Beginner's Guide - Total War: Warhammer 2 - Combat Mechanics (Unit Types, Stats, Formations)

[@italianspartacus]

BASE MECHANICS GUIDE: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4KwZKeodqmUsNk Table of Contents: Unit Formations - 1:48 Control Groups - 11:20 Unit Selections - 14:00 Unit Types - 19:48 Battlefield Options - 26:15 Unit Cards - 29:50 Abilities & Spells - 38:40 Mock Battle - 43:21

[@michaeleasthouse692]

I am just getting into the game and want to know what I should purchase first .... I want TW2 but want the races from TW1 ... How do I go about getting them on a limited budget

[@ItWasSaucerShaped]

raped by AI despite mashing pause & slo mo - 57:56 'those who can do. those who can't teach'

[@tonyrenard3822]

3:47 "And we also have Crossbowmen" *in the background : "CROSSBOWMEN !"* I laughed :D

[@morradi10000]

Haha. Dude is so stoked to be a crossbow man

[@darkdude9248]

that "Alt+double right click" shortcut got rid of the painful amount of micro I've been doing. these tutorials were a godsend

[@italianspartacus]

Glad I could help brother :)

[@mannyfresh7065]

What does that do again? Still trying to remember all of em!

[@sovereigndark7792]

@@mannyfresh7065 Its the auto charge into the closest unit. Its a game changer!

[@Jipbob]

@@sovereigndark7792 I just tried it with my Skeleton Spearmen but it didnt work they all just aggro'ed on the one unit I clicked on. Anything Im missing? Alt+Double Right Click on an enemy in the enemy front line should do it right?

[@sovereigndark7792]

@@Jipbob They all have to be in the same control group then use the alt double right click

[@bertbargo7162]

I just bought this game and Ive been so overwhelmed by everything. Your videos are required watching

[@OperativeKANE]

This is a very well put together video. No wasted dialogue or visuals. Everything made sense and was easily digestible. Take my like and subscription, killer.

[@italianspartacus]

Thank you very much man, really appreciate it! Welcome to the family! :D

[@JustiniusMXIII]

This is the only guide I understood enough to actually apply to the game and now I’m having a great time.

[@italianspartacus]

Thank you so much! Can I help you with anything else?

[@JustiniusMXIII]

@@italianspartacus yo sorry for the late reply but I’m having a good time it it now! Slowly ratcheting up the difficulty

[@klaiken989]

I have watched most if not all beginner total war videos. I thought this was the most wholisticly well formed package.

[@italianspartacus]

thank you!!

[@allthatisj8900]

11 minutes in, and can already tell this is a great guide. Battle formations should really be fun and helpful, thanks 👍

[@italianspartacus]

Hahaha my pleasure! If you need any help please feel free to ask or join the discord and you can ask myself/the community directly

[@allthatisj8900]

@@italianspartacus Just finished watching the rest of the video. I'll definitely be coming back to it a lot I think. However, I do wish you would have addressed how friendly fire worked.

[@davidvicars6688]

I just bought TWW I and II, I am a total noob to the franchise, and this is guide is amazing, you explain everything so well and to the point that even I can understand it. Thanks for taking the time to make this guide, it truly helps new players like myself to get in to the game right away. Now I just need to get some skills LOL.

[@yazzuo7213]

I have the same problem now. The amount of stuff this game contains is just overwhelming. I think there should be more tutorial stuff ingame.

[@TheSgtFarmer]

Holy crap, thank you. I've clocked a less than 100 hours so far, and this is insanely helpful.

[@DahvPlays]

Quality content

[@italianspartacus]

you're a quality father - best in the game

[@OMoanaigh]

"if you take away nothing from this video at least take this" *hides foliage* me: ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING?

