Putting Caledor in the Darklands WITHOUT any movement stance to traverse mountains AND with uninhabitable Wasteland climate was a dick move from CA. Even after beating Eshin the campaign is just a CHORE since it takes ages to move from one province to another. Ironically, Nagarythe has a better time in that area than Caledor since they can use the Shadow Paths.
personally, what i did was use influence to make grimgor my buddy, and then expand from caledor instead of expanding via the old world. imrik doesn't fit well with all the non-mountain climate anyway. and ulthuan is far more lucrative. if you're lucky, the dwarves win vs grimgor and then it makes even more sense to expand from caledor instead of in the old world. OH and also HIGHLY recommend getting an "exhilirated" loremaster in every army. they give a whopping +50% chance to intercept. which is huge if you end up fighting in the mountains.
@@bomjus1706 _"personally, what i did was use influence to make grimgor my buddy, and then expand from caledor instead of expanding via the old world. imrik doesn't fit well with all the non-mountain climate anyway. and ulthuan is far more lucrative."_ And what do you if Ulthuan get's overwhelmed in early game ? In my very hard x2 playthrough, that's exactly what happened : i confederated Caledor only to find myself having a mediocre army confronted to no less than four Dark Elves armies of the cult of pleasure. Meanwhile, Grimgor managed to stomproll the dwarves by turn 21 and Eshin had been on a constant offensive from the east (and that was merely a prelude). It has been the most painful playthrough i've ever played in my life... _"you literally get free full dragon stacks, Imrik with unlimited firepower AND totally op superdragons."_ 1) You don't get free full dragon stacks (free upkeep) until late game and good recruitment roll - assuming you get there. 2) Imrik doesn't have unlimited power and only reach his full melee potential around mid-game and even then, you need to back him up with a mage to make full use of his abilities. Because he's an excellent tank but only a decent crowd controller. 3) The "totally op" dragons are nerfed once they join Imrik's armies and do not have the same amount of strength they have when you fight them. Additionnaly, some of the bonuses provided by the dragons in exchange of money are so powerfull that you actively look forward NOT fighting them to have the chance to use them again (the armor piercing bonus one, especially.) Basically it mostly goes down to luck if you'll get a good run or not.
@@diogovieira5563 They need to Nerf how successful the green skin ai is in the campaigns specifically Grimgor. I don't think them or their units are at all op but their ai just seems to wipe the floor with every other ai every single time. It just means if you play any faction in that third of the map you spend pretty much the entire campaign fighting nothing but green skins which does get kind of repetitive.
Great 20 turn guide. Clan Eshin is sooooo OP and aggressive. Lots of great advice here. I've played a lot of Imrik, and the only thing I'd suggest is sending a lord down to encounter Teclis and the Loremasters as soon as Caledor is confederated. Teclis is easy to confederate and tends to get wiped out early game, so sending a lord down to discover the Loremasters provides a good confederation opportunity to get a great legendary lord.
Imrik at start of campaign: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. What say you? Red Cloud: Sounds 'air enough Imrik 8 turns later: The enemy of my enemy... dies next Red Cloud: ....
I couldn't, that's for sure. But I'm going to have another go at normal now I've had some tips. (Yeah, I'm not very good at this game, though I've been playing since Shogun 1).
No, there were campaigns that were nigh-impossible to do before the ordertide nerf, the worst start being definitely Malagor. Even if you survive to turn 100 and burn everything around Altdorf and Couronne (which I did, with a lot of effort), by that time the ordertide starts to consume everything and focus on you entirely. Compared to that Imrik's current start is peanuts. Yes, you'll have to kill tons of skavenslaves, and skaven lords and hero casters are pain in the ass, but you start with a fire dragon, Imrik gets a dragon, and even your fucking fire caster can get a dragon. Imrik can recruit 3 Nobles from his skill, which get chariots super early. And because you'll be fighting multiple battles every turn, they'll level up in no time. That's on top of pokemon dragons which you can catch.
Imrik is easy to win any battle around start point as long as he get to level 14, the hard part is his economy can't afford second army, and the player who play Imrik first time often being declare war by Grimgor, Snikch, and Malus before turn 30, worst situation would be being waaaagh by Grimgor. But yeah, he's not that hard since you got legendary dragons that can teleport with 0 cost and super elf Imrik, it's just how to struggle through the fight with clan Eshin after some practice.(I've played LE/VH Imrik for 8 times, and the trouble maker is always clan Eshin)
So I played this over the weekend (following Legend's guide, though only on Normal difficulty) and can confirm that as long as you wipe out Eshin as early as possible (I managed turn 6), it's fairly straightforward after that. By about turn 40 with three or four dragons in the army, Imrik's army is so strong that he really isn't ever going to lose a battle. Just need to wipe out Eshin before they spread. If you don't do that, I think this is incredibly hard.
@@ggleplussuxx4787 i actually found legendary chaos tougher than legendary malagor, the simple reason being was ambush stance. Chaos has no ambush stance so you can't hide from the ordertide but if you have decent scouting with heroes on malagor it's slightly easier, (but still very difficult) just because the ai gets confused about where you are. Chaos is such a mess on legendary (thank god for the ordertide nerf) because the ordertide would chase you everywhere and you couldn't hide. That's just my opinion though, feel free to reply and discuss.
So crazy was just watching your imrik play through where you farned the dwarves to level 21 on imrik and then a new 20 turn guide for him! Thank you legend you are awesome.
This was my second legendary campaign completed and my favorite campaign to date. Dragons soaring through the skies and dropping down to pick up mouthfulls of little ratmen and orcs, beautiful!
