Editing Total War Warhammer/Tactics/High Elves (section)

==Campaign Strategies==

===General===

High Elves have an image of being one of the easiest races to play in campaign. While yes, Due to their powerful lords and strong economies they tend to lean a bit more on the easy side, that doesn't mean you will never come across any difficulty while playing them in Vortex or Mortal Empires. In this section we will go over the general tips about how to handle a High Elf campaign, followed in more depth by the specific subfactions themselves and how they differ from each other. Let's go over the generic traits all High Elves have first:

'''Influence''': Probably the most important mechanic the High Elves have, and the one that connects back to all of their other ones, is '''Influence'''. The Elves are political animals and as such need some kind of leverage or favors in order to make headway in anything they want to do. Influence is a special currency you get for completing missions, building certain buildings, doing hero actions and through random events on the campaign map. This offers you two major ways to spend it, one being stronger lords and the other being Intrigue at the Court. The first way revolves on how you recruit lords and heroes, as each one has a certain amount of influence you have to spend in order to recruit them. Lords and Heroes that cost 0 influence have shitty traits that hurt your campaign, ones that cost a relatively low amount have more standard traits, while the most expensive have straight up OP ones. For instance, there's a 60 influence trait for Archmages called Incendiary, which gives a +100% weapon strength, +100 charge bonus and flaming attacks. This may sounds pointless on a mage character you want to keep out of melee until you realize she can ride a fucking dragon at some point. This can get you some ungoldy powerful lords if you build up influence.

The other thing you use Influence for is '''Intrigue at Court''', which further reflects the political nature of the Elves. With this, you can improve or destroy relations between any two factions on the campaign map that you know. It's similar to what the Empire has, only while they can only do it between two Imperial factions, you can do it between anyone. This means you can puppeteer the map in anyway you like. Want to declare war on a faction but they are allies with someone you have a Non Aggression Pact with? Pump some influence and now they hate eachother. Want to confederate that one stubborn faction on Ulthuan? Keep spending Influence and you'll win them over eventually. You can manipulate diplomacy to start wars and alliances between whoever you want. 90% of the time you'll be using this to get other High Elves to confederate with you easier.
*The best time to ask for a Confederation is after your target has suffered a military defeat. If you see them lose two armies in the same battle, they are more likely to agree to Confederate.
**You can also confederate with High Elves by dealing with their most dangerous threat, which is now visible to you in the diplomacy screen. By winning victories against the faction that's currently curbstomping them, you can win enough goodwill for them to confederate with their armies intact.
*Since Influence is so important, here's an easy tip to get a ton of it:
**Recruit a Noble. Don't worry if he has a bad trait, he'll never be used in combat.
**Send him to a city that's owned by a faction you won't be friendly with anyway, like Dark Elves or Norsca
**Keep spamming the '''Secure Influence''' option, it will give you 1 influence every turn for 5 turns.
**Level up Secure Influence every chance you get, you get an extra point for every level up, and rinse and repeat.
**If you keep doing this you will be drowning in influence.
*In addition, im Immortal Empires, there is now a general alliance mechanic that lets you recruit units from factions you have a defensive/military alliance with, which is good for <s>[[AWESOME|bringing fucking Dinosaurs to tear shit up]]</s> souping with allies to shore up weaknesses, and quickly recruit units in exchamge for "allegiance." Basically, the more you help them out, the more benefits you get. That being said, you also can't just use positive opinion gained from Intrigue at the Court to spam pacts and alliances, because if you spend too much time ignoring your ally and not fighting their biggest threat, they'll break the alliance and withdraw their forces from your stacks

'''Research''': Their tech tree is kind of stupid. The research is locked by different stages and you need to construct different buildings in order to get access to all of them. This means building things you'd rather not in order to finish the research tree. You even need to get all tradeable resources in order to completely finish the tree. Just complete what you need to complete and you'll get through it fine.

'''Buildings''' you'll want in every major city:
*'''Amphitheater''': Your public order building, just make it to make sure rebels don't spring up anywhere. It's also makes money and isn't too bad at it on top of that.
*'''Tower of Mages''': Gets you more Mages and Loremasters, along with more research rate and access to more stages of research.
*'''Blessed Grove''': Gets you more Handmaidens and Sisters of Avelorn. A fun agent and one of your best units.
*'''Dragon Keep''': The Dragons are nice, but you really want this for the +1 Lord Recruit rank. Being able to get lv20 lords from the start instead of leveling them up there is so nice.
*'''Elven Court''': More Nobles, which means more Influence. What more do you want.

