The Grimoire of Minions

Even a novice Underlord should have a rough idea of what his various minions can and can't, and what must be done to attract them into a dungeon. To this end, this guide offers a short overview over each type of minion that can be found in War for the Overworld, and also lists the warriors of the empire whose loyalty can be gained with a bit of...persuasion.

Foreword

Welcome back, Underlord. I fear your recent...setback....may have left some of your mental faculties in a less than desireable state, and you may have lost much of the knowledge required to wage your War for the Overworld. Because of this, I have taken the liberty of preparing a series of grimoires for you - in them you will find all the basic knowledge required to keep your dungeon in a working state, and to bring down the Empire - or any rival Underlord that would dare to oppose you.

This particular guide will cover your minions - the lifeblood of your dungeon. Although you may be a powerful being in your own respect, it will be these loyal servants that will ensure your dominance under and above the surface of the earth. Thus, knowing what attracts them, what they can and can't do, and which of their needs you have to respect if you wish to ensure their loyalty during the entire length of your campaign. And then are the warriors of the Empire, of course - knowing your enemy is half a victory, and to my own surprise many of these pathethic do-gooders can be very reasonable after a few hours in your torture chamber.

A last thing - the gods of this realm are a bit..fickle..in nature, and may frequently change the behavior and qualities of both your minions and your enemies. Thus, this guide may sometimes seem inaccurate or lacking parts, but do not worry - any change will be duly noted and accounted for in due time.

(Last updated: WftO ver. 1.4 + Heart of Gold DLC)

Workers

Behind every powerful Underlord stands an entire legion of these Imps. Despite of their diminuitive appearace, these workers will do almost all of the manual work in your realm – they will carve out the tunnels and caverns that will later be part of your dungeon, mine gold for you, increase your territory, fortify your walls, besiege enemy ones, build constructs, haul defense parts, bring your incapacitated minions to safety, drag incapacitated enemies into your prison, and keep your tavern well-stocked, amongst other things. Unlike regular minions, workers will not gain experience in combat, but only do so by performing whatever regular work there is to do.

Naturally nothing in life is free. While your workers are magical creatures and thus do not have such petty needs as food, rest, or even wages, each Imp requires a bit of mana to maintain its existence. Fortunately for you, your Dungeon Core alone can support up to five workers free of cost and will even automatically create new ones should you have less than five of them in your dungeon, but every additional worker above the fifth one will lock fifty points of your maximum mana. Because of this, you should always keep in mind that having a large number of workers may strengthen your economy, but will limit your spellcasting and defensive options.

Industrious as they are, your workers are cowardly by nature, and will run as fast as their little legs can carry them should they encounter enemies - a trait which means that they may sometimes fail to deliver defense parts or rescue injured minions. On the other hand, their natural flight instinct perhaps is for the best, for even the most pathethic foe will have no problem squashing an imp.



Created by: Summon Worker Spell



Abilities:
Work: Unfortifies walls and digs through earth and gold with a left-click. Unclaims tiles and claims earth with a right-click.

Attack: Attacks the target in melee

Worker Regen (Passive) : Workers rapidly regenerate health when they have not been attacked or slapped for a while.

Blink (Lvl. 4): Teleports the worker forward a few tiles

Dash (Lvl. 7): Considerably increases the movement speed of the worker for a few seconds

Teleport (Lvl. 10): Instantly teleports to the next assigned task

CATEGORY: INTELLIGENT MINIONS

Your workers may follow your dark orders without hesitation, but they are unfit for combat, and lack the brains for many of the more complicated jobs that need doing. To this end, you will have to entice intelligent minions into your dungeon.

While the intelligent part may be a tad relative in some of the candidates, they nonetheless all share the same basic needs – intelligent minions want a comfortable lair to sleep in, will eventually get unhappy if you force them to eat pigs directly from the slaughterpen rather than letting them dine in a tavern, and worst of all, even insist on being paid for their services every now and then.

Failing to fullfil their basic needs will eventually make your minions angry, and while a slightly unhappy mood can easily be cured by dropping a bit of gold on their head, you should not let things escalate until they grow so frustrated that they start attacking your loyal minions or even your own dungeon core.

In return for taking care of all their petty demands, your intelligents minions will work in one or more of the many rooms that compose your dungeon, albeit not every mininion is meant for every type of work, naturally. You can also drop your intelligent minions into your barracks for a bit of physical workout, or, if you have enough money or souls at disposal, drop them into a spirit chamber, where the local witchdoctor will cram the battle experience of long-dead warriors into their tiny, little heads.

Obviously enough, your intelligent minions will also fight for you and use their unique talents to drastically reduce the life expectancy of your enemies. On the other hand however, they are not quite as willing to offer their own lives to you – critically injured intelligent minions will try to limp away to safety, and even those who have been struck down in combat usually have enough life left that your Imps can rescue them by dragging them back to their lair.

Gnarling

Every dark lord needs his horde of ugly goblinoid mooks, and the gnarlings are all to happy to fullfil that role for you. As they are not quite bright enough to work in the archive or foundry, Gnarlings will instead train themselves in the barracks when left to their own devices, ensuring that you will always have at least a handful of well-trained warriors in your dungeon.

Gnarlings are the allrounders of the melee department – reasonably tough, and practically addicted to hacking, slashing, and stabbing away at those who oppose their Underlord. Coupled with the fact that they usually will be a tad more experienced than your other minions, this makes them prime material for leading assaults and defenses.

Attracted by: Barracks
Works in: Barracks


Hitpoints: 1200 (Base) 8196 (Lvl 10)


Abilities
Basic Attack A melee slash
Shiv Throws a blade at the enemy, slowing it down.
Cleave A melee attack that deals damage to all enemies in a cone-shaped area in front of the gnarling.
Blade Spin (Lvl 5) Deals damage to all enemies around the Gnarling

Cultist

These red-robed fanatics are utterly dedicated to their Underlord (at times in a rather disturbing fashion...) and will happily slave away in the archives to research new sins for their master. The cultists also are responsible for channeling the dark magic required for a ritual in the sanctuary, and will prioritize it over their work in the archive once the Underlord has initiated a such a ritual.

In combat, the scrawny cultists will avoid melee if possible and assault the enemy at range. Though their basic attack is not particularly impressive, cultists can severely weaken enemies while at the same time healing other minions or themselves, making them very useful as support units.




Attracted by: Archive, Sanctuary
Works in: Archive, Sanctuary


Hitpoints: 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl 10)

Abilities
Basic Attack A ranged attack. Applies "Soulbreaker" to the enemy, so that it suffers extra damage when on low health
Wither Lowers the movement and attack speed of an enemy for a few seconds. May stack up three times on a single target.
Blood Rite Heals the cultist or an allied unit
Desecration (Lvl. 5) Drastically increases the damage suffered by an enemy for a few seconds. May stack up to three times on a single target.

Chunder

The Chunder is a (mercifully) rare combination of breathtaking ugliness, a highly volatile digestive tract, and a very, very dense skull. Apart from their natural ability to shatter mirrors by standing in front of them, Chunders are surprisingly knowledgeable about engineering and will steadily headbutt the anvils of their master's foundry to create defense parts for traps and doors.

When it comes to a fight, the scaly hide of a Chunder offers them a reasonable degree of protection, and the various gases emitted from its body are horrifically effective at incapacitating and harming multiple enemies at once, no matter from which orifice they come from.

Attracted by: Foundry
Works in: Foundry


Hitpoints: 1400 (Base) 10431 (Lvl 10)

Abilities
Basic Attack The Chunder slams the enemy with its head

Headbutt Stuns an enemy for a few seconds.

