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==Hero classes==
<pre>
AT/DF is the hero's attack/defense.
A/D is the attack/defense bonus the hero gives to his soldiers.
Soldier-type leaders (fighter, lord, etc.) can use all weapons except
lances, and all types of armor.
Knights can use all weapons and all armor.
Sky Knights and Sea Knights are like knights except they cannot wear
plate armor.
Priests can use hammers and wands, and chainmail or lighter armor.
They're also the only 'class type' which can use the cross special
item.
Highmasters/Rangers are the only characters who can use longbows or
arbalests.
Mages can use daggers and wands, and no armor heavier than robes.
If a character equips, say, some plate armor and then class changes to
an archmage, the armor will stay equipped even though the mage
technically isn't allowed to. You can use this trick to optimize your
equipment regardless of your class.
Knights and SkyKnights have longer level bars than any of their
counterparts until the fourth class level, where pretty much everyone
takes an equally long time to level up.
I usually try to have as many class types around as possible. If I have
a choice between three class types I already have, I'll choose the one
that's most extreme, the one that's best at what s/he does. For
instance, I'd rather have a knight master, because his focus is on
offensive melee, than a paladin, who doesn't really have a focus and is
not outstanding in anything. Similarly, I'd rather have an archmage,
who is a complete battlemage and destroyer, than a weak class in
somewhere between battlemage and healer like the saint. I also like to
have a fourth class change, so I usually ignore dead-ends like the
Grand Knight or King even though they are very good classes.
Fighter AT + 3  DF + 2 MP + 1 Range 2
A + 0  D + 2 MV 5
Attack type: Rolling fire
Troops: Soldier
Basic soldier-type leader. Barely better than the rabble he commands,
but with a great sword he can be a real powerhouse.
Lord AT + 3 DF + 6 MP + 3 Range 3
A + 2 D + 4 MV 5
Attack type: Rolling Fire
Spells: Heal1, Protection
Troops: Soldier, Pikeman
Low attack, but pikemen are important for dealing with enemy horseman,
and heal1 is great for easy experience.
High Lord AT + 4 DF + 6 MP + 5 Range 3
A + 3 D + 4 MV 5
Attack type: Rolling Fire
Spells: Force Heal1, Attack
Troops: Elf, Phalanx
The pros and cons between this and magic knight/highlander are pretty
much the same as the pros and cons between lord and knight.
Sword Master AT + 6 DF + 7 MP + 3 Range 3
A + 8 D + 7 MV 5
Attack type: Energy blast
Spells: Tornado, Protection
Troops: Phalanx, Armored Soldier
Nothing particularly fascinating here, just more of the same. His
magic defense isn't very good, so watch out for meteor and blast.
King AT + 8 DF + 7 MP + 8 Range 4
A + 8 D + 8 MV 5
Attack type: Energy blast
Spells: Heal2, Attack, Resist
Troops: Ballista, Armored Soldier
This class does everything the swordmaster does, and more. Great
bonuses all around and much better spells. Unlike the swordmaster, this
class is a dead end. It looks exactly like the hero in battle.
Hero AT + 4 DF + 2 MP + 4 Range 4
A + 9 D + 8 MV 6
Attack type: Energy blast
Spells: Blast, Zone, Resist
Troops: Phalanx, Dragoon
Okay bonuses, nothing spectacular. You probably won't use blast much,
since you won't have much MP to begin with. Incidentally, the hero's
combat stance looks exactly like Bernhart's.
Ranger AT + 9 DF + 6 MP + 12 Range 0
A + 7 D + 5 MV 7 (special)
Attack type: Blur charge (lightning discharge vs. air)
Spells: Blast, Tornado, Resist
Troops: None
An odd class. Short command range, and a shift toward magic on a path
that was really melee oriented. It is also the one of the only classes
that can use bows, but s/he loses the ability to use swords or axes.
You can equip a necklace or crown to give her some range and allow
her to use some troops. The ranger and highmaster seem to get an extra
10% bonus when fighting inside caves, buildings, or rooftops. She also
moves quickly over water, and has an extremely small level up bar.
Highmaster AT + 2 DF + 2 MP + 8 Range 0
A + 8 D + 6 MV 8 (special)
Attack type: Energy Blast (Sword beam when using ranged weapons)
Spells: Thunder, Earthquake, Resist
Troops: None
The class that comes after the ranger. They are very similar. Ranger,
