Overview
Hi there,
Welcome to Kitsune's S Rank guide. WarGroove have a total of 33 campaign missions, once you obtain the S rank in every camapign, you will unlock the "Super Strategist" achievement. For now, ChuckleFish confirmed that turn number is the only indicator for S rank. In this guide, I will list out the requirement for S rank and A rank (A rank turn requirement is just S rank turns multiplied by 1.2). Tips and strategy I used to obtain the S rank, video walk-through, and some fun facts about the level (Known LTC is w/e video I found on youtube or screenshots of the S rank page that I find. It can probably be lower for most missions after optimizing).
Due to the randomness in AI behvaiour, I can't guarantee that my strategy will always end up being S rank, but it should give you something to start with to think about your own strategy.
When a new strategy is discovered, I will update the guide accordingly to list out the strategy.
Good luck!
Prologue: The Beginning
Cherrystone Castle, March 15th
Under cover of night, High Vampire Sigrid makes a daring attack on Cerrystone Castle.
Requirement S rank: 8 turns
A rank: 10 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level on movement and attack
Just follow the tutorial and keep moving forward towards Mercival's chamber. Once you enter the Chamber, you win.
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 7 turns if you ignore the second last guard. He will come attack you and die
If you attack any gate twice with Sigird, you will be caught by the guard, and will be defeated
Mercival will continue talking until turn 10. Starting from turn 11, he will just say "...”
You don't actually have to enter Mercival's chamber. Win condition triggers when Sigrid reach the spot where the guard outside of Mercival chamber was standing.
Act 1 Mission 1: The Breach
River Aldor, June 8th
An unsure Mercia faces her first test as monarch of Cherrystone.
Requirement S rank: 3 turns
A rank: 4 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level on damage indicator and critical attack.
Pretty straight forward, just keep attacking with your units and you'll get an S
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 3 turns
Your damage value will always be fixed on this level if you played this mission the exact same way every time.
Act 1 Mission 2: A Plague Of Skeletons
The Greensweep, June 8th
The Felheim invasion begins in earnest.
Requirement S rank: 11 turns
A rank: 13 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level on villages and barracks
You have to destroy both the village and barrack, but you do not need to capture it
2 enemy soldiers will spawn north on turn 3, but you can ignore them because buildings will fight back and you don't really need the buildings
2 pikes should be all you need besides the swordsman from the tutorial, but you can build more just in case.
Keep moving the archer westwards towards the enemy barrack
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 9 turns
You have 2 villages, so your income should be 200g/turn, but you only get 100g on turn 2 :<
Act 1 Mission 3: Worst Enemies Forever
Sage Woods, June 9th
Unhappy with her defeat, Ragna decides to take matters into her own hands.
Requirement S rank: 7 turns
A rank: 8 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level for reinforcement and strongholds
You do not need to build any units in this map, but you can do it just in case.
Don't bother with the top route, if you sent knight that way, the spear man will just counter it. If you sent infantry there, it's too slow.
Ragna strategy: AI commander will always come in to attack your soldier if the commander cannot be killed by you next turn, so you can set up your soldier as a bait for Ragna and get a knight crit and commander hit on her. This deals about 80 damage, and you can finish her next turn.
Stronghold strategy: Same as above, but put your units just out of harms way, and go for the stronghold instead. You end up with the same number of turns, but no death and 1 extra kill, so It's better than Ragna strategy. But it takes a few seconds longer so...
Video Walkthrough (Ragna)
Video Walkthrough (Stronghold)
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 5 turns
A dialogue triggers if you lose your south village (the one you captured during tutorial).
Ragna cannot recruit when she has 4 or more units.
Ragna can only recruit new units every other turn except if she has no units.
Ragna will have special dialogue if she run out of gold.
Act 1 Mission 4: Lord Of The Dead
The Greensweep, June 10th
With Cherrystone overwhelmed, Mercia must get her people to safety.
Requirement S rank: 11 turns
A rank: 13 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level on wagons
A total of 5 villagers will spawn at turn 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.
You must have a wagon on standby near the villager spawn location at turn 9 for the final villager to get S rank
You don't have to drop the villager all the way, you can drop them off at the barrack, and they can walk rest of the way while you transport a soldier to the front line (except the last villager).
Sent the Initial 2 Spears to the west end of the road, and the Cavalry with Mercia to the south
Mercia also needs to be transported back to safety, so have another wagon for Mercia before turn 9
I like building Spears and Archer for this level because of the guaranteed critical due to their spawn location. But Knight works too.
2 Spears and an archer should be all you need for the west road
2 Spears, a knight, and an archer should be all you need for the south road
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 11 turns
You can't get below 11 turns on this mission because the last villager spawns at the end of turn 9, and you need 2 turns to transport the villager to the escape zone
It is possible to block all the spawning location to the south. If you do that, Valder spawns to the west instead.
