Introduction
"We are the chosen of Asuryan, beloved of the gods and heirs to the world. Our armies are the finest in creation; swift where our foes are lumbering, cultured where they are barbaric. Give no thought to failure, nor defeat – we are the Children of Ulthuan and we shall prevail."
-Phoenix King Aenarion
OverviewThe High Elves of Ulthuan are one of the three elven factions that were introduced in Total War Warhammer 2 and return for Total War Warhammer 3. The High Elves place themselves as a jack of all trades, master of some faction, able to bring and do pretty much anything you could expect out of an army of order. Due to this flexibility, there are a number of ways that they can be played, with aggressive melee rushes and defensive shootouts both being practical methods of victory. While many commanders prefer to leverage the ranged superiority of the High Elves, this is not the only way to secure a victory, and thus High Elves don't really have a definitive playstyle, other than being well rounded enough to do anything.
Their unique racial ability, available to all of the elves in the roster, is "Martial Prowess", a passive ability that greatly enhances the units melee defence and gives a slight bonus to melee attack (+12 Melee Defence and +2 Melee attack), but gets disabled if they are reduced to 25% health or below. It is a very significant buff as MD is a highly prized statistic on almost any units, resulting in your frontline lasting longer, your cavalry fighting better and your archers able to last for much longer in melee until help can arrive. Some particularly elite units have an upgraded version of this, "Martial Mastery", which gives +8 Melee attack instead of just +2, but is otherwise identical. While it can be disabled due to injury, the point at which the passive would be lost is around the same time a unit would be routing from the battlefield, so it is hardly much of a drawback. Thanks to Martial Prowess, High Elves have some of the best melee combat stats in the game, particularly in their elite troops, who can make even the greatest champions of the dark gods look inadequate in comparison.
Strengths and WeaknessesElves are world renown for their mastery of the bow, and the High Elves are no exception, having some of the most powerful archers in the game, including fantastic Hybrid melee/ranged archers and some okay skirmish archers (though nowhere near as good as Wood Elf skirmish archers). These high quality archers can pick apart the enemy army piece by piece, protected by a sturdy frontline, made even harder to remove from the existence of Martial Prowess, giving even your most basic spearmen 50 melee defence for most of their lifespan! That's not to say they can't fight in melee either, as High Elves have access to some of the most deadly elite melee infantry in the game in Swordmasters, who can carve a bloody path through even the most sturdy of opponents. High Elves also have good cavalry options, most noticeably in their light cavalry, which are fast, lethal and hard to kill due to their high melee defence. That's not to say their heavy cavalry is bad either, as a Dragon Prince charge can convincingly demonstrate.
High Elves also have incredible legendary lords that dominate the battlefield and access to the most lores of magic in the game, including their own unique "Lore of High Magic". Don't count their wizards out in a fight either, as many of them are competent battlemages, able to hold their own just as well in a fight as the combat lords of other factions! Their legendary lords in particular can compare themselves to even the Daemon Princes of the Chaos Gods, with legendary lords like Imrik being able to go blow for blow with Exalted Bloodthirsters and come out the victor, and others like Teclis able to outclass even a Changer of Ways in magical prowess. Simply put, their lords are incredible and their mastery of magic is legendary.
Unfortunately, all of these strengths come at a cost, a quite significant cost. All high elf units are expensive, with the cheapest frontline being 500 gold at the minimum. You'll often be paying more than your opponent for any given unit, which will usually result in a smaller army and you will almost always be outnumbered by your opponent, sometimes significantly. Despite their high melee defence, your High Elves are generally quite weak in terms of durability too, with most units having below average health and armour, making them very vulnerable to enemy shooting and artillery. Artillery especially can be a problem, as High Elf artillery is very lackluster, while enemy artillery can quickly decimate the elite infantry of the High Elves before they can even make it into melee.
In summary, play High Elves if you like:
Fantastic archers with great range and accuracy. Very few factions can outshoot the High Elves in terms of archery.
Great elite melee units, able to brawl with the best of the best and come out on top.
Incredible (Legendary) Lord choices that can turn the tides of any battle on their own.
Ridiculously potent magic. High Elves have the most lores of magic in the game to pick and choose from, with some of the best mages in the game. However, High Elves may not be for you if you dislike:
Low health expensive units that can be very killed very quickly if left exposed. Mistakes can be very punishing!
No chaff infantry. Often outnumbered by most enemies. Can be a struggle to protect ranged assets when heavily outnumbered.
Lack of cheap AP ranged (This can be significant, they're the only elves that don't have this!)
Poor artillery options. Vulnerable to enemy artillery.
Legendary Lords
Your choice of Lord is an important choice to make with High Elves, as they have some great choices.
TyrionBase Cost (On Horse): 1700
Magical Lore: None
Roles: Duellist. AP Melee Combatant
Overall Rating: 8/10
Tyrion is a powerful melee duellist. His stats are good enough that he can fight anything elite or monstrous and do quite well, but his speciality is killing enemy lords and heroes that let him get into melee range. There's no real reason to take him on foot, as then he won't be able to catch up to fight anything valuable unless the opponent is also unmounted, so you should always take him on horseback and give him the mobility he really needs.
Tyrion's unique items and abilities are also quite powerful. Feint & Riposte gives him extra melee stats and physical resistance to fight particularly dangerous opponents. Sunfang gives him a non AP breath spell that recharges in melee, though the damage is lacking against most targets (especially compared to similar bound abilities in game 3), making it only useful against chaff (cheap spam units) like skavenslaves. Finally, his most important and powerful item is the Heart of Avelorn, which gives him a heal when he drops below 25% health. Keep in mind that this does not provide unbreakable, so it is possible to route before the heal can take place, though Tyrion's high leadership usually helps prevent this.
He's a great lord. A duellist with fantastic stats that can just about beat up 90% of all other legendary lords in the game in melee fairly comfortably, and for only costing around 2k gold on average, that's very impressive. He won't be beating titans like Be'lakor in a straight up fight, but he will do surprisingly well for his comparatively low price. A good lord choice if all you want is a strong melee fighter.
TeclisBase Cost (On Horse): 700
Base Cost (On Phoenix): 2200
Magical Lore: Multiple
Roles: Wizard. Flying terror causing monster (When on Phoenix). Battlemage (When on Phoenix)
Overall Rating: 5/10
Teclis is a squishy wizard through and through when on horseback. His melee stats are terrible and he will shatter like glass if anything touches him, but he provides his own unique mixed spellbook and enhanced spell mastery to fight magically. Flock of Doom is his main DPS spell, Regrowth is his main healing spell and Net of Amyntok gives him control over the battlefield. These three are the spells I recommend you take. Flaming sword can also be a decent buff if you want to improve someone's melee stats. Use his items on demand for extra spells when needed. He also has healing potions, but these generally work better in his upgraded form...
Teclis on Phoenix, sometimes nicknamed Peclis, may as well be a completely different character, able to actually fight and contribute in melee with his newfound high AP weapon strength and good durability. He's practically a Battlemage, a mage that's good in melee combat. Its quite expensive, though, and his spellbook is pretty rough, but you can make him work. He's also quite possibly the only person who can make Fiery Convocation hit something, as he can combine it with his net to prevent the opponent from merely walking backwards. It comes as a bound spell, so try out the combo if you decide to bring him!
Unfortunately, while he was great in game 2, the changes to game 3 haven't really treat him or his lorebook well. Peclis can still do well, but his Chain Lightning no longer does the damage it once did and as a dedicated wizard, his great spell mastery is mostly moot since his best spells (Regrowth, Net of Amyntok) don't really care about spell mastery. Honestly, his mediocrity is probably for the best
Alarielle Base Cost (On Horse): 850
Base Cost (On Eagle): 1150
Magical Lore: Mixed spellbook of Life, High and Light Magic.
Roles: Healer. Decent Melee Combatant
Overall Rating: 8/10
How the mighty have fallen. Alarialle used to be so strong she was practically an auto-take, but her healing prowess isn't as busted as what it used to be. Take Earthblood and a 2nd spell of your choosing, and make sure to bring Star of Avelorn, her best item. She still gives great healing so take her if that's what you want, otherwise a generic Archmage of Life will often do better. She's the dedicated healer lord, so only bring her if you're bringing stuff that's worth healing!
There's not much to really say about her, she does exactly what you think she does as a good healer. She's still great and worth taking!
Eltharion Base Cost (On Horse): 1350
Base Cost (On Griffon): 2050
Magical Lore: High Magic
Roles: Battlemage, Flying terror causing monster (When on Griffon).
Overall Rating: 3/10
He's yet another High Elven mage that's good in melee, but unlike his fellow LL wizards, his focus is more towards melee than magic, making him a good fighter. Lore of High is quite bad but Apotheosis gives him a source of healing. The other spells are less useful, so its really up to you if you decide to take any (usually tempest), just make sure you always bring Apotheosis!
His items and abilities are situational. Fangsword gives him magical damage to ignore daemon physical resistance, cut up ghosts and improves his physical resistance, and the Helm of Yvresse is just Khorne's 2nd army ability, temporary unbreakable unkillable anything for 17 seconds. Mistwalker barrage unfortunately sucks though. None are a must take but the sword is good.
