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Conqueror’s Blade Review 2020

August 23, 2020 KijinGaming 4 Comments

Conqueror’s Blade is a team-based MMORPG where you play as a Hero leading your own squad of troops in field battles and sieges against other players. You can freely switch between any of the 11 weapon classes and level up unique skills that are adapted to your own personal playstyle. A key component to this game is commanding a vast variety of units to charge into battle alongside your Hero. This combination of weapon and unit choice allows the player to have true freedom for how they want to pursue the game. Please refer to this link here for the direct Conqueror’s Blade website and this link here for the Steam page.

Currently, Conqueror’s Blade has entered into its 4th Season and has already made many sweeping changes to how the game is played. Many classes have had their abilities changed over time, some have received hefty nerfs, and the introduction of the new Maul class has also affected how other classes are perceived. Each season has also introduced new units specific to the cultural theme of the season. They are unlocked by completing specific quests and require a bit of a grind to obtain – not all players are a big fan of this method.

Key Features

Integrated Strategy and Action Gameplay

Conqueror’s Blade combines strategic unit controlling mechanisms with action combat using your hero. A large part of the game is obtaining new units and levelling up skills for your weapons so that you can better defeat your opponents later on. New players will start off with weak “peasant” units and slowly move their way up to elite armoured infantry or cavalry. However, the game also evens the playing field by attaching a “Leadership” cost to each unit and capping every player at around 700 Leadership (unless they have bonuses from crafted armour). This forces a player to think strategically about their unit selection and help reduce the noob pubstomping that would have occurred. Every unit also can be levelled up through playing with them. As they level, you can allocate points into perks that can boost their current abilities or cover their weaknesses.

Incredible variety in playstyles

There are 11 weapons in the game that each have unique abilities that dictate the playstyle of the weapon. There are vast differences between how each class can be played and these differences are further accentuated by which units you bring into battle with you. Some players like to combine a ranged weapon with a shieldwall unit to engage in frontline harassing gameplay, others like to bring in a unit-killing machine alongside sword and shield units to charge into the enemy flank. The game permits very creative uses of heros and units – it is entirely up to you how you want to play the game. Conqueror’s Blade adds a whole new level of depth to the gameplay once you begin to learn how to work with your teammates and combine advantages from your heroes/units with theirs. Some hero abilities can knock-down shield walls, while others can lock opponent heroes into hard CC – using an effective combination of hero abilities and unit movements significantly improve your chances at success. This turns the game into more than just a Dynasty Warriors clone and players that enjoy using their brain while gaming will definitely want to try this out.

Player Controlled World Map

Groups of players in this game can form guilds called “Houses” that fight one another in weekly Territory Wars to gain control of fiefs on the map. This control grants them the ability to change tax rates, determine who can actually harvest resources on their territory, and generate additional funds for their own members. Up to 3 Houses can come together to form Alliances that help each other in Territory Wars in both attacking and defending their fiefs. Alliances can also engage in diplomacy with other Houses or Alliances to advance their own agendas – promises can be made, but they can also be broken. It is a very realistic display of how politics can be used to build and destroy your fiefs.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Fantastic strategic depth
Large variety of playstyles and weapons to choose from
Unique unit-controlling mechanics
Houses tend to be kind to new players and offer support in starting the game
Territory Wars are a great guild-based PVP feature that has tangible results
Overall satisfying gameplay

Cons

Long grind to fully level up units and unlock the final tier
Servers have numerous lag-related problems
Balance of certain classes and units is a constant issue
Territory Wars don’t always work and can have bad lagging issues
Bad player experiences with the support team

Overall Gameplay

Gameplay-wise, this review will give it a solid 9/10. I grew up playing Mount and Blade, and this is the best multiplayer version of that game I have ever played. Unit control plus strategy plus unique weapon classes with individual skills is an ideal mixture for me. Every part of the combat seemed to fit together very well to provide a satisfying gameplay.

Server Issues

However, issues like bad servers definitely ruin some enjoyment. Having played on the Frontier version of the game, it made me realize how many of my issues with the game are purely due to lag and lack of responsiveness from the server. The game itself is fantastic, but the surrounding issues diminish it. Although it only occurs in around 10-20% of my matches, it is noticeable enough to cause a good amount of frustration.

Classes

Despite what other players might say about specific classes, I personally feel like a casual player can definitely enjoy any of the classes as long as they try them all out beforehand. Different classes are good at different things – if you force a certain playstyle then certain classes will still do very poorly in your hands. Find one that works with how you want to play and you will still have a great time.

At the same time, there is one specific class that I think needs to be changed given how much it is able to do. Maul is the newest class that has been added and it just seems to be able to do so much compared to all of the other classes. It can kill units, kill heroes, knock down shieldwalls, has a charging ability, and can also use heavy armour. Some players might argue that the main drawback is it requires great stamina management, but even with bad awareness of stamina it is still able to do a ton of damage. It will be interesting to see what changes will be made, but I definitely do think something should be done about this class.

Units

There is a great variety of units that can be viably selected. Some units are more meta than others, but there are multiple types of units that you can use to fit into your own personal playstyle. If you have no particular preference, check out our unit guide for starters to have an accelerated path towards end-game units.

The only unit that I truly find a problem with at the moment is the Falconetti Gunners. If you decide to play this game longer, you can easily recognize these guys as the ones that drop a rain of cannons on you and your units. Some players argue that these are easily countered by melee since they can’t attack units within a certain radius, but they still do absolutely ridiculous amounts of damage and CC at a rapid rate. Very little has been done so far to take away that crazy power, and so keep in mind that these types of units do exist in this game.

Territory War and Houses

Although I am not too personally invested in Territory Wars, it is a part of the gameplay that can be an amazing experience. Of all of the houses I have been in, all of them have been supportive of new players. Veterans would take the time to show them the ropes and teach them the basics of how to use their units most effectively. When you get into the War you genuinely feel like you are fighting a battle against other players and things can get very competitive. There will be a gap between a newcomer and veteran player in terms of ability and in unit quality, but working together as a team with your House is a fantastic PVP experience.

The Grind

One of the biggest issues I have with the game is the amount of grind necessary to level up units and obtain previous seasonal units. A friend of mine who started this past summer has dedicated around 250 hours to the game and has only levelled up 2 of his units – neither of which are Purple units. It will take a casual player a few months to actually be fully fleshed out in units and equipment. This in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing – there still has to be a progression that motivates players to keep on playing.

However, the method for obtaining previous seasonal units is absolute garbage. Instead of doing 6/8 quests or 8/10 quests, new players now have to complete 8/8 and 10/10 quests. Keep in mind that some of the quests are things like “Defeat 5 heroes in a single battle 9 times” and “Have 240 unit kills in X battles in your group”. If you don’t hit that number, you just have to keep on playing game after game. For me personally, it took a lot of the fun out of the game when I tried grinding for them. Another problem area is that some quests require Deathmatches or Free Battles. If you happen to have work at that time, you are out of luck. There are no substitutions and you will end up having to pay real money to finish the challenges.

Place in the MMORPG Landscape

Conqueror’s Blade is a one of a kind type of game at the moment. No other MMORPG has the same gameplay mechanics, although games like Kingdom Under Fire 2 does come close. It has a unique blend of strategic use of units and straight action in using your hero to demolish opponents. If you have ever wanted to play as a captain leading your squad into battle – this game does exactly that. Teamwork is also an essential component to actually winning battles – working together and using cohesive strategies is an immensely powerful tool to succeeding.

Outside of battles, the player can also engage in open-world resource gathering, trading on the marketplace, completing fief quests, crafting weapons and armour, creating unit kits to replace fallen soldiers, and even engaging in duels with other players. These other areas of gameplay do take some time to get used to, but add a great amount of depth to the game. While other MMORPGs tend to have their own version of these features, Conqueror’s Blade is unique in that much of these features are tied to the player-controlled fief system.

