There are so many video "guides" out there from huge channels that don't seem to actually explain anything. I learned far more here in this 30 min video than from everything else out there combined.
Doomstacks are funny but yeah nothing feels better than a well balanced army. And a second army full of long range artillery at zero upkeep that comes in later
A good tip from Legend about why you should consider keeping a melee lord or hero on foot, is that due to the larger unit size on especially monster mounts, you are actually getting hit by 3 or 4x more enemies at once when you dive into melee. Ikit Claw on a doomwheel takes damage from a lot more individual entities and since you have reduced melee defense on the sides and rear, a lot more enemies are able to roll hits per second vs if he was on foot or on a smaller doomflayer.
100% great advice. If you're using a mobile mount then you need to utilize it's movement, charge or flight to lever its power. If you're just holding the line, a smaller target will avoid ranged damage.
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This is exactly the type of guide I appreciate. Logically listed, explained with bullet points, obvious when pointed out visually, covers the general gist of what/where/when. Its my first video I found on your channel. Subbed + liked.
That pretty much covers everything, though I think there's still a few hybrid types that goes between offensive and defensive or even hybrid between unit types, such as Bleakswords or Empire Swordsmen for infantry, Grail Guardians as a hybrid of defensive infantry and shock cav, Lothern Sea Guards with shield as defensive infantry + archers, or Sky Junks as flying monster + artiliery. These units are like the jack-of-all-trades that can do many things but only to a 75% extent, sacrificing speciality for flexibility.
Absolutely, units can fulfill multiple roles, especially in campaign where they can be boosted.The biggest goal with this video was to make that distinction in order to make informed decisions on why units could be brought, where they might be situated and how they can be supported. Lothern Sea Guard are an excellent example of defensive infantry combined with archery, even more powerful in WH3 where melee is more of an inevitability!
Id say artillery has to be divided into two sub categories too, the anti-infantry (artillery with small damage with big area) and the anti-hero (Artillery with high damage low area.
Was really hard to decide on the level to subdivide and thought long and hard on it. I decided to keep it as big picture as possible and leave it to the general to decide exactly what "type" of the category to bring. Still, having a mention of the different types would have been useful. Cheers for the feedback
I think in the end, they function exactly the same, just a matter of targetting correctly. Same with ranged, you could split between anti-large/armor-piercing, but it doesn’t change how you use them or deploy them, only what to target. Then theres the more unclear and hybrid types, but its hard to sum up the use of them within one category. Say having an ice guard (ranged or melee?), a skull cannon (artillery or shock?) and an iron drake (ranged or artillery? Either way, super short range and high chance of friendly fire). But in the end, they function mostly in one primary role, with having some teeth working a second role, so I think they still fit within the 8 categories here, more or less.
This is full of great advice. One type of video I'd like to see TH-camrs tackle, though, is what I would consider the next step in learning how to win battles: army composition and engagement. The sample battle at the end of the video is an example of this, but it is only one example. I think many new players understand the matchups fairly well, but it's actual execution of orders, during battle, that trips them up. Army composition can be defined as static, "preparation strategy"--i.e., how the player intends to use the army, while engagement tactics can be defined by the player's actual selection, execution, and timing of unit engagements. I'd love to see, for example, a series of videos, by faction, that show how to engage armies of various compositions, using armies of various compositions. This would answer many questions for new players. How does an inferior, no AP army defend against a chaos army? How does a cavalry heavy army work against melee, artillery, ranged? How can vanguard units turn the tide of battle? How are fliers used to maximum potential? What are optional target priorities against this army, that army, etc. You could do an entire series, by faction, on how to engage each of a faction's nearest starting neighbors. What strategies work for this faction or that faction? How do you defend against a rush army? How do you execute an effective rush strategy? Testing various army compositions, and seeing the engagement strategy, would be invaluable for new players.
Thanks for the comment and ideas. I think I may have some content already covering some of this. I have a video that covers the mechanics, including AP and resistances (th-cam.com/video/N-0vM3IAe0A/w-d-xo.html). I've also started a race specific guide detailing army compositions with the different lords at different stages of the game (th-cam.com/video/BGRKOGdEHdw/w-d-xo.html)
I cannot understate how important and helpful this guide was. I want to play this game so badly but get discouraged everytime I lose horrifically even on easy difficulty as soon as I try fighting battles manually. Thanks to this guide I now have a much better understanding on how to compose armies and more important, where to put which unit and how to actually fight properly. Thank you so much for making this video!
I think the content of this video is brilliant - I've been playing TWWH 2/3 on and off for over a year now and I wish this video was available back then when I first started. My only criticism would be the style of having an audio description of what's being demonstrated on screen, with additional information flash up in different colours. I find this a bit of an overload and can't really take in what you're saying, and watch the video, and read the captions at the same time. I know I could pause and read what's flashed up, but I just don't want to have to do that every 30 seconds. This might just be a personal preference of mine which nobody else minds, but maybe try shorter videos but with the on screen info available for longer. Great work though none the less. Love your enthusiasm, keep it up!
Appreciate the feedback and support. Will definitely take that on board. Typically I don't do on screen demonstrations so combining that with the "flash text" would certainly be overload on reflection. Cheers for that and welcome to the channel!
Thanks for the guide mate. Have played so many other TW games and never really struggled, decided to get into Warhammer and I have been getting absolutely rinsed. This guides a big help
I've played titles from ME2 onward. The WH battles were a learning process but you'll go back to historical titles with a new perspective and (at least I found) see things more precisely as there's less going on. Love history and the related TW games, but TWWH is simply the best the series has ever been. AI problems that weren't in the second title that popped up in the third are the biggest setback, but the fundamental pacing of campaigns, intensity of battles and solid diplomacy make it head and shoulders above the rest and it'll take ME3 or R3 to best it.
I’ve been playing this since WH1 and this is probably the best guide I’ve seen across all three games. Period. Appreciate it! You have examples for balanced faction like Empire and archer heavy factions like High and Wood Elves. Any examples for rush factions like Vampire Counts or cavalry faction like Bretonnia? What about pure gunpowder faction like Vampire Coast or Dwarves?
Thanks heaps. I have a Dwarf Formations video I think you'll enjoy that answers the gunpowder question well. Hope you enjoy! th-cam.com/video/BGRKOGdEHdw/w-d-xo.html
Newish warhammer fan here a big fan of the total war series in general (mostly been playing shogun 2 and three kingdoms) and I’ve been having trouble understanding each role of the units outside of what the game just slaps on as stats but seeing you cohesively explain each role and then demonstrate it in a more balanced army composition really helps!
8 mins in and already super helpful, i've put thousands of hours into total war games, And I've never bothered to understand how all the stats work together. Hell, I didn't even know about shields blocking arrows at a certain rate. Cheers
I had no idea about the level 2 spears for the Empire, thank you so much for telling me that. This whole time I have not even touched them and only got swordsmen.
i think it's also important to know your 'matchup' before choosing to charging or defending a charge. Example, while absorbing charge with spear unit is good, charging them back with sword and shield infantry is better if you know your race is stronger than them. Example, you will better to have bleaksword over Dreadspear as Dark Elf against High Elf as your front line and just charge the High elf Spearmen, absorbing the High elf archer with the shield.
I agree with this. Many units can also be buffed to become proficient in multiple roles, but as you mention, matchups are very key in this. It really is a game of understanding your faction's strengths and how to mitigate the enemy's strengths with what you have available. Cheers for the comment
fire combat guide man! theres a couple out there that are good but you went deep into it and then some. I'm watching this during my 20th turn of first campaign (cathay) in the series and will be using these tactics 100. got destroyed as 1000 (me) vs 2600
The biggest issue I've always found is the opposite in that people know these things but see them as black and white set in stone commandment that must be adhered to regardless of any context. Some people will literally leave archers, crossbows, handguns, artillery crews that are out of ammo just sat there when they can easily circle behind an enemy unit that is already engaged. "Buhhh they're missiles" no they have fucking swords, get them in there. Likewise "what the fuck I can't hold a line with Greatswords or Hammerers! They're a...." what they are motherfucker is infantry. They're specialized to roles that's it. If they are what you have available they will do as they're told. People will literally suffer defeats than have certain units do things that are outside of their niche in a pinch when things are dire.
