Total War: Warhammer II – High Elf Guide

A guide for the High Elves that aims to cover everything from campaign strategy to individual unit overviews.

Other TWW2 Guides:

Campaign Strategy (Part #1)

Welcome to part 1 of my High Elf Race Guide. In this section we’ll be covering the campaign strategy of the High Elves including starting situation and expansion options.

There are 4 factions you can choose to play as when using the High Elves and we’ll cover the differences the lords bring in part 3 but there are also some differences not brought by the Lords. Starting Location is obviously different for everyone: Lorthern start at Lorthern, Order of the Loremasters start at the Volcanic Islands, Averlorn Start at Gaen Vale and Nagarythe start at Armheim. Averlorn can build the world root entrance which allows recruitment of some wood elf units as well as having the option to build the Handmaidens gallery in size 3 settlements. Nagarythe can build the Aesanar camp which allows the recruitment of shadow walkers and warriors and stalking replaces default stance allowing armies to move and ambush at the same time. For the sake of this Guide I played as Lorthern as they’re the original high elf faction in Warhammer 2.

The High Elves are most similar to the Empire from Warhammer 1. This is due to many factors, such as being surrounded by factions of the same race and by default the potential for massive amounts of trade.

The economy you can build from trade alone is just insane and as if it wasn’t good enough, High Elves receive bonuses from trading in the first place. Not only do they receive more money for every trade deal but they also get sight into the trade partners territory which is useful no matter how you use it. Want to get the lay of the land before a later invasion? Vision! Just want to see threats coming your way through the buffer of your allies? Vision! Just want to reveal the map to decide where to go on your next holiday with the boys? Vision!

That trade is just the start of the advantages due to starting on an island filled with your own race. After a while of being best pals/trembling underlings, your buddies will be available to confederate thus giving you more land, more money and more room to craft elven trinkets.

Expansion is an easy choice seeing as half of Ulthuan is filled with High Elves and the other half is filled with Dark Elves. The only way to go is to build your relationships with your fellow High Elves whilst evicting any Dark Elf Heretics and taking their lands for yourself. There’s plenty of land to keep you expanding steadily over the course of the game and once you’ve united the whole island, the dark elves in the north-west are an easy choice for the next venture. Though uniting the whole island is not as easy as you think, quite like the Empire (link in the card) most High Elf factions like to in-fight with each other so becoming friends with all of them is quite a difficult process and can delay your unification until much later in the game. It took me over 120 turns to capture all of Ulthuan and I was trying from the start.

Speaking of the island, on it there are 4 settlements which I’m just gonna call the gates of wrath for simplicities sake. These settlements give you no money, have no public order and are the only settlements in their regions. You may be wondering why capture them at all? If you’d just refer to the garrisons you’ll quickly see why. Each size upgrade grants these babies some of the highest tier units in the game to defend impassable locations from invading armies. Not only that they can also have commandments enacted which will give you all sorts of bonuses both locally and faction-wide.

Speaking of which, commandments! The High Elves have access to 5: Reaver patrols which gives you +10% ambush chance and gives the enemy -15% hero action success chance and -10 move range for armies. Tribute to the Phoenix King gives you +4% income from trade faction-wide and +3% tax rate locally. Rebuild lost splendour grants -10% construction cost on all buildings and +20 growth locally. Rally citizen militia grants +1recruit rank to all units and +1 to the local recruitment capacity. Finally banish corruption grants +2 untainted in the region. They’re all pretty self-explanatory of when the best time to use them is but my personal strat is Rebuild lost splendour in regions that are not yet max size then Tribute to the phoenix king once they are. This ensures max growth and money for your faction. When I’m recruiting, I switch over to Rally citizen militia and if anyone decides to try and invade, I turn on reaver patrols. Banish corruption is so self-explanatory I’m not even gonna go into it.

Speaking of corruption, the High Elves are really quite good at combatting it. They have the commandment I’ve already mentioned but also a few buildings and even skills for lords and heroes that can reduce the amount of corruption in an area. Granted this won’t be totally useful until the late game chaos invasion but it’s still useful to have especially in the case of any rats sneaking into your lands.

The missions for Lorthern are fairly balanced I’d say. The mission to acquire Sunsfang is quite easy once you get to the mid-game and gives you a great weapon for Tyrion as a reward so is definitely worth working towards so long as it doesn’t interfere with any other plans you have. The mission to get the Dragon Armour of Aenarion for Tyrion is a little more challenging and will require a mid-late game army to complete without too much trouble but the rewards are definitely worth it and turn Tyrion into a real badass. Not only this but they’ll also get you more gold, XP and influence.

