Blood of Steel: Full Ranked Legion War Guide

Basics:

1) Get ready ure armour set!
For mele – atack speed + external armor + external armor penetration.
For ranged – ranged damage + external armor + external armor penetration.
For cavalry – mele damage + external armor + external armor penetration.

2) Ranked is 5v5 game. You can start game only solo, duo or 5 man team. If u are 5 man team u will never find the game. So basicaly u have only 2 choises solo and duo. Duo is easier to win for obvious reason. Invite ure friend (i hope u have friends) and play together with voice chat. If u both doing good, win rate will grow.

3) Never trash talk and blame someone for ure lose. There always be a ruiners, bad players, toxic ppl. And dont forget that everyone can make a mistakes etc.. If u just stand and chating ure wasting time instead of trying to win a game.

4) Avoid list. You can ban ppl from playing in ure team by pressing “avoid as teammate” in the end of the match. But remember that there is a limit of 2 players, so ban ppl wisely.

Infantry – Caesar, Diao Chan, Joan, Isabella, Godfrey, Zhang Bao, Zhang Fei. rarely Alexander, Trojan, Ling Tong.
Archers – Edward I, Yi Seong-gye, Huang Yueying, Liang Hongyu. If u dont have thouse u can pick Sun Shangxiang and Zhen ji.
Cavalry – Gerald, Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Xiahou Yuan, Huang Zhong, Baldwin IV.

Yes you can say – “wtf i pwn everyone with hanzo or Lady zhurong”. Well yes most heroes can be usable in some cases. In my list only most effective in current map pull.

There is 4 basic roles. Tank, Support/dd, Skirmishers, Cavalry.

Caesar, Diao Chan, Ling Tong, Alexander. The main task of tanks obviously to front line and initiate fights. Also protect supports and archers from ranged atacks.

Caesar – Slow and tough infantry, that have pillum throw. Easy and very efective hero. If u play Caesar remember that ure are the tank! there is few tricks on this hero. First, u can push through phalanx, just go to left or right flank, take off ure sheild by pressing X button, and press down block and move forward until u get inside phalanx lines. Then ure units will easly push through and slaughter phalanx in close combat. Pillum throw – if u press this skill ure units will throw pillum at nearest target. Some tips – if u see ranged units close to the fight move a bit closer to them and when archers will be closer then any other targets press pillum throw. Atleast half of the ranged unit will be killed for sure. Closer u are more casualties pillum throw will inflict. Also Pillum throw regenerate pillums of the Caesar hero. Also u can lock enemy heroes in ure formation so they cant move and kill them fast and easy.

Diao Chan – fast and maneurable tank, best hero to take advantage points, high grounds etc. With this tank mainly u need to secure safe position for ure archer, cover ure suports, locking enemy heroes in ure formation and guess what? – tanking 😀 And as always some tips:
Dia Chan has 2 formation Cone formation 5 key by default – is form movement speed bonus. And turtle formation 6 key by default for the fighting. Units in cone formation is faster then the hero, so for the max speed u can use sheild charge on Dia Chan q key by default, to move faster for short period of time. Also u can use unit charge 4 key by default, to stop cavalry, to catch archers, intercept enemy forces to prevent them of taking positions or high grounds, or even use it in combat to get atack bonus for 12 seconds, but dont forget to press f1 so they will return into the formation instantly.

Ling Tong is a tank in case Caesar or Diao chan is banned. Just an infantry that can absorb lots of damage while skill Steady is activated. Also got charge. Same as Diao Chan.

Alexander – well it can works on close quarter maps, but u need to get used to unusual unit managment of this hero and good players know how to counter it. Basically there is nothing much to say about it.

Supports/Damage dielers – Heroes that always goes as second line, hiding behind the tank units untill battle begins. Well who would of thought but their role is to buf all troops and deal damage, depends on hero. Just w8 until tanks initiate then join the fight.

Joan – one of the best support/dd hero if u use it properly. The main skill of this hero is Rally. It summons Giles de Reis(very powerfull 2h swordsman) and also 6 swordsmans. That gives u variation of actions in battle. You can summon it at the start of the battle to have opportunity to use couple of time. Or you can save it for a perfect moment to use. Its up to you act as situation demands it. After u summon it u can command this summoned squad using f5 – follow, f6 – hold, f7 – atack. You can send them to flank enemies, send them to chase archers, capture points etc. Also u can summon it right into battle, but be carefull with it. Dont let enemy heroes focus him, u will lose lots of dps potenial if u let him die quick. Also Joan has nice buff that increase def power and heal abit all units near Joan. Also Joan units can stop horses, but for that the should be ready up and stand infront of the cavalry and dont move while cavlry charging. I would recomend to avoid 1v1 combat if u play Joan or any other support unit.

