Welcome to the guide! Now if you have already read my guide about the racial units the first thing you may notice is that I didn´t rank the class units like I did in the racial series. My main reason is that class units often work completly different, don´t have a direct counterpart and are great in their own class-specific role. In many situation such a comparison would be unfair in my opinion, so I don´t plan on doing a comparison of these units any time soon. I hope you do enjoy the guide since it took a lot of time, work and effort to create this guide. Without any further ado - let´s get into it!

The Archdruid is a class that is centered around nature, as the name suggest. You gain access to powerful summoning spells on par if not superior to those of the sorcerer, although the outcome of each spell has a certain randomness to it. You require a good mana income in order to get as many animals as you can and rank up those that can evolve into a stronger tier 3 or tier 4 unit. This is a somewhat unique thing of the Archdruid: Their ability to get their hands on tier 3 and tier 4 units much earlier than other classes can and that without spending a lot of gold. You can make all your animals immune to converting by researching the “beast mastery" empire upgrade and can reduce the upkeep cost of animals and monsters by 25% with “wildlife refuge”.
Another strong point of the Archdruid are his archers, which they can give several useful upgrades, those being “long strider”, “favored enemy” and “hunter’s finesse”. “Long strider” increases the movement of archers and support units by 8, “hunter’s finesse” gives archers “razor projectiles” and “favorite enemy” turns archers and support units into monster, dragon and giant slayers. All those upgrades combined turn your racial archers into a huge threat and make them viable until the very end of a match. The Hunter offers you a solid, multi-hit archer that has the potential to completely replace your racial archers if you so choose.
As an Archdruid you have access to a lot of units that can swim, giving you an edge in early-/mid-game naval battles. “Befriend animal” is another very useful ability some Archdruid units have, which allows you to easily convert hostile animals to your side, unless they already belong to another Archdruid that researched “beast mastery”. That’s a useful thing to keep in mind when facing eldritch pits and monster dens, which can be used to farm high tier animals in the mid- and end-game. Compared with other classes, the Archdruid is pretty powerful in the early- and mid-game, while they struggle in the end-game when facing classes like the Warlord or Dreadnought.

This spell is incredible useful in the early- and mid-game, since you (with a bit of luck) can get your hands on tier 1 animals that can be evolved into a much more powerful unit. This does require you to play a bit more careful with them, since you don´t want them to get obliterated by some random crit or getting slaughtered by powerful melee units. Good summons are any type of baby snake and baby spider, since those are the tier 1 animals that can be evolved. Dire Penguins, Tigers and Wargs make for decent scouts and throwaway units, at least.


I like to use the Baby Shock Serpent as a prime example: It starts as a rather weak and vulnerable
tier 1 animal but can be evolved a whopping two times, each one making it much more powerful. The Mature Shock Serpent gains the ability to stun an enemy unit, while it is strong enough to tank hits from your average tier 1 and tier 2 unit. Once you level them up again, you are in for the real treat: The King Shock Serpent is among the most powerful tier 4 units in the game, since it can stun enemies both when attacking and when defending.
The spiders are already useful in their baby state, as they have the ability to web an enemy unit. That makes it far easier to level up the snakes and spiders. Regarding spiders, the Dread Spider Queen is the best long-term as she gets “fear strike” on gold - short-term it’s the Vampire Spider Queen with “life steal”. Hunter Spider Queens with their “phase” aren´t that good in comparison, but in return have that same ability in their baby state already.
For any of this to work you need to play your cards right and strike when it’s safe and rewarding. That takes quite some practice, which makes the early-game of an archdruid rather difficult for new people. Alternatively, you can always use these wild animals as throwaway units to preserve your more expensive units.

Stats: 35 💗
32 👢
9👅
9 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 7 physical damage
Ranged Attack: (3x) 8 physical damage
Unit cost: 68-88 gold (4 upkeep)
Unit type: Archer
Notable abilities: “Swimming” and “animal slayer”.
Notable characteristics: High movement.

Apart from the actual animals the trademark unit of the Archdruid. Depending on your strategy the Hunter might actually become the backbone of your armies. Thanks to their increased mobility and “swimming” they make for a great replacement for weak racial archers, while they can traverse most types of difficult terrain with ease. “Animal Slayer” only comes into play against other Archdruids or roaming independents but is useful nonetheless.
At gold rank most Hunters get “martial arts”, which allows them to back off from engaging enemies without receiving a lot of damage in return - that can also be used to finish them off if their HP is low enough or to get rid of their action points. Iguana-on-a-stick is the one that pointed that out in the first place.
Regarding empire upgrades, Hunters profit from “hunter’s finesse”, “favored enemy” and “long strider” (which gives hunters a whopping 40 movement). Since he carries a longbow the High Elf Hunter is clearly the best tier 1 archer in the game, followed by the Tigran Hunter (as they keep the “throw blades” of the Shredder). Human Hunter have “throw net”, which might come in handy to overwhelm powerful melee units before they can do damage.

In the end, it depends on personal preference if you rather want to keep special abilities of your racial archers or want a more conventional unit. Tigran, high elf and human players should completely replace their racial archers with Hunters, as they are a straight upgrade from their racial counterpart.

Although it comes after “summon wild animal” it isn´t necessarily better than it. Reason being that none of the summons of this spell can evolve into a tougher unit. With 70 mana and casting points they are also more expensive than Wild Animals with their 40 mana and casting points. On the other hand, Eldritch Animals do have better stats and some special abilities speaking for them. Despite their slightly higher price, people that use their Wild Animals as mere cannon fodder might prefer these stronger base summons.
Similar to the other Archdruid summoning spells you have to deal with summons of varying quality.

Dire Bears with their gold-rank “fear strike” are the best of the bunch, while Polar Bears can swim and Mammoths and Elephants have “devastating charge”. Blight Tusk Boars, Bleak Wargs and Dire Panthers aren´t that great. Gryphons, on the other hand, make for fantastic scouts and give you access to an airforce. Due to the lack of evolving summons I use this spell pretty rarely.

Stats: 60 💗
30 👢
11👅
12 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 8 physical damage
Ranged Attack: (3x) 8 poison damage, varies depending race
Unit cost: 126-150 gold (16 upkeep) and 36-40 mana
Unit type: Support Unit
Notable abilities: “Entangling touch”, “befriend animal” and gold-rank “healing”.
Notable characteristics: Useful addition to your army, which grants you access to poison damage.

Being your first high tier class unit, Shamans play an important role in your overall strategy. They are pretty expensive but have a ton of abilities you can use to your advantage. “Befriend animal” is the most striking one, as it allows you to mass-convert hostile animals with a group of Shamans. “Entangling touch” is useful to remove an enemy from combat, which in turn allows your snakes and spiders to go in for the kill. Most Shamans use “poison bolts”, which gives you access to blight damage.
At gold Shamans receive the “healing” ability, which is always very useful and thanks to their “mind control immunity” they are also immune to converting. Due to their “free movement” they can traverse various types of terrain on the strategic map and can swim across water like your Hunters. Like Hunters, Shamans profit from “favored enemy” and “long strider” - which further increase their usefulness in combat.
The race of the Shaman has a significant impact on their abilities and overall usefulness. The tigrans have the best Shaman as they can transform into a freaking bear! I already love the Mystic for her “were panther” and this is a straight upgrade from that in most situations. Be aware that the Tigran Shaman does need 3 action points to transform himself into a Were Bear. Orcs have surprisingly good Shamans as well, since their “bane fire” deals a lot more damage than mere poison bolts. The High Elf Shaman has “total awareness”, while the Frostling Shaman has frost bolts instead of poison bolts. The Draconian Shaman comes with fire bolts while also keeping his poison bolts.
Shamans aren´t really a replacement for a racial unit type - they are meant as an addition to your armies. The access to poison damage really helps out non-goblin players, while the ability to convert animals and healing your troops (at gold rank) is always useful.

Arguably the most powerful summoning spell the Archdruid has, which is a lot stronger than the previous two summoning spells. “Summon Gargantuan Animal” is rather expensive with 160 mana and casting points but gives you almost a guaranteed good summon in return. If you are very lucky you might end up summoning King Shock and King Reed Serpents, although their adult versions and spider queens are pretty good as well - the only bad one is the Cockatrice, but they get summoned very rarely.
Being able to summon a very powerful tier 3 or tier 4 unit out of thin air is a fantastic ability only the Archdruid and the Sorcerer have. While Sorcerer summons are a lot more consistent the Archdruid has unit diversity speaking for them, as they can create armies consisting of different types of animals.
Not only allows this spell to catch your enemy flat footed, but it also makes you a lot less reliant on supply lines - you don´t need to hold your advance because you lost some units - you just replace them with powerful animal summons. In my opinion the best late-game summoning spell the Archdruid has.

Stats: 92 💗
36 👢
16👅
13 ✟
Spirit + Shock Immunity
Melee Attack: (3x) 20 physical damage, may entangle enemies
Call lightning: 18 shock damage, hits in a 1-hex radius, may stun enemies
Unit Type: Brawler
Notable abilities: “Entangling strike”, “call lightning” and “befriend animal”.
Notable characteristics: Less tanky tier 4 unit that in exchange has a ton of abilities.

The most expensive summoning spell (240 mana and casting points) the Archdruid has, which is also the only one that has a consistent summon. That summon being the Horned God, which is an awesome unit to have in any of your armies - they have a ton of active and passive abilities. His most striking ability is “entangling strike”, which has a chance to entangle an enemy whenever the Horned God hits them - and there is no unit that is completely immune to this effect!
His “call lighting” is pretty powerful as well, as it deals AoE shock damage and might even stun your opponents. Then there is “befriend animal” which adds some more utility to the Horned God. At gold rank the Horned God receives the “summon erymanthian boar” ability - he is the only unit in the entire game who can do that, apart from certain heroes. Frankly, its not as powerful as other summons - but it´s completely free and a perfect throwaway unit.
So far, we have been talking about the Horned God’s active abilities - he has a ton of passive ones as well. First off, they have “strong will” making them immune to spirit damage. They also come with shock immunity making them a hard target for sorcerers and elves. Their fire and poison weakness do make them less tanky than other tier 4 units. Other abilities include “swimming”, “night vision” and “wall crushing”.
Like with most tier 4 units more of an addition to your armies rather than a replacement. From personal experience I learned that it´s often better to summon Gargantuan Animals instead, who are a bit cheaper and occasionally even more powerful than Horned Gods. Regarding their abilities: “Befriend animal” should be covered by your Shamans, while “call lightning” can be learned by Archdruid heroes. That leaves “entangling strike”, which is just REALLY good - so throw in a Horned God for every 3-4 Gargantuan animals.

