https://wiki.wesnoth.org/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=BBeryllium 2026-08-13T17:39:34Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.31.16 https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=Sceptre_of_Fire&diff=75600 2026-08-12T05:16:12Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>==Campaign Strategy==<br /> <br /> You fight this campaign almost entirely with the four classic Dwarven units: Fighter, Thunderer, Scout and Guardsman (and their leveled versions). ''Healers are entirely missing'', and villages become a key resource for army regeneration. Given the circumstances, your leveling strategy should lean strongly to the offensive.<br /> <br /> In the many scenarios, the village distribution is strongly biased against you, and conquering a village cluster is the key to victory. Your main opponents are Trolls, other Dwarves and Elves, and you are mostly fighting in caverns and mountains. <br /> <br /> In this campaign, Dwarvish Fighters can advance to Runesmiths as well as Steelclads. Runemasters are useful overall and absolutely essential for forcing the caves of the Shorbear clan, and you should consider training at least one or two of them in addition to the two that join you. However - don't level Rugnur (your first leader, starting as an L1 Fighter) into a Runesmith - as their HP is much lower than their corresponding plain-fighter (Runesmith vs Steelclad, Runemaster vs Lord). Dwarvish Lords are critical for the rearguard action against Berserkers in [[#The Dragon]], and it is wise to have at least three of them in your army.<br /> <br /> The Guardsman line is only useful early on, since their pierce attack is useless against trolls and too weak for storming the Shorbear caves or discouraging Berserkers in &quot;The Dragon&quot;. However, having a few of them on your recall list will be useful for the final scenario. Thunderers do their share as your ranged unit, and Scouts as screening forces - but make sure to keep a strong emphasis on the fighter line. Once Thursagan joins you, make it a priority to level him up all the way up to a Dwarvish Arcanister (L4); he's the only unit able to do it, and by doing so he will become a truly frightening unit for your enemies.<br /> <br /> [AS: I would agree that the Fighter line is very useful for this campaign, but I personally found Steelclads more useful than Runesmiths. You get Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths before you fight the Shorbear scenario; in my experience those three were enough. Steelclads are tougher and usually deal more damage than Runesmiths; their attacks are just as useful for the Shorbear scenario and more useful for the rest of the campaign.]<br /> <br /> ==Scenarios==<br /> <br /> === A Bargain Is Struck ===<br /> * '''Objectives:'''<br /> ** Move the caravans and Alanin to the dwarvish castle, or..<br /> ** Defeat the elvish leader.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Haldric II, Alanin or one of the caravans die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 24.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur and Alanin.<br /> <br /> On this map, a road from a grassland area on the South-Western part winds North-East, through hills and mountains towards a Dwarvish keep at the other edge. On the South-West edge, near the road, is the keep controlled by your ally, king Haldric II; you as Rugnur control the Dwarvish keep, and a Alanin, a Dragoon (Level 2).<br /> <br /> You need to move 4 Caravans carrying silver (5 on Hard) from near Haldric's keep to Rugnur's Dwarvish keep, and use Alanin to protect them - against Elvish units coming from the South-East of the level.<br /> <br /> These Elves are hostile to Human and Dwarvf alike, and will attack on sight; they're also quite mobile, as the Elven Lord may well recruit a couple of Elvish Scouts. On the other hand, they're rather opportunistic and not focused on the caravans, and they're all L1 units. As for the Humans, Haldric will recruit a full keep's worth of L2 Swordsmen and Longbowmen (on Medium), and even dispatch one of his Royal Guard units, to fight the Elves.<br /> <br /> The Human-Elf confrontation plays out in one of two ways - both leading to the same strategy:<br /> <br /> * If the Humans have the advantage, you can take it slow with the Caravans, keeping them out of harm's way, and consider an assassination attempt against the Elven Lord, with several Dwarf Scouts (for the extra speed). Alanin will be able to do more fighting and village-grabbing as the Caravans are safe.<br /> * If the Elves have an advantage, then - when they wipe out the Humans, your Caravans will be in big trouble, since around Turn 10 the Elvish Lord gets a gold boost and will recruit heavily. In this case it is again best to opt for an assassination so that the Elvish troops don't have the time to attack the Caravans.<br /> <br /> On Medium (and probably on Easy) [v1.13.10], it's the former case: Your Human allies wipe out the attacking Elvish forces before your Dwarf troops can get in on the action. Assassinating the Elf Lord will not be difficult, so 2-3 recruits and Rugnur should be enough. You may have to face the odd Elvish unit, sent Northwards to scout or as a perimeter guard. On Hard, it's the second case; and you may want more recruits to overcome any interruptions. It's possible to achieve carry out the dirty deed using Scouts only.<br /> <br /> Alternatively, you could focus on the Caravans' safety. Use Alanin to guard the Caravans as best possible - mostly restricting the movement of units, de-motivating an attack; actually engage only if it's necessary, or if you're certain Alanin stays healthy enough and other attackers will not outflank you next turn. Your Dwarvish recruits should move South-West as fast as possible (again, Scouts might be relevant), and when they reach the Caravans you're basically safe for the rest of the way.<br /> <br /> As of 2025 (v1.18.4) the above tactics don't work that well, and this scenario is quite hard on easy difficulty and rather diabolical otherwise. On medium difficulty, your human allies get wiped out on the first night. If you move any units across the river (either way) a new Elf fort pops up in the north, so try to delay that as long as possible. All Elvish units have bow/pierce attacks, and Alanin will get slaughtered by 3-5 of these (i.e. if two Elves can get to him, they will pin him down and then it's game over next turn).<br /> <br /> === Closing The Gates ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Close the gates by having units standing on all six glyphs simultaneously.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur or Baglur die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 15.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, 4 Guardsmen (5 on ''easy'').<br /> <br /> This involves hunting down some trolls and stalling the Elves. First, recall and recruit a substantial amount of Thunderers and Fighters. Move all your guardsmen down towards the three towers, those two glyphs can be easily covered near the end. Move a couple of Thunderers down that way as well.<br /> <br /> You have to activate six glyphs and, as you can notice, two of them are near the main entrance and easy to activate. You will find the other four going through the two main passages inside the cave—one directly south of your keep and one to the west. Send teams composed of about 3 or 4 dwarves (mixing Fighters, Thunderers and perhaps Scouts if you like using them) down each passage, and focus the rest of your force on the entrance, resisting the elves. The terrain will be very advantageous to your forces, so the challenge should not be excessive.<br /> <br /> Once the Trolls are dead, place Dwarves on each of those fours glyphs. You will notice that there are a couple of small additional entrances to the cave at the end of each passage. Don't worry, turning the glyphs closest to those openings to the &quot;on&quot; state will seal the entrances. You might even shut one or two Trolls outside this way.<br /> <br /> Once those four glyphs are done you're ready to finish your mission. However, you might as well defend the gate until turn 14 or so, picking up as much experience as possible (try to get Rugnur at least to level 2). Then, pull all your troops back behind the gate (any left outside will automatically die, and those trapped in the door will be squished) and place units on the two remaining glyphs.<br /> <br /> [Comment: Killing all the Elves outside will also successfully end the scenario. It is quite possible to do so (with v.1.11.6 and medium difficulty).]<br /> <br /> === Reaching the Runecrafter ===<br /> * '''Objective''': Reach the other end of the cave map with Alanin, Rugnur and Baglur.<br /> * '''Lose if''': Rugnur, Alanin, or Baglur die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns''': 16 (on Medium difficulty).<br /> * '''Starting units''': Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.<br /> <br /> This is a small cave map which you must cross, South to North. You are beset by two enemy forces, led by an L1 Goblin and an L2 Orcish Warrior. All castles are small in this scenario: You have three hexes to recruit in, the L2 Orc has three, and the Goblin has a mere two. The cave path splits: One side reaches the Orc, through mushrooms and a small lake; the other side goes North all the way to the target hex, but through the Goblin.<br /> <br /> The number of villages is quite small, so don't expect much beyond your initial recalls and recruits.<br /> <br /> The interesting feature of this map is the steel rail through running on the path North, with two carts along the way: A Dwarf can get in such a cart (using the context menu when on its hex), then travel quite a distance on the rails beyond its movement points for the turn - spending them either reaching the cart, or after disembarking, or both. Be careful - you may be surrounded by Goblins with Orcish units not far away if you take a single unit on a joyride too far from the rest of your force. It's worth noting that moving a unit (probably Alanin) over to the mushroom tiles up in the northeast will cause the entire center portion of the map to turn to water. This is important because it instantly kills all goblins in the water at that moment, and it slows the orcs significantly. You can still use the rails to get across here, so this can be really helpful.<br /> <br /> Remember the Goblins are rather weak, so consider making it a priority to either get the Goblin leader out of its keep, or filling up his two castle hexes - which also provide good defense for your units. Moving in on _both_ the Goblins and the Orcs at once is a risky affair, probably only relevant if you started the level with a lot of bonus gold; the safer bet may be to focus on the Goblins, and utilize defense bonuses against the incoming Orcs, while letting Rugnur, Alanin and Baglur move up ahead.<br /> <br /> === Searching for the Runecrafter ===<br /> * '''Objectives:'''<br /> *# Reach Thursagan with a non-gryphon unit.<br /> *# Bring Thursagan back to the caves.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Baglur die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 20.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.<br /> <br /> Once you move a unit a little far from the cave, a loyal gryphon named Krawg will show up, along with a friendly Gryphon Rider. Thursagan is hiding in a village placed at random inside the map. You have to go find him and bring him back to the signpost in your keep. He won't follow a Gryphon, so you have to send a dwarf (or Alanin).<br /> <br /> The monsters you'll face are Wolves, Ogres, Trolls and Woses. Maintain a defensive position in your mountain stronghold while your Gryphons scout the map to locate Thursagan's village, then send someone else to bring him back.<br /> <br /> The Trolls, Woses and Ogres hit hard, so concentrate on killing them quickly when they reach you. Don't let the wolves flank you and get inside your perimeter.<br /> <br /> It will be useful to recall/recruit scouts, who are good against woses, along with thunderers and fighters. Try not to over-recruit; this map won't have any other villages other than the ones close to your keep, and Thursagan's home.<br /> <br /> === Gathering Materials ===<br /> * '''Objective:''' Mine one gold deposit and two coal deposits (see below).<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur or Thursagan die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 40/37/34 (easy/medium/hard).<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths.<br /> * Other<br /> ** To mine you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep.<br /> ** The map is randomized so your map may play slightly differently.<br /> <br /> The coal deposits are near the northwest troll and the southeast troll. The gold deposit is towards the middle. (The map layout is randomized, but the minerals are always in these areas). In order to mine, you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep. The mining can be done with just one Miner, but make it a priority to grab the deposits as quickly as you can. The speed of the miners will be of great help to keep them safe from harm, but still be careful and protect them whenever necessary.<br /> <br /> The gold reserve may be the easiest one to snatch first, and maybe the northwest coal could also be grabbed quickly before you kill the enemies up there. A sensible strategy is to recruit about 2 keepfuls of units and get to the crossroad area quickly. The goblins are numerous but weak. The trick here is to hold the northeast against Troll Whelps and Ogres, the southeast against more Whelps and Rocklobbers and still have enough units to kill all the goblins.<br /> <br /> The AI tends to avoid attacking your Runesmiths/Thursagan when they are on good defensive ground. You can use this to your advantage when clogging up passageways.<br /> <br /> Remember to move your Miner to and from the deposits as quickly as possible. In general, the order of things to do besides that is:<br /> <br /> * Get your troops into the middle clearing and dig in.<br /> * Kill the goblins and their leader.<br /> * Kill the last of the wave from the northeast and reinforce the southeast.<br /> * Move some of your forces to finish the northeast leader and the rest to reinforce the southeast.<br /> * Push to the southeast (there are villages down here) and get the last leader.<br /> <br /> The easiest order to get the deposits is probably gold, northwest coal, southeast coal.<br /> <br /> '''Alternative Strategy'''<br /> <br /> In 1.8.2 on the Steelclad (Challenging) difficulty the ogres and goblins fight each other, so you can let them weaken each other while you go south and slaughter the trolls there. Once you've dealt with the south trolls you can use the villages there to heal your troops before going north to finish the survivors (most likely the ogres, as the goblins are too weak). If you choose this strategy be careful not to spend too much time waiting for the fighting in the north to end.<br /> <br /> [Thrash: In my experience the enemies seemed to prefer fighting each other instead of the player's units. If you just hang back a turn or two, they will starting fighting and then you can pick off weak units for XP and wade in after a couple turns when they've weakened each other. Also, recruiting 3 miners makes things much easier in turns of time (I wouldn't be surprised if it was impossible with one miner on hard).]<br /> <br /> === Hills of the Shorbear Clan ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Defeat the Dwarf leader and have all heroes in the cave while no enemies are in it.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Durstorn die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 24.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan, Durstorn, two new loyal units—a Thunderguard and a Steelclad.<br /> <br /> Since Durstorn started a fight, you have to kick the dwarves out of their cave. The problem is that some Elves show up and start fighting you too. So you have to take over the cave '''and''' kick everyone else out.<br /> <br /> You can use Krawg and another Gryphon to go around the map and flag lots of villages. You'll get lots of gold and can use that to recruit a couple of fresh units if you need after you capture the Shorbears' keep.<br /> <br /> The scenario is pretty straightforward. When fighting the dwarves use the terrain to your advantage. A Dwarf on a mountain tile is only hit 30% of the time... unless you are attacking with a Runesmith/Runemaster. Their magical attacks (70% chance to hit) can make all the difference. Once you are in the cave and fighting off the Elves, seal up the exits when you can. Now all you need to do is wipe out any stragglers and you are done.<br /> <br /> [Mal Shubertal: There is no early finish bonus in this scenario, but there is a 40% gold carryover. Due to many loyal units (especially if you recall your runesmiths from last scenario) and many villages in the cave, you can accumulate a lot of gold if you delay the ending as long as possible. The scenario ended a few turns early for me because the last Elf in the cave accidentally killed himself against my Thunderer; this could have been avoided by leaving Krawg just outside the cave until turn 24.]<br /> <br /> === Towards the Caves ===<br /> * '''Objectives:'''<br /> ** Move Rugnur to the north-east cave entrance.<br /> ** Move Alanin to the southern border east of the river.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg or Thursagan die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 12.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan and Alanin.<br /> <br /> It is important to realize that the two objectives do not need to be accomplished simultaneously; once Alanin touches the southern border, east of the river, he disappears and his part is done. So, you can just send him straight south from turn 1. Have him go along the western edge of the river and cross over when he is at the bottom. The southeastern elves really don't like Alanin, so be careful not to attract too much attention. (Note that you can use that to your advantage to slow the advance of those elves).<br /> <br /> This scenario is an exercise in holding a defensible position. The problem is that position has six entrances and you are up against a bunch of level 2 attackers. Recruit 2 or 3 keeps full of soldiers, sneak Alanin and Rugnur out (maybe with a few units, perhaps Gryphons, for cover and village flagging), and dig in. Rotate your units and try not to lose too many. Since most of the attackers are level 2, you can level some units with a couple of kills. Stay on good defensive ground and don't try anything crazy. It is also possible to win by killing all the leaders, but good luck with that.<br /> <br /> [Thrash: I found just running for it worked for me. Alanin is able to make it to the southern edge before any elves can reach him by running down the west bank and crossing over. For Rugnur I recruited 6 sacrificial scouts and used them to screen the northern elves and Rugnur was able to make the cave with the elves on his heels.]<br /> <br /> [Sojourner: With WN 10.0, running Alanin south down the west side of the river worked like a charm. I ran Thurgasin into the NW caves to keep him safe. The tricky part was getting Rugnur to the NE cave. Since even a single hex makes the differance, I could only recruit one keep load and then Rugnur had to start running on turn-1. Level 1 scouts as a screen didn't work because the Elvish archers slaughtered them. I used a full keep of Level 1 griffins (all ultimately sacrificed) as a screen, and had Rugnur go through the 5-hex of mountains to the East (32/10). But it was very close because I had to use Krawg at the last to help screen, yet not allow him to get zone-locked and killed. Possible, but tricky.]<br /> <br /> === Outriding the Outriders ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Reach the outpost in the south.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Alanin dies or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 12.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Alanin.<br /> <br /> Your mission is to run south as quickly as possible. The Elvish Outriders will easily catch up with Alanin and defeat him, all things being equal - Alanin has 9 MP, while the Outriders have 11 MP. Plus, there are six of them (on Medium difficult) and one of you... in fact, if four or five of the Outriders reach Alanin at once, he's likely to be killed even starting out with full HP. An encounter with just one or two Outriders is survivable - but you'll have to make sure to shake them the next turn.<br /> <br /> Luckily, the stout Wesnothi Yeoman rises to the occasion, equipping L1 loyalist units and sending them out from every village you flag. 2-3 units will come out - Spearmen and Bowmen - to help you against the elves. They will, unfortunately, be mostly cannon fodder, so don't worry about keeping them for later in the campaign, or leveling them etc. They will have exactly one function: Slowing down the Elves.<br /> <br /> To prevent the Elves from catching Alanin, the trick is to maneuver your village-supplied units so that their ZOC intersects' the Outriders' direct routes, requiring them to take longer ones and/or to pass unfavorable terrain (Frozen, Hills) to get around the ZOC. If you manage this consistently (which you should be able to - that's what the level is designed for after all) - Alanin should have no more than a brush or two with the Outriders.<br /> <br /> Use Ctrl+V to see where the Outriders can reach, and be careful not to ignore alternative routes you might have missed. Also, never attack with the villager units unless they've somehow gotten behind the riders; even then - better not to attack, try and flank them, and hope they attack you, rather than waste your unit's life to reduce an Outrider's HP. Only if you're pretty sure you can kill one can you consider an attack (and that's not very likely to happen).<br /> <br /> Note that the Outriders seem to be quite fascinated with killing villagers, and their presence is distracting; they're likely to take their time and kill any villagers one of them encounters rather than splitting up and having some riders go forward to catch you.<br /> <br /> On the first turn, you can reach one of two villages. If you're gotten the message so far, you know which one you want to flag: The farther one to the South.<br /> <br /> Alanin can and should reach the Southern Output by turn 10. You only have 12 turns, so don't get any funny ideas about taking detours or backtracking.<br /> <br /> === The Dragon ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Get Rugnur, Thursagan and Krawg to the end of the tunnel; then move Thursagan to the forge and defend him for 9 turns<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die<br /> * '''Turns:''' Unlimited.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, and Baglur.<br /> <br /> The scenario name is quite the misnomer. While there is a Dragon here - you're not going to fight it and it has basically no impact on anything except by recruiting some annoying Bats. <br /> <br /> What you will face in this scenario is a swarm of L2 and L3 Dwarves and Elves hot on your heels which will come in from the South-West of your initial keep in great numbers, attacking relentlessly and mercilessly. As the dialog suggests, trying to make a stand in your initial keep would be practically impossible, and your obvious choice is to recruit/recall as much as you can in the first turn - preferring quick units perhaps, then flee by going East, then South, and onwards through the tunnel as quickly as the zigzag path allows. <br /> <br /> You have to cover a lot of terrain, but the path is easy to follow, and at its end you will reach a small cavern where you will find a forge where the Sceptre can be built. That is a good place to finally make your stand, as the entrance to the cavern is 2-unit wide with a fortification (castle hexes). Until then, your job is to move quickly, dealing with bats coming from the cave, and with the Dwarves approaching from behind. The elves move slower than some of the Dwarves, but will not be far behind - since they have Outriders (10 MP), and some of the tunnel has flat terrain in the middle on which they could make up for their slow Cave-terrain movement.<br /> <br /> Regarding the Bats, these are typically be a minor annoyance, except that in this case there are quite lots of them, and they might block your path, slowing you down and bringing the Dwarvish enemies closer. They are, of course, susceptible to the Runesmiths' magical attack; don't worry too much about getting hit by them - just make sure you get the kill, or they'll hinder you for yet another turn. They are mostly L0 Vampire Bats - which don't exert a ZOC and can be bypassed; but you do get the occasional L1 Blood Bat (probably more of these on Hard), which you'll need to attend to quickly. Khrakrahs the dragon might come out onto his lava lake - but there is no use in killing it; just move past it and let the elvish army deal with it later. That also means you shouldn't get close to the edge of the lava lake, unless you miss the smell of roast Dwarf.<br /> <br /> The biggest challenge from the Dwarves behind you are actually not the powerful L3 Lords, but rather - the squad of L2 Berserkers. Individually, your L3 units and probably even your Steelclads could handle them fine; but once one of them has softened you up, the second one will move in for the kill, and his chances are quite good; not to mention what happens if a Berserker catches one of your Thunderer units (never mind which level), or an L2 of any kind. You won't outrun them all the way: Some, or most, of them are quick (5 MP), while some of your units are 4 MP. Plus, once they do catch up to you, they will slow down even the units they haven't killed. This is where a few good and health Dwarvish Lords are useful, to soak up that damage and not let them get to the rest of your force. Runemasters may also be relevant.<br /> <br /> After the Berserkers go out, the next dangerous chasers will likely be Dwarvish Dragonguards - which will be quite dangerous for the very units you had as a read-guard against the Berserkers. But - you're more likely to outrun them.<br /> <br /> Once you finally reach the forge, you may choose to move Thursagan into it quickly, in which case he disappears and the rest of your mission is to survive for 9 more turns, or you can play it patiently and milk as much as experience as you can (if you can manage without him for 9. In this case, don't move Thursagan into the forge yet, and make sure to advance him up to level 4 if you haven't done so already.<br /> <br /> Notes:<br /> <br /> * Don't bother trying to send units South-West from your initial keep. They'll just get slaughtered (or have to escape but with their enemies closer by). <br /> * Sometimes, your enemies pause to attack a bat. Don't assume they'll always do that.<br /> <br /> '''Alternative Strategies'''<br /> <br /> * Some players recruit/recall several Dwarvish Guardsman, Stalwarts or Sentinels, which may kill a few of the Berserkers and hold the initial keep for a couple of turns before being run over, while other units escape further.<br /> * Some players pick a decent, though non-ideal, spot in the tunnel and just make a stand there, rotating wounded units.<br /> * Some players suggest - running until you're past the wide spot where you first see the dragon, and then instead of making a stand or continuing your run, starting delay tactics with some damage-soakers/sacrificials, while you race Thursagan to the forge.<br /> <br /> Expect to lose/sacrifice some number of units, regardless of your choice of strategy.<br /> <br /> === Caverns of Flame ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Locate the runic tablet of the guardian trolls, and destroy them<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die.<br /> * '''Turns:''' Unlimited.<br /> * '''Starting Gold:''' ???/160/??? (Easy/Medium/Hard)<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, Baglur and 3 other units<br /> <br /> (The extra starting units may be two Runesmiths and an Explorer; but this may change depending on what your army has; strangely, you may well have additional recallable loyal units but without all units in the starting being loyal.)<br /> <br /> This is the final scenario, but - you cannot really win it; or rather, you complete it by drowning all enemies, and yourself, in lava: You face three strong enemy forces - Elves, Orcs and Trolls (plus some monsters, see below), and even if you did manage to withstand all of those you are still stuck with nowhere to go.<br /> <br /> This is a cave level, but with some areas actually being polished stone. There are some side-caverns and a few 2-to-3-hex-wide choke points, which you might need to hold at different points. There are not many villages, and they are mostly far from each other - and far from most of the choke points. Interestingly, there are more than 7 different castles with keeps on this level - not counting Orcs'!<br /> <br /> To the right, on the North-East end of the level, you'll find the Orc encampment, led by a Warlord. Luckily for you, there's a chasm separating you from them, and the bridge crossing it has collapsed. It will take them 8 turns or so to rebuild it. Their leader has a massive base income (27 gold/turn on Medium) - and when they break out they'll be incredibly strong; but... you'll see that will actually be a boon for you.<br /> <br /> There's a castle just South of where your units spawned, with a keep and 3 extra hexes. Ignore it.<br /> <br /> As you explore due West, you'll be met by low-level dragon-like monster units: Wyrmlets (L0), green Cave Wyrms (L1) and Red Wyrms (L1). The greens have more claw attacks; the reds have more breath attacks - and they all have 60% defense on every terrain, with the L1's being marksmen. So despite the low HP of these units, they're quite a nuisance. They also spawn fast. Do _not_ try to stamp them out - that will keep you from advancing; and you _must_ advance South.<br /> <br /> On turn 6, your old frenemies are back to chase you: It's those pesky elves, with their dwarven allies. Glildur, their Marshal leader, will be accompanied by a major force of L3 units - dwarves and elves. On Medium, those will be: 4 Elvish Outriders, 4 Elvish Champions, 3 Avengers, 4 Dwarven Lords, 3 Thunderguards. And - they will spare no time coming after you. Luckily, Glildur's elves are slowed down by the unfriendly cave terrain; unluckily, the Outriders will catch up with you pretty quick. Hopefully, you've gotten your units past the choke-point, Rugnur is getting to another keep, and you can mount a defense of sorts: If you can hold the Elves and Dwarves for a few turns, the Orcs will smash into their rear.<br /> <br /> ... but actually, thing are about to go from bad to worse. On turn 9, the corridor to the left and just below your choke-point will start filling up with Trolls; the first bunch of them will reach your position after your turn 10 - and they will all be Warriors and Rocklobbers, not Whelps. There's a two-hex choke point of two hexes you could try to hold against them as well, but that will already be rather tricky, with not many options to heal your wounded units and few backups to rotate with.<br /> <br /> What this means is, that while all of the above is going down, you have to send forward some units to pursue the scenario goals. These units will explore the surroundings of the main cavern, located to the South-East of the two choke-points. This cavern has a cistern, or lake, of lava, with a hexagonal platform with six connecting bridges to all sides; and at three points surrounding the lave you'll find quick Troll Shaman guardians. These will not move except to attack you when you're within range; and while they're not terrible to overcome, their magical attack is quite effective - especially against Gryphons and their riders, who lack ranged defense.<br /> <br /> Note, however, that the island-platform is mostly a distraction. It doesn't help you complete the scenario as well.<br /> <br /> While you send out units to seek out the tablets, you may want to fall back from the two choke points and hole up in the Southwestern cavern. It connect to the Troll forces' castle, but only via a 1-hex bridge; and there's a 2 or3 hex choke-point at the entrance, and a village nearby. That's more reasonably defensible - plus, the three other forces will mostly focus on each other.<br /> <br /> One way to play this scenario is to move everyone to the westernmost cavern. It has a good bottleneck to hold the dwarves at and plenty of villages to heal. Once you are dug in, send Rugnur, Thursagan (who is an absolute badass now that he has the Sceptre of Fire) and a few other units south to the glyph. Kill the orc guards and step on the glyph. Once you do that you are instructed to kill all the elves before they escape. Luckily for you, stepping on the glyph also unleashes the Troll Warriors ''behind'' the elves. The elves have no chance. The trolls will quickly slaughter them. You can help if you want, but the end is inevitable. Make sure Thursagan and Rugnur don't fall in lava.<br /> <br /> '''The runic tablets''' <br /> <br /> There are 3 runic tablets to destroy, held by...:<br /> <br /> # The Orcs, and it should get destroyed as they battle the elves, perhaps with the death of some of their unit. So it's likely you won't need to worry about it.<br /> # An L3 Troll Hero, in a keep on the eastern wall of the large cavern. Kill it, and tablet is found and broken.<br /> # The floor of an isolated hex within a chasm at the South of the level. Only a Gryphon or Gryphon Rider can reach it.<br /> <br /> '''Other notes:'''<br /> <br /> * There's nothing interesting in the South-Eastern cavern except for a book, which is not critical.<br /> * Keep Krawg out of trouble, as you need him (or another Gryphon) for the last tablet. So, make sure he's out of the reach of the Shamans - perhaps on one of the Lava hexes - until he can make his way to the Southern chasm.<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Category:Campaigns]]<br /> [[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=Sceptre_of_Fire&diff=75599 2026-08-12T02:26:41Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>==Campaign Strategy==<br /> <br /> You fight this campaign almost entirely with the four classic Dwarven units: Fighter, Thunderer, Scout and Guardsman (and their leveled versions). ''Healers are entirely missing'', and villages become a key resource for army regeneration. Given the circumstances, your leveling strategy should lean strongly to the offensive.<br /> <br /> In the many scenarios, the village distribution is strongly biased against you, and conquering a village cluster is the key to victory. Your main opponents are Trolls, other Dwarves and Elves, and you are mostly fighting in caverns and mountains. <br /> <br /> In this campaign, Dwarvish Fighters can advance to Runesmiths as well as Steelclads. Runemasters are useful overall and absolutely essential for forcing the caves of the Shorbear clan, and you should consider training at least one or two of them in addition to the two that join you. However - don't level Rugnur (your first leader, starting as an L1 Fighter) into a Runesmith - as their HP is much lower than their corresponding plain-fighter (Runesmith vs Steelclad, Runemaster vs Lord). Dwarvish Lords are critical for the rearguard action against Berserkers in [[#The Dragon]], and it is wise to have at least three of them in your army.<br /> <br /> The Guardsman line is only useful early on, since their pierce attack is useless against trolls and too weak for storming the Shorbear caves or discouraging Berserkers in &quot;The Dragon&quot;. However, having a few of them on your recall list will be useful for the final scenario. Thunderers do their share as your ranged unit, and Scouts as screening forces - but make sure to keep a strong emphasis on the fighter line. Once Thursagan joins you, make it a priority to level him up all the way up to a Dwarvish Arcanister (L4); he's the only unit able to do it, and by doing so he will become a truly frightening unit for your enemies.<br /> <br /> [AS: I would agree that the Fighter line is very useful for this campaign, but I personally found Steelclads more useful than Runesmiths. You get Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths before you fight the Shorbear scenario; in my experience those three were enough. Steelclads are tougher and usually deal more damage than Runesmiths; their attacks are just as useful for the Shorbear scenario and more useful for the rest of the campaign.]<br /> <br /> ==Scenarios==<br /> <br /> === A Bargain Is Struck ===<br /> * '''Objectives:'''<br /> ** Move the caravans and Alanin to the dwarvish castle, or..<br /> ** Defeat the elvish leader.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Haldric II, Alanin or one of the caravans die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 24.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur and Alanin.<br /> <br /> On this map, a road from a grassland area on the South-Western part winds North-East, through hills and mountains towards a Dwarvish keep at the other edge. On the South-West edge, near the road, is the keep controlled by your ally, king Haldric II; you as Rugnur control the Dwarvish keep, and a Alanin, a Dragoon (Level 2).<br /> <br /> You need to move 4 Caravans carrying silver (5 on Hard) from near Haldric's keep to Rugnur's Dwarvish keep, and use Alanin to protect them - against Elvish units coming from the South-East of the level.<br /> <br /> These Elves are hostile to Human and Dwarvf alike, and will attack on sight; they're also quite mobile, as the Elven Lord may well recruit a couple of Elvish Scouts. On the other hand, they're rather opportunistic and not focused on the caravans, and they're all L1 units. As for the Humans, Haldric will recruit a full keep's worth of L2 Swordsmen and Longbowmen (on Medium), and even dispatch one of his Royal Guard units, to fight the Elves.<br /> <br /> The Human-Elf confrontation plays out in one of two ways - both leading to the same strategy:<br /> <br /> * If the Humans have the advantage, you can take it slow with the Caravans, keeping them out of harm's way, and consider an assassination attempt against the Elven Lord, with several Dwarf Scouts (for the extra speed). Alanin will be able to do more fighting and village-grabbing as the Caravans are safe.<br /> * If the Elves have an advantage, then - when they wipe out the Humans, your Caravans will be in big trouble, since around Turn 10 the Elvish Lord gets a gold boost and will recruit heavily. In this case it is again best to opt for an assassination so that the Elvish troops don't have the time to attack the Caravans.<br /> <br /> On Medium (and probably on Easy) [v1.13.10], it's the former case: Your Human allies wipe out the attacking Elvish forces before your Dwarf troops can get in on the action. Assassinating the Elf Lord will not be difficult, so 2-3 recruits and Rugnur should be enough. You may have to face the odd Elvish unit, sent Northwards to scout or as a perimeter guard. On Hard, it's the second case; and you may want more recruits to overcome any interruptions. It's possible to achieve carry out the dirty deed using Scouts only.<br /> <br /> Alternatively, you could focus on the Caravans' safety. Use Alanin to guard the Caravans as best possible - mostly restricting the movement of units, de-motivating an attack; actually engage only if it's necessary, or if you're certain Alanin stays healthy enough and other attackers will not outflank you next turn. Your Dwarvish recruits should move South-West as fast as possible (again, Scouts might be relevant), and when they reach the Caravans you're basically safe for the rest of the way.<br /> <br /> As of 2025 (v1.18.4) the above tactics don't work that well, and this scenario is quite hard on easy difficulty and rather diabolical otherwise. On medium difficulty, your human allies get wiped out on the first night. If you move any units across the river (either way) a new Elf fort pops up in the north, so try to delay that as long as possible. All Elvish units have bow/pierce attacks, and Alanin will get slaughtered by 3-5 of these (i.e. if two Elves can get to him, they will pin him down and then it's game over next turn).<br /> <br /> === Closing The Gates ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Close the gates by having units standing on all six glyphs simultaneously.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur or Baglur die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 15.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, 4 Guardsmen (5 on ''easy'').<br /> <br /> This involves hunting down some trolls and stalling the Elves. First, recall and recruit a substantial amount of Thunderers and Fighters. Move all your guardsmen down towards the three towers, those two glyphs can be easily covered near the end. Move a couple of Thunderers down that way as well.<br /> <br /> You have to activate six glyphs and, as you can notice, two of them are near the main entrance and easy to activate. You will find the other four going through the two main passages inside the cave—one directly south of your keep and one to the west. Send teams composed of about 3 or 4 dwarves (mixing Fighters, Thunderers and perhaps Scouts if you like using them) down each passage, and focus the rest of your force on the entrance, resisting the elves. The terrain will be very advantageous to your forces, so the challenge should not be excessive.<br /> <br /> Once the Trolls are dead, place Dwarves on each of those fours glyphs. You will notice that there are a couple of small additional entrances to the cave at the end of each passage. Don't worry, turning the glyphs closest to those openings to the &quot;on&quot; state will seal the entrances. You might even shut one or two Trolls outside this way.<br /> <br /> Once those four glyphs are done you're ready to finish your mission. However, you might as well defend the gate until turn 14 or so, picking up as much experience as possible (try to get Rugnur at least to level 2). Then, pull all your troops back behind the gate (any left outside will automatically die, and those trapped in the door will be squished) and place units on the two remaining glyphs.<br /> <br /> [Comment: Killing all the Elves outside will also successfully end the scenario. It is quite possible to do so (with v.1.11.6 and medium difficulty).]<br /> <br /> === Reaching the Runecrafter ===<br /> * '''Objective''': Reach the other end of the cave map with Alanin, Rugnur and Baglur.<br /> * '''Lose if''': Rugnur, Alanin, or Baglur die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns''': 16 (on Medium difficulty).<br /> * '''Starting units''': Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.<br /> <br /> This is a small cave map which you must cross, South to North. You are beset by two enemy forces, led by an L1 Goblin and an L2 Orcish Warrior. All castles are small in this scenario: You have three hexes to recruit in, the L2 Orc has three, and the Goblin has a mere two. The cave path splits: One side reaches the Orc, through mushrooms and a small lake; the other side goes North all the way to the target hex, but through the Goblin.<br /> <br /> The number of villages is quite small, so don't expect much beyond your initial recalls and recruits.<br /> <br /> The interesting feature of this map is the steel rail through running on the path North, with two carts along the way: A Dwarf can get in such a cart (using the context menu when on its hex), then travel quite a distance on the rails beyond its movement points for the turn - spending them either reaching the cart, or after disembarking, or both. Be careful - you may be surrounded by Goblins with Orcish units not far away if you take a single unit on a joyride too far from the rest of your force. It's worth noting that moving a unit (probably Alanin) over to the mushroom tiles up in the northeast will cause the entire center portion of the map to turn to water. This is important because it instantly kills all goblins in the water at that moment, and it slows the orcs significantly. You can still use the rails to get across here, so this can be really helpful.<br /> <br /> Remember the Goblins are rather weak, so consider making it a priority to either get the Goblin leader out of its keep, or filling up his two castle hexes - which also provide good defense for your units. Moving in on _both_ the Goblins and the Orcs at once is a risky affair, probably only relevant if you started the level with a lot of bonus gold; the safer bet may be to focus on the Goblins, and utilize defense bonuses against the incoming Orcs, while letting Rugnur, Alanin and Baglur move up ahead.<br /> <br /> === Searching for the Runecrafter ===<br /> * '''Objectives:'''<br /> *# Reach Thursagan with a non-gryphon unit.<br /> *# Bring Thursagan back to the caves.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Baglur die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 20.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.<br /> <br /> Once you move a unit a little far from the cave, a loyal gryphon named Krawg will show up, along with a friendly Gryphon Rider. Thursagan is hiding in a village placed at random inside the map. You have to go find him and bring him back to the signpost in your keep. He won't follow a Gryphon, so you have to send a dwarf (or Alanin).<br /> <br /> The monsters you'll face are Wolves, Ogres, Trolls and Woses. Maintain a defensive position in your mountain stronghold while your Gryphons scout the map to locate Thursagan's village, then send someone else to bring him back.<br /> <br /> The Trolls, Woses and Ogres hit hard, so concentrate on killing them quickly when they reach you. Don't let the wolves flank you and get inside your perimeter.<br /> <br /> It will be useful to recall/recruit scouts, who are good against woses, along with thunderers and fighters. Try not to over-recruit; this map won't have any other villages other than the ones close to your keep, and Thursagan's home.<br /> <br /> === Gathering Materials ===<br /> * '''Objective:''' Mine one gold deposit and two coal deposits (see below).<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur or Thursagan die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 40/37/34 (easy/medium/hard).<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths.<br /> * Other<br /> ** To mine you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep.<br /> ** The map is randomized so your map may play slightly differently.<br /> <br /> The coal deposits are near the northwest troll and the southeast troll. The gold deposit is towards the middle. (The map layout is randomized, but the minerals are always in these areas). In order to mine, you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep. The mining can be done with just one Miner, but make it a priority to grab the deposits as quickly as you can. The speed of the miners will be of great help to keep them safe from harm, but still be careful and protect them whenever necessary.<br /> <br /> The gold reserve may be the easiest one to snatch first, and maybe the northwest coal could also be grabbed quickly before you kill the enemies up there. A sensible strategy is to recruit about 2 keepfuls of units and get to the crossroad area quickly. The goblins are numerous but weak. The trick here is to hold the northeast against Troll Whelps and Ogres, the southeast against more Whelps and Rocklobbers and still have enough units to kill all the goblins.<br /> <br /> The AI tends to avoid attacking your Runesmiths/Thursagan when they are on good defensive ground. You can use this to your advantage when clogging up passageways.<br /> <br /> Remember to move your Miner to and from the deposits as quickly as possible. In general, the order of things to do besides that is:<br /> <br /> * Get your troops into the middle clearing and dig in.<br /> * Kill the goblins and their leader.<br /> * Kill the last of the wave from the northeast and reinforce the southeast.<br /> * Move some of your forces to finish the northeast leader and the rest to reinforce the southeast.<br /> * Push to the southeast (there are villages down here) and get the last leader.<br /> <br /> The easiest order to get the deposits is probably gold, northwest coal, southeast coal.<br /> <br /> '''Alternative Strategy'''<br /> <br /> In 1.8.2 on the Steelclad (Challenging) difficulty the ogres and goblins fight each other, so you can let them weaken each other while you go south and slaughter the trolls there. Once you've dealt with the south trolls you can use the villages there to heal your troops before going north to finish the survivors (most likely the ogres, as the goblins are too weak). If you choose this strategy be careful not to spend too much time waiting for the fighting in the north to end.<br /> <br /> [Thrash: In my experience the enemies seemed to prefer fighting each other instead of the player's units. If you just hang back a turn or two, they will starting fighting and then you can pick off weak units for XP and wade in after a couple turns when they've weakened each other. Also, recruiting 3 miners makes things much easier in turns of time (I wouldn't be surprised if it was impossible with one miner on hard).]<br /> <br /> === Hills of the Shorbear Clan ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Defeat the Dwarf leader and have all heroes in the cave while no enemies are in it.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Durstorn die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 24.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan, Durstorn, two new loyal units—a Thunderguard and a Steelclad.<br /> <br /> Since Durstorn started a fight, you have to kick the dwarves out of their cave. The problem is that some Elves show up and start fighting you too. So you have to take over the cave '''and''' kick everyone else out.<br /> <br /> You can use Krawg and another Gryphon to go around the map and flag lots of villages. You'll get lots of gold and can use that to recruit a couple of fresh units if you need after you capture the Shorbears' keep.<br /> <br /> The scenario is pretty straightforward. When fighting the dwarves use the terrain to your advantage. A Dwarf on a mountain tile is only hit 30% of the time... unless you are attacking with a Runesmith/Runemaster. Their magical attacks (70% chance to hit) can make all the difference. Once you are in the cave and fighting off the Elves, seal up the exits when you can. Now all you need to do is wipe out any stragglers and you are done.<br /> <br /> [Mal Shubertal: There is no early finish bonus in this scenario, but there is a 40% gold carryover. Due to many loyal units (especially if you recall your runesmiths from last scenario) and many villages in the cave, you can accumulate a lot of gold if you delay the ending as long as possible. The scenario ended a few turns early for me because the last Elf in the cave accidentally killed himself against my Thunderer; this could have been avoided by leaving Krawg just outside the cave until turn 24.]<br /> <br /> === Towards the Caves ===<br /> * '''Objectives:'''<br /> ** Move Rugnur to the north-east cave entrance.<br /> ** Move Alanin to the southern border east of the river.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg or Thursagan die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 12.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan and Alanin.<br /> <br /> It is important to realize that the two objectives do not need to be accomplished simultaneously; once Alanin touches the southern border, east of the river, he disappears and his part is done. So, you can just send him straight south from turn 1. Have him go along the western edge of the river and cross over when he is at the bottom. The southeastern elves really don't like Alanin, so be careful not to attract too much attention. (Note that you can use that to your advantage to slow the advance of those elves).<br /> <br /> This scenario is an exercise in holding a defensible position. The problem is that position has six entrances and you are up against a bunch of level 2 attackers. Recruit 2 or 3 keeps full of soldiers, sneak Alanin and Rugnur out (maybe with a few units, perhaps Gryphons, for cover and village flagging), and dig in. Rotate your units and try not to lose too many. Since most of the attackers are level 2, you can level some units with a couple of kills. Stay on good defensive ground and don't try anything crazy. It is also possible to win by killing all the leaders, but good luck with that.<br /> <br /> [Thrash: I found just running for it worked for me. Alanin is able to make it to the southern edge before any elves can reach him by running down the west bank and crossing over. For Rugnur I recruited 6 sacrificial scouts and used them to screen the northern elves and Rugnur was able to make the cave with the elves on his heels.]<br /> <br /> [Sojourner: With WN 10.0, running Alanin south down the west side of the river worked like a charm. I ran Thurgasin into the NW caves to keep him safe. The tricky part was getting Rugnur to the NE cave. Since even a single hex makes the differance, I could only recruit one keep load and then Rugnur had to start running on turn-1. Level 1 scouts as a screen didn't work because the Elvish archers slaughtered them. I used a full keep of Level 1 griffins (all ultimately sacrificed) as a screen, and had Rugnur go through the 5-hex of mountains to the East (32/10). But it was very close because I had to use Krawg at the last to help screen, yet not allow him to get zone-locked and killed. Possible, but tricky.]<br /> <br /> === Outriding the Outriders ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Reach the outpost in the south.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Alanin dies or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 12.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Alanin.<br /> <br /> Your mission is to run south as quickly as possible. The Elvish Outriders will easily catch up with Alanin and defeat him, all things being equal - Alanin has 9 MP, while the Outriders have 10 MP and 11 MP for the quick ones. Plus, there are six of them (on Medium difficult) and one of you... in fact, if four or five of the Outriders reach Alanin at once, he's likely to be killed even starting out with full HP. An encounter with just one or two Outriders is survivable - but you'll have to make sure to shake them the next turn.<br /> <br /> Luckily, the stout Wesnothi Yeoman rises to the occasion, equipping L1 loyalist units and sending them out from every village you flag. 2-3 units will come out - Spearmen and Bowmen - to help you against the elves. They will, unfortunately, be mostly cannon fodder, so don't worry about keeping them for later in the campaign, or leveling them etc. They will have exactly one function: Slowing down the Elves.<br /> <br /> To prevent the Elves from catching Alanin, the trick is to maneuver your village-supplied units so that their ZOC intersects' the Outriders' direct routes, requiring them to take longer ones and/or to pass unfavorable terrain (Frozen, Hills) to get around the ZOC. If you manage this consistently (which you should be able to - that's what the level is designed for after all) - Alanin should have no more than a brush or two with the Outriders.<br /> <br /> Use Ctrl+V to see where the Outriders can reach, and be careful not to ignore alternative routes you might have missed. Also, never attack with the villager units unless they've somehow gotten behind the riders; even then - better not to attack, try and flank them, and hope they attack you, rather than waste your unit's life to reduce an Outrider's HP. Only if you're pretty sure you can kill one can you consider an attack (and that's not very likely to happen).<br /> <br /> Note that the Outriders seem to be quite fascinated with killing villagers, and their presence is distracting; they're likely to take their time and kill any villagers one of them encounters rather than splitting up and having some riders go forward to catch you.<br /> <br /> On the first turn, you can reach one of two villages. If you're gotten the message so far, you know which one you want to flag: The farther one to the South.<br /> <br /> Alanin can and should reach the Southern Output by turn 10. You only have 12 turns, so don't get any funny ideas about taking detours or backtracking.<br /> <br /> === The Dragon ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Get Rugnur, Thursagan and Krawg to the end of the tunnel; then move Thursagan to the forge and defend him for 9 turns<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die<br /> * '''Turns:''' Unlimited.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, and Baglur.<br /> <br /> The scenario name is quite the misnomer. While there is a Dragon here - you're not going to fight it and it has basically no impact on anything except by recruiting some annoying Bats. <br /> <br /> What you will face in this scenario is a swarm of L2 and L3 Dwarves and Elves hot on your heels which will come in from the South-West of your initial keep in great numbers, attacking relentlessly and mercilessly. As the dialog suggests, trying to make a stand in your initial keep would be practically impossible, and your obvious choice is to recruit/recall as much as you can in the first turn - preferring quick units perhaps, then flee by going East, then South, and onwards through the tunnel as quickly as the zigzag path allows. <br /> <br /> You have to cover a lot of terrain, but the path is easy to follow, and at its end you will reach a small cavern where you will find a forge where the Sceptre can be built. That is a good place to finally make your stand, as the entrance to the cavern is 2-unit wide with a fortification (castle hexes). Until then, your job is to move quickly, dealing with bats coming from the cave, and with the Dwarves approaching from behind. The elves move slower than some of the Dwarves, but will not be far behind - since they have Outriders (10 MP), and some of the tunnel has flat terrain in the middle on which they could make up for their slow Cave-terrain movement.<br /> <br /> Regarding the Bats, these are typically be a minor annoyance, except that in this case there are quite lots of them, and they might block your path, slowing you down and bringing the Dwarvish enemies closer. They are, of course, susceptible to the Runesmiths' magical attack; don't worry too much about getting hit by them - just make sure you get the kill, or they'll hinder you for yet another turn. They are mostly L0 Vampire Bats - which don't exert a ZOC and can be bypassed; but you do get the occasional L1 Blood Bat (probably more of these on Hard), which you'll need to attend to quickly. Khrakrahs the dragon might come out onto his lava lake - but there is no use in killing it; just move past it and let the elvish army deal with it later. That also means you shouldn't get close to the edge of the lava lake, unless you miss the smell of roast Dwarf.<br /> <br /> The biggest challenge from the Dwarves behind you are actually not the powerful L3 Lords, but rather - the squad of L2 Berserkers. Individually, your L3 units and probably even your Steelclads could handle them fine; but once one of them has softened you up, the second one will move in for the kill, and his chances are quite good; not to mention what happens if a Berserker catches one of your Thunderer units (never mind which level), or an L2 of any kind. You won't outrun them all the way: Some, or most, of them are quick (5 MP), while some of your units are 4 MP. Plus, once they do catch up to you, they will slow down even the units they haven't killed. This is where a few good and health Dwarvish Lords are useful, to soak up that damage and not let them get to the rest of your force. Runemasters may also be relevant.<br /> <br /> After the Berserkers go out, the next dangerous chasers will likely be Dwarvish Dragonguards - which will be quite dangerous for the very units you had as a read-guard against the Berserkers. But - you're more likely to outrun them.<br /> <br /> Once you finally reach the forge, you may choose to move Thursagan into it quickly, in which case he disappears and the rest of your mission is to survive for 9 more turns, or you can play it patiently and milk as much as experience as you can (if you can manage without him for 9. In this case, don't move Thursagan into the forge yet, and make sure to advance him up to level 4 if you haven't done so already.<br /> <br /> Notes:<br /> <br /> * Don't bother trying to send units South-West from your initial keep. They'll just get slaughtered (or have to escape but with their enemies closer by). <br /> * Sometimes, your enemies pause to attack a bat. Don't assume they'll always do that.<br /> <br /> '''Alternative Strategies'''<br /> <br /> * Some players recruit/recall several Dwarvish Guardsman, Stalwarts or Sentinels, which may kill a few of the Berserkers and hold the initial keep for a couple of turns before being run over, while other units escape further.<br /> * Some players pick a decent, though non-ideal, spot in the tunnel and just make a stand there, rotating wounded units.<br /> * Some players suggest - running until you're past the wide spot where you first see the dragon, and then instead of making a stand or continuing your run, starting delay tactics with some damage-soakers/sacrificials, while you race Thursagan to the forge.<br /> <br /> Expect to lose/sacrifice some number of units, regardless of your choice of strategy.<br /> <br /> === Caverns of Flame ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Locate the runic tablet of the guardian trolls, and destroy them<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die.<br /> * '''Turns:''' Unlimited.<br /> * '''Starting Gold:''' ???/160/??? (Easy/Medium/Hard)<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, Baglur and 3 other units<br /> <br /> (The extra starting units may be two Runesmiths and an Explorer; but this may change depending on what your army has; strangely, you may well have additional recallable loyal units but without all units in the starting being loyal.)<br /> <br /> This is the final scenario, but - you cannot really win it; or rather, you complete it by drowning all enemies, and yourself, in lava: You face three strong enemy forces - Elves, Orcs and Trolls (plus some monsters, see below), and even if you did manage to withstand all of those you are still stuck with nowhere to go.<br /> <br /> This is a cave level, but with some areas actually being polished stone. There are some side-caverns and a few 2-to-3-hex-wide choke points, which you might need to hold at different points. There are not many villages, and they are mostly far from each other - and far from most of the choke points. Interestingly, there are more than 7 different castles with keeps on this level - not counting Orcs'!<br /> <br /> To the right, on the North-East end of the level, you'll find the Orc encampment, led by a Warlord. Luckily for you, there's a chasm separating you from them, and the bridge crossing it has collapsed. It will take them 8 turns or so to rebuild it. Their leader has a massive base income (27 gold/turn on Medium) - and when they break out they'll be incredibly strong; but... you'll see that will actually be a boon for you.<br /> <br /> There's a castle just South of where your units spawned, with a keep and 3 extra hexes. Ignore it.<br /> <br /> As you explore due West, you'll be met by low-level dragon-like monster units: Wyrmlets (L0), green Cave Wyrms (L1) and Red Wyrms (L1). The greens have more claw attacks; the reds have more breath attacks - and they all have 60% defense on every terrain, with the L1's being marksmen. So despite the low HP of these units, they're quite a nuisance. They also spawn fast. Do _not_ try to stamp them out - that will keep you from advancing; and you _must_ advance South.<br /> <br /> On turn 6, your old frenemies are back to chase you: It's those pesky elves, with their dwarven allies. Glildur, their Marshal leader, will be accompanied by a major force of L3 units - dwarves and elves. On Medium, those will be: 4 Elvish Outriders, 4 Elvish Champions, 3 Avengers, 4 Dwarven Lords, 3 Thunderguards. And - they will spare no time coming after you. Luckily, Glildur's elves are slowed down by the unfriendly cave terrain; unluckily, the Outriders will catch up with you pretty quick. Hopefully, you've gotten your units past the choke-point, Rugnur is getting to another keep, and you can mount a defense of sorts: If you can hold the Elves and Dwarves for a few turns, the Orcs will smash into their rear.<br /> <br /> ... but actually, thing are about to go from bad to worse. On turn 9, the corridor to the left and just below your choke-point will start filling up with Trolls; the first bunch of them will reach your position after your turn 10 - and they will all be Warriors and Rocklobbers, not Whelps. There's a two-hex choke point of two hexes you could try to hold against them as well, but that will already be rather tricky, with not many options to heal your wounded units and few backups to rotate with.<br /> <br /> What this means is, that while all of the above is going down, you have to send forward some units to pursue the scenario goals. These units will explore the surroundings of the main cavern, located to the South-East of the two choke-points. This cavern has a cistern, or lake, of lava, with a hexagonal platform with six connecting bridges to all sides; and at three points surrounding the lave you'll find quick Troll Shaman guardians. These will not move except to attack you when you're within range; and while they're not terrible to overcome, their magical attack is quite effective - especially against Gryphons and their riders, who lack ranged defense.<br /> <br /> Note, however, that the island-platform is mostly a distraction. It doesn't help you complete the scenario as well.<br /> <br /> While you send out units to seek out the tablets, you may want to fall back from the two choke points and hole up in the Southwestern cavern. It connect to the Troll forces' castle, but only via a 1-hex bridge; and there's a 2 or3 hex choke-point at the entrance, and a village nearby. That's more reasonably defensible - plus, the three other forces will mostly focus on each other.<br /> <br /> One way to play this scenario is to move everyone to the westernmost cavern. It has a good bottleneck to hold the dwarves at and plenty of villages to heal. Once you are dug in, send Rugnur, Thursagan (who is an absolute badass now that he has the Sceptre of Fire) and a few other units south to the glyph. Kill the orc guards and step on the glyph. Once you do that you are instructed to kill all the elves before they escape. Luckily for you, stepping on the glyph also unleashes the Troll Warriors ''behind'' the elves. The elves have no chance. The trolls will quickly slaughter them. You can help if you want, but the end is inevitable. Make sure Thursagan and Rugnur don't fall in lava.<br /> <br /> '''The runic tablets''' <br /> <br /> There are 3 runic tablets to destroy, held by...:<br /> <br /> # The Orcs, and it should get destroyed as they battle the elves, perhaps with the death of some of their unit. So it's likely you won't need to worry about it.<br /> # An L3 Troll Hero, in a keep on the eastern wall of the large cavern. Kill it, and tablet is found and broken.<br /> # The floor of an isolated hex within a chasm at the South of the level. Only a Gryphon or Gryphon Rider can reach it.<br /> <br /> '''Other notes:'''<br /> <br /> * There's nothing interesting in the South-Eastern cavern except for a book, which is not critical.<br /> * Keep Krawg out of trouble, as you need him (or another Gryphon) for the last tablet. So, make sure he's out of the reach of the Shamans - perhaps on one of the Lava hexes - until he can make his way to the Southern chasm.<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Category:Campaigns]]<br /> [[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=Sceptre_of_Fire&diff=75597 2026-08-11T04:28:43Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>==Campaign Strategy==<br /> <br /> You fight this campaign almost entirely with the four classic Dwarven units: Fighter, Thunderer, Scout and Guardsman (and their leveled versions). ''Healers are entirely missing'', and villages become a key resource for army regeneration. Given the circumstances, your leveling strategy should lean strongly to the offensive.<br /> <br /> In the many scenarios, the village distribution is strongly biased against you, and conquering a village cluster is the key to victory. Your main opponents are Trolls, other Dwarves and Elves, and you are mostly fighting in caverns and mountains. <br /> <br /> In this campaign, Dwarvish Fighters can advance to Runesmiths as well as Steelclads. Runemasters are useful overall and absolutely essential for forcing the caves of the Shorbear clan, and you should consider training at least one or two of them in addition to the two that join you. However - don't level Rugnur (your first leader, starting as an L1 Fighter) into a Runesmith - as their HP is much lower than their corresponding plain-fighter (Runesmith vs Steelclad, Runemaster vs Lord). Dwarvish Lords are critical for the rearguard action against Berserkers in [[#The Dragon]], and it is wise to have at least three of them in your army.<br /> <br /> The Guardsman line is only useful early on, since their pierce attack is useless against trolls and too weak for storming the Shorbear caves or discouraging Berserkers in &quot;The Dragon&quot;. However, having a few of them on your recall list will be useful for the final scenario. Thunderers do their share as your ranged unit, and Scouts as screening forces - but make sure to keep a strong emphasis on the fighter line. Once Thursagan joins you, make it a priority to level him up all the way up to a Dwarvish Arcanister (L4); he's the only unit able to do it, and by doing so he will become a truly frightening unit for your enemies.<br /> <br /> [AS: I would agree that the Fighter line is very useful for this campaign, but I personally found Steelclads more useful than Runesmiths. You get Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths before you fight the Shorbear scenario; in my experience those three were enough. Steelclads are tougher and usually deal more damage than Runesmiths; their attacks are just as useful for the Shorbear scenario and more useful for the rest of the campaign.]<br /> <br /> ==Scenarios==<br /> <br /> === A Bargain Is Struck ===<br /> * '''Objectives:'''<br /> ** Move the caravans and Alanin to the dwarvish castle, or..<br /> ** Defeat the elvish leader.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Haldric II, Alanin or one of the caravans die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 24.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur and Alanin.<br /> <br /> On this map, a road from a grassland area on the South-Western part winds North-East, through hills and mountains towards a Dwarvish keep at the other edge. On the South-West edge, near the road, is the keep controlled by your ally, king Haldric II; you as Rugnur control the Dwarvish keep, and a Alanin, a Dragoon (Level 2).<br /> <br /> You need to move 4 Caravans carrying silver (5 on Hard) from near Haldric's keep to Rugnur's Dwarvish keep, and use Alanin to protect them - against Elvish units coming from the South-East of the level.<br /> <br /> These Elves are hostile to Human and Dwarvf alike, and will attack on sight; they're also quite mobile, as the Elven Lord may well recruit a couple of Elvish Scouts. On the other hand, they're rather opportunistic and not focused on the caravans, and they're all L1 units. As for the Humans, Haldric will recruit a full keep's worth of L2 Swordsmen and Longbowmen (on Medium), and even dispatch one of his Royal Guard units, to fight the Elves.<br /> <br /> The Human-Elf confrontation plays out in one of two ways - both leading to the same strategy:<br /> <br /> * If the Humans have the advantage, you can take it slow with the Caravans, keeping them out of harm's way, and consider an assassination attempt against the Elven Lord, with several Dwarf Scouts (for the extra speed). Alanin will be able to do more fighting and village-grabbing as the Caravans are safe.<br /> * If the Elves have an advantage, then - when they wipe out the Humans, your Caravans will be in big trouble, since around Turn 10 the Elvish Lord gets a gold boost and will recruit heavily. In this case it is again best to opt for an assassination so that the Elvish troops don't have the time to attack the Caravans.<br /> <br /> On Medium (and probably on Easy) [v1.13.10], it's the former case: Your Human allies wipe out the attacking Elvish forces before your Dwarf troops can get in on the action. Assassinating the Elf Lord will not be difficult, so 2-3 recruits and Rugnur should be enough. You may have to face the odd Elvish unit, sent Northwards to scout or as a perimeter guard. On Hard, it's the second case; and you may want more recruits to overcome any interruptions. It's possible to achieve carry out the dirty deed using Scouts only.<br /> <br /> Alternatively, you could focus on the Caravans' safety. Use Alanin to guard the Caravans as best possible - mostly restricting the movement of units, de-motivating an attack; actually engage only if it's necessary, or if you're certain Alanin stays healthy enough and other attackers will not outflank you next turn. Your Dwarvish recruits should move South-West as fast as possible (again, Scouts might be relevant), and when they reach the Caravans you're basically safe for the rest of the way.<br /> <br /> As of 2025 (v1.18.4) the above tactics don't work that well, and this scenario is quite hard on easy difficulty and rather diabolical otherwise. On medium difficulty, your human allies get wiped out on the first night. If you move any units across the river (either way) a new Elf fort pops up in the north, so try to delay that as long as possible. All Elvish units have bow/pierce attacks, and Alanin will get slaughtered by 3-5 of these (i.e. if two Elves can get to him, they will pin him down and then it's game over next turn).<br /> <br /> === Closing The Gates ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Close the gates by having units standing on all six glyphs simultaneously.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur or Baglur die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 15.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, 4 Guardsmen (5 on ''easy'').<br /> <br /> This involves hunting down some trolls and stalling the Elves. First, recall and recruit a substantial amount of Thunderers and Fighters. Move all your guardsmen down towards the three towers, those two glyphs can be easily covered near the end. Move a couple of Thunderers down that way as well.<br /> <br /> You have to activate six glyphs and, as you can notice, two of them are near the main entrance and easy to activate. You will find the other four going through the two main passages inside the cave—one directly south of your keep and one to the west. Send teams composed of about 3 or 4 dwarves (mixing Fighters, Thunderers and perhaps Scouts if you like using them) down each passage, and focus the rest of your force on the entrance, resisting the elves. The terrain will be very advantageous to your forces, so the challenge should not be excessive.<br /> <br /> Once the Trolls are dead, place Dwarves on each of those fours glyphs. You will notice that there are a couple of small additional entrances to the cave at the end of each passage. Don't worry, turning the glyphs closest to those openings to the &quot;on&quot; state will seal the entrances. You might even shut one or two Trolls outside this way.<br /> <br /> Once those four glyphs are done you're ready to finish your mission. However, you might as well defend the gate until turn 14 or so, picking up as much experience as possible (try to get Rugnur at least to level 2). Then, pull all your troops back behind the gate (any left outside will automatically die, and those trapped in the door will be squished) and place units on the two remaining glyphs.<br /> <br /> [Comment: Killing all the Elves outside will also successfully end the scenario. It is quite possible to do so (with v.1.11.6 and medium difficulty).]<br /> <br /> === Reaching the Runecrafter ===<br /> * '''Objective''': Reach the other end of the cave map with Alanin, Rugnur and Baglur.<br /> * '''Lose if''': Rugnur, Alanin, or Baglur die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns''': 16 (on Medium difficulty).<br /> * '''Starting units''': Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.<br /> <br /> This is a small cave map which you must cross, South to North. You are beset by two enemy forces, led by an L1 Goblin and an L2 Orcish Warrior. All castles are small in this scenario: You have three hexes to recruit in, the L2 Orc has three, and the Goblin has a mere two. The cave path splits: One side reaches the Orc, through mushrooms and a small lake; the other side goes North all the way to the target hex, but through the Goblin.<br /> <br /> The number of villages is quite small, so don't expect much beyond your initial recalls and recruits.<br /> <br /> The interesting feature of this map is the steel rail through running on the path North, with two carts along the way: A Dwarf can get in such a cart (using the context menu when on its hex), then travel quite a distance on the rails beyond its movement points for the turn - spending them either reaching the cart, or after disembarking, or both. Be careful - you may be surrounded by Goblins with Orcish units not far away if you take a single unit on a joyride too far from the rest of your force.