Favourite mod and unit combos for the current version of the game

[Seswatha]

Restarted the game waiting for AoW4 and it's great, maybe better than AoW4 will be, lol.

Anyhow been browsing different strategies people came up with over the years and a lot of the things aren't quite as good anymore due to the later patches, and sometimes I feel like people are just too stuck in their old habits.

Anyhow, here's some great unit and mod combos I've tried so far, maybe they're not news for many people but that's what I got. Feel free to post your own, earlygame, lategame, pvp, sp, empire mode etc. Some of the setups I've found really effective:

1. Arc Storm Projector is pretty crazy

Imo it's better than Phoenix Bomb Launcher that people like to go on about how awesome that is.

Boils down to a few things:
-It's single AP, so it's actually a better engage tool on mobile units with long range teleport/dash whereas PBL need jetpacks to be that and otherwise the enemy is likely to be able to walk into their range and shoot first, since they can't move + shoot themselves.
-Lower tech cost, especially with Martial tradition, makes this very rushable under 20 turns
-Massive impact + you can put a stun on it
-Guaranteed hit (no scatter)
-Bigger aoe
-Applicable to absolutely any unit
-Positron Converter tac op from the same tree/tech gives massive alpha strike synergy

The main downsides are imo slightly lower damage and the fact that you need to close in and expose yourself but depending on the unit type it's not really a downside.

Obviously you need to be Assembly/Oathbound/Syndicate to get it.

In most cases I think you want Stun Module together with this, unless the base unit really wants some different mod combo. So most builds are Arc Storm + Stun Module + Flex mod, which I'll mention some options for.

The setups I like:

Lightbringer (Assembly or Syndicate, Oathbound one is different and doesn't get the dash) can teleport 7 with 1 AP left and cast the 4 hex long cone making this effectively a range 11 weapon. Flex mods: Tenets of Tranquility, Shield of Remorse, Arc Retaliation, Positron Discharge Shield, any damage mod if you want to maximise alpha strike.

Echo Walker (any): I've seen people go on about how great Amazon Echo Walkers are and as an unmodded unit they're possibly the best, but actually the best ones are the ones you can slot the best 1 AP abilities in imo. For earlygame that's Shakarn with their impairing grenades, but If you manage to tech up to Arc Storm, Arc Storm Echo Walkers are the best. You can move 5 ignoring obstacles with phasewalk + throw clone 3 + shoot up to 4 making this reach up to 12 tiles. If the enemy is closer though, you can just slam it with 2x arc storm immediately which is wicked. If you can't, the "main" unit can possibly do it on the next turn after the clone does the thing. Flex mods: Phasewalk, Positron Discharge Shield or a damage mod.

Drained - it's not really the best platform for it but with up to 5 essence charges if both doctrines are active they can stack up to 50% bonus damage from drain, have resurgence and could with some cosmite free mods you can potentially swap for Arc Storm at no cosmite cost. Since the essence conduit nerfs, Arc Storm is going to do more damage in most situations, one downside is that it doesn't benefit from the Essence Ark buff but that thing is a pain to get all the required tech for to make it good anyway.

Lightning Rider (Assembly) already has a big PBAoE it can do nasty things with even if you don't have storm projector yet, it takes off with just the stun module. It doesn't win the mobility contest but it's hard to shoot at with its flying skitter and if it manages to charge the weapon for +50% damage the turn before it gets to engage the alpha is even nastier. If you're really late game and Voidtech you can give it phase drive since it's heavy, making it reach up to 16 tiles away. Flex mods: Guardian Daemon Shell, Arc Retaliation, Positron Discharge Shield, any damage mod; Reassembly, Phase Drive or Total Network Integration for late game.

As Assembly, you can also put it on Scavengers with their 40 move for reasonable results and it makes Wreckers less one dimensional.

Oathbound Champion will get its own section, and has a higher tech cost to get with Arc Storm than the previous combos but is absolutely nasty if you manage to. With the ability to teleport 9 they can reach up to 13 tiles away and even their teleport has an Arc aoe attached and will stun with the stun module. Flex mods: Tenets of Tranquility, Shield of Remorse, Guardian Daemon Shell, Arc Retaliation, Positron Discharge Shield, any damage mod; Oath of Devotion, Phase Drive or Total Network Integration for late game.