Just a small remark from a non native speaker: You do you have such a clear voice , you are very easy to understand. Great guide aswell of course, but like I said, this is a bonus in comparison to all the other videos out there.
Holy shit, many thanks man, this is my first Total War game and I have been struggling hard with battles, even with overwhelming force I would lose way to many units. Tested your tips right after watching the vid and manually won a tough battle without a single unit being whiped. Auto solution predicted a fourth of my army gone ❤
Nothing better than hearing this. Well done mate, sounds like you're a general in the making. Keep fighting those battles, even the easy ones and your reactions will be sharp for the really hard ones!
cant agree more, EPA videos and formation ideas has saved me so many so many battles, even tho i play easy campaign normal battle they still are a nice challenge, been having a grudgethrower blast with my dwarf campaign snowballing all over, the game saying you are too powerful crank up the difficult XD
it took me 1 year playing casually to figure all these out. my conclusion is they (the devs) had made each faction specializes with each of their power. for beginners i would recommend the vampire counts as starter faction. they're simple and strong (the whole faction is melee + magic, so like an undead battlemage character in an RPG game), as long as you play them with their strength.
One quick question about this paragraph from about 3:50 to 5:25... Is this what a normal class in an American high school sounds like? Like one trying wrap their head around what the teacher explains while you hear all those agonizing screams from the other classes when there's yet another shooting going on? Thank you for your answer.
Hey Elven Plot Armour! Since this is your most popular video yet, I wanted to say something about it, maybe it's helpful if you were to redo this one sometime. Units like Chaos Shrines, Zhangu War Drum, Corpse Cart, Grail Reliquae etc., don't really fit either of these 8 categories. The most likely candidate for units like these is the monsters category, however they don't really perform any of the tactical capabilites of them (no speed, can't disrupt formations, usually low health pool), maybe the only thing they have in common with monsters, is that they are a big target for missiles. While they do invite mass amounts of missile fire focus, unlike monsters you don't want them to be shot, while monsters do have somewhat of a secondary task of absorbing missiles. Therefore I think it's fair to have these kind of units as a 9th unit type, something like "Shrines" or "Buff pieces". I think one possibility is to rename the monster category to offensive monsters, and name this one defensive monsters. This video has been very helpful to me in understanding the game for a long time now, cheers mate, you made a very good and informative video!
Pretty good video. I would add a couple more unit types though: Monstrous Infantry - these things serve a dual purpose and are best used mixed inside a normal sized infantry unit in order to prevent their models getting surrounded. Stat wise they're usually suited for an offensive infantry role with high armour piercing damage. But whether they have offensive or defensive stats, their true purpose is to provide mass in order to block monsters, cavalry or chariots from breaking right through your infantry. Note that some units technically listed as monstrous infantry are actually used like cavalry, such as Norscan Skinwolves. Melee/Heavy Cavalry - slower, more armoured and with better melee stats than Shock Cavalry, but with a lower Charge bonus. These can do the same things as Shock Cavalry but are much better at surviving prolonged melee combat if they have to. These are more focused on stopping enemy cavalry and monsters, hammering enemy infantry in the rear, or in some cases (eg Bretonnian Grail Guardians or Tzeentchian Chaos Knights) bolstering a weak infantry front line. Light Cavalry - perhaps an unnecessary category as it's basically just a subset of Shock Cavalry, this includes some infantry like dogs, bats and harpies. These units are cheap, extremely fast (90+ speed usually), extremely fragile and will rout if the enemy glares hard enough in their general direction. They tend to perform poorly in Campaign due to heavy losses and are much more relevant in Multiplayer, but they're often included in settlement garrisons. They want to focus on attacking ranged units, chasing routing enemies off the field, screening against enemy Light Cavalry, and denying enemy Heavy Cavalry the charge (probably at the cost of their own lives) just before your Heavy Cavalry hits them. As much as possible, they should be kept out of sight/range, and out of melee with anything that can even remotely fight back against them.
Really enjoyed this read. Coming up with only a few categories to make this overwhelming mess digestible is something I thought long and hard about. As you point out correctly, there is certainly some nuance lost, but I've found many combat guides out there don't show things in context, bombard with too much 'fine print' or are so general they don't really say anything at all. You make some excellent distinctions in all your cases here (especially monstrous infantry), and I tried to loosely categorize units to still roughly fall into the 8 categories listed here. ie) melee cav will still function well as shock cav and identifying a monstrous infantry unit as offensive or defensive will help it be applied correctly, though I do love the added context of unit mass!
Agree on Monstrous Infantry/monsters. Partially, I understand skipping them, a lot of monstrous infantry is very specialized and there's not any real rule of thumb you can apply to any random monstrous infantry. There are some that hold down units, and can help convert a defensive infanty into offensive, like you mentioned, there's some that behave more like cavalry, there are some that specialize in hunting single entities or getting into backline units. Some, like Salamanders and Razordons have their primary job as archers/skirmish, but can transition into shock cavalry. There's Trolls, which are a weird, melee skirmish unit. A lot of that can be categorized into these groups, but because these units are usually able to do multiple things, and the great unifier is that MOST of them can be used as unit paperweights.
Love the content. Very helpful. I'm just starting and hadn't figured out all this. Mannfred is my first choice, looks like I won't get much archers or gunpowder. That said, turn down the game volume so we hear you instead. I lost your words a number of times because some dude was yelling about Sigmar. A better mic would also help.
That's pretty much the only way I field my armies and I dominate legendary, so you're not hurting yourself :) I actually, I see doomstacking as a hinderance, not a strength, personally. My philosophy is: Your army only needs to be as strong as it needs to win. Every cent afterward is depriving your kingdom.
Thank you! Enjoyed the thorough walkthrough. It was interesting to see you using Empire as the main presentation group. I had not seen you use Empire before. (Guessing for gunpowder units demo). Maybe show a High Elves Flex addendum for fun! A little special tutorial on how to use those dragons (I know you could link in description to HE's videos, but that's not as fun!). One other thought, is a tutorial on how to use mages specifically. But that might be too faction variant. Maybe another HE themed one? Anyways, good show!
Appreciate that mate. You nailed why I chose Empire here: balanced power. A balanced formation is best demonstrated with Chad Franz and friends. Here's my Dragon Mastery Guide: th-cam.com/video/DEZbbcWyVfk/w-d-xo.html Honestly, that's everything you need to know and I'm a heavy dragon user, I'd just recommend only 1-2 dragons due to micro demands unless you're really tight with micro because they can become a liability, not just to themselves, but if you're ignoring the rest of you army!
Excited to see you still uploading mate! I am still playing WH2, my first time trying the series. I steam rolled the game with Tyrion, but I’m struggling a lot on Imirick & Nagaryth (spelling might be wrong). Some of the guides are outdated with the new maps.
Thanks mate. In WH2 I do still have guides for Imrik and Alith Anar in Mortal Empires if that's of interest (both Faction Guides and Walkthroughs). Only done Imrik in WH3 so far though. We'll get to it all in the end :) Cheers for watching!
This is very helpful. I have also been watching the guide playlist for TWH2. Also helpful. I have subscribed. Looking forward to beginner tutorial for TWH3. Hopefully using the starting Cathay faction recommended by the game which is perfect for beginners. And hopefully in the main game campaign. Not in the other game mode that is in development that requires additional purchase of previous games. My favorite faction is Slanesh which starts at the top corner in the Shard Land. I don't really expect a guide for this because it's not a good faction for beginners. The reason I think the faction recommended by the game, called Cathay, is best in all of TWH to start with for beginners is similar to what is explained in this video about battles. Cathay gives good incentive for proper composition and positioning. It starts even with defensive units that gain bonuses for not moving as time progresses. Which can be helpful for beginners who aren't inclined to do much microweaving. It also features a harmony mechanic that gives bonus for unit composition and positioning. As explained in this battle video. The latest 2.3 patch now allows green buildings of one type to be converted into its opposite similar to how Slanesh main building can be converted. This is my request and recommendation for this host.
