First Ten Turns - The Order of Loremasters (Vortex)

This guide is designed to show players, new and old alike, how to utilize the first 10 turns of a campaign to set yourself up for a successful legendary campaign as Teclis the High Loremaster of Hoeth leading his faction Order of Loremasters.

Before we Begin

**As the sole creator and content producer for this guide, and others in the First Ten Turn series,
I DO NOT authorize the copying, redistribution or republishing of this guide or any other guides in the series outside of steam**

While imitation is the greatest form of flattery, plagiarism and profiteering are not. I have spent a lot of time and effort creating this series of guides to help other players learn the game. I aim to keep the guides as up too date to the current state of the game as possible and have found other websites publishing versions of my guide, sometimes crediting me often not. If you happen to find a version of any of my guides published outside of steam, please let me know.


Foreword
This guide is intended to provide a step-by-step outline of the first 10 turns for The Order of Loremasters Vortex campaign on Legendary campaign and Normal battle difficulty.

This guide has been designed to show the best way that I personally have found to start the campaign. While every campaign is different, the first ten turns can be manipulated to produce the same results. To ensure the outcome of this guide I have tested the strategies a minimum of 3 separate campaigns.

I chose to write the guide playing with these difficulties both because they are my personal preference to play on balance wise (I find the extra hidden bonuses in battle on Very Hard difficulty make a lot of units obsolete) and to make it easier for newer players who have yet to take the leap to legendary where battles are played in real time without slow or pause. Hopefully with the help of this guide players can become more familiar playing battles in real time without pause and increase their level of battle micromanagement.

This guide is not an in-depth breakdown on the High Elves faction or it's late game campaign and battle strategies, however I have including tips and advice for the continuation of your campaign at the end of the guide.

Enough preamble lets get stuck in.

Legendary difficulty
The two biggest changes to legendary difficulty are not being able to manually save the game and the inability to pause/slow in battles. The campaign is saved before and after battles and at the end of the turn, however it is not saved for army movement that does not initiate a battle, or hero movement and actions. Building and technology research options also do not trigger a game save.

For those unaware the main differences in Legendary effects for this campaign;
*+15% Supply Line Upkeep
- We want our armies to be as cost effective as possible as we will have multiple supply line penalties.
*-8 Public Order
- Lots of rebellions until corruption is stabilized and public order building are built.

A full list of changes can be found here https://imgur.com/a/1RD1JhB


Faction Effects
*Diplomatic relations: +10 with Men and High Elves
- This will help secure Agreements with factions not competing in the Vortex Race
*Hero recruit rank: +5 for Mages
- A substantial and welcome boost to the early game ability of Mages
Lord Effects
*Winds of Magic power reserve: +30
- With all the cost reductions and recharge rate for WoM Teclis will be casting non-stop
*Bound spell: "Fireball"
- Helpful little damage dealer with 4 uses (+2 uses with skill-point investment)

Additional Units
*Swordmasters of Hoeth
- These guys will help out dealing with early Saurus and are a welcome addition.
*Frostheart Phoenix
- The Lord/Hero killer for the early game.

Now lets have a look at the beginning of the campaign



We start off at war with the Sentinels of Xeti who control one of the minor settlements in out starting province as well as the major settlement in the neighboring province and the two minors in Kahlida's starting province. While this seems quite an overwhelming amount of territory we are helped by the fact Kahlida also starts at war with the Sentinels and she will take the two minor settlements in her province rather quickly, she will also make a staunch ally to the east

Campaign in a Nutshell

Turn 1
* Teclis attacks Xeti
- Follow up attack on Xeti
* Recruit 2nd Lord
* Construction/Diplomacy (Fortress of Dawn)

Turn 2
* Teclis attacks and Occupies the Golden Ziggurat
- Recruit 3x Archer
* 2nd Lord move towards Mud Isle
* Construction

Turn 3
* Teclis moves toward Sentinels of Xeti
- Recruit 2x Spearmen 1x Archer
* Colonise Mud Isle
- Disband 2nd Lord, unless nearby Sea Treasure
* Construction/Research (Archery Prowess)

Turn 4
* Teclis moves to mainland
- Recruit 3x Spearmen
* End Turn battle against Xeti

Turn 5
* Teclis sieges Sentinels of Xeti
* Construction/Diplomacy (Khalida)
* End Turn battle against Xeti

Turn 6
* Attack, Sack then Occupy Sentinels of Xeti
* Construction

Turn 7
* Activate Rite "Invocation of Isha"
* Teclis move towards Chamber of Visions then Encamps
* Construction

Turn 8
* Teclis attacks Chamber of Vision (Sack and Occupy)
- Recruit 3x Spearmen
* Recruit Noble
* Construction/Research (Militia Training)

Turn 9
* Teclis Forced March toward Great Turtle Isle
* Noble moves toward Ulthuan
* Construction

Turn 10
* Teclis moves toward Rebel army
* Noble moves towards Ulthuan
* Construction

First Turn

This first turn we will be fighting two battles against the Sentinels of Xeti, recruiting a 2nd Lord and carrying out some diplomacy as well as upgrading the starting Rally Field.

