one of the things people sometimes forget is that all good armies will need a terror piece. empire has 4 options for that: hippo lords, tanks, bruckner and the altdorf gryphites. make sure you always have one, especially if you think you'll be fighting low tier infantry. i have never had a game against a good opponent where flagellants get their value. their one and only use is to counter frontline terror rushes against spooky builds when you absolutely need that frontline to hold demigryphs are big scary to everyone who doesnt play empire often. those who do realise they have a terrible pullout game so ya gotta keep em away from all kinds of spears as well as your own infantry. yes, they can take out stuff like pigback riders in isolation but i would not reccomend that at all. empire missiles SEEM great on paper, but they are all glass cannons. i predict when nuln ironsides get some proper armour that will change but for now, missile troops are a guarantee that you will be on the defense while avoiding enemy missiles the entire game. war wagons are what makes this faction so great on multiplayer. if the enemy focuses them, they get their value. if they are ignored, they get their value. all you need is one free direction for an escape route and your good. for players wanting to counter them, use low tier horses (NOT DOGS, they path through them) in a full surround, but only after you take out the cavalry. also saying that war wagons are mid is just cope, they are still S tier. knights of the blazing sun are there to punish wide builds. they are an autopick vs norsca due to skin wolves, and they shine best in the second half of the game when the battlefield opens up. like war wagons, keep them mobile and you keep em safe. steam tanks are your answer to sticky infantry SE's, but they are certainly not autopicks. artillery and AP cav will feast upon these fellas so pick this unit with caution, that being said, a steam tank will beat sigvald if you use them right so use that info as you will. nuln ironsides are soo close to being good. they should have been like fireglaives without the anti large but instead they gave em 60 armour and 60 entities. as someone who has sent in like half a dozen ironsides replays to youtubers i have to admit they are not a good unit. they could be with 80 armour, but they aren't. for now, use them to counter low tier missiles and dogs, but not mid tier missiles (HE archers and above) and cav. empire knights are there to even the numbers in the flanks contest, but they wont win it for you. they WILL win the flanks if you support them with either: a warrior priest with soulfire (against low armour cav like seekers only), demis, or plague of rust. you can also use them to shut down missiles in a pinch but they just dont have the dps to get through high tier missiles, so leave that to the reiksguard or above tiers. highly reccomend bringing them empire artillery is interesting because of all the artillery factions, empire has the worst. therefore you never want to be in an artillery duel, save maybe using cannon + cannon ROR + grundels defenders. chorfs technically lose in an artillery duel but they can just hide their rockets behind a tree and therefore you lose. the sunmaker is infamous, maybe too infamous so if you think you should bring one just assume the enemy has a counter for it, because they do. other than the sunmaker, helstorms can nuke a big monster when netted, and mortars are the cheapest option to bring an enemy to you. dont fall into the trap of letting artillery restrict your mobility, you are not dwarves. greatswords are only good when the enemy doesnt know your taking greatswords. wierdly they work best with cav heavy builds because lots of cav means delicious infantry to feast on. only take one or 2 though, otherwise you may be left without mobility and cycle charged to death overall, despite the discussion at the end there really isn't a go-to empire build for every faction (except norsca) so feel free to take diverse and wacky builds to keep your oppenent off balance. just make sure you have faith, steel or gunpowder remaining in the 4th quarter to clean up what remains
Only love to Bloodpenguin, and he's a much better player than me, but that "War Wagons are mid" take is almost as bad as some Dwarf players pretending the Thunderbarge is fine.
one of the things people sometimes forget is that all good armies will need a terror piece. empire has 4 options for that: hippo lords, tanks, bruckner and the altdorf gryphites. make sure you always have one, especially if you think you'll be fighting low tier infantry.