Other than the starting main city and two connected villages, virtually every other fief can be taken over by player guilds through Territory Wars. When a group of players come together as a guild (otherwise known as a “House”), they have the ability to fight with other Houses during set times in the week to take over fiefs. The owners of the fiefs can then set “Tax Rates” on the resources the fief controls – thereby providing another source of funding to their own players. There are numerous other features like the ability to craft advanced unit kits and guaranteeing a weekly payout to House members that make fiefs a very coveted late game goal. No other MMORPG currently has this style of player-controlled territory management that is this integrated within the gameplay.

With these features in mind, Conqueror’s Blade definitely still has a place in the current MMORPG community. However, there are definitely issues that have to be considered when a player is thinking about committing to playing this game for any reasonable length of time.

Is this game worth playing?

Any player interested in strategy-action games should definitely try Conqueror’s Blade out. It is a free to play game and the current season rewards help speed up progression in the early stages as well. My recommendation would be for you to play till at least level 60-70 to truly have a good idea of what the game is really about. Joining a House will also provide a better idea of whether or not this game is for you. Refer to our beginner tips here and our unit guide here to reduce any regrets early on.

My review is geared around the gameplay and whether or not it is actually worth playing, but there are more considerations than that when it comes to determing the amount of time worht investing. Definitely take a read through Reddit here for a good idea of why quite a few players are upset at the lack of support, questionable servers, and seemingly unbalanced classes. Keep in mind that Reddit is not a great representation of the entire gameplay community, but it can still be a good way to see why you SHOULDN’T play the game.

One thing I will say though, is you should definitely not spend any money on the game until you are at Level 70 at the very least. The game provides with enough bonuses early on and the money you spend really will not make a huge difference. The reason why I say Level 70 is that at Level 60 you will begin to be placed against higher level opponents who could make the game much more difficult for you – for some players the difference is enough to put them off of spending more time on the game. Another reason is that at this point, you likely will have joined a House and experienced a few Territory Wars. If this is not your thing, then the end-game won’t really be for you. Worst thing you can do is end up spending money on a game that you later on find out is not really what you want it to be.

Kijin Verdict

Come for the gameplay, leave because of all the other issues you end up having to put up with. This game will draw you in with its unique, amazing gameplay that engages you for weeks and weeks. Unfortunately, you will realize after a certain point in your progression that things have slowed down quite substantially. You will begin to see the server issues, unit/class issues, and how much of a grind the game will truly end up being. New players at this point will either be burnt out or will slow down their pace and allow themselves the enjoy the game for what it is.

My advice for new players is to treat this game like a marathon, not a sprint. Definitely enjoy the early game progress and fully immerse yourself as much as you can, but once you hit the wall like all other players have, take a break and come back.

Beginner Guides

For any newcomers that are interested in starting the game, here is our list of beginner guides to help with the early game:

Conqueror’s Blade Top 12 Beginner Tips

Conqueror’s Blade Best Starter Units 2020

Conqueror’s Blade Top 10 Strategy Tips for Beginners

Conqueror’s Blade Beginner Bronze Guide

Conqueror’s Blade Beginner Nodachi Guide

Guides

Conqueror’s Blade Beginner Bronze Tips

August 19, 2020 KijinGaming Leave a comment

Conqueror’s Blade is a PVP-focused MMORPG where you control a Hero with a small army and work together with your team to defeat the opposing enemy. More information can be found on their website here and through our review here.

New players starting out in Conqueror’s Blade usually experience difficulty with maintaining a healthy supply of bronze that will allow them to play the units they want. Often times the beginners are forced to not play their purple tier units since they can’t afford the unit kit cost.

I am personally not a big fan of min-maxing this aspect of the game since it takes away a lot of the fun. This guide will go over the basic tips that I used to maximize bronze gains while avoiding unnecessary grind.

1. Do daily and weekly quests

Easiest way to gain a good amount of bronze is to just finish the quests you get every day from NPCs. The three battle, five battle, and victory missions are the easiest since you can finish these without really thinking about it. Many players skip out on the other ones like the gathering one and the eliminate rebel one since it can be a bit of a hassle to go out of fief just for that. However, it is a decent amount of bronze for a very quick mission.

For a beginner, the easiest way to clear the rebel unit on the map is to bring a unit of archers and circle rebels on your horse. This can easily clear the easy rebels without any unit loss early on. Once you get decent cavalry, they can usually steamroll these units as well – unfortunately early cav can still take unit damage and is not advised.

2. Join a house

Most houses have a weekly stipend amount for covering the bronze cost for unit kits. It can range anywhere between 10k up to as high as 70k (as far as I have seen). For a beginner, this means joining a good beginner friendly house will massively alleviate stress from getting too low on bronze. It is never a good idea to just join the one that has the highest stipend of course, but it is one of many reasons to join a house earlier on in the game.

When you are in a house, there are also weekly challenges you can complete with your housemates that will give you bonus bronze. This adds several thousand just for playing the game since the missions are usually very straightforward and do not require much extra grind.

3. Heal units on supply points

Rule #1 for healing units is don’t sacrifice a strategic point just to preserve your unit kit cost. Locking down a point and sacrificing units is part of the game, it is perfectly fine to not heal your units.

With that said, take advantage of every opportunity you can to retreat your units back to a safe supply point and re-heal them. I do this most commonly with sword and shield units after a charge or two since this allows them to repeat their charges with minimal unit loss. The same applies for shield units after sustaining quite a bit of damage while on the frontlines. Be careful not to move your units back if you see your teammates doing the same thing.

Healing your units reduces unit loss and less unit loss means less bronze required to repair kits.

4. Cycle out your unit once you lose 3/4 of them

This is a very general rule of thumb that helps minimize unit loss while still retaining fighting efficiency. Once you only have around 1/4 of your unit left, your fighting power is greatly decreased anyways so it is best to move onto your next unit. Preventing a unit wipe reduces chances of taking kit damage and should be a priority when being conscious of bronze cost. Get into a good habit of knowing when to cycle out your units and it will dramatically reduce how much bronze you have to spend on your units.

5. Log in every day even when not playing

Even if you are not playing, do a quick login and collect the signin rewards for a few thousand bronze (obviously does not apply if you are busy with real life). Starting from today, there is a new 21-day login event that applies on top of the usual login awards – definitely persist with it if you can for the sweet rewards near the end. Doing this consistently will help build up your bronze stores to the point where you don’t really have to mind unit cost.

6. Craft your own unit kits (only if desperate)

Many of the materials required for crafting green and blue unit kits are very easily accessible via the market. If you are really hurting for bronze and don’t have anything urgent you need to spend silver on, consider making your own unit kits. Keep in mind that silver can be very useful once you get a lot of it, so consider doing this only when you really have to.

7. Play Siege primarily

At the moment sieges provide the most bronze per match of up to 4-5k/match if you get S rank. Expeditions, rebel camps, and field battles all provide lower amounts and field battles have essentially the same risk of unit damage. You should theoretically be able to do expeditions and rebel camps with no unit loss as long as you bring Spear Sergeants, but the amount you end up receiving makes it too much of a grind.

8. Bring only grey, green and blue units a few times

Purple units are harder to break even in bronze cost for and can be difficult to sustain upkeep. At the same time, you still need decent units to perform well for higher ranks (higher rank = higher bronze reward). Bringing only grey and green units can ensure you build up your bronze stores, but it really takes away a lot of the fun from the game since your units will likely be much weaker than your opponents.

Refer to our best starter unit guide here for more information about the best units to use early on. These units are the strongest for the leadership cost and will serve you best in grinding out more bronze.

9. Better rank = better bronze

This is almost a given – nobody plays the game to do bad. But keep in mind that higher ranks pay out a lot better than lower ranks. This means that you have to adapt your playstyle to not just aim for unit kills, but to also bring shields to get “damage taken” and to capture points. Another way to get on the scoreboard is to eliminate enemy artillery and back capture supply points.