'''Units''': Basic Archers and Spearmen are ridiculously effective, and wil be able to handle most of what the game throws at you until pretty far in the game. If you don't know what to put in your armies, four Spearmen, five-six Archers and two Bolt Throwers are a pretty good base that you never can go wrong with.
*Silverin Guard cost more gold and upkeep, but will hold the line for much, much longer. If you can afford them, take them, but they're useless unsupported and won't kill anything much faster than regular Spearmen.
*Great eagles are also some very good early-tier units that are helpful in emergency stacks. Just a couple can tear up artillery or interrupt cavalry charges, while still being disposable.

===Campaign Specific===

====Tyrion====

=====Mortal Empires=====
*'''J-just play the damn thing''': Look, Tyrion's campaign is designed to be the "baby's first Total Warhammer campaign." You start with one of the best cities on the map, are surrounded by friends, have fairly weak enemies and are on an isolated continent. Now this isn't a bad thing, but it results in the campaign having very little challenge for experienced players. As such, don't worry too much about it. You'll probably unite Ulthuan and attack the Dark Elves in Naggaroth to complete your campaign objectives and after that you can do pretty much whatever you want.

*'''Use Morathi to your advantage''': Morathi is eventually going to attack Ulthuan and since Auto Resolve freaking loves her she's going to take quite a few provinces. Since you are going to be trading with most High Elf neighbors, use this to your advantage to expand. Take any territory that Morathi takes yourself and confederate the factions that she weakens during her expansion. Once you control the majority of Ulthuan you can sail over to finish her off and confed Alith Anar if he is still alive.

*'''Don't do Blood of Anerion at higher difficulties''': Look, I know it's fun to give Tyrion the Sword of Khaine, max out the Blood of Anerion tree and watch him slap his dick across the face of everyone he fights but trust me at higher difficulties it isn't worth it. The public order penalties will stack with what you get with difficulty level anyway and you will start having rebel problems early on. The other tree will improve your economy, public order and relations, which are much more useful than making Tyrion more of a beatstick than he already is.

=====Immortal Empires=====
*'''Noctilus and N'Kari''': Remember the point above with Morathi? Yeah this is the same thing only with Noctilus and N'Kari. Chrace, Cothique, Caledor and Tiranoc will eventually fall to these factions and you will need to deal with them to get them back. Alarielle and Eltharion will deal with them eventually, but you would rather have that territory yourself.

====Teclis====

=====Mortal Empires=====
*'''Invest in Anti Corruption''': You will be dealing with Skaven and Vampires in your campaign, so something to deal with all of that corruption will be nice. This is especially true in Mortal Empire where you start right next to Skrolk and Luthor Harkon. The Lustriabowl is stupid enough as it is, and getting rid of all that corruption will help you get through it.
*'''Don't bother too much with the Lustria Bowl.''' The more you expand into Lustria the more bullshit you will have to deal with. The Lizards are generally friendly with you and make good trade partners, so once you secure the Eastern Coast from Skrolk, Luthor and Lokhir, see if you can try to confed with Ulthuan. Yes, it's the more boring way to play but unless you want to reenact the Vietnam War but with Lizards it is the more practical way to do things. Of course if you're playing the Vortex campaign..... yeah you're kind of stuck. Good luck.

=====Immortal Empires=====
*'''Immortal Empires''': You now start in the Southlands, starting in the Fortress of Dawn where you are surrounded by Skaven, Lizardmen, and the Daemons of the Southern Chaos Wastes who will eventually sail up to attack you. Kroq-gar can makes a good ally, and you can even turn Khalida around using the Intrigue At Court feature.
**Teclis' stated aim was to "support the beleaguered elves of the south," But the islands of Tor Elasor are so fucking far away from anyone else that in most games, they wont need the help unless someone accidentally stumbles upon them. (sea lanes seem to only be for going from one extreme end of the map to another, there isnt even a sea lane to enter the grand canal between the two blank spaces that is Ind and Khuresh)
*'''Roast the Turkey''': You're gonna want Kairos dead ASAP for two reasons. 1. Killing him is one of your victory conditions for a short campaign and 2. He will troll the shit out of you with the Changing of the Ways. Once you deal with your starting enemy get a decent army together, sail down south, pop the Rite of Isha and take him out as fast as you can. Trust me you don't want to deal with him when he pretty much controls all of the Southern Chaos Wastes.

