The Alliances of Arnor news - The Strategy and Tactics Submod for Battle for Middle-earth II: Rise of the Witch King

Hello everyone, we know it has been a while since you’ve heard from us, but don’t worry we are still in progress. To show some of the work we have been doing, this article is about a new gameplay feature added to our standalone Arnor faction. Please note that stats and/or models mentioned in this article might be changed once we reach beta. However the gameplay concept for the faction will remain.

Encampment of The Free-People

During its prime, the Realm of Arnor was supported by many allies from Middle-Earth. To show these alliances within the faction we wanted to add a unique way of recruiting these special units. Arnor now has a new settlement building, replacing the Lindon tower, called the Encampment of the Free People. This new building allows the research of 8 unique upgrades related to Arnor’s alliances.

Out of these 8 upgrades, 4 are related to the recruitment of the Envoy units and the other 4 unlock unique abilities for each unit. Arnor will gain acces to units from Lindon, Tharbad, Minas-Tirith and Rivendell, which will become available on the newly added Hall of Champions (more on that in the future). Each of these units have elite unit stats and will have all their unit upgrades (Heavy armour, Forged Blades and Gold-Tip arrows) when recruited. The recruitment price will have these upgrades taken into account and the each unit is limited to three. Each alliance unit also has a unique passive effect that will improve when they level up. This passive effect does not require the upgrade on the settlement building.

Tharbad Alliance

Tharbad is a town inside Eriador that crosses the river between Minhiriath and Enedwaith. Once the ‘Tharbad Alliance’ has been purchased on the Encampment building, the Tharbad Royal Guard will be unlocked on the Hall of Champions.

The royal guard each have unique abilites that allows them to adapt to combat situations. These abilities are unlocked once the respected upgrade has been purchased on the Encampment building, besides their passive.

• Guardians of Tharbad (passive) : At level 1 the Tharbad Royal Guard gain 15% armor when near friendly Arnor structures. At level 3 the Tharbad Royal Guard decelerate cavalry charges by an additional 25%. At level 5 the Tharbad Royal Guard gain 15% resistance to archer fire.
• Stand Guard: The Tharbad Royal Guard gain 35% armor against everything and an additional 15% resistance to melee attacks for 30 seconds.
• Sharpened Spears: For a short time the Royal Guard gain 15% damage and cause enemies they attack to bleed for 5 seconds.

Lindon Alliance

The Lindon Tower might have been removed from Arnor, but they still have acces to permanent units from Lindon. Purchasing the Lindon Alliance upgrade unlocks the Lindon Lancers at the Hall of Champions. The Lancers are a melee cavalry unit, with a passive effect that will allow them to stand-out over other cavalry.

• Horsemen of the Grey Havens (passive) At level 1 the Lindon Lancers decelerate 15% less when trampling. At level 3 the Lindon Lancers move 10% faster. At Level 5 the Lindon Lancers have their level 1 and level 3 passive effects increased by 10% to grant 25% less deceleration and move 20% faster.
• Bow Mastery: The Lindon Lancers enter bow mode and gain 50% vision range for 30 seconds.
• Charge of Mithlond: The Lindon Lancers gain 25% damage and armor for 30 seconds.

Gondor Alliance

Once you purchase the Gondor alliance upgrade, you will gain acces to the Guardians of The White City. These swordsmen will be one of the strongest melee unit Arnor will have acces to.

Having acces to a unique passive effect, supported by two strong abilites that will be unlocked once the respected upgrade has been purchased.

• Honor Guardists (passive): At level 1 the Guardians of the White City are immune to fear. At level 3 the Guardians of the White City gain a small area of effect on their attacks. At level 5 the Guardians of the White City are immune to knockback.
• Defenders of Gondor: The Guardians of the White City gain 25% armor for 30 seconds and heal 500 health points over the duration of the ability.
• Assault: The Guardians of the White City gain 25% damage and 50% experience for 30 seconds.

Rivendell Alliance

Being close to the borders of Arnor, Rivendell will send their best archers to Arnor’s defend once the upgrade has been purchased. Just like all the other Alliance units, the archers are limited to three.

The Vanguard do have a special feature that will make them stand out over other (elite) archers Arnor has acces to, the Vanguard have the option to temporarily switch to their swords once the upgrade has been purchased. Allowing them to be useful at long range and close combat if the situation requires them to.

• Skill of the Noldor (passive): At level 1 the Vanguard of Imladris gain 25% experience faster than normal elite units. At level 3 the Vanguard of Imladris snare enemies they hit by 20% for 5 seconds. At level 5 the Vanguard of Imladris fire their bows 15% faster.
• Sword Mastery: The Vanguard of Imladris enter sword mode and gain 25% armor for 30 seconds.
• Noldorian Fury: The Vanguard of Imladris gain 25% damage and 50% vision range for 30 seconds.

As you can hopefully see this new system gives Arnor acces to a new cavalry, sword, pike and archer unit. Because each of these unit types are represented by a different culture from Middle-Earth, we hope to create a versatile army for Arnor. Which we think makes sense given the many alliances in the given time period.

We hope you appreciate this new meta for Arnor, and you are looking forward to use it to its full potential.

With kind regards,

The SaT team