Mykan
Oh Wise One
This guide forms part of a larger guide Mykans Guide
For a list of unit details please refer to the Elvenar Wiki or to the units section of Elven Architect. The below information is looking at how to turn the unit information into a strategy of your own. Note this information is only valid for world map provinces and not tournaments which have a different randomised approach.
Please note for this section of the guide
Every unit has 3 levels, basic, advanced, expert. The names of the units change as they progress through these levels. Sometimes it is simply adding a II or a III and sometimes words will be added to the name like “Bud” for the Bud Sorceress the expert level Sorceress for Elves.
For the sake of simplicity most of the graphics and comments refer to the basic unit. Generally the strategies needed do not change as you progress through the better unit levels. However at the expert level units obtain special abilities that the earlier levels did not have, this is for enemy and friendly units alike. As such your strategy needs to vary slightly to allow for these bonuses.
When to Fight
Before trying any fight you need to decide if you should fight. The best way to do this is to compare your squad size to that of the enemy. Fight difficulty ranges from easy (you outnumber the enemy), fair (evenly matched), difficult (enemy out numbers you a little), to impossible (enemy outnumbers you by 2 or more). See chart below.
Thanks to @varron for the inspiration and design
The scouts give you an indication of difficulty before and after scouting. The colours above are similar to those in the game but are only indicative and do not reflect actual difficulty of in-game colours..
If you are outnumbered consider your skill, troops available to you, combat pentagon, wonders that you own, special event buildings and any soon to activate military technologies.
Military technologies
Your initial squad size is 6 and increases with every new squad size technology. The increase is 3 times the squad size technology. So if you have researched squad size 1 and 3 your squad size would be 6 + (1 x 3) + (3 x 3) = 18. Researching new military technology is very important to be competitive in provinces.
You are not meant to or expected to win fights where your opponent is double or more your army size, so ensure you keep researching your squad size upgrades.
Wonders and Event buildings
Certain wonders increase the effectiveness of your troops by improving their hit points or increasing their strength. Some wonders also provide free troops every few hours. Please refer to the section on Wonders.
Some event buildings provide troop increases for a limited time, 5 days, from the time the building is built. They can be timed to provide a boost to your tournament or provincial combats.
Battle Pentagon
Each unit type is specialised against 2 other unit types and weak to 2 unit types. From the picture below Light melee is good against light ranged and magical units while it is weak to heavy ranged and heavy melee.
General fighting
Manual verse Auto Fighting
Manual fights will typically cost you less units, learning to fight early when fights are easier will save you in the long run. Losses are inevitable assess possible losses against the cost of negotiation, it can be cheaper to negotiate if losses are expected to be high. The more varied the enemy types the more likely losses might occur.
With auto fights the AI seems to cope better the less units types you enter. So all of 1 type of unit is easier for the AI then 3 or 4 different units.
Scout terrain
You can scout a province by choosing to do a manual fight and then quit, do this with your highest initiative troop. This costs nothing and allows you to scout a battlefield so you can position troops effectively.
Troop placement
The starting position of troops depends on the order you select them. The first troop starts in the middle, the second troop goes immediately above the first and the third immediately below. The fourth one goes at the top and the fifth at the bottom. Whether manual or auto-fighting improved placement can save you from suffering heavy losses.
The enemy targets the highest initiative troops within range, thus Archers are often good as cannon fodder to draw enemy fire.
Troop bonuses and special abilities
Look at the offensive and defensive bonus of your troops. A defense bonus of -80% means you take 80% less damage. An offense bonus of 20% means you cause 20% more damage.
Only one special ability stays in effect on an enemy if it is a similar type of effect. Effects of different types will stack. Pay attention to this if fighting with multiple troops with the same effect as the impact on the enemy changes based on who attacked them last. For example a -20% weakens enemy will replace a -60% weakens enemy if it was the last attack on the enemy.
Retaliation and focused attacks
A troop only retaliates once per turn so ganging up on an enemy can mean you take less damage than fighting 1v1. Cerberus and War dogs get an increased number of retaliations when they are 2 and 3 star troops.
Retaliation typically only occurs when in close combat range (touching the other hex). Rangers are an exception that can retaliate from range.
Troop selection
The game has a user interface that helps with identifying good unit choice
Thanks to @ptparks for the image
When you hover over a unit it will highlight enemy units that it has an advantage against or is neutral to. The pop-up above your unit shows which units it is strong against with a sword rating and which is neutral. For details of why there are these ratings check the unit information in game, wiki or elven architect for details.
For a list of unit details please refer to the Elvenar Wiki or to the units section of Elven Architect. The below information is looking at how to turn the unit information into a strategy of your own. Note this information is only valid for world map provinces and not tournaments which have a different randomised approach.
Please note for this section of the guide
Every unit has 3 levels, basic, advanced, expert. The names of the units change as they progress through these levels. Sometimes it is simply adding a II or a III and sometimes words will be added to the name like “Bud” for the Bud Sorceress the expert level Sorceress for Elves.
For the sake of simplicity most of the graphics and comments refer to the basic unit. Generally the strategies needed do not change as you progress through the better unit levels. However at the expert level units obtain special abilities that the earlier levels did not have, this is for enemy and friendly units alike. As such your strategy needs to vary slightly to allow for these bonuses.
When to Fight
Before trying any fight you need to decide if you should fight. The best way to do this is to compare your squad size to that of the enemy. Fight difficulty ranges from easy (you outnumber the enemy), fair (evenly matched), difficult (enemy out numbers you a little), to impossible (enemy outnumbers you by 2 or more). See chart below.

