Shieldmaidens

Counters

• Loses to: High Burst unit such as claymore, yorkist,..
• Struggles vs: Spacing units
• This unit counters: Not much counter, the unit is great to buff the blob, kill heroes diving, take care of rattan pikes or other low tier flanking units

Playstyle

This unit is, together with phalanx, by far the most micro intensive (lot of buttons, spammed a lot) of the game. Most players will activate cover-commander and then switch to other weapon mode, this would do fine but the real strength comes from micro-managing the unit at full capacity.

It all seems HARD and long but it’s actually really easy and just information that you should read carefully once, and then you will be able to do it all by yourself after a few games!

Knowledge dump:

In SPEAR mode (the first stance), you know you are on it because the spell number 3 is showing it will swap to sword.

1. Spell 1: a circle, your maiden will place at the middle of it and activate an AOE +250 defences buff once they are in formation.
2. Spell 2: the Cover-commander, has a hidden passive which activates a flat dmg reduction that loses value over time (theory value: 60% —> 30% over 5s), so you would ideally reset when you can before a fight (activating back cover-commander).
3. Spell 3: Switch weapon mode.
4. Spell 4/5: additional doctrine spells, usually only +1 being the CC-immunity doctrine.

In SWORD mode (the second stance), you know you are on it because spell number 3 shows it will swap to spear.

1. Spell 1: charge that AOE buffs allies and yourself with +20% DMG dealt.
2. Spell 2: Shield bash that ends by putting you in a cover-commander (worse than the normal cover-commander, don’t get baited!)
3. Spell 3-4-5: mirror of spear mode.

Bonus weapon-swap mechanics:

Spamming the weapon swap after hitting once at least, whenever you have a window for it, makes a huge difference. Make sure that after swapping you go back to cover-commander then swap after 1 hit. The swap is fast and:

1. Spear-mode: After any attack in sword-shield mode, switching to spear-shield mode restores 2% max health per second per soldier for 10 seconds.
2. Sword-mode: After any attack in spear-shield mode, switching to sword-shield mode increases Piercing Armour Penetration and Slashing Armour Penetration by 500 per soldier for 10 seconds.
3. Weapon swap has a form of CC-immunity: resets stance and removes existing CC.
4. For every step that requires to “stack hit”, you can stack them for infinite time, even if you hit only once any random unit.

How to fight:

When you have time:

1. Be in sword mode
2. Spell 1: Charge in void for 20% atk buff
3. Spell 3: Swap weapon
4. You are now in spear mode. Spell 1 to enter formation; as soon as you see defence buff, go next step
5. Spell 2: Activate Cover-commander
6. Spell 3: Swap back to sword mode. DON’T touch anything (cover-commander doesn’t get canceled by swapping weapon). Being on the second mode while cover-commander and buffed is what makes the unit strong. Without it, it is a bad unit. Don’t X-move or shield-bash or it will cancel cover-commander (you can still use CC-immunity).

When you DON’T have time:

1. Be in spear mode
2. Spell 1: Enter formation; as soon as you see defence buff, go next step
3. Spell 2: Activate Cover-commander
4. Spell 3: Swap back to sword mode. Same as above, DON’T touch anything (X-move, shield-bash) or cover-commander will cancel. You can still use the CC-immunity doctrine.

On downtime: weapon swap back to back after hitting at least once on the first engage. Repeat every step when you get both 1 back. High skill cap in optimising.

Doctrines

Highest level you can.

Mandatory

• CCi doctrine (Stand Fast)
• Unit Damage Doctrine V

Top Pick

• Epic Spear Doctrine I (+400 block)
• Block Doctrine (+300 block, -90 flat dmg)

Filler

• Steadfast Doctrine (+130 def, -6% dmg taken)
• Epic Leadership Doctrine

CC-immunity doctrine is mandatory (1 more button but too op). Then there are different builds which involve full DMG, full block, etc. Favourite of the main shieldmaidens players: 1x CCi + 1x Unit DMG V (can also be block/def) + 1x Block (400 block) or Leadership + 1x Block (300 block, -90 dmg) + 1x Block or Steadfast (+130 def, -6% dmg).