I really enjoy how the HE play a lot like a traditional Total War game faction. Front line, archers and cavalry. Made it very easy for me to get into the game.
Same! Tyrion was my first dip into the game back in WH2. It was still overwhelming at first to understand all of the mechanics, but high elves are probably the best faction to play if you’re first starting out (in my opinion).
Shadow Warriors are available to people owning Queen&Crone (but Alith Anar boost them) and Shadow Walkers are exclusive to Nagarythe so yeah if you never played him you never saw them. Both are 360° fire on the move units and maybe you should give it a go to Alith if you want to have a little change on your HE experience. About Eagle Bolt Throwers, i don't know if you change the modes but the default one is shit so always put multishot at the start of the battle and you'll see the difference. Still not the greatest but good enough. Last thought : i find it weird to put heroes among the tier list, to me any hero in any faction goes to S tier when comparing to the rest of the units. The leveling/items/(magic) bring so much potential strength it's not even fair.
My reason for adding heroes was that I wasn’t really comparing them to other units but more to each other. I know that’s a bit weird to add into the list with the other units, but I didn’t think they were worth putting on a list by themselves. Also it’s weird that the Shadow walkers weren’t listed with the “special” units like Eltharion’s if they are something used by Alith Anar.
@@katieheys3007 Well try multishot against towers and walls and compare. I'll admit i didn't in 3rd game but in TWW2 multishot does more damage because its precise enough so all of the shots hit the tower. Only point of single shot i guess is shooting single entity monsters maybe, but i'd rather hit infantry and kill monsters with archers.
Interesting perspective. I never use Lothern Sea Guard, as their range is terrible and they lack the defensive capabilities of dedicated Spearmen, so it's funny to me that you rate them so highly while rating units like the Silverin Guard in C tier. Anyway, imo Phoenix Guard, dragons and the Arcane Phoenix are all S tier units, as well as the lore of Light magic wizard.
@@SuperbiaNox Your choices seem in line with most other people who have commented. I definitely have a unique way of playing the game. I did do a short Tyrion campaign a while ago, but I might have to revisit him or maybe Eltharion. I would probably force myself to use these other units to better understand how the majority of players use them.
@@sarahplaysgames I don't think you necessarily have to do a Tyrion campaign to use these units I mention. - Silverin Guard are basically your late game spearmen, better in every way and serve the same role against stronger late game opponents. - Phoenix Guard are your late game frontline on most High Elf LLs, as they have expert charge defense and make minced meat out of any cav or large units that pick a fight with them. - Dragons are pretty obviously S tier, they are flying terror machines with breath attacks and do absurd damage in melee, just keep them away from dedicated anti-large units and prevent them from taking too much missile fire and they will single-handedly rout 3-4 units easily. Star Dragons are the best, but Sun and Moon dragons are also useful. - The Arcane Phoenix is a Flamespyre Phoenix on steroids. It's one of the most obvious S tier units in the High Elf roster, its resistances are simply nuts and it outputs very high damage + has rebirth that does damage on top of bringing it back to life. - Light mages are super good for High Elves. Net of Amyntok is busted in how well it synergizes with Archers/Sisters of Avelorn, just pin the most dangerous enemy units down with the net and turn them into pin cushions with your high damage ranged units. They also get other useful quality of life spells that synergize well with High Elves. - Honorable mentions for S tier that you didn't include in this tier list: Knights of Tor Gaval - only Eltharion has access to them and they are absurdly strong, basically Brettonian Royal Hippogryph Knights on steroids. Also, Alarielle gets access to Tree Kin and Treemen that work very well in her particular army and are thus S tier for her.
@@SuperbiaNox Oh, yeah, I know it doesn’t have to be Tyrion. He’s just one of my favorite legendary lords. 😊 I have played him the most followed by Alarielle. I should branch out and try the other LLs. I played Eltharion briefly with my brother (not recorded) using the Old World mod, but I didn’t get far enough to really make good use of his special units. I’ve wanted to play Alith Anar because I’ve never played him before, but his start position scares me. I’m also not good with sneaky units.
@@sarahplaysgames Tyrion is indeed a powerhouse both in TWW2 and TWW3. My favorite though has to be either Eltharion or Imrik. As a Dark Elf/ High Elf main, I really hope they give us Dark Elf / High Elf DLC alongside the Slaanesh DLC in 2025, both races could use a mechanics rework and some cool new units and LLs to play around with plus it would fit from a rivalry perspective.
@@SuperbiaNox I forgot about Imrik! I played him a bit when IE first dropped, and I got destroyed by Tretch (it was embarrassing). I need to try that campaign again. I’ve heard Imrik on his dragon is a force in battle.
Rangers for me have a neat niche on factions like Imrik that fight skaven low armor infantry early game. They cut through rats very efficiently. I wish they didn't require a barracks then they would be really solid.
I struggled hard with Imrik when I tried playing him a while back. Now I’m curious to see if I could have more success employing different tactics like this.
That makes sense then why I haven’t seen them. I wish they had been with the special units like Eltharion’s in the game unit screen because otherwise I wouldn’t have included them. 😂
I love Silverin Guard. They look cool, they have really good stats and I find that the 30% magic resist really helps out alot in WH3... the ai just seem to be more spell-spammy than in WH2. I used to run pure missile armies with the high elves but with how flank-happy the ai is now I've started putting defensive infantry on the flanks, just so I have to micro less xD
I agree that they do look awesome! I played with them a bit as Tyrion a while back, and I just wasn’t seeing great results, especially when I feel I can get similar performance (and some ranged attacks) from Lothern Sea Guard. But maybe I need to just force myself out of my comfort zone and use some of these units.
