A Quick Guide to Every Common and Rare Troop in Art of War: Legions
By KadavuFC
Just going to share some brief thoughts and experiences about each troop in various formats of the game. Unfortunately, I have not leveled for a long time so I don’t recall what troops were best for that, When you see me say that troops are of no use in any format of the game, I am not talking about leveling. But the rule of not 9ing troops will still apply. Leveling, as I recall, is simply getting through it with what you have. Making bad choices with 9ing troops just to level is going to haunt you later on in the game.
Common Troops
Hell Jailers are fast moving troops which can ‘ghost’ through your other troops to get into battle. They are incredibly fragile and do poor damage. One of the worst troops in the game. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Infantry are the most basic troop in the game. They will out perform a lot of single load melee and ranged in Honor Hunting, even legendary and epic. When you are leveling, the flag will spawn a single Infantry unit. Tip: You can move this flag around and they will spawn wherever that flag is. If you are leveling, one thing I do remember is that a good idea is to position the flag right in the middle of a group of Fire mages just to distract them. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Iron guards are almost identical to Infantry in terms of their use in the game, with slightly better defense and slightly worse offense. They will also outperform single loads in Honor Hunting. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Bombers are single load ranged units who will very quickly be substituted by better units, namely mages. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
One of the more useful commons, the Catapult will shoot its fireball at the enemy causing initial damage for those hit and lasting damage for a few seconds in the place where it landed. The downside is that, while they can do a lot of damage, they are particularly fragile and have a slow attack. A few of these can be useful when you first begin playing the game but there are better troops out there. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Archers are the best common troops in the game, they are a 9 load ranged unit who have decent defense. When you first begin the game, you will want these more than the other commons as 9 load ranged troops can be very useful in stopping your backline melee from pushing forward too far. They can also be useful in Honor Hunting until you can replace them with better troops. But I would still say DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Rare Troops
Undeads are fast moving, solid defensive and offensive 9 load melee troops who can die and revive one time. They make good backline defenders if you have a hero/troops which can kill front line tanks quickly, as they will turn around quickly. The downside is because they move so fast, if you cannot kill the front line tanks, you will find them racing up into the front before they have a chance to turn around. A good idea is to line them up with Ghost Assassins so they can be killed by them and when they revive will turn around. They can also work towards the front in the second or third row as a tank to take some heat off your other troops. They are better in Honor Hunting than other common 9 loads. And only generally sit behind Voodoo Dolls and Ghost Assassins as melee units who can do more damage vs both Cerberus, Cyclops and the Manticore. They are also particularly useful troops to use against formations that have a lot of voodoo dolls in them as they can take away a curse with one of their deaths. If hit by an Aly bomb or Chione freeze, they will revive and immediately start attacking the nearest targets to them, which is another use for them as backline defenders.
At the beginning of a battle, Ghost Assassins will immediately teleport to attack the opponents backline and whichever column you place them in, they will attack the same column of the opponent’s backline. They have a very high attack speed and can do a lot of damage in very little time. They are, however, very fragile and they can be easily countered by lining up Goblikazes in the last row with them. You can use a single Ghost Assassin to trigger Goblikazes in the backline to allow for an easier path for your Magic Apprentices. Ghost Assassins are also very useful for Honor Hunting against both Cerberus and Cyclops as probably the second highest melee damagers behind Voodoo Dolls
If you are lucky enough to come across a formation with a hero positioned in the back, lining up Ghost Assassins in the center can almost instantly kill that hero. Exceptions to this are high level Selenes and heroes which will teleport away from the back such as Kraken, Poseidon and Davison.
