An Overview of All Character Classes,Types, Skills and Recruitable Units

This is something I wrote for myself and I figured I'd make it public for everyone to be able to use

Introduction

This is a work in progress

Hello! Thanks for clicking on this guide! I wrote this for myself to refer to as it was difficult for me to figure out who can recruit what and is good at what, and as I was documenting things in notepad I thought it'd be good if others don't have to go through the trouble of learning and documenting this information themselves, hence why this guide exists, now, let's get started!

Character Classes Overview

Character Unit Focuses

• Strategists-Ranged Infantry/Artillery
  
• Sentinel-Axe/Sword Infantry
  
• Champions-Spear Infantry
  
• Commander-Melee Cavalary
  
• Vanguard-Shock Cavalry/Armor Piercing Infantry
  
• Veteran
  
• Healer
  
• Scholar

Character Combat Roles

• Vanguard
  Dueling-Great
  General Combat-Excellent
  
• Sentinel
  Dueling-Excellent at Tying up Generals
  General Combat-Excellent at Survival
  
• Champions
  Dueling-Excellent
  General Combat-Great
  
• Commander
  Dueling-Adequate
  General Combat-Adequate
  
• Strategists
  Dueling-Weak
  General Combat-Adequate
  
• Veteran
  Dueling-
  General Combat-
  
• Healer
  Dueling-
  General Combat-
  
• Scholar
  Dueling-
  General Combat-

Class Suggestions

• Strategists
  
• Sentinel
  
• Champions-where you need population growth
  
• Commander
  
• Vanguard
  
• Veteran
  
• Healer
  
• Scholar

Class Exclusive Units

Strategists

• Archers
  
• Crossbowman
  
• Heavy Crossbowmen
  
• Trebuchet
  
• Repeating Crossbowmen
  
• Heavy Repeating Crossbowmen

Sentinel

• Sabre Infantry
  
• Jian Sword Guards*
  
• Axe Band

Champion

• Spear Guard
  
• Heavy Spear Guard
  
• Heavy Ji
  
• Peasant Band
  
• Spear Warriors

Commande

• Jian Sword Guard Cavalry*
  
• Sabre Cavalry

Vanguard

• Peasant Raider
  
• Raider Cavalry
  
• Lance Cavalry

Scholar

• Chanters (Support Swordsmen w/Passive: +10% DMG/AP/Armor/75m)
  
• Yellow Sky Heralds (Unbreakable Axes w/o shield)
  
• Venerable Wu (Swords w/Poison (Allows to Ignore Armor)/Scares)
  
• Scholar Warriors (High Damage Swords w/Ranged Block Chance/Immune to Fatigue/Encourages) (For any Warhammer players, think Swordsmen of Loeth on steroids and no AP)
  
• Militia of Virtue (High AP/Unbreakable/Immune to Fatigue/75%HP/75% Dodge Chance)
  
• Archery Masters (More Range than Bows, but less than crossbows/268% Ammunition)

Veterani

• Guardians of the Land (Halberd Infantry w/Disciplined & High Armor)
  
• Reclaimers (Heavy Spearmen w/Shields)
  
• Watchmen of the Peace (Crossbowmen w/+2 %Ammunition) NOTE: This is the only Yellow Turban Crossbow
  
• Horseback Huntsmen (Archer Cavalry w/Guerrilla Deployment) NOTE: This is the only Yellow Turban Cavalry Archer
  
• Virtuous Noblemen (Heavy Melee Cavalry)
  
• Men of the Forest (Archers w/Guerrilla Deployment/Ignores Terrain and +25% Ammunition) NOTE: Will still lose in melee but not be slaughtered instantly

Healer

• People's Warband (Swords)
  
• White Wave Veterans (Sword/Shield)
  
• YouXia (Sword/Shield + Unbreakable, but 3/4 HP, but higher EHP due to armor/dodge)
  
• Bringers of Righteous (Spear/Bow, continues to fire in melee)
  
• Arm of the Supreme Peace (High Base Damage Unit, but 87.5% of HP, but higher EHP due to armor/dodge)
  
