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The sections focus on how to identify and exploit all enemy weaknesses while sustaining pressure throughout the campaign. Additional information includes on creating the best army composition, managing Lord/Characters, and destroying the enemy with finesse.

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I have been playing since the first version and on Legendary difficulty. The Dwarf faction was my favorite!

I enjoy helping others and wanted to share and preserve the key findings. Other guides seem to be incomplete with lack of enough information, screenshots, and higher standards to guarantee successful runs.

The guide is for everyone, but much more friendlier to new players. The writing will be easy to follow and supported by plenty of screenshots for those who are too lazy to read everything! Everyone will be playing on the same level with the most experienced!

I have written plenty of detailed guides. Here are some of them:

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The ideal army requires at least one Frost Maiden for acquiring more magical items and the capability to use magic spells. A minimum of 2 Patriarchs are needed to provide group healing and eventually form the bulk of the front line in due time. As they level, these characters will be durable enough with skills in extra health, armor, and melee defense.

During the early game, Ursun invocation will be used once to gain supporters. The Bitterness of Winter army spell can be used on top of Ice Sheet to further slow down enemy advance as arrows rain down on them.



The upgraded form of Dazh will be available in mid game that allows the army to summon an elemental bear for a limited time. They need to be located behind the enemy's advance as they are being shot at to split them up.

The setup includes 3-6 melee units in the front line, 14-17 ranged units (includes artillery), and the rest being cavalry (optional in mid-late game) deployed on the wings.

Early Game
Kossars form the bulk of the army as ranged units with the Tier 2+ versions being in the front. The hybrid units that do not use a bow must have an unobstructed front view to be able to do ranged attack or end up blocking each other.

Formations by line:
1. Short-Range Armored Kossars (Pistol/Gun) or non-bow Kossars & Patriarchs/Frost Maidens
2. Kossars (Bows)
3. Ice Guards (if playing as Katarin)


If the enemy has cavalry, order the front line to be in guard mode to avoid breaking formation. Use own cavalry to either lure them away into the kill zone or counter charge before they reach the army.

Mid Game
The front line will be upgraded to either the more durable Tzar Guards or the ranged Streltsi. Only 2-3 of them should be recruited unless the armored Kossars have already perished.

Formations by line:
1. Great Weapon Tzar Guards or Streltsi
2. Kossars
3. Ice Guard (if playing as Katarin)

Late Game
The Ice Guard has fully replaced the ranged units and now forms the army core. The front line will strictly be the Lord and the characters.

Formations by line:
1. 2-3 Patriarchs/Frost Maidens & 1 Elemental Bear (optional)
2. 13-15 Ice Guards
3. 3-4 Little Grom Artillery


Cavalry in late game is optional and still has same role. The unit slots can be replaced for more Ice Guard because the artillery will trigger the enemy to attack first.

There are two options to limit enemy presence on the battlefield when fighting against multiple armies.


The first option to not control large army limits each side to only deploy 20 units in battle. Reinforcements are unable to join until an existing unit is removed through retreat or death. The benefit is not having vigor penalty and the enemy can come in phases instead of all at once.


The very last phase will be all melee battle because ammunition have ran out. The Lord and any other remaining healthy units will fight, preferably single entity units. A heroic victory is possible when minimizing received damage.


The second option is lightning strike that disables all enemy reinforcements and allows a solo 1v1 army battle. The ability can be repeated again in the same turn and can be used to target smaller enemy armies. The only drawback is having the army suffer a reduced vigor penalty.

Note: The Lord needs to invest 3 skill points to unlock lightning strike.

The enemy needs to be denied any space to conduct any flanking attacks with cavalry/flyers.
Study the map to see which corner is better. Factors include water (slows down land units), higher terrain, trees (not too close to the corner), and buildings (if they help with creating chokepoint).
Deploy the army near the designated corner to reposition there with both wings sealed to deny enemy cavalry space.
Lords/characters can break their charge and slow their advance while taking fire from ranged units.

Note: Available artillery can be used to immediately shoot the first enemy army before positioning in the corner. The enemy will most likely wait for all reinforcements before advancing and some units can be lured in a bit closer but will not react to engage.

