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Useful tips and tricks for new players, created during Version 1.01.1.
This guide is now considered complete (barring requests for additional information in the comments, or the release of a future patch which changes some mechanics).
The Almighty Tilde Key (~)
In the current version 1.01.1, there is a hidden speed faster than “turbo”, which happens if you press and hold down the ~ key.
It will save you an enormous amount of waiting when the AI is taking their actions.
Squad Movement Type
Directly from in-game’s “Tutorial and Info” section.
Interesting Squad Examples:1. A unit with 5 horsebows and 3 archers will have light cavalry mobility. Similarly, a unit with 5 Cavalry and 4 infantry will have cavalry movement (which can make Tier 2 Hospitallers worth using over Tier 3 Templars in certain squads!)
2. Dragons and Horses don’t mix. If they are together in a party, it will become infantry class (5 cavalry, 2 infantry, and dragon = infantry class)
3. Cannons will similarly make a unit instantly either slow or infantry class (depending on techs).
4. If your # of dragon riders = # of other unit types, it will be flying. However, if 1 of the other units is a cavalry, it will become infantry class (Dragons cannot make horses fly!).
5. “Light” Classification comes from the number of light units vs heavy units. For example, this Stefan squad is “Light cavalry” because Stefan + Blademaster + 2 Raiders + Hussar = 5 light units.
Effect of Each Stat
- STR: Improves Physical Damage and Physical Resistance
- MAG: Improves Healing / Magic Damage / Magic Resistance
- SKL: Improves Crit Chance / Dodge Chance / Deflection / Status Effect Application
- LDR: Only used by the squad leader, the squad’s maximum capacity is equal to his/her LDR.
Additional Notes:
In general, Weapon value is combined with STR or MAG to determine damage output. But there are exceptions, which are listed below:
1) Gunpowder weapons and crossbows are weapon values only (but that value is very high)
2) Dragon damage is based on the sum of their STR and MAG stats (not sure if it is affected by weapon value, but I assume so).
Class Affinity
Affinity has 2 main effects:
1. Affects character stats
2. Affects hit and crit chance, depending on the weather of the turn (thus, cannot be controlled since weather is mostly random)
The effect of affinities is shown in the image below, but what you need to know is this:
- Earth: For Front-line tanks (typically Sentinels, Valkyries, and Paladins). Note that Earth actually has –SKL, not just -SKL.
- Water: MAG-based units. Also increases HP slightly.
- Dark: MAG or STR units, where HP is not an issue. Very powerful on back-line Dragons.
- Lightning: High Skill and STR units (thievery units primarily, but also swordmasters, rogues/assassins, etc)
- Fire: Physical DPS. It’s quite generic, and basically worse than Lightning or Dark.
- Light: Squad Leaders. They are great to place in a squad to benefit from mentorship, before forming their own separate squad once LDR is high enough.
Finally, affinity stat changes are applied retroactively. For example, if you change from lightning to light affinity, you will see a big increase in your leadership stat, but your STR, SKL and HP will drop.
Maximizing Hit Points
Unit hit points are affected by their starting class.
That is: Fighters = Militia > Medic > Bowman
Example 1: CannonsIf you want high HP gunpowder units, make them from fighters or militia, ideally with earth affinity (++HP), with Water Affinity (+HP) being a good 2nd choice.
307 HP Fighter / 317 HP Militia
259 HP Medic / 200 HP Bowman
Example 2: SamuraiHigh HP Samurai should be made from:
Fighters > Spearmen > Samurai, instead of Bowmen > Archer or Horsebow > Samurai
Note: To class up these Water Affinity Samurais, I had to use “Roast beefs of strength” to raise their STR to 45+. Thus, the ideal affinity is Fire Affinity, since it doesn’t lose HP (unlike Lightning). Dark affinity is worth noting in that it provides ++STR, so you could have samurai faster, but with -HP.
366 HP Fighter / 275 HP Bowman
Earning Gold!
In SoW, there are 4 main methods to earn gold. Using these methods can allow you purchase all the mercenaries and artifacts you come across in the bazaars and markets.
1. The thievery squad The thievery squad should be your initiator in combat.
They earn gold based on the skill of the characters in the squad with thievery, and the amount of damage these units deal. Thus, the more units with thievery, the more gold you earn.
Best units to give thievery to:Swordmaster, Scouts/Hussars, Horsebow/Raider, Lightning Wizards.
They should all be lightning class for maximum SKL (aka. maximum profit!)
Important characters that can benefit from thievery:Rakusha, Beatrix, Narima, General Ragavi
Named Mercenaries that are good with thievery:- Konrad the Cold (Arcane speed gives SKL based upon MAG. Can change to Lightning Affinity for maximum SKL, with reduced MAG).