I didn’t play campaign as the other factions (or else this guide would’ve taken 4 more months) so I didn’t get to play their missions too much but from what I can tell Teclis has really tough missions for mediocre rewards, Alarielle has a balanced one for a great reward and Alith has a balanced one for a balanced reward.

Influence is something unique to the High Elves and it’s as useful as it is annoying. You get it by completing missions, performing hero actions and by making choices over the course of the campaign to pay tribute or suffer public order penalties every few turns. It can be spent on many things including much better lords & heroes, manipulating diplomatic relations between different factions and your own, and on those same choices to improve your faction temporarily in many ways. This means that given you have enough lying around you can become best friends with whoever you want or cause best friends to go to war a la mean girls. Unfortunately having a lack of influence means you’ll have to pay out in money or public order every few turns, only be able to recruit heroes and lords with ♥♥♥ traits and have to make friends the old-fashioned way.

Just because you can be friends with everyone though, doesn’t mean you have to, I mean the game is called Total War not Total Chilling at the country club with Malekith and Archaon The Everchosen. The Dark Elves are, as previously mentioned, your main enemies so be sure to get rid of any of them that you see as soon as you can as they’re the only nearby threat that could actually give you much trouble in the long run. I found that the Dreadfleet kept trying to backdoor me when I was off expanding in the north but once his army was done fighting my garrisons all I had to do was sail over to the Galleons Graveyard and sweep up what remained.

Campaign Strategy (Part #2)

Something else to note about the High Elves in campaign is their proximity to the sword of Khaine which is a crazily powerful weapon for a lord to have but oh boy does it ever mess with your empire. Having the sword causes public order to fall across your entire faction, harm your diplomatic relations with everyone and increase the upkeep of all your units. In return it gives the user insane buffs to damage, defence and leadership as well as a great ability that can be used in battle to cause huge damage to units.

Finally, the last thing we need to cover are the rites available to the High Elves. First is the Invocation of Asuryan which costs 2000 Gold, lasts 5 turns and has a 20-turn cooldown. It gives you +2 influence per turn, -15% construction cost on all buildings and +4 public order faction-wide. Next is the Invocation of Isha which costs 4000 Gold, lasts 10 turns and has a 40-turn cooldown. It grants immunity to attrition, +8% replenishment rate and +10 untainted and again all faction-wide. The Invocation of Vaul costs 1500 Gold, lasts 10 turns and has a 30-turn cooldown. It gives you a choice between 4 randomly selected powerful items from the high elf pool to increase a lord/army’s strength as well as granting +5 armour and +2 recruit rank for Swordmasters of Hoeth, White Lions of Chrace, Phoenix Guard and Dragon princes. Oh, I almost forgot, it gives you the ‘Vaul’s Hammer’ ability to use during sieges which targets units on walls with massive explosions which can destroy towers and walls to allow you to get inside. Finally, for Lorthern and Order of the Loremasters we have the Invocation of Hoeth which costs 2000 Gold, last 5 turns and has a 20-turn cooldown. It grants +50% XP, 200XP per turn, +40% Action success chance for Mages and Loremasters of Hoeth and +30 to the Winds of Magic reserve. Averlorn swap this for the Invocation of Lileath which costs 2000 Gold, lasts 5 turns and has a 15-turn cooldown. It grants +2 recruit rank for sisters of Averlorn, +20 armour for dryads and +3 recruit rank and -75 action cost for Handmaidens. Finally, Nagarythe swap this for the Invocation of Morai-heg which costs 2500 Gold and has a 15-turn cooldown. It summons the hand of the shadow crown which is a unique hero that can assassinate any character without failing before vanishing and requiring a re-summon.

That concludes this section of the guide on Campaign Strategy. The next section will cover the unit roster and how I believe each unit is best used so stay tuned for that.

Army Roster Analysis (Part #1)

Welcome to part 2 of my High Elf Race Guide. In this section we’ll be going over the High Elf roster and how I believe every units is best used in battle as well as my recommended army compositions.

Intro

Disclaimer: This guide is based on my personal experience and opinions and is by no means the definitive way to play the High Elves.

The High Elves army is based on quality over quantity so units may cost more than they do in other factions but they’ll pull their weight accordingly. They also benefit from being at full health due to Martial Prowess which gives them bonuses upon entering a battle at full health.