Overall, Eltharion is an interesting choice and a good wielder of High Magic in the faction as it supports him well. Unfortunately, High Magic sucks and other lords are better. He's also too expensive. Consider other lords instead.
Imrik Base Cost (On Star Dragon): 2550
Magical Lore: None
Roles: AP Melee Combatant. Flying terror causing monster (when on Star Dragon).
Overall Rating: 9/10
Arguably the best Legendary Lord of High Elves, if you're bringing Imrik, you REALLY want to bring him on his dragon. On his dragon, he's a raidboss that can really beat anything in melee, even daemon princes, should he make good use of his abilities. However, he's a huge target, which makes him very vulnerable to missile fire. While his 10k HP, 25% missile resist and 90 armour will defend against a lot of the volume of fire coming his way, AP missiles can still be very brutal against him.
He has a few abilities and items of note, the most noteworthy being his Dragonhorn, a mapwide buff to your entire army, giving them +24 melee attack and letting them cause fear for 16 seconds. This can be exceptionally powerful when sounded before a shock cavalry charge, but its honestly hard to use Dragonhorn poorly due to the buff being mapwide, a fantastic item. His Star Lance makes him hit much harder on the charge into an opponent and Lord of Dragons can debuff his opponent with significant debuffs, letting him win duels against tough opponents (not that he usually needs all that much help). I'd always bring the Dragonhorn with Imrik, but you can take the other two items if you need your Imrik to be stronger in combat if you're expecting a particularly dangerous opponent.
Alith AnarBase Cost: 1100
Roles: Archer. Melee Combatant.
Overall Rating: 1/10
He's terrible. Don't take Alith Anar. He's an overpriced Princess that's somehow worse. Just bring a Princess instead.
Generic Lords
If you don't want or need the power of the various Legendary Lords in this faction, the generic lord choices for High Elves are a noteworthy alternative. They're often cheaper than their named counterparts without sacrificing too much in terms of combat stats or magical ability.
Prince Base Cost (On Horse): 1100
Base Cost (On Eagle): 1400
Base Cost (On Griffon): 1550
Base Cost (On Sun Dragon): 1800
Base Cost (On Star Dragon): 2400
Lore of Magic: None
Role: Melee Combatant. Assassin (When on Eagle). Flying terror causing monster (When on Griffon or Dragon)
Overall Rating: 4/10
The Prince is a budget version of Tyrion when on horse, a budget non magical version of Eltharion when on Griffon and a budget version of Imrik when on Dragon. Unfortunately, all of the said mentioned lords are much better than the Prince at their own speciality, but he is cheaper than them all. The most unique thing about the Prince is access to an Eagle mount. With his good combat stats and the speed of an Eagle, they can serve a niche as a fast flying assassin, picking off enemy wizards and other squishy assets while having good enough stats to fight other combatants when needed.
With the strength of High Elf lords, its can be hard to see value in the Prince. He's not a terrible unit by any means, he's just a generic combat lord that doesn't cost a huge amount. Still though, even other budget alternatives (such as the Archmage or Princess) should be worth considering over the Prince. The lord slot is valuable for High Elves and there's much better options worth considering over this guy. While the dragon mounts for him are okay, they're much better suited for the Princess and Archmage, who benefit much more from being ontop of a dragon.
PrincessBase Cost (On Foot): 850
Base Cost (On Horse): 1100
Base Cost (On Eagle): 1400
Base Cost (On Griffon): 1550
Base Cost (On Moon Dragon): 1800
Base Cost (On Star Dragon): 2400
Lore of Magic: None
Role: Archer. Melee Combatant. Flying terror causing monster (When on Griffon or Dragon)
Overall Rating: 9/10
The Princess is the ranged counterpart to the Prince. Unlike Alith Anar, she has various mount choices available for different roles, giving her a lot more flexibility on the battlefield. She has an aura that gives reload speed buffs to nearby archers, a bound magic missile ability for additional burst damage and the Horn of Vaul, a bound ability to increase the damage of missiles for nearby archers temporarily. On horseback, she's able to escape from and kite most threats, and on any of her flying mounts, she's able to simply stay in the sky and shoot down at the targets of her choosing. Her ranged damage output is okay, though she can struggle against heavily armoured targets due to a lack of AP. Surprisingly, she has great melee stats too, surpassing even dedicated combat lords of other factions, despite being an archer!
She's an interesting lord who gives interesting buffs to your archers, usually the best units in your army. Her surprisingly solid melee stats for an archer lord can also make her various terror causing mount options much more enticing, most noticeably the dragon, which turns her into a powerful juggernaut of a combatant. She can do practically everything you would want outside of a non-wizard, and is a fantastic lord option worth considering for her budget price.
ArchmageBase Cost (On Foot): 450
Base Cost (On Horse): 700
Base Cost (On Eagle): 1000
Base Cost (On Moon Dragon): 2000
Lore of Magic: Selectable
Role: Wizard. Battlemage (When on Dragon). Flying terror causing monster (When on Dragon)
Overall Rating: 10/10
Arguably the best lord choice as of writing for High Elves, the humble Archmage provides a lot for a remarkably low price, especially by High Elf cost standards. A lot of her utility is dependant on which lore of magic you select, but High Elves have an insane 9 lores of magic to choose from! To understand which lore of magic is best for your situation, head to the "Which Lore of Magic do I take" section of the guide.
Her items and abilities are great, too! Book of Hoeth is a fairly standard power recharge buff, allowing you to quickly recharge your winds for your next spell. Arcane Conduit is standard for mage lords and can be good if you wish for her to be able to cast more. Most unique is the "Armour of the Stars", a bound item that turns the archmage invisible for a long duration, making her much harder to snipe. Alternatively, when combined with an eagle, she can act as a sort of fantasy stealth bomber, stealthily flying to the opponents backline and dropping bombs of magical goodness on the opponents artillery and long ranged assets from out of nowhere. Archmages are fantastic.
Unlike stereotypical generic wizard lords, Archmages can be powerful melee combatants if you put them on their dragon mount. The raw power of a dragon really elevates the Archmage from having unimpressive combat to having great combat, especially against enemy infantry and cavalry that don't have anti large to defend themselves with. While they cannot use the Armour of the Stars to create an invisible dragon from out of nowhere, they can use the rest of their spells and items to their full effectiveness as a terrifyingly powerful wizard ontop of an equally dangerous dragon. There's plenty of insanity to be found and tested out there, such as a life wizard on a dragon constantly healing themselves, so don't be afraid to put your Archmage on a dragon and let them go wild!
Heroes
NobleBase Cost (On Horse): 950
Base Cost (On Eagle): 1200
Base Cost (On Chariot): 1300
Lore of Magic: None
Role: Melee Combatant, Anti Large (When on Horse), Anti Infantry (When on Chariot)
Overall Rating: 4/10
A fairly standard generic melee hero, the Noble is a straightforward melee hero who can serve as a bodyguard to your lord or an assassin to enemy characters. With an impressive 110 speed when on eagle, the noble can easily get to where they need to be quickly and fight what they need to fight. On horse, they can serve as an anti large AP combatant against other enemy lords and monsters, an option that can be worth considering due to a noticeable lack of anti large cavalry in the High Elves. Chariot are no longer a good mount choice and are not recommended.
Nobles are quite pricey for what they bring to the battlefield. They can be useful in specific situations, and that's about it. There's not much more else to say.
Handmaiden of the EverqueenBase Cost (On Foot): 750
Base Cost (On Horse): 1000
Lore of Magic: None
Role: Archer. Melee Combatant. Anti Large (melee).
Overall Rating: 3/10
Handmaidens are quite similar to the princess lord, but taking up a hero slot instead, which is usually preferable. They give buffs to archers in a short range aura around themselves. They bring AP arrows which are very much appreciated and have decent melee stats too. On paper, they seem like a fantastic unit.
Unfortunately, in practice, handmaidens are not a very good unit. For starters, they only deal 200 ranged damage with 30 ammo. With such low damage on their arrows, it takes them a good deal of time to start wracking up any meaningful damage against a target. Their auras, while useful, also make them quite an expensive hero, and their short range auras and lack of a flying mount also limits their practicality if you intend to use them this way. Not having any sort of magic missile attack is also disappointing.
Princesses will often serve you better than Handmaidens, so I would recommend taking one instead. However, if you cannot spare the lord slot, handmaidens can be useful as a hero alternative to buff up your archers and chip away at the enemy.
MageBase Cost (On Foot): 300
Base Cost (On Horse): 550
Lore of Magic: Selectable
Role: Wizard
Overall Rating: 10/10
If your lord choice does not have access to magic, this hero should absolutely be included in your army to give you access to magic. The High Elf Mage is a fairly archetypical wizard hero, possessing poor stats in melee and bad durability but having good speed from her horse and some interesting items. She is one of the only spellcasters in High Elves to not possess Arcane Conduit, though since wizard heroes normally don't usually have Arcane Conduit, this is to be expected (not even Tzeentch wizard heroes have Arcane Conduit!)
