Units are squads of soldiers commanded by heroes in battles. In most cases, they are the primary fighting strength of any army.
Overview[ | ]
In almost all gamemodes (excepting Deathmatch), players can take a number of units into battle. In battle, each player can command a maximum of one unit at a time. Units are controlled via various commands which direct them to act in certain ways (e.g. attack, follow, hold, etc.). Units also possess formations and unit orders which enhance their combat potential. Good positioning and usage of unit commands, formations, and orders is paramount to performing well in battles.
Acquisition[ | ]
The most common paths to acquire new units come from either the Unit Tree accessible via the warband menu (default key U when not in battle) or via Seasonal Challenges accessible in the season menu (default key F5 when not in battle). The former requires Honour or Signacula to unlock units and unit upgrades, while the latter entails completing various tasks in battles & the open world.
Other ways to permanently acquire units include the following:
- Mace Sergeants, Ironcap Swordsmen, and Ironcap Archers can be obtained almost immediately as part of the tutorial for Conqueror's Blade.
- Prefecture Archers can be obtained as a 2nd-day login reward.
- Matchlock Ashigaru and Mace Sergeants can be unlocked in the Honor Store for 20,000 honor and 10,000 honor respectively.
- Mercenaries can be obtained by paying a large amount of silver or sovereigns.
- Various unit packs may be bought in the store (default key C) for sovereigns.
- It is possible for limited-time events to give units; the only such event insofar has been the now ended Ashigaru Shield event which granted Matchlock Ashigaru.
Units unlocked via the Unit Tree are not initially available for use; they must then be mustered by using up a free barracks slot, paying a certain amount of bronze, and supplying enough unit kit and Unit Mount to fully fill their kit supply if applicable (purchasable directly for bronze; units which do not use unit kit or unit mount do not require this cost). Units that are obtained by any other means will automatically be mustered in a new (free) barracks slot at no additional cost. All unlocked units can be mustered again in the same way that units from the Unit Tree are initially mustered.
Temporary contracts can also be obtained by various means. These include:
- Completing the first tier of Seasonal Challenges for most units obtained in this way will grant a 3-day contract for a level 12 version of that unit,
- Auxiliaries,
- 3-day contracts for Sons of Fenrir and Cudgel Monks are obtained as part of the first 7 day login rewards.
- Certain events can give temporary contracts for units.
Units obtained through contracts cannot be levelled or given doctrines. They will still consume unit kit and will automatically be disbanded once the contract period is over.
More units can be made randomly available for use via a House's shared units function, or temporarily via the 7-day volunteer unit contract and the 30-day volunteer unit contract available in the Drillmaster's rewards.
Unit Stats[ | ]
All units have the following stats listed:
| Stat Name | In-Game Description |
|---|---|
| Health | The individual health points of each soldier in the unit. |
| Strength | The number of soldiers in the unit. |
| Leadership | The leadership cost of a unit. The stronger a unit is, the more leadership it requires. |
| Speed | How fast a unit can move on the battlefield without using any special abilities. |
| Range | The weapons range for units carrying ranged weapons such as bows, guns, and javelins. |
| Ammo | How much ammunition a unit carries. Units can refill their ammunition during a battle by standing at a Supply Point. |
| Labour | A unit's ability to gather resources such as wood, food, etc. |
| Piercing Armour Penetration | Piercing Armour Penetration covers things like fire-hardened spears, bodkin arrowheads, and the thrust of lances and swords. |
| Slashing Armour Penetration | The ability for slashing attacks to break slashing defence. Slashing attacks include the swiping attacks of most melee weapons. |
| Blunt Armour Penetration | The ability for blunt attacks to break blunt defence. Blunt attacks include the strikes of blunt weapons along with kicks and shield-bashing. |
| Piercing Damage | Piercing damage includes the strikes of ranged weapons, spears, etc. |
| Slashing Damage | Slashing damage comes from most edged weapons, such as swords, axes, and spears. |
| Blunt Damage | Blunt damage attacks include shield-bashing, kicks, and striking with the grip or butt of a ranged weapon. |
| Piercing Defence | Ability to defend against piercing attacks, thereby reducing piercing damage. |
| Slashing Defence | Ability to defend against slashing attacks, thereby reducing slashing damage. |
| Blunt Defence | Ability to defend against blunt attacks, thereby reducing blunt damage. |
In addition to the listed stats, units also possess 'hidden' attributes that are not directly listed on the unit page, but are referred to by various doctrines and veterancy nodes:
- Accuracy - A ranged unit's ability to hit their shots.