Was Warhammer 2 your first RTS? I am considering recommending the game to someone who is new to RTS games but am wondering if it's accessible as an entry RTS. There's so many unexplained mechanics and it can get pretty pricey with DLC. Would really like hearing your experience getting into the game.
I wouldn't call TW an entry RTS, it just so unlike other games of the category since the RTS part is only army batttles. Although it shouldn't stop anyone new to RTS to play the game. Like you said the barriers is $ and the time needed to learn the game. Just ask the person if he/she feels ok with thoose elements, maybe buy 2nd game on instant gaming at 10$ to try the game to see if he/she likes it.
In my case, it was my first RTS. I would say there is a big learning curve to it. I had my brother with me to basically hold my hand and walk me through the mechanics. And to this day, I am still learning some of the nuances of the game. If your person likes a bit of crunch and likes exploring mechanics and some of the trial and error that comes along with it, I’d say it isn’t bad. But also, like you mentioned, in order to get the full depth of the game, you have to spend a ton of money. I built up my library by waiting for Steam sales, but it’s hard to predict when those will drop.
First of all, really appreciate choice of music - "Isha's Blessing", excellent soundtrack (I consider it as ambient?), fully representing High Elves imo :) another great soundtrack is "Rhya's Hymn" (you'd recognize it from playing for Empire). "Silverin guard are may be better than spearmen" - poor guys got absolutely destroyed, not only compared to basic spearmen but also put tier below them, rip. But seriously, I'd agree if it's an argument between cost and effectiveness + availability, compared to mentionted spearmen for example, but I think stats-wise they're very good unit - silver shields, 75 armour (compared to 40 of spearmen), higher attack and defense, expert charge defense (spearmen have it only against large units), and magic resistance (and of course higher leadership and weapon strength), same about lothern sea guard, both variants, Silverin guard are better than them, except having ranged weapons. For a T2 unit, very good, I consider them as very good mid-tier frontlinemen for the most part of the campaign. Talking about lothern sea guard - in my experience their reduced range is an issue, I don't mind having them as auxiliary unit, like 2 or 4 of them in the army, and put them on flanks or front to brace monsters/cavalry, but otherwise it's easier to get archers as ranged units and spearmen as frontline. Agree on Phoenix Guard, they have high stats, but they're so hard to get (and expensive too) and after all that they end up dying as cannon fodder because they have no shields or missile resistance (or magic resistance, also). Heroes.. Nobles are very important I think, may be more as agents than army unit (to secure influence), otherwise they're replaceable with Handmaidens (both give replenishment), but he's pretty good melee combat hero with charge defense and anti-large bonus. As people probably suggested multiple times - strongly recommend Alith Anar campaign, very tragic character, his position is pretty difficult I'd say, long story short - you almost have no allies around, only enemies, so it is only matter when they'll declare war on you. As for his units - people mentioned their 360 fire whilst moving, but.. in my experience I couldn't fully exploit their attributes to the fullest, at certain I point they would lack armour-pierce damage for me, or practically missing their shots while running + very often you can't really outrun enemy cavalry or monsters.
@@morm6206 I do feel bad about the Silverin Guard. I have played with them quite a bit, and they are good units. I just always default to my usual army comp, which I know is not the ideal one. If you were to build a full high elf army, including any of the different units, what would you build? I kind of want to fight some battles with different army suggestions from you guys.
@@morm6206 Also, I love the Warhammer soundtrack! I’m a big OST person, so I love scores from so many movies, shows, and games. I actually was just playing the ambient high elf music in the background (I had a dummy campaign up on my other screen lol).
@@sarahplaysgames About army comp - oh I don't know, the thing is - sometimes you have to change units depending on the enemy you fight. Let's say you're fighting vampire coast - they're mostly ranged units, so you can use some fast units like cavalry/lions/chariots, but later let's say you have ultimate crisis with dwarves and you have to face heavily armoured long ranged armies (I think dwarves are the hardest counter for HE, at least for me, battles with them are always end up very bloody and messy). But back to the topic - for me it's almost just infantry, I tend not to use flying monsters or cavalry/chariots (even dragon princes in my army are always trash), may be 2 or 3 Bolt Throwers as pathetic attempt to counter enemy artillery (or having siege unit in some armies), about 5 Silverin Guard (may be 2 or 4 lothern sea guard as second line), the rest are archers (sisters of avelorn if available and I have enough income). As for heroes.. one spellcaster, depending on available roster it's either Beast/Heaven/Life/Shadow/Fire/Metal or High/Light at the very least, Noble/Handmaiden for replenishment, Loremaster of Hoeth for training,
You really should be looking into unit accessability when considering tiers. Normal archers are "better" than armored ones, due to being avaible jsut from settlement.
Yep, you're absolutely right. I believe Legend of Total War takes that into account, and if I remember correctly, that's why he ranked the regular archers higher than the light armor ones.
@@KiethSomataw99 I thought I’d start with the factions I’m most familiar with - lizardmen are one of my favorites, and I’ve been spending a lot of time playing Skaven lately. However, I fear that I’ll get called out on a Skaven tier list because I’m playing as Ikit Claw, and I’ve only really been using a small subset of the Skaven units. I might need to play as another faction like Queek or Skrolk in order to be more “fair” in my assessment.
