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Warlords Tips, Tricks & Strategy Guide: 15 Epic Hints You Need to Know

We’ve been covering a lot of casual games lately, but if you’re more of the type who prefers intensive titles that involve a lot of strategy, Warlords is the game for you. Black Anvil’s new Android and iOS mobile title is a turn-based strategy game where you can meet your enemies on the hex battlefield, and put your tactics to the test. Recruit an army from different unit types, build them up from a ragtag militia to a supreme fighting army, and customize and equip each of your units with weapons and armor as you go along. Aside from destroying lots of enemies in the fantasy land of Dunmar, you should also defend your base, and climb your way up the PvP leaderboards in the process.

You’ll get to battle various types of enemies, including orcs, brigands, and a lot more, and your success in this game will all depend on your strategy – is it up to snuff, and are you doing the right things on the hex battlefield? We can keep you on the right track, as our Warlords strategy guide covers everything from the basics of the game to some of the more intricate nuances of this new title and its gameplay.

1. Strategy Basics

The first thing you will have to remember is that you will always make the first move before your enemy does. You can also set up the order in which your units attack. Take note that units have different speeds, meaning different distances traveled per turn, with terrain skewing the distance. Additionally, units that are in range of enemies can attack. Make sure that melee units are located near enemies so they can make the first attack, with your ranged units farther back so they can attack enemies from a distance. Look for the enemy units with a white border surrounding their hexes, as they’re eligible to be attacked. And once you’re ready, tap on those enemies and you’re good to go.

Also, there are regular victories in battle, and there are “Crushing” victories. You want to go for the latter, which would require you to beat an enemy in a specific number of turns. Pulling off a Crushing victory will allow you to earn more rewards once the battle is over.

2. Your Units Will Become More Powerful

As we said in the game overview, your units can improve over time, and that would include gaining special abilities, with buttons on the left-hand side allowing you to activate them. If you don’t know what each ability does, or don’t quite remember, tap on the button and read the text box describing the ability. Again, keep in mind the white borders that signify whether an enemy is eligible to be attacked when choosing someone to target with an ability.

3. When Do You Know When You’re Doing A Good Job?

Stripping things down to the most obvious and simplistic, you’ll know if your attacks can be effective if your unit’s offensive value is higher than that of your target’s defensive value. You will also see the number of soldiers remaining in the enemy regiment, as shown by the number underneath it. Your goal is to make that value decrease and eventually go down to zero, as that would mean you’ve defeated the unit and it will be removed from the hex board.

4. Terrain Matters

Types of terrain play a role in how effective (or ineffective) your attacks are, and some types may impede certain units, may they be friend or foe. Swamp tiles, for instance, prevent units from moving, regardless of how many hexes you have remaining. Water tiles, on the other hand, are only passable via bridges. Also, there are limitations when it comes to units on bridges; you can only attack them from either end, but not from the sides, unless you’re using a ranged character. Other terrain types, however, may be more helpful, with forests, for instance, preventing troops from taking much damage.

5. Fire At Enemies Below You

Elevation is another important factor, as you may get good results if you’re located above an enemy; try this strategy if you want to get an edge over the enemy army. Attacks against those located below you will do more damage, even if you’re using a ranged unit in some cases. And as a bonus tip, cliffs can stop units from launching melee attacks against each other, regardless of the direction.

6. Some Units Have Bonuses Against Opposing Types

Remember the good old standby of RPG and strategy gaming – the elemental system that’s based on classic rock-paper-scissors. It’s not called an elemental system here, but there are some unit types that are more powerful or weaker than other types. The hierarchy is as such – guardians beat pikes, pikes beat mounted, mounted beats guardians – easy as that. Ranged units, which are not included here, deal out bonus damage against specific types of units. Look for the crosshair icon on the enemy regiments should you be confused or not remember which unit type beats which.

