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The Swordsman is a melee unit. It is an all-around upgrade from the Warrior, with more health and greater attack and defence. The unit is unlocked by the Smithery technology.

Vengir starts with a Swordsman.

Ruins may give a veteran Swordsman as a reward.

Strategy[]

Strategies for Swordsmen:

  • City sieging. Swordsmen possess the attack needed to shave off the last 5 health of that pesky Warrior in the city walls, then possess the defence needed to survive the counterattack.
  • Army leading. Swordsmen are easily replaced and durable, making large quantities of them easy to obtain.

Strategies against Swordsmen:

  • Giants. Swordsmen can't take these out so quickly. However, giants are not to be used when there are 3+ swordsmen nearby, or they will overpower it easily.
  • Catapults. They can two-hit Swordsmen, while staying out of range of other Swordsmen.
  • Scouts and bombers. If possible, pummeling a Swordsman from offshore has similar effects to a Catapult.
  • Defenders in city walls. These are extremely tough to bring down, requiring the assistance of numerous other units.

Strengths and Weaknesses[]

Strengths[]

  • Melee fights. In a 1v1 situation, the Swordsman rules, second only to the Giant. They can take huge chunks of health off Giants, Crabs, Warriors, and other Swordsmen, and can instantly kill non-veteran Riders, Archers, and Catapults.
  • Front lines. The Swordsman is good at killing those in front. It is also decent at retaliation whenever attacked. These make it a viable unit for your front lines, advancing in front of a wave of ranged units. Note that Defenders are cheaper and have the same defence, but are much less capable of attacking and don't have dash.
  • Knight defence. Swordsmen are also surprisingly effective against knights. Since knights can't retreat after their initial assault, a group of swordsmen can easily beat a group of low-defence knights.

Weaknesses[]

  • Killing Catapults. The Swordsman can only move one (two using roads) tile at a time. This leaves them unable to advance through the range of a Catapult in one turn, which leaves the Swordsman as an easy target.
  • Breaching Defender walls. To be fair, virtually every melee unit is weak against Defenders, due to their high retaliation damage.
  • Defending. Because the Swordsman lacks the fortify skill, it cannot receive a defense bonus from city walls. Defenders, which have the same amount of health and defense, are therefore better for defending cities.

Gallery[]

Tribe Skins[]

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