Valder is not killable, he will regen to 100% hp after you deal damage to him.
Once Valder is spawned, there will be endless waves of enemy coming.
It is possible to block villager spawning location, thus failing the map.
It is possible to have the HQ destroyed after you evacuate Mercia, there will be a special dialogue, but you still win the mission
it is possible to block all the enemy spawning locations, but you need a lot of units for that.
Act 2 Mission 1: Beyond The Border
Floran Borderlands, June 13th
The party escapes to the gloomwoods, only to face fresh dangers.
Requirement S rank: 14 turns
A rank: 17 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level on fog of war
Enemy reinforcement arrives if any of the 2 conditions are satisfied: you crossed the bridge or a count down timer is satisfied, you can delay the count down to as late as turn 10. More about the count down timer in fun facts
Sedge strategy: Lure Sedge over with some weak units such as doggos, crystals, or weakened Emeric, and then kill Sedge with your knights. This is very risky however, and Imo it's easier to just go for the barrack strategy
Barrack strategy: build up an army by turn 7. The earliest turn you can capture the barrack is turn 5. So you can make 1 unit before you invade on turn 7. Personally, I recommend spamming knights for this level.
Barrack strategy: have 2 of your doggos and your archer go up from the western road, and your main army go up from the center road (Emeric, doggo, cavalry, and further reinforcements).
You have exactly 6 villages on your side, so if you can keep all villages, you can make 1 knight per turn.
After the enemy reinforcement spawn, you can sent 1 pike to south eastern to defend, and 1 pike to south western to defend. They should be enough to hold all the villages.
2 to 3 knights should be all you need, but feel free to make other units as you see fit
Initial enemy locationsAll locations marked with "S" have a soldier on it.
Video Walkthrough (Sedge)Video Walkthrough (Barrack)I got lucky with the damage rolls on Emeric. There is a chance Emeric will die if you follow step by step in thie video. But given that this video is a 10 turn s rank, and requirement is 14, you can play a lot safer.
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 10. This can probably be lower by triggering Sedge to spawn earlier, and lure him over.
You get a special dialogue if you defeat all the ambush enemies that spawn
Sedge countdown timer starting when one of the 2 condition is satisfied: Emeric captured 2 buildings, or it is turn 6. The count down timer last for 4 turns, so this means you can delay the ambush event and Sedge spawn to as late as turn 10. E.g. you can capture a village as early as possible then do nothing until turn 6, where you capture rest of the buildings. This allows you to have the economic lead since Sedge does not start with gold.
There is a typo in Emeric's dialogue. He says "It's aura provides a dramatic defence bonus for our units!", there should not be an apostrophe for "it's"
Act 2 Side 1: Canine Justice
The Gloomwoods, June 13th
Alone in the woods, Caesar finds some villagers in need of aid.
Requirement S rank: 16 turns
A rank: 19 turns
Tips and Strategies You will have to sacrifice some units to lure the enemy units, but it is up to you which units you sacrifice. I recommend sacrifice doggos and soldiers.
You get 2 soldiers and a spearman from the first room, 2 soldiers and an archer from the second room, and 2 spearmans and an archer from the last room.
Caesar is tanky, and he regenerates hp, so don't be afraid to sent him to the frontline.
Caesar groove charges slowly, so it's good for him to attack/get attacked/kill enemy units.
Try to keep your spears and archer alive. This means don't rush them forward to scout.
Try to have Caesar's groove "Inspire" up for the final room, it makes it a lot easier.
For the final room, try to break in as quickly as possible (when safe) and as a group, if you get blocked by the choke at the entrance, it is a lot harder to get the required turn number for S rank.
Honestly, you don't need the units from the final room to complete the mission.
Initial Enemy Locations
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 13 turns, but can probably be lower
There is a statue to the southwest corner of the map, once you have 151 stars, you can put Caesar on it to get a orb. This orb is used to unlock a secret commander.
Act 2 Mission 2: Shadows In The Mist
Heart of The Gloomwoods, June 13th
With Sedge defeated, Emeric faces a new Floran threat.
Requirement S rank: 14 turns
A rank: 17 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level for trebuchets
You don't need to worry about the the top path too much, most of the fighting will happen in the bottom path
Build a wagon on turn 1 so you can sent Emeric to contest the south village
I highly recommend getting more trebuchets for this map
Greenfinger becomes active when you move past the tile after the south village or when it's turn 11, so depending on your strategy, you can spawn him as early as possible or as late as possible.
Including the initial one, Greenfinger have a total of 5 giants. The second one spawn on Turn 1 to the east. The third one spawn on Turn 4 to the south, The fourth one spawn on Turn 7 to the east, and the last one spawn on turn 10 to the south.
Greenfinger Snipe: Remember greenfinger is attracted to weak units and run away from strong units, with some setup, you can easily snipe greenfinger as early as turn 7. However, setting up the snipe is risky, and depending on RNG, you may fail the setup or the snipe. If you make the exact same movements as I did in my tutorial, 90% of the time, the snipe will be successful.