<br /> <br /> Remember the Goblins are rather weak, so consider making it a priority to either get the Goblin leader out of its keep, or filling up his two castle hexes - which also provide good defense for your units. Moving in on _both_ the Goblins and the Orcs at once is a risky affair, probably only relevant if you started the level with a lot of bonus gold; the safer bet may be to focus on the Goblins, and utilize defense bonuses against the incoming Orcs, while letting Rugnur, Alanin and Baglur move up ahead.<br /> <br /> === Searching for the Runecrafter ===<br /> * '''Objectives:'''<br /> *# Reach Thursagan with a non-gryphon unit.<br /> *# Bring Thursagan back to the caves.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Baglur die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 20.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, Alanin.<br /> <br /> Once you move a unit a little far from the cave, a loyal gryphon named Krawg will show up, along with a friendly Gryphon Rider. Thursagan is hiding in a village placed at random inside the map. You have to go find him and bring him back to the signpost in your keep. He won't follow a Gryphon, so you have to send a dwarf (or Alanin).<br /> <br /> The monsters you'll face are Wolves, Ogres, Trolls and Woses. Maintain a defensive position in your mountain stronghold while your Gryphons scout the map to locate Thursagan's village, then send someone else to bring him back.<br /> <br /> The Trolls, Woses and Ogres hit hard, so concentrate on killing them quickly when they reach you. Don't let the wolves flank you and get inside your perimeter.<br /> <br /> It will be useful to recall/recruit scouts, who are good against woses, along with thunderers and fighters. Try not to over-recruit; this map won't have any other villages other than the ones close to your keep, and Thursagan's home.<br /> <br /> === Gathering Materials ===<br /> * '''Objective:''' Mine one gold deposit and two coal deposits (see below).<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur or Thursagan die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 40/37/34 (easy/medium/hard).<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, Thursagan and two loyal Runesmiths.<br /> * Other<br /> ** To mine you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep.<br /> ** The map is randomized so your map may play slightly differently.<br /> <br /> The coal deposits are near the northwest troll and the southeast troll. The gold deposit is towards the middle. (The map layout is randomized, but the minerals are always in these areas). In order to mine, you must recruit a Dwarvish Miner, move him to the deposit and move him back to the keep. The mining can be done with just one Miner, but make it a priority to grab the deposits as quickly as you can. The speed of the miners will be of great help to keep them safe from harm, but still be careful and protect them whenever necessary.<br /> <br /> The gold reserve may be the easiest one to snatch first, and maybe the northwest coal could also be grabbed quickly before you kill the enemies up there. A sensible strategy is to recruit about 2 keepfuls of units and get to the crossroad area quickly. The goblins are numerous but weak. The trick here is to hold the northeast against Troll Whelps and Ogres, the southeast against more Whelps and Rocklobbers and still have enough units to kill all the goblins.<br /> <br /> The AI tends to avoid attacking your Runesmiths/Thursagan when they are on good defensive ground. You can use this to your advantage when clogging up passageways.<br /> <br /> Remember to move your Miner to and from the deposits as quickly as possible. In general, the order of things to do besides that is:<br /> <br /> * Get your troops into the middle clearing and dig in.<br /> * Kill the goblins and their leader.<br /> * Kill the last of the wave from the northeast and reinforce the southeast.<br /> * Move some of your forces to finish the northeast leader and the rest to reinforce the southeast.<br /> * Push to the southeast (there are villages down here) and get the last leader.<br /> <br /> The easiest order to get the deposits is probably gold, northwest coal, southeast coal.<br /> <br /> '''Alternative Strategy'''<br /> <br /> In 1.8.2 on the Steelclad (Challenging) difficulty the ogres and goblins fight each other, so you can let them weaken each other while you go south and slaughter the trolls there. Once you've dealt with the south trolls you can use the villages there to heal your troops before going north to finish the survivors (most likely the ogres, as the goblins are too weak). If you choose this strategy be careful not to spend too much time waiting for the fighting in the north to end.<br /> <br /> [Thrash: In my experience the enemies seemed to prefer fighting each other instead of the player's units. If you just hang back a turn or two, they will starting fighting and then you can pick off weak units for XP and wade in after a couple turns when they've weakened each other. Also, recruiting 3 miners makes things much easier in turns of time (I wouldn't be surprised if it was impossible with one miner on hard).]<br /> <br /> === Hills of the Shorbear Clan ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Defeat the Dwarf leader and have all heroes in the cave while no enemies are in it.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg, Thursagan or Durstorn die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 24.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan, Durstorn, two new loyal units—a Thunderguard and a Steelclad.<br /> <br /> Since Durstorn started a fight, you have to kick the dwarves out of their cave. The problem is that some Elves show up and start fighting you too. So you have to take over the cave '''and''' kick everyone else out.<br /> <br /> You can use Krawg and another Gryphon to go around the map and flag lots of villages. You'll get lots of gold and can use that to recruit a couple of fresh units if you need after you capture the Shorbears' keep.<br /> <br /> The scenario is pretty straightforward. When fighting the dwarves use the terrain to your advantage. A Dwarf on a mountain tile is only hit 30% of the time... unless you are attacking with a Runesmith/Runemaster. Their magical attacks (70% chance to hit) can make all the difference. Once you are in the cave and fighting off the Elves, seal up the exits when you can. Now all you need to do is wipe out any stragglers and you are done.<br /> <br /> [Mal Shubertal: There is no early finish bonus in this scenario, but there is a 40% gold carryover. Due to many loyal units (especially if you recall your runesmiths from last scenario) and many villages in the cave, you can accumulate a lot of gold if you delay the ending as long as possible. The scenario ended a few turns early for me because the last Elf in the cave accidentally killed himself against my Thunderer; this could have been avoided by leaving Krawg just outside the cave until turn 24.]<br /> <br /> === Towards the Caves ===<br /> * '''Objectives:'''<br /> ** Move Rugnur to the north-east cave entrance.<br /> ** Move Alanin to the southern border east of the river.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Alanin, Krawg or Thursagan die or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 12.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Baglur, Krawg, Thursagan and Alanin.<br /> <br /> It is important to realize that the two objectives do not need to be accomplished simultaneously; once Alanin touches the southern border, east of the river, he disappears and his part is done. So, you can just send him straight south from turn 1. Have him go along the western edge of the river and cross over when he is at the bottom. The southeastern elves really don't like Alanin, so be careful not to attract too much attention. (Note that you can use that to your advantage to slow the advance of those elves).<br /> <br /> This scenario is an exercise in holding a defensible position. The problem is that position has six entrances and you are up against a bunch of level 2 attackers. Recruit 2 or 3 keeps full of soldiers, sneak Alanin and Rugnur out (maybe with a few units, perhaps Gryphons, for cover and village flagging), and dig in. Rotate your units and try not to lose too many. Since most of the attackers are level 2, you can level some units with a couple of kills. Stay on good defensive ground and don't try anything crazy. It is also possible to win by killing all the leaders, but good luck with that.<br /> <br /> [Thrash: I found just running for it worked for me. Alanin is able to make it to the southern edge before any elves can reach him by running down the west bank and crossing over. For Rugnur I recruited 6 sacrificial scouts and used them to screen the northern elves and Rugnur was able to make the cave with the elves on his heels.]<br /> <br /> [Sojourner: With WN 10.0, running Alanin south down the west side of the river worked like a charm. I ran Thurgasin into the NW caves to keep him safe. The tricky part was getting Rugnur to the NE cave. Since even a single hex makes the differance, I could only recruit one keep load and then Rugnur had to start running on turn-1. Level 1 scouts as a screen didn't work because the Elvish archers slaughtered them. I used a full keep of Level 1 griffins (all ultimately sacrificed) as a screen, and had Rugnur go through the 5-hex of mountains to the East (32/10). But it was very close because I had to use Krawg at the last to help screen, yet not allow him to get zone-locked and killed. Possible, but tricky.]<br /> <br /> === Outriding the Outriders ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Reach the outpost in the south.<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Alanin dies or time runs out.<br /> * '''Turns:''' 12.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Alanin.<br /> <br /> Your mission is to run south as quickly as possible. The Elvish Outriders will easily catch up with Alanin and defeat him, all things being equal - Alanin has 9 MP, while the Outriders have 10 MP and 11 MP for the quick ones. Plus, there are six of them (on Medium difficult) and one of you... in fact, if four or five of the Outriders reach Alanin at once, he's likely to be killed even starting out with full HP. An encounter with just one or two Outriders is survivable - but you'll have to make sure to shake them the next turn.<br /> <br /> Luckily, the stout Wesnothi Yeoman rises to the occasion, equipping L1 loyalist units and sending them out from every village you flag. 2-3 units will come out - Spearmen and Bowmen - to help you against the elves. They will, unfortunately, be mostly cannon fodder, so don't worry about keeping them for later in the campaign, or leveling them etc. They will have exactly one function: Slowing down the Elves.<br /> <br /> To prevent the Elves from catching Alanin, the trick is to maneuver your village-supplied units so that their ZOC intersects' the Outriders' direct routes, requiring them to take longer ones and/or to pass unfavorable terrain (Frozen, Hills) to get around the ZOC. If you manage this consistently (which you should be able to - that's what the level is designed for after all) - Alanin should have no more than a brush or two with the Outriders.<br /> <br /> Use Ctrl+V to see where the Outriders can reach, and be careful not to ignore alternative routes you might have missed. Also, never attack with the villager units unless they've somehow gotten behind the riders; even then - better not to attack, try and flank them, and hope they attack you, rather than waste your unit's life to reduce an Outrider's HP. Only if you're pretty sure you can kill one can you consider an attack (and that's not very likely to happen).<br /> <br /> Note that the Outriders seem to be quite fascinated with killing villagers, and their presence is distracting; they're likely to take their time and kill any villagers one of them encounters rather than splitting up and having some riders go forward to catch you.<br /> <br /> On the first turn, you can reach one of two villages. If you're gotten the message so far, you know which one you want to flag: The farther one to the South.<br /> <br /> Alanin can and should reach the Southern Output by turn 10. You only have 12 turns, so don't get any funny ideas about taking detours or backtracking.<br /> <br /> === The Dragon ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Get Rugnur, Thursagan and Krawg to the end of the tunnel; then move Thursagan to the forge and defend him for 9 turns<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die<br /> * '''Turns:''' Unlimited.<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, and Baglur.<br /> <br /> The scenario name is quite the misnomer. While there is a Dragon here - you're not going to fight it and it has basically no impact on anything except by recruiting some annoying Bats. <br /> <br /> What you will face in this scenario is a swarm of L2 and L3 Dwarves and Elves hot on your heels which will come in from the South-West of your initial keep in great numbers, attacking relentlessly and mercilessly. As the dialog suggests, trying to make a stand in your initial keep would be practically impossible, and your obvious choice is to recruit/recall as much as you can in the first turn - preferring quick units perhaps, then flee by going East, then South, and onwards through the tunnel as quickly as the zigzag path allows. <br /> <br /> You have to cover a lot of terrain, but the path is easy to follow, and at its end you will reach a small cavern where you will find a forge where the Sceptre can be built. That is a good place to finally make your stand, as the entrance to the cavern is 2-unit wide with a fortification (castle hexes). Until then, your job is to move quickly, dealing with bats coming from the cave, and with the Dwarves approaching from behind. The elves move slower than some of the Dwarves, but will not be far behind - since they have Outriders (10 MP), and some of the tunnel has flat terrain in the middle on which they could make up for their slow Cave-terrain movement.<br /> <br /> Regarding the Bats, these are typically be a minor annoyance, except that in this case there are quite lots of them, and they might block your path, slowing you down and bringing the Dwarvish enemies closer. They are, of course, susceptible to the Runesmiths' magical attack; don't worry too much about getting hit by them - just make sure you get the kill, or they'll hinder you for yet another turn. They are mostly L0 Vampire Bats - which don't exert a ZOC and can be bypassed; but you do get the occasional L1 Blood Bat (probably more of these on Hard), which you'll need to attend to quickly. Khrakrahs the dragon might come out onto his lava lake - but there is no use in killing it; just move past it and let the elvish army deal with it later. That also means you shouldn't get close to the edge of the lava lake, unless you miss the smell of roast Dwarf.<br /> <br /> The biggest challenge from the Dwarves behind you are actually not the powerful L3 Lords, but rather - the squad of L2 Berserkers. Individually, your L3 units and probably even your Steelclads could handle them fine; but once one of them has softened you up, the second one will move in for the kill, and his chances are quite good; not to mention what happens if a Berserker catches one of your Thunderer units (never mind which level), or an L2 of any kind. You won't outrun them all the way: Some, or most, of them are quick (5 MP), while some of your units are 4 MP. Plus, once they do catch up to you, they will slow down even the units they haven't killed. This is where a few good and health Dwarvish Lords are useful, to soak up that damage and not let them get to the rest of your force. Runemasters may also be relevant.<br /> <br /> After the Berserkers go out, the next dangerous chasers will likely be Dwarvish Dragonguards - which will be quite dangerous for the very units you had as a read-guard against the Berserkers. But - you're more likely to outrun them.<br /> <br /> Once you finally reach the forge, you may choose to move Thursagan into it quickly, in which case he disappears and the rest of your mission is to survive for 9 more turns, or you can play it patiently and milk as much as experience as you can (if you can manage without him for 9. In this case, don't move Thursagan into the forge yet, and make sure to advance him up to level 4 if you haven't done so already.<br /> <br /> Notes:<br /> <br /> * Don't bother trying to send units South-West from your initial keep. They'll just get slaughtered (or have to escape but with their enemies closer by). <br /> * Sometimes, your enemies pause to attack a bat. Don't assume they'll always do that.<br /> <br /> '''Alternative Strategies'''<br /> <br /> * Some players recruit/recall several Dwarvish Guardsman, Stalwarts or Sentinels, which may kill a few of the Berserkers and hold the initial keep for a couple of turns before being run over, while other units escape further.<br /> * Some players pick a decent, though non-ideal, spot in the tunnel and just make a stand there, rotating wounded units.<br /> * Some players suggest - running until you're past the wide spot where you first see the dragon, and then instead of making a stand or continuing your run, starting delay tactics with some damage-soakers/sacrificials, while you race Thursagan to the forge.<br /> <br /> Expect to lose/sacrifice some number of units, regardless of your choice of strategy.<br /> <br /> === Caverns of Flame ===<br /> * '''Objectives:''' Locate the runic tablet of the guardian trolls, and destroy them<br /> * '''Lose if:''' Rugnur, Thursagan or Krawg die.<br /> * '''Turns:''' Unlimited.<br /> * '''Starting Gold:''' ???/160/??? (Easy/Medium/Hard)<br /> * '''Starting units:''' Rugnur, Thursagan, Krawg, Baglur and 3 other units<br /> <br /> (The extra starting units may be two Runesmiths and an Explorer; but this may change depending on what your army has; strangely, you may well have additional recallable loyal units but without all units in the starting being loyal.)<br /> <br /> This is the final scenario, but - you cannot really win it; or rather, you complete it by drowning all enemies, and yourself, in lava: You face three strong enemy forces - Elves, Orcs and Trolls (plus some monsters, see below), and even if you did manage to withstand all of those you are still stuck with nowhere to go.<br /> <br /> This is a cave level, but with some areas actually being polished stone. There are some side-caverns and a few 2-to-3-hex-wide choke points, which you might need to hold at different points. There are not many villages, and they are mostly far from each other - and far from most of the choke points. Interestingly, there are more than 7 different castles with keeps on this level - not counting Orcs'!<br /> <br /> To the right, on the North-East end of the level, you'll find the Orc encampment, led by a Warlord. Luckily for you, there's a chasm separating you from them, and the bridge crossing it has collapsed. It will take them 8 turns or so to rebuild it. Their leader has a massive base income (27 gold/turn on Medium) - and when they break out they'll be incredibly strong; but... you'll see that will actually be a boon for you.<br /> <br /> There's a castle just South of where your units spawned, with a keep and 3 extra hexes. Ignore it.<br /> <br /> As you explore due West, you'll be met by low-level dragon-like monster units: Wyrmlets (L0), green Cave Wyrms (L1) and Red Wyrms (L1). The greens have more claw attacks; the reds have more breath attacks - and they all have 60% defense on every terrain, with the L1's being marksmen. So despite the low HP of these units, they're quite a nuisance. They also spawn fast. Do _not_ try to stamp them out - that will keep you from advancing; and you _must_ advance South.<br /> <br /> On turn 6, your old frenemies are back to chase you: It's those pesky elves, with their dwarven allies. Glildur, their Marshal leader, will be accompanied by a major force of L3 units - dwarves and elves. On Medium, those will be: 4 Elvish Outriders, 4 Elvish Champions, 3 Avengers, 4 Dwarven Lords, 3 Thunderguards. And - they will spare no time coming after you. Luckily, Glildur's elves are slowed down by the unfriendly cave terrain; unluckily, the Outriders will catch up with you pretty quick. Hopefully, you've gotten your units past the choke-point, Rugnur is getting to another keep, and you can mount a defense of sorts: If you can hold the Elves and Dwarves for a few turns, the Orcs will smash into their rear.<br /> <br /> ... but actually, thing are about to go from bad to worse. On turn 9, the corridor to the left and just below your choke-point will start filling up with Trolls; the first bunch of them will reach your position after your turn 10 - and they will all be Warriors and Rocklobbers, not Whelps. There's a two-hex choke point of two hexes you could try to hold against them as well, but that will already be rather tricky, with not many options to heal your wounded units and few backups to rotate with.<br /> <br /> What this means is, that while all of the above is going down, you have to send forward some units to pursue the scenario goals. These units will explore the surroundings of the main cavern, located to the South-East of the two choke-points. This cavern has a cistern, or lake, of lava, with a hexagonal platform with six connecting bridges to all sides; and at three points surrounding the lave you'll find quick Troll Shaman guardians. These will not move except to attack you when you're within range; and while they're not terrible to overcome, their magical attack is quite effective - especially against Gryphons and their riders, who lack ranged defense.<br /> <br /> Note, however, that the island-platform is mostly a distraction. It doesn't help you complete the scenario as well.<br /> <br /> While you send out units to seek out the tablets, you may want to fall back from the two choke points and hole up in the Southwestern cavern. It connect to the Troll forces' castle, but only via a 1-hex bridge; and there's a 2 or3 hex choke-point at the entrance, and a village nearby. That's more reasonably defensible - plus, the three other forces will mostly focus on each other.<br /> <br /> One way to play this scenario is to move everyone to the westernmost cavern. It has a good bottleneck to hold the dwarves at and plenty of villages to heal. Once you are dug in, send Rugnur, Thursagan (who is an absolute badass now that he has the Sceptre of Fire) and a few other units south to the glyph. Kill the orc guards and step on the glyph. Once you do that you are instructed to kill all the elves before they escape. Luckily for you, stepping on the glyph also unleashes the Troll Warriors ''behind'' the elves. The elves have no chance. The trolls will quickly slaughter them. You can help if you want, but the end is inevitable. Make sure Thursagan and Rugnur don't fall in lava.<br /> <br /> '''The runic tablets''' <br /> <br /> There are 3 runic tablets to destroy, held by...:<br /> <br /> # The Orcs, and it should get destroyed as they battle the elves, perhaps with the death of some of their unit. So it's likely you won't need to worry about it.<br /> # An L3 Troll Hero, in a keep on the eastern wall of the large cavern. Kill it, and tablet is found and broken.<br /> # The floor of an isolated hex within a chasm at the South of the level. Only a Gryphon or Gryphon Rider can reach it.<br /> <br /> '''Other notes:'''<br /> <br /> * There's nothing interesting in the South-Eastern cavern except for a book, which is not critical.<br /> * Keep Krawg out of trouble, as you need him (or another Gryphon) for the last tablet. So, make sure he's out of the reach of the Shamans - perhaps on one of the Lava hexes - until he can make his way to the Southern chasm.<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Category:Campaigns]]<br /> [[Category:Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=IftU_Walkthrough&diff=75596 2026-08-10T23:44:45Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>{{Translations}}<br /> This is a strategy guide for the add-on campaign '''Invasion from the Unknown''' (IftU) version 2.0 by shadowm. Note that there have been many major gameplay changes from the original version (for example, elvish enchantresses can no longer advance to sylphs, the elvish warrior spirit and Aragwaithi recruits have been removed, and many scenarios were changed), so much of the advice here won’t apply to earlier campaign versions.<br /> <br /> This walkthrough was written by Inky and is based on the hard difficulty. (I also did a commented playthrough of the campaign with screenshots and replays on the [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&amp;t=43960 forums].) Feel free to make corrections or add your own advice.<br /> <br /> Seansy Note: The most recent version, released on March 30th 2026, has made some changes so I am adding some edits to certain sections to adjust for that.<br /> <br /> Campaign discussion and developer support on the forums available for [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=43309 IftU version 2.0.0 and Wesnoth v.1.12].<br /> <br /> ==General campaign advice==<br /> It’s advised to play ''Under the Burning Suns'' first, to familiarize yourself with the story and the two suns schedule.<br /> <br /> ===Units===<br /> You begin with the typical elvish recruits plus the campaign specific elvish hunter unit, then gain the ability to recruit undead in Scenario 4, dark adepts in Scenario 5, and sprites in Scenario 14.<br /> <br /> EDIT: AMLA trees have been added to Galas and another future unit. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the options by right clicking on the unit to view them. Feed as much experience as possible to these units to maximize their abilities throughout the campaign. <br /> <br /> *A large part of this campaign takes place underground, making undead units especially ideal. Spectres are perhaps the most useful unit throughout the campaign due to their draining, excellent mobility and arcane damage. Nightgaunts (raw damage) and necromancers (arcane resist and plague) are also very useful. Skeletal undead are generally not recommended due to their low mobility.<br /> *On almost every scenario it’s helpful to recruit some vampire bats for scouting, village grabbing, and to act as distractions since they do not cost upkeep.<br /> *For elves, leveling at least a couple shydes for healing is essential. Prowlers are one of the most useful elvish units, being good in melee and able to slow in ranged. Enchantresses are also valuable for their arcane magical damage and slowing, though they do not advance to sylphs in this campaign. Fighters, archers and scout types are generally not so useful.<br /> *The lawful sprites which you can recruit starting from S14 are helpful in S15 (Shadows of Time) against undead, but are useless from S17 onward where it is perpetually night, so do not invest too heavily in them.<br /> <br /> ====The Recall List====<br /> *You have the option of either continuing to Part II keeping all your veterans from Part I (recommended), or starting Part II fresh. To compensate for the difference, there are several recall list wipes in the campaign:<br /> **S12 (The Escape): You can only bring up to 6 undead units (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count) with you and the rest are permanently lost.<br /> **S16 (Dawn of War): You can only bring up to 6 elves with you and the rest are permanently lost. In addition, any unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. EDIT: The most recent version has changed this so that any elf unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. There is no longer a limit on how many elves you recruit/recall.<br /> **S21 (Innuendo): You can only recall 8 veterans, which will be the only veterans you have for the rest of the campaign.<br /> *In Part II gold becomes very scarce so you will only be able to use a limited amount of veterans in each scenario; therefore quality (units with good traits such as resilient, and several AMLAs) is better than quantity.<br /> <br /> ===Item List===<br /> This is a list of the permanent items which can be picked up throughout the campaign, and which units can use them. Items given to your hero units, mostly Galas, carry over to the After the Storm campaign!<br /> <br /> *S3: '''Ring of Swiftness''' (+1 movement) - ''living units''<br /> *S4: '''Staff of Petrichor''' (EDIT: New item from recent update) Replaces melee attack with '''Touch of Petrichor''' a 7x2 magical cold attack that reads &quot;When this attack hits a lower level opponent during offense, the target becomes petrified for one turn. Once the petrification effect expires, the target gains the mark status effect.&quot; The petrification effect makes the afflicted unit unable to move or attack and they cannot be attacked themselves either. Usable by shamans and their advancements. Not usable for hero units.<br /> *S5 (This is a branching path so you'll only be able to obtain one of the following:)<br /> **S5a: '''Ring of Regeneration''' (if you chose to spare the bandit leader) (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage) - ''not usable by: shamans and their advancements and Anlindë ''<br /> **S5b: '''Shardia's Meteor''' (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse) - ''elvish hunters, fighters, and their advancements''<br /> *S7: '''Void Armor''' (secret item) (sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact, +10% fire resistance) - ''elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements''<br /> *S8: '''Poisonous Bow''' (adds a new 11-3 poisonous ranged bow attack) - ''skeleton archers, revenants, elvish archers, elvish heroes and their advancements.''<br /> *S10:<br /> **'''Berserker Potion''' (adds berserk special to melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and +10% blade / +20% fire / +30% impact resistance) - ''not usable by: ghosts, bats, corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units.''<br /> **'''Potion of Drain''' (adds drain special to melee attacks, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance) - ''living units''<br /> *S14: '''Explosive arrows''' (6 uses, does 80% base damage to the unit in the hex behind the target) ''- elvish archers, skeleton archers and their advancements''<br /> *S21:<br /> **'''Potion of Deftness''' (+1 movement, +1 ranged damage) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Accuracy Bow''' (adds marksman special to ranged attacks) - ''bone shooters and elvish rangers and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Potion of Strength''' (+1 melee damage, +8 HP) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Glacial Gladius''' (+1 melee damage, cold damage and slow for a unit’s melee attack, -5% HP) - ''elvish fighters, archers, hunters, scouts and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Amulet of t<br /> *22B<br /> **'''Ring of the Revenant''' (Any living creature wearing this ring is granted the power to cheat death once, after which the ring shall become inert for a thousand years) - ''living units besides sprites and bats.''<br /> <br /> ==Part I: Seeking the Light==<br /> ===S1 (Border Patrol)===<br /> *Objectives: The starting objectives are to hold out as long as possible, but on Turn 4 the objectives will change to defeating all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This is a deceptively easy scenario, as the next scenario is very difficult and requires a substantial gold carryover. On Hard something like 140 carryover is ideal and anything less than 100 carryover is probably too little to win with. Do not overrecruit, keep an eye on your income (make sure it’s positive) and be aggressive – don’t be afraid to lose some units, as it will help your income.<br /> <br /> Recruits: I’d recommend getting 2 shamans so that you can divide your forces and have a healer for each one, but not more than that as you need damage dealers. The rest of your units should be a mix of mostly archers and hunters. (Fighters are generally inferior to hunters, and scouts are expensive and do little damage).<br /> <br /> General strategies:<br /> *'''Defending the starting keep:''' One strategy is to hang back at your initial castle during the first day, recruiting very lightly during these turns to preserve income. Form a line on good terrain: one possibility is to use the forts just south of your keep; another option is to form a slightly more forward line stretching from the forest tiles (19,20) to (26,17) through the village southeast of your keep. &lt;br /&gt; Let the enemies come to you; they’ll arrive around Turn 6 (The Short Dark). Attack aggressively during Second Dawn/Day and you should be able to eliminate almost all the enemy units before The Long Dark hits.<br /> <br /> *'''Moving to the center keep (by Theron):''' An alternate faster and much more aggressive strategy, meant to finish as early as possible for maximum carryover, is to recruit a full keep on turn 1 and move Galas to the central keep immediately. Much of the fighting will take place around First Dusk / The Short Dark so expect heavy losses. &lt;br /&gt; Theron's advice: Recruit 3 Archers and 3 Hunters in turn 1. (Fighters are too slow; shamans are too slow and their damage output is too low.) Move Galas to the tiny keep in the middle of the map. Recruit 1 more Archer and 1 more Hunter in turn 3. Recruit 2 Fighters and 2 Shamans in turn 3 + 4. Decide where to amass your army (green front or blue front). Do not retreat. Ignore TOD. Use terrain advantage.<br /> <br /> For defeating the enemy leaders you can either split your forces in two and kill them simultaneously, or a safer (but slower) strategy is to send everyone to kill the southern green leader and them move them all to the blue eastern leader. The eastern leader is tough to kill – it can help to level an archer to marksman and shoot him down during daytime.<br /> <br /> Try to get Galas to level 2 (captain is strongly recommended for leadership) and level at least one of the shamans to druid.<br /> <br /> ===S2 (A Real Confrontation)===<br /> *Objectives:<br /> **Hold out until the end of turns.<br /> **Alternate objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> <br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario on Hard, so you’ll want to start this with over 200 gold (minimum gold is 100; replay scenario 1 for more carryover if necessary). The first thing to do is grab the villages of your useless ally, as you can put the gold to much better use. Note that you (or your ally) must retain control of a certain number of villages (9 on Hard, depends on difficulty) or you will lose. This should not be a problem though, as there are 9 villages (3 in the northwest, 3 near your keep, 3 near Ledinor’s keep) which are quite far back and easy to defend.<br /> <br /> This battle has two fronts divided by the central lake: the western front south of your keep, and the eastern front. The eastern front is relatively safe as there are less enemies there and Ledinor sends the bulk of his army that way, while the western front will be a high casualty bloodbath. Therefore one approach is to send a small elite group of veterans including Anlindë east, while using a massive spam approach (civilians and fresh recruits, mixed with some veterans) in the west. An alternate strategy is to recruit only civilians initially and send them out to delay the enemy forces enough so that they reach your main force during the day.<br /> <br /> Keep your elves in a line in the forest and try to slow the level 2 enemies; use ctrl + v and watch out for the skirmishers. With constant reinforcements from your high income and the time of day changing in your favor the chaos army should eventually run out of steam.<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly fine to start the next scenario with minimum gold, so do not worry if you can't defeat the enemy leaders for the finish bonus. Try to level a shaman to sorceress, as the arcane magical damage will be very useful for the next scenario. This is best done on the later turns, when most of the chaos army is gone and it’s relatively safe.<br /> <br /> ===S3 (Memories from the Depths)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the cave, then defeat the undead leader in the far northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Recruit lightly initially, as there aren’t so many enemies in the tunnel and there is another keep right at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be fighting undead so hunters and their advancements are especially good, as are sorceresses if you have any; try to get Anlindë to level 3 and / or a sorceress or enchantress during this scenario as it will help defeat the enemy at the very end. When you reach the end of the tunnel, you can use the nearby keep to recruit/recall some more units. Try to keep your income positive though – you don’t need too many units and there will be more opportunities to recruit along the way.<br /> <br /> Proceed northwest past the second keep, and you’ll come across some branching paths. On the right, moving to the flashing yellow hex will open up a passage leading to a Ring of Swiftness granting +1 movement. A good choice for this ring is Galas, since it can potentially allow him to reach keeps and recruit a turn earlier. The two western paths which will join together in a large central chamber, where you’ll encounter the main undead army; take them out with the help of slowing and arcane attacks.<br /> <br /> Triggering a touchplate in the southwest leads to two holy waters which grant arcane melee damage for this scenario only. Continue northwest, being careful not to expose wounded units since bats will often come out of nowhere and attack, and you’ll come to a river crossing. Across the river is another keep – I would highly recommend using this keep to recruit a couple expendable hunters or shamans for their slowing ability in preparation for the scenario’s final enemy.<br /> <br /> Head east across the river and the path will split north and east. Both paths will join up in the northeast corner but the eastern path has much stronger enemies so send most of your units that way - you can use expendable units to lure the high level undead guards into the open where they are easily killed. In the northeast you’ll come across the scenario’s final enemy, an ancient lich! You’ll need to slow him first, so hopefully you have some expendable hunters or shamans which can suicide into him until he’s slowed. After he’s slowed use your sorceress/enchantress and Anlindë to hopefully finish him off.<br /> <br /> ===S4 (Over the Sands)===<br /> <br /> Recruits: Living units are generally not recommended in this scenario due to the dehydration mechanic, but you’ll certainly want another (preferably +8) healer besides Anlindë, and you might as well recall the loyal scout too since he doesn’t cost upkeep. I’d recommend recruiting mostly ghosts – they are fast and have extremely good advancements – with some vampire bats mixed in to scout and act as a distraction force.<br /> You start with 2 villages and there are 6 more around the orc’s keep, but this is all you’re going to get for most of the scenario so take that into account when recruiting (try to keep your income positive).<br /> <br /> '''Part 1'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the orc leader to the northwest.<br /> <br /> Use Galas’ leadership on the level 1 ghosts; try to level a couple by feeding them the level 2 orc kills. Focus on killing crossbowmen and archers as their ranged fire attack is dangerous to ghosts. Mal Keshar is great at screening your units – you can put him in very exposed positions and the orcs will generally ignore him.<br /> <br /> When you kill the orcish leader you’ll get about 50 gold. You can use his keep to recruit some reinforcements (watch your income; there aren’t any more villages for a long time). Start heading west, where you’ll encounter some very weak undead. There will also be some scorpions north and south of the path which are free experience for wraiths and ghosts.<br /> After a while the path will turn south and you’ll spot some bandits. EDIT: The '''Staff of Petrichor''' is located to the southeast and has 4 petrified griffin units that will awaken and attack you once you attempt to loot the tomb. Make sure you have multiple ghost line units there during the nighttime to try to drain through the damage.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the bandit leader in the southwest.<br /> <br /> Try to fight the elusive outlaw units (footpads, thieves) on sand terrain where they only have 40% defense instead of their usual 60 or 70%. Bats make great bait for luring out powerful guard units, or the enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat the leader some humans will show up from the north, and you will have to decide whether to fight them. If you do decide to fight them you'll have to defeat their leader and will go to S5a (Crossfire). If you choose the second option instead, the scenario will end immediately and you will go to S5b (Cursed Plateau). <br /> S5a is the easier scenario, but since both scenarios give a different item (see the [[#Item_List | Item List]]) you may want to decide based on that.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3 (only if you chose to fight the humans)'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the leader of the humans in the northwest.<br /> <br /> Note that drain attacks will not work on the human units so you’ll have to be a bit more careful with putting wraiths on the front line.<br /> Use the bandit’s keep to recruit more reinforcements if needed and start heading north. You’ll encounter two revenants; you can easily lure them out and kill them with spectres / wraiths. The humans have a lot of units, but if you form a line where your units can only be reached from 2 hexes then their level 1 units won’t be able to damage you too much.<br /> Continue northwest towards the final leader; again a vampire bat can be used to lure her out.<br /> <br /> ===Diverging campaign path===<br /> ====S5a (Crossfire)====<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders, and make sure no chaos empire units survive.<br /> <br /> All three enemy sides will fight each other, so a couple keeps of units should be enough. Villages are very scarce so using mainly low level units supported by leadership will save on upkeep. Start by sending your entire army south against the chaos empire; the undead and bandits will mostly be occupied fighting each other. The undead will send quite a few troops east but they should arrive around daytime so it should be easy to wipe them out.<br /> <br /> After the chaos empire is defeated, head west; you can send everybody against the lich and then north or split into two groups, one to defeat the lich and one to deal with the bandits. The bandits are the stronger enemy – try to attack them during the day.<br /> <br /> After defeating the bandit leader you’ll be given the choice to spare him; do so and you’ll be given a very useful Ring of Regeneration (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage), a good item for Galas. (Deciding to kill him will only give you some gold and is not worth it.)<br /> <br /> ====S5b (Cursed Plateau)====<br /> *Objectives: Move to the northwest corner of the map with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **In order to get the item you must find the piece of parchment in the southwest cave, and defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> You won't be getting any more villages for a while, so recruit very lightly initially. There's another tiny 1-hex keep to the west where you can recall some more reinforcements, and you'll only face some scorpions and bats at first, so a couple wraiths should be enough. Once you reach the tiny keep in the west, send some flying undead into the southwest cave, where there's a touchplate opening into a chasm full of bats. To the southeast of the chasm is a passage leading to a piece of parchment, which opens a passage through the mountains in the northwest.<br /> <br /> To the north is another small 2-hex keep, though you might have to clear out some chaos empire units before you can use it. There are a lot of invokers so you'll probably want either some cannon fodder or some durable non undead units. It's preferable to form a solid line and defend until most of the enemies are gone, because there are many high level enemies and also some nasty shadow minions (nightstalking, skirmishing and backstabbing pests) around.<br /> <br /> Northeast of the small keep there's a dead end cave with the blue enemy leader; if you want the scenario's item you'll have to defeat him (Mal Keshar is very effective against him), otherwise you can just ignore the cave, though there is a small amount of gold there.<br /> <br /> Following the northwest path through the mountains leads to a gate, which you won't be able to open until you defeat both enemy leaders, though you could start sending whichever unit you want to pick up the item that way (it can be used by elvish hunters, fighters and advancements; I'd strongly recommend Galas.) Just send them on their own because there aren't any enemies behind the gate. Once you kill both leaders, you'll be able to pass through the gate to a chest in the south containing Shardia's Meteor (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse).<br /> <br /> Continuing north and then east, there's another cave with the second leader. There's also a couple small piles of gold (in the southeast and northeast) in the cave. In the northwest is the shadow courier leader; try to kill him as quickly as possible in melee (preferably luring him out of the castle first so he doesn't have such high defense) because he will completely demolish your undead units. Once you kill the shadow courier, the western path which leads outside to the exit only has a few vampire bats.<br /> <br /> ===S6 (Moon Valley)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This scenario is much easier than it looks, because the orcish units will generally stay clumped together near their leader instead of all coming towards you at once, allowing you to focus on each army separately. You’ll receive a small amount of gold each time you defeat an enemy leader.<br /> <br /> It's possible to rush the northeastern (blue) orc leader and kill him before he spends most of his gold: recruit a full keep on turn 1 and send Galas northwest immediately; send a bat southwest to village grab and move everyone else northwest. With the help of Anlindë and Mal Keshar you should be able to whittle down the leader on turn 3 and finish him on turn 4. Galas can then use the keep to recruit reinforcements while the rest of the army clears out the remaining blue orcs.<br /> <br /> At this point the green and black orcs will be hanging around the central forest while purple remains in the west. Advance aggressively during the second day and you should be able to wipe out most of the green and black units. After that only purple will be left; it will be night now but with the help of slow and Mal Keshar who is practically invincible they shouldn’t pose a problem.<br /> <br /> As the dialogue hints, when you approach the northwest area close to the final keep, several high level orcs will appear and the northwest leader will also get some gold to recruit. Wait until daytime (preferably morning) to approach, and you can also use the nearby keep to recruit some spam if you want to be extra safe.<br /> <br /> ===S7 (Goliath)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat Goliath.<br /> *Note: The units you recruit/recall on the first turn are all you will have for the entire scenario, so choose carefully.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of weak level 1 units scattered around, so it’s a good opportunity to get some experience. Most of the enemies in this scenario are automatons which are extremely resistant to blade and arcane (50%) but only have 10% impact resistance making trappers/prowlers especially effective against them.<br /> <br /> After heading west through the tunnel that you start in, you’ll come across the keep of the chaos empire. This is actually the toughest opposition you will face all scenario so be defensive (form a line and let the enemies come to you) and take your time. The enemy leader is extremely dangerous in ranged so try to take him down in 1 turn using mostly melee attacks.<br /> <br /> After defeating the enemy leader, head south across the river and you’ll encounter some demons and bats scattered about; keep heading south and you’ll come to a chamber with some automatons which are basically free experience. There’s a passage in the south leading to an orb switch; send a fast unit like a flying undead to trigger it, which will open the eastern wall into a large central area.<br /> <br /> In the central area, triggering the touchplate in the southwest corner opens a small room in the center with two golems guarding a potion of strength (+2 melee attack, +8 HP for this scenario only) and the final touchplate which opens the way south. The northeast path is just a dead end with some weak enemies (though you could go kill them for the experience if you have the time) so send everyone down the southern passage. <br /> <br /> The passage leads into a huge chamber in the south filled with automatons. Moving further south in this chamber reveals the scenario’s boss, Goliath, who appears along with a few level 1 automatons. Goliath has a lot of HP and good resistances but is extremely weak in offense, so just slow him and attack with powerful units like Mal Keshar and he will be destroyed in no time.<br /> <br /> In the far southeast, down the watery passage, there is a secret touchplate at 40,26 which opens a passage to the Void Armor, which is located in the lit hex at 31,24. The armor sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact (EDIT: Changed Void Armor stats to provide +15/15/20/10% resistance to blade, pierce, impact, and fire damage; as opposed to the previous replacement of blade/pierce/impact with 50/50/60% and increase of fire by 10%) and is a great item for Galas (it can be used by elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements) - start sending whichever unit you want to take it southeast ASAP if you want to make it in time.<br /> <br /> ===S8 (An Errand of Hope)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (3 in total).<br /> <br /> You will get another opportunity to recruit later, when you are much closer to the main battle, so you may want to save some gold until then and try not to go negative on income. The first enemy you’ll be facing is some trolls directly to the northwest. Wraiths, spectres and Mal Keshar are especially effective against them. Near the troll’s keep you’ll find a Poisonous Bow (can be used by elvish archers, skeleton archers, elvish heroes, revenants and their advancements) which adds an 11-3 ranged poison attack.<br /> <br /> Head northwest across the river (don’t bother exploring southwest of the river; there’s nothing there) and you’ll come across a large central area – entering it will clear the fog in the area and reveal an ongoing battle between the chaos empire and some allied dwarves. There’s also a second dwarf leader far in the northwest (he has a few villages, so you can send a bat up that way to steal them), and another chaos empire leader all the way in the northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Use the large keep here to recruit/recall some reinforcements, and split up your forces between the western front and the northeastern front. You’ll need more firepower in the northeast, since there are quite a few high level enemies there and the dwarves will concentrate their forces in the west. It helps to have Galas use Althurin’s keep to constantly reinforce (you should have a pretty high income) and just defend the northeast passage until the high level enemies are gone. (Don’t worry about keeping Althurin alive; he’ll just flee if he gets to 0 HP).<br /> <br /> The final enemy leader is all the way in the northeast corner; he’s a chaos lorekeeper so send your strongest melee units against him.<br /> By the way, there’s no point in sending a unit to the crypt south of the western leader (you’ll just get a message saying it’s empty).<br /> <br /> ===S9 (The Library)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> *Note: The exit is marked by a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south (its exact location is random). You'll need the exit key to pass through, which is dropped by a random enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Don’t recruit too heavily at the beginning, since you’ll get another opportunity to recruit about halfway through the scenario. You’ll probably have to do quite a bit of fighting before then though, so some durable units will be helpful. Ghosts/wraiths/spectres are especially good in this scenario due to the lack of chaos invokers and fire demons. Head west (the passage south of your starting keep just leads to an empty dead end) and after fighting through a couple level 2 undead you’ll come to an intersection.<br /> <br /> The northwest path leads to a dead end with a ruined house; when you send a living nonbat unit there to investigate you’ll discover Igor, a loyal wolf rider. He is automatically recalled in all later scenarios and even has his own dialogue, so it's highly recommended to keep him alive. EDIT: If you keep Igor alive until the end of the campaign, not only do you get an achievement, but he will be with you at the start of the follow up campaign in After the Storm! Meanwhile in the south, the combined forces of the 3 enemy leaders will begin to arrive. The easiest way to fight them is to just defend in the bottleneck until the massive army is mostly gone; it will take quite a while but the rest of the scenario will go much quicker after the main enemy army is gone.<br /> <br /> When you get past the bottleneck you’ll come to a large keep where you can recruit some reinforcements, and the path splits into a western and eastern one. There are two enemy leaders in the west and one in the south, so one possibility is to split into two groups and have one group take out the two western leaders one after another (there’s a banebow leader in the northwest and a draug leader in the southwest), while another group circles east and then south to take care of the southern lich leader (bring some arcane damage).<br /> <br /> The purple glyphs scattered around reveal various pieces of backstory. There is also a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south which marks the exit. You’ll need the exit key (dropped by a random enemy leader) to use the glyph. You might as well just defeat all enemy leaders for the experience and early finish bonus, as they don’t have much income and are pretty much on their own.<br /> <br /> ===S10 (The Source of Light)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then activate the six runes to open the central chamber.<br /> <br /> Note that this scenario takes place deep underground, where chaotic units get +30% damage instead of the usual +25%. In the beginning, make sure to send a vampire bat to grab the village in the far northeast corner of the map, across the chasm. The first objective is to defeat the enemy leader to the southwest. There are a lot of high level enemy units including skirmishers, so a safe way to play it is to form a solid vertical line along the 4-hex bottleneck (from 42,11 to 42,15) and defend there until the most threatening enemies are gone.<br /> <br /> Once the leader is defeated, you’ll have to activate the 6 glyphs scattered throughout the lower half of the map. Here are their approximate locations (going counterclockwise):<br /> *'''Northwest (across the river):''' A long twisty passage leads past some giant spiders to a glyph at the very end.<br /> *'''West:''' There’s a glyph behind a cuttlefish leader in the west of the watery area.<br /> *'''Southwest corner:''' There are a bunch of animated rocks and various undead here, and a glyph next to an enemy leader. Watch out, because several wraiths are lurking near the keep.<br /> *'''Center south:''' There’s a sealed chamber containing a glyph, which you have to open by finding a touchplate in the far south. There’s also a red Berserker Potion (not usable by: ghosts/bats/corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units), which gives the berserk special to a unit’s melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and some extra resistance (+10% blade, +20% fire, +30% impact).<br /> *'''Southeast:''' There’s a lava filled cave full of fire spirits – dark adepts and their advancements are especially effective against them. In the far southeast there’s a fire guardian leader and a glyph next to the keep.<br /> *'''Northeast:''' You’ll encounter some undead and a chocobone leader (be sure to keep fragile units out of range of its charge attack). There’s a glyph guarded by vampire bats north of the undead keep, and a northeast passage leading to a green Potion of Drain (adds drain special, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance, usable by non undead units).<br /> <br /> In order to explore efficiently it’s best to divide into several small groups (e.g. 4 groups, one for each corner). A very useful tip by skeptical_troll if you’d like to avoid a lot of fighting completely is to send a shadow/nightgaunt to activate the glyphs (though it’s not advised to do this in the southwest or northeast corner, since these glyphs are surrounded by enemies).<br /> <br /> Since there is no early finish bonus and you likely have very high income, you may want to take your time and make some extra gold for next scenario.<br /> <br /> ===S11 (Strike on Herthgar)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out until the end of turns, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: All enemy sides will get a small amount of gold on turns 6 and 14.<br /> <br /> This scenario is actually the final battle for Part I – the next two scenarios are more of an epilogue. This is one of the more difficult scenarios, so don’t worry too much about losing some veterans (another thing to note is that you will not be able to take more than six undead veterans with you after this scenario.)<br /> <br /> Gold carryover is completely irrelevant (you won’t be able to use more than the minimum gold next scenario) so one approach is to just recall every single veteran you can afford. It can be helpful to create walking corpses with your necromancers to act as a distraction. Also, be sure not to let your spectres/nightgaunts etc. get within range of multiple chaos invokers and demons, or they will die fast.<br /> <br /> Here is one strategy for defeating all enemy leaders:<br /> #Send a large force northwest to wipe out the two northwestern enemies while a smaller force heads south to defend the dwarven castle. (The eastern front and southern front do not require immediate attention because the dwarves will delay the enemies for several turns.) Form a line and let them come to you; prowlers with their slowing ability and necromancers with their high HP and arcane resistance (there are lots of chaos invokers around) are especially good at holding the line.<br /> #Once the two northwest enemies are defeated, split the large northern force, with one part going to deal with the eastern enemies, and the rest going south to reinforce the castle.<br /> #Defend in the castle using the bridge chokepoints (just watch out for demon zephyrs which can fly over the deep water moat) until most of the southern enemies are gone. The southern force can then split into two groups and take out the two remaining southern leaders.<br /> <br /> ===S12 (The Escape)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the northern exit with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: You may only recruit/recall during the first turn (6 units total), and any undead veterans you do not recall this scenario will be permanently lost (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count).<br /> <br /> This is a relatively easy scenario, but there are some triggered events including a large ambush near the end so don’t send your units too far ahead by themselves.<br /> <br /> There are four minor enemies you’ll be facing this scenario:<br /> <br /> #After crossing the river at the beginning you’ll come across a chamber with the chaos empire fighting some trolls; both are very weak and shouldn’t be a problem.<br /> #After crossing another bridge and heading north you’ll encounter a mechanical Goliath along with some automatons; he is also extremely weak.<br /> #You’ll then come across a tunnel leading into a large empty chamber. Do not send a unit all the way into the chamber because there’s an ambush; instead move a scouting unit slowly toward the chamber until you trigger the ambush, then pull it back using its remaining movement. After that the ambush shouldn’t be hard to deal with – the most threatening enemy is the hellhound with 10-4 melee berserk, but a single spectre can easily take care of it.<br /> #Finally, after heading north you’ll come across some imps. One thing to watch out for is that when you kill the leader imp, he will dissolve into a bunch of mudcrawlers. After that the exit is straight to the north.<br /> <br /> ===S13 (Face Your Fate)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out to the end of turns; then accept the inevitable.<br /> <br /> This is mostly a cutscene scenario.<br /> Holding out until the end of turns should be trivial with your extremely high starting gold. If you didn’t manage to recall some of your undead veterans last scenario, you can recall them now. A few turns after the initial turn limit, the Chaos Warlord will appear in the southwest and the objectives will change to defeating her. However, it is impossible (if you reduce her HP to 0 she’ll just heal back to full and instantly kill all your undead units), and the only way to end the scenario is to let your leader die.<br /> <br /> ==Part II: Armageddon==<br /> <br /> ===S14 (Clearing the Road)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> This should be a very easy scenario, especially if you’re continuing from a Part I save, so it’s a good opportunity to get some easy XP for fresh recruits. The barrel contains 6 explosive arrows (does 80% of the base damage to the unit immediately behind the target).<br /> <br /> The two enemies you’ll be facing are saurians and water serpents from the northwest and orcs from the northeast. The northeast orc keep is surrounded by deep water to the south, forcing the orcs to go all the way around to the west and then south, giving you several turns to focus on the saurian army before they arrive. Most of your forces should head northwest since the main battle will take place there (for the east you can just send a bat to village grab). If you keep your elves in the forests you should have no problem dealing with the saurians and then the orcs.<br /> <br /> ===S15 (Shadows of Time)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders. (You actually do not need to kill the ancient lich leader – once you reduce him to half health he will flee.)<br /> You’ll be fighting a lot of undead so arcane (sorceresses, dark adepts, etc.) and fire damage (sprites) will be very useful. Your orcish allies will mostly go up the northeastern side of the map and delay the undead coming from that direction, so the main battle will likely take place on two fronts: fighting the undead from the west, and the orcs in the center.<br /> <br /> The first threat you’ll face is the group of four Forefathers coming at you from the west; stay back and let them get close, and then finish them off with heavy arcane hitters like Elynia and Mal Keshar. After that you can split your army in two, with one group holding off the undead in the western forest, and another (probably larger) group dealing with the incoming flood of orcs (and later undead from the north) in the center.<br /> <br /> ===S16 (Dawn of War)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the southern edge of the map with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective (early finish bonus): Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: after this scenario, you won't be able to recruit elves or dark adepts, and all elven veterans not recalled in this scenario are permanently lost.<br /> <br /> Recalling advice:<br /> *If you continued from Part I you’ll likely have much more veterans than you can recall; however there’s no need to get obsessed about bringing every single veteran with you because there is very little gold in later scenarios, so you won’t be able to use them all anyway.<br /> *Elves: It’s highly recommended to get at least two healers because you will not be able to get any more healers later! After that, probably the most useful elven units are enchantresses and prowlers since they can slow.<br /> *Spectres are great in later levels (arcane damage + mobility); I’d recommend recalling every one you have. Necromancers and nightgaunts will also be very useful.<br /> *I would not recommend recalling any sprites, since they are lawful and the next scenarios all feature perpetual night.<br /> <br /> Your two allies will do a pretty good job distracting the two outer enemies, so the main battle will take place in the center. If you began the battle portion of the scenario on turn 4, you should have a turn of daylight (First Afternoon) to strike hard and fast at the central enemies with all your veterans. If you continue to make as many kills as possible during dusk there shouldn’t be many enemies left at all to threaten you during the night. Once you deal with the units from the two central enemies the rest of the battle should be easy, as the two outer enemies should be weakened from fighting your allies. It's recommended to kill all the enemy leaders for the extra gold and experience.<br /> <br /> ===S17 (Voice of the Armageddon)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> You will face two enemy leaders: a relatively weak enemy in the center, and a very powerful enemy far to the south. You’ll probably want to recruit a few expendable units such as ghosts or vampire bats to distract the powerful enemy units from your veterans. The central enemy shouldn’t be too much of a problem: blast them with your veterans and then put a couple expendable units in front to screen them.<br /> <br /> Once you scout far enough south, you’ll trigger the southern leader to start recruiting and a boss Armageddon Imp will appear and start heading for you. It’s probably best to wait near the central keep and let the imps come to you so you don’t get in range of the enemies stationed in the southern fort. Once they arrive, illuminate and slow the boss and then zap him with your magical ranged units. Next you’ll have to deal with the army of soulless and necrophages coming from the south; once again an effective tactic is to blast away with your veterans from the back and then insert some expendable units in the front.<br /> <br /> Be careful when approaching the fort because the powerful units stationed there will come out and attack; use the show enemy moves keybind (by default it's Ctrl + v) to make sure no one is too exposed, and try to lure them out one by one. The ancient lich leader can be lured out onto 40% defense terrain by placing a walking corpse in his range. Don’t bother about setting up the kill on the leader because he will just run away, denying you the killing XP.<br /> <br /> ===S18 (Ashes of Wesmere)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar to the cave in the southeast.<br /> <br /> The more spectres you have the easier this scenario will be; I recommend recalling all your spectres and wraiths. Since there aren’t any villages you’ll surely start next scenario with minimum gold anyway, so there’s no point in worrying about upkeep or saving gold (EDIT: I was able to complete this scenario on hard with 1 keep worth of recalled units if you want some gold carryover). The main enemies you’ll be facing are drones, which do impact damage and are weak to arcane. Advance very cautiously at first because there will be several level 2 drones lurking around. They’re extremely nasty in ranged, so spectres are ideal for taking them out.<br /> <br /> Once you start heading south, you’ll face a horde of level 1 drones from all directions. Just keep killing them every turn with spectres and wraiths, focusing on one group at a time, and eventually they’ll run out. Be careful of putting Mal Keshar in range of a lot of drones because they’ll chain attack him and he’s weak to impact.<br /> <br /> After that it should be easy to kill the enemy leader, who has a pretty pathetic army. When you head southeast to the cave, keep a tight formation and don’t expose heavily wounded units because there are several invisible skirmishing and backstabbing shadow minions around.<br /> Since there’s no early finish bonus, you can use any leftover turns to go around killing the other enemies scattered around the map for the XP.<br /> <br /> ===S19 (Under the Sands)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Elynia or Mal Keshar<br /> *Note: If either Elynia or Mal Keshar is still in the hive, you won't be able to end the scenario (with the other one) until they leave the hive.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of rough terrain and chasms, so ghostly undead (spectres, nightgaunts) will be extremely useful. Also, the blue matrix flow systems have 0% defense and can be drained, so they can be used as free full heals for your spectres.<br /> <br /> When heading out of the initial chamber, be very cautious and keep a completely tight formation because there are several shadow minions (which are invisible and can skirmish and backstab) lurking nearby. This scenario is full of these shadow minions, so be very cautious when advancing.<br /> <br /> Make your way southeast to kill the drone leader, then west where the chaos empire army should be arriving. They shouldn’t be much trouble (just make sure to kill the invokers before they can get at your ghosts). You’ll arrive in a large central chamber full of various enemies. Send some units towards the hive in the southwest of the chamber and you’ll spot a matrix core in the far west; each core you destroy will reduce the gold of certain enemy sides in the next scenario by a bit (there are 5 cores total). Next scenario is difficult, so it's worthwhile to destroy as many cores as possible.<br /> <br /> Head south across the lava chasm (it will probably take a while, due to being assaulted by enemy spawns from all directions) and you’ll come across the chaos empire leader to the left and a dead end with a second matrix core on the right. Once you defeat the leader head south towards a swampy area.<br /> <br /> Past the swamp is a fork: the southern fork doesn’t have enemies and leads straight to the exit. The eastern fork leads into a large hive, where the remaining 3 matrix cores are. One of the cores is near the entrance. The remaining 2 cores are extremely deep into the hive so getting at them may be more trouble than it’s worth, though you can get some good XP out of fighting your way through to them. Note that you won’t be able to leave until Elynia or Mal Keshar are outside the hive, so make sure you have enough turns left before exploring (but if you kill the innermost core, a shortcut will open up, so you don’t have to backtrack all the way).<br /> <br /> ===S20 (The Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar inside the fortress, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **Another enemy leader will appear in the north on Turn 2. Also, every so often starting from Turn 3, a large group of enemies (mostly demon zephyrs) will appear in the chasm surrounding the fortress.<br /> **After the initial turns of daylight the scenario becomes perpetually night.<br /> **You have control over the allied dwarves this time. They leave after this so they’re completely expendable.<br /> <br /> This is somewhat of a finale for Part II of IftU. <br /> Since you don’t have so much time, trying to defeat every leader is probably more trouble than it’s worth, especially on Hard. My strategy was to completely ignore the northern leader and rush my entire army southwest, killing as many units as possible during the day before the scenario turned into perpetual night. After that I fought my way over the bridge into the fortress (having spectres and nightgaunts fly over the chasm is essential in breaking the bridge bottleneck), sending the less valuable veterans in first. Meanwhile some units went to deal with the northern army which was attacking from behind.<br /> <br /> The dwarves really did not do much; I mostly had them camped in the 3 village cluster just northwest of the fortress the entire time, where they lured out and killed any demon zephyrs which spawned in the west.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *After this you’ll only be able to use 8 of your veterans for the rest of the campaign. So choose your 8 favorite veterans and go crazy with the rest!<br /> *There are a ton of enemies on this map, and a lot of nasty flying ones which can reach your units from quite far away. Use ctrl + v constantly to avoid surprises.<br /> *Two nightgaunts backstabbing from opposite sides of a sentry tower will automatically kill it from full health.<br /> *Having some expendable units will be very helpful; if you’re short on cash, you can use your necromancers’ plague staff to make free corpses.<br /> *Don’t worry about gold carryover; you can’t use more than the minimum next scenario anyway.<br /> <br /> ===S21 (Innuendo)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit in the north with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **From now on it is ''highly'' recommended to restart anytime any unit dies, because these are the only veterans you'll have for the rest of the campaign and the remaining scenarios are very difficult.<br /> **It is essential to pick up the chest of gold in the southwest, which will be needed several scenarios later for the final battle.<br /> <br /> Recruits: You may only bring 8 veterans with you for the rest of the campaign. Future scenarios will be underground / deep underground so undead are especially useful. It’s also recommended to bring 2 shydes for healing, at least one necromancer for making free fodder corpses, and some flying undead (spectres/nightgaunts) since there will be a lot of unwalkable chasms. (I used 2 shydes, 2 necromancers, 1 lich, 2 spectres and 1 nightgaunt and it worked really well.)<br /> <br /> Get ready for an absolutely massive dungeon crawl! You’ll face several waves of enemies in this scenario:<br /> <br /> '''The beginning:''' Some Chaos Empire units will come at you immediately, so just form a solid line in the passage and let them come. After that the path splits north to a dead end with a Potion of Deftness giving +1 movement and +1 ranged damage (living units only), and a southwestern passage leading to a large chamber full of powerful enemies. You can safely destroy them by forming a line in the 3-hex passage and slowly picking them off until they’re gone. (Try to turn some of them into corpses, which can be used as bait for powerful enemies later).<br /> <br /> '''The large chamber in the south:''' There are two paths north (both lead to the same place) with some enemies guarding them. In the southwest corner there’s a room with a Potion of Strength (+1 melee, +8 HP, a great item for Galas), an Accuracy Bow (for archer units only, such as Erathan), and a chest of gold. There is an enemy leader in the northwest, and moving to the gem behind him will open one of the gates in the northeast.<br /> <br /> '''The northern chamber of undead:''' You’ll need to find the gem which opens the gate in the far north, where there is an ancient lich leader. Be sure to stay out of his range (he has 7 movement!) until you wipe out most of his army. Also be careful of the two wraiths right behind the leader. If you made any walking corpses earlier, you can use them as bait to safely lure out the ancient lich leader. The gem on his keep opens the gate in the east.<br /> <br /> '''The imp boss''': Past the eastern gate, you’ll come to a long passage east with some enemies. Once you advance far enough, you’ll discover a large chamber with a nasty imp boss and some other enemies. It’s best to fight them in the 3-hex bottleneck, and try to have Elynia illuminate and slow the boss.<br /> <br /> '''The dungeon:''' The area northwest of the chamber where the imp was leads to the exit, but it’s blocked by a gate so you’ll have to go east to the dungeons first. You'll find a (useless) troll soulless and a merman soulless which will join you, as well as a hostile drake soulless. In the southeast, there’s an unwalkable chasm with some enemies on the other side; if you send some flying undead exploring there they can trigger a touchplate which opens a passage for regular units to enter. There is a Glacial Gladius there which gives a slowing cold melee attack (usable by elves other than shamans+advancements, and by Erathan.)<br /> <br /> The goal is the northeast hive area, where there’s an amulet (+10% arcane resistance, changes ranged damage type to arcane) which is good for units like shydes so they’ll take less damage when slowing later bosses. The south of the hive contains a cage with Ledinor, the elvish lord from the beginning. Freeing him and the other three soulless will open the gate in the northwest where there are a ton of high level enemies and a drone boss.<br /> <br /> '''The exit (finally!):''' For the horde of high level enemies coming from the exit, it’s safest to retreat to one of the 3-hex passages leading to the dungeons and just pick them off slowly. When approaching the exit, be careful since the chasms on either side contain drones.