Her items are incredible for a spellcaster. The Book of Hoeth grants a significant but temporary 160% increase to winds of magic power recharge, letting her fire out many more spells in quick succession. Wholly unique to the Mage is the Starwood Staff, a three use item that grants additional winds of magic reserves when used. This is comparable to the Forbidden Rod of the Vampire Counts, as it allows the High Elf Mage to stack plenty of additional winds and cast many more spells than any other caster would normally be able to. Even after all three charges are used, she can simply be desummoned and summoned again to refresh the charges for an infinite source of Winds of Magic. Both items are fantastic.
The High Elf Mage is an incredible unit, so good that occasionally they are brought alongside other casters to support them with Starwood Staff and any other spells that would be useful. This most often takes the form of a Lore of Metal Mage who only has Plague of Rust, though their items are so useful that they could probably be taken on foot without any spells in the backlines and still be a useful and noticeable presence on the battlefield.
Loremaster of HoethBase Cost: 800
Lore of Magic: Mixed spellbook of 6 different lores. Read below for details.
Role: Battlemage. Anti Infantry
Overall Rating: 4/10
Loremasters of Hoeth are a strange hero and unique to High Elves, no other faction has anything really all that similar. A battlemage with anti infantry, useful auras and six different lores of magic to use is something other factions would only dream of having, though this has been balanced by them having no mount option and being quite expensive. As expected of battlemages, they're great in melee and can serve as good bodyguards to other units, though due to their anti infantry nature, they may struggle against mounted lords and heroes.
For the spells, many of them are quite useful! Harmonic Convergence and Wyssan's Wildform are both decent buffs to your melee units to let them win tough fights. Shem's Burning Gaze and Spirit Leech give them good damage into single entities, while Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma gives good damage and a slowing effect into any enemy regiments of their choosing. Finally, Earth Blood rounds out their kit with access to healing. Most of the spells included are great, but Earth Blood and Spirit Leech in particular are a tier above the rest and are usually the two spells you should take.
Their items are primarily focused around buffing your frontline troops, with one granting an aura of magic resistance and the other giving a leadership buff aura within a short range. The magic resistance can keep some of the more squishy targets safe that would normally be targetted heavily by enemy magic, such as your elite archers. The leadership buff aura is usually not worthwile though, as High Elves have good leadership across the board (comparable to dwarfs) and don't particularly need any extra motivation to stay in the fight.
The Loremaster of Hoeth is certainly an interesting hero. Unfortunately, they're competing against a lot of fantastic wizards in High Elves, many of whom have the Loremaster outclassed in significant ways, such as actually having a mount. Battlemages, good at magic and melee, are something High Elves already have plenty of, so Loremasters don't really have a niche in that aspect either. Their items are too expensive to be practical and due to being unmounted, they can easily be avoided by anything that wouldn't want to fight them, so their great combat stats will usually be wasted on low tier enemy infantry instead. A below average unit with some utility, but hard to recommend over bringing an individiual wizard hero or a combat hero instead.
"Which Lore Of Magic Should I Bring?"
High Elves are the masters of magic, and no High Elf army is complete without a spellcaster. In multiplayer, when you're bringing a wizard, you will only be taking two or three spells from their lore that you will actually use, instead of taking all six spells.This is because spells cost gold to learn, and not using a spell is tantamount to throwing that gold away, gold that could be spent on other units or items. Because of this, you're generally taking a lore for specific spells that you desire, and knowing which spells are best for you is an important fundamental of playing High Elves. Magic is a strength of the faction, so always bring a wizard when building any High Elves army. Doesn't matter if they're your lord or hero, you always want one. As for which lore to choose...
High Elves have 9 different Lores of Magic to choose from, the most of any race in the game, and it can be overwhelming knowing which is best for you. To help, I've categorised them below as following, and rated them on said characteristic, with the weakest being C and the strongest being S, alongside their best spells for that purpose. Don't be afraid to experiment with weaker lores and spells though, a C tier situational spell can still be great in the situation it calls for! Obviously, this is subjective, so feel free to disagree, but I personally believe the following:
AOE Damage. Lores that are best used for their Area of Effect damage spells are:
Lore of Shadows: S Tier - Pit of Shades, Penumbral Pendulum
Lore of Life: S Tier - Dwellers Below
Lore of Metal: A Tier - Searing Doom, Final Transmutation
Lore of Fire: B tier - Burning Head, Piercing Bolts of Burning
Lore of Heavens: C Tier - Urannon's Thunderbolt, Comet of Cassandora, Chain Lightning
Lore of Beasts: C Tier - Flock of Doom
Single Target Damage. Lores that are best used for their damage into a single enemy target are:
Lore of Death: S Tier - Spirit Leech, Fate of Bjuna
Lore of Shadows: B Tier - Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma
Lore of Light: B Tier - Shem's Burning Gaze
Lore of High Magic: C Tier - Soul Quench, Tempest
Lore of Fire: C Tier - Fireball
Buffs. Lores that are best used for their buff spells are:
Lore of Light: A Tier - Birona's Timewarp, Pha's Protection
Lore of Fire: B Tier - Flaming Sword of Rhuin
Lore of Beasts: C Tier - Wyssan's Wildform, Pann's Impenetrable Pelt
Lore of High Magic: C Tier - Hand of Glory
Debuffs. Lores that are best used for their debuff spells are:
Lore of Metal: S Tier - Plague of Rust
Lore of Shadow: B Tier - Enfeebling Foe
Lore of Death: B Tier - Doom and Darkness, Soulblight
Healing. Lores that are best used for their healing spells are:
Lore of Life: S tier - Regrowth, Earthblood
Lore of High Magic: A Tier - Apotheosis
Slowdown. Lores that are best to control, net and slow the enemy's movement are:
Lore of Light: S Tier - Net of Amyntok
Lore of Shadow: C Tier - Melkoth's Mystifying Miasma
Summons. Lores that are best used for their summoning ability are:
Lore of Beasts: S Tier - Transformation of Kadon
Infantry
High Elf infantry is most often characterised by their high leadership, above average melee stats (especially regarding melee defence), decent protection against missiles and good access to AP. A good amount of their infantry options have some sort of resistance, whether that be resistances to physical, magical or missile. However, High Elf infantry is often on the more expensive side than other faction's infantry, and lacks a good chaff cheap chaff option.
Spearmen Base Cost: 500
Role: Frontline. Anti Large
Overall Rating: 2/10
The silver shields and spears of the High Elven Spearmen are your cheapest option for a frontline. Their high 50 melee defence under martial prowess means they can last a surprisingly long time, provided they aren't targeted by things that can bypass that, such as magic. Being a spear unit, they have charge defence and a bonus vs large, though they lack AP so they can struggle to put out damage even into large targets.
Unfortunately, as iconic as a high elven staunch line of spears is, they simply cost too much for how little they bring to the table. They are not that good at fighting back enemy melee infantry, usually their primary opponents, resulting in a fairly decisive loss. Spearmen don't really win fights, they just lose them slowly, and much better units are available that can serve as your frontline while also fighting and winning against the enemy (or atleast heavily injuring them). High Elf Spearmen unfortunately cost too much and do too little, serving as a niche reinforcement choice at the best of times. Thankfully, High Elves have two much better spear units coming up that can fufill their role as a frontline much more effectively.
It is quite sad that one of the most recognisable High Elf units is also one of the worst. Hopefully they will get a price decrease or better melee stats against infantry to make them more competitive with other options, as 500 gold a unit this unimpressive is downright insulting. Don't use this unit.
Their Regiment of Renown, The Scions of Mathlann, gain expert charge defence and grant a ward save aura within 35m. They cost the same as Silverin Guard, a unit that is significantly better than them, so unless you're planning on a blob build using their ward save aura (not recommended), its almost always better to buy a unit of Silverin Guard instead (see below for their profile).
Rangers Base Cost: 600
Role: Anti Infantry
Overall Rating: 6/10
If damage is what you want than Rangers are your cheapest anti infantry option for cutting through enemy infantry. They don't have good armour, but they have a 20% physical resistance (represented by their dodge passive) and good melee defence, letting them grind well in melee. They're very vulnerable to enemy missiles because of this, as they have no shield to protect them and little armour, so make sure to prevent them from being shot to death. In melee their bonus vs infantry and decent charge bonus allows them to cut through a low tier frontline quickly, but their lack of AP will make them struggle into armoured targets, and they will often lose those fights quite decisively.
Their good speed can also make them decent at an infantry flanking and missile chasing role, as they can slip through gaps in the opponents frontline and start causing havoc if the opportunity presents itself. They're extremely good at killing enemy archers and will often outspeed them, though they're quite vulnerable to being charged by enemy cavalry if they attempt this, and even a cheap light cavalry charge will often cause a lot of damage to rangers (their bonus vs infantry will also be ineffective into cavalry) so be careful if you're using them in this way. Rangers are fairly straightforward and perform about as well as you'd expect, not a spectacular unit by any means, but a useful tool to have against factions that prefer going light on their armour.
Rangers have no Regiment of Renown.