Standard strategy: This is much safer to get S rank, basically build a 1 or 2 trebuchets and support it with doggo and spearman. Push your way to enemy stronghold and take down the stronghold
Initial Enemy Locations
Video Walkthrough (Greenfinger Snipe)Video Walkthrough (Stronghold)
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 7 turns.
if you are insanely lucky, it is possible the giant at turn 1 leave the sword at 1 hp...
you get a special dialogue if you kill all 5 giants
Act 2 Side 2: Banishment
Flooded Forest, June 19th
Unhappy with Sedge's deception, Greenfinger confronts the wayward commander.
Requirement S rank: 13 turns
A rank: 16 turns
Tips and Strategies Use weakened commander or other weak units to lure Sedge in then use wild growth or other units to trap him
Recommended units to lure him in are doggos, spearmans, and trebuchets
Sedge does not move until either you cross the river to his land, or until turn 6.
I like to build a wagon on turn 2, so I can take greenfinger across the river on turn 4 to trigger sedge to start moving. But you can also wait until he builds a giants to start moving towards your naturally (this generally happens around turn 6 if you let him capture a village in the center island)
Going for Stronghold is a negative, I have no seen anyone S rank going after stronghold.
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 10 turns, but could be shorter in theory (e.g. if I didn't mess up my spearman crit and bough an archer instead of the pike for my last unit)
A special dialogue will play if sedge recruits a giant.
Act 2 Side 3: Making Friends
Rivier Bani, June 14th
Having just met, Nuru and Mercia decide to test each other's mettle
Requirement S rank: 5 turns
A rank: 6 turns
Tips and Strategies Split up your forces with archer, 2 doggos, and a knight to the left, and rest of your army to south.
Mercia is very tanky, especially with her groove.
Try to let as few of your troop die as possible.
Groove charge when getting attacked, attacking, and killing enemy, so try to do all these to get Mercia's groove charged
Remember your unit counters. Personally, I prefer having archer and doggo kill spears, knight to kill sword and archer, spearman to kill doggo and knights, and solider cleanup
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 4 turns.
A special dialogue will play if Nuru loses a unit.
A special dialogue will play if Merica loses a unit.
A special dialogue will play if Quagmutt is hurt.
Nuru is becomes aggressive if she has less than 3 units available.
Act 3 Mission 1: We Meet Again
The Lost Leagues, June 17th
Mercia's journey is interrupted by an enemy she thought she'd left behind.
Requirement S rank: 13 turns
A rank: 16 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level on mage and ballistae
Build a 2 mages on your 2 to help deal with the harpies. They are also good against infantry, and Harpies do not attack full hp mages, so they are really good for this map.
Ballistae is not that useful here, your mages should be able to take care of all aerial threats, ballistae just provide a little bit of indirect damage against ground units
one or two mages should be all you need for the bottom path. your main army should take the top path
I like spamming spearman on wagons for this map after I have enough mages to deal with the aerial threats.
Stronghold strategy and Ragna strategy is about the same. So you can try to lure Ragna out and finish her or just force your way to her and kill her stronghold.
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 9 turns, but can probably be lower by luring out Ragna.
A lot of people seems to be stuck on either this mission or Act 3 Mission 3.
Special dialogues will play if you kill 1 harpy, 3 harpies, and 5 harpies.
Special dialogue will play if Ragna recruits a new harpy.
Ragna cannot recruit more harpies if she has at least 2 harpies.
You can use ballista to destroy the tower, and trigger a special dialogue.
A special dialogue will play if you destroy Ragna buildings.
Act 3 Side 1: Puppy In The Middle
Rambler's Ruins, June 19th
Caesar once again encounters those pesky outlaws.
Requirement S rank: 23 turns
A rank: 28 turns
Tips and Strategies 15 waves in total with the last wave happening on turn 16.
You can place your treb and ballistas inside the wall and defend just the village, or you can move out and out the choke points at the bridge. One is safer but lower income, The other is riskier but more income. You can get S rank either way
west, north, and south each requires just a mage in the early phases. Later on, you might want to consider also adding a knight.
Sent the bulk of your army north, only reinforce west, south, and east when needed
When you see AI's treb spawn in, ready your knight to counter it
Cheese Strategy : It's possible to use your starting villagers and some additional units to completely block the AI spawn to the south,west, and east. But i'm not sure how effective this is because you need to use your barrack to build fodder units to block off the spawn location, and the enemy on these sides are pretty weak already.
Video Walkthrough (Spawn Block)Really sloppy run, mainly to show case that you can spawn block
Video Walkthrough (Standard)
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 20, but can probably be shorter
there is a statue to the north, which when the requirements are met, unlocks a hidden commander when placed caesar on it.
Act 3 Side 2: Who Is Caesar?
