The first mention of Bone Dragons occurs in the universe of Heroes of Might and Magic games back in 1993. Since then, this class of creatures has undergone a number of changes and appeared in other projects. This will be discussed in the article.
Heroes of Might and Magic 2
In all parts of this game series, Bone Dragons are units of the undead army. These creatures are summoned by necromancers from the remains of dead dragons to serve in the army of the dead.
In the game Heroes of M&M ll, units are hired in a building called the Laboratory, their cost is 1500 gold. They are excellent combat units, like all dragons in the game. Cannot attack two cells, but will lower the morale of the enemy that was attacked by the Bone Dragon.
Heroes of Might and Magic 3
In this part, the undead dragon is already more interesting - it occupies two cells on the battlefield, can fly, lowers the morale of the enemy, and can also lower that of the hero's army if it is present in the same crowd with the living. Recruited at the Dragon Crypt for 1800 gold.
Upgrades to Ghost Dragon - the most dangerous unitliving dead. The price is prohibitively high - 3000 gold, but it pays off with the effectiveness of these creatures in battle. Unlike the Bone Dragon, the Ghost Dragon "ages": the he alth of enemy soldiers can be reduced by half with a probability of about 20%. Due to this skill, the creature is equated to the rank of "especially dangerous".
Other "heroic" projects
Further in the setting of "Heroes of Might and Magic" from the fourth to the seventh, the appearance of the Bone Dragon was transformed, new features and skills were added. For example, immunity to arrow damage (HoMM IV), absolute inability to deal poison damage or take control of the mind (HoMM V), and steal enemy mana on hit (HoMM VII).
And also in the fifth part, these creatures will be upgraded into Ghost and Astral Dragons.
In the cinema
The creature also appears in the animated short "The Legend of the Bone Dragon" based on How to Train Your Dragon.
The plot is based on the night terrors of the blacksmith Spitter, who, according to his own statement, has been haunted by Kostoboy since childhood. He is said to collect bones to complete his own armor.
Hiking and his friends undertake to help an old blacksmith on his journey to defeat an old enemy. It is strange that they went on a drakkar, and did not fly on dragons, because the Night Fury would give heat to Kostoboy.
In the end it turns out that Gobber was wearing the missing bone fragment all the timearmor of this creature and, having given this small bone as a result, the blacksmith received a powerful lizard in his submission.
The skin in the game "Heaven"
The Bone Dragon in the mentioned online project is available as a skin that appears as part of the Skin and Bones event.
A player who wants to take possession of the image must receive the appropriate medal, which is issued for the extraction of five "vertebrae" and hundreds of "bones". The first are knocked out of Aranea, as well as during the tournament of adepts. The second one is similarly from the tournament and can also be found by killing the King of Hearts. Both ingredients are obtained as a reward for defeating the Dragon of Sorrow.
The lucky one who takes possession in this way will receive:
- 3% increase in he alth;
- increase the amount of armor by 7%;
- 2,500 treatment.
Winged citizen of HearthStone
The bone dragon was added to this game as part of the latest update. Can be obtained from the Knights of the Frozen Throne deck. This card is especially loved by those who use "dragon decks", thanks to the death rattle - a random dragon is placed in the hand.
Cost 6 mana, has 6 damage and 5 he alth. It does not have any additional properties, therefore it is only good in combinations when using the above set.
Popular is the Dragon Priest deck. It must contain cards that allow you to fill the field from the first moves:
Claw Priest from Cabal.
Twilightlittle dragon.
And you also need to have trump cards, which are key to any Priest deck with dragons:
Dragonid spy.
Netherrage Historian.
In addition to creature cards, spells also go into battle:
Shadow Word: Pain.
Shadow Word: Death.
All the rest, including the Bone Dragon, are already being added, taking into account the goals and capabilities of a particular player. It should be remembered that according to the death rattle, the card falls out absolutely randomly. For example, the Ice Maw dragon, although it has the ability to provoke, can destroy the entire “table” with a wheeze. And Deathwing will force you to discard all the cards from the player's hand. Therefore, you should not immediately throw a novelty into battle.
In closing
The projects of the Heroes of Might and Magic series had a huge impact on popular culture. It was from these games that such characters as Bone Dragons, Liches, all kinds of Elementals and more came from.
Now few people think about the origin of these terms. For example, the character The Lich King is one of the key villains of the Warcraft universe. And even Nick Perumov wrote about bone dragons in the book “War of the Mage. Volume 2. Middlegame.
The dragon itself is a very colorful and imposing creature, inspiring both horror and awe,because new "species" of these creatures appear in one fantasy universe, then in another.
