Mordheim: Warband Leveling Guide

This will be a guide to help new players with leveling up their initial warband. This will be a generic guide, applicable to all factions, although some comments will be provided for specific warbands.

For details on game mechanics, please refer to my other guide.

Beginning a new warband

When first creating a warband your options for equipping them are very limited...only what they have on them, and what is available initially in the store.


Starting Sister leader...note there ain't a lot of stuff in the shop yet

Heroes start with 5 OP (Offensive Points, used for attacks and spells).
Henchmen start with 3 OP.

Each type of attack or spell takes different amounts of OP:

1) 1-Handed (with or without a shield): 2 OP per attack
2) 2-Handed or Dual Wield: 2 OP for first attacks, 3 OP for second attack
3) Ranged Weapons: 2 OP per attack
4) Flintlock Weapons: 3 OP per attack

So some obvious things stand out:

1) Henchmen will only be able to make 1 attack
2) Heroes can make two attacks, except for Flintlock weapons.

Shields at the start are rather weak...while they add +10 parry, your parry chances are real low initially. The melee and range protection is also minimal. Therefore I suggest against using more than 1 in your starting warband. They can work on a leader of course but at the start you want to focus on damage:

1) More damage=faster kills
2) More damage=more chances for XP

So to level fastest, go for 2-handers and dual wield on most units. Use the store to pickup additional weapons to make this happen. Even a dagger in the offhand works. Anything to boost your killing power while you have no skills.

The only exceptions to this could be your leader (if you want to protect him or her more early on) and possibly archers. A Leader would use a shield in this case, and the archers would run with just a single weapon. See the section on Weapon Styles for more details as to why.

For warrior-types, I suggest leveling Strength up to 6 for more carrying capacity early, Leadership and Weapon Skill. For archers (and novices) I suggest Agility and Alertness. At Rank 3, start to specialize and spread attributes to get the right skills. More on this below.

Equipping and Training New Heroes

Here we see the starting Sister of Sigmar hero, equipped with a big hammer for smiting fools

Heroes start with 5 OP which can be used for two melee attacks of any kind. The most damage you are going to do is with a 2-Hander. It's slow (it will affect initiative negatively) and clumsy (enemies will dodge better) but nothing hits harder (see the later section comparing Weapon Styles).

This hero can make two attacks. Do not charge unless it is the only way to get into contact with the enemy (you are out of movement but a charge will let you connect) as charging takes 3 OP and a second attack with cost another 3...and the hero only starts with 5. Better in this case to take two normal swings.

Eventually heroes will get up to 9 OP. This is exactly enough for three 2-Hander or dual wield attacks, or four 1-Hander attacks with one OP left over for a special attack, charge or parry counter-attack (or 3 special attacks with a 1-Hander, but you get the idea).

There are two general paths for any combat character...defensive or offensive. Obviously you can make a balanced character but early on specialization is more useful as buffs tend to be lower until you can afford Skill Mastery. You should determine what you want from this hero...do I continue using 2-Handers or Dual Wield, or do you switch to 1-Hander and shield?

I would suggest, until you are more familiar with the game, do not spend any skill points until Rank 3.

DEFENSIVE PATH

At Rank 3 Heroes gain an additional OP so that's when you start to differentiate. Prior to that, Dual Wield or 2-Hander is almost certainly the way to go.

With 6 OP, a 1-Hander and Shield build begins to gain a lot of value as you can make 3 attacks now, and you have skills to make defense stronger.

The first skills should then go into things that make a shield better. Shield Expert is your first stop. More melee resistance, more parry, exactly what you want with a defensive character. White quality shields are pretty weak, as mentioned above, but as you apply skills and get better quality shields they really start to shine.

Recommend Attributes:
Physical: Toughness is the primary stat. Strength is the secondary stat
Mental: Leadership is the primary stat. Alertness is the secondary stat.
Martial: Weapon Skill.

I would recommend progressing primary stats to 6 or even 9 before doing other attributes.

Recommended Gear:
Light or Heavy Armor
Any good one-hander will do. Recommend Maces, Spears and Axes. Flails for sisters are good too.
Shield. Goes without saying.

Suggested Skills:
Shield Expert: As mentioned above
Flash Parry: Adds more parry chances
Web of Steel: Once you have good parry (60%+), consider this skill
Awareness: More melee resist
Resilient: Reduces chances of being crit
Armor Proficiency: If you want to use heavy armor, this will reduce the movement penalty
Onslaught: Improves ambush and allows you to parry as well.
Demoralize: Each hit makes it more likely for the enemy to fail an "All Alone" test
Kidney Strike: Hitting with this attack reduces the enemy melee resist.
Coolheaded: Highly increases the chance to pass an "All Alone" test

There are many more skills to choose from, this is just a quick reference. In a nutshell, you want defensive abilities and support attacks. This will not be your damage dealer, but your meatwall.

As you increase in level, consider some of the more advanced skills, especially in Intelligence and Leadership:

Hold Ground: All nearby friendlies increase parry and dodge chances
Insult: Makes the target easier for everyone to hit
Combat Savvy/Scout's Advice: Improve melee and range resist on the target

OFFENSIVE PATH

So you want to keep the hero swinging for big damage. At the start this is great as it takes advantage of your 5 OP. Once you get 6 OP, you can then use Charge+Normal attack on the first round, and then do Special Attack+Normal attack on all the rest.

Recommend Attributes:
Physical: Strength is the primary stat. Toughness or Agility is the secondary stat.
Mental: Alertness is the primary stat.
Martial: Weapon Skill is the primary stat. Accuracy is the secondary stat.

I would recommend progressing primary stats to 6 or even 9 before doing other attributes.