This is a more advanced sort of tactic when dealing with an opponent who just has a boatload of Pirate ships protecting their rear. Normally you would have a tough to kill troop as your frontline tank, but if you put a more fragile troop there, one which will die pretty quickly, those Pirate ships at the back will lock onto that troop and when that troop dies, they will retarget to the closest troop to them. Now for those Pirate ships, the closest troop to them will be the Ghost Assassins who have beamed to the back, they will all throw their boats at the Ghost Assassins who essentially become sacrifices. That then leaves a bunch of unprotected Pirates vs Magic Apprentices, and let me tell you, pirates without their ships will be no match for them, especially as they will be bunched up and taking AOE (area of effect) damage. You will see this tactic employed towards the top end of the arena, where you will see Orc Hunters placed in the first row and is widely used by Selene formations.
One of the newer troops to the game, the Goblin Tech itself does no damage, but will create up to six Cannons which do ranged AOE damage. It takes 5 seconds for the Goblin Tech to create a cannon, and it won’t start attacking until it has finished being built. It will then start building a second one, and so on and so on. The cannons themselves have a very high attack speed, one attack per second, meaning that once up and running, they can be very high damagers. The downside is how long it takes to build them, 30 seconds total for a Goblin Tech to build its full share of cannons and that’s assuming that the Goblin Tech himself doesn’t get killed during that time. In the arena, fights can be over pretty quickly, but for certain heroes and against certain heroes Goblin Techs can be very useful. They are best positioned on the outside columns of your form where they are less likely to be targeted, particularly in rows 3, 4 and 5. They can be difference makers towards the end of a battle if it comes down to the wire. The Cannons themselves are immune to control effects so they are particularly useful against heroes like Chione and Aly. They also work extremely well in Aly and Chione formations where battles tend to last a lot longer. They can also help to trap your heroes from moving forward if you don’t want them to get pelted, by positioning them close to your hero. Against Davison these Cannons will commit instant suicide, however. They are particularly poor in honor hunting, but when it comes to Infinity War, they are the biggest damagers there are and for that reason alone you will want to collect these. I would only recommend upgrading beyond level 8 if they are particularly useful for the hero you are using, or you want to perform better in Infinity War.
Cactuses are a 9 load melee troop who have crappy defense and crappy attack. They will reflect a little bit of what damage they take, but they will die pretty quickly and do little to no reflecting. You will want to move on from them as soon as possible. One of the worst troops in the game, fusion fodder. Although in Honor Hunting they will outperform a lot of single load troops. If someone asks you if Cactuses have a use, you can tell them that a level 8 is worth 25k coins if you sell them. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Goblikazes are a 9 load troop which will basically die almost instantly, doing a huge amount of damage and leaving the area they died burning for several seconds allowing for further damage to occur for troops in that area. These are particularly useful troops to counter other troops, particularly Ghost Assassins, where if lined up in the last row with them, can help take them out pretty quickly. Also useful positioned behind your frontline tank/tanks in the second row where they can help deal with Orc Hunters. Bear in mind these are a bit of a luxury tactical troop which won’t live more than one or two seconds and there are other troops that can last a lot longer who you will want to be upgrading before you upgrade these. Not of any use in any other game mode as they just won’t live long enough. If you position a whole bunch of these in the middle of your formation, you can explode a Kraken pretty quickly.
Ogre Warriors are single load melee units which will cause a knock back effect on the troops they attack. When you first begin the game, they will be useful to you as tanks which can be useful in the second row and also the last row as backline defenders…HOWEVER, and I cannot stress this enough, they are a stop gap solution until you get better troops and there are a lot of better substitutes out there. When you are levelling it may seem like these are invincibly good troops, but those Ogre Warriors are on steroids and the Ogre Warrior you will acquire in the game is pretty useless. Do not use these in Honor Hunting or any other format of the game. Do not even use them in the Arena unless you absolutely must because you don’t have enough serviceable arena troops. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9 DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9 DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Paladins are 9 load melee units who are a slightly better version of Iron Guards. Their skill will help shield other troops who are close to them and are at low health. These make decent front line tanks in the second or third row until you get better units. They are also useful in Honor Hunting and will out perform most single load units. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
HOFs are a 9 load melee unit which does AOE damage. They make useful starter backline defenders until they can be replaced by better troops. They will perform better than single loads in Honor Hunting and can also perform well in Infinity Wars. There are much better troops out there and again, you will want to move on from these. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Inquisitors are basic 9 load melee units which don’t really offer much of anything over other troops and do not have any sort of special move. They are also a lot harder to come by than other troops as they can only generally be picked up in super card packs, from fusion and from general store type deals. They are the 4th highest melee Damagers in Honor Hunting, but I wouldn’t go out of your way trying to acquire them. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Scholars are a basic single load ranged mage that offers… nothing whatsoever, worst troop in the game, fusion fodder. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9.