Grand Cathay are the most underrated faction in this game imho. There's only 1 thing holding them back: DLC Their roster is incredibly strong with only 2 weaknesses: 1) melee heroes; and 2) more legendary lords to fill out the map with strong factions. Calling it now: Once they're complete, Cathay will be an unstoppable powerhouse with no weaknesses that can't be circumvented by a strong general. As you pointed out, correct formations make their elite infantry punch up even harder.
@@ElvenPlotArmour As far as I can tell the current heroes is the intent of this design. I was actually caught of guard initially because I was trying to pick one according to what you're saying regarding strong melee combat. However, their design is for support. Like their role is to give buffs and such to the troops. They're also petty simplified to use. I don't think they will be getting any changes to heroes. Their roster and spellcasting has lots of incentive for boosting units. The faction is super strong in this regard once strategy for them is figured out more. Another interesting thing I find about this faction is that there isn't any offensive infantry. There are sword skirmishers for many factions. But then there are Cathay sword skirmishers who get the Jade buff for standing there. Not good at micro or forgetting to pay attention to some of your units? That's fine They're not meant to be mobile. My personal favorite faction is Slanesh. But Iron Dragon Cathay is what I recommend to users learning TW. I find they did a really nice job with this faction and the campaign tutorial.
@@divergentlife493 Agree with all of this. Similar to the defensive minded High Elves, having a melee competent hero like their Noble and Loremaster plugs a massive hole in their offensive infantry and Cathay would no doubt benefit from this change. Also, I really want that Astromancer in a Sky Junk!
@@ElvenPlotArmour Ya High Elves are nice for beginners too. I don't know much about the design like if Cathay infantry should be changed or not. I have a good understanding of these types of games in general since I play SC2 at a pretty high rank. But don't know too much about TWH3 in particular. Expansions altering base game units is actually something I found odd. Like the base game demon factions originally had their distinct methods of fighting. The one I play, Slanesh, is nice for attacking from all directions. There was no unit that really acted as anvil for hammer/anvil. But it seemed pretty balanced this way when compared to other faction strengths/weaknesses. And seducing enemy units that can be a good anvil makes for interesting strategic play. After expansion, Slanesh now gets anvil units. It fundamentally changes the play in a way that seems to make demon factions less distinct from one another compared to how it was previously.
That video works for races that it works for. For example Norsca only has 3 types of units. Skin Wolves, Mammoths, everything else. Slanesh only has Exalted Daemonetes, Fiends, Heartseekers and everything else. Some factions are just build around 2-3 units. Empire has a balanced rooster bc they are a long standing faction with wide variety of units. Of course there are tiny factions that have access to everything and are nearly perfectly balanced but you can't just pull off second Tomb Kings out of the blue.
On my opinion most important is that you need 5 parts for your army: dmg: vs inf; dmg vs Monster and lords, defence, support and artillery surpression. Its about you how you balance this 5 parts. some units can play two roles (offensive inf can also be defense and dmg vs. inf for example black orcs). But you also need a doctrine you want to play with your army. Like a shock attack or ranged damage with strong defence. And always build an army that can fight in open terrain and in settlements. And of course build a army that you are able to micro.
Most archer and gunpowder units can fulfill the vs Monster role very well. Four units of Handgunners or Streltsi can take down even Skarbrand fairly quickly.
Too keep things simple, replacing ranged units with more cav/offensive infantry on the wings to help envelop the enemy, while keeping a couple of reserve unit to protect the flanks or any artillery. EDIT: Thanks for watching :)
Great video (as are the other similar ones you made). I'm wondering if you consider dogs as shock cav? I feel like they don't have enough punch to act the same way as real shock cav. They seem to be part of a light cav type that doesn't have ranged but are more useful to harass and chase routed units - similar to skirmishers but with some of the shock cav elements too.
You're assessment here is exactly what I hoped viewers would gain out of the video. You can see some unit types blur the lines but the concepts employed from those types should give clear guidance on how to maximise. Dogs effectively act as shock cav with the caveat they have a unique role of dealing rapid anti-infantry damage so are primed to harass archers and dive into more specific targets (infantry) to get that use. They also harass artillery very well, but you only need 1 or 2 imho as a support unit.
Learned alot from this video, Thanks! Quick little constructive criticism though: If you could either increase the volume of your voice OR reduce the volume of the ingame voicelines a little bit I think it would be a bit easier to follow :)
Thanks for watching, you weren't the only one to point this out and I've tried to avoid it in subsequent videos. Appreciate you taking the time for feedback though!
Are the updates and balance changes universal between WH2 and WH3? I’ve noticed that some older WH2 guides (starting locations) no longer apply. I’m unsure how these changes work. I apologize if this question comes across as uninformed.
There's no stupid questions mate.The overall concepts of the game haven't changed. WH3's Immortal Empires map is simply a larger map but most factions function the same. In WH3 all missile units have reduced reload speed, magic winds are capped slightly and many cavalry units got a speed boost. Overall, this means the game is way more balanced and you can't just nuke the game 1 caster and a handful of archers. It's an adjustment for sure, but one that enriches the options and depth of battles - very fun to field cavalry now (which were really lacking in WH2)!
Always felt like they really need to amp up the Rock Paper Scissors aspect of the combat. Charge Defense Against Large is one of those factors which is mathematically signficant but really leaves you limp in practice. Spears should get charge reflection when braced to really make cavalry flanking more important. Halberds need way more anti-large, right now if left to its own devices a single decent monster can tear through multiple units of Empire Halberds which is... disheartening to say the least. Boost shields as well as the power of missiles has always been a bit out of whack too - maybe give a 50% deflection boost if the unit isn't engaged in melee combat. If shield units can reliably deny ranged damage, Spears can punish cav charges, and Halberds can put the hurt on large entities, you've now got genuine reasons to juggle all these factors and have a broad mix of unit types in your line rather than just having them just be 6x the same unit as everyone does now.
Hi👋. Thanks for your video. Its really help to understand better some mechanics. I was really struggling with gunpowder units 'cause i usually like to play as pirates and i often just used landscape of territory.(gunpowder units little higher). Also kinda hard to understand Skirmish 'cause Lizards have those a lot 😅
Great guide as always. Thanks for your efforts. I have some problem placing the canons or hellstorm rocket batteries with relatively low fire arc in my formation. Mind I ask, where do you usually place them to have good line of sight and avoid friendly fire. Thanks in advance.
Thanks mate. Regarding cannons, you ideally want them center-back in your formation. If playing defensively, this is where having that back pair of defensive spear/halberd units will stop them from getting flanked. By having your defensive infantry with gaps between them your gun units should gain line of sight. Characters are undoubtedly the best at doing this, using a single model to tie up an entire unit allows your artillery to bombard without any real threat of friendly fire. Artillery and archers are typically quite accurate in this game. If their target is engaged in a combat, they'll be pinned still enough to land heavy damage with minimal casualties.
Good video but lacking a few major types of units: - Chariots - Dogs/harpies - Line of sight artillery - Heavy/monstrous cav - Monstrous Infantry - Hybrid units I understand that the point isn't to be completely exhaustive as it would defeat the purpose of simplifing things for new players. But I really think that at least Dogs and Chariot should have made the list since they're part of many factions early roster and play quite differently from the rest. Chariot especially, they do seemed similar to shock cav but are deceptively quite different.
Hey, I might be a bit late but thanks a lot for this video, helped me understand a lot of stuff about the units and how to run them ! I have a question though, what's the point of swordsmen units like empire swordsmen or bleakswords if there are better options in the roster of their factions ? I mean dreadspears/spearmen are tankier, and swordsmen don't deal enough dmg to be considered offensive infantry
No worries mate, cheers for the comment. Very good question. Shielded swordsmen do have a place in the way they will out place other infantry with their superior melee attack and slightly better AP damage. By default, always take the better lineholder (spearmen) but in this formation, if you have 3 infantry in the front line you can swap the middle one out for a swordsmen. Why? This unit will always engage with infantry thus will matchup well against the enemy infantry and actually deal a bit more damage back. Also, they can charge in and hit a tiny bit harder too which can have its use. Other than that, I'd take the spears except for this one position as anti-large significantly limits flanking and the extra MD provides time to react - which is what I mainly aim for formations to deliver. Good luck mate!
