Explain how 'Charge' works, please

[LvL 1 Ice Mage]

right, honestly, how does Charge work? do the units do it Automatically, do they have to reach a certain speed / distance before hand? How long does the charge bonus last, is it better to hit the back and plow through them and back into your line, or hit the side and drag on through? I want to learn how to use Cav and Chariot units effectively because most of the time i just, Stick Melee In > Some Ranged units suppress / Some Ranged units flank > lord does lord things > hero does hero things.
I feel like i'm missing out on a good part of the fight by not utilizing these units when I could.

[Elitewrecker PT]

Charging gives you a gradually decreasing temporary bonus to your melee attack and damage starting at your charge bonus stat that lasts around 10s I think.
It also deals some extra damage on impact depending on speed and mass if I'm not mistaken.

[Aleera]

It's a per model modifier, requiring a animation to play. This animation generally speeds up the unit and it will perform a special attack animation, generally a leap. With the modifier being applied for the next 9 seconds, going from full bonus the first hit, to no bonus after 10 seconds. In a direct line. So a attack made 2 seconds made after the charge landed will have 80% of the charge bonus. While a attack made 8 seconds later will have only 20% added.

The charge alone isn't the end all, there are other modifiers at play. The charging unit's mass is calculated with, as well as the general speed it can go. Downhill charges are far more devastating then normal, while uphill charges are barely worth it.

The charge modifier after all is said and done, will only apply the base charge modifier to the model's Melee attack. So a unit with 30 base Melee attack but a charge bonus of 70 will connect with a attack that 100 melee attack modifier, so it can miss.

The weapon strength gets changed with the charge modifier, the mass, the speed etc. The added weapon strength obey's the split in weapon strength for normal attack damage and armor piercing.

Chariots however are different, in the sense they have multiple attacks on their model and when moving will always get their charge bonus, they lack the special animation.

Take Grom the pounch, the wolves upfront have their own attack (not shown on cart) that get the charge bonus, but these wolves do not attack when moving. So do nothing unless you stop moving.
Grom's wheels however do no attacks while he stands still, yet when you move him, they keep doing attacks, which is why he knocks things aside and kills them while you force him through a enemy.
Then there's Groms own model, which has his own attack, which is the one shown on the unit card. If you drive Grom around, you will notice that he will keep swinging his axe, applying his charge bonus as long as he moves.
Sidenote, this is why Volkmar the Grim and Luminarks suck in melee. Only the horses up front attack and not the guy or the wheels.

Be warned, chariots with ranged weapons will NOT hit in melee while you drive through. They simply keep shooting and not get the charge bonus.

Alot of words.

For every unit but chariots you want to attack, then pull out with about 6-8 seconds to optimize charge. (You wont be able, not even top lvl players can do this constantly)
For chariots, you want to force path through enemy unit's.

[AurumHawke]

Originally posted by Tunguska:

Chariots (and some monsters) have collision attacks, which means they hit all units in the way when charging at an enemy. For those to work, they need to have an attack order. When using an unit with collision attacks, you can target enemy units behind the ones you want to hit, and they can deal huge damage to infantry that get in the way of the charge.
Note that the target can't be too far behind the unit you want to run over, they should be close enough for the charge animation to trigger.

Some technicality here, collision attacks are not needed to do collision damage - the attack order is though.
During a collision attack, Weapon Damage (including bonuses) is divided according to collision pool among collided enemies, and Collision Damage is applied at the same time.
If a chariot isn't moving or fails to punch through a formation it's more likely to stop and use its draught attacks instead.

Originally posted by Rianne:

Chariots however are different, in the sense they have multiple attacks on their model and when moving will always get their charge bonus, they lack the special animation.

Chariots usually speed up when charging unless their current speed exceeds their charge speed. Their charge/collision attack is visually non-distinct from their movement though - see the Frost Wyrm's slide for one that is visually distinct.

[LvL 1 Ice Mage]

Thanks all for the great information, this helps a ♥♥♥♥ ton