Thanks for the guide Legend, lots of useful tips as always. Just wanted to say - I reckon an EASIER (Not necessarily BETTER) way to start Imrik campaign is to use Darkhold as a sack city until you get a full stack, then abandon your starting region and take the Dragon Isles form Malus. You can conquer Dreadrock around turn 8-12 (siege is very winnable) then consolidate your power on the Dragon Isles with a LOT more security and it doesn't require you to win super hard battles. When Snikch declares war on you he will have a hard time assaulting the Dragon Isles and before long he will likely encounter Grimgor. Once Snikch and Grimgor start fighting (or whenever you see an opportunity) you can backdoor Snikch and start conquering Eshin lands. It's a slower start but very easy/reliable way to survive the first 20 turns or so. Anyway, awesome content as always, keep up the good work!
Great video and strategy. My legendary strategy was to capture my entire province in 5 turns and then peace out the dwarves for minor treachery and diplo hit. Then take the entire 20 stack and capture Snitch's major settlement within first 10 turns. Also use a sacrificial lord to bait him to come towards the walled settlement and then kill his armies.
Hey Legend, really liked this guide. Was very surprised that melee infantry did a good job, though they were just fighting skavenslaves. I think Morathi really needs her 20 turn guide. I always wanted to have a strong start with her bc when I confed her as Malekith a lot of the sexy points on her skill tree get wasted. Sadly, her start is an absolute nightmare and I would love to see which strategies and decisions should I implement to get through Tiranoc and Hexoatl
@@LoremasterLiberaster U do it later when u can afford 2 full stacks trying to take it early means tiranoc, skeggi, hexoatl and nagarythe will swarm u and all u can do is defend and minor settlements will burn and change owner every few turns
@@LoremasterLiberaster You don't need it consolidated before capital grows to t4 so you can start slave economy. Securing the southern flank to deal with Anar and rebels first is much more important. Anar is an ambusher bitch with strong units that can easily ruin your campaign if you let him. If you don't play with the "gotta grab everything" mentality, and focus on what's important, and minimizing your enemies is the most important eraly, those tough starts suddenly become much more manageable.
Try to level up Morathi as much as possible and get her to Greater Arcane Conduit, get a stack of some spears, Darkshards and a Black Ark. Then set sail to the Shrine of Asuryan. Hold onto the shrine until you get walls with the special landmark then take Lothern. So what if you lose Quintex, you can always take it back later and it's much better to be aggressive and take the High Elves out before they start spamming Dragons, Sisters, and confederations.
I did this incorrectly on very hard and had the misfortune of Malus declaring war on me. Took me like 60 turns to get out of the starting area. It just got the point where Imrik was so juiced he could just about solo armies.
I beat this recently but it was a struggle. I took out the dwarves early, skaven wiped out small orcs then came for me. I kept Grimgor's orcs (that were quickly eating up the entire south eastern map) happy with Influence and beat back about 10 armies of skavens with Sea guard and good use of dragons breath. Then Dark elves attacked, I killed them and took Islands. Then went south, kept Grimgor happy (who owned it all now with other orcs) with influence before he suddenly declared war when My lord and only real army was in the south even though I was at +10 relationship with them.... Was dumb but I then ran back and had to beat back orcs around my capital for a stupidly long time. At one point I had no joke 10 orc armies of Grimgor and Teeth Snatchers on my capital map at once. Only Dragons and Sea guards saved me (liberal use of corner cheese and dragons with 6 breaths). Finally broke out a bit and chaos coming down from North helped. Took 220 turns but I killed orcs and won the campaign with help form Reikland that owned everything at this point. The biggest problem I found with this position and race is that it is so hard to make sufficient gold to maintain your armies (you cant trade for shit if orcs are winning and there units etc are expensive). Was fun in the end but stressful AF, hardest one I have done so far on legend after beating on dwarves, dark elves, tomb kings, beast men, humans, chaos and norsca. If anyone knows another really hard starting point lord let me know please.
leave it to legend to create a legendary guide to one of the hardest starts. I love it man, thanks so much for this, I'd been wracking my brain on this campaign start on legendary for q long time. I've had some success but I'm always too weak later in the game to do anything and I could never confederate with Caledor
The really hard part about the campaign is the Skaven, but once you cleared them, the orks and the dark elves out ... the danger you are facing is balancing your finances and overextending. Once the eastern border of the map is yours you only have to defend against attacks from one direction ... more or less.
I do love the archer spam but I can see why you recruited rangers. They usually smash low tier clan rats and skaven slaves. Edit 1: I used the sack Mount Greyhag for 20 turns method and made it to the badlands and my save corrupted. Edit 2: Tried out your method and killed off Eshin on turn 8. Greenskins sent a full stack and I had to fend them off for two turns. Now I'm pushing down to Pig Barter. Excellent guide Legend!
I have followed this guide twice already works like a charm however be careful when you're going up against malus darkblade because on my first playthrough following this guy, I ran into a situation where he was literally the last man standing in his army and didn't suffer Army losses. The way I finally beat him was to have all of my units run away from him some even with Drew but I kept a mounted character to kite him until his transformation killed him. He simply will not die if there are units in melee with him
Legend: "A Clanrat - with this much experience - is the equivalent of like a, uh, White Lion of Chrace. BUT, We will do what we can here, honestly the odds aren't too bad"
Thank you. I thought it was better to just abandon the starting position and go to ulthuan. But this i genius. You can also make half o the army in the first fight just stop doing anything if you wasted their ammo. But this guide is great you are a genius. Sorry if there are any typing errors since English is not my first language.
Basically did the same as this, but I took all 3 provinces first and belined it over, to kill the rats, you gain a peace treaty from the dwarves and gain about 3k gold or 2.5k gold and a trade deal. if you wipe their army also,
Legendary...I restarted a few times on medium! Such a hard start. And since the orc update Grimgor seems unstoppable, and he usually declared war on me playing as Imrik too. Honestly Imrik's Vortex and Mortal Empire campaigns are night and day: one enjoyable and easy if you know what you are doing, the other extremely difficult and a fucking grind.