Recommended Gear:
Heavy or Light Armor if you are not leveling Agility.
Cloth if you are.
Halberds and Great Flails if available, otherwise Great Axe or Great Sword.
OR use Dual Wield Maces. Swap one to an Axe as they level Weapon Skill. Swap one or two to a Sword if leveling Accuracy and/or you want Parry.

Suggested Skills:
Mighty or Swift Charge: Mighty is the big damage hit, but you need supporting skills to make it reliable. Swift will be highly likely to hit but takes away some damage. If you level Accuracy a lot and neglect Weapon Skill, use Swift Charge.
Strider: Increase charge chances. Use with Mighty Charge
Assault: Improves crit chances on the charge.
Bull Charge: Increase charge range. Useful for charging over an ambush.
Strong Blow: For using up an extra OP, and breaking through Parry.
Frenzy: More damage, consider it if you are not using Parry or Dodge on the character.
Sidestep and Avoid: If you level Agility and use Cloth, this is a great way to get defense as only a few weapons allow you to parry without a shield.
Prowl: If you level agility, consider an Ambush build rather than a Charge build and use this skill. Instead of Charge passive skills (like Strider) you would use the equivalent Ambush passive skills instead.
Armor Proficiency: If you are going for heavy armor, take this skill. Ignore if not.

As you increase in level keep an eye out on those advanced skills:

Insult: Good on an offensive character as well, especially if they do not use Parry or Dodge.
Intimidate: Free attacks if they fail their leadership test.
Overpower: Stun them with a massive hit.
Exhaustion: More SP means more movement to get into combat.
Adrenaline Rush: See the Further Development section for more details.

Equipping and Training New Henchmen

Here we see Sister of Sigmar novice, I've purchased a second mace to let her dual wield.

Henchmen start with 3OP, which basically means one attack (a successful parry would allow a second). As before, the most damage you can do is with a 2-Hander or Dual Wield. Shield builds are not recommended for the first couple of Ranks.

So start with a 2-Hander or Dual Wield. I recommend Dual Wield on 'fast' characters (cloth and dodge builds) with 2-Handers on slower heroes (heavier armor), but feel free to experiment. Nothing wrong with a 2-Hander with Cloth and Dodge, or a Dual Wield setup with Heavy Armor and Parry (while using a Sword as one of your two weapons).

Charging is always good with a henchmen for extra damage and to utilize that 3rd OP. Or it can be used to weapon switch between range and melee sets. Use Charge as much as possible early on.

Eventually henchmen get up to 5 OP. This is enough for exactly two swings with a 2-hander or Dual Wield set, or two swings with a 1-hander with 1 OP left.

There are two general paths for any combat character...defensive or offensive. Obviously you can make a balanced character, but that won't be feasible off the bat. You should determine what you want from this henchmen...do I continue using 2-Handers or Dual Wield, or do I switch to 1-Hander and Shield?

DEFENSIVE PATH

At Rank 3 Henchman gain an additional OP, so that's when you start to differentiate. With 4 OP, a 1-Hand and Shield builds begin to gain a lot of value as you can make 2 attacks now and use skills to improve the defense of a shield.

The skills are very similar to what a hero would choose. You just don't get to master skills with henchmen.

Recommend Attributes:
Physical: Toughness is the primary stat. Strength is the secondary stat
Mental: Leadership is the primary stat. Alertness is the secondary stat.
Martial: Weapon Skill.

I would recommend progressing primary stats to 6 or even 9 before doing other attributes.

Recommended Gear:
Light. Heavy Armor once you can learn Armor Proficiency.
Any good 1-Hander will do. Recommend Maces and Spears. Flails for sisters are good too.
Shield. Goes without saying.

Suggested Skills:
Shield Expert: As mentioned above
Flash Parry: Adds more parry chances
Web of Steel: Once you have good parry (60%+), consider this skill
Awareness: More melee resist
Resilient: Reduces chances of being crit
Armor Proficiency: If you want to use heavy armor, this will reduce the movement penalty
Onslaught: Improves ambush and allows you to parry as well.
Demoralize: Each hit makes it more likely for the enemy to fail an "All Alone" test
Kidney Strike: Hitting with this attack reduces the enemy melee resist.
Coolheaded: Highly increases the chance to pass an "All Alone" test

There are many more skills to choose from, this is just a quick reference. In a nutshell, you want defensive abilities and support attacks. This will not be your damage dealer, but your meatwall.

OFFENSIVE PATH

So you want to keep the henchie swinging for big damage. At the start this is great as it takes advantage of your 3 OP. Once you get 4 OP, you will be wasting the OP slightly, so take advantage of Charge as much as possible to keep over-all damage fairly high. Post Rank 5, when you can get 5 OP the character really shines.

Recommend Attributes:
Physical: Strength is the primary stat. Toughness or Agilty is the secondary stat.
Mental: Alertness is the primary stat.
Martial: Weapon Skill is the primary stat. Accuracy is the secondary stat.

I would recommend progressing primary stats to 6 or even 9 before doing other attributes.

Recommended Gear:
Heavy or Light Armor if you are not leveling Agility.
Cloth if you are.
Halberds and Great Flails if available, otherwise Great Axe or Great Sword.
Dual Wield Maces. Swap one to an Axe as they level Weapon Skill. Swap one or two to a Sword if leveling Accuracy or you want Parry.

