Best High Elves starting faction (in ME)

[BlackTeo]

Basically what says in title - After all updates, what high elves faction do you think is the best to start with? In terms of gameplay and mechanics. Or personal preference ofc:)
Just want to hear your thoughts, personally i almost always start with Tyrion, even tho he lacks factions mechanics of the latest high elves lords.

[an entire Roman legion]

Nagarythe is dope bc of one special unit and alith anar (walking artillery)

[RCMidas]

There's something to be said for Alarielle. Slightly tougher opening, but you do get access to the Sisters a whole tier earlier and if you can maintain the positives, the benefits of uniting Ulthuan under you are particularly nice. The +5 Public Order alone would be worthwhile.

[MeDaDaddy]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

There's something to be said for Alarielle. Slightly tougher opening, but you do get access to the Sisters a whole tier earlier and if you can maintain the positives, the benefits of uniting Ulthuan under you are particularly nice. The +5 Public Order alone would be worthwhile.

This.

Also, you can build the Handmaiden/Sisters Recruitment building in Minor settlements since it's Tier 3 for Alarielle.
So, for example, in your start Province you can have 3 of these buildings in order to max out your number of Handmaidens early on to either put in your army (incendiary, unbreakable, perfect vigour) have collecting cash (entrepreneur), or have quick-growing new Provinces (fecund or growth skill pick).
EDIT: She also has a reduced cost for Intrigue at Court stuff now.*

Alith Anarr is very nice too though with Shadow Walkers, ambush and Teleport stance.

If you have a fair bit of HE experience Imrik has a very interesting (if tricky) campaign and has access to a lot of Nobles quite early.

EDIT: Teclis is great if you like Magic and being kept busy (and Loremasters)!

*EDIT 2: This means, it's cheaper to use Influence to increase standings with the other Elf LL sub-factions .'. arguably easier to Confederate them. You can Confederate Alith Anarr when he has a load of Shadow Walkers in his army and before the AI messes up his skill picks, for instance. Similarly with the other LLs, being able to confederate them earlier means you get more say over their skills.

[Sn3z]

Teclis hands down, amazing starting province and a great campaign flow at the start.

[AVGAMER]

I like avelorn personally but imrik is an amazing non ulthan campagin

[lemurs2]

Nagarythe is the easiest start in the game for any race.

[Hugh de Salle]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

There's something to be said for Alarielle. Slightly tougher opening, but you do get access to the Sisters a whole tier earlier and if you can maintain the positives, the benefits of uniting Ulthuan under you are particularly nice. The +5 Public Order alone would be worthwhile.

This.

[Nikloss]

Alarielle is a damn beast.

[yuzhonglu]

Alarielle or Imrik.

[Xaphnir]

Originally posted by RCMidas:

There's something to be said for Alarielle. Slightly tougher opening, but you do get access to the Sisters a whole tier earlier and if you can maintain the positives, the benefits of uniting Ulthuan under you are particularly nice. The +5 Public Order alone would be worthwhile.

And the Sisters/Handmaiden building at T3 means you get increase your Handmaiden capacity in minor settlements.

[Honor Guard]

Faction wise

tied between Nag,Yvreese and Avelorn

Nag has stalk (Really powerful),Shadow walkers (Effectively better shadow warriors),a teleport (Acts like underway and can be stupidly good)

Yvreese has mist walkers (Again powerful),the Bat cave (Can be used in several ways) and ability to buff characters with special traits

Avelorn others said


This is assuming you successfully play pokemon on all LLs (Imrik,teclis and The everqueen all have very nice skills that ya may want,such as ability to recruit a hero anywhere,excluding lore masters)

Ethan,Tyrion's faction - You do not have a race to confederate before tyrion the fast expander

Forgot the name of Imrik's but you get many fancy dragons to love and give treats

if you get lucky and can get all,you effectively are immune to revolts with the right setup (Had beastmen raiding a province and it was still +12)

[Lack of Stuff]

Alith Anar IMO. It's hard to beat army stalk and underway that can't be intercepted and the contracts mechanic actually gives him some large early game boosts in influence and diplomatic goodboy points with other HE factions for those confederations.

I'd say the only downside is starting next to Morathi (so much damn chaos corruption) and that the shadow-way doesn't work on the Donut.

[lemurs2]

And Shadow Walkers upkeep is about the same as a militia unit. After the first 20 turns I had 12 Shadow Walkers and a few other units. I win button.

[Honor Guard]

Originally posted by Lack of Stuff:

Alith Anar IMO. It's hard to beat army stalk and underway that can't be intercepted and the contracts mechanic actually gives him some large early game boosts in influence and diplomatic goodboy points with other HE factions for those confederations.

I'd say the only downside is starting next to Morathi (so much damn chaos corruption) and that the shadow-way doesn't work on the Donut.

it can be intercepted by looks,had a battle and It was a eye sore

[Ashley]

Tyrion simply for the reason of him being the hardest high elf legendary lord to confed. The others will easily confed if they get an army wiped out with like 150+ relations. I've had like 200 relations with Tyrion with him about to go extinct and he refuses it. That capital and the Phoenix king landmark sure is nice too.

Nagarythe probably powerwise. Avelorn as third for the fact that the gate is a pain to capture. Manageable but still annoying and sisters a tier early are nice. Loremasters and Imrik's start are hell.