Example of Skaven unit tier: Skavenslave Slingers go to B or C tier. While they are just as cowardly and frail as the other variants, they have a ranged attack to do some kind of damage without having to receive damage. They are a better filler unit in the early game as they have no building requirements. Also, while a quick melee unit engage one troop of Slingers, others can spread out and pelt attackers from flanks.
@@KiethSomataw99 Yep, I like putting my slingers on skirmish actually. That way, they have a chance of breaking free and then they can go back to firing.
@@rosalina2938 I’ve watched almost all of Legend of Total War’s tier lists, and I’m often surprised by how low some of the high tier units rank. Granted, he also ranks them based on cost effectiveness which sometimes automatically throws them lower. But yeah, there’s a ton of early game units that perform well in the late game also.
@@sarahplaysgames True. But I still get them because they look cool and I like to theme my army's. Even though its pretty inefficient sometimes. Like melee focused woodelves army's.
@@rosalina2938 I also like to play around with fun stuff like that sometimes. There’s so much you can do in the game, and I think it’s neat to experiment with different armies and units.
If you don't have experience with the units why are you grading them?? Gain more experience with the unit s before ranking no?? High elves are my favorite faction and you are right with most of your rankings but man i cant lie. I cringe every time you say, "i never really pick these guys" or "i don't really remember this unit". Its just not a good look when you're ranking units. Good video though and i hope you have success with your channel
Lol, I thought I made it clear when I started the list that this was MY opinion. This isn’t some objective ranking. This is meant to give insight into how I play the game. My opinion is going to be different than others. How I play is neither right nor wrong just as with everyone else. The reason I didn’t remember the Shadow-walkers is because they are Alith Anar units, and I have mentioned on many occasions that I have never played his faction. I am not one who plays with many stealth units hence why I am not as familiar with rangers or shadow warriors. I appreciate your best wishes, but I want you to understand that you don’t have to watch my tier lists if you disagree. That’s completely fine. I am not Legend of Total War who does objective rankings. I am ranking them for fun based on my own personal thoughts and experiences. 🙂
@@sarahplaysgames My point is that you didn’t have an opinion on units you’re ranking. I was definitely interested in your opinion. I had never seen your channel before and love this game. I see a ranking of my favorite faction and I’m gonna watch. I didn’t nor do I expect for everyone to have my same opinion. Ofcourse not. But having several units just be put aside because you don’t remember them is kinda weird presentation. Again, no problem with your opinion or your channel or you. I don’t even know you really, just sharing what I as an audience member is experiencing. I wish you much success.
@@JorgeTorres-pl7ck It’s not that I don’t remember them. If I said so in the video, I apologize. I will admit that it’s been a while since I played high elves since I’ve been trying to branch out and play more unfamiliar factions, but they are also my one of my favorite factions. I just tend to like what I like when I play, so I usually stick with certain units, and others are not typically in my armies. I’m sorry if you feel I did them injustice. That was not my intention. I have 316 hours in WH2 and 840 hours in WH3. I do have experience with the game. I’m sorry if I came across as defensive in my comment. I just took your original comment to mean I had no right in making a tier list, and I don’t think that’s fair.
@@sarahplaysgames It was never about whether about your hours in the game or anything like that. I think maybe it would have been best if you should use footage of your battles and have your commentary over that would’ve been perfect. Not telling you how to make your videos though, it’s your channel. It’s just all about presentation I think :) and to be honest I’m just one person right? And it seems a BUNCH of people like the vid how it is now so idk. This all just my opinion. I hope you continue to make good content ma’am. Best of luck :) !
@@JorgeTorres-pl7ck I appreciate that, and like I said, I’m sorry if I came across as defensive. I know I’m putting myself out there by making videos, and I’ll be honest, it’s a bit intimidating. I know I’m not a great player like Legend, Turin, Costin, etc, but I’m very passionate about the game, and I love playing it. Maybe I’ll have to play some battles and try out different units that way. I always forget there’s that option. 😂 Thank you for your kind words!
Your tier list seems to be overly nooby to me...alot of these should be ranked so much higher. Rangers behind spearmen (especially until late game), shadow warriors are amazing at kiting. War lions are actually OP easy A tier. Eagles if you micro them are amazing at wasting enemy ammo, easy A tier. Seems you have a lot to learn about any tactic outside of just sitting archers behind loth guard lol. Beast mage is NU/D, Shadow S tier
It's kinda baffling that you call other people noobs if you would place war lions in A tier, and rangers ahead of spearmen?. Sure rangers fight better in forest and they are anti infantry but high elves do not lack for anti infantry, it is much better to have a lineholder that can soak missile damage with shields, if you were to try and use rangers for that then they would get torn to shreds, war lions are decent but they are never gonna outperform a star dragon or sun dragon for that matter. Shadow warriors are again quite good but aside from recruiting them as Alith Anar they are also outperformed by a lot of other units, stalk is useful but considering how much range the high elf missile units have it is again '' you guessed it '' outperformed. Lore of shadows has 2 good spells, melkoths miasma and pit of shades, that is nowhere near enough for an S ranking. Eagles are not the only unit that can succesfully waste enemy ammunition, a lot of single entity units can do that, any generic lord on a horse can serve the exact same purpose so the eagle is not special. Next time be more respectful because you weren't even correct in what you said.