Isabella – one of the best support units as well as Joan. The main advantage of this hero is a a skill Royal Standart, basically a buffing flag. Make sure to put in safe place so that enemies can destroy it. Very powerfull atack buff that apply to all allys in range. Units is a bit tankier then Joans, have a sheilds against ranged units and Hero has a big Halberd that is effective in killing units and pushing enemy heroes out of the front line.

Godfrey – hero with highest dps in game. But only of u play smart. The goal of Godfrey is to w8 when fight starts then join the battle use his onl skill Zeal that gives him and his unit lots of atack powers. This buf works only 10 seconds but renews when hero kills enemy units. So basically all u need is to kill troops and try to avoid heroes to keep this buf on.

Zhang Fei – good second line pike hero. The main point is War Cry wich basicaly a fear. Use it to break tight formations of Caesar Alexander, Diao Chan, also can be used to save ure units and retreat if u got caught by other infantry alone. Never try to fight 1v1 with other infantry in most cases u will lose. Pikes are highly effective as second line so they can hide behind the sheild of tanks and strike from a safe distance. Also very effective in stoping cavalry(obviously) extremly weak against archers and horse archers. Always look form shelter in case ure under fire.

Zhang Bao – another powerfull second line hero slayer. This hero has 2 powerfull advantages. First hes fast and has charge to catch cav and horse archers. Also they have sheilds on a back so archer fire from behind will be not so deadly as if it was other support, buts still pretty painfull. Scond is long range pike and passive that increase damage against atacking units include heroes. Basicaly in a mele fight u need to focus enemy heroes with ure long dil… khm… pike and do extremly high damage. So they will have to hide behind soldiers and heal them selfs or just die.

Archers – ranged units have 3 task on each battle. First find best position, second detect and kill enemy archer, third support ure infantry as much as u can and dont die. Well not the easiest class i would say. Also in most cases its more effective to place ure unit verticaly to the enemy, it gives you 2 big advatages.

First, archer fire will have less spread, that allows you to kill units instead of wouning.

And second – enemy archers will cause less casualties to you. One more hint. Dont hurry to reveal youre self and youre archers. Sometimes its better to hide ure units, and search for the enemy archer with your hero. If you see enemy archers, and you are sure that they dont see you. First place your units right way, make sure they all are ready to fire, and only then start shooting to deal as much dmg as possible while you undiscovered. If an enemy archer detected you, you can try to aim for his units with your hero, while your units in a safe place. But be carefull, if he is good enough he can focus you quickly with direct fire of hero + units.Edward, Yi Seong-gye, Sun Shangxiang is long range archers. Huang Yueying, Liang Hongyu is close/medium range archers.

Edward one of the best choises, if u are not sure in your teamm8s. Because u can barricade ure self with stackes, that makes u basically invulnerable to cavalry, and can allow u to finish off wounded infantry unit that trying to chase you. Also volley allows you to hide ure unit in save place, barricade them and shoot pretty effectivly by using skill “Arrow Rain”. When you kill/hit enemy units with your hero “Arrow Rain” reduce cd by 10/5 sec, so basically if u shoot with ure hero non stop, you can spam volley one by one.

Yi Seong-gye My favourite archer. He is stronger then Edward in strait shooting. Have extremly powerfull poison and also can heal his allys. Highly recommended if you play with ure friend and he will def you. Poison is powerfull skill. It debuf enemies def rate and spread if anyone dies after being poisoned. It helps you to focus archers, or support your infantry coz they will also deal more dmg to poisoned units. Also this hero have Q ability changes shooting style. To be honest mostly useless.

Sun Shangxiang Basic archer that is fine if you dont have Yi Seong-gye, has fire arrow, that is far less effective then poison. And has more damage with headshots. Thats all.

Huang Yueying the most damaging archer in close/medium distance, thats it pretty much. One thing, when you activate your “Bodkin Bolt” try to hit/kill enemy units as much as u can coz it will reduce the cd of this skill.

Liang Hongyu abit less dps then previous hero, but has “Oil Bolt” skill that set on fire a medium size area, dealing dmg over time. This hero is harder coz xbow shoot 3 times than reload, with each bolt your aim goes higher and higher, so u need to control your aim while shooting all the time. Also this crossbow allows you to cause a decent amount of casualties in first seconds of archer duel if you controlled your aim good and hit all 3 bolts. Very good hero for skirmishing in town maps.

There is 3 types of cavalry. Heavy cavalry, archer cavalry and light cavalry.

