Elven Legacy Hard Difficulty, Gold Medal Guide

[mjemirzian]

Elven Legacy Walkthrough
Revision 3
Contact: mjfaqs@live.com
http://www.tbstactics.com

Index

1. General Tips
2. Single Player Missions
3. Elven Legacy Walkthrough
4. Elven Legacy: Ranger Walkthrough
5. Elven Legacy: Siege Walkthrough
6. Elven Legacy: Magic Walkthrough
7. Fantasy Wars Walkthrough
8. Data Tables

This guide covers Elven Legacy and all 3 expansions - Siege, Magic, and Ranger
(70 campaign missions, 3 single player missions). It also covers Fantasy Wars
(28 campaign missions, 4 single player missions). The guide is written with
the goal of getting a Gold medal on Hard difficulty for every mission in the
game.

Revision History

05/18/2010 - First revision.
05/24/2010 - 2nd revision. Finished Siege and Magic missions, added data
tables.
05/31/2010 - 3rd revision. Finished Siege/Magic for real this time. Only the
single player missions and Fantasy Wars remains.


1. General Tips

Being a classic SRPG, your party status plays an important role in how easy or
difficult the game becomes. If you start off badly and let units die, choose
poor perks, and miss artifacts/gold/recruits/quests, you will find the game
will become progressively more difficult until it's impossible to get a Gold
rating on Hard difficulty. On the other hand, if you play well, you'll be
able to keep up with the challenge on the later missions, and even find the
game becoming easier due to your repeated successes. Even if it seems
insignificant, every little bit helps, so always play efficiently.

Most damage outcomes vary by -1 to +1, so save/reloading a lot will not help
much if your overall strategy is poor.

AOE attacks and magic are important in the original Elven Legacy, since they
have infinite range and deal significant damage. AOE attacks cover 7 hexes
and are essential for getting gold on some maps against large groups of
enemies defending a goal point. Single target magic is also essential for
attacking far away enemies. Never miss a magic damage artifact and always
learn AOE perks if available (Gylven AOEs and Skyship AOEs). In the
expansions, the importance of AOE is toned down, but still helpful.

Take every opportunity to build XP. Using any ability or artifact builds XP
regardless of its effect - if your unit can't attack an enemy, use an artifact
or ability just for the XP. Sometimes you can earn XP by stepping on hexes or
completing quests. Never finish a story mission before the last Gold medal
turn, instead use that time to build XP. Once you complete a mission you can
usually issue more orders before ending it, so use up everyones turn before
finishing.

You're not supposed to let your units die - you need to keep them alive and
level them up. Generally it's OK to use whatever you're given by the game,
but sometimes you'll want better units or more variety. For most of the
original Elven Legacy you're limited to 10 units on the map, but that
increases to 13, 14, and 16 in the last 3 missions. Consider rotating out
level 5 (max level) units early on to give other units a chance at XP, because
you can use them all eventually on the last 3 missions. Don't dismiss any top
tier units you get unless you start going over 16 total units. In the
expansions, there are missions with up to 18 allied units.

It's best to tank with heroes and flying units - these units never suffer
individual unit death so they can always rest to full if there are no enemies
nearby. Elf Wardens that can learn Warden's Resurrection are also great for
tanking because they will come back to full health for every turn it's
active. Flying units with the shooter protection perk are great tanks because
the AI archers will always target them even though it does little damage.
Giving an Elixir of Life artifact to any tank like a Foot Knight makes them
far more useful throughout a mission. Use defense buffs and defense artifacts
on your heroes/tanks and throw them into harms way so your more fragile units
don't suffer as many deaths. Unit deaths are very hard to recover from and
should be avoided at all costs.

The best talents to take are the magic damage/AOE spells, protection against
X, armor piercing/armored status, passive AOE effect, segmented movement,
extra movement, AOE buffs, Harassers, Slayer, and Invisibility. Don't take
damage buffs if they lower a lot of defense. Avoid 'fear' perks on most
units - it's useful on one or two units, but making enemies retreat without
breaking them is a double edged sword. Terrain buffs are sometimes useful but
I wouldn't take too many of them. Check the army review below for details.

Use terrain to your advantage. Bridges have the same stat penalty as rivers
so be careful when standing on one.

Don't let an enemy get away with high injuries but low unit deaths, because it
will rest and recover.

Sometimes trapping a unit and forcing it to surrender is faster than killing
it outright.

The AI is stationary and reactionary unless the game script orders the AI to
start moving its units. The enemy AI will usually leave defensive positions
if it sees an opportunity. Use this to your advantage to lure it away from
defensive or quest related hexes and onto bad spots like rivers and swamps.

Defense buffs and stats are more important than offense.

Some units are better than others, especially in the human tree. Make sure
you don't bring along inferior unit types if you can help it.

AOEs cannot damage stealthed units.

Elf Units:

Elf Fencers: Very strong general purpose melee units with all terrain movement.
Recommended Perks: Force March, Defensive Style, Attack Leaders, Shooting
Protection, Slayer.

Flame Wardens/Thunder Wardens: These are tank type units with the powerful
Sister's Resurrection. Elven Spears can be upgraded to Flame Wardens,
although though they don't share the same tree. Generally the upgraded unit
has better stats and perks.
Recommended Perks: Force March, Armor Piercing, Sister's Resurrection,
Defensive Tactics, Heavy Halberds.

