best army comp High Elves?

[Shuzumi]

hi guys,

any tips on what's the best army comp for High Elves? Tyrion seems like the only unit that can hold the line

Sword Masters of Hoeth more like Lame Masters of Hoeth, 2 Units of Chosen Great Weapons broke through my line like a hot knife through butter

didn't get a chance to hammer and anvil them with my cav, they broke way too quickly

same thing against Dwarves aren't they supposed to be Armor Piercing? why such lame infantry

i know i am bad at the game i barely managed to secure Ulthian on easy difficulty but i don't remember Total War Rome 2 being this difficult, i used to keep the infantry holding the line then hit from behind with cav

i can do this with Thunderers on Dwarfs but seems with High Elves i need a new army comp

any other tips on what would be a good faction to learn the game with? so far i tried Dwarves and i think i can somehow get them to work but i'd love to learn other factions

thanks

[cb4n28]

It's been a long time since I played a HE campaign, but at that time Lothern Sea Guard with Shields were the best core front line unit in most situations. They hold decently well and could pepper the enemy with arrows on approach. With additional ranged behind them most of the time the enemy barely got a chance to melee

Swordmasters are more of a damage dealer than a tanky hold the line type unit.

[Shuzumi]

Originally posted by cb4n28:

It's been a long time since I played a HE campaign, but at that time Lothern Sea Guard with Shields were the best core front line unit in most situations. They hold decently well and could pepper the enemy with arrows on approach. With additional ranged behind them most of the time the enemy barely got a chance to melee

Swordmasters are more of a damage dealer than a tanky hold the line type unit.

definitely will try them next, i'll also increase the number of my archer units because it seems archers are the HE thing

last battle i played Sisters of Avelon did the most damage

[DaBo81]

Some people build HE armies that are just stacks of sisters and nothing else. It works but it's boring, you just start the battle then go AFK and put the kettle on.

[cb4n28]

Originally posted by Shuzumi:

Originally posted by cb4n28:

It's been a long time since I played a HE campaign, but at that time Lothern Sea Guard with Shields were the best core front line unit in most situations. They hold decently well and could pepper the enemy with arrows on approach. With additional ranged behind them most of the time the enemy barely got a chance to melee

Swordmasters are more of a damage dealer than a tanky hold the line type unit.

definitely will try them next, i'll also increase the number of my archer units because it seems archers are the HE thing

last battle i played Sisters of Avelon did the most damage

Yeah definitely, all three of the Elf factions are archer focused to a greater or lesser extent. At launch, Lothern Sea Guard we're sort of set up to be easy mode. They could hold their own against pretty much anything. I'd bet they've been nerfed over the years but they are probably still a solid core unit for much of the game

[Mr Robert House]

Sisters of averlorn make good infantry and archers, anything else is just flavour. maybe some phoenixes to go kill artillery

yeah cav is bad in this game, it’s useable, but it requires so much micro to just perform at a reasonable level. Whereas archers just work.

[zefyris]

Originally posted by cb4n28:

It's been a long time since I played a HE campaign, but at that time Lothern Sea Guard with Shields were the best core front line unit in most situations. They hold decently well and could pepper the enemy with arrows on approach. With additional ranged behind them most of the time the enemy barely got a chance to melee

Swordmasters are more of a damage dealer than a tanky hold the line type unit.

Did you just suggest a line of LSG vs Chosens hallberds lol.
But I agree that swordmasters are not supposed to hold the line. They're perfectly fine vs chosens as well as vs any high armour elite infantry; but not to hold the line, to kill them after chosens have been immobilized by something else.


----
To hold the line Vs Chosens you want either Silverin guards (they won't kill chosens but they'll hold tons better than LSG or anyone else baring PG) or better, Phoenix guards (they can actually deal damage to Chosen and not just hold them).
Silverin are a particularly interesting choice because they're more resistant to magical damage and ranged damage. if the chaos army has no artillery and no mage to speak of then prefer PG, though Silverin also have the advantage to take less damage from your OWN Sisters if they're shooting at what is engaged with the Silverin.