The Dreadnought is unique in the setting of AoW 3 being the only class in the game that makes use of modern weaponry like guns and artillery. With their focus on machinery and modern weapons Dreadnoughts can be considered the polar opposite of Archdruids, who focus on the forces of nature.
The trademark unit branch of the Dreadnought are their machines: Sturdy and able to deal a ton of damage, but in exchange are slow, expensive and difficult to repair. An important thing to take note is that machines (with their crew inside?) are immune to blight and spirit damage - which also means they can´t be converted or ghouled. Similar to a Warlord and Theocrat, gold will be your life essence as Dreadnought as you need it in large quantities in order to upgrade your cities to the point where they can produce machines really fast. Mana isn´t quite as important, although you need it in small quantities in order to build your machines and class structures inside your cities.
What can be described as the biggest weakness (not flaw!) of the Dreadnought is their early game, since they need quite a lot of time, money and production facilities in order to make use of their powerful class units. This makes the Dreadnought quite a difficult class for newcomers but incredible rewarding for experienced players.
As soon as your economy is established and you researched the necessary technology you become a huge threat to any of the other classes. In my opinion, the point where a Dreadnought becomes a huge pain is once they start producing their Cannons, which are a FANTASTIC replacement for the lackluster Trebuchets. Flame Tanks, Ironclads and Juggernauts follow, which (when used right) make the life of your enemies hell as you can just keep bombarding them from afar and wipe out entire armies in a few attacks.
With that said, the Engineer and Musketeer (both early-game units) are incredible useful throughout the entire game. You need Engineers to bring Cannons and Juggernauts to their full potential, while Musketeers are a fantastic infantry replacement if you go with a race that doesn´t have a good basic infantry unit - and if they do, a Musketeer with his hybrid melee/ranged combat is still a great addition to your armies.
Another nice thing about the Dreadnought are their empire upgrades, as most of them improve ALL armored unit - not just machines. That’s actually a huge deal for humans, orcs and dwarves, as most of their units are armored and have quality melee units at the same time. This is another minor weakness of the Dreadnought: A lack of quality class melee units. They do have Golems (a mid-game melee machine unit), but they are among the worst units the Dreadnought can field.
Compared with other classes, the Dreadnought is rather hard to play with his slow economy in the early game, sometimes even mid-game. At the end of a match you will have so much production and gold that you can just SWARM your enemies with your machines and racial units - outproducing the other classes. In the end-game, sometimes even mid-game you can wipe the floor with most other classes if you done a good job building up your economy.
Classes like Necromancers, Rogues and Archdruids have a really hard time against a smart Dreadnought player. The Warlord fates much better against a Dreadnought, since their powerful melee units can overwhelm your screening force or just make a beeline to your machines. The one hard counter against a Dreadnought are Sorcerers, since their emphasize on shock damage tears apart your machines pretty easily - lower your reliance on machines a little bit and make use of the "force field" spell often.

Stats: 25 💗
28 👢
8👅
8 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 6 physical damage
Unit Type: Throwaway/Scout
Notable abilities: “Explosive Death”.
Notable characteristics: Perfect unit to suicide-run into enemy positions.


The only summoning spell you get as Dreadnought, unless you picked a master sphere. Spy Drones are mostly used for scouting (like the name suggest), but also work fantastic as a throwaway unit since it explodes on death. Spy Drones aren’t a high-quality scout with their rather slow movement, but make up for it by being incredibly cheap with only 30 casting points and mana to cast. Using them in large numbers in order to soften up an enemy position isn´t such a bad idea.

Stats: 32 💗
28 👢
10👅
8 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 6 physical damage
Fire blunderbuss: 8 physical and 8 fire damage, affects a small radius
Flash bang: 4 physical and 4 fire damage, may blind target
Unit cost: 72-82 gold (4 upkeep) and 10-14 mana
Unit Type: Support
Notable abilities: “Rapid reload”, “flashbang” and “fire blunderbuss”
Notable characteristics: Squishy, but very important for Cannons and Juggernauts.

The Engineer is a rather odd unit in the game. Although his blunderbuss has the potential to deal a huge amount of damage, the Engineer with his low HP and defense is a poor choice for direct combat. “So, what else can he do?” He has “flashbang”, that can blind an enemy archer or support unit - but that leaves the Engineer wide open. At gold rank they get “emergency repair” (thanks to Iguana-on-a-stick for pointing that out).
“But for what should I use the damm guys now? As a dedicated healer for my machines?” Nope, you get emergency repair as early as gold rank, which is pretty difficult to archive with Engineers.
“As a high-risk-high-reward unit?” Nope, too expensive. Here is what you should have them do: Use their unique “rapid reload” ability.
“So that takes abilities off cooldown that can be used multiple times in a battle - eh, that doesn´t sound like much.” In that case: Have fun with Cannons and Juggernauts bombarding your puny armies EVERY - SINGLE - TURN.
As you can see, the Engineer clearly has the potential to turn battles, heck even entire wars in your favor. His low HP and defense allow your enemies to dispose of them quickly if you are being careless with them - so put them behind the machine they use “rapid reload” on, preferably with a dedicated screening force holding of melee attackers. In that situation, only flying units and instant-damage spells are really dangerous to your Engineers - unless the enemy really has a crap ton of ranged units or is a Dreadnought themselves.
Thanks to their “sprint” the tigrans actually have the best Engineer as this ability in combination with tigran speed allows him to reach far-away machines with ease and escape hazardous situations unscratched - these guys are the sole reason why Tigran Dreadnought is viable in the first place. Dwarves have great Engineers as well, as they are a lot sturdier than their counterparts of other races. Regarding their damage output, the goblins have the best Engineer since his blunderbuss deals additional poison damage.

Stats: 45 💗
28 👢
11 👅
9 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 10 physical damage
Fire musket: 25 physical damage, may slow target, has to be reloaded
Unit cost: 72-88 gold (8 upkeep) and 18-22 mana
Unit-type: Hybrid melee/ranged fighter
Notable abilities: “Fire musket”.
Notable characteristics: Archer unit that is a formidable melee fighter as well.

While officially classified as archer, the similarities with their medieval friends really end there. Musketeers work a lot different than your average archer - the closest you get are Dwarf Crossbowmen, since they make use of a single powerful attack as well. Compared to them the musket deals a lot more damage and might even lower the enemy’s movement, but must be reloaded before being able to fire again. This is where the Musketeers powerful melee attack and sturdiness comes into play: Instead of reloading the gun you can just have them finish the enemy off with a melee attack. Both his sturdiness and melee strength allow you to use Musketeers pretty aggressive, like a melee unit.
After discussing this with Iguana-on-a-stick and testing it in my own Dreadnought games I can confirm that this is the most effective use of Musketeers. Have them shoot an enemy 1. From afar and hope that the movement drain kicks in or 2. Shoot from close range to inflict maximum damage, then finish them off with melee attacks. Which of the two you use depends a lot on the enemy unit: Is it a unit with average stats? Go in close and shoot them in the face. Is it a powerful brawler unit or are enemy healers nearby? Shoot them from afar. Is it an archer or support unit? Get in their face, the Musketeer usually wins that 1v1 fight.
Being incredible versatile the Musketeer is a great addition for any of your armies. They make for a good replacement unit if your racial melee infantry is weak and their good stats allow you to use them both as an archer AND as a melee unit. Once upon a time I used to underestimate Musketeers greatly - don´t do that same mistake!

Stats: 60 💗
28 👢
14👅
9 ✟
Spirit + Blight Immunity
Melee Attack: (3x) 13 physical damage
Unit cost: 80 gold (8 upkeep) and 20 mana
Unit type: Brawler
Notable abilities: “Wall Crusher” and “tireless”.
Notable characteristics: Machine that is a dedicated melee fighter.

With their powerful melee attack and “wall crusher” Golems can become useful in some situations, but the lack of natural regeneration is a huge deal considering you want them to participate in melee combat (it´s less of an issue for Cannons or Juggernauts, as you ideally have them behind a screening force). The high defense in combination with “reinforced” makes the Golem an excellent choice for going after archers, which is something you can consider against Archdruids and races with powerful racial archers. He also fares well against weak melee infantry, but gets wrecked by units with “sabotage”, “demolisher” or that generally have a high melee strength.
“Tireless” allows your Golems to tank all sorts of damage for your squishier units, although I don´t recommend using them as a dedicated screening force for your other machines - you have little repair capabilities as it is and you want those precious HP points going into your more valuable machines. At veteran the Golem unlocks “guard breaker”, which helps him offensively and “defender” on gold rank, which further increases his defensive capabilities.
All of this combined leads to one glaring issue: Why bother with Golems if your racial melee units or Musketeers could do the same job? The Golem is useful if you lack quality racial infantry, although you shouldn´t stack them in such armies. From personal experience, Golems are best used as a dedicated brawler unit, supported by your infantry and ideally a hero that can repair the darn thing once it gets damaged.
The halflings actually come with a special, improved version of the Golem: The Party Robot Prototype. It has almost the same stats (it does have 1 less defense), but comes with the extra “nourishing meal” ability - a Golem that can heal! Defiantly use them when you play the halflings, especially since the Party Robot Prototype doesn´t suffer from physical weakness and gets “shoot fireworks” at gold rank, giving him a ranged attack.
I am not a huge fan of Golems. I do use them occasionally when I play a race that doesn´t have a good basic infantry (like halflings, goblins, high elves and to a lesser extend draconians and frostlings). Musketeers do fill that role even better as they have a powerful ranged attack, are good in melee combat AND heal their injuries. With that in mind, I use only one Golem (maybe two?) in each stack and usually kick them out entirely once I am able to produce racial tier 3 units.

Stats: 60 💗
28 👢
11👅
10 ✟
Sprit + Blight Immunity
Fire cannon: 30 physical damage, hits 3 hexes beyond target, has to be reloaded
Unit cost: 130 gold (16 upkeep) and 20 mana
Unit type: Artillery
Notable abilities: None.
Notable characteristics: Shoots a powerful, penetrating projectile. Must be reloaded after firing.

The Cannon is what I consider the first badass machine the Dreadnought can build. The very moment they get deployed on the battlefield they can change the tide of entire wars - although they do need a screening force to protect them from enemy melee units. This is the biggest flaw of an otherwise amazing artillery unit, as it doesn´t have a melee attack.
What makes the Cannon so fantastic is their incredibly powerful ranged attack, that not only deals a ton of damage, but can deal that damage against up to 4 enemies (if they lined up). They also don´t suffer from a ranged penalty. They have to reload after each attack … except if you have Engineers! Using their “rapid reload” on a Cannon allows you to unleash their true potential, utterly devastating entire armies and making sieges ridiculously easy. They, in fact, are pretty good when defending from your walls as well, since the enemy has a hard time getting to them.
If you are unfortunate enough to fight these things your best bet are flying units, that can fly over the screening force and take out both the Cannon and the Engineer reloading it. If you don’t have flying units your best bet is to use cavalry to get into the face of the Cannon. If there are no Engineers or you killed them already you should wait for the Cannon to fire, then approach it. The most important thing to keep in mind is NOT to put your units in a straight line, for obvious reasons. If you find yourself attacking a city wall with a Cannon on it and you don’t have flying units, there is not much you can do except rushing the walls with a ton of infantry or bombarding the Cannon with spells (consider retreating once you are out of casting points, the Cannon doesn’t regenerate HP naturally).
A great addition to any army, be it in a dedicated artillery stack or mixed with melee infantry. More on the topic of artillery stacks in the Juggernaut section.