Select Teclis and send him to attack the Sentinels of Xeti army.


While the odds for this battle may look even, the enemy army is primarily Skinks with 4 units of Saurus as the only real damage dealers. Solid tactics and Teclis' magic we will pull through almost unscathed.


Deploy your forces on the right hand side, it doesn't matter too much how you order your forces as we will be marching up and redeploying close to the enemy.


March your troops forward towards the smaller cliff to the right of where the enemy has deployed. Be careful here that your Phoenix does not get too far ahead, it will cause some enemy units to break off and try to engage.

*Note: Flying unit speed is the same with run or walk toggled, the difference is they will stagger to ranged fire in walk mode, and not in run. Save unit fatigue by "walking" them until close to the enemy*


Deploy your army as above. The idea here is to bait the Lizardmen army to blob up on the Swordmasters and Spearmen on the right, with the flank protected by the cliff, spears on the left to cover the Swordmasters. From here your Archers will move forward to provoke the Lizardmen while Teclis will follow to cover their eventual retreat.


Move your Archers and Teclis forward and target the Saurus Warriors, you should be able to get a few volleys off before they respond. Immediately after they start moving, pull your Archers back.


The Archers falling back to safety as the Lizardmen move to respond, move them to the high ground on the cliff so they can fire over your line. Teclis will stay a moment longer to cover their retreat with spells.


Teclis getting off a Flock of doom on the Skink Skirmishers who clumped together, don't forget to throw a fireball (Skink cohorts seem to take the most damage, they are tightly packed and low armored).


By now your Archers should be in position on the cliff, have them fire on the skirmishers as a priority. They will be slowly chipping away at your front-lines health but its mainly their poison debuff we want to avoid here. Teclis can keep casting Fireball and Flock of Doom as soon as they are off cool-down,


Here we have the skirmishers just about fully routed by the archers while the Lizards melee infantry has blobbed mostly on the Spearmen with the Swordmasters chewing through a unit or two. This is perfect for casting Flock of Doom on as many units as you can, once again don't forget to throw Fireballs when available.

*Note: If you hold "Alt" while casting any AoE spell you can cast it on the ground instead of a unit, this will let you center it on the blob.*


The enemy lord will push into your line and once he does swoop your Phoenix down on him, just as he is about to be engaged switch to Teclis and cast The Enfeebling Foe on him.

*Keep an eye on your Phoenix as its attack animations like to draw it away from its target and it may end up in the enemy infantry blob, not attacking the lord. This can be especially bad if it ends up in a group of Saurus Spears.*


Have your Archers shoot into the flank or rear of any unit they can from their position, leaving the blob for Flock of Doom, keep casting Flock and Fireball every time they come off cool-down and if you have the winds cast The Enfeebling Foe on the enemy lord.


We don't have any units to properly chase down routing foes at the moment so have your Archers target the enemy furthest away but still in range for as long as they can until they run out of ammo. Teclis can run alongside routing units casting Flock as well.


As you can see we pulled through the battle with hardly a scratch. I prefer to take the replenishment here due High Elves having the Martial Prowess ability, keeping them above 50% HP grants them +12 MD and +2 MA.


Teclis will have leveled up after the battle so put a skill-point into Flock of Doom this will allow him to overcast the spell and more importantly give a -30% cool-down.

Now its time to attack the army again


With no lord and hardly any Saurus left it this battle will be a walk in the park.

*Note: It is recommended to manually fight this battle too as the Auto-Resolve losses are quite severe.*


Standard checkerboard deployment opposite the enemy. This time they will march to you, hang tight and let the come.

*Note: If you hold "Ctrl" down while selecting units one-by-one in the order you want them lined up eg. "S-A-SM-A-S" when you deploy them they will be in that order. From here you can select just your archers and "Alt" drag them backwards behind your melee line.*


As they get closer, target the Skirmishers with your Archers as they lack shields and will take higher casualties. Cast spells with Teclis as soon as they are off cool-down, it won't take long before they route due to losses.


You can safely ransom captives here as long as you don't plan to auto-resolve the battle next turn, otherwise take the replenishment.


Once again Teclis will have leveled up and this time we want to take the spell Flaming Sword of Rhuin. This spell will carry us through the early game and remain a mainstay damage dealing buff throughout the campaign.

We are done with the battles for this turn but still have some diplomacy and construction to do, as well as recruiting a second lord who will go and recolinise the ruined settlement in the province.


It matters not what Lord you pick to recruit here, we will be disbanding them straight after they colonize the final region in the starter province.


