The High Elves – high-fantasy divas that they’re – like to take centre stage. In Total War: Warhammer 2 they’re no completely different, having created the Great Vortex that lies on the coronary heart of the marketing campaign, draining the forces of evil and Chaos out of the world.
Seem like a benevolent bunch, don’t they? Sure, that’s what they need you to suppose, however they’re additionally masters of scheming, espionage, and courtroom craft. If you fancy your Total War expertise with a touch of Game of Thrones, then that is the faction for you, and our High Elves information will let you know all you’ll want to learn about them.
High Elves not fairly your factor? Perhaps our Dark Elves guide is for you as an alternative.
High Elf Traits
The High Elves, or Asur, inhabit the round island paradise of Ulthuan, and whereas away their days studying tomes, working towards magic, and gossiping about who’s consorting who. At the centre of this haven is the not so blissful Great Vortex, which every faction is looking for to take advantage of for their very own achieve.
This is finished by rituals, which progress every faction’s storyline. To conduct these, the High Elves require Way-Fragments, which you collect by finishing missions and bettering your settlements by the principle constructing chain (so upgrading from an Elven Village, to Elven Town, to Elven City).
One of the very best sources of Way-Fragments are ritual useful resource websites – settlements that generate numerous Way-Fragments every flip. These are denoted by a glowing Way-Fragment image. If you see such a settlement, be sure you go for it.
The High Elves’ trump card is ‘Influence’, which you achieve by selecting responses to distinctive dialogue pop-ups, and use to change relations between any two factions within the sport. This is beneficial to safe valuable commerce offers for your self, say, or to play different factions towards one another when you scheme up a option to stab them within the again. You also can spend Influence to rent Lords and Heroes with particular traits; for 40 Influence, we received a mage who lowered native building prices by 30%. We didn’t even ship him into battle, however simply left him in our capital.
Another helpful High Elf trait is Espionage, which lets you see no matter your commerce companions can. By utilizing Influence to lift relations with the Bretonnians within the Southlands, we have been in a position to dealer a cascade of commerce offers, and explored half that continent with out leaving Ulthuan. What’s that? You thought the High Elves have been above such devious skullduggery? Bah!
You must also notice the Elven Embassy constructing, which provides High Elves a bonus to earnings from commerce tariffs. If you fancy getting filthy wealthy, spam these, guarantee you’re producing each tradeable useful resource you may, and pursue commerce offers aggressively. Protect your reliability ranking (so, don’t betray anybody), to offer your self the very best likelihood of success in diplomacy.
Climate is likely one of the curiouser new traits of Total Warhammer 2. While local weather is mercifully secure within the Warhammer world (the perks of utilizing magic over fossil fuels as an vitality supply), everybody has their preferences. While you may technically settle in any area, you’ll incur penalties to building and recruitment occasions, public order, progress, and earnings for those who attempt to settle someplace your individuals contemplate ‘Unpleasant’. These penalties get particularly extreme for those who settle someplace ‘Uninhabitable’. The Asur prefer to inhabit Frozen areas, Savannas, and Temperate Islands, don’t take pleasure in Mountains, Magical Forests, Temperate, or Jungles, and undergo essentially the most severe penalties in Wastelands, Chaotic Wastelands, or Deserts.
The distinctive military stance of the High Elves is Lileath’s Blessing, which slows down their marketing campaign map motion, however boosts their spellcasters’ XP positive factors by 20%, Wind of Power magic reserve by 15%, pace by 10%, whereas decreasing miscast likelihood by 50%. So in case you have mages or Teclis in your military, this stance is price whacking on simply earlier than you head into battle.
High Elves Technologies
The High Elf tech tree is cut up into two branches – Military Advancement and Trade Advancement. This is a tad misleading, as a result of beneath Trade Advancement you can find a couple of helpful navy techs (resembling Great Weapons, which will increase weapon energy for some elite infantry by 5%). For essentially the most half, nonetheless, Trade Advancements relate to empire progress. The closing tier comprises some actual gems, like Maritime Empire, which provides you visibility of coastal areas throughout the entire world, and Rapid Resettlement, which reduces building prices in recaptured settlements by 15%.
The navy techs are cut up into 4 phases, each unlocked by a gateway tech that requires you to construct sure buildings. In the early sport, it’s wise to concentrate on techs that complement one another and mix to supercharge particular items, slightly than spreading your self too skinny. You gained’t be arising towards terribly various armies within the early skirmishes, so that you don’t want to fret an excessive amount of about range your self, and the stronger items that you simply begin the sport with – just like the Flamespyre Phoenix and Eagle Claw Bolt Thrower in Tyrion’s marketing campaign – are highly effective sufficient in the meanwhile.