I'm on Imrik campaign now and what I did (after about 8 different failed strategies lol) is completely leave the dwarves alone and beeline to Eshin territory, stopping right before the border to recruit a few extra spears and archers for 1 turn and then immediately taking their main city. It got a lot easier after that
It is not work that way, dude. Army gets wiped out only if it is both caught moving and lost a battle during an interception. If you are attacking them (when it's your turn) and win when they are just standing in underway stance, that's not means they will be wiped out. Legend probably wiped them manually during the battle and edited out the tedious part.
Damn, this worked so good. Only thing I changed was, attacking dwarfes to get that full province and simply asking for peace(losing a little reliability, but who cares) into rushing for Eshen. Also had to do some slow stepping with orcs, so I ended up around 34+ turn finishing off Malus and basically consolidating my new 4 provinces including Caledor. Pretty dope guide.
tbh it's not that bad, sure the rangers are nice at the very start but archer spam can do very well against almost anything. The queen and the crone would probably be a bigger loss, because no more sisters of avelorn for the mid to late game.
@@sympunny8636 Legend rants about them, but the Lothern Sea Guard are actually quite decent and probably still better than most of the other races' ranged units, they even have a version with shields for the front row. Its just a cost factor and in the mid-late game heroes and generals become a lot more powerful/important.
@@Muck006 see the issue is, HE archers are already so good. They only cost 475 with an upkeep of 118. That's so efficient. In contrast, lothern seaguard require a building, and cost 750 with an upkeep of 187. The shielded variant costs 850 with an upkeep of 212. That's almost double the upkeep cost of regular archers, and they actually underperform as archers, with less range and less ammo. The crazy thing is, sisters of avelorn although they have an initial cost of 1100, have an upkeep cost of 212, exactly the same as lothern guard (shielded). The cost is just too much for what you get, it's much more efficient to go archers early, into sisters of avelorn later on. Don't get me wrong, the shield and defences are a nice to have, but they're just too expensive compared to the standard cost efficient archers, who are already amazing early game. They could fill a niche role if you were facing a lot of cavalry in the early game, but the high elves really don't tend to. If the upkeep cost on them was reduced a bit, then i'd definitely consider picking up more, or if the standard archers were nerfed a bit.,
I feel like an interesting mechanic. They could implement is a tris attrition if you are in a province two deep behind enemy lines not in raiding Stance. Something where you have buildings to send Supplies to your front lines of your borders and your allies borders in order to get that replenishment/recruitment
For me, I'll just let Imirk to fight there without conquering any settlements to level him up and get the Snikch and Malus's kill traits, confederate Caledor and get the heck out of there by letting them wipe out the place and duke it out with each other. As a bonus, I get to move my capital to Caledor and I'll also move Imrik to occupy settlements at the great desert of araby while being friends with the tomb kings. I get trading partners, a settlement with gold and I don't have to deal with the Skaven, Greenskins or the Dark Elves. And all that can actually be done within 20 turns too.
Took me 6 times to manage to beat this campaign on legendary, but once you get going nobody will stop you, you just stomp with the 20 gold upkeep moon dragons. What I did was similar to Legend's campaign, via sacking the dwarves' last settlement and gaining levels on imrik and the mage, and around turn 12 get back to the main settlement for clan eshin, it's important to focus on growth, get archers, and build walls on fortress of Vorag and Darkhold. After beating their initial armies I went straight for their capital and it was gg.
When i played this on Very Hard with my friend, the Red Cloud declared war on my around turn 7 or 8, and took my capital, then Rictus joined in, and both them and the dwarves I ignored mobbed me at Darkhold. It was hell.
I have played this campaign 3 Times since the release of ur vid. I have Never had such Luck like yours. Either eshin just Raze the bottom right settlement andpack in the upper one, or colonize the bottom one so snitch easy to beat but the other army stay within the walls of their departure's settlement...
the simple answer to that is probably just ambush stance. If they've razed the bottom settlement and are stacked in the main one, then just ambush on the path, they'll head out soon to crush the greenskins or occupy the settlement, then you ambush and slaughter them. Same thing if the other army is staying behind the walls, but snitch is on the bottom settlement, kill snitch then ambush on the path from the main settlement, again they'll head out and you can slaughter them and then take out the garrison by itself.
I ve been playing as Imrik on and off for the last week on very hard.. I build walls as fast as possible and then rushed to take as many settlements for clan Esen as I could. It was a grind because they had so many armies but I focused on taking their territory fast so they only recaptured some their own provinces. The battles where actually easy.. I destroyed the dark elfs and I am in the middle of a very grindy war with the orcs who were strength rating 1 when I declared war. Now they are 6 and I only have one doomstack with sisters and the quest dragons on turn 100.. I have destoyed so many orc full stacks but they keep coming. My Imrik stack feels like the most powerfull doomstack I ever played with it is very OP
If you want to make it easier for yourself you would use 2 stacks, Imrik with nothing but his dragons, the fire mage, and optional but preferrably a life mage and Frugal Noble. Those units alone will be able to autoresolve most Orc stacks with minimal dmg. Then the 2nd stack is standard SoA+Bolt Throwers.
I haven’t played the a thorigrim campaign for about a year. I took over a lot of the badlands and Barak varr. I did NOT expect 10 full stacks of eshin and volkund. By turn 40 I only had money for 3 &1/2 stacks. I just kinda abandoned the campaign
Actually you can do that but you have to pick your battles wisely. Skaven slaves on legendary are tough to rout and reach your archer line. Cheese them using Imrik and you are good.
@@pratikmaitra8543 Yes it can work. He actually goes full archers on start with high elves, he picked rangers though because archers suck when you get ambushed, and with Eshin that can happen easily
Quick suggestion on all the 20 turn guide videos, it would be hela handy if you added just a few bulllet point notes at the end of each video addressing any boons a faction might want to work towards or traps to avoid in mid and late game. I haven't played in nearly a year or so and ive no idea what game changes have been and passed. Specifically from your videos ive learnt that with VC and TK ive over extended. Just wondering if there are other bullets point notes of wisdom you have with each faction that effect those later stages.