At the moment the Citadel of Dusk is the only faction that will deal with us right now, go ahead and establish a Non-Aggression Pact, Military Access, and Trade Agreement with them. You may only be able to get a Trade Agreement this turn and that is okay.

*Note: It may be tempting to get forms of Alliances in this campaign however I would discourage this with anyone other than mainly Kahlida. The rituals will have the Lizardmen, Skaven and Dark Elves declare war on you, and the Dwarfs will pull you into early wars.*


Upgrade the Militia Camp into the Rally field, we will demolish it later however need it now to unlock research

That is it for the first turn, go ahead and hit the end turn button.

Second Turn

This turn we will be taking the settlement the Golden Ziggurat, Moving our 2nd Lord towards Mud Isle and upgrading the Golden Ziggurat once it's in our possession.

You will have noticed a second army from the Sentinels is heading over to the Isle, that's okay as they will retreat once we take the Golden Ziggurat and it cost them a turn of recruiting to enter our region. Also of note a quest will have been issued "The Lies of the Druchii" to win 2 battles against the dark elves for the reward of the Scroll of Hoeth which alongside a bound debuff spell and magic resistance ward offers a huge -20% Cooldown to all spells. Conveniently there happens to be a minor Dark Elf faction nearby, the Blood Hall Coven, who control a minor settlement with a ritual resource we will want to take later.

Attack the Golden Ziggurat with Teclis's army


As we are entering this battle at full or nearly full health for all our units, and won't have another battle for another two turns its safe to go ahead and autoreslove this battle. feel free to manual fight if you want the practice.


A decisive Victory, some post battle loot and another level for Teclis.

Go ahead and occupy the settlement
This will complete the Mission "Into the Jungle" with a nice little reward of +1000 Gold, +2 Influence and +8 Waystone fragments. This will also trigger the next Mission "Jungle Dominance" to complete ownership of the province, which we have our second Lord en-route to do.

*Note: It is better to Occupy over Sack as there is enough population surplus to immediately upgrade the settlement to tier 2*


With this Skillpoint we want to unlock "Net of Amyntok" a crucial skill as it will allow us to pin down high value targets and turn them into pin cushions with our Archers.

Recruit 3 units of Archers into Teclis' army then move your second Lord towards the Mud Isle. That's it for Army movement onto some quick building and diplomacy.


If you could not get all the agreements with the Citadel of Dusk the previous turn, relations should have improved enough to do so now. Relations with Khalida will be improving, just not enough to get a NAP without a gold investment this turn.


Build a Homestead in the first slot for the boost to growth, and upgrade the settlement to tier 2.
We will want to get the tier 2 building "Elven Gardens" as soon as possible to get a noble out and securing influence.

*Note: I strongly recommend Growth buildings in the first slots for all regions. Growth is key to unlocking higher tiered settlements as quickly as possible, which is more important than an early income building. most early game income will come from post-battle loot, and as you can not build walls in minor settlements until they are tier 3 they are extremely vulnerable without the early boost to growth.*

That's everything for this turn.

Third Turn

Turn 3 will involve moving and recruiting some more units into Teclis' army, colonising and rebuilding the Mud Isle and assigning our first Technology to research.

At the start of the turn another Quest will have been issued "The Vermin of Hruddithi" this time the reward is the Moon Staff of Lileath, another item to boost Teclis' spell-casting abilities with -20% Miscast chance, a boost of +18 Winds of Magic power reserve and a -3 cost reduction for Regrowth, all will be very welcome additions once the quest is complete. There also happens to be many Skaven factions in Lustria so this won't be a hard quest to finish.

With the completion of the Rally Field another Mission will also be issued, to Research a Technology, an easy one to complete as the first tech possible will take 1 turn to complete.

You will have noticed that the Sentinels army has retreated into the fog of war on their turn, they will be recruiting a bigger army now, so we should do the same.

Move Teclis and his army in the direction of the Sentinels of Xeti settlement and recruit 2 units of Spearmen and 1 more unit of Archers.
His army should consist of 1 Swordmasters, 4 Spearmen, 6 Archers and the Frostheart Phoenix by next turn.


*Note: While the recruitment options will have increased this turn due to the Rally Field building it is better this early to keep recruiting basic Spearmen and Archers, the upkeep on the new units is a lot higher and the early battles can easily be won with help from Teclis' spells.*

With your second Lord, Colonise the Mud Isle settlement and disband the Lord.

*Note: If there are any nearby Sea Treasures it is worth sending your Lord to grab them however disbanding the Lord will save 313 gold a turn, and we won't be needing a second army for some time. Take this into consideration if there aren't any additional treasures withing a few turns movement.*

This will complete the mission "Jungle Dominance" and grant us the reward of +2000 gold, +5 Influence and +7 Way-fragments. Another mission will pop up, "Command Them" which will task you with issuing a Commandment so go ahead and,

Issue the Commandment "Rebuild Lost Splendour" in The Turtle Isles. While we are here rebuild the settlement in the Mud Isles



Open the Technology panel as now we can assign some research.


