What are balanced High Elf armies

[Konstantin]

I somehow get confused on what you should compose your armies as high elves.
I have seen now some interferring saying like as AA always go for full Shadow Warriors/ SW are only early good use something else ASAP.
Or just use Seeguard with shield.
So can anyone help me?

[MeDaDaddy]

It really depends on your faction within that race.

Alith gets a cost reduction for SW so yeah why not fill his army up with them as soon as you can?*

Tyrion gets a cost reduction for basic units, so why not (use basic units)*

Teclis gets a buff on level of Mage so get a Mage building up and get some Mages!*

Arielle is just luvverly and don't you dare dish her :)

EDIT:

* But you will need a siege unit too.

A "decent" standard setup, IMO, for everyone but Alith would be many spears, many archers, a Bolt-thrower or more, and at least a Pheonix.

Once you unlock Heroes, a Life Mage (optional), an Incendiary Handmaid, a fecund/conductor Loremaster (or why not 2 of each?), 3 or 4 Sisters ..that's when you may want to consider 6 or so Sea Guards (or whatever and 2 spears for the flanks).

But, it really depends on which HE faction, IMO.

And difficulty level, since on harder difficulties you may only have 1 permanent army for ages.

And how many Fecund Loremasters you can fit in there to do melee stuffs or Conductor Loremasters to assist your Caster lord.

[wrought82]

if you dont want a specialized army its basically anything? a few of every unit type, 5-10 of infantry melee/ranged seems to be what ppl call balanced. i much prefer every army to have a unique specialty tho

[RCMidas]

And you should absolutely spam as many crap 0 Influence Nobles as possible for the sole purpose of using them to farm Influence against enemy settlements. That way you can afford actually good Lords and Heroes.

[Selrach]

early HE army go with basic spearmen and archer 1 balista 1-2 great eagle and , 1-2 unit of cav if you feel like it.
HE archer have a great range, be sure to abuse it

For mid game you can swap some of your spearman with the following :

White lion are a bit lacking but they provide some good Armor piercing damage, even if i generaly prefere to add another eagle instead (eagle are one of the best HE unit)
Some people like to replace all their archer and spearmen with lothern Sea garde, but the true is that they are an hybride unit which is barely as good as those unit in their respective role. It is good to have some for the flexibility they provide but they simply cost much more to maintain than basic unit that they are no good in the long term.
Shadow warrior can be a good unit if you play Alith as a lord because he got bonus for them but else they mostly serve as a skirmisher. (have one in your army to bait big monster)
You can replace your eagle (or add to them) with phoenix always fun to any party
And forget about using chariot as a new player, they are simply useless if you don't use them rigth

For later game :

sister of alverone (or something) are one of the best ranged unit of the game but you need a DLC to acess them, rushing them is always a good idea (replace all your archer with them)
Swordmaster of hoet are your line crusher but they take a lot of damage from ranged attack (despite the fact that they parry arrow) so make sure to protect them
Phoenix garde will tear down any monster or cav in the game, but like the sword master they have no shield so beward of ennemy archer/artillery
so keep 1 or 2 spearmen to agrro ennemy fire
Dragon prince are exellente heavy cavalery unit you should use once you have acess to them but they cost a lot. Still they are cavalery so don't use them alone (replace your cav)
Dragon are one of best Aerial unit of the game but they also cost a lot. Even if they pack a punch they can be surprizingly fragile when at melee, so don't except them to wrek army by themselve (replace your eagle/pheonix with them)

Ho and don't forget to have a mage in your army (heaven is my pesonnal favorite)

PS : Balista is the only artillery of HE (bit strange for people supposed to be at the apex of technology and culture but what do i know?) it is not the best piece of artillery of the game (so you only realy need one per army and no more) but it got 2 firing mod, 1 for big units and 1 for footmen. By default it use its anti-big unit mod. You will want it to be anti-footmen

[RCMidas]

High Elves have dragons and disdain gunpowder. A ballista is the only artillery piece they need, and is the only one elegant enough to suit them - trebuchets are too primitive.

Remember, being a highly cultured race around doesn't mean you are intelligent, wise, or in any way pleasant or benevolent. It just means your people have lived and worked the longest at making a society to suit your singular tastes.

[MeDaDaddy]

Also, as RCMidas alludes to, it depends on the Lord you hire for that army.

Excellent Lords for the HE is a "Punitive" trait, whereby enemy armies locally have a 10% mallus to missile resistance, and missile troops with the Lord do an extra 20% damage.

It makes sense, with this Lord to have mostly missile folks, but the Lord will cost you 60 Influence (earned via the Nobles and events). SO...this Lord could have a few Sisters, a few Seaguard, a Dragon or 2 (or 4!), some Handmaidens and a Loremaster or 2 would make up its melee line, since its damage comes from ranged.

If your Lord had a different Trait, it may make sense to fit its army with the troops that benefit from the Trait.

EDIT: My Arielle late game army ...don't you dare!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2075366769

EDIT 2: My Teclis Mortal Empires army at early-mid

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2075373275

[Selrach]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

High Elves have dragons and disdain gunpowder. A ballista is the only artillery piece they need, and is the only one elegant enough to suit them - trebuchets are too primitive.

Remember, being a highly cultured race around doesn't mean you are intelligent, wise, or in any way pleasant or benevolent. It just means your people have lived and worked the longest at making a society to suit your singular tastes.

Well yeah but what stop them from making Magiteck cannon? Skaven can do them from warpstone, lizarmen have some too (yeah i know they don't excatly make them) those don't use gunpowder only magique, HE could have made one for themselve. Or you know BIGGER balista!
;)

[RCMidas]

"Inelegant. Ungraceful. The conception of an inferior mind, unable to appreciate elven beauty."

