Khalida army composition

[funkmonster7]

So... Since she has +20% ammunition for faction trait, does that mean Khalida players go heavy on Tier 1 archers? But they're so... crap.

I never really understood how to play Khalida, army-wise anyway. I understand Khemrian Warsphinx has archers on its back but +20% ammunition for that doesn't really seem to do much.

I generally don't like chariots so I don't know if I should go heavy on archer chariots on Khalida.

Missile cavs for TKs are bad too.

Anyone got good advice for Khalida's army?

[funkmonster7]

bump?

[Destrudo]

I'm not an expert, but AFAIK, ammunition trait and Khalida's Blessing of Asaph apply to all ranged units, including ushabti archers, bone giants, sepulchral stalkers and (maybe) even catapults and casket of souls.

[Ruinae Retroque Rursus]

TK archers are solid archers. No more, no less. Stack them with the ROR (-30 armor) and if you like a Death Priest (Soublight: -30 armor). They'll be solid up to T3.

Khalida's +20% ammunition is mostly handy for Bone Giants and Caskets of Souls, and even then it's not fantastically handy.

Just go with the Ushtabi and Scorpion mass-stacking and you should be fine. :P

[OwlRaider]

Usahbti Great Bows, Bone Giants and Caskets of Souls are your main targets for Khalida's extra ammunition. If you can get a decent amount of these along with the usual Tomb Guard front line with heroes and constructs supporting it you're golden. Earlier on you can rely on regular Skeleton Archers to make them a bit more useful but by late game you should ditch them in your main army(Khalida's).

[DecayWolf]

Get all tech upgrades and banners missile army boots, combined with ror archers and all khalida's missile boosts and they'll melt things.

When I played with her 4 stacks of archers could kill very armoured units in just a few seconds, they would unleash hell.

Khalida was the only TK army that I found enjoyable to play.
There's over an year since I played her and I don't claim it to be the 'best' specially when this game can be all about specific armies to counter other specific armies...

But last time I played... I think it was something like.

Khalida
Mage. (Shadow can reduce armor)
6 archers
6 tomb guards
2 stalkers. To pick incoming cav/monsters and/or flank shot enemies.
2 bone giants.
1 war sphinix, although his passive shots were kinda lame, end they end not doing enough.
The last I think was that artillery moving tomb thing.

I remember early game I used artillery, it also works great.

Khalida is really awesome, she is a really deadly hero/lord assassin, while also being one of the best general buffer in the game.
Her aeo damage when health gets low, is also extremely punishing.

[DecayWolf]

IDK if it would work, but if I would try her again, I'd like to make a full ranged army.
I'd switch all tomb guards for stalkers. This would add a lot of extra mobility and overall safety for the archers, but they're overall more squish, so it would be required A LOT of fire power.

I think bones giants did great. They're also pretty decent fighters.
I didn't like archers ashabti, but it's just me.

Death mage, as mentioned would work great as well.

[Nano]

The purpose of the archers is to weaken the enemy with poison I think so her skeleton units have a better advantage. Not really sure if that works though.

[DecayWolf]

Her archers can actually kill armored.

[pin]

Her skelly archers have no problem killing saurus warriors at least. Just make sure you shoot from your left flank into right as when enemy approaches you their shields will be held on the right side.

Bone giant and ushabti shots from the side are also deadly against infantry lines, both are great against large targets after they are bogged down. That poison + more ammunition is really useful on these units.

I find her buffs the most interesting. Other tomb king lords have really bland buffs mostly, maybe except for khatep's 3 additional agents trait, but thats for late game and you can just confed him to get the bonus since its a personal trait.

[valky]

Originally posted by DecayWolf:

Get all tech upgrades and banners missile army boots, combined with ror archers and all khalida's missile boosts and they'll melt things.

*snip*

Khalida
Mage. (Shadow can reduce armor)
6 archers
6 tomb guards
2 stalkers. To pick incoming cav/monsters and/or flank shot enemies.
2 bone giants.
1 war sphinix, although his passive shots were kinda lame, end they end not doing enough.
The last I think was that artillery moving tomb thing.

*more snip - less text ^.^*

Couldn't agree more and I used a similar army back when I was playing her. Even with the now fixed poison bug, where it was shown on your ranged units, but not applying - makes a huge difference.
The basic archer in her army become fast-firing killing machines, if parked near her - which you should - because of the 'True Blessing of Asaph'.
edit: it's not only about the damage - but the reload (!). The sky/battlefield is literally blackened by the non-stop waves of arrows ...

Khalida
Mage (Nehekhara - nice situational buffs + debuffs; Light should work too for Net)
5 tomb guards
1 Usirian's Legion (ethereal ..)
4 archer
2 bow ushtabi (incl RoR)
2 stalkers (those guys are awesome and often undervalued; charge-reflect-large, spit gaze can disrupt heavy cavalry charges and they just eat anything, that is 'large' otherwise + their melee attack get poison in her army as well!)
2 bone giants
1 big kitten (..hunting down mice, was often 'jobless')
Mighty Storm Riders of Khsar - I took them in on some occasion and just couldn't let them go after some time. Knights or anything would be probably better, but I like different armies every now and then. Oddly, they did very well hunting down skirmisher, archers and similar.

If anything comes past your ranged damage, your tomb guards should have no issue holding it in place, while your archers take care of it...
Khalida herself is also an exceptional lord killer and I liked her Ssssnake mount :P

Also, never ever take RoR units into her army, that have inherent debuff-abilities, like the archer (sunder) or the Skeleton Spearmen (poison). These get overwritten or obsolete - they share the same 'buffing slot' in the database besides magic + fire. The latter uses a ignition threshold and that's why it uses a different 'spot' - kinda :>
And an army-wide effect is considered higher, than an inherent one. There are similar things, that cancel out each other, depending on their source (discouraged, sunder, poison, shocked ...).

Army-wide poison buff .. really nuff said.

Oh and to the posting above concerning shield-cover:
That was changed with the introduction of the packfile-mechanic after Medieval II. To my knowledge, that was the last Total War game, where shields actually covered your left flank in terms of missile defense (+ front).
Nowadays it's a frontal angle instead (defense as well, but it's not used in Warhammer) and set to 60°. Their battle-animation shows that pretty good - raising shields above the heads to withstand missile bombardment.
Correct me, if am wrong...

[sergiomorozov]

Originally posted by pin:

...and you can just confed him to get the bonus since its a personal trait.

Tomb Kings do not have the option to confederate =[

[funkmonster7]

Thanks for the tips guys. My question is more about general army setup i.e. not just for Khalida's own army but her other generals' as well, that's why my question was asking about the faction bonus specifically, rather than about Khalida's lord's army buffs. The tips are still helpful though.

I actually like Arkhan more, partly because his faction doesn't get public order issues from vampiric corruption. Arkhan is probably the only faction that can keep the Pyramid of Nagash without suffering from rebellions every few turns.

[valky]

Hmm, my other armies were just designed around the Tomb King or their specialty, but usually more towards 'rushing' (yeah...skeleton-speed army) with a tad bit more constructs, whatever fits the flair or was to my liking. (but neither more than 4~ heavy constructs, including Bone Giants)

In that case, I didn't really care about the faction bonus as usual, while it's nice to have I play the faction, that is rather more to my liking instead of the bonus (in most cases).
Arkhan gives you also more possibilities for army setups with his undead-minions. Ghouls can be quite useful as support with their poison and Hex Wraiths...yeah :)