Overview
In this guide I’m going to show you the basic Shogun 2 Multiplayer skills and tactics, recommended for new players.
About me
Hello everyone, in this guide I am going to be showing you the basic Shogun 2 tactics that will help you increase your win-rate. My name is BANE and currently i am rank 9 gold. I have more than 2000 hours on Shogun 2 and a lot of experience to share! All the time, I am updating this guide with new content, so re-read it sometimes to find more useful information in it!
Let’s get started!
Here is a piece of useful advice for new players:
1.Do not think that your enemy thinks like the AI’s in custom games and campaign! AI players have no strategy and see and analyse everything on the field and cannot be surprised at any point of their army!
2.Do not play with low ranked players, try to find more experience opponents, otherwise, you will learn nothing.
3.Don’t ever underestimate your opponent, no matter are they rank 1 bronze or rank 10 diamond! Some experienced players create a new profile and disguise themselves as new players.
Shogun 2 army Units guide
Bow Ashigaru: Bow Ashigaru are best, when kept at range, because if they get in a melee fight they will get massacred. They aren’t that skilled with their bows, but when funds are low they are easy to use and can poke the enemy from distance. Do not forget to protect them from any cavalry charges because they are going to suffer heavy casualties and flee at the moment!
Loan Sword Ashigaru: Unlike Yari Ashigaru Loan Sword Ashigaru is better at attacking, than in defending.They have almost no defense against more skilled infantry, but they are many and can surround enemy units lowering their morale. Make sure that they will not be alone at the fight and general will be near and they will serve you well.
Katana Samurai: As the game’s creators say, this is the heart and the soul of any army, that is right, because this unit has many uses. First of all the katana samurai is one not over-priced and skilled melee unit. It attacks well and it does its best when used with strategy. This unit has very good statisctics and can survive trough rain of arrows cavalry and infantry charges. But do not think you can spam it and win the battle, because Katana samurai is the handle of your strategy and your other units-its blade. Use katana samurai to keep your strategy going on. Also,do not use katana samurai spam in: (1)Siege Battles,because if 1 unit flees (because of many casualties or just scared) other will follow it or lower their morale insantly (2)In land battles, because katana samurai can do nothing against all kinds of cavalry charges and losing 1 of the units means defeat.
Yari Samurai: Yari Samurai are used to kill cavalry, if you dont want to kill cavalry with them, then do not take them to battle because they are not highly skilled in combat. They can be used like a fast shot because they have the ability to run fast which increanses their speed and charge bonus. Usually I use it to chase down cavalry or attack enemy archers while battle is going on.
No-Dachi Samurai: New players do not like No-Dachi, because of their low melee defense statistics, and really this unit does it’s worse when it has to defend a point. This is a one shot infanry (I call it like that), because they have the ability “Banzai!!!” which gives them unlimited morale which could not be broken(really, their morale becomes unlimited) + higher melee statistics + incredible charge bonus for like 20-25 seconds which is extremly useful when those samurais reach their taget. I highly recommend using this unit in battles versus Fall Of The Samurai Army. (Why do I call it 1 shot infantry? Because their ability reloads very slow and which gives almost no chances to use it again and if they get to combat once they will hardly ever make a second charge, so use this shot wisely!)
Bow Samurai: This is the basic bow unit. It is twice better in everything than the Bow Ashigaru and has two times bigger price of course. This unit has the ability “Fire Arrows” which can set buildings on fire when 3 or more units are firing together or do terrible damage to living targets. I do not recommend that unit because it costs too much, but at the end results show nothing good, 2 Bow Ashigaru are better than 1 Bow Samurai for me.
Naginata Samurai: This is maybe the most defensive unit in the whole game. This unit is made to capture and hold a position. The men in this unit have the naginata. The mother of naginata is the spear and its father is the sword. The mother, gave her son the ability to kill cavalry and his father-to kill infantry. Naginata took 1/2 of each gift and the naginata samurais started to exist. This unit has high morale and bonus versus cavalry and good and keeping the fight on, but cannot fight alone and for long, so it needs to be suppored with more skilled infantry and morale.