being a fourth level class, gets more AT/DF bonuses. Highmaster has an
unusually small level up bar for 5th level class, so you can get the
spells faster. The lousy range and inability to equip good weapons,
however, are eternal. Still, he makes for a good fighter/mage combo,
and his spells are good.
Knight AT + 6 DF + 3 MP + 2 Range 3
A + 6 D + 2 MV 8 (horse)
Attack type: Charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Attack
Troops: Horseman
The opposite of the lord, knights are very attack-oriented. Since
you'll be on the offensive most of the time, this is a good thing =P.
You could probably get by without a knight... you could get by w/o any
one class if you tried hard enough... but it would be hard. Even though
their level up bar is unusually long, they're still a good investment.
Highlander AT + 9 DF + 4 MP + 4 Range 4
A + 5 D + 3 MV 11 (horse)
Attack type: Charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Protection, Sleep
Troops: Heavy Horseman, Gladiator
A very combat-oriented knight. He gets a great AT boost.
Magic Knight AT + 7 DF + 4 MP + 8 Range 4
A + 6 D + 3 MV 10 (horse)
Attack type: Charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Fireball, Sleep
Troops: Heavy Horseman, Gladiator
Worse stats than the highlander, but he gives better bonuses, and the
MP boost can be nice. Unless there's something at the end of the class
path that you need the magic knight for, I'd say just pick Highlander.
Unicorn Knight AT + 6 DF + 5 MP + 8 Range 4
A + 6 D + 2 MV 10 (special)
Spells: Mute, Charm, Heal1
Troops: Heavy Horseman, Gladiator
A knight class with less power but better magic. Usually it's best
avoided, since there is really no reason why you would want a knight to
be good at magic.
Knightmaster AT + 8 DF + 4 MP + 4 Range 4
A + 10 D + 5 MV 11 (horse)
Attack type: Blur charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Blizzard, Attack
Troops: Dragoon, Armored Soldier
Another very attack-oriented character. His charge is so swift archers
and ballistae don't even get a chance to fire.
Royal Guard AT + 5 DF + 1 MP + 2 Range 4
A + 10 D + 7 MV 11 (horse)
Attack type: Blur charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Blast, Heal2, Protection
Troops: Phalanx, Gladiator
Very good attack, but his defense still suffers. He makes a good second
wave attacker - send him in after you magic attack an enemy leader, or
after you hit him with one of your higher defense characters. His low
defense hurts his ability to fight on his own, but he is great support.
Grand Knight AT + 8 DF + 9 MP + 0 Range 4
A + 8 D + 8 MV 8
Attack type: Charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Protection, Zone, Earthquake
Troops: Phalanx, Dragoon
This class gets a couple of very nice spells, but no MP. If your knight
hasn't spent class or two as a magic user, this class might get very
boring. It's a dead end fourth level class, but it gives very solid
bonuses, more than any of the 4th level classes that evolve into 5th.
Paladin AT + 5 DF + 7 MP + 6 Range 4
A + 9 D + 6 MV 11 (horse)
Attack type: Charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Tornado, Force Heal1
Troops: Monk, Angel
An interesting mix of a horseman-type leader and two troop types that
are generally not associated with horsemen. He's not very strong in any
given area, but he's pretty versatile. However, by this point you
should have nearly 10 characters - you should be able to carve out a
niche for every one. In the end a versatile character is only the
most limited of specialists. (And if that makes any sense, you can
whack me or something)
Hawk Knight AT + 7 DF + 2 MP + 3 Range 3
A + 2 D + 4 MV 8 (flying)
Attack type: Wind
Spells: Tornado
Troops: Griffin
Like Knights, Hawk Knights have large level bars, but they're also
very good. Even though the leader itself isn't very tough, he is fast,
and his troops are powerful and versatile.
Dragon Knight AT + 6 DF + 6 MP + 4 Range 4
A + 4 D + 3 MV 9 (flying)
Attack type: Lightning Breath
Spells: Fireball, Attack
Troops: Horseman, Griffin
This class is great against enemy fliers, his attack will take them
all down before they even get a chance to hit. He does pretty well
against ground troops too.
Dragon Lord AT + 10 DF + 4 MP + 4 Range 4
A + 9 D + 6 MV 10 (flying)
Attack type: Lightning Breath