<br /> <br /> ===S22 A (Face of the Enemy)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the area, then defeat the Chaos Warlord, then flee to the southeast with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> Head southeast past some drone hives – the drones will constantly respawn from the hives, though they won’t chase you if no units are in range. Continue heading east across the cave area. There’s a gate in the north which just leads to a dead end, and a couple doors in the southeast which lead to a corridor of enemies. The safe way to deal with them is to camp in the 2-hex bottleneck. Also, watch out for the berserking hellhound hiding in the back. The northeastern water area just leads to a glyph with some backstory about the drones.<br /> <br /> Past the corridor of enemies is another gate; once you open it all your units will be teleported into the chamber beyond, where you’ll be surrounded by powerful enemies. Try to focus on killing a few at a time while staying out of range of the others. A few turns later the Chaos Warlord will show up in the keep in the west. She’ll recruit some units, so retreat and deal with her army before taking her on.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat her, she’ll heal back to full, so you’ll have to run away by having Mal Keshar destroy the exit gate to the southeast. Fortunately, Elynia will cast a spell on her so she’ll only have 1 movement until you open the gate, at which point she regains all her movement (so make sure your units aren’t in her range at that time). The Warlord will just stay in her keep and recruit and not chase you, so it should be easy to get away. Once all your units are past the gate, the gate will transform into a wall and stop all of them from chasing you. The southeast area just has some drones in the south and a giant spider; move a leader to the southern border of the map to proceed to the next part.<br /> <br /> ===S22 B (Dark Hive)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Warlord (you will have to fight her several times.)<br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario. There are hordes of constantly respawning drones, several difficult boss fights and you must also keep as many veterans as possible alive for later scenarios.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *In general due to the respawning drones it’s best to stick together in a single group, move forward quickly, and not send units off exploring side passages or they may end up trapped – the only things to find anyway are two glyphs with some backstory. *EDIT: There is a '''Ring of the Revenant''' to the southwest below the southern river that provides an extra life for a living unit. It is guarded by a few drones and under a glyph tile with additional backstory in a coffin. I gave it to one of my Shydes flying around with my Spectres exploring the area.<br /> *A useful (but cheap) tactic is to deliberately leave units (especially Elynia/Mal Keshar) a few XP from leveling so when they attack the boss they’ll automatically heal to full.<br /> *Always make sure to lure off and get rid of as many surrounding drones as possible before confronting the Chaos Warlord, because her leadership combined with the drones is deadly. <br /> There are three sections, each ending with a fight against the Chaos Warlord:<br /> <br /> '''Part I'''<br /> <br /> In the beginning, the path branches south and east; both eventually lead to the same place in the southeast but the eastern path has better terrain so is probably the easier one. Eventually you’ll come to a larger area with a chaos magus to the south; the way forward is a couple doors south of the chaos magus past some ants. Once you open the doors you’ll meet Elyssa again; she’s surrounded by a ton of drones and will recruit more so just camp in the 2-hex passage until all the drones are gone. Meanwhile you’ll have to move Elynia and Mal Keshar next to each other and protect them for a few turns (move them off the front lines before doing this, because they won’t be able to move or attack).<br /> <br /> Once Elynia and Mal Keshar have summoned the Union and all the nearby drones are gone, lure Elyssa out onto 40% defense by putting a unit in her range. She’ll absorb all non-Union damage, but you can still slow her so try to always slow her before using the Union. Note that the Union uses up both Elynia and Mal Keshar’s moves and attacks, though you can still slow with Elynia and then Union with Mal Keshar. Once Elyssa’s at 60% health she’ll run away.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> <br /> The way forward is the two gates in the southwest, which lead down some narrow passages into an area full of demon zephyrs and drones. You can form a line just outside the narrow passages (don’t use the 1-hex bottlenecks or it will take too long) and let them come. Also, try to avoid sending your flying undead onto the starry chasms because it has a small chance of killing them.<br /> <br /> Continuing southwest, you’ll come to a rocky area surrounded by chasms - there are a bunch of drones across the chasms so try to lure them off a couple at a time. Elyssa’s in a keep to the south - lure her out and repeat the slowing + Union tactic (she still absorbs non Union damage). This time she’ll flee at 40% HP.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3'''<br /> <br /> Continuing east, a bunch of zephyrs and drones will come at you across the eastern chasm; form a line and lure them onto land so you can easily get rid of them. Then the path splits south and east - both lead to the same area in the southeast, where Elyssa is waiting with a bunch of drones. As usual try to lure off as many drones as possible before luring Elyssa out.<br /> <br /> She is more powerful this time, but fortunately she now takes full damage from non Union attacks! However, make sure to finish her with the Union; otherwise she’ll just regenerate HP instead of dying.<br /> <br /> ===S23 A (Into the Lair)===<br /> *Objectives: Find the entrance to the Chaos Emperor’s lair.<br /> <br /> In the beginning, just follow the path southwest past a few demon zephyrs and guards. Past the gate in the southwest there are a couple enemy leaders; just camp in the 3-hex passage until both their armies are gone. There’s a gate in the south which leads to the exit, but you’ll have to find the glyph to open it first.<br /> <br /> A few turns after entering the indoor area, a bunch of cockatrices and drones will come flooding out of the west. It’s preferable to form a solid line against them, since getting petrified disrupts a unit’s ZOC. Cockatrices are weak to arcane so spectres are ideal for taking them out. Once they’re gone split up into two groups to explore the western cave passage and the north- there’s an enemy leader in each area. It’s best to send Elynia with one group and Mal Keshar with the other since the glyph to open the exit is in a random location and only Elynia or Mal Keshar can activate it.<br /> <br /> Once you open the exit gate, there will be another flood of cockatrices from the southeast. Past the exit gate there’s a very weak enemy leader and some assorted enemies scattered around. The path then splits three ways: south is an empty dead end, north is a dead end with some story glyphs, and east is the entrance to the lair.<br /> <br /> Seansy: I suggest if you have plenty of turns remaining once you reach the exit to feed more experience to your units to get them as close as possible to an AMLA since the next scenario is the final boss fight and there is no early finish bonus. I had the Stealth ability on Galas so I could theoretically leave him alone next to the exit in stealth until the last turn, but you can also split up your units into two teams and have 1 stay by the entrance to farm the spawning drones and have another backtrack to kill spawning drones in another area.<br /> <br /> ===S23 B (Until Death)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Emperor.<br /> *Note: The blue glyphs scattered around the map heal a unit to full.<br /> This is effectively the final battle; the next scenario is easy and more of a playable cutscene (however, any surviving veterans do carry over to next scenario – you won’t need many but the more the better.) This is probably the most difficult scenario in the entire campaign so hopefully almost all of your veterans are still alive and you got the extra gold from S21.<br /> <br /> You’ll start close to two enemy leaders, and it’s possible (recommended, even) to take them both out on turn 1. The southern leader should be easy; make sure to leave Galas available to take his keep and begin to recruit undead immediately. For the northern shadow courier if you put Mal Keshar next to him and Elynia next to Mal Keshar, two of Mal Keshar’s Union hits will take him down (a 78% chance to kill – it’s slightly risky though, since there are likely some level 2 drones lurking around and Mal Keshar will take a lot of retaliation if he doesn’t kill the shadow courier.)<br /> <br /> Try to recruit as much as possible with Galas on turns 1-3. At the start of turn 4, the Emperor will possess Mal Keshar (meaning you can’t recruit undead anymore) and Erathan (or Galas, if you don’t have Erathan). You’ll then have to use Elynia to kill Mal Keshar (you can make this part easier by making sure Mal Keshar is close to your units and on 40% defense on turn 4.) The Emperor can recall your unused undead veterans while he’s controlling Mal Keshar, so try to finish Mal Keshar off immediately.<br /> <br /> Once you kill Mal Keshar, the Emperor will get a new Union attack and Elynia will also get a powered up (35-4) Union attack when next to him. Elynia’s Union is the only attack which does full damage to the Emperor; all other attacks will do just a few HP of damage (also, non-Union attacks will sometimes cause him to become unslowed so be careful). Lure the Emperor out onto 40% defense, slow him, and then Union with Elynia. You’ll probably need about 3 turns (2 if you’re lucky) of Elynia using the Union. It's also really helpful to use Galas special leadership with Elynia. Hopefully Elynia doesn’t get hit too much; if she does you could try ZOCing the boss with cannon fodder while Elynia gets healed or moves to a healing glyph.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat him Mal Keshar will return and you can recruit undead again (although he is extremely fragile now so it’s essential to keep him away from the Emperor), and the Emperor will transform into his final form. This form has much more HP and a stronger ranged attack (hopefully at least one slower is still alive!) but fortunately can now be fully damaged by regular attacks. Elynia’s Union also gets a major powerup, so his HP should go down very quickly. He sometimes spawns drones when hit; you may want to move your own units next to him before attacking so that the drones don’t block the hexes next to him. Make sure to have Elynia finish him off with the Union, or else he’ll regenerate a ton of HP.<br /> <br /> ===S23 C (Broken Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit with Elynia, Galas or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: This is the last scenario.<br /> This scenario should be pretty easy, even with very few surviving veterans. Head northeast past some demon zephyrs to the first checkpoint; your units will all enter a new lava area. Around this time Ledinor will begin having some ominous dialogue, and several turns later he’ll suddenly transform into a shadow courier, and 3 shadow minions will appear around him. You can either kill him, or just leave him behind.<br /> <br /> After heading east across the doors past the second checkpoint, the path will turn north. Once you approach the third checkpoint, several high level undead will appear in the 3-hex keep just north of the checkpoint. Once you’ve dealt with them, it’s a pretty uneventful trip northwest toward the exit.<br /> <br /> [[Category: User-made Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=IftU_Walkthrough&diff=75591 2026-08-05T23:59:24Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>{{Translations}}<br /> This is a strategy guide for the add-on campaign '''Invasion from the Unknown''' (IftU) version 2.0 by shadowm. Note that there have been many major gameplay changes from the original version (for example, elvish enchantresses can no longer advance to sylphs, the elvish warrior spirit and Aragwaithi recruits have been removed, and many scenarios were changed), so much of the advice here won’t apply to earlier campaign versions.<br /> <br /> This walkthrough was written by Inky and is based on the hard difficulty. (I also did a commented playthrough of the campaign with screenshots and replays on the [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&amp;t=43960 forums].) Feel free to make corrections or add your own advice.<br /> <br /> Seansy Note: The most recent version, released on March 30th 2026, has made some changes so I am adding some edits to certain sections to adjust for that.<br /> <br /> Campaign discussion and developer support on the forums available for [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=43309 IftU version 2.0.0 and Wesnoth v.1.12].<br /> <br /> ==General campaign advice==<br /> It’s advised to play ''Under the Burning Suns'' first, to familiarize yourself with the story and the two suns schedule.<br /> <br /> ===Units===<br /> You begin with the typical elvish recruits plus the campaign specific elvish hunter unit, then gain the ability to recruit undead in Scenario 4, dark adepts in Scenario 5, and sprites in Scenario 14.<br /> <br /> EDIT: AMLA trees have been added to Galas and another future unit. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the options by right clicking on the unit to view them. Feed as much experience as possible to these units to maximize their abilities throughout the campaign. <br /> <br /> *A large part of this campaign takes place underground, making undead units especially ideal. Spectres are perhaps the most useful unit throughout the campaign due to their draining, excellent mobility and arcane damage. Nightgaunts (raw damage) and necromancers (arcane resist and plague) are also very useful. Skeletal undead are generally not recommended due to their low mobility.<br /> *On almost every scenario it’s helpful to recruit some vampire bats for scouting, village grabbing, and to act as distractions since they do not cost upkeep.<br /> *For elves, leveling at least a couple shydes for healing is essential. Prowlers are one of the most useful elvish units, being good in melee and able to slow in ranged. Enchantresses are also valuable for their arcane magical damage and slowing, though they do not advance to sylphs in this campaign. Fighters, archers and scout types are generally not so useful.<br /> *The lawful sprites which you can recruit starting from S14 are helpful in S15 (Shadows of Time) against undead, but are useless from S17 onward where it is perpetually night, so do not invest too heavily in them.<br /> <br /> ====The Recall List====<br /> *You have the option of either continuing to Part II keeping all your veterans from Part I (recommended), or starting Part II fresh. To compensate for the difference, there are several recall list wipes in the campaign:<br /> **S12 (The Escape): You can only bring up to 6 undead units (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count) with you and the rest are permanently lost.<br /> **S16 (Dawn of War): You can only bring up to 6 elves with you and the rest are permanently lost. In addition, any unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. EDIT: The most recent version has changed this so that any elf unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. There is no longer a limit on how many elves you recruit/recall.<br /> **S21 (Innuendo): You can only recall 8 veterans, which will be the only veterans you have for the rest of the campaign.<br /> *In Part II gold becomes very scarce so you will only be able to use a limited amount of veterans in each scenario; therefore quality (units with good traits such as resilient, and several AMLAs) is better than quantity.<br /> <br /> ===Item List===<br /> This is a list of the permanent items which can be picked up throughout the campaign, and which units can use them. Items given to your hero units, mostly Galas, carry over to the After the Storm campaign!<br /> <br /> *S3: '''Ring of Swiftness''' (+1 movement) - ''living units''<br /> *S4: '''Staff of Petrichor''' (EDIT: New item from recent update) Replaces melee attack with '''Touch of Petrichor''' a 7x2 magical cold attack that reads &quot;When this attack hits a lower level opponent during offense, the target becomes petrified for one turn. Once the petrification effect expires, the target gains the mark status effect.&quot; The petrification effect makes the afflicted unit unable to move or attack and they cannot be attacked themselves either. Usable by shamans and their advancements. Not usable for hero units.<br /> *S5 (This is a branching path so you'll only be able to obtain one of the following:)<br /> **S5a: '''Ring of Regeneration''' (if you chose to spare the bandit leader) (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage) - ''not usable by: shamans and their advancements and Anlindë ''<br /> **S5b: '''Shardia's Meteor''' (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse) - ''elvish hunters, fighters, and their advancements''<br /> *S7: '''Void Armor''' (secret item) (sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact, +10% fire resistance) - ''elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements''<br /> *S8: '''Poisonous Bow''' (adds a new 11-3 poisonous ranged bow attack) - ''skeleton archers, revenants, elvish archers, elvish heroes and their advancements.''<br /> *S10:<br /> **'''Berserker Potion''' (adds berserk special to melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and +10% blade / +20% fire / +30% impact resistance) - ''not usable by: ghosts, bats, corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units.''<br /> **'''Potion of Drain''' (adds drain special to melee attacks, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance) - ''living units''<br /> *S14: '''Explosive arrows''' (6 uses, does 80% base damage to the unit in the hex behind the target) ''- elvish archers, skeleton archers and their advancements''<br /> *S21:<br /> **'''Potion of Deftness''' (+1 movement, +1 ranged damage) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Accuracy Bow''' (adds marksman special to ranged attacks) - ''bone shooters and elvish rangers and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Potion of Strength''' (+1 melee damage, +8 HP) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Glacial Gladius''' (+1 melee damage, cold damage and slow for a unit’s melee attack, -5% HP) - ''elvish fighters, archers, hunters, scouts and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Amulet of t<br /> *22B<br /> **'''Ring of the Revenant''' (Any living creature wearing this ring is granted the power to cheat death once, after which the ring shall become inert for a thousand years) - ''living units besides sprites and bats.''<br /> <br /> ==Part I: Seeking the Light==<br /> ===S1 (Border Patrol)===<br /> *Objectives: The starting objectives are to hold out as long as possible, but on Turn 4 the objectives will change to defeating all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This is a deceptively easy scenario, as the next scenario is very difficult and requires a substantial gold carryover. On Hard something like 140 carryover is ideal and anything less than 100 carryover is probably too little to win with. Do not overrecruit, keep an eye on your income (make sure it’s positive) and be aggressive – don’t be afraid to lose some units, as it will help your income.<br /> <br /> Recruits: I’d recommend getting 2 shamans so that you can divide your forces and have a healer for each one, but not more than that as you need damage dealers. The rest of your units should be a mix of mostly archers and hunters. (Fighters are generally inferior to hunters, and scouts are expensive and do little damage).<br /> <br /> General strategies:<br /> *'''Defending the starting keep:''' One strategy is to hang back at your initial castle during the first day, recruiting very lightly during these turns to preserve income. Form a line on good terrain: one possibility is to use the forts just south of your keep; another option is to form a slightly more forward line stretching from the forest tiles (19,20) to (26,17) through the village southeast of your keep. &lt;br /&gt; Let the enemies come to you; they’ll arrive around Turn 6 (The Short Dark). Attack aggressively during Second Dawn/Day and you should be able to eliminate almost all the enemy units before The Long Dark hits.<br /> <br /> *'''Moving to the center keep (by Theron):''' An alternate faster and much more aggressive strategy, meant to finish as early as possible for maximum carryover, is to recruit a full keep on turn 1 and move Galas to the central keep immediately. Much of the fighting will take place around First Dusk / The Short Dark so expect heavy losses. &lt;br /&gt; Theron's advice: Recruit 3 Archers and 3 Hunters in turn 1. (Fighters are too slow; shamans are too slow and their damage output is too low.) Move Galas to the tiny keep in the middle of the map. Recruit 1 more Archer and 1 more Hunter in turn 3. Recruit 2 Fighters and 2 Shamans in turn 3 + 4. Decide where to amass your army (green front or blue front). Do not retreat. Ignore TOD. Use terrain advantage.<br /> <br /> For defeating the enemy leaders you can either split your forces in two and kill them simultaneously, or a safer (but slower) strategy is to send everyone to kill the southern green leader and them move them all to the blue eastern leader. The eastern leader is tough to kill – it can help to level an archer to marksman and shoot him down during daytime.<br /> <br /> Try to get Galas to level 2 (captain is strongly recommended for leadership) and level at least one of the shamans to druid.<br /> <br /> ===S2 (A Real Confrontation)===<br /> *Objectives:<br /> **Hold out until the end of turns.<br /> **Alternate objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> <br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario on Hard, so you’ll want to start this with over 200 gold (minimum gold is 100; replay scenario 1 for more carryover if necessary). The first thing to do is grab the villages of your useless ally, as you can put the gold to much better use. Note that you (or your ally) must retain control of a certain number of villages (9 on Hard, depends on difficulty) or you will lose. This should not be a problem though, as there are 9 villages (3 in the northwest, 3 near your keep, 3 near Ledinor’s keep) which are quite far back and easy to defend.<br /> <br /> This battle has two fronts divided by the central lake: the western front south of your keep, and the eastern front. The eastern front is relatively safe as there are less enemies there and Ledinor sends the bulk of his army that way, while the western front will be a high casualty bloodbath. Therefore one approach is to send a small elite group of veterans including Anlindë east, while using a massive spam approach (civilians and fresh recruits, mixed with some veterans) in the west. An alternate strategy is to recruit only civilians initially and send them out to delay the enemy forces enough so that they reach your main force during the day.<br /> <br /> Keep your elves in a line in the forest and try to slow the level 2 enemies; use ctrl + v and watch out for the skirmishers. With constant reinforcements from your high income and the time of day changing in your favor the chaos army should eventually run out of steam.<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly fine to start the next scenario with minimum gold, so do not worry if you can't defeat the enemy leaders for the finish bonus. Try to level a shaman to sorceress, as the arcane magical damage will be very useful for the next scenario. This is best done on the later turns, when most of the chaos army is gone and it’s relatively safe.<br /> <br /> ===S3 (Memories from the Depths)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the cave, then defeat the undead leader in the far northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Recruit lightly initially, as there aren’t so many enemies in the tunnel and there is another keep right at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be fighting undead so hunters and their advancements are especially good, as are sorceresses if you have any; try to get Anlindë to level 3 and / or a sorceress or enchantress during this scenario as it will help defeat the enemy at the very end. When you reach the end of the tunnel, you can use the nearby keep to recruit/recall some more units. Try to keep your income positive though – you don’t need too many units and there will be more opportunities to recruit along the way.<br /> <br /> Proceed northwest past the second keep, and you’ll come across some branching paths. On the right, moving to the flashing yellow hex will open up a passage leading to a Ring of Swiftness granting +1 movement. A good choice for this ring is Galas, since it can potentially allow him to reach keeps and recruit a turn earlier. The two western paths which will join together in a large central chamber, where you’ll encounter the main undead army; take them out with the help of slowing and arcane attacks.<br /> <br /> Triggering a touchplate in the southwest leads to two holy waters which grant arcane melee damage for this scenario only. Continue northwest, being careful not to expose wounded units since bats will often come out of nowhere and attack, and you’ll come to a river crossing. Across the river is another keep – I would highly recommend using this keep to recruit a couple expendable hunters or shamans for their slowing ability in preparation for the scenario’s final enemy.<br /> <br /> Head east across the river and the path will split north and east. Both paths will join up in the northeast corner but the eastern path has much stronger enemies so send most of your units that way - you can use expendable units to lure the high level undead guards into the open where they are easily killed. In the northeast you’ll come across the scenario’s final enemy, an ancient lich! You’ll need to slow him first, so hopefully you have some expendable hunters or shamans which can suicide into him until he’s slowed. After he’s slowed use your sorceress/enchantress and Anlindë to hopefully finish him off.<br /> <br /> ===S4 (Over the Sands)===<br /> <br /> Recruits: Living units are generally not recommended in this scenario due to the dehydration mechanic, but you’ll certainly want another (preferably +8) healer besides Anlindë, and you might as well recall the loyal scout too since he doesn’t cost upkeep. I’d recommend recruiting mostly ghosts – they are fast and have extremely good advancements – with some vampire bats mixed in to scout and act as a distraction force.<br /> You start with 2 villages and there are 6 more around the orc’s keep, but this is all you’re going to get for most of the scenario so take that into account when recruiting (try to keep your income positive).<br /> <br /> '''Part 1'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the orc leader to the northwest.<br /> <br /> Use Galas’ leadership on the level 1 ghosts; try to level a couple by feeding them the level 2 orc kills. Focus on killing crossbowmen and archers as their ranged fire attack is dangerous to ghosts. Mal Keshar is great at screening your units – you can put him in very exposed positions and the orcs will generally ignore him.<br /> <br /> When you kill the orcish leader you’ll get about 50 gold. You can use his keep to recruit some reinforcements (watch your income; there aren’t any more villages for a long time). Start heading west, where you’ll encounter some very weak undead. There will also be some scorpions north and south of the path which are free experience for wraiths and ghosts.<br /> After a while the path will turn south and you’ll spot some bandits. EDIT: The '''Staff of Petrichor''' is located to the southeast and has 4 petrified griffin units that will awaken and attack you once you attempt to loot the tomb. Make sure you have multiple ghost line units there during the nighttime to try to drain through the damage.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the bandit leader in the southwest.<br /> <br /> Try to fight the elusive outlaw units (footpads, thieves) on sand terrain where they only have 40% defense instead of their usual 60 or 70%. Bats make great bait for luring out powerful guard units, or the enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat the leader some humans will show up from the north, and you will have to decide whether to fight them. If you do decide to fight them you'll have to defeat their leader and will go to S5a (Crossfire). If you choose the second option instead, the scenario will end immediately and you will go to S5b (Cursed Plateau). <br /> S5a is the easier scenario, but since both scenarios give a different item (see the [[#Item_List | Item List]]) you may want to decide based on that.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3 (only if you chose to fight the humans)'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the leader of the humans in the northwest.<br /> <br /> Note that drain attacks will not work on the human units so you’ll have to be a bit more careful with putting wraiths on the front line.<br /> Use the bandit’s keep to recruit more reinforcements if needed and start heading north. You’ll encounter two revenants; you can easily lure them out and kill them with spectres / wraiths. The humans have a lot of units, but if you form a line where your units can only be reached from 2 hexes then their level 1 units won’t be able to damage you too much.<br /> Continue northwest towards the final leader; again a vampire bat can be used to lure her out.<br /> <br /> ===Diverging campaign path===<br /> ====S5a (Crossfire)====<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders, and make sure no chaos empire units survive.<br /> <br /> All three enemy sides will fight each other, so a couple keeps of units should be enough. Villages are very scarce so using mainly low level units supported by leadership will save on upkeep. Start by sending your entire army south against the chaos empire; the undead and bandits will mostly be occupied fighting each other. The undead will send quite a few troops east but they should arrive around daytime so it should be easy to wipe them out.<br /> <br /> After the chaos empire is defeated, head west; you can send everybody against the lich and then north or split into two groups, one to defeat the lich and one to deal with the bandits. The bandits are the stronger enemy – try to attack them during the day.<br /> <br /> After defeating the bandit leader you’ll be given the choice to spare him; do so and you’ll be given a very useful Ring of Regeneration (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage), a good item for Galas. (Deciding to kill him will only give you some gold and is not worth it.)<br /> <br /> ====S5b (Cursed Plateau)====<br /> *Objectives: Move to the northwest corner of the map with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **In order to get the item you must find the piece of parchment in the southwest cave, and defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> You won't be getting any more villages for a while, so recruit very lightly initially. There's another tiny 1-hex keep to the west where you can recall some more reinforcements, and you'll only face some scorpions and bats at first, so a couple wraiths should be enough. Once you reach the tiny keep in the west, send some flying undead into the southwest cave, where there's a touchplate opening into a chasm full of bats. To the southeast of the chasm is a passage leading to a piece of parchment, which opens a passage through the mountains in the northwest.<br /> <br /> To the north is another small 2-hex keep, though you might have to clear out some chaos empire units before you can use it. There are a lot of invokers so you'll probably want either some cannon fodder or some durable non undead units. It's preferable to form a solid line and defend until most of the enemies are gone, because there are many high level enemies and also some nasty shadow minions (nightstalking, skirmishing and backstabbing pests) around.<br /> <br /> Northeast of the small keep there's a dead end cave with the blue enemy leader; if you want the scenario's item you'll have to defeat him (Mal Keshar is very effective against him), otherwise you can just ignore the cave, though there is a small amount of gold there.<br /> <br /> Following the northwest path through the mountains leads to a gate, which you won't be able to open until you defeat both enemy leaders, though you could start sending whichever unit you want to pick up the item that way (it can be used by elvish hunters, fighters and advancements; I'd strongly recommend Galas.) Just send them on their own because there aren't any enemies behind the gate. Once you kill both leaders, you'll be able to pass through the gate to a chest in the south containing Shardia's Meteor (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse).<br /> <br /> Continuing north and then east, there's another cave with the second leader. There's also a couple small piles of gold (in the southeast and northeast) in the cave. In the northwest is the shadow courier leader; try to kill him as quickly as possible in melee (preferably luring him out of the castle first so he doesn't have such high defense) because he will completely demolish your undead units. Once you kill the shadow courier, the western path which leads outside to the exit only has a few vampire bats.<br /> <br /> ===S6 (Moon Valley)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This scenario is much easier than it looks, because the orcish units will generally stay clumped together near their leader instead of all coming towards you at once, allowing you to focus on each army separately. You’ll receive a small amount of gold each time you defeat an enemy leader.<br /> <br /> It's possible to rush the northeastern (blue) orc leader and kill him before he spends most of his gold: recruit a full keep on turn 1 and send Galas northwest immediately; send a bat southwest to village grab and move everyone else northwest. With the help of Anlindë and Mal Keshar you should be able to whittle down the leader on turn 3 and finish him on turn 4. Galas can then use the keep to recruit reinforcements while the rest of the army clears out the remaining blue orcs.<br /> <br /> At this point the green and black orcs will be hanging around the central forest while purple remains in the west. Advance aggressively during the second day and you should be able to wipe out most of the green and black units. After that only purple will be left; it will be night now but with the help of slow and Mal Keshar who is practically invincible they shouldn’t pose a problem.<br /> <br /> As the dialogue hints, when you approach the northwest area close to the final keep, several high level orcs will appear and the northwest leader will also get some gold to recruit. Wait until daytime (preferably morning) to approach, and you can also use the nearby keep to recruit some spam if you want to be extra safe.<br /> <br /> ===S7 (Goliath)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat Goliath.<br /> *Note: The units you recruit/recall on the first turn are all you will have for the entire scenario, so choose carefully.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of weak level 1 units scattered around, so it’s a good opportunity to get some experience. Most of the enemies in this scenario are automatons which are extremely resistant to blade and arcane (50%) but only have 10% impact resistance making trappers/prowlers especially effective against them.<br /> <br /> After heading west through the tunnel that you start in, you’ll come across the keep of the chaos empire. This is actually the toughest opposition you will face all scenario so be defensive (form a line and let the enemies come to you) and take your time. The enemy leader is extremely dangerous in ranged so try to take him down in 1 turn using mostly melee attacks.<br /> <br /> After defeating the enemy leader, head south across the river and you’ll encounter some demons and bats scattered about; keep heading south and you’ll come to a chamber with some automatons which are basically free experience. There’s a passage in the south leading to an orb switch; send a fast unit like a flying undead to trigger it, which will open the eastern wall into a large central area.<br /> <br /> In the central area, triggering the touchplate in the southwest corner opens a small room in the center with two golems guarding a potion of strength (+2 melee attack, +8 HP for this scenario only) and the final touchplate which opens the way south. The northeast path is just a dead end with some weak enemies (though you could go kill them for the experience if you have the time) so send everyone down the southern passage. <br /> <br /> The passage leads into a huge chamber in the south filled with automatons. Moving further south in this chamber reveals the scenario’s boss, Goliath, who appears along with a few level 1 automatons. Goliath has a lot of HP and good resistances but is extremely weak in offense, so just slow him and attack with powerful units like Mal Keshar and he will be destroyed in no time.<br /> <br /> In the far southeast, down the watery passage, there is a secret touchplate at 40,26 which opens a passage to the Void Armor, which is located in the lit hex at 31,24. The armor sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact (EDIT: Changed Void Armor stats to provide +15/15/20/10% resistance to blade, pierce, impact, and fire damage; as opposed to the previous replacement of blade/pierce/impact with 50/50/60% and increase of fire by 10%) and is a great item for Galas (it can be used by elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements) - start sending whichever unit you want to take it southeast ASAP if you want to make it in time.<br /> <br /> ===S8 (An Errand of Hope)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (3 in total).<br /> <br /> You will get another opportunity to recruit later, when you are much closer to the main battle, so you may want to save some gold until then and try not to go negative on income. The first enemy you’ll be facing is some trolls directly to the northwest. Wraiths, spectres and Mal Keshar are especially effective against them. Near the troll’s keep you’ll find a Poisonous Bow (can be used by elvish archers, skeleton archers, elvish heroes, revenants and their advancements) which adds an 11-3 ranged poison attack.<br /> <br /> Head northwest across the river (don’t bother exploring southwest of the river; there’s nothing there) and you’ll come across a large central area – entering it will clear the fog in the area and reveal an ongoing battle between the chaos empire and some allied dwarves. There’s also a second dwarf leader far in the northwest (he has a few villages, so you can send a bat up that way to steal them), and another chaos empire leader all the way in the northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Use the large keep here to recruit/recall some reinforcements, and split up your forces between the western front and the northeastern front. You’ll need more firepower in the northeast, since there are quite a few high level enemies there and the dwarves will concentrate their forces in the west. It helps to have Galas use Althurin’s keep to constantly reinforce (you should have a pretty high income) and just defend the northeast passage until the high level enemies are gone. (Don’t worry about keeping Althurin alive; he’ll just flee if he gets to 0 HP).<br /> <br /> The final enemy leader is all the way in the northeast corner; he’s a chaos lorekeeper so send your strongest melee units against him.<br /> By the way, there’s no point in sending a unit to the crypt south of the western leader (you’ll just get a message saying it’s empty).<br /> <br /> ===S9 (The Library)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> *Note: The exit is marked by a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south (its exact location is random). You'll need the exit key to pass through, which is dropped by a random enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Don’t recruit too heavily at the beginning, since you’ll get another opportunity to recruit about halfway through the scenario. You’ll probably have to do quite a bit of fighting before then though, so some durable units will be helpful. Ghosts/wraiths/spectres are especially good in this scenario due to the lack of chaos invokers and fire demons. Head west (the passage south of your starting keep just leads to an empty dead end) and after fighting through a couple level 2 undead you’ll come to an intersection.<br /> <br /> The northwest path leads to a dead end with a ruined house; when you send a living nonbat unit there to investigate you’ll discover Igor, a loyal wolf rider. He is automatically recalled in all later scenarios and even has his own dialogue, so it's highly recommended to keep him alive. EDIT: If you keep Igor alive until the end of the campaign, not only do you get an achievement, but he will be with you at the start of the follow up campaign in After the Storm! Meanwhile in the south, the combined forces of the 3 enemy leaders will begin to arrive. The easiest way to fight them is to just defend in the bottleneck until the massive army is mostly gone; it will take quite a while but the rest of the scenario will go much quicker after the main enemy army is gone.<br /> <br /> When you get past the bottleneck you’ll come to a large keep where you can recruit some reinforcements, and the path splits into a western and eastern one. There are two enemy leaders in the west and one in the south, so one possibility is to split into two groups and have one group take out the two western leaders one after another (there’s a banebow leader in the northwest and a draug leader in the southwest), while another group circles east and then south to take care of the southern lich leader (bring some arcane damage).<br /> <br /> The purple glyphs scattered around reveal various pieces of backstory. There is also a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south which marks the exit. You’ll need the exit key (dropped by a random enemy leader) to use the glyph. You might as well just defeat all enemy leaders for the experience and early finish bonus, as they don’t have much income and are pretty much on their own.<br /> <br /> ===S10 (The Source of Light)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then activate the six runes to open the central chamber.<br /> <br /> Note that this scenario takes place deep underground, where chaotic units get +30% damage instead of the usual +25%. In the beginning, make sure to send a vampire bat to grab the village in the far northeast corner of the map, across the chasm. The first objective is to defeat the enemy leader to the southwest. There are a lot of high level enemy units including skirmishers, so a safe way to play it is to form a solid vertical line along the 4-hex bottleneck (from 42,11 to 42,15) and defend there until the most threatening enemies are gone.<br /> <br /> Once the leader is defeated, you’ll have to activate the 6 glyphs scattered throughout the lower half of the map. Here are their approximate locations (going counterclockwise):<br /> *'''Northwest (across the river):''' A long twisty passage leads past some giant spiders to a glyph at the very end.<br /> *'''West:''' There’s a glyph behind a cuttlefish leader in the west of the watery area.<br /> *'''Southwest corner:''' There are a bunch of animated rocks and various undead here, and a glyph next to an enemy leader. Watch out, because several wraiths are lurking near the keep.<br /> *'''Center south:''' There’s a sealed chamber containing a glyph, which you have to open by finding a touchplate in the far south. There’s also a red Berserker Potion (not usable by: ghosts/bats/corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units), which gives the berserk special to a unit’s melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and some extra resistance (+10% blade, +20% fire, +30% impact).<br /> *'''Southeast:''' There’s a lava filled cave full of fire spirits – dark adepts and their advancements are especially effective against them. In the far southeast there’s a fire guardian leader and a glyph next to the keep.<br /> *'''Northeast:''' You’ll encounter some undead and a chocobone leader (be sure to keep fragile units out of range of its charge attack). There’s a glyph guarded by vampire bats north of the undead keep, and a northeast passage leading to a green Potion of Drain (adds drain special, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance, usable by non undead units).<br /> <br /> In order to explore efficiently it’s best to divide into several small groups (e.g. 4 groups, one for each corner). A very useful tip by skeptical_troll if you’d like to avoid a lot of fighting completely is to send a shadow/nightgaunt to activate the glyphs (though it’s not advised to do this in the southwest or northeast corner, since these glyphs are surrounded by enemies).<br /> <br /> Since there is no early finish bonus and you likely have very high income, you may want to take your time and make some extra gold for next scenario.<br /> <br /> ===S11 (Strike on Herthgar)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out until the end of turns, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: All enemy sides will get a small amount of gold on turns 6 and 14.<br /> <br /> This scenario is actually the final battle for Part I – the next two scenarios are more of an epilogue. This is one of the more difficult scenarios, so don’t worry too much about losing some veterans (another thing to note is that you will not be able to take more than six undead veterans with you after this scenario.)<br /> <br /> Gold carryover is completely irrelevant (you won’t be able to use more than the minimum gold next scenario) so one approach is to just recall every single veteran you can afford. It can be helpful to create walking corpses with your necromancers to act as a distraction. Also, be sure not to let your spectres/nightgaunts etc. get within range of multiple chaos invokers and demons, or they will die fast.<br /> <br /> Here is one strategy for defeating all enemy leaders:<br /> #Send a large force northwest to wipe out the two northwestern enemies while a smaller force heads south to defend the dwarven castle. (The eastern front and southern front do not require immediate attention because the dwarves will delay the enemies for several turns.) Form a line and let them come to you; prowlers with their slowing ability and necromancers with their high HP and arcane resistance (there are lots of chaos invokers around) are especially good at holding the line.<br /> #Once the two northwest enemies are defeated, split the large northern force, with one part going to deal with the eastern enemies, and the rest going south to reinforce the castle.<br /> #Defend in the castle using the bridge chokepoints (just watch out for demon zephyrs which can fly over the deep water moat) until most of the southern enemies are gone. The southern force can then split into two groups and take out the two remaining southern leaders.<br /> <br /> ===S12 (The Escape)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the northern exit with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: You may only recruit/recall during the first turn (6 units total), and any undead veterans you do not recall this scenario will be permanently lost (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count).<br /> <br /> This is a relatively easy scenario, but there are some triggered events including a large ambush near the end so don’t send your units too far ahead by themselves.<br /> <br /> There are four minor enemies you’ll be facing this scenario:<br /> <br /> #After crossing the river at the beginning you’ll come across a chamber with the chaos empire fighting some trolls; both are very weak and shouldn’t be a problem.<br /> #After crossing another bridge and heading north you’ll encounter a mechanical Goliath along with some automatons; he is also extremely weak.<br /> #You’ll then come across a tunnel leading into a large empty chamber. Do not send a unit all the way into the chamber because there’s an ambush; instead move a scouting unit slowly toward the chamber until you trigger the ambush, then pull it back using its remaining movement. After that the ambush shouldn’t be hard to deal with – the most threatening enemy is the hellhound with 10-4 melee berserk, but a single spectre can easily take care of it.<br /> #Finally, after heading north you’ll come across some imps. One thing to watch out for is that when you kill the leader imp, he will dissolve into a bunch of mudcrawlers. After that the exit is straight to the north.<br /> <br /> ===S13 (Face Your Fate)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out to the end of turns; then accept the inevitable.<br /> <br /> This is mostly a cutscene scenario.<br /> Holding out until the end of turns should be trivial with your extremely high starting gold. If you didn’t manage to recall some of your undead veterans last scenario, you can recall them now. A few turns after the initial turn limit, the Chaos Warlord will appear in the southwest and the objectives will change to defeating her. However, it is impossible (if you reduce her HP to 0 she’ll just heal back to full and instantly kill all your undead units), and the only way to end the scenario is to let your leader die.<br /> <br /> ==Part II: Armageddon==<br /> <br /> ===S14 (Clearing the Road)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> This should be a very easy scenario, especially if you’re continuing from a Part I save, so it’s a good opportunity to get some easy XP for fresh recruits. The barrel contains 6 explosive arrows (does 80% of the base damage to the unit immediately behind the target).<br /> <br /> The two enemies you’ll be facing are saurians and water serpents from the northwest and orcs from the northeast. The northeast orc keep is surrounded by deep water to the south, forcing the orcs to go all the way around to the west and then south, giving you several turns to focus on the saurian army before they arrive. Most of your forces should head northwest since the main battle will take place there (for the east you can just send a bat to village grab). If you keep your elves in the forests you should have no problem dealing with the saurians and then the orcs.<br /> <br /> ===S15 (Shadows of Time)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders. (You actually do not need to kill the ancient lich leader – once you reduce him to half health he will flee.)<br /> You’ll be fighting a lot of undead so arcane (sorceresses, dark adepts, etc.) and fire damage (sprites) will be very useful. Your orcish allies will mostly go up the northeastern side of the map and delay the undead coming from that direction, so the main battle will likely take place on two fronts: fighting the undead from the west, and the orcs in the center.<br /> <br /> The first threat you’ll face is the group of four Forefathers coming at you from the west; stay back and let them get close, and then finish them off with heavy arcane hitters like Elynia and Mal Keshar. After that you can split your army in two, with one group holding off the undead in the western forest, and another (probably larger) group dealing with the incoming flood of orcs (and later undead from the north) in the center.<br /> <br /> ===S16 (Dawn of War)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the southern edge of the map with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective (early finish bonus): Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: after this scenario, you won't be able to recruit elves or dark adepts, and all elven veterans not recalled in this scenario are permanently lost.<br /> <br /> Recalling advice:<br /> *If you continued from Part I you’ll likely have much more veterans than you can recall; however there’s no need to get obsessed about bringing every single veteran with you because there is very little gold in later scenarios, so you won’t be able to use them all anyway.<br /> *Elves: It’s highly recommended to get at least two healers because you will not be able to get any more healers later! After that, probably the most useful elven units are enchantresses and prowlers since they can slow.<br /> *Spectres are great in later levels (arcane damage + mobility); I’d recommend recalling every one you have. Necromancers and nightgaunts will also be very useful.<br /> *I would not recommend recalling any sprites, since they are lawful and the next scenarios all feature perpetual night.<br /> <br /> Your two allies will do a pretty good job distracting the two outer enemies, so the main battle will take place in the center. If you began the battle portion of the scenario on turn 4, you should have a turn of daylight (First Afternoon) to strike hard and fast at the central enemies with all your veterans. If you continue to make as many kills as possible during dusk there shouldn’t be many enemies left at all to threaten you during the night. Once you deal with the units from the two central enemies the rest of the battle should be easy, as the two outer enemies should be weakened from fighting your allies. It's recommended to kill all the enemy leaders for the extra gold and experience.<br /> <br /> ===S17 (Voice of the Armageddon)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> You will face two enemy leaders: a relatively weak enemy in the center, and a very powerful enemy far to the south. You’ll probably want to recruit a few expendable units such as ghosts or vampire bats to distract the powerful enemy units from your veterans. The central enemy shouldn’t be too much of a problem: blast them with your veterans and then put a couple expendable units in front to screen them.<br /> <br /> Once you scout far enough south, you’ll trigger the southern leader to start recruiting and a boss Armageddon Imp will appear and start heading for you. It’s probably best to wait near the central keep and let the imps come to you so you don’t get in range of the enemies stationed in the southern fort. Once they arrive, illuminate and slow the boss and then zap him with your magical ranged units. Next you’ll have to deal with the army of soulless and necrophages coming from the south; once again an effective tactic is to blast away with your veterans from the back and then insert some expendable units in the front.<br /> <br /> Be careful when approaching the fort because the powerful units stationed there will come out and attack; use the show enemy moves keybind (by default it's Ctrl + v) to make sure no one is too exposed, and try to lure them out one by one. The ancient lich leader can be lured out onto 40% defense terrain by placing a walking corpse in his range. Don’t bother about setting up the kill on the leader because he will just run away, denying you the killing XP.<br /> <br /> ===S18 (Ashes of Wesmere)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar to the cave in the southeast.<br /> <br /> The more spectres you have the easier this scenario will be; I recommend recalling all your spectres and wraiths. Since there aren’t any villages you’ll surely start next scenario with minimum gold anyway, so there’s no point in worrying about upkeep or saving gold (EDIT: I was able to complete this scenario on hard with 1 keep worth of recalled units if you want some gold carryover). The main enemies you’ll be facing are drones, which do impact damage and are weak to arcane. Advance very cautiously at first because there will be several level 2 drones lurking around. They’re extremely nasty in ranged, so spectres are ideal for taking them out.<br /> <br /> Once you start heading south, you’ll face a horde of level 1 drones from all directions. Just keep killing them every turn with spectres and wraiths, focusing on one group at a time, and eventually they’ll run out. Be careful of putting Mal Keshar in range of a lot of drones because they’ll chain attack him and he’s weak to impact.<br /> <br /> After that it should be easy to kill the enemy leader, who has a pretty pathetic army. When you head southeast to the cave, keep a tight formation and don’t expose heavily wounded units because there are several invisible skirmishing and backstabbing shadow minions around.<br /> Since there’s no early finish bonus, you can use any leftover turns to go around killing the other enemies scattered around the map for the XP.<br /> <br /> ===S19 (Under the Sands)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Elynia or Mal Keshar<br /> *Note: If either Elynia or Mal Keshar is still in the hive, you won't be able to end the scenario (with the other one) until they leave the hive.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of rough terrain and chasms, so ghostly undead (spectres, nightgaunts) will be extremely useful. Also, the blue matrix flow systems have 0% defense and can be drained, so they can be used as free full heals for your spectres.<br /> <br /> When heading out of the initial chamber, be very cautious and keep a completely tight formation because there are several shadow minions (which are invisible and can skirmish and backstab) lurking nearby. This scenario is full of these shadow minions, so be very cautious when advancing.<br /> <br /> Make your way southeast to kill the drone leader, then west where the chaos empire army should be arriving. They shouldn’t be much trouble (just make sure to kill the invokers before they can get at your ghosts). You’ll arrive in a large central chamber full of various enemies. Send some units towards the hive in the southwest of the chamber and you’ll spot a matrix core in the far west; each core you destroy will reduce the gold of certain enemy sides in the next scenario by a bit (there are 5 cores total). Next scenario is difficult, so it's worthwhile to destroy as many cores as possible.<br /> <br /> Head south across the lava chasm (it will probably take a while, due to being assaulted by enemy spawns from all directions) and you’ll come across the chaos empire leader to the left and a dead end with a second matrix core on the right. Once you defeat the leader head south towards a swampy area.<br /> <br /> Past the swamp is a fork: the southern fork doesn’t have enemies and leads straight to the exit. The eastern fork leads into a large hive, where the remaining 3 matrix cores are. One of the cores is near the entrance. The remaining 2 cores are extremely deep into the hive so getting at them may be more trouble than it’s worth, though you can get some good XP out of fighting your way through to them. Note that you won’t be able to leave until Elynia or Mal Keshar are outside the hive, so make sure you have enough turns left before exploring (but if you kill the innermost core, a shortcut will open up, so you don’t have to backtrack all the way).<br /> <br /> ===S20 (The Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar inside the fortress, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **Another enemy leader will appear in the north on Turn 2. Also, every so often starting from Turn 3, a large group of enemies (mostly demon zephyrs) will appear in the chasm surrounding the fortress.<br /> **After the initial turns of daylight the scenario becomes perpetually night.<br /> **You have control over the allied dwarves this time. They leave after this so they’re completely expendable.<br /> <br /> This is somewhat of a finale for Part II of IftU. <br /> Since you don’t have so much time, trying to defeat every leader is probably more trouble than it’s worth, especially on Hard. My strategy was to completely ignore the northern leader and rush my entire army southwest, killing as many units as possible during the day before the scenario turned into perpetual night. After that I fought my way over the bridge into the fortress (having spectres and nightgaunts fly over the chasm is essential in breaking the bridge bottleneck), sending the less valuable veterans in first. Meanwhile some units went to deal with the northern army which was attacking from behind.<br /> <br /> The dwarves really did not do much; I mostly had them camped in the 3 village cluster just northwest of the fortress the entire time, where they lured out and killed any demon zephyrs which spawned in the west.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *After this you’ll only be able to use 8 of your veterans for the rest of the campaign. So choose your 8 favorite veterans and go crazy with the rest!<br /> *There are a ton of enemies on this map, and a lot of nasty flying ones which can reach your units from quite far away. Use ctrl + v constantly to avoid surprises.<br /> *Two nightgaunts backstabbing from opposite sides of a sentry tower will automatically kill it from full health.<br /> *Having some expendable units will be very helpful; if you’re short on cash, you can use your necromancers’ plague staff to make free corpses.<br /> *Don’t worry about gold carryover; you can’t use more than the minimum next scenario anyway.<br /> <br /> ===S21 (Innuendo)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit in the north with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **From now on it is ''highly'' recommended to restart anytime any unit dies, because these are the only veterans you'll have for the rest of the campaign and the remaining scenarios are very difficult.<br /> **It is essential to pick up the chest of gold in the southwest, which will be needed several scenarios later for the final battle.<br /> <br /> Recruits: You may only bring 8 veterans with you for the rest of the campaign. Future scenarios will be underground / deep underground so undead are especially useful. It’s also recommended to bring 2 shydes for healing, at least one necromancer for making free fodder corpses, and some flying undead (spectres/nightgaunts) since there will be a lot of unwalkable chasms. (I used 2 shydes, 2 necromancers, 1 lich, 2 spectres and 1 nightgaunt and it worked really well.)<br /> <br /> Get ready for an absolutely massive dungeon crawl! You’ll face several waves of enemies in this scenario:<br /> <br /> '''The beginning:''' Some Chaos Empire units will come at you immediately, so just form a solid line in the passage and let them come. After that the path splits north to a dead end with a Potion of Deftness giving +1 movement and +1 ranged damage (living units only), and a southwestern passage leading to a large chamber full of powerful enemies. You can safely destroy them by forming a line in the 3-hex passage and slowly picking them off until they’re gone. (Try to turn some of them into corpses, which can be used as bait for powerful enemies later).<br /> <br /> '''The large chamber in the south:''' There are two paths north (both lead to the same place) with some enemies guarding them. In the southwest corner there’s a room with a Potion of Strength (+1 melee, +8 HP, a great item for Galas), an Accuracy Bow (for archer units only, such as Erathan), and a chest of gold. There is an enemy leader in the northwest, and moving to the gem behind him will open one of the gates in the northeast.<br /> <br /> '''The northern chamber of undead:''' You’ll need to find the gem which opens the gate in the far north, where there is an ancient lich leader. Be sure to stay out of his range (he has 7 movement!) until you wipe out most of his army. Also be careful of the two wraiths right behind the leader. If you made any walking corpses earlier, you can use them as bait to safely lure out the ancient lich leader. The gem on his keep opens the gate in the east.<br /> <br /> '''The imp boss''': Past the eastern gate, you’ll come to a long passage east with some enemies. Once you advance far enough, you’ll discover a large chamber with a nasty imp boss and some other enemies. It’s best to fight them in the 3-hex bottleneck, and try to have Elynia illuminate and slow the boss.<br /> <br /> '''The dungeon:''' The area northwest of the chamber where the imp was leads to the exit, but it’s blocked by a gate so you’ll have to go east to the dungeons first. You'll find a (useless) troll soulless and a merman soulless which will join you, as well as a hostile drake soulless. In the southeast, there’s an unwalkable chasm with some enemies on the other side; if you send some flying undead exploring there they can trigger a touchplate which opens a passage for regular units to enter. There is a Glacial Gladius there which gives a slowing cold melee attack (usable by elves other than shamans+advancements, and by Erathan.)<br /> <br /> The goal is the northeast hive area, where there’s an amulet (+10% arcane resistance, changes ranged damage type to arcane) which is good for units like shydes so they’ll take less damage when slowing later bosses. The south of the hive contains a cage with Ledinor, the elvish lord from the beginning. Freeing him and the other three soulless will open the gate in the northwest where there are a ton of high level enemies and a drone boss.<br /> <br /> '''The exit (finally!):''' For the horde of high level enemies coming from the exit, it’s safest to retreat to one of the 3-hex passages leading to the dungeons and just pick them off slowly. When approaching the exit, be careful since the chasms on either side contain drones.<br /> <br /> ===S22 A (Face of the Enemy)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the area, then defeat the Chaos Warlord, then flee to the southeast with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> Head southeast past some drone hives – the drones will constantly respawn from the hives, though they won’t chase you if no units are in range. Continue heading east across the cave area. There’s a gate in the north which just leads to a dead end, and a couple doors in the southeast which lead to a corridor of enemies. The safe way to deal with them is to camp in the 2-hex bottleneck. Also, watch out for the berserking hellhound hiding in the back. The northeastern water area just leads to a glyph with some backstory about the drones.<br /> <br /> Past the corridor of enemies is another gate; once you open it all your units will be teleported into the chamber beyond, where you’ll be surrounded by powerful enemies. Try to focus on killing a few at a time while staying out of range of the others. A few turns later the Chaos Warlord will show up in the keep in the west. She’ll recruit some units, so retreat and deal with her army before taking her on.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat her, she’ll heal back to full, so you’ll have to run away by having Mal Keshar destroy the exit gate to the southeast. Fortunately, Elynia will cast a spell on her so she’ll only have 1 movement until you open the gate, at which point she regains all her movement (so make sure your units aren’t in her range at that time). The Warlord will just stay in her keep and recruit and not chase you, so it should be easy to get away. Once all your units are past the gate, the gate will transform into a wall and stop all of them from chasing you. The southeast area just has some drones in the south and a giant spider; move a leader to the southern border of the map to proceed to the next part.<br /> <br /> ===S22 B (Dark Hive)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Warlord (you will have to fight her several times.)<br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario. There are hordes of constantly respawning drones, several difficult boss fights and you must also keep as many veterans as possible alive for later scenarios.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *In general due to the respawning drones it’s best to stick together in a single group, move forward quickly, and not send units off exploring side passages or they may end up trapped – the only things to find anyway are two glyphs with some backstory. *EDIT: There is a '''Ring of the Revenant''' to the southwest below the southern river that provides an extra life for a living unit. It is guarded by a few drones and under a glyph tile with additional backstory in a coffin. I gave it to one of my Shydes flying around with my Spectres exploring the area.<br /> *A useful (but cheap) tactic is to deliberately leave units (especially Elynia/Mal Keshar) a few XP from leveling so when they attack the boss they’ll automatically heal to full.<br /> *Always make sure to lure off and get rid of as many surrounding drones as possible before confronting the Chaos Warlord, because her leadership combined with the drones is deadly. <br /> There are three sections, each ending with a fight against the Chaos Warlord:<br /> <br /> '''Part I'''<br /> <br /> In the beginning, the path branches south and east; both eventually lead to the same place in the southeast but the eastern path has better terrain so is probably the easier one. Eventually you’ll come to a larger area with a chaos magus to the south; the way forward is a couple doors south of the chaos magus past some ants. Once you open the doors you’ll meet Elyssa again; she’s surrounded by a ton of drones and will recruit more so just camp in the 2-hex passage until all the drones are gone. Meanwhile you’ll have to move Elynia and Mal Keshar next to each other and protect them for a few turns (move them off the front lines before doing this, because they won’t be able to move or attack).<br /> <br /> Once Elynia and Mal Keshar have summoned the Union and all the nearby drones are gone, lure Elyssa out onto 40% defense by putting a unit in her range. She’ll absorb all non-Union damage, but you can still slow her so try to always slow her before using the Union. Note that the Union uses up both Elynia and Mal Keshar’s moves and attacks, though you can still slow with Elynia and then Union with Mal Keshar. Once Elyssa’s at 60% health she’ll run away.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> <br /> The way forward is the two gates in the southwest, which lead down some narrow passages into an area full of demon zephyrs and drones. You can form a line just outside the narrow passages (don’t use the 1-hex bottlenecks or it will take too long) and let them come. Also, try to avoid sending your flying undead onto the starry chasms because it has a small chance of killing them.<br /> <br /> Continuing southwest, you’ll come to a rocky area surrounded by chasms - there are a bunch of drones across the chasms so try to lure them off a couple at a time. Elyssa’s in a keep to the south - lure her out and repeat the slowing + Union tactic (she still absorbs non Union damage). This time she’ll flee at 40% HP.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3'''<br /> <br /> Continuing east, a bunch of zephyrs and drones will come at you across the eastern chasm; form a line and lure them onto land so you can easily get rid of them. Then the path splits south and east - both lead to the same area in the southeast, where Elyssa is waiting with a bunch of drones. As usual try to lure off as many drones as possible before luring Elyssa out.<br /> <br /> She is more powerful this time, but fortunately she now takes full damage from non Union attacks! However, make sure to finish her with the Union; otherwise she’ll just regenerate HP instead of dying.<br /> <br /> ===S23 A (Into the Lair)===<br /> *Objectives: Find the entrance to the Chaos Emperor’s lair.<br /> <br /> In the beginning, just follow the path southwest past a few demon zephyrs and guards. Past the gate in the southwest there are a couple enemy leaders; just camp in the 3-hex passage until both their armies are gone. There’s a gate in the south which leads to the exit, but you’ll have to find the glyph to open it first.<br /> <br /> A few turns after entering the indoor area, a bunch of cockatrices and drones will come flooding out of the west. It’s preferable to form a solid line against them, since getting petrified disrupts a unit’s ZOC. Cockatrices are weak to arcane so spectres are ideal for taking them out. Once they’re gone split up into two groups to explore the western cave passage and the north- there’s an enemy leader in each area. It’s best to send Elynia with one group and Mal Keshar with the other since the glyph to open the exit is in a random location and only Elynia or Mal Keshar can activate it.<br /> <br /> Once you open the exit gate, there will be another flood of cockatrices from the southeast. Past the exit gate there’s a very weak enemy leader and some assorted enemies scattered around. The path then splits three ways: south is an empty dead end, north is a dead end with some story glyphs, and east is the entrance to the lair.<br /> <br /> Seansy: I suggest if you have plenty of turns remaining once you reach the exit to feed more experience to your units to get them as close as possible to an AMLA since the next scenario is the final boss fight and there is no early finish bonus. I had the Stealth ability on Galas so I could theoretically leave him alone next to the exit in stealth until the last turn, but you can also split up your units into two teams and have 1 stay by the entrance to farm the spawning drones and have another backtrack to kill spawning drones in another area.<br /> <br /> ===S23 B (Until Death)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Emperor.<br /> *Note: The blue glyphs scattered around the map heal a unit to full.<br /> This is effectively the final battle; the next scenario is easy and more of a playable cutscene (however, any surviving veterans do carry over to next scenario – you won’t need many but the more the better.) This is probably the most difficult scenario in the entire campaign so hopefully almost all of your veterans are still alive and you got the extra gold from S21.<br /> <br /> You’ll start close to two enemy leaders, and it’s possible (recommended, even) to take them both out on turn 1. The southern leader should be easy; make sure to leave Galas available to take his keep and begin to recruit undead immediately. For the northern shadow courier if you put Mal Keshar next to him and Elynia next to Mal Keshar, two of Mal Keshar’s Union hits will take him down (a 78% chance to kill – it’s slightly risky though, since there are likely some level 2 drones lurking around and Mal Keshar will take a lot of retaliation if he doesn’t kill the shadow courier.)<br /> <br /> Try to recruit as much as possible with Galas on turns 1-3. At the start of turn 4, the Emperor will possess Mal Keshar (meaning you can’t recruit undead anymore) and Erathan (or Galas, if you don’t have Erathan). You’ll then have to use Elynia to kill Mal Keshar (you can make this part easier by making sure Mal Keshar is close to your units and on 40% defense on turn 4.) The Emperor can recall your unused undead veterans while he’s controlling Mal Keshar, so try to finish Mal Keshar off immediately.<br /> <br /> Once you kill Mal Keshar, the Emperor will get a new Union attack and Elynia will also get a powered up (35-4) Union attack when next to him. Elynia’s Union is the only attack which does full damage to the Emperor; all other attacks will do just a few HP of damage (also, non-Union attacks will sometimes cause him to become unslowed so be careful). Lure the Emperor out onto 40% defense, slow him, and then Union with Elynia. You’ll probably need about 3 turns (2 if you’re lucky) of Elynia using the Union. Hopefully Elynia doesn’t get hit too much; if she does you could try ZOCing the boss with cannon fodder while Elynia gets healed or moves to a healing glyph.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat him Mal Keshar will return and you can recruit undead again (although he is extremely fragile now so it’s essential to keep him away from the Emperor), and the Emperor will transform into his final form. This form has much more HP and a stronger ranged attack (hopefully at least one slower is still alive!) but fortunately can now be fully damaged by regular attacks. Elynia’s Union also gets a major powerup, so his HP should go down very quickly. He sometimes spawns drones when hit; you may want to move your own units next to him before attacking so that the drones don’t block the hexes next to him. Make sure to have Elynia finish him off with the Union, or else he’ll regenerate a ton of HP.<br /> <br /> ===S23 C (Broken Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit with Elynia, Galas or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: This is the last scenario.<br /> This scenario should be pretty easy, even with very few surviving veterans. Head northeast past some demon zephyrs to the first checkpoint; your units will all enter a new lava area. Around this time Ledinor will begin having some ominous dialogue, and several turns later he’ll suddenly transform into a shadow courier, and 3 shadow minions will appear around him. You can either kill him, or just leave him behind.<br /> <br /> After heading east across the doors past the second checkpoint, the path will turn north. Once you approach the third checkpoint, several high level undead will appear in the 3-hex keep just north of the checkpoint. Once you’ve dealt with them, it’s a pretty uneventful trip northwest toward the exit.<br /> <br /> [[Category: User-made Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=IftU_Walkthrough&diff=75589 2026-08-04T06:46:29Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>{{Translations}}<br /> This is a strategy guide for the add-on campaign '''Invasion from the Unknown''' (IftU) version 2.0 by shadowm. Note that there have been many major gameplay changes from the original version (for example, elvish enchantresses can no longer advance to sylphs, the elvish warrior spirit and Aragwaithi recruits have been removed, and many scenarios were changed), so much of the advice here won’t apply to earlier campaign versions.