The first research we have to do is "Military Advancements I" it is a 1 turn and no benefit tech however will complete the mission we were issued at the start of the turn. I recommend Archery Prowess as the next technology to be researched, +15% Archer and Lothern Sea Guard (LSG) reload speed is a significant buff for the whole campaign as most of the damage our armies will be doing will come from Archers and LSG.

There isn't any diplomacy to do this turn, relations with Khalida are still too low for any agreements, they are on the rise though and we will be carrying out a few battles against a joint enemy shortly so they will rise enough on their own. The Cult of Sotek will have been discovered however they do not like our treaties with the Citadel of Dusk or our war and military actions against the Sentinels, they will also likely declare war on Khalida who we want as a friendly faction on our eastern border.

*Note: As the Vortex Rituals are completed later in the campaign major diplomatic penalties will start being applied to all Lizardmen, Dark Elf and Skaven factions. This makes any early game diplomacy with these races dangerous as your Reliability can tank if treaties are broken early, this is a huge problem for High Elves as a lot of income is Trade based and a low Reliability will make it next to impossible to establish Trade Agreements.*

Go ahead and hit End Turn.

Fourth Turn

Not a lot to do this turn, just moving and recruiting some more units into Teclis' army. There will be a battle during the End Turn phase though.

Another 2 successful Missions and their small reward of +500 gold and +1 Influence each, as well as the first technology researched and Archery Prowess begun. Teclis should have 13 units in his army now, it's time to...

Move Teclis to the mainland.

The movement range outline does not look like he will make it however he will just set foot on the coast. It is importnant to note that there are two locations you can end up on the mainland, one slightly north of the other. Both locatuons have serperate battle maps with the southern location being the easier of the two maps to battle on

Recruit 3 units of Spearmen.

The Sentinels have an army lurking just out of sight in the settlement of Sentinels of Xeti. During the end turn cycle they will sally out and launch an attack on Teclis, recruiting the Spearmen is a preemptive plan to recover losses sustained during the battle and push forward to besiege the settlement the following turn.

With no new building, research or diplomacy to be carried out, go ahead and hit End Turn and await the attack from the Sentinels.


While the balance is slightly out of our favor, the Sentinels army is mostly un-shielded which is great for our ranged superiority, we also have a cliff to secure one flank. The biggest concern here is the Bastilidon, we want to make sure we kill it in this battle. Luckily we picked up the net spell earlier and have Flaming Sword to boost our ranged damage output.


Deploy your forces to the rear of your zone, with the left flank hard up on the cliff. You want your Archers in a double line with the units in a square formation group toggled unlocked, Spearmen deployed in front about 7 ranks deep in a "C" formation around your Archers, with Swordmasters on the right flank. Teclis on the higher ground for his bound Fireball spells Line of Sight (LoS) and the Phoenix in position on the right to support the Swordmasters.

*Note: Archers are best always deployed in squares, this allows them to pivot on the spot quickly resume firing on new targets, the double line formation allows them to be covered by the Area of Effect (AoE) for a Flaming Sword of Rhun cast.*


Once battle begins, move your Swordmasters further to the rear of the battlefield, their job is to pull some units away from the main battle so your Archers can pivot and shoot them in the rear.


Select your Archer group and as soon as the Bastilidon is in range of all of your Archers right-click attack to focus it. Hit hotkey 1 to jump to Teclis


Use Teclis to overcast Flaming Sword on you Archers, you can envelope your Spearmen in the cast too, then Net the Bastilidon when it comes into the spells casting range. Shoot the bound Fireball at the Slann every time it comes off cool-down.


It shouldn't take long to rout the Bastilidon then kill it as it runs away, once it is dead focus your Archers on the Slann. Save your WoM to recast Flaming Sword and Fireball as they come off cool-down. Keep an eye on your Swordmasters and charge the Phoenix in to spread it's AoE debuff, avoiding any Spear units.


Once the Slann is dead turn your Archers attention to the units the Swordmasters are fighting and hit them in the rear or flank to chain rout the group.


Switch the Archers to the Skirmishers once they rout and re-position your Swordmasters to rear charge the blob attacking your Spearmen.


With your Archers running low on ammo have them fire their last few shots into retreating enemy units and use your remaining WoM casting Flock of Doom on the last blob of units holding out.


We killed the Slann and the Bastillidon as well as half the enemy army with a few extra units iped out entirely, all the while with minimum casualties to friendly forces. Go ahead and take the replenishment as we will be laying siege to the Sentinels capital at the start of next turn.

Fifth Turn

We will be be besieging the Sentinels of Xeti after defeating their army in the field during the end turn. Khaldia will also now finally like us enough to sign some agreements and with some buildings finishing construction we will have a bit of empire management too.