Elf Shooters: Elf archers get some great perks that make them terrors on the
field. Elf Conscripts can be upgraded to Elf Shooters, although though they
don't share the same tree. Generally the upgraded unit has better stats and
perks.
Recommended Perks: Bold Archers, True Elven Bowstrings, Multiple Support,
Harassers, Slayer.

Deer Riders: Mounted units with slightly low defense but a lot of offense.
Giving them trail seekers makes them a highly mobile mounted unit that has no
penalty on most terrain.
Recommended Perks: Armor Piercing, Trail Seekers, Sharp Antlers, Rush
Disturbance, Slayer.

Skyship: A bomber unit most notable for its powerful AOE attack that you would
be crazy not to take.
Recommended Perks: Shooting Protection, Shaft of Light, Shadow of a Vulture,
Magic Speed, Crystal Stare.

Dragons: An air melee unit that starts out weak, but ends up very strong.
Give it some stat boost items to help out during the lower levels.
Recommended Perks: Armor Piercing, Hard Target, Sizzling Flame, Segmented
Movement, Flying Death.

Sagittel: A powerful archer and support caster. One of the best heroes in the
game. Place him near the front lines and his +1 range perk and multiple
support will demolish any nearby attacking enemies.
Recommended Perks: Armor Piercing, Segmented Movement, Tactician, True Elven
Bowstrings, Multiple Support, Order to March, Elven Sniper, Rejuvenation,
Inspire to Defend, Slayer.

Gylven: A decent mage, most notable for her variety of AOE spells.
Recommended Perks: Dust of Time, Tempest, Magic Flare, Wings of Chaos, Meteor
Fall, Summon Spectral Warriors, Word of Death, Magic Boots, Dragon Slave,
Curse of Essentil.


Human Units:

Peasants: The worst of the worst. They can be upgraded to Spearmen, Bowmen,
or Militia.

Spearmen/Yeomen: All terrain melee units with a pretty weak set of perks -
there are far better human melee units to consider. Generally the upgraded
unit has better stats and perks.
Recommended Perks: Shooting Protection, Forest Ambushers, Force March,
Segmented Movement, Light Equipment.

Swordsmen: Another mediocre melee unit that should be passed up if given the
chance. They have higher damage than Spearmen but worse terrain coverage.
Recommended Perks: Derenhalle Blades, Mail Armor, Shooting Protection,
Highlander, Storm Troops

Halberdiers/Royal Guards: Powerful defensive melee units whose only weakness
is terrain movement. Militia can be upgraded to Halberdiers, although they
don't share the same tree. Generally the upgraded unit has better stats and
perks.
Recommended Perks: Defensive Tactics, Mail Armor, Shooting Protection, Attack
Leaders, Heavy Halberds.

Foot Knights: Highly defensive melee units that are great for frontline
offense or defense. Their perks kind of suck but oh well.
Recommended Perks: Shooting Protection, Derenhalle Blades, Force March,
Highlander, Cause Fear.

Bowmen/Yeomen Bowmen/Royal Archers: All terrain archers that work best firing
from hills or woods. Bowmen can also be upgraded to Crossbowmen.
Recommended Perks: Bodkin Arrows, Ralin Boots, Merry Men, Hills Archers, Elven
Bowstrings

Crossbowmen/Arbalesters: Archers with far better perks than Bowmen, but their
terrain movement isn't as good. They are one of the few human units with the
Slayer perk, so you want at least one if available.
Recommended Perks: Steel Bolts, Slayer, Siege Shooters, Crippling Shot, Heavy
Crossbow.

Scouts/Rangers: Stealth units that work well in difficult terrain. They can
attack without being retalited against by melee/charge attacks and they have
the nasty Harassers debuff. It's good to have at least one in your army.
Recommended Perks: Firestarters, Forest Like Home, Poisoned Attack, Brigandine
Armor, Light Equipment.

Horse Yeomen/Hobilars: They are basically rangers except they lose Harassment
and Concealment, and they suck on difficult terrain, which are the three
reasons you want a ranger in the first place. Probably the worst human unit
in the game.
Recommended Perks: Firestarters, Evaders, Trail Seekers, Defensive Stance,
Light Equipment.

Landless Knights/Feudal Knights/Royal Knights/Paladins: All of these mounted
units have Impetuous which makes them hard to control, although the Seneschal
perk negates it. Feudal Knights can also be upgraded to Knights of Marcus.
Recommended Perks: Armor Piercing, Thoroughbred Horses, Full Plate Armor,
Derenhalle Blades, Seneschal.

Knights of Marcus/Champions of Marcus/Kings Retinue: These mounted units have
less attack power than Royal Knights/Paladins but no longer suffer from
Impetuousness. They also gain the Imperturbable buff which makes them the
superior choice of mounted unit.
Recommended Perks: Armor Piercing, Thoroughbred Horses, Full Plate Armor,
Temple Defenders, Derenhalle Blades.

Eagle Rider: An air bombing unit. Since it doesn't have an AOE like the elf
bomber, it pretty much sucks unless you're desperate to siege a castle area.
Recommended Perks: Skilled Bomber, Shooting Protection, Shadow of a Vulture,
Armor Plates, Flame Ammo.

Tamed Eagle/War Eagle: A standard air melee unit. Not as strong as a dragon
but still pretty good.
Recommended Perks: Hunter Instincts, Shooting Protection, Shadow of a Vulture,
Iron Feathers, Flying Death.

