Conqueror's Blade: Imperial Pikemen, the Return of the March?

Hi my zoulous and welcome to this new article.
In this article we’re going to talk about a unit that is making a strong comeback lately! I present to you the Imperial Pike Guards.

Let’s start with how to obtain them.
The Imperial Pike Guards are accessible through the unit tree by pressing U, then Unit Tree, then Infantry. Of course, you will need to unlock the previous nodes before reaching the Imperial Pike Guards.

Once the Imperial Pike Guards are unlocked, several points are worth discussing.

Let’s talk about veterancy.
The Imperial Pike Guards have 2 veterancy lines.
The top line focuses on the effectiveness of the march. The bottom line instead focuses on the unit’s survivability.

Both lines are viable. The top one is more suited for a single-use march or situations where, at the end of your march, you will often have lost too many models to perform another one, but it will be extremely effective.
The bottom line, on the other hand, can potentially allow you to launch a second march since your Imperial Pike Guards will be more durable.

In this case, it’s up to you to decide depending on your composition and your gameplay.

Regarding doctrines
You can either focus on survivability with health and damage reduction doctrines, or on damage against units. For example, the supply doctrine is quite interesting to keep your Imperial Pike Guards alive and potentially allow you to launch another march in the same fight or the next one.
You also have damage-to-units doctrines that boost your damage and make your march more impactful. Here, the choice comes down to more damage for a powerful march, or more survivability to be able to launch several marches.

Let’s move on to masteries.

This unit has some very interesting masteries, especially Infinite Loyalty, which unlocks a new damage skill during the march and also reduces the cooldown of the march for each enemy killed. There is also Admirable, which grants immunity to the unit and further strengthens the Infinite Loyalty skill depending on the march you performed.
Basically, the more units your march hits, the more damage the skill will deal.

If you play this unit, I strongly recommend unlocking these masteries quickly, because without them the Imperial Pike Guards become very average. To learn how to unlock masteries, I refer you to the dedicated tutorial.

That’s it for customizing the Imperial Pike Guards, now let’s move on to how to use them.

A quick definition of the Imperial Pike Guards’ role: this unit allows you to knock down enemy units caught in the march.
It is therefore a very good unit to open a setup. This same march also counters cavalry by making them rear up. However, Imperial Pike Guards are extremely dependent on their march. They become almost useless while it is on cooldown.

Let’s now go into more detail with formations.
First formation: loose formation, or F1.
This formation, spread over 4 lines and quite wide, allows you to perform a march over a large area. It is therefore best used in open zones to counter cavalry or infantry.

Second formation: rank formation, or F2.
This formation, with 2 tight lines, is not very useful because its shallow depth makes it easier to pierce, and the damage is spread out lengthwise. I do not recommend using it.

Third formation: schiltron formation, or F3.
The schiltron formation concentrates your units into a single column, allowing you to perform a march in a restricted area, resulting in better control and damage concentration.

Overall, you will use F1 if the enemy is spread out horizontally, and F3 if they are concentrated in a single point.

In addition to formations, Imperial Pike Guards also have several skills.

First skill: Brace.
Brace allows you to deal more damage to cavalry and infantry charging at you.
Unlike Fortebraccio, this brace is rather secondary. You can use it if your march is unavailable, but in most cases it is better to disengage and try to reset your march rather than staying braced in melee.

Of course, if your Imperial Pike Guards are too committed and cannot retreat without heavy losses, you can then use brace.

Second skill: March.
March is an incredibly powerful tool that allows you to stop most cavalry and infantry units.
In a team fight, it can completely turn the battle around, especially because it controls enemy units and applies a 2% increased damage taken debuff per hit, up to a maximum of 16% after 8 hits.

Before launching a march, make sure your units are properly packed together to avoid losing power.

Also make sure you are close enough to the enemy to avoid a telescopic march where only 5 Imperial Pike Guards make contact, which logically reduces its effectiveness.

Third skill: Loyal Strike.
Once the march is launched, Loyal Strike becomes available if you have unlocked the unit’s masteries.
This skill interrupts the march and causes each Imperial Pike Guard to rush toward the nearest enemy unit and strike it.
The more damage the march has dealt, the stronger this strike will be. It is therefore important to make the march last as long as possible to deliver this hit at maximum power.
Since the march lasts approximately 9 seconds, you should activate this skill after about 8 seconds. Of course, if the enemy unit routes before those 8 seconds, you can finish it earlier by pressing 3.
Additionally, the more units you kill with Loyal Strike, the more the cooldown of your next march will be reduced, sometimes allowing you to immediately launch another march after a devastating Loyal Strike.

Fourth skill: Charge.
You can add a charge to your Imperial Pike Guards. The goal is not the damage dealt by the charge, but the mobility it provides, as you can use the charge to quickly close the distance and immediately follow up with a march.

Let’s now move on to some tips.
Do not hesitate to perform your march on the flank or even the back of positioned units. You will deal more damage and can even knock down braced shield units.
Second tip: stairs.

Avoid launching your march on stairs as much as possible, as its effectiveness is reduced. Instead, try to take the fight either at the top or the bottom depending on the situation.
It’s already the end of this article, I hope you enjoyed it. Don’t forget to leave a thumbs up if you liked it, and subscribe if you want to follow the channel! I remind you that you can use the code ZYX515 to get access to some in-game advantages for new players, or ZYL515 for players who haven’t launched the game for 1 month