Secondary Skills
Secondary Skills are special skills learned by heroes to complement their Primary Skills. If you've played HoMM1, then you'll know that the four hero types had their special bonuses: more water movement for the Sorceress (Navigation), the Knight's morale bonus (Leadership), the Barbarian's extra movement (Logistics), and the Warlock's larger search radius (Scouting). They weren't specifically secondary skills in HoMM1, but they are in HoMM2. This page provides information on all the secondary skills, and their effects.
There are 14 different Secondary Skills in HoMM2. They each have 3 levels: Basic, Advanced, and Expert. Each level provides the same benefit, only you get more of it at higher levels. When a hero goes up a level, he always gets a Primary Skill increase first, and then there is a chance to learn a Secondary Skill from 2 choices provided. He may choose one. Learning the Secondary Skill again increases it's level. A hero can have a maximum of 8 Secondary Skills. After a hero gets all expert skills, future level-ups only give Primary Skill increases. Besides getting a level-up, heroes can also get Basic Secondary Skills by visiting a Witch's Hut.
| Secondary Skill |
Description |
Level and benefit |
 |
Archery: Increases damage done by ranged attacks. Removes the 50% penalty for shooting over castle walls. |
| Basic Level: |
+10% damage |
| Advanced Level: |
+25% damage |
| Expert Level: |
+50% damage |
|
 |
Ballistics: In castle siege, the catapult fires more often, with more accuracy and does more damage. |
| Basic Level: |
1 shot with extra damage |
| Advanced Level: |
2 shots with extra damage |
| Expert Level: |
2 shots with maximum damage |
|
 |
Diplomacy: With this skill, wandering armies may want to join your hero. The percentage shown is the percentage of troops that will join. |
| Basic Level: |
25% join |
| Advanced Level: |
50% join |
| Expert Level: |
100% join |
|
 |
Eagle Eye: Your hero could learn a spell used against him in battle. |
| Basic Level: |
20% second level |
| Advanced Level: |
30% third level |
| Expert Level: |
40% fourth level |
|
 |
Estates: A hero with this skill generates money daily like a small town, almost. |
| Basic Level: |
100 gold/day |
| Advanced Level: |
250 gold/day |
| Expert Level: |
500 gold/day |
|
 |
Leadership: Increases the hero's morale rating. Necromancer troops don't have a morale, so Necromancers can't learn this one. |
| Basic Level: |
+1 morale |
| Advanced Level: |
+2 morale |
| Expert Level: |
+3 morale |
|
 |
Logistics: Hero gets extra movement on land. |
| Basic Level: |
+10% movement |
| Advanced Level: |
+20% movement |
| Expert Level: |
+30% movement |
|
 |
Luck: Increases the hero's luck. |
| Basic Level: |
+1 luck |
| Advanced Level: |
+2 luck |
| Expert Level: |
+3 luck |
|
 |
Mysticism: Lets the hero regenerate more spell points per day. |
| Basic Level: |
2 spell points/day |
| Advanced Level: |
3 spell points/day |
| Expert Level: |
4 spell points/day |
|
 |
Navigation: A hero with this skill gets to move further on water. On maps without water, this skill is useless. |
| Basic Level: |
+50% movement |
| Advanced Level: |
+100% movement |
| Expert Level: |
+150% movement |
|
 |
Necromancy: Resurrects a certain percentage of all troops killed in a single battle as Skeletons when you win. Only for the Necromancer, and rarely for the Warlock. |
| Basic Level: |
10% of killed units |
| Advanced Level: |
20% of killed units |
| Expert Level: |
30% of killed units |
|
 |
Pathfinding: Reduces the movement penalty on rough terrain (snow, desert, swamp, cracked earth). If the map has no rough terrain, this skill is useless. |
| Basic Level: |
-25% (you use 1/4 movement) |
| Advanced Level: |
-50% (you use 1/2 movement) |
| Expert Level: |
-100% (you use all movement) |
|
 |
Scouting: Increases the visible area around the hero on the adventure map (the search radius). |
| Basic Level: |
+1 square |
| Advanced Level: |
+2 squares |
| Expert Level: |
+3 squares |
|
 |
Wisdom: Allows the hero to learn spells higher than level 2. |
| Basic Level: |
You can learn level 3 spells |
| Advanced Level: |
You can learn level 4 spells |
| Expert Level: |
You can learn level 5 spells |
|
Each secondary skill has a different chance to be learned by each hero type. The table below lists the secondary skills and the hero types with an indication of how often a skill will be learned. The higher the number, the higher the chance that the skill will be available to learn; the lower the number, the lower the chance that the skill will be available (a 0 means no chance).
| Skill |
Barbarian |
Knight |
Necromancer |
Sorceress |
Warlock |
Wizard |
| Archery |
3 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
| Ballistics |
3 |
4 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
| Diplomacy |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Eagle Eye |
1 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
3 |
| Estates |
2 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Leadership |
3 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Logistics |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Luck |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
| Mysticism |
1 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
4 |
| Navigation |
3 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
2 |
2 |
| Necromancy |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Pathfinding |
4 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
| Scouting |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
2 |
| Wisdom |
1 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
Note that only the Necromancer can normally learn Necromancy. However, once in a blue moon, a Warlock will be given the same opportunity. However, since the undead don't have morale, Necomancer heroes cannot learn Leadership. So, this means that each of the hero types can only learn 8 out of 13 secondary skills. All the other types can learn everything but Necromancy. However, because the Warlock can (rarely) learn Necromancy, this makes him more versatile in that he could learn any of the 14 secondary skills.