Stats: 60 💗
28 👢
12👅
10✟
Spirit + Blight Immunity
Flame Throwing: 25 fire damage, hits a large area infront of the tank
Ram (melee replacement): 16 physical damage, cannot be retaliated against
Unit cost: 140 gold (16 upkeep) and 30 mana
Unit Type: Support
Notable abilities: “Explosive Death” and “ram”.
Notable characteristics: Deals a ton of AoE fire damage with their main attack.

I have a special love/hate relationship with Flame Tanks, since they are just SO good if you know how to use them. Their ranged attack, called “flame throwing”, does what the name suggest: Dealing a high amount of fire damage in a large area in front of the tank. That makes wiping out entire armies pretty easy with enough of them. “Overload” also works wonders on Flame Tanks, thanks for pointing that one out Iguana-on-a-stick.
One unique thing about the Flame Tank is that it can use this attack every single turn (except the first one) and can still attack even when engaged. That in combination with their “explosive death” makes it much more difficult to counter these things - unless you have Storm Sisters or a lot of spells you have to wreck them with your melee units (archers won´t do a thing since Flame Tanks are reinforced). Factory new they at least don´t have that much HP and are also quite expensive. You also need to be careful while positioning your Tanks, since their powerful AoE attack might hurt your own units if you aren´t careful.
The frostlings field a unique version of the Flame Tank: The Frost Tank. It´s identically to the Flame Tank in any way, except that it deals frost damage instead of fire damage and is slightly more expensive. That makes it better against draconians and tigrans but worse against the undead and frostlings. All in all I consider them superior to the Flame Tank, since they get “inflict freezing cold” at gold rank allowing them to freeze multiple enemies in one attack.
Flame Tanks don´t really replace any racial unit, instead they are meant as an addition to your army. One or two Flame Tanks are optimal, since they still need a screening force against melee units. It´s not as important as with Cannons or Juggernauts since the Flame Tank can also make use of “ram” to defend itself. A combination I like to use is: 1 Flame Tank, 2 Musketeers, 2 dedicated melee units and a support unit. You may also go with a second Flame Tank or hero instead of the support unit. Flame Tanks are one of the few dreadnought machines rather unsuited for sieges - they shine in open-field battles.

Stats: 110 💗
28 👢
15👅
11 ✟
Spirit + Blight Immunity
Ram (melee replacement): 18 physical damage, cannot be retaliated against
Fire mortar: 18 physical and 18 fire damage, AoE damage, no line of sight penalty
Fire Broadside: 25 physical damage, hits all units in a 2-hex radius around the unit
Unit cost: 320 gold (32 upkeep) and 80 mana
Unit type: Artillery
Notable abilities: “Fire broadside” and “ram”.
Notable characteristics: Main attack that deals a lot of AoE fire and physical damage.

The ultimate artillery unit in the game, a single Juggernaut can defeat entire armies on it´s own if being supported by a screening force. Regarding their role, they can be compared with Cannons, since you want to position your Juggernaut away from enemy melee units. Their incredible high HP and defense make them very sturdy, allowing them to take a huge amount of punishment before going down.
Their main attack, “fire mortar”, doesn´t suffer from a line-of-sight penalty allowing the Juggernaut to shoot over walls or groups of enemies with ease. They do have a ranged penalty, which makes Cannons (who don´t have such a long-range penalty) still viable even after researching Juggernaut tech. Just like with Cannons I strongly recommend to pair Juggernauts with Engineers, since that allows these mechanical beasts to shoot each and every turn.
Juggernauts are “reinforced”, just like all the other Dreadnought machines, which renders archers utterly useless against them. The Juggernaut shares his weakness to melee units with Cannons, although the Juggernaut has the necessary HP to tank a few hits and can use “ram” to defend itself. If they get swarmed with enemies you can make use of their “fire broadside”, which deals a high amount of physical damage in a 2-hex radius from the tank - including your own units. Great when you get overwhelmed by enemy forces or when driving the tank right into an enemy formation and watching the ensuing chaos.
In order to counter them you need to focus them with your melee units, which is easier said than done due to their “fire broadside”. If they hide behind a wall only flying units and spells are truly effective - other than that you just have to swarm them with infantry. Storm Sisters with their shock damage are also a fantastic counter against Juggernauts, Dreadnought machines in general. Juggernauts are very expensive even for a Dreadnought (that’s 400 production without empire upgrades).

Unlike most other tier 4 units there is no real point in stacking Juggernauts together. They need that screening force to keep melee units off them, although they are not entirely defenseless against them. Both Juggernauts and Cannons may be used in dedicated artillery stacks, consisting of 3 Juggernauts/Cannons and 3 Engineers. Such high value stacks need protection by other open-field armies but are devastating against fortified cities. A more balanced approach is the already mentioned open-field army, consisting of a single Juggernaut/Cannon, one Engineer and 4 other units of your choice, which should function as a screening/attack force to support the artillery.

Stats: 90 💗
40 👢
15👅
12 ✟
Spirit + Blight Immunity
Ram (melee replacement): 28 physical damage, cannot be retaliated against
Fire mortar: 18 physical and 18 fire damage, AoE damage, no line of sight penalty
Fire Broadside: 25 physical damage, hits all units in a 2-hex radius around the unit
Unit cost: 150 gold (32 upkeep) and 30 mana
Unit type: Warship
Notable abilities: “Fire broadside” and “ram”.
Notable characteristics: Warship made out of metal, rendering other warships almost useless.

The toughest and strongest warship in the game, which can be described as the Juggernaut of the seas. Compared with Galleons and Frigates the biggest difference is that the Ironclad is made out of metal, making it highly resistant to fire damage - adding the Ironclad´s “reinforced” and those other warship don´t do a whole lot of damage against them. Since most ranged attacks just bounce off harmlessly the Ironclad can just chill back and bombard your enemies with a devastating mortar, which´s fire damage is very effective against other ships.
That mortar can only be used every two turns, but that’s neglected by the tough armor of the Ironclad. Just like the Juggernaut, the Ironclad can make use of “fire broadside” to deal a huge amount of damage to an enemy formation. The “ram” attack of the Ironclad is incredible strong, which alone might be enough to kill off most enemy units embarked on the water. In order to deal real damage to this warship you need to get into it´s face - which is dangerous just like with Juggernauts on land.
For the most versatility feel free to mix Galleons with Ironclads (4 Galleons and 2 Ironclads work very well). Due to their sturdiness and high “ram” damage you can´t really go wrong with a stack of 6 of these though. Unless your enemy has a lot of Kraken or flying units absolutely devastating against any enemy on the water.

This class is added with the eternal lords DLC, which you must have installed in order to play as Necromancer. Necromancer plays a lot different than the other classes, since your population consists entirely of undead ghouls. Ghoul units have a lot of advantages, those being an immunity to blight, a high protection against frost and immunity to a broad variety of status effects and spells. Ghoul units do have some drawbacks however, like a weakness to spirit and fire damage and the lack of any natural regeneration.
The economy of a Necromancer is probably the weakest of all the classes, reason being that ghoul cities are unaffected by morale. This might seem to be a good thing at first, since certain city enchantments and events won´t have a negative effect on you - but don´t forget that your cities also can´t get more productive, which is a huge deal in the mid- and late-game. Another severe disadvantage you face as a Necromancer is the lack of any real population growth. In order to grow your population, you need to invest into certain city structures and cast “undead plague” on hostile cities to gain population.
Playing Necromancer is quite a challenge for new players - even veterans might have some problems getting into the class, which is why I recommend to start training with lord computers first (or an even easier AI). Necromancers do have some other things speaking for them. For one, its incredible easy to keep your troops alive when you have a Necromancer hero or Reanimator with them. You have the unique ability to reanimate your fallen soldiers, allowing for some high risk plays almost right at the start of a match.
Then there is the infamous “ghoul curse” ability Death Bringers and Necromancer heroes can get. If they succeed in ghoul cursing an enemy unit (in melee combat), those units come back as undead ghouls after the battle is over - as long as you win the battle. This makes it incredible easy to grow your armies starting mid-game going all the way to the end of a match. The various empire upgrades, including “vampiric hunger” (gives all your ghouls “life steal”) and “master of puppets” (gives +300 morale to all ghouls) give your regular armies a huge advantage over unprepared enemies.
The Necromancer sure is viable in the end game, although you should be aware that Dreadnoughts and Theocrats in particular wipe the floor with you. On the other hand, you are very strong against Rogues and Archdruids, since both of them lack any real counter against the undead. Being able to snatch a ton of gold ranked units from late-game warlords is also a good feeling, as you effectivly turn their strenght into a weakness - this makes the necromancer one of the few classes that can really stand up to a warlord late-game.

Stats: 32💗
28 👢
9👅
9 ✟
Blight Immunity
Melee attack: (3x) 6 physical and 3 poison damage
Unit type: Cannon fodder
Notable abilities: “Devour corpse” and “offering of bone”.
Notable characteristics: Very easy-to-get unit, perfect suited to be used as a distraction.

Cadavers are a unique unit in many regards. Created not in cities but on the actual battlefield, they stick around after a battle has ended with you emerging on top. Both Necromancer heroes and Reanimators have the “raise corpse” ability, which does exactly what the name says. On a side-note: You can get gold-rank cadavers by using “raise cadaver” on a dead gold-rank unit - just make sure it´s not a ghoul you could revive with “reanimate undead”.
Cadavers are meant for two things: One being to overwhelm enemy units with sheer numbers, the other being a distraction for your main army. Since you can just get dead Cadavers back by using “raise corpse” on them again this strategy is very viable. On gold Cadavers even get resurgence, which means you don´t even have to revive them anymore once they die. For such a disposable unit the Cadaver does actually pack a punch against units with poison weakness and they can use “offering of bone” to strengthen friendly Bone Collectors - I wouldn´t do that with experienced Cadavers though, as it destroys the unit.
Finally, “projectile resistance” makes Cadavers an annoying target for archers. Cadavers have one outstanding weakness, apart from the usual weakness to fire and spirit damage: They are “decaying”, meaning they actually loose HP on the strategic map in-between turns unless healed. This limits the number of Cadavers you can have on the field, as you already need the “heal undead” in order to regenerate HP for your regular Ghoul units.
Cadavers are useful in any stage of the game, although they are particular useful in the early game against weak independents. They may replace some of your weaker melee units, although they can´t really compete with the mid- and late-game alternatives you get as Necromancer. A strategy I like to use is to raise Cadavers in a battle, use them as distractions and should they survive I just disband them or use them as scouts - that way no healing is unnecessarily wasted on puny Cadavers. I do make an exception with gold-rank cadavers, as they can actually come in real handy and are quite tough for a throwaway unit.

Stats: 16💗
28 👢
8👅
8 ✟
Blight Immunity
60% Physical Protection
Melee Attack: (3x) 3 spirit and 3 frost damage
Unit Type: Cannon fodder
Notable abilities: “Undying” and gold-rank “shadow step”.
Notable characteristics: Expensive and weak summon, very good as a distraction.