Overall, they are fairly balanced in battle with a good number of powerful ranged and melee units and a couple of monsters to keep things interesting.

First up to the plate is Spearmen and as starting units go, they’re actually not too bad. They’re shielded so can ignore a lot of ranged punishment. They’re also anti-large and have a charge defence against large foes so should have no problem going up against any early game cavalry or other large units. Don’t send them off chasing cavalry though as they obviously don’t have the speed to catch up to horses. In the early game I’d recommend around 4 or 5 of them to hold to front lines whilst being backed up by some ranged units. Once better infantry are unlocked then cut down to just 2 to cover your flanks and focus down any large targets.

Next are the White Lions of Chrace and already things are getting interesting. They’re armoured but not shielded so while they can shrug off most forms of damage they are vulnerable to gradual damage from skirmishing. They also deal armour-piercing damage so will cut through tough melee troops like butter. They are also equipped with Lion Cloaks which, other than being very fashionable, provide them with protection against regular and magical missiles. This balances out the lack of shields and allows them to take more ranged punishment whilst locked in melee. They also have the Forest Strider attribute which allows them to perform better in melee when fighting in forests. I’d recommend 2 or 3 of these guys in an early-mid game army being supported by some spears and ranged units to cover your bases.

Swordmasters of Hoeth are (in my opinion) some of the best, if not the best, melee troops in the game. They’re armoured so can take a lot of punishment from non-armour-piercing units. They also deal armour-piercing damage themselves so will be able to take out even the toughest targets. They’re also an anti-infantry unit so get a bonus when fighting against small melee troops which makes them machines at taking out entire units if enemy infantry. They also have the ability to deflect shots. Yes, you heard me right. These guys are so baller that they can see an arrow coming towards them and yeet that ♥♥♥ right back at whoever sent it. Unfortunately, they don’t have shields so if they miss the deflect or are locked in melee and can’t defend themselves, they are vulnerable to ranged damage from all sources. Generally, in battle I send them against any other infantry and they’ll either come out on top or take a hell of a lot of units down with them. Like these guys can get an unreal number of kills, it’s not even funny. I’d recommend replacing your White Lion troops with these guys as soon as you can as there’s nothing that they don’t do better in my opinion.

The Phoenix Guard are up next and they’re the giant killers of the High Elf ranks. They’re a halberd unit so deal bonus damage to anything larger than a man and also have charge defence against all units. They are heavily armoured so can take a huge amount of punishment from non-armour piercing units and they also deal armour piercing damage themselves. As with most anti-large units, I’d recommend 2 of these guys in your late game armies to defend your flanks and keep you protected from any cavalry or monster charges. They aren’t shielded so its best to get them into melee as soon as you can to make sure they spend their health well and take plenty down with them.

Exclusive to Averlorn are the Dryads which are technically a Wood Elf unit. Since I played as Lorthern I didn’t get much experience with them but from what I can tell they’re actually pretty good for an early game monstrous melee unit. They have the forest spirit attribute so can shrug off most forms of non-magical damage so can take a bunch of punishment in battle. They’re a damage dealer unit so you want to get them in melee as soon as you can but choose your targets carefully as they aren’t very effective against armour. Finally, they also have Vanguard Deployment so can be placed as close to the enemy lines as possible to get straight into the fight or be placed strategically to flank from an unexpected location. I’d recommend 1 or 2 of them in an early game army to focus down weaker troops and psych out the enemy as they can also cause fear and make enemies lose leadership quicker.

Archers are opening for the High Elf ranged infantry and as early game ranged goes, they’re pretty top tier. They have fantastic range so can get plenty of shots off on enemies before they even get near you but they aren’t brilliant against armour so will lose effectiveness soon into the mid game. They do need to be defended from melee attacks so keeping them behind the front line is very necessary until they’re locked in combat. Once the front line is established, they can be used to flank around and shoot into the back of the enemy lines to avoid friendly fire. I’d recommend bringing as many archers as you do melee units in an early game army to keep things perfectly balanced as all things should be. They come in two variations, regular and light armour. The light armoured versions obviously have more armour and slightly higher melee defence but you still shouldn’t let them get locked in melee.