Naginata Warrior Monks: Thease fearsome men are made to scare and kill everything in their path. when they engage in combat with their naginatas every man falls, no matter is he mounted or not. This unit has the ability to scare enemies near him, lowering their melee attack and morale. This ability I use in 2 cases: 1st in the beginning of the battle, when enemies and ready and high moraled 2nd when enemies are much, but their morale is low and they need just a little push to start running. This unit should be kept away from arrows and guns because they cause heavy casualties when fired.
Bow Warrior Monks: If there are any snipers in the game, they are the Bow Warrior Monks, they have increansed range and are the masters of the bow and can defend themselves in melee. They can snipe enemy units from a great distance and poke enemy general leaving him with no bodyguards or life. Bow Warrior Monks have 2 weaknesses: 1st cavalry charges 2nd: Other bow units. Just keep them away from danger and they will bring you victory.
Light Cavalry: Ahh… What can I say about Light Cavalry, I can say that they are really cheap and can strike fast with great force. But the good things about this unit are over. Light Cavalry is a 1 shot unit too because u cannot get it out of a fight without losing 80% of the whole unit. They have poor melee statisctics and aren’t in much use, but they are the best choice when talking about low funds. Anyway, the Light Cavalry is best used in 1 clear charge on sword infantry archers or enemy general anything else means that they have been defeated. If you have large funds you can also spam them, because your enemy will have skilled, but not many cavalry units, but you, oh you will have a great force and will surround and kill your enemy for almost no money!
Yari Cavalry: Yari Cavalry are like upgraded Light Cavalry, but I mean heavily upgraded. They are not used for only 1 shot and they are mostly used to kill other cavalry units because of their long spears. Use them wisely and you will win. (I want you to know that there is no cavalry unit that can defeat yari cavalry in melee fight (unless heroes))
Katana Cavalry: The Katana Cavalry is maybe the best melee unit while not mounted because they have much better statisics than katana samurai. Katana Cavalry is weak versus all spear units (The naginata is not a spear, remember that,because in some retainers they say that e.g. all spear units will recieve +1 morale, well it means that yari ashigaru,yari samurai and I think thats all will recieve +1 morale). This unit’s job is to kill enemy general or sword and naginata units. It hasn’t got strong charge bonus, but can be used as light cavalry.
Matchlock Ashigaru: This is one really useless unit on a land battle. Matchlck Ashigaru cannot fight in melee and aren’t good at reloading but their first shot scares the enemy which makes it more vulnerable. I highly recommend using matchlock ashigaru when defending a castle because they scare climbing units and kill many men for a few seconds.
Matchlock Samurai:This unit is almost the same as Matchlock Ashigaru, but has higher melee, reload,morale and accuracy statistics. It also has the option for “Ranked Fire” which is extremly useful: When the first line of men fires, it kneeles and the 2nd one fires, then 3rd, then 4th, but no more. Actually you dont need the 5th line to fire because the 1st is going to reload while other are firing, so it makes an automatic firing unit.
Army types
About Army Types
A different army is always used for a different opponent, all you have to do is to choose the right one for the right fight. Using only one army type will never have a negative result, you will practice and see which one is perfect for you.
Offensive army
(I am using that one)
The offensive army is mostly used to scare the enemy and for a fast win. To have an offensive army you mostly need No-Dachi samuai, yari samurai (to defend from cavalry), Naginata Warrior Monks (to keep the fighting on and scare enemies to make them flee). The Cavalry is a main part of this type of army, it is used to strike from the back and destroy enemy lines and ball formations.
Defensive army
The defensive army is used to kill enemy units and hold for much time and hold any incoming charges. For a defensive army you need yari ashigaru, naginata samurai, katana samurai, archer units, 1 or 2 spear units and no cavalry. The defensive army is made to hold the charge/arrows that are coming and then push back with skilled melee infantry + burning arrows all the time, do not forget that you need your general to support your units with morale, otherwise they will all flee at charge.
Combined Army
The Combined army is used to both attack and defend from your enemy. Do your army formation like that: Defensive units in the middle, ready to hold the charge, offensive units on 2 squads on the left and on the right ready to flank the enemy when charges. With this army you will need cavalry only if you are your enemy has its own so you can defeat his cavalry.