Ballista: The superior siege unit compared to the Catapult. It has great
perks including Slayer.
Recommended Perks: Slayer, Target Practice, Iron Hoop Wheels, Long Range
Thrower, Force march.

Catapult:
Recommended Perks: Target Practice, Heavy Artillery, Force March, Iron Hoop
Wheels, Explosive Ammo.

Cornelius: A very good ranger hero with lots of unique self-buffs.
Recommended Perks: Firestarters, Chilling Attack, Slayer, Protection from
Arrows, Horrific Attack, Long Throw, Deadly Throw, Skilled Pathfinder, Sign of
Marcus, Summon Shadow.

Karel: A decent mounted unit hero.
Recommended Perks: Master Crafted Armor, Tactician, Siege Master, Defensive
Orde, Heal, Order to March, Armor Piercing, Fencers, Royal Steed, Slayer.

Battle Priest (Morcius): A priest hero with excellent AOE buffs/heals.
Recommended Perks: Armor Piercing, Righteous Fury, Heal, Strike of Marcus,
Mass Heal, Ralin Boots, Resurrect, Mass Blessing, Holy Crusade, Fencers.

Adrian: An all terrain melee hero.
Recommended Perks: Master Crafted Armor, Tactician, Siege Master, Shooting
Protection, Defensive Order, Order to March, Armor Piercing, Inspire to
Defend, Slayer, Heavy Halberds.

Sergeant (Lucius): A defensive tank hero.
Recommended Perks: Master Crafted Armor, Tactician, Siege Master, Shooting
Protection, Defensive Order, Inspire to Defend, Order to march, Armor
Piercing, Fencers, Slayer, Inspire to Attack.





2. Single Player Missions

The first 4 missions are available in Fantasy Wars and Elven Legacy. The last
3 are only available in Elven Legacy.

Single Player Mission 1 - The King and the General


Flameguard Token - Swamp town
Sphere of Cold + 100 XP - Water mill
Night Stone - Tree


Single Player Mission 2 - The Royal Hunt

Amulet of Fanatic - Swamp town
Firkan's Map - Cave
Cloak of Saint and Lance of Glory - Forest
Sword of Marcus - Church


Single Player Mission 3 - The Honour Escort

Night Stone - Water mill
Sphere of Cold - Cave
Staff of Eternal Flame - Altar


Single Player Mission 4 - Surrounded by the Foes

Flameguard Token - swamp town


Single Player Mission 5 - "God of War"

Night Stone - Altar


Single Player Mission 6 - Monastery sincerus defense



Sphere of Cold - Hermit
Barrel of Church Vine + 100 XP - Ship Wreck
Ring of True Sight + 100 XP - Place of execution


Single Player Mission 7 - A New King




3. Walkthrough

Mission 1 - Meeting

The gold timer doesn't start until Gylven shows up, so avoid the town (Fort
Sent) she appears by until you're ready - you have 12 turns to mess around
before you have to meet her. You can even run into the corners of the map and
pick on the enemies standing there. Send Gylven southeast against the wolves
and Sagittel north. You don't get to keep the battle priest so try not to use
it. Step on all the broken city map tiles to get gold and XP - you have
plenty of time in this mission to do everything and still get Gold, unlike
most others.

Pick up Heal and Segmented Movement with Sagittel when he hits lv 1 and 2 if
you plan on doing Mission 2b (pursuit).

Recruit Skyship - Camp Ellene

Reward:
Skyship
Firkan's Map


Mission 2a - Pursuit. (The map where Sagittel has to break down the wall.)

This map is pretty straightforward, you just move Sagittel up to the wall for
a few turns while injuring/killing enough dwarf siege engines so he doesn't
get bombarded and retreat. You don't really need to poke around the NW of the
map too much, just make sure to pick up the Lightning Bow. It's possible to
pick up the Sphere of Cold if you use skyships to nuke the troll then send one
unit in there to solo the 3 zombies.

Lightning Bow - La Cholet
Eye of Sight - Broken dirigible
False Prey - Move Sagittel onto the Dragon bones.
Sphere of Cold - Cave
150 gold - Withered tree
100 XP - Witch circle

Reward:
Elf Hunters
Elf Fencers


Mission 2b - Pursuit. (Thieves version) I recommend playing the other
Pursuit map instead because it has better rewards.

You have 9 turns to barge into a town jam packed with enemies, and you don't
get any AOEs to help. You don't actually have to kill the thief leader to
complete the mission, but you do have to thin them out enough so Sagittel can
run past. Equip Sagittel with the Firkan's Map reward, and pick up Segmented
Movement when Sagittel hits lv 2 to make it easier to run past the thieves
leader. Have Sagittel stand in front casting Heal on himself while
counterattacking, and push him far enough north that he can run past the thief
leader using Segmented Movement and reach the main quest hex that will end the
mission. Cast Dust of Time on any large group of enemies that will soften the
damage being dished out on Sagittel.

As you might imagine, it's difficult to reach any of the treasure hexes due to
the sheer number of enemies on the map. It's still possible to visit all 3
while getting hard/gold though.