• White Wave Horsemen (Shock Cavalry w/Guerrilla Deployment) NOTE: This is the only Yellow Turban Shock Cavalry

Captains

• Archers (You get what's on the tin)
  6 Yellow Turban Archers
  
• Spearmen: (Militia)
  2 Peasant Warriors (Meat Shields)
  2 Peasant Spearmen (Anti-Cav, AP, w/o Shield)
  2 Peasant Archers
  
• Warriors (What do you think?)
  2 Yellow Turban Spearmen (Anti-Cav, AP, w/Shield)
  2 Yellow Turban Warriors (Sword/Shield, Adequate Assault Troops
  2 Peoples Warband (Swords w/High Base Damage)

*This seems like a dumb name to me as Jian just means sword in Chinese, it's like calling a unit katana swordsman, as katana refers to just any sword as does Jian, you can argue that Jian/katana refers to a specific type of sword, a short/medium sword, but then it'd be for other types of swords, like long Jian, or long katana (but that has a name already, no-dachi or tachi, depending on length), but in Chinese you just stick the word long in front of Jian the way you would put long in front of sword in English. I'm just nit-picking here, but basically, I'm saying they really should be called Jian Guards, similarly, the cavalry should be called Jian Guard Cavalry, not Jian Sword Cavalry, I kind of wish a super basic mod to change some of these names was available.

Non-Exclusive Units

Faction Unit unlocks automatically at rank 1/6
Protectors of the Heaven/Defenders of the Earth unlock upon Emperorship
Units Available to All:
Ji Militia
Archer Militia
Sabre Militia
Mounted Lancer Militia
Mounted Sabre Militia
Mounted Archers

Pearl Dragons (Light Glaive Infantry)
Yellow Dragons (Light Axe Infantry)
Onyx Dragons (Archers)
Jade Dragons (Heavy Spear Cavalry)
Azure Dragons (

Character Skills and Buffs

Notes

• Skills are broken down into:
  Military
  Buffs (effect/range/duration/cooldown)
  Administrative
  
• (Army)=Applies to the whole army, even if not commanding (the left-most character in the army)
  
• (Retinue)=Applies to all units under this character's command
  
• (Commanding)=Applies only if the character is the commanding general (the left-most character in the army)
  
• (Administrator)=Applies only if administrating a settlement
  
• (Self)=Applies only to Character
  
• (Local)=Applies only to county Character is in
  
• Assignment: ABCDEFG=Assignment available for this character
  
• Any character with more than 100 in any attribute automatically becomes legendary, this allows them to have "Resiliance" (Meaning they are wounded instead of killed when defeated in battle but need a certain number of turns to recover, and more turns to regain their resilience)
  
• You can assign a character as a general in the field even if they're an administrator but not if they're on assignment

Abbreviations

• FW,BOI,FL/PM/H-(faction-wide, but only if faction leader, prime minister or heir)
  
• LoS-Line of Sight
  
• RoF-Rate of Fire
  
• AP-Armor Piercing

Strategist

• Judgement (+25% ranged damage (Retinue)/+1 Trade Agreement (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8水
  
• Composure (Fire Arrows (Retinue)/Night Battles (Army) +8水
  
• Precision (+10% Ranged AP damage (Army)/RoF (Commanding) +8金
  
• Resourcefulness (+10 military supplies in Enemy Territory/Flaming Shot (Retinue) +8
  
• Patience (Increased wall damage/+25% Capture Chance) +8木
  
• Guile (Enables: Guerilla Deployment (Retinue)/+25% Ambush Chance) +8水
  
• Perception (Ignore Forest Penalties (Retinue)/+25% of Avoiding Ambush (Army) +8土
  
• Reach (+25% Campaign Movement Range (Commanding)/+1 Army (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8火
  
• Intuition (+25% evading capture (Self)/+15 % Income from Industry (Administrator) +8金
  