On Very Hard mode I usually conquer the initial province and then make a peace deal with the dwarf clan (which they are very happy to do) ... and then rush over to the east to capture the Skaven cities. By that time they havent conquered the orcs yet and maybe even only got to capturing one of their settlements. That is just on Very Hard mode ... but it gives you more time to improve the entire three settlements and give you the province bonus.
Watching all those fireballs in your first battle as I keep deploying that battle with 5 or 6 winds of magic :'( But very helpful guide, I started playing Imrik when I saw he was a free lord and enjoyed it but just kept getting just completely overwhelmed. I guess where I was going wrong was falling for the trap of securing the province first, but by that time Eshin would wipe out Red Cloud. I would often be able to eventually beat them, but not having an underway or anything makes it super frustrating when they can just slip under the mountains from Pigbarter as I'm forced to go around it in 3 turns. If I finally manage the deal with Eshin, Malus is declaring war on me or even worse Grimgor declares war after shaving all the beards and I'm just trying to hold off wave after wave of armies constantly.
dragon princes become insanely strong in imirks army, I usually try to get 4. Eshin can be a nuisance but one I have tier 3 walls I go push them and leave a small army at home to clear up armies after they bounce off my walls.
Hmm haven't played in some time, did they change it that you can get 2-3 battles out of a revolt per turn when you don't kill the lord on the first battle, but kill him on the second, or doesn't Legend know that?
Wait, I haven't watched any total war livestreams for a few months. Didn't they remove the supply lines (+15% maintenance per army recruited)? Why is it back on?
biggest thing I can see is the move on turn 20 imirk needs to be put into the water and then moved. Pathfinding in this game means land movement is prioritized even though it is less effective.
This might be an isolated incident but that first dwarf faction usually moves an army on me on turn 2. If that happens do you recommend just letting them take back Darkhold and continue to focus on clan Eshin?
hi @LegendofTotalWar , is it possible to make an updated start for this faction? as i am playing and there is way to get rangers and archmage. Thank you very much
I managed to do well with Imrik on Normal(Yes I know, noob difficulty.) but when I went with Marcus Wulfheart in the forest area I had issues. Takes a few turns to get to a settlement. Potential 3 enemies around you that could attack you. The Lizards, undead and orks. Not to mention their armies are often filled with units that eat your units for breakfast. With Imrik it did take quite a bit of time to get rid of Skaven because I only really had 1 army. They had 4.
i think the most important thing with marcus wulfhearts campaign is dont' try to consilidate the province that you start in, either go up or to the right, otherwise it just takes too long because of the awkward terrain.
Judging from the fight in front of flayed rock, I don't think many players can handle that battle as well as you did. I suppose its the hardest part in this guide.
Players: How many variations of the Imrik start did you see?
Legend: 14,000,605
Players: How many of them were not painful?
Legend: ...none
Legend recruiting melee infantry, what a sight.
Rangers are good man, most tips I saw for anything under Very Hard battle difficulty was to utilize them.
S T A U N C H
Rangers > Skavenslaves > Spearman
I've tried it, in 5 turns you can take the castle.
Now imagine him recruiting War Wagons ...
Putting Caledor in the Darklands WITHOUT any movement stance to traverse mountains AND with uninhabitable Wasteland climate was a dick move from CA. Even after beating Eshin the campaign is just a CHORE since it takes ages to move from one province to another. Ironically, Nagarythe has a better time in that area than Caledor since they can use the Shadow Paths.
Be thankful Desert and mountains are all suitable. It's what you accept when playing as his faction.
personally, what i did was use influence to make grimgor my buddy, and then expand from caledor instead of expanding via the old world. imrik doesn't fit well with all the non-mountain climate anyway. and ulthuan is far more lucrative.
if you're lucky, the dwarves win vs grimgor and then it makes even more sense to expand from caledor instead of in the old world. OH and also HIGHLY recommend getting an "exhilirated" loremaster in every army. they give a whopping +50% chance to intercept. which is huge if you end up fighting in the mountains.
@@bomjus1706 _"personally, what i did was use influence to make grimgor my buddy, and then expand from caledor instead of expanding via the old world. imrik doesn't fit well with all the non-mountain climate anyway. and ulthuan is far more lucrative."_
And what do you if Ulthuan get's overwhelmed in early game ? In my very hard x2 playthrough, that's exactly what happened : i confederated Caledor only to find myself having a mediocre army confronted to no less than four Dark Elves armies of the cult of pleasure. Meanwhile, Grimgor managed to stomproll the dwarves by turn 21 and Eshin had been on a constant offensive from the east (and that was merely a prelude). It has been the most painful playthrough i've ever played in my life...
_"you literally get free full dragon stacks, Imrik with unlimited firepower AND totally op superdragons."_
1) You don't get free full dragon stacks (free upkeep) until late game and good recruitment roll - assuming you get there.
2) Imrik doesn't have unlimited power and only reach his full melee potential around mid-game and even then, you need to back him up with a mage to make full use of his abilities. Because he's an excellent tank but only a decent crowd controller.
3) The "totally op" dragons are nerfed once they join Imrik's armies and do not have the same amount of strength they have when you fight them. Additionnaly, some of the bonuses provided by the dragons in exchange of money are so powerfull that you actively look forward NOT fighting them to have the chance to use them again (the armor piercing bonus one, especially.)
Basically it mostly goes down to luck if you'll get a good run or not.
@@bomjus1706 the dwarfs are beeing slammed even by the lesser green skins factions lately. Spear goblins are wipping the floor with beards.
@@diogovieira5563 They need to Nerf how successful the green skin ai is in the campaigns specifically Grimgor. I don't think them or their units are at all op but their ai just seems to wipe the floor with every other ai every single time. It just means if you play any faction in that third of the map you spend pretty much the entire campaign fighting nothing but green skins which does get kind of repetitive.