i have never had a game against a good opponent where flagellants get their value. their one and only use is to counter frontline terror rushes against spooky builds when you absolutely need that frontline to hold
demigryphs are big scary to everyone who doesnt play empire often. those who do realise they have a terrible pullout game so ya gotta keep em away from all kinds of spears as well as your own infantry. yes, they can take out stuff like pigback riders in isolation but i would not reccomend that at all.
empire missiles SEEM great on paper, but they are all glass cannons. i predict when nuln ironsides get some proper armour that will change but for now, missile troops are a guarantee that you will be on the defense while avoiding enemy missiles the entire game.
war wagons are what makes this faction so great on multiplayer. if the enemy focuses them, they get their value. if they are ignored, they get their value. all you need is one free direction for an escape route and your good. for players wanting to counter them, use low tier horses (NOT DOGS, they path through them) in a full surround, but only after you take out the cavalry. also saying that war wagons are mid is just cope, they are still S tier.
knights of the blazing sun are there to punish wide builds. they are an autopick vs norsca due to skin wolves, and they shine best in the second half of the game when the battlefield opens up. like war wagons, keep them mobile and you keep em safe.
steam tanks are your answer to sticky infantry SE's, but they are certainly not autopicks. artillery and AP cav will feast upon these fellas so pick this unit with caution, that being said, a steam tank will beat sigvald if you use them right so use that info as you will.
nuln ironsides are soo close to being good. they should have been like fireglaives without the anti large but instead they gave em 60 armour and 60 entities. as someone who has sent in like half a dozen ironsides replays to youtubers i have to admit they are not a good unit. they could be with 80 armour, but they aren't. for now, use them to counter low tier missiles and dogs, but not mid tier missiles (HE archers and above) and cav.
empire knights are there to even the numbers in the flanks contest, but they wont win it for you. they WILL win the flanks if you support them with either: a warrior priest with soulfire (against low armour cav like seekers only), demis, or plague of rust. you can also use them to shut down missiles in a pinch but they just dont have the dps to get through high tier missiles, so leave that to the reiksguard or above tiers. highly reccomend bringing them
empire artillery is interesting because of all the artillery factions, empire has the worst. therefore you never want to be in an artillery duel, save maybe using cannon + cannon ROR + grundels defenders. chorfs technically lose in an artillery duel but they can just hide their rockets behind a tree and therefore you lose. the sunmaker is infamous, maybe too infamous so if you think you should bring one just assume the enemy has a counter for it, because they do. other than the sunmaker, helstorms can nuke a big monster when netted, and mortars are the cheapest option to bring an enemy to you. dont fall into the trap of letting artillery restrict your mobility, you are not dwarves.
greatswords are only good when the enemy doesnt know your taking greatswords. wierdly they work best with cav heavy builds because lots of cav means delicious infantry to feast on. only take one or 2 though, otherwise you may be left without mobility and cycle charged to death
overall, despite the discussion at the end there really isn't a go-to empire build for every faction (except norsca) so feel free to take diverse and wacky builds to keep your oppenent off balance. just make sure you have faith, steel or gunpowder remaining in the 4th quarter to clean up what remains
demigryph knights keeping the empire alive with their poor pull out game
Only love to Bloodpenguin, and he's a much better player than me, but that "War Wagons are mid" take is almost as bad as some Dwarf players pretending the Thunderbarge is fine.
War wagons are really good in some matchups. Turin is one of the best Empire players out there and he likes them as well.
You gotta know your enemy
Wish there was a small section at the end where you get a list of counter factions for the current release.
Blood for the tuxedo bird!
What changed with Volkmar that he is worse between game2 - game3?
soulfire bombardment does way less damage
For the empire! Also - Kislev.
Whoooo Yeahhh Babyy! This is what i've been waiting for, that's what it's all about whooooooo
The guy you has as a guest did not give general explanations at all. Way to much “ye this is bad, moving on”
Nuln ironsides are OP and you are just a hater
Campaign nobody playing competitive uses them. Is to expensive you paying a premium for armour instead of using regular gunners