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Ground Movement is the most restrictive of the three modes by which units move in combat.

Ground Movement takes effect during battles on land.

Most of the game's units march, ride, or hover at ground level, and are subject to Ground Movement rules by default. They have to overcome less-than-ideal conditions on the world's surface to fulfill their orders. They face correspondingly higher point-costs when entering certain tiles on the battlefield. The other baseline rules are:

  • Units with Water Movement have to adopt Ground Movement whenever they enter battle on land.
  • Units with Air Movement get to retain it no matter where they fight.

The term "ground movement" applies to land-bound units traveling overland in a general sense. The Icon Movement GroundBoot graphic is useful for displaying these units' base Movement Allowance. It does not, however, call attention to specific Movement Types that might be active on the unit or stack (Mountaineer, Planar Travel, Path Finding, etc.) in their overland journeys.

Combat Terrain[]

The table below shows the combat terrain gradients that units face under the Ground Movement rules.

Icon Movement GroundGround Movement Terrain Table
Terrain Square Name Cost to Enter Description
Arcanus Myrror Cardinal Diagonal
CombatTile Arcanus Road CombatTile Myrror Road Road Icon Movement Ground.5 Icon Movement Ground1 Normal or Enchanted Road passing through square in any direction.
CombatTile Arcanus Grass CombatTile Myrror Grass Grass Icon Movement Ground1 Icon Movement Ground1.5 Default flat terrain.
CombatTile Arcanus Tree CombatTile Myrror Tree Tree Icon Movement Ground1.5 Icon Movement Ground2 Single tree on square or casting a shadow across it.
CombatTile Arcanus Rock CombatTile Myrror Rock Rock Icon Movement Ground1.5 Icon Movement Ground2 Single rock on square.
CombatTile Arcanus Trees CombatTile Myrror Trees Trees Icon Movement Ground2 Icon Movement Ground2.5 Multiple trees on or clustered around square.
CombatTile Arcanus Rough CombatTile Myrror Rough Rough Icon Movement Ground2 Icon Movement Ground2.5 Small hills on square.
Move Sailing Sailing Units Note:
While Move Flying Flying and Move Swimming Swimming units may default to Ground Movement, these units cannot. In rare circumstances sailing units may be attacked on land. In the even rarer circumstances that they actually appear in the battle, they cannot cross these tiles, rendering them effectively immobile in land combat. They can still hurl their Icon Ranged Boulder Rocks and attack adjacent foes. They mobilize if they obtain the ability to Icon Movement AirFly.

Effects Overview[]

Unit Abilities and spells concerned with overland travel don't necessarily affect Ground Movement. Raising maneuverability (and snaring enemies) in battle constitutes a somewhat different line of spell research and troop selection. The table in this section lists abilities and spells that act discriminately in some way with Ground Movement.

Icon Movement GroundGround Movement Effect Table
Unit Abilities
Icon Ability Combat Effects
Ability Forester Forester None
No combat terrain discounts.
Ability Mountaineer Mountaineer
Ability Pathfinding Pathfinding
Ability FireBreath Fire Breath Permits a Icon Movement GroundWalker to initiate melee attacks on a Icon Movement AirFlyer.
Ability LightningBreath Lightning Breath
Ability Thrown Thrown
Ability DeathGaze Death Gaze
Ability DoomGaze Doom Gaze
Ability StoningGaze Stoning Gaze
Ability Merging Merging Unit may teleport to almost any tile at a cost of Icon Movement Ground1.
Ability Teleporting Teleporting
Ability NonCorporeal Non-Corporeal Unit gains immunity to snares and may pass through City Walls. No combat terrain discounts.
Ability PlaneShift Plane Shift None — Sorry, you cannot wink in and out of combat.
Ability WebSpell Web Spell Traps a target, forces a Icon Movement AirFlyer into Icon Movement GroundGround Movement (Combat Instant snare).
Ability WindWalking Wind Walking NoneNote: Does not grant Icon Movement AirAir Movement in combat, not even to the unit possessing the ability.
Spells
Realm Spell Combat Effects
Icon Arcane Dispel Magic May remove relevant movement buffs imparted by spells, but not innate abilities or Item Powers.
Icon Arcane Disenchant Area
Icon Sorcery Dispel Magic True
Icon Sorcery Disenchant True
Icon Chaos Call Chaos Potentially grants Icon Movement Air Air Movement (~4% per target).
Icon Chaos Chaos Channels Potentially grants Icon Movement Air Air Movement (~33%).
Icon Nature Cracks Call Requires corporeal target in Icon Movement GroundGround Movement (technically a tile snare).
Icon Nature Earth to Mud Corporeal units (friend or foe) must be in Icon Movement GroundGround Movement (tile snare).
Icon Life Endurance Icon Movement Ground+1
Icon Nature Entangle Icon Movement Ground−1 ... Requires corporeal foes in Icon Movement GroundGround Movement (Combat Enchantment snare).
Icon Sorcery Flight Grants Icon Movement Air Air Movement to the target.
Icon Sorcery Flying Fortress Icon Movement Ground units cannot enter or leave the Town.
Icon Sorcery Haste Icon Movement Ground× 2
Icon Chaos Wall of Fire Units (friend or foe) must be in Icon Movement GroundGround Movement to trigger the effect.
Icon Nature Water Walking None - grants Icon Movement Water Water Movement to the target, which defaults to Icon Movement GroundGround Movement in land combat.
Icon Nature Web Traps a target, forces a Icon Movement AirFlyer into Icon Movement GroundGround Movement (Combat Instant snare).
Icon Sorcery Wind Walking NoneNote: Does not grant Icon Movement AirAir Movement in combat, not even to the unit bearing the enchantment.
Icon Death Wraith Form Unit gains immunity to snares and may pass through City Walls. No combat terrain discounts.
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