300G - Cave
Elixir of Life - D'Ventene Castle
Learn Segmented Movement perk - Watermill

Reward:
Elf Hunters
Amulet of Fanatic


Bonus Mission 1 - Master and Apprentice

This strat will let you kill the boss in 4 turns. Keep 4 non-mage units in
reserve as cannon fodder and purchase an eagle with your funds, which should
also be kept in reserve. Send the ranger and your first eagle NW to capture
the village southeast of the boss. On turn 3, spot the boss with the eagle
and attack him with ranged spells. Deploy units all around the captured
village including your 2nd eagle. The key here is providing enough targets so
that the boss and his minions are focused on attacking and not healing. If
everything goes well, the boss will not be healed and you can send your 2nd
eagle to re-spot the boss and finish him off with another round of magic.

Reward:
Nephrite Wasp


Mission 3 - Wrath

You should have the following spells by now: Nephrite Wasp, Shaft of Light x2,
Lightning Bow, and Magic Flare.
Spot and nuke the boss with magic to proceed.

Reward:
Deer Riders
Horn of Fury

100XP for Sagittel and Gylven - Complete optional quest.
Long-range Bow - Found in the church.


Mission 4 - Remnants of the Horde

Spot and nuke the boss with magic again. You should now have the Staff of
Meteors and Wings of Chaos spell in addition to your other spells. Send
someone with very high movement and terrain ignoring perks/artifacts to
Vasserdorf to grab the lightning bow.

Staff of Meteors - Cave
Lightning Bow - Found at Vasserdorf in the NE.
Recruit Wild Dragon - Stone troll
100G - Withered tree.

Reward:
Flame Wardens
Shield of the Ancients

Bonus Mission 2 - Path of Ugraum

Pace yourself, don't go rushing in. Rest and conscript frequently and try not
to lose more than 1 unit while taking down the first fortress. When taking on
the first fortress, wait until everyone is together and use AOE buffs and
defense buffs when moving in. Try to take down the artillery asap. The boss
has a lot of dwarves defending him so you have to move in and carve a path -
at this point you should be willing to take casualties because the time to get
gold is short. Use the zeppelin and artillery to blast the boss while getting
a melee unit in his face for the kill. The boss is quite weak, the only issue
is tearing through the 10+ dwarves in his way.

100XP + Sign of Sacred Hammer - both Altars

Reward:
Power Stone


Mission 5a - Power of Derenhalla. This route has better artifacts.

Conserve your AOE magic for the fortress. There will be yeomen archers coming
from the left, and 4 paladins coming from the right. To claim the fort, drop
all your AOEs on the area - keep one or two units ready to clear the spot if
the AOEs didn't do so. Try to nab the two artifacts on your last turn with
fast units.

Heirloom of Doom - Watermill
Sword of Wrath - Church
Freeze spell for Sagittel - Kill the 3 mages. I'm not sure if this is
possible on Hard/Gold.

Reward:
Veteran Hunters
Night Stone


Mission 5b - Sullen Mountains.

300G - Cave
200G - Withered tree
Ancient Crown - Stone troll
Firkan's Map - Broken dirigible

Reward:
Veteran Fencers
Bow of Doom


Bonus Mission 3 - King Victor.

Before you cap the first city and a Battle Priest shows up, recruit a Catapult
and deploy it in the south, so you can have 16/15 on the field. Move the King
and his units south through the pass to meet up with the battle priest and
make a coordinated push on the south side of the castle. Move slowly and
carefully, don't accept any casualties or serious injury until the last few
turns - the turn limit is very generous and I've completed it by turn 11, so
you have lots of leeway to play it safe. It's important to take over the
forest area and clear it of enemy stalkers and archers. Move forward in a
tight formation with knights in the front, catapults in the back and archers
and rangers in the woods. Surround the orc might on the castle so no more
enemy reinforcements can run through. If you start losing units, recruit
powerful allies like a Knight of Marcus or Elite Ranger.

Reward:
Chain of Justice


Mission 6 - Amulet of Hexers

Once again save your AOEs for the final area, and try to rush there asap so
you have more time to deal with the gate opening portion of the mission. Once
you place the hexer by the quest gate all gates will open and the enemies
inside will come out, so wait until you've thinned them out a bit with ranged
and air attacks before opening it. Wait until 3-4 turns till the last gold
turn to place the hexer at the gate. Once the hexer is placed you can give
him a +move order, or put +move artifacts on him, and he can run to the second
objective in one turn. If you have the Hexer's Horror spell, use that on the
stone trolls while he is waiting and bombard the stone trolls with magic to
weaken one and scare away the other to clear a path for the Hexer. It's safer
to give the Hexer 2 turns to get there, so you aren't in such a rush to get
past the stone trolls.

Warning: You lose the Hexer after this mission, remove his artifacts in the
army management screen on the last turn.

Firkan's Map - Broken dirigible
Night Stone - Dark altar
Elixir of Life - Ancient altar
150G - Withered tree

Reward:
Wild Dragons
Staff of The Eternal Flame


Mission 7 - Snow Valley

Your army size will suddenly expand from 10 to 13, and then keep expanding
each mission. You'll get a dwarven mobile fort on this mission which you
should keep, then add a dragon and one other ground unit to your army.

Pile everyone onto the left route. The fight starts at the end of the map,
where you'll encounter a ton of dwarves. Just pick on the dwarven nobles
while waiting for an opportunity to move Sagittel next to the dwarven mobile,
then AOE bomb. Once you get close to the castle another group of dwarves will
come from the southeast. You can end the mission as soon as you step on the 3
goal areas (does not have to be all on the same turn). I recommend fighting
the dwarves though so you can build more XP and grab some more gold from the
city to the southeast.