Lorthern Sea Guard are up and they’re a hybrid weapons unit. They’re equipped with bows but have a little less range and damage than regular archers but this is balanced with their ability to fight fairly well in melee. They also have spears so have all the advantages that come with that like bonus damage against large targets and a charge defence against them. All this makes them a great all-around unit and your midgame armies can be comprised of only them if you want. If I’m doing that, I personally like to have 2 lines of them so that half the units can stay in ranged mode whilst the other half get into melee. If I can I also swap them out once ammo has been spent. You also have to be sure to disable skirmish mode to stop units from running away once the enemies get near. They also come in two variations, with and without shields. Shields give them better stats in melee defence and allow them to be more protected from ranged attacks at the cost of being slightly slower.

Gate Guards are a weird one. They’re only available within the Gates of Wrath Garrisons so you can’t take them round in your armies. Nevertheless, they’re a pretty well-rounded unit. They’re kinda like a Lorthern Sea Guard unit that more protects Gates than the Sea. They’re anti-large and have charge defence against them so you don’t have to worry about them being too vulnerable to cavalry charges. They also have good range so can get plenty of skirmishing done before the enemies even get close to the walls. The way to use them is pretty straightforward and as far as composition goes you have no ♥♥♥in choice.

Army Roster Analysis (Part #2)

Shadow Warriors, despite their dorky ♥♥♥ name, are actually pretty cool. They have good range so are great for picking off some early kills in the battle. They also have vanguard deployment so can attack the enemy right out the gate or from an unexpected location once the front lines are established. They also stalk and are master ambushers so can move hidden though all terrain and also attack whilst moving. I use them to replace the second line of Sea Guard in my mid-game armies as the better range and utility is worth losing out on the extra melee troops. In a balanced army this equates to 4 units.

Shadow-walkers are a unit exclusive to Nagarythe and they’re basically a better version of Shadow Warriors. They have all the same attributes with the addition of having poison attacks which will debuff enemy troops who get hit. I think swapping 2 warriors for walkers makes for a good balance of armour-piercing damage and poison damage as poison tends to deal less damage overall. Again, as I played as Lorthern I don’t really have much experience with these guys but I think they could really be great in the mid and even late game.

Closing the ranged units are the Sisters of Averlorn and they are god tier. They have armour piercing missiles so can pick away at even the toughest units and deal good damage. They have great range so can get a huge amount of damage in before you enemies even get to you. They’re equipped with the bows of Averlorn which fire ‘missiles of mystical blue fire’ which basically means they set enemies ablaze and pierce armour like it’s nothing. To top it all off they are decent melee combatants so even if enemies make it through your front lines, they’ll be able to hold their own against some weaker troops. I recommend 4 of them to place behind your front lines and as usual if you can get a flanking angle then do it as it’ll cut down on friendly fire by a mile.

Kicking off the Cavalry are the Ellyrian Reavers and they’re pretty standard as far as early game cav go. They’re very fast so can get around enemy infantry pretty easily to either charge melee in the back or target ranged units while they’re undefended. They also have vanguard deployment so can get close to and around the enemy right from the start. In battle I like to target weaker ranged units as I said before but I also like to cycle charge into the backs of the enemy front lines to break their morale. I recommend bringing 2 of them in an early game army to keep the micromanagement to a level you can deal with.

Silver Helms are next and they play pretty much the same but have slightly different stats. They’re armoured which comes with the cost of speed while being able to take more punishment in battle. They’re also an anti-infantry unit so gain a bonus when sent against infantry so targeting units of men is essential for getting your moneys worth. The strategy is pretty much the same as Reavers as you just want to flank around to undefended ranged units and crush the front lines morale with cycle charges. Again I would recommend a couple of these guys in your mid game armies to keep the micro to an acceptable level. They come in two variations, with and without shields. As usual shields provide a boost in ranged and melee defence at the cost of extra gold and some minor stat differences.

The final unit of melee cavalry are the dragon princes and if you haven’t heard of them already then you clearly haven’t played enough Warhammer 2. They are armoured and shielded so can take a ridiculous amount of punishment in battle and can even be left in melee with some weaker infantry units. Their armour is also unique to them as its Dragon armour which grants them immunity to fire damage as it was forged inside a volcano…cool. They also have the trait of ‘Martial Mastery’ which is much like the racial trait martial prowess meaning when they go into battle at full health, they receive bonuses. Once they become heavily damaged, they lose a lot of effectiveness so its best to keep them out of harms way for as long as you can. You want to employ the usual strategy here to get the most out of them and I’ve already said it twice for the other units so I’m not gonna say it again but you get the idea.