Spells: Thunder, Force Heal1
Troops: Armored Soldier, Angel
Angels are very useful units because they don't die as often and are
immune to magic. Other than that, it's more of the same.
Dragon Master AT + 4 DF + 0 MP + 4 Range 4
A + 8 D + 7 MV 11 (flying)
Attack type: Lightning Breath
Spells: Blast, Heal2, Attack
Troops: Dragoon, Gladiator
A nice 5th-level class with a lot of versatility in spells and troops.
The A/D bonuses aren't that good, though, and it hurts the angel's
already low stats.
Crocodile Knight AT + 6 DF + 3 MP + 2 Range 3
A + 5 D + 3 MV 6 (sea)
Attack type: Charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Attack
Troops: Merman
Lester's starting class, but it's his second in terms of runestoning.
It's similar to the knight.
Serpent Knight AT + 4 DF + 7 MP + 4 Range 3
A + 5 D + 4 MV 7 (sea)
Attack type: Charge (Lance or spear throw vs. air)
Spells: Blizzard, Protection
Troops: Merman, Elf
A nice, balanced class with as many bonuses as the knight without the
long level up bar or the weakness against pikes. He is incredibly slow
on any kind of rough terrain, though.
Serpent Lord AT + 5 DF + 9 MP + 4 Range 4
A + 10 D + 6 MV 8 (sea)
Attack type: Charge (Lance or scythe throw vs. air)
Spells: Thunder, Force Heal1
Troops: Ballista, Gladiator
Still very well rounded. His high attack/defense bonuses compared to
most mages make him great for artillery duels, if you're into that sort
of thing.
Serpent Master AT + 4 DF + 2 MP + 2 Range 4
A + 10 D + 7 MV 9 (sea)
Attack type: Charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Earthquake, Zone, Resist
Troops: Dragoon, Angel
Okay bonuses, and good spells. 5th level classes aren't that exciting.
Warlock AT + 3  DF + 2 Range 2
A + 4 D + 2 MV 5
Attack type: Charged fireball (very slow)
Spells: Magic Arrow, Attack
Troops: Guardsman
Basic mage leader type. He levels up extremely quickly. His troops are
horrible but with the great A/D bonuses, they can fight against
soldiers as equals.
Sorcerer AT + 4 DF + 4 MP + 8 Range 2
A + 5  D + 4 MV 5
Attack type: Charged fireball
Spells: Fireball, Illusion
Troops: Archer
I actually think he's an inferior magic user to the shaman... thunder
is much cooler than fireball imo. But he's the only guy early on who
can get archers, while the lord can get pikes, so I still take him.
Fliers can be a major pain.
Mage AT + 5 DF + 4 MP + 14 Range 3
A + 6 D + 4 MV 5
Attack type: Charged fireball
Spells: Tornado, Sleep, Resist
Troops: Elf, Gladiator
The mage class continues the warlock's and sorceror's history of high
attack and attack bonuses, while rounding out his spell arsenal. If
nothing else, take him because he has resist. *Very* useful spell later
on.
Archmage AT + 7 DF + 4 MP + 14 Range 4
A + 7 D + 5 MV 5
Attack type: Charged fireball
Spells: Meteor, Blizzard, Zone
Troops: Phalanx, Ballista
More and more damaging spells. His defense is as crappy as ever, but
the archmage is extremely good at what he does - mass slaughter. He is
one of the few classes with the meteor spell, which is quite possibly
the best offensive spell in the game. Zone is also very good.
Zarvera AT + 2 DF + 1 MP + 14 Range 4
A + 9 D + 7 MV 5
Attack type: Energy blast
Spells: Blast, Meteor, Earthquake, Protection
Troops: Armored Soldier, Heavy Horseman
This is one of the few 5th level classes that shows a big improvement
over its predecessor. Boosted MP, a much faster attack, and a set of
new spells and troops.
Wizard AT + 6 DF + 5 MP + 14 Range 4
A + 6 D + 6 MV 5
Attack type: Lightning storm
Spells: Blast, Zone, Resist
Troops: Armored Soldier, Ballista
It's a decent class, but I prefer archmage. Wizard misses out on
meteor, and blast is too focused and short-ranged to make up for it.
Only take it if you really want Hain to become a summoner.
Sage AT + 4 DF + 7 MP + 8 Range 3
A + 7 D + 5 MV 5
Attack type: Lightning blast
Magic: Earthquake, Heal2, Mute
Troops: Phalanx, Armored Soldier
Another hybrid class, but this one actually isn't a dead end for
Jessica. It still isn't as good as archmage, but it lets her become a
summoner, and having heal2 is kind of neat. For some reason, this class
is allowed to equip plate armor.
Summoner AT + 2 DF + 1 MP + 14 Range 4
A + 8 D + 7 MV 5
Attack type: Fire lash
Magic: Meteor, Protection, Summon
Troops: Phalanx, Armored Soldier