Hammer of Gods - Hammer Temple
Shield of Ancients - Anvil Temple
Recruit Dwarven Mobile Stronghold - Move Sagittel next to the unit

Reward:
Battle Stag Riders
Heirloom of Doom


Bonus Mission 4 - Order of Dwarnrock.

You have 20 turns to get 5000 gold and kill the enemy leader. It's important
to keep your army healthy and stop to rest for a turn or two on the way to the
boss. Start out by taking the 5 or 6 enemies that approach your force of 5,
position the melee in front, archers in back. Your meele fighters will end up
a bit beat up but that's ok as long as the archers don't get hit. Send a
melee west to pick up the dwarven mobile stronghold at the Dwarves'
Stronghold. Once Dwarnrock appears, let him tank the incoming riders then
regather and rest your forces. Capture the closest mine then proceed north.

Directly north there's another mine which you need to capture, there's 2 ogres
and an archer guarding it. Dwarnrock is a melee beast and is best to send in
first. Once that's captured, send one unit east to capture the closest human
mine. This will trigger a human eagle to attack, but you can just pick on it
until it flies away. The human mage may also cast spells and summon a
creature, but it will stop once the eagle flies away. Ignore the other human
mine and don't provoke any elite rangers into attacking. Rest, cast
Dwarnrocks AOE buffs and move on.

Next up is the north orc mine. There are stone trolls guarding the mine so
soften it up with archers (you should have 4 of them) and the mobile
stronghold then move in with Dwarnrock. This is the position you'll be making
your stand against a large number of orcs including the boss. Keep your
ranged units protected and form a wall - do not move too far south/southwest
or ogres may come up from the southeast and really mess things up. I
recruited two Dwarf Nobles at this point to help out. Once the boss is close
enough send Dwarnrock in to deal some serious damage and finish him off. Once
the boss is dead all you have to do is survive until you have 5000G. You may
notice that eventually all the mines but the most recently claimed one become
recaptured, but you should have plenty left to wait it out. I finished on
turn 22 which I believe is 3 or 4 turns to spare.

Reward:
Silent Hammer


Mission 8 - Inquisition Caches

At the start of this mission I had enough gold to upgrade 2 hunters and
fencers (about 1800g) so hopefully you've been saving up. My army for this
mission: 2x Skyship, 2x Thunder Warden, 2x Chosen Fencers, 2x Chosen Hunters,
1x Battle Stag Rider, 1x Wild Dragon, 1x Dwarven Mobile Stronghold.

This map is similar to Power of Drelenhalla where you have a short amount of
time to charge through a lot of human units. To kill Father De Lande quickly,
just expose him on the map then use ranged magic (especially a spell to slow
him down), but don't use too many AOEs because you need to save those for the
castle siege. This will give you a reasonable amount of time to reach the
castle instead of wasting time chasing him down. Once again save your AOEs
for the castle siege, as there are a ton of units packed in there and you
won't be able to kill them fast enough otherwise. Do not get too close to the
bridge or you will get more knights and archers crossing it to attack. You
generally want to stay around the start point area until the 4 knights and
nearby enemies are dead - give yourself about 3 turns to siege the castle.
Ignore the royal guards to the sides on the outer walls and focus on killing
the paladins and royal guard blocking the bridge. The battle priests are
nasty in combat but weak to magic so bombing them heavily with AOEs is the
best bet. You can spare a unit to ford the river and pick up the Barrel at
the shipwreck on the last turn.

Ring of True Sight - Place of Execution
Barrel of Church Wine - Place of Shipwreck
Learn Dust of Time spell for 100G - Hermit's House

Reward:
Chosen Hunters
Sword of Wrath


Mission 9a - Harvest. The map vs the warriors, not peasants. This route has
better artifacts and mission rewards.

You have to use 14 units for this mission, so might as well use the Chosen
Hunter awarded for getting gold on mission 8. This mission isn't joking
around. You're immediately surrounded by about 24 enemies, with another 3
groups of paladins, champions, and eagles incoming. The trick here is to
leave the starting position asap because the 2nd wave will flock to Sagittel's
camp and hang around it even if your army is standing to the side. Use that
as an opportunity to rest/buff up and let them bunch up to hit them with AOEs
and move in at full power. Leave one enemy alive at the end then grab as much
gold as you can plus the artifact before killing it.

Cloak of Saint - Church

Reward:
Dark Dragon
Staff of Meteors


Mission 9b - Harvest. Map vs peasants.

This is an easier map than mission 9a, where you just ride around destroying a
bunch of rangers and soldiers. However the rewards are not as good and you
miss out on a Staff of Meteors.

Reward:
Dark Dragon
Long-range Bow


Bonus Mission 5 - High Priest.

Starting out, purchase a Catapult, then proceed north. Move your Paladins and
Hobilars far north enough that you provoke the 4 Halberdiers to attack, then
work on taking them out and seizing the city. The catapult will help out a
lot with softening enemies up. Capture the city on turn 3 and have Derrick
ready to move on turn 4. Rest and group up your forces by the Church give
Derrick or Dexter the Cloak of Saint, then head north to take on the count.
You want the wood duke to move out of hiding and attack your forces - you
simply cannot get a gold on this map unless he runs out in the open for you to
kill. Basically you want to kill the wood duke and baron asap then run away
southwest from the masses of elite rangers and other enemies and start taking
on the southwest enemies guarding the count. Just make sure Father Dexter and
maybe Derrick escape alive - use Mass Heal to keep people alive. Father
Dexter is great at killing the quest targets in one hit, so use him to deal a
decisive blow whenever possible.