– Teriq the Wicked (Lightning Affinity results in high SKL growth. ~70 SKL by end of campaign).
An early-game (Chapter 8) thievery squad could be the following, with 3 thieves in the mid-line.
An late-game thievery squad would look like this (only 2 Valkyries don’t have thievery):
2. Surrenders At the end of battle, every enemy unit that has surrendered will give you 1 tech point, and a large amount of gold.
To make a surrender succeed, you need to damage/destroy the enemy morale, with 100% chance of a successful surrender if they have “Shattered” Morale.
Thus, an effective tactic is to:
1. Attack with a party to reduce their morale.
2. Have a 2nd party (preferably with a leader with “Silver Tongue” and/or “Treasure Hunter”) do a “surrender attack”
For a quick example, see: https://youtu.be/dqaVEa1kVPwFinal tip:
To maximum surrenders, you should use a party with many melee units with the overpower trait (Deals morale damage based on STR). The melee units will generally target the same enemy, reducing the number of killed enemies and leaving more alive for the surrender.
3. Treasure Hunter
This perk only applies if it on a leader (not a regular squad member). If your unit perform surrenders (or enemy army kills) and the leader has Treasure Hunter, you are more likely to have items drop. They can be artifacts, or the really profitable Arena tokens.
4. Arena Fights Every arena fight gives gold, XP Codex, CP Codex, and some random items.
Thus, buy the tokens in the market whenever you see them! They can also drop as a reward item from combat during battles.
Here are sample rewards from each of the 4 arena:
Bronze / Silver
Gold / Platinum
Increasing unit capacity (aka. LDR stat) and Loyalty.
There are several key points to understanding how Leadership gain works.
The above leadership gain occurred when I stayed within the time limits of each battle, simply from clearing 5 Gaiden missions + numerous arena battles.
- Think of Leadership as having a “Hidden” LDR XP Bar.
- Combat and captures increase LDR XP.
- Mentorship: A squad leader will provide LDR XP to all units in his party, until they reach [The Leader’s LDR -10]. Mentorship only applies with combat.
- When a LDR XP bar is filled, the unit gets +1 LDR. Light affinity has a smaller LDR XP bar, while Dark has a higher one.
Loyalty (which affects unit capacity cost) functions the exact same way, except there are only 5 states: Mercenary, Uncommitted, Neutral, Committed, Loyal.
Thus, the best way to increase both leadership and loyalty is:
1. In bronze arena, set up a unit with the lowest threat rating, which will ensure it is the target of attacks.
2. Don’t hurt the 2 archers on the map. They will constantly attack you every turn (note: the more attackers, the more XP is earned).
3. If you wish to grind, you can farm this for as many turn as you want to maximize your LDR stats (you don’t have to finish within the recommended turn limit).
You can also (indirectly) increase leadership via equipping 5 artifacts:
Elegant blade, Sergeant’s Uniform, Imperial Battle Armor, Imperial War Banner, and Ataraxia
Important:
1. Lindly (the MC) always gets some capture XP when allies perform captures, so he/she should not perform any captures. The MC will have more than enough LDR without it!
2. The best units to perform captures are Diana, Stefan and Jules.
Bazaars
Always check them out.
They are nearly identical to markets, but you have a higher chance of getting rare items and named mercenaries. They also offer Drakelings for sale, which can be grown into mighty dragons and eventually, dragon riders.
Note: You can have a maximum of 15 dragon riders (11 from bazaars + Nibbler, the mercenary Cloudrender Athelis, Azuros, and 1 “surprise” dragon rider)
There are a total of 11 chapters with bazaars, which are the following:
3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 16, 18, 19, 21, 24, and 26
AI target selection
There are 3 simple rules that the AI follow when it comes to targeting.
1. The AI moves towards the closest target.
2. If there is no path to the closest target (e.g. all your units are already surrounded by enemy units), they will choose to take the “longer” path by wrapping around. If you are aiming to get the … How? achievement for Chapter 12, it is crucial to avoid getting surrounded since enemies will march into the fort/castle, and seize your fortress base, resulting in an instant loss.
3. If there are multiple targets in range, the AI will target the lowest threat value.
In practical terms:
1. A squad of 5 priestesses/medics is a great archer bait in the early-game, drawing away attention from other units, due to its very low threat, and ability to heal the damage taken. However, melee attacks are generally too dangerous and will kill some priestesses/medics.
2. The Noisy Cricket Artifact reduces the threat rating of a squad by 15%.
3. Threat value is manipulable because some artifacts are worth a lot more than others.
Below is 4 screenshots of the exact same party, but with 4 different artifact configurations, with the threat rating ranging from 15K, 19K, 23K and 33K.