  
• Inspiring Surge (-2s CD (Friendly)/50m/1s/1s) +4水/火
  
• Stifling Deluge (+5s CD (Enemy)/50m/1s/4s) +4水/火
  
• Wisdom of the River (-100% Evasion (Enemy)/Armor/50m/30s/120s) +4水/土
  
  
• Scholarship (+10% Character Experience (Self)/+40% income from commerce/silk/spice (Administrator) +8水
  
• Abundance (Assignment: Replenish Supplies/+5 Food Production (Administrator) +8木
  
• Wisdom (Assignment: Reward the Filial & Incorrupt/+15 Reserves (Administrator) +8水

Sentinel

• Zeal (+10% Melee AP (Army)/+40% Melee attack rate (Self) +8金
  
• Perception (Ignore Forest Penalties (Retinue)/+25% of Avoiding Ambush (Army) +8土
  
• Bravery (Charge Negation (Retinue)/+Immune to Fear (Retinue) +8金
  
• Composure (Fire Arrows (Retinue)/Night Battles (Army) +8水
  
• Precision (+10% Ranged AP damage (Army)/RoF (Commanding) +8金
  
• Intensity (+25% charge speed (Retinue)/Increased Knockback Damage) +8火
  
• Patience (Increased wall damage/+25% Capture Chance (Enemy Characters) +8木
  
• Diligence (+5 Melee evasion (Retinue)/+25 bonus experience for units per season (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8金
  
• Intuition (+25% evading capture/+15 % Income from Industry (Administrator) +8金
  
  
• Adamant Resolve (+50% Melee evasion/50m/20s/60s) +4 金/木
  
• Tenacity of Steel (+Melee damage (base/AP) 5/10/25/50/100% every 15s) +4 金/木
  
• Tempered Deflection (+50% Range Block Chance/50m/20s/60s) +4 金/木
  
  
• Stability (Unlocks Assignment: Counteract Corruption/+5 Public Order (administrator) +8土
  
• Scholarship (+10% Character Experience (Self)/+40% income from commerce/silk/spice (Administrator) +8水
  
• Understanding (Unlocks Assignment: Industrial Exploitation/+1 rank for recruits (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8金

Champion

• Patience (Increased wall damage/+25% capture chance) +8木
  
• Guile (Enables: Guerilla Deployment (Retinue)/+25% Ambush Chance) +8水
  
• Consideration (Encourage/+50% reinforcement range (Commanding) +8木
  
• Vengeance (+10 Morale in Owned Territory/Scare) +8火
  
• Endurance (+Fatigue Resistance (Retinue)/-50% attrition (Commanding) +8木
  
• Intuition (+25% evading capture/+15 % Income from Industry (Administrator) +8金
  
• Mobility (+25% Running Speed (Retinue)/+10 morale (Commanding & Attacking) +8土
  
• Trust (+10% Armor for Spear Infantry (Retinue)/+20% Income from Peasantry (Administrator） +8木
  
• Reach (+25% Campaign Movement Range (Commanding)/+1 Army (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8火
  
  
• Earthen Rampart (+900% Charge Resistance/50m/Passive) +4 金/木
  
• Blinding Fury (15k splash damage/10s/60s) +4木/+4土
  
• Flames of the Phoenix (7.5k splash damage/10s/30s) +4 金/火
  
  
• Abundance (Unlocks Assignment: Replenish Supplies/+5 Food Production (Administrator) +8木
  
• Wisdom (Unlocks Assignment: Reward the Filial & Incorrupt/+15 Reserves (Administrator) +8水

Commander

• Mobility (+25% running speed (Retinue /+10 morale (Commanding & Attacking) +8土
  
• Intensity (+25% charge speed (Retinue)/Increased Knockback Damage) +8火
  
• Meditation (Unbreakable (No Morale Loss/Never Routs)/+10 Morale (Commanding & Defending) +8土
  
• Zeal (+10% Melee AP (army)/+40% Melee attack rate (self) +8金
  
• Perception (Ignore Forest Penalties/+25% of avoiding ambush) +8土
  
• Flexibility (+5% Replenishment (Commanding)/-25% redeployment cost (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8木
  