Suggested Skills:
Mighty or Swift Charge: Mighty is the big damage hit, but you need supporting skills to make it reliable. Swift will be highly likely to hit but takes away some damage. If you level Accuracy a lot and neglect Weapon Skill, use Swift Charge.
Strider: Increase charge chances. Use with Mighty Charge
Assault: Improves crit chances on the charge.
Bull Charge: Increase charge range. Useful for charging over an ambush.
Frenzy: More damage, use if you are not using Parry or Dodge
Sidestep and Avoid: If you level Agility and use cloth, this is a great way to get defense as only a few weapons allow you to parry without a shield, and you won't be using a shield here.
Prowl: If you level Agility consider an Ambush build rather than a Charge build and use this skill. As mentioned in the Hero section, Ambush has equivalents for all the Charge passive skills.
Armor Proficiency: If you are going for heavy armor take this skill.

Equipping and Training Ranged Characters

Starting Merc Marksman...note I use dual wield in the primary slot as those maces will make him much faster on the initiative ladder than the hunting rifle.

Range characters differ from the previous sections as you might expect. Heroes can make 2 bow or crossbow shots right at the start, while henchman can only make 1.

At Rank 3, Heroes can then make 3 bow shots or two special shots. They can make 2 Flintlock shots.
At Rank 5, Heroes are at 7 OP.
At Rank 10, Heroes max out at 9 OP.

At Rank 3, henchmen are at 4 OP. Two bow shots or one special Flintlock shot.
At Rank 10, henchmen max out at 5 OP.

It's a safe bet to always start the game with your melee set drawn. Skaven, with shurikens, can ignore this if they want. But if you get in a tight deployment and the enemy is on you immediately, you want high initiative and the chance to counter attack.

Henchman
At very low ranks Mercs can get a lot of use out of Handguns and Hunting Rifles. They do a lot more damage than a Long Bow and you only get 1 shot with anything. Once you find a good spot to support the melee units a Flintlock weapon can be reloaded and take one Aimed Shot a turn. You won't have any SP left for moving, but that's solid damage for early in development.

At 4 OP you want to go with bows/shurikens, preferably Long Bows if you are Mercs. However, if you fancy using special shots you can always stick with a Flintlock weapon. Either way you'll only get a single Special shot until much later in development. If you are just going for raw damage or passive skill build go with bows to leverage two shots.

Skaven and Chaos Henchmen can only use shurikens and bows, respectively, so don't have as much choice in the matter. That said, the 3rd OP is good for switching from your melee set to your ranged weapon and still getting a shot off, which Flintlock weapons cannot do unitl a few ranks in!

Heroes
Most heroes cannot use the big Flintlock weapons (unless it's a promoted Marksman, using The Lads Got Talent skill in the Intelligence tree), but both Merc and Skaven heroes can use Flintlock Pistols. They are not very good due to only starting with 5 OP. A Rank 0 Skaven hero is better turning in those Warp Pistols for Shurikens.

At Rank3, with 6 OP, their options open up. Two Flintlock shots have a damage on par with three bow/shuriken attacks, and usually better against armored targets. If you want to use special shots, like Handshot or Pinning Shot, a bow/shuriken is superior at this point as you can make two special shots. If you are running passive shooting skills, such as Fatality-based crit builds (see below), bows and shurikens will be your thing to get as many shots as possible in.

Recommend Attributes:
Physical: Agility is the primary stat. Toughness is the secondary stat.
Mental: Alertness is the primary stat. Intelligence is a good secondary stat.
Martial: Ballistic Skill is the primary stat. Accuracy is the secondary stat.

I would recommend progressing Agility, Alertness and Ballistic Skill to 9 before doing other attributes.

Recommended Gear:
Cloth.
Range weapon. Obviously.
Melee weapon set. Otherwise you cannot attack back in melee!
-Dual Wield daggers/maces. Great initiative, make the most of your one melee attack
-One Hand only. Also great initiative. You get a bonus to dodge as well.
-Shield. Always a solid choice once you unlock the 4th OP. Use a Mace or Dagger in the main hand.

Suggested Skills:
Quick Reload. A must for any build using more than 1 shot per turn.
Bullseye. Always a good choice for characters not pursuing special shots.
Handshot or Kneeshot. Good special shots, taking +1 OP to use.
Sidestep and Avoid. Archers always have good Agility. Maximize it.
Hunter (MERC ONLY). Excellent on heroes using 2 OP weapons.

As you progress, dedicated shooters might want to consider more advanced skills:

Adrenaline Rush. +1 OP can make that 2nd or third shot a reality. See the section Further Development for more information.
Exhaustion. Reloading can get expensive. You'll need the SP with some rapid shooting builds.
Introspection. Turn SP into OP. Used on weapons you won't reload as much.
Headshot. Takes +2 OP, so henchman with Flintlock weapons cannot use this until after Rank5. If you are leveling Accuracy a lot this is a great skill.
Sharpshooter. Stacking bonus to critical chance. This is a skill you want for Crit builds, where you start stacking Accuracy after about 9 Ballistic Skill. Go for as many shots as possible with this skill.
Sniper Shot (MERC ONLY). Same as headshot, careful with henchmen and Flintlock weapons or you might not be able to use it! Dramatically improves hit and crit damage, with a slight crit buff as well. Great on Longbows and Xbows too.

Equipping and Training Wizards

Here's an early wizard. Note I run with a bow to let him do some damage until he learns more spells. Switch to the staff before casting spells!

Wizards have all different roles, depending on faction. A few general tips to apply to all Wizards, but be warned a Matriarch will play very differently than a Warlock, for example.

At low ranks I recommend a ranged weapon for casters. This will allow them to do damage and you cannot reliably cast multiple spells without risking your head exploding early on.

Recommended Attributes:
Physical: Agility is the primary stat (MATRIARCH: Toughness)
Mental: Intelligence is the primary stat. Alertness is secondary (MATRIARCH and MAGISTER: Leadership)
Martial: Ballistic Skill is the primary stat (MATRIARCH: Weapon Skill)

I would recommend progressing Intelligence to 12 before doing other stats.

