| Lionheart | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Realm |
 Life | |
| Spell Rarity | Rare | |
| Spell Type | Unit Enchantment | |
| Casting Cost |
 200 | |
| Combat Cost |
40 | |
| Upkeep Cost |
4 | |
| Research Cost |
 880 | |
| ||
|
Target unit receives the following bonuses:
| ||
Lionheart is a Rare Unit Enchantment from the Life Realm. For 200 it may be cast on any friendly unit on the overland map to give that unit a significant +3 bonus to its Melee Attack strength, Resistance score, and total Hit Points per 
figure. If the unit has a non-magical Ranged Attack or Thrown Attack, its ranged Attack Strength will also be improved by +3. To keep this effect in play, an Upkeep Cost of 4 per turn must be paid.
Alternatively, a cheaper version of the same spell may be cast for 40 during combat, in which case it will temporarily bestow these benefits on a unit for the duration of the battle (with no permanent effects or Upkeep Cost).
Effects[]
Lionheart inspires a single unit with an almost supernatural zeal, increasing both its combat ferocity and its survival ability by a significant amount!
Melee Attack Bonus[]
While Lionheart is affecting a unit, its Melee Strength is increased by an outstanding 
+3. This means that whenever the unit makes a Melee Attack or Counter Attack, it can use an additional 3 dice on its Attack Rolls, potentially delivering up to 
3 extra points of "raw" damage to its target with each attack. For 
Multi-Figure Units, this applies to the attack of each individual figure, often resulting in a massive overall increase in the average damage output of the unit. However, this bonus will not work at all for units whose base Melee Strength is 0.
Ranged Attack Bonus[]
If the target unit has a non-magical Ranged- or short-range attack, Lionheart will also enhance the strength of this attack by +3. Much like the Melee Strength bonus, this grants the unit an extra 3 dice to use on its Attack Rolls to determine the "raw" damage of this attack and, for the same reasons, can result in a massive average damage increase for Multi-Figure Units. Similarly though, this benefit only applies to units that have a 
Ranged Missile-, 
Ranged Boulder-, or 
Thrown Attack to begin with and, in the first two cases, also still have ammunition to fire.
Resistance Bonus[]
While Lionheart is affecting a unit, that unit's Resistance score is raised by 
+3. This makes the unit significantly harder to affect with Unit Curses, and much more resilient against Special Damage attacks that require it to make Resistance rolls, such as poison or petrification.
Hit Point Bonus[]
Lionheart grants an enchanted unit an bonus of 
+3 to its Hits per figure value. That is, it increases the maximum Hit Points of each individual figure in that unit by additional +3. As a result, each figure can take 3 extra points of damage before dying, thereby increasing the survivability of the unit. Because this bonus is given to each figure separately, Multi-Figure Units benefit much more from this effect than 
Single-Figure Units. A unit with 8 figures, for example, can now take 8 × 3 = 24 extra points of damage before being destroyed - a massive increase in survivability, putting it roughly on par with a high-tier Fantastic Unit!
The casting of Lionheart on a damaged unit can exhibit different behaviour based on whether this happens in- or outside of combat, as a result of the game tracking Damage Points differently in these two scenarios. In combat, when Lionheart is cast, it also indirectly heals the "top" or "lead" figure of an injured target unit by 3, as it increases its maximum Hit Points without affecting the damage done to this figure. For example, if a unit has 2 per figure, and its "top" figure has already suffered 1 when Lionheart is cast on it, it will now have 4 out of 5 Hit Points, rather than 1 out of 5. However, slain figures are not restored back to life, although if they are revived by other means, those figures will have elevated maximum Hit Points just like the others.
On the other hand, the situation is entirely different if Lionheart is cast overland. In this case, the game preserves only the total damage done to the unit as a whole when applying the spell's effect. This means that the unit's current figure count will be immediately recalculated using the new maximum Hit Points, quite possibly reviving lost figures, and changing the amount of damage recorded to the "top" figure. For instance, a 6 figure unit with 3 per figure and a total of 11 Damage Points has 3 remaining with a "top figure damage" value of 2. Casting Lionheart on this unit will result in 5 live figures, with 5 points recorded on the "top" figure.
