In this Total War: Warhammer 2 High Elves Guide, we will guide you on High Elves and how to win with them. High Elves are one of the oldest factions in the game and they have their own unique units and structures along with rituals.
For more help on Total War: Warhammer 2, you can check out our Lizardmen Guide, and Skaven Guide.
Total War: Warhammer 2 High Elves
High Elves is one of the oldest factions in the game and they have their own unique culture and rituals. You can play six different High Elves factions. Each one of these has its own unique starting position and Legendary Lord.
They are very defensive and they do anything to defend their territories. Apart from their own territories, many other areas are unknown to them and if you decide to settle there, you will be required to pay a hefty fine.
Unit Roster
The unit roster of High Elves is very versatile. They possess cavalry, infantry, powerful missile troops, flying troops, artillery, monsters and spellcasters. These troops have good movement speed, great leadership and decent armor. Quality of the units is given more importance in the High Elf armies as opposed to quantity.
The archers of the High Elves are arguably the best in the game. The Lothern Sea Guard are crucial in the early to mid-game because the stats of the shielded ones are the same as the stats of the Spearmen, but they have the advantage of being powerful archers.
Routes to Victory!
There are two routes to victory if you are playing with the High Elves. Either you can take control of the vortex or you can take control of 50 provinces by eliminating certain factions.
For the Vortex, you will need to perform five rituals each one more tedious than the last one. To conquer the factions, there are plenty of factions around to eliminate and take control of their islands.
To start a ritual, you will be required to gather enough way fragments. They can be earned by Buildings, as rewards by completing missions or by treasure hunting.
Once you have enough, you can initiate a ritual. Once initiated defend it against enemy attacks. Rituals last a number of moves so be well prepared to defend it.
If your enemy initiates one, send forces to stop it or at least try to disrupt it to buy some time. Ritual resource sites can also give you an option to construct a building that will give you Way Fragments making it easier for you to start rituals.
Rites
High Elves have their own powerful rites. These rites will grand unique abilities and strong bonuses such as giving you an increased influence per turn or public order.
These abilities are very useful for managing your people and controlling relationships within your territories. Use these rites carefully as they cost you money and they have cool down time. They also long several turns.
Technology Tree
High Elves feature Cultural, Military and Trade advancement trees. Each tree has many abilities that you can unlock to increase their respective segments. The military tree will make your armies stronger and better in the field.
While trade and culture are focused on improving your economy. Some are associated with specific buildings so you will be required to build the necessary building before you actually buy these abilities.
Influence
High Elves have the unique resource of Influence, which they gain after completing missions and rites and many other things. Influence allows you to buy the most powerful Lords in the area and will let you make the most important political decisions.
Higher the influence cost of a Lord, the better they have stats at the beginning. You can also use it on the court to improve your relationships or decrease them with factions.
Trade Espionage
Another unique ability is the Trade Espionage. Ay faction with which you have trade with, this ability will let you see their territory. This helps you view more territory and prepare accordingly for a potential attack on defense.
Building up Army
Start with building Militia Camp to start training spearmen and archers. This is your first army building. Use the spearmen and archers to make a good line of defense and attack.
They are also your basic units when playing with the High Elves. Next, build an Archive to train some Wizards to take advantage of the High Elves magical powers.
The true strength of High Elves army lies in the Dragon’s Lair and the Temple of Acai that trains dragons and phoenixes. Build them up and train as many heavy and light units to build up your armies to make your settlement a strong one.
Combat Tips
High Elves are focused towards defense. Their units are quite good and effective but they are all heavy in your pocket. Create diversified formations so that all units are used effectively in the battle and none of the units is left out due to wrong placements.
Try to keep their health above 50% and they will get a melee boost to attack and defense due to their Martial Prowess ability. This defensive ability makes their defensive stance even more powerful by giving them extra bonuses as long as they remain at high strength.
When the High Elves step on the battlefield with full health, the Martial Prowess ability grants then +12 Melee Defense and +2 Melee Attack. It is lost when the unit’s strength goes below 50%.
They also have a special army stance called ‘‘Lileath’s Blessing’ which is basically an improved version of channeling. High Elf factions can even draw the Sword of Khaine
The spearmen are great for holding off enemies while your charge units move in to deal some damage. The Cavalry gets charge bonus to plow through enemy lines while ranged units such as archers are great for attacking from a distance and thinning the enemy frontlines.
Your flying units are the best in the fights. They have high mobility and great amounts of damage so use them often.
Their only weakness is being outnumbered. Each High Elf unit is expensive so keeping large enemies can be a big problem. Other than that, they have no specific weakness.