Recommended Gear:
Cloth (MATRIARCH: Light Armor)
Staff (MATRIARCH: Sigmarite Hammer and Shield)
Ranged Weapon

Suggested Skills:
Channeling/Devotion. Absolute must for anyone going to cast spells. Reduces curse chances. Master this ASAP!
Improved Casting. Not immediately, but plan on it. Decreases the chance of the enemy resisting your spells. As enemy Intelligence increases so will their Magic Resist.
Sidestep and Avoid. For most casters you will be in cloth. This will be your only real defense. If you are good at protecting your Wizards, you can ignore these.

As you progress, consider these skills. Note that Wizards will have high intelligence, and should consider the right support skills to leverage that stat if possible.

Expert Casting. Add more range for your direct damage spells.
Introspection. Change SP into OP. Use this if you want to cast more spells.
Exhaustion. Provide SP to turn into OP with Introspection, or get extra movement to run away from the enemy. Only do this when you have lots of curse resist!
Knowledge: Mordheim. Extra movement is one of the most powerful things in the game.
Combat Savvy/Scout's Advice: Add resistance to the guys who need it the most.

Further Development

As the warband evolves and you've begun to specialize your characters, you are going to find your biggest concern is maximizing the use of your OP. Here's some way's to do that.

DAMAGE DEALING

If you've made a hero with 2-Handed Charge build, you'll find that by Rank10 you'll have 9 OP...which is not enough to make three attacks now. 3 OP for the charge, 3 OP for the second attack, and 4 OP for the final...that's 10 OP! What do you do?

Henchmen are in a similar boat. At 5 OP max, anything that increase OP cost means they only get 1 attack.

Adrenaline Rush: This requires 6 points into Toughness (12 to master it). This skill will add 1 OP at the cost of 30 health. Mastered, it adds 3 OP at 60 health. While a big chunk of health, characters at Rank10 typically have ~300 health.

So with basic adrenaline rush your Charge builds can still charge, and make their full number of attacks. This also means in turns you don't Charge, you can do one special attack.

With mastered adrenaline rush you still won't get four attacks with Dual-Wield or 2-Handed builds. But you can make three special attacks...such as Charge and two Strong Blows.
Even with one-handed builds getting +1 OP means 5 Hero attacks or 3 Henchmen attacks. +3 OP means up to SIX hero attacks!

This skill is also great for ranged units. A henchman can finally get two shots a turn with a Flintlock weapon (but it will take most of your SP to keep reloading) at the higher ranks (past Rank 5). They can get three shots off with a bow! That's a doubling of firepower potentially.

A max rank hero (with 9 OP) and Mastered Adrenaline Rush, with Mastered Quick Reload, can crank out 6 shots a turn. Insane. He can't do it for very long, but while he can, watch out.

Daredevil: This requires 9 points of Strength (15 to master it). You spend 3 OP for dramatically increasing your damage done. This is NOT something I'd suggest for Henchmen, and if you take it on a Hero you will want to Master it to get the most out of it, as 3 OP is rather steep.

The benefit when mastered is +125% damage (see my Guide to Game Mechanics for more details). It makes you easier to hit AND gives free dodges to the enemy. So it is best used against breaking enemy tanks and characters with low agility.

To counter the free agility, you'll also want this skill on someone with good Accuracy. But it's fantastic on damage builds like 2-Handers or Dual-Wield.

3 OP for Daredevil leaves 6 OP for attacks...combine with Charge and a normal attack for incredible damage. And you don't need Adrenaline Rush to make that second attack. The damage from Daredevil and Charge will be more than a third swing would be, in almost every case.

Right now in the Early Access you are limited to 7 OP, so Daredevil is a bit limited in use. But keep it in mind for the 'end game'.

PARRY BUILDS:

Parry is a great ability. Not only does it reduce incoming damage, but you can get cheaper counter-attacks (-1 OP). This mainly applies to 1-Hand and Shield. You can parry with Halberds and Dual-Wield Swords, but you need the shield to get the highest parry chances, and it will be rare the -1 OP will help you get another attack with those weapons.

So, you parried. Your counter attack is now a mere 1 OP. So characters with 3 or 5 (or any odd number of OP) now have a use for that. This is a way to get extra attacks with a 1-Handed weapon, but it's only going to be reliable once you gotten Parry chances above 60% or so.

Note several things ignore parry...anything with Armbands (Chaos) or Bracers (Rat Ogre) will just ignore your parry.

SPELLCASTING:

The most important stat for a dedicated caster is Curse Resist. It comes in two flavors, the Sister kind and everyone else, so be sure to get the one that applies correctly. The skills Devotion (Sisters) and Channeling (everyone else) are the primary way to do that, but you can add more from a Sigmarite Hammer or two (Sisters) or a Staff (everyone else).

Additionally, weapon and head runes exist to add more. Depending on how many spells you will be casting by Rank10 is how much you need to stack. If you're casting a lot of 2 OP spells (Sisters, I'm looking at your Comet tossers) you want as much as you can.

There is also the head Rune of Concentration that increases casting chance by 10%. This is an excellent rune...an 80 or 85% casting chance WILL fail when you need it. A 95% is a lot less likely to happen. This will come at the expense of Curse Resist typically, so choose wisely between the two.

If you've developed the Wizard into a shooter (or perhaps defensive built Matriarch for example) you of course can get less Curse Resist. I'd still take Mastered Channeling anyway for the one or two spells you do cast.

If you are using Direct Damage spells, you want to increase Intelligence to 20, by any means (Chest runes can increase I.ntelligence from +1 to +4), by Rank 10. Each point is +3% spell damage, and makes a massive difference for Lightning Bolts and Comets in particular.