I would add several more categories but they are kinda more complicated to use and more dependent on your faction. Meat-shields: Gnoblars, Peasant Long Spearmen, and Blue horrors. They are just very cheap infantry unit's that you can replace in global recruitment in 1 turn. you would be supersized how helpful some sacrifices are to keep your more important things healthy. Sweepers: Things like dogs, Furies, and melee skirmish cav that cant win in a fair fight, these guys either surround and swarm isolated unit's or simply make sure broken enemy unit's don't come back. Strikers: Units like Demigryph Knights, chaos knights, and Hexwraiths. Heavy Cavalry, ideally something with anti large, that can thrive in a prolonged fight. these guys I use for catching shock cavalry in melee and denying them their charge bonus but they are also great at grinding away at archers that can fight back. Finally what I call Breakers: Units like Minotaur's, Trolls, or Chaos Spawn. Monstrous infantry that are large enough to just walk through your front line to deal a large amount of damage while still letting your defensive Infinity soak up the damage for you breakers.
Really enjoyed reading this. I like the context towards more melee centric units. Roles can really change from army to army so I was aiming to create basic categories so a player can learn to 'see' units for what they might achieve. I did love the extra detail to the charge interactions listed here
Seems they changed missile troops to walk within range and shoot over your shielded troops. I've been finding that ogres ignore your formations. They just charge right through your defenders into your back troops . Characters as well. They just run right through front units into missle troops
New players should just play the game. That is what I did and I just learned everything and got good. That is part of the fun and should never be skipped.
i'm pretty new to wh3 but i do think that artillery could be pretty safely put artillery into the archer and gunpowder role. They play pretty much the same most of the time.
I separated them because in battle, gunpowder are much more nimble and can engage closer enemies more easily, artillery can also fire over the top of units in many cases too. You're right, they can very much overlap. This was the most sensible layout I could come up with.... and there were a few haha
@@ElvenPlotArmour certainly reasonable. Having played a bit more they do play differently. I still think if you want to simplify it even more putting them together is fine, as they do play sort of similar with just big speed differences.
What about melee cavalry? The ones who have relatively low speed and low-er charge bonus. Are they still considered shock cavalry in your opinion, or are they skirmish type units? (fight for a bit here and there, mainly chasing after ranged units or rushing to defend open flanks)
Crazy how this did absolutely nothing for me lol, I feel like this is more of a video for people who haven't bothered to look at the stats though I didn't know spearman functioned as defensive infantry and swordsman offensive so thank you, but no matter what I do auto battle always yields better results than manual for me. Funny considering this is the only rts I have ever played where that is the case but hey, this game has been a big waste of money so far ngl so I'm not surprised. This has been playing as Bretonnia against the Greenskins btw. Edit: My god I've done it.... I king Henry V'd those green bitches, I drew them into a massive volley of archers with a small contingent of men-at-arms to hold the line, while the Infantry I could spare pushed around the sides. Basically everyone including all my trebuchets and two valuable commanders of mine are now dead but I sent the King of Bretonnia to Personally kill the enemy lord in one on one combat as he tried to flee amongst the bodies and carnage of our battle. Somewhat epic ngl. This crippled them and all the Bretonnians that surround them are now ransacking their lands! Also after loading a save to retry the battle after watching this I realized they were the 2nd strongest faction on the map, we were 148th, so massive dub! Would still love some advise on how to play bretonnia, I only seem to eek out victories with no specific strategies seeming to work consistently.
Infantry cannonfodder for the most part use them loke that too stall your opponents. Arches isnt really a strongp9int of brettonia but there nice early game. your cavalry your bread and butter there your aces sinds there one of the best. heroes and lords also hit pretty hard there great duellists. Brettonia relies heavely on micro managing but when you get too your late game cav it should be easier.
I agree with the comment above. I'd focus on a similar formation to the empire one presented (3 defensive infantry along the front, 2 on the back corners) with 8 archers (in my 2 x diamond formation) as a core. Then have 2 cav on each flank with a couple more you keep back in reserve for the late stages of the fight. Hotkey your cav (x2 on the left) (x2 on the right) (x2 in reserve) and give them orders together. If in doubt pull your cav back and don't just leave them unless pinning an enemy for another charge or for arrow fire. Good luck mate, stick with it!
th-cam.com/video/N-0vM3IAe0A/w-d-xo.html try this one brother - it's pretty much the part 2 to this lesson and I think it'll help demystify battles :) This first video is to identify what units do what, the second one is how combat is applied in the most simple way possible.
There are so many video "guides" out there from huge channels that don't seem to actually explain anything. I learned far more here in this 30 min video than from everything else out there combined.
It takes a while to script and logically build the concepts in videos like this. Comments like this make it all worth it. Cheers mate.
This could help a lot of players, especially who prefer a balanced army over stacks.
Hoping it makes reading unit cards a bit easier for newer players to make sense of! You can field far more variety in WH3!
don’t really enjoy stacked armies
Doomstacks are funny but yeah nothing feels better than a well balanced army. And a second army full of long range artillery at zero upkeep that comes in later
stacks are only really used in legendary though no? because the ai gets so much cheat you have to min max
I've played a lot of this game and i'd say a full minotaur army charging feels better than a balanced army. xD
A good tip from Legend about why you should consider keeping a melee lord or hero on foot, is that due to the larger unit size on especially monster mounts, you are actually getting hit by 3 or 4x more enemies at once when you dive into melee. Ikit Claw on a doomwheel takes damage from a lot more individual entities and since you have reduced melee defense on the sides and rear, a lot more enemies are able to roll hits per second vs if he was on foot or on a smaller doomflayer.
100% great advice. If you're using a mobile mount then you need to utilize it's movement, charge or flight to lever its power. If you're just holding the line, a smaller target will avoid ranged damage.
it is also very funny when an infantry lord gets launched by a charge from a large entity while remaining fine due to its higher stats.
That recommendation is like putting all your eggs in one basket. If Ikit Claw engages on foot, you better make sure you win that fight, he’s ded else.
I don't understand why you don't have more likes/views/subs ... absolutely high value content!
All those things are decided by the algorithm pushing your vids at time of release. Everyone that likes and subs helps us get a bit more exposure each release. Comments are also helpful, so thank you for your many sacrifices to the algo-godz!
@A.L.E.X.42 He has 170K views. That's a hell of a lot to me.
This is exactly the type of guide I appreciate. Logically listed, explained with bullet points, obvious when pointed out visually, covers the general gist of what/where/when. Its my first video I found on your channel. Subbed + liked.
Thanks mate, welcome aboard!
That pretty much covers everything, though I think there's still a few hybrid types that goes between offensive and defensive or even hybrid between unit types, such as Bleakswords or Empire Swordsmen for infantry, Grail Guardians as a hybrid of defensive infantry and shock cav, Lothern Sea Guards with shield as defensive infantry + archers, or Sky Junks as flying monster + artiliery. These units are like the jack-of-all-trades that can do many things but only to a 75% extent, sacrificing speciality for flexibility.
Absolutely, units can fulfill multiple roles, especially in campaign where they can be boosted.The biggest goal with this video was to make that distinction in order to make informed decisions on why units could be brought, where they might be situated and how they can be supported. Lothern Sea Guard are an excellent example of defensive infantry combined with archery, even more powerful in WH3 where melee is more of an inevitability!
Id say artillery has to be divided into two sub categories too, the anti-infantry (artillery with small damage with big area) and the anti-hero (Artillery with high damage low area.
Was really hard to decide on the level to subdivide and thought long and hard on it. I decided to keep it as big picture as possible and leave it to the general to decide exactly what "type" of the category to bring. Still, having a mention of the different types would have been useful. Cheers for the feedback
I think in the end, they function exactly the same, just a matter of targetting correctly. Same with ranged, you could split between anti-large/armor-piercing, but it doesn’t change how you use them or deploy them, only what to target.
Then theres the more unclear and hybrid types, but its hard to sum up the use of them within one category. Say having an ice guard (ranged or melee?), a skull cannon (artillery or shock?) and an iron drake (ranged or artillery? Either way, super short range and high chance of friendly fire).