About Siege Units
Ok, so what about the siege units… They do really much damage to buildings and flesh. Siege units are the folowing units: Fire Projecting Mangonels, European Cannons, Fire Rockets. Every single one of them has different strong and weak sides and I will tell you about both of them.
Stong Sides
Fire Projecting Mangonels are very good at giving damage to walls and many units on one place. They can be also used to destroy gates and in land battles.
European Cannons: Are slow at reloading, but have incredible range which can be used to attack the enemy on land battles, before they get close to you,or to shoot enemy walls in siege battles.
Fire Rockets are my favourite siege unit. Why? Because they are something like Fire Projectng Mangonels + European Cannons – 250 range. They are extremly powerful when shooting on units and walls or towers and they do not fire only in straight line, like the cannons.
Weak Sides
Weak sides are so, so many, that after that, you are going to hate siege units!
Fire Projecting Mangonels… the unit that I never use. They are a terrible unit at all. They may give much damage, but are so dumb at accuracy and cant even hit a unit when it is in the middle of their range zone! Also, like every siege unit their melee statistics are so stupid,that when a melee unit reaches them, the Mangonels more likely flee instantly.
European Cannons are better at land battles, but continue to be useless as a unit, at all! They have
poor reload skill and poor damage to flesh. They can be hardly ever used in siege, because they can strike only in a straint line and hit walls or towers.
Fire Rockets! AT LEAST! SOMETHING USEFUL ! What about the weak side… ah yes, they have very low ammo, it is 5 rockets per soldier, which isn’t much and of course, their melee and morale statistics are alse low.
(+) INFORMATION (+)
The Fire Rockets have 5 shots, with terrifying power, so use every one of them wisely!
Cannons can be placed on hills when in siege battles, so they can shoot where ever they want and see everything behind the walls .
Types of Generals
First of all what means “Types of Generals”? Well it means what have you upgraded in your skill tree. For example, if you have upgraded it into a swordsman by increansing his melee statistics he is called a Swordsman General.
Leader General
(FOR ME, this is the best one)
The Leader General has increansed in leadership which makes his men brave and strong. Also if your general is a Leader, he gives bonus melee defense to all of your units + incredible morale boost. If this leader is combined with offensive army and well used, he will bring you victory for sure. Why? Because No-Dachi have 1 melee defense and 14 melee attack, so if they engage with katana samurai without charging them, no-dachi unit will die, because katana samurais have 4 melee defense, BUT if your general is a Leader, he gives them the same melee defense. Now imagine a katana samurai with ultimate melee attack+ “Banzai!!!” ability + super morale and strong melee defense. How do you feel? Will you lose the combat? Also if your general is a leader he gains the ability “Stand And Fight!” Which makes him sit on a chair surrounded with bodyguards and even gives his men more morale boost.
Swordsman General
Before the Leader General, I loved the Swordsman General, because he gains ultra good melee and morale statistics, so you will be scared no more, that you will lose him when someone attacks him. You can also use him now as a hero cavalry unit, because it has it’s skills and you now can attack the enemy with him. Why I stopped loving him? Because this general gives nothing to his army, If you become the swordsman general your army will be the same and all the boosts will remain to the general. This is my personal opinion and if you think that it is more useful you can try it out.
Bowman General
This is an incredible general! Why? Because it is upgraded with the bow and has: (1) Increansed range (200) (2) Has ultimate accuracy and reload skill (3)IS MOUNTED. Right now, people use it to snipe enemy generals from great distance or even kill units with him! He has the ability fire arrows, so he really can snipe down any unit just by running around. This type of general I hate, but I hate it, because it is a foolish type of general which pokes with force. I hate it, but I recommend it because it is effective
My Strategies, recommended for you!
If your army is going to be attacked and you have cavalry, do not try to hide it in forests, you won’t make it for long. I recommend you to place all your cavalry on place that your opponent can see and put only 1 or 2 cavalry units hidden on the other side of the map,so you opponent says “Ah, ok the cavalry is there, it’s not much, I can deal with it! ” and he sends all his cavalry to kill yours and he charges with his units. After the end of his charge, secretly go behind him and kill his general or charge his guys from behind and smash them in your sandwich!