[grab these bandages]

1 fire mage, swordmaster of hoeth, handmaiden and 16 sisters of avelorn. Also HE have really OP phoenix doomstack with 7 flammable mages (one lord) + swordmaster of hoeth(exhilarated trait)

[Buldor]

Originally posted by Shuzumi:

hi guys,

any tips on what's the best army comp for High Elves? Tyrion seems like the only unit that can hold the line

Sword Masters of Hoeth more like Lame Masters of Hoeth, 2 Units of Chosen Great Weapons broke through my line like a hot knife through butter

didn't get a chance to hammer and anvil them with my cav, they broke way too quickly

same thing against Dwarves aren't they supposed to be Armor Piercing? why such lame infantry

i know i am bad at the game i barely managed to secure Ulthian on easy difficulty but i don't remember Total War Rome 2 being this difficult, i used to keep the infantry holding the line then hit from behind with cav

i can do this with Thunderers on Dwarfs but seems with High Elves i need a new army comp

any other tips on what would be a good faction to learn the game with? so far i tried Dwarves and i think i can somehow get them to work but i'd love to learn other factions

thanks

Swordmasters etc. are worthless units for that. They're glass cannon melee infantry. Not defensive line infantry.

Spearmen or shield lothern seaguard are your early game cheap alternatives to holding the line. Later you should instead be using nobles supported by a life wizard.

Hammer and anvil sadly doesn't work in Warhammer Total War currently. There are multiple bugs and engine issues that just prevent them from performing poorly, especially for their cost. Only really Bretonnia can do it effectively. HELF are primarily a range/magic faction with S tier economy.

Dwarf infantry is not their damage source - their artillery and ranged units with high damage and AP are. A few Ironbreakers or Thanes to hold the line, and let ya other lads have at it from afar.

If you'd like, i'm happy to do a co-op game with ya and show you some tricks :)

P.S. Rome 2 was so easy, you didn't need to create a barracks passed tier 1. As Cornelia Rome you got those armies free, and Carthage didn't even need to do that and just got free armies.

[Lady MacBeth]

pretty sure its just like 19 sisters of avalorn in a checkerboard formation. If you don't mind the gouda.

[A.Pot]

My preferred army for Tyrion is 8 lothern sea guard with shields, 8 silver helms with shields and 3 Eagle Claws.

The first 2 he has bonuses for. The Eagle Claws are just there for siege purposes.

For anyone who is not Tyrion it will be dependent on what bonuses they provide.

[Slap Happy Pappy]

5 sea guards with shields, 8 archers, melee lord, caster hero, or vice versa, 3 plagueclaws, rest is dealer’s choice.

That is a good starting point, if you don’t want to cheese.

[Asuzu]

For hammer and anvil, I believe Phoenix Guard are straight better? They hold the line better vs most things, and then it's up to your cav to smash stuff in the back repeatedly. since they're the hammer...

That being said, most of the Mortal VH fights I am either always outnumbered, or sieging something, and cannot honestly remember last time I had a chance for a proper Hammer & Anvil strat. So, yeah, just pack Sisters like everyone else and go to town.

[Quillithe]

Swordmasters of Hoeth should be just destroying dwarves though, they basically just consume infantry. Admittedly they don't consume the few equally elite infantry (Chosen, Hammerers, Ironbreakers) but they should hold their own pretty well against any infantry in the game.

Hammer and anvil can work fine on normal difficulty (if you raise battle difficulty AI morale gets too high and rear charges never do anything). The biggest problem is just that archers are good enough that you're usually better charging them with your cavalry, and monsters are usually a better hammer.

As high elves you won't spook any late game unit with a rear charge of cavalry very well, but getting them with some lion chariots or a dragon after dragon breath is pretty effective.

My typical armies are
Early: Archers, Spearmen, whatever starting units, ellyrion reavers or reaver archers to kill enemy archers if needed (especially vs dark elves)

Mid: lothern sea guard if you're lazy, otherwise same

Late: depending on budget, but usually at least 1 dragon for sieges, and at least 2 sisters of avalorn for anti-armor. Honestly you can just build more armies on normal and still keep using spearmen and archers, they're very solid units and only weak against heavy armor.

[Logi]

I play with balanced army and for my defensive line i use Spearmen and then add a couple of Silverin guard and a Frosty Phoenix for its defence buff as campaign progresses. After the enemy has hit my line then i will bring the swordmasters in, they are better as damage dealers rather than guys on front line taking the charge. Adding in a Loremaster of Hoeth later with a couple of simple buff spells is good later.

[YungShun]

For 1 on 1, lots of sisters of Avelorn are really good.

But if you have to fight with 2 or 3 armies or they have strong artillery, balanced composition is better.