Great 20 turn guide. Clan Eshin is sooooo OP and aggressive. Lots of great advice here. I've played a lot of Imrik, and the only thing I'd suggest is sending a lord down to encounter Teclis and the Loremasters as soon as Caledor is confederated. Teclis is easy to confederate and tends to get wiped out early game, so sending a lord down to discover the Loremasters provides a good confederation opportunity to get a great legendary lord.
"2020 can't get any weirder"
*legend recruits melee infantry over archers*
The one video i've been waiting for. Thanks legend.
Imrik at start of campaign: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. What say you?
Red Cloud: Sounds 'air enough
Imrik 8 turns later: The enemy of my enemy... dies next
Red Cloud: ....
Top 5 Coolest Campaign Mechanics in Warhammer 2 (Ikit Secret Laboratory and whatnot)
prolly wait for all the dlc to be out before doing that
This video makes me happy. Now I can go down in a flame of glory, but at least know what I did wrong.
Even with a guide, I bet many player would still be unable to do this in legendary difficulty.
I couldn't, that's for sure. But I'm going to have another go at normal now I've had some tips. (Yeah, I'm not very good at this game, though I've been playing since Shogun 1).
No, there were campaigns that were nigh-impossible to do before the ordertide nerf, the worst start being definitely Malagor. Even if you survive to turn 100 and burn everything around Altdorf and Couronne (which I did, with a lot of effort), by that time the ordertide starts to consume everything and focus on you entirely. Compared to that Imrik's current start is peanuts. Yes, you'll have to kill tons of skavenslaves, and skaven lords and hero casters are pain in the ass, but you start with a fire dragon, Imrik gets a dragon, and even your fucking fire caster can get a dragon. Imrik can recruit 3 Nobles from his skill, which get chariots super early. And because you'll be fighting multiple battles every turn, they'll level up in no time. That's on top of pokemon dragons which you can catch.
Imrik is easy to win any battle around start point as long as he get to level 14, the hard part is his economy can't afford second army, and the player who play Imrik first time often being declare war by Grimgor, Snikch, and Malus before turn 30, worst situation would be being waaaagh by Grimgor. But yeah, he's not that hard since you got legendary dragons that can teleport with 0 cost and super elf Imrik, it's just how to struggle through the fight with clan Eshin after some practice.(I've played LE/VH Imrik for 8 times, and the trouble maker is always clan Eshin)
So I played this over the weekend (following Legend's guide, though only on Normal difficulty) and can confirm that as long as you wipe out Eshin as early as possible (I managed turn 6), it's fairly straightforward after that. By about turn 40 with three or four dragons in the army, Imrik's army is so strong that he really isn't ever going to lose a battle.
Just need to wipe out Eshin before they spread. If you don't do that, I think this is incredibly hard.
@@ggleplussuxx4787 i actually found legendary chaos tougher than legendary malagor, the simple reason being was ambush stance. Chaos has no ambush stance so you can't hide from the ordertide but if you have decent scouting with heroes on malagor it's slightly easier, (but still very difficult) just because the ai gets confused about where you are. Chaos is such a mess on legendary (thank god for the ordertide nerf) because the ordertide would chase you everywhere and you couldn't hide. That's just my opinion though, feel free to reply and discuss.
So crazy was just watching your imrik play through where you farned the dwarves to level 21 on imrik and then a new 20 turn guide for him! Thank you legend you are awesome.
This was my second legendary campaign completed and my favorite campaign to date. Dragons soaring through the skies and dropping down to pick up mouthfulls of little ratmen and orcs, beautiful!
Always thought about just rushing eshin instead of dicking around with the dwarfs for the first 10 turns. Thanks for the guide!
Thanks for the guide Legend, lots of useful tips as always.
Just wanted to say - I reckon an EASIER (Not necessarily BETTER) way to start Imrik campaign is to use Darkhold as a sack city until you get a full stack, then abandon your starting region and take the Dragon Isles form Malus. You can conquer Dreadrock around turn 8-12 (siege is very winnable) then consolidate your power on the Dragon Isles with a LOT more security and it doesn't require you to win super hard battles.
When Snikch declares war on you he will have a hard time assaulting the Dragon Isles and before long he will likely encounter Grimgor.
Once Snikch and Grimgor start fighting (or whenever you see an opportunity) you can backdoor Snikch and start conquering Eshin lands.
It's a slower start but very easy/reliable way to survive the first 20 turns or so.
Anyway, awesome content as always, keep up the good work!
Imrik was my first campaign i played in the game after watching the spiffin brit lol! if i only knew what i was signing up for!
That subtle White Lions roast was amazing 😂
If only there was an Imrik Legendary guide am i right?
create the supply AND the demand, legend is evolving :O
Great video and strategy. My legendary strategy was to capture my entire province in 5 turns and then peace out the dwarves for minor treachery and diplo hit. Then take the entire 20 stack and capture Snitch's major settlement within first 10 turns. Also use a sacrificial lord to bait him to come towards the walled settlement and then kill his armies.
Love these, glad to see another!
This guy's just an absolute master at this game.
He truly earned the title "LegendOfTotalWar"
*_Practice makes perfect._*
It's self proclaimed, but very justified.
Yes yes
Hey Legend, really liked this guide. Was very surprised that melee infantry did a good job, though they were just fighting skavenslaves.
I think Morathi really needs her 20 turn guide. I always wanted to have a strong start with her bc when I confed her as Malekith a lot of the sexy points on her skill tree get wasted. Sadly, her start is an absolute nightmare and I would love to see which strategies and decisions should I implement to get through Tiranoc and Hexoatl
Beat ss'ildra tor's army and make peace to use them as shield against skeggi, tiranoc and hexoatl and go for nagarythe/ulthuan when u have walls build
@@timbson7421 without consolidating one of the richest provinces in the game?