White Lions of ChraceBase Cost: 800
Role: AP Melee Combatant
Overall Rating: 8/10
White Lions are your first AP infantry option and have all the traits archetypical of Great Weapon Infantry, with good armour, great melee stats and high AP melee damage. As a point of comparison, they're quite similar to Chaos Warriors (Great Weapons) having only 10 less armour and 1500 less health, but with better stats in melee under martial prowess that let them fight and trade about on par with their point of comparison. These guys are amazing and probably the best pure melee infantry available in the faction. They can fight and put the AP hurt on most targets and are usually a safe inclusion in most armies.
Unlike most great weapon infantry, they have a resistance to enemy missiles from their lion pelts. This can be a big help, especially against AP missiles that would be 20% more lethal against them if they didn't have the pelts. Despite this nice resistance, they're still vulnerable to focus fire and they should really be kept protected from enemy missiles, if you can help it. Otherwise, outside of magic, they're the cheapest source of AP in the faction and a great unit to bring if you expect your opponent to have a lot of armour.
Their Regiment of Renown, the Puremane Company, gives them armour sundering melee attacks and a Guardian aura (15% physical resistance to nearby friendly characters when nearby). The armour sundering is highly useful when combined with Lore of Metal to further debuff the opponents armour and turn even the most heavily armoured chaos warrior into a clanrat in terms of armour for your archers to pincushion, while the Guardian aura can help characters win duels, but isn't really the reason you want to be bringing the Puremane Company. A great ROR that would be worth taking just for the armour sundering alone, but combined with improved combat stats from being rank 9 and a guardian aura makes them arguably the best Regiment of Renown in the High Elf roster.
Silverin GuardBase Cost: 850
Role: Frontline. Anti Large
Overall Rating: 8/10
Silverin Guard are upgraded Spearmen in all the right ways that make them a good unit. They are significantly more armoured than Spearmen, having a similar amount of armour to Saurus and Chaos Forsaken with 75 armour, allowing them to resist a lot more of the non-AP damage being thrown their way. They gain Expert Charge defence, allowing them to brace and negate the charge of infantry, something Spearmen cannot do by default. Better melee stats and weapon strength also allows them to deal much better damage to their opponent and last for even longer than Spearmen (this also lets them actually clear and kill enemy infantry instead of just holding them in place). They do more damage and take less damage from everything, alongside having 30% magical resistance that makes spells against them less effective, something that would previously decimate your regular Spearmen. They're a significant improvement in every single way, except cost. A great unit.
They've very good on Domination as they are FANTASTIC at holding the points and are great in maps that feature chokepoints they can lock down. Calling them in from reserve to hold points against practically anything often means your opponent will have to call in a lot more resources to deal with your Silverin than you did to bring the Silverin in (and even then, they will hold for a long time). They're the best anvil in your faction and the most durable frontline you have available, its hard to use them wrong. They're a staple unit that's absolutely worth taking.
Silverin Guard have no Regiment of Renown.
Elite Infantry
The High Elves have some of the best elite Infantry in the game, thanks in part due to incredible melee stats and Martial Mastery, the enhanced version of Martial Prowess. They have few rivals on the battlefiled that can beat them fair one on one, but their high price can make fitting them in armies awkward and difficult without making significant cutbacks. They also make huge targets for the opponent, and are especially vulnerable to enemy artillery.
Swordmasters of HoethBase Cost: 1300
Role: Anti (Elite) Infantry Specialists
Overall Rating: 6/10
Swordmasters beat just about any other infantry in a straight fight and they can make the most elite of the enemy look pathetic in comparison. One of the strongest anti infantry units in the game, there are few infantry they cannot beat with their martial mastery passive active. Unlike typical greatsword infantry, they come with the deflect shots passive, letting them shield against 30% of missiles fired at them from the front, as if they had bronze shields. Alongside their high armour value of 90, comparable to chaos warriors, they can take a lot of punishment, both from afar and up close.
Unfortunately, they cannot deflect a rocket, and artillery is brutal into them, making them a poor choice against factions with great artillery. They also cost a huge amount and will be a big target for your opponent to focus down. And while they do deflect arrows, volume of fire will eventually drag them down, so make sure they're not focused down by enemy ranged assets. If you want to use them, its recommended you keep them in reserve until they are needed and allow the opponent to use their firepower and magic on other targets.
Swordmasters do not have a Regiment of Renown.
Phoenix GuardBase Cost: 1300
Role: Anti Large Specialists
Overall Rating: 3/10
Phoenix Guard are your first and only AP Halberd option for anti large, and there's no real sugarcoating that they suck at their job. There are situations where they can be good, but there are many many more situations in which they are a huge liability. They're a huge expensive target for enemy ranged and an ideal target for enemy artillery, while being too slow to catch and fight the things they're hyper specialised to fight (large monsters). You should only bring them against factions without good artillery, and even then, its a difficult sell, thanks in part due to their high price and other cheaper more effective options for dealing with large threats. The points in domination can force enemy large to attack into phoenix guard though, which can help them fight what they ideally want to be fighting.
If you want to use them, all that was said about using Swordmasters also applies to Phoenix Guard. Keep them in reserve until they are needed and allow your opponent to use their firepower and magic on other targets first. They do have quite good melee stats so they can brawl with infantry if needed, they're just not as fantastic at anti infantry as Swordmasters of Hoeth are.
Their Regiment of Renown, the Keepers of the Flame, gain magical attacks and have a small fire explosion on each model death, damaging the enemy. They cost 1500, you don't really want these guys dying in the first place if you can help it. They're too valuable and having an effect on death isn't exactly helping. Magical attacks however do help them against ethereal and daemonic resistances, which can be useful. Why they went for an explosion gimmick instead of just making them unbreakable, only Tzeentch knows.
Archers
Elves are always admired for their archery, and the High Elves are no exception. Their archers are cost effective and surprisingly budget for how much presence they have on the battlefield. High elven archers also have fantastic range compared to their human rivals and great accuracy, they're some of the best in the game.
ArchersBase Cost: 450
Role: Archer
Overall Rating: 10/10
High Elf Archers define the High Elves. A fantastic archer with obscenely long range which does great damage at a budget. Their shots are accurate and deadly and they can quickly shoot down the unshielded enemy units that attack. Due to how cheap they are, its easy to bring lots of archers and overwhelm the opponent with volume of fire to kill even shielded opponents. After all, the block chance of shields is less than 100%, so eventually enough arrows will get through that even tough shielded infantry will find themselves dying from the rain of arrows. They also have good melee defence for an archer because of martial prowess, which lets them survive much longer against the usual counters for an archer, such as dogs. Their only real flaw is a lack of AP, but for a unit that only costs 450 gold, that's hardly an issue.
While Archers may lack AP, they have an easy way to make up for this weakness in Plague of Rust, a spell in the Lore of Metal. When overcasted, it reduces the enemies armour by 60 for a long duration, allowing archers to wound even the most well armoured of foes with relative ease.
High Elf Archers have one variant, "Archers (Light Armour)". As their name implies, they're archers with a bit more armour and a slight increase to melee defence for 25 gold more. If you expect your archers to be shot by enemy missiles, than the extra armour does help, and is a worthwhile upgrade. Also helps them in melee against dogs and other similar units, so it can be a useful upgrade even if you don't expect your archers to be shot. Its only 25 gold, so you really can't go wrong with the upgrade unless you absolutely need all the gold you can get.
Their Regiment of Renown, the Talons of Tor Caelda, are light armour archers that gain flaming arrows and grant the flammable debuff to anything they hit, making them more vulnerable to fire attacks. They're a solid unit when combined with kindleflame, the Lore of Fire passive, to further weaken an opponent to fire damage to setup for some very powerful fire attacks. There's an interesting niche to be found in this unit, especially against undead factions. Works especially well in tandem with Sisters of Avelorn, allowing them to make targets flammable for the sisters to unload into with AP flaming arrows. A very interesting and practical unit that's well worth bringing if you plan on using lots of fire damage.
Regarding ranged spamBecause of how good High Elf Archers are, it can be tempting to bring loads of them, but make sure you're also bringing a healthy amount of melee units and cavalry to actually protect them, otherwise they'll be useless when enemy dogs pounce on them. Don't bring too many ranged units you can't protect, otherwise you will lose all of your archers very quickly against any remotely competent player (the AI is not, which is why ranged spam works in campaign). Excessive ranged is one of the biggest mistakes beginners in general tend to make when trying out multiplayer, so be careful about bringing way too many archers!
There's no exact ratio of ranged units to melee units you should employ. High Elves also have great Hybrid archers who are also good in melee, which can help a lot. Experience is the best teacher, so don't be afraid to experiment and find out what works best for you!
Lothern Sea GuardBase Cost: 600
Role: Frontline. Archer. Anti Large (Melee)
Overall Rating: 10/10
Lothern Sea Guards (usually shortened to LSG) are essentially a combination of High Elf Spearmen & High Elf Archers into a single unit. Though they are (slightly) worse at holding at holding compared to Spearmen and (slightly) worse at shooting compared to Archers, the combination of the two creates one of the nastiest hybrid units in the game that could make even a Kislev player blush, and makes up for both of the original units shortcomings.