@@snefff6560war lions are armour piercing and anti infantry. They far surpass the lacklustre cavalry of the HE so they are A tier in the role they fulfil. You won’t be buying a cavalry building but will work your way towards sisters of avalorn so it’s not a wasted building slot either. I stated rangers are good until later game and do fall off when replaced by higher tier units. They are good to supplement the spears not replace them, which I never said. Eagles again fulfil the role EARLY game that other lords won’t be able to adequately perform until air mounted. They remain great until replaced by dragons as a counter to cavalry and siege, a lord on a horse is not in the air and can get bogged down, also animations are broken for lords who are mounted on horses and have been for a while. Your counter argument tells me you clearly play the game as easy to normal. Try hard/very hard next time where the AI actually counter the standard spear/archer combo and you need to use more thought and tactics. I won’t even touch on shadow warriors as you calling them useless or outperformed by others again highlights your limited tactical knowledge/ability.
Looks more like a multiplayer tier list lol. HE has quite a sizeable roster but unfortunately most of their units are variants of a role rather than offering a different functionality or having an alternate purpose.
This is kind of funny because I’ve never played multiplayer or even really watched multiplayer matches. Most of the time, I feel like my army choices would NOT be good in multiplayer lol.
You seem to value low tiers units and some specific high tiers units which you choose heroes and lords around. With the limited budget in multiplayer it's a good way to play. Though, you should give a go to one or two cav/chariots units, even bad. You can gets a lot of value against arty or archers and even against melee armies you can distract and flank for a cheap price. In multiplayer just a bit more micro can help a lot, i watch french tournaments sometimes and a lot effort is done by a good micro with two or three units at times. When they did their jobs you can focus on others, lot of trades. In my experiences the only flaw of your units is maybe the lothern sea guards, good at everything usually means bad at what it should do. They won't be a tougher front that the silver guys (forgot their name in english), they won't do much as a ranged units if engaged or poorly than the sisters or archers. I prefer to have spears and sisters or silvers guys and archers than a seaguards frontline. Anyway, the YT bot light guided me here, and it was fun.
@@vilmarhgrarhk494 Wow, thanks for all of the advice! I am pretty narrow minded with units sometimes, and that’s not just with high elves. If I do some other unit tier lists, I’m sure it will be a similar story. I’m pretty bad with cavalry and chariots, so I tend to avoid them all together. I have a tendency to hyper focus on them and forget the rest of the army OR I completely forget about them and they crumble almost immediately. Unfortunately, it’s just part of how I play the game, though I am trying to be better about it. In my experience, the Lothern Sea Guard have performed to my expectations. My strategy most of the time is to go very heavy on ranged units and pick the enemy off before they hit my front line. That’s mostly why I like have them as my front liners. They provide additional ranged capabilities for the Sisters of Avelorn, and they can hold their own in melee. I’m sure the Silverin Guard are much, much better at straight melee, but again, I’m looking to go heavy ranged and not have to worry about melee as much. If you watch my ongoing Ikit Claw campaign, you’ll see what I mean lol. At the end of the day, I completely acknowledge that how I play the game is unconventional. While I am forcing myself to branch out and try some new things, I just have the most fun going heavy range and artillery. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to change myself from that. 🙂
Lothern Sea Guard works fine in campaign. The hesitation is more towards multiplayer as they don't do either roles well. Lothern 90 entities vs 120 of Spearmen means you're prone to surround or cannot stretch the ranks wide enough to defend. Moreover you can't shoot while defending. So instead of 3x Lothern, players go 4x Archers and 1x Spearmen to defend them. Almost the same price but way more DPS, less liability as its harder to shutdown 5 units instead of 3 Lothern units. Its about cost effectiveness & going wide vs small with an elite core in MP afterall. Your tiering for HE cavalry is spot on for MP. They're a bit below middle line. Silverhelms were staple in WH2 but in WH3 they're outmatched by other cav and there's too many counters now. Dragon Princes were the best of the best anti-everything with their phy resist in WH2, risky due to sniping(like fate of bjuna) unless you hide them but now, not so much with rampant magic dmg and cav counters. Despite that cav is a necessity as they're really good at shutting down things and for their mobility. That said, going zero cav and almost all ranged is totally viable especially in campaign. Even in MP i've been beaten by HE zero cav comp where they run a small army with elite core goon squad of double dragon Archmage and Arcane Phoenix, terror routing. Coupled with healing which works so good on SEM due to % healing(unlike in WH2). And yea, White Lions of Charice, not impressive at all.
@@Riri_734 I do want to try using more cavalry because it’s super satisfying to see them charge into flanks. I just need cavalry that is able to stand up to some punishment while I figure out the best strategies for using them. For high elves, I found the dragon princes were pretty good at taking a beating. What would you say is your ideal full army for both campaign and MP?
I really enjoy how the HE play a lot like a traditional Total War game faction. Front line, archers and cavalry. Made it very easy for me to get into the game.
Same! Tyrion was my first dip into the game back in WH2. It was still overwhelming at first to understand all of the mechanics, but high elves are probably the best faction to play if you’re first starting out (in my opinion).
@@sarahplaysgames Then you try Skaven and think "Gosh, these are awful" until you figure out how to play them :D
@@katieheys3007 100% my experience hahaha
Shadow Warriors are available to people owning Queen&Crone (but Alith Anar boost them) and Shadow Walkers are exclusive to Nagarythe so yeah if you never played him you never saw them.
Both are 360° fire on the move units and maybe you should give it a go to Alith if you want to have a little change on your HE experience.
About Eagle Bolt Throwers, i don't know if you change the modes but the default one is shit so always put multishot at the start of the battle and you'll see the difference. Still not the greatest but good enough.
Last thought : i find it weird to put heroes among the tier list, to me any hero in any faction goes to S tier when comparing to the rest of the units. The leveling/items/(magic) bring so much potential strength it's not even fair.
