Empire Halberds : Useful or waste of money ?

[Serious Ludd]

Since i play, i sometime see someones saying that the Empire Halberds sucks ♥♥♥. On the other hand, i sometime see somebody saying that the Empire Halberds are great.

So, what's up with this unit ? I don't really understand why she is so discussed.

They seems to have solid stats, anti-large and anti-armor, but not armored themselves. Still great at holding lines and dealing damages.

[goka9696]

They are basically upgraded spearmen.

If you want the cheapest version simply for taking down cavalry and giants, go with spearmen

Want them to have survivability? Take a shielded one

Want all of that plus ability to actually fight properly against sword-wielding foes? Get halbediers.

[Garudazeno]

They are like naginata samurai of Shogun 2, not especially good against anything, but not particularly bad either.

[Atlas]

They're a really good unit in my opinion. They're cheap, have armour piercing, have charge defence and deal more damage against large foes, and can also reliably go against most infantry. I use them a lot, and they do a really good job.

[miqz]

Cheap infantry with anti large,charge defense and armor piercing just means they are solid

[chronobomb]

The problem is that they attack very slow compared to spearmen so most prefer the Shielded spears unless you are fighting chaos.

[LordFacepalm]

They have a specific purpose and for that purpose they are amazing; they are for taking out large AND armored units.... There are not many units in the game that are both large AND armored, a few Calvary units come to mind, but you will never be able to engage Calvary with infantry, so I only keep 1 unit (maybe 2 max if I'm against a heavy Calvary army) of Halbs in my army to help defend against Calvary charges.

[rhettrongun]

Originally posted by Fighting_Fetus:

They have a specific purpose and for that purpose they are amazing; they are for taking out large AND armored units.... There are not many units in the game that are both large AND armored, a few Calvary units come to mind, but you will never be able to engage Calvary with infantry, so I only keep 1 unit (maybe 2 max if I'm against a heavy Calvary army) of Halbs in my army to help defend against Calvary charges.

Armored trolls come to mind. I know chaos brings them with their elite armies late game. Not sure about greenskins.

Another would be terrorgheists.

[[EL] The Emperor of Mankind]

Overall Halberdiers, Swordsmen and Great Swords are the staple melee infantry units for the Empire. Halberdiers specifically are wonderful at holding the main battle line while the rest of your army flanks for the final attack.

I always have four of them in my army compositions just because of how cheap, and reliable they are!

Spearmen, and their shielded variants are lackluster in every comparison. Campaign wise the same thing goes. Never spend money on units you will end up phasing out within the first 20 turns.

[emcdunna]

In campaign, yeah. But in multiplayer, I don't see how you would ever wanna use halberdiers when you can get spearmen for less than half the cost. Maybe they don't earn many kills, but they are sooooo cheap and they hold the line pretty decently.

Halberds are weird, IMO. I think they can be good, but they can easily not be cost effective (compared to twice as many spearmen)

[[EL] The Emperor of Mankind]

Originally posted by emcdunna:

In campaign, yeah. But in multiplayer, I don't see how you would ever wanna use halberdiers when you can get spearmen for less than half the cost. Maybe they don't earn many kills, but they are sooooo cheap and they hold the line pretty decently.

Halberds are weird, IMO. I think they can be good, but they can easily not be cost effective (compared to twice as many spearmen)

They shine in multiplayer... I never even consider the other units... $650 is cheap in all honesty...

[goumindong]

Shielded spears are your primary line. Best armor and highest melee defense. Swords are OK in a pinch but the point of the line is to hold. Use them to flank before you get Gswords.

Halberders are worse on the line compared to spears but super necessary to kill cavalry. Keep a unit near your arty/ranged to block cav.

[chef]

I always take 3 or 4

[Shad]

Halbediers are not particularly good, but they are not particularly bad. Armor Piercing+Anti large means they are solid against the majority of enemy troops and very good against the most dangerous ones. It's just a shame they have so little armor.

[Alex]

Speak for yoruself. I broke Archaon's army in a small town. I had two halberdier units holding the gate with support from a pistoleer unit. Both units went down but they took with them almost THREE chaos giants. I have the replay saved.