Chunder Thunder Belches, deals 35 damage to enemies in front of the Chunder and decreases their damage dealt by 20% for 12.5 seconds.

Chunder Storm (Lvl. 5) Farts, covering the area around the Chunder with toxic gas. Stuns nearby enemies for 3.5 seconds. Also reduces enemy movement speed by 75% for 5 seconds, and deals 125 damage over the course of 5 seconds.

Crackpot

A distant cousin to the Gnarling, the Crackpot has replaced the latter's love for combat with a faked degree in chemistry and an unhealthy attraction to highly volatile liquids. Though their tendency to test their own products on themselves and their exposure to the toxic gases within the Underlords' alchemy labs have left them with some serious mental health issues, the Crackpots nonetheless are in charge of brewing all the potions their dark lords could possibly need.

As their occupation in the lab leaves little time for working out, Crackpots are neither particularly tough nor strong in melee. Instead, they prefer to attack from afar, bombarding enemies with all sorts of destructive and blinding potions while pumping their allies full of stimulants to enhance their performance

Attracted by: Alchemy Lab
Works in: Alchemy Lab


Hitpoints: 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Throws an explosive potion at a single enemy

Flash-Bang Throws a potion that will stun enemies at the impact site for some seconds

Performance Enhancing Substance Increases attack speed (25%) and movement speed (15%) of nearby allies for a 7.5 seconds (attack speed buff can stack up to three times if applied by multiple crackpots).

Potion of Mass Destruction (Lvl 5) Throws a highly volatile potion, dealing heavy damage in a small impact area.

Necromancer

The Necromancers are powerful mages who bargained away their own humanity in exchange for eternal (un)life and the ability to the raise the dead in the form of monstrous ghouls. Highly intelligent and cunning, these death-loving (and perhaps just a bit necrophile) wizards only pledge their service to those Underlords whose crypts offer them a steady supply of dead bodies which they can raise. In addition, their arcane background allows them to work in the archive, should they have nothing else to do

Although a competent spellcaster in its own right, a Necromancer's true power lies in his ability to command an entire horde of fiendish ghouls. Thus, he will usually remain at the edge of the slaughter, fully content to command his undead minions and strike the enemy from afar. A good Underlord will take great care to keep his Necromancers alive, for should they fall, their ghouls will go berserk and indiscriminately attack all nearby units.

Attracted by: Crypt

Works in: Crypt, Archive


Hitpoints 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Raise Ghoul (Work) A necromancer may raise two ghouls per level from the soul pyres within a crypt. Thus, a first level Necromancer could raise two ghouls, a second level Necromancer could raise four, and so forth (up to twenty at level ten).

Basic Attack Launches a bolt of necrotic energy at range

Mark of Death Orders all ghouls under the Necromancer's order to attack the selected target

Necromancy Drains a nearby corpse to heal all Ghouls under his command by 35% of their health. Has a ten-second cooldown.

Deatheater (Passive) The Necromancer is healed for a good amount whenever one of his ghouls die.

Wraith (Lvl. 5) Drains a nearby corpse to raise a wraith with limited lifespan.

Succubus

Born from a mixture of demonic and human blood, these temptresses take sadistic pleasure in turning the proudest hero or fiend into a whimpering mess, ready to be drafted into their master's service. Fittingly, the Succubi are attracted by and usually can be found in the torture chamber, where they compose symphonies of blood and screams.

Being a very sophisticated woman, a succubus does not simply slash and bash her way into battle. Instead, she will concentrate on one target, using her supernatural charm to make it defenseless and then claw it apart limb by limb. Like any good specialist however, she is best when left undisturbed, and hence has problems dealing with multiple enemies at once.

Attracted by: Torture Chamber
Works in: Torture Chamber


Hitpoints: 1400 (Base) 10431 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack A melee strike

Beguile (Passive) Whenever a Succubus attacks in melee, she will beguile the target, making it unable to attack the succubus. Only one target at a time can be beguiled.

Soul Fracture Strikes a single target for huge amounts of damage.

Witch Doctor

Whereas the Necromancer is chiefly interested in rotten bodies, it is the Witch Doctor who manipulates souls and minds. With a suitable spirit chamber, these shamans will gleefully stuff the experience of the dead into into the heads of your minions (with only a very minor risk of catastrophic cranial trauma or lasting personality damage), granting them a drastic boost in experience if you can pay for the costly process. Should this not be the case, he is also content to work in the archive.

Although powerful a mage, the Witch Doctor prefers to strengthen those around him rather than fighting the enemy directly. Hence, he will support and heal allies, and, sometimes, even bring them back from the dead. Just make sure that he doesn't become entangled in close combat, where his supportive powers are of little use to him.

Attracted by: Spirit Chamber

Works in: Spirit Chamber, Archive


Hitpoints: 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack A ranged attack spell

Renewing Chant Heals a nearby minion for 40 points of damage, increases all incoming healing for a short while.The effect can be stacked until the incoming healing is increased by 200%. Applies detox. Short cooldown.

Invigorate Increases attack speed (25%), movement speed (20%), and attack power (25%) of the targeted ally for 6 seconds. 10 second cooldown. Applies detox.

Detox Removes any harmful effects from a a single nearby ally.

Resurgence Raises a nearby dead ally.

Augre

As if being a towering mountain of muscle wasn't enough, the hulking creatures known as Augres are so fascinated by metalurgy that they have taken to replace entire limbs with metallic counterparts. These sledgehammer-arms are strong enough to crush a heavily-armored knight into a bloody paste, and also serve to activate the defense mechanism of the garrison, which in turn does attract the Augres. Unsurprisingly, their fondness of metal and steel also prime candidates for working in the foundry.

It goes without saying that Augres are a powerhouse in melee that can simply brush aside weaker enemies and will surive an astonishing amount of punishment before collapsing to the ground. You can imagine them as a living battering ram of sorts, quite capable of plunging through enemy lines and keeping harm away from your more fragile spellcasters.

Attracted by: Garrison

Works in: Garrison, Foundry


Hitpoints: 2000 (Base) 14901 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Smashes the target with the hammer-arm

Ground Slam Smashes the ground, dealing damage to all enemies in a small radius around the augre.

Aftershock (Passive) Whenever the Augre uses its basic attack or ground slam, it will stun and push back enemies for a bit. This effect is applied twice when the Augre uses quake.

Quake (Lvl. 5) Creates a conical shockwave that damages all enemies in front of the augre.

Beastmaster

More ham than man, this old pigface is the self-declared lord of the arena, and will routinely throw any beasts he can find into the pit to fight one another. While this naturally means that those animals thrown into the arena will end up with some bruises (or worse), it also allows them to gain experience without risking a very permanent death.

Though he is a capable fighter on his own and particularly excells at putting down those beasts that are not under his control, the Beast Master shows his true strength when fighting alongside allied beasts – driving them and himself to fight with even greater ferocity. As your can not manually add him to the beast control group, it is best to create a new rally group containing both the beastmaster and some or all of your beasts.


Attracted by: Arena
Works in: Arena


Hitpoints: 1600 (Base) 11921 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Whips the target

Remedy Heals an allied beast unit

Primal Instinct Increases the movement and attack speed of an allied beast unit for a few seconds

Beastwhisperer (Passive) The Beastmaster takes less damage and deals more damage against beasts.

Savage Roar (Lvl. 5) Dramatically increases the attack speed of nearby beasts for 10 seconds.

