Spell Breaker

[e][h] Spell Breaker

Unit Information

Built From:

Arcane Sanctum

Requirements:

• Keep
• Arcane Vault

Cost:

 215  30  28  3

Hit Points:

600

HP Regeneration:

0.25 (always)

Armor:

3 (9)

Race:

Human

Bounty Awarded:

26 - 38

Sleeps:

no

Formation Rank:

1

Sight:

1400 / 800

Acquisition Range:

700

Level:

3

Mana:

250

Initial Mana:

75

Mana Regeneration:

0.8

Selection Priorty:

7

Movement

Speed:

300

Turn Rate:

0.6

Move Type:

foot

Collision Size:

31

Cargo Size:

1

Icon

Combat

Damage:

13 - 15 (16 - 24)

Range:

250

Weapon Type:

missile

Cooldown:

1.9

Targets:

• ground
• structure
• debris
• item
• ward

Elven warrior trained to disrupt and contort magical energies. This is an anti-spellcaster unit.

Spell Breakers initially has the Spell Immunity ability, which renders him immune to magic; Feedback, which causes his attacks to combust mana; and Spell Steal which manipulates buffs to your advantage. Can also learn Control Magic.

Since Spell Breakers are immune to magic, you can safely cast Blizzard and Flamestrike on them. If you put them in the front lines, you can easily cast Blizzard or Flamestrike without worrying about hurting your own units.

Spells & Abilities

Spell Steal
	Cast Type : Autocast  Ability Type:  Magical Target Type : Unit Target Steals a positive buff from an enemy unit and applies it to a nearby friendly unit, or takes a negative buff from a friendly unit and applies it to a nearby enemy unit.
Cast Requirements : 75 6 s  Range:  700 Hotkey : T

Notes: Spell Steal is an auto-cast ability which can steal positive buffs from enemy units and apply them to friendly units, or can remove negative buffs from friendly units and apply them to enemy units.

The primary target of Spell Steal is the unit with the status effect, the secondary target is that which receives the buff/debuff and is determined by the proximity to the Spell Breaker unit, i.e the receiving target is the closest/nearest unit to the Spell Breaker (if there are no units sufficiently close, the status effect is only dispelled).

When there are more than one possible secondary targets, the secondary target is chosen as the unit closest to the Spell Breaker that does not already have the same buff.

When a buff is stolen, its duration is reset (applied for the full duration as if cast anew).

Some status effects cannot be stolen (e.g., Frost Armor, Lightning Shield). Unholy Frenzy can be stolen, but only manually.

A very common situation in the Human vs Nightelf matchup is for the Nightelf player to cast Rejuvenation on their heroes/units, the Human player can use Spell Steal by first disabling the auto-cast, then moving the Spell Breaker next to a low health hero/unit (secondary target) and then casting Spell Steal on the enemy unit with the Rejuvenation (primary target).

Another situation might be in the Human vs Undead matchup, in which the Undead player uses the Banshee unit's Curse ability, the Human player can use Spell Steal by first moving the Spell Breaker next to a high damage hero/unit (for example, the Lich hero), then cast Spell Steal on a friendly Cursed unit.

Spell Steal steals only one buff at at time, the order in which buffs are stolen is determined by the buff's Spell Steal priority.

If a unit only has zero priority buffs, then the order in which they are stolen seems to be:

List of zero priority buffs:

• Spirit Link
• Roar
• Unholy Frenzy
• Rejuvenation
• Scroll of Protection
• Polymorph

i.e., Spirit Link is always stolen before Roar, Roar is always stolen before Rejuvenation, Scroll of Protection is always stolen last.

If a unit only has non-zero priority buffs, then the buffs are stolen in the reverse order in which they were cast.

Example 1: a unit is first buffed with Inner Fire and then with Bloodlust, the first stolen buff will be Bloodlust and the second, Inner Fire.

Example 2: a unit is first buffed with Bloodlust and then with Inner Fire, the 1st stolen buff will be Inner Fire and the 2nd, Bloodlust.