I am not a big fan of Lost Souls, especially because their summoning spell is very expensive with
50 casting points (and mana) and requires a whopping 10 mana upkeep - that’s a lot early in the game. Lost Souls have many flaws, although their biggest is defiantly their low HP, followed by their rather weak melee attack and horrible defensive stats. They do float, have a 60% physical protection and get “shadow step” at gold. They can also pass right through walls and obstacles thanks to the handy “pass wall” ability.
Combine all that with “life steal” (originally mentioned by staythecourse), granted by the “vampiric hunger” empire upgrade, and you got yourself an actually decent fighting unit - that is unless your opponents can bring in units with fire, spirit or shock damage. If that´s the case, your Lost Souls get obliterated due to their low HP, but thankfully pop right back up thanks to their “undying”. Lost Souls are very strong against opponents that deal physical, poison or frost damage IF they get some support by regular troops.
My biggest problem with Lost Souls is how horrible they are at scouting, which is what tier 1 summoning spells are often used for. They are also pretty expensive, but fare somewhat decent in melee combat with many tier 1 and tier 2 units. Their over reliance on supporting army troopers hinder them from becoming a truly great combat unit, but they make for a fantastic distraction thanks to their “undying”.

Stats: 40💗
28 👢
9👅
11 ✟
Blight Immunity
Melee Attack: (3x) 7 physical and 2 spirit damage
Ranged Attack: (3x) 4 poison and 4 frost damage
Unit cost: 81-99 gold (8 upkeep) and 10-20 mana
Unit Type: Support
Notable abilities: “Heal undead” and “raise corpse”.
Notable characteristics: Crucial unit required to keep your ghouls in top shape.

Reanimators truly are the backbone of any Necromancer army, since their “heal undead” is crucial for healing injured undead, who otherwise can´t regenerate HP. Reanimators also come with “raise corpse” which grants you easy access to Cadavers. With each of their attacks a Reanimator can “inflict despair” on an enemy, which lowers morale and spirit protection - opening the way for sweet combo attacks with other Necromancer units.
Regarding quantity of Reanimators, you should have at least one in each of your stacks all the way until the end of a match - unless an army happens to be led by a Necromancer hero. If your racial support unit is rather bad you can´t really go wrong with two Reanimators, which receive a great buff with the “healers of the undead” empire upgrade, giving Reanimators “lesser reanimate undead”. Your racial support units do receive “heal undead” from the same upgrade - so the decision is yours to make.
As usual, there are differences between Reanimators regarding their race. Draconian and Goblin Reanimators deal more damage, High Elf Reanimators have “total awareness” and Halfling Reanimators come with “memories of joy”, boosting the morale of other undead units in the same army. Finally, there are Orc Reanimators who have “throw curse” - the Reanimators of other races don´t come with extra abilities.
You defiantly need Reanimators, question is just how many for each stack. I would go with two if your racial support unit sucks, else mix a racial support unit with a Reanimator into each stack to have enough healing to go around.

Stats: 40 💗
32 👢
9👅
10 ✟
Blight Immunity
60% Physical Protection
Melee Attack: (3x) 8 spirit and 4 frost damage
Unit Type: Basic infantry
Notable abilities: “Phase”, “despair strike” and “wail of despair”.
Notable characteristics: Supplements your frontline infantry, making it more diverse.

Banshees might be more expensive to summon, but in combat they are a lot better than basic Lost Souls in almost any regard. Compared to them the HP, movement, melee strength, defense and resistance of a Banshee are all more powerful. They also come with several sweet abilities, some of which they have to unlock by ranking up first. “Phase”, “Pass wall”, “despair strike” and “wail of despair” all come from the get-go and offer many different methods of using Banshees.
“Wail of despair” is a particular useful ability, as it allows you to “inflict despair” on many enemy units at once - be advised that non-undead units of yours are not immune to this effect. While machines can´t be despaired, they might become “haywire” from this attack. By the way: This attack also turns around all affected units, having them face the Banshee - very handy in order to get a lot of flank attacks going!
Regarding the actual combat, Banshees come with 60% physical protection making them exceptional useful against weaker tier 1 and tier 2 units - apart from support units with fire, shock or spirit damage. By leveling up the Banshee might also inflict a multitude of nasty status debuffs annihilating the opponent’s morale - devastating against halflings. Those abilities include: “inflict frostbite”, “inflict exhausting fatigue” and “spirit breaking” (in that order, starting to veteran each rank adds one of these debuffs to each attack).
Pretty much the same deal like with Lost Souls: Keep them away from support units with fire, shock or spirit damage. They wipe the floor with archers and most weak infantry units and are a lot sturdier than Lost Souls. They do NOT come with “undying”, which is why I don´t recommend using them as cannon fodder.

Stats: 70💗
32 👢
11👅
11✟
Blight Immunity
20% Spirit PROTECTION
Melee Attack: (3x) 15 physical damage (gets stronger with each corpse absorbed)
Unit cost: 180 gold (16 upkeep)
Unit Type: Brawler
Notable abilities: “Killing momentum”, “collect bones” and gold-rank “fearsome”.
Notable characteristics: Unit that can “eat” corpses to become much more powerful.

The Bone Collector is a sturdy undead unit with a powerful melee attack, “demolisher”, “killing momentum”, “night vision” and “tunneling”. Demolisher makes Bone Collectors decent against machines, so keep that in mind if you are up against a Dreadnought. The trademark ability of the Bone Collector is it’s “collect bones”, which doesn´t consume any action points and can be used as many times as you want. What this does is destroying a target corpse in order to add 1 resistance, 2 melee strength and 20 HP to the Bone Collector each time it uses this ability - he can also heal up to another 20 HP if it got damaged.
If you ever had to face a gold rank Bone Collector with 200 HP, 17 resistance, 29 melee strength and “fearsome” (which is unlocked at gold rank) you know you should pay these things some respect. Rest assured, this buff only lasts until the end of combat and requires corpses in range in order to work. Funny enough, Bone Collectors actually come with 20% spirit protection, which is unique to undead units - useful to know when up against a Theocrat.
If you know how to use the Bone Collectors special abilities, they become a fantastic frontline brawler. In order to ensure the effective use of “collect bones” you shouldn´t stack Bone Collectors unless you fight a Dreadnought or Theocrat.

Stats: 60💗
28 👢
11👅
11 ✟
Blight Immunity
Melee Attack: (3x) 13 physical and 3 poison damage
Shadow Step: teleports unit a short distance, has a 2-turn cooldown
Unit cost: 150-165 gold (16 upkeep) and 25-30 mana
Unit Type: Brawler
Notable abilities: “Inflict ghoul curse”, “shadow step” and “total awareness”.
Notable characteristics: Turns dead enemy units into ghouls, who fight for you if you win the battle.

Death Bringers are probably your second most important class unit as Necromancer, right after Reanimators. By far their most important ability is “inflict ghoul curse”, which if it succeeds revives an enemy unit as an undead ghoul after the battle ended - if you have won that is. The best thing about it? Many tier 4 units aren´t immune to this effect, which means you can walk away converting dragons, giants and other fun units to your side - that for free.
Other nice abilities are “shadow step”, which is a scaled-down version of phase that can be used multiple times, and “total awareness”. Regarding races there aren´t that many differences between Death Bringers - there is hardly anything to improve on anyways. The one exception to this are Goblin Death Bringers, since they get “inflict weakened” at gold rank, which makes ghoul cursing a lot easier, as it checks against blight resistance (in case you wonder, “inflict weakened” does trigger before “ghoul curse”, tried it out myself).
Death Bringers will lead many of your late-game armies into battle, which is why there is no real reason NOT to bother with them. Stacking them isn´t such a bad idea either, since that’s just more ghoul-cursed units for you after a battle. Their high cost is another reason why you should try to keep them alive for as long as you can.

Stats: 66💗
30 👢
12👅
13 ✟
Blight Immunity
60% Physical Protection
Melee Attack: (3x) 8 spirit, 8 frost and 8 poison damage
Unit type: Brawler
Notable abilities: “Invoke death”, “fearsome” and “life drain”.
Notable characteristics: Can instant kill any living unit that isn´t immune to spirit damage.


These guys are just a pain, thankfully they are very expensive to avoid excessive spam of them. Reason why some call them overpowered is their ability to INSTANTLY kill ANY enemy unit with their “invoke death” ability, unless that unit is undead, a machine or immune to spirit damage. Even if the 11-spirit check fails the targeted unit still looses 40 HP, which often results in the same outcome. And as if this ability isn´t enough Dread Reapers are a pain to take down in melee combat due to “fearsome”, “life drain” and a 60% physical protection.
Funny, right? Gets better: They explode in a powerful blast when killed and might suck out your unit’s movement and action points with “energy drain”. At gold rank a Dread Reaper gets “necromantic aura”, allowing them to easily convert entire lichking castles and tombs full of undead, well except other Dread Reapers and Death Bringers, as both have “mind control immunity”.
The ONE weakness Dread Reapers have is their very low HP, which makes them easy pickings for units that deal fire, spirit or shock damage. Flame Tanks and Juggernauts also wipe the floor with Dread Reapers as they can´t get HP back with their “life drain”. Funnily enough, for that exact same reason other undead units - ghouls in particular - are FANTASTIC to use against Dread Reapers, as they resist large potions of their damage and can´t be insta-killed with “invoke death”.
Stacking them to utterly annihilate your enemies with “invoke death” can work, but is a huge waste of casting points and mana, as a Dread Reaper is very expensive. For the same reason you need to be careful using them, as the low HP makes them easy pickings for any organized enemy - as long as they aren’t afraid of loosing one of their units.

Rogues distinguish themselves from other classes in regard of their overall strategy to win the match. Neither do they focus on regular armies like Warlords, Dreadnoughts and Theocrats nor do they focus on summons like Sorcerers, Archdruids and Necromancers. Rogues make use of more unusual tactics and units, which translated into unusual spells and unit abilities, along with many upgrades for irregular units.
Rogues have many ways to diminish the morale of their enemies both in combat and on the strategic map, can easily convert enemy units to their side and can buff their own economy with spells like “treasure raiding” and “iron grip”. While at the topic, Rogues have a pretty powerful economy and since they can convert many units to their side you don´t even need to build that many armies yourself. Gold is important, of course, but you should also never neglect your mana income as your strategic and combat spells are pretty powerful as a Rogue.
Regarding empire upgrades the Rogue doesn´t have a lot of good stuff. Most empire upgrades only profit irregular units, which are rather lackluster later in a match. Thankfully the Rogue does have “courtesan ambassadors”, which is an empire upgrade that improves the relation to independents - very useful in order to get more tributes and better trade income with independents - vassaling and absorbing them will also get cheaper.
Then there is “dark pact”, which is an insanely good empire upgrade which gives ALL Rogue class units special abilities, while they become slightly more expensive in maintenance. Bards get “taunt”, Assassins get “pass wall” and “life steal”, Succubus get “bane fire” and Shadow Stalkers “shadow step” and “frost aura”.
If you want to be a particular annoying Rogue you should pick “keeper of the peace” (adept) for their “rally the populace” spell. Combine that with “incite revolt” and almost any city will revolt against their leader - making the following siege very easy. The gates will be opened and you get free units during tactical combat. As a nice side effect, independent cities will BEG you to join your empire with a pure good alignment, “mediator” and “courtesan ambassadors”.