• Composure (Fire Arrows (Retinue)/Night Battles (Army) +8水
  
• Dignity (Disciplined (No morale penalty on general loss and can rally more often/+5 faction support (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8火
  
• Nobility (+20% ranged block chance for Melee cavalry (Retinue)/+1 Assignments (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8土
  
  
• Earthen Rampart (+900% Charge Resistance/50m/Passive) +4 金/木
  
• Blinding Fury (15k splash damage/10s/60s) +4 木/土
  
• Flames of the Phoenix (7.5k splash damage/10s/30s) +4 金/火/土
  
  
• Understanding (Unlocks Assignment: industrial Exploitation/+1 rank for recruits (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8金
  
• Clarity (+50% LoS/-25% building upkeep (administrator) +8土

Vanguard

• Vengeance (+10 Morale in Owned Territory/Scare) +8火
  
• Endurance (+Fatigue Resistance (Retinue)/-50% attrition (Commanding) +8木
  
• Fury (+25% Charge (Retinue)/+10 Morale (in Enemy Territory) +8火
  
• Mobility (+25% running speed (Retinue /+10 morale (Commanding & Attacking) +8土
  
• Intensity (+25% charge speed (Retinue)/Increased Knockback Damage) +8火
  
• Guile (Enables: Guerilla Deployment (Retinue)/+25% Ambush Chance) +8水
  
• Zeal (+10% Melee AP (Army)/+40% Melee attack rate (self) +8金
  
• Reach (+25% Campaign Movement Range (Commanding)/+1 Army (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8火
  
• Flexibility (+5% Replenishment (Commanding)/-25% redeployment cost (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) +8木
  
• Passion (+25% Melee damage for all shock cavalry (Retinue)/Unlocks Assignment: Conscription) +8火
  
• Dignity (Disciplined (No morale penalty on general loss and can rally more often/+5 faction support (FWBOI,FL/PM/H) +8火
  
  
• Flames of the Phoenix (7.5k Splash Damage/10s/30s) +4金/火
  
• Final Rush (+50% Speed/Charge Speed/Passive) Enabled if battle outcome decided 4金/火
  
• Roar of the Beast (-18 morale/50m/15s/60s) +4木/火
  
  
• Clarity (+50% LoS/-25% building upkeep (Administrator) +8土

Army Composition Considerations

Deployment Restrictions

• 6 Characters
  
• 36 units

Army Composition Considerations

Since can only bring six slots and 36 units, can't bring 36 units if not all six retinue slots are full, hence should always fill them out, however unsure if unit specialization should be considered a hard rule

Campaign Considerations

• Better to have more armies than to have concentrated doomstacks
  
• You only need to beat the enemy, not have invincible troops
  
• BUT having more powerful troops means fewer casualties and more campaigning

Unit Thoughts

• Spear Infantry REFLECT Charge Damage that alone makes them worth it
  
• Heavy isn't always better or worth it, for example:
  Heavy Crossbowman have more armor, but not more damage, and are more expensive
  
• Spear vs Halberd Cavalry Difference-Spears have more AP Damage, whereas halberds

Class Thoughts

Commander

Charge/Speed bonuses
High Morale (However, Champion is probably better at holding with troops due to fatigue resistance and more armor)
Also, cavalry are fast, BUT have much lower damage than assault troops, flanking cavalry might be worth it for cycle charging, but are useless in a siege

Sentinels

Can recruit Assault Troops, have charge speed/bonus, and increased melee damage

Champions

Get bonus movement range, increased armor, fatigue resistance, and morale, should be leading army too since they have increased movement range

Commander

• Charge/Speed bonuses
  
• High Morale

Other

• I just find it personally confusing/frustrating how
  
• Champion's combat role is to murder everything in sight
  
• BUT their units are designed to hold their ground (spears)
  
• Sentinel's combat role is to tie up enemy generals or troops
  
• BUT their units are designed to kill lots of enemy troops (sword/axe infantry)
  
• SO you'd THINK that the spears would be given to the sentinel NOT the champion!
  
