How to successfully execute the Oblique Formation and win the final battle
- This is a high Elya Strength playthrough. If you follow this guide exactly, you will get her to 6 Strength at 2 or less Envy, 7 if you have 3 or more Envy in Chapter 5.
- If you want to get more troops from Ciril and are okay with Elya having 4 to 5 Strength (maximum 6 with the Envy choice in Chapter 5), then you have more freedom with this guide, and may be able to get Disrupt Their Plans as well.
- Even if you follow this guide exactly, you may be able to get Disrupt Their Plans. I personally don’t like to risk the light cavalry, but it’s ultimately your call.
- This guide also sets you up for the Total Loyalty achievement, should you choose the loyalist route.
- Any choice that is not specifically mentioned is up to you. Since it doesn’t matter to the guide, for now.
- First, take the Tactics specialization during character creation.
- At the ball, inform the nobles that Sobik was assassinated.
- In Chapter 3, during Belos’s Sally, attack the encircling archers, then fall back after dealing with them.
- Tell Elya that you will help her be strong, or to present a strong front and cry in private.
- When Rade’s men attempt to climb the walls of Wrido, use the Tactics option to punish that brash maneuver. You will get the achievement Butchery Upon the Walls.
- Tell Elya that Sobik and Belos paid for their stupidity with their lives, or that death is a part of life and that you must cherish the living and bury the dead.
- In the beginning of Chapter 4, tell Elya that loss always gets better in time, or not to let her desire for vengeance overcome her reason.
- Use the Tactics option to even the load of the illnesses sweeping through your army, instead of letting it disproportionately affect levies/cavalry.
- Then, train your retinue in Formation Fighting 1. This is important.
- If you make the right choices (“I loved you, Obren” and “War is hell”), you can pick up the achievements Broken Hearts and Harsh Reality.
- Tell Elya to woman up and be the queen Kanton needs when she cries after being told about the plague and frostbite. You can also tell her that in a much crueler and accusatory way if you have the Envy for it.
- Don’t let Milon and Lada go off in the blizzard to rescue the missing knights.
- Let Elya take the lead with getting the army into Salutis Castle.
- During the negotiations with Ciril, let Elya take the lead throughout (let her decide what tactic to take with negotiation). You will get a bonus 0.5 Heavy Cavalry and 9 recruitment points.
- Recruit 3 units of Archers (6 points) and 1.5 units of Light Cavalry (3 points).
- In the beginning of Chapter 5, if you have 3 or more Envy, you can give Elya an extra 1 strength for a maximum possible 7 Strength.
It’s the only acceptable reason to have more than 0 Envy on a non-Usurper playthrough. - Choose to set traps along the bank.
- Choose the oblique formation (Traps and Tactics).
- Choose for the retinue to be the reinforced flank of the oblique formation.
- Keep all cavalry in reserve.
- If you are deist or devout in your faith, you can pick up the achievement Cleanse the Soul if you undergo reconciliation with a priest (who is in fact Father Miljenko).
- Now, you will meet Dismas during the battlefield inspection and the accidental ambush will happen. If you grab Dismas, give Lada the shield, and aren’t attracted to her, you will get the “A Real War” achievement after the next step. Who you save doesn’t matter for the Battle of the Atiming, fortunately, so you can save Dismas, Lada, the soldiers, or neither.
- Retaliate at the rebels with your 1000 archers.
- Attack the rebel foraging party.
- After the battle begins, signal your reinforced flank to begin their attack.
- If you have more than 1.5 units of light cavalry, you can send them across to disrupt Nado’s plans. You want to have at least 1 full unit of them survive the Atiming, for later.
- Use half of your reserve cavalry (around 250) to bolster the center. Stay where you are, for now (if you decided not to send your light cavalry across the river). If you chose to dispatch light cavalry to the woods, you can reinforce them too.
- When you get a bad feeling upon seeing the absence of rebel cavalry, gather up your remaining cavalry and intercept them. If you sent the light cavalry earlier, skip this step, as you have earned the Disrupt their Plans achievement.
- The battle will be won here, you will have earned the Total Victory achievement, and you will have encircled 2000 men (it’s a partial encirclement, not the infamous Atiming River Massacre). Send all the cavalry you have after the fleeing remnants. ~5300 rebels will die in the battle, and there will only be ~1600 or so survivors.
- Take the short route to Krorid. This is where the light cavalry are important.
- Tell Moren that it was too much of a stir, or use Kroridian slang. He likes when you’re blunt and honest with him.
- Train your retinue in Regimentation I.
- Recruit 3 units of Veterans and 1 unit of Rangers. You will get the High Veteran Presence retinue bonus.
- In Chapter 8, charge down the hill with your rangers and take the cannons.
- Beat Vuk (Rade’s lieutenant) in the duel by playing to your strengths. All Marshal combinations can beat him. And if you beat him yourself, a certain Kroridian ranger survives to see another glorious day.
- Choose to face Rade in the big final battle.
- In Chapter 9, it’s time for the final battle. Distribute your retinue evenly along your line, and put the rangers with the archers.
- Avenge Belos’s Sally and earn the achievement by having your archers fire on the advancing rebel cavalry.
- Keep using the archers on the cavalry, have them turn their focus on the cavalry on the right.
- When the left rebel cavalry attempts to charge, use your archers to drive them off.
- Now it’s time to scare Rade. Have the archers fire on him and his archers.
- Have your own right group of cavalry flank the enemy line, starting a cavalry duel with the rebels’ own right flank.
- Fortify your flanks with the retinue, and have the archers fire on the enemy cavalry. They need a new target after sending Rade’s archers packing. The rebels’ cohesion should be in the low 80s by now, while yours remains in the 90s.
- Now, you will have two options: lead an infantry charge against the rebels, or lead your fresh reserve cavalry on the left.
- If you lead the infantry charge, your horse’s life will be spared and you’ll still win the battle, as the rebel cohesion drops to 75 (while yours is still in the 90s-high 80s). Because you drove off the right cavalry earlier with the archers and your own troops, they are the first to crumble and cause the rebels to completely rout.
- If you lead the cavalry charge, your horse will get injured and die, but you will win the battle and shatter the rebels. You will also earn the achievement The Marshal’s Sally. Unlike Belos’s before you, there are no archers to ruin it.
- Now, the battle is won, the rebels are routed, and you have earned (the achievement) Victory. Cement your victory by ordering your cavalry to run down the fleeing rebels. You will earn the achievement The Decisive Blow.
- Return to Wrido in triumph.
Achievements Always Earned: Belos’s Sally, Butchery Upon the Walls, Total Victory, Avenge Belos’s Sally, Victory, The Decisive Blow
Possible Achievements Earned: Broken Hearts, Harsh Reality, Cleanse the Soul, A Real War, Disrupt Their Plans*, Undefeated, The Marshal’s Sally, Princeslayer, Mercy for Traitors, Total Loyalty, Ending 2, A Family Prone to Treason, Ending 3