Opening and closing for the missile cavalry are the Ellyrian Reaver Archers. They’re similar to regular Reavers stats wise but swap the lances for bows so are excellent skirmishers. They have great speed so can keep out of range of melee troops and they also can fire whilst moving so are excellent for running units round whilst still chipping away at them. They also come with vanguard deployment so can get in the enemy’s face with a hail of arrows right from the start. The strategy is fairly straight forward with these guys. Pick away at exposed flanks whilst avoiding getting into melee for as long as you can as they wont last very long. I’d recommend 2 of these guys in an early game army as that should fill their role nicely.

The High Elves only have access to one chariot, the Ithilmar Chariot. They’re armoured so are much better at being left in melee than regular cavalry of a similar tier. They are also anti-infantry so are best used for targeting units of infantry that are either low on morale or already locked in combat. This will ensure that they will run and not come back or die trying. They lack the charging capability of regular cavalry but as I said earlier they make up for this with better durability and survivability in melee. I prefer to bring 2 of these guys over any early game cav as I prefer the less micro based gameplay so I can give other parts of the battle my attention but the choice is yours on what you can handle better.

The Tiranoc Chariot is the only ranged chariot unit they have access to but it is pretty cool nonetheless. They’re an anti-infantry unit so perform best when attacking infantry units from a distance and keeping distance should be no trouble as they have good speed and can fire whilst moving. This means they can run the enemy around whilst keeping the ranged pressure up. They’re also equipped with Reaver bows which fire 3 arrows at once so even though the unit number is smaller than Reavers they make up for it in firepower per unit. I recommend bringing 2 of these units to replace and Reaver archers you have as the extra damage and bonuses to armour and defence make them the overall better unit.

Onto the monsters and beasts now, starting with the Great Eagle which is the most basic of the 3 smaller flyers. It only has the trait very fast so it is useful for getting in to attack exposed artillery and getting out before reinforcements arrive. If there are no ranged units to attack then they can be used well for attacking the back of the enemy front lines just take care not to let them get overwhelmed as they wont last long if unsupported. I recommend one of these as soon as you unlock them to give you some early air superiority.

Army Roster Analysis (Part #3)

Next is the Flamespyre Phoenix, its an armour piercing flying unit so can be used to swoop into the front lines to focus down tough targets but be aware that it isn’t the most protected unit itself. To balance its weaker defence it has the ‘rebirth’ ability which gives it a chance of regaining health when death is imminent, allowing it carry on fighting a bit longer. They’re also attuned to magic which means that their magical attacks become stronger when the winds of magic are, quote, in full gale… whatever that means. What this actually means is that when the winds of magic capacity is at or above 50% they do more damage so bear this in mind when putting them on the field with expensive spell casters. Finally they have a special attack they can use from above called wake of fire which cause explosive fire damage under wherever they are at the time. This can be used in a variety of ways to maximise damage as the cool-down is so short but is definitely worth using in the fight before getting locked in melee. I bring either one of these or one of the Frosthearts into my armies until the end as they are a little faster than the dragons and offer different buffs so are worth the slot.

Finally is the Frostheart Phoenix which is very similar to the Flamespyre in almost every way. It trades the rebirth and wake of fire abilities for a tougher armour stat which makes it better suited to prolonged melee rather than flying support. It also has a magical aura which debuffs enemy melee attack and armour-piercing damage in a radius around itself making it again very effective in the front lines, supporting your melee troops. As I said I take either one of these or a Flamespyre into my late game armies.

Onto the dragons and all these guys are so similar in how they’re used that I’m just gonna explain it once at the end. The Sun Dragon is first up and it is pretty top tier for when in the game you can use it. It has the Sun Dragon’s breath ability which is a wide spread breath ability that will cause major damage to big clumps of infantry provided they aren’t too armoured. This can rack up insane numbers of kills per use so make sure you use all the charges you can in battle. They deal armour-piercing damage in melee so once they get into it they can take down some pretty tough units. They also cause terror so will quickly cause units to flee as soon as they get near and drain the leadership of any that remain. Finally they have scaly skin which dampens and even deflects missile damage dealt to them. I’m not sure if this allows them to send the damage back but either way its a great trait to have for such a large unit.

The only real difference the Moon Dragon brings is its breath ability. The Moon breath is more focused and better for taking out larger enemies with a powerful explosion and is again worth using all of your charges for you get the most kills you can. They are also slightly better stats wise in leadership, melee defence and weapon damage while having a slightly worse charge. Both are great options for your armies and it really comes down to which you prefer in battle but in my opinion the Star Dragon is the best.