You should have about 700G after killing both of them, so recruit new powerful
units to replace the ones you've lost. If everything goes well you'll have
about 4-5 days to kill the count with whatever forces you have left. The
count should run out into the open eventually, just throw everything you have
at him (especially Father Dexter) before the forces from the northeast catch
up and decimate your army, as they will be giving chase.

Cloak of Saint and 100XP - Church
Sphere of Cold and 100XP - Shipwreck
Segmented Movement skill - Hermit house, can buy for 50G

Reward:
Blessing Ring


Mission 10 - Barrier

You have to use 16 units for this mission, which probably means you'll need
some level 0s in there. Since it's the last mission, feel free to hire
whatever necessary, or use gold liberally to conscript during the mission.
Give Sagittel the magic immunity ring from bonus mission 5. You have 25 turns
here which is way more than enough time. Your main concern should be staying
alive and not aggroing more groups of enemies than you can handle. If you
don't have a strong army of mostly lv 5 units, lv 8-10 heroes, and most of the
AOE artifacts I doubt you'll be able to survive this mission on hard.

Use your lowest level ground units to close the portals. Head to the right
and start taking out the dwarves, using Sagittel and Gylven in front to absorb
damage. There are several advantages to taking out the dwarves first -
there's more forest and hill cover, the dwarves are easier to kill than the
elves to the left, it will take Iilar longer to reach you, you will be closer
to the south portal which you can close before dragons start coming out on
turn 4, and you won't accidentally aggro Dwarnrocks army. Moving out of your
start position will trigger Iilar to attack, so expect him to show up while
you are finishing the dwarves off. Use the woods and hills to your advantage
and kill the dwarves and incoming elves. Gylven probably has a lot of AOEs at
this point, so use a few of her weaker 7-8 dmg ones, but save the strongest
for Dwarnrock and Teya. Don't overextend yourself into the middle and end up
provoking the elves to the left, you have plenty of time.

Once most of the incoming forces are dead, take out the elves to the left.
Try not to aggro Dwarnrock yet. Use a couple AOEs on Dwarnrock, but save most
of them for Teya. All of the soldiers around her will revive full HP after
every turn, so if you start attacking one make sure you can kill it. Get in
position then drop everything you have on her, including Dragon Slave if
Gylven is level 9, and move in to finish off whatever is left. Dragon Slave
should easily wipe out the dragons and deal a ton of damage to everything else.

Next you have to move everyone through the portal one by one, cross the land
mass while taking out enemies, then place Sagittel on the goal hex. Enemies
will occasionally spawn from the glowing portals but they are easy to take
care of. If you're moving at a brisk pace you won't have to worry about
anything chasing from behind. There are a bunch of dragons hanging around the
goals, just distract them and get Sagittel to whichever goal you want.

Lightning Bow - Found at the Old elven castle near the great tree with an ogre
on top of it.
Staff of Eternal Flame - Broken dirigible.
Elf castles - 200-300G each





4. Elven Legacy: Ranger Walkthrough

Ranger is overall easier than Elven Legacy so it's not nearly as difficult to
get hard/golds. Cornelius is incredibly powerful and he can apply all his
self buffs before moving in for an attack in one turn. Mid way through the
game you'll be swimming in units and gold. The only challenge in the game is
mission 2 if you decide to grab all the gold, XP, and artifacts.

The first two missions are branched off - there's Coast of Derenhalle then
Debt of Derenhalle, and Landing in Sylent then Missing Messenger.


Mission 1a - Coast of Derenhalle (leads to 2b Debt of Derenhalle, then a later
mission called Landing in Sylent, which I listed as mission 6)

The game starts out pretty simple, not much of an SRPG yet. Just run through
the quests then stick around to kill the ogres for XP (should be enough to get
Cornelius a level) and pick up both the wolf summon amulet and cloak of saint.

Claw of a Spectral Wolf - Kill Hexer
Cloak of Saint - Chapel ruins
50G - Stone circle

Reward:
Scouts
Staff of The Eternal Flame


Mission 1b - Landing in Sylent (leads to 2b Debt of Derenhalle and 2a Missing
Messenger)

It's possible to get a hard/gold on this map with a lot of save/reload abuse.
You will be seeing the reload screen a lot if you want a hard/gold on this
map. First, Brennok (who joins you near the end of the mission) randomly
chooses his spells at the start of the mission. So keep restarting until he
has a summon, word of death, and lots of AOEs. Next, save/reload every time
Cornelius gets into combat so he has the best results, and ignore the wolves.
When approaching the strange merchant, make sure you attack from the woods for
the terrain bonus. You should reach Derrick on turn 9, with 5 turns left for
gold. Once you're up against the group of 8 enemies of enemies, dump AOEs,
summons, and anything else you can on them. Word of Death is great for
instantly killing one of the yeomen horsemen. If you're lucky you'll take
them down by the hard/gold turn limit.

Claw of a Spectral Wolf - Spectral wolves quest.