*'''TikTaq'to Hates You''': I don't know what Teclis did to make the flying lizard so mad but he is going to declare war on you the second he sees you. You'll be dealing with his army of fliers for a large chunk of your time in the Southlands since he expands quickly and Autoresolve loves him because he spams skirmisher flyers and dinos; you'll do fine with Eagle Claws and archers. I would also recommend taking out the Zlatlan Lizards as your neighbors so you don't have any awkward tresspassing as you go up to fight him. If you want a Lizard as your friend go for Kroq-Gar, even after you take both of them out he stays pretty friendly with you.

*'''Colonize Lustria''': The north of the Southlands is mostly Desert and Mountains, neither of which are very good for you. Once you reach the border of the desert you're going to have to look for more lands to take over. Confederating the Tor Elasor Elves is not only good for getting you close to a sea lane to Cathay, it also gives you 3 of the 6 cities you need for winning the long victory. After that, your next obvious target is Lustria since not only does it have another 3 cities you need it is mostly jungle which is perfect for you to settle in.

====Alarielle====

=====Mortal Empires=====
*'''Sword of Khaine''': The Sword of Khaine is held just north of your start, so of all the High Elves, you have the easiest access to it. You might even have to fight it if you don't defeat the Scourge of Khaine fast enough. It depends on you if you want to take it, because Alarielle isn't remotely any good in melee, so while her attacks will do tons of AP damage, you're still worrying about getting DPS'd in a duel, and anyone who kills Alarielle will be really, really difficult to beat if they manage to take the Sword from you.
**The diplomatic penalties and the public order debuffs also make controlling Ulthuan a chore, and that ''stacks'' with the penalties for losing Ulthuan provinces, so if you lose provinces due to a blood fleet attack or to an end game crisis, you're looking at the very real possibility of rebellions all over the donut. 
**You can always confederate with her simpboi Tyrion and have him take the sword and go off to war while Alarielle sits in Ulthuan and [[/d/|"increases growth"]], but that's no fun, is it? 
*'''Get Ulthuan under Asur control ASAP''': You get penalties to public order and money when there are something other than preppy pointy ears on the donut. As such, you got to make sure to go out of your way to kill anything non High Elf on Ulthuan. Once you do that, you're in the clear to steam roll the campaign, as you get massive bonuses once Ulthuan is united.

*'''Use Morathi to your advantage''': Same as Tyrion really, only it's easier for you to take advantage of it. Once Morathi takes some provinces on Ulthuan make sure you're there to sweep them up.

*'''Fortify against Blood Fleets''': Hellebron is going to send blood fleets to Ulthuan and you are probably going to have to deal with them. They will aim for the Salvation Isles in Vortex and at the Shrine of Khaine in Im/Mortal Empires. Keep these locations fortified and smash the armies they send at you before they can do any extreme damage to Ulthuan.
**It will be a bitch and a half dealing with the Blood Fleets in the early game, as their stacks are teeming with tier 2 and tier 3 units. They aren't impossible to beat with a garrisoned or ambushing stack, but if you get caught unprepared, you will take heavy losses. And '''no one''' will help you against them unless they're already at war with Har Ganeth themselves. Alith Anar now starts in Karond Kar just south of Har Ganeth, but because his AI already has its hands full with Malekith, they won't easily join the fight against her unless she makes the first move.
=====Immortal Empires=====

====Alith Anar====

=====General Tips=====
*'''Do Assassination Missions when you can''': They're a very good source of money and influence that can really help you out, though the big problem tends to be getting to your target. Obviously, you shouldn't bother doing them if they're asking you to kill an ally or someone on the other side of the map, but if it's someone close and in a faction you have no interest in being friends with by all means go at them. Especially if you have your special hero that never fails assassination attempts.

*'''Fight dirty''': with your ambush stance, heavy focus on skirmishing and guerilla fighting and underworld stance, you're essentially a Skaven faction in an elf suit. Use this to your advantage and always try to go for ambushes and drowning the enemy in arrows.

*'''You can play tall''': your faction is tailor made to play with a tall economy, between reduced global recruitment times and Alith bonuses. Fortify 1 or 2 province's and expand only when is really worth. Send Alith Anar deep into the enemy territory and you'll make tons of money by just fighting and looting/razing. Sell extra territory to your allies and have only a few provinces uber developed, then go around the world helping allies or fighting the end game scenarios. It can give a very different (and fun) approach to the usual boring middle and late game High Elves campaigns.