I don't like any native Syndicate units with it except for the ST ones, as Syndicate I often have enough influence to hire massive armies of NPCs and some are worth mentioning specifically.

Desolate (Forgotten) - see Drained. They don't actually need the influence strat as you just need the tactical op to start spamming them.

Bouncer (Therians) - they can move 5, jump 5 and shoot or even move 6 with leg augments you can buy from Therians, making them reach 14/15 tiles away. Tbh if you have firearms mods their bullet spin is already pretty nasty but if you don't Aec Storm is a good fit on them still: Flex mod: Leg augments, Might of the Therians, any damage mod, anything to make them tougher e.g. Tenets of tranquility or Guardian Daemon Shell or Phasewalk. If you have Firearms tech I would just go with fire ammo + concussion on them and not bother with the storm.

Apex (Therians) - makes even more sense on them, since using Storm after Pounce is definitely better than just swinging the sword once. Same mod recommendations.


2. Oathbound Champion could be the best unit in the game imo, if there's such a thing

it might not beat every fully stacked t4 1v1 (though it should beat quite a few of them) but this thing has an advantage over most unit types within reasonable cost/tech difference.

Melee? You can't hit it.
Artillery? You can't hit it.
Ranged? You can hit it, except it's already on top of you with its range 9 jump and overwatching you with its massive damage two handed sword. The one thing that made other melee flyers not op is the fact that they get shot to pieces by ranged units at point blank range since they don't retaliate vs ground, but no such thing here. Oh, and they also have unlimited retaliates in defence mode and can shut down multiple units with that.
Ranged flyer? Same story..
Melee flyer? Well, it's probably the strongest melee flyer around, maybe psi fish hunters can do smth with their natural arc status immunity so at least they don't get stunlocked.

One unit type that might do ok against them is the big ground walkers that can hit air in melee e.g. Phoenix Walker. Still you'll have to deal with the fact they'll most likely get a jump on you first, which is a big advantage. Or you just need ranged units with massive stat and/or numbers advantage, or maybe some cheats like the Reaver turn reset.

Arc damage can be countered, but in reality mostly by the races with the Arc tree themselves since it provides up to 8 arc resist you can stack. 2 that Amazon get won't make any real difference. So yeah, maybe a bunch of Wraith tanks with 8 arc resist or Disassemblers with 10 arc resist are a threat, but it's a very specific hard counter that is also not cheap tech wise.

If you combine it with Oathbound precog doctrine it stomps over most regular armies like it's nothing though. It's worth mentioning that 1 champ running forward is no good and will get focused down, you need like at least 2 of them per stack but the more the better really, smth like 3 champs + hero in a champ suit + 2 watcher supports may be ideal for a full flying stack. In practice it will depend on how many you actually manage to pump out since they're t3 and not easy to build, so I guess that's the main balancing factor here.

The Arc Storm build has already been mentioned above and I think it may be the strongest one, but the Champ is pretty good even with cheaper and earlier mods and gets more use out of its unlimited overwatch defence mode without it.

Some builds and mods I like:

Early
Guardian Daemon Shell + Arc Retaliation + highest tier offensive Arc mod available <- harder and more painful to shoot at
Tenets of Tranquility + Arc Retaliation + Shield of Remorse - very painful to shoot at but not much offence
Tenets of Tranquility + Shield of Remorse + Arc Impact - when Arc Impact becomes available to get more damage output
Tenets of Tranquility + Shield of Remorse + Stun

Mid/Late
Positron Discharge Shield + Stun + Arc Storm
Oath of Devotion + Stun + Arc Storm
Total Network Integration + Stun + Arc Storm
Phase Drive + Stun + Arc Storm

Full alpha damage:
Maxwell's Puzzle Box + Stun + Arc Storm - not totally unreasonable to get since you don't have to research the entire entropy tree after researching Arc until the end, you can just take the last tech. +90% damage and gives you a long range entropy attack to diversify damage types a bit.

Autonom repair mod works quite well if available:
Self repair + Stun + Arc Storm

No arc storm builds (more tanking, less alpha):
Total Network Integration + Stun + Self repair
Tenets of Tranquility + Stun + Self repair

Tbh any combination of the above mods should work pretty well, and there are other good options too, my favourite ones just from the practicality standpoint are either low cost Celestian or Synthesis mods when you just got the champ and replacing them with Arc mods until you get Arc Storm later, or rushing Arc Storm first. Promethean t1 mod can also be good for self sustain and status clear and Xenoplague Xenografted Muscles can be interesting on any melee early on if you go that route. The most overall annoying to deal with late-ish build is Oath of Devotion + Stun + Arc Storm + Precog doctrine imo but mileage may vary depending on what you face.

