Winds of Fate

Introduction

This is the walkthrough for the mainline drakes campaign, Winds of Fate. It was formerly known as Wings of Victory or Wings of Valour. It is a hard level campaign with 11 scenarios and 4 levels of difficulty (Normal/Challenging/Difficult/Nightmare).

Synopsis

The story of how the drakes first arrived on the Great Continent.

Note: This walkthrough has many spoilers. Read at your own discretion.

General Strategy

In this campaign, the player will have access to all recruits of the MP Default Era's Drakes faction, but not all at once. Most of the recruit list will unlock with story progression and some unit-trees might be temporarily unavailable due to story reasons. With that being stated, I would suggest prioritizing on the following:

• Get a Drake Flare and advance him to a Drake Flameheart. The Leadership ability has predominant value in this campaign as you will mostly be suffering losses throughout since Drakes will mostly get 20%-40% defense on most of the maps (with the exception of the Glider caste, whose defenses range from 30-50). Thus, having a Flameheart to coordinate the attacks of level 2 and level 1 Drakes and Saurians will be paramount to this campaign.
• Reshan: This hero-class Drake Glider will be available for the nine out of the eleven scenarios. Having him advance early to Sky Drake and later to Hurricane Drake is advised. He can be valuable as both a scout and a mixed-fighter.
• Gorlack: The protagonist. He starts at level 1 as a Drake Burner. He is the only Drake Burner in this campaign to be able to advance to the fearsome and devastating Armageddon Drake. Feeding him XP should be one of the main focus points of any player of this campaign. Do not worry about any XP deficiency for other units. You will have plenty of chances to farm experience points.
• Saurian Oracles and Saurian Soothsayers. Having these units will benefit you greatly, especially in the last scenario.
• Drake Blademasters. Drake Fighter recruitment is available onwards from scenario 2. Levelling them is recommended as they can dish out big damage during the day, are fast and deadly.
• Drake Arbiters and Wardens. The scenario designs do not really favor the Drake Clasher caste but you can recruit level 2 drakes and saurians at the very end of the campaign so just try to have 2 or 3 arbiters on hand. Drake Thrashers are not that useful in any of the scenarios.
• Fire and Inferno Drakes. These are probably what should be filling your recall list, second only to Drake Warriors and Blademasters. Throughout the campaign, these units will be your main source of damage during the day time schedules.
• Most of the scenarios have "No Gold Carried Over". Thus, do not be shy to get your gold reserves to the negatives.
• Read the How-To-Play Drakes page if you are not familiar with how Drakes are played.

Scenario 1: The Hunt

This is a large map scenario where you start with a set amount of drake units. Burners and Gliders. You can see 2 villages on the map. Try to capture them. They have 1 Drake Warrior and 1 Drake Fighter in them. You have to kill a specific amount of units to win. There are several AI sides, each fighting the other. If you position your drakes carefully, you can get to a farming spot where you can +16 XP per kill (level 2 enemy) units. This is located at the eastern shore of the island. The counter counts for any unit your side kills so try not to kill only level 1 units as you are denying the XP farm you deserve.

Scenario 2: Reclamation

This is the scenario where your drakes will be fighting orcs. You start near the southwestern shore with a few spawned units and Reshan. There is an enemy leader nearest to you. Your first task: annihilate that orc and prevent him from recruiting any units after the first turn. Orcs will also recruit "boat" units. These have 0% defense on villages so lure them their and instantly kill them with drakes. One of the southern villages has a Clasher unit. On first dawn, Karron will arrive with his Flight of Drakes. They will be targeting side 3. There is a lore book at the north of the island. You win by accomplishing two things: encircling the enemy orc leader (the orange one) with your drakes and destroying all boat units. Karron's flight will not follow your instructions and try to kill all the orcs so you have to capture the orcish leader first.

For your benefit, it is recommended to try levelling Gorlack here to level 3 or very near it. Same goes for Reshan.

Scenario 2X: Victory Feast

Cutscene Only Scenario.

Scenario 3: The Contention

Reshan is your only recalled unit in this scenario. You have to defeat Karron or resist until the end of turns. Your recruit list will be subjected to the Ways of Morogor. To explain it..you can recruit one unit type at a time and then it will reset. You will also have 2 Intendants from the fighter caste (Drake Warrior) and the clasher caste (Drake Thrasher). Karron will have the same (intendants from each other caste). Karron has a Drake Arbiter unit and this should be taken out as soon as possible. He is a real nuisance. The key to victory is having village ownership of 7+ villages at all times and outlasting Karron's units. Do not worry if you lose units here. They get sent to your recall list. You should focus on getting clashers to take out Karron if you manage to reach him.

If you succeed in defeating Karron, you will get an item Dragon Claws which will give Gorlack a superior melee damage boost.

Scenario 3X: Final Departure

Cutscene Only Scenario.