A new mission has been issued "A Time of Heroes" to construct a building able to recruit a hero, it will be nice to get a reward for something we will be doing anyway!.

We also unlocked the Rite "Invocation of Asuryan" which does a nice job helping stabilise your fledgling empire, however we are still waiting to use Invocation of Isha soon so hold off for now.

Your front line will have taken a beating, lucky we recruited the extra Spearmen so go ahead and merge your damaged Spearmen units and lay siege to Sentinels of Xeti, build 1 Battering Ram and continue the siege.


The Sentinels will sally forth and attack us during the end turn. This works greatly in our favor as we can whittle down their numbers before attacking the city. The Ram makes the most sense for us given this fact as it is a 1 turn construction so allows us to attack earlier.


Teclis will have leveled again so put his point into Chain Lightning, unlocking the spell giving it a -50% cooldown and -3 WoM cost reduction with 1 point.

*Note: Chain Lightning is an interesting spell. Being a moving Vortex it can be really tricky to use successfully in battle as its movement is random and may damage your own troops as much, if not more than the enemy. The spell generally moves away from the Caster so positioning Teclis before casting is crucial. Try using it once a battle to familiarize yourself with the movement.*


With the last battle against the sentinels and our army besieging their capital Khalida will now like us enough to get the 3 agreements TA NAP MA in one deal, so go ahead and do so now.


We have some construction to manage now
In the Golden Ziggurat build the Elven Gardens, this will allow us to get a noble on the map. In the Mud Isle upgrade the settlement to tier 2 and repair the docks, if you have enough gold upgrade the Homestead in the Golden Ziggurat to a Manor to push that early growth. Now that Teclis is on a campaign in a foreign province, we wont be recruiting units in the Turtle Isles so we can demolish the Rally Field and get a refund of 1200 gold.

Hit End Turn and wait for the Sentinels to sally forth.


How many casualities you inflicted in the last battle determines how strong a foe you face this time. Regardless the garrison army will deploy as reinforcements at the edge of the map making the battle easier as they will come in 2 waves.

*Note: It is worth not killing the enemy Lord here, just reducing their health to kill them in the follow up battle easily and apply a Leadership debuff during the siege. The aim of this battle is as many casualties as possible, leaving the lord alive keeps the units in the fight that little bit longer*


Position your army as close to the cliff edge here as possible, you will have to redeploy your line once the battle begins. The aim of this formation is to funnel the enemy into a position allowing you to fire across the line with your Archers into the flank and rear.

Enemy units will blob up in two main areas, the first on the left where the Swordmasters will hold the line. The second area will be the right angled section of the line and they will try to flank the far right of the line which is why the end 2 units of Spearmen should curl back around, this also has the added benefit of fitting a lot of enemy units inside the AoE of a Flock of Doom spell.

*Note: Units hold their weapons in the right hand and shields in the left, this means that having Archers fire from the left side of our formation at the right wing any stray shots will hit the Spearmens shields while also making sure the enemy shields are facing away from the Archers, a win-win situation.*


Here you can see the units in formation as the enemy approaches, note the curled right flank. Your Archers can start shooting at the un-shielded Saurus here prioritizing warriors over spears.


With a couple of approaching volleys to soften the Saurus attacking the Swordmasters they quickly chewed through the remainder, the Archers then shooting across the line into the rear and flank of the blobbing right flank. Remember to hit the hotkey 1 and cast spells with Teclis, Flock of doom on the right flank and Flaming Sword on the Archers.


The second wave of shielded reinforcements have joined the battle now and the formation is really starting to shine. Even being buffed by Flaming Sword the Spearmen protecting the Archers are loosing so swing the Swordmasters around when it is safe to do so.


The Phoenix supporting the right flank with it's cold aura debuff and 7 units fitting nicely inside a Flock of Doom cast


With the army broken focus your Archers on the units further away at first so they can kill as many units as possible, if the Lord still has a high amount of health set the Phoenix on him, just remember not to kill him.


Just under half the Sentinels army lost and the Lord taken down to low health, perfect for a follow up attack.

Sixth Turn

This turn we are going to attack, Sack, and Occupy the Sentinels of Xeti then manage some construction.


Turn 6 may prompt you with a dilemma, it is random which dilemma you get however it is usually best to take the option that grants the highest amount of influence even if it costs you gold

Initiate the Siege against Sentinels of Xeit


This battle map works highly in the favor of a ranged attack, positioning on the left side will leave and approach almost impervious to the settlements tower defenses.


Deploy off to the left side, we will only really need the Archers, Phoenix, Teclis and a couple of Spearmen units for this battle.


Move your Archers up the side outside the range of the Tower and send 2 units of Spearmen up the left most section of wall. The Phoenix will cycle charge and the Archers to provide fire support with Teclis buffing the Archers and casting Flock of Doom on the wall.