Cavalry spam + Shadows!
You can spam nice cavalry units and also buy some stupid, but large units of melee infantry, also buy the DLC unit called Hanzo’s Shadows(In the heroes and saints unit pack on the store, its not much) (incredible melee units, mine are rank 9 and in one fight they killed 824 men) (I have that recorded on a video) and won the battle). In the beginning of the battle, place your shadows behind the enemy line. After that, hide your cavalry units in forests and place your melee units to look like your whole army. When the battle starts the countdown begins, you have seconds before your opponent realizes what’s going on! With your shadows, strike on his general or infantry (both will die) and then your opponent will say “What the hell?! Let me kill them!” and will not look at your army, use these seconds and charge him with cavalry from all sides, while that whole thing is going on, use your melee units and move to the enemy lines and support the cavalry attack with spears swords and naginatas! If this plan worked like that, you will win surely
Naginata Warrior Monks + No-Dachi
First of all, let me tell you a few things about the archers, are used to kill enemy from range, ok we know that, but what else, they can catch fast cavalry units which can fire! And by saying that, I mean to catch carabine cavalry, donderbus cavalry, bow cavalry or gun cavalry, the archers can pick them down, so players always keep them away, but why am I telling that, because archers can be replaced. Their place, the cavalry can take. Why? Because cavalry can catch those guys too and attacks the enemy fast like arrows. Why do we have to replace them? Because we can charge! Thats why, charge is scarry, effective, deadly, and massive! This strategy is runned by No-Dachi, which charge, Naginata Warrior Monks, which protect from cavalry and scare enemies and all types of cavalry to surround. That’s it you just charge the enemy, kill as many as possible at charge, scare enemies with monks and charge from behind with cavalry, this is a fast victory.
REMEMBER! ! ! THEASE ARE MY STRATEGIES! ! ! YOU CAN MAKE AS MANY YOUR OWN
AND MAKE AS MANY AS YOU WANT! ! ! EXPERIMENT! ! ! LEARN ! ! ! CREATE ! ! !
New, highly useful pieces of advice!
This part will be of more use to advanced players, however even if you are new to the game, it will greatly improve your understandings of the win conditions.
Multiplayer Siege is my favorite type of battle and I could say I am at my best when it comes to this. Here are some facts you maybe didn’t think about that could increase your win-rate.
1.Avoid using yari samurai and naginata samurai in sieges. Have you noticed that prices of naginata and yari units remain the same between Field Battle and Siege Battle? Hear me out, this is important. Let us say that yari samurai costs 100 gold. The creators of the game made that price balanced for field battles and so if they give the unit an advantage, to balance the troops they also give them a disadvantage. For example, yari samurai are outmatched in combat vs katana samurai, but they are cheaper and are the best anti-cavalry troop. By spending 100 gold on them, you are buying all of these features. To simplify this, in this case you get 2 good features and 1 bad feature of this unit. But when you are in siege mode, there is almost always, no cavalry in play. This means your yari samurai will only have 1 good feature and 1 bad. So you are paying for bonus versus cavalry that you are not going to use! Therefore, siege battles depreciate the value of all spear wielding units. The only troop I sometimes use in siege mode that carries a spear is the yari ashigaru. Because they have the yari wall.
2.Tower Kill Ratio. Siege towers… Boring, right? Wrong. Siege towers are a huge part of the siege if you think about it. There are two types of towers you will see. One type shoots 1 arrow per side and the other type shoots a bunch of arrows at once (and also the second type can’t use fire arrows, that way you can distinguish them). The second type can eradicate a whole unit in one minute. Now, if you think about it, how many kills do all towers get per match? I’d say around 25-100 depending on the map you are playing on, unit positioning etc. Let’s average it to 60 for now. Now try to think about how many troops you deploy each battle. Maybe around 2000-3000? Let’s say you deploy 2500 troops on average. This means that towers kill 60/2500=2.4% of your army. But what is another variable we haven’t taken into account? Unit size. Unit size determines whether your katana samurai unit will consist of 50, 80, 120 or 160 individual soldiers. This means that if we scale down your army to let’s say 1000 troops, siege towers (which again get 60 kills) now mow down 60/1000=6% of your whole army! Remember that this is an average. Actual figures might be higher! What I am saying is, when unit size is set to small, try your best to destroy those towers, even if you have to use your fire arrows. And vice-versa, if unit size is set to ultra, you do not need to care so much about these pesky towers! That way you can increase your win chance even more.