The Lost Leagues, June 20th
Ragna's blood is up and she's itching for a fight. Any enemy will do.
Requirement S rank: 21 turns
A rank: 25 turns
Tips and Strategies AI will sent most of their forces to where Ragna is, this means you can direct where they are going by place Ragna where you want her to be
You can set up a choke point with the bridge and advance from the right.
Caesar does not move until either someone enters bottom left section of the map or it is on turn 10
If you don't sent Ragna to the very bottom, then that section will almost always have no enemies. Meaning you can safely capture the barrack with a soldier.
I like to build a Wagon on turn 1 to rush Ragna to contested villages and barracks
I mainly spam knights from the bottom right barrack on this map.
Video Walkthrough (Stronghold)
Video Walkthrough (Caesar)
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 11 turns
A special dialogue will play if you kill an enemy on the bottom right section of the map.
A special dialogue will play if you kill an enemy on the bottom center section of the map.
A special dialogue will play if you enter bottom left section of the map.
A special dialogue will play if you lose a unit.
Act 3 Mission 2: An Old Friend
June, 25th
Deep in the Lost Leagues, Emeric decides strange times call for strange magic.
Requirement S rank: 21 turns
A rank: 25 turns
Tips and Strategies Cheese Strategy: You can ignore the normal pathing and just move emeric towards the final flag location. This is the easiest way to earn S rank on this map.
Always move Emeric forward, and have your army clean up enemy units.
Emeric's crystal can block enemies and serve as a bait.
Try to keep your alchemist alive, they are very valuable on this map, and you have enough gold for 8 heals.
you really don't need to bother with enemy spearmans, they can't catch up.
Video Walkthrough (cheese)
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 11 turns with cheese, and 19 without cheese.
If you have units in the first lake, then Emeric cannot cast his magic to summon Mercival, but this restriction does not apply for the rest of the lakes.
If you kill all the enemies on the map after each encounter, ghost Mercival will spawn calling you to hurry
Mercival's Ghost is a unit that cannot be placed by players currently, and right clicking on him does not show additional info, but it has the same stat as villager
Act 3 Mission 3: High Vampire Of The West
Quagmarsh, June 30th
They've taken everything the Lost Leagues had to throw at them, except this final foe.
Requirement S rank: 17 turns
A rank: 20 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level on Harpies and Witches
Harpies start to spawn on day 3, Witches start to spawn on day 9, Dragons start to spawn on day 12, and Ballistas start to spawn on day 7
Spawning locations are turned on and off based on where Mercia is currently on the map. As you move further , some of the spawning locations behind are disabled, and some of the spawning locations ahead are enabled (e.g. north spawn does not happen until you move mercia to the area just before crossing the bridge)
I'd recommend just keep Mercia moving at all times
Sent some harpies to help Mercia travel
have a wagon to pick up Mercia at around half way mark
Nuru should lead a land army to hold the north enemy spawn location
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 15 turns
Special dialogue plays when you make a witch, but you don't need a witch to beat this map
Special dialogue plays if you kill enemy dragon.
You can skip Sigrid spawn by never entering the zone that triggers Sigird to spawn (around half way mark)
If you kill Sigrid, you won't win, the map continues.
It is possible to block some of the spawn locations with your units :x
Act 4 Mission 1: Welcome To Havensong
The Gilded Desert, July 5th
Their destination reached, our heroes find the Heavensong border guards less than hospitable.
Requirement S rank: 15 turns
A rank: 18 turns
Tips and Strategies AI will sent bulk of their army towards where Nuru is. So if you leave Nuru south, they will try to attack south, if you sent Nuru north, they will try to attack north.
It's much easier to sent Nuru north because AI tends to go north before going west.
Wagon is really helpful here for Nuru to move and contest the villages north, or to backdoor enemy Stronghold with spearmans
Easiest way to reach enemy Stronghold is through southern pass, although northern pass works too albeit a little more tricky.
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 9 turns
Act 4 Mission 2: The Dashing General
Dragon's Graveyard, July 9th
Having fallen to Nuru, the Heavensong border soldiers call in their commander.
Requirement S rank: 14 turns
A rank: 17 turns
Tips and Strategies If you sent Mercia north on first turn, then AI will focus north, if you sent her middle, then AI will focus middle, and if you sent her west, then AI will focus west.
Depending on where you sent Mercia initially, at least 1 of the 4 bridges usually see little action. And even when there is a few straggler units coming through, you should be able to just hold the choke point with 1 or 2 units
Stronghold strategy: build a few wagons, I recommend having at least 3 wagons, then sent Mercia and mages to Ryota's stronghold. Ideally, you sent Mercia north to capture the northern village, this will divert Ryota's army to north will you rush from west.