The Spearmen on the walls prompting the Lizards to come and attack exposing them to Archer fire and clumping for Flock of Doom. Don't forget to snipe the Lord (conveniently at low health already) to cause a Leadership debuff and rout the army all the sooner.


You can end the battle as soon as the army breaks, they will perish when the settlement is taken anyway.


Hardly a scratch. Go ahead and Sack then Occupy the settlement

*Note: Sacking a settlement downgrades it by one tier as well as damaging the buildings, Occupying also downgrades by one tier. Sacking then Occupying downgrades a settlement by 2 tiers in total, a non issue here as it is only tier 2 and the money from sacking will offset the repair costs.*


Pick up the second point for Flaming Sword of Rhuin
Flaming Sword is a spell that is more cost efficient to overcast, it doubles the duration of the effect and the second skill-point reduces the cost down to 10 WoM along with a significant miscast deduction of -15%. As this is our most cast spell its a solid choice for a skill-point.


Build a Homestead in Great Turtle Isle, Upgrade the Homestead in Golden Ziggurat if you didn't last turn and finally build a barracks in Sentinels of Xeti if you are under 14 units, if not build a Homestead instead. We will have 2 turns to replenish before the next battle.

With no diplomacy this turn, go ahead and hit End Turn

Seventh Turn

Not much to do this turn, activate our first Rite, complete a quest, re-position Teclis and upgrade a building

We have yet another new quest issued "War Crown of Saphery" which requires activating the Rite "Invocation of Isha" and is the reason why we have yet to use a Rite.

Go ahead and activate the Rite "Invocation of Isha"

Although we won't benefit greatly from the effects completing the quest grants a substantial +30 Influence and the cost is offset by the +1500 gold.


Invocation of Vaul is a powerful Rite and from here on you should make sure you can activate it as soon as it comes off cool-down. The description is not joking when it says a powerful magical item, and once you get used to timing your offences to line up with the Rite being active you will greatly appreciate using the ability "Vaul's Hammer" in siege battles.

Invocation of Hoeth is a great Rite and should be used often once you have Mages/Loremasters on the campaign map and levels them insanely quickly.
Mages should be Stealing Tech every turn to boost your research rate and once they are leveled sufficiently they can join armies providing huge bonuses having unlocked their spells already. Loremasters are in a weird place, its useful to have one or two to tank in Teclis army as nobles should be on the map however they require a lot of skill-point investment due to their dual role. They are also quite useful on the campaign map being able to damage walls prior to sieges.

Invocation of Asuryan is useful for planning settlement upgrades in multiple provinces at once. -15% building cost reduction is nothing to scoff at when saving up to upgrade multiple high tier buildings in a few turns. The +4 Public order is handy when expanding and stabilising new frontiers, with the passive influence gain being a nice bonus.

Move Teclis along the road towards the Chamber of Visions stopping just inside friendly teritory, then set the army stance to "Encamp" for the extra replenishment boost


Upgrade the Homestead in Great Turtle Isle

That's it for this turn.

Eighth Turn

Turn 8 sees us completing the second province, replenishing our army and recruiting our first Hero, a Noble. We will also be doing a bit of empire management by assigning some more research as well as repairing and upgrading some buildings.

Yet another mission successful! We are on a roll. A couple of new missions added this turn too, one for amassing Way-Fragments, one to recruit a Hero, and one to destroy the Sentinels of Xeti. Our second Lord is also ready for duty again, we finished researching Archery Prowess and have a rebellion brewing on the Great Turtle isles.

You may have noticed Khalida has taken a minor settlement in her starting province. This works for us, it being uninhabitable to our faction and she is taking out our joint enemy who we just received a quest to destroy.

Let's start this turn by selecting Teclis and attacking the Chamber of Visions.

This will require War Declaring on the Blood Hall Coven, our first Elf vs Elf conflict, so go ahead and do so.


They took that well enough.


Feel free to Auto-Resolve this battle if you like, we will be sacking and then occupying before heading back to deal with the rebellion about to happen on the Isle. You will have a chance to replenish and recruit more units beforehand.

*Note: At the time of writing this guide, doing this one battle counts as winning 2 battles for the quest to gain the "Scroll of Hoeth" if this is a bug and gets fixed then it will be worth waiting to occupy the settlement the next turn allowing a second battle against the dark elves.*


Acceptable Auto-Resolve losses (Sorry Spearmen)

Sack then Occupy the settlement


I prefer to grab the second point in Net of Amyntok here with the reasoning being if you can stop the enemy from getting to your line, you won't need Regrowth just yet as the cost of Regrowth is still too high without the Moon Staff of Lileath.

Recruit some more Spearmen into Teclis' army if needed to maintain 15 units.
15 units is all you really need in Teclis' army right now, his spells will make up the difference and this saves you a lot in upkeep.