<br /> <br /> This walkthrough was written by Inky and is based on the hard difficulty. (I also did a commented playthrough of the campaign with screenshots and replays on the [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&amp;t=43960 forums].) Feel free to make corrections or add your own advice.<br /> <br /> Seansy Note: The most recent version, released on March 30th 2026, has made some changes so I am adding some edits to certain sections to adjust for that.<br /> <br /> Campaign discussion and developer support on the forums available for [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=43309 IftU version 2.0.0 and Wesnoth v.1.12].<br /> <br /> ==General campaign advice==<br /> It’s advised to play ''Under the Burning Suns'' first, to familiarize yourself with the story and the two suns schedule.<br /> <br /> ===Units===<br /> You begin with the typical elvish recruits plus the campaign specific elvish hunter unit, then gain the ability to recruit undead in Scenario 4, dark adepts in Scenario 5, and sprites in Scenario 14.<br /> <br /> EDIT: AMLA trees have been added to Galas and another future unit. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the options by right clicking on the unit to view them. Feed as much experience as possible to these units to maximize their abilities throughout the campaign. <br /> <br /> *A large part of this campaign takes place underground, making undead units especially ideal. Spectres are perhaps the most useful unit throughout the campaign due to their draining, excellent mobility and arcane damage. Nightgaunts (raw damage) and necromancers (arcane resist and plague) are also very useful. Skeletal undead are generally not recommended due to their low mobility.<br /> *On almost every scenario it’s helpful to recruit some vampire bats for scouting, village grabbing, and to act as distractions since they do not cost upkeep.<br /> *For elves, leveling at least a couple shydes for healing is essential. Prowlers are one of the most useful elvish units, being good in melee and able to slow in ranged. Enchantresses are also valuable for their arcane magical damage and slowing, though they do not advance to sylphs in this campaign. Fighters, archers and scout types are generally not so useful.<br /> *The lawful sprites which you can recruit starting from S14 are helpful in S15 (Shadows of Time) against undead, but are useless from S17 onward where it is perpetually night, so do not invest too heavily in them.<br /> <br /> ====The Recall List====<br /> *You have the option of either continuing to Part II keeping all your veterans from Part I (recommended), or starting Part II fresh. To compensate for the difference, there are several recall list wipes in the campaign:<br /> **S12 (The Escape): You can only bring up to 6 undead units (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count) with you and the rest are permanently lost.<br /> **S16 (Dawn of War): You can only bring up to 6 elves with you and the rest are permanently lost. In addition, any unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. EDIT: The most recent version has changed this so that any elf unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. There is no longer a limit on how many elves you recruit/recall.<br /> **S21 (Innuendo): You can only recall 8 veterans, which will be the only veterans you have for the rest of the campaign.<br /> *In Part II gold becomes very scarce so you will only be able to use a limited amount of veterans in each scenario; therefore quality (units with good traits such as resilient, and several AMLAs) is better than quantity.<br /> <br /> ===Item List===<br /> This is a list of the permanent items which can be picked up throughout the campaign, and which units can use them. Items given to your hero units, mostly Galas, carry over to the After the Storm campaign!<br /> <br /> *S3: '''Ring of Swiftness''' (+1 movement) - ''living units''<br /> *S4: '''Staff of Petrichor''' (EDIT: New item from recent update) Replaces melee attack with '''Touch of Petrichor''' a 7x2 magical cold attack that reads &quot;When this attack hits a lower level opponent during offense, the target becomes petrified for one turn. Once the petrification effect expires, the target gains the mark status effect.&quot; The petrification effect makes the afflicted unit unable to move or attack and they cannot be attacked themselves either. Usable by shamans and their advancements. Not usable for hero units.<br /> *S5 (This is a branching path so you'll only be able to obtain one of the following:)<br /> **S5a: '''Ring of Regeneration''' (if you chose to spare the bandit leader) (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage) - ''not usable by: shamans and their advancements and Anlindë ''<br /> **S5b: '''Shardia's Meteor''' (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse) - ''elvish hunters, fighters, and their advancements''<br /> *S7: '''Void Armor''' (secret item) (sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact, +10% fire resistance) - ''elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements''<br /> *S8: '''Poisonous Bow''' (adds a new 11-3 poisonous ranged bow attack) - ''skeleton archers, revenants, elvish archers, elvish heroes and their advancements.''<br /> *S10:<br /> **'''Berserker Potion''' (adds berserk special to melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and +10% blade / +20% fire / +30% impact resistance) - ''not usable by: ghosts, bats, corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units.''<br /> **'''Potion of Drain''' (adds drain special to melee attacks, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance) - ''living units''<br /> *S14: '''Explosive arrows''' (6 uses, does 80% base damage to the unit in the hex behind the target) ''- elvish archers, skeleton archers and their advancements''<br /> *S21:<br /> **'''Potion of Deftness''' (+1 movement, +1 ranged damage) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Accuracy Bow''' (adds marksman special to ranged attacks) - ''bone shooters and elvish rangers and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Potion of Strength''' (+1 melee damage, +8 HP) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Glacial Gladius''' (+1 melee damage, cold damage and slow for a unit’s melee attack, -5% HP) - ''elvish fighters, archers, hunters, scouts and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Amulet of t<br /> *22B<br /> **'''Ring of the Revenant''' (Any living creature wearing this ring is granted the power to cheat death once, after which the ring shall become inert for a thousand years) - ''living units besides sprites and bats.''<br /> <br /> ==Part I: Seeking the Light==<br /> ===S1 (Border Patrol)===<br /> *Objectives: The starting objectives are to hold out as long as possible, but on Turn 4 the objectives will change to defeating all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This is a deceptively easy scenario, as the next scenario is very difficult and requires a substantial gold carryover. On Hard something like 140 carryover is ideal and anything less than 100 carryover is probably too little to win with. Do not overrecruit, keep an eye on your income (make sure it’s positive) and be aggressive – don’t be afraid to lose some units, as it will help your income.<br /> <br /> Recruits: I’d recommend getting 2 shamans so that you can divide your forces and have a healer for each one, but not more than that as you need damage dealers. The rest of your units should be a mix of mostly archers and hunters. (Fighters are generally inferior to hunters, and scouts are expensive and do little damage).<br /> <br /> General strategies:<br /> *'''Defending the starting keep:''' One strategy is to hang back at your initial castle during the first day, recruiting very lightly during these turns to preserve income. Form a line on good terrain: one possibility is to use the forts just south of your keep; another option is to form a slightly more forward line stretching from the forest tiles (19,20) to (26,17) through the village southeast of your keep. &lt;br /&gt; Let the enemies come to you; they’ll arrive around Turn 6 (The Short Dark). Attack aggressively during Second Dawn/Day and you should be able to eliminate almost all the enemy units before The Long Dark hits.<br /> <br /> *'''Moving to the center keep (by Theron):''' An alternate faster and much more aggressive strategy, meant to finish as early as possible for maximum carryover, is to recruit a full keep on turn 1 and move Galas to the central keep immediately. Much of the fighting will take place around First Dusk / The Short Dark so expect heavy losses. &lt;br /&gt; Theron's advice: Recruit 3 Archers and 3 Hunters in turn 1. (Fighters are too slow; shamans are too slow and their damage output is too low.) Move Galas to the tiny keep in the middle of the map. Recruit 1 more Archer and 1 more Hunter in turn 3. Recruit 2 Fighters and 2 Shamans in turn 3 + 4. Decide where to amass your army (green front or blue front). Do not retreat. Ignore TOD. Use terrain advantage.<br /> <br /> For defeating the enemy leaders you can either split your forces in two and kill them simultaneously, or a safer (but slower) strategy is to send everyone to kill the southern green leader and them move them all to the blue eastern leader. The eastern leader is tough to kill – it can help to level an archer to marksman and shoot him down during daytime.<br /> <br /> Try to get Galas to level 2 (captain is strongly recommended for leadership) and level at least one of the shamans to druid.<br /> <br /> ===S2 (A Real Confrontation)===<br /> *Objectives:<br /> **Hold out until the end of turns.<br /> **Alternate objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> <br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario on Hard, so you’ll want to start this with over 200 gold (minimum gold is 100; replay scenario 1 for more carryover if necessary). The first thing to do is grab the villages of your useless ally, as you can put the gold to much better use. Note that you (or your ally) must retain control of a certain number of villages (9 on Hard, depends on difficulty) or you will lose. This should not be a problem though, as there are 9 villages (3 in the northwest, 3 near your keep, 3 near Ledinor’s keep) which are quite far back and easy to defend.<br /> <br /> This battle has two fronts divided by the central lake: the western front south of your keep, and the eastern front. The eastern front is relatively safe as there are less enemies there and Ledinor sends the bulk of his army that way, while the western front will be a high casualty bloodbath. Therefore one approach is to send a small elite group of veterans including Anlindë east, while using a massive spam approach (civilians and fresh recruits, mixed with some veterans) in the west. An alternate strategy is to recruit only civilians initially and send them out to delay the enemy forces enough so that they reach your main force during the day.<br /> <br /> Keep your elves in a line in the forest and try to slow the level 2 enemies; use ctrl + v and watch out for the skirmishers. With constant reinforcements from your high income and the time of day changing in your favor the chaos army should eventually run out of steam.<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly fine to start the next scenario with minimum gold, so do not worry if you can't defeat the enemy leaders for the finish bonus. Try to level a shaman to sorceress, as the arcane magical damage will be very useful for the next scenario. This is best done on the later turns, when most of the chaos army is gone and it’s relatively safe.<br /> <br /> ===S3 (Memories from the Depths)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the cave, then defeat the undead leader in the far northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Recruit lightly initially, as there aren’t so many enemies in the tunnel and there is another keep right at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be fighting undead so hunters and their advancements are especially good, as are sorceresses if you have any; try to get Anlindë to level 3 and / or a sorceress or enchantress during this scenario as it will help defeat the enemy at the very end. When you reach the end of the tunnel, you can use the nearby keep to recruit/recall some more units. Try to keep your income positive though – you don’t need too many units and there will be more opportunities to recruit along the way.<br /> <br /> Proceed northwest past the second keep, and you’ll come across some branching paths. On the right, moving to the flashing yellow hex will open up a passage leading to a Ring of Swiftness granting +1 movement. A good choice for this ring is Galas, since it can potentially allow him to reach keeps and recruit a turn earlier. The two western paths which will join together in a large central chamber, where you’ll encounter the main undead army; take them out with the help of slowing and arcane attacks.<br /> <br /> Triggering a touchplate in the southwest leads to two holy waters which grant arcane melee damage for this scenario only. Continue northwest, being careful not to expose wounded units since bats will often come out of nowhere and attack, and you’ll come to a river crossing. Across the river is another keep – I would highly recommend using this keep to recruit a couple expendable hunters or shamans for their slowing ability in preparation for the scenario’s final enemy.<br /> <br /> Head east across the river and the path will split north and east. Both paths will join up in the northeast corner but the eastern path has much stronger enemies so send most of your units that way - you can use expendable units to lure the high level undead guards into the open where they are easily killed. In the northeast you’ll come across the scenario’s final enemy, an ancient lich! You’ll need to slow him first, so hopefully you have some expendable hunters or shamans which can suicide into him until he’s slowed. After he’s slowed use your sorceress/enchantress and Anlindë to hopefully finish him off.<br /> <br /> ===S4 (Over the Sands)===<br /> <br /> Recruits: Living units are generally not recommended in this scenario due to the dehydration mechanic, but you’ll certainly want another (preferably +8) healer besides Anlindë, and you might as well recall the loyal scout too since he doesn’t cost upkeep. I’d recommend recruiting mostly ghosts – they are fast and have extremely good advancements – with some vampire bats mixed in to scout and act as a distraction force.<br /> You start with 2 villages and there are 6 more around the orc’s keep, but this is all you’re going to get for most of the scenario so take that into account when recruiting (try to keep your income positive).<br /> <br /> '''Part 1'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the orc leader to the northwest.<br /> <br /> Use Galas’ leadership on the level 1 ghosts; try to level a couple by feeding them the level 2 orc kills. Focus on killing crossbowmen and archers as their ranged fire attack is dangerous to ghosts. Mal Keshar is great at screening your units – you can put him in very exposed positions and the orcs will generally ignore him.<br /> <br /> When you kill the orcish leader you’ll get about 50 gold. You can use his keep to recruit some reinforcements (watch your income; there aren’t any more villages for a long time). Start heading west, where you’ll encounter some very weak undead. There will also be some scorpions north and south of the path which are free experience for wraiths and ghosts.<br /> After a while the path will turn south and you’ll spot some bandits. EDIT: The '''Staff of Petrichor''' is located to the southeast and has 4 petrified griffin units that will awaken and attack you once you attempt to loot the tomb. Make sure you have multiple ghost line units there during the nighttime to try to drain through the damage.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the bandit leader in the southwest.<br /> <br /> Try to fight the elusive outlaw units (footpads, thieves) on sand terrain where they only have 40% defense instead of their usual 60 or 70%. Bats make great bait for luring out powerful guard units, or the enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat the leader some humans will show up from the north, and you will have to decide whether to fight them. If you do decide to fight them you'll have to defeat their leader and will go to S5a (Crossfire). If you choose the second option instead, the scenario will end immediately and you will go to S5b (Cursed Plateau). <br /> S5a is the easier scenario, but since both scenarios give a different item (see the [[#Item_List | Item List]]) you may want to decide based on that.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3 (only if you chose to fight the humans)'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the leader of the humans in the northwest.<br /> <br /> Note that drain attacks will not work on the human units so you’ll have to be a bit more careful with putting wraiths on the front line.<br /> Use the bandit’s keep to recruit more reinforcements if needed and start heading north. You’ll encounter two revenants; you can easily lure them out and kill them with spectres / wraiths. The humans have a lot of units, but if you form a line where your units can only be reached from 2 hexes then their level 1 units won’t be able to damage you too much.<br /> Continue northwest towards the final leader; again a vampire bat can be used to lure her out.<br /> <br /> ===Diverging campaign path===<br /> ====S5a (Crossfire)====<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders, and make sure no chaos empire units survive.<br /> <br /> All three enemy sides will fight each other, so a couple keeps of units should be enough. Villages are very scarce so using mainly low level units supported by leadership will save on upkeep. Start by sending your entire army south against the chaos empire; the undead and bandits will mostly be occupied fighting each other. The undead will send quite a few troops east but they should arrive around daytime so it should be easy to wipe them out.<br /> <br /> After the chaos empire is defeated, head west; you can send everybody against the lich and then north or split into two groups, one to defeat the lich and one to deal with the bandits. The bandits are the stronger enemy – try to attack them during the day.<br /> <br /> After defeating the bandit leader you’ll be given the choice to spare him; do so and you’ll be given a very useful Ring of Regeneration (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage), a good item for Galas. (Deciding to kill him will only give you some gold and is not worth it.)<br /> <br /> ====S5b (Cursed Plateau)====<br /> *Objectives: Move to the northwest corner of the map with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **In order to get the item you must find the piece of parchment in the southwest cave, and defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> You won't be getting any more villages for a while, so recruit very lightly initially. There's another tiny 1-hex keep to the west where you can recall some more reinforcements, and you'll only face some scorpions and bats at first, so a couple wraiths should be enough. Once you reach the tiny keep in the west, send some flying undead into the southwest cave, where there's a touchplate opening into a chasm full of bats. To the southeast of the chasm is a passage leading to a piece of parchment, which opens a passage through the mountains in the northwest.<br /> <br /> To the north is another small 2-hex keep, though you might have to clear out some chaos empire units before you can use it. There are a lot of invokers so you'll probably want either some cannon fodder or some durable non undead units. It's preferable to form a solid line and defend until most of the enemies are gone, because there are many high level enemies and also some nasty shadow minions (nightstalking, skirmishing and backstabbing pests) around.<br /> <br /> Northeast of the small keep there's a dead end cave with the blue enemy leader; if you want the scenario's item you'll have to defeat him (Mal Keshar is very effective against him), otherwise you can just ignore the cave, though there is a small amount of gold there.<br /> <br /> Following the northwest path through the mountains leads to a gate, which you won't be able to open until you defeat both enemy leaders, though you could start sending whichever unit you want to pick up the item that way (it can be used by elvish hunters, fighters and advancements; I'd strongly recommend Galas.) Just send them on their own because there aren't any enemies behind the gate. Once you kill both leaders, you'll be able to pass through the gate to a chest in the south containing Shardia's Meteor (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse).<br /> <br /> Continuing north and then east, there's another cave with the second leader. There's also a couple small piles of gold (in the southeast and northeast) in the cave. In the northwest is the shadow courier leader; try to kill him as quickly as possible in melee (preferably luring him out of the castle first so he doesn't have such high defense) because he will completely demolish your undead units. Once you kill the shadow courier, the western path which leads outside to the exit only has a few vampire bats.<br /> <br /> ===S6 (Moon Valley)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This scenario is much easier than it looks, because the orcish units will generally stay clumped together near their leader instead of all coming towards you at once, allowing you to focus on each army separately. You’ll receive a small amount of gold each time you defeat an enemy leader.<br /> <br /> It's possible to rush the northeastern (blue) orc leader and kill him before he spends most of his gold: recruit a full keep on turn 1 and send Galas northwest immediately; send a bat southwest to village grab and move everyone else northwest. With the help of Anlindë and Mal Keshar you should be able to whittle down the leader on turn 3 and finish him on turn 4. Galas can then use the keep to recruit reinforcements while the rest of the army clears out the remaining blue orcs.<br /> <br /> At this point the green and black orcs will be hanging around the central forest while purple remains in the west. Advance aggressively during the second day and you should be able to wipe out most of the green and black units. After that only purple will be left; it will be night now but with the help of slow and Mal Keshar who is practically invincible they shouldn’t pose a problem.<br /> <br /> As the dialogue hints, when you approach the northwest area close to the final keep, several high level orcs will appear and the northwest leader will also get some gold to recruit. Wait until daytime (preferably morning) to approach, and you can also use the nearby keep to recruit some spam if you want to be extra safe.<br /> <br /> ===S7 (Goliath)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat Goliath.<br /> *Note: The units you recruit/recall on the first turn are all you will have for the entire scenario, so choose carefully.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of weak level 1 units scattered around, so it’s a good opportunity to get some experience. Most of the enemies in this scenario are automatons which are extremely resistant to blade and arcane (50%) but only have 10% impact resistance making trappers/prowlers especially effective against them.<br /> <br /> After heading west through the tunnel that you start in, you’ll come across the keep of the chaos empire. This is actually the toughest opposition you will face all scenario so be defensive (form a line and let the enemies come to you) and take your time. The enemy leader is extremely dangerous in ranged so try to take him down in 1 turn using mostly melee attacks.<br /> <br /> After defeating the enemy leader, head south across the river and you’ll encounter some demons and bats scattered about; keep heading south and you’ll come to a chamber with some automatons which are basically free experience. There’s a passage in the south leading to an orb switch; send a fast unit like a flying undead to trigger it, which will open the eastern wall into a large central area.<br /> <br /> In the central area, triggering the touchplate in the southwest corner opens a small room in the center with two golems guarding a potion of strength (+2 melee attack, +8 HP for this scenario only) and the final touchplate which opens the way south. The northeast path is just a dead end with some weak enemies (though you could go kill them for the experience if you have the time) so send everyone down the southern passage. <br /> <br /> The passage leads into a huge chamber in the south filled with automatons. Moving further south in this chamber reveals the scenario’s boss, Goliath, who appears along with a few level 1 automatons. Goliath has a lot of HP and good resistances but is extremely weak in offense, so just slow him and attack with powerful units like Mal Keshar and he will be destroyed in no time.<br /> <br /> In the far southeast, down the watery passage, there is a secret touchplate at 40,26 which opens a passage to the Void Armor, which is located in the lit hex at 31,24. The armor sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact (EDIT: Changed Void Armor stats to provide +15/15/20/10% resistance to blade, pierce, impact, and fire damage; as opposed to the previous replacement of blade/pierce/impact with 50/50/60% and increase of fire by 10%) and is a great item for Galas (it can be used by elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements) - start sending whichever unit you want to take it southeast ASAP if you want to make it in time.<br /> <br /> ===S8 (An Errand of Hope)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (3 in total).<br /> <br /> You will get another opportunity to recruit later, when you are much closer to the main battle, so you may want to save some gold until then and try not to go negative on income. The first enemy you’ll be facing is some trolls directly to the northwest. Wraiths, spectres and Mal Keshar are especially effective against them. Near the troll’s keep you’ll find a Poisonous Bow (can be used by elvish archers, skeleton archers, elvish heroes, revenants and their advancements) which adds an 11-3 ranged poison attack.<br /> <br /> Head northwest across the river (don’t bother exploring southwest of the river; there’s nothing there) and you’ll come across a large central area – entering it will clear the fog in the area and reveal an ongoing battle between the chaos empire and some allied dwarves. There’s also a second dwarf leader far in the northwest (he has a few villages, so you can send a bat up that way to steal them), and another chaos empire leader all the way in the northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Use the large keep here to recruit/recall some reinforcements, and split up your forces between the western front and the northeastern front. You’ll need more firepower in the northeast, since there are quite a few high level enemies there and the dwarves will concentrate their forces in the west. It helps to have Galas use Althurin’s keep to constantly reinforce (you should have a pretty high income) and just defend the northeast passage until the high level enemies are gone. (Don’t worry about keeping Althurin alive; he’ll just flee if he gets to 0 HP).<br /> <br /> The final enemy leader is all the way in the northeast corner; he’s a chaos lorekeeper so send your strongest melee units against him.<br /> By the way, there’s no point in sending a unit to the crypt south of the western leader (you’ll just get a message saying it’s empty).<br /> <br /> ===S9 (The Library)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> *Note: The exit is marked by a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south (its exact location is random). You'll need the exit key to pass through, which is dropped by a random enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Don’t recruit too heavily at the beginning, since you’ll get another opportunity to recruit about halfway through the scenario. You’ll probably have to do quite a bit of fighting before then though, so some durable units will be helpful. Ghosts/wraiths/spectres are especially good in this scenario due to the lack of chaos invokers and fire demons. Head west (the passage south of your starting keep just leads to an empty dead end) and after fighting through a couple level 2 undead you’ll come to an intersection.<br /> <br /> The northwest path leads to a dead end with a ruined house; when you send a living nonbat unit there to investigate you’ll discover Igor, a loyal wolf rider. He is automatically recalled in all later scenarios and even has his own dialogue, so it's highly recommended to keep him alive. EDIT: If you keep Igor alive until the end of the campaign, not only do you get an achievement, but he will be with you at the start of the follow up campaign in After the Storm! Meanwhile in the south, the combined forces of the 3 enemy leaders will begin to arrive. The easiest way to fight them is to just defend in the bottleneck until the massive army is mostly gone; it will take quite a while but the rest of the scenario will go much quicker after the main enemy army is gone.<br /> <br /> When you get past the bottleneck you’ll come to a large keep where you can recruit some reinforcements, and the path splits into a western and eastern one. There are two enemy leaders in the west and one in the south, so one possibility is to split into two groups and have one group take out the two western leaders one after another (there’s a banebow leader in the northwest and a draug leader in the southwest), while another group circles east and then south to take care of the southern lich leader (bring some arcane damage).<br /> <br /> The purple glyphs scattered around reveal various pieces of backstory. There is also a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south which marks the exit. You’ll need the exit key (dropped by a random enemy leader) to use the glyph. You might as well just defeat all enemy leaders for the experience and early finish bonus, as they don’t have much income and are pretty much on their own.<br /> <br /> ===S10 (The Source of Light)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then activate the six runes to open the central chamber.<br /> <br /> Note that this scenario takes place deep underground, where chaotic units get +30% damage instead of the usual +25%. In the beginning, make sure to send a vampire bat to grab the village in the far northeast corner of the map, across the chasm. The first objective is to defeat the enemy leader to the southwest. There are a lot of high level enemy units including skirmishers, so a safe way to play it is to form a solid vertical line along the 4-hex bottleneck (from 42,11 to 42,15) and defend there until the most threatening enemies are gone.<br /> <br /> Once the leader is defeated, you’ll have to activate the 6 glyphs scattered throughout the lower half of the map. Here are their approximate locations (going counterclockwise):<br /> *'''Northwest (across the river):''' A long twisty passage leads past some giant spiders to a glyph at the very end.<br /> *'''West:''' There’s a glyph behind a cuttlefish leader in the west of the watery area.<br /> *'''Southwest corner:''' There are a bunch of animated rocks and various undead here, and a glyph next to an enemy leader. Watch out, because several wraiths are lurking near the keep.<br /> *'''Center south:''' There’s a sealed chamber containing a glyph, which you have to open by finding a touchplate in the far south. There’s also a red Berserker Potion (not usable by: ghosts/bats/corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units), which gives the berserk special to a unit’s melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and some extra resistance (+10% blade, +20% fire, +30% impact).<br /> *'''Southeast:''' There’s a lava filled cave full of fire spirits – dark adepts and their advancements are especially effective against them. In the far southeast there’s a fire guardian leader and a glyph next to the keep.<br /> *'''Northeast:''' You’ll encounter some undead and a chocobone leader (be sure to keep fragile units out of range of its charge attack). There’s a glyph guarded by vampire bats north of the undead keep, and a northeast passage leading to a green Potion of Drain (adds drain special, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance, usable by non undead units).<br /> <br /> In order to explore efficiently it’s best to divide into several small groups (e.g. 4 groups, one for each corner). A very useful tip by skeptical_troll if you’d like to avoid a lot of fighting completely is to send a shadow/nightgaunt to activate the glyphs (though it’s not advised to do this in the southwest or northeast corner, since these glyphs are surrounded by enemies).<br /> <br /> Since there is no early finish bonus and you likely have very high income, you may want to take your time and make some extra gold for next scenario.<br /> <br /> ===S11 (Strike on Herthgar)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out until the end of turns, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: All enemy sides will get a small amount of gold on turns 6 and 14.<br /> <br /> This scenario is actually the final battle for Part I – the next two scenarios are more of an epilogue. This is one of the more difficult scenarios, so don’t worry too much about losing some veterans (another thing to note is that you will not be able to take more than six undead veterans with you after this scenario.)<br /> <br /> Gold carryover is completely irrelevant (you won’t be able to use more than the minimum gold next scenario) so one approach is to just recall every single veteran you can afford. It can be helpful to create walking corpses with your necromancers to act as a distraction. Also, be sure not to let your spectres/nightgaunts etc. get within range of multiple chaos invokers and demons, or they will die fast.<br /> <br /> Here is one strategy for defeating all enemy leaders:<br /> #Send a large force northwest to wipe out the two northwestern enemies while a smaller force heads south to defend the dwarven castle. (The eastern front and southern front do not require immediate attention because the dwarves will delay the enemies for several turns.) Form a line and let them come to you; prowlers with their slowing ability and necromancers with their high HP and arcane resistance (there are lots of chaos invokers around) are especially good at holding the line.<br /> #Once the two northwest enemies are defeated, split the large northern force, with one part going to deal with the eastern enemies, and the rest going south to reinforce the castle.<br /> #Defend in the castle using the bridge chokepoints (just watch out for demon zephyrs which can fly over the deep water moat) until most of the southern enemies are gone. The southern force can then split into two groups and take out the two remaining southern leaders.<br /> <br /> ===S12 (The Escape)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the northern exit with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: You may only recruit/recall during the first turn (6 units total), and any undead veterans you do not recall this scenario will be permanently lost (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count).<br /> <br /> This is a relatively easy scenario, but there are some triggered events including a large ambush near the end so don’t send your units too far ahead by themselves.<br /> <br /> There are four minor enemies you’ll be facing this scenario:<br /> <br /> #After crossing the river at the beginning you’ll come across a chamber with the chaos empire fighting some trolls; both are very weak and shouldn’t be a problem.<br /> #After crossing another bridge and heading north you’ll encounter a mechanical Goliath along with some automatons; he is also extremely weak.<br /> #You’ll then come across a tunnel leading into a large empty chamber. Do not send a unit all the way into the chamber because there’s an ambush; instead move a scouting unit slowly toward the chamber until you trigger the ambush, then pull it back using its remaining movement. After that the ambush shouldn’t be hard to deal with – the most threatening enemy is the hellhound with 10-4 melee berserk, but a single spectre can easily take care of it.<br /> #Finally, after heading north you’ll come across some imps. One thing to watch out for is that when you kill the leader imp, he will dissolve into a bunch of mudcrawlers. After that the exit is straight to the north.<br /> <br /> ===S13 (Face Your Fate)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out to the end of turns; then accept the inevitable.<br /> <br /> This is mostly a cutscene scenario.<br /> Holding out until the end of turns should be trivial with your extremely high starting gold. If you didn’t manage to recall some of your undead veterans last scenario, you can recall them now. A few turns after the initial turn limit, the Chaos Warlord will appear in the southwest and the objectives will change to defeating her. However, it is impossible (if you reduce her HP to 0 she’ll just heal back to full and instantly kill all your undead units), and the only way to end the scenario is to let your leader die.<br /> <br /> ==Part II: Armageddon==<br /> <br /> ===S14 (Clearing the Road)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> This should be a very easy scenario, especially if you’re continuing from a Part I save, so it’s a good opportunity to get some easy XP for fresh recruits. The barrel contains 6 explosive arrows (does 80% of the base damage to the unit immediately behind the target).<br /> <br /> The two enemies you’ll be facing are saurians and water serpents from the northwest and orcs from the northeast. The northeast orc keep is surrounded by deep water to the south, forcing the orcs to go all the way around to the west and then south, giving you several turns to focus on the saurian army before they arrive. Most of your forces should head northwest since the main battle will take place there (for the east you can just send a bat to village grab). If you keep your elves in the forests you should have no problem dealing with the saurians and then the orcs.<br /> <br /> ===S15 (Shadows of Time)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders. (You actually do not need to kill the ancient lich leader – once you reduce him to half health he will flee.)<br /> You’ll be fighting a lot of undead so arcane (sorceresses, dark adepts, etc.) and fire damage (sprites) will be very useful. Your orcish allies will mostly go up the northeastern side of the map and delay the undead coming from that direction, so the main battle will likely take place on two fronts: fighting the undead from the west, and the orcs in the center.<br /> <br /> The first threat you’ll face is the group of four Forefathers coming at you from the west; stay back and let them get close, and then finish them off with heavy arcane hitters like Elynia and Mal Keshar. After that you can split your army in two, with one group holding off the undead in the western forest, and another (probably larger) group dealing with the incoming flood of orcs (and later undead from the north) in the center.<br /> <br /> ===S16 (Dawn of War)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the southern edge of the map with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective (early finish bonus): Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: after this scenario, you won't be able to recruit elves or dark adepts, and all elven veterans not recalled in this scenario are permanently lost.<br /> <br /> Recalling advice:<br /> *If you continued from Part I you’ll likely have much more veterans than you can recall; however there’s no need to get obsessed about bringing every single veteran with you because there is very little gold in later scenarios, so you won’t be able to use them all anyway.<br /> *Elves: It’s highly recommended to get at least two healers because you will not be able to get any more healers later! After that, probably the most useful elven units are enchantresses and prowlers since they can slow.<br /> *Spectres are great in later levels (arcane damage + mobility); I’d recommend recalling every one you have. Necromancers and nightgaunts will also be very useful.<br /> *I would not recommend recalling any sprites, since they are lawful and the next scenarios all feature perpetual night.<br /> <br /> Your two allies will do a pretty good job distracting the two outer enemies, so the main battle will take place in the center. If you began the battle portion of the scenario on turn 4, you should have a turn of daylight (First Afternoon) to strike hard and fast at the central enemies with all your veterans. If you continue to make as many kills as possible during dusk there shouldn’t be many enemies left at all to threaten you during the night. Once you deal with the units from the two central enemies the rest of the battle should be easy, as the two outer enemies should be weakened from fighting your allies. It's recommended to kill all the enemy leaders for the extra gold and experience.<br /> <br /> ===S17 (Voice of the Armageddon)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> You will face two enemy leaders: a relatively weak enemy in the center, and a very powerful enemy far to the south. You’ll probably want to recruit a few expendable units such as ghosts or vampire bats to distract the powerful enemy units from your veterans. The central enemy shouldn’t be too much of a problem: blast them with your veterans and then put a couple expendable units in front to screen them.<br /> <br /> Once you scout far enough south, you’ll trigger the southern leader to start recruiting and a boss Armageddon Imp will appear and start heading for you. It’s probably best to wait near the central keep and let the imps come to you so you don’t get in range of the enemies stationed in the southern fort. Once they arrive, illuminate and slow the boss and then zap him with your magical ranged units. Next you’ll have to deal with the army of soulless and necrophages coming from the south; once again an effective tactic is to blast away with your veterans from the back and then insert some expendable units in the front.<br /> <br /> Be careful when approaching the fort because the powerful units stationed there will come out and attack; use the show enemy moves keybind (by default it's Ctrl + v) to make sure no one is too exposed, and try to lure them out one by one. The ancient lich leader can be lured out onto 40% defense terrain by placing a walking corpse in his range. Don’t bother about setting up the kill on the leader because he will just run away, denying you the killing XP.<br /> <br /> ===S18 (Ashes of Wesmere)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar to the cave in the southeast.<br /> <br /> The more spectres you have the easier this scenario will be; I recommend recalling all your spectres and wraiths. Since there aren’t any villages you’ll surely start next scenario with minimum gold anyway, so there’s no point in worrying about upkeep or saving gold (EDIT: I was able to complete this scenario on hard with 1 keep worth of recalled units if you want some gold carryover). The main enemies you’ll be facing are drones, which do impact damage and are weak to arcane. Advance very cautiously at first because there will be several level 2 drones lurking around. They’re extremely nasty in ranged, so spectres are ideal for taking them out.<br /> <br /> Once you start heading south, you’ll face a horde of level 1 drones from all directions. Just keep killing them every turn with spectres and wraiths, focusing on one group at a time, and eventually they’ll run out. Be careful of putting Mal Keshar in range of a lot of drones because they’ll chain attack him and he’s weak to impact.<br /> <br /> After that it should be easy to kill the enemy leader, who has a pretty pathetic army. When you head southeast to the cave, keep a tight formation and don’t expose heavily wounded units because there are several invisible skirmishing and backstabbing shadow minions around.<br /> Since there’s no early finish bonus, you can use any leftover turns to go around killing the other enemies scattered around the map for the XP.<br /> <br /> ===S19 (Under the Sands)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Elynia or Mal Keshar<br /> *Note: If either Elynia or Mal Keshar is still in the hive, you won't be able to end the scenario (with the other one) until they leave the hive.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of rough terrain and chasms, so ghostly undead (spectres, nightgaunts) will be extremely useful. Also, the blue matrix flow systems have 0% defense and can be drained, so they can be used as free full heals for your spectres.<br /> <br /> When heading out of the initial chamber, be very cautious and keep a completely tight formation because there are several shadow minions (which are invisible and can skirmish and backstab) lurking nearby. This scenario is full of these shadow minions, so be very cautious when advancing.<br /> <br /> Make your way southeast to kill the drone leader, then west where the chaos empire army should be arriving. They shouldn’t be much trouble (just make sure to kill the invokers before they can get at your ghosts). You’ll arrive in a large central chamber full of various enemies. Send some units towards the hive in the southwest of the chamber and you’ll spot a matrix core in the far west; each core you destroy will reduce the gold of certain enemy sides in the next scenario by a bit (there are 5 cores total). Next scenario is difficult, so it's worthwhile to destroy as many cores as possible.<br /> <br /> Head south across the lava chasm (it will probably take a while, due to being assaulted by enemy spawns from all directions) and you’ll come across the chaos empire leader to the left and a dead end with a second matrix core on the right. Once you defeat the leader head south towards a swampy area.<br /> <br /> Past the swamp is a fork: the southern fork doesn’t have enemies and leads straight to the exit. The eastern fork leads into a large hive, where the remaining 3 matrix cores are. One of the cores is near the entrance. The remaining 2 cores are extremely deep into the hive so getting at them may be more trouble than it’s worth, though you can get some good XP out of fighting your way through to them. Note that you won’t be able to leave until Elynia or Mal Keshar are outside the hive, so make sure you have enough turns left before exploring (but if you kill the innermost core, a shortcut will open up, so you don’t have to backtrack all the way).<br /> <br /> ===S20 (The Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar inside the fortress, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **Another enemy leader will appear in the north on Turn 2. Also, every so often starting from Turn 3, a large group of enemies (mostly demon zephyrs) will appear in the chasm surrounding the fortress.<br /> **After the initial turns of daylight the scenario becomes perpetually night.<br /> **You have control over the allied dwarves this time. They leave after this so they’re completely expendable.<br /> <br /> This is somewhat of a finale for Part II of IftU. <br /> Since you don’t have so much time, trying to defeat every leader is probably more trouble than it’s worth, especially on Hard. My strategy was to completely ignore the northern leader and rush my entire army southwest, killing as many units as possible during the day before the scenario turned into perpetual night. After that I fought my way over the bridge into the fortress (having spectres and nightgaunts fly over the chasm is essential in breaking the bridge bottleneck), sending the less valuable veterans in first. Meanwhile some units went to deal with the northern army which was attacking from behind.<br /> <br /> The dwarves really did not do much; I mostly had them camped in the 3 village cluster just northwest of the fortress the entire time, where they lured out and killed any demon zephyrs which spawned in the west.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *After this you’ll only be able to use 8 of your veterans for the rest of the campaign. So choose your 8 favorite veterans and go crazy with the rest!<br /> *There are a ton of enemies on this map, and a lot of nasty flying ones which can reach your units from quite far away. Use ctrl + v constantly to avoid surprises.<br /> *Two nightgaunts backstabbing from opposite sides of a sentry tower will automatically kill it from full health.<br /> *Having some expendable units will be very helpful; if you’re short on cash, you can use your necromancers’ plague staff to make free corpses.<br /> *Don’t worry about gold carryover; you can’t use more than the minimum next scenario anyway.<br /> <br /> ===S21 (Innuendo)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit in the north with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **From now on it is ''highly'' recommended to restart anytime any unit dies, because these are the only veterans you'll have for the rest of the campaign and the remaining scenarios are very difficult.<br /> **It is essential to pick up the chest of gold in the southwest, which will be needed several scenarios later for the final battle.<br /> <br /> Recruits: You may only bring 8 veterans with you for the rest of the campaign. Future scenarios will be underground / deep underground so undead are especially useful. It’s also recommended to bring 2 shydes for healing, at least one necromancer for making free fodder corpses, and some flying undead (spectres/nightgaunts) since there will be a lot of unwalkable chasms. (I used 2 shydes, 2 necromancers, 1 lich, 2 spectres and 1 nightgaunt and it worked really well.)<br /> <br /> Get ready for an absolutely massive dungeon crawl! You’ll face several waves of enemies in this scenario:<br /> <br /> '''The beginning:''' Some Chaos Empire units will come at you immediately, so just form a solid line in the passage and let them come. After that the path splits north to a dead end with a Potion of Deftness giving +1 movement and +1 ranged damage (living units only), and a southwestern passage leading to a large chamber full of powerful enemies. You can safely destroy them by forming a line in the 3-hex passage and slowly picking them off until they’re gone. (Try to turn some of them into corpses, which can be used as bait for powerful enemies later).<br /> <br /> '''The large chamber in the south:''' There are two paths north (both lead to the same place) with some enemies guarding them. In the southwest corner there’s a room with a Potion of Strength (+1 melee, +8 HP, a great item for Galas), an Accuracy Bow (for archer units only, such as Erathan), and a chest of gold. There is an enemy leader in the northwest, and moving to the gem behind him will open one of the gates in the northeast.<br /> <br /> '''The northern chamber of undead:''' You’ll need to find the gem which opens the gate in the far north, where there is an ancient lich leader. Be sure to stay out of his range (he has 7 movement!) until you wipe out most of his army. Also be careful of the two wraiths right behind the leader. If you made any walking corpses earlier, you can use them as bait to safely lure out the ancient lich leader. The gem on his keep opens the gate in the east.<br /> <br /> '''The imp boss''': Past the eastern gate, you’ll come to a long passage east with some enemies. Once you advance far enough, you’ll discover a large chamber with a nasty imp boss and some other enemies. It’s best to fight them in the 3-hex bottleneck, and try to have Elynia illuminate and slow the boss.<br /> <br /> '''The dungeon:''' The area northwest of the chamber where the imp was leads to the exit, but it’s blocked by a gate so you’ll have to go east to the dungeons first. You'll find a (useless) troll soulless and a merman soulless which will join you, as well as a hostile drake soulless. In the southeast, there’s an unwalkable chasm with some enemies on the other side; if you send some flying undead exploring there they can trigger a touchplate which opens a passage for regular units to enter. There is a Glacial Gladius there which gives a slowing cold melee attack (usable by elves other than shamans+advancements, and by Erathan.)<br /> <br /> The goal is the northeast hive area, where there’s an amulet (+10% arcane resistance, changes ranged damage type to arcane) which is good for units like shydes so they’ll take less damage when slowing later bosses. The south of the hive contains a cage with Ledinor, the elvish lord from the beginning. Freeing him and the other three soulless will open the gate in the northwest where there are a ton of high level enemies and a drone boss.<br /> <br /> '''The exit (finally!):''' For the horde of high level enemies coming from the exit, it’s safest to retreat to one of the 3-hex passages leading to the dungeons and just pick them off slowly. When approaching the exit, be careful since the chasms on either side contain drones.<br /> <br /> ===S22 A (Face of the Enemy)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the area, then defeat the Chaos Warlord, then flee to the southeast with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> Head southeast past some drone hives – the drones will constantly respawn from the hives, though they won’t chase you if no units are in range. Continue heading east across the cave area. There’s a gate in the north which just leads to a dead end, and a couple doors in the southeast which lead to a corridor of enemies. The safe way to deal with them is to camp in the 2-hex bottleneck. Also, watch out for the berserking hellhound hiding in the back. The northeastern water area just leads to a glyph with some backstory about the drones.<br /> <br /> Past the corridor of enemies is another gate; once you open it all your units will be teleported into the chamber beyond, where you’ll be surrounded by powerful enemies. Try to focus on killing a few at a time while staying out of range of the others. A few turns later the Chaos Warlord will show up in the keep in the west. She’ll recruit some units, so retreat and deal with her army before taking her on.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat her she’ll heal back to full so you’ll have to run away by having Mal Keshar destroy the exit gate to the southeast. Fortunately Elynia will cast a spell on her so she’ll only have 1 movement until you open the gate, at which point she regains all her movement (so make sure your units aren’t in her range at that time). The Warlord will just stay in her keep and recruit and not chase you, so it should be easy to get away. The southeast area just has some drones in the south and a giant spider; move a leader to the southern border of the map to proceed to the next part.<br /> <br /> ===S22 B (Dark Hive)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Warlord (you will have to fight her several times.)<br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario. There are hordes of constantly respawning drones, several difficult boss fights and you must also keep as many veterans as possible alive for later scenarios.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *In general due to the respawning drones it’s best to stick together in a single group, move forward quickly, and not send units off exploring side passages or they may end up trapped – the only things to find anyway are two glyphs with some backstory. *EDIT: There is a '''Ring of the Revenant''' to the southwest below the southern river that provides an extra life for a living unit. It is guarded by a few drones and under a glyph tile with additional backstory in a coffin. I gave it to one of my Shydes flying around with my Spectres exploring the area.<br /> *A useful (but cheap) tactic is to deliberately leave units (especially Elynia/Mal Keshar) a few XP from leveling so when they attack the boss they’ll automatically heal to full.<br /> *Always make sure to lure off and get rid of as many surrounding drones as possible before confronting the Chaos Warlord, because her leadership combined with the drones is deadly. <br /> There are three sections, each ending with a fight against the Chaos Warlord:<br /> <br /> '''Part I'''<br /> <br /> In the beginning, the path branches south and east; both eventually lead to the same place in the southeast but the eastern path has better terrain so is probably the easier one. Eventually you’ll come to a larger area with a chaos magus to the south; the way forward is a couple doors south of the chaos magus past some ants. Once you open the doors you’ll meet Elyssa again; she’s surrounded by a ton of drones and will recruit more so just camp in the 2-hex passage until all the drones are gone. Meanwhile you’ll have to move Elynia and Mal Keshar next to each other and protect them for a few turns (move them off the front lines before doing this, because they won’t be able to move or attack).<br /> <br /> Once Elynia and Mal Keshar have summoned the Union and all the nearby drones are gone, lure Elyssa out onto 40% defense by putting a unit in her range. She’ll absorb all non-Union damage, but you can still slow her so try to always slow her before using the Union. Note that the Union uses up both Elynia and Mal Keshar’s moves and attacks, though you can still slow with Elynia and then Union with Mal Keshar. Once Elyssa’s at 60% health she’ll run away.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> <br /> The way forward is the two gates in the southwest, which lead down some narrow passages into an area full of demon zephyrs and drones. You can form a line just outside the narrow passages (don’t use the 1-hex bottlenecks or it will take too long) and let them come. Also, try to avoid sending your flying undead onto the starry chasms because it has a small chance of killing them.<br /> <br /> Continuing southwest, you’ll come to a rocky area surrounded by chasms - there are a bunch of drones across the chasms so try to lure them off a couple at a time. Elyssa’s in a keep to the south - lure her out and repeat the slowing + Union tactic (she still absorbs non Union damage). This time she’ll flee at 40% HP.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3'''<br /> <br /> Continuing east, a bunch of zephyrs and drones will come at you across the eastern chasm; form a line and lure them onto land so you can easily get rid of them. Then the path splits south and east - both lead to the same area in the southeast, where Elyssa is waiting with a bunch of drones. As usual try to lure off as many drones as possible before luring Elyssa out.<br /> <br /> She is more powerful this time, but fortunately she now takes full damage from non Union attacks! However, make sure to finish her with the Union; otherwise she’ll just regenerate HP instead of dying.<br /> <br /> ===S23 A (Into the Lair)===<br /> *Objectives: Find the entrance to the Chaos Emperor’s lair.<br /> <br /> In the beginning, just follow the path southwest past a few demon zephyrs and guards. Past the gate in the southwest there are a couple enemy leaders; just camp in the 3-hex passage until both their armies are gone. There’s a gate in the south which leads to the exit, but you’ll have to find the glyph to open it first.<br /> <br /> A few turns after entering the indoor area, a bunch of cockatrices and drones will come flooding out of the west. It’s preferable to form a solid line against them, since getting petrified disrupts a unit’s ZOC. Cockatrices are weak to arcane so spectres are ideal for taking them out. Once they’re gone split up into two groups to explore the western cave passage and the north- there’s an enemy leader in each area. It’s best to send Elynia with one group and Mal Keshar with the other since the glyph to open the exit is in a random location and only Elynia or Mal Keshar can activate it.<br /> <br /> Once you open the exit gate, there will be another flood of cockatrices from the southeast. Past the exit gate there’s a very weak enemy leader and some assorted enemies scattered around. The path then splits three ways: south is an empty dead end, north is a dead end with some story glyphs, and east is the entrance to the lair.<br /> <br /> Seansy: I suggest if you have plenty of turns remaining once you reach the exit to feed more experience to your units to get them as close as possible to an AMLA since the next scenario is the final boss fight and there is no early finish bonus. I had the Stealth ability on Galas so I could theoretically leave him alone next to the exit in stealth until the last turn, but you can also split up your units into two teams and have 1 stay by the entrance to farm the spawning drones and have another backtrack to kill spawning drones in another area.<br /> <br /> ===S23 B (Until Death)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Emperor.<br /> *Note: The blue glyphs scattered around the map heal a unit to full.<br /> This is effectively the final battle; the next scenario is easy and more of a playable cutscene (however, any surviving veterans do carry over to next scenario – you won’t need many but the more the better.) This is probably the most difficult scenario in the entire campaign so hopefully almost all of your veterans are still alive and you got the extra gold from S21.<br /> <br /> You’ll start close to two enemy leaders, and it’s possible (recommended, even) to take them both out on turn 1. The southern leader should be easy; make sure to leave Galas available to take his keep and begin to recruit undead immediately. For the northern shadow courier if you put Mal Keshar next to him and Elynia next to Mal Keshar, two of Mal Keshar’s Union hits will take him down (a 78% chance to kill – it’s slightly risky though, since there are likely some level 2 drones lurking around and Mal Keshar will take a lot of retaliation if he doesn’t kill the shadow courier.)<br /> <br /> Try to recruit as much as possible with Galas on turns 1-3. At the start of turn 4, the Emperor will possess Mal Keshar (meaning you can’t recruit undead anymore) and Erathan (or Galas, if you don’t have Erathan). You’ll then have to use Elynia to kill Mal Keshar (you can make this part easier by making sure Mal Keshar is close to your units and on 40% defense on turn 4.) The Emperor can recall your unused undead veterans while he’s controlling Mal Keshar, so try to finish Mal Keshar off immediately.<br /> <br /> Once you kill Mal Keshar, the Emperor will get a new Union attack and Elynia will also get a powered up (35-4) Union attack when next to him. Elynia’s Union is the only attack which does full damage to the Emperor; all other attacks will do just a few HP of damage (also, non-Union attacks will sometimes cause him to become unslowed so be careful). Lure the Emperor out onto 40% defense, slow him, and then Union with Elynia. You’ll probably need about 3 turns (2 if you’re lucky) of Elynia using the Union. Hopefully Elynia doesn’t get hit too much; if she does you could try ZOCing the boss with cannon fodder while Elynia gets healed or moves to a healing glyph.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat him Mal Keshar will return and you can recruit undead again (although he is extremely fragile now so it’s essential to keep him away from the Emperor), and the Emperor will transform into his final form. This form has much more HP and a stronger ranged attack (hopefully at least one slower is still alive!) but fortunately can now be fully damaged by regular attacks. Elynia’s Union also gets a major powerup, so his HP should go down very quickly. He sometimes spawns drones when hit; you may want to move your own units next to him before attacking so that the drones don’t block the hexes next to him. Make sure to have Elynia finish him off with the Union, or else he’ll regenerate a ton of HP.<br /> <br /> ===S23 C (Broken Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit with Elynia, Galas or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: This is the last scenario.<br /> This scenario should be pretty easy, even with very few surviving veterans. Head northeast past some demon zephyrs to the first checkpoint; your units will all enter a new lava area. Around this time Ledinor will begin having some ominous dialogue, and several turns later he’ll suddenly transform into a shadow courier, and 3 shadow minions will appear around him. You can either kill him, or just leave him behind.<br /> <br /> After heading east across the doors past the second checkpoint, the path will turn north. Once you approach the third checkpoint, several high level undead will appear in the 3-hex keep just north of the checkpoint. Once you’ve dealt with them, it’s a pretty uneventful trip northwest toward the exit.<br /> <br /> [[Category: User-made Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=IftU_Walkthrough&diff=75588 2026-08-04T06:08:51Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>{{Translations}}<br /> This is a strategy guide for the add-on campaign '''Invasion from the Unknown''' (IftU) version 2.0 by shadowm. Note that there have been many major gameplay changes from the original version (for example, elvish enchantresses can no longer advance to sylphs, the elvish warrior spirit and Aragwaithi recruits have been removed, and many scenarios were changed), so much of the advice here won’t apply to earlier campaign versions.<br /> <br /> This walkthrough was written by Inky and is based on the hard difficulty. (I also did a commented playthrough of the campaign with screenshots and replays on the [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&amp;t=43960 forums].) Feel free to make corrections or add your own advice.<br /> <br /> Seansy Note: The most recent version, released on March 30th 2026, has made some changes so I am adding some edits to certain sections to adjust for that.<br /> <br /> Campaign discussion and developer support on the forums available for [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=43309 IftU version 2.0.0 and Wesnoth v.1.12].<br /> <br /> ==General campaign advice==<br /> It’s advised to play ''Under the Burning Suns'' first, to familiarize yourself with the story and the two suns schedule.<br /> <br /> ===Units===<br /> You begin with the typical elvish recruits plus the campaign specific elvish hunter unit, then gain the ability to recruit undead in Scenario 4, dark adepts in Scenario 5, and sprites in Scenario 14.<br /> <br /> EDIT: AMLA trees have been added to Galas and another future unit. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the options by right clicking on the unit to view them. Feed as much experience as possible to these units to maximize their abilities throughout the campaign. <br /> <br /> *A large part of this campaign takes place underground, making undead units especially ideal. Spectres are perhaps the most useful unit throughout the campaign due to their draining, excellent mobility and arcane damage. Nightgaunts (raw damage) and necromancers (arcane resist and plague) are also very useful. Skeletal undead are generally not recommended due to their low mobility.<br /> *On almost every scenario it’s helpful to recruit some vampire bats for scouting, village grabbing, and to act as distractions since they do not cost upkeep.<br /> *For elves, leveling at least a couple shydes for healing is essential. Prowlers are one of the most useful elvish units, being good in melee and able to slow in ranged. Enchantresses are also valuable for their arcane magical damage and slowing, though they do not advance to sylphs in this campaign. Fighters, archers and scout types are generally not so useful.<br /> *The lawful sprites which you can recruit starting from S14 are helpful in S15 (Shadows of Time) against undead, but are useless from S17 onward where it is perpetually night, so do not invest too heavily in them.<br /> <br /> ====The Recall List====<br /> *You have the option of either continuing to Part II keeping all your veterans from Part I (recommended), or starting Part II fresh. To compensate for the difference, there are several recall list wipes in the campaign:<br /> **S12 (The Escape): You can only bring up to 6 undead units (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count) with you and the rest are permanently lost.<br /> **S16 (Dawn of War): You can only bring up to 6 elves with you and the rest are permanently lost. In addition, any unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. EDIT: The most recent version has changed this so that any elf unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. There is no longer a limit on how many elves you recruit/recall.<br /> **S21 (Innuendo): You can only recall 8 veterans, which will be the only veterans you have for the rest of the campaign.<br /> *In Part II gold becomes very scarce so you will only be able to use a limited amount of veterans in each scenario; therefore quality (units with good traits such as resilient, and several AMLAs) is better than quantity.<br /> <br /> ===Item List===<br /> This is a list of the permanent items which can be picked up throughout the campaign, and which units can use them. Items given to your hero units, mostly Galas, carry over to the After the Storm campaign!<br /> <br /> *S3: '''Ring of Swiftness''' (+1 movement) - ''living units''<br /> *S4: '''Staff of Petrichor''' (EDIT: New item from recent update) Replaces melee attack with '''Touch of Petrichor''' a 7x2 magical cold attack that reads &quot;When this attack hits a lower level opponent during offense, the target becomes petrified for one turn. Once the petrification effect expires, the target gains the mark status effect.&quot; The petrification effect makes the afflicted unit unable to move or attack and they cannot be attacked themselves either. Usable by shamans and their advancements. Not usable for hero units.<br /> *S5 (This is a branching path so you'll only be able to obtain one of the following:)<br /> **S5a: '''Ring of Regeneration''' (if you chose to spare the bandit leader) (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage) - ''not usable by: shamans and their advancements and Anlindë ''<br /> **S5b: '''Shardia's Meteor''' (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse) - ''elvish hunters, fighters, and their advancements''<br /> *S7: '''Void Armor''' (secret item) (sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact, +10% fire resistance) - ''elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements''<br /> *S8: '''Poisonous Bow''' (adds a new 11-3 poisonous ranged bow attack) - ''skeleton archers, revenants, elvish archers, elvish heroes and their advancements.''<br /> *S10:<br /> **'''Berserker Potion''' (adds berserk special to melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and +10% blade / +20% fire / +30% impact resistance) - ''not usable by: ghosts, bats, corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units.''<br /> **'''Potion of Drain''' (adds drain special to melee attacks, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance) - ''living units''<br /> *S14: '''Explosive arrows''' (6 uses, does 80% base damage to the unit in the hex behind the target) ''- elvish archers, skeleton archers and their advancements''<br /> *S21:<br /> **'''Potion of Deftness''' (+1 movement, +1 ranged damage) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Accuracy Bow''' (adds marksman special to ranged attacks) - ''bone shooters and elvish rangers and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Potion of Strength''' (+1 melee damage, +8 HP) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Glacial Gladius''' (+1 melee damage, cold damage and slow for a unit’s melee attack, -5% HP) - ''elvish fighters, archers, hunters, scouts and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Amulet of t<br /> *22B<br /> **'''Ring of the Revenant''' (Any living creature wearing this ring is granted the power to cheat death once, after which the ring shall become inert for a thousand years) - ''living units besides sprites and bats.''<br /> <br /> ==Part I: Seeking the Light==<br /> ===S1 (Border Patrol)===<br /> *Objectives: The starting objectives are to hold out as long as possible, but on Turn 4 the objectives will change to defeating all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This is a deceptively easy scenario, as the next scenario is very difficult and requires a substantial gold carryover. On Hard something like 140 carryover is ideal and anything less than 100 carryover is probably too little to win with. Do not overrecruit, keep an eye on your income (make sure it’s positive) and be aggressive – don’t be afraid to lose some units, as it will help your income.<br /> <br /> Recruits: I’d recommend getting 2 shamans so that you can divide your forces and have a healer for each one, but not more than that as you need damage dealers. The rest of your units should be a mix of mostly archers and hunters. (Fighters are generally inferior to hunters, and scouts are expensive and do little damage).<br /> <br /> General strategies:<br /> *'''Defending the starting keep:''' One strategy is to hang back at your initial castle during the first day, recruiting very lightly during these turns to preserve income. Form a line on good terrain: one possibility is to use the forts just south of your keep; another option is to form a slightly more forward line stretching from the forest tiles (19,20) to (26,17) through the village southeast of your keep. &lt;br /&gt; Let the enemies come to you; they’ll arrive around Turn 6 (The Short Dark). Attack aggressively during Second Dawn/Day and you should be able to eliminate almost all the enemy units before The Long Dark hits.<br /> <br /> *'''Moving to the center keep (by Theron):''' An alternate faster and much more aggressive strategy, meant to finish as early as possible for maximum carryover, is to recruit a full keep on turn 1 and move Galas to the central keep immediately. Much of the fighting will take place around First Dusk / The Short Dark so expect heavy losses. &lt;br /&gt; Theron's advice: Recruit 3 Archers and 3 Hunters in turn 1. (Fighters are too slow; shamans are too slow and their damage output is too low.) Move Galas to the tiny keep in the middle of the map. Recruit 1 more Archer and 1 more Hunter in turn 3. Recruit 2 Fighters and 2 Shamans in turn 3 + 4. Decide where to amass your army (green front or blue front). Do not retreat. Ignore TOD. Use terrain advantage.<br /> <br /> For defeating the enemy leaders you can either split your forces in two and kill them simultaneously, or a safer (but slower) strategy is to send everyone to kill the southern green leader and them move them all to the blue eastern leader. The eastern leader is tough to kill – it can help to level an archer to marksman and shoot him down during daytime.<br /> <br /> Try to get Galas to level 2 (captain is strongly recommended for leadership) and level at least one of the shamans to druid.<br /> <br /> ===S2 (A Real Confrontation)===<br /> *Objectives:<br /> **Hold out until the end of turns.<br /> **Alternate objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> <br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario on Hard, so you’ll want to start this with over 200 gold (minimum gold is 100; replay scenario 1 for more carryover if necessary). The first thing to do is grab the villages of your useless ally, as you can put the gold to much better use. Note that you (or your ally) must retain control of a certain number of villages (9 on Hard, depends on difficulty) or you will lose. This should not be a problem though, as there are 9 villages (3 in the northwest, 3 near your keep, 3 near Ledinor’s keep) which are quite far back and easy to defend.<br /> <br /> This battle has two fronts divided by the central lake: the western front south of your keep, and the eastern front. The eastern front is relatively safe as there are less enemies there and Ledinor sends the bulk of his army that way, while the western front will be a high casualty bloodbath. Therefore one approach is to send a small elite group of veterans including Anlindë east, while using a massive spam approach (civilians and fresh recruits, mixed with some veterans) in the west. An alternate strategy is to recruit only civilians initially and send them out to delay the enemy forces enough so that they reach your main force during the day.<br /> <br /> Keep your elves in a line in the forest and try to slow the level 2 enemies; use ctrl + v and watch out for the skirmishers. With constant reinforcements from your high income and the time of day changing in your favor the chaos army should eventually run out of steam.<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly fine to start the next scenario with minimum gold, so do not worry if you can't defeat the enemy leaders for the finish bonus. Try to level a shaman to sorceress, as the arcane magical damage will be very useful for the next scenario. This is best done on the later turns, when most of the chaos army is gone and it’s relatively safe.<br /> <br /> ===S3 (Memories from the Depths)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the cave, then defeat the undead leader in the far northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Recruit lightly initially, as there aren’t so many enemies in the tunnel and there is another keep right at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be fighting undead so hunters and their advancements are especially good, as are sorceresses if you have any; try to get Anlindë to level 3 and / or a sorceress or enchantress during this scenario as it will help defeat the enemy at the very end. When you reach the end of the tunnel, you can use the nearby keep to recruit/recall some more units. Try to keep your income positive though – you don’t need too many units and there will be more opportunities to recruit along the way.