Overview
You will need Units to make up your army. Your Units will stay in your Castle (or its Catacombs), from where you can send them out on missions around Stormfall to engage with Balur's armies or the armies of other players. All Units have a series of statistics, including:
- Cost: The amount of Resources spent to train this Unit
- Carrying Capacity: The amount of Resources the Unit can steal on Raids or collect from Hamlets
- Speed: The speed at which this Unit travels on the Map
- Production time: The amount of time required to produce each Unit
- Offense: A measurement of the Unit's attacking power
- Defense: A measurement of the Unit's defensive power, broken down by Type of enemy Unit
- Food Consumption: The amount of Food required to maintain this Unit every hour
Lost Arts
Unit statistics are also affected by each Unit's relevant Lost Art. Upgrade the relevant Lost Art to improve your Units and increase their effectiveness.
Unit Groupings
There are several factors that characterize a Unit.
1. Designation
Units are designated as Offensive, Defensive, or Spying.
2. Types
There are 4 primary Types of Units:
- Infantry
- Cavalry
- Occult
- Bestiary
Other Types of Units include:
- Sorcery: single-use Units that have only Offensive Statistics
- Legendary Units: these Units receive a Bonus to their primary Combat Statistic from certain Units that accompany them into battle
3. Versions
There are often multiple Versions of a Unit.
- Regular Units are the standard Version of the Unit
- Imperial Units have the same statistics as their Regular counterparts. They cost Sapphires to train, but otherwise, fewer Resources
- Eldritch Units have lower Food consumption than their Regular counterparts. Their combat statistics are also altered. They can only be purchased at the Bank or won as Rewards, and cannot be trained
- Dark Units are Regular Units that have been Darkened at Beacons. This improves their statistics, making them overall stronger warriors. Dark Units also consume less food per hour than their regular counterparts
Note that not all Units have all the above-listed Versions.
4. Orders
All Versions of a Unit - Regular, Imperial, Dark, and Eldritch - are grouped together to form an Order. For example, Necromancer, Imperial Necromancer, Dark Necromancer, and Eldritch Necromancer Units all belong to one Order.
There are several Orders of Units within each Type. For example, Archers, Pikemen and Dwarves are three different Orders of Infantry Type Units.
5. Rank
Most Orders have Ranks. You can increase their Rank by earning Unit XP for that Unit Order in battle. You may also need to fulfill other requirements to increase a Unit Order's Rank. With every Rank increase, you can increase a statistic of your choice for the Order. For more information, see the sections on Unit XP and Unit Rank.
Acquiring Units
Unlocking Units
To be able to train a Unit, you must first unlock it by discovering the relevant Lost Art. For example, to train Archers, you must have discovered the "Composite Bow" Lost Art. For more information on Lost Arts, see this article.
Note: Lost Arts allow you to train only the Regular and Imperial versions of any given Order.
Training Units
Once you have unlocked a Unit, you may train that Unit at the relevant Military Building in your Castle (the Sentry House for Infantry Type Units, the Union of Knights for Cavalry, the Hall of Shadows for Bestiary type Units, and the Council of Mages for Occult Type Units). If you have not yet built the Building, you must do so by selecting it in the Construction menu. Regular Units will cost you Resources to train. Usually, the required Resources are Gold, Iron, and Food, but Maranian Amulets are also needed to train Vampires. The Imperial counterparts of Regular Units will cost you only half of that value in primary Resources but will also require Sapphires.
Units take time to train. Unit Training Time can be decreased, for example, with certain Relics, by applying Skull Runes at the Obelisk of Power, by activating certain Dragon Arts, and more. You can also boost individual training processes with Sapphires or by applying Boost items.
Purchasing Units
Units can also be purchased from the Black Market. This is useful if you do not have the time or the Resources required to train them. Some Units cannot be trained and can only be won as Rewards, acquired at the Black Market, or purchased as part of packs at the Bank – for example, Legendary Units.
Some Units may also be included in special promotional offers at the Bank.
Winning Units
There are a variety of in-game events and tasks that can earn you Units as prizes or rewards, including but not limited to:
- Tournaments
- Tutorial, Time-Sensitive, and Recommended Quests
- League Quests
- Completing Battlegrounds
- Saga Quests
- Daily Loyalty Roll
Improving Units
There are many ways to strengthen your Units or otherwise improve them.
- Crystals: Crystals can be collected, combined, and applied at the Sanctum of Shards. When activated, they will grant an offensive or defensive bonus to a certain Type of Unit
- Equipment: Every piece of Equipment your Hero equips grants an offensive or defensive bonus to one or more Types of Unit
- Hero Abilities: Many of the Hero Abilities, when unlocked, grant an offensive or defensive bonus to one or more Types of Unit
- Lost Arts: Upgrading the Lost Art that you discovered to unlock a Unit will also increase its combat statistics
- Items: Items can be acquired at the Black Market that temporarily boost your army's Offense and/or Defense statistics
- Relics: Relics can be recovered from Shrines or battles, and when activated at the Temple of War, will power up certain Orders or Types of Units.
- Darkening: If your League holds Beacons, you may be able to Darken your Units with Essence. Darkening turns Regular Units into their Dark Versions, and improves their statistics significantly
- Dragon Arts: By activating certain Dragon Arts, you can temporarily boost the Offense and/or Defense statistics of one or more Types of Unit
- Paragon Status: By activating your Paragon Status, you can temporarily boost your army's Offense and Defense statistics
- League Fortress: If you have discovered the relevant League Knowledge, your League Fortress can boost the Offense and/or Defense statistics of one or more Types of Unit
- League Buffs and Debuffs: At the end of a Capture the Flag Tournament, your League may be assigned Buffs that boost your army's Offense and Defense statistics. However, rival Leagues may assign Debuffs that reduce your Units' Offense and Defense statistics.