Ryota strategy: Sent Mercia center, and have a relatively weak force to lure Ryota over. Ryota will not come over unless his army strength is greater than yours. Once Ryota is over, trap him and kill him
Video Walkthrough (stronghold)
Video Walkthrough (Ryota)
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 7 turns from Ryota strategy
Act 4 Mission 3: Prince Of The Empire
Dragon's Graveyard, July 12th
Ryota is defeated, but here comes Koji. Emeric steps in to take on the plucky prince.
Requirement S rank: 14 turns
A rank: 17 turns
Tips and Strategies Tutorial level on giants
Build a wagon to rush Emeric to giants
AI cannot build anything until turn 6 from the tower and the bottom barrack.
Ground Strategy: Mage is really powerful with giants due to how cost effective it is to heal giants. Also giants is really good against ground (ignore the cost), and mages are really good against air. Once you got the giants, just keep moving, Koji can't stop you. You will most likely kill Koji with this strategy
Air Strategy: Spam harpies and neglect ground. Emeric and the Giants should be able to defend your buildings. Sent harpies straight to the east to snipe the stronghold. If you see AI build harpies, mages, ballistas, or archers, move your harpies to the sea and they should just ignore it. While your target is the stronghold, you'll probably end up killing Koji with the giants first anyways.
Video WalkthroughI was going to show the air strategy, but honestly the Giants are just too strong on this level. So I'm just gonna leave it here.
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 9 turns
You get a special dialogue when you lose 1 giants, and when you lose both giants
Act 4 Side 1: A Savage History
Sizzlepalm Forest, July 15th
An abashed Ryota tries to explain himself.
Requirement S rank: 12 turns
A rank: 14 turns
Tips and Strategies Make a few spears, and a mage, that should be your main force. Make a wagon to help capture villages to the west.
Try to lure out Ryota if possible, it makes it easier. I like to use Sedge as a bait.
Alternative strategy is spam harpies and aim for the stronghold (although I've not tried this myself because Sedge bait is too good)
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 7 turns.
Dialogue triggers when you defeat one of Ryota's unit, enter Ryota's wall, when destroying Ryota's barrack, and when Destroying Ryota's Tower
Act 4 Side 2: Halcyon Days
The Imperial City, July 14th
Two old friends relive the happy days of their youth.
Requirement S rank: 7 turns
A rank: 8 turns
Tips and Strategies you have 1000 gold, a.k.a 3 heals from your mages
Try to use all your unit's crits.
Use Tenri to tank and your mage to heal Tenri :D
As long as you get the first hit advantage and make sure Emeric does not run away, it shouldn't be hard
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 5 turns
Special dialogue when Tenri loses an Aeronaut
Special dialogue when Emeric loses an mage
Special dialogue if all Emeric's unit dies
Special dialogue if you have a unit on the bridge
All the buildings are yours, but this map have an income multiplier of 0
Act 5 Mission 1: Here Be Monsters
Glittering Mines, July 20th
Now allies, Emeric and Koji band together to take on a shadowy foe they thought they had eluded.
Requirement S rank: 13 turns
A rank: 16 turns
Tips and Strategies You can capture all villages along the way to capture the Tower with Emeric, you can't go any faster, and the villages gives a bit of additional income as well as delaying the giant by a little bit.
Set up choke point around 1 of the 2 bridges with Koji, some trebs and ballista. I recommend having at least 1 ballista or mage on turn 2 because one of the harpy comes pretty early
Once you get your dragon, set 2 of them towards Sedge, and use 1 to clean up the giants to protect Emeric, however, if you choose to build a balloon and take Emeric to the front as well, you can ignore the east side completely.
Clear enemy AA as much as possible, and if you can't, try to lure them to attack Koji instead. Mages and Witches must die. Archers only deal chip damage to dragons, and you can easily lure Harpies to attack Koji instead.
Don't be afraid to use Koji, he is very tanky, and you can reinforce him with villages.
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 10 turns
Special dialogue when Dragon kills a giant
Special dialogue when you recruit a balloon
The dragon tower is on a mountain tile...... Why?
Act 5 Side 1: Dogged Perserverance
Glittering Mines, July 21st
Time for Caesar to rally the troops again; the outlaws are up to their old tricks.
Requirement S rank: 26 turns
A rank: 31 turns
Tips and Strategies First village spawns a soldier; second village spawns a spearman; third village spawns a mage; fourth village spawns a knight, fifth village spawns a soldier, and last village spawns an archer.
You don't need to capture all the villages (I usually skip the knight village).
Bandit at the knight villages can't move unless you move towards it.
Try to keep your mages alive, you get income from villages, and mage can use it to heal.
Use wagons to help moving slower moving units, and block if needed.
Use Caesar to tank when possible, nothing on this map can seriously damage Caesar
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 22 turns. Though I kinda messed up near the end, so it can probably be lower
AI will be on aggressive profile until you get to last village, then it changes to balanced.
There is a statue to the top left corner, when requirements a met, placing Caesar on it will continue with the process to unlock a secret commander.