<br /> <br /> Proceed northwest past the second keep, and you’ll come across some branching paths. On the right, moving to the flashing yellow hex will open up a passage leading to a Ring of Swiftness granting +1 movement. A good choice for this ring is Galas, since it can potentially allow him to reach keeps and recruit a turn earlier. The two western paths which will join together in a large central chamber, where you’ll encounter the main undead army; take them out with the help of slowing and arcane attacks.<br /> <br /> Triggering a touchplate in the southwest leads to two holy waters which grant arcane melee damage for this scenario only. Continue northwest, being careful not to expose wounded units since bats will often come out of nowhere and attack, and you’ll come to a river crossing. Across the river is another keep – I would highly recommend using this keep to recruit a couple expendable hunters or shamans for their slowing ability in preparation for the scenario’s final enemy.<br /> <br /> Head east across the river and the path will split north and east. Both paths will join up in the northeast corner but the eastern path has much stronger enemies so send most of your units that way - you can use expendable units to lure the high level undead guards into the open where they are easily killed. In the northeast you’ll come across the scenario’s final enemy, an ancient lich! You’ll need to slow him first, so hopefully you have some expendable hunters or shamans which can suicide into him until he’s slowed. After he’s slowed use your sorceress/enchantress and Anlindë to hopefully finish him off.<br /> <br /> ===S4 (Over the Sands)===<br /> <br /> Recruits: Living units are generally not recommended in this scenario due to the dehydration mechanic, but you’ll certainly want another (preferably +8) healer besides Anlindë, and you might as well recall the loyal scout too since he doesn’t cost upkeep. I’d recommend recruiting mostly ghosts – they are fast and have extremely good advancements – with some vampire bats mixed in to scout and act as a distraction force.<br /> You start with 2 villages and there are 6 more around the orc’s keep, but this is all you’re going to get for most of the scenario so take that into account when recruiting (try to keep your income positive).<br /> <br /> '''Part 1'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the orc leader to the northwest.<br /> <br /> Use Galas’ leadership on the level 1 ghosts; try to level a couple by feeding them the level 2 orc kills. Focus on killing crossbowmen and archers as their ranged fire attack is dangerous to ghosts. Mal Keshar is great at screening your units – you can put him in very exposed positions and the orcs will generally ignore him.<br /> <br /> When you kill the orcish leader you’ll get about 50 gold. You can use his keep to recruit some reinforcements (watch your income; there aren’t any more villages for a long time). Start heading west, where you’ll encounter some very weak undead. There will also be some scorpions north and south of the path which are free experience for wraiths and ghosts.<br /> After a while the path will turn south and you’ll spot some bandits. EDIT: The '''Staff of Petrichor''' is located to the southeast and has 4 petrified griffin units that will awaken and attack you once you attempt to loot the tomb. Make sure you have multiple ghost line units there during the nighttime to try to drain through the damage.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the bandit leader in the southwest.<br /> <br /> Try to fight the elusive outlaw units (footpads, thieves) on sand terrain where they only have 40% defense instead of their usual 60 or 70%. Bats make great bait for luring out powerful guard units, or the enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat the leader some humans will show up from the north, and you will have to decide whether to fight them. If you do decide to fight them you'll have to defeat their leader and will go to S5a (Crossfire). If you choose the second option instead, the scenario will end immediately and you will go to S5b (Cursed Plateau). <br /> S5a is the easier scenario, but since both scenarios give a different item (see the [[#Item_List | Item List]]) you may want to decide based on that.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3 (only if you chose to fight the humans)'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the leader of the humans in the northwest.<br /> <br /> Note that drain attacks will not work on the human units so you’ll have to be a bit more careful with putting wraiths on the front line.<br /> Use the bandit’s keep to recruit more reinforcements if needed and start heading north. You’ll encounter two revenants; you can easily lure them out and kill them with spectres / wraiths. The humans have a lot of units, but if you form a line where your units can only be reached from 2 hexes then their level 1 units won’t be able to damage you too much.<br /> Continue northwest towards the final leader; again a vampire bat can be used to lure her out.<br /> <br /> ===Diverging campaign path===<br /> ====S5a (Crossfire)====<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders, and make sure no chaos empire units survive.<br /> <br /> All three enemy sides will fight each other, so a couple keeps of units should be enough. Villages are very scarce so using mainly low level units supported by leadership will save on upkeep. Start by sending your entire army south against the chaos empire; the undead and bandits will mostly be occupied fighting each other. The undead will send quite a few troops east but they should arrive around daytime so it should be easy to wipe them out.<br /> <br /> After the chaos empire is defeated, head west; you can send everybody against the lich and then north or split into two groups, one to defeat the lich and one to deal with the bandits. The bandits are the stronger enemy – try to attack them during the day.<br /> <br /> After defeating the bandit leader you’ll be given the choice to spare him; do so and you’ll be given a very useful Ring of Regeneration (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage), a good item for Galas. (Deciding to kill him will only give you some gold and is not worth it.)<br /> <br /> ====S5b (Cursed Plateau)====<br /> *Objectives: Move to the northwest corner of the map with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **In order to get the item you must find the piece of parchment in the southwest cave, and defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> You won't be getting any more villages for a while, so recruit very lightly initially. There's another tiny 1-hex keep to the west where you can recall some more reinforcements, and you'll only face some scorpions and bats at first, so a couple wraiths should be enough. Once you reach the tiny keep in the west, send some flying undead into the southwest cave, where there's a touchplate opening into a chasm full of bats. To the southeast of the chasm is a passage leading to a piece of parchment, which opens a passage through the mountains in the northwest.<br /> <br /> To the north is another small 2-hex keep, though you might have to clear out some chaos empire units before you can use it. There are a lot of invokers so you'll probably want either some cannon fodder or some durable non undead units. It's preferable to form a solid line and defend until most of the enemies are gone, because there are many high level enemies and also some nasty shadow minions (nightstalking, skirmishing and backstabbing pests) around.<br /> <br /> Northeast of the small keep there's a dead end cave with the blue enemy leader; if you want the scenario's item you'll have to defeat him (Mal Keshar is very effective against him), otherwise you can just ignore the cave, though there is a small amount of gold there.<br /> <br /> Following the northwest path through the mountains leads to a gate, which you won't be able to open until you defeat both enemy leaders, though you could start sending whichever unit you want to pick up the item that way (it can be used by elvish hunters, fighters and advancements; I'd strongly recommend Galas.) Just send them on their own because there aren't any enemies behind the gate. Once you kill both leaders, you'll be able to pass through the gate to a chest in the south containing Shardia's Meteor (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse).<br /> <br /> Continuing north and then east, there's another cave with the second leader. There's also a couple small piles of gold (in the southeast and northeast) in the cave. In the northwest is the shadow courier leader; try to kill him as quickly as possible in melee (preferably luring him out of the castle first so he doesn't have such high defense) because he will completely demolish your undead units. Once you kill the shadow courier, the western path which leads outside to the exit only has a few vampire bats.<br /> <br /> ===S6 (Moon Valley)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This scenario is much easier than it looks, because the orcish units will generally stay clumped together near their leader instead of all coming towards you at once, allowing you to focus on each army separately. You’ll receive a small amount of gold each time you defeat an enemy leader.<br /> <br /> It's possible to rush the northeastern (blue) orc leader and kill him before he spends most of his gold: recruit a full keep on turn 1 and send Galas northwest immediately; send a bat southwest to village grab and move everyone else northwest. With the help of Anlindë and Mal Keshar you should be able to whittle down the leader on turn 3 and finish him on turn 4. Galas can then use the keep to recruit reinforcements while the rest of the army clears out the remaining blue orcs.<br /> <br /> At this point the green and black orcs will be hanging around the central forest while purple remains in the west. Advance aggressively during the second day and you should be able to wipe out most of the green and black units. After that only purple will be left; it will be night now but with the help of slow and Mal Keshar who is practically invincible they shouldn’t pose a problem.<br /> <br /> As the dialogue hints, when you approach the northwest area close to the final keep, several high level orcs will appear and the northwest leader will also get some gold to recruit. Wait until daytime (preferably morning) to approach, and you can also use the nearby keep to recruit some spam if you want to be extra safe.<br /> <br /> ===S7 (Goliath)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat Goliath.<br /> *Note: The units you recruit/recall on the first turn are all you will have for the entire scenario, so choose carefully.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of weak level 1 units scattered around, so it’s a good opportunity to get some experience. Most of the enemies in this scenario are automatons which are extremely resistant to blade and arcane (50%) but only have 10% impact resistance making trappers/prowlers especially effective against them.<br /> <br /> After heading west through the tunnel that you start in, you’ll come across the keep of the chaos empire. This is actually the toughest opposition you will face all scenario so be defensive (form a line and let the enemies come to you) and take your time. The enemy leader is extremely dangerous in ranged so try to take him down in 1 turn using mostly melee attacks.<br /> <br /> After defeating the enemy leader, head south across the river and you’ll encounter some demons and bats scattered about; keep heading south and you’ll come to a chamber with some automatons which are basically free experience. There’s a passage in the south leading to an orb switch; send a fast unit like a flying undead to trigger it, which will open the eastern wall into a large central area.<br /> <br /> In the central area, triggering the touchplate in the southwest corner opens a small room in the center with two golems guarding a potion of strength (+2 melee attack, +8 HP for this scenario only) and the final touchplate which opens the way south. The northeast path is just a dead end with some weak enemies (though you could go kill them for the experience if you have the time) so send everyone down the southern passage. <br /> <br /> The passage leads into a huge chamber in the south filled with automatons. Moving further south in this chamber reveals the scenario’s boss, Goliath, who appears along with a few level 1 automatons. Goliath has a lot of HP and good resistances but is extremely weak in offense, so just slow him and attack with powerful units like Mal Keshar and he will be destroyed in no time.<br /> <br /> In the far southeast, down the watery passage, there is a secret touchplate at 40,26 which opens a passage to the Void Armor, which is located in the lit hex at 31,24. The armor sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact (EDIT: Changed Void Armor stats to provide +15/15/20/10% resistance to blade, pierce, impact, and fire damage; as opposed to the previous replacement of blade/pierce/impact with 50/50/60% and increase of fire by 10%) and is a great item for Galas (it can be used by elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements) - start sending whichever unit you want to take it southeast ASAP if you want to make it in time.<br /> <br /> ===S8 (An Errand of Hope)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (3 in total).<br /> <br /> You will get another opportunity to recruit later, when you are much closer to the main battle, so you may want to save some gold until then and try not to go negative on income. The first enemy you’ll be facing is some trolls directly to the northwest. Wraiths, spectres and Mal Keshar are especially effective against them. Near the troll’s keep you’ll find a Poisonous Bow (can be used by elvish archers, skeleton archers, elvish heroes, revenants and their advancements) which adds an 11-3 ranged poison attack.<br /> <br /> Head northwest across the river (don’t bother exploring southwest of the river; there’s nothing there) and you’ll come across a large central area – entering it will clear the fog in the area and reveal an ongoing battle between the chaos empire and some allied dwarves. There’s also a second dwarf leader far in the northwest (he has a few villages, so you can send a bat up that way to steal them), and another chaos empire leader all the way in the northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Use the large keep here to recruit/recall some reinforcements, and split up your forces between the western front and the northeastern front. You’ll need more firepower in the northeast, since there are quite a few high level enemies there and the dwarves will concentrate their forces in the west. It helps to have Galas use Althurin’s keep to constantly reinforce (you should have a pretty high income) and just defend the northeast passage until the high level enemies are gone. (Don’t worry about keeping Althurin alive; he’ll just flee if he gets to 0 HP).<br /> <br /> The final enemy leader is all the way in the northeast corner; he’s a chaos lorekeeper so send your strongest melee units against him.<br /> By the way, there’s no point in sending a unit to the crypt south of the western leader (you’ll just get a message saying it’s empty).<br /> <br /> ===S9 (The Library)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> *Note: The exit is marked by a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south (its exact location is random). You'll need the exit key to pass through, which is dropped by a random enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Don’t recruit too heavily at the beginning, since you’ll get another opportunity to recruit about halfway through the scenario. You’ll probably have to do quite a bit of fighting before then though, so some durable units will be helpful. Ghosts/wraiths/spectres are especially good in this scenario due to the lack of chaos invokers and fire demons. Head west (the passage south of your starting keep just leads to an empty dead end) and after fighting through a couple level 2 undead you’ll come to an intersection.<br /> <br /> The northwest path leads to a dead end with a ruined house; when you send a living nonbat unit there to investigate you’ll discover Igor, a loyal wolf rider. He is automatically recalled in all later scenarios and even has his own dialogue, so it's highly recommended to keep him alive. EDIT: If you keep Igor alive until the end of the campaign, not only do you get an achievement, but he will be with you at the start of the follow up campaign in After the Storm! Meanwhile in the south, the combined forces of the 3 enemy leaders will begin to arrive. The easiest way to fight them is to just defend in the bottleneck until the massive army is mostly gone; it will take quite a while but the rest of the scenario will go much quicker after the main enemy army is gone.<br /> <br /> When you get past the bottleneck you’ll come to a large keep where you can recruit some reinforcements, and the path splits into a western and eastern one. There are two enemy leaders in the west and one in the south, so one possibility is to split into two groups and have one group take out the two western leaders one after another (there’s a banebow leader in the northwest and a draug leader in the southwest), while another group circles east and then south to take care of the southern lich leader (bring some arcane damage).<br /> <br /> The purple glyphs scattered around reveal various pieces of backstory. There is also a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south which marks the exit. You’ll need the exit key (dropped by a random enemy leader) to use the glyph. You might as well just defeat all enemy leaders for the experience and early finish bonus, as they don’t have much income and are pretty much on their own.<br /> <br /> ===S10 (The Source of Light)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then activate the six runes to open the central chamber.<br /> <br /> Note that this scenario takes place deep underground, where chaotic units get +30% damage instead of the usual +25%. In the beginning, make sure to send a vampire bat to grab the village in the far northeast corner of the map, across the chasm. The first objective is to defeat the enemy leader to the southwest. There are a lot of high level enemy units including skirmishers, so a safe way to play it is to form a solid vertical line along the 4-hex bottleneck (from 42,11 to 42,15) and defend there until the most threatening enemies are gone.<br /> <br /> Once the leader is defeated, you’ll have to activate the 6 glyphs scattered throughout the lower half of the map. Here are their approximate locations (going counterclockwise):<br /> *'''Northwest (across the river):''' A long twisty passage leads past some giant spiders to a glyph at the very end.<br /> *'''West:''' There’s a glyph behind a cuttlefish leader in the west of the watery area.<br /> *'''Southwest corner:''' There are a bunch of animated rocks and various undead here, and a glyph next to an enemy leader. Watch out, because several wraiths are lurking near the keep.<br /> *'''Center south:''' There’s a sealed chamber containing a glyph, which you have to open by finding a touchplate in the far south. There’s also a red Berserker Potion (not usable by: ghosts/bats/corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units), which gives the berserk special to a unit’s melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and some extra resistance (+10% blade, +20% fire, +30% impact).<br /> *'''Southeast:''' There’s a lava filled cave full of fire spirits – dark adepts and their advancements are especially effective against them. In the far southeast there’s a fire guardian leader and a glyph next to the keep.<br /> *'''Northeast:''' You’ll encounter some undead and a chocobone leader (be sure to keep fragile units out of range of its charge attack). There’s a glyph guarded by vampire bats north of the undead keep, and a northeast passage leading to a green Potion of Drain (adds drain special, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance, usable by non undead units).<br /> <br /> In order to explore efficiently it’s best to divide into several small groups (e.g. 4 groups, one for each corner). A very useful tip by skeptical_troll if you’d like to avoid a lot of fighting completely is to send a shadow/nightgaunt to activate the glyphs (though it’s not advised to do this in the southwest or northeast corner, since these glyphs are surrounded by enemies).<br /> <br /> Since there is no early finish bonus and you likely have very high income, you may want to take your time and make some extra gold for next scenario.<br /> <br /> ===S11 (Strike on Herthgar)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out until the end of turns, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: All enemy sides will get a small amount of gold on turns 6 and 14.<br /> <br /> This scenario is actually the final battle for Part I – the next two scenarios are more of an epilogue. This is one of the more difficult scenarios, so don’t worry too much about losing some veterans (another thing to note is that you will not be able to take more than six undead veterans with you after this scenario.)<br /> <br /> Gold carryover is completely irrelevant (you won’t be able to use more than the minimum gold next scenario) so one approach is to just recall every single veteran you can afford. It can be helpful to create walking corpses with your necromancers to act as a distraction. Also, be sure not to let your spectres/nightgaunts etc. get within range of multiple chaos invokers and demons, or they will die fast.<br /> <br /> Here is one strategy for defeating all enemy leaders:<br /> #Send a large force northwest to wipe out the two northwestern enemies while a smaller force heads south to defend the dwarven castle. (The eastern front and southern front do not require immediate attention because the dwarves will delay the enemies for several turns.) Form a line and let them come to you; prowlers with their slowing ability and necromancers with their high HP and arcane resistance (there are lots of chaos invokers around) are especially good at holding the line.<br /> #Once the two northwest enemies are defeated, split the large northern force, with one part going to deal with the eastern enemies, and the rest going south to reinforce the castle.<br /> #Defend in the castle using the bridge chokepoints (just watch out for demon zephyrs which can fly over the deep water moat) until most of the southern enemies are gone. The southern force can then split into two groups and take out the two remaining southern leaders.<br /> <br /> ===S12 (The Escape)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the northern exit with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: You may only recruit/recall during the first turn (6 units total), and any undead veterans you do not recall this scenario will be permanently lost (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count).<br /> <br /> This is a relatively easy scenario, but there are some triggered events including a large ambush near the end so don’t send your units too far ahead by themselves.<br /> <br /> There are four minor enemies you’ll be facing this scenario:<br /> <br /> #After crossing the river at the beginning you’ll come across a chamber with the chaos empire fighting some trolls; both are very weak and shouldn’t be a problem.<br /> #After crossing another bridge and heading north you’ll encounter a mechanical Goliath along with some automatons; he is also extremely weak.<br /> #You’ll then come across a tunnel leading into a large empty chamber. Do not send a unit all the way into the chamber because there’s an ambush; instead move a scouting unit slowly toward the chamber until you trigger the ambush, then pull it back using its remaining movement. After that the ambush shouldn’t be hard to deal with – the most threatening enemy is the hellhound with 10-4 melee berserk, but a single spectre can easily take care of it.<br /> #Finally, after heading north you’ll come across some imps. One thing to watch out for is that when you kill the leader imp, he will dissolve into a bunch of mudcrawlers. After that the exit is straight to the north.<br /> <br /> ===S13 (Face Your Fate)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out to the end of turns; then accept the inevitable.<br /> <br /> This is mostly a cutscene scenario.<br /> Holding out until the end of turns should be trivial with your extremely high starting gold. If you didn’t manage to recall some of your undead veterans last scenario, you can recall them now. A few turns after the initial turn limit, the Chaos Warlord will appear in the southwest and the objectives will change to defeating her. However, it is impossible (if you reduce her HP to 0 she’ll just heal back to full and instantly kill all your undead units), and the only way to end the scenario is to let your leader die.<br /> <br /> ==Part II: Armageddon==<br /> <br /> ===S14 (Clearing the Road)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> This should be a very easy scenario, especially if you’re continuing from a Part I save, so it’s a good opportunity to get some easy XP for fresh recruits. The barrel contains 6 explosive arrows (does 80% of the base damage to the unit immediately behind the target).<br /> <br /> The two enemies you’ll be facing are saurians and water serpents from the northwest and orcs from the northeast. The northeast orc keep is surrounded by deep water to the south, forcing the orcs to go all the way around to the west and then south, giving you several turns to focus on the saurian army before they arrive. Most of your forces should head northwest since the main battle will take place there (for the east you can just send a bat to village grab). If you keep your elves in the forests you should have no problem dealing with the saurians and then the orcs.<br /> <br /> ===S15 (Shadows of Time)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders. (You actually do not need to kill the ancient lich leader – once you reduce him to half health he will flee.)<br /> You’ll be fighting a lot of undead so arcane (sorceresses, dark adepts, etc.) and fire damage (sprites) will be very useful. Your orcish allies will mostly go up the northeastern side of the map and delay the undead coming from that direction, so the main battle will likely take place on two fronts: fighting the undead from the west, and the orcs in the center.<br /> <br /> The first threat you’ll face is the group of four Forefathers coming at you from the west; stay back and let them get close, and then finish them off with heavy arcane hitters like Elynia and Mal Keshar. After that you can split your army in two, with one group holding off the undead in the western forest, and another (probably larger) group dealing with the incoming flood of orcs (and later undead from the north) in the center.<br /> <br /> ===S16 (Dawn of War)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the southern edge of the map with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective (early finish bonus): Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: after this scenario, you won't be able to recruit elves or dark adepts, and all elven veterans not recalled in this scenario are permanently lost.<br /> <br /> Recalling advice:<br /> *If you continued from Part I you’ll likely have much more veterans than you can recall; however there’s no need to get obsessed about bringing every single veteran with you because there is very little gold in later scenarios, so you won’t be able to use them all anyway.<br /> *Elves: It’s highly recommended to get at least two healers because you will not be able to get any more healers later! After that, probably the most useful elven units are enchantresses and prowlers since they can slow.<br /> *Spectres are great in later levels (arcane damage + mobility); I’d recommend recalling every one you have. Necromancers and nightgaunts will also be very useful.<br /> *I would not recommend recalling any sprites, since they are lawful and the next scenarios all feature perpetual night.<br /> <br /> Your two allies will do a pretty good job distracting the two outer enemies, so the main battle will take place in the center. If you began the battle portion of the scenario on turn 4, you should have a turn of daylight (First Afternoon) to strike hard and fast at the central enemies with all your veterans. If you continue to make as many kills as possible during dusk there shouldn’t be many enemies left at all to threaten you during the night. Once you deal with the units from the two central enemies the rest of the battle should be easy, as the two outer enemies should be weakened from fighting your allies. It's recommended to kill all the enemy leaders for the extra gold and experience.<br /> <br /> ===S17 (Voice of the Armageddon)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> You will face two enemy leaders: a relatively weak enemy in the center, and a very powerful enemy far to the south. You’ll probably want to recruit a few expendable units such as ghosts or vampire bats to distract the powerful enemy units from your veterans. The central enemy shouldn’t be too much of a problem: blast them with your veterans and then put a couple expendable units in front to screen them.<br /> <br /> Once you scout far enough south, you’ll trigger the southern leader to start recruiting and a boss Armageddon Imp will appear and start heading for you. It’s probably best to wait near the central keep and let the imps come to you so you don’t get in range of the enemies stationed in the southern fort. Once they arrive, illuminate and slow the boss and then zap him with your magical ranged units. Next you’ll have to deal with the army of soulless and necrophages coming from the south; once again an effective tactic is to blast away with your veterans from the back and then insert some expendable units in the front.<br /> <br /> Be careful when approaching the fort because the powerful units stationed there will come out and attack; use the show enemy moves keybind (by default it's Ctrl + v) to make sure no one is too exposed, and try to lure them out one by one. The ancient lich leader can be lured out onto 40% defense terrain by placing a walking corpse in his range. Don’t bother about setting up the kill on the leader because he will just run away, denying you the killing XP.<br /> <br /> ===S18 (Ashes of Wesmere)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar to the cave in the southeast.<br /> <br /> The more spectres you have the easier this scenario will be; I recommend recalling all your spectres and wraiths. Since there aren’t any villages you’ll surely start next scenario with minimum gold anyway, so there’s no point in worrying about upkeep or saving gold (EDIT: I was able to complete this scenario on hard with 1 keep worth of recalled units if you want some gold carryover). The main enemies you’ll be facing are drones, which do impact damage and are weak to arcane. Advance very cautiously at first because there will be several level 2 drones lurking around. They’re extremely nasty in ranged, so spectres are ideal for taking them out.<br /> <br /> Once you start heading south, you’ll face a horde of level 1 drones from all directions. Just keep killing them every turn with spectres and wraiths, focusing on one group at a time, and eventually they’ll run out. Be careful of putting Mal Keshar in range of a lot of drones because they’ll chain attack him and he’s weak to impact.<br /> <br /> After that it should be easy to kill the enemy leader, who has a pretty pathetic army. When you head southeast to the cave, keep a tight formation and don’t expose heavily wounded units because there are several invisible skirmishing and backstabbing shadow minions around.<br /> Since there’s no early finish bonus, you can use any leftover turns to go around killing the other enemies scattered around the map for the XP.<br /> <br /> ===S19 (Under the Sands)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Elynia or Mal Keshar<br /> *Note: You actually have to reach the exit with both of them.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of rough terrain and chasms, so ghostly undead (spectres, nightgaunts) will be extremely useful. Also, the blue matrix flow systems have 0% defense and can be drained, so they can be used as free full heals for your spectres.<br /> <br /> When heading out of the initial chamber, be very cautious and keep a completely tight formation because there are several shadow minions (which are invisible and can skirmish and backstab) lurking nearby. This scenario is full of these shadow minions, so be very cautious when advancing.<br /> <br /> Make your way southeast to kill the drone leader, then west where the chaos empire army should be arriving. They shouldn’t be much trouble (just make sure to kill the invokers before they can get at your ghosts). You’ll arrive in a large central chamber full of various enemies. Send some units towards the hive in the southwest of the chamber and you’ll spot a matrix core in the far west; each core you destroy will reduce the gold of certain enemy sides in the next scenario by a bit (there are 5 cores total). Next scenario is difficult, so it's worthwhile to destroy as many cores as possible.<br /> <br /> Head south across the lava chasm (it will probably take a while, due to being assaulted by enemy spawns from all directions) and you’ll come across the chaos empire leader to the left and a dead end with a second matrix core on the right. Once you defeat the leader head south towards a swampy area.<br /> <br /> Past the swamp is a fork: the southern fork doesn’t have enemies and leads straight to the exit. The eastern fork leads into a large hive, where the remaining 3 matrix cores are. One of the cores is near the entrance. The remaining 2 cores are extremely deep into the hive so getting at them may be more trouble than it’s worth, though you can get some good XP out of fighting your way through to them. Note that you won’t be able to leave until Elynia or Mal Keshar are outside the hive, so make sure you have enough turns left before exploring (but if you kill the innermost core, a shortcut will open up, so you don’t have to backtrack all the way).<br /> <br /> ===S20 (The Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar inside the fortress, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **Another enemy leader will appear in the north on Turn 2. Also, every so often starting from Turn 3, a large group of enemies (mostly demon zephyrs) will appear in the chasm surrounding the fortress.<br /> **After the initial turns of daylight the scenario becomes perpetually night.<br /> **You have control over the allied dwarves this time. They leave after this so they’re completely expendable.<br /> <br /> This is somewhat of a finale for Part II of IftU. <br /> Since you don’t have so much time, trying to defeat every leader is probably more trouble than it’s worth, especially on Hard. My strategy was to completely ignore the northern leader and rush my entire army southwest, killing as many units as possible during the day before the scenario turned into perpetual night. After that I fought my way over the bridge into the fortress (having spectres and nightgaunts fly over the chasm is essential in breaking the bridge bottleneck), sending the less valuable veterans in first. Meanwhile some units went to deal with the northern army which was attacking from behind.<br /> <br /> The dwarves really did not do much; I mostly had them camped in the 3 village cluster just northwest of the fortress the entire time, where they lured out and killed any demon zephyrs which spawned in the west.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *After this you’ll only be able to use 8 of your veterans for the rest of the campaign. So choose your 8 favorite veterans and go crazy with the rest!<br /> *There are a ton of enemies on this map, and a lot of nasty flying ones which can reach your units from quite far away. Use ctrl + v constantly to avoid surprises.<br /> *Two nightgaunts backstabbing from opposite sides of a sentry tower will automatically kill it from full health.<br /> *Having some expendable units will be very helpful; if you’re short on cash, you can use your necromancers’ plague staff to make free corpses.<br /> *Don’t worry about gold carryover; you can’t use more than the minimum next scenario anyway.<br /> <br /> ===S21 (Innuendo)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit in the north with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **From now on it is ''highly'' recommended to restart anytime any unit dies, because these are the only veterans you'll have for the rest of the campaign and the remaining scenarios are very difficult.<br /> **It is essential to pick up the chest of gold in the southwest, which will be needed several scenarios later for the final battle.<br /> <br /> Recruits: You may only bring 8 veterans with you for the rest of the campaign. Future scenarios will be underground / deep underground so undead are especially useful. It’s also recommended to bring 2 shydes for healing, at least one necromancer for making free fodder corpses, and some flying undead (spectres/nightgaunts) since there will be a lot of unwalkable chasms. (I used 2 shydes, 2 necromancers, 1 lich, 2 spectres and 1 nightgaunt and it worked really well.)<br /> <br /> Get ready for an absolutely massive dungeon crawl! You’ll face several waves of enemies in this scenario:<br /> <br /> '''The beginning:''' Some Chaos Empire units will come at you immediately, so just form a solid line in the passage and let them come. After that the path splits north to a dead end with a Potion of Deftness giving +1 movement and +1 ranged damage (living units only), and a southwestern passage leading to a large chamber full of powerful enemies. You can safely destroy them by forming a line in the 3-hex passage and slowly picking them off until they’re gone. (Try to turn some of them into corpses, which can be used as bait for powerful enemies later).<br /> <br /> '''The large chamber in the south:''' There are two paths north (both lead to the same place) with some enemies guarding them. In the southwest corner there’s a room with a Potion of Strength (+1 melee, +8 HP, a great item for Galas), an Accuracy Bow (for archer units only, such as Erathan), and a chest of gold. There is an enemy leader in the northwest, and moving to the gem behind him will open one of the gates in the northeast.<br /> <br /> '''The northern chamber of undead:''' You’ll need to find the gem which opens the gate in the far north, where there is an ancient lich leader. Be sure to stay out of his range (he has 7 movement!) until you wipe out most of his army. Also be careful of the two wraiths right behind the leader. If you made any walking corpses earlier, you can use them as bait to safely lure out the ancient lich leader. The gem on his keep opens the gate in the east.<br /> <br /> '''The imp boss''': Past the eastern gate, you’ll come to a long passage east with some enemies. Once you advance far enough, you’ll discover a large chamber with a nasty imp boss and some other enemies. It’s best to fight them in the 3-hex bottleneck, and try to have Elynia illuminate and slow the boss.<br /> <br /> '''The dungeon:''' The area northwest of the chamber where the imp was leads to the exit, but it’s blocked by a gate so you’ll have to go east to the dungeons first. You'll find a (useless) troll soulless and a merman soulless which will join you, as well as a hostile drake soulless. In the southeast, there’s an unwalkable chasm with some enemies on the other side; if you send some flying undead exploring there they can trigger a touchplate which opens a passage for regular units to enter. There is a Glacial Gladius there which gives a slowing cold melee attack (usable by elves other than shamans+advancements, and by Erathan.)<br /> <br /> The goal is the northeast hive area, where there’s an amulet (+10% arcane resistance, changes ranged damage type to arcane) which is good for units like shydes so they’ll take less damage when slowing later bosses. The south of the hive contains a cage with Ledinor, the elvish lord from the beginning. Freeing him and the other three soulless will open the gate in the northwest where there are a ton of high level enemies and a drone boss.<br /> <br /> '''The exit (finally!):''' For the horde of high level enemies coming from the exit, it’s safest to retreat to one of the 3-hex passages leading to the dungeons and just pick them off slowly. When approaching the exit, be careful since the chasms on either side contain drones.<br /> <br /> ===S22 A (Face of the Enemy)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the area, then defeat the Chaos Warlord, then flee to the southeast with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> Head southeast past some drone hives – the drones will constantly respawn from the hives, though they won’t chase you if no units are in range. Continue heading east across the cave area. There’s a gate in the north which just leads to a dead end, and a couple doors in the southeast which lead to a corridor of enemies. The safe way to deal with them is to camp in the 2-hex bottleneck. Also, watch out for the berserking hellhound hiding in the back. The northeastern water area just leads to a glyph with some backstory about the drones.<br /> <br /> Past the corridor of enemies is another gate; once you open it all your units will be teleported into the chamber beyond, where you’ll be surrounded by powerful enemies. Try to focus on killing a few at a time while staying out of range of the others. A few turns later the Chaos Warlord will show up in the keep in the west. She’ll recruit some units, so retreat and deal with her army before taking her on.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat her she’ll heal back to full so you’ll have to run away by having Mal Keshar destroy the exit gate to the southeast. Fortunately Elynia will cast a spell on her so she’ll only have 1 movement until you open the gate, at which point she regains all her movement (so make sure your units aren’t in her range at that time). The Warlord will just stay in her keep and recruit and not chase you, so it should be easy to get away. The southeast area just has some drones in the south and a giant spider; move a leader to the southern border of the map to proceed to the next part.<br /> <br /> ===S22 B (Dark Hive)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Warlord (you will have to fight her several times.)<br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario. There are hordes of constantly respawning drones, several difficult boss fights and you must also keep as many veterans as possible alive for later scenarios.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *In general due to the respawning drones it’s best to stick together in a single group, move forward quickly, and not send units off exploring side passages or they may end up trapped – the only things to find anyway are two glyphs with some backstory. *EDIT: There is a '''Ring of the Revenant''' to the southwest below the southern river that provides an extra life for a living unit. It is guarded by a few drones and under a glyph tile with additional backstory in a coffin. I gave it to one of my Shydes flying around with my Spectres exploring the area.<br /> *A useful (but cheap) tactic is to deliberately leave units (especially Elynia/Mal Keshar) a few XP from leveling so when they attack the boss they’ll automatically heal to full.<br /> *Always make sure to lure off and get rid of as many surrounding drones as possible before confronting the Chaos Warlord, because her leadership combined with the drones is deadly. <br /> There are three sections, each ending with a fight against the Chaos Warlord:<br /> <br /> '''Part I'''<br /> <br /> In the beginning, the path branches south and east; both eventually lead to the same place in the southeast but the eastern path has better terrain so is probably the easier one. Eventually you’ll come to a larger area with a chaos magus to the south; the way forward is a couple doors south of the chaos magus past some ants. Once you open the doors you’ll meet Elyssa again; she’s surrounded by a ton of drones and will recruit more so just camp in the 2-hex passage until all the drones are gone. Meanwhile you’ll have to move Elynia and Mal Keshar next to each other and protect them for a few turns (move them off the front lines before doing this, because they won’t be able to move or attack).<br /> <br /> Once Elynia and Mal Keshar have summoned the Union and all the nearby drones are gone, lure Elyssa out onto 40% defense by putting a unit in her range. She’ll absorb all non-Union damage, but you can still slow her so try to always slow her before using the Union. Note that the Union uses up both Elynia and Mal Keshar’s moves and attacks, though you can still slow with Elynia and then Union with Mal Keshar. Once Elyssa’s at 60% health she’ll run away.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> <br /> The way forward is the two gates in the southwest, which lead down some narrow passages into an area full of demon zephyrs and drones. You can form a line just outside the narrow passages (don’t use the 1-hex bottlenecks or it will take too long) and let them come. Also, try to avoid sending your flying undead onto the starry chasms because it has a small chance of killing them.<br /> <br /> Continuing southwest, you’ll come to a rocky area surrounded by chasms - there are a bunch of drones across the chasms so try to lure them off a couple at a time. Elyssa’s in a keep to the south - lure her out and repeat the slowing + Union tactic (she still absorbs non Union damage). This time she’ll flee at 40% HP.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3'''<br /> <br /> Continuing east, a bunch of zephyrs and drones will come at you across the eastern chasm; form a line and lure them onto land so you can easily get rid of them. Then the path splits south and east - both lead to the same area in the southeast, where Elyssa is waiting with a bunch of drones. As usual try to lure off as many drones as possible before luring Elyssa out.<br /> <br /> She is more powerful this time, but fortunately she now takes full damage from non Union attacks! However, make sure to finish her with the Union; otherwise she’ll just regenerate HP instead of dying.<br /> <br /> ===S23 A (Into the Lair)===<br /> *Objectives: Find the entrance to the Chaos Emperor’s lair.<br /> <br /> In the beginning, just follow the path southwest past a few demon zephyrs and guards. Past the gate in the southwest there are a couple enemy leaders; just camp in the 3-hex passage until both their armies are gone. There’s a gate in the south which leads to the exit, but you’ll have to find the glyph to open it first.<br /> <br /> A few turns after entering the indoor area, a bunch of cockatrices and drones will come flooding out of the west. It’s preferable to form a solid line against them, since getting petrified disrupts a unit’s ZOC. Cockatrices are weak to arcane so spectres are ideal for taking them out. Once they’re gone split up into two groups to explore the western cave passage and the north- there’s an enemy leader in each area. It’s best to send Elynia with one group and Mal Keshar with the other since the glyph to open the exit is in a random location and only Elynia or Mal Keshar can activate it.<br /> <br /> Once you open the exit gate, there will be another flood of cockatrices from the southeast. Past the exit gate there’s a very weak enemy leader and some assorted enemies scattered around. The path then splits three ways: south is an empty dead end, north is a dead end with some story glyphs, and east is the entrance to the lair.<br /> <br /> Seansy: I suggest if you have plenty of turns remaining once you reach the exit to feed more experience to your units to get them as close as possible to an AMLA since the next scenario is the final boss fight and there is no early finish bonus. I had the Stealth ability on Galas so I could theoretically leave him alone next to the exit in stealth until the last turn, but you can also split up your units into two teams and have 1 stay by the entrance to farm the spawning drones and have another backtrack to kill spawning drones in another area.<br /> <br /> ===S23 B (Until Death)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Emperor.<br /> *Note: The blue glyphs scattered around the map heal a unit to full.<br /> This is effectively the final battle; the next scenario is easy and more of a playable cutscene (however, any surviving veterans do carry over to next scenario – you won’t need many but the more the better.) This is probably the most difficult scenario in the entire campaign so hopefully almost all of your veterans are still alive and you got the extra gold from S21.<br /> <br /> You’ll start close to two enemy leaders, and it’s possible (recommended, even) to take them both out on turn 1. The southern leader should be easy; make sure to leave Galas available to take his keep and begin to recruit undead immediately. For the northern shadow courier if you put Mal Keshar next to him and Elynia next to Mal Keshar, two of Mal Keshar’s Union hits will take him down (a 78% chance to kill – it’s slightly risky though, since there are likely some level 2 drones lurking around and Mal Keshar will take a lot of retaliation if he doesn’t kill the shadow courier.)<br /> <br /> Try to recruit as much as possible with Galas on turns 1-3. At the start of turn 4, the Emperor will possess Mal Keshar (meaning you can’t recruit undead anymore) and Erathan (or Galas, if you don’t have Erathan). You’ll then have to use Elynia to kill Mal Keshar (you can make this part easier by making sure Mal Keshar is close to your units and on 40% defense on turn 4.) The Emperor can recall your unused undead veterans while he’s controlling Mal Keshar, so try to finish Mal Keshar off immediately.<br /> <br /> Once you kill Mal Keshar, the Emperor will get a new Union attack and Elynia will also get a powered up (35-4) Union attack when next to him. Elynia’s Union is the only attack which does full damage to the Emperor; all other attacks will do just a few HP of damage (also, non-Union attacks will sometimes cause him to become unslowed so be careful). Lure the Emperor out onto 40% defense, slow him, and then Union with Elynia. You’ll probably need about 3 turns (2 if you’re lucky) of Elynia using the Union. Hopefully Elynia doesn’t get hit too much; if she does you could try ZOCing the boss with cannon fodder while Elynia gets healed or moves to a healing glyph.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat him Mal Keshar will return and you can recruit undead again (although he is extremely fragile now so it’s essential to keep him away from the Emperor), and the Emperor will transform into his final form. This form has much more HP and a stronger ranged attack (hopefully at least one slower is still alive!) but fortunately can now be fully damaged by regular attacks. Elynia’s Union also gets a major powerup, so his HP should go down very quickly. He sometimes spawns drones when hit; you may want to move your own units next to him before attacking so that the drones don’t block the hexes next to him. Make sure to have Elynia finish him off with the Union, or else he’ll regenerate a ton of HP.<br /> <br /> ===S23 C (Broken Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit with Elynia, Galas or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: This is the last scenario.<br /> This scenario should be pretty easy, even with very few surviving veterans. Head northeast past some demon zephyrs to the first checkpoint; your units will all enter a new lava area. Around this time Ledinor will begin having some ominous dialogue, and several turns later he’ll suddenly transform into a shadow courier, and 3 shadow minions will appear around him. You can either kill him, or just leave him behind.<br /> <br /> After heading east across the doors past the second checkpoint, the path will turn north. Once you approach the third checkpoint, several high level undead will appear in the 3-hex keep just north of the checkpoint. Once you’ve dealt with them, it’s a pretty uneventful trip northwest toward the exit.<br /> <br /> [[Category: User-made Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=IftU_Walkthrough&diff=75584 2026-08-01T07:18:48Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>{{Translations}}<br /> This is a strategy guide for the add-on campaign '''Invasion from the Unknown''' (IftU) version 2.0 by shadowm. Note that there have been many major gameplay changes from the original version (for example, elvish enchantresses can no longer advance to sylphs, the elvish warrior spirit and Aragwaithi recruits have been removed, and many scenarios were changed), so much of the advice here won’t apply to earlier campaign versions.<br /> <br /> This walkthrough was written by Inky and is based on the hard difficulty. (I also did a commented playthrough of the campaign with screenshots and replays on the [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&amp;t=43960 forums].) Feel free to make corrections or add your own advice.<br /> <br /> Seansy Note: The most recent version, released on March 30th 2026, has made some changes so I am adding some edits to certain sections to adjust for that.<br /> <br /> Campaign discussion and developer support on the forums available for [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=43309 IftU version 2.0.0 and Wesnoth v.1.12].<br /> <br /> ==General campaign advice==<br /> It’s advised to play ''Under the Burning Suns'' first, to familiarize yourself with the story and the two suns schedule.<br /> <br /> ===Units===<br /> You begin with the typical elvish recruits plus the campaign specific elvish hunter unit, then gain the ability to recruit undead in Scenario 4, dark adepts in Scenario 5, and sprites in Scenario 14.<br /> <br /> EDIT: AMLA trees have been added to Galas and another future unit. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the options by right clicking on the unit to view them. Feed as much experience as possible to these units to maximize their abilities throughout the campaign. <br /> <br /> *A large part of this campaign takes place underground, making undead units especially ideal. Spectres are perhaps the most useful unit throughout the campaign due to their draining, excellent mobility and arcane damage. Nightgaunts (raw damage) and necromancers (arcane resist and plague) are also very useful. Skeletal undead are generally not recommended due to their low mobility.<br /> *On almost every scenario it’s helpful to recruit some vampire bats for scouting, village grabbing, and to act as distractions since they do not cost upkeep.<br /> *For elves, leveling at least a couple shydes for healing is essential. Prowlers are one of the most useful elvish units, being good in melee and able to slow in ranged. Enchantresses are also valuable for their arcane magical damage and slowing, though they do not advance to sylphs in this campaign. Fighters, archers and scout types are generally not so useful.<br /> *The lawful sprites which you can recruit starting from S14 are helpful in S15 (Shadows of Time) against undead, but are useless from S17 onward where it is perpetually night, so do not invest too heavily in them.<br /> <br /> ====The Recall List====<br /> *You have the option of either continuing to Part II keeping all your veterans from Part I (recommended), or starting Part II fresh. To compensate for the difference, there are several recall list wipes in the campaign:<br /> **S12 (The Escape): You can only bring up to 6 undead units (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count) with you and the rest are permanently lost.<br /> **S16 (Dawn of War): You can only bring up to 6 elves with you and the rest are permanently lost. In addition, any unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. EDIT: The most recent version has changed this so that any elf unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. There is no longer a limit on how many elves you recruit/recall.<br /> **S21 (Innuendo): You can only recall 8 veterans, which will be the only veterans you have for the rest of the campaign.<br /> *In Part II gold becomes very scarce so you will only be able to use a limited amount of veterans in each scenario; therefore quality (units with good traits such as resilient, and several AMLAs) is better than quantity.<br /> <br /> ===Item List===<br /> This is a list of the permanent items which can be picked up throughout the campaign, and which units can use them. Items given to your hero units, mostly Galas, carry over to the After the Storm campaign!<br /> <br /> *S3: '''Ring of Swiftness''' (+1 movement) - ''living units''<br /> *S4: '''Staff of Petrichor''' (EDIT: New item from recent update) Replaces melee attack with '''Touch of Petrichor''' a 7x2 magical cold attack that reads &quot;When this attack hits a lower level opponent during offense, the target becomes petrified for one turn. Once the petrification effect expires, the target gains the mark status effect.&quot; The petrification effect makes the afflicted unit unable to move or attack and they cannot be attacked themselves either. Usable by shamans and their advancements. Not usable for hero units.<br /> *S5 (This is a branching path so you'll only be able to obtain one of the following:)<br /> **S5a: '''Ring of Regeneration''' (if you chose to spare the bandit leader) (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage) - ''not usable by: shamans and their advancements and Anlindë ''<br /> **S5b: '''Shardia's Meteor''' (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse) - ''elvish hunters, fighters, and their advancements''<br /> *S7: '''Void Armor''' (secret item) (sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact, +10% fire resistance) - ''elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements''<br /> *S8: '''Poisonous Bow''' (adds a new 11-3 poisonous ranged bow attack) - ''skeleton archers, revenants, elvish archers, elvish heroes and their advancements.''<br /> *S10:<br /> **'''Berserker Potion''' (adds berserk special to melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and +10% blade / +20% fire / +30% impact resistance) - ''not usable by: ghosts, bats, corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units.''<br /> **'''Potion of Drain''' (adds drain special to melee attacks, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance) - ''living units''<br /> *S14: '''Explosive arrows''' (6 uses, does 80% base damage to the unit in the hex behind the target) ''- elvish archers, skeleton archers and their advancements''<br /> *S21:<br /> **'''Potion of Deftness''' (+1 movement, +1 ranged damage) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Accuracy Bow''' (adds marksman special to ranged attacks) - ''bone shooters and elvish rangers and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Potion of Strength''' (+1 melee damage, +8 HP) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Glacial Gladius''' (+1 melee damage, cold damage and slow for a unit’s melee attack, -5% HP) - ''elvish fighters, archers, hunters, scouts and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Amulet of t<br /> *22B<br /> **'''Ring of the Revenant''' (Any living creature wearing this ring is granted the power to cheat death once, after which the ring shall become inert for a thousand years) - ''living units besides sprites and bats.''<br /> <br /> ==Part I: Seeking the Light==<br /> ===S1 (Border Patrol)===<br /> *Objectives: The starting objectives are to hold out as long as possible, but on Turn 4 the objectives will change to defeating all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This is a deceptively easy scenario, as the next scenario is very difficult and requires a substantial gold carryover. On Hard something like 140 carryover is ideal and anything less than 100 carryover is probably too little to win with. Do not overrecruit, keep an eye on your income (make sure it’s positive) and be aggressive – don’t be afraid to lose some units, as it will help your income.<br /> <br /> Recruits: I’d recommend getting 2 shamans so that you can divide your forces and have a healer for each one, but not more than that as you need damage dealers. The rest of your units should be a mix of mostly archers and hunters. (Fighters are generally inferior to hunters, and scouts are expensive and do little damage).<br /> <br /> General strategies:<br /> *'''Defending the starting keep:''' One strategy is to hang back at your initial castle during the first day, recruiting very lightly during these turns to preserve income. Form a line on good terrain: one possibility is to use the forts just south of your keep; another option is to form a slightly more forward line stretching from the forest tiles (19,20) to (26,17) through the village southeast of your keep. &lt;br /&gt; Let the enemies come to you; they’ll arrive around Turn 6 (The Short Dark). Attack aggressively during Second Dawn/Day and you should be able to eliminate almost all the enemy units before The Long Dark hits.<br /> <br /> *'''Moving to the center keep (by Theron):''' An alternate faster and much more aggressive strategy, meant to finish as early as possible for maximum carryover, is to recruit a full keep on turn 1 and move Galas to the central keep immediately. Much of the fighting will take place around First Dusk / The Short Dark so expect heavy losses. &lt;br /&gt; Theron's advice: Recruit 3 Archers and 3 Hunters in turn 1. (Fighters are too slow; shamans are too slow and their damage output is too low.) Move Galas to the tiny keep in the middle of the map. Recruit 1 more Archer and 1 more Hunter in turn 3. Recruit 2 Fighters and 2 Shamans in turn 3 + 4. Decide where to amass your army (green front or blue front). Do not retreat. Ignore TOD. Use terrain advantage.<br /> <br /> For defeating the enemy leaders you can either split your forces in two and kill them simultaneously, or a safer (but slower) strategy is to send everyone to kill the southern green leader and them move them all to the blue eastern leader. The eastern leader is tough to kill – it can help to level an archer to marksman and shoot him down during daytime.<br /> <br /> Try to get Galas to level 2 (captain is strongly recommended for leadership) and level at least one of the shamans to druid.<br /> <br /> ===S2 (A Real Confrontation)===<br /> *Objectives:<br /> **Hold out until the end of turns.<br /> **Alternate objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> <br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario on Hard, so you’ll want to start this with over 200 gold (minimum gold is 100; replay scenario 1 for more carryover if necessary). The first thing to do is grab the villages of your useless ally, as you can put the gold to much better use. Note that you (or your ally) must retain control of a certain number of villages (9 on Hard, depends on difficulty) or you will lose. This should not be a problem though, as there are 9 villages (3 in the northwest, 3 near your keep, 3 near Ledinor’s keep) which are quite far back and easy to defend.<br /> <br /> This battle has two fronts divided by the central lake: the western front south of your keep, and the eastern front. The eastern front is relatively safe as there are less enemies there and Ledinor sends the bulk of his army that way, while the western front will be a high casualty bloodbath. Therefore one approach is to send a small elite group of veterans including Anlindë east, while using a massive spam approach (civilians and fresh recruits, mixed with some veterans) in the west. An alternate strategy is to recruit only civilians initially and send them out to delay the enemy forces enough so that they reach your main force during the day.<br /> <br /> Keep your elves in a line in the forest and try to slow the level 2 enemies; use ctrl + v and watch out for the skirmishers. With constant reinforcements from your high income and the time of day changing in your favor the chaos army should eventually run out of steam.<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly fine to start the next scenario with minimum gold, so do not worry if you can't defeat the enemy leaders for the finish bonus. Try to level a shaman to sorceress, as the arcane magical damage will be very useful for the next scenario. This is best done on the later turns, when most of the chaos army is gone and it’s relatively safe.<br /> <br /> ===S3 (Memories from the Depths)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the cave, then defeat the undead leader in the far northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Recruit lightly initially, as there aren’t so many enemies in the tunnel and there is another keep right at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be fighting undead so hunters and their advancements are especially good, as are sorceresses if you have any; try to get Anlindë to level 3 and / or a sorceress or enchantress during this scenario as it will help defeat the enemy at the very end. When you reach the end of the tunnel, you can use the nearby keep to recruit/recall some more units. Try to keep your income positive though – you don’t need too many units and there will be more opportunities to recruit along the way.<br /> <br /> Proceed northwest past the second keep, and you’ll come across some branching paths. On the right, moving to the flashing yellow hex will open up a passage leading to a Ring of Swiftness granting +1 movement. A good choice for this ring is Galas, since it can potentially allow him to reach keeps and recruit a turn earlier. The two western paths which will join together in a large central chamber, where you’ll encounter the main undead army; take them out with the help of slowing and arcane attacks.<br /> <br /> Triggering a touchplate in the southwest leads to two holy waters which grant arcane melee damage for this scenario only. Continue northwest, being careful not to expose wounded units since bats will often come out of nowhere and attack, and you’ll come to a river crossing. Across the river is another keep – I would highly recommend using this keep to recruit a couple expendable hunters or shamans for their slowing ability in preparation for the scenario’s final enemy.<br /> <br /> Head east across the river and the path will split north and east. Both paths will join up in the northeast corner but the eastern path has much stronger enemies so send most of your units that way - you can use expendable units to lure the high level undead guards into the open where they are easily killed. In the northeast you’ll come across the scenario’s final enemy, an ancient lich! You’ll need to slow him first, so hopefully you have some expendable hunters or shamans which can suicide into him until he’s slowed. After he’s slowed use your sorceress/enchantress and Anlindë to hopefully finish him off.<br /> <br /> ===S4 (Over the Sands)===<br /> <br /> Recruits: Living units are generally not recommended in this scenario due to the dehydration mechanic, but you’ll certainly want another (preferably +8) healer besides Anlindë, and you might as well recall the loyal scout too since he doesn’t cost upkeep. I’d recommend recruiting mostly ghosts – they are fast and have extremely good advancements – with some vampire bats mixed in to scout and act as a distraction force.<br /> You start with 2 villages and there are 6 more around the orc’s keep, but this is all you’re going to get for most of the scenario so take that into account when recruiting (try to keep your income positive).<br /> <br /> '''Part 1'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the orc leader to the northwest.<br /> <br /> Use Galas’ leadership on the level 1 ghosts; try to level a couple by feeding them the level 2 orc kills. Focus on killing crossbowmen and archers as their ranged fire attack is dangerous to ghosts. Mal Keshar is great at screening your units – you can put him in very exposed positions and the orcs will generally ignore him.<br /> <br /> When you kill the orcish leader you’ll get about 50 gold. You can use his keep to recruit some reinforcements (watch your income; there aren’t any more villages for a long time). Start heading west, where you’ll encounter some very weak undead. There will also be some scorpions north and south of the path which are free experience for wraiths and ghosts.<br /> After a while the path will turn south and you’ll spot some bandits. EDIT: The '''Staff of Petrichor''' is located to the southeast and has 4 petrified griffin units that will awaken and attack you once you attempt to loot the tomb. Make sure you have multiple ghost line units there during the nighttime to try to drain through the damage.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the bandit leader in the southwest.<br /> <br /> Try to fight the elusive outlaw units (footpads, thieves) on sand terrain where they only have 40% defense instead of their usual 60 or 70%. Bats make great bait for luring out powerful guard units, or the enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat the leader some humans will show up from the north, and you will have to decide whether to fight them. If you do decide to fight them you'll have to defeat their leader and will go to S5a (Crossfire). If you choose the second option instead, the scenario will end immediately and you will go to S5b (Cursed Plateau). <br /> S5a is the easier scenario, but since both scenarios give a different item (see the [[#Item_List | Item List]]) you may want to decide based on that.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3 (only if you chose to fight the humans)'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the leader of the humans in the northwest.<br /> <br /> Note that drain attacks will not work on the human units so you’ll have to be a bit more careful with putting wraiths on the front line.<br /> Use the bandit’s keep to recruit more reinforcements if needed and start heading north. You’ll encounter two revenants; you can easily lure them out and kill them with spectres / wraiths. The humans have a lot of units, but if you form a line where your units can only be reached from 2 hexes then their level 1 units won’t be able to damage you too much.<br /> Continue northwest towards the final leader; again a vampire bat can be used to lure her out.<br /> <br /> ===Diverging campaign path===<br /> ====S5a (Crossfire)====<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders, and make sure no chaos empire units survive.<br /> <br /> All three enemy sides will fight each other, so a couple keeps of units should be enough. Villages are very scarce so using mainly low level units supported by leadership will save on upkeep. Start by sending your entire army south against the chaos empire; the undead and bandits will mostly be occupied fighting each other. The undead will send quite a few troops east but they should arrive around daytime so it should be easy to wipe them out.<br /> <br /> After the chaos empire is defeated, head west; you can send everybody against the lich and then north or split into two groups, one to defeat the lich and one to deal with the bandits. The bandits are the stronger enemy – try to attack them during the day.<br /> <br /> After defeating the bandit leader you’ll be given the choice to spare him; do so and you’ll be given a very useful Ring of Regeneration (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage), a good item for Galas. (Deciding to kill him will only give you some gold and is not worth it.)<br /> <br /> ====S5b (Cursed Plateau)====<br /> *Objectives: Move to the northwest corner of the map with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **In order to get the item you must find the piece of parchment in the southwest cave, and defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> You won't be getting any more villages for a while, so recruit very lightly initially. There's another tiny 1-hex keep to the west where you can recall some more reinforcements, and you'll only face some scorpions and bats at first, so a couple wraiths should be enough. Once you reach the tiny keep in the west, send some flying undead into the southwest cave, where there's a touchplate opening into a chasm full of bats. To the southeast of the chasm is a passage leading to a piece of parchment, which opens a passage through the mountains in the northwest.<br /> <br /> To the north is another small 2-hex keep, though you might have to clear out some chaos empire units before you can use it. There are a lot of invokers so you'll probably want either some cannon fodder or some durable non undead units. It's preferable to form a solid line and defend until most of the enemies are gone, because there are many high level enemies and also some nasty shadow minions (nightstalking, skirmishing and backstabbing pests) around.<br /> <br /> Northeast of the small keep there's a dead end cave with the blue enemy leader; if you want the scenario's item you'll have to defeat him (Mal Keshar is very effective against him), otherwise you can just ignore the cave, though there is a small amount of gold there.<br /> <br /> Following the northwest path through the mountains leads to a gate, which you won't be able to open until you defeat both enemy leaders, though you could start sending whichever unit you want to pick up the item that way (it can be used by elvish hunters, fighters and advancements; I'd strongly recommend Galas.) Just send them on their own because there aren't any enemies behind the gate. Once you kill both leaders, you'll be able to pass through the gate to a chest in the south containing Shardia's Meteor (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse).<br /> <br /> Continuing north and then east, there's another cave with the second leader. There's also a couple small piles of gold (in the southeast and northeast) in the cave. In the northwest is the shadow courier leader; try to kill him as quickly as possible in melee (preferably luring him out of the castle first so he doesn't have such high defense) because he will completely demolish your undead units. Once you kill the shadow courier, the western path which leads outside to the exit only has a few vampire bats.<br /> <br /> ===S6 (Moon Valley)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This scenario is much easier than it looks, because the orcish units will generally stay clumped together near their leader instead of all coming towards you at once, allowing you to focus on each army separately. You’ll receive a small amount of gold each time you defeat an enemy leader.<br /> <br /> It's possible to rush the northeastern (blue) orc leader and kill him before he spends most of his gold: recruit a full keep on turn 1 and send Galas northwest immediately; send a bat southwest to village grab and move everyone else northwest. With the help of Anlindë and Mal Keshar you should be able to whittle down the leader on turn 3 and finish him on turn 4. Galas can then use the keep to recruit reinforcements while the rest of the army clears out the remaining blue orcs.<br /> <br /> At this point the green and black orcs will be hanging around the central forest while purple remains in the west. Advance aggressively during the second day and you should be able to wipe out most of the green and black units. After that only purple will be left; it will be night now but with the help of slow and Mal Keshar who is practically invincible they shouldn’t pose a problem.<br /> <br /> As the dialogue hints, when you approach the northwest area close to the final keep, several high level orcs will appear and the northwest leader will also get some gold to recruit. Wait until daytime (preferably morning) to approach, and you can also use the nearby keep to recruit some spam if you want to be extra safe.<br /> <br /> ===S7 (Goliath)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat Goliath.<br /> *Note: The units you recruit/recall on the first turn are all you will have for the entire scenario, so choose carefully.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of weak level 1 units scattered around, so it’s a good opportunity to get some experience. Most of the enemies in this scenario are automatons which are extremely resistant to blade and arcane (50%) but only have 10% impact resistance making trappers/prowlers especially effective against them.<br /> <br /> After heading west through the tunnel that you start in, you’ll come across the keep of the chaos empire. This is actually the toughest opposition you will face all scenario so be defensive (form a line and let the enemies come to you) and take your time. The enemy leader is extremely dangerous in ranged so try to take him down in 1 turn using mostly melee attacks.<br /> <br /> After defeating the enemy leader, head south across the river and you’ll encounter some demons and bats scattered about; keep heading south and you’ll come to a chamber with some automatons which are basically free experience. There’s a passage in the south leading to an orb switch; send a fast unit like a flying undead to trigger it, which will open the eastern wall into a large central area.