So, for instance, Spearwall and Naval Discipline go collectively properly, as a result of between them you enhance the energy of Lothern Sea Guard (and Spearmen) by 10%, and their Leadership and Defence by 5. Spearmen will turn into out of date, and although you technically don’t have a greater archery unit, Sea Guard are one of many solely ranged items within the sport who’re additionally robust in melee. They are virtually pretty much as good at vary as your devoted archers, so we propose getting them on-stream early, specializing in expertise that buffs them, and persevering with to subject them till just about the top of the marketing campaign.
High Elves Legendary Lords
The High Elves provide a selection of two leaders for 2 distinct campaigns. You will take cost of one of many twin brothers, Tyrion and Teclis, who’re descendants of the legendary Phoenix King and Chaos slayer Aenarion. The pair have contrasting views about how you can shield the Great Vortex and how you can defend the elven capital of Lothern from opportunistic Dark Elf invaders. Tyrion is a hands-on warrior, and will get perks regarding fight, campaigning, and armed forces administration, whereas Teclis offers with the magics. He can study dozens of spells throughout a number of completely different lores, enabling nifty combos resembling Net of Amyntok and Comet of Casandora. Try it – it’s devastating. He additionally will get a +10 increase to relations with High Elves and people.
Prince Tyrion’s marketing campaign sees you defending the High Elf homeland. It is among the many simpler campaigns, with the neat form of Ulthuan making managing your fronts early on uncomplicated, and the encircling High Elf factions providing ample alternatives for forming confederations. With that stated, the completely different High Elf factions aren’t precisely ingesting superb wines collectively and bantering over who has the pointiest helms and longest staffs. They are a fractious bunch, and for those who don’t correctly handle relations with them, you could even end up at warfare together with your fellow pointy-ears.
Teclis, regardless of being worn down by the curse of Aenarion (a tragic household lineage story for one more day), is an adventurer the place his brother is a homebody, and he spreads the phrase of magic and combating evil throughout the land. It isn’t any straightforward activity, so anticipate a rougher trip than with Tyrion. The marketing campaign begins on the Turtle Isles on the west coast of Lustria, and throws you into virtually instant battle with the Lizardmen and Dark Elves. A phrase of recommendation right here is to attempt to take the ritual useful resource website of Tlaxtlan from the Lizardmen shortly, which is able to begin raking in these valuable Way-Fragments and offer you an edge within the Vortex race.
Battle Tactics
The High Elves are a disciplined, versatile military with a superb steadiness of items in the best way of infantry, cavalry, and a few significantly spectacular air contingents.
Spearmen are the earliest items you’ve entry to, which is an efficient begin, as these guys have a few of the finest defensive stats amongst first-tier items. It is price unlocking the rangey archers as shortly as attainable, too, so you may have your basic line-up of spears in entrance and archers behind.
An wonderful second-tier unit for extra Machiavellian navy strategists are the Ellyrian Reavers. These shock cavalry have the added bonus of Vanguard Deployment, which implies that at first of battles you may place them anyplace on the sector exterior the enemy’s deployment zone. Stick them in some woods whereas the enemy marches in direction of your foremost military, then as soon as they get caught into battle, crash into them from behind and watch the our bodies fly. Classic.
Later on, the High Elves get the compulsory upgrades to their earlier items. Dragon Princes are arguably the very best shock cavalry within the sport, whereas the much-feared tabletop trifecta of elite infantry – Swordmasters, White Lions, and Phoenix Guard – are price your shut consideration. Swordmasters are devastating anti-infantry injury sellers, White Lions are cell hunters with nice defence towards ranged assaults, and tier-five Phoenix Guard are highly effective anti-large tanks and among the best infantry picks within the sport.
One of the most important tactical boons comes with the flappy flying items, which embrace big eagles, dragons, and phoenixes. You unlock each the Flamespyre Phoenix and the Frostheart Phoenix concurrently, and having them them rain their respective parts down on enemies like infantry and cavalry earlier than your melee costs in is bound to demoralise them. Sprinkle enemies with ice assaults from the Frostheart Phoenix from to gradual them down and soften them up, after which, whereas they’re weak, rain fiery hell down on them from the Flamespyre. After that, for the coup de grace, you may swoop into the goal unit with each birds.
The trade-off for all that is that the High Elves solely get one piece of artillery, and don’t have any ground-based monsters, due to this fact missing the power to trigger severe worry and disarray amongst enemy items. That apart, they’re a discerning selection for many who imagine warfare ought to be fought with fashion, panache, regal robes, and wing-crested helms.
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