=====Mortal Empires=====

*'''Kill Morathi ASAP''': You want to do this for three reasons. One, she spreads Chaos Corruption which will eventually come to bite you in the ass, so you may as well get rid of her before it spreads too much. Two, it's inevitable that she will invade Ulthuan and disrupt your main trade partners and confederation targets. Three, her main settlement is one of the richest in the game, which will heavily improve your economy.

=====Immortal Empires=====

*'''Beware of Be'lakor''': As soon you'll take some cities in the east province, Be'lakor will usually declare war and start send stacks of daemons and Norscan. Abuse your OP ambush chance to deal with them, and try to send a stack to claim or raze Albion as soon you can to end the constant headache.

*'''Unusual Allies''': You're deep into enemy territory, surrounded by Dark Elves, Be'lakor annoyance and fucking Taurox will soon start his rapetrain your way. Ally the wood hippies is a gamble: in some campaign is beneficial as they expand like cancer, while in others they don't ever leave their fucking tree. One way to secure a flank is to ally with Cylostra - pretty doable if you take and gift some cities on the west and grease the fat cunt with money. Khatep is another willing, if weird, ally you can grab early.
**This way you can secure the west front and focus on clearing the Linkin Park fanbase. As a fluffy bonus you can make a Death Archmage spooky stack with Cylostra ghosts and Khatep skeletons.

====Eltharion====

=====Mortal Empires=====
*'''Get ready to fight a lot''': Part of this is because of the prison mechanic, which incentivizes you to fight a lot of otherwise very one sided battles. This is because while it is possible to get a prisoner in Auto Resolve, it's low so you're better off just fighting it out and capturing them manually even if it is a two stack army vs your griffon knight stack. The other part is because eventually every green bastard in the Badlands is going to want to mount your buttcheeks over his fireplace, so expect a ton of stacks coming at you.

*'''Mistwalkers stacks are Eltharion only''': There is one big reason for this, he's the only one who can buff them. The Mistwalker units don't get buffs from the Red tree, so generic and other Legendary High Elf lords can't buff them. Eltharion does have a skill that buffs them, so while they're useful in all your armies, Eltharion is the only one who can effectively doomstack them.

*'''Consolodate Forces''': In Mortal Empires you have a dual start, one on Ulthuan and one in the Badlands. With your split forces, it can be a bit hard in the early game to get started. Your main focus should be to get all of Yvresse under control so you can trade with your fellow High Elves and get an economy going. Once that is done, use your money to focus on either taking all of Ulthuan or expanding in the Bad Lands. You can do both, and to win you need provinces in both, but you'll be splitting up your forces doing so.

=====Immortal Empires=====

====Imrik====

=====Mortal Empires=====
*'''MURDER SNIKCH!!!!!''': More of a Mortal Empires problem, but one that is REALLY important. Unless you want never ending rat stacks against you, you need to kill the Rat weeb as soon as possible. Once you take the first dwarf settlement, take your army and kill Clan Eshin immediately. trust me, you will be saving yourself a lot of head ache in the future.

*'''Prepare to have no money''': Your are going to have a grand total of 0 trade in the early game because of how trade works. You can only trade with a faction if they can directly get to your capital by sea or land, meaning having a port or a settlement with a road to your main city. Since the ocean you start by is blocked to the rest of the world, and you are surronded by people who hate you, trade is not happening early one. Even when you do confed your way back to Ulthuan, your capitol doesn't change to Caledor so you can't trade with the other elves. Yes, you can cut back on Dragon money, but only cowards do that.

*'''Find those Dragons''': Once you start collecting the Dragons, you start to become stupid strong. Early on it's ok to just use their events to collect money and favor (especially if you want to confed Caledor the best way possible) but once you have a strong army there is no reason to not go after them. Once you collect one, all the others come in much easier.

=====Immortal Empires=====

*Imrick gets a bit of a vacation in IM with Sniktch, Grimgor, and Malus all moving far far away and trade no longer being restricted by geographical boundaries. You also get a decent amount of elbow room to stomp minor AI factions until your borders brush up against Ghorst, Kugath, Queek, Tretch, and/or Greasus. The real test will be when CA introduces Chaos Dwarfs to the Southern Darklands since high elves don't relish fighting enemies with lots of guns and armor.