The concept of this attack is to charge directly into the middle of enemy formation and become fully encircled. Unlike normal units, the Lord and Characters can take considerable punishment before limits to max HP recovery take effect. This is due to the fact that they are single entity units versus a normal unit that have multiple expendable soldiers.


The spearhead needs to consist of at least 4 characters with the majority being Patriarchs for chain healing spells and Frost Maidens to cast damaging AOE spells directly on top of them. The rest of the army will follow and provide supporting fire and preferably hit enemies behind the characters to avoid friendly fire.


The magic items and ancillaries will further improve their defensive and offensive abilities. Exact calculations are unknown but the estimation is somewhere between 2x-3x stronger than the standard front line counterpart and replace them. This means more slots for other types of units like Ice Guards or Little Groms.

The most important attributes to look for in Magic Items & Ancillaries are:

• Health Regeneration
  
• Armor & Ward Save
  
• Vigor
  
• Magical Attacks
  
• Weapon Strength
  
• Armor-Piercing

An invaluable enchanted item that gives unlimited heal.


FYI, the benefits of each magic Item are independent of their current tier (e.g. rare). Lower quality tier like uncommon can give health regeneration or ward save that is worth keeping. Never sell unwanted magic items to forge for the next tier!

Frost Maidens are very useful for increasing the chances of finding these equipment from each victory through their scouting skill. The valet ancillary provides a further boost on lords. Two other methods are through quests and random events.

Note: Multiple scouting skills do not seem to stack.

As for selling, only bad or duplicate ancillaries should be sold. They include any copies of magic wind changes and duplicates that reduce cost of units or buildings. Multiple copies of student can be sold off if there is an excess of 5+. Do not sell anything that increases income/devotion and gives combat buffs except leadership.

Healing in battle can be repeated against the same enemy army, if they can retreat after being defeated. The next battle needs to be done manually and position all units in the rear to avoid fighting the leftover enemy units.
This will give more time for the Patriarchs to cast their healing spells and any other healing magical items.

Note: Only single entity units can bypass the replenish limitation and be able to fully heal in the same turn!

The battle is not completely over after victory is achieved. The surviving enemy units are still worthwhile to chase down. Gold is determined by damage inflicting while kills count towards unit experience.
Enemies can be stopped from leaving the battlefield with slow spells like Ice Sheet, Death Frost, or anything that causes frostbite.

Little Groms have a limited window to weaken or destroy high-priority targets before full contact.

After studying the enemy, consider the following before choosing who to target.

When the enemy has reinforcements, the first army will either wait in the deployment area or walk towards the spot of the reinforcing army. Their units will most likely clump up that allow more casualties when shot at. Be sure to target the leading enemy unit when multiple units are walking in the same direction. The distance and travel time of the artillery needs to be considered because not all the shots connect.

Settlement battles are much easier when the army core is made of mostly archers, preferably Ice Guards. The enemy will mostly stay inside unless walking in or attacking barricades. They should be lured out by durable units like the Lord or characters while the rest of the army shoots.

When picking a side to deploy, pick an area with mostly vertical lanes that has very little to no cover for the enemy. The advance should be slow to take out the enemy layer by layer while destroying the nearby tower once it is built.

With rough calculations, an Ice Guard can handle up to 2-2.5 regular enemy units with the exception of high HP targets like Lords/Characters and monsters. Unlike Kossars, they use magic ammunition that will go through armor and defense. Basically, their ice arrows are anti-everything and best used against difficult targets when ammo is limited.

Note: The battle took place at Frozen Landing.

Cavalry is placed on the left and right wing or in the rear to repel enemy cavalry charge. They are versatile and mobile military units that can fulfill any task of either disrupting enemy formations, distract/lure, and/or capture victory points during siege.

Anti-Range Disruption
The cavalry can reduce or stop enemy projectiles by attacking them directly through a chain attack. This maneuver will force the missile units to regroup every time they are under attack and can move onto the next one if being chased.