Thanks to @varron for the inspiration and design
The scouts give you an indication of difficulty before and after scouting. The colours above are similar to those in the game but are only indicative and do not reflect actual difficulty of in-game colours..
If you are outnumbered consider your skill, troops available to you, combat pentagon, wonders that you own, special event buildings and any soon to activate military technologies.
Military technologies
Your initial squad size is 6 and increases with every new squad size technology. The increase is 3 times the squad size technology. So if you have researched squad size 1 and 3 your squad size would be 6 + (1 x 3) + (3 x 3) = 18. Researching new military technology is very important to be competitive in provinces.
You are not meant to or expected to win fights where your opponent is double or more your army size, so ensure you keep researching your squad size upgrades.

Wonders and Event buildings
Certain wonders increase the effectiveness of your troops by improving their hit points or increasing their strength. Some wonders also provide free troops every few hours. Please refer to the section on Wonders.
Some event buildings provide troop increases for a limited time, 5 days, from the time the building is built. They can be timed to provide a boost to your tournament or provincial combats.
Battle Pentagon
Each unit type is specialised against 2 other unit types and weak to 2 unit types. From the picture below Light melee is good against light ranged and magical units while it is weak to heavy ranged and heavy melee.

General fighting
Manual verse Auto Fighting
Manual fights will typically cost you less units, learning to fight early when fights are easier will save you in the long run. Losses are inevitable assess possible losses against the cost of negotiation, it can be cheaper to negotiate if losses are expected to be high. The more varied the enemy types the more likely losses might occur.
With auto fights the AI seems to cope better the less units types you enter. So all of 1 type of unit is easier for the AI then 3 or 4 different units.
Scout terrain
You can scout a province by choosing to do a manual fight and then quit, do this with your highest initiative troop. This costs nothing and allows you to scout a battlefield so you can position troops effectively.
Troop placement
The starting position of troops depends on the order you select them. The first troop starts in the middle, the second troop goes immediately above the first and the third immediately below. The fourth one goes at the top and the fifth at the bottom. Whether manual or auto-fighting improved placement can save you from suffering heavy losses.


The enemy targets the highest initiative troops within range, thus Archers are often good as cannon fodder to draw enemy fire.
Troop bonuses and special abilities
Look at the offensive and defensive bonus of your troops. A defense bonus of -80% means you take 80% less damage. An offense bonus of 20% means you cause 20% more damage.
Only one special ability stays in effect on an enemy if it is a similar type of effect. Effects of different types will stack. Pay attention to this if fighting with multiple troops with the same effect as the impact on the enemy changes based on who attacked them last. For example a -20% weakens enemy will replace a -60% weakens enemy if it was the last attack on the enemy.
Retaliation and focused attacks
A troop only retaliates once per turn so ganging up on an enemy can mean you take less damage than fighting 1v1. Cerberus and War dogs get an increased number of retaliations when they are 2 and 3 star troops.
Retaliation typically only occurs when in close combat range (touching the other hex). Rangers are an exception that can retaliate from range.
Troop selection
The game has a user interface that helps with identifying good unit choice
When you hover over a unit it will highlight enemy units that it has an advantage against or is neutral to. The pop-up above your unit shows which units it is strong against with a sword rating and which is neutral. For details of why there are these ratings check the unit information in game, wiki or elven architect for details.
Last edited: