Abilities | Lords and Heroes Total War: Warhammer II Guide

Last update: 12 October 2017

During battles, Lords and heroes will gain experience points that will later on accumulate into experience levels (which works in a different way than in the case of individual units). Additionally, they have their own gear, where you can equip items, entourage and banners acquired during the game. You can access equipment and tree of abilities by clicking on the character details icon, next to the portrait of the hero or the Lord, in the bottom-left corner.

Abilities

With each successive level, Lords and heroes will receive a single ability point. Of course, there is a limited number of points and, since there are more abilities available to buy than points you can spend on them, buy with consideration. You cannot retrieve your points once you have spent them, once you leave the hero development panel.

There are three categories of abilities:

1. Affecting character statistics - i.e. how well the character does in the battle. This may mean increased damage dealt by the character, temporary abilities and, in the case of mages, the ability to unlock new spells, or to increase the potency of ones he already has. In this pool, there also are mounts that you can buy for the character.
2. Combat effects - such as boosting leadership in the units near the character, or additional bonus to statistics of all (or select) units around the Lord's army. In this pool, there also are temporary additional abilities that the character may use during the battle.
3. Campaign effects - these are all the effects that are in effect during the campaign. They may be personal (e.g. the ability to launch a quick attack in Lords), local (affects the province that the character is in), or faction.

In the case of Lords, it is a good idea to invest initially in the abilities from the tree of campaign effects, such as increased range of movement on the map, or higher social order in provinces. The situation is similar in the case of heroes - here, it is a good idea to buy abilities pertaining to their skills - this will increase the chance of success of specific actions, or will boost their effect, e.g. in the case of speeding up the replenishment of losses in the army.

Keep in mind that the Legendary Lords in the game have more unique abilities you can buy. Additionally, you receive some of them as a reward for Legendary Lord missions that you complete during the campaign.

Gear

Lords and heroes can be equipped with various items, such as weapon, armor, talismans or enchanted items. You win them in battles, receive them for missions, or as a result of decisions you take in connection with random events. Effects of items are connected with the character's actions in the battlefield, so they can, e.g. increase properties of the armor, or provide resistance to specific types of attacks. Also, these may be specific abilities to use in battle. All of the items that you obtain can be given to any hero or Lord. The only exception here are unique items ascribed to Legendary Lords.

Apart from that, the characters may have entourage and banners. Entourage, just like items, provides the character with various effects, but these are connected with playing on the campaign map. Banners can be assigned to individual units, which will provide them with various bonuses. Also, you can transfer entourage and banners from one character to another.

Additionally, in the equipment window, there are character's properties listed. Each character, during the campaign, acquires various characteristics. Their effects may be both positive and negative. Any characteristic may also change over time.