Reward:
Rangers


Mission 2a - Missing Messenger (only accessible if you chose Landing in Sylent
as the first mission)

You don't get to keep the rangers on this mission. Pick up the Wand of Flare
for some AOE damage on the group of enemies surrounding the quest target.
Make your way to the quest target who starts out standing at Mascinna castle,
lure him into the woods then kill him, then head to the exit point. Since you
don't keep the rangers, feel free to let them die while carrying out the
mission. Make sure to remove the Wand of Flare from a Ranger if they picked
it up.

Wand of Flare - Dead Mage

Reward:
Rangers
Staff of Eternity


Mission 2b - Debt of Derenhalle

You get to keep all of the allies on this map except the catapults. That
means you just received an archer, a hero general, and two militia (who can be
upgraded to spearmen/halberdiers later). Dismiss both militias and purchase
two halberdiers and a spearman. It's worth the extra gold.

Start by moving out and killing the nearby orcs in front and hexer/cannons
across the bridge. Send Lucius, Cornelius, an archer and spearman across the
bridge and retreat the rest of your units back to base to face the incoming
waves of riders and cannons. Continue Cornelius and the spearman north to
take out the hexer by the witch circle, while the archer stands on Waldsteit
(village next to the bridge). This will tempt riders to attack the archer -
since bridges are -8 to riders, you can easily kill them as they approach.
Summon wolves to harass and distract the cannons and riders while guarding the
castle with halberdiers, catapults, and archers. While Cornelius is summoning
wolves, move him west across the swamp and get in position to hit the cannons
from behind. The wolves and bridge trap will keep the north forces occupied
while you take out the riders coming from the southwest road. After the
invasion is broken, you're more or less free to explore the map and grab as
much loot as possible (it's possible to get all of it).

Sphere of Cold - Water mill
Red Plate of Azumash - Witch circle
100XP - Knight's Camp near start point and Nilgazar village
100G - any other village
120G - the farther Knight's Camp

Reward:
Banner of Valor


Mission 3 - Hexer Power

You should have 8 units at the moment, and you need 2 more. 2 heroes, 2
halberdiers, 2 archers, 1 ranger, and a spearman. I suggest picking up
another archer and spearman, or two archers. I don't really like horse yeomen
but that's up to you.

You have to be careful on this map because as soon as you see the hexers, they
can cast on you. If you spot too many they will easily destroy one of your
units. So first of all, don't ask the goblins for help, because they will
start sharing your vision which will allow the hexers to attack you through
their sight, and keep out of sight of any other orcs - if one spots you make
sure you kill it. Move up carefully and gang up just out of the orcs sight
range, then jump them. You can also constantly harass/kill the hexers with
Cornelius and ranger, of course. You can just kill the goblins instead of
asking for their help if you want the XP.

200G - Dead tree

Reward:
Horn of Horror
Eye of Hexers


Mission 4 - Wasteland Oasis

A very straightforward mission, just charge through a bunch of orcs. Give low
level units the eye of hexers and spectral wolf artifact so they can get some
more XP. You will have to move quickly if you want the Night Stone.

Night Stone - Skyship wreck
Horn of Fury - Ruins

Reward:
Hobilars


Mission 5 - Second Half

In order to get the orc siege weapons, break them and they'll convert. Yes
you do get to keep them, so I suggest grabbing 2-3 because siege units are
always useful.

Goblin Zepplina unit - Skyship wreck
Axe of Madness - Ruins

Reward:
Shield of Marcus
Nephrite Wasp


Mission 6 - Landing in Sylent. This is only accessible if you chose Coast of
Derenhalle as the first mission, and not the mission with the exact same name
as the first mission.

The roster suddenly expands from 10 to 15 units here. You have 9 turns which
is more than enough, just form a solid wall and tear through the enemies. You
should avoid killing the bosses and farm some XP since you have plenty of time.

Reward:
Staff of The Eternal Flame
Elixir of Life


Mission 7 - Scouting

Getting within 2 squares of an eagle means you'll be spotted. Bring some
artifacts you can spam for extra XP. In order to kill the merchant, bring
along the spectral wolves artifact. First one shot the mage - if you can't
kill the mage in one hit don't bother. Next summon a wolf to the merchants
exposed side (away from the castle) - you want the merchant to attack the wolf
during the enemy turn instead of resting, which leaves him injured for a
kill. Once the merchant is injured down to 7-8 HP move in for the kill and
run away. If you kill him here he won't show up in the Rebels mission.

Reward:
Ring of True Sight
Elixir of Life


Mission 8 - Mirralian Hunter

Equip the Nephrite Wasp to make things easier. Start out cautiously, keep
your generic units back in the forests while Cornelius softens the enemies
up. Take on all comers then proceed to the castle.

Unit HP restored to full - Church
Learn Segmented Movement - Hermit's house
500G - optional quest

Reward:
Eagle Rider
Barrel of Church Wine


Mission 9 - Rebels

Unit overload. The game lets you keep all the units from Mirralian Hunter,
which is a change from Landing in Sylent when you probably didn't even have 15
units to fill the roster with. You can buy Ballista if you didn't get any orc
siege weapons. It's fairly easy to notice how much easier this game is
compared to Elven Legacy just by looking at your gold count which should be
over 3000. I like War Eagles better than bombers like Zeppelins or Riders.
The only reason Skyships are so good is because they get the AOE spell which
Zeppelins and Eagle Riders don't get. So I would advise shelving the bombers.