Its breath ability is good against pretty much everything no matter if it’s large, armoured or fast. It will just melt everything. It also has the armoured trait so can take a bit more punishment than the other 2 meaning once you’ve got it in melee, it’s not going anywhere for quite a while. For all these units I’d recommend using your breath charges before going into melee and when you’re choosing your melee targets, try to avoid anything anti-large just to help them survive longer. You should also be sure no to let them get overwhelmed as they’ll quickly die if they are the focus. I recommend one of any of these guys in your late game armies as they are killing machines.

The last 2 monster units are, again, exclusive to Averlorn. The Treekin are first and again they are a wood elf unit. They have the Forest Spirit trait which as I said before gives them resistance to most damage that isn’t magical so they can take quite a bit of punishment in battles. They’re also armoured so are extremely tough to take down as well as having charge defence against large foes meaning cavalry charges wont hit them too hard. I recommend using them to focus on less armoured targets in the front lines to cause a bit of chaos to formations with their AOE attacks. A couple of them in a mid-late game army could replace cavalry as a less micro based option but they are fairly limited in their use so I’ll let you be the judge.

Closing out the High Elf monsters is the Treeman. He also has the forest spirit trait and is armoured so will be around for a long time before he needs to retreat. He also deals armour piercing damage so can take out even the toughest enemies in melee with relative ease and to top it all off he has charge defence against all so nothing will thrown him off balance. Unfortunately, being so big means that they are magnets for ranged attacks and will be slowly chipped away at over the course of the battle. Their best use is in the front lines focusing down tough targets and ruining formations with his huge AOE attacks. I’d say bringing 1 of them in a late game army will make a real difference in taking on almost anyone.

Finally we come to the last unit and my favourite category. The Eagle Claw Bolt thrower is the only artillery unit available to the High Elves but there’s something special about it. You can choose it’s ammo. It has 2 modes to choose from, the first is a simple bolt that is better for larger of more armoured targets such as Lords and heroes. The second is a multi shot that is better for taking out large clumps of infantry with a less piercing but more balanced shot. It’s best to choose your ammo per target to get the most out of this unit and if done correctly you can rack up an ungodly number of kills with it. I take 2 with me in my armies until the end as the high range and damage make them well worth the slots.

At last we come to the regiments of renown and I’m going to go into a little more detail than usual to give you a better idea of what the differences are.

Firstly are the Scions of Mathlann which are a spear men unit. They are given a magical aura which grants +12 damage resist to themselves and units around them. They also have better leadership and melee attack and defence.

The Puremane Company are a White Lions of Chrace unit and they also get a magical aura but theirs grants +15% physical resistance. They also have sundered armour attacks which give the unit they’re attacking -30 armour for 10 seconds on hit and finally they have the same stat improvements as Scions.

The Keepers of the Flame are a Phoenix Guard unit and are equipped with the Mask of Asuryan. This means that when they’re killed, their killer is quote “engulfed by asuryan’s flames”. Once again they have the same stat improvements and also gain magical attacks.

The Storm Riders and a Lorthern Sea Guard unit that are granted vanguard deployment, the ability to fire whilst moving, the regular stat improvements with an additional buff to missile damage and also the ability to cause fear.

The Grey are a Shadow-warriors unit that are given the “Snipe” trait which allows them to remain hidden whilst firing. They also have the ability “Loec’s shroud” which grants them +24% speed, stalk and they become unspottable. Finally they also get the same stat buffs as the Storm Riders.

The Everqueen’s Court Guards are a Sisters of Averlorn unit the give a leadership bonus to any units near them, an improved power recharge rate and the same stat buffs as the other ranged units.

The Fireborn are a Dragon Prince unit and are granted several traits. They become and anti-large unit and now have flaming attacks as well as the usual stat buffs.

Army Roster Analysis (Part #4)

Finally we have the Heralds of the Wind which are an Ellyrian Reaver bow unit. They are now decent melee combatants as well as getting buffs in nearly every category as you can see.

That concludes this section of the guide on the Empire armies. The next section will cover the lords and heroes and what they can do for you both in the campaign and on the battlefield.

Lords & Heroes in Campaign & Battle (Part #1)

Welcome to part 3 of my High Elf race Guide. In this section we’ll be talking about the lords and heroes that are available to the High Elves and what they can do for you in campaign as well as battle.