But in the end, they function mostly in one primary role, with having some teeth working a second role, so I think they still fit within the 8 categories here, more or less.
This is full of great advice.
One type of video I'd like to see TH-camrs tackle, though, is what I would consider the next step in learning how to win battles: army composition and engagement.
The sample battle at the end of the video is an example of this, but it is only one example. I think many new players understand the matchups fairly well, but it's actual execution of orders, during battle, that trips them up.
Army composition can be defined as static, "preparation strategy"--i.e., how the player intends to use the army, while engagement tactics can be defined by the player's actual selection, execution, and timing of unit engagements.
I'd love to see, for example, a series of videos, by faction, that show how to engage armies of various compositions, using armies of various compositions. This would answer many questions for new players.
How does an inferior, no AP army defend against a chaos army? How does a cavalry heavy army work against melee, artillery, ranged? How can vanguard units turn the tide of battle? How are fliers used to maximum potential? What are optional target priorities against this army, that army, etc.
You could do an entire series, by faction, on how to engage each of a faction's nearest starting neighbors. What strategies work for this faction or that faction? How do you defend against a rush army? How do you execute an effective rush strategy?
Testing various army compositions, and seeing the engagement strategy, would be invaluable for new players.
Thanks for the comment and ideas. I think I may have some content already covering some of this. I have a video that covers the mechanics, including AP and resistances (th-cam.com/video/N-0vM3IAe0A/w-d-xo.html). I've also started a race specific guide detailing army compositions with the different lords at different stages of the game (th-cam.com/video/BGRKOGdEHdw/w-d-xo.html)
My only regret is not having this video earlier when I was still a noob. Now I just watch to support
Appreciate the support!
I cannot understate how important and helpful this guide was. I want to play this game so badly but get discouraged everytime I lose horrifically even on easy difficulty as soon as I try fighting battles manually. Thanks to this guide I now have a much better understanding on how to compose armies and more important, where to put which unit and how to actually fight properly. Thank you so much for making this video!
Stoked it played a role in helping you find your feet. Welcome to the community. Hop on my Discord if you have any questions.
I think the content of this video is brilliant - I've been playing TWWH 2/3 on and off for over a year now and I wish this video was available back then when I first started. My only criticism would be the style of having an audio description of what's being demonstrated on screen, with additional information flash up in different colours. I find this a bit of an overload and can't really take in what you're saying, and watch the video, and read the captions at the same time. I know I could pause and read what's flashed up, but I just don't want to have to do that every 30 seconds. This might just be a personal preference of mine which nobody else minds, but maybe try shorter videos but with the on screen info available for longer.
Great work though none the less. Love your enthusiasm, keep it up!
Appreciate the feedback and support. Will definitely take that on board. Typically I don't do on screen demonstrations so combining that with the "flash text" would certainly be overload on reflection. Cheers for that and welcome to the channel!
Great video, I've always struggled with the different unit types in warhammer and this is the best explanation yet....cheers!
Cheers mate. Glad it helped. Happy hunting!
Thanks for the guide mate. Have played so many other TW games and never really struggled, decided to get into Warhammer and I have been getting absolutely rinsed. This guides a big help
I've played titles from ME2 onward. The WH battles were a learning process but you'll go back to historical titles with a new perspective and (at least I found) see things more precisely as there's less going on. Love history and the related TW games, but TWWH is simply the best the series has ever been. AI problems that weren't in the second title that popped up in the third are the biggest setback, but the fundamental pacing of campaigns, intensity of battles and solid diplomacy make it head and shoulders above the rest and it'll take ME3 or R3 to best it.
What an insanely good breakdown. Nobody else explains it like this. Would love to see more of this
I’ve been playing this since WH1 and this is probably the best guide I’ve seen across all three games. Period. Appreciate it! You have examples for balanced faction like Empire and archer heavy factions like High and Wood Elves. Any examples for rush factions like Vampire Counts or cavalry faction like Bretonnia? What about pure gunpowder faction like Vampire Coast or Dwarves?
Thanks heaps. I have a Dwarf Formations video I think you'll enjoy that answers the gunpowder question well. Hope you enjoy!
th-cam.com/video/BGRKOGdEHdw/w-d-xo.html
Newish warhammer fan here a big fan of the total war series in general (mostly been playing shogun 2 and three kingdoms) and I’ve been having trouble understanding each role of the units outside of what the game just slaps on as stats but seeing you cohesively explain each role and then demonstrate it in a more balanced army composition really helps!
8 mins in and already super helpful, i've put thousands of hours into total war games, And I've never bothered to understand how all the stats work together. Hell, I didn't even know about shields blocking arrows at a certain rate. Cheers
Appreciate the comment. Glad it helped - happy hunting!
I had no idea about the level 2 spears for the Empire, thank you so much for telling me that. This whole time I have not even touched them and only got swordsmen.
No worries mate. Happy hunting and feel free to join the Discord if there's anything else we can help with
i think it's also important to know your 'matchup' before choosing to charging or defending a charge.
Example, while absorbing charge with spear unit is good, charging them back with sword and shield infantry is better if you know your race is stronger than them. Example, you will better to have bleaksword over Dreadspear as Dark Elf against High Elf as your front line and just charge the High elf Spearmen, absorbing the High elf archer with the shield.
I agree with this. Many units can also be buffed to become proficient in multiple roles, but as you mention, matchups are very key in this. It really is a game of understanding your faction's strengths and how to mitigate the enemy's strengths with what you have available.
Cheers for the comment
This feels like a university-level course. Great information, thanks!
I probably put the most effort into the structure of this script/concept so I'll take that as a win 😂
fire combat guide man! theres a couple out there that are good but you went deep into it and then some. I'm watching this during my 20th turn of first campaign (cathay) in the series and will be using these tactics 100. got destroyed as 1000 (me) vs 2600
Hope to see those fortunes turn around! Good luck mate!
The biggest issue I've always found is the opposite in that people know these things but see them as black and white set in stone commandment that must be adhered to regardless of any context. Some people will literally leave archers, crossbows, handguns, artillery crews that are out of ammo just sat there when they can easily circle behind an enemy unit that is already engaged. "Buhhh they're missiles" no they have fucking swords, get them in there. Likewise "what the fuck I can't hold a line with Greatswords or Hammerers! They're a...." what they are motherfucker is infantry. They're specialized to roles that's it. If they are what you have available they will do as they're told. People will literally suffer defeats than have certain units do things that are outside of their niche in a pinch when things are dire.
This REALLY helped me; I was shunning basic spearmen and arrows.
Stoked it helped. It's alright, I was playing for ages before I learnt all this haha
Thanks a lot, gonna try these formations and actually pay attention to what units I'm putting in an army and pray my noobness can be cured.
I have some faction specific videos which I really recommend to help contextualise this some more. Good luck and hope you have fun with it.
Just a small remark from a non native speaker: You do you have such a clear voice , you are very easy to understand. Great guide aswell of course, but like I said, this is a bonus in comparison to all the other videos out there.
So glad it helped! Welcome aboard!
Amazing guide dude, maybe the best one out there.
Anyone who learns this can definitely win almost any fight, great job.
Curious, I've never seen Malay troops in the game
Holy shit, many thanks man, this is my first Total War game and I have been struggling hard with battles, even with overwhelming force I would lose way to many units. Tested your tips right after watching the vid and manually won a tough battle without a single unit being whiped. Auto solution predicted a fourth of my army gone ❤
Nothing better than hearing this. Well done mate, sounds like you're a general in the making. Keep fighting those battles, even the easy ones and your reactions will be sharp for the really hard ones!
cant agree more, EPA videos and formation ideas has saved me so many so many battles, even tho i play easy campaign normal battle they still are a nice challenge, been having a grudgethrower blast with my dwarf campaign snowballing all over, the game saying you are too powerful crank up the difficult XD
Dude, this video is so extremely helpful to me. Thank you so much!
Glad it helped. There's a follow up to this breaking down the stats and mechanics if you want to dive to the nitty grittty. Either way, good luck!