[@italianspartacus]

Hahahahahahaha

[@cobalthawk6922]

I've just recently gotten into the total war games (total war warhammer 2 being my first) and I just want to thank you for making this video. I feel like there's so much thrown at me at once that the actual battle sections specifically just turn into a big mess of my units trying to route as many enemies as possible. This video kind of helped make things a bit clearer for me to the point where I feel I can actually start learning what to do in battles. Also, thanks for the tip on hiding foliage. Before I knew that option existed I was practically fighting with the camera angle more than anything else just to be able to find my units.

[@budi5708]

Just bought warhammer 1+2 from steam sales, this is huge helps for me, thank you very much for creating this tutorial vid

[@Saxxonknight]

I'll admit I don't likely have the game time you have on this, I've played TW:E prior for a couple years. Thing I have found thus far at least playing dwarves and elves, the missile units are crucial to get maximum closing volleys before you have to engage their line troops. Even the odds so to speak. I particularly love that the AI most often charges its Cav in early allowing them to be shot up before they are really useful when most units are engaged. Great example was last night Elves vs Skaeling. The number of units was fairly close, I think they had 3 more (30 vs 33) from 2 armies (mine was a reinforced army and their was army and garrison). I had almost 50% of my units in archers, their army was almost entirely melee, and a hill I was able to set up and unite with reinforcements on. While the Skaeling initially wouldn't attack, I managed to tease them into it using a Cav unit as bait and heckling them with a Eagle Claw Thrower. Once I got them to charge it was on. I had my archers close behind a solid wall of Spears, one Ranger and 2 Cav (Silver Helm) as flanking units. Using the Elves range I was able to break at least a half dozen units before they closed on my line, including 2 of the 3 Mammoths. Then it was a slog, my infantry got savaged over the course of the battle, but I prevailed in the end because the archers were still able to eliminate (break) a unit every volley or two, while I used the Rangers to flank the very end of the enemy line and the 2 Cav units to successively flank the rest of the line across the entire front over the course of 3 charge attacks each. The point on this, having those gaps you have in your line vs the wall of enemy they would force thru them and surround your infantry. Having your ranged that far behind your line means they have very little time to effect damage before the melee is engaged. I noted the game places your archers in front at start. Using that basic position, have gaps in archers to have you infantry move forward once the enemy has moved into range (preventing their archers from concentrating a hole in your line before you can counter fire). Especially with the Elves given their range superiority this works, though I used similar tactics with success with the dwarves. On Cav, your situation with 3 Cygors is where I would differ on priority with the Cav. I tend to keep mine on the flanks, and as their line moves in and they don't have something to counter left free, use the Cav to wreck their artillery. By the time that is accomplished, there are usually opportunities to have your Cav either charge in to break enemy units already under attrition in the fight, or run down and finish off broken units to prevent them from rallying back to the fight. The Spearmen guarding artillery, while its a good idea on paper, its 2 units that aren't doing anything until its too late anyway. Having them up front to help stem the tied of the initial charge and hold the line preventing the artillery from being compromised in the first place I would think a better use of resources, IE, they could have take the charge your Greatswords took to their detriment and in stead given the charging unit the short end of the encounter then have the Greatswords flank the enemy. Having the artillery lined up provides a smaller zone to protect. Playing in Slow Mo or Pause is really essential vs an AI that issues dozens of commands per second. That is really true in any game vs bots.

[@batsumoto]

I can't thank you enough for this video and the other beginner's guide. Grazie mille!

[@italianspartacus]

You're very welcome!

[@usman619]

Just picked up Warhammer 2 a few days ago and this video was super helpful in understanding all the buttons and interface. I had a lot of "So that's what I was doing wrong" moments, so thanks for the video.

[@MrSquigglies]

Use squares for missiles, for max pivot.

[@MrSquigglies]

Also bonus vs infantry and large also boosts melee attack

[@gbogdan3528]

This actually has a huge impact, especially with clutch thunderer repositioning where it is either 1 volley or death by cav charge.

