A good way to start your skillbuild is to focus on the passive skills first, especially with the support classes. This is something imminent in both the first and second games, boosting damage and armor is a good way to keep your castle safe. An army of one is still an army.
Hero Builds/Archetypes[]
Since there are multiple ways to customize your hero (Armor, Skills, Weapons, etc.,) this will be a guide to figure out what kind of hero your character wants to be. These will also range depending on what kind of army best suits you.
Note: All Archetypes are powerful at max level.
Captain (Offensive Human Knight/Paladin class) [Effective at moderate levels (21-31)][]
The Captain, both the unit in the game, and the Archetype itself, have one goal in common: Kill as many enemies and buff as many soldiers as possible. The Captain Archetype focuses upon this goal by stacking (from most importance) Health, Damage and Armor while focusing on giving your units the support they need (Healing, Defence,and Attack boosts). The Archetype's skill focus between the two classes are an even
50-50 and focuses on self-preservation and Damage (Knight) as well as boosting the stats of your soldiers (Paladin).
Equipment[]
Sword: Non-magic damage, Balanced Attack speed, Moderate damage (+20-45)
Shield: Focus for Armor and Health.
Armor: Focus Primarily for Cape Armor and Secondarily for Armor and Health as well as mobility.
Rune: For a more offensive Archetype, Look for vampirism and Damage runes. Runes that focus on Command point gain would be just as important as well. A secondary focus ould be on Ailment Resistance to cap off with the skill Holy Light.
Skill Focus: 49 Knight/49 Paladin
Primary Skills (Knight)[]
Tier | Knight | ||||
1 | [10] Knightly Training | Counter Attack | First Strike | [5] Swordmaster | [2] Sword Strike |
2 | Leadership | [3] Heavy Armor | [2] Shield Prowess | [5] Adrenaline | Juggernaut |
3 | Revenge | [5] Offensive Shield | Charge | [3] Parry | [3] Taunt |
4 | [4] Valor | Power Swipe | [3] Into the Fray | [3] Bolster | [1] Valiant Charge |
Primary Skills (Paladin)[]
Tier | Paladin | ||||
1 | [10] Stlwart | [4] Divine Intervention | Holy Punishment | Holy Vengeance | Retribution |
2 | [3] Imbued Cape | Trauma | [4] Blessed | Smite | [3] Heal |
3 | [3] Holy Light | Tremor Smash | Prayer | [2] Rush | [3] Holy Shield |
4 | [4] Holy Protection | [5] Inspire | [5] Resolute | God Rays | [3] Vengeance Aura |
General Strategy (Offensive)[]
The Captain Archetype, whose role is to aid his army in pushing the enemy back, is to stay near his soldiers while doing so. the choice of units are pretty wide in terms of what wave and what weather condition you are in but i prefer mostly Footman units with a Captain unit leading the charge.
Runemaster (Defensive Dwarf Runesmith/Engineer class) [Effective at moderate to low levels (17-39)][]
The Runemaster, with his near-impenetrable armor and massive hammer and skills can be a very tough opponent to take down, even if he's not defending the castle walls. The Runemaster focuses on keeping any enemy forces at bay as well as making sure that not one soul (be it undead or otherwise) gets past the walls behind him.
This Dwarven Archetype puts his skill focus as 46/54 and focuses heavily on armor and wall/siege unit discounts.
Equipment:[]
Two-Handed Hammer: Non-magic damage, relatively slow attack speed (-5/-9), moderate-high damage (+50-80)
Shield: Primary focus on Armor
Armor: Anvil armor that primarily focuses on Armor.
Rune: Primarily focuses on armor and wall repair but if you already have a base armor of at least 60 you can ignore the armor in favor of unit discounts (specifically the Rifleman or the Catapult).
Skill Focus: 45 Runesmith/53 Engineer
Primary Skills (Runesmith)[]
Tier | Runesmith | ||||
1 | Rune of Protection | Hammersmith | [5] Runic Curse | Lightning Rune | [1] Tremor |
2 | [3] Counter Spell | Fire Rune | [5] Hammer Smash | Rune Crafting | [5] Forge |
3 | [4] Healing Rune | Magic Channel | [3] Rune Anvil | [5] Hammer Blow | [3] Steadfast Defense |
4 | [3] Dwarven Insription | [3] Iron Strength | Shield Force | Ice Rune | [5] Rune Inscription |
Primary Skills (Engineer)[]
Tier | Engineer | ||||
1 | [10] Resolve | Gun Powder Proficiency | [1] Last Resort | Shrapnel | [5] Fortify |
2 | [3] Advanced Artillery | [3] Mines | [5] Tinker | Siege Shells | TNT |
3 | [5] Advanced Weaponry | Dwarven Optics | Stalwart Defense | [3] Repulsion Armour | Heavy Shot |
4 | Unstable Powder | [5] Repair | [5] Barricade | [5] Craftsmen | [3] Auto Turret |
Note: you can switch the armour skills for something else if your equipment makes it obsolete.
General Strategy (Defensive)[]
This Archetype is heavily focused on reinforcing the defensive capabilities of the walls and the wall units. Generally Rifleman are chosen for this type of defense since they gain bonuses from Advanced Weaponry, Craftsman, Dwarven Inscription, and Rune Anvil. Top that with a couple of Gray Beards and add the respective Researches and you can deal serious damage. also you need to get Dwarven Repairmen as well.
TL;DR For Dwarf, just spam forge. For Elf, be Grandmaster and branch out to ranger then druid. For Humans, be a mage with max jugg.