Generally Agility is good for most casters, who are in cloth, so they can dodge and have high initiative between the lack of armor and the high initiative of Staffs. But you do not want to ignore Toughness, as you can get crit way too easily with low Toughness, can't take many hits, and won't be able to use two valuable skills for heavily specialized characters...Adrenaline Rush and Exhaustion!

Skaven Sorcerors can make great leaders with the upgrade via Born Leader skill as a side note.

Weapon Styles

One Hand Only

-With nothing in your offhand you get +10 to initiative and +10 to dodge.
-You can parry with a Sword

Excellent early on for characters that totally suck in melee combat...Marksmen, I'm looking at you. They tend to have decent starting Agility, so combined with Cloth armor you can have a decent dodge chance early on. Less useful on later characters when you no longer need the +10 dodge as much as you need more damage or a shield.

1 Hand and Shield

-Shields add +5 melee resist, +10 range resist and +10 parry. These numbers increase by +5 for each level of quality above (so a purple shield adds 15 melee resist, for example).
-You can always parry with a Shield.

The normal defensive setup. With Adrenaline Rush, some Armor Penetration (like a 1-hand axe) and a ton of Strength this can still do tremendous damage, so don't think you only have to tank to use this build.

Normally 1 Hand and Shield combines with Strength and Toughness characters and Parry is used. It can be done with Agility characters and Dodge as well. The shield would then be used for Melee and Range resistance. Since Weapon Skill and Agility both improve Melee Resist this is a way to get a really fast, hard to hit, character that can dodge or parry as needed.

Note successful parries allow 1 OP counter attacks when using a shield.

2 Handers

-Two handed weapons generally have poor initiative (exception, Great Flails)
-They usually add a bonus to targets dodge (Exception, Great Flails and Halberds)
-You can only parry with a Halberd

Now things get a little wonky. Attacks have two debuffs associated with them:

1) Tiring. Increases the OP cost of successive attacks.
This means each attack with have base 2 OP for the first, 3 OP for the second, and 4 OP for the third.
NOTE: This is the debuff Impressives are immune to.

2) 2-Hander. Reduces the damage of each successive attack by 15%.
This means your first swing is at full damage. The second is at 85% damage. The eighth will be at 0% damage. Yes, you read that right, no damage. Thankfully it only really applies to Impressives and Order builds.
NOTE: Impressives are still restricted by this debuff!

So what does this mean for most characters? 2 Handers do the MOST damage of anything, on the first swing. Combine that with damage buffs for the most effect (like Charge) on that first swing. 'Front-loading' your damage means 2-Handers will exceed al other forms of damage.

They are a good choice then for Daredevil builds, where you won't make many attacks in total, or any build that uses a lot of Special Attacks.

Dual Wield

-Dual Wield generally has great initiative...though double hammer will be very slow, for example
-You can only parry with a Sword, or with Skaven-specific weapons

1) Tiring. Same as with 2-handers
NOTE: This is the debuff Impressives are immune to.

2) Dual Wield. This is a constant 25% damage reduction.
NOTE: Impressives are still restricted by this debuff!

So what does this mean? Dual Wield will do less damage than a 2-hander for the first two attacks. At the 3rd attack they do the same (this applies to all Heroes). Any more attacks (Impressives or Order) and Dual Wield is just superior in raw damage.

However, since the damage penalty is always applied, those first hits aren't as big with Dual Wield as they are with 2-Handers. This is better for constant damage and passive skills, or characters without a lot of offensive skills to take advantage of the damage bonus of 2-Handers.

It's also the best setup for Impressives past Rank 5, and any build that uses Order!

Faction Specific Advice: Order

Physical: Number of points to distribute in Strength, Toughness and Agility by Rank 10.
Mental: Number of points to distribute in Intelligence, Leadership and Alertness by Rank 10.
Martial: Number of points to distribute in Weapon Skill, Ballistic Skill and Accuracy by Rank 10.

Human Mercenaries

Overview
Human mercenaries are the most flexible warband, with the greatest number of options and clear-cut roles on their characters. They are also the main "shooty" faction, with the widest variety of ranged weapons and special skills focused on shooting, but can certainly play all melee if desired.

Warrior (Henchman)
Physical: 14
Mental: 12
Martial: 19

Warriors are ideal tanks, using shields to tie up the enemy and make them miss a lot. They can do damage just fine, but their unique skill benefits making as many melee attacks as possible. With the highest Weapon Skill of any Henchman, they naturally have good melee resist and parry chances.

I'd level most of them to use shields past Rank 3, although I keep 1 out of 3 as a damage dealer.

Marksmen (Henchman)
Physical: 14
Mental: 14
Martial: 17

Marksman aren't just shooters, but they also can do light melee very well, with excellent dodge and alertness. They make great heroes as well, using The Lad's Got Talent (TLGT), to really benefit from their starting skill.

Youngblood (Hero)
Physical: 15
Mental: 15
Martial: 15

Youngbloods can shoot pretty well and melee decently. They should be leveled as dodge and avoidance (Weapon Skill and Agility) if going melee and use supporting skills like Wall Runner to get around.

As shooters, xbows using special shots are a decent choice, as are pistol and bow builds. They cannot use Long Bows or Handguns however.

Champion (Hero)
Physical: 13
Mental: 11
Martial: 21

Arguably the best melee fighter in the game. He's ideal as a heavy tank, leveraging an Axe and Shield and high melee resist and parry. He has amazing Weapon Skill and Accuracy potential so use it to your advantage.

As a pure damage dealer he can excel there as well. Dual Wield with a Sword and Axe is good for parry and damage combinations.

Warlock (Hero)
Physical: 12
Mental: 22
Martial: 11

Max intelligence and lightning bolt makes him a deadly ranged threat. He also has an array of debuffs to use. Have a lot of bows? Melt armor to increase their damage, for example.