On the open field, the cavalry charges out diagonally out towards the enemy like a V shape then loop back inwards to form a full heart shape. The enemy will react and send their closest front-line melee units or cavalry to chase.

Distraction & Lure
The enemy can be lured to go on a wild goose chase by the cavalry if the enemy has superior power. They can split the enemy army by galloping close by to attract nearby units to chase. The chase will be broken if going beyond a certain range and restore normal behavior. This maneuver buys some time in fighting the enemy by parts rather than facing the whole at once.

Siege
Their offensive role is to attack the garrison alone from a completely different side from the main army. They can target units that have no counter to cavalry or go for victory points like supply or leadership.

Defensive purpose is to run in circles behind the enemy army to lure and delay some of their units from attacking. This allows more time for the garrison to deal with them and can handle up to 2x of their own strength if done properly. Demon lords are best targets to lure away from the fight.

Each lord in the same turn is given a single chance to retreat unless their stance is in march, tunnel, or garrison. Multiple enemy armies could potentially be wiped out if one of them is caught out in any of the above stances and within radius of own army.

The same can be done with any straggling armies outside of an enemy settlement to fight them in the open field. However, Ice Guards perform much better when the enemy is cramped in settlement battles and not actively engaging them in melee combat.
The ambush stance is unique with concealing the army to become invisible to the enemy. As long as their cover is not discovered, the enemies will be lured much closer within the normal stance range or even trigger the ambush itself. Regardless, this trick saves time that was otherwise wasted in chasing the enemy across the map.

A successful ambush depends on some RNG with a higher chance to trigger if placed in the trees/forest and avoid setting one up near any enemy character(s). They have the ability to scout ahead and discover any ambush ahead of time.
Once ambush is triggered, the battle is completely detrimental to the enemy and cannot return damage unless in the green flag area.

As the enemy attacks almost every front, time is the major challenge to build more armies and repel them. Income problems are only secondary despite the higher upkeep with mid-late game tier units.

A rule of thumb to determine if another army can be built is to calculate potential bankruptcy in the next 8-10 turns, including high-priced buildings. A good indication is having excess of 10k+ gold in the coffers.

To save valuable time, temporary lords can also be used to recruit and deliver the next tier units to main armies. Recruitment usually consumes 2-4 turns, depending on how much upgrading the army needs.

Areas that are difficult to defend can be sold off to friendly factions for extra gold. The sale can be repeated if the same settlement is recaptured back from the enemy. Settlements in certain locations can also be sold to guide the faction to push in a certain direction and create new buffer zones.


Deals can also be made with neutral factions like Dwarves to curry favor in having defensive alliance right away to build outposts for each other. This creates more garrison troops to defend better.

Any faction that has a defensive alliance will be able to build outposts in friendly capitals. The benefits include providing extra garrison units for protection and allowing free recruitment with allegiance points instead. The only two drawbacks are the 3000 gold cost and whoever can build first.

When deciding to build an allied outpost, consider the following:

• Better elite units?
  
• Rich enough to upgrade beyond level 3 settlement?
  
• Is the location of strategical importance like a choke-point?

A good example of the first two questions is the powerful Dwarf faction called Karak Kadrin. They are faster at getting late-game tier units and worthwhile to build a level 3 outpost.


Their highest tier Gyrocopter is a hybrid ranged flyer with special payloads that perform better than Kislev's own cavalry.


The last question is about improving the capital's defensive power to buy more time for reinforcements to arrive. If they have no other defensive allies, the outpost needs to be built at the important location immediately, regardless of how useless their units are.

Every lord should invest their first skill into Route Marcher to do more during each turn. More campaign movement can also be gained through traits.



Note: The bear mount was favored over horse to save a skill point.

Tzarina Katarin
She is the Legendary Lord version of a Frost Maiden (Ice) who has a starting spell of Ice Sheet and shares the exact same spells except at a reduced arcane cost. See Useful Spells section.

The normal skill build is to get the Death Frost spell first for early stopping power to destroy enemy Lords, cavalry, or other hard-hitting units. She can also try to to get Renowned & Feared skill first, but her units are too basic to benefit from an early reduced army upkeep.