<br /> <br /> In the central area, triggering the touchplate in the southwest corner opens a small room in the center with two golems guarding a potion of strength (+2 melee attack, +8 HP for this scenario only) and the final touchplate which opens the way south. The northeast path is just a dead end with some weak enemies (though you could go kill them for the experience if you have the time) so send everyone down the southern passage. <br /> <br /> The passage leads into a huge chamber in the south filled with automatons. Moving further south in this chamber reveals the scenario’s boss, Goliath, who appears along with a few level 1 automatons. Goliath has a lot of HP and good resistances but is extremely weak in offense, so just slow him and attack with powerful units like Mal Keshar and he will be destroyed in no time.<br /> <br /> In the far southeast, down the watery passage, there is a secret touchplate at 40,26 which opens a passage to the Void Armor, which is located in the lit hex at 31,24. The armor sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact (EDIT: Changed Void Armor stats to provide +15/15/20/10% resistance to blade, pierce, impact, and fire damage; as opposed to the previous replacement of blade/pierce/impact with 50/50/60% and increase of fire by 10%) and is a great item for Galas (it can be used by elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements) - start sending whichever unit you want to take it southeast ASAP if you want to make it in time.<br /> <br /> ===S8 (An Errand of Hope)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (3 in total).<br /> <br /> You will get another opportunity to recruit later, when you are much closer to the main battle, so you may want to save some gold until then and try not to go negative on income. The first enemy you’ll be facing is some trolls directly to the northwest. Wraiths, spectres and Mal Keshar are especially effective against them. Near the troll’s keep you’ll find a Poisonous Bow (can be used by elvish archers, skeleton archers, elvish heroes, revenants and their advancements) which adds an 11-3 ranged poison attack.<br /> <br /> Head northwest across the river (don’t bother exploring southwest of the river; there’s nothing there) and you’ll come across a large central area – entering it will clear the fog in the area and reveal an ongoing battle between the chaos empire and some allied dwarves. There’s also a second dwarf leader far in the northwest (he has a few villages, so you can send a bat up that way to steal them), and another chaos empire leader all the way in the northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Use the large keep here to recruit/recall some reinforcements, and split up your forces between the western front and the northeastern front. You’ll need more firepower in the northeast, since there are quite a few high level enemies there and the dwarves will concentrate their forces in the west. It helps to have Galas use Althurin’s keep to constantly reinforce (you should have a pretty high income) and just defend the northeast passage until the high level enemies are gone. (Don’t worry about keeping Althurin alive; he’ll just flee if he gets to 0 HP).<br /> <br /> The final enemy leader is all the way in the northeast corner; he’s a chaos lorekeeper so send your strongest melee units against him.<br /> By the way, there’s no point in sending a unit to the crypt south of the western leader (you’ll just get a message saying it’s empty).<br /> <br /> ===S9 (The Library)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> *Note: The exit is marked by a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south (its exact location is random). You'll need the exit key to pass through, which is dropped by a random enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Don’t recruit too heavily at the beginning, since you’ll get another opportunity to recruit about halfway through the scenario. You’ll probably have to do quite a bit of fighting before then though, so some durable units will be helpful. Ghosts/wraiths/spectres are especially good in this scenario due to the lack of chaos invokers and fire demons. Head west (the passage south of your starting keep just leads to an empty dead end) and after fighting through a couple level 2 undead you’ll come to an intersection.<br /> <br /> The northwest path leads to a dead end with a ruined house; when you send a living nonbat unit there to investigate you’ll discover Igor, a loyal wolf rider. He is automatically recalled in all later scenarios and even has his own dialogue, so it's highly recommended to keep him alive. EDIT: If you keep Igor alive until the end of the campaign, not only do you get an achievement, but he will be with you at the start of the follow up campaign in After the Storm! Meanwhile in the south, the combined forces of the 3 enemy leaders will begin to arrive. The easiest way to fight them is to just defend in the bottleneck until the massive army is mostly gone; it will take quite a while but the rest of the scenario will go much quicker after the main enemy army is gone.<br /> <br /> When you get past the bottleneck you’ll come to a large keep where you can recruit some reinforcements, and the path splits into a western and eastern one. There are two enemy leaders in the west and one in the south, so one possibility is to split into two groups and have one group take out the two western leaders one after another (there’s a banebow leader in the northwest and a draug leader in the southwest), while another group circles east and then south to take care of the southern lich leader (bring some arcane damage).<br /> <br /> The purple glyphs scattered around reveal various pieces of backstory. There is also a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south which marks the exit. You’ll need the exit key (dropped by a random enemy leader) to use the glyph. You might as well just defeat all enemy leaders for the experience and early finish bonus, as they don’t have much income and are pretty much on their own.<br /> <br /> ===S10 (The Source of Light)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then activate the six runes to open the central chamber.<br /> <br /> Note that this scenario takes place deep underground, where chaotic units get +30% damage instead of the usual +25%. In the beginning, make sure to send a vampire bat to grab the village in the far northeast corner of the map, across the chasm. The first objective is to defeat the enemy leader to the southwest. There are a lot of high level enemy units including skirmishers, so a safe way to play it is to form a solid vertical line along the 4-hex bottleneck (from 42,11 to 42,15) and defend there until the most threatening enemies are gone.<br /> <br /> Once the leader is defeated, you’ll have to activate the 6 glyphs scattered throughout the lower half of the map. Here are their approximate locations (going counterclockwise):<br /> *'''Northwest (across the river):''' A long twisty passage leads past some giant spiders to a glyph at the very end.<br /> *'''West:''' There’s a glyph behind a cuttlefish leader in the west of the watery area.<br /> *'''Southwest corner:''' There are a bunch of animated rocks and various undead here, and a glyph next to an enemy leader. Watch out, because several wraiths are lurking near the keep.<br /> *'''Center south:''' There’s a sealed chamber containing a glyph, which you have to open by finding a touchplate in the far south. There’s also a red Berserker Potion (not usable by: ghosts/bats/corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units), which gives the berserk special to a unit’s melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and some extra resistance (+10% blade, +20% fire, +30% impact).<br /> *'''Southeast:''' There’s a lava filled cave full of fire spirits – dark adepts and their advancements are especially effective against them. In the far southeast there’s a fire guardian leader and a glyph next to the keep.<br /> *'''Northeast:''' You’ll encounter some undead and a chocobone leader (be sure to keep fragile units out of range of its charge attack). There’s a glyph guarded by vampire bats north of the undead keep, and a northeast passage leading to a green Potion of Drain (adds drain special, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance, usable by non undead units).<br /> <br /> In order to explore efficiently it’s best to divide into several small groups (e.g. 4 groups, one for each corner). A very useful tip by skeptical_troll if you’d like to avoid a lot of fighting completely is to send a shadow/nightgaunt to activate the glyphs (though it’s not advised to do this in the southwest or northeast corner, since these glyphs are surrounded by enemies).<br /> <br /> Since there is no early finish bonus and you likely have very high income, you may want to take your time and make some extra gold for next scenario.<br /> <br /> ===S11 (Strike on Herthgar)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out until the end of turns, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: All enemy sides will get a small amount of gold on turns 6 and 14.<br /> <br /> This scenario is actually the final battle for Part I – the next two scenarios are more of an epilogue. This is one of the more difficult scenarios, so don’t worry too much about losing some veterans (another thing to note is that you will not be able to take more than six undead veterans with you after this scenario.)<br /> <br /> Gold carryover is completely irrelevant (you won’t be able to use more than the minimum gold next scenario) so one approach is to just recall every single veteran you can afford. It can be helpful to create walking corpses with your necromancers to act as a distraction. Also, be sure not to let your spectres/nightgaunts etc. get within range of multiple chaos invokers and demons, or they will die fast.<br /> <br /> Here is one strategy for defeating all enemy leaders:<br /> #Send a large force northwest to wipe out the two northwestern enemies while a smaller force heads south to defend the dwarven castle. (The eastern front and southern front do not require immediate attention because the dwarves will delay the enemies for several turns.) Form a line and let them come to you; prowlers with their slowing ability and necromancers with their high HP and arcane resistance (there are lots of chaos invokers around) are especially good at holding the line.<br /> #Once the two northwest enemies are defeated, split the large northern force, with one part going to deal with the eastern enemies, and the rest going south to reinforce the castle.<br /> #Defend in the castle using the bridge chokepoints (just watch out for demon zephyrs which can fly over the deep water moat) until most of the southern enemies are gone. The southern force can then split into two groups and take out the two remaining southern leaders.<br /> <br /> ===S12 (The Escape)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the northern exit with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: You may only recruit/recall during the first turn (6 units total), and any undead veterans you do not recall this scenario will be permanently lost (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count).<br /> <br /> This is a relatively easy scenario, but there are some triggered events including a large ambush near the end so don’t send your units too far ahead by themselves.<br /> <br /> There are four minor enemies you’ll be facing this scenario:<br /> <br /> #After crossing the river at the beginning you’ll come across a chamber with the chaos empire fighting some trolls; both are very weak and shouldn’t be a problem.<br /> #After crossing another bridge and heading north you’ll encounter a mechanical Goliath along with some automatons; he is also extremely weak.<br /> #You’ll then come across a tunnel leading into a large empty chamber. Do not send a unit all the way into the chamber because there’s an ambush; instead move a scouting unit slowly toward the chamber until you trigger the ambush, then pull it back using its remaining movement. After that the ambush shouldn’t be hard to deal with – the most threatening enemy is the hellhound with 10-4 melee berserk, but a single spectre can easily take care of it.<br /> #Finally, after heading north you’ll come across some imps. One thing to watch out for is that when you kill the leader imp, he will dissolve into a bunch of mudcrawlers. After that the exit is straight to the north.<br /> <br /> ===S13 (Face Your Fate)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out to the end of turns; then accept the inevitable.<br /> <br /> This is mostly a cutscene scenario.<br /> Holding out until the end of turns should be trivial with your extremely high starting gold. If you didn’t manage to recall some of your undead veterans last scenario, you can recall them now. A few turns after the initial turn limit, the Chaos Warlord will appear in the southwest and the objectives will change to defeating her. However, it is impossible (if you reduce her HP to 0 she’ll just heal back to full and instantly kill all your undead units), and the only way to end the scenario is to let your leader die.<br /> <br /> ==Part II: Armageddon==<br /> <br /> ===S14 (Clearing the Road)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> This should be a very easy scenario, especially if you’re continuing from a Part I save, so it’s a good opportunity to get some easy XP for fresh recruits. The barrel contains 6 explosive arrows (does 80% of the base damage to the unit immediately behind the target).<br /> <br /> The two enemies you’ll be facing are saurians and water serpents from the northwest and orcs from the northeast. The northeast orc keep is surrounded by deep water to the south, forcing the orcs to go all the way around to the west and then south, giving you several turns to focus on the saurian army before they arrive. Most of your forces should head northwest since the main battle will take place there (for the east you can just send a bat to village grab). If you keep your elves in the forests you should have no problem dealing with the saurians and then the orcs.<br /> <br /> ===S15 (Shadows of Time)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders. (You actually do not need to kill the ancient lich leader – once you reduce him to half health he will flee.)<br /> You’ll be fighting a lot of undead so arcane (sorceresses, dark adepts, etc.) and fire damage (sprites) will be very useful. Your orcish allies will mostly go up the northeastern side of the map and delay the undead coming from that direction, so the main battle will likely take place on two fronts: fighting the undead from the west, and the orcs in the center.<br /> <br /> The first threat you’ll face is the group of four Forefathers coming at you from the west; stay back and let them get close, and then finish them off with heavy arcane hitters like Elynia and Mal Keshar. After that you can split your army in two, with one group holding off the undead in the western forest, and another (probably larger) group dealing with the incoming flood of orcs (and later undead from the north) in the center.<br /> <br /> ===S16 (Dawn of War)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the southern edge of the map with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective (early finish bonus): Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: after this scenario, you won't be able to recruit elves or dark adepts, and all elven veterans not recalled in this scenario are permanently lost.<br /> <br /> Recalling advice:<br /> *If you continued from Part I you’ll likely have much more veterans than you can recall; however there’s no need to get obsessed about bringing every single veteran with you because there is very little gold in later scenarios, so you won’t be able to use them all anyway.<br /> *Elves: It’s highly recommended to get at least two healers because you will not be able to get any more healers later! After that, probably the most useful elven units are enchantresses and prowlers since they can slow.<br /> *Spectres are great in later levels (arcane damage + mobility); I’d recommend recalling every one you have. Necromancers and nightgaunts will also be very useful.<br /> *I would not recommend recalling any sprites, since they are lawful and the next scenarios all feature perpetual night.<br /> <br /> Your two allies will do a pretty good job distracting the two outer enemies, so the main battle will take place in the center. If you began the battle portion of the scenario on turn 4, you should have a turn of daylight (First Afternoon) to strike hard and fast at the central enemies with all your veterans. If you continue to make as many kills as possible during dusk there shouldn’t be many enemies left at all to threaten you during the night. Once you deal with the units from the two central enemies the rest of the battle should be easy, as the two outer enemies should be weakened from fighting your allies. It's recommended to kill all the enemy leaders for the extra gold and experience.<br /> <br /> ===S17 (Voice of the Armageddon)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> You will face two enemy leaders: a relatively weak enemy in the center, and a very powerful enemy far to the south. You’ll probably want to recruit a few expendable units such as ghosts or vampire bats to distract the powerful enemy units from your veterans. The central enemy shouldn’t be too much of a problem: blast them with your veterans and then put a couple expendable units in front to screen them.<br /> <br /> Once you scout far enough south, you’ll trigger the southern leader to start recruiting and a boss Armageddon Imp will appear and start heading for you. It’s probably best to wait near the central keep and let the imps come to you so you don’t get in range of the enemies stationed in the southern fort. Once they arrive, illuminate and slow the boss and then zap him with your magical ranged units. Next you’ll have to deal with the army of soulless and necrophages coming from the south; once again an effective tactic is to blast away with your veterans from the back and then insert some expendable units in the front.<br /> <br /> Be careful when approaching the fort because the powerful units stationed there will come out and attack; use the v or ctrl + v keybind to make sure no one is too exposed, and try to lure them out one by one. The ancient lich leader can be lured out onto 40% defense terrain by placing a walking corpse in his range. Don’t bother about setting up the kill on the leader because he will just run away, denying you the killing XP.<br /> <br /> ===S18 (Ashes of Wesmere)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar to the cave in the southeast.<br /> <br /> The more spectres you have the easier this scenario will be; I recommend recalling all your spectres and wraiths. Since there aren’t any villages you’ll surely start next scenario with minimum gold anyway, so there’s no point in worrying about upkeep or saving gold (EDIT: I was able to complete this scenario on hard with 1 keep worth of recalled units if you want some gold carryover). The main enemies you’ll be facing are drones, which do impact damage and are weak to arcane. Advance very cautiously at first because there will be several level 2 drones lurking around. They’re extremely nasty in ranged, so spectres are ideal for taking them out.<br /> <br /> Once you start heading south, you’ll face a horde of level 1 drones from all directions. Just keep killing them every turn with spectres and wraiths, focusing on one group at a time, and eventually they’ll run out. Be careful of putting Mal Keshar in range of a lot of drones because they’ll chain attack him and he’s weak to impact.<br /> <br /> After that it should be easy to kill the enemy leader, who has a pretty pathetic army. When you head southeast to the cave, keep a tight formation and don’t expose heavily wounded units because there are several invisible skirmishing and backstabbing shadow minions around.<br /> Since there’s no early finish bonus, you can use any leftover turns to go around killing the other enemies scattered around the map for the XP.<br /> <br /> ===S19 (Under the Sands)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Elynia or Mal Keshar<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of rough terrain and chasms, so ghostly undead (spectres, nightgaunts) will be extremely useful. Also, the blue matrix flow systems have 0% defense and can be drained, so they can be used as free full heals for your spectres.<br /> <br /> When heading out of the initial chamber, be very cautious and keep a completely tight formation because there are several shadow minions (which are invisible and can skirmish and backstab) lurking nearby. This scenario is full of these shadow minions, so be very cautious when advancing.<br /> <br /> Make your way southeast to kill the drone leader, then west where the chaos empire army should be arriving. They shouldn’t be much trouble (just make sure to kill the invokers before they can get at your ghosts). You’ll arrive in a large central chamber full of various enemies. Send some units towards the hive in the southwest of the chamber and you’ll spot a matrix core in the far west; each core you destroy will reduce the gold of certain enemy sides in the next scenario by a bit (there are 5 cores total). Next scenario is difficult, so it's worthwhile to destroy as many cores as possible.<br /> <br /> Head south across the lava chasm (it will probably take a while, due to being assaulted by enemy spawns from all directions) and you’ll come across the chaos empire leader to the left and a dead end with a second matrix core on the right. Once you defeat the leader head south towards a swampy area.<br /> <br /> Past the swamp is a fork: the southern fork doesn’t have enemies and leads straight to the exit. The eastern fork leads into a large hive, where the remaining 3 matrix cores are. One of the cores is near the entrance. The remaining 2 cores are extremely deep into the hive so getting at them may be more trouble than it’s worth, though you can get some good XP out of fighting your way through to them. Note that you won’t be able to leave until Elynia or Mal Keshar are outside the hive, so make sure you have enough turns left before exploring (but if you kill the innermost core, a shortcut will open up, so you don’t have to backtrack all the way).<br /> <br /> ===S20 (The Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar inside the fortress, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **Another enemy leader will appear in the north on Turn 2. Also, every so often starting from Turn 3, a large group of enemies (mostly demon zephyrs) will appear in the chasm surrounding the fortress.<br /> **After the initial turns of daylight the scenario becomes perpetually night.<br /> **You have control over the allied dwarves this time. They leave after this so they’re completely expendable.<br /> <br /> This is somewhat of a finale for Part II of IftU. <br /> Since you don’t have so much time, trying to defeat every leader is probably more trouble than it’s worth, especially on Hard. My strategy was to completely ignore the northern leader and rush my entire army southwest, killing as many units as possible during the day before the scenario turned into perpetual night. After that I fought my way over the bridge into the fortress (having spectres and nightgaunts fly over the chasm is essential in breaking the bridge bottleneck), sending the less valuable veterans in first. Meanwhile some units went to deal with the northern army which was attacking from behind.<br /> <br /> The dwarves really did not do much; I mostly had them camped in the 3 village cluster just northwest of the fortress the entire time, where they lured out and killed any demon zephyrs which spawned in the west.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *After this you’ll only be able to use 8 of your veterans for the rest of the campaign. So choose your 8 favorite veterans and go crazy with the rest!<br /> *There are a ton of enemies on this map, and a lot of nasty flying ones which can reach your units from quite far away. Use ctrl + v constantly to avoid surprises.<br /> *Two nightgaunts backstabbing from opposite sides of a sentry tower will automatically kill it from full health.<br /> *Having some expendable units will be very helpful; if you’re short on cash, you can use your necromancers’ plague staff to make free corpses.<br /> *Don’t worry about gold carryover; you can’t use more than the minimum next scenario anyway.<br /> <br /> ===S21 (Innuendo)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit in the north with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **From now on it is ''highly'' recommended to restart anytime any unit dies, because these are the only veterans you'll have for the rest of the campaign and the remaining scenarios are very difficult.<br /> **It is essential to pick up the chest of gold in the southwest, which will be needed several scenarios later for the final battle.<br /> <br /> Recruits: You may only bring 8 veterans with you for the rest of the campaign. Future scenarios will be underground / deep underground so undead are especially useful. It’s also recommended to bring 2 shydes for healing, at least one necromancer for making free fodder corpses, and some flying undead (spectres/nightgaunts) since there will be a lot of unwalkable chasms. (I used 2 shydes, 2 necromancers, 1 lich, 2 spectres and 1 nightgaunt and it worked really well.)<br /> <br /> Get ready for an absolutely massive dungeon crawl! You’ll face several waves of enemies in this scenario:<br /> <br /> '''The beginning:''' Some Chaos Empire units will come at you immediately, so just form a solid line in the passage and let them come. After that the path splits north to a dead end with a Potion of Deftness giving +1 movement and +1 ranged damage (living units only), and a southwestern passage leading to a large chamber full of powerful enemies. You can safely destroy them by forming a line in the 3-hex passage and slowly picking them off until they’re gone. (Try to turn some of them into corpses, which can be used as bait for powerful enemies later).<br /> <br /> '''The large chamber in the south:''' There are two paths north (both lead to the same place) with some enemies guarding them. In the southwest corner there’s a room with a Potion of Strength (+1 melee, +8 HP, a great item for Galas), an Accuracy Bow (for archer units only, such as Erathan), and a chest of gold. There is an enemy leader in the northwest, and moving to the gem behind him will open one of the gates in the northeast.<br /> <br /> '''The northern chamber of undead:''' You’ll need to find the gem which opens the gate in the far north, where there is an ancient lich leader. Be sure to stay out of his range (he has 7 movement!) until you wipe out most of his army. Also be careful of the two wraiths right behind the leader. If you made any walking corpses earlier, you can use them as bait to safely lure out the ancient lich leader. The gem on his keep opens the gate in the east.<br /> <br /> '''The imp boss''': Past the eastern gate, you’ll come to a long passage east with some enemies. Once you advance far enough, you’ll discover a large chamber with a nasty imp boss and some other enemies. It’s best to fight them in the 3-hex bottleneck, and try to have Elynia illuminate and slow the boss.<br /> <br /> '''The dungeon:''' The area northwest of the chamber where the imp was leads to the exit, but it’s blocked by a gate so you’ll have to go east to the dungeons first. You'll find a (useless) troll soulless and a merman soulless which will join you, as well as a hostile drake soulless. In the southeast, there’s an unwalkable chasm with some enemies on the other side; if you send some flying undead exploring there they can trigger a touchplate which opens a passage for regular units to enter. There is a Glacial Gladius there which gives a slowing cold melee attack (usable by elves other than shamans+advancements, and by Erathan.)<br /> <br /> The goal is the northeast hive area, where there’s an amulet (+10% arcane resistance, changes ranged damage type to arcane) which is good for units like shydes so they’ll take less damage when slowing later bosses. The south of the hive contains a cage with Ledinor, the elvish lord from the beginning. Freeing him and the other three soulless will open the gate in the northwest where there are a ton of high level enemies and a drone boss.<br /> <br /> '''The exit (finally!):''' For the horde of high level enemies coming from the exit, it’s safest to retreat to one of the 3-hex passages leading to the dungeons and just pick them off slowly. When approaching the exit, be careful since the chasms on either side contain drones.<br /> <br /> ===S22 A (Face of the Enemy)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the area, then defeat the Chaos Warlord, then flee to the southeast with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> Head southeast past some drone hives – the drones will constantly respawn from the hives, though they won’t chase you if no units are in range. Continue heading east across the cave area. There’s a gate in the north which just leads to a dead end, and a couple doors in the southeast which lead to a corridor of enemies. The safe way to deal with them is to camp in the 2-hex bottleneck. Also, watch out for the berserking hellhound hiding in the back. The northeastern water area just leads to a glyph with some backstory about the drones.<br /> <br /> Past the corridor of enemies is another gate; once you open it all your units will be teleported into the chamber beyond, where you’ll be surrounded by powerful enemies. Try to focus on killing a few at a time while staying out of range of the others. A few turns later the Chaos Warlord will show up in the keep in the west. She’ll recruit some units, so retreat and deal with her army before taking her on.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat her she’ll heal back to full so you’ll have to run away by having Mal Keshar destroy the exit gate to the southeast. Fortunately Elynia will cast a spell on her so she’ll only have 1 movement until you open the gate, at which point she regains all her movement (so make sure your units aren’t in her range at that time). The Warlord will just stay in her keep and recruit and not chase you, so it should be easy to get away. The southeast area just has some drones in the south and a giant spider; move a leader to the southern border of the map to proceed to the next part.<br /> <br /> ===S22 B (Dark Hive)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Warlord (you will have to fight her several times.)<br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario. There are hordes of constantly respawning drones, several difficult boss fights and you must also keep as many veterans as possible alive for later scenarios.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *In general due to the respawning drones it’s best to stick together in a single group, move forward quickly, and not send units off exploring side passages or they may end up trapped – the only things to find anyway are two glyphs with some backstory. *EDIT: There is a '''Ring of the Revenant''' to the southwest below the southern river that provides an extra life for a living unit. It is guarded by a few drones and under a glyph tile with additional backstory in a coffin. I gave it to one of my Shydes flying around with my Spectres exploring the area.<br /> *A useful (but cheap) tactic is to deliberately leave units (especially Elynia/Mal Keshar) a few XP from leveling so when they attack the boss they’ll automatically heal to full.<br /> *Always make sure to lure off and get rid of as many surrounding drones as possible before confronting the Chaos Warlord, because her leadership combined with the drones is deadly. <br /> There are three sections, each ending with a fight against the Chaos Warlord:<br /> <br /> '''Part I'''<br /> <br /> In the beginning, the path branches south and east; both eventually lead to the same place in the southeast but the eastern path has better terrain so is probably the easier one. Eventually you’ll come to a larger area with a chaos magus to the south; the way forward is a couple doors south of the chaos magus past some ants. Once you open the doors you’ll meet Elyssa again; she’s surrounded by a ton of drones and will recruit more so just camp in the 2-hex passage until all the drones are gone. Meanwhile you’ll have to move Elynia and Mal Keshar next to each other and protect them for a few turns (move them off the front lines before doing this, because they won’t be able to move or attack).<br /> <br /> Once Elynia and Mal Keshar have summoned the Union and all the nearby drones are gone, lure Elyssa out onto 40% defense by putting a unit in her range. She’ll absorb all non-Union damage, but you can still slow her so try to always slow her before using the Union. Note that the Union uses up both Elynia and Mal Keshar’s moves and attacks, though you can still slow with Elynia and then Union with Mal Keshar. Once Elyssa’s at 60% health she’ll run away.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> <br /> The way forward is the two gates in the southwest, which lead down some narrow passages into an area full of demon zephyrs and drones. You can form a line just outside the narrow passages (don’t use the 1-hex bottlenecks or it will take too long) and let them come. Also, try to avoid sending your flying undead onto the starry chasms because it has a small chance of killing them.<br /> <br /> Continuing southwest, you’ll come to a rocky area surrounded by chasms - there are a bunch of drones across the chasms so try to lure them off a couple at a time. Elyssa’s in a keep to the south - lure her out and repeat the slowing + Union tactic (she still absorbs non Union damage). This time she’ll flee at 40% HP.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3'''<br /> <br /> Continuing east, a bunch of zephyrs and drones will come at you across the eastern chasm; form a line and lure them onto land so you can easily get rid of them. Then the path splits south and east - both lead to the same area in the southeast, where Elyssa is waiting with a bunch of drones. As usual try to lure off as many drones as possible before luring Elyssa out.<br /> <br /> She is more powerful this time, but fortunately she now takes full damage from non Union attacks! However, make sure to finish her with the Union; otherwise she’ll just regenerate HP instead of dying.<br /> <br /> ===S23 A (Into the Lair)===<br /> *Objectives: Find the entrance to the Chaos Emperor’s lair.<br /> <br /> In the beginning, just follow the path southwest past a few demon zephyrs and guards. Past the gate in the southwest there are a couple enemy leaders; just camp in the 3-hex passage until both their armies are gone. There’s a gate in the south which leads to the exit, but you’ll have to find the glyph to open it first.<br /> <br /> A few turns after entering the indoor area, a bunch of cockatrices and drones will come flooding out of the west. It’s preferable to form a solid line against them, since getting petrified disrupts a unit’s ZOC. Cockatrices are weak to arcane so spectres are ideal for taking them out. Once they’re gone split up into two groups to explore the western cave passage and the north- there’s an enemy leader in each area. It’s best to send Elynia with one group and Mal Keshar with the other since the glyph to open the exit is in a random location and only Elynia or Mal Keshar can activate it.<br /> <br /> Once you open the exit gate, there will be another flood of cockatrices from the southeast. Past the exit gate there’s a very weak enemy leader and some assorted enemies scattered around. The path then splits three ways: south is an empty dead end, north is a dead end with some story glyphs, and east is the entrance to the lair.<br /> <br /> Seansy: I suggest if you have plenty of turns remaining once you reach the exit to feed more experience to your units to get them as close as possible to an AMLA since the next scenario is the final boss fight and there is no early finish bonus. I had the Stealth ability on Galas so I could theoretically leave him alone next to the exit in stealth until the last turn, but you can also split up your units into two teams and have 1 stay by the entrance to farm the spawning drones and have another backtrack to kill spawning drones in another area.<br /> <br /> ===S23 B (Until Death)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Emperor.<br /> *Note: The blue glyphs scattered around the map heal a unit to full.<br /> This is effectively the final battle; the next scenario is easy and more of a playable cutscene (however, any surviving veterans do carry over to next scenario – you won’t need many but the more the better.) This is probably the most difficult scenario in the entire campaign so hopefully almost all of your veterans are still alive and you got the extra gold from S21.<br /> <br /> You’ll start close to two enemy leaders, and it’s possible (recommended, even) to take them both out on turn 1. The southern leader should be easy; make sure to leave Galas available to take his keep and begin to recruit undead immediately. For the northern shadow courier if you put Mal Keshar next to him and Elynia next to Mal Keshar, two of Mal Keshar’s Union hits will take him down (a 78% chance to kill – it’s slightly risky though, since there are likely some level 2 drones lurking around and Mal Keshar will take a lot of retaliation if he doesn’t kill the shadow courier.)<br /> <br /> Try to recruit as much as possible with Galas on turns 1-3. At the start of turn 4, the Emperor will possess Mal Keshar (meaning you can’t recruit undead anymore) and Erathan (or Galas, if you don’t have Erathan). You’ll then have to use Elynia to kill Mal Keshar (you can make this part easier by making sure Mal Keshar is close to your units and on 40% defense on turn 4.) The Emperor can recall your unused undead veterans while he’s controlling Mal Keshar, so try to finish Mal Keshar off immediately.<br /> <br /> Once you kill Mal Keshar, the Emperor will get a new Union attack and Elynia will also get a powered up (35-4) Union attack when next to him. Elynia’s Union is the only attack which does full damage to the Emperor; all other attacks will do just a few HP of damage (also, non-Union attacks will sometimes cause him to become unslowed so be careful). Lure the Emperor out onto 40% defense, slow him, and then Union with Elynia. You’ll probably need about 3 turns (2 if you’re lucky) of Elynia using the Union. Hopefully Elynia doesn’t get hit too much; if she does you could try ZOCing the boss with cannon fodder while Elynia gets healed or moves to a healing glyph.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat him Mal Keshar will return and you can recruit undead again (although he is extremely fragile now so it’s essential to keep him away from the Emperor), and the Emperor will transform into his final form. This form has much more HP and a stronger ranged attack (hopefully at least one slower is still alive!) but fortunately can now be fully damaged by regular attacks. Elynia’s Union also gets a major powerup, so his HP should go down very quickly. He sometimes spawns drones when hit; you may want to move your own units next to him before attacking so that the drones don’t block the hexes next to him. Make sure to have Elynia finish him off with the Union, or else he’ll regenerate a ton of HP.<br /> <br /> ===S23 C (Broken Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit with Elynia, Galas or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: This is the last scenario.<br /> This scenario should be pretty easy, even with very few surviving veterans. Head northeast past some demon zephyrs to the first checkpoint; your units will all enter a new lava area. Around this time Ledinor will begin having some ominous dialogue, and several turns later he’ll suddenly transform into a shadow courier, and 3 shadow minions will appear around him. You can either kill him, or just leave him behind.<br /> <br /> After heading east across the doors past the second checkpoint, the path will turn north. Once you approach the third checkpoint, several high level undead will appear in the 3-hex keep just north of the checkpoint. Once you’ve dealt with them, it’s a pretty uneventful trip northwest toward the exit.<br /> <br /> [[Category: User-made Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=IftU_Walkthrough&diff=75583 2026-08-01T02:43:13Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>{{Translations}}<br /> This is a strategy guide for the add-on campaign '''Invasion from the Unknown''' (IftU) version 2.0 by shadowm. Note that there have been many major gameplay changes from the original version (for example, elvish enchantresses can no longer advance to sylphs, the elvish warrior spirit and Aragwaithi recruits have been removed, and many scenarios were changed), so much of the advice here won’t apply to earlier campaign versions.<br /> <br /> This walkthrough was written by Inky and is based on the hard difficulty. (I also did a commented playthrough of the campaign with screenshots and replays on the [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&amp;t=43960 forums].) Feel free to make corrections or add your own advice.<br /> <br /> Seansy Note: The most recent version, released on March 30th 2026, has made some changes so I am adding some edits to certain sections to adjust for that.<br /> <br /> Campaign discussion and developer support on the forums available for [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=43309 IftU version 2.0.0 and Wesnoth v.1.12].<br /> <br /> ==General campaign advice==<br /> It’s advised to play ''Under the Burning Suns'' first, to familiarize yourself with the story and the two suns schedule.<br /> <br /> ===Units===<br /> You begin with the typical elvish recruits plus the campaign specific elvish hunter unit, then gain the ability to recruit undead in Scenario 4, dark adepts in Scenario 5, and sprites in Scenario 14.<br /> <br /> EDIT: AMLA trees have been added to Galas and another future unit. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the options by right clicking on the unit to view them. Feed as much experience as possible to these units to maximize their abilities throughout the campaign. <br /> <br /> *A large part of this campaign takes place underground, making undead units especially ideal. Spectres are perhaps the most useful unit throughout the campaign due to their draining, excellent mobility and arcane damage. Nightgaunts (raw damage) and necromancers (arcane resist and plague) are also very useful. Skeletal undead are generally not recommended due to their low mobility.<br /> *On almost every scenario it’s helpful to recruit some vampire bats for scouting, village grabbing, and to act as distractions since they do not cost upkeep.<br /> *For elves, leveling at least a couple shydes for healing is essential. Prowlers are one of the most useful elvish units, being good in melee and able to slow in ranged. Enchantresses are also valuable for their arcane magical damage and slowing, though they do not advance to sylphs in this campaign. Fighters, archers and scout types are generally not so useful.<br /> *The lawful sprites which you can recruit starting from S14 are helpful in S15 (Shadows of Time) against undead, but are useless from S17 onward where it is perpetually night, so do not invest too heavily in them.<br /> <br /> ====The Recall List====<br /> *You have the option of either continuing to Part II keeping all your veterans from Part I (recommended), or starting Part II fresh. To compensate for the difference, there are several recall list wipes in the campaign:<br /> **S12 (The Escape): You can only bring up to 6 undead units (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count) with you and the rest are permanently lost.<br /> **S16 (Dawn of War): You can only bring up to 6 elves with you and the rest are permanently lost. In addition, any unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. EDIT: The most recent version has changed this so that any elf unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. There is no longer a limit on how many elves you recruit/recall.<br /> **S21 (Innuendo): You can only recall 8 veterans, which will be the only veterans you have for the rest of the campaign.<br /> *In Part II gold becomes very scarce so you will only be able to use a limited amount of veterans in each scenario; therefore quality (units with good traits such as resilient, and several AMLAs) is better than quantity.<br /> <br /> ===Item List===<br /> This is a list of the permanent items which can be picked up throughout the campaign, and which units can use them. Items given to your hero units, mostly Galas, carry over to the After the Storm campaign!<br /> <br /> *S3: '''Ring of Swiftness''' (+1 movement) - ''living units''<br /> *S4: '''Staff of Petrichor''' (EDIT: New item from recent update) Replaces melee attack with '''Touch of Petrichor''' a 7x2 magical cold attack that reads &quot;When this attack hits a lower level opponent during offense, the target becomes petrified for one turn. Once the petrification effect expires, the target gains the mark status effect.&quot; The petrification effect makes the afflicted unit unable to move or attack and they cannot be attacked themselves either. Usable by shamans and their advancements. Not usable for hero units.<br /> *S5 (This is a branching path so you'll only be able to obtain one of the following:)<br /> **S5a: '''Ring of Regeneration''' (if you chose to spare the bandit leader) (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage) - ''not usable by: shamans and their advancements and Anlindë ''<br /> **S5b: '''Shardia's Meteor''' (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse) - ''elvish hunters, fighters, and their advancements''<br /> *S7: '''Void Armor''' (secret item) (sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact, +10% fire resistance) - ''elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements''<br /> *S8: '''Poisonous Bow''' (adds a new 11-3 poisonous ranged bow attack) - ''skeleton archers, revenants, elvish archers, elvish heroes and their advancements.''<br /> *S10:<br /> **'''Berserker Potion''' (adds berserk special to melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and +10% blade / +20% fire / +30% impact resistance) - ''not usable by: ghosts, bats, corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units.''<br /> **'''Potion of Drain''' (adds drain special to melee attacks, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance) - ''living units''<br /> *S14: '''Explosive arrows''' (6 uses, does 80% base damage to the unit in the hex behind the target) ''- elvish archers, skeleton archers and their advancements''<br /> *S21:<br /> **'''Potion of Deftness''' (+1 movement, +1 ranged damage) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Accuracy Bow''' (adds marksman special to ranged attacks) - ''bone shooters and elvish rangers and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Potion of Strength''' (+1 melee damage, +8 HP) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Glacial Gladius''' (+1 melee damage, cold damage and slow for a unit’s melee attack, -5% HP) - ''elvish fighters, archers, hunters, scouts and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Amulet of t<br /> *22B<br /> **'''Ring of the Revenant''' (Any living creature wearing this ring is granted the power to cheat death once, after which the ring shall become inert for a thousand years) - ''living units besides sprites and bats.''<br /> <br /> ==Part I: Seeking the Light==<br /> ===S1 (Border Patrol)===<br /> *Objectives: The starting objectives are to hold out as long as possible, but on Turn 4 the objectives will change to defeating all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This is a deceptively easy scenario, as the next scenario is very difficult and requires a substantial gold carryover. On Hard something like 140 carryover is ideal and anything less than 100 carryover is probably too little to win with. Do not overrecruit, keep an eye on your income (make sure it’s positive) and be aggressive – don’t be afraid to lose some units, as it will help your income.<br /> <br /> Recruits: I’d recommend getting 2 shamans so that you can divide your forces and have a healer for each one, but not more than that as you need damage dealers. The rest of your units should be a mix of mostly archers and hunters. (Fighters are generally inferior to hunters, and scouts are expensive and do little damage).<br /> <br /> General strategies:<br /> *'''Defending the starting keep:''' One strategy is to hang back at your initial castle during the first day, recruiting very lightly during these turns to preserve income. Form a line on good terrain: one possibility is to use the forts just south of your keep; another option is to form a slightly more forward line stretching from the forest tiles (19,20) to (26,17) through the village southeast of your keep. &lt;br /&gt; Let the enemies come to you; they’ll arrive around Turn 6 (The Short Dark). Attack aggressively during Second Dawn/Day and you should be able to eliminate almost all the enemy units before The Long Dark hits.<br /> <br /> *'''Moving to the center keep (by Theron):''' An alternate faster and much more aggressive strategy, meant to finish as early as possible for maximum carryover, is to recruit a full keep on turn 1 and move Galas to the central keep immediately. Much of the fighting will take place around First Dusk / The Short Dark so expect heavy losses. &lt;br /&gt; Theron's advice: Recruit 3 Archers and 3 Hunters in turn 1. (Fighters are too slow; shamans are too slow and their damage output is too low.) Move Galas to the tiny keep in the middle of the map. Recruit 1 more Archer and 1 more Hunter in turn 3. Recruit 2 Fighters and 2 Shamans in turn 3 + 4. Decide where to amass your army (green front or blue front). Do not retreat. Ignore TOD. Use terrain advantage.<br /> <br /> For defeating the enemy leaders you can either split your forces in two and kill them simultaneously, or a safer (but slower) strategy is to send everyone to kill the southern green leader and them move them all to the blue eastern leader. The eastern leader is tough to kill – it can help to level an archer to marksman and shoot him down during daytime.<br /> <br /> Try to get Galas to level 2 (captain is strongly recommended for leadership) and level at least one of the shamans to druid.<br /> <br /> ===S2 (A Real Confrontation)===<br /> *Objectives:<br /> **Hold out until the end of turns.<br /> **Alternate objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> <br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario on Hard, so you’ll want to start this with over 200 gold (minimum gold is 100; replay scenario 1 for more carryover if necessary). The first thing to do is grab the villages of your useless ally, as you can put the gold to much better use. Note that you (or your ally) must retain control of a certain number of villages (9 on Hard, depends on difficulty) or you will lose. This should not be a problem though, as there are 9 villages (3 in the northwest, 3 near your keep, 3 near Ledinor’s keep) which are quite far back and easy to defend.<br /> <br /> This battle has two fronts divided by the central lake: the western front south of your keep, and the eastern front. The eastern front is relatively safe as there are less enemies there and Ledinor sends the bulk of his army that way, while the western front will be a high casualty bloodbath. Therefore one approach is to send a small elite group of veterans including Anlindë east, while using a massive spam approach (civilians and fresh recruits, mixed with some veterans) in the west. An alternate strategy is to recruit only civilians initially and send them out to delay the enemy forces enough so that they reach your main force during the day.<br /> <br /> Keep your elves in a line in the forest and try to slow the level 2 enemies; use ctrl + v and watch out for the skirmishers. With constant reinforcements from your high income and the time of day changing in your favor the chaos army should eventually run out of steam.<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly fine to start the next scenario with minimum gold, so do not worry if you can't defeat the enemy leaders for the finish bonus. Try to level a shaman to sorceress, as the arcane magical damage will be very useful for the next scenario. This is best done on the later turns, when most of the chaos army is gone and it’s relatively safe.<br /> <br /> ===S3 (Memories from the Depths)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the cave, then defeat the undead leader in the far northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Recruit lightly initially, as there aren’t so many enemies in the tunnel and there is another keep right at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be fighting undead so hunters and their advancements are especially good, as are sorceresses if you have any; try to get Anlindë to level 3 and / or a sorceress or enchantress during this scenario as it will help defeat the enemy at the very end. When you reach the end of the tunnel, you can use the nearby keep to recruit/recall some more units. Try to keep your income positive though – you don’t need too many units and there will be more opportunities to recruit along the way.<br /> <br /> Proceed northwest past the second keep, and you’ll come across some branching paths. On the right, moving to the flashing yellow hex will open up a passage leading to a Ring of Swiftness granting +1 movement. A good choice for this ring is Galas, since it can potentially allow him to reach keeps and recruit a turn earlier. The two western paths which will join together in a large central chamber, where you’ll encounter the main undead army; take them out with the help of slowing and arcane attacks.<br /> <br /> Triggering a touchplate in the southwest leads to two holy waters which grant arcane melee damage for this scenario only. Continue northwest, being careful not to expose wounded units since bats will often come out of nowhere and attack, and you’ll come to a river crossing. Across the river is another keep – I would highly recommend using this keep to recruit a couple expendable hunters or shamans for their slowing ability in preparation for the scenario’s final enemy.<br /> <br /> Head east across the river and the path will split north and east. Both paths will join up in the northeast corner but the eastern path has much stronger enemies so send most of your units that way - you can use expendable units to lure the high level undead guards into the open where they are easily killed. In the northeast you’ll come across the scenario’s final enemy, an ancient lich! You’ll need to slow him first, so hopefully you have some expendable hunters or shamans which can suicide into him until he’s slowed. After he’s slowed use your sorceress/enchantress and Anlindë to hopefully finish him off.<br /> <br /> ===S4 (Over the Sands)===<br /> <br /> Recruits: Living units are generally not recommended in this scenario due to the dehydration mechanic, but you’ll certainly want another (preferably +8) healer besides Anlindë, and you might as well recall the loyal scout too since he doesn’t cost upkeep. I’d recommend recruiting mostly ghosts – they are fast and have extremely good advancements – with some vampire bats mixed in to scout and act as a distraction force.<br /> You start with 2 villages and there are 6 more around the orc’s keep, but this is all you’re going to get for most of the scenario so take that into account when recruiting (try to keep your income positive).<br /> <br /> '''Part 1'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the orc leader to the northwest.<br /> <br /> Use Galas’ leadership on the level 1 ghosts; try to level a couple by feeding them the level 2 orc kills. Focus on killing crossbowmen and archers as their ranged fire attack is dangerous to ghosts. Mal Keshar is great at screening your units – you can put him in very exposed positions and the orcs will generally ignore him.<br /> <br /> When you kill the orcish leader you’ll get about 50 gold. You can use his keep to recruit some reinforcements (watch your income; there aren’t any more villages for a long time). Start heading west, where you’ll encounter some very weak undead. There will also be some scorpions north and south of the path which are free experience for wraiths and ghosts.<br /> After a while the path will turn south and you’ll spot some bandits. EDIT: The '''Staff of Petrichor''' is located to the southeast and has 4 petrified griffin units that will awaken and attack you once you attempt to loot the tomb. Make sure you have multiple ghost line units there during the nighttime to try to drain through the damage.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the bandit leader in the southwest.<br /> <br /> Try to fight the elusive outlaw units (footpads, thieves) on sand terrain where they only have 40% defense instead of their usual 60 or 70%. Bats make great bait for luring out powerful guard units, or the enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat the leader some humans will show up from the north, and you will have to decide whether to fight them. If you do decide to fight them you'll have to defeat their leader and will go to S5a (Crossfire). If you choose the second option instead, the scenario will end immediately and you will go to S5b (Cursed Plateau). <br /> S5a is the easier scenario, but since both scenarios give a different item (see the [[#Item_List | Item List]]) you may want to decide based on that.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3 (only if you chose to fight the humans)'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the leader of the humans in the northwest.<br /> <br /> Note that drain attacks will not work on the human units so you’ll have to be a bit more careful with putting wraiths on the front line.<br /> Use the bandit’s keep to recruit more reinforcements if needed and start heading north. You’ll encounter two revenants; you can easily lure them out and kill them with spectres / wraiths. The humans have a lot of units, but if you form a line where your units can only be reached from 2 hexes then their level 1 units won’t be able to damage you too much.<br /> Continue northwest towards the final leader; again a vampire bat can be used to lure her out.<br /> <br /> ===Diverging campaign path===<br /> ====S5a (Crossfire)====<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders, and make sure no chaos empire units survive.<br /> <br /> All three enemy sides will fight each other, so a couple keeps of units should be enough. Villages are very scarce so using mainly low level units supported by leadership will save on upkeep. Start by sending your entire army south against the chaos empire; the undead and bandits will mostly be occupied fighting each other. The undead will send quite a few troops east but they should arrive around daytime so it should be easy to wipe them out.<br /> <br /> After the chaos empire is defeated, head west; you can send everybody against the lich and then north or split into two groups, one to defeat the lich and one to deal with the bandits. The bandits are the stronger enemy – try to attack them during the day.<br /> <br /> After defeating the bandit leader you’ll be given the choice to spare him; do so and you’ll be given a very useful Ring of Regeneration (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage), a good item for Galas. (Deciding to kill him will only give you some gold and is not worth it.)<br /> <br /> ====S5b (Cursed Plateau)====<br /> *Objectives: Move to the northwest corner of the map with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **In order to get the item you must find the piece of parchment in the southwest cave, and defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> You won't be getting any more villages for a while, so recruit very lightly initially. There's another tiny 1-hex keep to the west where you can recall some more reinforcements, and you'll only face some scorpions and bats at first, so a couple wraiths should be enough. Once you reach the tiny keep in the west, send some flying undead into the southwest cave, where there's a touchplate opening into a chasm full of bats. To the southeast of the chasm is a passage leading to a piece of parchment, which opens a passage through the mountains in the northwest.<br /> <br /> To the north is another small 2-hex keep, though you might have to clear out some chaos empire units before you can use it. There are a lot of invokers so you'll probably want either some cannon fodder or some durable non undead units. It's preferable to form a solid line and defend until most of the enemies are gone, because there are many high level enemies and also some nasty shadow minions (nightstalking, skirmishing and backstabbing pests) around.<br /> <br /> Northeast of the small keep there's a dead end cave with the blue enemy leader; if you want the scenario's item you'll have to defeat him (Mal Keshar is very effective against him), otherwise you can just ignore the cave, though there is a small amount of gold there.<br /> <br /> Following the northwest path through the mountains leads to a gate, which you won't be able to open until you defeat both enemy leaders, though you could start sending whichever unit you want to pick up the item that way (it can be used by elvish hunters, fighters and advancements; I'd strongly recommend Galas.) Just send them on their own because there aren't any enemies behind the gate. Once you kill both leaders, you'll be able to pass through the gate to a chest in the south containing Shardia's Meteor (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse).<br /> <br /> Continuing north and then east, there's another cave with the second leader. There's also a couple small piles of gold (in the southeast and northeast) in the cave. In the northwest is the shadow courier leader; try to kill him as quickly as possible in melee (preferably luring him out of the castle first so he doesn't have such high defense) because he will completely demolish your undead units. Once you kill the shadow courier, the western path which leads outside to the exit only has a few vampire bats.<br /> <br /> ===S6 (Moon Valley)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This scenario is much easier than it looks, because the orcish units will generally stay clumped together near their leader instead of all coming towards you at once, allowing you to focus on each army separately. You’ll receive a small amount of gold each time you defeat an enemy leader.<br /> <br /> It's possible to rush the northeastern (blue) orc leader and kill him before he spends most of his gold: recruit a full keep on turn 1 and send Galas northwest immediately; send a bat southwest to village grab and move everyone else northwest. With the help of Anlindë and Mal Keshar you should be able to whittle down the leader on turn 3 and finish him on turn 4. Galas can then use the keep to recruit reinforcements while the rest of the army clears out the remaining blue orcs.<br /> <br /> At this point the green and black orcs will be hanging around the central forest while purple remains in the west. Advance aggressively during the second day and you should be able to wipe out most of the green and black units. After that only purple will be left; it will be night now but with the help of slow and Mal Keshar who is practically invincible they shouldn’t pose a problem.<br /> <br /> As the dialogue hints, when you approach the northwest area close to the final keep, several high level orcs will appear and the northwest leader will also get some gold to recruit. Wait until daytime (preferably morning) to approach, and you can also use the nearby keep to recruit some spam if you want to be extra safe.<br /> <br /> ===S7 (Goliath)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat Goliath.<br /> *Note: The units you recruit/recall on the first turn are all you will have for the entire scenario, so choose carefully.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of weak level 1 units scattered around, so it’s a good opportunity to get some experience. Most of the enemies in this scenario are automatons which are extremely resistant to blade and arcane (50%) but only have 10% impact resistance making trappers/prowlers especially effective against them.<br /> <br /> After heading west through the tunnel that you start in, you’ll come across the keep of the chaos empire. This is actually the toughest opposition you will face all scenario so be defensive (form a line and let the enemies come to you) and take your time. The enemy leader is extremely dangerous in ranged so try to take him down in 1 turn using mostly melee attacks.<br /> <br /> After defeating the enemy leader, head south across the river and you’ll encounter some demons and bats scattered about; keep heading south and you’ll come to a chamber with some automatons which are basically free experience. There’s a passage in the south leading to an orb switch; send a fast unit like a flying undead to trigger it, which will open the eastern wall into a large central area.<br /> <br /> In the central area, triggering the touchplate in the southwest corner opens a small room in the center with two golems guarding a potion of strength (+2 melee attack, +8 HP for this scenario only) and the final touchplate which opens the way south. The northeast path is just a dead end with some weak enemies (though you could go kill them for the experience if you have the time) so send everyone down the southern passage. <br /> <br /> The passage leads into a huge chamber in the south filled with automatons. Moving further south in this chamber reveals the scenario’s boss, Goliath, who appears along with a few level 1 automatons. Goliath has a lot of HP and good resistances but is extremely weak in offense, so just slow him and attack with powerful units like Mal Keshar and he will be destroyed in no time.<br /> <br /> In the far southeast, down the watery passage, there is a secret touchplate at 40,26 which opens a passage to the Void Armor, which is located in the lit hex at 31,24. The armor sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact (EDIT: Changed Void Armor stats to provide +15/15/20/10% resistance to blade, pierce, impact, and fire damage; as opposed to the previous replacement of blade/pierce/impact with 50/50/60% and increase of fire by 10%) and is a great item for Galas (it can be used by elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements) - start sending whichever unit you want to take it southeast ASAP if you want to make it in time.<br /> <br /> ===S8 (An Errand of Hope)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (3 in total).<br /> <br /> You will get another opportunity to recruit later, when you are much closer to the main battle, so you may want to save some gold until then and try not to go negative on income. The first enemy you’ll be facing is some trolls directly to the northwest. Wraiths, spectres and Mal Keshar are especially effective against them. Near the troll’s keep you’ll find a Poisonous Bow (can be used by elvish archers, skeleton archers, elvish heroes, revenants and their advancements) which adds an 11-3 ranged poison attack.<br /> <br /> Head northwest across the river (don’t bother exploring southwest of the river; there’s nothing there) and you’ll come across a large central area – entering it will clear the fog in the area and reveal an ongoing battle between the chaos empire and some allied dwarves. There’s also a second dwarf leader far in the northwest (he has a few villages, so you can send a bat up that way to steal them), and another chaos empire leader all the way in the northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Use the large keep here to recruit/recall some reinforcements, and split up your forces between the western front and the northeastern front. You’ll need more firepower in the northeast, since there are quite a few high level enemies there and the dwarves will concentrate their forces in the west. It helps to have Galas use Althurin’s keep to constantly reinforce (you should have a pretty high income) and just defend the northeast passage until the high level enemies are gone. (Don’t worry about keeping Althurin alive; he’ll just flee if he gets to 0 HP).<br /> <br /> The final enemy leader is all the way in the northeast corner; he’s a chaos lorekeeper so send your strongest melee units against him.<br /> By the way, there’s no point in sending a unit to the crypt south of the western leader (you’ll just get a message saying it’s empty).<br /> <br /> ===S9 (The Library)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> *Note: The exit is marked by a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south (its exact location is random). You'll need the exit key to pass through, which is dropped by a random enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Don’t recruit too heavily at the beginning, since you’ll get another opportunity to recruit about halfway through the scenario. You’ll probably have to do quite a bit of fighting before then though, so some durable units will be helpful. Ghosts/wraiths/spectres are especially good in this scenario due to the lack of chaos invokers and fire demons. Head west (the passage south of your starting keep just leads to an empty dead end) and after fighting through a couple level 2 undead you’ll come to an intersection.<br /> <br /> The northwest path leads to a dead end with a ruined house; when you send a living nonbat unit there to investigate you’ll discover Igor, a loyal wolf rider. He is automatically recalled in all later scenarios and even has his own dialogue, so it's highly recommended to keep him alive. EDIT: If you keep Igor alive until the end of the campaign, not only do you get an achievement, but he will be with you at the start of the follow up campaign in After the Storm! Meanwhile in the south, the combined forces of the 3 enemy leaders will begin to arrive. The easiest way to fight them is to just defend in the bottleneck until the massive army is mostly gone; it will take quite a while but the rest of the scenario will go much quicker after the main enemy army is gone.<br /> <br /> When you get past the bottleneck you’ll come to a large keep where you can recruit some reinforcements, and the path splits into a western and eastern one. There are two enemy leaders in the west and one in the south, so one possibility is to split into two groups and have one group take out the two western leaders one after another (there’s a banebow leader in the northwest and a draug leader in the southwest), while another group circles east and then south to take care of the southern lich leader (bring some arcane damage).<br /> <br /> The purple glyphs scattered around reveal various pieces of backstory. There is also a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south which marks the exit. You’ll need the exit key (dropped by a random enemy leader) to use the glyph. You might as well just defeat all enemy leaders for the experience and early finish bonus, as they don’t have much income and are pretty much on their own.<br /> <br /> ===S10 (The Source of Light)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then activate the six runes to open the central chamber.<br /> <br /> Note that this scenario takes place deep underground, where chaotic units get +30% damage instead of the usual +25%. In the beginning, make sure to send a vampire bat to grab the village in the far northeast corner of the map, across the chasm. The first objective is to defeat the enemy leader to the southwest. There are a lot of high level enemy units including skirmishers, so a safe way to play it is to form a solid vertical line along the 4-hex bottleneck (from 42,11 to 42,15) and defend there until the most threatening enemies are gone.<br /> <br /> Once the leader is defeated, you’ll have to activate the 6 glyphs scattered throughout the lower half of the map. Here are their approximate locations (going counterclockwise):<br /> *'''Northwest (across the river):''' A long twisty passage leads past some giant spiders to a glyph at the very end.<br /> *'''West:''' There’s a glyph behind a cuttlefish leader in the west of the watery area.<br /> *'''Southwest corner:''' There are a bunch of animated rocks and various undead here, and a glyph next to an enemy leader. Watch out, because several wraiths are lurking near the keep.<br /> *'''Center south:''' There’s a sealed chamber containing a glyph, which you have to open by finding a touchplate in the far south. There’s also a red Berserker Potion (not usable by: ghosts/bats/corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units), which gives the berserk special to a unit’s melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and some extra resistance (+10% blade, +20% fire, +30% impact).<br /> *'''Southeast:''' There’s a lava filled cave full of fire spirits – dark adepts and their advancements are especially effective against them. In the far southeast there’s a fire guardian leader and a glyph next to the keep.<br /> *'''Northeast:''' You’ll encounter some undead and a chocobone leader (be sure to keep fragile units out of range of its charge attack). There’s a glyph guarded by vampire bats north of the undead keep, and a northeast passage leading to a green Potion of Drain (adds drain special, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance, usable by non undead units).<br /> <br /> In order to explore efficiently it’s best to divide into several small groups (e.g. 4 groups, one for each corner). A very useful tip by skeptical_troll if you’d like to avoid a lot of fighting completely is to send a shadow/nightgaunt to activate the glyphs (though it’s not advised to do this in the southwest or northeast corner, since these glyphs are surrounded by enemies).<br /> <br /> Since there is no early finish bonus and you likely have very high income, you may want to take your time and make some extra gold for next scenario.<br /> <br /> ===S11 (Strike on Herthgar)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out until the end of turns, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: All enemy sides will get a small amount of gold on turns 6 and 14.<br /> <br /> This scenario is actually the final battle for Part I – the next two scenarios are more of an epilogue. This is one of the more difficult scenarios, so don’t worry too much about losing some veterans (another thing to note is that you will not be able to take more than six undead veterans with you after this scenario.)<br /> <br /> Gold carryover is completely irrelevant (you won’t be able to use more than the minimum gold next scenario) so one approach is to just recall every single veteran you can afford. It can be helpful to create walking corpses with your necromancers to act as a distraction. Also, be sure not to let your spectres/nightgaunts etc. get within range of multiple chaos invokers and demons, or they will die fast.<br /> <br /> Here is one strategy for defeating all enemy leaders:<br /> #Send a large force northwest to wipe out the two northwestern enemies while a smaller force heads south to defend the dwarven castle. (The eastern front and southern front do not require immediate attention because the dwarves will delay the enemies for several turns.) Form a line and let them come to you; prowlers with their slowing ability and necromancers with their high HP and arcane resistance (there are lots of chaos invokers around) are especially good at holding the line.<br /> #Once the two northwest enemies are defeated, split the large northern force, with one part going to deal with the eastern enemies, and the rest going south to reinforce the castle.<br /> #Defend in the castle using the bridge chokepoints (just watch out for demon zephyrs which can fly over the deep water moat) until most of the southern enemies are gone. The southern force can then split into two groups and take out the two remaining southern leaders.<br /> <br /> ===S12 (The Escape)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the northern exit with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: You may only recruit/recall during the first turn (6 units total), and any undead veterans you do not recall this scenario will be permanently lost (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count).<br /> <br /> This is a relatively easy scenario, but there are some triggered events including a large ambush near the end so don’t send your units too far ahead by themselves.<br /> <br /> There are four minor enemies you’ll be facing this scenario:<br /> <br /> #After crossing the river at the beginning you’ll come across a chamber with the chaos empire fighting some trolls; both are very weak and shouldn’t be a problem.<br /> #After crossing another bridge and heading north you’ll encounter a mechanical Goliath along with some automatons; he is also extremely weak.<br /> #You’ll then come across a tunnel leading into a large empty chamber. Do not send a unit all the way into the chamber because there’s an ambush; instead move a scouting unit slowly toward the chamber until you trigger the ambush, then pull it back using its remaining movement. After that the ambush shouldn’t be hard to deal with – the most threatening enemy is the hellhound with 10-4 melee berserk, but a single spectre can easily take care of it.<br /> #Finally, after heading north you’ll come across some imps. One thing to watch out for is that when you kill the leader imp, he will dissolve into a bunch of mudcrawlers. After that the exit is straight to the north.<br /> <br /> ===S13 (Face Your Fate)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out to the end of turns; then accept the inevitable.<br /> <br /> This is mostly a cutscene scenario.