[@milkandcookiesTW]

sometimes. It is a lot better for pivoting and re positioning then spaghetti line, but its also a great way to get the majority of your unit killed in a single spell or artillery strike. So the qualifier is, "use squares for missiles, when there is nothing on the field capable of deleting said box in 3 seconds or less". Its often better to keep them as wide as possible just so that doesnt happen

[@jonathanadams7676]

milkandcookiesTW fair cause most online matches will either have magic or artillery to do that, but it is still good to note for campaign cause the AI isn’t bright

[@christianweibrecht6555]

@@milkandcookiesTW do spaghetti lines fire more projectiles per volley and or minute?

[@ddd-op5wy]

Dude I spent the past 2-3 hours retrying the same stupid battle over and over again with no results because I put myself into a really bad situation. I watch this guide and I win first try. Amazing guide!

[@nosoupfayou1313]

By far the best and most in depth begginera guide on KZbin for WH2. Everybody like a these quick and shallow tutorials but you nailed it with this one. Thumbs up and sub.

[@italianspartacus]

Thank you brother! :) I did one on the campaign mechanics too if you haven't seen it!

[@lead.farmer]

Finally! A video that I've been looking for! Thank you Sparty!

[@Murraypoo]

Thanks really helpful... was totally lost for like my first 7 hrs of the campaign

[@john7704231139]

Hey Italian, I really enjoy your content. So I think you should know that people don’t mind longer videos at all. As long as you maintain the quality then we viewers will love the video no matter the length! Looking forward to a great deal of additional content from you. So take care, stay clean haha.

[@tearable20s95]

I have a few hundred hours spread across a few total war games but i always watch these every few months just as a refresher of things i can do better

[@Bertoleyus]

Good video. A quick suggestion, include a breakdown of the topics and what time you begin talking about them in the description or at the beginning of the video so viewers can quickly access the information they find most useful.

[@italianspartacus]

Adding the table contents now :)

[@atlanteean]

good vid. feels like a trip back in time, back when i first learned these things

[@VenomTeen722]

Ill be coming back to both videos to really get good with all this. Great videos

[@italianspartacus]

thank you so much! :)

[@RedPhoenixyz]

Winds of magic and power reserve don't work quite like that. Your power reserve is, more or less, your total winds of magic for that battle. The more power reserve you have, the faster you'll replenish your power, which is the amount of winds of magic you can pull from at that moment. Your power reserve goes down every time you cast a spell, by that spell's winds of magic cost. You can cast for as long as you have power, but once you use up your power reserve, you cannot replenish that power anymore. In practice, what this means is, if you want to make the most out of your power reserves, you'll want to wait to cast spells only once you hit the cap of 30 power, this way you get the maximum amount of power replenishment, and once your power reserves run out, you'll still have some power left to throw out a spell or two. To be clear, you can still replenish your power bar to full with only 1 power reserve (it will take forever though). You can still cast spells without any power reserve left as long as you have the necessary power already. The only way to replenish your power reserve is with Power Conduit and items which state they increase your power reserves, however that effect is always temporary. They will allow you to replenish more power even if you normally were at 0 power reserve, as long as the additional power reserves (usually 5) are enough to cover the cost of your spells cast. Example: you're sitting at 24 power, with 4 power reserves left, replenishing power every 60 seconds. Waiting for 6 minutes will get you at 30 power, 4 power reserves. If you use Earth Blood which costs 6 winds of magic, you'll be left at 24 power and no power reserves, meaning you'll be unable to replenish your power, but still have 24 power to use on spells. If you pop Power Conduit at that point, you will see your power reserves have been replenished, for the duration of the ability, to 3 with a replenishing power augmented by the ability to something like 1 every 30 seconds. As long as you don't use any other spell and just use Power Conduit, you'll be able to eventually replenish to full 30 power this way. Any spell you cast that costs 3 or more winds of magic will decrease your power reserves to 0 even with Power Conduit active, leaving you once again unable to replenish.

