Editing Total War Warhammer/Tactics/Empire (section)

==Units==
===Generic Lords===
*'''[[General of the Empire]]:''' Discount Melee lord. Budget Griffon rider, but most players will make room for a Karl or Boris instead.
*'''[[Arch Lector]] (DLC):''' comparison of discount Volkmar or Priest make lord. Still a good fighter and line supporter with his prayers. He rolled the lord and priest slot together so you can fill the vacant hero slot with a wizard.
*'''[[Huntsman General]] (DLC):''' Discount Wulfhart. Rather than being a powerful sniper, Huntsman is Support Lord for Gunlines. Has fire for days to inflict on Flammable and Regening enemies. Can also shoot exploding fire arrows, give units around him fire attacks and faster shooting, and an Oil attack that makes things weak(er) to fire and slows for more shooting time. Sees less use as most players need a fast-moving melee character to press the enemy and keep monsters off their weak holing lines.

===Legendary Heroes (Huntsmarshal's Expedition only)===
Markus Wulfhart gets four unique heroes to help his quest to conquer Lustria. All four start with Immortality, and three of them are totally unique to the Empire. In the campaign each of the four heroes has a quest chain that allows you to unlock new items and skills for them, much like Legendary Lords. Reaching the end of the quest chains gives each hero a unique effect to aid you in the final battle against [[Nakai the Wanderer]].

*'''Hertwig Van Hal''': An upgraded witch hunter who hates the undead with a passion, giving him bonus damage to all undead but causing diplomatic penalties with Vampire Coast factions. His quest chain gives him one of two abilities; he can either heal allied units, or temporarily make units around him unbreakable. If you plan to keep Markus and the gang together it's best to get the healing ability.
*'''Rodrik L'Anguille''': A Bretonnian paladin and the tank of Wulfharts little RPG team. He's a decent brawler but best used to protect the rest of the group with defensive abilities and high armour. Also, despite being a Bretonnian he [[fail|can't ride a horse]] and has to foot slog into battle, although he can get some speed bonuses with talents. Keep him in the front of the army, ideally with Hertwig or a life wizard nearby to keep him standing. In the campaign, Rodrik can choose between unlocking a unique sword for better offense, or doubling down on his tankieness with even more defensive abilities.
*'''Kalara''': A Wood Elf Waystalker and your premier assassin. She can venture out on her own with the deadly combination of snipe, stalk, and vanguard deployment; but she also has a few passive buffs to help allied ranged units. Keep her with some Huntsmen, or ideally the Deathjacks, for a surgical kill-team that gives enemy lords and heroes nightmares.
*'''Jorek Grimm''': A Dwarf engineer who decided to work with the Empire. He can entrench and replenish ammo for your artillary, two things the Empire cannot normally get and desperately needs. Jorek brings a bevy of inventions and items to the campaign, including a [[derp|caster item no-one in the group can use]] and even a freaking [[awesome|gyrocopter]]!, if you play [[Thorek Ironbrow]]s quest battle, he is the wazzock you smack around when hunting the big one.

===Heroes===
*'''[[Empire Captain]]:''' Your generic melee hero, and honestly he is probably the worst one in that category. No AP, anti large or infantry, no special support abilities or powers, just a dude with a sword who can't really do anything against most dedicated combat character. His pegasus makes him mobile, letting him kite around the battlefield like a human missile. He's a decent mage hunter, but if you expect him to do anything other than that in multiplayer, prepare to be disappointed. Empire Captains just aren't as strong or resilient as the melee champions of other races. In campaign, a level 40 Empire Captain is a tank and should be used as such. He'll also do a lot better with a Runefang than either a Huntsmen-General or an Arch Lector, so if you appoint either as Elector Counts you should bring a captain to use the sword.
*'''[[Witch Hunter]]:''' Your designated assassin. Has decent melee capabilities, but his main use is his armor piercing pistol which, although short range, packs a hell of a punch. Comes equipped with the Accusation ability, wherein he points at an enemy and yells at it, lowering melee defense, armor, and missile resistance. Works well in conjunction with other ranged units for when you really want one specific unit to get obliterated. His short range and lack of any kind of mount really holds him back, especially against swifter foes.
*'''[[Warrior Priest]]:''' An excellent support hero, his buffs will make every unit around him temporarily win at combat no matter who they're fighting despite the fact your lines were supposed to be one of the weakest infantry in-game. In fact buffing infantry is the most effective use for him since their staying power allows them to make the most of his buffs.
*'''[[Warhammer_Magic#Classic_Lores|Wizards]]:''' One of the strengths of The Empire is that it has a Wizard for every occasion, bar partying with Gelt.
**'''Amber Wizard:''' Unique among Empire wizards, he has access to a griffon mount. Makes your stuff better at fighting and can summon a Feral Manticore for more aerial gooning. Don't rely on him for direct-damage; those spells are unreliable at best and you'll be better off going for a different lore of magic for that.
**'''Amethyst Wizard:''' Specializes for sniping single entities and units with small unit sizes. Aim for high value targets with lots of armor/physical resistance.
**'''Jade Wizard:''' The Hippy is the team medic, Very valuable in any list <s>that has Griffons</s> that has a high value unit or two.
**'''Grey Wizard:''' Specializes in debuffing enemies and occasionally reaping clumps of enemies. The more he casts, the faster your units become.
**'''Bright Wizard:''' A DPS caster that devastates Flammable (almost anything with regen or treekin) units in addition to boosting the damage output of your own.
**'''Celestial Wizard:''' A good, all-around lore. Lots of damage spells with a handful of buff/debuff spells.
**'''Light Wizard:''' Strong lore, letting your units catch a running monster or halt a charge, and can make the difference between your infantry standing and breaking in an important protracted battle.

