Lord of the Rings: Rise to War is a real-time strategy game by Netease based on J.R.R Tolkien’s books. While it’s not necessary to know the story in order to enjoy LOTR: Rise to War, there are some things to keep in mind before you decide which faction you want to play with.
About Factions
Anyone familiar with the LOTR lore knows that the factions of Middle-Earth are divided in ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’. Now how does that affect the actual game-play you might wonder? Before we give a direct answer to that question we should first note that the same goes for Commander units. Based on their faction, they are also divided in ‘Good’ or ‘Evil’ units.
Commanders
These units can be recruited by factions who belong to their respected sides. If you are playing as an evil faction, for example, you cannot recruit a Commander who belongs to the forces of good and vice versa.
Many Commanders can be recruited by simply heading to ‘Tavern’, but there are some which are ‘Premium’ and can only be obtained via Mathom’s boxes.
Starting Point and Neutral Camps
Every faction has a different starting point (city) which can affect the game-play especially during the early stages of the game, due to the LOTR: Rise to War geo-strategic aspect.
Positioning in the middle of the map can give players a faster path to the One Ring, but at the same time, they will find themselves surrounded by enemy factions. That means they have to be prepared to fight much sooner than a faction that is isolated in a corner of Middle-Earth. On the flip side, isolated factions have a much harder path to the Ring.
Various parts of the map also grant access to Neutral Camps which can unlock powerful units that tacticians can hire for their army once they capture them. Not every faction has access to the same Neutral Camps which is something to keep in mind.
Special Units and Traits
Each faction in Lord of the Rings: Rise to war can produce a special type of unit (tier 4), while it also has some unique traits that will affect the gameplay. Increased march speed so the units can move around the map faster is a trait very useful especially for new players.
| See also: What is the best Faction in Lord of the Rings: Rise to War |
Conclusion
Even though in terms of power all factions are reasonably balanced as each of them comes with unique specialties and combat buffs there is a big problem. The issue is the maximum number of players allowed per faction. Hopefully, that will be resolved in upcoming seasons, but at the moment it creates an imbalanced state of power in the server as some factions are already filled with players. New players might not even have the option of choosing their favorite faction to play with.
Published: Oct 22, 2021 11:08 am