Scenario 4: Journey

You start with your keep on the southwestern isle. There are enemy merfolk leaders north and east of your location. There are enemy naga as well on the northeastern isle. However, if Reshan can get near the naga leader, they will become your allies. Reshan can do this effortlessly if he is a level 2 Sky Drake or higher. Using Fire Drakes and Drake Warriors here is recommended. Additionally, if you have Sky Drakes, you can recall them as well. Sky Drake receives a constant 50% defense on this map and is not hindered by deep water. It is imperative to get a good mix of Fire Drakes, Drake Warriors and Sky Drakes in this scenario.

On set intervals (night time), the merfolk leader (the purple one) will summon a Kraken and the naga leader will summon sea serpents. Krakens are menacing to battle and should be lured out of deep water. Try to kill as many Krakens as possible while retaining 100% village ownership. Krakens provide +24 XP to the unit which killed it so take this as an opportunity to get experience drakes (Blademasters, Flamehearts, Inferno and Hurricane Drakes).

The side 2 Merfolk leader is a bit bold. Try to take him out as soon as the scenario starts to make it easier.

Clashers are not available for this scenario (story reasons).

Scenario 5: Threshold

You start of the southwestern edge of the Three Sisters island with some spawned units. There is a loyalist enemy side and several monster sides and an allied saurian side. Try to eradicate that lieutenant on the castle by turn 1 or turn 2. When he dies, the saurians flip over to your side. Recruiting and recalling units have been disabled in this scenario. There are three temples north of your starting location. Moving units onto them will give you free units (2 saurian augurs, 1 skirmisher, 1 swamp lizard and 1 water serpent and 2 rats). There is no gold carryover and monster spawns are infinite. Try to use this scenario as a means to farm XP for your current set of units. This scenario offers a very good opportunity to get Gorlack to level 4. You win this scenario by capturing all villages so try to delay that and focus on farming some XP.

There is also a lore book at the northern reef of the map.

Scenario 5X: Early Arrival

Cutscene Only Scenario.

Scenario 6: Landfall

In this scenario you have to annihilate all enemy units. Your enemies are the Loyalists. You have access to Clasher recruitment and the clasher caste recalls have been restored to you. There is a beacon right next to your keep/encampment. Lighting it will cause your allies, Karron, his drake flight and the saurians to spawn. Karron's flight will spawn to the west of the human fort and saurians will attack from the north. You have been given the opportunity to time when you wish to light the beacon. Turn 4 is a safe bet to light it. Turn 5 is probably more optimal.

Your enemy will be recruiting an assortment of Loyalist units. The units to watch out for are Longbowmen, Pikemen, Knights and Lancers. These have the most potential of taking out your drakes (and saurians). There are mountains north of your keep. Recruit/recall Drake Clashers/Drake Arbiters and position them on mountains, backed by Fire Drakes and a Soothsayer. Try to lure the human army away from their fort and then light the beacon. Your allies will mostly decimate the fort so you can only focus on the human attack force that was dispatched to fight you.

If you have not already done so, try to level up a Clasher to an Arbiter (Trust me on this).

Scenario 6X: Winds of Fate

Cutscene Only Scenario.

Scenario 7: Harvest

This is perhaps the most controversial scenario of the whole campaign as the tactic employed here is strange. The elves will welcome you in. Recall your most powerful damage dealers. Take your sweet time positioning the units next to each leader. Attack at morning time. Kill all leaders within a single turn. Deal with the rest later.

• For the Ancient Wose leader, Gorlack (he should be a destructive Armageddon Drake by now) and 2 Inferno/Fire drakes are enough.
• For the Elven marshal, 2 Blademasters, 1 Thrasher and 1 Arbiter.
• For the cat, 2 Drake Warriors and maybe a Sky Drake.
• For the mermaid, 1 Drake Warrior, the saurian heroes and Reshan.

This scenario has a special mechanic. If your drakes attack an enemy on a forest hex, they will ignite the hex and this fire will spread. Use this to your advantage.

When the Elven Lady dies, she will drop an artifact, the Sapphire of Ice. This will grant any unit with a ranged cold attack (which increments by level). The best unit to equip this is a Drake Warden/Drake Arbiter. Drake Enforcer/Drake Thrasher (but the extra attack just clutters the side bar UI so maybe not). Any other choice is good, but not as good as the Warden using it.

There is a lore book on the location of the cat "Princess Mew". You should really read it.

Scenario 8: Overlook

The drakes have to escape through a cave. There are elves pursuing you (since you well...you know). Recruit some saurians to delay the elves and recall Fire Drakes and Drake Flares to navigate one of the tunnels. There is lore book inside the left tunnel. You will encounter undead inside these caves. Dispatch the Death Knight leader quickly and proceed onwards.