<br /> Holding out until the end of turns should be trivial with your extremely high starting gold. If you didn’t manage to recall some of your undead veterans last scenario, you can recall them now. A few turns after the initial turn limit, the Chaos Warlord will appear in the southwest and the objectives will change to defeating her. However, it is impossible (if you reduce her HP to 0 she’ll just heal back to full and instantly kill all your undead units), and the only way to end the scenario is to let your leader die.<br /> <br /> ==Part II: Armageddon==<br /> <br /> ===S14 (Clearing the Road)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> This should be a very easy scenario, especially if you’re continuing from a Part I save, so it’s a good opportunity to get some easy XP for fresh recruits. The barrel contains 6 explosive arrows (does 80% of the base damage to the unit immediately behind the target).<br /> <br /> The two enemies you’ll be facing are saurians and water serpents from the northwest and orcs from the northeast. The northeast orc keep is surrounded by deep water to the south, forcing the orcs to go all the way around to the west and then south, giving you several turns to focus on the saurian army before they arrive. Most of your forces should head northwest since the main battle will take place there (for the east you can just send a bat to village grab). If you keep your elves in the forests you should have no problem dealing with the saurians and then the orcs.<br /> <br /> ===S15 (Shadows of Time)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders. (You actually do not need to kill the ancient lich leader – once you reduce him to half health he will flee.)<br /> You’ll be fighting a lot of undead so arcane (sorceresses, dark adepts, etc.) and fire damage (sprites) will be very useful. Your orcish allies will mostly go up the northeastern side of the map and delay the undead coming from that direction, so the main battle will likely take place on two fronts: fighting the undead from the west, and the orcs in the center.<br /> <br /> The first threat you’ll face is the group of four Forefathers coming at you from the west; stay back and let them get close, and then finish them off with heavy arcane hitters like Elynia and Mal Keshar. After that you can split your army in two, with one group holding off the undead in the western forest, and another (probably larger) group dealing with the incoming flood of orcs (and later undead from the north) in the center.<br /> <br /> ===S16 (Dawn of War)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the southern edge of the map with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective (early finish bonus): Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: after this scenario, you won't be able to recruit elves or dark adepts, and all elven veterans not recalled in this scenario are permanently lost.<br /> <br /> Recalling advice:<br /> *If you continued from Part I you’ll likely have much more veterans than you can recall; however there’s no need to get obsessed about bringing every single veteran with you because there is very little gold in later scenarios, so you won’t be able to use them all anyway.<br /> *Elves: It’s highly recommended to get at least two healers because you will not be able to get any more healers later! After that, probably the most useful elven units are enchantresses and prowlers since they can slow.<br /> *Spectres are great in later levels (arcane damage + mobility); I’d recommend recalling every one you have. Necromancers and nightgaunts will also be very useful.<br /> *I would not recommend recalling any sprites, since they are lawful and the next scenarios all feature perpetual night.<br /> <br /> Your two allies will do a pretty good job distracting the two outer enemies, so the main battle will take place in the center. If you began the battle portion of the scenario on turn 4, you should have a turn of daylight (First Afternoon) to strike hard and fast at the central enemies with all your veterans. If you continue to make as many kills as possible during dusk there shouldn’t be many enemies left at all to threaten you during the night. Once you deal with the units from the two central enemies the rest of the battle should be easy, as the two outer enemies should be weakened from fighting your allies. It's recommended to kill all the enemy leaders for the extra gold and experience.<br /> <br /> ===S17 (Voice of the Armageddon)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> You will face two enemy leaders: a relatively weak enemy in the center, and a very powerful enemy far to the south. You’ll probably want to recruit a few expendable units such as ghosts or vampire bats to distract the powerful enemy units from your veterans. The central enemy shouldn’t be too much of a problem: blast them with your veterans and then put a couple expendable units in front to screen them.<br /> <br /> Once you scout far enough south, you’ll trigger the southern leader to start recruiting and a boss Armageddon Imp will appear and start heading for you. It’s probably best to wait near the central keep and let the imps come to you so you don’t get in range of the enemies stationed in the southern fort. Once they arrive, illuminate and slow the boss and then zap him with your magical ranged units. Next you’ll have to deal with the army of soulless and necrophages coming from the south; once again an effective tactic is to blast away with your veterans from the back and then insert some expendable units in the front.<br /> <br /> Be careful when approaching the fort because the powerful units stationed there will come out and attack; use the v keybind (show enemy moves) to make sure no one is too exposed, and try to lure them out one by one. The ancient lich leader can be lured out onto 40% defense terrain by placing a walking corpse in his range. Don’t bother about setting up the kill on the leader because he will just run away, denying you the killing XP.<br /> <br /> ===S18 (Ashes of Wesmere)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar to the cave in the southeast.<br /> <br /> The more spectres you have the easier this scenario will be; I recommend recalling all your spectres and wraiths. Since there aren’t any villages you’ll surely start next scenario with minimum gold anyway, so there’s no point in worrying about upkeep or saving gold (EDIT: I was able to complete this scenario on hard with 1 keep worth of recalled units if you want some gold carryover). The main enemies you’ll be facing are drones, which do impact damage and are weak to arcane. Advance very cautiously at first because there will be several level 2 drones lurking around. They’re extremely nasty in ranged, so spectres are ideal for taking them out.<br /> <br /> Once you start heading south, you’ll face a horde of level 1 drones from all directions. Just keep killing them every turn with spectres and wraiths, focusing on one group at a time, and eventually they’ll run out. Be careful of putting Mal Keshar in range of a lot of drones because they’ll chain attack him and he’s weak to impact.<br /> <br /> After that it should be easy to kill the enemy leader, who has a pretty pathetic army. When you head southeast to the cave, keep a tight formation and don’t expose heavily wounded units because there are several invisible skirmishing and backstabbing shadow minions around.<br /> Since there’s no early finish bonus, you can use any leftover turns to go around killing the other enemies scattered around the map for the XP.<br /> <br /> ===S19 (Under the Sands)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Elynia or Mal Keshar<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of rough terrain and chasms, so ghostly undead (spectres, nightgaunts) will be extremely useful. Also, the blue matrix flow systems have 0% defense and can be drained, so they can be used as free full heals for your spectres.<br /> <br /> When heading out of the initial chamber, be very cautious and keep a completely tight formation because there are several shadow minions (which are invisible and can skirmish and backstab) lurking nearby. This scenario is full of these shadow minions, so be very cautious when advancing.<br /> <br /> Make your way southeast to kill the drone leader, then west where the chaos empire army should be arriving. They shouldn’t be much trouble (just make sure to kill the invokers before they can get at your ghosts). You’ll arrive in a large central chamber full of various enemies. Send some units towards the hive in the southwest of the chamber and you’ll spot a matrix core in the far west; each core you destroy will reduce the gold of certain enemy sides in the next scenario by a bit (there are 5 cores total). Next scenario is difficult, so it's worthwhile to destroy as many cores as possible.<br /> <br /> Head south across the lava chasm (it will probably take a while, due to being assaulted by enemy spawns from all directions) and you’ll come across the chaos empire leader to the left and a dead end with a second matrix core on the right. Once you defeat the leader head south towards a swampy area.<br /> <br /> Past the swamp is a fork: the southern fork doesn’t have enemies and leads straight to the exit. The eastern fork leads into a large hive, where the remaining 3 matrix cores are. One of the cores is near the entrance. The remaining 2 cores are extremely deep into the hive so getting at them may be more trouble than it’s worth, though you can get some good XP out of fighting your way through to them. Note that you won’t be able to leave until Elynia or Mal Keshar are outside the hive, so make sure you have enough turns left before exploring (but if you kill the innermost core, a shortcut will open up, so you don’t have to backtrack all the way).<br /> <br /> ===S20 (The Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar inside the fortress, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **Another enemy leader will appear in the north on Turn 2. Also, every so often starting from Turn 3, a large group of enemies (mostly demon zephyrs) will appear in the chasm surrounding the fortress.<br /> **After the initial turns of daylight the scenario becomes perpetually night.<br /> **You have control over the allied dwarves this time. They leave after this so they’re completely expendable.<br /> <br /> This is somewhat of a finale for Part II of IftU. <br /> Since you don’t have so much time, trying to defeat every leader is probably more trouble than it’s worth, especially on Hard. My strategy was to completely ignore the northern leader and rush my entire army southwest, killing as many units as possible during the day before the scenario turned into perpetual night. After that I fought my way over the bridge into the fortress (having spectres and nightgaunts fly over the chasm is essential in breaking the bridge bottleneck), sending the less valuable veterans in first. Meanwhile some units went to deal with the northern army which was attacking from behind.<br /> <br /> The dwarves really did not do much; I mostly had them camped in the 3 village cluster just northwest of the fortress the entire time, where they lured out and killed any demon zephyrs which spawned in the west.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *After this you’ll only be able to use 8 of your veterans for the rest of the campaign. So choose your 8 favorite veterans and go crazy with the rest!<br /> *There are a ton of enemies on this map, and a lot of nasty flying ones which can reach your units from quite far away. Use ctrl + v constantly to avoid surprises.<br /> *Two nightgaunts backstabbing from opposite sides of a sentry tower will automatically kill it from full health.<br /> *Having some expendable units will be very helpful; if you’re short on cash, you can use your necromancers’ plague staff to make free corpses.<br /> *Don’t worry about gold carryover; you can’t use more than the minimum next scenario anyway.<br /> <br /> ===S21 (Innuendo)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit in the north with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **From now on it is ''highly'' recommended to restart anytime any unit dies, because these are the only veterans you'll have for the rest of the campaign and the remaining scenarios are very difficult.<br /> **It is essential to pick up the chest of gold in the southwest, which will be needed several scenarios later for the final battle.<br /> <br /> Recruits: You may only bring 8 veterans with you for the rest of the campaign. Future scenarios will be underground / deep underground so undead are especially useful. It’s also recommended to bring 2 shydes for healing, at least one necromancer for making free fodder corpses, and some flying undead (spectres/nightgaunts) since there will be a lot of unwalkable chasms. (I used 2 shydes, 2 necromancers, 1 lich, 2 spectres and 1 nightgaunt and it worked really well.)<br /> <br /> Get ready for an absolutely massive dungeon crawl! You’ll face several waves of enemies in this scenario:<br /> <br /> '''The beginning:''' Some Chaos Empire units will come at you immediately, so just form a solid line in the passage and let them come. After that the path splits north to a dead end with a Potion of Deftness giving +1 movement and +1 ranged damage (living units only), and a southwestern passage leading to a large chamber full of powerful enemies. You can safely destroy them by forming a line in the 3-hex passage and slowly picking them off until they’re gone. (Try to turn some of them into corpses, which can be used as bait for powerful enemies later).<br /> <br /> '''The large chamber in the south:''' There are two paths north (both lead to the same place) with some enemies guarding them. In the southwest corner there’s a room with a Potion of Strength (+1 melee, +8 HP, a great item for Galas), an Accuracy Bow (for archer units only, such as Erathan), and a chest of gold. There is an enemy leader in the northwest, and moving to the gem behind him will open one of the gates in the northeast.<br /> <br /> '''The northern chamber of undead:''' You’ll need to find the gem which opens the gate in the far north, where there is an ancient lich leader. Be sure to stay out of his range (he has 7 movement!) until you wipe out most of his army. Also be careful of the two wraiths right behind the leader. If you made any walking corpses earlier, you can use them as bait to safely lure out the ancient lich leader. The gem on his keep opens the gate in the east.<br /> <br /> '''The imp boss''': Past the eastern gate, you’ll come to a long passage east with some enemies. Once you advance far enough, you’ll discover a large chamber with a nasty imp boss and some other enemies. It’s best to fight them in the 3-hex bottleneck, and try to have Elynia illuminate and slow the boss.<br /> <br /> '''The dungeon:''' The area northwest of the chamber where the imp was leads to the exit, but it’s blocked by a gate so you’ll have to go east to the dungeons first. You'll find a (useless) troll soulless and a merman soulless which will join you, as well as a hostile drake soulless. In the southeast, there’s an unwalkable chasm with some enemies on the other side; if you send some flying undead exploring there they can trigger a touchplate which opens a passage for regular units to enter. There is a Glacial Gladius there which gives a slowing cold melee attack (usable by elves other than shamans+advancements, and by Erathan.)<br /> <br /> The goal is the northeast hive area, where there’s an amulet (+10% arcane resistance, changes ranged damage type to arcane) which is good for units like shydes so they’ll take less damage when slowing later bosses. The south of the hive contains a cage with Ledinor, the elvish lord from the beginning. Freeing him and the other three soulless will open the gate in the northwest where there are a ton of high level enemies and a drone boss.<br /> <br /> '''The exit (finally!):''' For the horde of high level enemies coming from the exit, it’s safest to retreat to one of the 3-hex passages leading to the dungeons and just pick them off slowly. When approaching the exit, be careful since the chasms on either side contain drones.<br /> <br /> ===S22 A (Face of the Enemy)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the area, then defeat the Chaos Warlord, then flee to the southeast with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> Head southeast past some drone hives – the drones will constantly respawn from the hives, though they won’t chase you if no units are in range. Continue heading east across the cave area. There’s a gate in the north which just leads to a dead end, and a couple doors in the southeast which lead to a corridor of enemies. The safe way to deal with them is to camp in the 2-hex bottleneck. Also, watch out for the berserking hellhound hiding in the back. The northeastern water area just leads to a glyph with some backstory about the drones.<br /> <br /> Past the corridor of enemies is another gate; once you open it all your units will be teleported into the chamber beyond, where you’ll be surrounded by powerful enemies. Try to focus on killing a few at a time while staying out of range of the others. A few turns later the Chaos Warlord will show up in the keep in the west. She’ll recruit some units, so retreat and deal with her army before taking her on.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat her she’ll heal back to full so you’ll have to run away by having Mal Keshar destroy the exit gate to the southeast. Fortunately Elynia will cast a spell on her so she’ll only have 1 movement until you open the gate, at which point she regains all her movement (so make sure your units aren’t in her range at that time). The Warlord will just stay in her keep and recruit and not chase you, so it should be easy to get away. The southeast area just has some drones in the south and a giant spider; move a leader to the southern border of the map to proceed to the next part.<br /> <br /> ===S22 B (Dark Hive)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Warlord (you will have to fight her several times.)<br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario. There are hordes of constantly respawning drones, several difficult boss fights and you must also keep as many veterans as possible alive for later scenarios.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *In general due to the respawning drones it’s best to stick together in a single group, move forward quickly, and not send units off exploring side passages or they may end up trapped – the only things to find anyway are two glyphs with some backstory. *EDIT: There is a '''Ring of the Revenant''' to the southwest below the southern river that provides an extra life for a living unit. It is guarded by a few drones and under a glyph tile with additional backstory in a coffin. I gave it to one of my Shydes flying around with my Spectres exploring the area.<br /> *A useful (but cheap) tactic is to deliberately leave units (especially Elynia/Mal Keshar) a few XP from leveling so when they attack the boss they’ll automatically heal to full.<br /> *Always make sure to lure off and get rid of as many surrounding drones as possible before confronting the Chaos Warlord, because her leadership combined with the drones is deadly. <br /> There are three sections, each ending with a fight against the Chaos Warlord:<br /> <br /> '''Part I'''<br /> <br /> In the beginning, the path branches south and east; both eventually lead to the same place in the southeast but the eastern path has better terrain so is probably the easier one. Eventually you’ll come to a larger area with a chaos magus to the south; the way forward is a couple doors south of the chaos magus past some ants. Once you open the doors you’ll meet Elyssa again; she’s surrounded by a ton of drones and will recruit more so just camp in the 2-hex passage until all the drones are gone. Meanwhile you’ll have to move Elynia and Mal Keshar next to each other and protect them for a few turns (move them off the front lines before doing this, because they won’t be able to move or attack).<br /> <br /> Once Elynia and Mal Keshar have summoned the Union and all the nearby drones are gone, lure Elyssa out onto 40% defense by putting a unit in her range. She’ll absorb all non-Union damage, but you can still slow her so try to always slow her before using the Union. Note that the Union uses up both Elynia and Mal Keshar’s moves and attacks, though you can still slow with Elynia and then Union with Mal Keshar. Once Elyssa’s at 60% health she’ll run away.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> <br /> The way forward is the two gates in the southwest, which lead down some narrow passages into an area full of demon zephyrs and drones. You can form a line just outside the narrow passages (don’t use the 1-hex bottlenecks or it will take too long) and let them come. Also, try to avoid sending your flying undead onto the starry chasms because it has a small chance of killing them.<br /> <br /> Continuing southwest, you’ll come to a rocky area surrounded by chasms - there are a bunch of drones across the chasms so try to lure them off a couple at a time. Elyssa’s in a keep to the south - lure her out and repeat the slowing + Union tactic (she still absorbs non Union damage). This time she’ll flee at 40% HP.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3'''<br /> <br /> Continuing east, a bunch of zephyrs and drones will come at you across the eastern chasm; form a line and lure them onto land so you can easily get rid of them. Then the path splits south and east - both lead to the same area in the southeast, where Elyssa is waiting with a bunch of drones. As usual try to lure off as many drones as possible before luring Elyssa out.<br /> <br /> She is more powerful this time, but fortunately she now takes full damage from non Union attacks! However, make sure to finish her with the Union; otherwise she’ll just regenerate HP instead of dying.<br /> <br /> ===S23 A (Into the Lair)===<br /> *Objectives: Find the entrance to the Chaos Emperor’s lair.<br /> <br /> In the beginning, just follow the path southwest past a few demon zephyrs and guards. Past the gate in the southwest there are a couple enemy leaders; just camp in the 3-hex passage until both their armies are gone. There’s a gate in the south which leads to the exit, but you’ll have to find the glyph to open it first.<br /> <br /> A few turns after entering the indoor area, a bunch of cockatrices and drones will come flooding out of the west. It’s preferable to form a solid line against them, since getting petrified disrupts a unit’s ZOC. Cockatrices are weak to arcane so spectres are ideal for taking them out. Once they’re gone split up into two groups to explore the western cave passage and the north- there’s an enemy leader in each area. It’s best to send Elynia with one group and Mal Keshar with the other since the glyph to open the exit is in a random location and only Elynia or Mal Keshar can activate it.<br /> <br /> Once you open the exit gate, there will be another flood of cockatrices from the southeast. Past the exit gate there’s a very weak enemy leader and some assorted enemies scattered around. The path then splits three ways: south is an empty dead end, north is a dead end with some story glyphs, and east is the entrance to the lair.<br /> <br /> Seansy: I suggest if you have plenty of turns remaining once you reach the exit to feed more experience to your units to get them as close as possible to an AMLA since the next scenario is the final boss fight and there is no early finish bonus. I had the Stealth ability on Galas so I could theoretically leave him alone next to the exit in stealth until the last turn, but you can also split up your units into two teams and have 1 stay by the entrance to farm the spawning drones and have another backtrack to kill spawning drones in another area.<br /> <br /> ===S23 B (Until Death)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Emperor.<br /> *Note: The blue glyphs scattered around the map heal a unit to full.<br /> This is effectively the final battle; the next scenario is easy and more of a playable cutscene (however, any surviving veterans do carry over to next scenario – you won’t need many but the more the better.) This is probably the most difficult scenario in the entire campaign so hopefully almost all of your veterans are still alive and you got the extra gold from S21.<br /> <br /> You’ll start close to two enemy leaders, and it’s possible (recommended, even) to take them both out on turn 1. The southern leader should be easy; make sure to leave Galas available to take his keep and begin to recruit undead immediately. For the northern shadow courier if you put Mal Keshar next to him and Elynia next to Mal Keshar, two of Mal Keshar’s Union hits will take him down (a 78% chance to kill – it’s slightly risky though, since there are likely some level 2 drones lurking around and Mal Keshar will take a lot of retaliation if he doesn’t kill the shadow courier.)<br /> <br /> Try to recruit as much as possible with Galas on turns 1-3. At the start of turn 4, the Emperor will possess Mal Keshar (meaning you can’t recruit undead anymore) and Erathan (or Galas, if you don’t have Erathan). You’ll then have to use Elynia to kill Mal Keshar (you can make this part easier by making sure Mal Keshar is close to your units and on 40% defense on turn 4.) The Emperor can recall your unused undead veterans while he’s controlling Mal Keshar, so try to finish Mal Keshar off immediately.<br /> <br /> Once you kill Mal Keshar, the Emperor will get a new Union attack and Elynia will also get a powered up (35-4) Union attack when next to him. Elynia’s Union is the only attack which does full damage to the Emperor; all other attacks will do just a few HP of damage (also, non-Union attacks will sometimes cause him to become unslowed so be careful). Lure the Emperor out onto 40% defense, slow him, and then Union with Elynia. You’ll probably need about 3 turns (2 if you’re lucky) of Elynia using the Union. Hopefully Elynia doesn’t get hit too much; if she does you could try ZOCing the boss with cannon fodder while Elynia gets healed or moves to a healing glyph.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat him Mal Keshar will return and you can recruit undead again (although he is extremely fragile now so it’s essential to keep him away from the Emperor), and the Emperor will transform into his final form. This form has much more HP and a stronger ranged attack (hopefully at least one slower is still alive!) but fortunately can now be fully damaged by regular attacks. Elynia’s Union also gets a major powerup, so his HP should go down very quickly. He sometimes spawns drones when hit; you may want to move your own units next to him before attacking so that the drones don’t block the hexes next to him. Make sure to have Elynia finish him off with the Union, or else he’ll regenerate a ton of HP.<br /> <br /> ===S23 C (Broken Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit with Elynia, Galas or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: This is the last scenario.<br /> This scenario should be pretty easy, even with very few surviving veterans. Head northeast past some demon zephyrs to the first checkpoint; your units will all enter a new lava area. Around this time Ledinor will begin having some ominous dialogue, and several turns later he’ll suddenly transform into a shadow courier, and 3 shadow minions will appear around him. You can either kill him, or just leave him behind.<br /> <br /> After heading east across the doors past the second checkpoint, the path will turn north. Once you approach the third checkpoint, several high level undead will appear in the 3-hex keep just north of the checkpoint. Once you’ve dealt with them, it’s a pretty uneventful trip northwest toward the exit.<br /> <br /> [[Category: User-made Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=IftU_Walkthrough&diff=75582 2026-07-31T05:54:22Z

<p>BBeryllium: i just noticed some things while playing this campaign</p> <hr /> <div>{{Translations}}<br /> This is a strategy guide for the add-on campaign '''Invasion from the Unknown''' (IftU) version 2.0 by shadowm. Note that there have been many major gameplay changes from the original version (for example, elvish enchantresses can no longer advance to sylphs, the elvish warrior spirit and Aragwaithi recruits have been removed, and many scenarios were changed), so much of the advice here won’t apply to earlier campaign versions.<br /> <br /> This walkthrough was written by Inky and is based on the hard difficulty. (I also did a commented playthrough of the campaign with screenshots and replays on the [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&amp;t=43960 forums].) Feel free to make corrections or add your own advice.<br /> <br /> Seansy Note: The most recent version, released on March 30th 2026, has made some changes so I am adding some edits to certain sections to adjust for that.<br /> <br /> Campaign discussion and developer support on the forums available for [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=43309 IftU version 2.0.0 and Wesnoth v.1.12].<br /> <br /> ==General campaign advice==<br /> It’s advised to play ''Under the Burning Suns'' first, to familiarize yourself with the story and the two suns schedule.<br /> <br /> ===Units===<br /> You begin with the typical elvish recruits plus the campaign specific elvish hunter unit, then gain the ability to recruit undead in Scenario 4, dark adepts in Scenario 5, and sprites in Scenario 14.<br /> <br /> EDIT: AMLA trees have been added to Galas and another future unit. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the options by right clicking on the unit to view them. Feed as much experience as possible to these units to maximize their abilities throughout the campaign. <br /> <br /> *A large part of this campaign takes place underground, making undead units especially ideal. Spectres are perhaps the most useful unit throughout the campaign due to their draining, excellent mobility and arcane damage. Nightgaunts (raw damage) and necromancers (arcane resist and plague) are also very useful. Skeletal undead are generally not recommended due to their low mobility.<br /> *On almost every scenario it’s helpful to recruit some vampire bats for scouting, village grabbing, and to act as distractions since they do not cost upkeep.<br /> *For elves, leveling at least a couple shydes for healing is essential. Prowlers are one of the most useful elvish units, being good in melee and able to slow in ranged. Enchantresses are also valuable for their arcane magical damage and slowing, though they do not advance to sylphs in this campaign. Fighters, archers and scout types are generally not so useful.<br /> *The lawful sprites which you can recruit starting from S14 are helpful in S15 (Shadows of Time) against undead, but are useless from S17 onward where it is perpetually night, so do not invest too heavily in them.<br /> <br /> ====The Recall List====<br /> *You have the option of either continuing to Part II keeping all your veterans from Part I (recommended), or starting Part II fresh. To compensate for the difference, there are several recall list wipes in the campaign:<br /> **S12 (The Escape): You can only bring up to 6 undead units (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count) with you and the rest are permanently lost.<br /> **S16 (Dawn of War): You can only bring up to 6 elves with you and the rest are permanently lost. In addition, any unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. EDIT: The most recent version has changed this so that any elf unit not recalled in this scenario is permanently lost. There is no longer a limit on how many elves you recruit/recall.<br /> **S21 (Innuendo): You can only recall 8 veterans, which will be the only veterans you have for the rest of the campaign.<br /> *In Part II gold becomes very scarce so you will only be able to use a limited amount of veterans in each scenario; therefore quality (units with good traits such as resilient, and several AMLAs) is better than quantity.<br /> <br /> ===Item List===<br /> This is a list of the permanent items which can be picked up throughout the campaign, and which units can use them. Items given to your hero units, mostly Galas, carry over to the After the Storm campaign!<br /> <br /> *S3: '''Ring of Swiftness''' (+1 movement) - ''living units''<br /> *S4: '''Staff of Petrichor''' (EDIT: New item from recent update) Replaces melee attack with '''Touch of Petrichor''' a 7x2 magical cold attack that reads &quot;When this attack hits a lower level opponent during offense, the target becomes petrified for one turn. Once the petrification effect expires, the target gains the mark status effect.&quot; The petrification effect makes the afflicted unit unable to move or attack and they cannot be attacked themselves either. Usable by shamans and their advancements. Not usable for hero units.<br /> *S5 (This is a branching path so you'll only be able to obtain one of the following:)<br /> **S5a: '''Ring of Regeneration''' (if you chose to spare the bandit leader) (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage) - ''not usable by: shamans and their advancements and Anlindë ''<br /> **S5b: '''Shardia's Meteor''' (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse) - ''elvish hunters, fighters, and their advancements''<br /> *S7: '''Void Armor''' (secret item) (sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact, +10% fire resistance) - ''elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements''<br /> *S8: '''Poisonous Bow''' (adds a new 11-3 poisonous ranged bow attack) - ''skeleton archers, revenants, elvish archers, elvish heroes and their advancements.''<br /> *S10:<br /> **'''Berserker Potion''' (adds berserk special to melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and +10% blade / +20% fire / +30% impact resistance) - ''not usable by: ghosts, bats, corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units.''<br /> **'''Potion of Drain''' (adds drain special to melee attacks, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance) - ''living units''<br /> *S14: '''Explosive arrows''' (6 uses, does 80% base damage to the unit in the hex behind the target) ''- elvish archers, skeleton archers and their advancements''<br /> *S21:<br /> **'''Potion of Deftness''' (+1 movement, +1 ranged damage) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Accuracy Bow''' (adds marksman special to ranged attacks) - ''bone shooters and elvish rangers and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Potion of Strength''' (+1 melee damage, +8 HP) - ''living non bat units.''<br /> **'''Glacial Gladius''' (+1 melee damage, cold damage and slow for a unit’s melee attack, -5% HP) - ''elvish fighters, archers, hunters, scouts and their advancements, and Erathan.''<br /> **'''Amulet of t<br /> *22B<br /> **'''Ring of the Revenant''' (Any living creature wearing this ring is granted the power to cheat death once, after which the ring shall become inert for a thousand years) - ''living units besides sprites and bats.''<br /> <br /> ==Part I: Seeking the Light==<br /> ===S1 (Border Patrol)===<br /> *Objectives: The starting objectives are to hold out as long as possible, but on Turn 4 the objectives will change to defeating all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This is a deceptively easy scenario, as the next scenario is very difficult and requires a substantial gold carryover. On Hard something like 140 carryover is ideal and anything less than 100 carryover is probably too little to win with. Do not overrecruit, keep an eye on your income (make sure it’s positive) and be aggressive – don’t be afraid to lose some units, as it will help your income.<br /> <br /> Recruits: I’d recommend getting 2 shamans so that you can divide your forces and have a healer for each one, but not more than that as you need damage dealers. The rest of your units should be a mix of mostly archers and hunters. (Fighters are generally inferior to hunters, and scouts are expensive and do little damage).<br /> <br /> General strategies:<br /> *'''Defending the starting keep:''' One strategy is to hang back at your initial castle during the first day, recruiting very lightly during these turns to preserve income. Form a line on good terrain: one possibility is to use the forts just south of your keep; another option is to form a slightly more forward line stretching from the forest tiles (19,20) to (26,17) through the village southeast of your keep. &lt;br /&gt; Let the enemies come to you; they’ll arrive around Turn 6 (The Short Dark). Attack aggressively during Second Dawn/Day and you should be able to eliminate almost all the enemy units before The Long Dark hits.<br /> <br /> *'''Moving to the center keep (by Theron):''' An alternate faster and much more aggressive strategy, meant to finish as early as possible for maximum carryover, is to recruit a full keep on turn 1 and move Galas to the central keep immediately. Much of the fighting will take place around First Dusk / The Short Dark so expect heavy losses. &lt;br /&gt; Theron's advice: Recruit 3 Archers and 3 Hunters in turn 1. (Fighters are too slow; shamans are too slow and their damage output is too low.) Move Galas to the tiny keep in the middle of the map. Recruit 1 more Archer and 1 more Hunter in turn 3. Recruit 2 Fighters and 2 Shamans in turn 3 + 4. Decide where to amass your army (green front or blue front). Do not retreat. Ignore TOD. Use terrain advantage.<br /> <br /> For defeating the enemy leaders you can either split your forces in two and kill them simultaneously, or a safer (but slower) strategy is to send everyone to kill the southern green leader and them move them all to the blue eastern leader. The eastern leader is tough to kill – it can help to level an archer to marksman and shoot him down during daytime.<br /> <br /> Try to get Galas to level 2 (captain is strongly recommended for leadership) and level at least one of the shamans to druid.<br /> <br /> ===S2 (A Real Confrontation)===<br /> *Objectives:<br /> **Hold out until the end of turns.<br /> **Alternate objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> <br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario on Hard, so you’ll want to start this with over 200 gold (minimum gold is 100; replay scenario 1 for more carryover if necessary). The first thing to do is grab the villages of your useless ally, as you can put the gold to much better use. Note that you (or your ally) must retain control of a certain number of villages (9 on Hard, depends on difficulty) or you will lose. This should not be a problem though, as there are 9 villages (3 in the northwest, 3 near your keep, 3 near Ledinor’s keep) which are quite far back and easy to defend.<br /> <br /> This battle has two fronts divided by the central lake: the western front south of your keep, and the eastern front. The eastern front is relatively safe as there are less enemies there and Ledinor sends the bulk of his army that way, while the western front will be a high casualty bloodbath. Therefore one approach is to send a small elite group of veterans including Anlindë east, while using a massive spam approach (civilians and fresh recruits, mixed with some veterans) in the west. An alternate strategy is to recruit only civilians initially and send them out to delay the enemy forces enough so that they reach your main force during the day.<br /> <br /> Keep your elves in a line in the forest and try to slow the level 2 enemies; use ctrl + v and watch out for the skirmishers. With constant reinforcements from your high income and the time of day changing in your favor the chaos army should eventually run out of steam.<br /> <br /> It’s perfectly fine to start the next scenario with minimum gold, so do not worry if you can't defeat the enemy leaders for the finish bonus. Try to level a shaman to sorceress, as the arcane magical damage will be very useful for the next scenario. This is best done on the later turns, when most of the chaos army is gone and it’s relatively safe.<br /> <br /> ===S3 (Memories from the Depths)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the cave, then defeat the undead leader in the far northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Recruit lightly initially, as there aren’t so many enemies in the tunnel and there is another keep right at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be fighting undead so hunters and their advancements are especially good, as are sorceresses if you have any; try to get Anlindë to level 3 and / or a sorceress or enchantress during this scenario as it will help defeat the enemy at the very end. When you reach the end of the tunnel, you can use the nearby keep to recruit/recall some more units. Try to keep your income positive though – you don’t need too many units and there will be more opportunities to recruit along the way.<br /> <br /> Proceed northwest past the second keep, and you’ll come across some branching paths. On the right, moving to the flashing yellow hex will open up a passage leading to a Ring of Swiftness granting +1 movement. A good choice for this ring is Galas, since it can potentially allow him to reach keeps and recruit a turn earlier. The two western paths which will join together in a large central chamber, where you’ll encounter the main undead army; take them out with the help of slowing and arcane attacks.<br /> <br /> Triggering a touchplate in the southwest leads to two holy waters which grant arcane melee damage for this scenario only. Continue northwest, being careful not to expose wounded units since bats will often come out of nowhere and attack, and you’ll come to a river crossing. Across the river is another keep – I would highly recommend using this keep to recruit a couple expendable hunters or shamans for their slowing ability in preparation for the scenario’s final enemy.<br /> <br /> Head east across the river and the path will split north and east. Both paths will join up in the northeast corner but the eastern path has much stronger enemies so send most of your units that way - you can use expendable units to lure the high level undead guards into the open where they are easily killed. In the northeast you’ll come across the scenario’s final enemy, an ancient lich! You’ll need to slow him first, so hopefully you have some expendable hunters or shamans which can suicide into him until he’s slowed. After he’s slowed use your sorceress/enchantress and Anlindë to hopefully finish him off.<br /> <br /> ===S4 (Over the Sands)===<br /> <br /> Recruits: Living units are generally not recommended in this scenario due to the dehydration mechanic, but you’ll certainly want another (preferably +8) healer besides Anlindë, and you might as well recall the loyal scout too since he doesn’t cost upkeep. I’d recommend recruiting mostly ghosts – they are fast and have extremely good advancements – with some vampire bats mixed in to scout and act as a distraction force.<br /> You start with 2 villages and there are 6 more around the orc’s keep, but this is all you’re going to get for most of the scenario so take that into account when recruiting (try to keep your income positive).<br /> <br /> '''Part 1'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the orc leader to the northwest.<br /> <br /> Use Galas’ leadership on the level 1 ghosts; try to level a couple by feeding them the level 2 orc kills. Focus on killing crossbowmen and archers as their ranged fire attack is dangerous to ghosts. Mal Keshar is great at screening your units – you can put him in very exposed positions and the orcs will generally ignore him.<br /> <br /> When you kill the orcish leader you’ll get about 50 gold. You can use his keep to recruit some reinforcements (watch your income; there aren’t any more villages for a long time). Start heading west, where you’ll encounter some very weak undead. There will also be some scorpions north and south of the path which are free experience for wraiths and ghosts.<br /> After a while the path will turn south and you’ll spot some bandits. EDIT: The '''Staff of Petrichor''' is located to the southeast and has 4 petrified griffin units that will awaken and attack you once you attempt to loot the tomb. Make sure you have multiple ghost line units there during the nighttime to try to drain through the damage.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the bandit leader in the southwest.<br /> <br /> Try to fight the elusive outlaw units (footpads, thieves) on sand terrain where they only have 40% defense instead of their usual 60 or 70%. Bats make great bait for luring out powerful guard units, or the enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat the leader some humans will show up from the north, and you will have to decide whether to fight them. If you do decide to fight them you'll have to defeat their leader and will go to S5a (Crossfire). If you choose the second option instead, the scenario will end immediately and you will go to S5b (Cursed Plateau). <br /> S5a is the easier scenario, but since both scenarios give a different item (see the [[#Item_List | Item List]]) you may want to decide based on that.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3 (only if you chose to fight the humans)'''<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the leader of the humans in the northwest.<br /> <br /> Note that drain attacks will not work on the human units so you’ll have to be a bit more careful with putting wraiths on the front line.<br /> Use the bandit’s keep to recruit more reinforcements if needed and start heading north. You’ll encounter two revenants; you can easily lure them out and kill them with spectres / wraiths. The humans have a lot of units, but if you form a line where your units can only be reached from 2 hexes then their level 1 units won’t be able to damage you too much.<br /> Continue northwest towards the final leader; again a vampire bat can be used to lure her out.<br /> <br /> ===Diverging campaign path===<br /> ====S5a (Crossfire)====<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders, and make sure no chaos empire units survive.<br /> <br /> All three enemy sides will fight each other, so a couple keeps of units should be enough. Villages are very scarce so using mainly low level units supported by leadership will save on upkeep. Start by sending your entire army south against the chaos empire; the undead and bandits will mostly be occupied fighting each other. The undead will send quite a few troops east but they should arrive around daytime so it should be easy to wipe them out.<br /> <br /> After the chaos empire is defeated, head west; you can send everybody against the lich and then north or split into two groups, one to defeat the lich and one to deal with the bandits. The bandits are the stronger enemy – try to attack them during the day.<br /> <br /> After defeating the bandit leader you’ll be given the choice to spare him; do so and you’ll be given a very useful Ring of Regeneration (+5 HP, regenerates +4 ability, +1 melee damage), a good item for Galas. (Deciding to kill him will only give you some gold and is not worth it.)<br /> <br /> ====S5b (Cursed Plateau)====<br /> *Objectives: Move to the northwest corner of the map with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **In order to get the item you must find the piece of parchment in the southwest cave, and defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> You won't be getting any more villages for a while, so recruit very lightly initially. There's another tiny 1-hex keep to the west where you can recall some more reinforcements, and you'll only face some scorpions and bats at first, so a couple wraiths should be enough. Once you reach the tiny keep in the west, send some flying undead into the southwest cave, where there's a touchplate opening into a chasm full of bats. To the southeast of the chasm is a passage leading to a piece of parchment, which opens a passage through the mountains in the northwest.<br /> <br /> To the north is another small 2-hex keep, though you might have to clear out some chaos empire units before you can use it. There are a lot of invokers so you'll probably want either some cannon fodder or some durable non undead units. It's preferable to form a solid line and defend until most of the enemies are gone, because there are many high level enemies and also some nasty shadow minions (nightstalking, skirmishing and backstabbing pests) around.<br /> <br /> Northeast of the small keep there's a dead end cave with the blue enemy leader; if you want the scenario's item you'll have to defeat him (Mal Keshar is very effective against him), otherwise you can just ignore the cave, though there is a small amount of gold there.<br /> <br /> Following the northwest path through the mountains leads to a gate, which you won't be able to open until you defeat both enemy leaders, though you could start sending whichever unit you want to pick up the item that way (it can be used by elvish hunters, fighters and advancements; I'd strongly recommend Galas.) Just send them on their own because there aren't any enemies behind the gate. Once you kill both leaders, you'll be able to pass through the gate to a chest in the south containing Shardia's Meteor (adds 15-2 ranged fire firststrike slow attack, +20% fire resistance, intimidates ability which causes level 0 and 1 enemies to fight worse).<br /> <br /> Continuing north and then east, there's another cave with the second leader. There's also a couple small piles of gold (in the southeast and northeast) in the cave. In the northwest is the shadow courier leader; try to kill him as quickly as possible in melee (preferably luring him out of the castle first so he doesn't have such high defense) because he will completely demolish your undead units. Once you kill the shadow courier, the western path which leads outside to the exit only has a few vampire bats.<br /> <br /> ===S6 (Moon Valley)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> <br /> This scenario is much easier than it looks, because the orcish units will generally stay clumped together near their leader instead of all coming towards you at once, allowing you to focus on each army separately. You’ll receive a small amount of gold each time you defeat an enemy leader.<br /> <br /> It's possible to rush the northeastern (blue) orc leader and kill him before he spends most of his gold: recruit a full keep on turn 1 and send Galas northwest immediately; send a bat southwest to village grab and move everyone else northwest. With the help of Anlindë and Mal Keshar you should be able to whittle down the leader on turn 3 and finish him on turn 4. Galas can then use the keep to recruit reinforcements while the rest of the army clears out the remaining blue orcs.<br /> <br /> At this point the green and black orcs will be hanging around the central forest while purple remains in the west. Advance aggressively during the second day and you should be able to wipe out most of the green and black units. After that only purple will be left; it will be night now but with the help of slow and Mal Keshar who is practically invincible they shouldn’t pose a problem.<br /> <br /> As the dialogue hints, when you approach the northwest area close to the final keep, several high level orcs will appear and the northwest leader will also get some gold to recruit. Wait until daytime (preferably morning) to approach, and you can also use the nearby keep to recruit some spam if you want to be extra safe.<br /> <br /> ===S7 (Goliath)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat Goliath.<br /> *Note: The units you recruit/recall on the first turn are all you will have for the entire scenario, so choose carefully.<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of weak level 1 units scattered around, so it’s a good opportunity to get some experience. Most of the enemies in this scenario are automatons which are extremely resistant to blade and arcane (50%) but only have 10% impact resistance making trappers/prowlers especially effective against them.<br /> <br /> After heading west through the tunnel that you start in, you’ll come across the keep of the chaos empire. This is actually the toughest opposition you will face all scenario so be defensive (form a line and let the enemies come to you) and take your time. The enemy leader is extremely dangerous in ranged so try to take him down in 1 turn using mostly melee attacks.<br /> <br /> After defeating the enemy leader, head south across the river and you’ll encounter some demons and bats scattered about; keep heading south and you’ll come to a chamber with some automatons which are basically free experience. There’s a passage in the south leading to an orb switch; send a fast unit like a flying undead to trigger it, which will open the eastern wall into a large central area.<br /> <br /> In the central area, triggering the touchplate in the southwest corner opens a small room in the center with two golems guarding a potion of strength (+2 melee attack, +8 HP for this scenario only) and the final touchplate which opens the way south. The northeast path is just a dead end with some weak enemies (though you could go kill them for the experience if you have the time) so send everyone down the southern passage. <br /> <br /> The passage leads into a huge chamber in the south filled with automatons. Moving further south in this chamber reveals the scenario’s boss, Goliath, who appears along with a few level 1 automatons. Goliath has a lot of HP and good resistances but is extremely weak in offense, so just slow him and attack with powerful units like Mal Keshar and he will be destroyed in no time.<br /> <br /> In the far southeast, down the watery passage, there is a secret touchplate at 40,26 which opens a passage to the Void Armor, which is located in the lit hex at 31,24. The armor sets physical resistances to 50% blade/50% pierce/40% impact (EDIT: Changed Void Armor stats to provide +15/15/20/10% resistance to blade, pierce, impact, and fire damage; as opposed to the previous replacement of blade/pierce/impact with 50/50/60% and increase of fire by 10%) and is a great item for Galas (it can be used by elvish fighters, rangers, skeletons, skeleton riders and their advancements) - start sending whichever unit you want to take it southeast ASAP if you want to make it in time.<br /> <br /> ===S8 (An Errand of Hope)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (3 in total).<br /> <br /> You will get another opportunity to recruit later, when you are much closer to the main battle, so you may want to save some gold until then and try not to go negative on income. The first enemy you’ll be facing is some trolls directly to the northwest. Wraiths, spectres and Mal Keshar are especially effective against them. Near the troll’s keep you’ll find a Poisonous Bow (can be used by elvish archers, skeleton archers, elvish heroes, revenants and their advancements) which adds an 11-3 ranged poison attack.<br /> <br /> Head northwest across the river (don’t bother exploring southwest of the river; there’s nothing there) and you’ll come across a large central area – entering it will clear the fog in the area and reveal an ongoing battle between the chaos empire and some allied dwarves. There’s also a second dwarf leader far in the northwest (he has a few villages, so you can send a bat up that way to steal them), and another chaos empire leader all the way in the northeast corner.<br /> <br /> Use the large keep here to recruit/recall some reinforcements, and split up your forces between the western front and the northeastern front. You’ll need more firepower in the northeast, since there are quite a few high level enemies there and the dwarves will concentrate their forces in the west. It helps to have Galas use Althurin’s keep to constantly reinforce (you should have a pretty high income) and just defend the northeast passage until the high level enemies are gone. (Don’t worry about keeping Althurin alive; he’ll just flee if he gets to 0 HP).<br /> <br /> The final enemy leader is all the way in the northeast corner; he’s a chaos lorekeeper so send your strongest melee units against him.<br /> By the way, there’s no point in sending a unit to the crypt south of the western leader (you’ll just get a message saying it’s empty).<br /> <br /> ===S9 (The Library)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Galas, Anlindë or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective: Defeat all enemy leaders (early finish bonus).<br /> *Note: The exit is marked by a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south (its exact location is random). You'll need the exit key to pass through, which is dropped by a random enemy leader.<br /> <br /> Don’t recruit too heavily at the beginning, since you’ll get another opportunity to recruit about halfway through the scenario. You’ll probably have to do quite a bit of fighting before then though, so some durable units will be helpful. Ghosts/wraiths/spectres are especially good in this scenario due to the lack of chaos invokers and fire demons. Head west (the passage south of your starting keep just leads to an empty dead end) and after fighting through a couple level 2 undead you’ll come to an intersection.<br /> <br /> The northwest path leads to a dead end with a ruined house; when you send a living nonbat unit there to investigate you’ll discover Igor, a loyal wolf rider. He is automatically recalled in all later scenarios and even has his own dialogue, so it's highly recommended to keep him alive. EDIT: If you keep Igor alive until the end of the campaign, not only do you get an achievement, but he will be with you at the start of the follow up campaign in After the Storm! Meanwhile in the south, the combined forces of the 3 enemy leaders will begin to arrive. The easiest way to fight them is to just defend in the bottleneck until the massive army is mostly gone; it will take quite a while but the rest of the scenario will go much quicker after the main enemy army is gone.<br /> <br /> When you get past the bottleneck you’ll come to a large keep where you can recruit some reinforcements, and the path splits into a western and eastern one. There are two enemy leaders in the west and one in the south, so one possibility is to split into two groups and have one group take out the two western leaders one after another (there’s a banebow leader in the northwest and a draug leader in the southwest), while another group circles east and then south to take care of the southern lich leader (bring some arcane damage).<br /> <br /> The purple glyphs scattered around reveal various pieces of backstory. There is also a turquoise glyph somewhere in the south which marks the exit. You’ll need the exit key (dropped by a random enemy leader) to use the glyph. You might as well just defeat all enemy leaders for the experience and early finish bonus, as they don’t have much income and are pretty much on their own.<br /> <br /> ===S10 (The Source of Light)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then activate the six runes to open the central chamber.<br /> <br /> Note that this scenario takes place deep underground, where chaotic units get +30% damage instead of the usual +25%. In the beginning, make sure to send a vampire bat to grab the village in the far northeast corner of the map, across the chasm. The first objective is to defeat the enemy leader to the southwest. There are a lot of high level enemy units including skirmishers, so a safe way to play it is to form a solid vertical line along the 4-hex bottleneck (from 42,11 to 42,15) and defend there until the most threatening enemies are gone.<br /> <br /> Once the leader is defeated, you’ll have to activate the 6 glyphs scattered throughout the lower half of the map. Here are their approximate locations (going counterclockwise):<br /> *'''Northwest (across the river):''' A long twisty passage leads past some giant spiders to a glyph at the very end.<br /> *'''West:''' There’s a glyph behind a cuttlefish leader in the west of the watery area.<br /> *'''Southwest corner:''' There are a bunch of animated rocks and various undead here, and a glyph next to an enemy leader. Watch out, because several wraiths are lurking near the keep.<br /> *'''Center south:''' There’s a sealed chamber containing a glyph, which you have to open by finding a touchplate in the far south. There’s also a red Berserker Potion (not usable by: ghosts/bats/corpses, elvish shamans and their advancements, or hero units), which gives the berserk special to a unit’s melee attacks, +1 melee damage, +10% HP, and some extra resistance (+10% blade, +20% fire, +30% impact).<br /> *'''Southeast:''' There’s a lava filled cave full of fire spirits – dark adepts and their advancements are especially effective against them. In the far southeast there’s a fire guardian leader and a glyph next to the keep.<br /> *'''Northeast:''' You’ll encounter some undead and a chocobone leader (be sure to keep fragile units out of range of its charge attack). There’s a glyph guarded by vampire bats north of the undead keep, and a northeast passage leading to a green Potion of Drain (adds drain special, -5% HP, +10% arcane resistance, usable by non undead units).<br /> <br /> In order to explore efficiently it’s best to divide into several small groups (e.g. 4 groups, one for each corner). A very useful tip by skeptical_troll if you’d like to avoid a lot of fighting completely is to send a shadow/nightgaunt to activate the glyphs (though it’s not advised to do this in the southwest or northeast corner, since these glyphs are surrounded by enemies).<br /> <br /> Since there is no early finish bonus and you likely have very high income, you may want to take your time and make some extra gold for next scenario.<br /> <br /> ===S11 (Strike on Herthgar)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out until the end of turns, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: All enemy sides will get a small amount of gold on turns 6 and 14.<br /> <br /> This scenario is actually the final battle for Part I – the next two scenarios are more of an epilogue. This is one of the more difficult scenarios, so don’t worry too much about losing some veterans (another thing to note is that you will not be able to take more than six undead veterans with you after this scenario.)<br /> <br /> Gold carryover is completely irrelevant (you won’t be able to use more than the minimum gold next scenario) so one approach is to just recall every single veteran you can afford. It can be helpful to create walking corpses with your necromancers to act as a distraction. Also, be sure not to let your spectres/nightgaunts etc. get within range of multiple chaos invokers and demons, or they will die fast.<br /> <br /> Here is one strategy for defeating all enemy leaders:<br /> #Send a large force northwest to wipe out the two northwestern enemies while a smaller force heads south to defend the dwarven castle. (The eastern front and southern front do not require immediate attention because the dwarves will delay the enemies for several turns.) Form a line and let them come to you; prowlers with their slowing ability and necromancers with their high HP and arcane resistance (there are lots of chaos invokers around) are especially good at holding the line.<br /> #Once the two northwest enemies are defeated, split the large northern force, with one part going to deal with the eastern enemies, and the rest going south to reinforce the castle.<br /> #Defend in the castle using the bridge chokepoints (just watch out for demon zephyrs which can fly over the deep water moat) until most of the southern enemies are gone. The southern force can then split into two groups and take out the two remaining southern leaders.<br /> <br /> ===S12 (The Escape)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the northern exit with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: You may only recruit/recall during the first turn (6 units total), and any undead veterans you do not recall this scenario will be permanently lost (dark adepts/sorcerers/necromancers and bats do not count).<br /> <br /> This is a relatively easy scenario, but there are some triggered events including a large ambush near the end so don’t send your units too far ahead by themselves.<br /> <br /> There are four minor enemies you’ll be facing this scenario:<br /> <br /> #After crossing the river at the beginning you’ll come across a chamber with the chaos empire fighting some trolls; both are very weak and shouldn’t be a problem.<br /> #After crossing another bridge and heading north you’ll encounter a mechanical Goliath along with some automatons; he is also extremely weak.<br /> #You’ll then come across a tunnel leading into a large empty chamber. Do not send a unit all the way into the chamber because there’s an ambush; instead move a scouting unit slowly toward the chamber until you trigger the ambush, then pull it back using its remaining movement. After that the ambush shouldn’t be hard to deal with – the most threatening enemy is the hellhound with 10-4 melee berserk, but a single spectre can easily take care of it.<br /> #Finally, after heading north you’ll come across some imps. One thing to watch out for is that when you kill the leader imp, he will dissolve into a bunch of mudcrawlers. After that the exit is straight to the north.<br /> <br /> ===S13 (Face Your Fate)===<br /> *Objectives: Hold out to the end of turns; then accept the inevitable.<br /> <br /> This is mostly a cutscene scenario.<br /> Holding out until the end of turns should be trivial with your extremely high starting gold. If you didn’t manage to recall some of your undead veterans last scenario, you can recall them now. A few turns after the initial turn limit, the Chaos Warlord will appear in the southwest and the objectives will change to defeating her. However, it is impossible (if you reduce her HP to 0 she’ll just heal back to full and instantly kill all your undead units), and the only way to end the scenario is to let your leader die.<br /> <br /> ==Part II: Armageddon==<br /> <br /> ===S14 (Clearing the Road)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat both enemy leaders.<br /> This should be a very easy scenario, especially if you’re continuing from a Part I save, so it’s a good opportunity to get some easy XP for fresh recruits. The barrel contains 6 explosive arrows (does 80% of the base damage to the unit immediately behind the target).<br /> <br /> The two enemies you’ll be facing are saurians and water serpents from the northwest and orcs from the northeast. The northeast orc keep is surrounded by deep water to the south, forcing the orcs to go all the way around to the west and then south, giving you several turns to focus on the saurian army before they arrive. Most of your forces should head northwest since the main battle will take place there (for the east you can just send a bat to village grab). If you keep your elves in the forests you should have no problem dealing with the saurians and then the orcs.<br /> <br /> ===S15 (Shadows of Time)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders. (You actually do not need to kill the ancient lich leader – once you reduce him to half health he will flee.)<br /> You’ll be fighting a lot of undead so arcane (sorceresses, dark adepts, etc.) and fire damage (sprites) will be very useful. Your orcish allies will mostly go up the northeastern side of the map and delay the undead coming from that direction, so the main battle will likely take place on two fronts: fighting the undead from the west, and the orcs in the center.<br /> <br /> The first threat you’ll face is the group of four Forefathers coming at you from the west; stay back and let them get close, and then finish them off with heavy arcane hitters like Elynia and Mal Keshar. After that you can split your army in two, with one group holding off the undead in the western forest, and another (probably larger) group dealing with the incoming flood of orcs (and later undead from the north) in the center.<br /> <br /> ===S16 (Dawn of War)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the southern edge of the map with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> **Optional objective (early finish bonus): Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Note: after this scenario, you won't be able to recruit elves or dark adepts, and all elven veterans not recalled in this scenario are permanently lost.<br /> <br /> Recalling advice:<br /> *If you continued from Part I you’ll likely have much more veterans than you can recall; however there’s no need to get obsessed about bringing every single veteran with you because there is very little gold in later scenarios, so you won’t be able to use them all anyway.<br /> *Elves: It’s highly recommended to get at least two healers because you will not be able to get any more healers later! After that, probably the most useful elven units are enchantresses and prowlers since they can slow.<br /> *Spectres are great in later levels (arcane damage + mobility); I’d recommend recalling every one you have. Necromancers and nightgaunts will also be very useful.<br /> *I would not recommend recalling any sprites, since they are lawful and the next scenarios all feature perpetual night.<br /> <br /> Your two allies will do a pretty good job distracting the two outer enemies, so the main battle will take place in the center. If you began the battle portion of the scenario on turn 4, you should have a turn of daylight (First Afternoon) to strike hard and fast at the central enemies with all your veterans. If you continue to make as many kills as possible during dusk there shouldn’t be many enemies left at all to threaten you during the night. Once you deal with the units from the two central enemies the rest of the battle should be easy, as the two outer enemies should be weakened from fighting your allies. It's recommended to kill all the enemy leaders for the extra gold and experience.<br /> <br /> ===S17 (Voice of the Armageddon)===<br /> *Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> You will face two enemy leaders: a relatively weak enemy in the center, and a very powerful enemy far to the south. You’ll probably want to recruit a few expendable units such as ghosts or vampire bats to distract the powerful enemy units from your veterans. The central enemy shouldn’t be too much of a problem: blast them with your veterans and then put a couple expendable units in front to screen them.<br /> <br /> Once you scout far enough south, you’ll trigger the southern leader to start recruiting and a boss Armageddon Imp will appear and start heading for you. It’s probably best to wait near the central keep and let the imps come to you so you don’t get in range of the enemies stationed in the southern fort. Once they arrive, illuminate and slow the boss and then zap him with your magical ranged units. Next you’ll have to deal with the army of soulless and necrophages coming from the south; once again an effective tactic is to blast away with your veterans from the back and then insert some expendable units in the front.<br /> <br /> Be careful when approaching the fort because the powerful units stationed there will come out and attack; use ctrl + v to make sure no one is too exposed, and try to lure them out one by one. The ancient lich leader can be lured out onto 40% defense terrain by placing a walking corpse in his range. Don’t bother about setting up the kill on the leader because he will just run away, denying you the killing XP.<br /> <br /> ===S18 (Ashes of Wesmere)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the enemy leader, and then move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar to the cave in the southeast.<br /> <br /> The more spectres you have the easier this scenario will be; I recommend recalling all your spectres and wraiths. Since there aren’t any villages you’ll surely start next scenario with minimum gold anyway, so there’s no point in worrying about upkeep or saving gold (EDIT: I was able to complete this scenario on hard with 1 keep worth of recalled units if you want some gold carryover). The main enemies you’ll be facing are drones, which do impact damage and are weak to arcane. Advance very cautiously at first because there will be several level 2 drones lurking around. They’re extremely nasty in ranged, so spectres are ideal for taking them out.<br /> <br /> Once you start heading south, you’ll face a horde of level 1 drones from all directions. Just keep killing them every turn with spectres and wraiths, focusing on one group at a time, and eventually they’ll run out. Be careful of putting Mal Keshar in range of a lot of drones because they’ll chain attack him and he’s weak to impact.<br /> <br /> After that it should be easy to kill the enemy leader, who has a pretty pathetic army. When you head southeast to the cave, keep a tight formation and don’t expose heavily wounded units because there are several invisible skirmishing and backstabbing shadow minions around.<br /> Since there’s no early finish bonus, you can use any leftover turns to go around killing the other enemies scattered around the map for the XP.<br /> <br /> ===S19 (Under the Sands)===<br /> *Objective: Reach the exit in the south with Elynia or Mal Keshar<br /> <br /> This scenario has a lot of rough terrain and chasms, so ghostly undead (spectres, nightgaunts) will be extremely useful. Also, the blue matrix flow systems have 0% defense and can be drained, so they can be used as free full heals for your spectres.<br /> <br /> When heading out of the initial chamber, be very cautious and keep a completely tight formation because there are several shadow minions (which are invisible and can skirmish and backstab) lurking nearby. This scenario is full of these shadow minions, so be very cautious when advancing.<br /> <br /> Make your way southeast to kill the drone leader, then west where the chaos empire army should be arriving. They shouldn’t be much trouble (just make sure to kill the invokers before they can get at your ghosts). You’ll arrive in a large central chamber full of various enemies. Send some units towards the hive in the southwest of the chamber and you’ll spot a matrix core in the far west; each core you destroy will reduce the gold of certain enemy sides in the next scenario by a bit (there are 5 cores total). Next scenario is difficult, so it's worthwhile to destroy as many cores as possible.<br /> <br /> Head south across the lava chasm (it will probably take a while, due to being assaulted by enemy spawns from all directions) and you’ll come across the chaos empire leader to the left and a dead end with a second matrix core on the right. Once you defeat the leader head south towards a swampy area.<br /> <br /> Past the swamp is a fork: the southern fork doesn’t have enemies and leads straight to the exit. The eastern fork leads into a large hive, where the remaining 3 matrix cores are. One of the cores is near the entrance. The remaining 2 cores are extremely deep into the hive so getting at them may be more trouble than it’s worth, though you can get some good XP out of fighting your way through to them. Note that you won’t be able to leave until Elynia or Mal Keshar are outside the hive, so make sure you have enough turns left before exploring (but if you kill the innermost core, a shortcut will open up, so you don’t have to backtrack all the way).<br /> <br /> ===S20 (The Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Move Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar inside the fortress, or defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **Another enemy leader will appear in the north on Turn 2. Also, every so often starting from Turn 3, a large group of enemies (mostly demon zephyrs) will appear in the chasm surrounding the fortress.<br /> **After the initial turns of daylight the scenario becomes perpetually night.<br /> **You have control over the allied dwarves this time. They leave after this so they’re completely expendable.<br /> <br /> This is somewhat of a finale for Part II of IftU. <br /> Since you don’t have so much time, trying to defeat every leader is probably more trouble than it’s worth, especially on Hard. My strategy was to completely ignore the northern leader and rush my entire army southwest, killing as many units as possible during the day before the scenario turned into perpetual night. After that I fought my way over the bridge into the fortress (having spectres and nightgaunts fly over the chasm is essential in breaking the bridge bottleneck), sending the less valuable veterans in first. Meanwhile some units went to deal with the northern army which was attacking from behind.<br /> <br /> The dwarves really did not do much; I mostly had them camped in the 3 village cluster just northwest of the fortress the entire time, where they lured out and killed any demon zephyrs which spawned in the west.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *After this you’ll only be able to use 8 of your veterans for the rest of the campaign. So choose your 8 favorite veterans and go crazy with the rest!<br /> *There are a ton of enemies on this map, and a lot of nasty flying ones which can reach your units from quite far away. Use ctrl + v constantly to avoid surprises.<br /> *Two nightgaunts backstabbing from opposite sides of a sentry tower will automatically kill it from full health.<br /> *Having some expendable units will be very helpful; if you’re short on cash, you can use your necromancers’ plague staff to make free corpses.<br /> *Don’t worry about gold carryover; you can’t use more than the minimum next scenario anyway.<br /> <br /> ===S21 (Innuendo)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit in the north with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Notes:<br /> **From now on it is ''highly'' recommended to restart anytime any unit dies, because these are the only veterans you'll have for the rest of the campaign and the remaining scenarios are very difficult.<br /> **It is essential to pick up the chest of gold in the southwest, which will be needed several scenarios later for the final battle.