Sentinel

The Sentinel is a thick suit of golden armor animated by the corrupted soul of a fallen Imperial hero. Although not exactly a conversationalist, the sentinel's shimmering longsword is quite capable of delivering answers of its own. In short, the sentinel is an ideal companion to Underlords who value the value of gold.

Sentinels are quite a bit different when compared to regular minions: Instead of entering your domain through an underworld portal, you must construct them by building their defensive shell. Once the latter has been constructed, you may click it to release the actual sentinel, or it will automatcally emerge if enemies are nearby.

Being made of pure gold, sentinels do neither require food nor sleep, but they also can't be restored with the conventional Heal spell - they can only regain health by collecting gold, be it by being sprinkled with it by your own hand, via the Gild spell, or when they pick up gold during payday. Speaking of payday - although sentinels never become hungry or tired, they do demand a quite hefty sum of gold as payment, and no, I do not know what they do with all that cash. Suffice it to say that you should have an adequately large and well-filled vault before you construct one of these warriors.

Although sentinels have no particular special abilities and their regular attacks only deal decent damage, their curios lack of vital organs means that sentinels are the toughest non-Titan units in your arsenal, making them ideal frontline fighters that can protect your more vulnerable minions. In addition, sentinels gains experience far more quickly than regular minions.

Attracted by: Building a sentinel shell
Works in: Barracks


Hitpoints: 4500 (Base) 15830 (Lvl 10)

Abilities
Basic Attack Attacks the enemy with a golden longsword.

Gilded (Passive): The sentinel can only be healed by gold and has no passive hitpoint regeneration of its own.

CATEGORY: BEAST MINIONS

Although dogs are said to be man's best friends, Underlords can establish their own little zoo of nightmarish beasts which they can sick on any would-be trespasser. All you need to do for this is to establish the aptly-named Beast Den, a room that has its own little portal which will attract the ferocious wildlife of the Underworld into your dungeon.

Compared to your intelligent minions, beasts are very undemanding in nature – you will need no other rooms apart from the Beast Den to attract them (although an upgrade may be necessary to attract the more powerful beasts), they do not need a tavern but will happily eat micro-piglets in your slaughterpen, and they do not even demand to be paid, having little use for something like gold. Atop of that, your beasts have an innate knack for battle and will gain experience much faster than intelligent minions when fighting the enemy.

On the other hand of evil, your beasts still are effectively just animals. While they will happily follow your rally calls, they do not possess the intellect required for working in your rooms, and the only way for them to get experience outside of actual combat lies in the arena, where they can find out non-lethal mock battles. This does require a bit of extra investment, but pays off in that beasts in the arena gain experience at an enormous pace.

Speaking of lethal – your beasts are not quite as good as playing dead as your intelligent minions, so if they have been struck down, they're dead for good and can not be saved – at best, you can store their rotten bodies in the crypt to re-use their bones as material for ghouls.

Oculus

The Oculus supposedly was created when a very drunk Mother Nature realized that she had way to many eyes left from the act of creation. As a result, this floating abomination almost entirely consists of gawking eyeballs and other sensory organs. When left alone, the Oculus will hover through the many tunnels and caverns of the Underworld, making it a valueable, if sometimes rather careless scout for your forces.

While the Oculus is relatively fragile and its basic ranged attack will barely scratch enemies, its paralyzing gaze will make them into easy prey for your other minions – with a small flock of Oculi, even the mightiest knight can be kept in suspended animation more or less permanently. In addition, the Oculus moves very swiftly, allowing it to outmaneuver all but the fastest of enemies.

Attracted by: Beast Den


Hitpoints: 1100 (Base) 8196 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Fires a bolt of energy at range

Petrify Stuns the target for a few seconds

Flight (Passive) Ignores terrain obstacles (i.e. water or chasms) and is immune to movement-impairing effects

Skarg

The arachnoid skarg essentially is a collection of razor-sharp claws with an insectoid body attached to it. Though it supposedly prefers to feast on dwarven flesh, the skarg staunchly refuses to be a bigot, and will give all races an equal chance to be torn apart into tiny, mouth-sized pieces.

Apart from its combat abilities, the Skarg's body is capable of rapidly regenerating lost or damage tissue while it is not fighting, making them extremely good raiders who can attack, fall back and lick their wounds, and then attack again at a pace impossible for other minions.

Attracted by: Beast Den


Hitpoints 1200 (Base) 8491 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Slashes an enemy in melee

Lunge Jumps onto a target, slowing it and making it suffer minor damage over time

Regenerative Tissue The Skarg's health regenerates rapidly if he has not been in combat for 30 seconds.

Bafu

Known for its wide, toothy grin, the Bafu is a flying creature that may lack eyes but nonetheless is surprisingly accurate when it comes to shooting sharp spines into various vital organs of its prey. Although not quite as strucken with wanderlust as the Oculus, the Bafu still can often be found at the perimeters of your dungeon, where it chases enemy Imps and other small creatures with gusto.

The perhaps most striking feature of the Bafu is the enormous speed at which it moves – a bafu can enter an enemy dungeon, slaughter unwary adventurers, and be gone before the more heavily armed and armored enemies have a chance of showing up. Naturally, this also means that Bafus are not exactly skilled at fighting in tight situations where they don't have enough room to maneuver, and they are too fragile to take much of a beating.

Attracted by: Upgraded Beast Den


Hitpoints: 700 (Base) 5215 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Fires a sharp spike at range

Screech Lets out a deafening screech, slowing all enemies in a cone-shaped area in front of the bafu.

Flight (Passive) Ignores terrain obstacles (i.e. water or chasms) and is immune to movement-impairing effects.

Shadow

Perhaps the most dangerous beast of the underground, the shadow is a nightmare made real: Already a deadly ambush predator on its own, the shadow can turn itself invisible, sneaking and circling around its prey until it makes out the perfect momement to bury its long, scythe-like claws into the back of its victim.

Due to its method of hunting, the Shadow is not much of a frontline fighter – instead, it will usually walk right through the enemy lines to find the strongest foe and backstab it. Like all true specialists, it does this best when undisturbed, so trying to isolate its target will ensure the latter's quick death.

Attracted by: Upgraded Beast Den


Hitpoints: 1400 (Base) 10431 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Slashes the target in melee

Nightmare Stuns the target for a few seconds

Blink Teleports to a targeted destination in a 2.5 tile distance.

The Shadows (Passive) The Shadow is invisible when not attacking or being attacked

Shadow Strike (Passive) Deals increased damage when attacking from stealth.

CATEGORY: SUMMONED UNITS

Though most of your minions will be of flesh and blood, a handful of them are not of this world, and thus can not be attracted into your dungeon by conventional means. Instead, some of them may begin their life in the inside of potion until thrown unto the battlefield, while others may be little more than animated rotting or just the spirits of the dead forced into your service.

As they are not truly alive, summoned minions do not have the usual needs of your other minions, and most do not require sleep, food, or gold. However, they can not work or train themselves in your rooms either, and most of them only have a limited lifespan until they fade into nothingness or return back to whatever odd dimension you have pulled them forth from.

Ghoul

When the soul pyre of a crypt has been fed with the body of a dead (or still living) creature, a Necromancers may raise one of these creatures from the scorching fires. The newly-created ghoul will then begin to follow its master like a trusty lapdog, and defend it during combat without fear or remorse.

While Ghouls are rather resilient for a heap old bones and thus make a perfect meatshield for their master, they are completely reliant on his orders – should their Necromancer fall, all Ghouls under his control will go berserk and attack friend or foe nearby.

Created by: Raised from Crypt by Necromancer.