- Block - A stat possessed by some units (most commonly those with shields) that allows them to nullify damage from attacks.
- Block Recovery - The rate at which units with Block can restore it.
Unit Traits[ | ]
Units also possess traits. Some traits are purely descriptors (e.g. the 'Peasants' trait), while others confer tangible bonuses (e.g. the 'Swamp' trait). Refer to the specific unit pages for details about their traits.
Categorization[ | ]
Stars & Era[ | ]
All units have a star rating ranging from 0 to 5 stars (inclusive) in increments of 0.5 stars. Units are divided into eras (the equivalent of rarity systems in other video games) as follows:
| Era | Stars |
|---|---|
| Rustic | 0 - 0.5 |
| Feudal | 1 - 1.5 |
| Chivalric | 2 - 2.5 |
| Silver | 3 - 3.5 |
| Heroic | 4 - 4.5 |
| Golden | 5 |
In general a unit is supposed to be stronger than other units whose star ratings are lower by having higher stats and/or more impactful unit orders (although in practice this is often untrue). In exchange, units with lower star ratings generally have a lower leadership cost and so are easier to bring in a warband.
Unit Type[ | ]
Units are also divided based on their unit type. All units fall within one of the following types:
- Melee Infantry
- Ranged Infantry
- Cavalry
Furthermore, all units also have one of the following as a second type:
- Tower Shield
- Buckler Shield
- Polearm
- Javelin
- Archer
- Crossbowman
- Arquebusier
- Lancer
- Melee (Cavalry)
- Special
For example, Demesne Arbalists are categorized as 'Ranged Infantry - Crossbowman'. These categorizations are used by certain veterancy bonuses (e.g. 'reduces ranged damage taken by 10%') and by doctrines.
Pre-Game Deployment[ | ]
After matchmaking succeeds for a battle but before the battle begins, all players awaiting the battle are placed in a pre-game lobby where they can choose a warband of units from their barracks to bring into the battle. All units have an associated leadership cost, and all heroes have a leadership value of 700 with possible additional bonuses granted by their armour.
A valid warband consists of a set of units in which:
- There are no duplicate units,
- The sum of the leadership cost of all units in the set is equal to or less than their commanding hero's leadership value, and
- There are at most 10 units in total.
The following are exceptions:
- During certain phases of the current season, a seasonal seal is placed upon units of certain eras during standard siege battles, field battles, bandit raids, and open world excursions.
- During the phase Opening Moves, only 3.5 star and below units can be deployed, and armour bonuses are turned off.
- During the phase Eve of the Storm, only 4.5 star and below units can be deployed, and armour bonuses are turned off.
- No restrictions are placed during the phases All is Chaos, Usurp the Thrones, Imperial Dawn, and The Dust Settles.
- In free battles, there is no limit on the combined leadership cost of units but the maximum number of units in a warband is 5.
- For open world excursions/territory wars, duplicate units can be brought but the maximum number of units in a warband is 5.
- Event game modes such as Colosseum, All or Nothing, or Battle Roulette have their own event-specific rules on warbands.
Gameplay[ | ]
During a battle, only 1 unit can be commanded at a time; the rest of the units do not appear on the battlefield and are held in reserve until they are deployed. Units can be deployed either when the player spawns or by being switched out at a supply point. Note that when a player spawns, they must always spawn together with a unit unless the player has no units available to deploy at the moment, either due to units retreating or units having been destroyed.