Stats: 30 💗
30 👢
9👅
9 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 6 physical damage
Unit type: Scout
Notable abilities: “First strike” and “projectile resistance”.
Notable characteristics: Very good scout, else usuable as cannon fodder.

One of the best scouts in the entire game regarding the actual scouting. They aren´t obstructed by obstacles on the surface (as they can fly) and their “night vision” allows you to use them in the underground as well. Crows aren´t that good in combat, although their “projectile resistance” and “first strike” make them effective against archers.
Not a whole lot else to say about Crows. They are very good at scouting and decent enough to use as cannon fodder and to annoy archers.

Stats: 35 💗
28 👢
8👅
8 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 9 physical damage
Ranged Attack: 11 physical damage
Unit cost: 40-55 gold (4 upkeep)
Unit Type: Irregular
Notable abilities: “Sabotage” and “sprint”.
Notable characteristics: Cheap throwaway unit, that may evolve into a stronger unit.

Scoundrels are rather annoying than being a real threat. They are rather weak and most species have better racial irregulars - you also need a Rogues Palace to build them, which is more expensive than a barracks. Why would you bother with Scoundrels if you can just get regular infantry instead? Well, you need the Rogues Palace anyways in order to build your better class units and your capital starts with one built already.
Scoundrels also have “sprint”, “wall climbing” and “sabotage”. They make for a devastating foe when facing machines - if the Scoundrel can reach them before getting torn to pieces. City walls are also affected by “sabotage” and since it triggers up to 3 times, they can become very useful if you keep them alive. Scoundrels get stronger with every empire upgrade that affects irregulars and have a unique empire upgrade, allowing Scoundrels to evolve into a Lesser Shadow Stalker.
Due to the squishiness of the Scoundrel that’s very hard to achieve and since you have to level up that Lesser Shadow Stalker into a proper Shadow Stalker it´s not exactly worth all the effort. Don´t get me wrong: Once the upgrade is researched you can evolve the Scoundrel similar to an Archdruid’s wild animal and it´s very rewarding to roam the map with Shadow Stalkers before the enemy expects it. Regarding races, the Human Scoundrel is the best thanks to his “throw net” - a straight upgrade from the Civic Guard. The Halfling Scoundrel uses a slingshot (that hits 3 times) and the Draconian Scoundrels have “improved wall climbing”.
I usually only bother with Scoundrels when playing humans and halflings - other than that your racial irregulars are better and profit from all the other empire upgrades for irregulars.

Stats: 46 💗
28 👢
9👅
10 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 7 physical damage
Ranged Attack: 11 physical damage
Unit Cost: 72-100 gold (8 upkeep), 10-20 mana
Unit Type: Support/Irregular
Notable abilities: “Charm”
Notable characteristics: Support unit that has the ability to convert your enemies.

The first class unit of the Rogue I enjoy using, as their “charm” really stands out. “Charm” has a decent chance to convert enemy units - be aware that machines, undead or spirit immune enemies can`t be converted with this ability. It can also be used only once per battle and since most Bards only have a light crossbow, they become quite the liability in a fight once “charm” has been used. What this means is that you should make best use of it and try to lower the enemy’s resistance before attempting the “charm”.
Regarding races, the High Elves defiantly have the best Bard, as she carries a longbow. Liked your Longbowmen? Well forget about them now you can build female archers that have better stats and the ability to charm your enemies. The Dwarf Bard is quite good as well, as she has a heavy crossbow - a straight upgrade from Crossbowmen.
Their weak single-shot attack makes the Bard a rather bad combat unit. Using them as an Irregular is a good idea as long as you don´t have access to Dwarf Bards or High Elf Bards. Both of them make for excellent archer replacement for their race.

Stats: 50 💗
32 👢
11👅
9 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 10 physical and 4 poison damage
Assassins Strike: 20 physical and 9 poison damage, cannot be retaliated against
Unit cost: 81-105 gold (8 upkeep), 18-22 mana
Unit Type: Infantry
Notable abilities: “Assassins strike” and “backstab”.
Notable characteristics: Rather squishy infantry unit that hits hard.

Most Assassins are a “glass cannon”: They deal a ton of damage but can´t take much punishment themselves. With that out of the way, the Assassin - given enough experience and “pass wall” from the “dark pact” empire upgrade - can swift battles and even entire wars in your favor. Although their defensive stats are horrible for their price and their tier, they do fare decent enough in a direct melee fight. Their true strength lies in flanking, however, as “assassins strike” and “backstab” (which is an improved flanking attack) combined are an instant death for most tier 1 and tier 2 units.
One Assassin is already a nuisance - several combined are a terrifying sight since they can just overwhelm even tier 4 units with their “assassin strike”, which cannot be retaliated against. Regarding race, three Assassins stand out the most: The first one is the Human Assassin, which can swim AND has “water concealment”, which allows him to cloak in a very common type of terrain.
Tigran Assassins are awesome as well, as they get “improved wall climbing”, “coup de grace”, “bloodthirsty” and on gold “pounce” - whenever I play Tigran Rogue I always replace my Prowlers with Assassins. Finally, there is the Orc Assassin that is an actual powerhouse in melee combat thanks to his better melee attack and higher HP. They also get “tireless”, which is an awesome ability to have on any melee unit.
Can be used as an army leader or as a dedicated flanker. Due to their squishiness they aren´t as good as an infantry replacement than I originally thought. To get the most out of your Assassins you need to pair them with sturdier units that tank hits for them.

Stats: 60 💗
30 👢
11👅
11 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 11 physical damage
Ranged Attack (with dark pact): (3x) 3 fire, spirit and poison damage
Unit cost: 153-193 gold (16 upkeep) and 27-33 mana
Unit type: Support/infantry
Notable abilities: “Seduce”, “throw curse” and gold-rank “life steal”.
Notable characteristics: Flying unit that can seduce enemies and can get a ranged attack.

Easily my most favorite tier 3 flying unit in the entire game, the Succubus is a straight upgrade from your Bards. Not only can they fly, but their “seduce” also has a significant higher chance to convert an enemy than “charm” does. “Throw curse” is useful to lower an enemy’s resistance, making them easier to convert and since the Succubus has a lot better combat stats than Bards they don´t need to be afraid to get into an enemy’s face.
At gold rank the Succubus gets “life steal” (making her even better in melee combat) and “regeneration”. All of this combined makes the Succubus a fantastic addition to any of your army that can both serve as a frontline soldier AND as a converting unit. The “dark pact” empire upgrade makes Succubus even better, as they receive “bane fire” - yes you read this right, the Succubus becomes the only flying unit in the game with a ranged attack.
Regarding race, the Tigran Succubus is pretty good due to her higher movement and she deals some fire damage with her melee attack. Orc Succubus are even more powerful in melee combat than a normal Succubus is and the High Elf Succubus has “total awareness”.
DEFIANTLY an addition to your armies - in the late game I have almost NO stacks that don´t have at least one Succubus in it. They are powerful in melee combat and can even get a powerful ranged attack in the late-game. You shouldn´t mindlessly stack Succubus, as they are easy prey for enemy pikemen - best support them with regular armies, at least till you researched “dark pact”.

Stats: 60 💗
32 👢
11👅
11 ✟
Blight Immunity
Frost Immunity
60% Physical Protection
Melee Attack: (3x) 10 physical and 12 frost damage
Unit cost: 200 gold (16 upkeep) and 40 mana
Unit type: Brawler
Notable abilities:
Notable characteristics: Incredible resistant to most damage types, but have a rather low HP.

We are in for it now! There is SO MUCH hate going on with Shadow Stalkers - many people claim that they are overpowered and unfair compared to other classes. I have to disagree with that, there are much more overpowered units out there. You see: The Rogue doesn’t have that much in terms of tanky units, which is where the Shadow Stalker comes into play.
Best compare them with your average Elemental, best with a Frost Elemental. Shadow Stalkers really aren’t that much more terrifying than them and actually seem kinda weak compared to other tier 4 units in the game (sweet Dragons, hordes of Manticore Riders, Juggernauts, Shrines of Smiting and so on…).
Their most annoying ability is their 60% physical protection, which is a great thing to have on any unit - like Shadow Stalkers or not. They also have frost and blight immunity, various concealments, “floating”, “pass wall”, “mind control immunity”, “backstab” and “inflict exhausting fatigue”. At gold rank they receive “inflict freezing cold”, which turns melee attackers into ice statues. With the “dark pact” upgrade they receive “shadow step” and “frost aura” - yeah, I get why many people hate them. Don´t forget about the fact that they have a rather low HP, though.
I will dedicate an entire section just to show you how to (and how not to) counter this “overpowered” unit. Obviously, you don´t want to send in your melee units, especially if you face gold-ranked Shadow (always an emergency strategy, but try something different first). The best way to counter Shadow Stalkers is to use spirit, fire and shock damage against them. Support units come to mind, but you can also hope you get lucky and hit the Shadow Stalker with units that deal a ton of fire, spirit or shock damage with their melee attack.
If you lack these kinds of units or don’t have enough against the hordes you can also rely on your combat spells to deal with them. Smite and Fire Ball work wonders, although the best spell to use against Shadow Stalkers is the “degenerate” spell of wild magic adept, that gets rid of most resistances of the Shadow Stalker. Finally, you might want to just focus down the Rogue (and other classes that get really powerful in the late-game) before they get the chance to mass-produce Shadow Stalkers.
Not overpowered if you can muster units to counter them. Shadow Stalkers don’t have that much HP, so (support) units with fire, spirit and shock damage do a really good job against them. If you are the Rogue yourself, you shouldn´t mindlessly stack them - if the enemy isn´t completely idiotic they can easily counter such a strategy. A good strategy is to mix them with Succubus, who get a ranged attack with the “dark pact” upgrade, else use them in balanced army stacks.

Although I don´t play much sorcerer myself I gotta say they can get amazing if you know how to play them. Sorcerers focus heavily on summoning spells, support units and have some of the best combat spells in the entire game. On the other hand, the regular armies of a Sorcerer are among the worst in the entire game, since their empire upgrades don´t profit any unit branch apart from support units. Frankly, that’s not the focus of the sorcerer - the focus lies in casting spells and summon units wherever and whenever you need them.
Summoning many units has some advantages but comes with a load of disadvantages as well. On the pro side we have a lack of reliance on supply lines and the easy and quick replacement of losses. However, your actual summoning capacity is pretty limited in the early- and mid-game, as you need your casting points for strategic and combat spells. This becomes less of an issue once you researched your tier 7 spell “age of magic”, which halves the cost of EVERY spell you cast - this is when a Sorcerer becomes dangerous.
Mana is very important in your economy as you will need it for everything spell related, which is the strong point of the sorcerer. Gold isn´t as important for regular armies, but is needed in substantial quantities in order to build Grand Palaces - having a couple regular soldiers in your armies can´t hurt either. Researching “sorcery” and capturing heart structures is very important as well, all to raise your number of casting points - every bit makes you a lot stronger.
Sorcerer is a class that isn´t too hard to get into combat wise, although you might be struggling with managing your mana and casting points a bit more than with other classes. What the Sorcerer lacks in regular armies and early-game strength he/she makes up with amazing late-game spells and powerful summons.