LSG are incredibly versatile and can fit into practically any army composition. They can serve as your main frontline, or your main backline, and do both roles very well, switching as the situation calls for it. Unlike Archers, cavalry will be afraid to engage into LSG due to their anti large spears, and unlike Spearmen, their bows give them a solid damage output into non-large targets. For only 600 gold, its ridiculous just how effective they can be. They're one of the best cavalry counters in the game, as their combination of bow & spear is practically tailor made to stop cavalry in their tracks. LSG are so good they're practically an auto-include, almost any army is made significantly better with their inclusion, so use them!
They have a single variant, for 100 extra gold, which grants them silver shields and increased melee defence. Shields are still in effect even while the LSG are shooting their bows (even if it doesn't look like it) allowing them to thrash the archers of other factions in a shootout. A worthy upgrade if you expect your LSG to be shot by enemy missiles. 700 gold is a bargain for an archer that's also a hybrid spear unit with anti large and charge defence against cavalry and also has a silver shield. I'm not sure who thought this unit would be a good idea, but you should thank them because without LSG, High Elves would be dropping a few places in the tier list.
Their Regiment of Renown, the Storm Riders, are unshielded LSG that gain fire whilst moving and also cause fear (while being immune to fear) whilst in melee. They make great reserve units that can come in after the battle has already begun and immediately rush to help whoever needs helping. An interesting unit that's much better in an offensive role than regular LSG, though they're a little overpriced for what they do bring to the table.
Shadow WarriorsBase Cost: 850
Role: Skirmisher
Overall Rating: 3/10
Shadow Warriors are unmounted skirmishers with stalk and vanguard deployment. They have the same range of archers, which is very high for a skirmisher, and vanguard deployment, which lets them quickly reach the frontline from reserves. Under martial prowess, their melee stats are good enough to fight in melee with lower tier infantry and hold their own against some low tier cavalry without getting completely stomped.
Unfortunately, while the rest of the faction has been made cheaper over the years, Shadow Warriors have stayed at their high base cost and rarely make their cost back. Other skirmishers are better for a more competitive price point, and they're not the only hybrid ranged/melee unit either, so they don't really have much of a niche. A below average unit that's hard to justify bringing, especially when Reaver Archers exist (read more in the Missile Cavalry & Chariots section).
Elite Archers
The Elites of the already elite High Elf archers are nigh unrivaled marksmen on the battlefield with an almost supernatural accuracy against their foes. They're often being skilled enough to hold their own in a melee fight, should it be needed, but their main talents lie in the art of the bow.
Shadow-walkersBase Cost: 1000
Role: Skirmisher. Anti Infantry (Melee).
Overall Rating: 5/10
Yes, they're different than Shadow Warriors. Shadow-walkers are the most elite skirmisher available to the High Elves and are interesting in a few ways. Their melee stats are great for an archer and have anti infantry melee attacks, making them much better in a fight against enemy infantry. They also have poison attacks and arrows, making them the only source of poison in the faction. While they have terrible durability against enemy missiles, 360* firing and 180 range makes it easy to keep them safe against most factions, just be careful of enemy cavalry!
They're a lot more noteworthy than Shadow Warriors and I consider them to be the better of the two. Vanguard deploying from reserves to quickly apply poison to strong enemies can be a highly useful technique, but even if their poison isn't needed, they're a good hybrid of an archer and a melee unit that can do a lot for your army. Whether that's worth 1000 gold is up to you.
Shadow-walkers do not have a Regiment of Renown.
Sisters of Avelorn Base Cost: 1100
Role: AP Archer. Decent Melee Combatant
Overall Rating: 8/10
Sisters of Avelorn are the first and only AP archer available to the High Elves. While their melee stats are good enough to fend for themselves comfortably against dogs and low tier infantry, their talents are much better spent using their frankly obscene ranged damage output. Having AP Magical Fire arrows is good against pretty much every single unit in the game without fire resistance, and their high accuracy will mean many of those arrows will find their mark. Both in theory and in practice, they're a very lethal unit.
However, you should not overuse Sisters of Avelorn! You cannot doomstack with them in multiplayer, your strategy will not work! Sisters are a powerful and expensive tool, and your opponents will always make it a priority of shutting them down! This unit is only powerful when protected and given the protection it needs to do its job without being disrupted! I would never recommend bringing more than two, they're simply too expensive, and if you put all your eggs in one flaming archer basket, don't be shocked when your opponent easily rolls over them in melee with their cavalry!
Also, exercise caution if you bring them against factions with good artillery. They're a huge target for enemy magic and artillery and you can quickly find your sisters focused down if you're not careful. Also, due to how accurate they are, even a small dodge from an opponent can completely throw them off as a barrage of arrows lands precisely where the enemy would have been if they hadn't moved slightly to the left. A hilarious weakness, but certainly one to be aware of, especially when shooting into single targets.
Their Regiment of Renown, the Everqueen's Court Guards, gives the Banner of Avelorn passive ability, which increases winds of magic power recharge by 20% while the unit is still alive. They also gain additional missile damage. The unique bonuses don't really change how you would use the unit, but the buffs that being rank 9 gives them a melee statline on par with the Puremane Company of White Lions, letting them better sustain themselves in a melee fight if they need to. They are Sisters of Avelorn but better in every way that matters. Not the worst upgrade for 200 gold.
Cavalry And Chariots
High Elves possess some good practical options for cavalry. High Elf Light Cavalry is particularly good, though their heavy cavalry are also fairly nice, so its hard to go wrong with any of their cavalry options. On average, High Elven cavalry have greater melee defence but less health and armour than their competitors, making them last longer in melee but being more vulnerable against shooting and artillery.
The High Elves do possess access to a few chariots. They're not that great, but having chariots is better than having no chariots!
Ellyrian ReaversBase Cost: 500
Role: Light Cavalry
Overall Rating: 9/10
The dreaded elven light cavalry are no longer as impressive as they once were now that they're competing with Slaanesh light cavalry, but they're still all fantastic, and Ellyrian Reavers are no exception. They have great speed, great melee stats and an impressively high charge bonus of 40, the same as Slaanesh Hellstriders, making them surprisingly lethal if they get a good charge off. With vanguard deployment, they have everything they need to excel as one of the best light cavalry in the game.
As with most light cavalry, they're best used against enemy ranged units and artillery as they're purpose built to excel against those sorts of lightly armoured targets. Against enemy infantry, their high charge bonus still allows them to put in a great deal of burst damage into even well armoured opponents, though they don't particularly excel at the role. Due to their high speed, they can easily stay away from spears and enemy heavy cavalry would easily beat them and strike the much more enticing targets of their choosing on their terms.
Ellyrian Reavers do not have a Regiment of Renown.
Silver HelmsBase Cost: 500
Role: Heavy Shock Cavalry
Overall Rating: 7/10
Silver Helms are a pretty standard mid tier heavy shock cavalry that possess above average combat stats for their archetype. The rest is fairly standard, having the standard speed of 78 that most horse ridden shock cavalry seem to have (the same as Empire Knights), high armour and an excellent charge bonus definitive of shock cavalry. Due to their combat stats, they're better in sustained melee than the average mid tier shock cavalry, but they are best when they're given the breathing room to stay active and charge into enemy infantry.
For cavalry, Silver Helms are fairly well costed and lie at a good price range for what they can do. They do feel like they're from another faction with how closely they compare to Kislev and Bretonnian mid tier shock cavalry, price included. They're good units, though not quite as great as their competitors from other more cavalry focused factions. Still definitely a unit that's worth bringing occasionally! Their biggest flaw is a lack of Anti Large, meaning they can somewhat struggle against enemy cavalry, even if they get a charge off.
SIlver Helms have a shielded variant for 100 extra gold. The shield is only bronze, and Silver Helms already gain plenty of melee defence from martial prowess, so the upgrade is not worth it.
Silver Helms do not have a Regiment of Renown.
Ithilmar ChariotsBase Cost: 1100
Role: Chariot
Overall Rating: 2/10
A fairly standard chariot with above average melee defence that is often heavily overshadowed by the Lion Chariots of Chrace who give enhanced stats and AP damage for only 200 gold more. I don't have much more to say about them, they cost a lot but don't have AP, which is really unfortunate and holds them back a lot.
Paying for their mediocrity is a hard sell. They're a costly unimpressive unit that's not worth bringing unless you know what you're doing with them, and even then, you should probably just bring Lion Chariots instead.
Ithilmar Chariots do not have a Regiment of Renown.
Lion Chariots of ChraceBase Cost: 1300
Role: AP Chariot
Overall Rating: 6/10
The most expensive chariot available to High Elves. Lion Chariots have two things setting them apart from the archetypical elite chariot, mainly their high melee defence and their missile resist from lion's pelt. Having good melee defence on a chariot is somewhat unusual and keeps them alive, and with good melee stats and great AP damage, lion chariots are often comfortable staying in melee for extended periods of time (though they're still chariots, they still prefer to stay mobile). Their missile resist of 30% also makes them more resistant against shooting, which is a common solution used against chariots by dwarfs and other similar factions, giving them a greater deal of survivability against their common
They are definitely the best chariot in the faction, and benefit a lot from healing due to their high price and low model count, so consider dropping a few earthbloods on your chariots from time to time to keep them active and alive. While they're above average in sustained melee compared to most chariots, they should still focus on staying mobile and charging through as much enemy infantry and archers as possible. They're a solid tool for AP anti infantry, so bring them if that's what you need! They're expensive for what they do, so try not to get caught by enemy anti large cavalry, who will quickly tear apart your chariots if given the opportunity.