10. Use Season 4 Units more

This might not be the most fun way to do things since it will end up limiting some of your unit choices, but Season 4 units currently require only 50% cost to replenish unit kits. Once you get used to their playstyles the units can be very effective – but occasionally will be underwhelming. Feel free to just use one of them in your warband just so that you have a little less cost to worry about.

Refer to our best starter units guide here and there is a section on the discussion of Season 4 units.

Conclusion

Earning bronze as a new player can be a daunting task, but it definitely does get better. Past around level 100-150 or so, you start to accrue a relatively large stack of bronze that allows you to play your heart out. You might not have enough at that point to bring T5 units to every single battle, but you can definitely be rich enough for a warband composed mainly of purple and blue units.

I hope this guide was of some help to those of you who have struggled recently! I’m sure there are much more specific guides out there on how to min-max bronze gain, but these tips are ones that I followed personally to still be able to enjoy the game.

If you are a beginner interested in learning about the other aspects of the game, please visit the following guides:

Conqueror’s Blade Top 12 Beginner Tips

Conqueror’s Blade Best Starter Units 2020

Conqueror’s Blade Top 10 Strategy Tips for Beginners

Conqueror’s Blade Beginner Nodachi Guide

Guides

Conqueror’s Blade Top 10 Strategy Tips for Beginners

August 16, 2020 KijinGaming 1 Comment

Conqueror’s Blade is a team-based game that requires you to work with your squad to succeed. Personal skill is important to winning fights, but using strategies and supporting one another will win the game. This guide will go over the basics of the strategic components to the game and provide tips on how to incorpoate them into your own gameplay.

1. Push from multiple directions

Teams that group up all together are much easier to defend against. It is infinitely easier to just stack pikes and shields on only one entrance and watch your opponent struggle to advance. As the attacker, you will end up having a much harder time breaking through and getting to the point.

Attacking from multiple directions forces the enemy to divert forces away and give up certain defensive angles. Creating the threat of flanks adds pressure for the defender to move units to less strong positions. If no flanking movements are being done, the enemy ranged units are also free focus entirely on harassing any advances your team makes. This point is especially true on certain siege maps where there are positions for ranged units that cannot be reached from outside the wall.

Keep in mind that this is just a general guideline for when the defence already has units in position. There are certain situations where it will be better for everyone to just rush inside regardless of direction.

2. Watch the top of buildings and battlements for ranged units

Keep your eyes peeled for ranged units placed on top of any type of building. These units generally will have a much more open angle to attack your troops. If left unchecked, they can end up focus firing and eliminating high value exposed targets such as pikes or your own ranged units. On the defender’s side, this can often be enough to stall a push or weaken them enough for your melee teammates to clean up. On the attacker’s side, the high vantage point can be enough to take down defensive ranged units that are placed in position to watch the entrances. This will help your push especially if they bring Pavisse or Janissaries that can stun troop advances.

The priority in these instances is to use your own ranged units or artillery to either clear them out or force them to relocate to another location. Constantly scanning for these threats will enable you to deal with them before any major damage is done to your own team.

3. Protect your shieldwalls from CC

This tip does not apply to all classes, since it will not always be possible for you to stop your opponents from breaking the block on your shields. But whenever possible, do not leave your shieldwall alone. Many classes have ults that throw down units and your unit is essentially dead the moment a large opening is made. Having a knockdown or concussing ability handy allows you to interrupt your opponent’s abilities.

Even if you do not have an interrupt-style ability, staying around the unit helps reduce the total damage that can be done to them. Having your hero in the fight prevents enemy units from taking advantage of the opening and helps improve your unit’s chances of recovering.

4. Use Focus Fire on exposed units

Most ranged units have some sort of Focus Fire ability that can target specific areas or directions. If you are using a ranged unit, be aware of potential opportunities to pick off enemy ranged units or exposed pikes/swords. Most shield units will take minimal damage from you, but focus firing specific areas will work wonders in eliminating your opponent’s damage capacity.

For muskets, the volley function can be used to pick up quick hero kills since it forces your unit to sync up attacks – leading to burst that can be enough to take down a hero. These units have no problem against shields, but should still be used to eliminate higher armour troops such as Imperial Pike Guards.

Also be mindful that many bow units can end up hitting buildings if they are in the way. The units will continuously fire regardless and end up wasting ammo. Whenever you use Focus Fire, just stick around for another second or two just to make sure they are actually able to hit the enemy.

5. Never Charge braced pikes head-on

Sword and shield units will melt against braced pikes due to their lack of range. Do not underestimate the damage that it will do and do not assume your sword and shield units will even get close enough to deal damage.

This tip really sounds like a given, but I have seen enough players do this to warrant its place in this guide. Whenever possible, try to either go around and flank or use your hero to create an opening that the charge can be forced through. Head on attacks without any CC or throwdown will result in a waste of units. You are better off saving them until the right opportunity arrives.

6. Use trebuchets to stop reinforcements

Once your team has pushed onto a point or objective, a well-placed trebuchet can stop any reinforcements from coming from a certain chokepoint. They do not always have to just be used on exposed units.

One way to use it would be to pre-emptively trebuchet a doorway that leads to the enemy supply point when you see their units coming on the mini-map. If you sync up the time delay just right, the enemy movement will result in either several unit kills or a forced retreat by the enemy hero.

7. Capture enemy supply points to open angles of attack

This relates back to point #1 about attacking from more than one angle. If you are able to capture an enemy supply point inside of their city, you can use it to change troops to a “charge” unit and flank against the enemy shieldwall or ranged units. When this is done alongside several teammates, it can be enough to force the enemy to back off of their defensive positions – allowing the main force to push onto point.

The goal behind this tip is to disrupt the existing formations your enemies have in place. The end result should be that your other teammates won’t have to deal with multiple Fortebraccios and shieldwalls right on the entrance.

8. Coordinate pushes with your teammates

Whenever I use the term “push”, it almost always means as a group. Entering in with all of your units at the same time (from multiple directions) overwhelms the defense. They will have a much harder time eliminating units and will give your team a chance to set up a defensive position on the point.

It can be extremely frustrating to not have your teammates push with you, but absolutely avoid pushing by yourself onto a defended point. You will likely end up wasting your unit and accomplish nothing. As bad as it sounds, you are better off communicating with your teammates and confirming when everyone should be pushing – it can be as simple as a “push at 3 minutes” message.

One other thing to keep in mind is that there needs to be a good composition of units that are pushing. There needs to at least be one unit of shields for the push to be successful. No shields will make it extremely difficult to hold the point due to the lack of protection from ranged units.

9. Push before the last minute

If you are pushing in the last minute, chances are you have already lost. It takes around 15-20 seconds to capture a point uninterrupted, and the enemy heroes will almost always suicide on the point to delay your team.

General rule of thumb is to coordinate a push at the last 3 minutes mark to account for the time it takes for the fight and to set up a perimeter that prevents enemy hero access. This is definitely not a rule that should be blindly followed, but just keep the time urgency in mind once the game reaches this point.

10. Learn to effectively trade Leadership

Total kill count does not mean as much as total leadership eliminated – killing a unit of Fortebraccios is much more useful than killing 3 units of serfs. Depleting your opponent’s leadership while retaining your own will slowly tip the balance of the game in your favour.

Everyone only has around 700 leadership to bring to battles (some people have more due to bonuses from armour). In general, higher leadership means a unit is more useful to use. Eliminating a higher leadership unit with your own low leadership unit would usually be a net gain for your team. For example, if your Ironcap Swordsmen was able to flank a Condo unit and eliminate 3/4 of them, you would have effectively put your team ahead.

This does not mean you should suicide your units just to gain net leadership – team composition is still extremely important. This is just another decision-making tool that you can use to make better strategic choices.

Conclusion

Thank you all for reading and I hope that this guide has helped some of the beginners become more accustomed to the strategic aspect of the game.

