Beginner's Guide to Conqueror's Blade 2022 Part 3: Unit Optimization

Hello my zoulous, and welcome to this third video in our beginner series for Conqueror’s Blade! Today, we will cover the overall optimization of your units.
One of the first mistakes a new player can make is trying to unlock and level up all units at the same time, which results in spreading experience across non-maxed units. However, a non-maxed unit is always less effective than its maxed version.
My advice is therefore to focus on leveling 1 or even 2 units and play them until they reach max level, so you have a solid foundation that allows you to be effective.
Another small piece of information: in your barracks, you can find free experience. This experience is earned in addition to your units’ experience and allows you to quickly level up your troops. Make sure to spend it before reaching the 1,000,000 cap, or it will be wasted.

If you don’t know how to unlock units or which units are best to unlock, I invite you to check part 2 – Unlocking units

*Rixmome* Uhhhhh why are you telling me this? I want to play whatever units I want, whenever I want!!!

And you absolutely can, but here we are talking about optimization. Especially since the post-battle reward system gives a grade from D to S, which affects the experience you receive. It is therefore logically easier to obtain a high grade with max-level units.

*Rixmome* Yeah okay, but then which activity gives the most experience?

Clearly, Bandit Raids are the most rewarding activity in terms of experience.
Indeed, you can launch up to 5 Bandit Raids per week. The activity itself simply consists of capturing points against AI, but it grants a large amount of unit and hero experience.

And a small tip before doing your raids: if you have them available, activate experience boosts.
Speaking of experience boosts, let’s list what exists:

- First boost: Mercenaries.
If you include a mercenary unit in your battle setup, you will gain 10% additional experience.
To obtain a mercenary, press U, then Mercenary, and go to the Mercenary tab.

- Second boost: XP cards and Military Journals.
This one is quite simple: a rare XP card grants a 50% experience bonus, and an epic XP card grants a 100% bonus for a limited number of matches. In addition, you can stack this with Military Journals, which grant 50% additional experience for the next 3 matches.
You can obtain XP boosts and Military Journals through in-game events or via packs available in the shop.

- Third boost: Premium account.
You can also gain additional experience by obtaining a premium account, which increases your units’ experience by 30% for the duration of the premium account.

- Fourth boost: the camaraderie bonus, which increases experience by 5% when playing in a group with other players.

You can also use the Denetax code on the Conqueror’s Blade website to access more interesting packs that include XP cards and premium days.

Let’s quickly go back to the activities that grant the most experience.
Once your Bandit Raids are completed, prioritize sieges. The experience gained is generally solid, and you will also improve your gameplay, unlike other modes such as Expeditions or Co-op vs AI.

We’re done with experience optimization, so let’s move on to optimizing your units’ stats.
You’ve probably noticed that your units have levels. Of course, the higher the level, the more effective they are, notably through:
- Health points, which increase by about 1 to 2% per level gained.
- The veterancies you choose
- And doctrines

*Rixmome* But what are veterancies?

Veterancies are a kind of unit specialization that can increase a unit’s overall stats and sometimes grant specific abilities or formations.

To access a unit’s veterancies, press U, then Barracks, click on the unit, and finally Veterancy.

You gain 1 veterancy point per unit level gained.
Be careful: once you assign veterancy points to a unit, you cannot easily change them.
Indeed, you will need to use a Reset Scroll to reset the unit, or create a second unit to explore another branch while keeping the first one.

In most cases, it is more effective to focus on a single branch to reach the final veterancy, which is often very powerful, rather than spreading points across multiple branches.

*Rixmome* Ahhhh okay, and what about doctrines?!

Doctrines are additional bonuses that once again enhance certain stats or even grant new abilities.

There are 5 doctrine rarities: grey / green / blue / purple / gold. Naturally, the higher the rarity, the stronger the bonuses.
You can assign up to 5 doctrines to a unit, each unlocked at a specific unit level:
- Level 1 for the first
- Level 3 for the second
- Level 5 for the third
- Level 7 for the fourth
- Level 10 for the fifth

Note that not all doctrines can be assigned to all units.
Some doctrines are exclusive to specific units (for example, Janissaries and their fire rate doctrine), while others apply to a group of units—for instance, crossbow doctrines can only be assigned to Pavise Crossbowmen, Vanguard Crossbowmen, and other crossbow units.

To assign a doctrine, go to the unit, click the slot on the right, hold the doctrine, and equip it.

For that unit, you can unequip and re-equip the doctrine freely. However, if you want to transfer the doctrine to another unit, you will need Lotus Water, obtainable from the seasonal shop or various events.

