Leveling your 3rd Hero

[entireleaves]

So the problem with getting my third hero seems to be that my leader and my other heroes are now levels 4-5. Bringing a level 0 squishy caster type does not seem to do well. Especially as he has no spells but when the AI matches him the enemies version of the third hero seems to have his full retinue of spells.

In my Skaven campaign no matter what I did to try to protect him some two hand using bruiser would run up and one shot my poor Eshin Sorcerer. So then I was down a guy but the rest of my troops had to deal with a full strength magic using hero on the enemies side. Needless to say it was a bit rough.

I started over a witch hunter campaign and am doing really well (third time is a charm). But I don't want to go through the same issue. The rune priest is a bit sturdier than the sorcerer but he is still level 0. And I do not have near enough gold to buy a higher level merc.

So I noticed that it seems you can hire a new level 0 leader in a reserve slot for only 80 gold. Could I do that and then swap him out in a reserve slot with my old leader and then run a few missions with 4 or 5 lowbies to help level them up. Or if you hire a new leader do you lose your old one? Do NOT want that to happen obviously!

Thanks! On my third campaign and have gotten better with each go. At 100% success rate with these Witch Hunters so I don't want to mess it up.

[Warlord]

You can switch whenever.

What you're supposed to do is in the beginning is have a main force and an alternate you also switch out to level up together. This way all your troops are around the same rank, unless you have to replace them of course.

Just be aware that when you bring lower level troops into missions the AI will seek them out intentionally because they are the weakest link.

[entireleaves]

Yeah one of the things that is making my Witch Hunter campaign more successful is I realized the power of reserve troops to take the place of those that are out of action. My first two campaigns I didn't understand how that would be useful.

I tried this out on my Skaven campaign and while it does work is one problem is that when you get your caster you only have 5 reserve slots. So you might not be able to reserve all of your stronger guys and start out with all lowbies. But it shouldn't be too bad because most people will have lost some henchmen and have a few weaker ones.

Then another trick is actually getting the caster to be able to last hit things for bonus exp. My Runpriest hits like a truck with a two hand hammer so that might work out but the poor little rat sorcerer is not that strong. Might be tricky.

And of course there is the matter of shipments to worry about. Have to make sure you don't get behind.

[cantila1]

Just save up gold and use it on ahired sword caster - problem solved and a lot of time saved :)

[That Drunk Fellow]

Originally posted by cantila1:

Just save up gold and use it on ahired sword caster - problem solved and a lot of time saved :)

Easier said than done early game when still trying to buy skills for all the guys you are levelling plus that is assuming you can get one that is not having a lot of severe injuries already.
Never rely on "Just hire a levelled hired sword" in my personal opinion, cause its all up to RNG.

but yes it does work if you get lucky to get a decent guy.

[MrPyro]

Originally posted by entireleaves:

Yeah one of the things that is making my Witch Hunter campaign more successful is I realized the power of reserve troops to take the place of those that are out of action. My first two campaigns I didn't understand how that would be useful.

I tried this out on my Skaven campaign and while it does work is one problem is that when you get your caster you only have 5 reserve slots. So you might not be able to reserve all of your stronger guys and start out with all lowbies. But it shouldn't be too bad because most people will have lost some henchmen and have a few weaker ones.

Then another trick is actually getting the caster to be able to last hit things for bonus exp. My Runpriest hits like a truck with a two hand hammer so that might work out but the poor little rat sorcerer is not that strong. Might be tricky.

And of course there is the matter of shipments to worry about. Have to make sure you don't get behind.

Skaven Sorceror gets reasonable Ballistic Skill and can equip Warplock Pistols. Have him hang around at the back and get last hit via shooting.

Most of the arcane casters in the game are also pretty good shooters in a pinch.

[Naughty Mouse]

Or save your money, and buy one higher level when he becomes availible.

[uddhava]

Originally posted by Drunk N' Deadly:

Originally posted by cantila1:

Just save up gold and use it on ahired sword caster - problem solved and a lot of time saved :)

Easier said than done early game when still trying to buy skills for all the guys you are levelling plus that is assuming you can get one that is not having a lot of severe injuries already.
Never rely on "Just hire a levelled hired sword" in my personal opinion, cause its all up to RNG.

but yes it does work if you get lucky to get a decent guy.

Its difficult for sure but generally I wouldnt bother with skills untill your guys are around rank 8 anyway. Barring quick reload and WoS and Sidestep. Oh and okay, skills that lower curse and wrath chance

But other than that: save the money.

[SlaineMor]

I would second uddhava other than picking up an isult on you fastest flagelant then zeal on the second - made a huge difference for me! and if you revert to your skaven, the warpguards work well as tanks with heavy armour!

[entireleaves]

I have been focusing on getting a few useful skills for my leader and a few of the heroes. So far none of my henchmen have any skills even though some of them actually are higher level than my leader!

On my Witch Hunter campaign I found it useful to defend a point and have henchmen blocking all paths that could possibly lead to the warrior priests (I have two now) and other squishy targets. Worked very well the last mission I played even with a new level 0 warrior priest.

[Naughty Mouse]

Remember, if you really get in trouble, do not start a new warband, but just remove all the blue/purple stuff from your guys, fire them.
You can now buy a base team for as little as Leader 80, 3 Hench = 45 total of 125 gold.
Now just put all those nice blue/purple items on them and play a few battles till they are level 2.
Then put them in reserve, buy another leader and 3 heros (about 200 to 230 gold).
Play them untill they Level 2 also. then start switching them around, train the ones in reserve. Keep the team a 4 man team, and you will be able to deploy them together in more missions. Only scatter and building setups may split a 4 man team.
by doing things you can level a team up, while keeping your training up on the guys in the reserve. Having two leaders is important for this, as you do not want to sit around an wait for your leader to heal if he took a hit.
Also by equiping your level 0 guys with blue and purple stuff, the enemy will match it with sam level guys, but also equip them with blue/purple stuff, so you make allot of cash looting them.

[5oL]

Hi, I like your approach Naughty Mouse. The idea to "mule" the good items is great! Also I agree on leveling with 4 man squads, but I want to add a little idea of my own.

When leveling a single new character in an old warband i run a few hard+ Wyrdstone Rush missions (preferably poor/poor). I'll take along my 3 best guys and the newbie. After completing the bonus objective and winning the mission you will receive at least 7 xp for your little baby (3xp for the bonus objective, +2xp for underdog bonus and 2xp for surviving the mission).

That way your new blood will soon be a fearsome warrior!

I hope it helped. Have fun!