If you are new to the game, check out our Top 12 Beginner Tips here and our Best Starter Units guide here! 🙂

Guides

Conqueror’s Blade Best Starter Units 2020

August 14, 2020 KijinGaming 6 Comments

Conqueror’s Blade has a unique unit unlocking system that utilizes a currency called “Honour”. Beyond the green and blue units, it can take quite a bit of time for the casual player to unlock the next set of troops. Unfortunately, many new players end up wasting a ton of time unlocking units that are not very useful. This guide will go over the best units that a beginner player should dedicate time to unlocking.

Read our review here for more information on Conqueror’s Blade.

Skip down to the last section of the guide for the best path to unlocking these beginner units.

1. Pike Militia (Honour)

Pike militia should be the first unit you spend Honour to unlock. This unit earns its place as one of the best starters by being one of the most useful units at every stage of the game. When you are just starting out, it provides good damage against soft targets and is a deadly combo when braced behind a shieldwall. Later on, once you have maxed it down the middle veterancy line, it is able to stun and has high enough armour penetration to kill mid-late game units. Pike militia are also a very cost-effective unit that many players end up using to fill their warband whenever they have some extra space.

Pike Militia Veterancy: The veterancy for this unit should be the middle line without question. It provides increased damage/penetration, block formation for certain situations, stun when braced, and the final perk that enables hitting 1 additional unit per attack.

The downside to Pike Militia is that it is very vulnerable to archers and other ranged units. Always stack it right behind a shieldwall so that the wall protects the unit. Also keep in mind that it is still a green unit and will not have nearly the same amount of health/armour as the late game pike units.

2. Spear Sergeant (Honour)

Spear Sergeant is the purple shield unit in the Chivalry tree. It is one of the easiest purple units to obtain and has an amazing mix of damage and tankiness. A beginner player should unlock this unit early on because it enables you to complete any PvE activity in the game. Expedition 3 is easily completed using the Spear Sergeant and even Hard Rebel Camps can be done using only this unit. In PvP it is also a respectable unit that will stay relevant in the late game.

Spear Sergeant Veterancy: The most common Spear Sergeant veterancy line is bottom until you get the stun on brace and then putting the remaining points into the top line. The reason behind this is that the Spear Sergeant still crumbles against late game cavalry charges, and the damage reduction/increased damage is not as beneficial since they will die very quickly anyways.

There really is no downside to the Spear Sergeant. The only thing to keep in mind is that later on it will not be as tanky as the Imperial Shield Guard and so some players end up using that unit instead for tanking purposes. However, it has great mobility and damage especially when used in “Cover Commander” formation and can be used to quickly rotate to different locations. It ends up becoming a matter of preference for each individual’s playstyle.

3. Namkhan Archers (Season 2)

Namkhan Archers are the Season 2 archer unit. To unlock them, you will have to hit F5, go to Unit Challenges, and switch to Season 2. There is a bit of a grind since you will have to complete every challenge, but this unit is definitely worth it. They have good damage and a bleed that builds up considerably when stacked. In Conqueror’s Blade, a bleed effect will stop the hero from manually healing, which means that once you get enough stacks on a hero or unit they are effectively dead. This is one of the best starter units that racks up kills and makes grinding for experience much easier. The damage from the arrows is good enough to kill light-medium armour units, and the bleed allows it to take out the higher armour units.

Namkhan Archers Veterancy: The veterancy line for this unit is the top line all the way until the end. This picks up all of the relevant perks that increase bleed stacks and total bleed damage. The end result is a unit that is able to take out high value targets and force heroes to back out before accumulating too many bleed stacks.

Namkhan archers are also slightly squishy and have shorter range compared to other end game archers. 1-2 volleys from prefecture archers and the unit can effectively be wiped out. Get into a good habit of moving these units around and ensuring that other archers do not have a clear line of sight towards them. Also keep in mind that you can position this unit further back behind a house and manually select an are for them to fire at. Unfortunately, sometimes the arrows end up all hitting the house, but with practice you will learn the proper angles.

4. Condotierri Guards (Season 3)

Condo guards are a Season 3 sword unit that has excellent charge damage, ability to knock back units, and decent tankiness. Like with Namkhan Archers, you will have to switch to Season 3 to unlock this unit. This is the best sword and shield unit that a beginner player should unlock. It has many uses such as flanking enemy shield walls or directly pushing the site. The Shock Attack ability gives Condo an additional shield bash-like attack that does a small knockback on the opponent which allows it to further damage enemy units.

Condotierri Guards Veterancy: Either one of the veterancy lines would be good depending on your personal preference and playstyle. Reducing cooldowns in general will be suitable for whether you like to charge more or brawl more. Also be aware that there may or may not be changes to this unit in the future since they are currently extremely powerful and might end up getting nerfed by the time you read this guide.

The downside to this unit is that it bashes its shield so damn loud that your opponent will hear your sneaky flank a mile away. Jokes aside, there really isn’t much of a downside to this unit. It does exactly what you would want a sword and shield unit to do and the stats are all very good.

5. Imperial Spear Guard (Free Unlock Token)

Once you finish all of the Season 4 “Wages of War” challenges in the top right section, the game will give you an item called “Wealth of Anadolou” that allows you to recruit one of the purple units. I heavily recommend you spending that on unlocking Imperial Spear Guards as a beginner. The reason behind this is that the units leading up to the Imperial Spear Guard are fairly weak and there really is no reason to level those units up. It is also unlikely that a new player will be spending any honour on the extra upgrade nodes and so not unlocking previous units will have no impact.

Imperial Spear Guard Veterancy: The bottome veterancy line is much better than the top line if you use the shield wall (which you should be). On top of increasing damage and increasing defence (final perk increases all defence by 20%), the bottom line also prevents stunning from ordinary attacks, gives the units shield bash (with possible knock down), and a heal. The top line is more geared towards players that like to move with the unit, but you definitely should not be doing that with Imp Spears.

Imperial Spear Guards are one of the most important late game units. They are an extremely tanky shield unit that is very commonly used in Territory Wars and any sort of siege setting. The large shields and thick armour protect it from ranged fire, and the block on the unit can sustain quite a bit of melee damage before breaking. When this unit is used in conjunction with a pike unit, it can very effectively hold down any point.

The downside to this unit is that it is extremely slow moving. Rotating to a different site can take a very long time and they will be vulnerable to enemy ranged or cavalry attack.

6. Imperial Pike Guards (Honour)

Imperial Pike Guards are a heavily armoured pike unit that can deal a lot of damage to any unit (shielded or otherwise). This unit is particularly known for its “Advance” ability where it essentially turns into a walking braced pike unit. It is very effective at eliminating any unit in front of it – including shield walls. It is for this reason that it is also commonly used as a set of pikes behind a shield wall to prevent enemy advance. They are one of the best starter units to aim for because of its usefulness in both Sieges and Territory Wars.

Imperial Pike Guards Veterancy: The veterancy line for this unit should be the the top line so that it cannot be CC’d while advancing and has increased damage reduction/damage while advancing. The goal is to improve this unit’s ability to eliminate any units in its path and prevent it from being interrupted while doing so. It is particularly useful at clearing out enemy units on the point or the entrance (both on offence and defence) since it covers quite a large area.

The downside to this unit is that despite the armour, it is still very vulnerable to attack from the sides or from ranged units. It should always be used alongside ally units, otherwise it will die fairly quickly. Typically you would use the “Advance” ability and then brace once you are right in front of the enemy.

7. Fortebraccio Pikemen (Season 3)

For new players, getting the fort pikes can be a long grind and so definitely feel free to finish up the other units on this list first. But once you do that, I would definitely recommend coming back for these units. Conqueror’s Blade is a team game that requires a mix of units that each fulfill a role in the team. Without a doubt, the Fortebraccio Pikes are the absolute best unit to hold down an entrance. The damage it does is ridiculous and it is capable of deleting enemy heroes if they even move slightly into its way. You would typically place it adjacent to the opening so that only the end of the pikes stick out into the doorway – this prevents ranged units from hitting your units while still preventing easy entry.

Fortebraccio Pikemen Veterancy: Top veterancy line is much better for braced pikes. Other than increased damage/penetration, the most important perk is the final one that increases number of enemies hit with one attack by 1. For a braced unit that is protecting the point or entrance, increasing the number of units it can hit at once will substantially improve how well it can hold the point.