The bolt thrower single shot is only really okay against towers and gates. Still a bit trash though haha.
My reason for adding heroes was that I wasn’t really comparing them to other units but more to each other. I know that’s a bit weird to add into the list with the other units, but I didn’t think they were worth putting on a list by themselves.
Also it’s weird that the Shadow walkers weren’t listed with the “special” units like Eltharion’s if they are something used by Alith Anar.
@@katieheys3007 Well try multishot against towers and walls and compare. I'll admit i didn't in 3rd game but in TWW2 multishot does more damage because its precise enough so all of the shots hit the tower. Only point of single shot i guess is shooting single entity monsters maybe, but i'd rather hit infantry and kill monsters with archers.
Interesting perspective. I never use Lothern Sea Guard, as their range is terrible and they lack the defensive capabilities of dedicated Spearmen, so it's funny to me that you rate them so highly while rating units like the Silverin Guard in C tier. Anyway, imo Phoenix Guard, dragons and the Arcane Phoenix are all S tier units, as well as the lore of Light magic wizard.
@@SuperbiaNox Your choices seem in line with most other people who have commented. I definitely have a unique way of playing the game. I did do a short Tyrion campaign a while ago, but I might have to revisit him or maybe Eltharion. I would probably force myself to use these other units to better understand how the majority of players use them.
@@sarahplaysgames I don't think you necessarily have to do a Tyrion campaign to use these units I mention.
- Silverin Guard are basically your late game spearmen, better in every way and serve the same role against stronger late game opponents.
- Phoenix Guard are your late game frontline on most High Elf LLs, as they have expert charge defense and make minced meat out of any cav or large units that pick a fight with them.
- Dragons are pretty obviously S tier, they are flying terror machines with breath attacks and do absurd damage in melee, just keep them away from dedicated anti-large units and prevent them from taking too much missile fire and they will single-handedly rout 3-4 units easily. Star Dragons are the best, but Sun and Moon dragons are also useful.
- The Arcane Phoenix is a Flamespyre Phoenix on steroids. It's one of the most obvious S tier units in the High Elf roster, its resistances are simply nuts and it outputs very high damage + has rebirth that does damage on top of bringing it back to life.
- Light mages are super good for High Elves. Net of Amyntok is busted in how well it synergizes with Archers/Sisters of Avelorn, just pin the most dangerous enemy units down with the net and turn them into pin cushions with your high damage ranged units. They also get other useful quality of life spells that synergize well with High Elves.
- Honorable mentions for S tier that you didn't include in this tier list: Knights of Tor Gaval - only Eltharion has access to them and they are absurdly strong, basically Brettonian Royal Hippogryph Knights on steroids. Also, Alarielle gets access to Tree Kin and Treemen that work very well in her particular army and are thus S tier for her.
@@SuperbiaNox Oh, yeah, I know it doesn’t have to be Tyrion. He’s just one of my favorite legendary lords. 😊 I have played him the most followed by Alarielle. I should branch out and try the other LLs. I played Eltharion briefly with my brother (not recorded) using the Old World mod, but I didn’t get far enough to really make good use of his special units. I’ve wanted to play Alith Anar because I’ve never played him before, but his start position scares me. I’m also not good with sneaky units.
@@sarahplaysgames Tyrion is indeed a powerhouse both in TWW2 and TWW3. My favorite though has to be either Eltharion or Imrik. As a Dark Elf/ High Elf main, I really hope they give us Dark Elf / High Elf DLC alongside the Slaanesh DLC in 2025, both races could use a mechanics rework and some cool new units and LLs to play around with plus it would fit from a rivalry perspective.
@@SuperbiaNox I forgot about Imrik! I played him a bit when IE first dropped, and I got destroyed by Tretch (it was embarrassing). I need to try that campaign again. I’ve heard Imrik on his dragon is a force in battle.
Love these tier-lists, Sarah!
Thank you! It’s been a fun experiment to really think about how I use (or don’t use) the different units.
Rangers for me have a neat niche on factions like Imrik that fight skaven low armor infantry early game. They cut through rats very efficiently. I wish they didn't require a barracks then they would be really solid.
I struggled hard with Imrik when I tried playing him a while back. Now I’m curious to see if I could have more success employing different tactics like this.
The phoenix guard the best Super super unit in this faction, they are so strong and almost unbreakable.
@@soltoftheisha2169 I’m getting the itch to play a Tyrion game and play with some of these units that I don’t normally use.
Shadow Walkers/Warriors are AFAIK (not a huge elf fan, of the high or timber variety) exclusive to Alith Anar.
That makes sense then why I haven’t seen them. I wish they had been with the special units like Eltharion’s in the game unit screen because otherwise I wouldn’t have included them. 😂
I love Silverin Guard. They look cool, they have really good stats and I find that the 30% magic resist really helps out alot in WH3... the ai just seem to be more spell-spammy than in WH2. I used to run pure missile armies with the high elves but with how flank-happy the ai is now I've started putting defensive infantry on the flanks, just so I have to micro less xD
I agree that they do look awesome! I played with them a bit as Tyrion a while back, and I just wasn’t seeing great results, especially when I feel I can get similar performance (and some ranged attacks) from Lothern Sea Guard. But maybe I need to just force myself out of my comfort zone and use some of these units.
Not sure why, but I never use lothern sea guard. Used to use them compulsively in WH2.
@@aaronl5388 I think I default to them in WH3 because I used them a lot in WH2. What do you use now?