Hitpoints: 700

Abilities
Basic Attack Slashes the target in melee

Ghouls can not be possessed.

Wraith

Wraiths essentially are a spectral version of Ghouls, raised either by powerful Necromancers (Lvl. 5) and the mighty Archon during battle, or via the Uprising ritual. Unlike their bony counterparts, Wraiths are linked to the will of the Underlord rather than the necromancer and thus run no risk of going berserk should the latter be destroyed. However, their incorporeal nature is transient only, and they will continously lose health even outside of combat until they simply fade away.

Wraiths have their own rally group, so as to efficiently use them when summoned by the "Uprising" ritual.

Created by: Lvl. 5 Necromancer, Archon, Crypt and Uprising Ritual


Hitpoints: 700

Abilities:
Basic Attack Slashes the target in melee

Fade (Passive) The Wraith takes damage over time until death

Revenant

The Revenants are an etherial form of undead monsters that can temporarily be brought onto the material realm by powerful death-mages such as the Archon and the Vampire.

Though superficially identical to the more common wraiths, revenants are much more volatile in nature, as their only tether to the world of the living lies in the act of murder. As such, revenants lose what little lifeforce they have much more quickly than wraiths if they stay out of combat, but can renew and strengthen their essence when they attack their mortal victims.



Created by: Archon, Vampire

Hitpoints: 700

Abilities:
Basic Attack Slashes the target in melee

Fade (Passive) The revenant constantly loses hitpoints unti it is destroyed

Vampirism (Passive) The revenant regains hitpoints whenever it attacks an enemy

Vacant (Passive) The revenant takes heavily reduced damage from all attacks.

Spirit

The Spirit is another spectral undead. Appearing as a flying skull wrought in flames, the spirit is created when a prisoner is burned to death in the torture chamber instead of being converted into a willing slave for the Underlord. Shred from its mortal body, the spirit then can serve as a fast flying spy for its new master.

Due to technically being already dead, the spirit is invulnerable and can pass through solid doors, allowing it to scout deeply into enemy territory without being harmed.

Apart from its role as a scout, the spirit can also be used in the aptly-named spirit chamber - should one of your minions be in the process of being imbued with experience in this room, you can pick up a spirit with your hand of evil, and drop it on the minion in question, causing all the experience the spirit gaind back when it still had a body to be transfered to the other minion instantly.

Created by: Burning a prisoner within the torture chamber.


Hitpoints 300 (Base) 2235 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Incorporeal (Passive) The spirit is immune to all damage and can move through obstacles, doors, and defenses

Flight (Passive) Ignores terrain obstacles (i.e. water or chasms) and is immune to movement-impairing effects.

Reincarnation A minion that is turned into a spirit will triple its experience and receives further 500 experience points. If the spirit is picked up and dropped on a minion that is being imbued with experience in the spirit chamber, the experience points of the spirit will be tranfered to the unit being imbued.

Frost Weaver

This walking glacier is created when an Underlord uses the aptly-named Frostweaver Potion from the alchemy lab. Although poweful in its own right, the Frost Weaver is chiefly meant to be a defensive measure to hold back enemies until your proper army arrives. As a result, the Frost Weaver can not be picked up with the hand of evil and will not follow rally flags like most other minions. He will also begin to melt the second he is created, and thus only has a limited lifespan.

Despite of all these advantages, the frost weaver very nicely fulfills the purpose for which it was made - more than one attempt to ignore a Underlord's forces and rush straigth to his core were foiled by a highly resilient and very angry mountain of ice that appeared out of thin air and punched the dear life out of the would-be assassins, and a sufficiently large alchemy lab allows you to hold a small army of these elementals, ready to crush or at very least slow down any attack against your dungeon.

Created by: Frostweaver Potion


Hitpoints: 9001

Abilities:
Basic Attack Smashes the target in melee

Frost Nova Immobilizes nearby enemies for a short time

Chilling Embrace (Passive) Regularly applies a debuff to all nearby enemies that slowns down their attack and movement speed. Can be stacked up to five times.
Deep Freeze (Passive) When destroyed, the Frostweaver stuns all nearby enemies

Meltdown (Passive) The Frostweaver takes damage over time until death, and lasts for a maximum of 90 seconds (assuming it is not attacked during this period).

Ember Demon

The Ember Demon is a being from the elemental plane of fire. Attracted into the materia realm by the Ember Rift and promises of many things to burn, the Ember Demon will happily scorch its path through hordes of enemy units until it eventually is extinguished by your enemies. Even then, this fiery attacker will only be forced back to the elemental plane of fire and will quickly reappear through its Ember Rift.

Due to the fact that they are literally made out of fire, Ember Demons are particularly proficient at burning and melting down enemy defenses, from which their incorporeal bodies also suffer less damage. The only exception to this is the Bone Chiller, whose frostnova is highly lethal to these entities.

Created by: Ember Rift. If the Ember Demon is destroyed, the Ember Rift will create a new Ember Demon in 60 seconds so long as it remains standing.


Ember Demons have their own control group, but can not be picked up with the hand of evil.

Hitpoints: 3000

Abilities:
Basic Attack Burns the target in melee

Flare Jumps unto a nearby enemy, deals 75 points of area damage upon impact

Ember Spirit The Ember Demon is healed by fire damage. Upon death, the Ember Spirit explodes, dealing 400 points damage to all nearby enemies.

Immolation Enemies in close proximity to the Ember Demon gain a stack of Immolation, which makes them suffer 3-15 points damage every second. Up to five stacks can be gained. Lasts for ten seconds.

Collateral Damage The Ember Demon deals 500% damage to defenses.

Spirit Worker

These sprites resemble your normal workers but move much faster and are impervious to enemy damage, allowing them to rapidly claim neutral territory, drag unconscious enemies or prisoners to your dungeon, or mine through earth even under fire.

Unfortunately, their incorporeal nature also has its drawbacks – Spirit Workers are incapable of capturing territory already held by your enemies, may not besiege enemy walls, and they can not attack enemies. Finally, they are of temporal nature only, and will eventually fade back into the nothingness they came from (unless you manage to find a rare artifact that will add two permanent spirit workers to your workforce).

Created by: Spirit Worker Potion, Spirit Worker Artifact (Campaign Only)


Hitpoints: 300

Abilities:
Work Digs through earth and mines gold with a right-click. Claims neutral territory with a left-click.

Blink Teleport itself forward a few tiles

Teleport Directly teleports to the current destination.

Etherial Spirit Workers are impervious to enemy attacks but will constantly lose hitpoints until they die after aproximately 40 seconds.

Vampire

The Vampires are amongst the oldest creatures in all of Kairos, and much like the Underlords, also stand amongst those most feared by the pathethic weaklings of the Empire. Despite of their seemingly aristocratic attire, Vampires belong to the the most bloodthirsty killers you will ever find in your dungeon (quite literally so), and will refuse to work in any room except for training themselves in your barracks, or pulling out a few screams from your enemies in the torture chamber.

Rather than being attracted through a Gateway like other minions, the Vampire must be summoned with a ritual which not only requires the effort of your cultists, but also the sacrifice of three minions on the altar of the sanctuary (be it your own ones or enemy prisoners). Even if the sacrifice is complete, the Vampire will demand a steady supply of victims to feed on, and will quickly turn on you should you fail to keep your prison well stocked. Alternatively, the Vampire's thirst can also be sated by letting him fight enemies, although this will only extend the amoun of time before he will demand a proper meal.