Lousy bonuses, but this class gets to do what no other class in the
game can - summon. Once a creature is summoned, it acts like a second
commander, casting spells and dealing out decent damage. Unlike summons
in, say, final fantasy, these things stay until they're killed or the
battle ends. They can get pretty good if you get the special items that
let you summon the really powerful stuff. See summons section for
details.
Meteor is also nice to have, since you missed out on the archmage
class.
Shaman AT + 5 DF + 3 MP + 7 Range 2
A + 4  D + 4 MV 5
Attack type: Lightning storm
Spells: Thunder, Illusion
Troops: Pikeman
Getting thunder early is definitely a plus, and the attack is somewhat
faster than the sorceror's. Other than that, there isn't much here.
The shaman's pikemen are stronger than the lord's but either class will
do fine against horsemen.
Bishop AT + 4 DF + 5 MP + 12 Range + 3
A + 5 D + 4 MV 5
Attack type: Lightning storm
Spells: Fireball, Force Heal1, Mute
Troops: Monk, Gladiator
A cleric with more of a tilt toward offensive. It has an unusually
small level up bar, but is not a particularly useful class.
Saint AT + 6 DF + 7 MP + 6 Range 3
A + 8 D + 8 MV 5
Attack type: Lightning blast
Spells: Tornado, Heal2, Sleep
Troops: Armored Soldier, Ballista
Another fourth level dead end. One reason why you might want to take it
is that it gets the same bonuses monks get against demons. That,
combined with his decent attack bonus, can make him very effective.
If you plan on using this class, pick a character who can reach here
from Highlord so that she can carry over a great sword or devil axe
from her previous class.
Silver Knight AT + 7 DF + 6 MP + 2 Range 4
A + 10 D + 6 MV 10 (special)
Attack type: Charge (Lance throw vs. air)
Spells: Tornado, Zone
Troops: Griffin, Dragoon
This fighting class comes on a path that's composed of mostly magic
users (Shaman, Bishop, etc.) Kind of the odd one out, but sometimes
it's nice having a knight with a large MP total and a cool spell like
Zone. However, its horrible movement indoors severely cripples it. Only
take it to get Sherry to Princess.
Princess AT + 2 DF + 2 MP + 8 Range 4
A + 9 D + 9 MV 6
Attack type: Flash
Spells: Force Heal2, Protection, Charm
Troops: Monk, Angel
This is one of my favorite classes in the game... then again, I'm kind
of biased since Sherry is one of my favorite characters =P. She has an
extremely fast attack, made even better by the fact you can equip
swords and axes. She also has good spells and troops. You can give her
a wand if you want, but this is such a great melee class that it would
be a waste.
Cleric AT + 2 DF + 2 MP + 2 Range 2
A + 0 D + 4 MV 5
Attack type: Cross darts
Spells: Heal1, Protection
Troops: Guardsman
Basic healer. Terrible at fighting, although you can augment that
slightly by using a war hammer. It's probably better to just use a wand
and concentrate on healing for experience.
Healer AT + 2 DF + 6 MP + 6 MP + 2 Range 2
A + 3 D + 5 MV 5
Attack type: Cross darts
Spells: Turn Undead, Heal1, Force Heal1
Troops: Monk
This is where the healing classes really start to shine. Great troops,
decent troop bonuses, and better spells. Still hopeless at fighting,
but that's not her job anyway.
Priest AT + 3 DF + 6 MP + 10 Range 3
A + 4 D + 6 MV 5
Attack Type: Cross Darts
Spells: Turn Undead, Heal2, Mute
Troops: Monk, Phalanx
This is the earliest class that can use heal2... unfortunately, you
won't see it much because Riana will probably leave at around this
point. It's a decent class, but by the time she rejoins there will be
much better ones around.
High Priest AT + 4 DF + 7 MP + 12 Range 3
A + 6 D + 7 MV 5
Attack type: Cross darts
Spells: Force Heal2, Sleep, Resist
Troops: Phalanx, Armored Soldier
The most useful item here is resist. By the time you get this class,
your other characters' troop bonuses will have caught up with the
healer's, so the A/D here is nothing special.
Agent AT + 0 DF + 3 MP + 10 Range 4
A + 8 D + 7 MV 5
Attack type: Cross darts
Spells: Meteor, Attack, Teleport, Charm
Troops: Monk, Angel
</pre>
This is your reward for having to go through 4 classes of very low
attack power. Agent gets a lot of good offensive spells, and her A
bonus is higher. Teleport is also pretty cool. She doesn't get any
new healing spells, but come on - you have them all by now anyway.


