LotI Walkthrough-Part1-Chapter02

Part I, Embracing the Darkness, Chapter 2, Servants of Lilith

Generally

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The Beginning

[WHU] There are a lot of enemy units here, and when you kill a living one it comes back as an undead. A lot of potential for XP. I normally just charge forward with Efraim and Lethalia and go for the quick and easy win, sometimes recalling a couple quick elves like rangers to sneak around and pick off lone enemies in the forest.

[Thrash] Note that you have your full recall list and all your items from Chapter 1 available to you. Watch out for Umbra in your starting keep - I find it easy to overlook he is there. Anything besides arcane or marksman seems to have a hard time hitting enemy elves and undead. If the Beelezebub monument is present, it will be on the west side of the map - I suggest heading for it first and having that fight first. Note that Umbra recruits a solid stream of undead and it will be hard to reach him within the time limit.

[Thrash] Looks like Umbra quits recruiting now around turn 20 and then restarts when approached.

Gods

[WHU] In the center of the map is a necromancer leading a bunch of undead. I don't remember if she is good for anything, but generally I just don't go that way. In the middle of the far east edge are saurians, who can also be ignored. Recall maybe a castle worth of decent troops, perhaps ones you are looking to level, and head south to take out a bandit camp. Efraim and Lethalia could take on the bandits alone, especially if you have speed upgrades. Follow the road south, east, northeast, and then enter the mountains, taking care not to get too far north or east if you don't want to trigger the saurians. Using Efraim, Lethalia, and maybe a decent supporting unit, blast through the trolls.

[Thrash] I believe this scenario got harder at some point. I find two keeps of high-level recalls are advised. Head due South, take over fort and recruit another keep of units. Then go take out undead to the east (all you have to do is attack the undead necromancer and she surrenders and her units disappear). Then go south through the city, and Elves will appear when you approach the woods to South, they will be tough to kill and become undead when killed. Then go east - if you want to fight the saurians, split off a contingent to keep going east to trigger them, otherwise just go south into the mountains. The white mages in SE monastery can't actually be hit, so there is no actual urgency. The hard part is making progress through the trolls. The scenario ends when you kill the Troll leader in the monastery

Forest of Witchery

[WHU] I never recruit or recall here, just send my faster leader to the tree while the other one kills a few enemies. This is probably a mistake, as the early finish bonus easily gets wiped out by the carryover percentage. It probably makes more sense to recall some units that have good impact resistance and fire/arcane attacks and hunt some wose for XP.

[Thrash] I recall one keep of L2-3s. You want units with good movement in Forrest. Note that sharpshooters are not great units for this scenario. You will get swarmed about middle of the map, but Efriam and Lethalia don’t seem to be in real danger.

Darkness Closing In

[WHU] I always go (successfully) for the bonus objective with Efraim (counterclockwise, through the woods) and Lethalia (clockwise), avoiding crowds. Skellie wanders around picking off isolated enemies. I send in some troops and some healers to help guard the city walls, which may not be necessary. A couple fast, perhaps flying, units might be in order to pick items out of the moat as there are a lot of drops.

[Thrash] I have both Efriam and Lethalia recall a keep each, and then Lethalia a second keep using Efriam's keep - that usually spends all my gold. You'll want lots of magic to cut through ghosts. Watch out for shadows on turn 2. Hold back, if you rush forth past the city you will get overwhelmed on turn 2 when the enemy swamps the battlefield (especially watch our for enemy L2 elves, who can do a lot of damage if they gang up). After this surge, you can push forward and get to the enemy leader. I find this gets you to the leader about as quickly as going around the edges of the map.

Umbra

[WHU] This can be one of the more difficult scenarios in that it is actually possible to get Efraim or Lethalia killed. The enemy leader starts with a lot of gold, and is standing on a keep in a castle, even though it doesn't look like it, so normally I'd target him early. However, Umbra is quite aggressive so I never really need to deal with the other forces. Since Umbra is highly resistant to most attacks, lightning is great here. Keeping the fight at the cave mouth will let you rotate out troops and limit the amount of enemies you fight at a time. A fast unit with Cunctator's Sword could run forward, hit a unit next to Umbra to slow him without worrying about retaliation, and run back behind the line.

[Thrash] I didn't find lightning that helpful against Umbra, so something may have changed.