===Melee Units===
*'''[[Spearmen]]:''' Bare basic troops that have a charge bonus against cavalry. Cheapest of chaff but no shield. You'll see these guys alot in multiplayer, Empire tends to skimp on infantry so they can put more money into missiles/cavalry/artillery.
*'''Spearmen (Shield):''' Spearmen but with better defensive stats and an ability to tank arrows while costing a teeny bit more. Unless a chaos host will be hitting your bare-bones settlement in 2 turns and it's the only thing you can recruit locally, always get Spearmen with Shields.
**'''Eldred's Guard''' (Spearmen)(ECST) In the campaign they are spearmen with expert charge defense and anti-large damage.
*'''[[Swordsmen]]:''' Your very basic melee infantry and the epitome of average. Doesn't do well against all but the weakest of enemy fighters (Think Skavenslaves, Peasants, Zombies) and will get positively obliterated by most of the baseline troops of the WH2 factions. That being said, they work well enough for their cost and have decent morale.
**'''Sigmar's Sons''' (Swordsmen)(ROR): Unbreakable and better defensive states, making them better qualified to hold the line.
**'''Swords of Ulric''' (Swordsmen)(ECST) Swordsmen with frenzy and fear, making them better frontline damage dealers.
*'''[[Greatsword]]s:''' Your melee infantry elite. As usual, nothing all that groundbreaking and a bit frail. They were weak even in the first game and they have only gotten worse as better elite infantry arrived in later games. They have poor stats compared to other elite units and they are overpriced, a trap unit. They don’t kill well, they die easily, and they cost too much. 
**'''Carroburg Greatswords''' (Greatswords)(ECST): Unbreakable Greatswords that deal magic damage, as well as an area buff increasing nearby units melee attack. Tend to get focused down a lot by the AI. The aura means bringing one of these to support your frontline is a good investment. 
*'''[[Halberdier]]s''': Available fairly early on and a really good option for your frontline. Halberdiers make Bretonnians and Dragon Prince's cry, they are a very cost-effective counter against all matter of heavy cavalry that gets thrown their way. They share the same boons of Greatswords: Armour-Piercing, good model count, decent morale. Granted only 40 armor and no shield means that if the enemy has any kind of missile unit, these guys are going to say hello to Morr very quickly. Your best frontline option if you don’t need shields.
**'''Nordland Mariners''' (Halberdiers)(ECST): The marines negate charge bonus from anything they brace against. They're also aquatic, making them good in fighting in maps with a lot of water like in lustria or on the high sea. They have also have perfect vigor while above 50% health so they can handle long melee grinds better, a straight upgrade to halberders.
*'''[[Flagellant]]s (DLC):''' Your most cost-effective tarpit. While being ''extremely'' fragile, they tie down enemy units, especially those without bonuses against infantry very effectively. Generally speaking, they work better in MP than on the campaign, where Suicide units are not worth it. Combined with an Arch-Lector or Volkmar leading your army (especially the latter, who buffs their Physical Resist up to 33%), they turn into shockingly vicious chaff killers with Bretonnian levels of charge bonus and 50% Missile resist.
**'''The Tattersouls''' (Flagellants)(ROR): Even better at tying down enemy units, having both more health and bigger unit.