<br /> <br /> Recruits: You may only bring 8 veterans with you for the rest of the campaign. Future scenarios will be underground / deep underground so undead are especially useful. It’s also recommended to bring 2 shydes for healing, at least one necromancer for making free fodder corpses, and some flying undead (spectres/nightgaunts) since there will be a lot of unwalkable chasms. (I used 2 shydes, 2 necromancers, 1 lich, 2 spectres and 1 nightgaunt and it worked really well.)<br /> <br /> Get ready for an absolutely massive dungeon crawl! You’ll face several waves of enemies in this scenario:<br /> <br /> '''The beginning:''' Some Chaos Empire units will come at you immediately, so just form a solid line in the passage and let them come. After that the path splits north to a dead end with a Potion of Deftness giving +1 movement and +1 ranged damage (living units only), and a southwestern passage leading to a large chamber full of powerful enemies. You can safely destroy them by forming a line in the 3-hex passage and slowly picking them off until they’re gone. (Try to turn some of them into corpses, which can be used as bait for powerful enemies later).<br /> <br /> '''The large chamber in the south:''' There are two paths north (both lead to the same place) with some enemies guarding them. In the southwest corner there’s a room with a Potion of Strength (+1 melee, +8 HP, a great item for Galas), an Accuracy Bow (for archer units only, such as Erathan), and a chest of gold. There is an enemy leader in the northwest, and moving to the gem behind him will open one of the gates in the northeast.<br /> <br /> '''The northern chamber of undead:''' You’ll need to find the gem which opens the gate in the far north, where there is an ancient lich leader. Be sure to stay out of his range (he has 7 movement!) until you wipe out most of his army. Also be careful of the two wraiths right behind the leader. If you made any walking corpses earlier, you can use them as bait to safely lure out the ancient lich leader. The gem on his keep opens the gate in the east.<br /> <br /> '''The imp boss''': Past the eastern gate, you’ll come to a long passage east with some enemies. Once you advance far enough, you’ll discover a large chamber with a nasty imp boss and some other enemies. It’s best to fight them in the 3-hex bottleneck, and try to have Elynia illuminate and slow the boss.<br /> <br /> '''The dungeon:''' The area northwest of the chamber where the imp was leads to the exit, but it’s blocked by a gate so you’ll have to go east to the dungeons first. You'll find a (useless) troll soulless and a merman soulless which will join you, as well as a hostile drake soulless. In the southeast, there’s an unwalkable chasm with some enemies on the other side; if you send some flying undead exploring there they can trigger a touchplate which opens a passage for regular units to enter. There is a Glacial Gladius there which gives a slowing cold melee attack (usable by elves other than shamans+advancements, and by Erathan.)<br /> <br /> The goal is the northeast hive area, where there’s an amulet (+10% arcane resistance, changes ranged damage type to arcane) which is good for units like shydes so they’ll take less damage when slowing later bosses. The south of the hive contains a cage with Ledinor, the elvish lord from the beginning. Freeing him and the other three soulless will open the gate in the northwest where there are a ton of high level enemies and a drone boss.<br /> <br /> '''The exit (finally!):''' For the horde of high level enemies coming from the exit, it’s safest to retreat to one of the 3-hex passages leading to the dungeons and just pick them off slowly. When approaching the exit, be careful since the chasms on either side contain drones.<br /> <br /> ===S22 A (Face of the Enemy)===<br /> *Objectives: Explore the area, then defeat the Chaos Warlord, then flee to the southeast with Galas, Elynia or Mal Keshar.<br /> Head southeast past some drone hives – the drones will constantly respawn from the hives, though they won’t chase you if no units are in range. Continue heading east across the cave area. There’s a gate in the north which just leads to a dead end, and a couple doors in the southeast which lead to a corridor of enemies. The safe way to deal with them is to camp in the 2-hex bottleneck. Also, watch out for the berserking hellhound hiding in the back. The northeastern water area just leads to a glyph with some backstory about the drones.<br /> <br /> Past the corridor of enemies is another gate; once you open it all your units will be teleported into the chamber beyond, where you’ll be surrounded by powerful enemies. Try to focus on killing a few at a time while staying out of range of the others. A few turns later the Chaos Warlord will show up in the keep in the west. She’ll recruit some units, so retreat and deal with her army before taking her on.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat her she’ll heal back to full so you’ll have to run away by having Mal Keshar destroy the exit gate to the southeast. Fortunately Elynia will cast a spell on her so she’ll only have 1 movement until you open the gate, at which point she regains all her movement (so make sure your units aren’t in her range at that time). The Warlord will just stay in her keep and recruit and not chase you, so it should be easy to get away. The southeast area just has some drones in the south and a giant spider; move a leader to the southern border of the map to proceed to the next part.<br /> <br /> ===S22 B (Dark Hive)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Warlord (you will have to fight her several times.)<br /> This is an extremely difficult scenario. There are hordes of constantly respawning drones, several difficult boss fights and you must also keep as many veterans as possible alive for later scenarios.<br /> <br /> Some tips:<br /> *In general due to the respawning drones it’s best to stick together in a single group, move forward quickly, and not send units off exploring side passages or they may end up trapped – the only things to find anyway are two glyphs with some backstory. *EDIT: There is a '''Ring of the Revenant''' to the southwest below the southern river that provides an extra life for a living unit. It is guarded by a few drones and under a glyph tile with additional backstory in a coffin. I gave it to one of my Shydes flying around with my Spectres exploring the area.<br /> *A useful (but cheap) tactic is to deliberately leave units (especially Elynia/Mal Keshar) a few XP from leveling so when they attack the boss they’ll automatically heal to full.<br /> *Always make sure to lure off and get rid of as many surrounding drones as possible before confronting the Chaos Warlord, because her leadership combined with the drones is deadly. <br /> There are three sections, each ending with a fight against the Chaos Warlord:<br /> <br /> '''Part I'''<br /> <br /> In the beginning, the path branches south and east; both eventually lead to the same place in the southeast but the eastern path has better terrain so is probably the easier one. Eventually you’ll come to a larger area with a chaos magus to the south; the way forward is a couple doors south of the chaos magus past some ants. Once you open the doors you’ll meet Elyssa again; she’s surrounded by a ton of drones and will recruit more so just camp in the 2-hex passage until all the drones are gone. Meanwhile you’ll have to move Elynia and Mal Keshar next to each other and protect them for a few turns (move them off the front lines before doing this, because they won’t be able to move or attack).<br /> <br /> Once Elynia and Mal Keshar have summoned the Union and all the nearby drones are gone, lure Elyssa out onto 40% defense by putting a unit in her range. She’ll absorb all non-Union damage, but you can still slow her so try to always slow her before using the Union. Note that the Union uses up both Elynia and Mal Keshar’s moves and attacks, though you can still slow with Elynia and then Union with Mal Keshar. Once Elyssa’s at 60% health she’ll run away.<br /> <br /> '''Part 2'''<br /> <br /> The way forward is the two gates in the southwest, which lead down some narrow passages into an area full of demon zephyrs and drones. You can form a line just outside the narrow passages (don’t use the 1-hex bottlenecks or it will take too long) and let them come. Also, try to avoid sending your flying undead onto the starry chasms because it has a small chance of killing them.<br /> <br /> Continuing southwest, you’ll come to a rocky area surrounded by chasms - there are a bunch of drones across the chasms so try to lure them off a couple at a time. Elyssa’s in a keep to the south - lure her out and repeat the slowing + Union tactic (she still absorbs non Union damage). This time she’ll flee at 40% HP.<br /> <br /> '''Part 3'''<br /> <br /> Continuing east, a bunch of zephyrs and drones will come at you across the eastern chasm; form a line and lure them onto land so you can easily get rid of them. Then the path splits south and east - both lead to the same area in the southeast, where Elyssa is waiting with a bunch of drones. As usual try to lure off as many drones as possible before luring Elyssa out.<br /> <br /> She is more powerful this time, but fortunately she now takes full damage from non Union attacks! However, make sure to finish her with the Union; otherwise she’ll just regenerate HP instead of dying.<br /> <br /> ===S23 A (Into the Lair)===<br /> *Objectives: Find the entrance to the Chaos Emperor’s lair.<br /> <br /> In the beginning, just follow the path southwest past a few demon zephyrs and guards. Past the gate in the southwest there are a couple enemy leaders; just camp in the 3-hex passage until both their armies are gone. There’s a gate in the south which leads to the exit, but you’ll have to find the glyph to open it first.<br /> <br /> A few turns after entering the indoor area, a bunch of cockatrices and drones will come flooding out of the west. It’s preferable to form a solid line against them, since getting petrified disrupts a unit’s ZOC. Cockatrices are weak to arcane so spectres are ideal for taking them out. Once they’re gone split up into two groups to explore the western cave passage and the north- there’s an enemy leader in each area. It’s best to send Elynia with one group and Mal Keshar with the other since the glyph to open the exit is in a random location and only Elynia or Mal Keshar can activate it.<br /> <br /> Once you open the exit gate, there will be another flood of cockatrices from the southeast. Past the exit gate there’s a very weak enemy leader and some assorted enemies scattered around. The path then splits three ways: south is an empty dead end, north is a dead end with some story glyphs, and east is the entrance to the lair.<br /> <br /> Seansy: I suggest if you have plenty of turns remaining once you reach the exit to feed more experience to your units to get them as close as possible to an AMLA since the next scenario is the final boss fight and there is no early finish bonus. I had the Stealth ability on Galas so I could theoretically leave him alone next to the exit in stealth until the last turn, but you can also split up your units into two teams and have 1 stay by the entrance to farm the spawning drones and have another backtrack to kill spawning drones in another area.<br /> <br /> ===S23 B (Until Death)===<br /> *Objectives: Defeat the Chaos Emperor.<br /> *Note: The blue glyphs scattered around the map heal a unit to full.<br /> This is effectively the final battle; the next scenario is easy and more of a playable cutscene (however, any surviving veterans do carry over to next scenario – you won’t need many but the more the better.) This is probably the most difficult scenario in the entire campaign so hopefully almost all of your veterans are still alive and you got the extra gold from S21.<br /> <br /> You’ll start close to two enemy leaders, and it’s possible (recommended, even) to take them both out on turn 1. The southern leader should be easy; make sure to leave Galas available to take his keep and begin to recruit undead immediately. For the northern shadow courier if you put Mal Keshar next to him and Elynia next to Mal Keshar, two of Mal Keshar’s Union hits will take him down (a 78% chance to kill – it’s slightly risky though, since there are likely some level 2 drones lurking around and Mal Keshar will take a lot of retaliation if he doesn’t kill the shadow courier.)<br /> <br /> Try to recruit as much as possible with Galas on turns 1-3. At the start of turn 4, the Emperor will possess Mal Keshar (meaning you can’t recruit undead anymore) and Erathan (or Galas, if you don’t have Erathan). You’ll then have to use Elynia to kill Mal Keshar (you can make this part easier by making sure Mal Keshar is close to your units and on 40% defense on turn 4.) The Emperor can recall your unused undead veterans while he’s controlling Mal Keshar, so try to finish Mal Keshar off immediately.<br /> <br /> Once you kill Mal Keshar, the Emperor will get a new Union attack and Elynia will also get a powered up (35-4) Union attack when next to him. Elynia’s Union is the only attack which does full damage to the Emperor; all other attacks will do just a few HP of damage (also, non-Union attacks will sometimes cause him to become unslowed so be careful). Lure the Emperor out onto 40% defense, slow him, and then Union with Elynia. You’ll probably need about 3 turns (2 if you’re lucky) of Elynia using the Union. Hopefully Elynia doesn’t get hit too much; if she does you could try ZOCing the boss with cannon fodder while Elynia gets healed or moves to a healing glyph.<br /> <br /> Once you defeat him Mal Keshar will return and you can recruit undead again (although he is extremely fragile now so it’s essential to keep him away from the Emperor), and the Emperor will transform into his final form. This form has much more HP and a stronger ranged attack (hopefully at least one slower is still alive!) but fortunately can now be fully damaged by regular attacks. Elynia’s Union also gets a major powerup, so his HP should go down very quickly. He sometimes spawns drones when hit; you may want to move your own units next to him before attacking so that the drones don’t block the hexes next to him. Make sure to have Elynia finish him off with the Union, or else he’ll regenerate a ton of HP.<br /> <br /> ===S23 C (Broken Heart)===<br /> *Objectives: Reach the exit with Elynia, Galas or Mal Keshar.<br /> *Note: This is the last scenario.<br /> This scenario should be pretty easy, even with very few surviving veterans. Head northeast past some demon zephyrs to the first checkpoint; your units will all enter a new lava area. Around this time Ledinor will begin having some ominous dialogue, and several turns later he’ll suddenly transform into a shadow courier, and 3 shadow minions will appear around him. You can either kill him, or just leave him behind.<br /> <br /> After heading east across the doors past the second checkpoint, the path will turn north. Once you approach the third checkpoint, several high level undead will appear in the 3-hex keep just north of the checkpoint. Once you’ve dealt with them, it’s a pretty uneventful trip northwest toward the exit.<br /> <br /> [[Category: User-made Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=Dead_Water&diff=74462 2025-07-31T01:16:38Z

<p>BBeryllium: </p> <hr /> <div>'''Note:''' This walkthrough started with comments taken from the source data files for this campaign, which were based on Normal difficulty. Thus, scenario-specific notes which do not specifically mention a difficulty level are either of a general nature or should be assumed to refer to Normal.<br /> <br /> ==Campaign Strategy==<br /> <br /> ====Recruitment and promotion====<br /> You have piercing-attack Mermen to fight pierce-resistant Undead. What to do? <br /> <br /> Fortunately, for this campaign you are given access to a special impact-focused unit: the '''Merman Brawler''', which is an advancement of Merman Citizen, the peasants of the Mermen. Spamming Citizens and promoting them to Brawler is one way to play the campaign; and Brawlers backed by leadership can be especially deadly. The Brawlers have a very interesting tail attacks with the ''stun'' effect: A unit hit by this attack loses its Zone-of-Control for the rest of the your turn. With the Undead's low impact resistance, this can allow for skirmishing attacks against an unsuspecting, vulnerable enemy unit, traversal of &quot;roadblocks&quot;, or the positioning of units in better-defensible terrain. (Of course, moving behind the enemy line is dangerous, so don't go skirmishing irresponsibly.)<br /> <br /> Alternatively, or in addition to Brawlers, you could focus on the vanilla Merman units which have non-pierce attacks: The '''Netcaster''' and the '''Priestess''', and to a lesser extent, Enchantresses. <br /> <br /> Netcasters are not immediately recruitable - you have to recruit Hunters, whose damage type is Pierce... you'll have to carefully, but decisively, build up their experience: When they level, not only does their damage type change to Impact (both for ranged and melee), but they also gain the *Slow* effect when attacking from a range, which is incredibly useful: It balances out the day/night cycle advantage of the Undead (damage per attack drops by 50%), as well as their movement advantage on land over the fishy Mermen (50% movement point drop).<br /> <br /> A Priestes is useful already as its Level-1 precursor, the Merman Initiate, as its damage type is Impact to begin with - and it's magical, so it is more likely to hit even Undead on land. Unsurprisingly, though, Initiates are even more fragile than Hunters, limiting this usefulness. Many scenarios benefit from having at least multiple healer units (for two battle hot-spots, for longer lines and for healing each other), so you should also promote an Initiate or two (or three) to Priestess early on, to supplement your starting Priestess, Cylanna. She's worth &quot;investing&quot; experience in for promotion to Diviner (Level 3), as which she provides the illumination effect. You can often combine Leadership and Illumination by their higher-ups &quot;Inspecting the troops&quot; from behind the battle line: Some leader and a Diviner move in; front-line unit attacks; leader and diviner move to next unit.<br /> <br /> Fighters/Warriors and Spearmen are less useful in this campaign, but you will not always be fighting only Undead, so groom a few on your roster, &quot;just in case&quot;. Also, magic in various forms may change a unit's damage type, and these units stand to benefit the most for such changes.<br /> <br /> ====Other advice====<br /> <br /> * You begin the campaign with two Loyal units, and additional ones will join you along the way. Try and make sure they survive... you must hang together or you will likely all hang separately. Or have your body parts eaten by corpses separately.<br /> * Very often, the choice of a good strategy for a scenario depends on the immediately succeeding scenario, so if you're already reading this walkthrough - you may want to read one scenario ahead.<br /> <br /> ==Scenarios==<br /> <br /> === Invasion! ===<br /> * Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.<br /> * Turns: 30/28/26/26 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo and six citizens.<br /> <br /> This scenario is tricky. Mastering a winning strategy may take you a few attempts; but ultimately, it's not as hard as it looks.<br /> <br /> Your home castle - representing the Mermen city of Jotha - is in the middle of a bay - some sandy patches, some deeper and some shallow water, and quite a few villages. For this scenario, you have a single assailant coming in from the South-East edge of the map. But - it's not just the forces he commands: A key feature of this scenario is that when the Undead capture any village, Walking Corpses Soulless (on Easy / Challenging respectively) spawn. In light of this, you have two possible strategies, with which players have had success: <br /> <br /> # '''General Motors (mass production)'''. Your basic strategy should be to take and hold as many villages as possible, both to prevent the spawning and boost your income. If you don't let many villages fall into enemy hands, eventually your income and resulting troop churn-out will be overwhelming. First turn, recruit a mix of level 1's and Citizens. Send a couple level 1's south to capture and protect villages there and send the Citizens in all directions to snatch up villages. Concentrate on keeping Cylanna and Gwabbo safe; you can take tremendous losses of other units and still win. By day, swarm your Citizens around isolated enemy units, similar to Bats.<br /> # '''Blitzkrieg (leader assassination)'''. On the first turn, recruit only (or mostly) Level-1 units, and move them South-East, carefully. When you see an opening to go for the enemy leader, advance and kill him. The enemy will be focused on capturing villages in order to create an overwhelming number of Walking Corpses - so much so that you may be able to just walk in and kill their leader.<br /> <br /> You can also combine those two approaches somewhat, sending a semi-strong contingent South and then along the bottom of the board to the enemy leader, while most of the enemy's units are distracted up North.<br /> <br /> You can let the swimming Soulless/WC advance a bit towards your keep, so that your baby king can dart out to get an easy kill or two. As Gwabbo hints, you would be wise to get Krellis as much experience as possible this scenario; it will make the next scenario much easier. It's also much easier to defend when you're sitting on villages, like those around your keep.<br /> <br /> You should keep your Citizens and wounded safe from becoming Walking Corpses - which often means sitting them on villages, but you can think of other ways, like using the ZOC's of non-citizen units (the citizens are Level-0 and don't exert a ZOC) to protect them.<br /> <br /> Bat control is essential. Initiates are good against Bats. A key to success is understanding how the Bats work: Often, bats will forego capturing a village in favor of making an attack; thus, if a Bat is close to making a village capture, try distracting it with some Citizen bait.<br /> <br /> If you start losing villages, it may not be the end of the world. You can sacrifice the land villages, but hold the ones in the water, using a couple of Fighters/Hunters plus Citizens. Use Cylanna, Gwabbo, and a few Citizens to hold off the Skeletons and Soulless/WC Southeast of your keep until the village situation is under control. Remember to look for an easy path to the enemy leader, even if there are swarms of Walking Corpses elsewhere.<br /> <br /> Towards the end, your income probably will be quite large, so if the situation is under control, then it's better to milk XP than go for an early finish. You can swarm the enemy keep with Citizens and take your time to end it. Try to get Krellis to level 1, while also turning some of the Citizens into Brawlers.<br /> <br /> === Flight ===<br /> * Objective: Either<br /> ** Move Kai Krellis to the north-west corner of the map. He must be level 1 or higher.<br /> ** Defeat all enemy leaders (different bonus for each).<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.<br /> * Turns: 21/22/23/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Gwabbo (if he survived the previous scenario).<br /> <br /> Hopefully Kai Krellis is at least half leveled up already. Otherwise, this can be painful, as one of the victory conditions is that the Kai must be at least level 1.<br /> <br /> You must decide whether to attack east or southwest. To the east is the prospect of more experience, while to the southwest is an easier foe and less distance for Krellis to travel back to the signpost.<br /> <br /> ''Option 1'', east: Recruit a bunch of Citizens, Brawlers, and Initiates, and send them east with Krellis. Use Citizens to lure the Skeleton Archer types into the water. They are easy pickings there for other Citizens, Brawlers, and Krellis. One of those guys gets Krellis half way up to level one. A few Citizens should also survive to become Brawlers. Remember that you can often turn a near-dead Citizen into a healthy Brawler by going for a kill, especially with the leadership of Krellis if he is already at level 1. About the time you get Krellis leveled up, and you are thinking about retreating everyone else, the bats will arrive. On Difficult, this will be a nasty number of Blood Bats. Use Hunters and Initiates to clear a path back west. Send three or four expendable units with Krellis. Their job is only to serve as bat bait, distracting the bats from Krellis, so that he does not get ZOC-locked. Krellis runs for the corner, while the rest of the troops gain experience doing a fighting retreat from the skeletons and other bad guys arriving in the middle of the map. On the other hand, if you manage to kill the northeast leader, you can consider the alternative of heading south and then west, to kill the final two leaders for a total victory.<br /> <br /> ''Option 2'', southwest: Send Citizens east, while your best troops go southwest. After you advance to where you meet the enemy, you will start retreating almost as quickly, especially at night. Feed near-dead Blood Bats to Krellis for experience.<br /> <br /> Whichever option you choose, this is not the normal sort of scenario where you necessarily will slaughter all the enemy. It suffices to get enough experience for Krellis to level up and then have him run like hell for the signpost. Ignore gold for now. You don't need much on the next level.<br /> <br /> Killing all the enemy leaders will end the level, but that won't be easy. However, killing any enemy leader gives you a nice reward so you should consider defeating as many leaders as you can manage. Each one gives you a different bonus: defeating Mal-Kevek grants you a loyal Dread Bat, defeating Mel Daveth gives you a loyal Vampire Bat and a ''ring of strength'' (+1 to all attacks and +3 hitpoints) and defeating the Dead Knight gives you a loyal Bat Corpse and 120 gold. Even if the enemy armies outnumber you greatly, when you manage to assassinate a leader, all of his troops will go down with him.<br /> <br /> === Wolf Coast ===<br /> * Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.<br /> * Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.<br /> <br /> This is a fairly easy small level to give you a break - if you're careful. <br /> <br /> In this level you're only going to be facing wolves, of all kinds and sorts, and quite a few of them. The (single) enemy, Gashnok, is a Level 3 Direwolf Rider, and he has plenty of underlings. On medium difficulty he'll recruit between two and three castles of six units, mixed L1 and L2.<br /> <br /> You're following the coastline of the bay of Tirigaz (for some odd reason), so now you face North and land is to your East. The terrain, West to East, is mostly Deep Water -&gt; Shallow Water -&gt; Ford -&gt; Sand -&gt; various land tiles. So you like to fight in the West, and wolves like to fight in the East.<br /> <br /> Easy peasy, right? They're after some Merfolk flesh, so you just lure them west into the water, where they're vulnerable, and make short work of them during the day. Except... it's a bit more complicated than that:<br /> <br /> * Most of the villages are on land - and you do need them (see below).<br /> * Land-based units actually *like* fords - much better than sand. They'll get full movement speed and 40% instead of 30% defense. So you need to decide whether to fall back to the deep water - where you're really pressed to the edge and give up on villages - or try to maneuver so that you defend from the shallow-water-ford hexes, and form a line so that the wolves are stuck on the sand.<br /> * There's treasure in the East... a pond on the Eastern edge of the level has a Storm Trident sticking out into the air. And close to that pond, down South, you have a pair of Wild Wolves who will not wait until turn 2 to be active, like the enemy recruits.<br /> <br /> You should probably head north after recruiting about a castle-full (in addition to your loyal units). Try to lure some of the wolves towards you into the shallow water beyond the ford, but not all of them. If the wolves come in too big of a pack, you can split them up by sending Citizens (and a bat if you have one) off in another direction, not going too far but also being careful not to risk being overrun.<br /> <br /> You really should have a second Priestess here, or level a Mermaid Initiate up immediately, if you haven't already. Leveling Netcasters and perhaps another Priestess and/or an Enchantress is also possible. You'll want a bunch of both.<br /> <br /> When you can safely get to the Storm Trident pond (don't be too hasty), a fighter would be a wise choice of a bearer for it: They have high HP; this doesn't replace an existing (and invaluable) ranged attack for the unit; and you get to make &quot;piercer-only&quot; unit have another attack type which works well on the bony Undead. With the trident, your Fighter will level quickly; when you get him to Level 3, make him a Triton, not a Hoplite: He will be more of an offensive than a defensive unit, plus - Tritons choose between a Pierce and a Blade melee attack, and Skeletons are a bit less resistant to blades.<br /> <br /> Money is useful going into the next scenario, but it's hard to make a buck in this one... Scrounge every gold piece you can by starting with mostly level 1's (and 0's) and taking villages when you can manage it.<br /> <br /> What about the prospect of rushing the enemy leader? This could be possible in theory, coming up North through the safer Western edge while the wolves are none the wiser. However, the experience gained on this level may be important (if you haven't fought your way through enemy leaders in the previous scenario).<br /> <br /> '''scorchgeek''': I actually had great success with a leader-rush tactic. I recalled a Spearman and an Enchantress and sent them Southeast to kill the Wild Wolves, then recruited three citizens and also sent them in that direction. Then I recalled a couple more L2 units and sent them Northwest with the starting units to the very edge of the map. All of the wolves then charged South, whereupon I sacrificed the citizens (keeping them in the water to slow down the wolves) and sent the valuable units West, out of their reach. At this point I had three turns to sweep in and take out the leader before they could get back North (which occurs by turn 8), giving me a nice 285 gold to start the next scenario with. The only downsides were that I didn't get a chance to get the storm trident and that I had only 6 L2 and L3 units for the next scenario (but I did level nearly that many in the next scenario, as it was relatively easy with that amount of gold).<br /> <br /> '''nuorc''': I gave the trident to Krellis, although I had to be careful about the right timing so he didn't get chewed up. After that he had a ranged attack (unlike before), and he either killed enemies helping to level him, or he softened up the opponent helping to level my other units, both being great with the leadership ability.<br /> <br /> === Slavers ===<br /> * Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.<br /> * Turns: 30/28/26/24 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.<br /> <br /> You continue to travel North, with land to the east and safe, deep water to the west. Unlike the previous scenario, there isn't too much of that ford-like shelf near the shores - which works to your benefit. However, the terrain on land is mostly marshes and sandy shores - which is the ideal for your enemies here, the Saurians.<br /> <br /> There are 3 enemy leaders - South, Middle and North - all Level 3 Flankers (= the skirmishers among the Saurians). They're slavers, with a slave population of mixed races (more on that later) - and your presence certainly stirs up trouble. So, they just have to try and kill you, I guess... <br /> <br /> Three leaders, each recruiting more than two castle-fulls even on Medium, plus some starting guards, means about 40 units (on Medium), and with almost all of the terrain favorable to them, and the skirmishing - that's quite the infestation. The thing is, the individual units are all Skirmishers and Augurs (a mix of L1 and L2 - thus also Ambushers, Oracles and Soothsayers); they're relatively weak individually. But don't get tempted to start picking off one or two of them, since you'll promptly be overrun by the horde.<br /> <br /> There are a few resources at your disposal to make things easier:<br /> <br /> * A free loyal Brawler - an escaped slave finds you at the beginning of this scenario who briefs you about the situation. Specifically, he tells you about...<br /> * A potential slave revolt: Once during this level, you can rouse the slaves to revolt. This will cause each slaver village to emit 2-4 L0 and L1 units, Mermen and outlaw-Humans, who will proceed to try and murder their evil captors. That's a rather silly strategy for a slave revolt, and in fact you'll just be using them as bait and cannon fodder, but, well, Cylanna and Gwabbo did say you are now an established leader, and that's what politicians do.<br /> * 100 gold in a treasure chest in a shipwreck on a tiny island up north.<br /> <br /> With this in mind, let's get to it...<br /> <br /> Recruit/recall two castles (if you're short on gold) or three (if you can aford it), one of which should be all Level-2's. Hopefully that includes at least one more healer. Healers are ''essential'' in this scenario. Also, any units close to leveling are good recall choices. If you make it three castle-fulls, some citizens may be an economic choice: Saurians like to pick on them, and you won't regret their possible deaths that much.<br /> <br /> Send a quick Citizen (or a non-undead Bat, if you have one) North to explore the shipwreck and get the Gold, as well as to tag the villages along the way; send everyone else east... but be careful - you start at Dusk. Hang back a bit during the first watch of the first night: Don't try to grab as much territory as possible; instead, try to lure the Saurians into the water. <br /> <br /> As soon as the Saurians get within range of your troops, what you want to do is '''form a continuous line''', defending against skirmisher infiltration - not move individual units to supposed safety or to plan an attack. Your ZoC are useless and within a turn they'll separate whatever &quot;tank&quot; unit you think you have from the others and hammer into you from all sides. The Ctrl+V key, displaying potential enemy moves, is your best friend in this scenario; use it, use it, and use it some more.<br /> <br /> During daytime, be more aggressive in taking out the troops and getting to the Southern leader - but again, don't leave any units out and exposed, and try to maintain your line. At night, be conservative and forego attacks that would put your units at risk. As you're going further inland, note that forming a line on &quot;your&quot; side of a stream within the swamp puts the Saurians at a disadvantage: They will have to attack you from Shallow Water hexes, where their defense is only 40%, not the 60% you both have in a Swamp; so sometimes it's worth it forming a longer, somewhat winding line for that favorable terrain bonus. Also remember the Saurians surprising affinity for Sand.<br /> <br /> For triggering the slave revolt, a good time seems to be turn 7, after you've concluded two days of attacks.<br /> It's dusk then, and almost all Saurian forces are either upon you or very close - and the slaves will distract them from that night's counter-attack, being effective in that capacity for at least two turns as the slavers divert their efforts to quell the revolt. Plus, this will slow down the rest of the Saurians coming from the North. Still, if you find you find yourself in a rough patch earlier than turn 7, don't hesitate to trigger the revolt right then.<br /> <br /> There is a pair of prizes on this level, within cages near two of the slaver leaders' castles (South and North). They contains:<br /> <br /> * Keshan, a Drake Burner: He should be ''very'' useful over the course of your campaign<br /> * Siddry, a Human Poacher: He's not going to be much help here, and he won't come with you (so you can't recall him in future scenarios). If you keep him safely alive, he will come back eventually, in [[#The Flaming Sword|The Flaming Sword]] with some friends who are a big help taking villages in the beginning (and not much help thereafter).<br /> <br /> When it's safe, rescue the Drake Burner, and try to get him some experience - but don't bank on him too much, and be extra-careful he's not targeted; he has lots of HP, but very poor resistance. When he advances, perhaps in a later scenario, make him a Flare, for the leadership bonus - as you will often have large hordes of low-level troops and only one other leader, Krellis (who also has to recruit initially).<br /> <br /> After taking out the Southern leader and taking over the keep, and if you haven't recruited a third castle-full earlier - you could now recruit a few replacement units and some Citizens. As additional waves of the enemy arrive from up north, you may need to continue to maintain a disciplined line at a favorable location.<br /> <br /> After that it should be no problem wiping out the other two leaders: If you have survived this far, you have quite a few high-level units; and they've got nothing left beyond the ability to recruit about a unit per turn. Advance cautiously, while keeping an eye on the clock.<br /> <br /> Note: If you find you cannot beat the scenario, you may need to go back and replay the campaign to this point, concentrating on promoting units in each scenario and gathering more gold in the previous scenario.<br /> <br /> === Tirigaz ===<br /> * Objective: Destroy all the undead.<br /> * Bonus objective: Also kill Marg-Tonz (early finish bonus + 100 gold).<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.<br /> * Turns: 18/17/16/16 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.<br /> <br /> You've made it North across the bay of Tirigaz, and have arrived at a shipping harbor on its outskirts. The port-master is the tough, but fair, Marg-Tonz - an Orc Sovereign (Level 3); and several Orc Crossbowmen (on Medium) or Slurbows (on Hard) man fortified guard towers.<br /> <br /> ... but this is not what the level is about. You have been followed by a contigent of Mal-Ravanal's marine scouts, i.e. his more Ethereal minions: Ghosts, Wights, Shadows, Specters and Nightgaunts (the latter not on Medium) - a sizable pack. Luckily for you, they have no keep - it's just a intercept force. These are your proper enenmies here: The Orcs wont attack nor recruit as long as you stay out of their way.<br /> <br /> The Undread are actually pretty easy here, so long as you give the higher-level ones their due respect, and maintain your solid line.<br /> <br /> Don't go too negative on gold, but recruit three or four higher-level units. You want Priestesses/Diviners and Enchantresses/Sirens for their Arcane or Magical ranged attacks. A great unit here would be a melee-oriented one with a Storm Trident (a Triton would be particularly effective). Keshan, your newly-liberated Drake, can also help you - with fire attacks and being able to take some punishment. Do mind his limited mobility in Deep Water: You'll need to be careful not to block his path to actually making contact with the enemy; at the same time, don't leave him stranded. The Bats are less helpful than usual - weak during the day and vulnerable at night; don't over-expose them to danger.<br /> <br /> As the Undead make their initial advance, don't rush in - wait until daytime to go after them, as you have plenty of time. Watch their ranges and place your line accordingly (a vertical line should do nicely).<br /> <br /> When you've defeated the Undead you're presented with a choice: Be diplomatic and respectful, and just leave like you told their harbor-master you would; or you could be the ruthless Machiavellian leader and just slaughter him in a surprise attack and treat yourself to some of the port city's taxes (100 gold which he guards). <br /> <br /> If you decide to go after the Orc leader (seeing how the extra gold comes in very useful in the following scenario), wait until the Undead have been dispatched. Then Move north into the harbor, healing everyone, while possibly leaving one or two choice units to the South of his castle, which would be able to move into it within a single turn (e.g. Kashen). Don't touch the ships or piers though! Place your units with Magic/Arcane attacks between the piers, near the beach. Now, wait until it's daytime, then send in all those units. Use other units to keep the Slurbows busy (on Hard) or kill a couple of Crossbowmen (on Medium).<br /> <br /> On Medium you should definitely be able to kill Marg-Tonz on the turn of your initial attack. On Hard, it might take another turn, in which case he'll fill his castle with recruits. Make sure you manage kill him on your next turn or it's going to get rather painful.<br /> <br /> === Uncharted Islands ===<br /> * Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.<br /> * Turns: 25/24/23/22 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.<br /> <br /> Get some Citizens to capture villages and some more Citizens and level 1's to serve as cannon fodder to help soak up the awesome damage capability of the first wave of monsters. Then, recall your most powerful units. You need firepower. You also could really use the slow ability of Netcasters and Entanglers. Two healers are probably a minimum. Brawlers have no place here.<br /> <br /> Slide the first Citizens around the edges capturing villages. This is mostly to distract the enemy and disperse his units, weakening his first assault wave, which arrives at night. Don't worry about gold—you probably can't start the next scenario with more than the minimum.<br /> <br /> Keshan can handle the upper bottleneck section himself or with a small escort. He is good against the tentacles and even the cuttlefish, if he stays healed. If you lack Keshan, then an Entangler will suffice.<br /> <br /> Keep everyone else along the middle bottom, using terrain to your advantage. Use the bottom board edge to protect your rear until it is safe to advance. As always, keep an eye on time of day. Use your auras as much as possible: leadership and illuminate (Cylanna ''is'' a diviner by now, isn't she?) Use &quot;slows&quot; to keep all your units from dying. You will probably lose a couple leveled-up ones anyway.<br /> <br /> If you cannot win by a fair fight, you always have the option of leader assassination, sliding your assassination force along the north edge of the board, while the bulk of your force stays in the middle.<br /> <br /> When you finish off the enemy leader, he gives you a loyal Cuttle Fish. It is isn't terribly useful, but cool to have anyway. When the Cuttle Fish levels into a Kraken, he is quite a bit nicer to have.<br /> <br /> === BilHeld ===<br /> * Objective: Defeat the enemy leader.<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.<br /> * Turns: 24/22/20/20 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.<br /> <br /> This scenario should be rated &quot;R&quot; for massive violence! Both sides can do lots of damage to the other.<br /> <br /> In this scenario you've almost reached Cylanna's mentor Tyegea, but - there's an island of Drakes in your way, and they don't like you, or the Mermen priestesses. So like civilized non-Human beings they'll try to kill you and you'll try to kill them back, to get past their island.<br /> <br /> This is a good scenario for you to use any piercing units you may have. Hopefully you haven't been totally ignoring the Spearman and Figher lines. Even L1 units supported by leadership can do quite a bit of damage to drakes, so you can level a few here. If you are short on Gold, prefer piercers over Netcasters and Priestesses/Diviners (although a second healer does help.) On harder difficulty, do recruit more than one Diviner, as well as a Netcaster or two to slow down Enforcers or Arbiters (with their rather deadly First Strike).<br /> <br /> On Normal difficulty, and if you're not in a hurry, you can play it patiently and not recall/recruit anyone, aside from maybe a few level zero Citizens, for about four turns. The drakes will take a while getting to you, so just take some villages and let your income work. Don't worry too much about ''holding'' the villages; instead, when you feel ready, try to knock out the enemy leader as fast as possible for a good early finish bonus. On Hard, you can't afford to wait, as you'll face many more Drakes that way.<br /> <br /> Let the first wave of Drakes come to you. You'll have the advantage in the water — even against high-level units. They might kill some of your weaker units, but you will do far more damage to them, and level up some L1 units in the process. If you survive the first wave, you should be fine. You probably will have to do a little fighting on land towards the end. Just be careful about how many units can attack each of yours.<br /> <br /> When you get to the enemy castle, note that the Drake Leader can be lured out fairly easily by putting a melee only unit in his range.<br /> <br /> === Talking to Tyegea ===<br /> <br /> You've finally arrived at the island where Tyegea, the Diviner and Cylanna's mentor, lives with her Priestesses.<br /> <br /> There will be no fighting here. Essentially, Tyegea gives you an errand: Go find a flaming sword for her. She at least gives you the gift of some holy water, which will make the unit who takes it have arcane melee damage. Even with that she's pretty stingy - only one flask of holy water, so you'll need to choose carefully.<br /> <br /> Naturally, a unit with a good melee attack, which isn't already arcane (or another kind effective against the Undead) is the right choice - so have one of your leveled fighters (not the one with the Storm Trident) take the water. You should prefer, say, a Triton, rather than a Fighter you expect to promote, since without a special weapon, these units will not be very useful after the next scenario.<br /> <br /> === The Mage ===<br /> * Objective: Find Caladon the Mage.<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis or Cylanna die or turns run out.<br /> * Turns: 16/17/18/19 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all loyal units available.<br /> <br /> In this small, vertical, swampy level you need to locate a Mage who will tell you where to find the flaming sword, which you will later retrieve for Tyegea. Unfortunately, it is infested with Giant Scorpions and Bats, and there are a few other critters too.<br /> <br /> Note that you won't need to fight the Mage (although from his demeanor it seems like he might jump you...) - nor will you have any other objectives in this level later on. It is just about getting a single unit to Caladon's position: A white temple in the mid-Northern part of the level. This means you'll need two sub-forces: Scout(s) and Defense/diversion.<br /> <br /> '''Pest Control''': The Giant Scorpions have a smattering of low resistances and weaknesses to various damage types notably to impact attacks (-10%) and have decent HP - but they're also resistant to arcane and fire, and have no ranged attack. So the Storm Trident bearer, Entanglers/Netcasters, Priestesses/Diviners, Enchantress/Sirens will be useful. It's especially important to have a second healer in addition to Cylanna, since you're going to get poisoned a lot (Scorpions will go out of their way to poison any non-poisoned unit, leaving them open to heavy melee counter attacks). You only have a tiny fortress to recruit in - 2 recruits/recalls per turn - but if enough of your loyal units have survived, that shouldn't pose too much of a problem.<br /> <br /> Stay near your fortress initially - perhaps even to the West of it, in the water. You'll want to form a short line from the Western to the Southern edge of the level, as the Scorpions will swarm on you, and occasionally so will the Bats. The Bats have a more complex behavior: They spawn at night, rally to some point outside their cave (on the same turn), then attack, and finally return their cave for the day. Be careful not to expose wounded units, as while they're just L1 bats, they're very mobile.<br /> <br /> '''Scouts:''' If you have a Dread Bat, you're basically set. Hang around the edge of the water at the mid-level to avoid the Spiders, and once they've passed you by (probably turn 3 or so) you can move up into land. You might still be attacked on 3rd turn by a Spider or a Scorpion, but you'll survive. Thus you might well find the Mage to your North-East on turn 4. A Blood Bat / Undead Bat is more of a gamble and may not be enough - although you could give it a backup unit, making its advance slower.<br /> <br /> Alternatively, Keshan can probably make it. He will be hassled by multiple units, and will be much slower (or you'll need to have him take the Eastern edge of the map, so that he can move on land) - but he'll defend himself pretty well, has HP to spare and can theoretically even rest and cure poison in a village a couple of times. Keshan + a bat would be an even more effective combination.<br /> <br /> If you have no good scout, your timing will be very tight (on Hard and Nightmare), and your defensive force should become more offensive, with some more recruits, so that you kill enough creepy crawlers to get some units up North which won't be chased.<br /> <br /> === The Flaming Sword ===<br /> * Objective: Pry the flaming sword from the dead hands of its owner.<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis, Cylanna or Caladon die or turns run out.<br /> * Turns: 30/28/28/28 (easy/normal/hard/nightmare).<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, Caladon, all loyal units available plus one non–loyal merman from your recall list.<br /> <br /> This is one of those scenarios where there are a lot of villages, so you will want to start with some level 0 units (e.g., Mermen Citizens), but don't expect them to last long. If you have a large stable of Brawlers, you can start treating them suicidally much like Citizens, as this is just before the last scenario. Finally, you'll want to recall a relatively experienced Spearman, Javelineer or Warrior, which does not already have a magical weapon, to eventually carry the flaming sword; although you could recall one later on in the scenario, or just give it to some Netcaster/Entangler.<br /> <br /> When you get near the ruined castle closest to your initial keep (the one to your North-East), a local Outlaw will appear and let you recruit Outlaw units (for this scenario only). Furthermore, if you helped Siddry (the Poacher trapped in a cage in [[#Slavers|Slavers]]) escape alive, he will show up here with a group of loyal units to help you (on Normal: A Footpad, a Poacher and two Thugs). They won't come along with you after this scenario, despite their loyalty, so don't get too attached to them.<br /> <br /> After you advance to the three adjacent villages in the center, you'll want to retreat just as fast, or at least enter a careful defensive formation - as night will be coming, as well as a nasty wave of high-level Undead. If you only see a couple of ghosts emerging out of the fog, don't be fooled: They are closely followed by Spectres, Wraiths, Banebows, Deathblades etc. - who are just a bit slower. You may wish to send a few weak units to the North-West, backed by a stronger unit with an arcane ranged attack, like an Siren. This will tend to draw some undead that way, making it easier to deal with the ones in the middle.<br /> <br /> Towards the end - try to maximize your gold. You will need some for the last scenario.<br /> <br /> When you defeat the Lich to try to get the sword, but as soon as the Lich drops it, Caladon teleports in and picks it up. Now, you need to defeat Caladon to get the sword. He grants you time to leave, which is actually a turn to remove any very damaged units from the vicinity, as Caladon is pretty dangerous. You can attack him now, or wait a turn for him to get impatient and attack you. When he attacks, or you attack him, he summons Fire Guardians. He does not also recruit, because that would just be mean. (There is no reason he would have much gold, anyway.) Note that you get a full round to attack him after he's summoned, so if you left some powerful units close to him, you can get him quickly instead of bothering with the Fire Guardians. Or dispatch as many as experience allows without losing the opportunity for killing Caladon.<br /> <br /> === Getting Help ===<br /> <br /> Withe the flaming sword in your possession, you now sail straight back to Tyegea. She agrees to join you for an attack on Jotha with her priestesses and her gold. This means that in the next scenario you'll gain: A loyal diviner; the ability to recruit priestesses; and 55 (Normal) / 100 (Difficult?) gold, which is all carried over together with whatever you're brought yourself from the mainland.<br /> <br /> There's no fighting in this scenario.<br /> <br /> === Revenge ===<br /> * Objective: Defeat all enemy leaders.<br /> * Lose if: Kai Krellis dies.<br /> * Turns: Unlimited.<br /> * Starting units: Kai Krellis, Cylanna, all previous loyal units plus three new loyal mermen (a hunter, a fighter and a brawler).<br /> <br /> It's the last scenario. Losses of loyal units are acceptable. Also, you are relieved of the responsibility of protecting Cylanna. And you gain a loyal diviner, the Kai's grandmother, Tyegëa.<br /> <br /> Your minimum gold is 300, but this is likely insufficient, so hopefully you have a good carryover from the previous scenarios, so that your total gold coming into this final showdown is at least about 500 or 600. Recruit one batch of Merman Citizens to capture villages. Recruit Brawlers next, who are good for bashing skeleton types, doubly so when the Brawlers are supported by leadership. Pace your main recruitment to end by turn 5 or 6. Diviners and Priestesses are especially useful in this scenario, to kill Bats and arcane-susceptible Undead, as well as to heal your main force. Remember that you now have the ability to recruit Priestesses, which will come in handy if you don't already have a stockpile of them to recall.<br /> <br /> You must kill all the enemy leaders. The choice of which enemy leader to kill first is easy. The enemy leader at southeast is protected by terrain that is nasty to Mermen. Therefore, the bulk of your force should head to the island in the middle. Send only a few Citizens to collect villages in the east. The four toughies at the northwest strait will not bother you if you do not go near them, so steer clear. The middle leader may dart out if you present him with an easy kill. Try to take him down then, as he is tougher in the middle of the island, protected by his recruits. After killing the middle leader, the rest should be downhill. However, keep an eye on the location of the Shadows recruited by the southeast leader, so that they do not surprise you at night. To protect the wounded, stay in line formation whenever Shadows threaten.<br /> <br /> Give great respect to the Undead at night, backing off and foregoing attacks. By day, wail on them mercilessly.<br /> <br /> Use your halo effects (Illumination and Leadership) - they are key to fending off larger number of units or mounting a staunch defense at night. Hopefully, Keshan is both alive and a Flameheart - his leadership bonus will be useful.<br /> <br /> A few final tips:<br /> <br /> * The pile of skeleton bones in the West has a special object, the Ankh Necklace, that will provide the wearer with 70% resistance to arcane damage. A good bearer is an Entangler like Gwabbo, who can then slow enemy necromancers with relative impunity.<br /> <br /> * If you didn't win the ring of strength on the [[#Flight|Flight]] scenario, now is your chance. After killing Mel Daveth, he drops the ring, which &quot;increases the damage of all its owner's attacks by one, and adds three hit-points.&quot; Inky or Krellis would be a good choice of bearer.<br /> <br /> * On turn 10, a squad of Dark Adepts (Easy) or Necromancers (Challenging) arrives on the northern beach. For this reason, your attack on the central island should veer towards the northwest. This way, you can cut them down in daylight with Brawlers backed by leadership.<br /> <br /> [Inky, 1.12 / Difficult]: The enemy leaders do not begin recruiting until turn 2, and it is possible to rush and kill the central leader early on before he gets the chance to spend most of his gold. Recall your best veterans at the beginning and send everyone as far northeast as they can go. The central leader can be lured out as early as turn 4 by putting a melee only unit like a brawler in his range. For recruits I would recommend a mix of priestesses and initiates; I would not bother with citizens or village grabbing, though this is a matter of personal style.<br /> <br /> <br /> [[Category: Campaigns - Walkthroughs]]</div>

BBeryllium https://wiki.wesnoth.org/index.php?title=Mainline_Campaigns&diff=74398 2025-06-11T04:45:21Z

<p>BBeryllium: simple spelling fix</p> <hr /> <div>{{Translations}}<br /> <br /> These campaigns are included in the Wesnoth distribution. Most were written by fans of the game.<br /> See [[ReferenceWML]] for information on how to make your own scenarios using the Wesnoth Markup Language. The following links are very likely to contain spoilers regarding the storyline.<br /> <br /> == The Rise of Wesnoth ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=388 Shade]<br /> <br /> Lead Prince Haldric through the destruction of the Green Isle and across the Ocean to establish the very kingdom of Wesnoth itself. The confrontation with Lich-Lord Jevyan awaits... (Hard level, 20 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[TheRiseOfWesnoth|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[TrowStoryLine|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#The_Rise_of_Wesnoth|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#The_Rise_Of_Wesnoth|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:TROW|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=10613 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/The_Rise_of_Wesnoth.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#The_Rise_of_Wesnoth|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#5-2_BW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Winds of Fate ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/1.14/data/core/images/portraits/drakes/inferno.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/1.14/data/core/images/portraits/drakes/inferno.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by Jonathan Kelly (name), SigurdFireDragon (based on the original by Fabi and ESR)<br /> <br /> As the once plentiful hunting grounds of Morogor slip below the waves, war looms between drakes driven rogue by hunger and those still honorable. Yet the winds of fate may be shifting, for inspired by legends of vast far away lands, a pack of fledgling hunters makes ready to lead their kind on a journey towards salvation. (Hard level, 11 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[Winds of Fate|Winds of Fate Walkthrough]]<br /> * [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=49140 Discussion Thread]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == An Orcish Incursion ==<br /> Note: This campaign was removed in version 1.15.3 of the game.<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/1.14/data/campaigns/An_Orcish_Incursion/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/1.14/data/campaigns/An_Orcish_Incursion/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by Josh Parsons; adapted for mainline by ESR.<br /> <br /> Defend the forest of the elves against the first orcs to reach the Great Continent, learning valuable tactics as you do so. (Rookie level, 7 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[AnOrcishIncursion|Walkthrough]] <br /> * [[An_Orcish_Incursion story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#An_Orcish_Incursion|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:AOI|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=20249 Discussion thread]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#An_Orcish_Incursion|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#8_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Legend of Wesmere ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Legend_of_Wesmere/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Legend_of_Wesmere/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by Santi; adapted for mainline by esr and fendrin<br /> <br /> The tale of Kalenz, the High Lord who rallied his people after the second orcish invasion of the Great Continent and became the most renowned hero in the recorded history of the elves. (Hard level, 18 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[LegendofWesmere|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[LegendofWesmereStory|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Legend_of_Wesmere|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Legend_of_Wesmere|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:LOW|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//forums.wesnoth.org/viewforum.php?f=51 Discussion threads]<br /> *[[Geography_of_Wesnoth#The_Legend_of_Wesmere|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#20_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Secrets of the Ancients ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/1.16/data/campaigns/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/images/portraits/campaign-image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/1.16/data/campaigns/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/images/portraits/campaign-image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> By [//forums.wesnoth.org/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=107794 beetlenaut]<br /> <br /> Rediscover the secrets known by the lich lords of the Green Isle. They knew how to live forever, so why can't you?<br /> (Hard level, 18 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> *[[Secrets_of_the_Ancients_Walkthrough|Walkthrough]]<br /> *[[CharactersStorys#Secrets_of_the_Ancients|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Secrets_of_the_Ancients|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:SOTA|Dialogue]]<br /> *[//forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&amp;t=40545 Discussion Thread], [//forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=31&amp;t=43116 Feedback Thread]<br /> *[//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Secrets%20of%20the%20Ancients.html Custom units]<br /> *[[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Secrets_of_the_Ancients|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#22-23_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == The Sceptre of Fire ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Sceptre_of_Fire/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Sceptre_of_Fire/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by turin<br /> <br /> ''The mark of Wesnoth's banner bold''<br /> <br /> ''Comes not from its own land;''<br /> <br /> ''It comes from Dwarfdom, grim and old''<br /> <br /> ''Made by a runesmith's hand.''<br /> <br /> ''So now I tell from whence it came -''<br /> <br /> ''The Fire-sceptre great -''<br /> <br /> ''And of the makers of the same,''<br /> <br /> ''Their tale I now relate...'' (Hard level, 10 scenarios)<br /> <br /> * [[Sceptre of Fire|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[Sceptre of Fire story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Sceptre_of_Fire|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:SOF|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=20255 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Sceptre_of_Fire.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Scepter_of_Fire|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#25-40_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == A Tale of Two Brothers ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Two_Brothers/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Two_Brothers/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> * by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=93 Circon]<br /> <br /> An evil mage is threatening the small village of Maghre and its inhabitants. The village's mage sends to his warrior brother for help, but not all goes as planned. Can you help? (Novice level, 4 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[ATaleOfTwoBrothers|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[A Tale Of Two Brothers Story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#A_Tale_Of_Two_Brothers|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:TB1.9|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=10339 Discussion thread]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#A_Tale_of_Two_Brothers|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#363_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Descent into Darkness ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Descent_Into_Darkness/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Descent_Into_Darkness/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by esci<br /> <br /> The northern frontier town of Parthyn is annually raided by neighbouring tribes of orcs. Malin Keshar, an outcast mage, seeks to defend his home and wreak vengeance on the orcs by any means necessary, even if it means sacrificing his own soul in the process. (Intermediate level, 10 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[DescentIntoDarkness|Walkthrough]] <br /> * [[Descent Into Darkness story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Descent_into_Darkness|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:DID|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=20251 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Descent_into_Darkness.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Descent_Into_Darkness|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#389_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Delfador's Memoirs ==<br /> <br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Delfadors_Memoirs/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Delfadors_Memoirs/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> Wesnoth seems to be slipping inexorably into chaos, as marauding orcs pour south across the Great River, and mysterious and deadly creatures roam the night. Who is the shadowy Iliah-Malal? Can you defeat him before he destroys all life in Wesnoth? (Intermediate level, 19 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[DelfadorsMemoirs|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[DelfadorsMemoirsStory|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Delfador.27s_Memoirs|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:DM|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=25554 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Delfadors_Memoirs.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Delfador.27s_Memoirs|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#468_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Liberty ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Liberty/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Liberty/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by scott<br /> <br /> As the shadow of civil war deepens across Wesnoth, a band of hardy marchlanders revolts against the governance of the new queen. To win their way to freedom, they must learn to use shadows and deception to rout the trained blades of the Wesnothian army. (Novice level, 7 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[Liberty|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[Liberty story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Liberty|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:L|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=20252 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Liberty.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Liberty|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#501_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Heir to the Throne ==<br /> <br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Heir_To_The_Throne/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Heir_To_The_Throne/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=3 Dave]<br /> <br /> Fight to regain the throne of Wesnoth, of which you are the legitimate heir. (Novice level, 23 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[HeirToTheThrone|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[HtttStoryLine|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Heir_to_the_Throne|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Heir_to_the_Throne|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:HttT|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=10322 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Heir_To_The_Throne.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Heir_To_The_Throne|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#517_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Northern Rebirth ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Northern_Rebirth/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Northern_Rebirth/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=100782 Taurus]<br /> <br /> For the people of Dwarven Doors the choice was stark: either drudge as downtrodden slaves for the orcs until the end of their brief and miserable lives, or risk all for freedom and rise against their cruel overlords. Little did they suspect that their struggle would be the hinge of great events that might restore the Northlands to the glory they had once known. (Expert level, 13 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[Northern Rebirth|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[Northern Rebirth story|Story outline]] , [[CharactersStorys#Northern_Rebirth|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:NR|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=20253 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Northern_Rebirth.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Northern_Rebirth|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#534_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == The Hammer of Thursagan ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/The_Hammer_of_Thursagan/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_Hammer_of_Thursagan/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by ESR (Eric S. Raymond)<br /> <br /> In the first years of the Northern Alliance, an expedition from Knalga seeks out their kin at Kal Kartha and to learn the fate of the legendary Hammer of Thursagan. The perils of their journey through the wild Northern Lands, though great, pale beside the evil they will face at its end. (Intermediate level, 8 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[TheHammerOfThursagan|Walkthrough]] <br /> * [[TheHammerOfThursagan story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#The_Hammer_of_Thursagan|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#The_Hammer_Of_Thursagan|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:THOT|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=20258 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/The_Hammer_of_Thursagan.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#The_Hammer_of_Thursagan|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#550_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == The South Guard ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/The_South_Guard/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/The_South_Guard/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> * by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=872 aelius]<br /> <br /> A young Knight, Deoran is dispatched to the southern Wesnoth province of Kerlath to investigate the ravaged towns at the border. Thrust quickly into a hapless conflict against marauding bandits, Deoran must rally the remaining men of the derelict South Guard to defend his country. (Novice level, 8 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[TheSouthGuard|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[South Guard story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#The_South_Guard|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:TSG|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=10323 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/The_South_Guard.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#The_South_Guard|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#607_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Eastern Invasion ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Eastern_Invasion/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Eastern_Invasion/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=176 Turin]<br /> <br /> There are rumours of undead attacks on the eastern border of Wesnoth. You, an officer in the Royal Army, have been sent to the eastern front to protect the villagers and find out what is happening. (Intermediate level, 16 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[TheEasternInvasion|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[EiStoryLine|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Eastern_Invasion|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:EI|Dialogue]]<br /> * [https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?t=57895 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Eastern_Invasion.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Eastern_Invasion|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#625_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Dead Water ==<br /> <br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Dead_Water/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Dead_Water/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> By [//forums.wesnoth.org/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=107794 beetlenaut]<br /> <br /> You are Kai Krellis, son and heir of the last merman king but only a child. A necromancer is turning your subjects into undead slaves! Lead your people on a mission to convince a powerful mer-sorceress to help you repel the invasion. The oceans near the Northern Lands are perilous, so you will need cunning and bravery to survive. But first you need to gain the respect of your troops!<br /> (Intermediate Level, 10 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> *[[Dead_Water|Walkthrough]]<br /> *[[CharactersStorys#Dead_Water|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Dead_Water|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:DW|Dialogue]]<br /> *[//forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?f=45&amp;t=31304 Discussion Thread]<br /> *[//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Dead_Water.html Custom units]<br /> *[[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Dead_Water|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#626_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Son of the Black-Eye ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Son_Of_The_Black_Eye/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Son_Of_The_Black_Eye/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> started by Benj, completed by Taurus<br /> <br /> Your father Karun Black-Eye was the greatest orcish leader that ever lived. Now, as his son, it's up to you to thwart the selfish designs of the humans who have broken the old agreements with the orcs and are bent upon taking your lands. Unite the warring orcish tribes, bring together the Orcish Council and call up the Great Horde to send the human-worms and their wose-born allies to the Land of the Dead! (Expert level, 18 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[SonOfThe_BlackEye|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[Black Eye story|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Son_of_the_Black_Eye|Characters]], [[WesnothFigures#Son_Of_The_Black_Eye|Biographies]], [[CampaignDialogue:SOTBE|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=20257 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Son_of_the_Black-Eye.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Son_Of_The_Black_Eye|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#842_YW|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == Under the Burning Suns ==<br /> &lt;div class=&quot;thumb tright&quot;&gt;<br /> [https://github.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/blob/master/data/campaigns/Under_the_Burning_Suns/images/campaign_image.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wesnoth/wesnoth/master/data/campaigns/Under_the_Burning_Suns/images/campaign_image.png]<br /> &lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> by [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&amp;u=149 quartex]<br /> <br /> In the distant future a small band of elves struggles to survive amidst the ruins of fallen empires. Lead your people out of the desert on an epic journey to find a new home. (Expert level, 10 scenarios.)<br /> <br /> * [[UnderTheBurningSuns|Walkthrough]]<br /> * [[UtBSStoryLine|Story outline]], [[CharactersStorys#Under_the_Burning_Sun|Characters]], [[CampaignDialogue:UTBS|Dialogue]]<br /> * [//www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&amp;t=10491 Discussion thread]<br /> * [//units.wesnoth.org/trunk/mainline/en_US/Under_the_Burning_Suns.html Custom units]<br /> * [[Geography_of_Wesnoth#Under_The_Burning_Suns|Geographical references]], [[Timeline_of_Wesnoth#After_the_Fall|Position in timeline]]<br /> &lt;div style=&quot;clear:both&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;<br /> <br /> == See also ==<br /> * [[Guide_to_UMC_Campaigns]]<br /> <br /> [[Category:Review on Release]]<br /> [[Category:Campaigns|*]]<br /> [[Category:World_of_Wesnoth]]</div>

BBeryllium