn't very likely, though. Still, one or two Skeleton figures may still get a single hit in.
Invulnerability can also reduce the damage dealt by more than 2 points, if a Invulnerable Multi-Figure unit is attacked by a 
Single-Figure unit. This happens if the single figure unit manages to kill one enemy figure. In this case, the second figure will also try to defend with its Shields which will also trigger the Invulnerability effect a second time (or third time for third figure and so on).
Weapon Immunity[]
- Main article: Weapon Immunity
Invulnerability also bestows on its target an effect identical to the inherent unit ability called Weapon Immunity.
When an enemy with Normal Weapons makes an attack against the Invulnerable unit, the unit's Defense score is considered to be 10 - a very high score. This allows the Invulnerable unit to easily block incoming damage from weak attacks (anything below 10 will struggle to get through this defense).
Most Normal Units carry Normal Weapons, and often their Melee Attack is just poor enough for this to be a problem.
Note that all Fantastic Creatures have a Magical Attack, despite this not being shown in their unit details panel. Heroes are also considered as having a Magical Attack, as do units enchanted with various spells like Eldritch Weapon, Flame Blade, Holy Weapon, et cetera.
Usage[]
Invulnerability may be cast during combat for the rather high Casting Cost of 40. In this case, the spell will only affect the targeted unit until the end of the battle - at which point it will dissipate.
Alternatively, Invulnerability may be cast on the overland map for a lasting effect. In this case it has a base Casting Cost of 200, and requires an Upkeep Cost of 5 per turn to maintain. Failure to pay this Upkeep Cost due to lack of Mana will cause the spell to dissipate. However, as long as the spell is paid for (and not dispelled by any rival Wizard), the unit continues to enjoy its bonus.
Invulnerability may only be cast on friendly units. If the desired target is in an overland army stack, click on that stack to get a list of units inside it, and then select your desired unit.
Once the spell is in effect, the unit will glow with a white aura, unless there is a more powerful spell also affecting it.
If you've placed Invulnerability on a unit, you may remove it by examining the unit's details and clicking the Enchantment's icon. The primary reason to do this would be in order to remove the spell's Upkeep Cost, thus conserving Mana for other spells.
Acquisition[]
As a Rare Life spell, Invulnerability may become available to any Wizard who possesses at least 2 Spellbooks. However, its availability during the game is not guaranteed unless the Wizard acquires at least 10 Spellbooks.
Customized Wizards possessing 11 Spellbooks at creation time may choose this spell as one of their default spells before starting the game, in which case the spell will already be researched and available for casting immediately on the first turn.
Wizards with 2 to 9 Spellbooks have a random chance of being able to Research Invulnerability during the game. The chance for this spell to appear for research increases with the number of Life Spellbooks the Wizard possesses or obtains during gameplay. With 10 or 11 Spellbooks, the spell is guaranteed to appear for Research at some point, if it is not already available for casting.
Invulnerability has a base Research Cost of 1,040.
With at least 2 Spellbooks, the Invulnerability spell may be acquired as a reward for winning encounters in creature Lairs, Towers, et cetera, or when conquering the Fortress of a rival wizard who has already researched this spell.
Strategy[]
Invulnerability doesn't actually make its target invulnerable, but in most situations can make the target extremely durable. It has the same costs as Iron Skin but stronger effects.
This enchantment is primarily useful when fighting enemy Normal Units, and specifically low-tier and mid-tier ones. Unless the enchanted unit is truly terrible at defense (see Phantom Beast), automatic blocking of damage will often result in the unit suffering little or no damage at all during combat.
Since Invulnerability also bestows Weapon Immunity, it is doubly effective against low-tier Normal Units. It is therefore an excellent spell to cast on units going off to conquer Neutral Towns, which are often protected only by low/mid-tier Normal Units.
Early in the game, even enemy wizards' capitals are usually unable to stand up to a Guardian Spirit enchanted with Invulnerability, making it one of the strongest 11-book strategies. Remember of course that Invulnerability provides protection against all sorts of attacks, including Thrown Attacks, Breath Attacks, Ranged Attacks and even direct-damage spells like Fire Bolt and so forth.
When cast on a high-level unit with plenty of Defense, Invulnerability can sometimes live up to its name in making the unit almost totally impervious to direct damage. Only heavy-hitting creatures, who deliver single, powerful attacks, will be able to get both through the unit's armor and its Invulnerability. This allows the enchanted unit to effectively do battle with the strongest Fantastic Creatures.
Known Bugs[]
Invulnerability cannot be dispelled, neither in combat nor overland. There is no way to remove this spell from an enemy unit. This bug is still present in the unofficial 1.40 Insecticide patch. It has been fixed in the unofficial 1.50 Raid patch though.
Another, possibly even more severe bug is that the presence of the Invulnerability Unit Enchantment (but not the Item Power) will mark any hostile unit as an invalid target for AI-cast 
Dispel Magic and 
Dispel Magic True. That is, the v1.31 (and v1.40) AI cannot cast these spells at such a unit, unless it also happens to be under the effect of 
Possession, Creature Binding, Confusion ("under enemy control" state) or, in the 1.31 version, also Haste. Since targeting is a different step for the AI than the actual decision on what to cast, this can result in the computer not being able to cast a spell at all, if Dispel is selected but then has no valid targets.
In fact, if the only dispellable effects in the battle are on hostile Invulnerable units not affected by the above exceptions, the AI will also consistently fail to cast Disenchant Area and Disenchant True, with no ability to fall back to casting a different spell if this type was already chosen. This affects both AI Wizards, and any spellcasting Heroes controlled by them. This bug is also corrected in the Unofficial Patch 1.50 (W328FIX.TXT).