Act 5 Side 2: Settling The Score
Heavensong Borderlands, July 25th
Ryota looks to settle a long-standing score.
Requirement S rank: 20 turns
A rank: 24 turns
Tips and Strategies Wagon Ryota ahead to capture the buildings.
Build some form of AA for enemy harpies and witches to protect your dragon later.
Build Dragons to circle back on Sedge from behind later.
Pike spam seems to be doing okay on ground for some people.
Sedge's giant can't move until turn 5. And Sedge cannot move until turn 8
Video WalkthroughNot the most optimal strategy in terms of turn count, but I'm too lazy to optimize it.
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 15 turns, but can probably be a lot lower.
Special dialogue plays if Sedge is hurt
Special dialogue plays if Ryota loses 1 unit
Special dialogue plays if Sedge loses a village
Special dialogue plays if Ryota have units close to Sedge's stronghold
Act 5 Mission 2: A Port In Peril
Pollen Puff Cliffs, July 28th
Mercia and the others arrive to meet their fleet, only to find the port overrun.
Requirement S rank:15 turns
A rank: 18 turns
Tips and Strategies Try to keep your dragon alive, they are really good. Pull your dragons back initially, and once you dealt with enemy anti air, swoop in with your dragons and destroy everything.
Just build a few mages and you should be good for the map. Use remaining money for heals.
Mercia is one of the best tank in game
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 12 turns, can probably be lower after some optimization.
This is the least trigger heavy map in the campaign
Act 5 Side 3: Path Of Destruction
Pollen Puff Cliffs, July 31st
If you ask Nuru there's always time for fun, and what's more fun than taking down a rampant giant?
Requirement S rank: 19 turns
A rank: 23 turns
Tips and Strategies Keep moving Nuru forward and try to get Nuru to get the kill if possible to charge her groove
All yellow buildings are yours, so income is not an concern, feel free to go wild with mage heals
Summon spearman for first part and mages for the giant
Try to trigger balloon with some other unit so you can put Nuru in balloon on the same turn (saves 1 turn)
I also recommend getting Nuru's charge ready before you get on ballon you can instantly summon something on the other side
Getting the barrack allows you to summon mage and archers
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 15 turns
A dialogue plays after the giant breaks each village
The giant heals 5% hp per turn
Nuru have a special dialogue if she gets killed by the giant
Act 6 Mission 1: We Must Stop Meeting Like This
The Great Ocean, August 17th
Mercia has set sail for Felheim, but our heroes aren't the only ones who have taken to the sea.
Requirement S rank: 12 turns
A rank: 14 turns
Tips and Strategies Sent your starting merfolks one to each lane and capture villages, Sent your turtle straight north then make a turn to head toward enemy port
You can land your amphibians on land to get out of enemy turtle's threat. And try to lure them in range of your own turtles
Once your amphibian captures the north tower, spam dragons to defeat Ragna
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 11 turns, can probably be lower.
A dialogue appears for each ship type you recruit, moving the turtle, taking the tower, and closing in on Ragna.
When you move the turtle, it's supposed to trigger a dialogue, but your turtle can move out of the zone that triggers the dialogue. But if you recruit a turtle, you'll still trigger it.
Act 6 Side 1: Salty Sea Dog
The Great Ocean, August 13th
They really thought they were safe this time, but the outlaws are in for a surprise.
Requirement S rank: 21 turns
A rank: 25 turns
Tips and Strategies Easiest way to S rank this is through cheesing it by hitting their Stronghold from behind.
The flow of the game is determined by where you sent Caesar early on. So if you sent him west, then most of enemy will go towards west, giving opening on the east to invade. If you sent him east, then most of the enemy will go towards east, giving you opening from the west to invade.
So use Caesar as a decoy and divert as much enemy possible and go from behind to hit their HQ. You can either use warship, dragon, cavalry on a barge. I choose cavalry because it's slightly cheaper (1400g total for cavalry on a barge vs 1800g for warships, vs 2500g for dragons)
Have a witch and/or harpoon ready by around turn 7 for the inevitable dragon
If you choose to invade by land and not cheese it, then spam amphibians, they will shred enemy ground units without retaliation.
Air units can block enemy ground units. Making them lost
If you cheese, I recommend sending Caesar west first and cheese from east, if you invade by land, then I recommend sending Caesar east first and invade from west (for that barrack)
Video Walkthrough (Cheese)
Video Walkthrough (Land Invasion)
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 11 turns
Last statue for secret commander. Assuming you meet the requirement, and did the statue secrets in previous Caesar side missions, placing Caesar on this statue unlocks the secret commander.
Act 6 Side 2: A Fragile Blockade
The Circle Sea, August 10th
Nothing stands between Sigrid and what she wants.
Requirement S rank: 20 turns
A rank: 24 turns
Tips and Strategies Spam mainly water units. E.g. turtles and merfolks, when you have gold, you can also build some harpoons and harpies. I also build a few warships because I have extra gold
Let AI come to you so you can get the first hit advantage.