Select the settlement Great Turtle Isle and recruit a Noble Hero


It matters not what trait this Hero has as he will be solely Securing Influence and never embedded into an army. Save your influence for recruiting a good secondary Lord later on.


My recommendation for the next research is Militia Training, recruiting units at a higher level is essential on Legendary and Archers and Spearmen are useful throughout the whole campaign.


Build a Homestead in the 2nd slot of Mud Isle, repair the buildings in the Chamber of Visions and demolish the Elven Gardens at the Golden Ziggurat

Set the Commandment in The Forbidden Jungle to Rebuild Lost Splendour, acknowledge the Imminent rebellion in the Turtle Isles and hit End Turn.

*Note: The two minor settlements in the Jungles of Green Mist province to the north are actually ruins. You could recruit your second Lord again and go colonise them however it's a trap to try and hold them now as it leaves you over extended and they must be built up from ruins at great financial cost. You are better off securing your first 2 provinces before expanding further.*

Ninth Turn

Mission Successful! Capture and occupy the Chamber of Visions... wait a minute we never received that quest, oh it spawned and completed at the same time, well now that's neat! Another mission was issued too, to build the Ancient Waystone in the Chamber of Visions settlement.

The rebellion that has been brewing in the Turtle Isle has finally formed into an army and are currently mustering near the province capital.

Change the stance of Teclis' army to forced march and move him back toward the Isle.

Move your Noble toward Hualotal

We need more trade partners and the best place to get those is in Ulthuan. All we need is line of sight on one of the High Elf factions there to be able to establish the first Trade Agreement which will grant us vision to the rest of the island as we sign more and more Trade Agreements. The Nobles job will to be Securing Influence on the way to gaining sight on Ulthuan.

Upgrade the Homestead in the Mud Isles, Construct a Militia Barracks in the Golden Ziggurat and demolish the one at the Chamber of Visions
The extra growth will boost the early build up substantially and the only major threat is rebellions and the Dark Elves nearby. We will unlock Teclis' bound spell Flames of the Phoenix after crushing the rebellion and that will be a major damage dealer in future battles.



That is everything we can do this turn.

Tenth Turn

Not a lot to do this turn other than move Teclis, the Noble and some construction.

The final turn of this guide starts with the Sentinels of Xeti being destroyed by Khalida, this completes the mission "Purge the Reptiles" even though it wasn't by our own hand.

Not much else is new other than the rebel army has mustered up to 14 units.

Move teclis closer to the rebel army

Move the Noble towards Hualotal


Upgrade the Settlement capital at the Great Turtle isle
you don't need to upgrade the Rally Field at the moment, regular Archers and Spearmen will hold out for quite some time, especially if you put some points into the red line. Teclis being the main damage dealer of the army. This will save you some money to boost the early growth of your regions.

....and that's it for the first 10 turns!

Tips, Tricks and Advice

Campaign Advice

The following turn the rebel army will besiege the capital. Teclis will be close enough to attack them and being reinforced by the garrison will be an easy win. Now is the time to build up these two provinces and get walls up in the minor settlements before moving to secure more territory. If you have public order under control here, feel free to go and take out the nearby Dark Elves.

Prioritize building growth first in your regions and upgrading the settlement chains, while it may be tempting to squeeze out some extra gold building the Elven Craftsman building higher tiered settlements produce more gold in the long run so getting them up earlier pays off.

Build the garrison building in the 2nd slot of all minor settlements. When building it in the second slot if it is ever sacked at tier 3 it wont loose the building chain when downgraded, this makes it quicker and easier to build the settlement back up to being walled. Your starting province can be left undefended for now, later as you get closer to the rituals you will want walls in every Region

Teclis' fledgling empire is pretty safe for now. The mountains provide a barrier and Khalida is a strong front to the south-east. It is a good idea to send her gifts from time to time so she can build better recruitment buildings, tomb kings struggle early game with gold and this will allow her to hold off Tehenhauin for you.

Be wary of the Skaven, try to only be at war with one at a time. They can tunnel under the mountains and loosing settlements to Skaven surprise attacks sucks.

The Northern Spine of Sotek is a good province to control. It provides vision over the whole eastern front and if you expand up to Spektazuma and build the Wall upgrade chain it creates a great northern bastion to your empire and a place to concentrate the inevitable attacks from Mazdumaundi and the savage orcs.

Once you have secured the mountains and north, head for Itza. Gor-Rok will provide a huge problem late game if he secures his area and Itza itself being a 10 slot capital in a 4 region province is a huge economic and military province that will springboard the conquest of the rest of Lustria.


