Best starter traits for Lords/Generals?

[Corvus_Alt1]

I'm trying to figure out how traits like Honorable compare to Humble or Blood Feud, or how Charismatic compares to Disfiguring Scar or Military Heritage.

[Chibbity]

Depdends what your end goal is for the lord is.

I find the traits are a good starting point to base the lords build on, like if he has +leadership for example, I'd do a hold the line/leadership aura type of build.

[Corvus_Alt1]

Interesting idea. Any chance you have ideas for specific builds or roles? For example, what would you pick for a Reiksmarshal? Additionally, which would you think is better, charismatic or blood feud or military heritage?

[Chibbity]

Originally posted by Corvus917:

Interesting idea. Any chance you have ideas for specific builds or roles? For example, what would you pick for a Reiksmarshal? Additionally, which would you think is better, charismatic or blood feud or military heritage?

Well since the traits are random, I typically just go off of what I'm given and make the most of it.

Blood feud: I'm not crazy about it, the bonuses only affect the lord. Who already has high Melee attack and Leadership to begin with.
Charasmatic: Pretty good, leadership aura buffs are always good and they synergize well with all the leadership aura size/strength buffs.
Military Heritage: Decent, the leadership bonus isn't terribly big (+2 versus the +6 you get with charasmatic.) but it does affect the whole army regardless of where the lords aura is which is nice.

Personally I'd take Charasmatic over the other two, but maybe that just comes down to playstyle.

[Tropicdragon]

Considering all other traits have upgraded versions I wish Starter Traits could also change in the 2nd game. That way starter Traits would probably matter more since even if they are a bonus other traits seem to have a bigger impact on a Lord.

[harleyquinrazer]

I only pick traits which I know the Lord will use even if he's past level 30. So the combat line of traits is always good for fighting Lords (they'll be fighting anyway so might as well pick one which helps them). Blood Feud and Choleric are the ones I look out for.

Wizard Lords can pick up supposedly negative traits like maimed arm and get away with it (-6 attack but whole army gets +3 defence, your wizard lord isn't exactly made for fighting).

The aura starting traits are good since they'll stack with traits like confident attacker etc. which will allow the lord's aura to cover an entire army without the need for heroes to fill in the gaps.

Defensive lords who do nothing but sit in provinces need magnanimous to be worth the increased upkeep cost for all armies. Only worthwhile for Bretonnia which doesn't have supply line problems, not my style of play for any other faction.

[JX83]

For Chaos, Infernal Dominance:
+5 MA for all units in the army

For non-Chaos, Ugly:
-1 PO
-5 leadership (enemies in local region)

Pair up the ugly lord with heroes that have disfiguring scar (-3 leadership for enemies in local region).

Maimed Arm is also very good. The -6 MA for the lord alone is well worth +3 MD for the entire army.

[drazan]

i make a lord with as much buffs i can get
then i add a hero with asmuch negative effects i can get

i equip the lord with asmany items that give positive effects



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an empire captain with certain traits, can lower enemy leadership within the location. the same empire captain gives his own troops leaderships with hold the line (so we allready make a 9 points difference with the enemy here from -5 to +4)

i then give that same empire captain specific items, to give even more negative effects in battle like the tormenter sword http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=917645669 lowering the meelee attack in a radius by a massive -34 AND immbobilize them, this is perfect!! the options to complelty shoot the crap out of retreating units with handgunners, or locking units in place and making them hit worse then zombies (meelee attack) is just amazing

give him an extra helm of discord http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=917646087 and we have more debuffs! -36 meelee defence, -34 meelee attack and -30 armour.. holy fck insane right?

there are so many items that give such effects, like the sword of bane i believe which lowers meelee attack by -8 for all enemies within range
you just have to be lucky to get such items ^^

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so a buffing lord, with a defuffing hero this works great for gelt and the likes, where the hero can fight the enemy lord with ease

[harleyquinrazer]

I thought the tormentor sword immobilises the hero/lord using the item, not those under its effect.

[drazan]

Originally posted by harleyquinrazer:

I thought the tormentor sword immobilises the hero/lord using the item, not those under its effect.

gives the same effect as the net of amyntok "cannot move"

[harleyquinrazer]

Should try it next time. Picked it up but never equipped it because I didn't want my lord/hero stuck and unable to fight back while the special debuff was in effect.

[drazan]

Originally posted by harleyquinrazer:

Should try it next time. Picked it up but never equipped it because I didn't want my lord/hero stuck and unable to fight back while the special debuff was in effect.

ye i try to allways use such items

1 time i got a rare cloack, that lowered enemy damage resistance by 20%

there are alot of items that gives buffs/debuffs some of which are really strong

[Sultschiem]

Valaya's Blood (-15% construction cost) for dwarves is an awesome trait for a defense-lord. A lord that you use to defend your territories while your legendary lord goes out and conquers.

You also give him mason and then focus him on auras, so he not only MASSIVELY reduces construction costs, but he buffs up your defending forces, making your territories almost impossible for the ai to attack succesfully.

If your province is fully developed (including walls ofc) you move to the next, you may even conquer with him and build up new provinces quickly in combination with an engineer and the additional 10% from the commandment you can have up to 60% price reduction and more.

[Corvus_Alt1]

Thanks for the replies everyone! The tips are definitely going to be helpful, thank you.

[Scribbled]

also look at the faction specific traits. Insofar as I remember the dwarven traits are very weak while say the wood elf ones are amazing. Traits that buff/debuff an entire army are very powerful so as others have said traits like maimed arm are very desirable. But dont forget that whatever traits they pick up from fighting will be more important overall.