[[Category:Langrisser]]
[[Category:Langrisser]]
[[Category:RPG]]
[[Category:RPG]]
[[Category:Sega Genesis]]
[[Category:Sega Genesis]]

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Table of Contents

Frequently Asked Questions

===What is Langrisser? Langrisser (Warsong in the US) is a roleplaying-tactics hybrid made by a company called Masaya. There have been many different games in the series, but the only one to reach American shores was the first. You can find an old cartridge of it for the Sega Genesis if you're lucky.

What is Langrisser 2?

Langrisser 2 takes place many years after the first. The kingdom of Baltia (the good guys in Langrisser 1) is gone, and a new world power called the Rayguard Empire has risen. Led by Emperor Bernhart and his four generals, it has been taking over the surrounding countries and searching for something... what is it? You'll find out as you play the game.

What's the difference between Langrisser 2 and Der Langrisser?

  • DL is for the SNES, L2 is for the Genesis
  • DL has a branching storyline where you can choose who you want to fight for after a certain scenario.
  • DL has different dialogue.
  • L2 is much harder.
  • L2's graphics are more anime. Whether or not this translates into 'better' depends on your tastes.
  • They both have the same basic story and characters.

Some notes on abbreviations in this FAQ:

  • AT = attack
  • DF = defense
  • A = attack bonus given by leader to follower
  • D = defense bonus given by leader to follower
  • MDF = %chance of evading a negative status effect (like charm or sleep)
  • HP = Hit points. The health of the character
  • MP = Magic points. The magical energy (or mana) of the character used to cast spells.
  • MV = Movement points. How far the unit can move per turn over clear terrain. Different units take different penalties for rough terrain (see gameplay and basic strategy section).
  • L = Experience level. As you gain levels, you gain abilities. Each class has a set of bonuses/spells which will be gradually phased in. There are ten levels in each class, and at the tenth of any non-dead end class you will change into a higher class.
  • P = Gold, cash.

General Strategy

Gameplay and Basic strategy

Controls

  • A: Go to next leader with active troops
  • B: Cancel
  • C: Select
  • Start: Options

You start each scenario with up to 10 heroes, each with his/her unique advantages and disadvantages. You can use the gold you earned from the scenario before to hire troops for them or buy special items that increase their power. In most scenarios, you get a number of starting positions that you can choose to post your heroes on.

The game alternates between you and the computer--you always go first. On your turn you can move your heroes and soldiers, attack, and cast spells. Each hero gives his/her followers attack and defense bonuses, but only if they are within a certain distance from him/her. Their command radius is helpfully lit up by a blinking area, light blue for you, red for the enemy. Except for special circumstances, NEVER let your units fight outside of that area. In the beginning, your troops will be closely matched with the enemy and you'll want every advantage you can get. Later on, your leaders' bonuses will be so high that fighting outside of their radius would be suicide.

In real life, numbers mean more than skill, but in Langrisser 2 and movies, experience has a huge effect on combat. A level 30 character could defeat an infinite number of level 5 characters, just because they wouldn't be able to damage him for more than one point in a blue moon (read: very rarely). Keep this in mind when fighting.