@@LoremasterLiberaster U do it later when u can afford 2 full stacks trying to take it early means tiranoc, skeggi, hexoatl and nagarythe will swarm u and all u can do is defend and minor settlements will burn and change owner every few turns
@@LoremasterLiberaster
You don't need it consolidated before capital grows to t4 so you can start slave economy. Securing the southern flank to deal with Anar and rebels first is much more important. Anar is an ambusher bitch with strong units that can easily ruin your campaign if you let him.
If you don't play with the "gotta grab everything" mentality, and focus on what's important, and minimizing your enemies is the most important eraly, those tough starts suddenly become much more manageable.
Try to level up Morathi as much as possible and get her to Greater Arcane Conduit, get a stack of some spears, Darkshards and a Black Ark. Then set sail to the Shrine of Asuryan. Hold onto the shrine until you get walls with the special landmark then take Lothern. So what if you lose Quintex, you can always take it back later and it's much better to be aggressive and take the High Elves out before they start spamming Dragons, Sisters, and confederations.
I did this incorrectly on very hard and had the misfortune of Malus declaring war on me. Took me like 60 turns to get out of the starting area. It just got the point where Imrik was so juiced he could just about solo armies.
my prayers from last video has been answered. he did the 20 turn guide for Imrik. thank you legend.
Watching legends guides is like one of the most enjoyable parts of this channel haha
I followed the guide and actually took ishin out in turn 6 . Damn legend every prediction right :) ggs mate
I beat this recently but it was a struggle. I took out the dwarves early, skaven wiped out small orcs then came for me. I kept Grimgor's orcs (that were quickly eating up the entire south eastern map) happy with Influence and beat back about 10 armies of skavens with Sea guard and good use of dragons breath. Then Dark elves attacked, I killed them and took Islands. Then went south, kept Grimgor happy (who owned it all now with other orcs) with influence before he suddenly declared war when My lord and only real army was in the south even though I was at +10 relationship with them.... Was dumb but I then ran back and had to beat back orcs around my capital for a stupidly long time. At one point I had no joke 10 orc armies of Grimgor and Teeth Snatchers on my capital map at once. Only Dragons and Sea guards saved me (liberal use of corner cheese and dragons with 6 breaths). Finally broke out a bit and chaos coming down from North helped. Took 220 turns but I killed orcs and won the campaign with help form Reikland that owned everything at this point.
The biggest problem I found with this position and race is that it is so hard to make sufficient gold to maintain your armies (you cant trade for shit if orcs are winning and there units etc are expensive).
Was fun in the end but stressful AF, hardest one I have done so far on legend after beating on dwarves, dark elves, tomb kings, beast men, humans, chaos and norsca. If anyone knows another really hard starting point lord let me know please.
I am having sooo much fun with an Imrik campaign thanks to this. Thanks Legend!
Omg, a first 20 turn video guide on Imrik. 😱
Just what I was looking for when discovering he has the hardest starting position!
leave it to legend to create a legendary guide to one of the hardest starts. I love it man, thanks so much for this, I'd been wracking my brain on this campaign start on legendary for q long time. I've had some success but I'm always too weak later in the game to do anything and I could never confederate with Caledor
The really hard part about the campaign is the Skaven, but once you cleared them, the orks and the dark elves out ... the danger you are facing is balancing your finances and overextending.
Once the eastern border of the map is yours you only have to defend against attacks from one direction ... more or less.
And TY again. I like these and know they are not your favorite or most profitable content!
I do love the archer spam but I can see why you recruited rangers. They usually smash low tier clan rats and skaven slaves.
Edit 1: I used the sack Mount Greyhag for 20 turns method and made it to the badlands and my save corrupted.
Edit 2: Tried out your method and killed off Eshin on turn 8. Greenskins sent a full stack and I had to fend them off for two turns. Now I'm pushing down to Pig Barter. Excellent guide Legend!
21:16 Ah yes, to defeat the skaven, you must become the skaven.
Yesssssss Blesssss!!! i honestly love imrik and i've been really needing help with my campaign. thanks you!
automatic "like" ... ty Legend
I have followed this guide twice already works like a charm however be careful when you're going up against malus darkblade because on my first playthrough following this guy, I ran into a situation where he was literally the last man standing in his army and didn't suffer Army losses. The way I finally beat him was to have all of my units run away from him some even with Drew but I kept a mounted character to kite him until his transformation killed him. He simply will not die if there are units in melee with him
35:20 They got wiped out because they were in the underway.
02:16 How many variations of Clan Eshin running you over with 4 stacks within the first 20 turns can there be.
Legend: "A Clanrat - with this much experience - is the equivalent of like a, uh, White Lion of Chrace. BUT, We will do what we can here, honestly the odds aren't too bad"
what a great guide. actually going to give this a crack right now.
Thank you. I thought it was better to just abandon the starting position and go to ulthuan. But this i genius. You can also make half o the army in the first fight just stop doing anything if you wasted their ammo. But this guide is great you are a genius. Sorry if there are any typing errors since English is not my first language.
victory with a staunch line of dual swords
These are crazy man thank you for you time to figure all this out
as soon as the last chunk of the map is added the start will be balanced I think
Was waiting for this!!!! Great!!!
Basically did the same as this, but I took all 3 provinces first and belined it over, to kill the rats, you gain a peace treaty from the dwarves and gain about 3k gold or 2.5k gold and a trade deal. if you wipe their army also,
Legendary...I restarted a few times on medium! Such a hard start. And since the orc update Grimgor seems unstoppable, and he usually declared war on me playing as Imrik too. Honestly Imrik's Vortex and Mortal Empire campaigns are night and day: one enjoyable and easy if you know what you are doing, the other extremely difficult and a fucking grind.