• You could argue that the sentinel's troops job is to "tie up" the enemy units by engaging them, as they are labelled frontline troops, BUT why would spear infantry, a unit designed to stop cavalry and hold the line be associated with the champion? (who is chopping everybody up)
  
• Maybe they'll patch/change this in the future, or there's some other design reasoning here that I'm not seeing

Character Types

Each Character has a type assigned to them which increases/decreases attributes and gives other traits
Please note that the previous abbreviation (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H) will be used here as well

• Magistrate
  
• +5 金
  
• +5 水
  
• +5 土
  
• +5% income from all sources (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H)
  
• 
  
• Admires-Ambition/Intelligence
  
• 
  
• Hunter
  
• +5 木
  
• +10 火
  
• +5 military supplies in enemy territory (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H)
  
• 
  
• Commends Physical Ability/Flexibility
  
• 
  
• Scout
  
• +5 木
  
• +5 火
  
• +5 土
  
• +50 commandery Line-of-Sight (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H)
  
• 
  
• Respects Caution
  
• Wary of Zeal
  
• Dislikes Carelessness
  
• 
  
• Advisor
  
• +10 水
  
• +5 土
  
• +10% Character XP (FW,BOI,FL/PM/H)
  
• 
  
• Respects-Patience/Intelligence

Character Attributes

Scholarly
+4 金/水
+25% Experience (Self)
Admires Intelligence
Values Education

Brilliant
+6 金/水
+15% Ammunition for all units in the county
-30% Ammunition for all enemy units in the county
Admires Intelligence
Commends Physical Ability

Vengeful
+2木
+6火
Supports War
Supports Intimidation
Disregards Diplomacy

[Khi]

hey not bad, keep it up!

[Pawaris]

Good good

[Apsalar]

Thanks for putting this all together in an easy-access list!

[RoogieGoogieGoom]

Just so you know there is nothing wrong wrong with 'Jian Swordsmen' as a name. All Chinese swords basically fall into two categories of swords: Dao and Jian. Jians are double edged, straight swords for thrusting, while daos are your more choppy variety of swords like sabres.

[Ashantai]

For those of us ignorant westerners, can you please use an abbreviation or indicator of which stat bonus is which as well as using the Chinese character? EG:
"Vengeful
+2木
+6火"

Any chance you could just put an 'R' for Resolve next to it, or whichever it is?

Good work so far! Some of this info is not yet listed anywhere.

[Edward]

@𝓛𝔢𝒗𝒊𝔢, thanks so much for the comments! I added them and changed some things around, as far as I'm aware, there's no bonus damage to cav in this game, spears, however, do reflect ALL charge damage :D

[Neutral]

thanks for makign this a public record, perhaps very useful for the aspiring hardcore min maxer similar of stature such as yourself OP

[Levie]

Yellow Turban generals are weird because of their mixed nature. So far I've almost never played them how the game describes them. This could be because of their legendary status but I'm not sure at the moment.

He Yi - Legendary Healer - is often my top duelist.

He Man - legendary scholar - I use him for general combat largely because of his starting ability "hail of arrows" which can often yield hundreds of kills.

Huang Shao - also legendary scholar - I use him as a support general because of his starting ability "one with his heaven" which gives a passive buff with 75m that increased ranges damage by 25%. I keep him parked with my archers.

When considering their retinues:

- Healers focus on melee units and can field Yellow Turbans only shock cavalry.
- Veterans focus on archery with excellent defense spearmen.
- Scholars focus on support units (scare, encourage, stats buffs.)

[Levie]

Healer unique units


- People's Warband
(Assault sword unit)
- White Wave Veterans
- Youxia
(unbreakable sword and board but half the numbers)

- Bringers of Righteous
(Mixed spear and bow unit. Front line melees while the back continues to fire.)
- Arm of the Supreme
(Halberd unit with splash attacks but very low in numbers)

- White Wave Horsemen
(YT only shock cavalry. High charge, high armor piercing, may have a hidden bonus vs other cavalry due to spear weapon.)

[Vertana]

You forgot azure dragons, great in-depth guide tho.