The downside to this unit is that it is slow moving, is fairly weak when unbraced, and is extremely vulnerable to flanking/ranged. It is important to place it behind a shield wall whenever possible and to avoid placing it in the open where it can easily be flanked. When using them properly, you can hit “X – hold ground” slightly in front of the enemy and brace the unit. This allows the long pikes to hit the enemy and mow their entire unit down. Just be careful regarding your timing so that the enemy units don’t end up already at your pikes.

8. Janissaries (Season 4)

Janissaries have excellent piercing penetration, piercing damage, range, and rate of fire once you level them up. The “Patient Snipers” buff of up to 15% increased damage is also nice. However, there are some strange issues with aiming vertically and so they can really only be used against enemies at the same elevation. The “Slug Shot” is also very useful in stopping charges since every bullet has a chance to be a mini-stun. The fact that it is a Season 4 unit is also great since you can do the “Wages of War” challenges at the same time.

Janissaries Veterancy: It is a bit of a tossup due to the ambiguity of what “Increases chances of inflicting Dazed by 10%” actually means. I personally went top line since every single one of the upgrades would be relevant and I don’t particularly care for 3 points going towards movement speed in the bottom line. Adding 2 additional soldiers to an 18 person unit is also a really nice upgrade as well.

Like mentioned above, the biggest issue with this unit is that it sometimes won’t hit units at other elevations. There is also a matter of efficiency since it takes some time for the unit to set up the stand in order to shoot, and same thing for when it has to pack up and move. This might affect you if you have problems with positioning, but if it is left in place it does some really great damage.

Special Mention: Serfs (5x Level 7 for Gathering)

Serfs are not very useful for anything other than gathering. However, they provide the best gathering ability out of all of the units in the game. Once you have progressed to a point where you would like to gather materials instead of buying off the market, having a full set of Serfs will be very useful. Unfortunately, you can only level them up one at a time in each battle and so it is best to start this process very early on in the game. If you do not care about crafting at all, then feel free to ignore this part of the guide.

Serfs Veterancy: The veterancy for this unit will be the bottom line until you hit the 20% increase in gathering. Once you have that, start leveling up the next Serf. Once you have all 5 Serfs levelled up, your gathering in the open world will be much, much more profitable. Although I tell you to level up 5 Serf units, I would recommend bringing one actual unit to protect your warband.

Season 4 Units Discussion

Although the Azaps sounds really good on paper, in practice it is much harder to use to its full potential. It is currently outclassed by the Condotierri Guards and can maybe go even with them if the abilities are activated appropriately. Once you take into account the fact that Condo Guards are 170 leadership and Azaps are 230, the extra 60 leadership could be much better used elsewhere. It can still be useful at specific parts of the game, but definitely would not recommend a beginner picking these units up until later on.

Silahdars have not yet been released on the NA version of Conqueror’s Blade and so we don’t know how useful they are yet. However, the feedback from the Frontier version of the game seems to suggest that they are in need of a buff. We will have to wait and see where it fits into the game once it comes to our servers.

Path for Unlocking Beginner Units

Start off by unlocking Pike Militia right away and switching to Season 2 so that you are working on the Namkhan Archer Challenges.

Unlock the Spear Sergeants as soon as you have enough Honour to do so.

Once you are done Namkhan Archers, switch to Season 3 and unlock the Condotierri Guards. Move on to Season 4 before unlocking Fortebraccio since it will take quite a bit more time.

Season 4 unit priority will be Janissaries and completing as much of the “Wages of War” challenges as you can. The honour that you have saved up during this time should be spent on working towards Imperial Pike Guards. Keep working at Season 4 units until you fully finish “Wages of War” and use the final token on Imperial Spear Guards.

Finally, move back to Season 3 and unlock Fortebraccio Pikemen.

If you are interested in gathering/crafting later on in the game, start leveling up Serfs right at the very beginning. Even if you don’t end up using them, having them in the warband will still give them some EXP.

Conclusion

Many of the other units can definitely be very useful in the game, but these are the ones that form the current meta. Following this guide will help optimize your path to successfully playing against veterans and avoid wasting honour on useless units.

For more beginner guides, see our list of Conqueror’s Blade Top 12 Beginner Tips.

Guides

Conqueror’s Blade Top 12 Beginner Tips

August 10, 2020 KijinGaming 3 Comments

If you are interested in starting Conqueror’s Blade, now is a pretty good time since they are running a 50% Exp boost event from now until August 18th as well as a Twitch Drops event until August 12th. For new players, the early game tutorial covers the basics of how to actually play the game and manage your units. Early on you will also be playing against bots which will make killing enemy units a breeze. Unfortunately, once you hit a certain level then you start getting matched against real players. This also gets progressively more difficult as you level up your hero since you will start to be placed against the veteran players with years of experience and end game units.

Tip #1: Spend time trying all of the classes

Conqueror’s Blade currently has a total of 11 weapon classes for you to try. Each one has its own unique playstyle, strengths, and weaknesses. Unfortunately with how the game is set up, you don’t really feel the ins and outs of a class until you unlock the higher tier skills. For example, the Poleaxe is an absolute CC machine once you unlock all of the skills – but some of the effects like knocking opponents down don’t appear until you fully max it out. Without the knockdown, you might feel like it is a slow and clunky class that can’t even lock someone down. But the moment you get that first combo going, it is going to feel much much more satisfying to play.

With that in mind, all new players should be open to exploring multiple classes throughout their entire gameplay. It is also important to consider that when you begin playing against higher tier troops, their armour tends to also get tougher. Some classes that excel in the early game might not have the same god-like ability later on. Just keep that in mind and be flexible for long term gameplay!

One caveat is that if you are interested in the Maul class it can be a bit of a pain since you have to switch your seasonal progress to Season 3 in order to unlock it. There is also a fairly long grind involved with completing a ton of missions to fully unlock all of the skills – which in itself isn’t too bad except for a few specific missions that don’t add to gameplay. The more important downside is that while you are unlocking progress on the Maul, you cannot contribute to unlocking this season’s units.

If you are interested in learning to play Nodachi specifically, see the guide listed here.

Tip #2: Join a House

Joining a good house is a great way to find people to play with, learn how to play the game, and it also provides some monetary benefits to help with unit kit cost. A House in Conqueror’s Blade is essentially what you refer to as a guild from other MMORPGs. It is a community that joins together during Territory Wars to fight other Houses and take over settlements. During day-to-day gameplay, most houses tend to also group together for siege/field battles and other events. It really is the best way to get to know others who enjoy this game as well.

If you go on Reddit, you’ll notice that sometimes there is a lot of beef that goes on between some of the houses. For the most part, this is a loud minority and the vast majority of other houses are much more chill and filled with great people. Also do not be afraid to join a more competitive house since they are usually kind to new players as long as you are active and participate in their Territory Wars.

Participating in a House’s Territory War and training for the war is also the absolute best way to develop your strategic skills and map awareness. When you are in the discord chat, there is usually someone who does shot calling for the battles. Listen very closely to their instructions and thought process and try to follow along in your head with your own analysis. Many times they will call out things like “Cav flank north – need one unit of pikes from east to move north” or “exposed ranged at ping, need a cav flank” and you will be expected to follow their instructions. With time, you will begin to learn the flow of combat and be able to prepare your units accordingly.

Tip #3: Max out Pike Militia and Spear Sergeant ASAP (and maybe Woodcutter)

Pike militia is one of the early units you can unlock that will stay relevant in the endgame. When fully maxed out (veterancy middle line), it can deal some serious damage even to some of the more heavily armoured units. It will eventually get replaced with other late game pike units, but it still has a place as a budget filler option. No other low tier unit has the same longevity as this one, so keeping it as part of your warband early on has its benefits.