To heal your soldiers, have them spend a turn next to their leader. At the beginning of each turn, all damaged soldiers next to their hero will be healed by 3. Problem is, the AI tends to hit the weakest units. Protect the guys waiting to be healed with your more healthy ones. If you're lucky, they'll be powerful enough that the enemy will shy away from attacking you altogether.

L1 Note: In Warsong (Langrisser I) enemies pretty much always attacked, even if they had no chance. Langrisser II's AI is more timid - it only attacks if it thinks it will come out on top, or if it doesn't think it will be very damaged if it tries. You can take advantage by this by sending a strong unit into a mass of weak ones. As long as you keep your HP high, not one of them will try to attack you, even if they could overwhelm you if they attacked together. Also, the AI doesn't take into account first strike rules--a Scylla who could take down a full unit before they even reach her would still stay away from them if their attack was high enough.

To heal your heroes, have them use the 'health' command. This will restore their HP by 3 and their MP by 2. Healing yourself is of course a good idea if your HP is low. In addition to making you feel good about yourself, keeping your heroes alive till the end of the scenario means that they get experience bonuses. Since in Langrisser you cannot backtrack if your characters are lagging in exp like you can in most RPGs, this is important.

In Warsong, if a hero died he was gone. Permanently. This is no longer the case in the sequel. Unlike the first game, Langrisser II is very dialogue-heavy, so this may have been to avoid writing multiple sets of dialogue depending on who was alive.

Different types of terrain give different defense bonuses. In general, the rougher it is, the larger the bonus. Rough terrain also means that units take longer to pass through it. Here's a list of terrain types and how they affect soldiers:

%: Bonus the unit gets in combat.
F: Movement cost for foot soldiers.
H: Movement cost for most mounted units.
h: Movement cost for Unicorn Knights, Silver Knights, and Hell Hounds.
S: Movement cost for sea units.
D: Movement cost for 'deep' sea units (Leviathans and Krakens)
- indicates that the terrain is impassable to that type of unit.
  • means that they never show up in a scenario with that terrain type.
 ______________________________________
|             |    |   |   |   |   |   |
| Terrain     | %  | F | H | h | S | D |
|_____________|____|___|___|___|___|___|
|             |    |   |   |   |   |   |
| Road        | 0  | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Grass       | 5  | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Forest      | 20 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Crater      | 10 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Mountains   | 25 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Roof        | 25 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| Cavern/Room | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | * |
| Rubble      | 5  | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | * |
| Shallows    | 0  | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Water       | 0  | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Wall        | 40 | 4 | - | - | - | - |
| Ship Deck   | 5  | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Ship Rail   | 5  | 4 | - | - | - | - |
|_____________|____|___|___|___|___|___|

Try to position yourself so that you get the most out of the terrain. The difference is not large but it does matter.

If you're a flier, terrain doesn't affect you at all (see unit matchups for details).

Deep sea units will always get 0% when fighting on land.

Werewolves and archdemons are the only units who can move across high mountains (they look white on the map but look the same on the battlefield, and they give the same bonuses as normal mountains.)

Some of your characters will be able to cast spells. In fact, all of the higher level classes have at least one or two. Spells either damage the enemy, heal you, or hit someone with a stats effect, which can be good or bad. Healing spells are extremely useful, they can heal you much faster than health commands, and they give experience to the caster. How much experience depends on how many units the spell healed.

Damaging spells are good against enemy leaders, or large masses of units. It's a good idea to hit the enemy leader with a magic attack or two before you assault him directly. Leaders do fewer damage when damaged themselves--a full health hero can do a maximum of 10 damage, but a hero with only 1 HP left can do 5 tops. Ordinary soldiers get exactly as many attacks as their HP.

Here's how many hits a leader gets depending on his HP:

 ___________
|    |      |
| HP | Hits |
|____|______|
|    |      |
| 10 | 10   |
| 8-9| 9    |
| 6-7| 8    |
| 4-5| 7    |
| 2-3| 6    |
| 1  | 5    |
|____|______|

There are also other spells (see the spells section).

You can also give your heroes special AI for their soldiers so you don't have to give orders to each troop individually.