Lion Chariots of Chrace do not have a Regiment of Renown.
Dragon PrincesBase Cost: 1400
Role: Heavy Shock Cavalry
Overall Rating: 5/10
The most elite cavalry choice for High Elves that still somehow doesn't have Bonus vs Large. Dragon Princes are shielded, heavily armoured shock cavalry that have fantastic melee stats befitting their huge price. Being shock cavalry, they're extremely reliant on getting a strong charge off, but if they do, they can cause shocking amounts of burst damage to anything on the pointed end of their lances. They still have a low elven health pool, so keep them away from enemy artillery and AP missiles, otherwise they'll drop models very quickly. Thankfully, they have a physical resistance of 20%, giving them some protection against all non-magical weapons and keeping them alive for longer.
They work well with Lore of Life for healing. The unit as a whole is very expensive so keeping your models alive gives them the breathing room to work and pay for themselves. Be well aware that they do not have AP attacks, though they can still be good into armoured targets due to their extremely powerful charge. While their stats are great and are further amplified by Martial Mastery, they really do live and die on the charge and you need to make good charges for this unit to even start to pay for itself.
Their Regiment of Renown, the Fireborn, finally gain a Bonus vs Large, alongside gaining fire attacks and a fire resistance. They're insanely expensive at 1800 (as costly as an actual dragon) but are just as vulnerable to most types of shooting as regular Dragon Princes. They're even better on the charge than regular Dragon Princes and do better against other cavalry and large monsters thanks to their Bonus vs Large. An 1800 cost heavy cavalry that doesn't have AP is a hard sell, but the Fireborn can be extremely potent if used well, or completely ruin any hopes of victory if used poorly. Hard to recommend in a competitive setting, but an incredibly fun unit to use, especially if the opponent is weak to fire damage (such as the undead). Expect them to be focused down by every ranged unit in the enemy army the moment they enter the field.
Missile Cavalry And Chariots
High Elves are somewhat lacking in mounted skirmish compared to the other two elves, and a few other factions have skirmishers that simply outclass what the High Elves can do. Despite this, High Elves do possess some noteworthy and useful horse archers.
Ellyrian Reaver ArchersBase Cost: 600
Role: Skirmish, Light Cavalry
Overall Rating: 8/10
Reaver Archers are the High Elves primary skirmish cavalry and surprisingly cheap, costing the same as Kislev horse archers. They're pretty typical for mounted skirmish archers and provide a lot of useful battlefield flexibility, being hard to catch, dealing good damage over time with their ranged attacks and being able to act as light cavalry when needed to compromise enemy missiles or chase off dangerous routed opponents from the field.
Horse archers are usually a very good unit type and will never really be bad. Reaver Archers are great and useful units that give you a lot of added flexibility on the battlefield, while providing valuable counter skirmish against similar enemy units (mainly marauder horsemen, who they outrange). A great unit that would be missed were it removed from the faction, as they really do a lot for High Elves for an unusually low price.
Their Regiment of Renown, the Heralds of the Wind, become faster and gain an enhanced charge bonus and additional missile strength. Due to being rank 9 (as all ROR units are), their combat stats are much improved, letting them act as a fairly good light cavalry in melee. Their melee stats are actually superior to Silver Helms, though said unit will outclass the Heralds of the Winds due to better armour and a higher charge bonus. An interesting hybrid choice if you believe you will be using your skirmisher in melee frequently.
If you struggle to use Skirmishers:Unfortunately, skirmishers can be quite difficult to use properly when starting out, and skirmish mode is often more detrimental than it is useful. If you struggle to make good use of them, don't worry about skirmishing with them at all! It'll be too taxing on your micro. Instead, use them like regular archers from behind your frontline, and employ their enhanced mobility to escape from any dangers that attack them. Just because you can skirmish with them doesn't mean you always need to, and sometimes having an additional mounted archer unit is what can make the difference in a shootout. Even if you "aren't good enough to use skirmishers", you should still bring them, because practice is the only way you're gonna learn.
There's no easy way to use this unit type, you simply have to learn. Even the best players will make mistakes and leave their skirmishers to get charged by hellstriders, this doesn't make them bad units by any means! You will probably mess up and get your elves killed, and that's okay! Keep practicing and messing up and eventually you'll be able to run circles around other players with your horse archers and show to them why the Mongols were so feared!
Tiranoc ChariotsBase Cost: 900
Role: Chariot. Skirmish
Overall Rating: 2/10
Tiranoc Chariots are the cheapest chariots available to the High Elves. While being similarly priced to Dark Elf Scourgerunner Chariots, they're nowhere near as good as them in either melee or especially ranged, and are fairly meh as chariots go on the charge. While 900 gold isn't exactly budget, they are cheaper than the two other chariot options in the faction, so if all you need is a chariot and you don't need a particularly high quality chariot, Tiranocs certainly do exist.
You don't really want to rely too heavily on just the missile attacks of Tiranocs, but they do provide decent counter skirmish and do help gain some value over time, much in the same way Cold One Chariots of the dark elves are used. Unfortunately, these guys have been kinda forgotten, and while the rest of the roster has gotten buffed, Tiranocs are desperately in need of a buff to be worth 900 gold, especially compared to the Scourgerunner Chariots that Dark Elves get for around the same price. Its hard to justify ever bringing this unit.
Tiranoc Chariots do not have a Regiment of Renown.
Monsters
High Elves have the most flying monsters in the game, with access to various flavours of Eagles, Dragons (in their own seperate section) and Phoenixes that can help High Elves truly dominate the skies in a way that other factions often struggle to do. None of the monsters have access to Martial Prowess however, so the stats you see are the stats you get.
Great EagleBase Cost: 800
Role: Flying monster. Assassin
Overall Rating: 7/10
While Eagles don't cause terror like their manticore rivals, they're much faster and just as good at fighting, making them a great reserve unit that can be brought out to reach the frontline quickly and provide support where necessary to help win any losing battles. As a flying unit, they can also quickly compromise enemy ranged assets and prevent them from shooting, though note they're incredibly vulnerable to enemy ranged themselves with only 30 armour.
They can also be very good at fighting enemy heroes and lords as a speedy flying assassin, particularly against weaker generic casters
War Lions of ChraceBase Cost: 825
Role: AP Anti Infantry. "Dogs".
Overall Rating: 1/10
Unsurprisingly, a regiment of fast huge hungry war lions are quite effective at munching on enemy archers, similar to how Hounds and dog type units are used, though they'll struggle to fight anything bigger than them, as they rely on their Bonus vs Infantry to be effective. Compared to their elf infantry counterpart (White Lions of Chrace), they're much worse in combat but are a lot faster and more mobile, while still keeping their AP attacks, making them ideal against enemy armoured ranged assets.
Though, in practicality, they're much too expensive to be all that useful. They can have a niche against stuff like Cathay crossbows or Skaven globadiers, but 825 gold is a ridiculous price to ask. They could be made 150 gold cheaper and they still wouldn't be that good, but atleast they'd be usable. A solid competitor for the worst unit in this faction, don't take them!
Their Regiment of Renown, the Rahagra's Pride, gives them an ability, Mighty Roar, which reduces the speed and leadership of nearby enemy units by a small amount. That's literally it. Its a useful ability but a little underwhelming. Though what isn't underwhelming is the combat buffs that being rank 9 gives. Their statline becomes good enough to fight more targets and brawl more comfortably with enemy infantry, especially if they get a good charge off. Still way too overpriced for what they do, but a bit more of a practical unit.
Flamespyre PhoenixBase Cost: 1350
Role: AP Melee Combatant. Flying Terror Causing Monster
Overall Rating: 7/10
The cheapest phoenix available and focused on a more offensive profile, the Flamespyre Phoenix is the cheapest source of terror available to High Elves and comes with a fairly standard set of abilities that most phoenixes share. The ability to fly, extra damage resistance when winds of magic are high and most iconic of all, Rebirth. Rebirth grants phoenixes a chance to regain a chunk of health when they're about to die, returning from the ashes like the legends they're based on. This isn't guaranteed to happen,
For the Flamespyre phoenix in particular, it is tied for being the fastest flier in High Elves with a huge 120 speed and focuses more towards offence. Having a good melee attack stat and good AP magical attacks lets it do lots of damage into foes that would normally be difficult for other units in the roster to deal with. While airborne, it can also drop bombardments of flaming explosives on enemies below it, similar to the gyrobomber of the dwarfs (but with much weaker bombs). Finally, the Flamespyre Phoenix has a 40% resistance to fire, as one would expect from a bird made of fire.