[@Eunostos]

The video which made me enjoy and stick with a game from a series i've wanted to love but bounced off in frustration since Shogun. Thanks.

[@italianspartacus]

Amazing compliment. Thank you so much! :)

[@abinarylife0101]

Thanks for this tut. At least im going into the game with some kind of understanding on formations and formation modes.

[@italianspartacus]

Glad I could help :)

[@tinoc6451]

Your video helped me a ton! Its so great to have someone explain how things work, especially in such a complex game like total war!

[@dcruize5039]

"Meh this is going to be too simplistic, no chance they'll be mechanisms I don't know abou.... wait what, I can drag unit cards around in side the group!?"

[@delta07ist]

Thanks alot for your great Guide. I just bought the game and didnt even know that you can pause during battle. So I had a little ruff start :D

[@aathavant714]

Awesome video. Thank you. The level of detail and information here is unbelievable. I really appreciate the time and effort you out into this.

[@MrJohnny526]

finally a good tutorial, thks for explain the diference between archers and gunnery

[@italianspartacus]

Happy to assist brother :)

[@Gaden6893]

This was massively helpful & well laid out, thank you very much

[@italianspartacus]

absolutely man! thank you very much for watching :)

[@acheron16]

The only advantage of making a long line of missile units is that their fire-at-will range is larger, box/square formation is much better for pivotting. Also, bonus vs large/small also gives extra melee attack vs that type of unit on top of the extra damage.

[@OniGanon]

Square formation is vulnerable to explosive artillery/spells, so it's not a one size fits all solution. But yeah it's generally better for missile units.

[@adrianchew8775]

One of the best guide to start out, thank you for the video

[@hatas1zcool]

I watched the whole thing which is something I never do. Great tutorial!

[@benjaminalipio8341]

this really help me alot many thanks

[@jtc1285]

Great video! After watching this and your campaign basics guide I feel well equipped to jump into TW:W2. Long time TW player here but a lot of the WH specific stuff is (was) way over my head. I would love to see a guide that goes over attack strategies - this one seems more geared towards defense.

[@italianspartacus]

Hmm! Great question, I'll see what I can do :)

[@jtc1285]

ItalianSpartacus Thanks! I’ll have you know I literally took notes watching both videos. Felt like I was in college again :D

[@bcheckbc]

GREAT vids for a newbie thanks!!

[@essscott1661]

I don't even own this game and I watched the entire video

[@italianspartacus]

hahahah thank you! :)

[@jg7634]

do you own it now? Its on sale at the moment...

[@afonsoalmeida4975]

Thank you so much, i'm trying to get better, it's very hard and most of the times i use auto resolve wich is a bit frustating.

[@Typheus]

Me, playing: "WHY THE FUCK DON'T THEY HIDE TREE BRANCHES!? I CAN'T SEE A DAMN THING!" Me after 26:36 : "hole. lee. shit."

[@TheRilai]

Quality content, thank you sir

[@itsme21hi87]

thank you helped me a lot

[@shqiperia60]

I just downloaded the game watching your vids to understand how this game works.

[@Joshu2121a]

Hey man, thanks for this, you put a lot of effort into this and I appreciate it from a content creator, I started playing this game and it’s my first total war game and the amount going on at the one time is daunting at the very least but you’ve helped a lot so thanks, you the real mvp, earned a sub and good work bro

[@renegadusunidos6151]

thank you for this video. I really like listening to your voice. you sound friendly and good. Lots of respect from the Philippines :)

[@cholosegovia]

Thank you for this video. I watched this second. It feels like I am on a Warhammer 101 class lol. The combat looks intimidating, but hopefully as I gain more experience, it won't be a problem. :)

[@italianspartacus]

Absolutely man!! Hahah happy to help out!!

[@Voltron4ev4]

Great guide - thanks.