Was Warhammer 2 your first RTS? I am considering recommending the game to someone who is new to RTS games but am wondering if it's accessible as an entry RTS. There's so many unexplained mechanics and it can get pretty pricey with DLC. Would really like hearing your experience getting into the game.
I wouldn't call TW an entry RTS, it just so unlike other games of the category since the RTS part is only army batttles. Although it shouldn't stop anyone new to RTS to play the game.
Like you said the barriers is $ and the time needed to learn the game. Just ask the person if he/she feels ok with thoose elements, maybe buy 2nd game on instant gaming at 10$ to try the game to see if he/she likes it.
In my case, it was my first RTS. I would say there is a big learning curve to it. I had my brother with me to basically hold my hand and walk me through the mechanics. And to this day, I am still learning some of the nuances of the game. If your person likes a bit of crunch and likes exploring mechanics and some of the trial and error that comes along with it, I’d say it isn’t bad. But also, like you mentioned, in order to get the full depth of the game, you have to spend a ton of money. I built up my library by waiting for Steam sales, but it’s hard to predict when those will drop.
First of all, really appreciate choice of music - "Isha's Blessing", excellent soundtrack (I consider it as ambient?), fully representing High Elves imo :) another great soundtrack is "Rhya's Hymn" (you'd recognize it from playing for Empire).
"Silverin guard are may be better than spearmen" - poor guys got absolutely destroyed, not only compared to basic spearmen but also put tier below them, rip. But seriously, I'd agree if it's an argument between cost and effectiveness + availability, compared to mentionted spearmen for example, but I think stats-wise they're very good unit - silver shields, 75 armour (compared to 40 of spearmen), higher attack and defense, expert charge defense (spearmen have it only against large units), and magic resistance (and of course higher leadership and weapon strength), same about lothern sea guard, both variants, Silverin guard are better than them, except having ranged weapons. For a T2 unit, very good, I consider them as very good mid-tier frontlinemen for the most part of the campaign.
Talking about lothern sea guard - in my experience their reduced range is an issue, I don't mind having them as auxiliary unit, like 2 or 4 of them in the army, and put them on flanks or front to brace monsters/cavalry, but otherwise it's easier to get archers as ranged units and spearmen as frontline. Agree on Phoenix Guard, they have high stats, but they're so hard to get (and expensive too) and after all that they end up dying as cannon fodder because they have no shields or missile resistance (or magic resistance, also).
Heroes.. Nobles are very important I think, may be more as agents than army unit (to secure influence), otherwise they're replaceable with Handmaidens (both give replenishment), but he's pretty good melee combat hero with charge defense and anti-large bonus.
As people probably suggested multiple times - strongly recommend Alith Anar campaign, very tragic character, his position is pretty difficult I'd say, long story short - you almost have no allies around, only enemies, so it is only matter when they'll declare war on you. As for his units - people mentioned their 360 fire whilst moving, but.. in my experience I couldn't fully exploit their attributes to the fullest, at certain I point they would lack armour-pierce damage for me, or practically missing their shots while running + very often you can't really outrun enemy cavalry or monsters.
@@morm6206 I do feel bad about the Silverin Guard. I have played with them quite a bit, and they are good units. I just always default to my usual army comp, which I know is not the ideal one.
If you were to build a full high elf army, including any of the different units, what would you build? I kind of want to fight some battles with different army suggestions from you guys.
@@morm6206 Also, I love the Warhammer soundtrack! I’m a big OST person, so I love scores from so many movies, shows, and games. I actually was just playing the ambient high elf music in the background (I had a dummy campaign up on my other screen lol).
@@sarahplaysgames About army comp - oh I don't know, the thing is - sometimes you have to change units depending on the enemy you fight. Let's say you're fighting vampire coast - they're mostly ranged units, so you can use some fast units like cavalry/lions/chariots, but later let's say you have ultimate crisis with dwarves and you have to face heavily armoured long ranged armies (I think dwarves are the hardest counter for HE, at least for me, battles with them are always end up very bloody and messy).
But back to the topic - for me it's almost just infantry, I tend not to use flying monsters or cavalry/chariots (even dragon princes in my army are always trash), may be 2 or 3 Bolt Throwers as pathetic attempt to counter enemy artillery (or having siege unit in some armies), about 5 Silverin Guard (may be 2 or 4 lothern sea guard as second line), the rest are archers (sisters of avelorn if available and I have enough income). As for heroes.. one spellcaster, depending on available roster it's either Beast/Heaven/Life/Shadow/Fire/Metal or High/Light at the very least, Noble/Handmaiden for replenishment, Loremaster of Hoeth for training,
Thanks for making the video
@@Spartacus2667 thank you for watching!
You really should be looking into unit accessability when considering tiers. Normal archers are "better" than armored ones, due to being avaible jsut from settlement.
Yep, you're absolutely right. I believe Legend of Total War takes that into account, and if I remember correctly, that's why he ranked the regular archers higher than the light armor ones.
What other faction unit tier lists you have plans for?
@@KiethSomataw99 I thought I’d start with the factions I’m most familiar with - lizardmen are one of my favorites, and I’ve been spending a lot of time playing Skaven lately. However, I fear that I’ll get called out on a Skaven tier list because I’m playing as Ikit Claw, and I’ve only really been using a small subset of the Skaven units. I might need to play as another faction like Queek or Skrolk in order to be more “fair” in my assessment.
Example of Skaven unit tier: Skavenslave Slingers go to B or C tier. While they are just as cowardly and frail as the other variants, they have a ranged attack to do some kind of damage without having to receive damage. They are a better filler unit in the early game as they have no building requirements.