As I mentioned previously there are 4 faction of High Elves currently available to play as, and they each have their own Legendary Lord to go with them. Which you pick will make some minor and major differences to how they play. Some of these differences have been covered in my previous videos so check out the card if you want to see that.

Onto the Legendary Lords and first up is Tyrion of Lorthern. He gives the faction +20 relations with High Elves, -50% construction cost for shrine of Khaine buildings and -1 recruitment duration for infantry and cavalry. He also grants -50% upkeep for spear men, archers and silver helms in his army as well as +3 recruit rank for Lorthern Sea Guard. He has the starting units of Silver Helms with shields, Ithilmar Chariots and White Lions of Chrace. The climate preference of Lorthern is Frozen, Savannah and Island are habitable, Temperate, Mountain, Magical Forest and Jungle are unpleasant, and Wasteland, Ocean, Chaotic Wasteland and Desert are uninhabitable. In battle Tyrion on has access to one mount: Malhandir and he has the abilities Foe-Seeker, Stand your Ground and Feint and Riposte. He is an armoured duellist and a melee expert so while he is best suited for fighting against other lords and heroes one on one, he can also do a great job in the front lines supporting his troops.

Next up is Teclis who is Tyrion’s brother and more importantly the leader of the Order of the Loremasters. Choosing him grants the faction +10 relations with Men and High Elves and give +5 recruit rank to mages. In battle he gives +30 to the winds of magic reserves and has the bound spell “Fireball”. He starts off with Swordmasters of Hoeth (which is broke as ♥♥♥♥), a Great Eagle and an Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower. Their preference of climate is Savannah, Jungle and Island are habitable, Frozen, Mountain, Magical Forest and Temperate are unpleasant and Wasteland, Ocean, Chaotic Wasteland and Desert are uninhabitable. In battles Teclis only has access to the Barded Ithilmar Steed mount and is a spell caster. He has the abilities Kindleflame, Wild Heart, Shield of Saphery, Greater Arcane Conduit, Potion of Charoi and Bound Fiery Convocation. He has access to the spells, Net of Amyntok, Chain Lightning, Flaming Sword of Ruin, The Enfeebling Foe, Flock of Doom and Regrowth. Being a wizard, Teclis isn’t amazing in combat so is definitely best used to support your troops with spells from the safety of the backline.

Alarielle the Radiant is third and she’s the leader of Averlorn. Choosing her gives the faction effects of +2 capacity for Handmaidens and -75% cost for the Invocation of Isha rite. They also get a bonus for how much of Ulthuan is controlled by High Elves in the form of public order, construction cost, relations with other High Elves and income from buildings. While this is very powerful, it can also be a detriment if the island isn’t totally under control. Alarielle has some bonuses of her own too as she leaves lingering bonuses on any region she passes through but over the course of the game she gets weaker as chaos gets stronger. She starts with Sisters of Averlorn, Tree Kin and Dryads in her army. The climate preference of Averlorn is Frozen, Savannah, Magical Forest and Island are habitable, Temperate, Wasteland, Mountain and Jungle are unpleasant and Ocean, Chaotic Wasteland and Desert are uninhabitable. In battle she has 3 choices of mounts: the Elven Steed, Barded Ithilmar Steed and a Great Eagle. She is also a spell caster with access to the spells Pha’s protection, Banishment, Earth Blood, Shield of Thorns, Tempest and Arcane Unforging. Finally she has the abilities Life Bloom, Shield of Saphery, Boon of Isha and Arcane Conduit. In battle she’s best used in the back lines so she can support troops with spells but she can take on some weaker units in melee if it comes to it.

The final Legendary Lord leading the final faction is Alith Anar of Nagarythe. His faction is granted -1 recruitment time to all units in global recruitment, +10% campaign move range to all armies and he is also given unique assassinations missions which, if completed, give you gold, influence and temporary faction-wide buffs. His army is given +25% ambush chance and -50% upkeep for shadow walkers and his starting army has Shadow-walkers, Spearmen and a Great Eagle. Their climate preference is Wasteland and Frozen are habitable, Temperate, Savannah, Mountain, Magical Forest, Jungle and Island are unpleasant and Ocean, Chaotic Wasteland and Desert are uninhabitable. He has no access to mounts or spells but he does have the abilities Darken the Skies, Slippery and Mislead as well as having a good range, armour-piercing missiles and vanguard deployment. Its best to let him use all of his ammo before sending him into melee but he should fair well no matter what you do.