The Army of Darkness

[WHU] The turn limit is your enemy here. That and shadows. Efraim alone down the east side of the lake, concentrating on reaching the southeastern leader quickly over picking off units on the way. Lethalia and a small team of elves with arcane attacks including a healer head southwest, staying in a pack (the elves at least, Lethalia can run ahead and pick off enemies, particularly shadows when they are visible, as well as using zone of control to block for the elves at times). Don't forget to use penetrates to keep advancing. Visit the trader and pick up the Woodland Cloak if you don't have one already. By the time you get there, your pack of elves should be safe enough to remain there if you want to buy many items. The enemy leaders have nightstalk, but they will be at their keeps or on villages.

[WHU] Arcane melee weapons for your heroes, particularly the Holy Sword for Efraim, can be a big help in keeping them moving forward as many spirits will die attacking you instead of blocking your path.

[Thrash] Your gold will probably run out during the scenario, so your first action might be to recall a seer and some fast moving units to get the the Trader to the west as quickly as possible (you will want the Woodland Cloak for the next scenario), then have them deal with the western leader (who, btw, is invisible at night). (One option here might be to recruit a Ranger, Nightprowler or other unit with Ambush) to get the the Treader and ignore the west enemy leader?) I then recall three fast-moving Fairies and Seers go to with Lethalia south and then down the west side of water to take pressure off of the Merfolk - they will get attacked hard, so make sure this is a tough group with a couple of healers. The enemy will reach them around turn 8. Note that going through the water will be slow. In general, only recruit units who can move quickly through forrest or they won't be useful.

[Thrash] It's not actually clear to me what the consequences are if the merman leader dies as I've always managed to save them (sometimes despite their own efforts to rush out and get killed).

Infinite Legion

[WHU] This is one of the reasons I concentrate on making at least one of my leaders fast. Put on the Woodland Cloak, stay away from the enemies, and run for it. You could use the other leader as bait to draw the enemy.

[Thrash] No point in recalling/recruiting. Per WHU's note, put the Woodland Cloak on Efriam or Lethalia (whoever is faster) and sneak them to the southern border - if you go a little west of due south you should be able to weave your way there by turn 5. Your other hero can harvest some XP if they are careful. [3.2.8] This is harder now as you will run into ambushing enemies. You probably need to be prepared to do some fighting instead of just sneaking.

[Thrash] If you happen to have two Woodland Cloaks and put them on Efriam and Lethalia (or them have ambush by some other means) then the enemy will simply stop moving which makes things really easy.

Sightseeing

[WHU] This is one of the reasons I concentrate on making at least one of my leaders fast. Put on the Woodland Cloak, stay away from the enemies, and run for it. Huge early finish bonus.

[Thrash] Per WHU's note, another sneaking scenario with the Woodland Cloak. Go east and then south. If you attack any of the enemy leaders or Elven Lords, this is likely to spur the appearance of a bunch of enemy units, so don't do that. It's not clear Argan is in any real danger, so don't worry about him. If you haven't increased the animation speed yet, now's the time... [3.2.8] There are now Woses to the east of your starting position to be ambushed by.

Underground

[WHU] It may not be clear at first, but you start in a castle in case you want to recruit/recall. I don't. The lighted glyphs indicate deadend paths.

[Thrash] You can change your hero out of the Woodland Cloak at this point. I didn't realize what WHU said about lighted glyphs being meaningful, what I did was follow “MM” “MM” “X” “X” “X” “X” “Diamond” “Diamond” (roughly up the center and then NE).

Lilith

[WHU] First a bunch of low level units you can walk right through, then Umbra again. Not much need to recall/recruit many units, you'll be fighting in close with allies in the way. Umbra has powerful attacks, good defenses, and plenty of HP, so slow him, poison/incinerate him, and if possible hit him with powerful lightning attacks. Watch out for his firestorm attack which is explosive.

[Thrash] As WHU says, don't bother recalling too many units, quarters are tight and you won't be able to use them. It's not really worth exploring the west and east spurs. Note two units you will want to recall in Chapter 4: Revolution Begins, two more in Chapter 4: Meeting of the Ancients, three more in Chapter 4: Invasion, and two more in Chapter 4: Bloodbath. [3.2.8] The interface for recalling has improved so you don't need to use your memory as much any more.

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