Stats: 16 💗
28 👢
7👅
10 ✟
Shock Immunity
60% Physical Protection
Melee Attack: (3x) 3 physical and 3 shock damage
Sub-type: Canon Fodder/Scout
Notable abilities: “Inflict Stun” and “phase”.
Notable characteristics: Squishy, but their “inflict stun” is incredible useful.

“Summon Wisp” is the first of many summoning spells you research as Sorcerer. Wisps are decent as scouts, but their true strength is actually in tactical combat. For their cheap price the Wisp comes with a lot of useful abilities, like “inflict stun”, “phase”, shock immunity and 60% physical protection - combat wise, the best tier 1 summon in the entire game. Wisps however have one notable weakness, that being their low HP in combination with poison weakness.
Anything that deals poison damage is going to annihilate Wisps, although fire, frost and spirit damage do a great job as well. Since tier 1 summons aren´t that sturdy in general, I take the better offensive capabilities of a Wisp over a little bit more survivability - that’s what my stronger summons are for, after all. After getting “age of magic” up you will be able to absolutely SWARM your enemies with Wisps, who at that point only cost 20 casting points to summon.

Stats: 40 💗
28 👢
9👅
11 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 6 physical damage
Ranged Attack: (3x) 3 shock, fire and frost damage, varies with race
Unit Cost: 86-105 gold (8 upkeep) and 18-22 mana
Unit-type: Support
Notable abilities: “Dispel”, “mend magical being” and “steal enchantment”.
Notable characteristics: Offers many different channels of damage.

The only class unit of the Sorcerer that differentiates itself depending on the race you play - something I find rather sad and boring. To get this out of the way now: Draconians defiantly have the best Apprentice by far, as they come with the “fire bomb” ability of the Flamer. Minus “dragon ancestry” Draconian Apprentices are a combination of a Flamer and an Elder made better.
Apprentices offer great combat support, but only limited supportive abilities for your other troops. That is with the exception of “mend magical being”, which is a weaker healing ability that restores 15 HP to a magical creature once per battle.
This combat-focused approach makes Apprentices a great replacement unit for races that also come with combat-focused support units - if a race has racial support units with useful buffs you might want to mix them and Apprentices.
Like your other support units, Apprentices also profit from empire upgrades like “school of teleportation” (giving them “phase” and “projectile resistance”) and “school of enchantment” (granting them the “inflict stun” ability).
Like already mentioned a great replacement for combat-focused support units like Orc Priests and High Elf Storm Sisters. The lack of really good supportive abilities makes it viable to mix Apprentices and racial support units together - or you even ignore Apprentices altogether.

Stats: 48 💗
28 👢
9👅
8 ✟
60% Physical Protection
Melee Attack: (3x) 5 physical and 7 shock damage
Unit type: Infantry
Notable abilities: “Inflict shocking”
Notable characteristics: Sturdy against physical attacks, weak against magical attacks.

A great addition to your armies if your race lacks quality melee units (like halflings and elves). The best trait of the Phantasm Warrior is his 60% physical protection, which makes him very sturdy against most tier 1 and tier 2 units. Support units, on the other hand, wipe the floor with Phantasm Warriors, since their resistance is pretty low. Thanks to his physical protection and a shield they make for a great wall for your ranged unit to shoot over. They are also decent on the offensive and since their “inflict shocking” gives affected enemies 40% shock weakness you can go for some creative combo-attacks.
Useful addition to your armies, although you should be careful about replacing all of your regular infantry with them due to their low resistance. Used as filler unit or supported by other melee units a fantastic addition to your armies - in the long run I would go with Node Serpents however.

The Sorcerer’s equivalent of the Archdruid summoning spells. “Summon fantastic creature” gives you different summons depending on your luck, with the best one being a Watcher, while the worst one is probably the Obsidian Wyvern. You may also receive a Frost Wyvern, Fire Wyvern or a Gryphon instead, which all excel at scouting and flanking enemies in tactical combat - they aren´t that good in a direct fight though.
Judging by this brief description it’s probably to no one’s surprise that I
don´t use this spell that often, since it´s just too random to be a reliable summon and too expensive for just summoning a scout unit. I advise you to stick with Phantasm Warriors till you unlock “summon node serpent”.

Stats: 75 💗
32 👢
12👅
11 ✟
Shock Immunity
Melee Attack: (3x) 6 physical and 11 shock damage
Unit Type: Brawler
Notable abilities: “Sprint”, “phase” and gold-rank “inflict stun”.
Notable characteristics: Cavalry-like summon that obliterates Dreadnought machines.

Regarding price efficiency the best summon you get as a Sorcerer. For a mere 120 casting points and mana you receive a unit that has great base stats, floating, shock immunity, “sprint” and “phase”. Their good base stats allow you to use Node Serpents as a frontline unit, while their special abilities allow them to easily bypass obstacles and enemies alike, reaching soft targets. Due to their high shock damage they tear Dreadnought machinery to pieces, since he/she will have a hard time keeping your Node Serpents away from their Cannons, Juggernauts and Engineers. The gold-rank “inflict stun” and the movement upgrade as veteran are the icing on the cake.
Always very useful regardless of race or overall strategy, due to their incredible versatility and cheap price. If you are up against a Dreadnought you can seriously ruin their day by sending entire armies made of Node Serpents their way. One thing to keep in mind is that the Node Serpent, unlike Phantasm Warriors, have no extra physical protection, which makes them vulnerable to focused archer-fire.

Stats: 99 💗
32 👢
15👅
13 ✟
Blight Immunity
Melee Attack: (3x) 16 physical, 4 spirit and 4 poison damage
Shock Breath: deals shock damage to a large area infront of the unit
Unit Type: Brawler
Notable abilities: “Fearsome”, “shock breath”, “dominate” and gold-rank “inflict daze”.
Notable characteristics: Tier 4 unit that has a multitude of ways to disable enemies.

You know, your average tentacle monster out of a bad horror movie. The movie might be bad, but the Eldritch Horror certainly isn’t - it is actually pretty amazing. With their powerful melee attack, high HP and nice defensive stats Eldritch Horrors are a force to be reckoned with. Their unique “shock breath” ability works similar to a Dragon’s breath attack, just that it deals shock damage instead - devastating against a horde of Dreadnought machines.
Then there is their “dominate” ability, which may take control of an enemy unit for only 3 turns, but comes back after those 3 turns in return. Eldritch Horrors also come with “fearsome”, which is understandable regarding their weird and somewhat misplaced look in AoW. Other abilities include “night vision”, “true sight” and “mind control immunity”, while they are also immune to blight damage. On gold Eldritch Horrors receive “inflict daze” which in combination with their “shock breath” might disable an entire enemy army at once.
When dealing with these literal horror creatures your best bet are probably archers, since the Eldritch Horror might panic your melee units - that is unless they are immune to spirit damage. Another useful strategy against Eldritch Horrors is to get rid of it’s supporting army which would allow you to overwhelm it with sheer numbers - flanking the crap out of a tougher unit usually works wonders.
The exact same story like the Horned God: An addition to your army, rather than a replacement - although Eldritch Horrors are much more independent than a lot of other tier 4 units. It´s an absolute priority to disjunct age of magic once it pops up, since that allows the Sorcerer to spam Eldritch Horrors all over the map - and trust me, you don’t want THAT to happen. With all that said, I still think they are balanced since you can still overwhelm an Eldritch Horror with physical attacks.

The Theocrat has a balanced military doctrine between melee and support units. The sheer amount of ways a Theocrat can heal their troops is incredible, while they have several other unit buffs that can turn the tide of a battle. Most of your units are devout or can be made devout, which allows you to buff them even more with strategic spells like “holy war” and “mark of the heretic” (that one used on an enemy stack).
The Theocrat has a bunch of good strategic and combat spells, but not a lot in terms of empire upgrades. The best one defiantly is “order of healing”, which upgrades your support units with the “healing” ability - this is REALLY good for combat-focused support units. “Exalted martyrs”, on the other hand, replaces the gold-rank effect of the Martyr with “evolve”. Once you managed to level up any Martyr to gold, they will evolve into an Exalted, which keeps the “absorb pain” ability. This is hard to archive, since Martyrs die pretty easy - but very rewarding, since you get a cheap access to Exalted which can use “absorb pain” much better due to their “resurgence”. The other two empire upgrades merely turn the corresponding unit type devout, which isn’t that amazing but important for the mid- and late-game.
Economy-wise, you have many ways to artificially boost it as Theocrat. “Paid absolution” effectively turns 10 mana into 10 gold each turn, which allows you to balance out your economy better than other classes can. “Sanctified sites” gives a city a morale boost for ANY structure in it`s borders - higher morale boost everything a city does. Finally, “beacon of faith” increases the population growth of a city, similar to “fertile domain” of the Archdruid. As Theocrat, gold will be a lot more important than it is as Archdruid and Sorcerer due to the Theocrat`s focus on regular armies. Mana, on the other hand, is less important for a Theocrat.
All in all, the reason why I love playing as a Theocrat are their many ways to artificially boost their economy, their military doctrine that is nicely balanced between melee and support units and finally the many ways you can heal your troops as Theocrat.

Stats: 26 💗
28 👢
8👅
10 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 6 physical and 2 spirit damage
Unit Type: Scout
Notable abilities: None.
Notable characteristics: Scout that flies, has “night vision” and deals spirit damage.

Regarding the actual scouting the Cherubs are my favorite tier 1 summoning spell. It´s cheap with 40 casting points and mana, the Cherub can fly, has “night vision” and even deals some spirit damage in melee combat. This spirit damage alone makes the Cherub quite viable even in some mid-game fights against the undead apart from the usual role as distraction other tier 1 summons have. Cherubs also come with a good amount of resistance, making them a tough target for support units - archers and powerful melee units obliterate them, however.

Stats: 40 💗
28 👢
8👅
9 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 8 physical damage
Ranged Attack: 11 physical damage
Unit Cost: 36-44 gold (4 upkeep) and 10-18 mana
Unit Type: Support
Notable abilities: “Absorb pain”.
Notable characteristics: Allows you to protect particular vulnerable units.