[@TheBeertruck85]

This is GOLD

[@italianspartacus]

YOU'RE GOLD, BEERTRUCK85!!!

[@Hanfalas7762]

nice guide it's been helpful.

[@italianspartacus]

Glad it helped :)

[@josephakers1431]

love your stuff man. thanks for the knowledge.

[@smoKing4freedom]

I can't believe I was able to play this game without this knowledge...

[@barnyfraggles]

It has to be one of the most complicated games ever made. Every time you get used to one mechanic, it introduces another 47 you have to keep track of.

[@armin9802]

Man.. i played this Game so wrong for such a Long Time and i got Pissed because i Didn‘t Get better, im Kinda dumb. A Good Guide

[@shaunscott4773]

This is brilliant! Thank you

[@chris6291]

Thank you!

[@italianspartacus]

You're welcome!

[@harjutapa]

34:28 - so are all "bonus" damages also AP?

[@RecoilMojo]

Super helpful ty

[@precido]

Great video as always but one question-during battles what and how do you watch you troops to see who needs orders/attention? Do you look at unit cards< the minimap or just your trained eye on the units yourself? i get the mechanics but i find myself overwhelmed during large (heck even smallish) battles

[@Zeupiter_MCG]

Thank You

[@darko-man8549]

a major problem I find with locked groups: when you move them with non-locked groups using Alt drag, the formation screws up

[@LitlBlackDragonNinja]

Hi, I have a question regarding how the game handles the units. Does it handle a one regiment as one unit or does it calculate the individual solders in the regiment as they do damage and take damage, who also have individual attack/movement speed and etc? Or to put it in other words, does every single solder have health, damage, and other stats, or are they just a graphical representation of the regiment, that is used to make it look like the battles are fought by man? If the units are just representation and are not calculated, then it would be just like Civilization 4 and 5, where a unit may have a graphical representation of let's say three or more soldiers/tanks/etc that mean nothing in the grand scheme of things but are there just for graphical fidelity.

[@draco10101]

I know this is 3 weeks ago and I hope you got your answer by now but every entity has its own health bar and animations for attacks. Having a "spaghetti line" actually has the effect of making your unit both do more damage faster but also take more casualties faster because you have more unit on unit combat going on where having a deeper line can sometimes be better to hold a line if you can prevent the enemy from wrapping around it as less units are involved at a time

[@LitlBlackDragonNinja]

@@draco10101 Thanks for replying! I did not get an answer to my question until now. I was asking it because a friend of mine, who is into strategies, thought that there was no individual unit representation and that was a big turn off for him. Now I can come back to him and tell him the facts. Again, thank you for replying.

[@EwokPanda]

I consider myself to have a pretty good vernacular, but I've never in my life heard the term "enfilade" until this video...

[@sibanbgd100]

Well if you are not a tabletop army collector, military man or an architect you wouldn't see it ever

[@Katie-hb8iq]

In regards to formations, why does the game not provide those wide spaced out formations like you showed? It likes to keep units closer together. I sure wish something like that could be automated.

[@timoranderson9145]

thank you!

[@yourebarmy]

Hey Italian a quick question. If you've got two units with attack commands clashing with each other, are they both simply receiving the charge bonus? Lets say you have a spear or halberd unit with charge defense, and bonus vs large (not sure how many of these exist). Could it be more beneficial for this unit to counter charge, lets say a cavalry unit in route, taking into considering how the bonus vs large would translate in combination, with the halberd or spears, own charge bonus? sorry i know that sentence is going to take a moment to digest. Or is the bonus vs large a separate mechanic altogether, from a units charge bonus? Also, if the mechanics are somehow linked to futher damage increase, would it still be more wise, to just negate the large units charge bonus, when a unit like halberds or spears has charge defense?