This is the best battle guide by far, ty
Cheers
Wow, it's very interesting. I'm a noob, and I didn't know the math behind the stats, very good video, thank you!
Thanks for the support!
Exactly what I was looking for, really informative 👍
Thank you for your insight, I just play warhammer 1 and I will play warhammer 3. This help a lot!
Good luck mate Join the Discord if you need a hand with anything.
it took me 1 year playing casually to figure all these out. my conclusion is they (the devs) had made each faction specializes with each of their power. for beginners i would recommend the vampire counts as starter faction. they're simple and strong (the whole faction is melee + magic, so like an undead battlemage character in an RPG game), as long as you play them with their strength.
Great video man, I’m new to war hammer and this is just what I needed
One quick question about this paragraph from about 3:50 to 5:25...
Is this what a normal class in an American high school sounds like? Like one trying wrap their head around what the teacher explains while you hear all those agonizing screams from the other classes when there's yet another shooting going on?
Thank you for your answer.
Hey Elven Plot Armour!
Since this is your most popular video yet, I wanted to say something about it, maybe it's helpful if you were to redo this one sometime.
Units like Chaos Shrines, Zhangu War Drum, Corpse Cart, Grail Reliquae etc., don't really fit either of these 8 categories.
The most likely candidate for units like these is the monsters category, however they don't really perform any of the tactical capabilites of them (no speed, can't disrupt formations, usually low health pool), maybe the only thing they have in common with monsters, is that they are a big target for missiles. While they do invite mass amounts of missile fire focus, unlike monsters you don't want them to be shot, while monsters do have somewhat of a secondary task of absorbing missiles.
Therefore I think it's fair to have these kind of units as a 9th unit type, something like "Shrines" or "Buff pieces". I think one possibility is to rename the monster category to offensive monsters, and name this one defensive monsters.
This video has been very helpful to me in understanding the game for a long time now, cheers mate, you made a very good and informative video!
Pretty good video. I would add a couple more unit types though:
Monstrous Infantry - these things serve a dual purpose and are best used mixed inside a normal sized infantry unit in order to prevent their models getting surrounded. Stat wise they're usually suited for an offensive infantry role with high armour piercing damage. But whether they have offensive or defensive stats, their true purpose is to provide mass in order to block monsters, cavalry or chariots from breaking right through your infantry. Note that some units technically listed as monstrous infantry are actually used like cavalry, such as Norscan Skinwolves.
Melee/Heavy Cavalry - slower, more armoured and with better melee stats than Shock Cavalry, but with a lower Charge bonus. These can do the same things as Shock Cavalry but are much better at surviving prolonged melee combat if they have to. These are more focused on stopping enemy cavalry and monsters, hammering enemy infantry in the rear, or in some cases (eg Bretonnian Grail Guardians or Tzeentchian Chaos Knights) bolstering a weak infantry front line.
Light Cavalry - perhaps an unnecessary category as it's basically just a subset of Shock Cavalry, this includes some infantry like dogs, bats and harpies. These units are cheap, extremely fast (90+ speed usually), extremely fragile and will rout if the enemy glares hard enough in their general direction. They tend to perform poorly in Campaign due to heavy losses and are much more relevant in Multiplayer, but they're often included in settlement garrisons. They want to focus on attacking ranged units, chasing routing enemies off the field, screening against enemy Light Cavalry, and denying enemy Heavy Cavalry the charge (probably at the cost of their own lives) just before your Heavy Cavalry hits them. As much as possible, they should be kept out of sight/range, and out of melee with anything that can even remotely fight back against them.
Really enjoyed this read. Coming up with only a few categories to make this overwhelming mess digestible is something I thought long and hard about. As you point out correctly, there is certainly some nuance lost, but I've found many combat guides out there don't show things in context, bombard with too much 'fine print' or are so general they don't really say anything at all. You make some excellent distinctions in all your cases here (especially monstrous infantry), and I tried to loosely categorize units to still roughly fall into the 8 categories listed here. ie) melee cav will still function well as shock cav and identifying a monstrous infantry unit as offensive or defensive will help it be applied correctly, though I do love the added context of unit mass!
Agree on Monstrous Infantry/monsters.
Partially, I understand skipping them, a lot of monstrous infantry is very specialized and there's not any real rule of thumb you can apply to any random monstrous infantry.
There are some that hold down units, and can help convert a defensive infanty into offensive, like you mentioned, there's some that behave more like cavalry, there are some that specialize in hunting single entities or getting into backline units. Some, like Salamanders and Razordons have their primary job as archers/skirmish, but can transition into shock cavalry.
There's Trolls, which are a weird, melee skirmish unit.
A lot of that can be categorized into these groups, but because these units are usually able to do multiple things, and the great unifier is that MOST of them can be used as unit paperweights.
Side note, the in-game sounds (especially voice lines) are insanely loud in this video. At times it drowns out your voice over commentary.
Yeah sorry about that, I didn't account for the game volume rocketing right up when you zoom in on units. I know for next time!
Love the content. Very helpful. I'm just starting and hadn't figured out all this. Mannfred is my first choice, looks like I won't get much archers or gunpowder.
That said, turn down the game volume so we hear you instead. I lost your words a number of times because some dude was yelling about Sigmar. A better mic would also help.
All your videos are amazingly educational! Thank you
Thanks mate, hope it helped!
hey awesome man! very informative. thank you for your time and effort
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for this! I really prefer to play solo with realistic/lore-ish armies instead of having it all dragons/heroes etc.
That's pretty much the only way I field my armies and I dominate legendary, so you're not hurting yourself :)
I actually, I see doomstacking as a hinderance, not a strength, personally. My philosophy is: Your army only needs to be as strong as it needs to win. Every cent afterward is depriving your kingdom.
Thank you! Enjoyed the thorough walkthrough. It was interesting to see you using Empire as the main presentation group. I had not seen you use Empire before. (Guessing for gunpowder units demo). Maybe show a High Elves Flex addendum for fun! A little special tutorial on how to use those dragons (I know you could link in description to HE's videos, but that's not as fun!). One other thought, is a tutorial on how to use mages specifically. But that might be too faction variant. Maybe another HE themed one? Anyways, good show!
Appreciate that mate. You nailed why I chose Empire here: balanced power. A balanced formation is best demonstrated with Chad Franz and friends.
Here's my Dragon Mastery Guide: th-cam.com/video/DEZbbcWyVfk/w-d-xo.html
Honestly, that's everything you need to know and I'm a heavy dragon user, I'd just recommend only 1-2 dragons due to micro demands unless you're really tight with micro because they can become a liability, not just to themselves, but if you're ignoring the rest of you army!
Just from learning these tactics, I can now properly play without doing auto battle. Thanks mate!
R.I.P Ursun 😢
Stoked it helpe!
Great video dude. Super informative to new players!
Thanks for watching. Glad it helped.
Thank you for this outstanding guide!
Cheers!
Excited to see you still uploading mate!
I am still playing WH2, my first time trying the series.
I steam rolled the game with Tyrion, but I’m struggling a lot on Imirick & Nagaryth (spelling might be wrong).
Some of the guides are outdated with the new maps.
Thanks mate. In WH2 I do still have guides for Imrik and Alith Anar in Mortal Empires if that's of interest (both Faction Guides and Walkthroughs). Only done Imrik in WH3 so far though. We'll get to it all in the end :) Cheers for watching!
thank you for the break down, this was very helpful
Glad it helped. Cheers!
This is very helpful. I have also been watching the guide playlist for TWH2. Also helpful. I have subscribed. Looking forward to beginner tutorial for TWH3. Hopefully using the starting Cathay faction recommended by the game which is perfect for beginners. And hopefully in the main game campaign. Not in the other game mode that is in development that requires additional purchase of previous games.
My favorite faction is Slanesh which starts at the top corner in the Shard Land. I don't really expect a guide for this because it's not a good faction for beginners. The reason I think the faction recommended by the game, called Cathay, is best in all of TWH to start with for beginners is similar to what is explained in this video about battles. Cathay gives good incentive for proper composition and positioning. It starts even with defensive units that gain bonuses for not moving as time progresses. Which can be helpful for beginners who aren't inclined to do much microweaving. It also features a harmony mechanic that gives bonus for unit composition and positioning. As explained in this battle video. The latest 2.3 patch now allows green buildings of one type to be converted into its opposite similar to how Slanesh main building can be converted. This is my request and recommendation for this host.