Thank you legend inspite of saying you wouldnt you do it you did it. Thank you
I watched the full video
Uh huh ;)
noice
I'm just real fast at hearing
It's a hour long video and you said that two minutes after it was posted
@@michaelmoretti9012 time flies when youre having fun I guess
Thank you for making another awesome 20 turn video. We know how much you hate making them
I got really lucky on my imrik campaign and the orks actually beat clan eshin back to their starting settlement
That happened to me as well. And to think some people were upset when CA removed the autoresolve bonus.
I'm on Imrik campaign now and what I did (after about 8 different failed strategies lol) is completely leave the dwarves alone and beeline to Eshin territory, stopping right before the border to recruit a few extra spears and archers for 1 turn and then immediately taking their main city. It got a lot easier after that
still works perfectly - thank you!
35:15
They were wiped out because you caught them in underway stance
It is not work that way, dude. Army gets wiped out only if it is both caught moving and lost a battle during an interception. If you are attacking them (when it's your turn) and win when they are just standing in underway stance, that's not means they will be wiped out. Legend probably wiped them manually during the battle and edited out the tedious part.
Damn, this worked so good. Only thing I changed was, attacking dwarfes to get that full province and simply asking for peace(losing a little reliability, but who cares) into rushing for Eshen. Also had to do some slow stepping with orcs, so I ended up around 34+ turn finishing off Malus and basically consolidating my new 4 provinces including Caledor. Pretty dope guide.
Imagine doing this without the Warden and the Paunch.
tbh it's not that bad, sure the rangers are nice at the very start but archer spam can do very well against almost anything. The queen and the crone would probably be a bigger loss, because no more sisters of avelorn for the mid to late game.
@@sympunny8636 Legend rants about them, but the Lothern Sea Guard are actually quite decent and probably still better than most of the other races' ranged units, they even have a version with shields for the front row. Its just a cost factor and in the mid-late game heroes and generals become a lot more powerful/important.
@@Muck006 see the issue is, HE archers are already so good. They only cost 475 with an upkeep of 118. That's so efficient. In contrast, lothern seaguard require a building, and cost 750 with an upkeep of 187. The shielded variant costs 850 with an upkeep of 212. That's almost double the upkeep cost of regular archers, and they actually underperform as archers, with less range and less ammo. The crazy thing is, sisters of avelorn although they have an initial cost of 1100, have an upkeep cost of 212, exactly the same as lothern guard (shielded). The cost is just too much for what you get, it's much more efficient to go archers early, into sisters of avelorn later on. Don't get me wrong, the shield and defences are a nice to have, but they're just too expensive compared to the standard cost efficient archers, who are already amazing early game. They could fill a niche role if you were facing a lot of cavalry in the early game, but the high elves really don't tend to. If the upkeep cost on them was reduced a bit, then i'd definitely consider picking up more, or if the standard archers were nerfed a bit.,
I feel like an interesting mechanic. They could implement is a tris attrition if you are in a province two deep behind enemy lines not in raiding Stance. Something where you have buildings to send Supplies to your front lines of your borders and your allies borders in order to get that replenishment/recruitment
the thumbnail had me in tears!
Enlightening - I shall employ these strategies on my next attempt.
For me, I'll just let Imirk to fight there without conquering any settlements to level him up and get the Snikch and Malus's kill traits, confederate Caledor and get the heck out of there by letting them wipe out the place and duke it out with each other.
As a bonus, I get to move my capital to Caledor and I'll also move Imrik to occupy settlements at the great desert of araby while being friends with the tomb kings. I get trading partners, a settlement with gold and I don't have to deal with the Skaven, Greenskins or the Dark Elves. And all that can actually be done within 20 turns too.
Took me 6 times to manage to beat this campaign on legendary, but once you get going nobody will stop you, you just stomp with the 20 gold upkeep moon dragons. What I did was similar to Legend's campaign, via sacking the dwarves' last settlement and gaining levels on imrik and the mage, and around turn 12 get back to the main settlement for clan eshin, it's important to focus on growth, get archers, and build walls on fortress of Vorag and Darkhold. After beating their initial armies I went straight for their capital and it was gg.
I only play the Empire despite owning all the dlc to this date, but thank you for your consideration Legend
Oh, a 20 Turn guide for Imrik. What a surprise ! lol
55:07 The most smartest and Fuc#### coolest battle I've ever seen! IN total war history.
ooo we back
this video is really unexpected XDDDDD thanks legend
It takes a Legend to save Macaulay Culkin.
When i played this on Very Hard with my friend, the Red Cloud declared war on my around turn 7 or 8, and took my capital, then Rictus joined in, and both them and the dwarves I ignored mobbed me at Darkhold. It was hell.
that's just bad luck :D Maybe you were too weak (not enough units) or didn't have walls so they saw you as an easy target?
Wow i did not expect this video at all...
I can't recruit rangers. So a 30/70 infantry-range split would suffice for the skaven?
K thanks guys, also I got the dlc so I have rangers 🙃
I have played this campaign 3 Times since the release of ur vid. I have Never had such Luck like yours. Either eshin just Raze the bottom right settlement andpack in the upper one, or colonize the bottom one so snitch easy to beat but the other army stay within the walls of their departure's settlement...
the simple answer to that is probably just ambush stance. If they've razed the bottom settlement and are stacked in the main one, then just ambush on the path, they'll head out soon to crush the greenskins or occupy the settlement, then you ambush and slaughter them. Same thing if the other army is staying behind the walls, but snitch is on the bottom settlement, kill snitch then ambush on the path from the main settlement, again they'll head out and you can slaughter them and then take out the garrison by itself.
I ve been playing as Imrik on and off for the last week on very hard.. I build walls as fast as possible and then rushed to take as many settlements for clan Esen as I could. It was a grind because they had so many armies but I focused on taking their territory fast so they only recaptured some their own provinces. The battles where actually easy.. I destroyed the dark elfs and I am in the middle of a very grindy war with the orcs who were strength rating 1 when I declared war. Now they are 6 and I only have one doomstack with sisters and the quest dragons on turn 100.. I have destoyed so many orc full stacks but they keep coming. My Imrik stack feels like the most powerfull doomstack I ever played with it is very OP
If you want to make it easier for yourself you would use 2 stacks, Imrik with nothing but his dragons, the fire mage, and optional but preferrably a life mage and Frugal Noble. Those units alone will be able to autoresolve most Orc stacks with minimal dmg. Then the 2nd stack is standard SoA+Bolt Throwers.