“Absorb pain” clearly is the trademark ability of the Martyr, that for good reasons. This ability links the Martyr to the target allied unit and absorbs ALL of the incoming damage for it with a 35% damage reduction. That is very handy if you want to get bold with your melee units or want to protect a very vulnerable hero, archer or support unit. Be aware that the Martyr is quite squishy himself, so make sure to have enough healing units nearby - shouldn´t be too hard as Theocrat though. Once your researched “exalted martyrs” they even evolve into an Exalted, which is very rewarding since those Exalted keep “absorb pain”.
Exalted with that ability are truly annoying, as they are much tougher to take down, are actually quite dangerous in melee combat and - more importantly - just come back if they die thanks to “resurgence”. Back to the Martyr: Regarding race, there obviously are differences. Humans have the best Martyr, as they have a ranged attack that deals spirit damage instead of the lame “throw rocks”. Goblins are neat as well, since their ranged attack deal additional poison damage. Finally, the Halfling Martyr has a slingshot, allowing him to attack 3 times.
Should be kept safe from direct attacks, especially if you play as a rather squishy race. In order to keep them alive long enough you will need some healing units nearby. Especially early in the game Martyrs can make a big difference, but they are useful in the mid-game as well. For the late-game it might be better to directly produce Exalted unless you really want them to have “absorb pain”.

Stats: 50 💗
28 👢
12👅
10 ✟
Spirit Immunity
Melee Attack: (3x) 11 physical damage
Unit Cost: 63-85 gold (8 upkeep) and 18-22 mana
Unit Type: Infantry
Notable abilities: “Defender”, “strong will” and “holy champion”.
Notable characteristics: Cheap, sturdy and very powerful against most tier 1 and tier 2 units.

The Crusader is hands-down my favorite tier 2 infantry unit in the entire game. They are PERFECT in their role as frontline infantry since they have good defensive stats and HP, a shield and even come with “defender”, increasing the effectiveness of their guard. “Strong will” makes them immune to spirit damage and effects, which is very useful against other Theocrats or foes like the Dread Reaper. The icing on the cake are their veteran “fast healing” and their gold-rank “high morale”.
Needless to say, the Crusader annihilates the undead due to their “holy champion” and since they are devout from the get-go you can make use of tactical spells to further increase their effectiveness. As if all of this isn’t enough already, the Crusader is pretty cheap to build, allowing you to use them rather carelessly and in great numbers.
Orcs have the best Crusader as they have “tireless” - that’s insane in combination with more HP, more melee strength and “defender”. Just sit on defense and let the enemy suicide themselves on the Crusaders. The Tigrans have the second-best Crusader which has a sun shield, making him very effective against most support units. Dwarf Crusaders have “defensive strike” and the Goblin Crusader comes with “demolisher”.
They have everything I want for a basic frontline soldier: A shield, a good melee attack, great defensive stats and a good amount of HP. The additional abilities like “defender” and “holy champion” are easy to use and useful in almost any situation. While unsuited to be used as a brawler unit, they replace almost all of my basic-infantry and pikemen.

Stats: 60 💗
28 👢
9👅
11 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 6 physical and 8 spirit damage
Unit Cost: 135-160 gold (16 upkeep) and 27-40 mana
Unit Type: Support
Notable abilities: “Healing”, “convert”, “turn undead” and “touch of faith”.
Notable characteristics: Rather weak melee attack but has many active abilities.


In terms of melee damage and defensive stats a pretty weak tier 3 unit. The strength of an Evangelist are his special abilities, those being “healing”, “convert”, “turn undead” and finally “touch of faith”. “Healing” and “touch of faith” are two trademark abilities of the Theocrat, both very useful in just about any situation imaginable and since “healing” can be used multiple times in a battle you might be able to leave battles with more HP compared to what you started it with.
“Turn undead” panics hostile undead units, which is a rather common type of enemy in AoW. While this ability is completely focused around the undead, it does check against spirit resistance - since undead have spirit weakness you will have a great chance of success against them. Finally, there is their “convert”, that works on most living units. “Convert” is a REALLY powerful convert ability, since it has a good success chance AND can be used from a small distance, unlike “seduce” (which in turn works on almost any type of unit).
Combat-wise Evangelist aren´t that amazing, as their melee attack is pretty weak against most enemies and they lack a ranged attack - except for the Human and Draconian Evangelist! Both of them have a ranged attack, that being “fire bolts” for the Draconian Evangelist and “spirit bolts” for the Human Evangelist.
When playing Draconian and Human Theocrat defiantly a unit to mass-produce, else it might be better to stick with your racial support units, that get “healing” from the “order of healing” empire upgrade. The Evangelist is a support-focused unit and generally speaking weaker than the Rogues Succubus or the Archdruids Shaman in direct combat, both units being somewhat of a counterpart to the Evangelist.

Stats: 55 💗
30 👢
11👅
12 ✟
Spirit Immunity
Melee Attack: (3x) 13 physical and 4 spirit damage
Unit Cost: 144-187 gold (16 upkeep) and 27-33 mana
Unit type: Infantry
Notable abilities: “Resurgence”, “strong will” and veteran rank “inflict daze”.
Notable characteristics: Flying unit that revives if killed in combat, as long as you emerge victorious.

The Exalted is a flying unit that is focused solely on direct combat, unlike the Succubus of the Rogue. Regarding their role they can be compared to a Draconian Flyer, just that the Exalted is a straight upgrade from them. They have significant better stats, are immune to spirit damage, unlock “inflict daze” as veteran and come back if killed in battle thanks to “resurgence”.
Especially the final ability is REALLY good, as it allows you to use Exalted very carelessly and even when they die, they just come back after you won the battle. The veteran “inflict daze” is very powerful against units without a good amount of resistance or spirit protection. Dazed enemies (not to confused with dazzled) are unable to do anything other than moving and defending - almost as effective as “inflict stun”, only that it lasts a whole two turns. Finally, there is “righteous zeal”, that allows gold-rank Exalted to deal a ridiculous amount of damage against heretic units - so make use of that “mark of the heretic" spell!
Usually I don’t bother with that many Evangelist and focus on these Exalted instead. Each race has decent Exalted, although the Orc one is the best thanks to their “war cry”, which in combination with a higher melee strength obliterates most tier 1 and tier 2 units. Dwarf Exalted come with a shield that makes him very effective against units without “overwhelm” - helps a lot with enemy archers.
Combining Exalted with Crusaders is a great strategy, since you will have some incredible powerful screening force for your support units, siege engines and (to a lesser extend) for your heroes and Evangelists. Be aware that you can get your hands on Exalted with “absorb pain”, if you were able to level a Martyr to gold - which is hard but very rewarding, since an Exalted comes back after the battle when killed by a lot of absorbed damage.

Stats: 100 💗
28 👢
14👅
12 ✟
Blight Immunity
Spirit Immunity
Ram (melee replacement): 20 physical damage
Ranged attack: 10 spirit and fire damage, increases with each devout unit on the battlefield
Divine vengenace: deals 20 shock and 10 fire damage to each non-devout unit in a 4-hex radius
Unit Cost: 260 gold (32 upkeep) and 60 mana
Unit Type: Artillery
Notable abilities: “Inflict spirit breaking”, “Divine Vengeance” and “smiting prayer bolts”.
Notable characteristics: Very powerful artillery unit, that gets stronger with each allied devout unit.

Guys, we need to talk. Forget the damm Shadow Stalkers, the real problem are Shrines of Smiting that are freaking overpowered! Given enough support their ranged attack “smiting prayer bolts” is RIDICULOUSLY powerful and their “divine vengeance” allows a Theocrat to park these things right in the middle of an ongoing melee battle and unleash havoc on enemy units - the Theocrats own units are mostly unaffected, since this “divine vengeance” doesn´t affect devout units.
Both when controlling and fighting against these things you should treat them similar to a Dreadnoughts Juggernaut: Get in their face! Fire (for some odd reason) works absolute wonders against them, while overwhelming them with melee units can work too if you manage to kill it within one turn - else they gonna roast you with “divine vengeance”. Archers won´t be a good counter against Shrines of Smiting, as they are “reinforced”.
Dedicating an entire section to counter this truly overpowered unit seems adequate, so here you go.
I already mentioned their weakness to fire, which should be exploited as much as possible. You want to go with powerful units that can deal a lot of damage and can tank a decent amount of damage themselves, bonus points if they are immune to spirit, fire or shock damage. Dreadnought machines with their spirit immunity actually are a great counter to Shrines of Smiting, since many of them deal fire damage. Draconian Elders and Dwarf Forge Priests work too or charge in with some Fire/Gold Dragons, who shred these things to pieces.
Overwhelming with a sheer amounts of disposable melee units can work too, but you risk getting your butt kicked if the Shrine doesn’t go down in one turn (don’t forget that “divine vengeance” doesn’t hurt most Theocrat units, so they are more likely to activate it even with their own units nearby). Finally, you should hunt these things down as long as they are on the open field - they are very tough to take down when attacking in a siege battles (again, similar to Dreadnought Juggernauts).
You defiantly should hunt down cities that produce these things, since a horde of them are equally terrifying to a well-supported Shrine of Smiting, which “smiting prayer bolts” are buffed by a lot of devout units. At gold they receive “static shield”, which thankfully takes quite a long time to archive - but is devastating against tier 1 and tier 2 melee units.

The final class in Age of Wonders 3, which is also the class I´ve chosen when I first got into the game. The Warlord has a very strong emphasize on powerful melee units that hit hard and can take some punishment, but doesn´t have much in terms of ranged units other than Mounted Archers and what the race you play gives you. Speaking of races, the Warlord`s class units differ by far the most regarding what race you play, which helps not getting bored of the class. As a nice side effect there isn’t a single race that doesn´t at least get something out of the Warlord class: Either you further improve their racial focus on melee units or you add powerful melee units to an otherwise melee-weak race.
Most of your early- and mid-game combat spells are situational and focus on buffing a single of your units with several combat-related abilities or buff their stats. Later in a match you have access to some of the most powerful combat spells in the game, including “relentless army” giving ALL your troopers “tireless” and “bloodbath”, which gives all of your units a flat +5 melee strength.
Regarding strategic spells you got several ones that buff your units, while the infamous “dread siege” spell severely reduces the morale of defenders in a city. Another very powerful strategic spell is “authority of the sword”, which allows you to increase the border of a city by one - incredible useful if you got a nice structure just outside your borders and it even can be cast on allied cities (keep that in mind when playing co-op).
Without doubt the most powerful spell the Warlord has is their “global assault” tier 7 spell. What makes this spell f***ing overpowered is the fact that ALL the Warlord units get promoted to gold rank (which applies to newly produced ones as well) and they keep that promotion even when you disjunct the spell. NEVER let a Warlord get this up and running in the first place, else you WILL get butchered by hordes of gold-rank Phalanxes, War Breeds and Manticore Riders. Only very experienced players can hope to win a game once a Warlord gets “global assault” up.
When it comes to empire upgrades the Warlord has some of the best ones in the entire game. “Conqueror” gives your units an EXP boost for killing enemies, while “thoroughbred mounts” grants an additional 15 HP to your cavalry. The crown jewel is “martial arts training”, that gives ALL of your melee units the “martial arts” ability - did I mention that the Warlord focuses on that kind of unit type?
Your economy will be heavily focused around gold - mana is almost useless until you can build your late-game class units. Your early game won´t be that great, since you don´t have many ways to heal your soldiers and you constantly have to watch your gold income. I recommend to expand rather aggressively in order to get a good economy up and running much quicker than to peacefully absorb your neighbors - which is why you shouldn’t pick Keeper of the Peace or Greyguard spheres if you go for pure efficiency.

