Gkyr
Chef
This post is to help Elves get over a defeat that stands in the way of progress in the Steel Tourney. Battle difficulty does not increase uniformly. The numeric ratios may increase from Tourney round to round and from Tourney province to province but success is a matter of habitual lineup choice, experience and field obstructions. Therefore, getting over one 'insurmountable' encounter may bring a series of easier victories. If you find this post useful, then bookmark it.
There are many experienced fighters in Elvenar and others may have different strategies that work well for them. These tips are what works well for me. This advice is directed to Elf gamers who are at least in chapter 9, but principles may help Elves in earlier chapters and Humans in earlier and middle chapters.
It helps to have a fully leveled [10] and fed Fire Phoenix, and an Unleashed Unit Upgrade (Or Dwarven Armor) and an Enlightened Light Range. Magnificent Mage Multiplier is not necessary in this Tourney unless you are going all out because your Mages play a minor role here (less than 10% of battles). The Fire Phoenix is not necessary but it means that you will be using this strategy a little earlier in the Tourney. I often battle without it until things get challenging.
Default conditions: The steel Tourney is dominated by Mages. As battles get more challenging, complimentary HR Steinlings, HR Cannoneers and LR Archer types are put into the opposition lineup.
Default gamer lineup: This lineup makes a great deal of sense for both auto-fighting (AF) and manual fighting (MF). As most know, but for the record, the order you place your troops will match the order of the opposing lineup. Therefore is makes sense to start by placing a buff-advantaged troops opposite your opponent. As a default choice, Archers and Rangers are put opposite Mages and HM, I use Banshees opposite HR, Orc Strategists opposite LR and Golems opposite LM.
This is a first approximation only. For one thing, the opposition does not cooperate by staying in 'their lane' to attack the troop opposite them. For another, this may result in placing Banshees too near opposition Archers that will have first strike against them. Looking at the filled lines across the field from each other may give additional information for a switch, then the auto-complete button can be clicked if you are not into MF. As mentioned, this lineup can be filled in this manner for AF. The 'advanced' strategy begins when this setup results in a Defeat.
Back from Defeat: Of course you can always cater a defeated encounter. But for fighters, the quickest bounce back from defeat and to move on in the Tourney is to repeat the same lineup but use MF instead of AF. This requires some MF experience and I strongly suggest getting some somewhere along the way. As most know, but for the record, the game algorithm does not always make strong moves and is incapable of waiting or retreating for strategic advantages. Especially with LR against Mages, it is best to move your LR into the back corners so that they do not get shredded by the Mages or Steinlings and LM in round 1. Then the melee troops can be whittled down a bit in round 1 by your Golems and Orc Strats (for LR) before bringing your Rangers or Archers out for the middle and end games. This frequently 'snatches Victory from the jaws of Defeat'.
If this doesn't work or if you think you do not have the buff power to make MF work there is a further tactic that has won quite a few difficult encounters for me in the Steel Tourney; in fact, it has never lost. However you must be in chapter 14 for the Gruff Orc Warrior upgrade and chapter 15 for the VV upgrade. I do not use it routinely because it depends upon melee troops which are disgustingly slow to battle in MF mode and cannot be used if the field obstructions are dense. Also I don't train a lot of them to have on hand. If you use this tactic, you might as well use MF to get over this one difficult encounter before proceeding further with AF. This tactic uses troops that are ignored in general by the Elvenar gamers. Successful battles by your mates convinces you to copy their strategies, especially if they are top scorers. Troops that have the reputation of being 'useless' are never given a chance to display usefulness in niche situations. Nevertheless, these units have the highest attack and/or health stats and are therefore useful. Among these are Drone Riders, Sinister Cerberus, Vallorian Veterans (VV), and Gruff Orcs. Substitute the Dogs opposite the Mages, Drones opposite LR, VV opposite HR and Gruff Orcs opposite LM. The opponent will 'jump lanes' of course but keep after them (MF) with the advantaged counterpart. VVs are slow to get to the HR but the Dogs quickly shred the Mages. The Drones get most of the LR but they draw fire from every one of the opposition and do not survive, ever. You will lose a lot of troops but you will wind up with a Victory. Usually the Mages are the first to fall to the Dogs. After the Mages are gone I move the Dogs to the opposite side of the field in order to preserve what is left against the shredding they receive from the Steinlings.