You will encounter an Ancient Lich who can recruit Liches and Spectres. However, if you attack him, you are prompted to form a truce or destroy him. The choice is up to you. However, forming a truce has a better benefit. He will open the escape route and delay the elves.

You have the chance to farm the level 3 elves for XP but it is a bit risky as there are Sylphs which can easily take out drakes and move relatively faster in caves. Retreat through the cave, remembering that Reshan should be the last unit to escape.

Scenario 9: Ancestor

You start on a Keep/Encampment with the Saurian heroine units. You might have enough gold for 9 recalls (might be different by difficulty). The terrain is mostly snowy and swampy. There are monster units battling each other everywhere. Perfect farming spot.

Recall Priority:

• Hurricane/Sky Drakes: Best recallable option. Snowy Terrain? No problem. They will just fly over most terrain without any movement impediments at all.
• Drake Warriors: You can never go wrong with Drake Warriors.
• Fire Drakes. Two or more.
• Drake Flameheart: Only if you have a bunch of level 2 drakes recalled and can level up.
• One Saurian Soothsayer (to supplement Zedrix in healing). Optional.
• One Saurian Ambusher (she can level up fast here). Optional.

Ignore

• Drake Clasher caste recalls. It is a shame that the campaign's design does not encourage usage of clashers in most scenarios.
• Saurian Oracles. Most monsters are cold resistant, so might have these units sit this one out.

Monster Priority

• Yeti: Dangerous to confront without adequate support. 32 XP on kill so should be dealt with if encountered.
• Greater Icemonax: Probably has a masters degree in being the most annoying. resistant to most damage types. Avoid if able since you can get better kills here.
• Dread Bat: One Word. Annoying.
• Gryphon. Has a high chance of spawning next to your keep at start.
• Direwolf: perfect for XP farm.
• Cave Bear: good farm option

Your goal is get Gorlack to the beacon on top of the volcanic mountain range. Once there, you will meet a dragon and his wyrms. Then they will become your allies and finally, you have purge the map of all enemies.

Scenario 10: Fire Meets Steel

You start at a new eerie establish on the volcanic mountain range. You can recruit level 2 drakes and saurians. At this point, your recruit list is now identical to the Age of Heroes Era's Drakes faction. Your enemies are dwarves.

In this scenario you have to resist the dwarven offensive for three days (18 turns). Here, recalling 2 Hurricane Drakes is obligatory for the swift victory tactics. Recall your loyal intendants and a Flameheart. Recruit Clashers and Burners, but prioritize on Drake Clasher recruitment. Losing a village deprives of +4 income so you should be focusing on retaining most of the villages.

Dwarven Thunderguards, Stalwarts and Berserkers should be approached with caution as they can gang up on your units. The dwarves also spawn from the mountain tunnels and the leader himself will be sending Gryphon Riders and Gryphon Masters This is where your Hurricane drakes come in. Send them to circumvent the enemy and collapse the tunnels. That way the subsequent waves will have less units to deal with. Keep the dwarves at bay by exploiting the mobility of the drakes and the lava reef.

At the end of the scenario, Reshan is returned to you.

Scenario 11: Crosswind

The final scenario. Your enemy is the remnants of the Flight of Karron. The victory objective is surrounding Karron with 6 of your units. Additionally, the Saurian Flanker heroine (it's a she)...will turn on you. Oh, no! A spoiler! Deal with it.

The key to this scenario is Reshan himself.

Turn 1: Send Reshan south to the villages. When he captures them, he will spawn allies (veteran Nagas and Saurians, and swamp affinity monster units). There is another village near the mountain that does another spawn. Likewise, recall another Hurricane Drake and send him to the village at the western/left edge of the map. The village spawns 1 troll, a giant spider and an greater icemonax.

Once Reshan has captured the 2 villages, rush all your spawned saurians, and monsters towards Karron. Reshan should be heading to Karron's keep and nullifying any chances of him recruiting. This is a bit tricky but doable.

Recall Priority

• Drake Blademasters. Probably the best units for this campaigns you can have. Recall all of them. Every single one.
• Drake Warden with Sapphire Orb.
• Saurian Oracles (as many as you got). Recruit if you lost all of them.
• A Drake Flameheart (to supplement the Oracles)
• Saurian Flankers

There are 2 lore tablets/secrets here (northeast and southeast of the starting keep).

Karron will spawn his Burner caste veterans and Glider caste veterans when he is attacked. Keep this in mind.

Once Reshan occupies the keep, Karron will not go for the keep, instead he will move to attacking to whatever he sees. This is a good moment to get him surrounded as your skirmishing flankers and swamp lizards are already there with nagas.

For the honorable way, just let Karron walk to his keep, while occupying the 5 adjacent hexes of the keep so when he moves, he will recruit just 1 unit and then on your turn, kill that unit and place your unit to capture him.

Scenario 12: Epilogue

Cutscene Only Scenario.