Usage[]
Lionheart may be cast both overland and in combat, for the basic Casting Costs of 200 and 40 respectively. If the casting is successful, the game will prompt for a friendly unit to be selected as the spell's target. On the overland map, this typically requires clicking on the army stack that contains the unit which, in turn, brings up a list view of all units in that stack, allowing for the target to be picked individually. Only units not already under the effect of Lionheart may be chosen. Once the spell is cast, a glowing white outline appears around the unit (unless it is overridden by a stronger enchantment); and Lionheart, along with its icon, will be displayed in the unit statistics window when inspecting this unit.
The overland version of Lionheart has an Upkeep Cost of 4 that must be paid at the beginning of every turn to keep the spell in effect. This is automatically deducted by the game from the owner's Mana pool as long as the enchantment remains in existence. If there is insufficient Mana in the pool to pay for the spell, then it will dissipate, ceasing its effect immediately. It may also be cancelled manually by left-clicking its name in the unit statistics window of its target unit. However, this action can only be performed outside of combat, during the caster's own turn.
The combat version of Lionheart does not carry over to the overland map: it will disappear automatically as soon as the battle is over. As such, it has no Upkeep Cost; but at the same time may not be manually removed by its caster either (as enchantments can not be cancelled during a battle).
Acquisition[]
As a Rare Spell of the Life Realm, Lionheart may become available to any Wizard who acquires at least 2 Spellbooks. With any less, the spell can not be learned during the campaign. This is the minimum requirement for it to be traded for, appear in Treasure, or be found in the spoils of victory when conquering the Fortress of a rival Wizard who already knows it.
The base chance for Lionheart to be researchable (at some point) in the campaign is roughly 10% (with 2 books), which gradually increases with the amount of Life Spellbooks possessed or found during gameplay. With 10 or more, the spell is certain to show up sooner or later, unless acquired from another source. It has a Research Cost of 880, although its research is quicker for Wizards possessing the Sage Master Retort, or a bookshelf containing 8 or more.
Lionheart may also be selected as a starting spell by players who allocate all of of their picks into Life books when creating their Wizard. In this case, it will be available for casting as soon as the game begins.
In addition, Lionheart is available as a Hero spell. It is known by Torin the Chosen, although it's worth noting that he can't actually cast it at his initial level. He needs to either become at least a 
Captain (level 3), become a 
Myrmidon (level 2) if both of his Random Abilities are extra Mana, or otherwise equip Magical Items to gain enough Mana to use Lionheart.
Item Power[]
Lionheart can also be duplicated as an Item Power and imbued onto a Magical Item. This requires the 
Create Artifact spell, and has the advantages of being non-dispellable, and requiring no Upkeep Cost. While enchanting Lion Heart onto an item can't be done unless the Wizard possesses at least 6 Spellbooks, knowledge of the actual spell is not necessary. Selecting this Power increases the item's total value by 1,000.
Lion Heart can be enchanted onto magical Accessories only. However, this still means that it is available to any Hero, as all of them possess at least one 
miscellaneous Equipment Slot. If an item with this Power is created and given to a Hero, then they will benefit from the effect described above for as long as they keep the item equipped. Since Lion Heart does not appear on any pre-fabricated items, it is only available through Item Crafting, as no items bearing it can be acquired otherwise.
Strategy[]
Lionheart is one of the most powerful Unit Enchantments available to any Wizard. Its bonuses dramatically increase the unit's survivability and resilience, not to mention its combat strength. As explained above, Multi-Figure Units receive spectacular benefits from this spell - and the more figures, the better. Since it increases each figure's Attack Strength simultaneously, Lionheart will allow the unit to inflict far more damage than normal. More importantly however, the more figures there are in the unit, the more its total Hit Points are increased, causing even the weakest 8 figure unit to become incredibly durable.
Although units relying primarily on 
Magical Ranged Attacks do not get a +3 bonus, the increased Hit Points and the Resistance bonus still make this spell quite potent when cast on such units. In fact, Lionheart is one of only a few effects in the game that can increase the Hits per figure value of a unit, essentially providing a unique benefit that can be worth exploiting even if none of the enchantment's other bonuses are expected to come into play.