The fun in MF is how to survive the challenges and this is how I do it. This niche pairing can work in other types of Tourney, but more on other Tournies later.
There are many experienced fighters in Elvenar and others may have different strategies that work well for them. These tips are what works well for me. This advice is directed to Elf gamers who are at least in chapter 9, but principles may help Elves in earlier chapters and Humans in earlier and middle chapters.
It helps to have a fully leveled [10] and fed Fire Phoenix, and an Unleashed Unit Upgrade (Or Dwarven Armor) and an Enlightened Light Range. Magnificent Mage Multiplier is not necessary in this Tourney unless you are going all out because your Mages play a minor role here (less than 10% of battles). The Fire Phoenix is not necessary but it means that you will be using this strategy a little earlier in the Tourney. I often battle without it until things get challenging.
Default conditions: The steel Tourney is dominated by Mages. As battles get more challenging, complimentary HR Steinlings, HR Cannoneers and LR Archer types are put into the opposition lineup.
Default gamer lineup: This lineup makes a great deal of sense for both auto-fighting (AF) and manual fighting (MF). As most know, but for the record, the order you place your troops will match the order of the opposing lineup. Therefore is makes sense to start by placing a buff-advantaged troops opposite your opponent. As a default choice, Archers and Rangers are put opposite Mages and HM, I use Banshees opposite HR, Orc Strategists opposite LR and Golems opposite LM.
This is a first approximation only. For one thing, the opposition does not cooperate by staying in 'their lane' to attack the troop opposite them. For another, this may result in placing Banshees too near opposition Archers that will have first strike against them. Looking at the filled lines across the field from each other may give additional information for a switch, then the auto-complete button can be clicked if you are not into MF. As mentioned, this lineup can be filled in this manner for AF. The 'advanced' strategy begins when this setup results in a Defeat.
Back from Defeat: Of course you can always cater a defeated encounter. But for fighters, the quickest bounce back from defeat and to move on in the Tourney is to repeat the same lineup but use MF instead of AF. This requires some MF experience and I strongly suggest getting some somewhere along the way. As most know, but for the record, the game algorithm does not always make strong moves and is incapable of waiting or retreating for strategic advantages. Especially with LR against Mages, it is best to move your LR into the back corners so that they do not get shredded by the Mages or Steinlings and LM in round 1. Then the melee troops can be whittled down a bit in round 1 by your Golems and Orc Strats (for LR) before bringing your Rangers or Archers out for the middle and end games. This frequently 'snatches Victory from the jaws of Defeat'.
If this doesn't work or if you think you do not have the buff power to make MF work there is a further tactic that has won quite a few difficult encounters for me in the Steel Tourney; in fact, it has never lost. However you must be in chapter 14 for the Gruff Orc Warrior upgrade and chapter 15 for the VV upgrade. I do not use it routinely because it depends upon melee troops which are disgustingly slow to battle in MF mode and cannot be used if the field obstructions are dense. Also I don't train a lot of them to have on hand. If you use this tactic, you might as well use MF to get over this one difficult encounter before proceeding further with AF. This tactic uses troops that are ignored in general by the Elvenar gamers. Successful battles by your mates convinces you to copy their strategies, especially if they are top scorers. Troops that have the reputation of being 'useless' are never given a chance to display usefulness in niche situations. Nevertheless, these units have the highest attack and/or health stats and are therefore useful. Among these are Drone Riders, Sinister Cerberus, Vallorian Veterans (VV), and Gruff Orcs. Substitute the Dogs opposite the Mages, Drones opposite LR, VV opposite HR and Gruff Orcs opposite LM. The opponent will 'jump lanes' of course but keep after them (MF) with the advantaged counterpart. VVs are slow to get to the HR but the Dogs quickly shred the Mages. The Drones get most of the LR but they draw fire from every one of the opposition and do not survive, ever. You will lose a lot of troops but you will wind up with a Victory. Usually the Mages are the first to fall to the Dogs. After the Mages are gone I move the Dogs to the opposite side of the field in order to preserve what is left against the shredding they receive from the Steinlings.
The fun in MF is how to survive the challenges and this is how I do it. This niche pairing can work in other types of Tourney, but more on other Tournies later.
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