Also, while a quick melee unit engage one troop of Slingers, others can spread out and pelt attackers from flanks.
@@KiethSomataw99 Yep, I like putting my slingers on skirmish actually. That way, they have a chance of breaking free and then they can go back to firing.
I feel like these elite melee units never perform good. Kinda nice to start with one but otherwise meh. Specially slow once.
@@rosalina2938 I’ve watched almost all of Legend of Total War’s tier lists, and I’m often surprised by how low some of the high tier units rank. Granted, he also ranks them based on cost effectiveness which sometimes automatically throws them lower. But yeah, there’s a ton of early game units that perform well in the late game also.
@@sarahplaysgames True. But I still get them because they look cool and I like to theme my army's. Even though its pretty inefficient sometimes. Like melee focused woodelves army's.
@@rosalina2938 I also like to play around with fun stuff like that sometimes. There’s so much you can do in the game, and I think it’s neat to experiment with different armies and units.
@@sarahplaysgames yes, so right.
If you don't have experience with the units why are you grading them?? Gain more experience with the unit s before ranking no?? High elves are my favorite faction and you are right with most of your rankings but man i cant lie. I cringe every time you say, "i never really pick these guys" or "i don't really remember this unit". Its just not a good look when you're ranking units. Good video though and i hope you have success with your channel
Lol, I thought I made it clear when I started the list that this was MY opinion. This isn’t some objective ranking. This is meant to give insight into how I play the game. My opinion is going to be different than others. How I play is neither right nor wrong just as with everyone else.
The reason I didn’t remember the Shadow-walkers is because they are Alith Anar units, and I have mentioned on many occasions that I have never played his faction. I am not one who plays with many stealth units hence why I am not as familiar with rangers or shadow warriors.
I appreciate your best wishes, but I want you to understand that you don’t have to watch my tier lists if you disagree. That’s completely fine. I am not Legend of Total War who does objective rankings. I am ranking them for fun based on my own personal thoughts and experiences. 🙂
@@sarahplaysgames My point is that you didn’t have an opinion on units you’re ranking. I was definitely interested in your opinion. I had never seen your channel before and love this game. I see a ranking of my favorite faction and I’m gonna watch. I didn’t nor do I expect for everyone to have my same opinion. Ofcourse not. But having several units just be put aside because you don’t remember them is kinda weird presentation. Again, no problem with your opinion or your channel or you. I don’t even know you really, just sharing what I as an audience member is experiencing. I wish you much success.
@@JorgeTorres-pl7ck It’s not that I don’t remember them. If I said so in the video, I apologize. I will admit that it’s been a while since I played high elves since I’ve been trying to branch out and play more unfamiliar factions, but they are also my one of my favorite factions. I just tend to like what I like when I play, so I usually stick with certain units, and others are not typically in my armies.
I’m sorry if you feel I did them injustice. That was not my intention. I have 316 hours in WH2 and 840 hours in WH3. I do have experience with the game. I’m sorry if I came across as defensive in my comment. I just took your original comment to mean I had no right in making a tier list, and I don’t think that’s fair.
@@sarahplaysgames It was never about whether about your hours in the game or anything like that. I think maybe it would have been best if you should use footage of your battles and have your commentary over that would’ve been perfect. Not telling you how to make your videos though, it’s your channel. It’s just all about presentation I think :) and to be honest I’m just one person right? And it seems a BUNCH of people like the vid how it is now so idk. This all just my opinion. I hope you continue to make good content ma’am. Best of luck :) !
@@JorgeTorres-pl7ck I appreciate that, and like I said, I’m sorry if I came across as defensive. I know I’m putting myself out there by making videos, and I’ll be honest, it’s a bit intimidating. I know I’m not a great player like Legend, Turin, Costin, etc, but I’m very passionate about the game, and I love playing it. Maybe I’ll have to play some battles and try out different units that way. I always forget there’s that option. 😂 Thank you for your kind words!
Your tier list seems to be overly nooby to me...alot of these should be ranked so much higher. Rangers behind spearmen (especially until late game), shadow warriors are amazing at kiting. War lions are actually OP easy A tier. Eagles if you micro them are amazing at wasting enemy ammo, easy A tier. Seems you have a lot to learn about any tactic outside of just sitting archers behind loth guard lol. Beast mage is NU/D, Shadow S tier
@@Steve-nk6vl I appreciate you taking the time to comment. I’ll agree to disagree and leave it at that. 🙂
It's kinda baffling that you call other people noobs if you would place war lions in A tier, and rangers ahead of spearmen?. Sure rangers fight better in forest and they are anti infantry but high elves do not lack for anti infantry, it is much better to have a lineholder that can soak missile damage with shields, if you were to try and use rangers for that then they would get torn to shreds, war lions are decent but they are never gonna outperform a star dragon or sun dragon for that matter. Shadow warriors are again quite good but aside from recruiting them as Alith Anar they are also outperformed by a lot of other units, stalk is useful but considering how much range the high elf missile units have it is again '' you guessed it '' outperformed. Lore of shadows has 2 good spells, melkoths miasma and pit of shades, that is nowhere near enough for an S ranking. Eagles are not the only unit that can succesfully waste enemy ammunition, a lot of single entity units can do that, any generic lord on a horse can serve the exact same purpose so the eagle is not special. Next time be more respectful because you weren't even correct in what you said.