Ballistae are single load ranged units that will deal damage to all targets in a straight line in the direction they are targeting with a limited range of 30 spaces from where they are situated. They also have a percentage chance of dealing critical damage to those targets. These can do a lot of damage in a short space of time, given they attack every second. They work particularly well en masse in Selene, Poseidon, Seon and Jinn formations. A couple or so will work well with other heroes too. They are not to be used against Davison, however, as they will almost die immediately via his reflection skill. They are particularly fragile and because they have limited range, they should be placed closer to the front of your formation than the rear. Rows 2 to 4 only. They work very well in Infinity War and should only be used in Honor Hunting if you do not have enough other units to fill your grid.
Ice Mages are single load ranged troops which do AOE damage and also reduce attack speed and movement speed of those troops in the area they have targeted. They can be particularly fragile and work best in rows 4 and 5. They are a must have in Selene and Arthur formations, but will work well with all heroes. Of all the single load ranged other than Dark Witches, they have the most chance of surviving against Davison. Their ability to slow down other units is what makes them better than Fire Mages.
Fire Mages are single load ranged troops which also do AOE damage and will do a lot more damage than Ice Mages. They, however, have no other special attack but they can do a lot of damage in a quick amount of time. It’s best to situate them in rows 4 and 5. I would, however, say upgrading them beyond level 8 should not be a priority as both Priest Mages and Ballistae will easily out perform them. Again, not to be used against Davison and they are pretty useless in Honor Hunting. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
The Viking Warrior is a single load tank-type troop who will do more damage and get quicker after he receives enough damage to take his health below 50%. The problem being that his defense is crap and he will be dead in no time whatsoever. Crap in all formats of the game, including the arena. DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Bandits are 9 load melee units whose first attack in the game is very short distance ranged. When you first begin the game, these units can make excellent backline defenders, as after they have finished their “ranged” attack they will retarget to the next nearest unit and begin their melee attacks. So if you are having trouble with your backline defenders walking forward, Bandits can help you. They will be particularly useful in the last and second to last row. Unfortunately, they are pretty fragile and that’s why you will want to phase them out pretty quickly. They also perform better than any single load units in Honor Hunting. But, they are still just a stop gap solution until you get better units, so…DO NOT MAKE LEVEL 9
Magic Apprentices are probably the most universally useful arena troop in the game, especially for a rare troop. They are 9 load melee backline attackers who do AOE damage. They will spend the first few seconds of the fight floating towards the opponents backline and will lineup and turn around and attack the column they were placed in. The further away you place them, the longer they will take to get into the fight. During the time they are floating towards the enemy backline, they are immune to damage and control effects. The delay in their attack is what can make them useful, especially when combined with tough to kill frontline tanks, which can allow them access to the backline as backline defenders rush forward until that tank/tanks are killed. They are, however, quite fragile, but they can do a lot of damage. Useful on some days of Infinity war, particularly The Dark. Not so good in Honor Hunting. But I would recommend these be some of the first troops you make level 9.
That covers all Common and Rare troops in Art of War: Legions. Make sure to check out our Quick Guide to Epics and Legendary Troops.
If you guys have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment on this article, or whatever social media it was posted to. Or, join us at Vector on discord at https://discord.gg/CZ6sSCsH95 and start getting decent advice from some great people.