  • Move: Soldiers follow hero as close as possible, and attack any enemy units that they happen to find within range that are weak enough (according to AI). Leader's icon is a shoe.
  • Battle: Soldiers will aggressively attack anything within command radius unless enemy is more powerful than them. Leader's icon is a sword.
  • Defend: Soldiers will shy away from fights, refusing even to get within a single space of an enemy if they can avoid it. They will still try to follow the leader, though, and they still occasionally attack. Leader's icon is a shield.
  • Manual: Do it all yourself. Leader's icon is a pointing finger.

Unit matchups

  • Spear units get about +10AT/+10DF against mounted units.
  • Soldiers get about +5AT/+5DF bonus against spear units.
  • Horsemen get about +5AT/+5DF bonus against soldiers.
  • Archers get about +10AT against fliers but don't seem to do very well against anything else.
  • Ranged units get a +20% bonus in forests.
  • Monks get about +10AT/10DF bonus against dark units (undead, demons, and the like)
  • Guardsmen get about +12AT/+12DF against slimes. They also get bonuses against dark units, though they're not as large as the ones monks get.

Other bonuses

Flyers ALWAYS get a 25% bonus from terrain--in some cases, this actually means they get less than an ordinary unit would on that terrain (like if they're on a wall, ground units would get 40%, but fliers would still only get 25) Fliers are also immune to earthquake.

Sea units get a +30% bonus over shallows and +50% over deep water.

From this, you can sort of get an idea of what kind of units will do best in a in a given situation. Because of the speed of their attack, flyers seems to do well against most ground units of equal strength - their enemies will only get in 5 shots, and then each surviving flyer will get in 2 hits (unless you entered the battle with less than 10 HP). Ballistae don't get any bonuses vs. flyers like archers do, but, as Hain will proudly tell you, they still do well against griffons because of their low defense. If you can put them under a commander with a high AT bonus, they can do quite well against a lot of units.

The moral of the story? Always check to see what your enemies have before you choose your units. Remember, you can mix and match unit types for a single character.

Formation

In general, put weaker units behind stronger ones. If you have some archers and some pikes, put the archers in back. If your hero is a fighting class, it often helps to put him/her in front of his troops. Since the leader is usually stronger than the followers, enemy attackers will either have to move around the leader to get to the soldiers, or attack the leader at a disadvantage. This is assuming that your hero is stronger than the enemy leader. If the enemy is a boss with much more exp, or if your hero is especially vulnerable, (like a mage or cleric) do the reverse of this and have your soldiers protect the leader.

If you have a whole unit that is stronger than the enemy, have that unit spread out to cover your other forces as much as possible. A good example of this is when you're facing enemy fliers. Since fliers move very fast, you might not be able to get first strike with your archers. Spread one of your own flier units out in front of your weak units. Let the enemy come, then use archers to shoot them out of the sky. Again, this assumes your fliers are better or at least as good as the enemy flyers.

If you are fighting a very powerful enemy, it's better to attack with all your heroes together so you can bring all your force to bear. The last thing you want to do is fight a powerhouse like Leon with a damaged Highlander and 3 heavy horsemen. Oftentimes, you'll run into a boss mid-scenario, when you may have already split your forces. Unless there's something that the boss wants more than he wants to kill you (like, say, Langrisser) retreat and delay him until you can pull everyone together.

Also, position your forces to take the most advantage of terrain. Put troops near the bottom of hillsides so that when the enemy attacks you he'll be doing it from lower ground. If you can see a place within your leader's command radius where you can get a terrain advantage, even if it is slight, you should probably take it. Remember that horseman cannot climb walls and suffer more penalties for moving through rough terrain than soldiers.

When to kill

Killing an enemy leader kills all soldiers under his command. While this may seem like a good thing, it is a waste of perfectly good experience. As mentioned before, you can't backtrack for level building unless you cheat, so every bit you gain counts. Try to kill all the followers before you go for the leader.

Exceptions:

  • There is a time limit that's running out
  • Not killing the leader immediately would result in the death of one of your characters or NPCs.

How to make this work better:

Keeping leaders like archmages alive for too long can be dangerous because of their meteor spells. To keep someone alive but harmless and immobilized, damage them down to 7 or below using spells, ranged attackers, or just plain melee units if you have to. Enemy AI ALWAYS heals when its health is below 8. No exceptions.