Ignore the villages besides the ones right next to the enemy. If you lose
more than 2 villages the game ends, but you should be able to keep the enemy
occupied so it only claims one at most. Still if you find it grabbing two
villages just assign a unit onto one of them. Entrap the elves with your
heroes and other strong units while bombing them with the Nephrite Wasp.
Place Halberdiers and archers at the mountain chokepoint near the enemy human
force. This is supposed to be a defense map but it's pretty easy to just pin
the enemies in and grind them to dust.

Reward:
Landless Knights
Feudal Knights


Mission 10 - Army of Wagons

Continuing with the theme of unit overload, you get to keep any of the low
tier peasants that joined you in the Rebels mission. However they are
probably still level 0 and useless, so just sell them off for gold. You
should probably start leaving out lv 5 units and bringing in others that can
benefit from XP. Bring units that can navigate forest terrain well.

If you summon wolves or eyes you may aggro a lot of enemies and they'll come
crashing down on your party at once. Just use the Wasp artifact on each camp
as you approach and take everything out.

Learn Poisoned Attack perk - Ancient altar
Bow of Doom - Swamp ruins

Reward:
Lance of Glory
Shield of the Ancients


Mission 11 - Dark Mage

Now the size of the army is shrinking. From 15 to 13 to 11 - this is probably
because I'm doing the missions out of order, but whatever. You should have
tons of gold so feel free to upgrade halberdiers and yeomen archers to
royals. Bring armor piercing units because there are a ton of armored
soldiers hanging around.

Sword of Marcus - Church of Saint Marcus

Reward:
Tooth of Dragon
Flameguard Token


Mission 12 - Baron's Castle

Back to 15 units here. The enemy is behind defensive terrain so bring air and
siege units that can knock them out of it. You should also now have the
Flameguard Token, one of the best artifacts in the game - put it on Lucius
with some +defense and watch him go on a nearly invincible rampage.

You have 18 turns for this mission, which is way more than enough time to kill
everything on the map. Don't get too aggressive at first running into the
gates, wait until your ranged/air units dismantle the siege weapons first.
Feel free to conscript if your units take too many deaths because you should
have tons of money.

Silent Hammer - Shipwreck
Lightning Bow - Water mill

Reward:
Foot Knights
Power Stone


Mission 13 - Foreign Knights

Don't have enough units yet? No problem. The game dumps even more of them
into your party. The Saint Brothers and Champions of Marcus look nice. You
might consider replacing Yeomen with Champions of Marcus that have Armor
Piercing, because there's lots of armored units here again. And don't ask me
what to do with the 7000+ gold in your inventory. I don't know either.
Amusingly the game is still throwing low tier enemies like swordsmen at you
while you have access to the highest tiers in the game. Anyway, you have
plenty of time to take it slowly, or just rush forward and take on a ton of
enemies at once. No particular strategy needed, like most of Ranger.

Staff of Meteors - Place of execution
Learn Dead Bones spell - Witch circle

Reward:
Ancient Crown
Chain of Justice


Mission 14 - Mirralian Throne

You should have all level 5 units and lv 8-10 heroes at this point. Once
again a lot of armored enemy units so armor piercing is a plus. My army at
this stage: 3 heroes, 2 war eagles, 2 spear chuckers, 2 royal guards, 3 royal
archers, 1 yeomen, 1 elite ranger, 2 champions of marcus,

The map is pretty small so you'll have to hack through a pretty solid wall of
enemies before being able to progress. You can pick up a lv 3 Yeomen by
visiting the city next to the start point, and another two at the north most
cities. Most of the ranged enemies are stationary so try to keep away from
them until you're ready to kill. Don't have to bother with the scouts and
archers on the sides near your start point, just charge straight through the
front gates, don't split up, and head east across the bridge to the 2nd mage
town. The enemy eagles above the mages are all quite powerful and should be
taken out with your two eagles. As you probably know by now, the AI will
willingly jump into rivers to attack your units, so take advantage by baiting
enemy units (possibly with a summoned creature) and taking advantage of their
position. Unlike the original Elven Legacy final battle where you might lose
a few units, there's no such risk here - just mop the enemies up and proceed.

By the time everyone is across the bridge/river, you should be taking out the
last mage city. Try to avoid killing the mage until you're mostly rested up
and ready to attack the city. Once the barrier is down, you should have about
4 turns to drop AOEs and rush in for the kill. Watch out, though - the Siege
expansion is not nearly as friendly!





5. Elven Legacy: Siege Walkthrough

The Siege expansion is two campaigns in one, with two heroes following
separate paths. Both routes have their army, inventory, bonus missions and
split mission choices. Siege is the most difficult campaign out of the 4.
Even the first few Siege missions are as difficult as the hardest Elven Legacy
missions. The campaign is stingy with money and recruits at first, but
relaxes a bit later. The campaign starts out difficult, but it becomes much
easier as the campaign progresses.

Karel's Route : S01 - S02 - S_B1 - S03 - S04/S05 - S06 - (Karel only) S07 -
S_B3 - S08 - S09.
Adrian's Route: S21 - S22/S23 - S24 - S25 - S_B2 - S26 - (Adrian only) S27 -
S_B3 - S28 - S29.

Sometimes a route choice won't open up until you've progressed far enough in
the other heroes route. Once S06 and S26 are completed, you have the choice
of S07 or S27. Once you choose S07 or S27 you are locked into that heroes
route and can't play the other heroes last 3 missions, so make an extra world
map save so you can experience all the content.