I haven’t played the a thorigrim campaign for about a year. I took over a lot of the badlands and Barak varr. I did NOT expect 10 full stacks of eshin and volkund. By turn 40 I only had money for 3 &1/2 stacks. I just kinda abandoned the campaign
Hey Legend, would the same earlygame-strategy still work if you recruit archers instead? Cause I don´t own the Warden & the Paunch dlc just yet...
Actually you can do that but you have to pick your battles wisely. Skaven slaves on legendary are tough to rout and reach your archer line. Cheese them using Imrik and you are good.
@@pratikmaitra8543 Yes it can work. He actually goes full archers on start with high elves, he picked rangers though because archers suck when you get ambushed, and with Eshin that can happen easily
Quick suggestion on all the 20 turn guide videos, it would be hela handy if you added just a few bulllet point notes at the end of each video addressing any boons a faction might want to work towards or traps to avoid in mid and late game. I haven't played in nearly a year or so and ive no idea what game changes have been and passed. Specifically from your videos ive learnt that with VC and TK ive over extended. Just wondering if there are other bullets point notes of wisdom you have with each faction that effect those later stages.
On Very Hard mode I usually conquer the initial province and then make a peace deal with the dwarf clan (which they are very happy to do) ... and then rush over to the east to capture the Skaven cities. By that time they havent conquered the orcs yet and maybe even only got to capturing one of their settlements. That is just on Very Hard mode ... but it gives you more time to improve the entire three settlements and give you the province bonus.
thanks for the effort :)
Ok then. What a stubborn High Elf. He refuses to stay dead. XD
Actually 22 turns guide you Liar!
It's epic tho thanks for the guide
it's magical; 20 turn guide +2
27:06 "and then just exempt from ta..." Legend, what the?
Watching all those fireballs in your first battle as I keep deploying that battle with 5 or 6 winds of magic :'( But very helpful guide, I started playing Imrik when I saw he was a free lord and enjoyed it but just kept getting just completely overwhelmed. I guess where I was going wrong was falling for the trap of securing the province first, but by that time Eshin would wipe out Red Cloud. I would often be able to eventually beat them, but not having an underway or anything makes it super frustrating when they can just slip under the mountains from Pigbarter as I'm forced to go around it in 3 turns. If I finally manage the deal with Eshin, Malus is declaring war on me or even worse Grimgor declares war after shaving all the beards and I'm just trying to hold off wave after wave of armies constantly.
Really loving the jabs at white lions
I wish to see a guide for Markus Wulfhart. I really like all the lore of hunting beasts in a wild new continent. Thank you for you big content.
dragon princes become insanely strong in imirks army, I usually try to get 4. Eshin can be a nuisance but one I have tier 3 walls I go push them and leave a small army at home to clear up armies after they bounce off my walls.
"Now what you say-say, little bitch-bitch?" Had me rolling. xD
Nice👍👌
1 question. Which dlc is needed to have mages as lords? 😅
You need the Warden & the Paunch in order to get Archmages for HE
Hmm haven't played in some time, did they change it that you can get 2-3 battles out of a revolt per turn when you don't kill the lord on the first battle, but kill him on the second, or doesn't Legend know that?
i think this is the only HE faction where Legend build walls.
He'd delete them later as he expanded out.
Wait, I haven't watched any total war livestreams for a few months. Didn't they remove the supply lines (+15% maintenance per army recruited)? Why is it back on?
They were only removed in the test beta patch they made puplic a few months ago. It was never the thing in the actual game.
@@dmitriyk.2890 Oh damn. Thank you for clarifying it.
What do you replace rangers with if you don't have the warden+paunch dlc?
You would use the basic archers.
biggest thing I can see is the move on turn 20 imirk needs to be put into the water and then moved. Pathfinding in this game means land movement is prioritized even though it is less effective.
This might be an isolated incident but that first dwarf faction usually moves an army on me on turn 2. If that happens do you recommend just letting them take back Darkhold and continue to focus on clan Eshin?
hi @LegendofTotalWar , is it possible to make an updated start for this faction? as i am playing and there is way to get rangers and archmage. Thank you very much
Rangers and Archmages are DLC units from Warden and Paunch
@@carldimayuga6419 yeah. I didnt know then. I having more troubles with darkelves now then playing as high elves
Ya man, great guide!! Should I play imrik's campaign even without the latest DLC?
50:25, something weird happened, after dismissing the ranger he made less money?
In 46 minute when you check settlements there were circle indicating black ark support range even though it was under for of qar
20:10 turn 8 talisman of preservation
DO EXILES OF NEHEK
Just sit in your starting province and farm revolts until you get your second army.
Yeah the first 20 Turns are easy. The hard part starts when you leave your starting province
@@vahlen5281 Farm revolts? You crazy? TK rebels are insane,
I managed to do well with Imrik on Normal(Yes I know, noob difficulty.) but when I went with Marcus Wulfheart in the forest area I had issues.
Takes a few turns to get to a settlement. Potential 3 enemies around you that could attack you. The Lizards, undead and orks.
Not to mention their armies are often filled with units that eat your units for breakfast.
With Imrik it did take quite a bit of time to get rid of Skaven because I only really had 1 army. They had 4.
i think the most important thing with marcus wulfhearts campaign is dont' try to consilidate the province that you start in, either go up or to the right, otherwise it just takes too long because of the awkward terrain.
Judging from the fight in front of flayed rock, I don't think many players can handle that battle as well as you did. I suppose its the hardest part in this guide.
Dumb question Do Heroes get more experience points based on their kills?