7. Choose The Right Unit Types And Position Them Well

As the efficacy of an AI enemy’s attack is affected by the same set of variables as human-controlled armies, you should choose the right types of units, and positioning them properly at the start of a battle. If you’re too far away from the enemy to attack, you can place your regiments in forest tiles, or station them high up so you can attack the enemies from there, and prevent them from getting the terrain advantage.

8. Head To The Village To Heal Up

At the start of a turn, you can go to a village to heal up, thus allowing you to last longer in battle. But enemies can also take advantage of the benefits of villages, and can camp out there, thus making it harder to take them out and requiring a more aggressive attack than simply trying to take them out in one single turn.

9. How To Make Your Units Stronger

Many games of this kind would require you to consider resources, such as food, which would then be used to feed your troops and keep them strong for battle. Warlords comes with no such mechanic, but there are other ways for you to make your regiments better. For starters, you can add to their XP total by fielding them in more battles; regardless if you win or lose, that’s still XP in any case, and much-needed experience to help them rank up. You can also improve their gear, meaning their weapon, armor, and banner, as seen in the three slots. Tap on the Forge icon found on the left menu so you can see the items that are eligible for improvements. Use your coins to improve your gear, or get new gear via battle or Dewport Harbor shipments; just be prepared for wait times when your equipment is in the process of being improved.

10. Use Shards To Improve Unit Rarity

Shards will allow you to promote your units to a higher rarity level, or tier. They can be hard to find, as you’ll have to cover certain parts of the map in order to earn them. Additionally, you can buy Shards from Dewport Harbor merchants. But the most effective way to get Shards would be to use the ships, starting with Smuggler Ship, which is available for 190 diamonds, or available for free use every 48 hours. The Imperial Ship is another option, though it’ll cost you a rather premium amount of premium currency – 1,800 diamonds – but with a guaranteed ten Shards or mores for any given regiment.

11. Prepare For Chaos

We should caution you that there are some parts of the map that would turn green quickly, meaning belonging to you. Other parts will remain red, or belonging to the enemy, for a longer period of time, and there may be green parts of the map that may turn red soon after, thus putting your efforts to naught. It won’t be easy to liberate Dunmar, and we might as well bring up this tip before we bring up those nasty boss battles.

12. Dealing With Boss Battles And More – What Should You Do?

There are multiple boss battles in Warlords, starting with the one against Grubak. Defeating Grubak is difficult enough as it is, but he will come back to life, more troublesome than he was the last time around. It’s going to be hard to beat him, but if you do, and if you defeat the other bosses, you will get a plethora of enticing rewards, all for free.

Aside from the boss battles like the one against Grubak, you will also have to prepare for Jerrika, leader of the Brigands of Brigand Island. Launching a timed attack on that island will cost you some coins, and you will want to focus on defeating as many levels as you could within the specific time limit. Of course, you’ll soon be dealing with the big boss herself, and you’ll also see random Brigands on the regular map, even if you’ve already cleared those parts.

13. Compete In War Harbor

Warlords has a PvP mode, and it takes place at War Harbor. You won’t be directly facing another “real player” in the game, but you will be facing their armies once you’re in this part of Dunmar. Tap on the crossed sword icons to take part in a PvP battle, and if you win enough trophies, you’ll get a good ranking on the PvP leaderboards, thus improving the amount and quality of your rewards after the season is done.

14. Play The Battles To Unlock More Areas

We’ve talked about a couple of new areas on the map on earlier tips, so how do you unlock those and others? It’s simple as playing normal battles, and taking the opportunity to explore. Look for the spyglass on the map, which designates a region being explored, and also shows the time required for you to unlock that region. Diamonds, which are the game’s premium currency, can also be used to skip timers, but we don’t recommend you doing that too often, because premium currency, after all, is hard to come by.

15. How To Make Your Damaged Units Recover Or Return Faster

You want to cut your losses as much as possible, as regiments that have significant losses cannot be used as long as the cool down timer is still running. Videos and diamonds can be used to cut down on the wait time, though again, this is best used in moderation. Move your heavily-damaged units to safer or higher ground, as it could take a while for them to recover.