Grand Cathay are the most underrated faction in this game imho. There's only 1 thing holding them back: DLC
Their roster is incredibly strong with only 2 weaknesses: 1) melee heroes; and 2) more legendary lords to fill out the map with strong factions.
Calling it now: Once they're complete, Cathay will be an unstoppable powerhouse with no weaknesses that can't be circumvented by a strong general.
As you pointed out, correct formations make their elite infantry punch up even harder.
@@ElvenPlotArmour As far as I can tell the current heroes is the intent of this design. I was actually caught of guard initially because I was trying to pick one according to what you're saying regarding strong melee combat. However, their design is for support. Like their role is to give buffs and such to the troops. They're also petty simplified to use. I don't think they will be getting any changes to heroes. Their roster and spellcasting has lots of incentive for boosting units. The faction is super strong in this regard once strategy for them is figured out more.
Another interesting thing I find about this faction is that there isn't any offensive infantry. There are sword skirmishers for many factions. But then there are Cathay sword skirmishers who get the Jade buff for standing there. Not good at micro or forgetting to pay attention to some of your units? That's fine They're not meant to be mobile. My personal favorite faction is Slanesh. But Iron Dragon Cathay is what I recommend to users learning TW. I find they did a really nice job with this faction and the campaign tutorial.
@@divergentlife493 Agree with all of this. Similar to the defensive minded High Elves, having a melee competent hero like their Noble and Loremaster plugs a massive hole in their offensive infantry and Cathay would no doubt benefit from this change. Also, I really want that Astromancer in a Sky Junk!
@@ElvenPlotArmour Ya High Elves are nice for beginners too. I don't know much about the design like if Cathay infantry should be changed or not. I have a good understanding of these types of games in general since I play SC2 at a pretty high rank. But don't know too much about TWH3 in particular.
Expansions altering base game units is actually something I found odd. Like the base game demon factions originally had their distinct methods of fighting. The one I play, Slanesh, is nice for attacking from all directions. There was no unit that really acted as anvil for hammer/anvil. But it seemed pretty balanced this way when compared to other faction strengths/weaknesses. And seducing enemy units that can be a good anvil makes for interesting strategic play. After expansion, Slanesh now gets anvil units. It fundamentally changes the play in a way that seems to make demon factions less distinct from one another compared to how it was previously.
Great Video brotha! This was a definitely a big help!
Any time. Thanks for watching!
Great job explained man ice learned a lot
Glad to hear it!
That video works for races that it works for. For example Norsca only has 3 types of units. Skin Wolves, Mammoths, everything else. Slanesh only has Exalted Daemonetes, Fiends, Heartseekers and everything else. Some factions are just build around 2-3 units. Empire has a balanced rooster bc they are a long standing faction with wide variety of units. Of course there are tiny factions that have access to everything and are nearly perfectly balanced but you can't just pull off second Tomb Kings out of the blue.
On my opinion most important is that you need 5 parts for your army: dmg: vs inf; dmg vs Monster and lords, defence, support and artillery surpression. Its about you how you balance this 5 parts. some units can play two roles (offensive inf can also be defense and dmg vs. inf for example black orcs). But you also need a doctrine you want to play with your army. Like a shock attack or ranged damage with strong defence. And always build an army that can fight in open terrain and in settlements. And of course build a army that you are able to micro.
Most archer and gunpowder units can fulfill the vs Monster role very well. Four units of Handgunners or Streltsi can take down even Skarbrand fairly quickly.
This helped me a lot. Thank you for that.
You mentioned this being a defensive setup. What would an offensive formation look like?
Too keep things simple, replacing ranged units with more cav/offensive infantry on the wings to help envelop the enemy, while keeping a couple of reserve unit to protect the flanks or any artillery.
EDIT: Thanks for watching :)
best total war warhammer channel
Thanks for taking the time to watch. Appreciate it mate!
Very good guide, i would recommend it to any new TWWIII player!
Great video (as are the other similar ones you made). I'm wondering if you consider dogs as shock cav? I feel like they don't have enough punch to act the same way as real shock cav. They seem to be part of a light cav type that doesn't have ranged but are more useful to harass and chase routed units - similar to skirmishers but with some of the shock cav elements too.
You're assessment here is exactly what I hoped viewers would gain out of the video. You can see some unit types blur the lines but the concepts employed from those types should give clear guidance on how to maximise. Dogs effectively act as shock cav with the caveat they have a unique role of dealing rapid anti-infantry damage so are primed to harass archers and dive into more specific targets (infantry) to get that use. They also harass artillery very well, but you only need 1 or 2 imho as a support unit.
Awesome tutorial, thank you so much man!
Cheers, glad you enjoyed it!
Very handy. Thanks 🙏
Es una muy buena guía, y usando de ejemplo al Imperio, what a chad!
Thanks for watching!
Learned alot from this video, Thanks! Quick little constructive criticism though: If you could either increase the volume of your voice OR reduce the volume of the ingame voicelines a little bit I think it would be a bit easier to follow :)
Thanks for watching, you weren't the only one to point this out and I've tried to avoid it in subsequent videos. Appreciate you taking the time for feedback though!
wow, this was really helful and useful info, thx!
Glad to help! Cheers!
This is very helpful video thanks.
Very welcome mate. Cheers!
Great video, so much helpful info.
I always accidentally send my large into into anti large sometimes lol.
Very helpful, thanks!
No Worries!
can you please make a "strongest formation" on skaver or beastmen something focus on a rush game type :) I'm new to the game this video was amazing!
*Dual*, not *duel* weapons because there is a one-handed weapon in *both* hands, they aren't necessarily meant for one-on-one *duels.*
Haha this might be my all time favorite gramatical correction
Are the updates and balance changes universal between WH2 and WH3?
I’ve noticed that some older WH2 guides (starting locations) no longer apply.
I’m unsure how these changes work.
I apologize if this question comes across as uninformed.
There's no stupid questions mate.The overall concepts of the game haven't changed. WH3's Immortal Empires map is simply a larger map but most factions function the same. In WH3 all missile units have reduced reload speed, magic winds are capped slightly and many cavalry units got a speed boost. Overall, this means the game is way more balanced and you can't just nuke the game 1 caster and a handful of archers. It's an adjustment for sure, but one that enriches the options and depth of battles - very fun to field cavalry now (which were really lacking in WH2)!
Great guide
Appreciate it mate!
cara,video incrivel,eu quando jogo warhammer sempre entro nesse modo alto destrutivo aonde acabo esquecendo como jogo pois sou inundado de informação.
Great content, my dude :)
Always felt like they really need to amp up the Rock Paper Scissors aspect of the combat.
Charge Defense Against Large is one of those factors which is mathematically signficant but really leaves you limp in practice. Spears should get charge reflection when braced to really make cavalry flanking more important.
Halberds need way more anti-large, right now if left to its own devices a single decent monster can tear through multiple units of Empire Halberds which is... disheartening to say the least.
Boost shields as well as the power of missiles has always been a bit out of whack too - maybe give a 50% deflection boost if the unit isn't engaged in melee combat.
If shield units can reliably deny ranged damage, Spears can punish cav charges, and Halberds can put the hurt on large entities, you've now got genuine reasons to juggle all these factors and have a broad mix of unit types in your line rather than just having them just be 6x the same unit as everyone does now.
Hi👋. Thanks for your video. Its really help to understand better some mechanics. I was really struggling with gunpowder units 'cause i usually like to play as pirates and i often just used landscape of territory.(gunpowder units little higher). Also kinda hard to understand Skirmish 'cause Lizards have those a lot 😅
Hey thanks for watching! Glad the video helped out. Gunpowder takes a bit to master but it's very fun once you do!
Great guide as always. Thanks for your efforts. I have some problem placing the canons or hellstorm rocket batteries with relatively low fire arc in my formation. Mind I ask, where do you usually place them to have good line of sight and avoid friendly fire. Thanks in advance.