===Missile Infantry===
*'''[[Free Company Militia]] (DLC):''' These guys are a very good flanking and dual-purpose unit. They have no AP or much range but they make up for it by being able to fire while moving forward and being somewhat decent in melee for missile standards. This means they can defend themselves against hounds and be able to wrap around the flank, fire into the side or back, and charge if they run out of ammo. All in all a solid unit if used well. In campaigns their versatility makes the auto-resolve AI think they're far more powerful than they actually are.
**'''Stirland's Revenge''' (Free Company Militia)(ROR): come with Stalk and Immune to psychology, along with an ok amount of AP missile damage makes them fill a better ambusher role.
*'''[[Crossbowmen]]:''' your reliable shooting unit, a long-range of 160 and shots will arc over your units. Easy to use and cost-effective if facing enemies with low armor.
**'''Stir River Patrol''' (Crossbowmen)(ECST) Vanguard crossbowmen with fire damage and slowing attacks. Excellent when fighting undead and chaos monsters, dealing big damage while giving dedicated monster slayers an opportunity to catch them.
*'''[[Handgunner]]s:''' There's a reason why the Empire's described as being built on Faith, Steel, and [[Gunpowder (Warhammer Fantasy)|Gunpowder]]. While you do need micro to be effective due to their LOS firing arcs and you usually have to babysit them, Handgunners are a key part of an Empire Army as soon as they're available. These guys are excellent at melting away heavy infantry formations, and there are few things more satisfying than seeing lines of guns mow down a group of chosen. Yeah, selling your soul to the asshole gods was a great choice schmuckos!
**'''The Silver Bullets''' (Handgunners)(ROR): Handgunners with magic guns. Specialize in picking off high-value targets that rely on Physical Resistance for defense.
**'''Gunderson's Surefires''' (Handgunners)(ECST): Essentially free company who traded their pistols for full-sized handguns. They can't fire while moving, but they can vanguard deploy and do well enough in melee.
*'''[[Archer]]s (DLC):''' With a pitiful 120 range and better options on the table, the main advantage these guys have is that they're cheap as dirt and can be recruited at tier 1. Choice #1 if you want to save money and force your opponent to fight in the rain. You will get better results from other options, which have AP or move faster, but quantity has a quality all its own.
**'''Deathjacks''' (Archers)(ROR): What other archers wished they could be. They are set apart by having the powerful combo of Stalk, Snipe, and vanguard deployment, letting them be the ultimate skirmishers, constantly lowering the health of units while the opponent is not looking.
*'''[[Huntsmen]] (DLC):''' Human waywatchers only they swapped out AP for Anti Large. These guys are great at killing low armor monsters and cav and their ability to vanguard and fire while moving makes them ungodly annoying for any army that can't catch them. You're wasting shots if you put them into infantry and don't expect much against super heavily armored monsters, but they can be a pretty useful unit against the right factions.
**'''White Wolves''' (Huntsmen)(ROR): Huntsmen that don't imminently crumble when charged by light skirmishers. Your asking if your going to pay extra so a unit of Huntsmen don't immediately high tale it and probably stop participating in the battle when a unit of hounds bites them.

===Cavalry===
*'''[[Empire Knight]]s:''' Knights were decent when the first game came out, but now they are mediocre at best. Too weak and fragile to standout and outclassed by demigryphs and reiksguard. They are fairly obsolete after the early game and haven’t held up well at all. Maybe you can get some value from the special versions but basic knights aren’t really worth using in campaign.
**'''[[Knights of the Everlasting Light]]'''(Empire Knights)(ECST): Bog-standard Knights with Magic Attacks. Counters Ethereal units and Daemons and provide a melee attack debuff to enemies. 
**'''[[Knights of Morr]]'''(Empire Knights)(ECST): Knights that cause Fear and Terror. Will chase way anything that isn't fearless or unbreakable. Crap. 
**'''[[Stubborn Bulls]]'''(Empire Knights)(ECST): Empire Questing knights with greatswords instead of lances. High AP cavalry, they are mediocre substitute for Demigryph Knights. The downside is you have to hold the Elector Countship of Ostland, which leaves you exposed to Norscans, Skaven, and Chaos invasions.
*'''[[Reiksguard]]:''' Upgraded Knights, same strengths, same weaknesses. If you're playing MP, take normal Knights, they do the same job for cheaper.
**'''Zintler's Reiksguard'''(Reiksguard) (ROR): Has Vanguard and Immune to Psychology. Gives a little more utility than Reiksguard.
*'''[[Knights of the Blazing Sun]]''' (DLC): Bog-standard Knights with Fire Attacks and Higher DPS values. That's all that is to them. Counters Regenerating units like many undead, tree people, and trolls. Overpriced unless you have their unique building.

===Missile Cavalry===
*'''[[Outrider]]s:''' Outriders rank amongst the best skirmish units in the game, period. Their repeater rifles deliver a tremendous amount of firepower at a decent range and they are very quick on their feet (or rather, hooves). This comes at the relative downsight that, unlike Pistoliers, they cannot fire on the move or in all 360 degrees around them, making good micro a necessity. If you want to have a reference point in how to use them to their best, try playing around with Dragoons in Total War: Empire.
*'''Outriders (Grenade Launcher):''' Screw Elven missile cav, Rotting Promethean Gunners or Norscan Missile cav, ''these'' are the definitive champions of the missile cav game and the best unit across all factions in that category. Grenade Launcher Outriders outright delete high model, low armor infantry and rack up a substantial amount of kills very quickly. Unlike other gunpowder units they can fire over obstacles. Their mobility, firepower, and high price makes them prime targets so keep them safe from missile units and skirmishers like warhounds with enough movement speed to run them down. 
**'''The Bordermen''' (Outriders (Grenade Launchers))(ECST): Now with higher ratio of AP damage, letting them deal significantly more damage to high armor enemies.
*'''[[Pistolier]]s:''' If Outriders are your walking gunline, Pistoliers are your dedicated harassers. Fire on the move makes chases go very one-sided, which is their only real boon, apart from being cheap. Their missiles are fairly weak, don't pierce armour and even their ammo count isn't anything that spectacular. 
**'''The Noble Sons Abroad''' (Pistoliers)(ECST): Pistoliers with better melee skills and armour. They hit almost as hard as knights on the charge, but without as much AP damage.

===Monster Cavalry===
*'''[[Demigryph Knight|Demigryph Knights]]:''' Versatile monstrous shock cavalry with better survivability than normal cavalry and good armor-piercing damage. However, they are a fairly small and expensive unit that needs to be used carefully when facing factions with AP sniper fire or their own fast, anti-large units. Compares favorably to most heavy cav + monstrous cav with the exceptions of Brettonia's perfect vigor grail knights and the ogres with their even more monstrous mournfang + crusher cavalry.
*'''Demigryph Knights (Halberds):''' Slightly more expensive demigryphs with better anti-large and armor piercing. Better against elite infantry, cavalry, and monsters and generally taken over vanilla demigryphs.
**'''The Royal Altdorf Gryphites (Demigryph Knights)(ROR):''' A step up with better melee defense and terror to rout cavalry that aren't immune to psychology.

===Chariots===
*'''[[War Wagon]] (DLC):''' These things used to be a meme unit, though with the buffs they got I suppose you could make an argument for them. AP shots are nice and the additional tankiness can help them get out of some sticky situations. Plus they can function as chariots even without the AP in melee and the guys on the back can fire while in combat, so that's nice. Outriders will be better in 90% of situations, but honestly, they aren't ''absolutely'' useless.
: They do beat pistoliers and Outriders when it comes to being harassed. High armor and you loss out on potential firepower when all the unused ammunition dies with the models, so War Wagon gives you more shooting for your buck with each wagon taking a lot of punishment before one model is lost compared to how much ammunition is lost when a cavalry unit reaches that same health margin.
*'''War Wagon (Mortar) (DLC):''' Ok, so ''this'' is a meme unit. The extra mobility doesn't make up for the missing ammo and without the guns, to fire they are a hell of a lot worse in melee. Just take normal mortars, they'll do so much better and if you plop a spear unit by them they'll be defended just fine. (still, those Results can be pending) - Changes have been made to the Mortar Wagons, now not suffering from the range, damage, and ammo nerfs this unit previously had. They're still more expensive than regular mortars, so their usefulness is still dubious, although interestingly Mortar Wagons can hide in trees, if you want to conceal your artillery's position up until the last moment.
**'''The Black Lions (War Wagon):''' (ROR) Carries Helblaster Volley Guns and sometimes can shoot over infantry. As with mortar war wagons, it's better to just take the regular artillery. They might be a lot more useful in the campaign due to their instant veterancy. Slightly more useful than the above Wagon's due to it allowing you to get better Helblaster angles.

===Artillery===
*'''[[Mortar]]:''' The first artillery unit you have access to, Mortars are very powerful against blobs of lightly-armored infantry. Their slow and indirect fire means positioning the mortar is less important than ensuring they have as much time as possible to drop explosives on the enemy. While they can be effective against archers, they are very weak to direct attacks and should be kept as far back as possible. They are also fairly inaccurate; don't expect any precision, and keep them from targeting units locked in close combat with yours unless you are targeting the ground or the enemy has blobbed up a lot against a thin line of your own troops. Their best niche is probably in siege battles; lots of enemy units clustered on walls and behind gates are easy kills for them.
**'''Sootson's Guns''' (Mortar)(ECST): Deals magic damage and does not cause friendly fire, making it perfectly safe to shoot at your own units. If you can recruit more of them, and you have not yet unlocked Helstorm Rocket Batteries or want to save money, do so. They are straight-up better than standard mortars. 
*'''[[Great Cannon]]:''' Good Ol' Reliable. Will blast holes in most things it hits, thanks to its high AP damage, but it can really only hit things bigger than a house. As is traditional for Total War, you can manually aim and fire the cannon to better aim your shots. Given the nature of its cannonballs, it is surprisingly powerful when fired into the flank of enemy formations, but very inefficient if they're coming straight at the cannon. Surprisingly, they shine best in sieges, able to blast enemy towers, gates, and walls into rubble far faster than mortars. You're not going to get very many of these unless you're planning to do a lot of sieges with that army or planning to fight big, slow monsters like Dread Saurians. Vargheists and Varghulfs, while theoretically good targets, are fast enough to dodge the cannon shots and close in to kill the crew.
**'''Hammer of the Witches''' (Great Cannon)(ROR): Magic cannons that deal 100 more damage per shot. Great when facing elite units with high amounts of physical resistance or ward save.
*'''[[Helblaster Volley Gun]]:''' Fairly good in the hands of a veteran player. These are basically Gatling guns, mowing down infantry and nearly impossible for monsters and cavalry to dodge, unlike cannons. However, good positioning is needed to use them to full effect, and compared to Dwarf [[Organ Gun|Organ Guns]] they have shorter range, lower AP damage, and a slightly lower rate of fire. Get the Black Lions if you can, as their mobility really helps make the best of the Helblaster.
*'''[[Helstorm Rocket Battery]]:''' The cheese stick of the Empire on the campaign map. Given how fragile your melee line is to getting bogged down by at least decent enemy fighters like Night Goblins or Skeleton Warriors, Helstorms are your answer to massive big blobs of chaff. Sporting a ludicrous range combined with nine rockets per salvo ''per piece'' makes them perfect for thinning out hordes of Greenskins, Skaven and Undead. It has got two problems though: Its accuracy is more of a lucky guess at range, where the Helstorm follows the philosophy of "if i throw enough bombs at my enemy, one will hit them", the second and far worse one is that its damage against armoured elite infantry like Chaos Warriors or Swordmasters is subpar at best.
**'''The Sunmaker''' (Helstorm Rocket Battery) (ROR) Trades lower ammunition for significantly more Fire damage. Basically a Cruise Missile that makes Skaven think twice if they should invest in Infantry.
*'''[[Luminark of Hysh]]:''' A Giant's worst nightmare, the Luminark of Hysh deals the most damage of any artillery in Total Warhammer 1. Very accurate, on par with an Amber Spear and with very mild tracking effects, but specialized for targeting single entities. These are great for sniping high-value enemy units, like Lords, Heroes, and Dragons, especially if you can pin them down in some way. The bigger the target, the easier it is to hit with the Luminark. They also have a map-wide debuff that saps their enemy's ability to recharge their Winds of Magic and give your backline an impressive 12% ward save (resistance to physical and magical damage). However, they are near useless in melee, despite being powered by a Light wizard, and cost a lot. Look after them.
**'''Templehof Luminark''' (Luminark of Hysh)(ROR): Can cast Net of Amyntok to stop any unit within range, making it an easy target.
*'''[[Steam Tank]]:''' A heavily-armored, Unbreakable vehicle with a bow-mounted cannon and a turret-mounted steam gun for 360-degree counterattacking capability. As the cannon is mounted in an armored housing, it cannot be angled to target targets below the tank, so make sure that you place the tank on the downhill slope if you put it on high ground. The steam gun itself is fairly weak but has unlimited ammo, making it useful against blobs of low-to-medium tier infantry. The tank also has melee capabilities and a good charge, so it isn't entirely useless even after it runs out of ammunition.
**'''The Emperor's Wrath''' (Steam Tank)(ECST): Has the ability to vent hot steam, preventing enemy units from engaging it for a short time and dealing a decent leadership debuff. It explodes when destroyed, taking out a chunk of whatever was attacking it.