Late Game Tips?

[Phil85]

I heard that late game you don't need skills like killing frenzy and beserk on your 2h damage dealers. I also heard that you really do need path finder and the fatigue restoring perk. Do you need alot of eagle eye archers as well? Any other tips?

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Phil85:

I heard that late game you don't need skills like killing frenzy and beserk on your 2h damage dealers. I also heard that you really do need path finder and the fatigue restoring perk. Do you need alot of eagle eye archers as well? Any other tips?

I think Berserk is essential, because you get to attack twice with a kill - or get in position to immediately swing the next turn instead of moving. In my experience, Killing Frenzy is indeed not essential. You can make up the damage difference with unique weapons alone, for instance. Pathfinder is necessary perhaps not for all but for most of your characters. I have it on all except on 2H damage dealers. But they have Adrenaline, which can serve as a Pathfinder replacement in some circumstances, as it too can give you extra movement. I found Recovery totally unnecessary on ranged units and of marginal value on all other units except Sergeants. But keep in mind that I play really long games where my characters all ultimately achieve 20-plus levels; I also rigorously weed out my recruits to limit the keepers to absolutely top recruits. So they mostly have a huge starting Fatigue pool and/or Strong/Iron Lungs to begin with.

Edit: I saw your edit. No, you do not need Eagle Eye archers, but this depends on whether you go down the Nimble path or not. But if you go the Nimble path, you would be advised to take only archer recruits with the Strong Trait.

[Phil85]

Thanks for the help Lampros. I may end up leaving out the killing frenzy in my new damage guys. The two I'm using now have it and they are lvl 9. I just don't want to get to end game having to start from scratch with new recruits.

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Phil85:

Thanks for the help Lampros. I may end up leaving out the killing frenzy in my new damage guys. The two I'm using now have it and they are lvl 9. I just want to get to end game having to start from scratch with new recruits.

Once again, circumstances is king. More specifically, it critically depends on whether you plan on longer games or not. In my case I always play 500-plus day games if I can help it; in that context, you will almost always obtain enough 2H uniques to go around (I had 2 each of 2H swords and 2H hammers by 150 days or so). But if you want to retire after the first crisis, then you may need Killing Frenzy.

[Mr. Z]

I always get killing frenzy on my damage dealers. 25% damage can be the difference between 1 hit killing someone and 2 hit, and getting the kill off is important to trigger berserk.

[Phil85]

Maybe it depends on how long you play then. Taking on 50 goblins may require path finder more so than killing frenzy.
Also, how many archers vs crossbowmen do you need late game?

[anaphylactic god]

pathfinder is good if you fight on swamp or just like climbing mountains
on other hand: you can pick killing frenzy, lead ork warboss into goblins camp and like...i dont know.
bath in their blood?

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Phil85:

Maybe it depends on how long you play then. Taking on 50 goblins may require path finder more so than killing frenzy.

Yes, once again, context is king. If you want to do the Black Monolith or the Goblin City, you can forget about it without Pathfinder - if they are located in bad terrain. But if you are one of those one-Crisis-and-I-am-done people, then you do not need Pathfinder.

Originally posted by Phil85:

Also, how many archers vs crossbowmen do you need late game?

I use 2 archers and 1 crossbows (crossbows are always triple hybrids - crossbowmen/pikemen/off-Sergeants) or 2 archers only.

Originally posted by anaphylactic god:

pathfinder is good if you fight on swamp or just like climbing mountains
on other hand: you can pick killing frenzy, lead ork warboss into goblins camp and like...i dont know.
bath in their blood?

The way I see it is: There are some encounters that cannot be done without Pathfinder. In contrast, there is no encounter that cannot be done without Killing Frenzy.

[Phil85]

How do you lead orcs into a goblin camp exactly?

[Lampros]

Originally posted by Phil85:

How do you lead orcs into a goblin camp exactly?

It's not a tactic that always works. What he is describing is a tactic where you let a group of enemies chase you, and then you lead them into a different group of enemies. This tactic is generally used when you cannot take on a particular group of enemies alone (frequently used when attempting to take the Black Monolith or the Goblin City). You then hope that the two group of enemies will primarily beat on each other - rather than you - and that you subsequently can "clean up" the remainder. But there are many variables that make this tactic not always workable.

[Pringles™]

unique orc cleaver, duelist, killing frenzy and berserk can net you a whole ton of dmg per turn ;)
Goes super well with high initiative and dodge, too!