In return for its...maintenance cost..., the Vampire is one of the most dangerous minions in your arsenal. Thanks to its sharp claws and its innate ability to heal itself with any damage it deals, it is capable of fighting entire groups of enemies on its own. Even if killed, the Vampire will simply respawn in your lair after a short moment, ready to fight just as it did before. The only thing that can end a Vampire's immortality are another Vampire or one of the Empire's Huntresses, who have mild dislike for these bloodsuckers, to put it mildly. In addition, a Vampire will not "die" instantly should it fall in battle – much like regular minions, it will remain knocked out for ten seconds first, allowing your or enemy Imps to carry it back to the lair or prison, respectively.

Created by: Summon Vampire Ritual


Hitpoints 2000 (Base) 14901 (Lvl 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Slashes the target in melee

Deadly Strike Leaps onto the target, dealing large amounts of damage

Shadowstep Teleports over a short distance

Vampirism (Passive): The vampire heals himself for 150% of all damage he deals out.

Bloodthirsty (Passive): The Vampire requires blood instead of food and will attack your own minions if he has no prisoners to feed on. However, each attack against an enemy lowers his need for blood.

Immortal: If killed, a Vampire will eventually respawn in his bed at the player's lair. Only being killed by another vampire or by an Imperial Huntress, or being either burned to death or blood-money'd by the player will permanently kill a vampire.

Reap (Lvl. 5): Deals a large amount of damage to all enemies in a cone-shaped area in front of the vampire

Summon Revenant (Lvl. 5]: Temporarily raises four revenants to fight for the vampire.

CATEGORY: TITANS

As you reach the height of your power and face ever-tougher enemies, you will be given the choice of summon one (and only one) of three different Titans into your dungeon. Much like summoned minions, Titans are not attracted through your gateway, but instead must be unlocked within your veins of evil, where each of the three Titans marks the end of its respective research tree and can be summoned by spending three sins. However, bring creatures of such powers into your realm will not happen instantly - instead, investing your sins into a titan will create a summoning stone near your dungeon core, which will summon the actual titan for you after a time of five minutes. It goes without saying that your enemies will do all they can to deprive you of the powerful titan by destroying the summoning stone, so guard it well!

While all three Titans function differently, they share a few qualities: Titans can not be picked up by your hand of evil, but can be controlled via the possession spells or with their own rally banner. They will not train themselves, and do not gain any experience in combat. At the same time, they do not require food, sleep, or wages either, and each (except for the Colossus) of them can also work in a specific room, should you not use them in combat.

In battle, Titans often are capable of fighting a small army on their own, and their sturdy nature makes them completely immune to any form of crowd control, such as effects that would stun or slow other minions. Should your enemies nonetheless manage to kill your Titan, you can always spend another sin to summon a new one, either of the same kind you had before, or from a different tree if you meet the requirement.

It goes without saying that enemy titans should always be a priority target for you. Although it is technically possible to own two or more Titans by destroying the core of another Underlord (which will cause its minions, including the Titan, to convert to the first Underlord they encounter), only a particularly incompetent Underlord would leave its core unguarded while having a Titan at hand.

Should you desire to get rid of your Titan for one reason or another, you simply need to slap it three times in quick succession. This will dismiss the creature, and allow you to summon another Titan in its stead - but remember that this will still take five minutes!

Behemoth

Some of your minions are masters of subterfuge and stealth, cunningly making their way through the enemy dungeon without even being noticed. The Behemoth isn't.

Once this living battering ram has found its way to your enemies, few things will withstand its charge, and even then, all those unfortunate lackeys who happen to stand in the way will be brushed aside like mere dolls, only to be set on fire a few seconds later.

This monstrosity is especially effective against heavily entrenched enemies – most traps can barely scratch its hide, while the Behemoth in turn is extremely competent at reducing said traps to rubble and heaps of twisted metal. Even the true and time-tested method of attrition warfare will barely slow down the Behmoth, for its wounds close with unnatural speed.

Truly, the only way to bring down this beast is to drown it in your own minions, for while the Behemoth may be a living weapon of mass destruction, its true intent is to create a breach for your other minions to enter through – it is better at scattering enemies than killing them all at once.

The Behemoth is so obsessed with blood and carnage that it will actually drag other beast minions into the arena to see them tear each other apart if there is no actual fighting to be done.

Created by: Unlocking the end of the Wrath Tree and spending three Sins on summoning the Behemoth.
Works in: Arena

Hitpoints: 20,000

Abilities:
Basic Attack Smashes the target, dealing large amounts of damage

Flame Breath Sets all enemies in a cone-shaped area in front of the Behemoth on fire, dealing damage over time.

Rampant Charge Charges towards the target, knocking back, stunning and severely damaging all enemy units in its path. Defenses hit by rampant charge take extra damage.

Immolation The flames surrounding the behemoth deal 75 points of area of effect-damage to all enemies adjacent to him every second.

Siege Weapon (Passive) The Behemoth takes 50% less damage from and deals additional 250% damage to defenses

Relentless (Passive) The Behemoth regains 0,075% of its health every second.

Recuperation (Passive) Outside of combat, the Behemoth heals 1% of its health every second

Sturdy (Passive) A behemoth does not require food, sleep, or wages, is immune to all movement-impairing and stun effects, and can not be picked up. All healing effects received by the Behemoth are tripled.

Archon

The Archon is the pinnacle of arcane power, an immortal mage that has feasted on the essence of a long-vanished primal god. Though he may only wield a fraction of the old one's power, the air around the Archon is crackling with magical energy as he slowly floats over the battlefield, his perfectly calm disposition belying the destructive potential of his might.

In battle, the Archon will often summon projectiles of devastating dark energy that can instantly snuff out the lives of all but the strongest opponent. The Archon's true power, however, is his command over the spirits of the dead – whenever an enemy near the Archon falls in battle, the ancient mage will instantly tear out the souls of the dying and transform them into two revenants, allowing it to amass an entire army of malevolent Undead if given sufficient victims. Furthermore, the Archon also feasts on the very essence of his enemies with each attack.

As a result, hostile Archons are best engaged when they are isolated, for the many corpses produced by large-scale battles will allow them to raise a nigh-endless stream of revenants.



Created by : Unlocking the end of the Neutral Tree and spending three sin on summoning the Archon.
Works in: Archive

Hitpoints 20,000


Abilities
Basic Attack Fires a dark projectile, dealing large amounts of damage

Exterminate Fires a charge of dark energy that deals extremely high damage. Long cooldown.

Flight Ignores terrain obstacles (i.e. water or chasms) and is immune to movement-impairing effects.

Reaper of Souls (Passive) Whenever an enemy near the archon is killed in battle, the Archon will raise two revenants from its corpse to fight for it.

Hunger (Passive) The Archon heals itself for 350% of all damage it deals.

Sturdy (Passive) An archon does not require food, sleep, or wages, is immune to all movement-impairing and stun effects, and can not be picked up. Any healing effects applied to the Archon are tripled.

Eternal

Time is an often underestimated foe – it has razed more castles and killed more men than anyone else could ever hope to achieve. Fittingly, those unaffected by time tend to be nigh-indestructible beings, and the Eternal definitely falls into that category.

Once summoned into our realm, the Eternal will be attuned to your dungeon core, causing almost all damage your core may suffer to be transferred to the titan instead – a very handy life insurance should the enemy make it through your defenses.

Should your rivals opt to attack the Eternal itself instead, their unfortunate minions will have it none the easier – the Eternal's frame is made out of material that easly withstands time itself, so it takes more than a good amount of firepower to seriously wound it – all while the Eternal is fighting back. This can get particularly troublesome if the Eternal should receive backup from allied minions, as he is capable of stunning enemies for several seconds, making them easy prey for its little helpers.