Reinforce your units with villages when low hp
You don't need many units on lands. I build around 3 pikeman that was it.
Sigrid can be very aggressive and tanky due to how her groove works.
You can competely drop enemy spawn locations with your units so you can kill them the moment they spawn
2-3 turtles and merfolk can pretty much kill everything that spawns at the bottom right corner. 2-3 harpoon can stop all enemy air reinforcement from the right, sent your remaining army towards top right corner.
a total of 15 waves of unit will spawn one wave per turn. So turn 15 is the last wave spawn
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 18 turns, but can probably probably be lower. I have way too many units at the bottom, this delayed killing all enemy units near the top.
You have 2 different defeat dialogue based on if you lost Stronghold or Sigrid
You can spawn block some locations, but you end up using more units to spawn block than to kill spawn on sight, so I wouldn't recommend it
Act 6 Mission 2: Felheim
Silent Stone, September 2nd
Ragna is sunk, but an army awaits our heroes on shores of Felheim.
Requirement S rank: 17 turns
A rank: 20 turns
Tips and Strategies AI cannot build any air unit from the tower until you destroy one of the 2 ports
AI's giants only actives if you move close enough to the barrack to the south
AI barracks inside the fort and the 2 behind the fort are disabled on start, if you move inside the walls, they will activate
Cheese strategy: Due to the fact that AI doesn't move its balistae and units inside the fort, you can easily park your Dragons just outside of the fort, and then when you have 2-3 dragons, go in for the stronghold kill. this is by far the easiest way to get S rank on this map.
Normal strategy: Just build some navy and control everything in the water. At the same time build a few harpies/dragons/trebuchets to control everything on land. In the end, AI base is rather defenseless. So you'll still just win as easily.
Video Walkthrough (cheese)
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 8 turns, but I think 7 is possible if I go in earlier with my dragons
Different defeat messages based on which commander you lost
Special dialogue if you destroy both enemy ports
AI cannot build any air unit from the tower until you destroy one of the 2 ports
Dialogue will play on turn 10, 15, and 20
IMO easiest map to S rank in the campaign (ignoring the initial tutorial ones)
Act 6 Mission 3: The Fortress
Fortress of Felheim, September 11th
Emeric and the gang have held off Valder's forces, but now Mercia must face The Fell Lord.
Requirement S rank: 17 turns
A rank: 20 turns
Tips and Strategies You have 1k gold for 3 heals using mages (though if you are like me and end up killing your mages, it is still possible to do it without any mage heals)
Tank with Mercia if possible, or Caesar if Mercia is low, and don't be afraid to let your units take a few hits because of her groove
For the first part, I recommend pushing through middle and right, it's harder to attack defensive pikes without siege.
You can use the gate to charge Mercia or Caesar's groove
Your commanders are the best resource to take out the giant, but if they are low on hp, try to get knight crit or pike crit on it and then heal them with Mercia
Play aggressive and always on the move. I like to ignore weakened enemy units and use slower units that have fallen behind to clean them up
Use Caesar groove to take out priority targets or help your slower units to catch up to the main group.
Once you enter the throne room, all enemies in the throne room becomes active, and more spawn will happen, so if needed, park your units outside of the throne room until you are ready
try to aim for Valder as soon as you reach the throne room, using your slower units to clear the path, and rush forward with your commander, knight, dog and mages. if you can get your units to Valder in 2 turns, you can probably kill him in one turn (minimal damages on Valder on max hp units are: 40 damages from knight, 35 from commander, 15 from dog, and 25 from mage). If you manage this, enemy spearmans and archers won't even reach you in time before you kill Valder
Try to use crits and unit counter as much as possible
Video Walkthrough
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 14 turns, though I feel like it can be lower.
There's a total of 6 graveyard waves once you get to the throne room, then it repeats from the first wave again
Valder loses his groove before the graveyard spawn, then regains 100% groove after the spawn finishes.
Act 7 Mission 1: The Reckoning
Cradle Island, September 15th
Valder has joined the allies, and it's time for Mercia to face Sigrid.
Requirement S rank: 15 turns
A rank: 18 turns
Tips and Strategies Personally, I like to build a wagon for Mercia to contest south villages
have a harpoon and warship around middle lake to make sure you can eliminate any threats AI throw at you
You can be very aggressive due to how Mercia's groove works
I sent a pike and spear top to claim villages, otherwise, there shouldn't be any action on the northern pass by the volcano
You can lure Sigrid over with a weak force and kill her. I find letting Mercia go to middle section have the easiest way to lure Sigrid over
Alternatively, you can go for the stronghold. I find letting Mercia go bottom to be the easiest way to break through
AI doesn't seem to have a lot of anti air in this map, so you can have some dragons and harpies to support your army.
Video Walkthrough (middle)
Video Walkthrough (bottom)
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 10 turns.