This type of cavalry is slow, but tanky and has good dps. There is few tips when you play as heavy cav. First you press Q, then use you units charge skill, then press f1, as result u will have you Q not in cd anymore coz you used charge. Youre units will follow you while using their charging skill instead of runing in random direction and die. Second – always try to flank infantry instead of frontal atack, obviously. Third if u have frontal clash with enemy cavalry jumb before enemy hero, with this move u probably dodge his lance and strike horseman instead of his horse, also if u atacking infantry hero jump allows you to hit his head with ure lance, that will increase yuor damage.

Gerald – The most damaging hero that can 1 hit any one, and if your target had less then half hp even slain it without possibility to ressurect. The main task obviously to hunt enemy heroes and one hit them. How does one hit works? You need to press Q ten double W to speed up, then press charge and f1. Charge increases your dmg. And when u close to your target jump to strike his head. If all the condition succed, u will instakill all armorless heroes, and kill armoured heroes(still need to finish him off if he was full). If u kill hero with this combo you have ure charge again, and you can repeat instantly over and over untill all enemies dead.

Guan Yun – anti infantry cav. Very effective at destroying sheilds. Only one hint with this hero. When you press Q dont charge in the middle of enemy squad. Just make a circle around unit formation and hit outer soldier line, and dont forget to press f1, so your units will do the same.

Baldwin IV– same as gerald, but has a sheild, and a bit lower dmg.

Zhao Yun – horse archer slayer. The fastest hero in the game. Also got spears what is perfect to counter any cavalry. But i wont recommend you to perfom an frontal atack on heavy cavalry. Despite Zhao Yun has best weapon reach while using Q(can be countered by Gerald only with left click atack and perfect timing) so basically you can dismount or kill a couple of horsemans, but your unit will suffer decent amount casualties. Its better practice to avoid frontal atacks and flank as much as u can. High speed allows you to do it without any problems.

To answer this question, we need to ask another question, what map do we have?

Most useable setups:

Infantry setup with long range archer – Caesar, Diao Chan, Isabella, Joan, Yi seong-gye. In case bans, Caesar or Diao Chan can be replaced with Ling Tong. Isabella, Joan can be replaced with Godfrey or Pikes if its open map. Yi seong-gye can be replaced with Edward.

Infantry setup with close range archer – Caesar, Diao Chan, Isabella, Joan, Huang Yueying. In case bans, Caesar or Diao Chan can be replaced with Ling Tong. Isabella, Joan can be replaced with Godfrey or Pikes if its open map. Huang Yueying. can be replaced with Liang Hongyu.

Cav setup – Zhao Yun, Gerald, Guan Yu, Xiahou Yuan, Huang Zhong. ln case bans can be picked Aguda, Baldwin IV, Ma Chao.

Mixed setup – Caesar, Diao Chan, Isabella, (Zhao Yun or Gerald), Yi seong-gye. In case bans, Caesar or Diao Chan can be replaced with Ling Tong. Isabella, Joan can be replaced with Godfrey. Yi seong-gye can be replaced with Edward.

There is several set up for this map, depends on your preferences and skills.

First – 4 infantry 1 long range archer. You go 5 A, then if there is no enemy, archer and one infantry stays at A, rest go B. 3 infantry that goes B dont engage just def near B point and capture it. Enemy will have to atack you, but your archer can easly shot them down from high ground at A. Tho its easy for your archer to defeat enemy archer since you have high ground. Then if all 5 enemies revealed, and there is no cav or ninjas, infantry that stayed with archer can join fight near B. Also if your archer is Edward, you can leave him alone if enemy has cav. Because of stackes Edward is death trap of any cavalry.

Second – 4 infantry 1 xbow. Diao Chan pick closest spawn point to the town between B and C and rush this town as fast as he can. Xbow follows him and taking this town. Others capturing B and C. But dont forget to controll points.

Third – 5 cav. Require high skill to play that strat. You need to have atleast 1 cav archer, but 2 is better. And play for points. Dont engage in mele fights. if you see an enemy just charge throu him, or run around. You can always outplay your enemy if you do everything right. Since you are faster. Focus on players that whent far from his allys, cap points, simply hit and run tactick!

There is only 1 srtup for this map.

4 infantry 1 long range archer.
First your archer and 1 tank should go at marked positions depends on side.

Rest should hold near the bridge.

If enemy has archer, you start archer duel. If enemy does not have an archer, they will rush you or go cap point. If they rush you its easy win, u just hold position, and your archer killing them. If they go to the point and everyone is revealed, infantry go for point, archer move to the marked area. If they have cav or ninja 1 infantry stay with archer.

If you follow my advises your match history will look like this.

Of there is more good setups/heroes and tactics. But i can’t do a 1000 page guide. Ask in the comments below what you are interested in to be clarified. What map do you want me to add in this guide? Tell me if my guide was useful or a little interesting. Tell me if you want a video explanation of any tips or move. If i see activity here i will gladly expand my guide with videos screenshots and maps etc.