For all it's defensive potential, the Eternal (unlike you) quite literally has all the time in the world and moves and attacks as fast as you would hence expect it to do. Unless you are willing to give it copious amounts of time, don't expect it to lead the charge or kill entire armies on its own – the Eternal is significantly better at taking damage than dishing it out.

Created by: Unlocking the end of the Sloth Tree and spending a sin to summon the Eternal
Works in: Foundry

Hitpoints: 20,000

Abilities
Basic Attack Smashes the target, dealing large amounts of damage

Suspension Freezes all nearby enemies for five seconds

Time Vortex All enemies near the Eternal move and attack 50% slower

Timeless (Passive): The Eternal takes halved damage from all sources

Flight (Passive) Ignores terrain obstacles (i.e. water or chasms) and is immune to movement-impairing effects

Protector of the Core (Passive) While the Eternal is alive, it will absorb 80% of all damage dealt to its owner's dungeon core.

Sturdy (Passive) An Eternal does not require food, sleep, or wages, is immune to all movement-impairing and stun effects, and can not be picked up. All healing effects applied to the Eternal are tripled.

Colossus

The colossus is an immense creature entirely made from and hungering for gold. Originally serving in the Aureate army of the Dukedom of Phaestus, the Collosi were abandoned and forgotten by their former allies, and now willingly serve any Underlord that manages to summon them,

True to its appearance, the Colossus is the ideal titan for those Underlords who are fond of gold. It's first remarkable ability lies in absorbing all nearby forms of gold and sending it directly to your vault, regardless of wether said gold comes in the form of regular ore veins or in the form of statues made via the blood money spell. The Collosus even can steal gold directly from the enemies vault!

Even more astonishing; the colossus projects a permanent aura that causes all fighters - friend or foe - around it that fall in battle to be turned into golden statues as if they had been struck by the blood money spell. As the Colossus also absorbs these statues, this means that a colossus on the battlefield will be a constant source of income for you.

But for all of its economic use, the Collosus was never meant to act as a frontline fighter. It is much weaker than the other titans in direct combat, and will easily be destroyed if left to fight alone. Furthermore, it's ability to turn all fallen minions around it into gold is a two-edged sword - although you can use it to prevent your enemy from rescueing his unconscious minions, the Colossus will also turn your minions to gold, so be careful when you decide in which battles you want to use it.

Created by: Unlocking the end of the Neutal Tree and spending three sins to summon the Colossus.

Hitpoints: 20,000

Abilities
Basic Attack Smashes the target, dealing large amounts of damage

Aureate Aura (Passive) Absorbs all gold tiles in a three-tile radius and sends them to the player's vault instantly. Absorbed gold can come from gold veins, golden blood money statues, and even enemy vaults. Only fool's gold created by a transmutation potion is not absorbed.

Blood Money (Passive): All units that die near the colossus are instantly turned into golden statues and absorbed by the Collosus' aureate aura.

Flight (Passive) Ignores terrain obstacles (i.e. water or chasms) and is immune to movement-impairing effects

Gilded (Passive) The Colossus can only be healed with the Gild spell or by dropping gold onto it.

Sturdy (Passive) A Colossus does not require food, sleep, or wages, is immune to all movement-impairing and stun effects, and can not be picked up.

CATEGORY: EMPIRE UNITS

During your conquest of Kairos, you will have to face and kill hundreds if not thousands of the pathetic humans serving the Emperor, and no smaller number of their stinking, greasy dwarven allies. Although they pose only a fracture of the threat a rival Underlord could create, it nonetheless might come in handy to know what kind of self-righteous scum you're up against. And who knows – maybe at least some of them could make good candidates for the torture chamber.

Should you actually manage to convert Empire Units to your side, you will soon realize that they're no different than your own minions. All Empire units count as intelligent minions, and thus will require a lair, food (ideally from a tavern), and regular wages. In turn, Empire units can train themselves in your barracks, and are oddly proficient at working in the many different rooms of your dungeon.

Apart from converting Empire units in the torture chamber, you may also recruit rogue Empire units by corrupting Imperial Overworld Gateways. However, this only works with very certain overworld gateways - most of them you will encounter during your conquest of Kairos and Phaestus can not be corrupted, but only be destroyed.

Sapper

Lacking your magical Imps, the Empire instead has to rely on these pot-bellied midgets to dig through the underground and besiege your walls. Incompetent as they are, the sappers can not claim or unclaim tiles nor fortify earth, but they nonetheless pose the prime threat to the walls of your dungeon and will happily dig a hole through them if left alone. Fortunately for you, these annoying little pests are only marginally tougher than your own Imps, and a well-placed lightning spell will put an abrupt end to their mining operations.

Due to their fragile little hides, Sappers always die instantly if defeated, and thus can not be taken prisoner.

Hitpoints: 350 (Base) 2608 (Lvl 10)

Abilities
Work Unfortifies walls and digs out earth

Basic Attack Strikes a target in melee


NOTE: There are two variants of sappers in the game: "True" sappers that are exclusive to the campaign and normally never come under the control of the player, and "false" sappers that actually are just workers with a different model that can be used in skirmish games if the player picks the "Magnanimous" worker skin.

Templar

The Templar is a living incarnation of the Empire – arrogant, foolhardy, and so disgustingly good and righteous that the light of his beloved Kira is practically shining out from between his buttocks. As you might expect, most of them are puny weaklings and pose no threat if you have but an ounce of talent as an Underlord. They will even mount a last stand before they finally drop dead, allowing your Gnarlings to stab them a bit more before finishing them.

Attracted by: Barracks

Works in: Barracks


Templar Hitpoints: 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Strikes a target in melee

Holy Shield Reduces incoming damage for a few seconds

Holy Strike Strikes the target with holy light, dealing moderate damage

Absolution (Lvl 5) Deals a large amount of damage and stuns a single target

Last Stand Upon death, the Templar will remain alive for a few seconds to continue fighting

Priestess

The Priestesses of the Empire are little more than glorified slaves and mouthpieces to their weak goddess Kira, and have an even worse "holier-than-thou" attitude than the Templars that are sworn to protect them.

While a Priestess probably could not even hurt you if she wanted to, their ability to heal other Empire soldiers, shield them from damage and sometimes even to raise them from the dead makes them a mayor annoyance. Of course, their magic can also be put in your service, and converting one of her own faithful would be a good slap in the face for their mistress.

Attracted by: Archive, Sanctuary
Works in: Archive, Sanctuary



Hitpoints: 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Smites the target with holy light at range.

Blessing Heals the target enemy and reduces the damage it will take for a few seconds

Pacify Reduces the damage dealt by an enemy for 3.5 seconds.

Intervention (Lvl. 5) Ressurects a fallen minion

Firebreather

The Firebreather is short, ugly, and a raging alcoholic, which makes him into a typical specimen of the dwarven race. Sadly for us, this particular caste of dwarves has learned to weaponize its drinking habits and now takes great pride in chugging a good slug of their volatile ale and spitting (most of) it into a torch they carry, creating an intense flash of flame that can roast your minions.

As if that wasn't enough, these drunkards are so painfully clumsy in their movements that they somehow manage to deal more damage to your defenses and traps than other dwarves, so make sure to target them first should they ever set an eye on your cannons. Or alternatively, convert them to your side to have them work in the alchemy lab or to send them against the very fortifications their brethren built.

