Empire Players: Arch Lector or General of the Empire?

[demontrace]

In WH2 I enjoyed Arch Lectors for being able to make a pretty good Free Company Militia army, and for their bonuses to the Priest Hero, and the Witch Hunter.

Now they have none of that. In fact they seem very similar to the General except for the fact they have prayers, bombardment, and a higher melee defense than the General. The general, on the other hand, can have 2 different flying mounts, and seems to be a better fighter.

What am I missing here? Is there really much of a point to the Arch Lector?

[MulticornRB]

Your analysis is correct but I’d draw the opposite conclusion: What is the point of the General. He unlocks the flying mounts at lvl 12 and 16. And even then, the is only an ok fighter. The Arch Lector at lvl 4 has access to all his special abilities and bombardment is very hand, ward save and MA buff are both useful as well. I think the Empire General could use some unit buff skills like the Huntsman General.

[capybaras are cool]

arch lector pretty much always beats general ime. theyre tanky and prayers are good. the thing about empire generic lords is that they suck ass as combat characters, so the better offensive stats on the general dont matter that much.

[-Singularity-]

Only real + I can give generals is they can fly, which can be quite nice depending on how you play. They also look cooler.

[demontrace]

I find the flying mounts to be useful for skipping over enemy armies and charging the softer targets.

[Fendelphi]

If you play as the VolksWagon, Arch Lectors are usually best, as they benefit from the factionwide prayer cooldown reduction.
They also benefit from being able to use "low tier" units like Flagellants, FCM and regular Knights with better stats(again, faction bonus), which you can then empower with prayers, for cheap, efficient armies.
This makes them a good choice for a more "grind them down" army doctrine.


The Empire General is a much better duelist and can become a rare(for the Empire) source of Terror, with good mobility. The Empire kind of lacks strong melee duelists(the witch hunter is very squishie and the captain lacks AP), and the General can assist in this role(especially when assisted by a Warrior Priest Hero).
They synergize well with "shock and awe" doctrines.

[DaBa]

I only ever pick generals if I want to create a fast moving army (outriders, cav, demigryphs), otherwise the Arch Lector is just better at supporting the rest of your army. He is tanky, he gets to do some free aoe damage with soulfire, and he can give massive buffs when needed, and IIRC he also has some empire wide buffs in his skill kit. General's only advantage is having a strong, flying mount, that's not good enough in comparison.