This phoenix does have some pretty glaring weaknesses, however. First and most noticeable is the low armour of 30, which can make it quite vulnerable to enemy missiles from enemy archers. Not helping this is its below average melee defence stat, which can result in it taking a lot of damage in a melee fight against comparable opponents. If you can mitigate these flaws, the Flamespyre Phoenix is a powerful and deadly combatant who is great into most targets with its sharp flaming claws.
The Flamespyre Phoenix does not have a Regiment of Renown.
Frostheart PhoenixBase Cost: 1500
Role: AP Melee Combatant. Flying Terror Causing Monster. Debuffer.
Overall Rating: 8/10
The Frostheart Phoenix is the more defensively oriented phoenix of the trio, though it sacrifices a few things to do so. Most noticeably, the Frostheart Phoenix is the only phoenix without rebirth, meaning it cannot heal itself away when on death's door. It also has no bombardment or vortex to drop on enemies below it like the others do.
Instead, the Frostheart Phoenix packs great stats for the cost, great durability and various freezing effects and auras that can slow an opponent's retreat to a crawl. Frostheart phoenixes are the only source of Frostbite in the faction, and also come with the unique Blizzard Aura, a short range always active aura that debuffs the stats all enemies around the phoenix, making it great as supporting important battles. This phoenix is also the most well armoured of the trio with an impressive 80 armour, though this comes at the cost of its speed, being the slowest phoenix at 100 speed. I consider the Frostheart Phoenix to be the best phoenix for these reasons, a great combatant with good stats and AP that debuffs the enemy in significant ways.
Hilariously, the Frostheart Phoenix didn't use to have frostbite for years. Shoutouts to Felkon for campaigning to give the bird what it deserves!
The Frostheart Phoenix does not have a Regiment of Renown.
Arcane PhoenixBase Cost: 1850
Role: AP Melee Combatant. Flying Terror Causing Monster.
Overall Rating: 7/10
The Arcane Phoenix is the final of the phoenix trio and is best thought of as an upgrade to the Flamespyre Phoenix combined with the high stats of the Frostheart Phoenix, Packing even greater offensive stats while possessing improved durability. Most noticeably, the Arcane Phoenix gains a 20% physical resistance similar to that of a daemon, alongside having better armour and higher melee defence compared to a Flamespyre Phoenix. This stacks with the damage resistance from having high winds of magic that all phoenixes have, giving the Arcane Phoenix impressive resistances against non-magical attacks.
The Arcane Phoenix has an upgraded Rebirth that causes an explosion if Rebirth is triggered successfully. This is most effective against infantry and can help it escape from spears should it be trapped and dragged down by them. It also comes with the Emberstorm, a 3 use vortex that can only be used while the phoenix is flying, causing it to swoop down and damage all infantry below it with an arcane tornado (be careful of friendly fire!). A good choice if you desire a very strong flier with extremely high speed that can clear enemy infantry with its vortex.
Their Regiment of Renown, the Omen of Asuryan, grants an Immune to Psychology aura within 55 meters to all allies. Costs 500 more than a regular Arcane Phoenix, and while ITP auras are quite good, the Omen of Asuryan costs a stupidly huge amount that makes it too impractical to consider bringing.
Dragons
The dragons of the High Elves are terrifying fire breathing monsters who can fly over the battlefield and bulldoze through legions of infantry with their huge mass and powerful charges. Unlike the phoenix trio, the three dragons are direct upgrades of each other who find their biggest differences in their Breath attacks, devastating bound attacks that all dragons have. Dragons are the most powerful mount available to a select few lords.
In order to best use the breath of a dragon, two conditions must be met. Firstly, the enemy unit must be stationary (whether standing still or in combat), otherwise the breath is likely to miss a moving target. Secondly, you should use breaths from the side of a unit, rather than the front. Assuming the enemy unit is in a line, you should aim to breathe down the line to hit the most number of enemies, rather than just breathing from the front of the line, as this will hit maybe 10 models instead of the entire unit.
Sun DragonBase Cost: 1600
Role: AP Melee Combatant. Flying Terror Causing Monster
Overall Rating: 6/10
The cheapest dragon choice, Sun Dragons possess traits archetypical of all three dragons. It has high armour and a 25% missile resistance due to its scales, giving it serviceable protection against non-AP missiles. Sun dragons in particular have the highest charge bonus and are the fastest of the dragons, letting them impose a threatening presence on the battlefield.
The Sun Dragon's breath has the lowest AP of the three dragons but has the greatest area of impact, making it very effective against enemy infantry and hordes that possess lighter armour. However, this breath is mostly ineffective against well armoured opponents. Best used against Slaanesh Daemonettes, Norscan Marauders and other similarly poorly armoured units.
Being the cheapest of the three, if all you want is a dragon, than the Sun Dragon isn't too bad of a choice, especially as a mount for characters. As a standalone unit however, it leaves a lot to be desired, but it isn't bad by any means, just somewhat lacking compared to its competitors. Other dragons are recommended over the Sun Dragon if you can afford it, they're worth the price of the upgrade.
Moon DragonBase Cost: 1800
Role: AP Melee Combatant. Flying Terror Causing Monster
Overall Rating: 8/10
The second of the three dragons, Moon Dragons are slower than their Sun Dragon counterparts but possess higher weapon strength and greater melee stats. They also have more health than a Sun Dragon, improving their durability by a fair amount.
The Moon Dragon's breath is quite similar to the Sun Dragon's breath, but possesses improved damage and AP, giving it more practicality against armoured targets. The area of impact is a bit smaller than the Sun Dragon's breath, resulting in it being less effective against lightly armoured threats than what the Sun Dragon can do, but much more effective against heavily armoured infantry that a Sun Dragon would be ineffective against. Best used against Chaos Warriors and similarly heavily armoured infantry or cavalry, though it isn't that bad into enemies with lighter armour, just not as good as a Sun Dragon would be.
Moon Dragons are a solid unit at a respectable price with great combat stats and a fantastic breath attack. Better than a Sun Dragon in everything except speed, but if you want fast strong fliers, phoenixes should have your attention instead. A solid unit to use against any non anti large threat.
Star DragonBase Cost: 2200
Role: AP Melee Combatant. Flying Terror Causing Monster
Overall Rating: 8/10
The most expensive and powerful dragon, the Star Dragon is a large upgrade over the Moon Dragon, posessing higher armour, greater melee stats and higher weapon strength. Predictably, it is also the slowest of the three dragons, with only 80 speed.
The Star Dragon breath deals the most AP damage of the three dragons, but posesses the smallest area of impact. Because of this small area of impact, it is best used against elite enemy units and single entities, as the high damage from the breath can take chunks out of these usually extremely tough units. Best used against Chaos Chosen, Chaos Knights and other similarly elite and powerful units. Also very good at sniping single entity monsters, which are another fantastic target for Star Dragon breath. Horrible into lightly armoured non-elite infantry.
Star Dragons are extremely powerful and really demand a lot of your opponent's resources if they want to fell the beast. Incredible combat stats, great durability and a huge healthpool that can rival even a Daemon Prince results in an impressively destructive unit, especially when paired with a life caster for additional healing. If you have a lord slot to spare, you can instead bring Imrik on his Star Dragon mount to become even more powerful instead of taking this unit. However, if you opt to use a Star Dragon of any form, it's a huge expensive target for your opponent, so be careful if your opponent has strong anti large options like Skaven Ratling Guns or Kislev Bear cavalry, as they can quickly take chunks out of your highly expensive dragon.
Artillery
High Elves aren't known for their artillery, but they do have a single choice available, and one of the only artillery in the game that is able to change ammunition type mid battle.
Eagle Claw Bolt ThrowerBase Cost: 700
Role: Artillery
Overall Rating: 3/10
Eagle Claw Bolt Throwers are a hybrid artillery with two ammunition types, with default being better against single targets and alt fire being better into infantry and tight formations. While default is usually the more effective ammo type for value, you should change as needed to better target the threat you're shooting into.
While it won't be as good as a cannon into single targets and doesn't do as well as a mortar into infantry, it does serve a decent niche as a counter artillery piece against opponents artillery, particularly against artillery heavy factions, which is a somewhat practical way to make use of Bolt Throwers on most maps. Using default fire to try take out the opponents artillery can be very much helpful against something like Empire or Cathay, which can open the field for your elites to more safely enter and start doing their jobs. Artillery is a good counter to High Elves and having bolt throwers can prevent (or atleast distract) enemy artillery from killing the rest of your army.
Outside of countering enemy artillery, Bolt Throwers are unimpressive. Their damage output is lackluster for both ammo types and their range is below average, especially when compared to cannons and other anti large pieces (though, hilariously, they do outrange Dwarf Bolt Throwers). They're still decent into armoured enemy monsters due to their AP anti large bolts, but they're one of the worst anti large artillery for doing so, especially at 700 gold. Their anti infantry shots are even more disappointing, but at the very least, it does force the opponent's infantry to attack into you if they don't have artillery of their own. That's about the best thing they can do for you. Bolt Throwers are not recommended if you want to cause actual damage.
Eagle Claw Bolt Throwers do not have a Regiment of Renown.
Building An Army (& Example Builds)
In multiplayer, both players have the same amount of funds to build an army with. This is unlike campaign, where armies will often be very unbalanced in terms of "value", the amount of gold something is worth. Because of this, it can be difficult to fit in everything you want.