- More
Unit XP
Most Units earn Unit XP (Experience Points) for participating in Battles. Unit XP counts towards increasing the Rank of those Units, allowing you to improve their statistics. Not all Units earn XP: Units that do not earn Unit XP include Spying Units, Legendary Units, Castle Guards, and Wraiths.
Units earn XP individually, but it is counted towards to the Unit XP total for their Orders. If you send Archers and Imperial Archers to battle, both Unit Versions will earn XP for the "Archer" Order. Once an Order has collected enough Unit XP, and you have met other requirements, it can be upgraded to a higher Rank, providing you with the opportunity to improve its statistics.
Please note that you will not be able to earn Unit XP from Battles at Beacons while the Beacon Massacre Event is live.
Unit XP from a battle is distributed among Units proportionally based on how much of your army's offensive or defensive strength came from that Unit. The XP earned by each Unit is then added to the XP total for that Unit's Order.
Upgrading the Unit Training Buildings in your Castle can increase the amount of Unit XP that Units of that Type earn in battle (for example, upgrading the Sentry House will grant a bonus to Unit XP gained by Infantry Units). You can also purchase Unit XP Booster Items from the Black Market.
Unit Ranks
Upgrading your Unit Orders to higher Ranks allows you to increase their statistics.
Upgrade Requirements
Unit XP, which is earned by your Units for participating in battles, is required to upgrade your Unit Orders to higher Ranks. In addition to collecting the required amount of Unit XP for the Order you wish to upgrade, you may also need to:
- Upgrade certain Buildings to the required Level
- Upgrade certain Lost Arts to the required Level
- Acquire enough Medals
Medals can be earned by reaching new Levels or purchased from the Black Market ("Resource" tab).
If you earn enough XP to upgrade your Units but haven't met the other requirements, don't worry: you can continue to earn Unit XP for that Order of Units.
Stat Points
When you Upgrade a Unit Order to the next Rank, you will receive Stat Points.
Stat Points can be assigned to Unit Orders to increase the following Unit Statistics:
- Unit Offense or Defense (depending on the Unit's Designation)
- Movement Speed
- Carrying Capacity
Each Stat Point assigned grants a 1% increase to the statistic of your choice. This bonus applies to ALL Units in that Order that you currently have, as well as any that you acquire in the future.
You can reassign Stat Points at any time using a "Stat Point Redistributor" Item.
Reviving Units
Units that were lost in battle can often be Revived if you act within seven days of their loss. Revival is cheaper than training new Units, and it is instant – saving you time.
Infirmary
Once you have built the Infirmary in your Castle, you will be able to revive some of the Units lost while defending your Castle for free. Upgrading the Infirmary to higher levels will allow you to revive a greater percentage of your Units.
Healer
The Healer, which can be accessed from the Infirmary building or through the Black Market interface, allows you to revive 70% of all Units lost in battle – regardless of where the battle took place. Reviving Units at the Healer costs Sapphires.
Special Units
Wraiths
Wraiths are multi-purpose undead Infantry Units. They are equally well-suited for both Offensive and Defensive roles, do not consume Food for their maintenance and can carry a large load of Resources during Raids. If a Wraith is defeated, you can revive it as soon as you have new Souls at your Crypt. You can maintain up to 50 Wraiths simultaneously.
One Soul is needed to summon each Wraith. Every day, the Vessel of Souls at your Crypt is automatically replenished with more Souls, and you can increase the amount of Souls by purchasing Sarcophagi and placing them in your Castle. Each Sarcophagus grants you one additional Soul replenished daily. In addition, each of your Friends can create an additional Wraith for you once a day by clicking your Crypt.
When sent to a Castle as Reinforcements, no more than 2,000 Wraiths will fight for its defense, even if more are present there. Wraith losses in a defensive battle are spread proportionally across all the players whose Wraiths took part in the battle.
Legendary Units
Legendary Units receive boosts to their combat statistics when they are accompanied into battle by certain Supporting Units. Legendary Units each have a Type and Designation, which defines which Units they can be supported by. For example, the Archangel can be boosted by up to 25 Defensive Bestiary Units.
Legendary Units cannot be trained. They can be acquired in the following ways:
- By purchasing them from the Black Market or the Bank (as part of packs)
- As a Reward for completing Quests or participating in Events
Sorcery
The Wrath of Weor can be acquired from the Black Market under the "Offensive" Unit tab. While it is not strictly speaking a Unit, it behaves like one in that it can be sent to an enemy location. This special Item is completely undetectable (your target will not be notified of an incoming attack) and will reach its target within 3 minutes, regardless of how far away it is. It is single-use, meaning that each Wrath of Weor can only be used once. You can send several Wrath of Weor Items together. However, you cannot send them alongside regular Units. You may only send 10 Wrath of Weor attacks per day.
Castle Guards
Castle Guards are specialized Defensive Units that participate in battles at your Castle but cannot be sent to battles at other locations. You can acquire Castle Guards - usually only with Sapphires - from the Construction Menu, Improvements tab.
Castle Guards can be repaired for free after they are defeated in battle. Doing this yourself takes time, although they can be repaired instantly by your Friends in the game.
Vampires
Vampire Units are non-traditional units. Some possess special abilities, such as above-average speed or the ability to destroy enemy Spying Units.
Vampires are Special Units divided into Offensive, Defensive, and Spying Designations and further into Infantry, Cavalry, Occult, and Bestiary Unit Types.
Vampires can be acquired with Maranian Amulets from your Unit Training Buildings, for Sapphires at the Black Market, or purchased as part of packs at the Bank.