My Preferred Teclis Build Order

1. Flock of Doom
2. Flaming Sword of Rhuin
3. Net of Amyntok
4. Chain Lightning
5. Flaming Sword of Rhuin
6. Net of Amyntok
7. Flames of the Phoenix
8. Route Marcher
9. Sublime Focus
10. Greater Arcane Conduit
11. Master of the Order
12. Barded Ilthilmar Steed
13. Shield of Saphery
14. Kindleflame
15. Life Bloom
16. Inspiring Presence
17-19. Bow Master

This build order really focuses on Teclis as the main damage dealer at first then his Archers while providing passive resistances and healing to the troops holding the line. If you are coming across a lot of Dinosaur armies grab Glamour of Hoeth for the +200% Charge Resistance Aura.

I rate Teclis' passive skills as follows,
1. Shield of Saphery - Being the first but also a great passive in it's own right
2. Kindleflame - A no brainer here, Fiery Convocation being fire damage as well as Flaming Sword.
3. Life Bloom - Adds a heal to the damage resistance from Shield of Saphery.
4. Wild Heart - Boosting power recharge as well as power reserves means more spells.
5. Life-Leeching - Similar to Wild Heart, just not as good.
6-7. Depends on who you are fighting, Exorcism if you are fighting a lot of terror inducing units or Rolling Skies if you are facing a lot of flier units
8. Metal Shifting - If the buff applied to ranged units it would bump to the 4th slot, the army Teclis is encouraged to form is primarily ranged damage.
9. Smoke & Mirrors - For the same reason as Metal Shifting, your army should be relatively stationary dishing out ranged damage.

Most battles will be over before you need to cast regrowth, as it does not revive troops only heal them which will happen after battle anyway and the vigor replenishment doesn't really matter when the enemy is running away due to losses from the offensive spell barrage. Plus if you pick up Life Bloom as a passive skill you will have constant healing map-wide anyway.


Lothern Sea Guard vs Spearmen+Archers
It may be tempting to upgrade your Spearmen into LSG. While adding another row of Archers to your army can seem appealing, on Large unit sizes a unit of LSG is 68 models vs 90 models to a Spearmen unit and while the melee stats are marginally better on the LSG the unit size has to be factored in too you won't be able to cover as much ground with the LSG (less models also effects casualty replenishment rate it being % based) not to mention the overall unit health is higher on the Spearmen due to having more models. From the standpoint of a campaign, being able to recruit Spearmen from a tier 1 building means you can take heavy losses to your front-line, recruit more units and move on, as well as the additional tech requirements to add recruitment ranks to LSG the gap grows even bigger.

A unit of Archers is also 68 models however has a greater range at 180 vs LSG 165 and costs nearly 100 gold less. With a line of shielded Spearmen in front to soak damage your Archers and with the range boost being able to pick off enemy ranged/flyer units with focus fire they shouldn't be in harms way anyway. The only benefit being the silver shield LSG have over Archers, I find this does not make up for the other downsides.


For more insight into the High Elf faction as a whole check out some of these other guides;

Ultimate Guide - High Elves - Tyrion by MinMaxRex
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1633594790
This guide, while for Tyrion, provides a lot of in depth details about the High Elf faction as a whole.

Epilogue

Teclis snapped out of his thoughts and turned his attention once more to the Elf in front of him. The scout continued his report "The rebel army continues to grow in strength as more dissidents leave the settlement".

Good thought Teclis, let them leave. His army was but a days march from the capital and should this rebel army continue to draw those who would oppose his plan into the open all the better. He dismissed the scout with a way of his hand, telling the Elf to spread the word to break camp at dawn.

Once again his thoughts drifting to his departure from Lothern, his brother Tyrion had been furious at the decision to take a force and secure a front in Lustria. They had argued for days over the idea before Teclis had finally had enough and ordered the ships prepared, he knew that something was afoot in the depths of the jungle and for the fate of Ulthuan, maybe even the world, Teclis vowed to get to the bottom of it.

He had not expected to be confronted by the local Lizardmen tribe so quickly on arrival. In the past the Elves and Lizardmen had a mutual understanding to leave each other alone however this must have interrupted their "Great Plan". Seeing a Slann for the first time, on the battlefield no less, was quite unexpected and confirmed that he was on the right path. If the Slann were awakening, and stirring the cohorts to battle great indeed must be the dangers on the jungle continent.

Even his hated kin the Dark Elves had established themselves nearby. Teclis knew he had to squash this uprising quickly and stabilize his position here. To the north their appeared a bunch of ruins so the scouts had said however he sensed something sinister lurking among the ruins as well.

Only time would tel...

Closing Notes

I had a lot of fun writing this guide and testing my abilities to reproduce the results. Playing a faction with such a strong caster as the leader who can throw down endless spells is such a different experience than a regular melee Legendary Lord.

This being my second guide in The First Ten Turns series I would love to hear your feedback on the layout and style it is written in. I do plan on keeping these guides as up-to-date to the current state of the game so if you come across anything written here that no longer works, please let me know.

Check out my other guide;
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1975607471

[Tuomo L]

On 4th turn, the Bastilidion seems to always go out of control instead and charges right in and kills my troops.