Stats: 35 💗
32 👢
7👅
7 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 9 physical damage
Unit cost: 27-33 gold (4 upkeep)
Unit Type: Scout (duh)
Notable abilities: “Sprint”.
Notable characteristics: Only really useful when used as a scout.


Like the name states your tier 1 scout you get as a Warlord. The unique thing about Scouts is that they - unlike all the other tier 1 scouts - aren´t summoned. Instead, you produce them in your cities like you do with all the other units. Has the advantage to conserve your mana and casting points, but drains your gold and occupies the production of your city.
Since gold is more important than mana for a Warlord you should consider completely neglecting your Scout class unit and just outright summon your racial tier 1 unit with the “raise militia” spell. This saves you some important gold in the early game and since those tier 1 irregulars are often more useful than the Scout is the choice is pretty clear for me. There aren´t that many differences between the races - they just get a movement boost for their favorite terrain type.
Like I said just go with “raise militia” instead - 100 population isn’t that much and you need that gold for your combat units and city upgrades.

Stats: 57 💗
32 👢
11👅
9 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 13 physical damage
Unit cost: 59-77 gold (8 upkeep) and 9-11 mana
Unit Type: Infantry
Notable abilities: “Charge”, “demolisher” and “overwhelm”.
Notable characteristics: Hits pretty hard but can´t take much of a beating.


One of the many trademark units of the Warlord. Berserkers are your FIRST real class units and they are already a pretty scary foe on the battlefield - if they can reach their target in time. You see: Berserkers aren’t known for their survivability (the in-game description hints this) but can dish out a HUGE amount of damage if they get up close thanks to “overwhelm”, “charge” and a very powerful melee attack for a tier 2 unit. At gold rank they even get “tireless”, which allows you to park them in the middle of an enemy army and watch the ensuing chaos.
Regarding race there are two outstanding Berserkers. The Orc Berserker is just INSANELY powerful for being your first class unit and can shred even tier 3 units to pieces - they get their butt kicked by support units though. Then there is their Tigran counterpart, which has “pounce” and “improved wall climbing”. Defiantly replace my Prowlers and the combination of a high melee strength and “pounce” work really well in most situations.
Defiantly worth using as soon as you can get your hands on them, especially when playing orcs or tigrans. Other races have decent Berserkers as well, although I prefer to use Monster Hunters with most of them, since they have a much higher survivability, slayer abilities and a ranged attack.

Stats: 50 💗
32 👢
12👅
10 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 12 physical damage
Ranged Attack: 11 physical damage
Unit cost: 63-88 gold (8 upkeep) and 20-27 mana
Unit Type: Infantry
Notable abilities: Several slayer abilities.
Notable characteristics: Balanced infantry unit with a ranged attack.

Monster Hunters come after the Berserkers, being your 3rd class unit as Warlord. Whenever I play Warlord both of these units are in some kind of weird rivalry with each other. The Berserker offers more brute strength and is straight forward to use, while the Monster Hunter has more defense, resistance, a ranged attack and deals a bit more damage to certain enemy types.
Of course you can always use both Monster Hunters and Berserkers. From personal experience I prefer to stick with one of the two though: You can´t get confused with different unit tactics and some races have particular good Berserkers or Monster Slayers, making their rival unit redundant. Finally, you are better of using Monster Hunters when up against an Arch Druid, Sorcerer and Necromancer thanks to their slayer abilities, while Berserkers are far better suited against a Dreadnought thanks to their “demolisher”.
Regarding race synergy the dwarves have the best Monster Hunter (in relation to their Berserker), since they come equipped with a heavy crossbow. Goblins improve their Monster Hunter in a similar fashion, just that they add some poison damage instead of more physical damage. Finally, there is the Halfling Monster Hunter that comes with “shoot fireworks”, which makes them a straight upgrade from the Jester.
Monster Hunters are always a viable option, its just that the Berserker outshines them sometimes. It largely depends on personal preference, the race you play and the enemies you are fighting which determine which of the two you use - unless you plan on using both anyways.

Stats: 50 💗
36 👢
10👅
9 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 10 physical damage
Ranged Attack: (3x) 10 physical damage
Unit cost: 100-120 gold (8 upkeep) and 20-30 mana
Unit Type: Archer
Notable abilities: “Sprint”.
Notable characteristics: Archer with high HP and movement.

The only class unit of the Warlord that is focused on ranged combat. In fact, it´s the 3rd tier 2 class unit the Warlord has, which is somewhat unique among the classes of Age of Wonders 3. Don´t let this classification fool you though: A Mounted Archer is very deadly when used right. For an archer they have quite a lot of HP and you can further boost that with “thoroughbred mounts”. Their high mobility allows them to travel much further and still use 3 or 2 attacks - their “sprint” on the other hand allows them to get out of sticky situations or into a better firing position.
The ultimate archer in the game has got to be the High Elf Mounted Archer, since he carries a longbow. High agility in combination with a bow that doesn’t suffer long-range penalty is devastating against unprepared enemies. The Human Archer has “blessed arrows”, which helps quite a lot against the undead and physical-resistant foes. Finally, there is the Tigran Mounted Archer, that can travel ridiculously far and still use their 3-2 attacks.
One thing worth mentioning is that the Mounted Archer, despite race, offers a traditional archer for races that lack them. That means they might be very attractive to frostlings, halflings and draconians as well. Be aware that Mounted Archers don´t come with the same abilities of most racial archers (apart from the obvious High Elf Mounted Archer).

Stats: 65 💗
32 👢
12👅
11 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 16 physical damage
Unit cost: 135-160 gold (16 upkeep) and 27-33 mana
Unit Type: Pikeman
Notable abilities: “First strike” and gold-rank “tireless”.
Notable characteristics: Sturdy and powerful infantry unit that makes up most late-game armies.


Now this is were the fun really begins! I consider Phalanxes the successful improvement of a Berserker who has been given a spear, a shield and better defensive stats. As pikeman they come with “first strike”, “pike square” and “polearm”, all of which combined makes them a powerful unit against almost ANY enemy type - be it infantry, cavalry or machines. At gold they unlock "tireless", which is a fantastic ability to have on any melee unit.
Like always, there are better and worse Phalanxes out there - just keep in mind that you should use them regardless of race, they are too good to pass up. The Tigran Phalanx is the best thanks to their “sun shield” that makes him effective against support units as well, while the Orc Phalanx has “war cry” and even more melee strength. Goblins and dwarf Phalanxes are good as well: The dwarf one has “defensive strike” while the goblin one has “life steal”.
If you got the money, you should turn Phalanxes into your mainline infantry unit later in the game. Throwing in a racial tier 3 unit makes sense in some cases, else you can´t go wrong with a horde of Phalanxes in open-field battles. The one disadvantage of the Phalanx is their inability to climb walls (unless you team them up with a rogue hero), which is where artillery, War Breeds and Manticore Riders come into play.

Stats: 80 💗
36 👢
12👅
10 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 20 physical damage
Unit cost: 153-176 gold (16 upkeep) and 36-50 mana
Unit Type: Brawler
Notable abilities: “Regrowth”, “wall crushing”
Notable characteristics: Hits like a truck, but is less tanky than the Phalanx.

War Breeds are incredible strong melee fighters that pound almost anything into pulp that opposes them. Thanks to their high HP, high movement and “regrowth” they are still able to take a beating, but are much more vulnerable to damage in the first place when compared to Phalanxes and Manticore Riders. War Breeds are best used alongside units supporting them. Like having a War Breed wreck a wall with their “wall crushing” and charge in with Phalanxes afterwards.
Orcs, Tigrans and Humans have the best War Breeds. The Orc War Breed might be incredible weak against support units, but makes up for it by an even higher HP and melee strength. Tigran War Breeds can move incredible far, which in combination with “regrowth” makes hit-and-run attacks a viable option. Finally, the Human War Breed is able to swim, making it a valuable asset in naval battles.
Better than most giants you can build and better than the Tame Trolls of the goblins. Like already mentioned, you should use them alongside a supporting army - not in a stack of 6. That CAN work but will defiantly get some of your War Breeds killed, they just aren’t as tanky as Phalanxes and Manticore Riders.

Stats: 85 💗
30 👢
13👅
12 ✟
Melee Attack: (3x) 23 physical damage
Unit cost: 243-308 gold (32 upkeep) and 60-80 mana
Unit Type: Brawler
Notable abilities: “Charge” and “flying”.
Notable characteristics: High mobility cavalry that obliterates most opponents.

We´ve all been there before, my friend: The Manticore-Hate-Train. Let`s brush those “overpowered” accusations aside (still think Shrines of Smiting have that spot) and focus on the actual stats. They are an incredible tier 4 unit that has a ridiculous amount of melee strength, great mobility, a flying mount and decent defense stats. Those defenses are lower in comparison to other tier 4 units, but you gotta kill them somehow, right?
Someone should have given the Dwarf Manticore Rider that memo, since their higher defense values in combination with “defensive strike” makes them almost unkillable used right. Tigran Manticore Riders might be a bit squishier but have “pounce” to make up for that - wave goodbye to your squishy backline units, they gonna get eaten alive by them. Then there are the High Elf Manticore Riders with “inflict stun” - self-explanatory right? Goblin Manticore Riders deal a significant amount of poison damage, can weaken and can poison their enemies - RIP elves and fairies.
No matter what race you play: Manticore Riders are the way to go in the end game. They are quite expensive, but the gold-focused economy of a Warlord should be able to handle it. Being able tank a lot of damage and dish out even more themselves they are a fearsome sight to behold, be it as elite warriors leading your armies or in full stacks.
The best all-purpose melee unit in the entire game. You likely will need to focus fire to take down just ONE of them down - using bait units is a good strategy here. In combination with global assault turning all of them gold-rank the Warlord can be considered the most powerful late-game class in terms of quality regular armies.

I want to make a small shoutout to the people that helped me create and improve both of my AoW III guides. All of them have been a great help in their own way and I want them to have a special place in both guides. Special thanks to:

Iguana-on-a-stick for the fantastic discussions we had in chat and the many tips on how to improve the guide and unit ranking.

Staythecourse for several great comments to help improve the guide and re-rank a couple units. Thanks to both him him and Iguna-on-a-stick for pointing out several minor mistakes I made while creating the guide.

Blackarrowgaming, an AoW III youtuber that helped me tremendously at getting better in the game and giving me the "moral support" when I was about to quit the game all those years ago. While I am not into making advertisment for other people, he does deserve much more attention for his great work - should you need more help or want to further improve your tactics make sure to check out his channel!

The makers of the AoW III Wiki for providing the necessary raw material I needed to create this guide. While a couple informations were outdated, it helped me a lot during the creation period of my guides.

And finally the developers of AoW III for creating my most favorite strategy game yet. With all the unit diversity, different races, different classes and specialisations, the great random map generator and leader customization you made a game that will definatly stay in my library for the rest of my life.

Thanks to everyone on the list, you all have been a great help. This guide wouldn´t have been possible to exist in the qualitiy it is today, if I didn´t had a helping hand from all of these people (aannnddd the AoW wiki). Have a nice day everyone!