Attracted by: Alchemy Lab




Works in: Alchemy Lab

Hitpoints 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Strikes the target in melee

Flame Breath Spits fire, dealing damage to all enemies in a cone-shaped area in front of the Firebreather and sets them on flame, causing damage over time.

Dragonsteel Axe Standard attack that deals bonus damage after using other abilities

Collateral Damage (Passive) Firebreathers deal bonus damage to defenses

Flame Wheel (Lvl 5) Deals damage to all enemies aroud the Firebreather and sets them alight, dealing damage over time.

Warden / Vanguard

Wardens compromise the main fighting force of the dwarf army. Much like the Firebreather colleagues, the Wardens represent classical dwarven virtues, such as an ernest lack of interest in body hygiene, a constant state of drunkeness on all weekdays that end in "y", and their distasteful habit of breeding like rats. Where there's one warden, there usually are hundreds.

Though to short to meet you (or any non-dwarf) eye to eye, Wardens nonetheless are competent fighters, and enjoy the generous protection of heavy armor. This can make them challenging enemies for your less experienced minions, but a good Underlord knows that numerical superiority is never something to be ashamed of.



The elite of the Wardens form the so-called Vanguard. To let all of your minions know that they are more important than the lowly Wardens and thus should be killed first, Vanguards don golden armors crafted by the finest Dwarven smiths. To their defense, Vanguards may have the same abilities as wardens, but nonetheless are substantially more resilient than their regular brethren – which naturally does not help them much once they find themselves in your torture chamber.

Attracted by Foundry (Warden) Foundry + Very large vault (Vanguard)

Works in: Foundry


Warden Hitpoints: 1300 (Base) 9868 (Lvl. 10)
Vanguard Hitpoints: 2500 (Base) 18626 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Strikes the target in melee

Shield Bash Damages the target and knocks it back a bit

Pulverize Stuns the target for a few seconds.

Flense (Lvl. 5) Whirls around, damaging and slowing nearby enemies for a few seconds.

Juggernaut

While it is an open secret that the cavemen hidden behind all the armor are not exactly the brightest of the bunch, the Juggernaut's physical strength, his endurance, and his ability to stun enemies with the sheer force of his attacks nonetheless make him one of the few Imperial warriors you should show at least a bit of respect for. Although his weight makes him incapable of flight, he will happily wade straight through lava if the trip doesn't take to long.

Juggernauts will pose a serious threat to your defenses, and can act as very efficient meatshields for other, more fragile Empire units, not to speak of the enenormous damage their hammers can deal. As such, it is warmly recommended to consider these armored figures as priority targets, both for your minions and for the succubi in your torture chamber.

Attracted by: Garrison

Works in: Foundry, Garrison


Hitpoints: 2000 (Base) 14901 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities
Basic Attack Smashes the target in melee

Charge Charges at a target and knocks back any enenmies on the way

Shockwave (Lvl5) Damages and stuns nearby enemies

Hardboiled (Passive) Juggernauts can walk through Lava, but will take increased damage from other if they stay inside for too long.

Bard

As if it was not bad enough that the Empire tries to attack your dungeons with sword and spell, they even have lowered themselves to assault your sense of hearing by dragging these clowns with them. Following the heroes of good like a trusty lapdog, the bard will constantly unleash the infernal cacophonies he calls music, somehow triggering his fellow heroes to fight with additonal vigor (if probably only so they can get rid of him sooner...)

Fortunately for everyone involved, a bit of care by your resident succubi can show these men their musical shortcomings and motivate them to play tunes that don't have to be seen as auditory terrorism. Thus, a fallen bard can play songs that will allow your minions to fight harder or brighten up their mood...and who knows...rumor has it that bards can enter a near mystical state of Lute-Fu if they are fed with baguette and omelette au fromage...

Attracted by: A combination of a large vault and a large tavern

Works in: Barracks


Hitpoints: 1500 (Base) 11176 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Smashes the enemy in melee with a lute

Song of Ice and Fire Plays a tune that increases the movement speed (25%) and attack speed (50%) of nearby allies.

Entertainer Brightens the mood of nearby minions.

Lute-Fu (Lvl 5) Drastically increases movement speed, attack speed, and damage resistance of the bard for a few seconds

Huntress

As her name implies, the Huntress specializes in stalking and killing all sorts of monsters. Her specialty are Vampires – she and those of her order are amongst the few mortals than can kill a Vampire for good, so if one of those bloodsuckers falls unconscious near her, don't expect him to come home for dinner, Underlord.

As the Empire generally does not have overly many Vampires in its rank, the most powerful ability of the Huntress sadly is completly useless should you manage to coerce her into your ranks. Even so, her crossbow can make her a valueable source of ranged fire, and when not busy firing several projectiles in the various vital organs of your enemies, she will drag beasts into the arena to train them.

Attracted by: Arena

Works in: Arena


Hitpoints: 1300 (Base) 9686 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities
Basic Attack Fires a crossbow bolt at range

Bola Fires a bola, stunning the target for 3 seconds

Vendetta Executes an unconscious Vampire, killing it permanently.

Salvo (Lvl. 5) Fires several crossbow bolts, dealing a large amount of damage

Beastwhisperer (Passive): The Huntress takes decreases damage and deals increased damage to beast minions.

Inquisitor

Some of those templars that manage that grow old (which, due to their incompetence, aren't many) are so disgustingly self-rigtheous that they refuse to do the world a favor and just rot away in one of the Empire's homes for the elderly. Instead, these men become inquisitors – cranky old dotards who try to justify their sadism with the supposed upholding of faith and order.

While the bodies of these semi-senile old crocks sadly are not quite arthritic enough to prevent them from joining the battle, Inquisitors usually prefer to have their fun with targets that can't fight back, and thus more than often spend most of their time in imperial torture chambers – or your own ones, should you manage to give them a taste of their own medicine.

Attracted by: Torture Chamber

Works in: Torture Chamber


Hitpoints: 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities
Basic Attack Whips the target in melee

Judgement Immobilizes a target and makes it suffer damage over time

Retribution (Passive) The Inquisitor deals increased damage when low on health

Inquisition (Lvl 5) Immobilizes all nearby enemies for a short amount of time.

Arcanist

The Arcanists are a bunch of sorceresses whose magical prowess is only outmatched by the tremendous size of their ego. Thinking themselves the masters of the universe because of their arcane powers, these wenches more than often forget that the very same power makes them very, very fragile. It would be too bad if someone was to make use of that knowledge, wouldn't it?

Interestingly, the Arcanists don't act half as mighty and powerful if you throw them into your torture chamber. After a good round of pained screaming, they will happily leave their former personality behind and become willing glass-cannons for you, or aid your cultists in the archive.

Attracted by: Archive, Sactuary

Works in: Archive, Sanctuary


Hitpoints: 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Fires a magic bolt at range

Arcane Charge Fires a strong magic missile at range

Nova Knocks nearby enemies away

Unbound Power (Passive) For every special ability the arcanist uses, she will gain a stack of unbound power, increasing her damage dealt and taken. An Arcanist can gather up to five stacks which last for ten seconds.

Arcane Storm (Lvl 5): Fires a devastating arcane orb that explodes on impact and damages enemies in the area.

Matriarch

A parade example of the Empire's "It's okay when we do it" maxime, the Matriarchs really are nothing more than imperial necromancers that got the badge of approval from the management. While they may not summon ghouls but instead rely on the ghost-like disciples, they nonetheless use the Undead to fight their battles, and still are hailed as the most holy clerics of the Empire. Hipocrisy at its finest.