[@OniGanon]

Yes, both units receive charge bonus if they charge each other. But generally speaking, halberd/spear infantry have absolute garbage charge bonuses so you're much better off bracing to negate the cavalry charge if you can get the correct facing on them. Your unit will also physically stop the charging cavalry models better when braced, especially if you use a deeper formation. If you counter charge, the cavalry can more easily charge straight through your unit to hit other units behind.

[@6105boe]

I learned today that no plan survives contact with the enemy. :P

[@renegadusunidos6151]

we have to thank general gaius marius the uncle of gaius julius caesar for giving us the checkered formation :D

[@thomasvogel8799]

You have a nice voice and you dont talk all to fast. A bit fast but quite nice. Dont forget to breathe😊. Anyway. I like it.

[@SwashBuccaneer]

No peace, just war.

[@Amphi0n]

thx dud

[@chitaumoua2396]

Is the game similar to Rome 2?

[@shunpari]

I have been trying to find a good Total War guide because I simply do not understand what the hell I am doing. I appreciate the effort you have put into this video - making, editing, sound, and so on. However, I strongly believe you (and everyone else making such videos) should give a simple overview of things and then jump into a practical battle to showcase what is happening and then pausing, unpausing to elongate on more details. Watching the video for 30 minutes and expecting to know what is happening and then trying to apply to a battle is not conducive to learning for a student - nor to the viewers trying to learn. Too much information given too fast without any applicability, relevance, and practicality makes one dazed, confused, and - when trying on one's own - panicky. The best method would be this: Short overview - as short and concise as you can make it - ex. skirmish means to run away, guard means to not chase, autofire means it will automatically fire, etc. Show a practical battle and explain what is going on - again concise. Explain a bit in detail - not too much again. Show another tougher battle where you pause and unpause as well. If you could show an additional 2 more battles with various terrains and enemy situations this would be most ideal. I honestly believe that from a veteran, experienced gamer of any game, that *this* would be the best way to create a Beginners Guide.

[@qayssarenad6444]

Karl Franz is a prince and emperor

[@johanderyck6598]

So i watched your beginners guide and this one and I started the same campaign 6 times, losing my whole army within 3 battles... I bet that means this game is not for me? although the non-battle stuff seems fun. I bet I'll stick to miniatures and live roleplaying.

[@yazzuo7213]

I have the exact same problem 😂

[@nuke2099]

If you thin line your units like that they will just get krumped. I know because I used to do that and what happens is if that unit isn't better than the opposing unit it makes them die faster. A block allows them to last longer and allows the unit they're fighting to wrap around them slightly to your advantage so your range can shoot that unit in the flank when you opt for a checkerboard formation. Try spaghetti lining and the AI will smash you with cavalry or high mass units easily. I found out with Dwarfs that making your lines thin doesn't work and it's similar with other races at least in Warhammer 1. Maybe it's different in Warhammer 2? At least three deep is as low as I go.

[@sh1r731]

big daddy karl franz xD

[@Waristerror1234]

Did this fucking guy just recommend reading art of war 🤣

[@italianspartacus]

I can't remember.. I might have Hahahaha

[@shanthagopian7559]

Battles were always the weak point for me in total war games, they are simply far inferior to micromanagement type games like Warcraft or Dow.

[@javierdelvalle7102]

Great video youre charming

[@user-zi8hj5ne1z]

2nd view first comment!

[@andytheshark2102]

offff, that like to view count

[@swaym9021]

Do you know how many sentences you start with the word "now"

[@boondockpriest1687]

No offense but it seems like a thinner version of zerkovich videos on "why you suck at total war".

[@italianspartacus]

oh none at all, he does great guides! :D I did it as a supplement to my beginner's guide for campaign mechanics. I kept getting requests for a paired Combat Guide, so I did one real quick

[@Bertoleyus]

It makes sense that there are similarities since it covers the same topic, but he is doing this by request. I'm sure they are just inevitable coincidences since it's the same subject.

[@roqsteady5290]

Best tutorial on combat I have come across. Thanks!