Heroes get even crazier in these, due to 4th mod slot and the fact that they can get a "leaves 1 ap" jump as a skill (Phomethean or Voidtech).


3. Syndicate enforcers are imo underrated

People usually seem to lean into indentured spam when playing Syndicate but I personally quite like their psi units and the ability to hire massive stacks of neutrals, including super early t3s and t4s as well. This is not about neutrals though, this is about enforcers.

They're one of the few melee psi units which means they ignore everything but psi resist. Their main attack actually does as much damage as t4 Herald of Oblivion. What also makes them stand out is that their defence mode is quite powerful and can be made even more powerful since it's a psi buff. And that they have a built in stagger resist, even as a light infantry unit, which is pretty big.

I think the best ST to make good use of them is Celestian (which in general is imo a top tier pick for melee heavy strategies) since it makes them outright stagger immune for good measure.

The mods that I like on them are Tenets of Tranquility, Mantra of Life and Shield of Remorse though you can swap in Arc Retaliation instead of one of the later 2 depending on what you face. For lategame, they're one of the units that can use Aetherstorm effectively once they're already engaged.

With the base setup of Tenets of Tranquility, Mantra of Life and Shield of Remorse though you get:
-a stagger immune melee unit that gives itself and everyone around 6 shield in defence mode, itself going up to 2 armor/8 shield when defending and no district bonuses or landmarks
-still packs a good punch in melee due to ignoring most resists. immune to negative morale as well for good measure so no fumbles.
-debuffs morale of the units attacking it regardless of range, boosts its damage moving forward by spreading Soulburn and if led by Celestian hero this further gets 2 damage resist from attacks of the Soulburned units
-massive hp pool, as well as effectively regen once it's fighting, or even double regen if it gets to retaliate

The obvious weakness is air, though it's not completely useless there either like some other melee units, since bonecrusher hits air and it's not a terrible attack plus it can just provide +6 shield to your ranged units.

Some fun niche tech choices you can incorporate are venom and flame focus which are pretty solid when fighting someone relying on a lot of laser or biochem.

I think these guys can mess up most t2 melee, including early echo walkers, except maybe if they get hit by an impairing grenade and fail the resist or a hard disable of some sorts e.g. from Kir'ko psi infected claws. And while they can't close in on enemy ranged very fast, they're a serious pain to shoot at, so they can just walk into range + def mode and then charge in on the subsequent turn to mess things up. Status effects may be needed to keep them in place but then psi gets a very cost effective cleanse tactical op as well and your backline Celestian units can run some extra cleanse too.

[Jx]

Do you play PVE or PVP ?

[Seswatha]

Both, and I kinda tried to incorporate both perspectives, though pvp I play pretty casually with friends and don't claim to be an expert. Feel free to share if you have a different view on some things.

[Darkfireslide]

I think with the Oathbound champ you need to remember it will be fighting other tier 3's and/or a lot of tier 2 supports that can shut it down for 2 reasons:

1. Stagger: if you build stagger immunity you have a lot less offense but if you ignore stagger resist you'll deal more damage but suddenly a lot of things can easily CC your tier 3. Stagger cancels overwatch on units (unless Champion is an exception for some reason) and reduces available AP, both of which body the Champion pretty hard if not resisted

2. Status effects. Precog is annoying but things like Sleep, Broken Mind, Choking, Slow, Burning/Immolate (bonus acc against Champ, death sentence for flyers), Blind, and many others also can ruin a Champion's day.

One more thing: 2 arc resist doesn't seem like a ton but it does help a LOT against the arc retaliation device and on units that already have high defenses. Anyway, when looking at the Champion you should be comparing it to things like the Laser Tank, Excavator Tank, Barrager, Bombardon, Disassembler, Malictors, and other common tier 3 units that will be fielded around the same time Champions are.