*Rixmome* Okaaaaay, BUT how do we get doctrines?

The simplest method is to visit the War Scholar: in exchange for treatises, you will obtain doctrines.
If you want to know which excavation yields which doctrine, you can visit the website denetax.fr under the Tools menu and the Treatise List section.

You can also obtain unit doctrines by completing quests associated with those units.

Another way to optimize your units is through nodes.

Available in the unit tree, nodes are small squares unlocked with Honor and allow you to increase certain stats.
Note that units that are evolutions of other units in the tree are also affected by these nodes.

*Kharlor* Huh??? I didn’t understand anything.

For example, if you have unlocked nodes for Yeomen, those nodes will also affect Ribauds from Season 6, since they are the evolution of Yeomen.
An important point: pay attention to your units’ condition.
After each battle, there is a chance your units will lose durability. If it drops below 50%, the unit suffers a 10% damage penalty and takes 10% more damage.
If durability drops below 20%, you will no longer be able to deploy the unit until it is repaired.

So how do you repair them? There are 3 options:
- Pay with bronze coins, which is the simplest method
- Obtain unit kits, for example through the auction house
- Or craft them yourself. For that, I recommend checking the resource tutorial that explains how to do it.


Now we know how to optimize experience and unit stats, but there’s still one thing missing.

You need to know your unit in order to get the most out of it.
The first thing to look at is traits.
Accessible via the unit, then Veterancy, and the second button at the top right, traits are unit-specific passives that can improve resistance to certain damage types, reduce leadership cost, or even prevent climbing ladders.

For example, units with the Fireproof trait are more resistant to fire. That’s why knowing your unit’s traits is essential to maximize efficiency.
The second important point is orders.
Some units have orders, more commonly called skills, that allow them to perform actions that can significantly improve their effectiveness.

For example, most pike units have a brace ability that allows them to stop cavalry. Another example is the charge order, available to many cavalry and infantry units, which allows them to deal heavy damage or quickly reposition in battle.
The third point is formations.
Most units have formations that allow them to adapt to different situations. A good example is the Fortebraccio unit, which has three formations: a tight guard formation effective in narrow spaces, and a spread formation better suited for controlling wide areas.
The fourth point is weather.
At the start of each match, when selecting your units, you can see the current battle weather in the top-right corner.
This information is very important if you plan to play firearm units or certain archers using flaming arrows.

Let’s list the different weather types and their potential penalties.
Small disclaimer: the data on this topic is not very precise. I based this on in-game observations and some player testing. If you have more information, feel free to add or correct it in the comments.

First type: weather with no effect.
This includes clear skies, cloudy, and overcast conditions.

Second type: rain, ranging from light to heavy.
This includes drizzle, rain, and thunderstorms, which reduce vision range, reduce fire damage, and generally reduce the effectiveness of firearm units and archers. There appears to be a severity scale, with drizzle being the least impactful, followed by rain, and then thunderstorms.

Next is the third type: wind-related weather.
This includes dusty conditions and sandstorms, which reduce vision range and arrow range.

Fourth type: fog, which only reduces vision range.

And the final type: snow, which reduces movement speed.
Regarding severity, snow is the first tier, followed by blizzards.
Let’s return to unit knowledge with the fifth point: matchups.
*Kharlor* What’s a matchup?
A matchup is knowing the outcome of a fight between two units.
For example, a cavalry charge into braced Fortebraccio units in a tight formation through a gate is generally heavily in favor of the Fortebraccio. However, you must also consider the hero you are playing. If we take the same example and you are playing a Shortsword hero,
the matchup may swing in favor of the cavalry if you manage to break the formation using your ultimate skill, for example.

Overall, matchup knowledge develops over time through experience, but always keep in mind that you will get better results by attacking flanks or rear positions, and by synchronizing your hero’s attacks with your units as much as possible.
The final point to cover is unit skins.
Conqueror’s Blade players often identify matchups based on unit appearance and can counter them more easily if they are sure which unit it is.
To make this harder, you can use skins. For example, giving a peasant unit a full armor skin may confuse the opponent and buy you a few extra seconds to act. The reverse is also true: you can give a powerful unit a peasant skin so the opponent underestimates it, once again giving you more room to maneuver.

Be aware, however, that in most cases the unit’s weapon appearance does not change, meaning experienced players may not fall for it.
This is already the end of this article. I hope you enjoyed it. Don’t forget to give a thumbs up if you liked it, and subscribe if you want to follow the channel! Remember that you can use the code ZYX515 to gain access to some in-game benefits for new players, or ZYL515 for players who haven’t launched the game in over a month