@@snefff6560war lions are armour piercing and anti infantry. They far surpass the lacklustre cavalry of the HE so they are A tier in the role they fulfil. You won’t be buying a cavalry building but will work your way towards sisters of avalorn so it’s not a wasted building slot either. I stated rangers are good until later game and do fall off when replaced by higher tier units. They are good to supplement the spears not replace them, which I never said. Eagles again fulfil the role EARLY game that other lords won’t be able to adequately perform until air mounted. They remain great until replaced by dragons as a counter to cavalry and siege, a lord on a horse is not in the air and can get bogged down, also animations are broken for lords who are mounted on horses and have been for a while.
Your counter argument tells me you clearly play the game as easy to normal. Try hard/very hard next time where the AI actually counter the standard spear/archer combo and you need to use more thought and tactics.
I won’t even touch on shadow warriors as you calling them useless or outperformed by others again highlights your limited tactical knowledge/ability.
I would have put Swordmasters and Loremasters up a bit but otherwise good list.
I need to play Teclis again because, correct me if I’m wrong, I think he gives them a boost?
@@sarahplaysgames I think Tyrion does (:
@@bertschi7 Oh really? I thought Tyrion was more Phoenix Guard and maybe Lothern Sea Guard. I’ll have to check that.
Looks more like a multiplayer tier list lol. HE has quite a sizeable roster but unfortunately most of their units are variants of a role rather than offering a different functionality or having an alternate purpose.
This is kind of funny because I’ve never played multiplayer or even really watched multiplayer matches. Most of the time, I feel like my army choices would NOT be good in multiplayer lol.
You seem to value low tiers units and some specific high tiers units which you choose heroes and lords around.
With the limited budget in multiplayer it's a good way to play.
Though, you should give a go to one or two cav/chariots units, even bad. You can gets a lot of value against arty or archers and even against melee armies you can distract and flank for a cheap price.
In multiplayer just a bit more micro can help a lot, i watch french tournaments sometimes and a lot effort is done by a good micro with two or three units at times. When they did their jobs you can focus on others, lot of trades.
In my experiences the only flaw of your units is maybe the lothern sea guards, good at everything usually means bad at what it should do.
They won't be a tougher front that the silver guys (forgot their name in english), they won't do much as a ranged units if engaged or poorly than the sisters or archers.
I prefer to have spears and sisters or silvers guys and archers than a seaguards frontline.
Anyway, the YT bot light guided me here, and it was fun.
@@vilmarhgrarhk494 Wow, thanks for all of the advice! I am pretty narrow minded with units sometimes, and that’s not just with high elves. If I do some other unit tier lists, I’m sure it will be a similar story. I’m pretty bad with cavalry and chariots, so I tend to avoid them all together. I have a tendency to hyper focus on them and forget the rest of the army OR I completely forget about them and they crumble almost immediately. Unfortunately, it’s just part of how I play the game, though I am trying to be better about it.
In my experience, the Lothern Sea Guard have performed to my expectations. My strategy most of the time is to go very heavy on ranged units and pick the enemy off before they hit my front line. That’s mostly why I like have them as my front liners. They provide additional ranged capabilities for the Sisters of Avelorn, and they can hold their own in melee. I’m sure the Silverin Guard are much, much better at straight melee, but again, I’m looking to go heavy ranged and not have to worry about melee as much. If you watch my ongoing Ikit Claw campaign, you’ll see what I mean lol.
At the end of the day, I completely acknowledge that how I play the game is unconventional. While I am forcing myself to branch out and try some new things, I just have the most fun going heavy range and artillery. I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to change myself from that. 🙂
Lothern Sea Guard works fine in campaign. The hesitation is more towards multiplayer as they don't do either roles well. Lothern 90 entities vs 120 of Spearmen means you're prone to surround or cannot stretch the ranks wide enough to defend. Moreover you can't shoot while defending. So instead of 3x Lothern, players go 4x Archers and 1x Spearmen to defend them. Almost the same price but way more DPS, less liability as its harder to shutdown 5 units instead of 3 Lothern units. Its about cost effectiveness & going wide vs small with an elite core in MP afterall.
Your tiering for HE cavalry is spot on for MP. They're a bit below middle line. Silverhelms were staple in WH2 but in WH3 they're outmatched by other cav and there's too many counters now. Dragon Princes were the best of the best anti-everything with their phy resist in WH2, risky due to sniping(like fate of bjuna) unless you hide them but now, not so much with rampant magic dmg and cav counters. Despite that cav is a necessity as they're really good at shutting down things and for their mobility.
That said, going zero cav and almost all ranged is totally viable especially in campaign. Even in MP i've been beaten by HE zero cav comp where they run a small army with elite core goon squad of double dragon Archmage and Arcane Phoenix, terror routing. Coupled with healing which works so good on SEM due to % healing(unlike in WH2).
And yea, White Lions of Charice, not impressive at all.
@@Riri_734 I do want to try using more cavalry because it’s super satisfying to see them charge into flanks. I just need cavalry that is able to stand up to some punishment while I figure out the best strategies for using them. For high elves, I found the dragon princes were pretty good at taking a beating.
What would you say is your ideal full army for both campaign and MP?
I fucking love your voice
Really? I cringe listening back to myself. 😅
@@sarahplaysgames I think that's just a normal human thing, you're good dw :P
You are very nice, but no logic in ranking the units, only criteria is your likeliness!!!
I did say that several times during the video….
If your going to give your opinion, let alone post a video about it on the internet, at least wait until you have an opinion.
@@emrysmyridden What a very interesting thing to say. 😂