In terms of how to use them, ideally you would place them slightly behind a shield wall and brace them. This allows your units to be protected from enemy ranged fire while having the pikes poking out in front of the shields to deal damage. They can also sometimes be used semi-offensively by advancing them forward using “X – hold position” and hitting the brace button right when they are within range of enemy troops. Be warned, this can often times get your unit wiped if you mistime it even by a little bit. Definitely prioritize using them in tandem with shieldwalls and not offensively on its own. Furthermore, ranged fire will kill your pike militia very fast and so either place them behind cover or a shield wall.

Spear Sergeant is one of the easiest end game units that you can obtain fairly early on. It is extremely useful in both PvE and PvP situations. The stats are relevant throughout the entire game and can allow you to do very well in Expeditions. It provides both good offence and defence – allowing you to use them as both a shieldwall and a “cover commander” unit. It is also one of the easiest units that you can use for Rebel Camps since it has enough defence to stay alive in Hard camps and can still delete rebel troops.

The woodcutter is my go-to expendable unit for pushing siege towers/battering rams. It is a bit of a meme to be honest, but they do have some uses as suicide infantry after their initial job is done. When fully maxed out, they have the ability to form a column and charge. Their armour penetration is honestly not bad for a unit that is only worth 40 leadership and can potentially take down enemy units worth much more. You don’t necessarily have to aim to max it, but it is definitely a useful unit for when you don’t have leadership room for anything else.

See our list of best starter units and veterancy lines here.

Tip #4: Buy another horse

If you just have the horse you started out with, it is worth investing in at least one more horse. During battles having a horse can literally be the difference between life and death. Having another horse for when your first one dies provides you with additional offensive and defensive opportunities.

On top of the mobility advantage, having a horse also allows you to escape from dangerous situations by allowing you to use them to jump from dangerous heights. They are also a great way for you to sneak up and flank behind enemy ranged units to get rid of them. In some situations, they can also be used to stall for time on the point itself to interrupt enemy capture since it is much more difficult to catch – allowing you to buy your team some valuable time.

Unfortunately, the higher level horse (which is the one you should be getting) can be quite expensive for a new player. I wouldn’t recommend getting more than one additional horse due to this since you are likely to be tight for Bronze early game.

Tip #5: Artillery is your friend – use them

For both siege and field battles, artillery can have a huge influence on winning and losing. Differnt artillery types are good for different things, but generally having a culverin is a good option for general usage. Artillery is generally used to eliminate units, force heroes to back up and heal (ballista head shots can 1 hit kill), and pressure the team to give up advantageous positions.

When attacking, placing artillery with a clear vantage point of the openings and the point itself can apply pressure for your opponent to either push out and eliminate the artillery, give up placing units on the point, or to sacrifice their units to your artillery shots. Regardless of which one you choose, the damage you can do at this stage in the fight will help whittle down their useful units and soften them for advance. If you imagine this like a realistic medieval siege battle, it serves the exact same function to disorient and weaken enemy forces ahead of an infantry push.

When on defence, placing the artillery has a bit more flexibility. Some people like to be more aggressive and place them directly in the open facing the enemy forces to force them back. The risk here is that enemy archers or artillery will have a clear shot at you, but it gives you a chance to retake artillery advantage and control of the point if you can kill their artillery first. In other cases, some people place it adjacent and slightly further away to the chokepoints so that the moment their infantry enter they get an artillery shot to the face. This also slows down their push and enables your own infantry to bring them down easier.

For starters, you should have some artillery from quests that you should be using. When you run out of those, do NOT get them from the artillery NPC – either craft them yourself or buy them from the market. It is much much cheaper this way.

Tip #6: Communicate with your team

When you see suspicious movement or large groups of enemies grouping up and you’re the only one around, use your pings on the map or directly type it out in chat. Not everyone is watching the mini-map as attentively as they should, and giving these reminders helps the team work together. Of course, don’t overdo it and annoy your team – be respectful at all times. It is also helpful to ask your team (very nicely) to bring certain units like more ranged, pike, or shields if you notice a skewed unit composition.

Please also use the chat to coordinate pushes and mention objectives that need to be done. For example, asking your team to push with you onto a flanking supply point helps secure an additional attack direction that can be used to help coordinate the next push. Helping each other and working together is one of the biggest differences between winning and losing teams. Almost all of the winning battles I have been in have involved a cohesive push with everyone working together.

It is extremely important to not be bossy or rude to your teammates – guaranteed they will not listen to you if you are. Just remember, nobody likes the one guy that is 0/4/0 with 12 unit kills calling everybody trash for not pushing with him.

Tip #7: Use your trebuchet very carefully

Rule #1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – never, ever, ever trebuchet your own teammates. Always, always be absolutely sure you are trebucheting the enemy units when you are clicking that button. When you are lining up the shot, know that the lines have to be green for the shots to actually have a chance at landing on the intended location. However, just because it is green doesn’t mean it will land. I don’t know why but occasionally they will still hit buildings as they come down.

One other thing to keep in mind is that if the lines themselves are close to you or your teammates, chances are they will hit them instead of hitting the enemy. This is especially dangerous on the siege towers where new players have a tendency to try to line up a shot in front of the siege tower on the wall. 9 times out of 10 one of the trebuchet shots will land directly on the siege tower itself and wipe out a ton of your units.

That being said, trebuchets are an extremely useful tool for a variety of purposes. They can be used to clear the point, eliminate ranged troops, or even to deny enemy units from reinforcing the point. For beginners, just focus on learning how to line up the shot and try to clear out large groups of enemies if possible. Once you are comfortable with the lining up, knowing the timing of the shots can also help you hit moving groups of enemies. This is most commonly used on chokepoints when you have already started pushing on point and want to prevent enemy units from coming in.

Tip #8: Learn to dodge and know when to run

In Conqueror’s Blade, you dodge by double tapping one of the directional keys. Dodging is always very situational, but in general you should always be attempting to dodge out of enemy CC and spamming dodge when you are already CC’d.

When trying to avoid CC, it takes quite a bit of practice and understanding of other classes and what they can do to you. In general, if a Poleaxe or Maul walks up to you, try to dodge away if you can’t CC them first. If you’re caught by a Poleaxe, most builds tend to run at least 2 CC abilities that can lock you down for a long period of time. By the end of it, their units or other heroes will likely have killed you. The Maul has this insane ability to just grab you and run – basically a death sentence if they have any units or heroes around. Other classes will also have some form of CC ability, but these two are the ones to especially watch out for when you are new.

If already CC’d, some beginners tend to not roll out as soon as they are able to because they think they are still locked down. Spamming the dodge function gives you a better idea of when abilities tend to wear off and gets you into the rhythmn of avoiding damage.

Finally, know that CC is king in this game and running is nothing to be ashamed of. As a new player, you likely will not have the 1v2, 1v3 ability that some veteran players have. Unfortunately, the moment your units begin to die out and you find yourself outnumbered, just run. While you are still learning how to dodge and avoid CC, any sort of number disadvantage opens you up to being CC’d to death. If you try to fight for a bit and spend stamina, you will inevitably run out and not be able to sprint out of danger later on. It is safest at the start of your gaming career to avoid this situation in the first place.

Tip #9: Craft your own equipment

Crafting your own armour and weapons is often times much cheaper and can get you better results than what you see on the auction house. The quest lines should be providing you with a few blue schematics, and the seasonal quests will provide a few more. Crafting your own equipment gives you a chance to proc for bonuses that you would have to pay much more for on the market.

When starting out you might not have enough resources to create your full set. You can either break down horse armour or run expeditions for chests that contain supplies. For dust, you can use your seasonal tokens in the seasonal store for them or try to get lucky with breaking down NPC armour.

For armour specifically, make sure you try to get the full set since the bonuses are pretty good. For weapons it matters a little less if you use ones that you get randomly from playing as long as their stats are not terrible. Later on in the game you can spend more time crafting and reconditioning to get the stats you want.

On a side note, the most valuable armour pieces are the ones with extra Leadership. With extra Leadership you can bring more valuable units to battles and it is a HUGE advantage compared to having a bit of extra damage or armour. Hang onto those pieces even if the rest of the stats are not spectacular.