Captain (Leader)
Physical: 11
Mental: 19
Martial: 15

Best with a shield to leverage his built in skill for free counter attacks and boosted parry. Defensively set, he can then buff his friends, or use advanced skills like Retreat and Order to control the flow of battle and be hard to stop.

He can also do a pistol build rather well, being midrange shooting and buff support, and even with mediocre Weapon Skill can still have a decent survivability in melee with a shield set in his off-hands.

Ogre (Impressive)
Physical: 16
Mental: 14
Martial: 15

Brutal beasty. Start with a two-handed Axe. Shift to Dual Wield at higher Ranks. Massive Weapon Skill and Accuracy, as well as great Physical stats make him a damage monster. He can do dodge and parry and grind down enemies, or he can use things like Frenzy, Adrenaline Rush and Daredevil and go all out damage.

Sisters of Sigmar

Overview
Magic heavy with a plethora of buffs, Sisters can do a grindy attrition better than any other faction. Lacking ranged weapons, they can have multiple direct damage spells to counter that negative.

Sister (Henchman)
Physical: 15
Mental: 18
Martial: 12

Much like the Merc Warrior...follow those general tips. Mostly shield tanks past Rank 3, the odd one can work as a damage dealer in lighter armor with Strength and Agility.

Novice (Henchman)
Physical: 17
Mental: 18
Martial: 10

Like an archer without shooting. I like dual wield Mace and Flail, and use them to support, scout, and loot. Agility and dodge makes them good tie-down characters as well. Runes of Misfortune and skills that debuff the enemy are useful on them to support your damage dealers and get All Alone checks.

Sister Superior (Hero)
Physical: 15
Mental: 17
Martial: 13

A solid combat character. Best as a tank, they can also do 2-handers quite well. Their basic skill gives friendlies extra movement, so they can run with Light Armor and speed up the heavy armor girls around them. They should always try to invest in Leadership or Intelligence skills and act as a support character, even if it's just Insult to make enemies easier to hit.

Purifier (Hero)
Physical: 16
Mental: 15
Martial: 14

Caster/melee hybrid. You can go either way, but I'd focus and not do both. As a caster Comet is the bread and butter. Master it, dump points into intelligence, load up on Curse Resist.

As a melee fighter, she will cast less (one, maybe two buffs) and leverage charge skills.

Auger (Hero)
Physical: 15
Mental: 18
Martial: 12

As odd character, she's not that great in combat or that strong, but she is fast, agile and has free perception. Use her as a dodge/avoidance tank (melee resist and dodge), to scout the map, and is probably the best for stealing the enemy flag. They have excellent mental skills, so they can do buffing abilities and take Knowledge: Mordheim in the Intelligence tree for high movement.

Matriarch (Leader)
Physical: 14
Mental: 18
Martial: 13

Generally best as a tank, to help support and hold the line with her spells and combat ability. Great with shortranged spells like Circle of Healing and Might of Sigmar. They make a good defensive tank/caster hybrid.

Maiden (Impressive)
Physical: 16
Mental: 17
Martial: 12

She can be a caster, but the girls have lots of those. I'd consider a pure damage build on her. Dual Flails or Dual Sigmarite Hammers and lots of Strength and Toughness skills. You really want Armor Proficiency on her ASAP as she has to wear Heavy Armor which can slow her down too much otherwise.

Faction Specific Advice: Destruction

Cult of the Possessed

Overview
The Cult of the possessed features mutations on many of their heroes making them a random, powerful force. They do melee really well but can be supported with some shooting. Their only caster is the leader limiting how much magic they can cast, but their magic is quite potent.

The mutation system makes it much harder to plan builds (as will be mentioned below) so use the henchmen to fill specific roles reliably.

Dark Souls (Henchman)
Physical: 17
Mental: 16
Martial: 12

The strongest of any Henchmen naturally making them excellent damage dealers. They have lousy weapon skill so do not make great parry tanks until you can use runes to increase Weapon Skill. Which you should if you plan on tanking with them. The excel however as damage dealers, and should probably build more of them this way than other factions

Since your heroes get mutations you cannot rely on them to do the tanking. That's where this guy comes in with a shield build.

Brethren (Henchman)
Physical: 15
Mental: 17
Martial: 13

Archer/Light melee. Level them as you would a Novice or Marskman. They can be used with heavy armor, unlike most archer types. They can only use Short Bows and Bows (I would recommend the latter) for ranged options.

Promote one or so to heroes to make them excellent shooters in the event none of your Mutant heroes are able to, due to mutations.

Mutant (Hero)
Physical: 15
Mental: 12
Martial: 18

Natually high agility and alertness makes them a good skirmisher. They could be used for archers, and are VERY good in this role...but due to the mutation system, if either arm gets mutated they lose access to bows.

They can make great melee resist builds with high Agility and Weapon Skill, or assassins with high Accuracy.

Marauder (Hero)
Physical: 17
Mental: 15
Martial: 13

A powerful melee hero, limited in options due to Mutations. You might not be able to wear armor or use shields if you want due to this.

That said, they are brutal in close combat with great Physical stats and naturally do charge builds very well.

Possessed (Hero)
Physical: 17
Mental: 14
Martial: 14

Can only ever use Dual Wield, and at the beginning does rather weak damage. As you upgrade him, and he gets arm mutations, he becomes very deadly. He has a base move of 7 making him the fastest non Skaven character in the game.

Very much a glass cannon, commonly built to do pure damage (Frenzy, Daredevil, etc).