Units do not have collision with themselves or their allies. That is, units can clip into each other without limit or any detriment to movement. This also extends to unit attacks, and units will attack without any regard to their allies. Units also cannot 'friendly fire' or hit their allies. This means, for example, that a cavalry unit can charge through a mass of allied units without damaging them, that a melee infantry unit can swing through other soldiers to hit an enemy with no consequences, and that ranged infantry can target enemies even if their line of sight is blocked by allies and fire through allies to hit them.
As opposed to heroes, units also cannot fall off ledges, even if they are thrown or ragdolled by certain attacks. Instead for the purposes of their movement and positioning they will treat ledges much like walls.
Basic Commands[ | ]
All commands issued to a unit can be done no matter where the unit is in relation to the hero. In all cases, the unit will respond to the command instantly.
| Command | Hotkey | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hold | X | Orders the unit to stand in the currently selected formation in front of the hero. Can be double-tapped to also cycle the formation to the next available formation. Holding X will zoom out the camera, enabling the ability to place the formation further away, as well as the capability to rotate the formation and freely cycle between available formations. |
|
| Follow | C | Orders the unit to go to their commanding hero. Can be double-tapped to make the unit run to their commanding hero instead. |
|
| Attack | V | Orders the unit to attack nearby enemies. |
|
| Retreat | B | Orders the unit to retreat. |
|
| Use Object | LCtrl + Left Click | Orders the unit to travel to a selected allied supply point, siege engine or siege ladder. |
|
Unit Orders[ | ]
In addition to the commands listed above, units also have a variety of unit orders (by default hotkeyed to the number keys 1-0). Note that unlike the basic commands, which cause the unit to spread out to avoid soldiers clipping into themselves, most unit orders have no such behaviour and individual soldiers within the unit will stack on top of each other when carrying out the order if applicable. Like the basic commands, unit orders can be used irrespective of the relative position of the unit with their hero, and the unit will always respond immediately once the unit order is issued. For more information on unit orders see the specific unit pages.
Formations[ | ]
Each unit has a set of formations that define how they position themselves when issued the formation command (X) (by default hotkeyed to the keys F1-F4). For more information see the specific unit pages.
Unit Upgrades[ | ]
Units can be upgraded in various ways, enhancing their combat capabilities.
Levels & Veterancy[ | ]
Units gain experience from being deployed in battles, and once enough experience is gained the unit will level up (up to a maximum level that is defined on a per-unit basis). The specific amount of experience gained per unit depends on:
- Whether the unit was used in the battle or not,
- Whether other units were used in the battle (in this case most of the gained experience is divided equally between all used units, and a small remaining amount is divided equally between all unused units),
- The type of battle (e.g. Bandit Raids give more experience than siege battles),
- The player's performance in the battle.
If a unit is already at maximum level, then experience will be contributed to the shared experience pool instead, which has a limit of 1,000,000 XP. Shared experience can be given to units via the warband page (U).
The following are the required experience amounts for each individual level up:
| Level | Experience Required | Cumulative Experience Required |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| 3 | 12,000 | 22,000 |
| 4 | 15,000 | 37,000 |
| 5 | 26,000 | 63,000 |
| 6 | 42,000 | 105,000 |
| 7 | 62,000 | 167,000 |
| 8 | 87,000 | 254,000 |
| 9 | 117,000 | 371,000 |
| 10 | 152,000 | 523,000 |
| 11 | 192,000 | 715,000 |
| 12 | 242,000 | 957,000 |
| 13 | 300,000 | 1,257,000 |
| 14 | 300,000 | 1,557,000 |
| 15 | 300,000 | 1,857,000 |
| 16 | 300,000 | 2,157,000 |
| 17 | 300,000 | 2,457,000 |
| 18 | 300,000 | 2,757,000 |
| 19 | 300,000 | 3,057,000 |
| 20 | 300,000 | 3,357,000 |
| 21 | 300,000 | 3,657,000 |
| 22 | 300,000 | 3,957,000 |
| 23 | 300,000 | 4,257,000 |
| 24 | 300,000 | 4,557,000 |
| 25 | 300,000 | 4,857,000 |
| 26 | 300,000 | 5,157,000 |
| 27 | 300,000 | 5,457,000 |
| 28 | 300,000 | 5,757,000 |
| 29 | 300,000 | 6,057,000 |
| 30 | 300,000 | 6,357,000 |
Unit maximum levels are as follows:
| Era | Max Level |
|---|---|
| Rustic | 10 or 12 (for 0 and 0.5 star units respectively) |
| Feudal | 12-14 |
| Chivalric | 18 |
| Silver | 18 |
| Heroic | 24 |
| Golden | 30 |
Mercenaries have a higher maximum level than other units of their era; Martellatori have a maximum of 13 while all other mercenaries have a maximum level of 20.