There is a dialogue on turn 5, 10, and 15.
It plays a different dialogue if you beat sigrid or if you destroy the HQ, but the ending cutscene is the same
It plays a different dialogue if you lose Mercia or if you lost your HQ
you get a dialogue when near the volcano, but no special effects
you get a dialogue if Mercia only have one unit remaining (herself)
you get a dialogue if Sigrid only have one unit remaining (herself)
Act 7 Missions 2: An Ancient Adversary
Dragon's Cradle, September 15th
With Sigrid and her plan put to rest, our heroes face a yet mightier foe.
Requirement S rank: 19 turns
A rank: 23 turns
Tips and Strategies Possession order is Koji, Nuru, Ragna, Ceasar, Valder, Emeric, then repeat.
You might want to have a Mercia heal ready for when Ragna is possessed, she will always do a shield jump, dealing damage to all your commanders.
Try to get last hit on Mercia as much as possible since they are the commanders that will keep you alive.
Try to save an inspire for procing and killing Elodie, and fighting scarier enemies in general (trebuchet and giants).
Koji's sparrow bomb does not decay, so you can summon them whenever, and save them until they are needed.
You will lose all your groove once possessed, so try to use your groove before possession or avoid gaining groove with commander that is about to be possessed.
You can sent a doggo or skeleton early to proc next zone enemies to speed things up (though sometimes you get trapped at the same place for a long time, so how you use it really depends).
Sometimes you want to get a cluster of enemies than have Ragna shield jump them.
Try to use defensive terrain as much as possible to reduce damage.
Be aggressive, you can usually leave straggler 1hp units behind, they will suicide into you.
If a commander is possessed, you can use emeric's crystal, Koji's bomb, or summons from Valder or Nuru to block the commander, this will protect rest of your commanders.
For all commanders, if they are possessed and within range of your commander, they will come and punch you, otherwise they will use your groove. For example, it might be better to let Koji be in melee range and punch you instead of him summoning 2 sparrow bombs.
Once you have triggered Elodie, your commanders will no longer be possessed, so it might be beneficial to sent a fodder units early to trigger Elodie.
Video Walkthrough (bug)
Video WalkthroughNot my best run, but got a lot of chances to show the tips I mentioned above, so it'll have to do
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 16 turns, can be lower maybe?
Elodie becomes aggressive when she only have 5 units
Elodie will ignore her own safety when she's the only one remaining
You don't go to credits if you have more than 100 stars when you complete this mission
You can use Ragna's shield jump to jump into lava river.. though she will die, but it's still hailrious
This is the most trigger heavy map in the campaign
There is a bug that allows you to S rank in 3 turns. But this bug is fixed in 1.2.0
Epilogue: The Enemy Within
Dragon's Dawn, ??? ??
Elodie is gone, but Requiem remains. What will Mercia do?
Requirement S rank: 40 turns
A rank: 48 turns
Tips and Strategies Dark Mercia will teleport away at 60% hp (twice)
You get 50g per enemy kill on this map.
Gate cannot be broken, they will be there until you kill enough enemy units.
Try to keep your mages alive. You will not get any reinforcement, so mage and mercia are your primary source of heal
Try to keep your golem and rangers alive, Golem and Mercia are really tanky, put them in a corridor and they will almost never die.
Use archer to shoot down the enemy while Golem and Mercia blocks enemy.
Cheese Strategy: Dark Mercia teleports away at 60% hp, this means if you lure her onto a river tile, you can potentially kill her with a single knight crit. Knight crit on commander on river tile does 45 to 63 damages. so if you can somehow lower her hp to 61-63%, then be very very lucky with your knight, you can kill her before she does her teleport. But honestly, your chance of doing this is so low, you will probably get S rank doing this legit faster than trying for the cheese
Video Walkthrough (cheese)This took me 6 hours to get it on recording... It takes me at most 40-50 minutes to finish this mission legit, so use it at your own risk. I'm pretty sure this is a speedrunner's nightmare.
Video WalkthroughWas doing good, then I got hasty at the end. Should not have triggered DM so early. Would have finished faster if I didn't move in golem so early.
Fun Facts Known Lowest Turn Count is 7 turns
This uses the same map as the prologue
Dark Mercia will become aggressive when you defeat a total of 16 of her units when she is outside the gate.
Dark Mercia will become aggressive when you defeat a total of 33 of her units when she is in the outer castle.
Dark Mercia will become aggreesive when you defeat a total of 55 of her units when she is inside Mercivial's chamber
Dark Mercia will ignore her own safety when you defeated a total of 77 of her units.
You get a dialogue when you try to break the gate and a different one on subsequent tries.
Credits
I took a few tips from /r/lioruct's S rank tips here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/wargroove/comments/anhsiu/srank_guide_through_22/
so, yeah, go check that out as well if my tips doesn't work out here, there may be something different from his tips.
good luck~
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