Magister (Leader)
Physical: 14
Mental: 18
Martial: 13

The only caster for Chaos. Can be built as ranged or melee as desired, or kept as a pure spellcaster. His starter spell, Weapons of Destruction, will be your bread and butter spell as the warband develops, tremendously boosting your Marauders and Possessed in close combat once the spell is mastered.

His other spells are quite potent, but usually require him to be close to the action (Word of Pain, Acid Spray, Torment, etc). Chains of Chaos is one of the better lockdown spells, and has good range.

Spawn (Impressive)
Physical: 18
Mental: 17
Martial: 10

This thing is unique in the fact that most injuries are just ignored...the only one that affects him is death. So he should be very easy to level, and this promotes an all out offensive build since he doesn't fear risk too much. He can do a Dodge build quite well.

Skaven

Overview
Skaven are by far the fastest of all warbands, with base 33% more movement. Naturally high
Agility and Alertness, and piss poor toughness with a few exceptions. They can do hit and run style builds very well, better than anyone else.

Warpguard (Henchman)
Physical: 16
Mental: 13
Martial: 16

Much like the Merc warrior, and is the only Skaven that can use Heavy Armor. Both tank-n-spank builds, and all-out offense builds work. Black Hunger is an excellent skill for both styles, as you can use it to increase damage and bypass defensive stances (especially with a spear). Probably don't want to combine with Adrenaline Rush, however.

Halberds or hand-weapon and shield are usually the best builds for them. Not a fan of dual wield on Warpguard but they can do it.

Verminkin (Henchman)
Physical: 16
Mental: 14
Martial: 15

The typical range/light skirmisher unit. Cheap, expendable. Build with shurikens like a Marskman, or go melee like a Novice. Can be a great dodger and can have extreme initiative.

Night Runner (Hero)
Physical: 15
Mental: 15
Martial: 15

Youngblood peer. Can be an excellent shooter with Warp Pistols and Poison builds. Can also be a WTF CANT HIT ME sidestepping dodger, and poison works on both range and melee.

Black Skaven (Hero)
Physical: 15
Mental: 15
Martial: 15

Main source of muscle with solid strength, unlike many other rats. They can tank, but are very strong when build offensively with Halberds, Black Hunger/Frenzy/Daredevil/Mighty Charge. Cannot use heavy armor however.

Sorceror (Hero)
Physical: 10
Mental: 20
Martial: 15

The rat wizard. Better than average shooter, worse than average melee. I'd suggest a hybrid shooter/wizard build or pure spellcaster. Focus on long or short range spells for synergy. A Wither/Sorcerors Curse/Mist wizard can do long range support and debuffing, or a Warp Lightning/Gaze of the Horned Rat build for close in carnage.

Assassin (Leader)
Physical: 10
Mental: 17
Martial: 18

A very strong melee character, can also shoot quite well if needed. Build for either Strength and Toughness with Weapon Skill and Parry, or go for a dodge/hit and run build. They can do crit builds better than anyone else with Claws or Swords of Havoc.

Rat Ogre (Impressive)
Physical: 18
Mental: 16
Martial: 11

Stupid. Big problem. Take a wizard for guidance until you can get a rune in his head slot to limit stupidity checks. He is the real strength and toughness of the warband...use him to get the skills the Skaven generally lack like Overpower. Needs a babysitter, not just for stupid but to protect from shooting as well (such as Scout's Advice).

Faction Specific Advice: DLC Warbands

Witch Hunters

Overview
The Witch Hunters are a flexible warband, but while they can have plenty of short-ranged shooting firepower they are still focused generally around melee skills and attacks so shooting is a supporting characteristic, not a main strength. Most of the units benefit from (or are restricted to) lighter armor and dodge builds so they could be considered slow Skaven in a sense and will be built similarly.

As you might expect from their title, they have a number of strengths against spell casters including several characters with built-in magic resistance.

Zealot (Henchman)
Physical: 15
Mental: 13
Martial: 17

The all-around henchmen, capable of shooting or melee. It's a good idea to make a few of these guys shooters, despite the fact that their starting skill is melee focused as the other henchman cannot have any shooting. They make decent shooters thanks to access to the all important Long Bow and a lack of heavier armor types.

Flagellant (Henchman)
Physical: 21
Mental: 14
Martial: 10

A melee focused henchman, very similar to the Novice except that he cannot take any armor other than cloth. As such they should be built to be either expendable glass cannons with two handers (I prefer the great flail) and damage skills, or as dodge tanks used to screen and delay for your more powerful units. Immunity to psychology makes them reliable at these roles, without preventing them from disengaging as needed, so keep that in mind. They cannot be made into Heroes.

He has low Martial skill points so will require help from heroes to get high hit chance but he has amazing Physical stats, if you can keep him alive long enough to level up. Dump points into Agility and Toughness to make that happen.

Witch Hunter (Hero)
Physical: 13
Mental: 15
Martial: 17

They have access to all the blackpowder weapons and crossbows, including the new crossbow pistols and can certainly be ranked up as a shooter and he also starts with free range weapons. That said, due to a lower cap on their ballistic skill, they should probably end up relying on melee. They can be useful to start with range to get off overwatch shots before switching to their hand to hand gear. Purge the Heretic, their starter skill, benefits from making as many melee attacks as possible so one handed builds are preferred.

They can use any armor but their very high agility cap should lead to dodge builds in general. I tend to develop mine into swashbucklers, firing pistols to start before using "Quick Draw" to swap to a sword or mace leaving one hand free for a boost to initiative and dodge, putting skill points into dodge and special offensive skills like "Trial by Pain".

Templar Knight(Hero)
Physical: 16
Mental: 14
Martial: 15

Despite a wide variety of weapons and armor available (including Long Bows) they really should focus on the 'knight' part of their name and tank. Immune to psychology and unable to flee, their starter skill benefits from getting thrown into the mix and ganged up on to tie up as many enemies as possible at once.