Tip #10: Complete Specific Seasonal Unit Challenges

Namkhan Archers (Season 2)

Namkhan archers are a Season 2 ranged unit that has very good bleed damage that can significant stack up. They are relevant in every stage of the game and should be your first pick for seasonal unit. The bleed procs in Conqueror’s Blade prevent heroes from healing themselves and also ignores armour. This allows you to rack up quite a few hero and unit kills since most heroes have no built-in lifesteal. It is an overall solid unit that is worth picking up in the early stages of your gameplay.

Condottieri Guards (Season 3)

Condos are one of the best sword and shield units in the game at the moment. They have a good charge and the shield bash abilty helps increase their fighting ability even more. When used appropriately, it can take out some high value units and come out with minimal losses. It is also useful for completing other unit challenges and missions that require a certain number of charge kills or sword infantry kills due to its high damage potential.

Fortebraccio Pikeman (Season 3)

Forts are the units you see in game that have a super tight formation and long pikes. When braced in chokepoints, these units can often immediately delete any hero or unit that walks right in front of them. It can take quite a while to fully unlock these units since they are the purple unit from Season 3, but it is one of the most useful units you can currently use.

A key thing to remember for forts is that you don’t generally need to place them right in the chokepoint. Most players like to place the unit immediately adjacent to it so that the only part that is visible from the enemy’s POV is the extended pikes. This minimizes ranged damage to the unit while still blocking off the doorway.

Janissaries (Season 4)

The janissary unit is a powerful musket unit that was introduced recently in Conqueror’s Blade Season 4. They bring a good combination of damage, fire rate, and accuracy when levelled up. Not only that, but they also have an innate ability to proc a dazed effect which can help slow down advancing enemies. Altogether it is a powerful unit for a newer player to have on the roster and is worth aiming towards as one of the early goals.

That being said, I don’t currently recommend aiming for the Azaps since they are underperforming right now. It also takes quite a while to fully unlock them and the leadership cost is not worth it when compared to other units like Condos. Complete the Janissary Challenges and you should be in a good place.

For more information on the best beginner units and their veterancy lines, see our guide here.

Tip #11: Buy EXP boosts and Schematics in the seasonal store

As you play, the season pass will provide you with free currency that you can spend in the seasonal store. There are quite a few good items that you can get, but for beginners the Hero EXP and the Unit EXP multiplier boost are great ways to accelerate through the early game. Note that there is a separate Unit EXP item that provides straight EXP – might be useful, but the Unit EXP multiplier for battles is more worth the cost.

Having the extra Hero EXP will bring you to Level 60 slightly faster so that the attributes you have will be on par with every other hero. Unit EXP boost will help you max useful early units (Pike Militia) and enable you to focus on levelling higher tier units. Also keep in mind that once a unit is fully levelled, it will no longer take EXP. The recommended option is to max Pike Militia and bring it to every battle as a powerful unit that rakes in kills for other units to benefit from.

After getting EXP boosts, prioritize getting as many blue schematics as you can. This is extremely important for crafting equipment and re-conditioning them later on in the game. Unfortunately, schematics are in very short supply once you use up the ones given in quests. The ones in the market are also very expensive – especially if you are a new player with little extra silver. Even if you do not need them right now, you will definitely need them later in the game. Get as large a stockpile right now while you can and your future self will thank you.

Tip #12: This game is a marathon, not a sprint

Even if you ignore or disagree with everything else I say in this list of tips, just remember that Conqueror’s Blade is about playing long-term. Unless you hardcore grind the game, it will take you at least a month or more to get to endgame heroic units – and much more time to actually max all of your units. Don’t let this game stress you out or burn you out in the first week. Take it slow and do not be afraid to reach out for help from your House or even from Twitch streamers.

It is perfectly normal to not completely finish your weekly or daily quests. If you don’t feel like running out of the fief to do rebels or gather materials then don’t! You can still make perfectly good progress just playing the parts of the game you actually like playing. At the end of the day, Conqueror’s Blade is still a game and one that you should be able to enjoy in your own way.

Conclusion

I hope that this list of tips helps smooth your transition into the game! For any veteran players reading this, please let me know if there are any important tips I missed and I will add them as soon as I can.

If you are a new player, check out our guide for Best Starter Units and our Top 10 Strategy Tips for Beginners! 🙂

Guides

Conqueror’s Blade Nodachi Guide 2020

August 8, 2020 KijinGaming 1 Comment

Conqueror’s Blade is a PVP-focused MMORPG where you control a Hero with a small army and work together with your team to defeat the opposing team. More information can be found on their website here and in our review here. This is a guide for beginners hoping to learn how to play Nodachi.

Check out our Nexus Game Store for discounts on games and DLCs. Every purchase you make using our link supports this website!

Pros and Cons of Nodachi

Nodachi is essentially referred to as the “Meat Grinder” class where it specializes in taking down a massive number of troops. Due to its innate lifesteal ability, it grants you the opportunity to stick to a fight and continuously mow down enemy troops. Appropriate dodging and playing smart will keep you in a position to deal damage far longer than any other class – making you the perfect class for whittling down enemy forces.

The downside to Nodachi is in its 1v1 potential. Its reliance on enemy units for sustain and the lack of decent CC make it much weaker when fighting only against enemy heroes. It forces you to either run from the enemy, or engage in a battle of attrition. Experienced Nodachi players will be able to effectively take down opponents by outsustaining them, but it requires a more in-depth knowledge of when and how to avoid enemy CC.

Pros	Cons
Great unit-killing potential Great sustain Ultimate destroys shieldwalls Can solo ranged units	Little CC other than Bloodthirsty Squishy if caught in CC Vulnerable to bleed stacks Need to learn timing to be efficient

Nodachi Stat Build

I strongly recommend going a full Agility build. The reason being that if you play smart and learn when to attack/dodge then you should have minimal reasons for dying. You are not the facetaking monster LS/SS are, and you also do not have the benefit of having heavy armour. Going full Agility gives you the chance to maximize your damage against late game heavy armour troops and improving the amount of health you gain back through lifesteal.

HOWEVER if you are a beginner and have not yet had a lot of practice with dodging and reading your opponent’s attack patterns, consider going full armour or 50/50 for the time being. This isn’t something that you can suddenly learn in a day or two, but once you a practiced the most efficient build would definitely be full agility.

Nodachi Skill Selection

These are the skills I would recommend based off of my own idea of optimal playstyle for the Nodachi:

Tiger’s Claw:

Two large slashes in front of you – absolutely decimates low-armour units. This is the bread and butter of the unit decimation class. Each slash deals 129% base slashing damage + 1885 slash damage and using the skill heals you for 1200 health at max level.

Bloodthirsty:

Quick stab in front of you that knocks down the enemy troops and heroes. Also another critical skill in this build since this is essentially your only form of CC. Deals 86% piercing damage + 1258 piercing damage. Fully levelled will also knock down enemies, remove “Dazed” effect, and landing a hit gives you two points of Bloodlust (3% life drain effect).

Monstrous Blade:

Gives you increased lifesteal from all of your attacks. At max level, it transfers 40% damage taken by the enemy into your health and lasts for 14 seconds. Also consumes Bloodbath effect to restore 1500 health per second for 4 seconds. Some people like to substitute this skill out for one of the other damaging skills. Really up to personal preference, but I like the extra sustain this provides for me to continue to deal basic attack damage. The basic attack has a decent damage and hella wide range to deal damage to begin with, so to me the extra lifesteal to keep me in the battle is much more worth it.

Dragon’s Leap:

This is the best ultimate skill once you take into account the amount of damage you are already doing with other abilities/basic attacks. The main reason to choose this skill is that it absolutely wrecks shield walls and masses of units. If you time it correctly, this skill will open up the enemy defences at the exact moment your units charge in. Charges for 2 seconds then leaps forward to deal 370% of base slashing damage + 4869 slashing damage. Throws enemy troops and heroes and reduces damage taken while charging by 30%.