When a unit levels up, it receives a small increase to its maximum HP as well as a single veterancy point. Veterancy points can be allocated to nodes on a unit's veterancy tree, and each node confers a certain bonus ranging from a stats increase to a new formation or unit order to a new effect on an existing unit order or formation. A veterancy point can only be allocated to a node if every node before it is fully unlocked, starting from the left. Once a veterancy point has been allocated, it can only be deallocated by using a Scroll of Renewal (which will also deallocate all veterancy points used).
Doctrines[ | ]
All units can equip up to 5 doctrines which grant various boosts. See the doctrines page for more details.
Mastery[ | ]
A certain set of units have access to a separate upgrade tree which confers additional stats increases and effects. See the mastery page for more details.
Unit Kit[ | ]
All units above the Rustic era (excepting Mercenaries and Mace Sergeants) have their own unit kit, and have the capacity to hold up to a certain number of their own unit kit; this capacity is called the Kit Supply and the exact numbers of unit kit to fully fill their kit supply varies across units. When the equivalent of the entire unit is lost across any number of battles (excepting those where kit loss does not apply), the unit will lose a kit. Units will suffer losses to their fighting capability based on the number of unit kits they have:
- If a unit has at least 50% of their capacity in unit kits, no adverse effects are conferred.
- If a unit has between 20% and 50% of their capacity in unit kits, the unit will deal 10% less damage and take 10% more damage.
- If a unit has below 20% of their kit then it cannot fight.
When a unit's kit drops below 50% of their capacity the game will notify the player via the warband tab (U) outside of battle.
Unit kits can be resupplied either from the player's supply dump or by being directly bought with bronze. Unit kits can be purchased at a fixed bronze cost up to the amount needed to resupply (and are otherwise unlimited), as long as the player is either at their camp or in a safe zone. Unit kits bought with bronze are automatically used to resupply the respective unit. Unit kits can also either be crafted using resources obtained from the open world or be bought from the market.
Cavalry units additionally require Unit Mount to resupply. Unit Mount can be gathered from Stables or also purchased and used with bronze in the same manner as unit kits.
Cosmetics[ | ]
Units have access to various cosmetics. Note that none of the following cosmetics change anything about any unit's gameplay, only their appearance.
Unit Attire[ | ]
Units can equip unit attire to change their appearance. All pieces of unit attire are categorized as one of helm, armour, mount, or weapon. Any piece of unit attire can only be equipped by a single unit, but players can own multiple copies of a piece of unit attire. Note that only cavalry can equip mount attire.
A few units have unique attire that is only equippable by them, and additionally a few units can only equip attire specifically made for them. All weapon attires and a small subset of helm, armour, and mount attires are made for specific units.
Banners[ | ]
Units can equip banners, which will be displayed in their respective pages in the warband tab as well as in their entries in the Unit Stats tab at the end of any battle. Banners otherwise do not appear in game.
Unit Colours[ | ]
The colours of personal, allied, group, and enemy units can be edited in the Game Settings. The colour options are as follows:
| Unit Type | Options |
|---|---|
| Your Units | Golden (Default) Dark Yellow Purple Red |
| Allies Units | Green (Default) Blue |
| Allied Units | Blue (Default) Teal Sky Blue Burgundy |
| Enemy Units | Red (Default) Crimson Mustard Yellow Slate Grey |
A player's unit colours settings have no effect on how other players see units.