Very high caps in weapon skill and toughness lead easily to armor and parry builds, and of course they can do armor and two-handed builds for spike damage as well. Mediocre at dodging and shooting, use them to fill the gap in the roster of armor and parry tanks and skill accordingly.

Warrior Priest (Hero)
Physical: 16
Mental: 16
Martial: 13

Very similar to the DLC hero the Wolf Priest, if balder and not as flashy, this is the Witch Hunter spell caster. Maybe a bit ironic since they hunt wizards and witches, but this guy, like the other priest, wants to get in and dirty while casting spells thanks to a starter skill that boosts spell chances after hitting someone in the face.

Awful Agility and access to all armor types means he will probably be an armor and perhaps parry tank as well, although its two-handers that have the spell caster attributes so he'll probably smack people around with a big hammer first before casting the excellent Witch Hunter spells such as Healing Hand. Rely on armor and spells to stay alive.

Witch Hunter Captain (Leader)
Physical: 14
Mental: 14
Martial: 17

The captain can be built out either as melee or ranged and do either fairly well. Mostly well rounded stats let him function in pretty much any way you want, although for defense you probably going to want to go dodge to use his starter skill to the max as he has high Agility and mediocre strength and toughness. Since the other heroes are better melee characters, make him your dedicated shooter and consider support skills like "Order" and "Insult" to get the most out of him.

Sidestep combines with his starter skill to make a very solid counter-attack build, which is great if you need to bypass the enemies dodge/parry yourself.

Executioner (Impressive)
Physical: 18
Mental: 17
Martial: 10

With a damage over time starter skill, high agility and accuracy, this guy is built for 2-hander and dual wield crit builds using dodge to defend himself. He can't wear armor which complements dodge well, so eventually look to use dual swords or similar to max out his crit chance and potential damage. Adrenaline Rush, Mighty Charge, Fanatical Zeal and Trial by Pain are all good offensive skills for this bare-chested beast.

The Undead

Overview

Zombie (Henchman)
Physical: 15
Mental: 13
Martial: 17

Ghoul (Henchman)
Physical: 21
Mental: 14
Martial: 10

Dreg (Hero)
Physical: 16
Mental: 14
Martial: 15

Vampire Thrall (Hero)
Physical: 13
Mental: 15
Martial: 17

Necromancer (Hero)
Physical: 16
Mental: 16
Martial: 13

Vampire (Leader)
Physical: 14
Mental: 14
Martial: 17

Crypt Horror (Impressive)
Physical: 18
Mental: 17
Martial: 10

[败仗亭速四导致的阳痿]

In my opinion this guide misleads a lot.

In this game the purpose is not just to win the battle, but to win with 0 casualty.

In this game there is nothing to "hide behind" for melee character, everyone's on the front line, and enemy tent to attack the one has the worst defense.

So every melee character must be tanky, even you are using 2-hander which I strongly don't recommend. Even the Sister's Impressive must have 100+dodge if you want to use 2-handers.

So the worst attribute in this game is strength above 6(for most chars)

And you have to have a dodge tank for the special mission.

I recommend every melee character have100+dodge/parry, 50+melee res, 30+crit res, 50+stun res, so you don't end up watching him dead or losing limbs.

And use only 1 dodge tank, it is far worse than parry.

[Comrade Beric]

@PhotoJoe

...yes. So the guide is out of date in the sense that it never addressed the undead DLC warband. As you can see, it barely has the stats listed. But if it had that data, that'd be it. There's not much else to know because, sadly, the game didn't really get many updates past that. The game didn't sell well enough and the dev team was re-tasked to make the game Necromunda: Underhive Wars instead, which came out in 2020.

All of that said, the single-player version of the game is still fun, just don't expect a multiplayer scene. Also, if you look at VoidGrazer's comments just below your own, you can see their valiant attempt to fill in those final gaps left by the guide.

[PhotoJoe]

"Posted
Updated
Oct 13, 2015 @ 11:50am
Dec 8, 2016 @ 8:18am"

Is this hopelessly out of date or has the state of the game been stagnant for almost a decade?

[VoidGrazer]

DLC heroes, in brief: Smugglers are fast snipers, and provide the only ranged support for Sisters. Wolf Priests are tough melee casters with some fun buff/debuff spells. Globadiers apply poison that is deadly in the early game, but late game they have more value as healers (90 pts AoE heal per round, no failure chance) and shooters. Doomweavers have amazing melee resist, and can throw down idols, but their primary purpose is to approach the enemy and deliberately generate AoE Tzeentch Curse effects (Cauterize skill recommended).

[VoidGrazer]

Undead, in a nutshell: Zombies are slow cloth-wearing parry tanks, Ghouls are decent dodgers (similar to Flagellant). Both have strong synergies with Necromancers, which have decent spells and ranged skills. Vampires and Thralls are powerful, versatile, and fast, but their inherent bonuses (Terror and Fear) become less valuable in the mid/late-game. Dregs are solid units, if a little slow, but watch out for their low leadership. Crypt Horrors are big cloth-wearing weapon-wielders, good on offense. The Body Reconstruction skill is like Resilient but cheaper; get it for everyone.

[Cha0sniper]

Any chance of a continuation of the undead warband section? :)

[Particle Man]

Thanks!

[Anthaldin]

love it

[Comrade Beric]

Hey Stymie, I know it's been about a million years since you posted this, but would you consider coming back and touching up the guide? The DLC heroes and the undead were never finished and people still, to this day, come looking for your input on them. In any case, how are you?
I hope you're doing well.

[Chabneruk]

Excellent guide that I always come back to. My only regret is that the undead were never implemented.