One more thought: Amazon Lightbringers probably do a good job against Champs too with stagger and debuff resist

[Seswatha]

Originally posted by Paladin Dark:

I think with the Oathbound champ you need to remember it will be fighting other tier 3's and/or a lot of tier 2 supports that can shut it down for 2 reasons:

1. Stagger: if you build stagger immunity you have a lot less offense but if you ignore stagger resist you'll deal more damage but suddenly a lot of things can easily CC your tier 3. Stagger cancels overwatch on units (unless Champion is an exception for some reason) and reduces available AP, both of which body the Champion pretty hard if not resisted

2. Status effects. Precog is annoying but things like Sleep, Broken Mind, Choking, Slow, Burning/Immolate (bonus acc against Champ, death sentence for flyers), Blind, and many others also can ruin a Champion's day.

One more thing: 2 arc resist doesn't seem like a ton but it does help a LOT against the arc retaliation device and on units that already have high defenses. Anyway, when looking at the Champion you should be comparing it to things like the Laser Tank, Excavator Tank, Barrager, Bombardon, Disassembler, Malictors, and other common tier 3 units that will be fielded around the same time Champions are.

One more thought: Amazon Lightbringers probably do a good job against Champs too with stagger and debuff resist

Champs gain resolute in defence mode which means their overwatch isn't cancelled by stagger so they are indeed special in this regard if they do use defence mode (they also get tireless in it, so unlimited overwatch attacks). They're also stagger resistant by default, so only massive impact can stagger them. If you expect to face enemies with massive impact, it is not a bad idea to give them stagger resist, but same can be said about anyone facing the champs, especially since if you give them arc impact they can AoE massive stagger on the jump and then massive stagger again with their melee. Or you can build around a massive alpha strike to eliminate the enemies fast, there's no stagger if there's no one left standing after all.

Status effects are indeed a problem for Oathbound (just like for many other races), that's why it's a good idea to grab some cleanses from the ST, I think generally Celestian works the best with Oathbound as it has some massive synergies in terms of both economy and combat by providing early extra stagger resist, healing and cleanses.

I do realize that they'll have to go head to head with other t3s - and they can murder most of them, unless specifically built as a hard counter. E.g. Excavator tanks can't even attack air with their main attack, Malictors are quite paper thin in melee. All the ranged t3s, especially the ones with low armour, will generally suffer quite a bit on the charge taking 16 base damage from storm discharge + 22 from the sword + 22 again from overwatch = 60 base total damage over 3 attacks, with each having at least high impact or even massive impact depending on the mods, and potentially a high chance to stun on each as well. None of them can deal as much damage back, making it quite likely they get finished off on the next turn if not already. Factor in that every champ will probably have a stack of Precog as well.

Speaking of melee air, yes Amazon Lightbringers can fight them, but they're pretty much just a significantly weaker version. If they have the big number advantage they may be able to do it. They're also only immune to psionic status effects and get stunned all the same.

This gets substantially worse if champs get their hands on arc storm, cause now they can teleport dealing 16 aoe dmg with high impact + stun and then hit multiple units for another 20 with massive impact + stun. Add damage mods (which arc storm in itself is), ops, and overlapping aoes and often basically everything is either stunned or dead after the initial jump of a few champs.

Oh, and Oathbound heroes in these things are just ridiculous.

Now I'm not saying this is unbeatable or anything, but in my experience at the stage of the game when it's available this is one of the most "unfair" units as you either need substantially more resources to counter it or you need a very specific narrow hard counter, champs trash most "standard" stacks of equal value quite easily once you reach a critical mass of them.

[Darkfireslide]

Looking at it now, it does seem pretty overtuned for the first tier 3 unit Oathbound get, the main downside being that it costs 5 more cosmite to build than standard tier 3's.

The Against All Odds thing is pretty bogus though. Flyers are already harder to hit, so you'd almost need something like the Vanguard's designated target ability to do much against it. That said, melee fliers bring a lot to the table against them I think, like the Ramjet. Units like Bulwarks, Electrocutioners, and others with Anti-Air are also a frightening prospect since so much of its defense relies on that bonus chance to not be hit.

The Champion can't always guarantee that it will jump. A lot of tier 3 units have Massive Impact stagger, so you would need to spend a mod to get immunity to that, but what's more, a lot of tier 3 units actually have functionally more range than the Champion, such as the Vanguard Laser Tank, which can both move and shoot at range 7 or 8 with its overcharged cannon, which ignores 2 armor as well as having massive impact stagger.