Principles of Army BuildingWhen building your army, you must always think of your "Win Condition". In other words, "how will this army beat the opponent's army?". Will you attempt to shoot them from afar, or rush them up close. Will you try and focus on getting value, or focus on objectives? In order to accomplish this goal, you add in a "core" of units that can do it. For instance, if you wanted to win through ranged firepower, your core would be made up of archers, lets say 5 Archers and 5 Lothern Sea Guard.
Once you have a core of units, the rest of your funds should be spent to support this core of units. Cavalry and other infantry will exist to protect our ranged assets, not to kill the enemy, as it is the job of the "Core" of our army, the archers, to accomplish that goal.
In order to better demonstrate this, an example is provided below:
Ranged Heavy
In the above build, The win condition of this army is to shoot the opponents off the field. The core of this army is 5 Archers and 5 LSG (Lothern Sea Guard) to do this. A fairly simple strategy, but what is the rest of the army for?
The lord choice is a Lore of Metal Archmage on an Eagle. She has two spells, Plague of Rust and Searing Doom, alongside Arcane Conduit and book of Hoeth for extra winds. Her primary role is to cast overcasted Plague of Rust on any heavily armoured targets the archers will have trouble against to reduce their armour. In the event of blobbed up enemies, Searing Doom allows her to deal AP AOE damage to a crowd of enemies, further helping the non-AP archers deal with armoured enemies.
In the main army, LSG serve as the main frontline, while Silverin Guard are there to assist in the event more elite enemies are present that LSG wouldn't be able to frontline against. They will also be the primary objective holder. Archers, as already mentioned, contribute to the win condition. Finally, a single Reaver cavalry poses as a backline sweeper, able to quickly respond to any threats posed against the archers, such as flying bats or summons that will ignore the frontline.
The reserve army is made up primarily of cavalry and other high mobility units that can quickly respond to any threats the core of archers faces. Silver Helms are also good at contesting and holding off other enemy heavy cavalry, preventing them from getting into your archer backline. The white lions provide additional AP melee for the archers should the enemy be particularly well armoured, and the silverin guard serves as an additional objective holder for the 3rd objective (if needed). Finally, the Frostheart Phoenix is present to cause fear and terror, scaring off enemies to allow the LSG frontline to begin firing their bows again and causing damage.
As you can see, everything in the army serves a purpose, and contributes something towards the win condition of ranged supremacy. So long as everything in your army has a purpose that helps your win condition in some way, you have a well functioning list.
Melee Heavy + Imrik
Lets see another example. In the above build, the win condition of this army is to fight the opponent in melee off of objectives and win through a melee slugfest. The core of this army is the four White Lions of Chrace and Imrik.
The lord choice is Imrik on his Star Dragon with all of his items and abilities. Imrik is an absolute raidboss in combat and has one of the most devestating charges in the game when using his Star Lance, allowing him to personally deal with almost any threat you may face. The Dragonhorn buffs up the Core of White Lions in melee, allowing them to cleave through their opponents more effectively. He will be fighting in tandem with the four White Lions and helping them win their fights, providing terror from his dragon to grant swift victories and free up your White Lions to press onwards into the opponents backfield objectives and ranged units.
The main army is made up of White Lions and Lothern Sea Guard. Since the White Lions will be aggressively pushing up, there is little protection available for any archers, which is why LSG are being used instead. LSG are able to hold their own in combat, allowing the White Lions to freely push forward without worrying about protecting the archers. Also included is a life wizard with all her items and three spells. Earthblood and Regrowth exist to heal the White Lions and Imrik respectively, whilst her third spell, Dwellers Below, punishes the opponent for blobbing up to try and take on Imrik whenever he decides to land (or exploit the opponent's mistakes in blobbing up naturally).
The reserves consists of melee cavalry that can quickly reach the frontline and further provide assistance for the melee infantry and shut down enemy ranged assets for them. A single unit of Swordmasters is available in case the opponent responds with elite infantry of their own as the Swordmasters will be able to deal with even the toughest of opponents, especially with healing from the Life wizard. Silverin Guard exist to hold objectives when taken and deal with any enemy cavalry or large monsters that try and attack. Further LSG are put in reserve for more ranged firepower against any particularly dangerous large threats. The Storm Riders ROR are included as they can vanguard and fire while on the move to the front line, letting them quickly get into melee on the objectives if needed.
This army is an example of a way to play High Elves more aggressively. While a defensive playstyle suits them well, they are flexible enough to be played in more than one way, and using unorthodox strategies can surprise some opponents, who expect you to be bringing a completely different style of army. For most opponents fighting your High Elves, they will expect you to bring a strong bowline as standard, but in the above army, you surprise them by bringing few bows and instead focus more on melee units. This is called "Build Roulette" and can be a useful way of surprising your opponent, so don't be afraid to experiment with stuff you might not consider 'standard' to the playstyle of High Elves!
Replays To Watch
Watching replays is one of the best ways to improve as a player. While experience is the best teacher, watching great players go at it and seeing what they do and why they make the decisions they make is always appreciated. Plus, they're fun to watch! I've provided a few down below that are worth watching if you want to see High Elves in action, and a description of what the replay entails so you aren't wasting your time.
A live game with live commentary from a great player, a great combination! Shows a fairly ranged heavy build featuring Eltharion with various spells from the Lore of High. While not exactly the meta of High Elves, the replay showcases a lot of what High Elves can do. This replay is great for seeing how a high level tournament player controls their army from their perspective.
Ranged heavy build that skips on Lothern Sea Guard and instead decides for "whoops, all archers!" for more volume of fire with a bit of elite infantry action. Unorthodox lord choices on both sides, with Imrik on horse leading the High Elves, a very unusual (but interesting!) pick. Also shows a good demonstration on how to effective focus fire and protect your ranged assets against excessive amounts of enemy melee, two invaluable skill if you want to bring that many archers!
The ancestral rivalry of the elves and the greenskins continues in.. Stonehenge? Xiphos is one of the best elf specialists in the world and his control over his army is downright masterful, it really is a sight to behold. Brings forth Imrik on his star dragon with a more melee focused High Elf build, featuring extensive and great use of cavalry and horse archers. Definitely the sort of build you'd expect to see in a tournament, and Xiphos commands it masterfully. This replay is a good demonstration of high level High Elves.
4 hours of Felkon, a masterful high elf specialist. Expect to see a mixture of some great builds and some interesting builds that shouldn't really win, but do anyway. A great player that can make seemingly any army work with their skill at the game alone, especially if the army contains a Frostheart Phoenix! Not exactly the most serious of games, but that's part of the fun! Features a lot of Land Battles if that's more to your style, as many of the other replays are for domination.
Credits
Guide Thumbnail: High Elven Swordmaster [www.pinterest.co.uk] by Samo94
Phoenix King "Aenarion" Image: Tyrion Wiki Page [warhammerfantasy.fandom.com]
High Elves Swordmaster Regiment Image: High Elves [theamazingdigitalart.tumblr.com] by Bayard Wu
High Elf Spearmen fighting Greenskins: Spearmen wiki page [warhammerfantasy.fandom.com]
High Elven Mage portrait: elf mage [www.pinterest.co.uk] by Kroy111
Tool for stats and comparisons: TWW Stats Website [twwstats.com] by Ciment#9520
Special thanks to the Turin Discord for providing their advice and analysis. Creating this guide wouldn't have been possible without their help! If you want to get into multiplayer, make sure to check out Turin's channel and Website[totaltavern.com] as they are a fantastic source of multiplayer replays and tournaments! Their discord link is accessible through the website.
Thanks For Reading!
Thanks for taking the time to read my guide, it means a lot! I'll continue to update this guide post release as the game gets updated and High Elves are buffed/nerfed. Before those updates come, there's a few additions I plan on making to the guide before i'm fully satisfied.
1) More example builds/armies!
I'd like to consult with some more experienced High Elf tournament players regarding some further builds to be included in the guide. I made it my objective to make builds that were straightforward and easy to use (by elf standards) for this guide, and frankly, its a lot of fun coming up with builds under those objectives, so I'll probably add more!
2) Matchup information
One thing noticeably missing from the guide is any sort of matchup information or knowledge. Its highly important information to know and informs a lot of builds and decision making that I didn't really touch on. If you don't know to bring AP into dwarfs, you simply aren't going to be beating dwarfs!
While I probably won't cover the High Elf matchup into every other faction in the game, I will include a section on a few of the most important and common matchups that I know best (well, unless you REALLY want me to cover every single matchup in the game!)
3) Fix some images and add some new images
I hate how steam handles images. A few got butchered during the upload and some quality isn't great, and I'd really like to retake some of the worst ones and add a few new ones, including any images that are missing that really should be present. Doubt i'll add
4) Replays!
Add more replays to the appropriate section of the guide. They're fun to watch and great learning experiences.
If you want to get in touch with me, or have suggestions to improve the guide, please either leave a comment down below or message me on discord (Zergursh#9064).
Good luck out there in multiplayer. Long live the Asur!
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2869834654
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