The High Elves only have 2 none legendary lords and they’re pretty similar in most aspects. First is the Prince who is an armoured and shielded melee expert with access to 4 mounts: the Elven Steed, Great Eagle, Sun Dragon. and Star Dragon. They also have the abilities Foe-seeker, Deadly Onslaught and Stand you Ground and are best used in the front lines of you battles to support your units in melee. Once you get their dragon mounts though, be sure to use the breath abilities before landing and getting locked in melee.

The Princess is a Hybrid Weapons unit who is a melee expert and an anti-infantry unit so can be used in many ways to take out front lines. She has the same choice of mounts as the prince but has the abilities Loose, Foe-seeker and Volley of High Arrows. Since she is also ranged its best to let her use all her ammo before getting locked in melee as this will maximise her kills before she has to lose any health.

The High Elves have a good choice of heroes without the options being too complicated to use. They also have a good selection of the magical lores to keep things interesting in battles.

First up are the Handmaidens of the Everqueen. In campaign they can stimulate growth, damage buildings, wound heroes and hinder replenishment of enemy armies. They, as well as all other heroes, can now also increase your chances of discovering Skaven under-cities which is never a bad thing. When embedded in a lords army they speed up the replenishment of casualties so are good to use in armies that are out on invasion as they will need to replenish quickly to maintain pressure. In battles they are equipped with the bows of Averlorn which, as mentioned in part 2 (link in the card), fire armour-piercing missiles which set targets on fire which is never not useful. They’re also anti-large units and have charge defence against large foes so are good at taking out anything bigger than infantry. They have the choice of the Elven Steed or the Barded ithilmar Steed as mounts and have the abilities Quicksilver Shot and Foe-seeker. I like to keep them on the backlines in battle and have them focus down key targets from a range such as lords and heroes or any particularly tough large units. I usually take 1 of them in my army if the lord is not a ranged unit to keep things balanced.

Lords & Heroes in Campaign & Battle (Part #2)

Next up are the Loremasters of Hoeth. In campaign they spread public order, damage walls, wound heroes and hinder replenishment and they provide training when embedded in a lord’s army. Once the training skill has been maxed out they’re great for getting your units to elite status in the span of a few turns without ever having seen battle. In battle they’re armoured and armour-piercing with a bonus against infantry so are great for being in the thick of melee with some tough troops to support your army. They also have access to several spells that will help them support your troops even more. They can use Shem’s Burning Gaze, Harmonic Convergence, Spirit Leech, Melokoth’s Mystifying Miasma…OK, Wyssan’s Wildform and Earth Blood. They also have the abilities Evasion and Foe-seeker and I take one of them with any non-melee lords I have so that I can have someone in the front lines to give leadership.

The mages are next and they are identical in every way but their spells and abilities so I’ll only read it once. In campaign they cleanse local corruption, steal technology, wound heroes and block armies. When embedded in an army they increase the chances of magical item drops and they have 2 choices of mount, Elven Steed and Ithilmar Chariot. The High Mage, not that high, has access to the Lore of High Magic and has the ability Shield of Saphery. The Life Mage has access to the Lore of Life and has the ability Life Bloom. The Light Mage has access to the Lore of Light and has the ability Exorcism. The Shadow Mage has access to the Lore of Shadow and has the ability Smoke & Mirrors. And finally the Heavens Mages has access to the Lore of Heavens and has the ability Roiling Skies. They are all best used in the backline to support troops with offensive and defensive spells and I take 1 of them in any armies with non-spell casting lords.

Finally we come to the Noble. In campaign they can increase trade resources produced, secure influence, assassinate heroes and assault units. In an army they replenish troops and have 3 choices of mounts: Barded Ithilmar Steed, Great Eagle and Ithilmar Chariot. They are armoured and armour-piercing as well as being anti-large and having charge defence against large units. These attributes make them great at taking down larger targets with a lot of armour so are best used to target these. They have the abilities Foe-seeker and Deadly Onslaught and I didn’t really take them in armies as they’re better used as assassins but they would go well with any non-melee lords to provide front line support.

Volodymyr Azimoff
About Volodymyr Azimoff 7946 Articles
I love games and I live games. Video games are my passion, my hobby and my job. My experience with games started back in 1994 with the Metal Mutant game on ZX Spectrum computer. And since then, I’ve been playing on anything from consoles, to mobile devices. My first official job in the game industry started back in 2005, and I'm still doing what I love to do.

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