Any dark elves/orcs troop management tips?

[Ludrik]

Completed Gerald's campaign with relative ease so far (mortar team and longbow were very useful), but dark elves/orc troops just seem weaker compared to their human counterparts.

I usually lock my main troop to enemy infantry and manually control cavalry with archers providing support, but same tactic doesn't seem work with dark elves/orcs.

Should I rely more on magic skills?

[AC11B]

Yes Dark Elves have less HP then Humans, they are faster though and have better magic. Once you get some Cav and Cav Archers you will see how dominate their speed is.

[Regnier575]

If you're going to use cavalry for the dark legion don't bother with the dark elf ones as they're trash. Instead use the orc riders.

my usual line up is orc riders and normal archers. cav archers are pretty mediocre as you don't get elemental boost, theyre only good on a couple of larger levels where you need fast tree of healing

[DrewUniverse]

Originally posted by Regnier575:

If you're going to use cavalry for the dark legion don't bother with the dark elf ones as they're trash. Instead use the orc riders.

my usual line up is orc riders and normal archers. cav archers are pretty mediocre as you don't get elemental boost, theyre only good on a couple of larger levels where you need fast tree of healing

Sorta this. I have used Dark Elf Cavalry for quick Tree of Healing and they can function well enough to complete the campaign, but it's usually not enough time savings to warrant the troop slot. Dark Elf Cav have to be led by a Dark Elf leader, whose equipment is mostly focused on elemental boosts. Since Dark Elf Cav won't have skill slots for elemental stuff, the gear slots are pretty wasteful on a cav unit in that regard.

I also prefer Orc Axe Riders. An Orc officer like Parak or Horg gets Frontal bonus built into their store-bought melee weaponry (Leader's weapon skills apply to troop, except elemental skills IIRC). The Troop melee weapon also gives frontal bonus, and the Harness gear increases riding skill. Dark Elf Cav doesn't get riding or frontal gear bonuses. There is slightly superior defensive gear for the orc rider troop as well (resists). As an aside: if you use Orc riders in the final campaign, there is a hilarious voice line when they enter melee and I never get tired of it!

[Ludrik]

Thank you all!

[DarkCow]

DrewUniverse : what was the hilarious line plz ? ^^

[DrewUniverse]

Originally posted by DarkCow:

DrewUniverse : what was the hilarious line plz ? ^^

RIDERS GETTIN' DOWN AND DIRTY!

[Sneakimus]

Orc Riders are better in terms of health and damage, but I would make a case for the Dark Elf cavalry to have an edge in terms of support and sustainability.

Healing with the Tree of Illusion is more economical in terms of SP and less micro-intensive than the Orc's self heal, allowing the Dark Elf cavalry to easier sit on an enemy unit for longer without assistance and pin them down, but they truly come into their own element on larger maps where you support a larger army, and a Tree of Illusion plopped down between 4 friendly units can be a gamechanger, not to mention their speed that means while they might not charge as hard as orcs, they'll charge more often.

Still though, if any unit could use a buff it'd be the D. Cav. The fact they don't have access to equipment boosting their frontal feels like a giant oversight.

On the other hand, 2x Heavy Orc Riders on Regnier's missions is a glorious sight~