Her final army should be composed of mostly Ice Guard units to benefit from 50% upkeep. She can have 2 Little Groms for artillery support and 2 Patriarchs for the front line. Skill points on the elemental bear are wasted because she can field more Ice Guards.

At Rank Level:
3. Ice Maiden's Kiss
4-5. Death Frost
6. Fervent
7-11. Save skill points for complete Ice Mistress line (available at level 12).
12. Spend all points in this line to get Shield of Ice (Ward save for entire army)
13. Reassuring Presence
14. War Bear
15-16. Reassuring Presence
17. Draftmaster
18-20. Quartermaster (Reduced Army Upkeep)
21. Lightning Strike
22. Renowned & Feared (Further reduction in upkeep and more movement)
23. Inspiring Presence (Red Line Skills)
24-26. Best of Court
27-30. Skilled Craftsmen
31. Rally!
32. Skirmisher Traditions
33. Battle Engineers
34. Stand Your Ground!
35. Ice Sheet
36. Frost Shield
37. Evasion
38-39. Heart of Winter
40. Earthing
41. Magical Reserves
42. Arcane Conduit
43. Ursun's Protection
44. Guardian Call (summoned Cannon Fodder)
45-46. Lightning Strike (eliminate a single enemy army)
47-50. Alert or Logistician

Boyar
The most durable non-magic Lord who is a melee damage dealer and substitute most of the front line once leveled. He needs the Patriarch for healing and at least one Frost Maiden to make use of the available arcane power.

If the army lacks melee or hybrid front line units, he should make himself stronger first before going for Renowned & Feared.

At Rank Level:
3. Hard to Hit
4-5. Scarred Veteran
6-7. Full Plate Armor
8-10. Reassuring Presence
11. War Bear
12. Fervent
13. Draftmaster
14-16. Quartermaster (Reduced Army Upkeep)
17. Lightning Strike
18. Renowned & Feared
19. Inspiring Presence (Red Line Skills)
20-22. Best of Court
23-25. Skilled Craftsmen
26. Rally!
27. Skirmisher Traditions
28. Battle Engineers
29. Stand Your Ground!
30. Foe-Seeker
31-32. Blade Shield
33-34. Wound-Maker
35. Deadly Onslaught
36-39. Deadly Blade/Blade Master
40. Ursun's Protection
41. Heroic Resilience
42-43. Lightning Strike
44-50. Creatures of the Land (if using elemental bear) or Logistician or Alert

Frost Maiden
These characters help with gaining more magical equipment, stealing technology from enemy settlements, assassinating enemy characters, and weakening enemy armies through assaults.

If her purpose is attacking the enemy directly, she needs to put skill points in specialist to lower gold cost then assault or assassinate before learning spells.

At Rank Level:
2. Scouting
3-4. Spells
5. Scouting
6-9. Spells
10. Scouting
11-12. Spells
14. War Bear
15-19. Spells
20. Champion of Ice Guard

Patriarch
They are healers in and out of battles and replenish the army for the next fight. There are two types of builds with either being a replenish or a tank first. The tank is for armies that already has a replinisher. Both will pick the Healer trait as their 20th skill to have the most health and cast chain spells of Salyak's Lullaby.

Replenisher
At Rank Level:
2. Replenish Troops
3. Ursun's Roar
4-5. Salyak's Lullaby
6. Replenish Troops
7. Icon of Strength
8-10. Impassioned
11. War Bear
12. Replenish Troops
13. Wild-Eyed
14. Blessing Discs
15-17. Tenacity
18-19. Inviolable
20. Healer

Tank
At Rank Level:
2. Ursun's Roar
3-4. Salyak's Lullaby
5. Icon of Strength
6-8 Impassioned
9. Wild-Eyed
10. Blessing Discs
11. War Bear
12-14. Tenacity
15-17. Inviolable
18. Enduring Devotion
19. Fervour
20. Healer

Ice Sheet
The cheapest AOE spell to slow down all enemies to hinder their advance or retreat. Best used against enemies within own firing range and flanking enemy cavalry. The spell does no damage on its own.