As they already make use of your tools, its not particularly difficult to bend these oh-so-holy women to your cause. Just keep in mind that they might come into a resource conflict with your Necromancers, who jealously guard the bones within your crypt for themselves.

Attracted by: Crypt

Works in: Crypt, Archive


Hitpoints: 1000 (Base) 7451 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities:

Raise Disciple (Work) A matriarch may raise up to two disciples per level from a crypt (to maxium of 20 disciples).

Basic Attack Smites the enemy at range

Crusade Orders all disciples to attack the target

Holy Fervour Increases the damage dealt by a disciple for a short amount of time.

Unity Evenly distributes damage taken amongst all disciples

Spirit Army (Lvl 5) Temporarily summons multiple disciples to fight

Disciple

The ghost-like disciple is, for all intends and purposes, the Imperial version of your own Ghouls. Naturally the Empire would never willingly admit practicing necromancy, and thus declares them to be some sort of sanctified spirit, but the end result is the same - a Matriarch goes to a crypt, casts a spell, and gains an undead bodyguard that will guard her with its (un)life.

Just as with your ghouls, disciples are bonded to the Matriarch that has raised them and will go berserk if she is killed. You should use this to your advantage - there are few things more amusing than seeing surprised imperial Templars and other assorted goodie-two shows being mauled to death by rampaging ghosts.

Created by: Matriarch (either from a crypt or via the Matriarchs' Spirit Army ability)


Hitpoints: 700

Abilities:
Basic Attack: Strikes the enemy in melee

Fade: If the Disciple was raised by the Matriarch's Spirit Army ability, it will continously lose health until dead.

Highguard

The Highguards are the absolute elite of the Imperial army: Well-trained and outfitted with the best armor the Empire can produce, these veterans are some of the toughest enemies you will have to face in your conquest of Kairos. Although the damage they can deal with their swords may be seen as lackluster when compared to their almost legendary reputation, the Highguards are extremely resilient to all forms of damage, and are said to be capable of withstanding the assault of an entire army.

Although it may be difficult to get your hands on them, Highguards should be amongst your prime candidates for the torture chamber, as their sheer resilience makes them a highly desirable addition to your own army.

Attracted by: Barracks + very large vault

Works in: Barracks


Hitpoints: 2500 (Base) 18,626 (Lvl. 10)

Abilities:
Basic Attack Strikes a target in melee

Highguard Strength (Passive): The Highguard takes drastically lowered damage from all sources.

Stone Knight (Exclusive to Heart of Gold)

Although House Magnanimous has ceased to produce artifical warriors countless years ago, some traces of their ancient traditions still remain in the realm of Phaestus. Amongst them is the highly resilient Stone Knight.

Essentially a precedessor of your own sentinels (or a cheap copy of them, depending on whom you ask), the Stone Knight will remain within their rocky shells until an enemy draws near, at which point they will emerge with their heavy broadswords at the ready.

Given the fact that they are quite literally made from stone, Stone Knights are highly impervious to damage, and will continue to fight until the moment they collapse. Sadly, said collapse is a total one - you can not imprison them, or torture them into your service.

Works in: Barracks


Hitpoints: 4500 (Base) 15830 (Lvl 10)

Abilities
Basic Attack Attacks the enemy with a golden longsword.

ADDEMDUM: A word on minion levels

Perhaps unsurprisingly, minions that are so unexperienced in combat that they hold their swords on the wrong end will not be of much use to your campaign, Underlord. Therefore, it is in your own best interest to train your minions, be it via the method of faux combat in the barracks or the arena, or by more exotic methods such as in the form of wisdom juice or a soul transference in the spirit chamber.

Though all of these methods require a more or less modest investment of your hard-earned gold, each additional level of experience your minions gain will make them harder, better, faster, and stronger. To be more precise, each additional level gives your minions

• 15% higher work speed
  
• 17,5% higher attack power
  
• 2,5% higher attack speed
  
• 25% more health

Bear in mind that all of these effects safe for the boost in work speed are multiplicative - in other words, each further boost will be based on the already boosted numbers of the last level increase. To illustrate: A Lvl 10 minion while have a whopping 745% more health than a Lvl 1 minion as a result of nine cumulative level up boosts. Though it naturally will take a while to turn your minions into such lethal killing machines, the results (and not to the least the ability of high-minions to fend off multiple low-level minions at the same time) are very much worth it.

One thing in particular to notice is that the level-up boost is especially notable in minions that already have very high base stats - seeing a Gnarling going from 1100 hitpoints to 8196 hitpoints may be pleasing, but is not quite as impressive as the case of the Vampire, who enters your service with a meager 2000 hitpoints but can have as much as nearly 15,000 hitpoints at the apex of his power. It is therefore wise to prioritize the training of already powerful minions and high-tier minions over that of lesser ones, at least when you limited resources do not allow for both.

Acknowledgements

All icons and unit portraits used in this guide belong to Subterranean Games.

All ability descriptions found in this guide are taken directly from the game's tooltips. As the game currently still-undergoes rapid-fire patches, the accuracy of the tooltips and hence the descriptions in this guide may vary wildly. While I will try to keep the guide up to date, I can not promise that everything in it will ever be 100% accurate.

The author of this guide takes no responsibility from any cases of demonic possession, the coughing or vomitting up of blood, sudden urges to slap other humans or a sudden hunger for omelette au fromage that may result from reading this guide. Read responsibly.

[Honorable Discharge]

Didn't the bard have a ranged attack where he throws a french bread?

[fatso]

i was playing heart of gold (rhoad) jan 2022 version
1. characters get stuck on a single point sometimes in large groups outside the dungeon so I can't pick them up
2. shadow decided to rebel and attack the dungeon core, nobody stopping it. Can't do anything
3. after saving/loading game all the summoning stones disappear, I can't click on them

[Lollichop]

Fact: The Colossus actually does have a room that it works in, the Barracks. It'll do the same thing that Gnarlings and Templar do.

[Thaxlsyssilyaan]

Any chance to have update on units unique to the sacrifice altar?

[happyscrub]

no plans on updating this?

[Fireeye]

@Tyranocif The icons are original artwork, although a couple got changed since release.

As for the titans: Consider that Titants are not strictly meant to face one another in rush strategies, and certainly not in 1vs1 scenarios. Consider that a Wrath-based player will usually rush to the Behemoth as fast as possible, whereas a Neutral or Sloth-based player will try and take his time to build a varied army.

[Tyranocif]

An interesting thought I had while muddling about in Sandbox mode is that the original titans may have a sort of rock-paper-scissors relationship in 1v1 match-ups:

Archon beats Behemoth
Archon beats Eternal
Eternal beats Behemoth

Now while I agree that the first line should read reversed, that isn't the case. The Archon possesses a rate of health recovery that makes even the Behemoth blush with embarrassment. I ran each of these in a 5x5 tile room locked with a Glacial door, allowing both titans to move around so don't think there were different cases surrounding my findings.

I think the point is that there isn't much of a rock-paper-scissors match-up system and that each titan has a different role, since Behemoth is a siege monster that can easily barrel through defenses and the Eternal's Protector of the Core (Passive) ability makes it the ultimate defender golem. Thanks for this guide, I learned alot!

P.S. Are your unit icons original artwork? Looks different.

[Fireeye]

@Adiku3 Minions will automatically use their skills by themselves.

[adiku3]

Hi. Does anyone knows if minions use their skills by themself or you have to possess them and use manulally?

[Corendiel]

Thanks. Yes I noticed some discrepancies and I was looking for a place to make these updates and discovered that not much materials exist out there apart from your guides. But it would be a good start.