The other ultimate does deal more damage, but once you get to a certain level of opponents ain’t nobody gonna wait for you to kick their ass like that – you would immediately get CC’ed out of your mind.

Bloodlust/Bloodbath Mechanism:

This is the new unique mechanism that came in the recent patch. Bloodthirsty, Samurai’s March and Fearless & Steadfast all generate points of Bloodlust. Each point of Bloodlust adds a 3% Life Drain effect which is essentially your lifesteal. Once you get 5 points, Bloodlust is converted into Bloodbath where you get a 25% Life Drain and 15% improvement to piercing armour penetration. With all that is going on in the battle, I personally only really keep track of it just to know when to time my Monstrous Blade since the extra 1500hp/second for 4 seconds can really be helpful. The piercing armour penetration is nice, but really isn’t all that relevant since very few of your abilities here actually benefit from it.

Runnerup: Blood Oath

Some people like to run Blood Oath instead of Monstrous Blade now since it also refreshes the Bloodbath effect. Using this skill instead will allow you to be hyper-aggressive due to refreshing cooldowns. Instead of just doing your damage combo with CC and backing out, you can use Blood Oath to continue the CC on the enemy and continuing with another damage combo.

Biggest reason I go with Monstrous Blade instead is in larger battles with multiple heroes it is harder to go into multiple combos anyways. I end up rolling out of the way even partway through my initial combo since Bloodthirsty doesn’t always knock down everyone. You definitely do NOT want to get caught and using Blood Oath might trick you into sticking in the fight longer than you should.

Nodachi Optimal Playstyle

One way to think of the overall playstyle is a never-ending stream of hit and runs. Imagine yourself as a constant threat of unit annihilation where you can repeatedly take out entire shield walls, but only if you can avoid CC. Typically the damage done to you won’t make a huge difference due to the insane lifesteal with this build, but you are in danger the moment you lose lifesteal due to CC. This class and playstyle will allow you to continuously attack without having to go back and heal as long as you know how to avoid getting locked down.

Main Combo

Assuming that you are against 1-2 other heroes and their units, the main combo is going to be Bloodthirsty into Tiger’s Claw into 2-3 basic attacks and then rolling out. The Bloodthirsty should always be aimed towards the enemy heroes so that they dont have a chance to interrupt the rest of your skill rotation while you decimate their troops. There is usually enough time to land a couple of basic attacks at the end of it, but Tiger’s claw is the main damage dealer.

Basic Attack x 2-3

If you happen to miss the Bloodthirsty CC, you have to read the situation and decide your next move based on the opponent’s CC ability:

No Cooldown on CC ability or CC heavy class: Usually once you attempt and miss your Bloodthirsty, the skill would have brought you really close to the enemy and 9 times out of 10 they would try to hit you with an ability. In this situation, immediately roll out of the way then try to land a Tiger’s Claw before backing off completely. Worst scenario that can happen here is they immediately CC you and you get killed by their units while locked down.

As for determining cooldown ability on CC, it is purely up to experience and practice. Pretty much any class in this game can have a decent knockdown/interrupt, and so you have to just keep a general timeframe in mind based on when they most recently used their CC abilities. For classes like Poleaxe, I just constantly assume that they have SOME form of CC ability up due to how many skills they have.

CC Ability on Cooldown or little CC available: If they do not have the CC to either knock you down or interrupt you, continue with the usual damaging combo. The reason behind this is that your damage on their units will likely heal you enough to keep you alive and it ends up being free unit kills before you roll out of the way.

Large Group Battle

This situation usually comes up when the enemy is grouped and getting ready for a strong push (either attacking or defending). What typically happens is the enemy has a line of shields with pikes supporting it and ranged units slightly further back. Keep in mind that Conqueror’s Blade is a team game with a heavy focus on strategy. You not only have to keep in mind your opponent’s class, but also their units as well.

The combo generally is to activate Monstrous Blade, hit the shieldwall with Dragon’s Leap, hit Tiger’s Claw into the exposed units, land Bloodthirsty on the closest heroes and IMMEDIATELY get out.

Never ever try to attempt this combo without units covering you or the enemy is already engaged in fighting. Any decent player will immediately recognize the Dragon’s Leap and back away or CC you to death. Hiding behind your shield wall makes it hard for them to see what you are doing and if they are already fighting then chances are they might not be paying attention to you or have already used their abilities.

The reason for activating Monstrous Blade even before attacking is the ranged units (especially Namkhan Archers) can still kill you in the short time frame you are exposed. With the extra lifesteal, the skill damage is usually enough to keep you at around 60-70% health after the full combo.

You want to immediately Tiger’s Claw since the units are either on the ground from Dragon’s Leap, or there is a big gaping hole in the shieldwall that leaves the units beside it exposed. A properly timed and distanced Dragon’s Leap will bring you just behind these other units and hitting a Tiger’s Claw will help clear the remaining part of the wall.

Bloodthirsty here isn’t exactly necessary depending on situation, but I usually like to land an extra one on the closest enemy with potential for CC just to give myself some breathing room. Without it, the Tiger’s Claw takes up enough time for them to get up and CC me before I can roll out.

One other note with this combo is that it is particularly devastating when you charge in sword and shield units at the same time. Many heroes will be on the ground and the shield wall is exposed – leading to extremely high damage on everyone and everything if your units get in. If they do, then you can actually stick with combo and land a few basic attacks before getting out.

Likewise, if your teammates actually decide to back you up and rush at the same time, you can actually stay in the fight and go for kills. In this case, definitely try to land your Bloodthirsty on the closest enemy with the HIGHEST health. The reason being that typically lower health heroes are already dead with your teammates around, and forcing higher health enemies to stay increases your chances of racking up more kills + forcing enemy units to retreat.

Problems with this Playstyle and How to Overcome Them

Weak 1v1 PVP

This playstyle is geared towards squad based combat, and is much weaker when it is 1v1 with the enemy hero. Conqueror’s Blade battles can also be won by solely killing the enemy heroes and forcing their units to retreat. This is why you should almost always have your units nearby since your 1v1 potential is fairly low if your opponent is any good.

The lifestyle from abilities and basic attacks are not nearly enough when all you have to lifesteal off of is the enemy hero. This is especially important when you take into account that a hero has a ton more armour and the lifesteal is based off of damage the enemy takes. More armour = less damage = less healing. This combined with the fact that you really only have one CC ability that can be hard to land means you are very unlikely to be able to burst them down before they CC you to death. However, if you ever manage to get a Dragon’s Leap off (once in a blue moon though), you can go into Tiger’s Claw then Bloodthirsty then a few basic attacks.

If you do find yourself in a 1v1 situation and you absolutely cannot get out, your fighting style will be based off of attrition. No other class AFAIK will have the same level of healing as you, even if it is much weaker against heroes. Best way to handle the situation is to try to land Bloodthirsty, but if you miss then roll out until it resets. Without landing some form of CC, the enemy will just CC you back and then you’ll just end up dying.

Bleed Damage

One other issue with this playstyle is against Namkhan Archers and other units that stack bleed damage. If they are focus firing on you and you try to take them out alone, you are very likely to lose a lot of health from the bleed stacks. A fully maxed out unit can stack a crazy amount of bleed onto you and you won’t be able to lifesteal once the unit is all dead. No lifesteal + crazy bleed damage + mediocre health means you’ll either be dead or in a position for the enemy hero to clean you up. However, if they are already firing on another unit then feel free to eliminate them.

Conclusion

The Nodachi can be an extremely satisfying class to play if you enjoy absolutely decimating enemy units. It specializes in squad based combat and utilizes lifesteal to continuously stay on the attack. Utilizing this build and playstyle will optimize its ability to consistently take down enemy units, while avoiding capture. I hope that this Nodachi guide has been of some help for new and old Nodachi players. Please feel free to let me know if you have any thoughts or concerns about the best way to play Nodachi!

For new Conqueror’s Blade players check out our Top 12 Tips for Beginners here.

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