List of non-zero priority buffs:

• Inner Fire
• Slow
• Bloodlust
• Faerie Fire
• Curse

If a unit has both zero priority and non-zero priority buffs, then the order seems random.

See more: dispel.

Control Magic
	Cast Type : Active  Ability Type:  Magical Target Type : Unit Target Give Spell Breakers the ability to take control of enemy summoned units. The spell's cost is relative to the current hit points of the target.
Cast Requirements : 40 5 s  Range:  700 Targets Allowed : Air, Ground, Enemy, Neutral, Ward, Organic Mana Cost : 0.35 per HP of target Hotkey : C
Upgrade: Control Magic
Cost : 75 75  Research Time:  45 Researched at : Arcane Sanctum  Hotkey : G  Requirements : Arcane Vault, Castle

Notes:

• You can control enemy Orc wards!

Spell Immunity
	Cast Type : Passive Target Type : No Target Renders this unit immune to negative spells.
Effect : Spell Immunity

Feedback
	Cast Type : Orb  Ability Type:  Magical Target Type : No Target Spell Breaker attacks destroy 20 (4 to Heroes) Mana per hit. The Mana combusts, dealing damage to the attacked unit. Each point so removed causes 1 point of damage to the target. Feedback does not affect spell-immune units.
Mana Burned (Hero) : 20 (4) Damage : 1 per Mana point burned

Unit Inventory (Human)
	Cast Type : Passive Target Type : No Target Allows the unit to carry 2 items.
Item Capacity : 2 Notes : Items cannot be used by the unit and are dropped, if the unit dies.
Upgrade: Backpack (Human)
Cost : 50 25  Research Time:  20 Researched at : Town Hall

Upgrades

Iron Forged Swords

Increases the attack damage of Militia, Footmen, Spell Breakers, Dragonhawk Riders, Gryphon Riders and Knights. Researched at : Blacksmith  Hotkey : S  Cost : 100 50  Research Time:  60 Damage Dice Bonus : 1

Steel Forged Swords

Cost : 175 175  Research Time:  75 Requires : Keep Damage Dice Bonus : 2

Mithril Forged Swords

Cost : 250 300  Research Time:  90 Requires : Castle Damage Dice Bonus : 3

Iron Plating

Increases the armor of Militia, Footmen, Spell Breakers, Knights, Flying Machines and Siege Engines. Researched at : Blacksmith  Hotkey : P  Cost : 125 75  Research Time:  60 Armor Bonus : 2

Steel Plating

Cost : 150 175  Research Time:  75 Requires : Keep Armor Bonus : 4

Mithril Plating

Cost : 175 275  Research Time:  90 Requires : Castle Armor Bonus : 6

Version History

Balance Patch History
Version	Release	Balance Changes
1.36.2	2024-06-04	Control Magic mana cost per summoned unit's hit point reduced from 0.45 to 0.35 Control Magic mana cost increased from 25 to 40
1.35.0	2023-01-19	Spell Breaker armor increased from 2 to 3. Spell Breaker Control Magic requirement changed from T2 to T3.
1.32.9	2020-10-21	Spell Breaker armor reduced from 3 to 2.
1.31.0	2019-05-28	Control Magic mana requirement increased from 35% of enemy HP to 45% of enemy HP.
1.30.2	2018-11-30	Control Magic mana requirement reduced from 45% of enemy HP to 35% of enemy HP. Control Magic now requires Keep instead of Castle.
1.30.0	2018-08-08	Spell Breaker's Spell Steal ability cooldown increased from 3 to 6 seconds.
1.15	2004-05-10	Control Magic mana cost is now calculated based on the target unit's current hit points instead of its maximum hit points. The dynamic mana cost of Control Magic has also been increased to .45 mana per hit point from .3 mana per hit point. Spell Breaker feedback damage vs. Heroes reduced to 4 per hit from 5 per hit.
1.10	2003-07-03	Spell Breaker armor type changed to Medium. Spell Breaker hit points reduced to 600 from 650. Mana cost of Spell Steal increased to 75.

References

http://classic.battle.net/war3/human/units/spellbreaker.shtml