Death Frost
The best offensive spell that locks on to any enemy without the need to stand still. They are best used against tougher targets like lords, characters, and monsters. The spell deals damage over 20 seconds and applies frostbite to slow them. The lord is preferable to have a faster victory.

Heart of Winter
The most powerful and damaging AOE spell that has 4 phases of increasing damage. The better alternative to Blizzard but uses more arcane.

Hailstorm
Basic damaging AOE spell that is useful early against enemies caught in melee combat.

Biting Wind
Better version of Ice Maiden's Kiss (cone) and has a long rectangular shape to fully damage an entire unit. The best targets are the ranged and units stationed on walls that will not move.

Gust of True Flight
A buff spell for ranged units and can enable Little Groms to snipe the whole map!

Hawks of Mista
A damaging AOE spell that does not inflict friendly damage and lowers leadership. Best used against cavalry or monsters that need to retreat temporarily to be destroyed later.

For every victory, students ancillaries are potentially rewarded when a character has leveled while non-active research. Each student grants 10% faster research and more the merrier.

Core Foundation
1. Ice Sculpting (Land)
2. Cold Storage (Land)
3. Troll Country Pathfinder (Land)
4. Ice Court Discipline (Early 2nd Frost Maiden)

If playing as Katarin, the research should focus on upgrading Ice Guard because they can be recruited from Kislev after reaching level 4. She will have a much easier time in dealing with larger threats during early game and fare better during prolonged battles.

Ice Guard
1. Glacial Prism
2. Improved Lookouts
3. Ice Court Control
4. Witch-Hunter Conclaves
5.Call to Prayer
6. Siege Mentality

For others, economy should be focused to have more non-elite units unless owning a larger settlement that goes beyond tier 3. If latter, switch research to upgrading Ice Guards.

Economy
1. Ice Cade Collars
2. Iron River Stone
3. Covalescene
4. Ice Court Indoctrination
5. Capital Barrack Renovations
6. Kislevian Ducat or Oblast Scavenger (finds more equipment to buff Lords & Characters)
7. Imperial Efficiency
8. Currency Exchanges
9. Pirate's Weapons
10. Grom's Telemetry
11. Harbour Cartel
12. Lens Crafter
13. Norse Hatred
14. Harbor Master's Authority

At any time when there is surplus devotion (220+), research Dazh Cult Custom to upggrade income boost and have the ability to summon a temporary elemental bear.

A good indication is to calculate generated devotion during an active invocation over a period of 10 turns. The math needs to subtract the devotion needed for landmark buildings at Kislev in the next 1-4 turns and also add +10 devotion for each Frost Maiden's successful action. Devotion gained from battles are unpredictable but can be projected to be 10-31 devotion if the enemy can be sacrificed.

During any random turn of the game, special events can be triggered that give rewards or buffs with some of them having a catch.


The cultist event has two phases and the reward is gaining more control in a troubled province. The first option creates an "accident" to silence him for 500 gold, then 1000 gold to make an example of him after letting him speak. If no gold is paid, corruption will increase.

Pirates aren't the only ones who get sea treasure! Any Kislev Lord with an eye patch and a ship can sail to any sea events on the map that looks like a wrecked ship or an island. Most of the events do not require a battle and gives free loot like gold, magical items, or province/army boosts.

There will be a battle option if a larger reward is available. The gold reward will be around 8k or more, along with other goodies. The opponent will most likely be a medium-sized dark elf army without the late-tier Hydra units.

As time progresses, the game becomes much harder and more "chaotic" as demonic armies attack from the North and spawn from rifts. The end goal is to build as many armies with the optimal composition while trying to raise more funds to sustain and grow. A larger military has an easier task to defend all fronts and advance into enemy territory for further expansion.

The final victory occurs when Katarin defeats the last Demon Lord or complete dominance of the world map after defeating all her enemies!

This guide was written by Laguna Queen et al. (2022) on Steam, and not to be republished without crediting the authors and gaining their permission. We can be reached through the the guide comment section below.

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