None of the builds you list have any damage resist either, which means if things start hitting and applying resistance debuffs, such as the Amazon Biomancer (no hit chance for -2 to all resists) things can get ugly fairly quickly if you have a bad charge.

Something else to consider is that most tier 3 units have 4 status effect resistance, meaning you usually have less than a 50% chance to stun, and most armies have a way of clearing that stun even if it does work. It still pummels most tier 2's and tier 1's, but then so do most tier 3's.

[Seswatha]

Originally posted by Paladin Dark:

Looking at it now, it does seem pretty overtuned for the first tier 3 unit Oathbound get, the main downside being that it costs 5 more cosmite to build than standard tier 3's.

The Against All Odds thing is pretty bogus though. Flyers are already harder to hit, so you'd almost need something like the Vanguard's designated target ability to do much against it. That said, melee fliers bring a lot to the table against them I think, like the Ramjet. Units like Bulwarks, Electrocutioners, and others with Anti-Air are also a frightening prospect since so much of its defense relies on that bonus chance to not be hit.

The Champion can't always guarantee that it will jump. A lot of tier 3 units have Massive Impact stagger, so you would need to spend a mod to get immunity to that, but what's more, a lot of tier 3 units actually have functionally more range than the Champion, such as the Vanguard Laser Tank, which can both move and shoot at range 7 or 8 with its overcharged cannon, which ignores 2 armor as well as having massive impact stagger.

None of the builds you list have any damage resist either, which means if things start hitting and applying resistance debuffs, such as the Amazon Biomancer (no hit chance for -2 to all resists) things can get ugly fairly quickly if you have a bad charge.

Something else to consider is that most tier 3 units have 4 status effect resistance, meaning you usually have less than a 50% chance to stun, and most armies have a way of clearing that stun even if it does work. It still pummels most tier 2's and tier 1's, but then so do most tier 3's.

They're bit more expensive cause they're a flyer, t2 flyers also cost some extra cosmite whereas no other t2 unit except infiltrators does.

It will often have 30-40% to stun vs higher tiers, yes, but it's just the number of rolls to stun that makes it tough, since they get stuns on jumps, attacks or overwatches. if it gets up to Arc Storm, it's often able to hit 3+ units and rolls to stun every one of them. They don't have to stun every unit, even a few stuns are already painful. Yes, you can cleanse it on your turn but that burns turns or tactical ops and may not be able to cleanse it from everyone still depending on where it landed and which ops and abilities you have. Also there's Fatalism from Augurs or Butterfly Effect (Diviners are not mobile enough) to guarantee 100% stun if needed.

Massive stagger from long range will prevent the jump, yes, however they're hard to hit at that range and if you expect to face it you could indeed spend a mod to give them stagger immune from Tenets of Tranquility, it's a t1 tech (assume Oathbound Celestian, which as I said I think are the best anyway, at least for standard battlesuit heavy playstyle). Whoever's facing them also pretty much has to do the same though, because if they don't and you have Arc Impact or just crit (from Providence or otherwise) they won't have any AP because champs can stagger multiple times per turn (jump + attack + overwatch).

Resist debuffs make a difference in a grind in terms of who does more damage, but they always would regardless of whether you take resist modules or not. if you do 2 damage + 1 defence module which is the builds I listed you're relatively squishy anyway, but you do a lot of damage and the point is killing the enemies asap. I would also add that stun module either stuns (which is very bad news) or debuffs arc resist so champs will also debuff resists with it, unless they stun, which is worse. And if we talk about support units, Champs most likely will be supported by Watchers, either giving Champs (most likely hero Champs) guaranteed crit on the jump, or hitting up to 3 units with "auto fumble all attacks, no resist". Regardless the problem is usually surviving turn one of the engagement more or less intact, if it turns into a grind you have a decent chance to win, if you lose multiple units on the initial engage and/or get mass stunned/staggered you're pretty doomed. From personal experience what helps the most is extreme defence not extreme offence, although of course taking a biomancer would be valuable anyway if you expect to see a lot of a certain unit type.

With melee flyers, as I said, they can indeed fight them, but there's no other t3 melee flyer and t2 flyers are not as strong, however if you have a good numbers advantage it could work. The main problem there is the stat difference + the fact that champs will hit first because of the jump doing a lot of (potentially aoe) damage on turn 1 + focusing down individual units and locking others in place with overwatch. If after the initial engage you still have a good number of healthy units you might be able to grind them down.