Again, intelligence and wisdom are NOT innate to a highly cultured civilisation. A ballista will suffice for the infantry, and phoenixes or dragons can do the rest. Or a mage. High Elves are arrogant, smug, sanctimonious, narcissistic, racist, xenophobic pillocks. They just happen to be very skilled at what they do and are slightly less monstrous than some other races on the planet.

Caveat: High and Dark Elves are the same race. Wood Elves are slightly removed, since their spirits are symbiotically bound to Athel Loren.

[Tritium]

My late game army with Tyrion was as follows:

- Tyrion.
- 1 Mage.
- 6 Phoenix Guard.
- 6 Sisters of Avelorn. (Queen & Crone DLC) (Lothern Sea guard work too)
- 2 Dragon Princes.
- 2 Eagle Claw Bolt Throwers.
- 2 Dragons.

This setup is what got me through the campaign.

[franz]

My late game army with Tyrion was as follows:

Tyrion AND the sword of khaine , against the world.

[MeDaDaddy]

Originally posted by Tritium-X:

My late game army with Tyrion was as follows:

- Tyrion.
- 1 Mage.
- 6 Phoenix Guard.
- 6 Sisters of Avelorn. (Queen & Crone DLC) (Lothern Sea guard work too)
- 2 Dragon Princes.
- 2 Eagle Claw Bolt Throwers.
- 2 Dragons.

This setup is what got me through the campaign.

That's a solid setup too.

For me, you could have a couple of Loremasters (Looter/Conductor/Fecund) in there with Disciple of Pheonix followers (to buff the Mage & Winds and to give extra cash and the Fecund Loremasters regenerate) to replace some Guard and some Incendiary Handmaidens (charge bonus) to replace some Sisters/Princes.

With that loadout you have a lot of units that can be buffed via Tech, but they all need different techs.

[MeDaDaddy]

Originally posted by gg:

My late game army with Tyrion was as follows:

Tyrion AND the sword of khaine , against the world.

lol
Yeah that works too :)

EDIT: here was my Tyrion army last time I played him, not what I want for him but haven't had a chance to switch out.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2075398788

[kekkuli]

Well why not go something like some swordmasters/phoenix guards, few dragons and maybe dragon princes, mage, and rest sisters. That what i usually use and it's been working well. Though i don't usually play on legendary so it's not required to go full cheese.

[MeDaDaddy]

Originally posted by kekkuli:

Well why not go something like some swordmasters/phoenix guards, few dragons and maybe dragon princes, mage, and rest sisters. That what i usually use and it's been working well. Though i don't usually play on legendary so it's not required to go full cheese.

Tyrion (even without Widowmaker) and a couple of loremasters is all the melee you need really, to my mind, for that faction but yes I absolutely accept that there are many ways to play.

But the Loremasters are just such great melee heroes......

[Insane Scientist]

A good & balanced army for high elves will depend on many things like what subfaction you're playing, is your lord a legendary lord, if they're a normal lord what trait do they have, and what campaign/battle difficulty do you use.

If you play on legendary difficulty with very hard battles then unit stats will be skewed and your melee units won't do well at all in combat with other units unless they have a big advantage over the enemy somehow, a lot of people tend to just spam sisters of Avelorn or star dragons on this difficulty and this would trounce any lower difficulties too. So you would start early game armies with archer spam, at least one bolt thrower for siege towers in your armies, then upgrade to Sisters of Avelorn with maybe a few dragons, at least one mage and maybe another hero like a noble or handmaiden too.

I personally don't find this a fun way to play though and like using balanced armies and varied compositions, for this reason I play exclusively on normal battle difficulty regardless of campaign difficulty so all units perform like they should stat wise more similar to multiplayer. My general late game army composition for high elves is like this:
High Elf Princess on Star Dragon with red line army buffs for archers and elite infantry
1 Loremaster of Hoeth (for utility, healing, and dueling enemy heroes)
1 Mage (Preferably Light since it synergises great with archers)
2x Swordmasters of Hoeth (for cutting through enemy inf. quickly and countering elites)
4x Phoenix Guard (For holding the line for archers and countering large units)
6x Sisters of Avelorn (main army damage source & focus fire deleting high threats)
1x Dragon Princes (for cycle charging infantry, chasing down missile inf and artillery)
1x Frost/Flame Phoneix (For general support in hotspots, flame phoenix can use bombs to trigger enemy army advance if they don't want to move towards your defensive position)
2x Star Dragon (Major damage dealers, tanks, bogs down enemy units and causes chaos)
1x Bolt Thrower (For Siege Towers and creating initial ranged advantage)
I've had a lot of fun and easy success using this army composition, you'll need to have a strong economy to field many armies like this though.

High elves greatest strengths are their excellent ranged options, dragons, and elite high stat late game units such as Phoenix Guard and Dragon Princes, some general tips to follow regardless of difficulty is that archer units will usually be your best damage dealers so it's best to focus on them, always bring one mage and/or loremaster so you're utilising magic, light magic synergies best with archer-centric armies because of the net ability, life magic synergies best with-dragon centric armies so you can heal the dragons. Having at least one bolt thrower is recommended for sieges, having at least one flying unit can be great for utility such as countering enemy artillery. Princess lords tend to be better than princes once fully leveled up, punitive and dragon willed are probably the best lord traits you can get. Ultimately what matters most is that you're having fun with your army composition so do what you like best.