Thanks mate. Regarding cannons, you ideally want them center-back in your formation. If playing defensively, this is where having that back pair of defensive spear/halberd units will stop them from getting flanked. By having your defensive infantry with gaps between them your gun units should gain line of sight. Characters are undoubtedly the best at doing this, using a single model to tie up an entire unit allows your artillery to bombard without any real threat of friendly fire. Artillery and archers are typically quite accurate in this game. If their target is engaged in a combat, they'll be pinned still enough to land heavy damage with minimal casualties.
Good video but lacking a few major types of units:
- Chariots
- Dogs/harpies
- Line of sight artillery
- Heavy/monstrous cav
- Monstrous Infantry
- Hybrid units
I understand that the point isn't to be completely exhaustive as it would defeat the purpose of simplifing things for new players. But I really think that at least Dogs and Chariot should have made the list since they're part of many factions early roster and play quite differently from the rest. Chariot especially, they do seemed similar to shock cav but are deceptively quite different.
Tbis is great mate, big fan from Perth, ya missed monstrous inf and cav rho 😉
Hey, I might be a bit late but thanks a lot for this video, helped me understand a lot of stuff about the units and how to run them !
I have a question though, what's the point of swordsmen units like empire swordsmen or bleakswords if there are better options in the roster of their factions ? I mean dreadspears/spearmen are tankier, and swordsmen don't deal enough dmg to be considered offensive infantry
No worries mate, cheers for the comment. Very good question. Shielded swordsmen do have a place in the way they will out place other infantry with their superior melee attack and slightly better AP damage. By default, always take the better lineholder (spearmen) but in this formation, if you have 3 infantry in the front line you can swap the middle one out for a swordsmen. Why? This unit will always engage with infantry thus will matchup well against the enemy infantry and actually deal a bit more damage back. Also, they can charge in and hit a tiny bit harder too which can have its use. Other than that, I'd take the spears except for this one position as anti-large significantly limits flanking and the extra MD provides time to react - which is what I mainly aim for formations to deliver.
Good luck mate!
I would add several more categories but they are kinda more complicated to use and more dependent on your faction.
Meat-shields: Gnoblars, Peasant Long Spearmen, and Blue horrors. They are just very cheap infantry unit's that you can replace in global recruitment in 1 turn. you would be supersized how helpful some sacrifices are to keep your more important things healthy.
Sweepers: Things like dogs, Furies, and melee skirmish cav that cant win in a fair fight, these guys either surround and swarm isolated unit's or simply make sure broken enemy unit's don't come back.
Strikers: Units like Demigryph Knights, chaos knights, and Hexwraiths. Heavy Cavalry, ideally something with anti large, that can thrive in a prolonged fight. these guys I use for catching shock cavalry in melee and denying them their charge bonus but they are also great at grinding away at archers that can fight back.
Finally what I call Breakers: Units like Minotaur's, Trolls, or Chaos Spawn. Monstrous infantry that are large enough to just walk through your front line to deal a large amount of damage while still letting your defensive Infinity soak up the damage for you breakers.
Really enjoyed reading this. I like the context towards more melee centric units. Roles can really change from army to army so I was aiming to create basic categories so a player can learn to 'see' units for what they might achieve. I did love the extra detail to the charge interactions listed here
Seems they changed missile troops to walk within range and shoot over your shielded troops. I've been finding that ogres ignore your formations. They just charge right through your defenders into your back troops . Characters as well. They just run right through front units into missle troops
New players should just play the game. That is what I did and I just learned everything and got good. That is part of the fun and should never be skipped.
Great video!!
Wanna do a teclis first 20 turns guide? his start has a lot going on
Ok. Teclis Livestream going live in 5 mins :)
Can we get a video on formations for armies? Unless they're similar I have a hard time not just making huge lines for battle
Ignore this, I'm watching the demonstration now, so thanks for doing what I asked in the video
Haha glad to help :)
I'd actually recommend you split cavalry into 2 categories, shock and sustained combat, because of how different they operate.
i'm pretty new to wh3 but i do think that artillery could be pretty safely put artillery into the archer and gunpowder role. They play pretty much the same most of the time.
I separated them because in battle, gunpowder are much more nimble and can engage closer enemies more easily, artillery can also fire over the top of units in many cases too. You're right, they can very much overlap. This was the most sensible layout I could come up with.... and there were a few haha
@@ElvenPlotArmour certainly reasonable. Having played a bit more they do play differently. I still think if you want to simplify it even more putting them together is fine, as they do play sort of similar with just big speed differences.
No way, not at all. Always more range and totally different projectile type, slow machiney vs ranged infantry.
"High elves disregard melee infantry for more archer damage."
Not my elves. "Swordmasters of Hoeth - CHAAAAAARGE!"
What about melee cavalry? The ones who have relatively low speed and low-er charge bonus. Are they still considered shock cavalry in your opinion, or are they skirmish type units?
(fight for a bit here and there, mainly chasing after ranged units or rushing to defend open flanks)
16:20 wrong subtitle maybe. Guns dont volley attacks arc over obstacles. They shoot a straght line
Still a very good guide though.
*Listen to tactics*
Hmmm.... interesting.
*Still front charge with bloodletters and bloodcrushers*
FOR TEH BLOOD GOD !
Skullz for the Skull Throne!
How are you getting the enemy to charge you ? I always have to be on the offensive side of things
Crazy how this did absolutely nothing for me lol, I feel like this is more of a video for people who haven't bothered to look at the stats though I didn't know spearman functioned as defensive infantry and swordsman offensive so thank you, but no matter what I do auto battle always yields better results than manual for me. Funny considering this is the only rts I have ever played where that is the case but hey, this game has been a big waste of money so far ngl so I'm not surprised. This has been playing as Bretonnia against the Greenskins btw.
Edit: My god I've done it.... I king Henry V'd those green bitches, I drew them into a massive volley of archers with a small contingent of men-at-arms to hold the line, while the Infantry I could spare pushed around the sides. Basically everyone including all my trebuchets and two valuable commanders of mine are now dead but I sent the King of Bretonnia to Personally kill the enemy lord in one on one combat as he tried to flee amongst the bodies and carnage of our battle. Somewhat epic ngl. This crippled them and all the Bretonnians that surround them are now ransacking their lands! Also after loading a save to retry the battle after watching this I realized they were the 2nd strongest faction on the map, we were 148th, so massive dub! Would still love some advise on how to play bretonnia, I only seem to eek out victories with no specific strategies seeming to work consistently.
Infantry cannonfodder for the most part use them loke that too stall your opponents. Arches isnt really a strongp9int of brettonia but there nice early game. your cavalry your bread and butter there your aces sinds there one of the best. heroes and lords also hit pretty hard there great duellists. Brettonia relies heavely on micro managing but when you get too your late game cav it should be easier.
I agree with the comment above. I'd focus on a similar formation to the empire one presented (3 defensive infantry along the front, 2 on the back corners) with 8 archers (in my 2 x diamond formation) as a core. Then have 2 cav on each flank with a couple more you keep back in reserve for the late stages of the fight. Hotkey your cav (x2 on the left) (x2 on the right) (x2 in reserve) and give them orders together.
If in doubt pull your cav back and don't just leave them unless pinning an enemy for another charge or for arrow fire.
Good luck mate, stick with it!
Good/informative video overall. But game sound is to high.
I have like 100hours in total war warhammer 3 and this helped so much it’s embarrassing lol
Mate, I'm still surprised what I don't know haha
Ik that sone spells have friendly fire and some don’t but how’s it with archers and guns (in other tw like Shogun 2, guns have friendly fire)
Great vid sir
Thanks champion!
Great video
Thanks mate!
I think the main thing for me is magic and all the buffs in the game that makes it a bit confusing.
th-cam.com/video/N-0vM3IAe0A/w-d-xo.html try this one brother - it's pretty much the part 2 to this lesson and I think it'll help demystify battles :)
This first video is to identify what units do what, the second one is how combat is applied in the most simple way possible.
@@ElvenPlotArmour holy moly thanks and subbed
@@ElvenPlotArmour ive been using all your tips now before i was kinda lost. FYI im a veteran historical total war player.
Grail knights that is all