3.Cannons on walls- how they actually work and things you didn’t know about them. Have you noticed that some walls shoot cannon balls at you? Very annoying if you are an attacker. I will now try and explain how the game tries to balance this defender’s advantage. Firstly, these cannons are only located at a few segments of the walls. They are almost harmless to infantry at medium to long ranges and will probably get around 10 kills per minute. However, they are extremely dangerous to cavalry. While infantry gets knocked out on the ground, cavalry units get insta-killed on impact, no matter if the cannon ball is literally rolling towards them. Try to position your general so that the cannon balls do not fly in his direction. Secondly, all cannon segments of the walls can be lit on fire extremely easily. They literally burn for 3 seconds and then they explode with all the troops on them. Use that to keep your opponent in check! You can destroy this wall type with 1 archer squad shooting fire arrows or any type of siege equipment. Sometimes you might choose not to destroy the cannon segment in order to lure your opponent into placing their troops on the wall. Then you light it up and destroy an entire squad while your enemy has no time to react. Some maps will also have other strange zig-zag wall segments. These parts are also just as easy to destroy as the cannon parts. Use those weak spots to take out enemy archers and eventually win. Lastly, do not forget that these cannons are not free. The defender pays dearly on their side. When on medium funds, I think the defender pays around 1000 gold for this advantage, so it is not as unfair as it seems at first sight.
4.Wall cover ratio on settlements. Do you want to win more and lose less? Then you have to stay for this part. This might be boring, but it is very useful to know. This part is, once more, linked to mathematics and unit size. Imagine a defender places an archer squad on a wall segment. Unit size is medium, so that means 160 bow ashigaru are covered by the wall’s protection. If you try to take them with 1 of your bow ashigarus with the same skill, it will not work. The defender will be able to score more kills as the walls block most of the arrows and the attacker has no such advantage. However, attackers have another advantage. How many bow units can get under the protection of the wall cover? Probably 1 or 2. There is no more room for other archers. All other bow units must either disengage or be placed behind the wall, with no cover where they will eat the arrows that missed the archers on the walls. How many can the attacker fit on the other side of that wall? Many, many more units. What that means is, the defender only has an advantage when you are engaging them with 1-4 bow units. Once those numbers increase to 5-6 bow units, it is now 6vs2. Six bow ashigaru units will definitely destroy 2 units of bow ashigaru defenders (always turn on “Loose formation” as an attacker). Now for the important part, which you probably didn’t think about. What happens when unit size decreases to small? If we look at the same situation, the attacker can still place 6 bow units to engage with the defender (And probably have room for many more, but how often do attackers have more than 6 bow units?). However, the defender can now probably place 4 full squads of archers on the same wall segment. Now the situation has changed entirely. It is 4 well covered bow ashigaru versus 6 with no cover at all. In this situation, if all archers are equally skilled, defenders will win 100% of the time. So what is the key takeaway here? If unit size is high, attackers have an advantage in ranged engagements, in low unit size, it is the opposite. Remember, this is assuming all bow units are equally skilled. If you made it this far and understood the meaning of this tip, good job!
5.Morale is almost useless. Do you remember when we discussed the value of different units in the first tip? Buying features in units that you don’t need? This applies in one more way that you can use to your advantage. What are the differences between a loan sword ashigaru unit (L) and a katana samurai unit (K)? K has better armor. K has better melee skills. K has better morale. L is way cheaper. L is faster. L has more soldiers in 1 unit. In siege battles, for the defender, morale is irrelevant, especially in settlements with 1 wall layer. (Quick tip: In siege mode, the defender’s troops WILL NOT fall back if they are in the most inner circle of the walls. If you have multiple layers of walls, the one with the flag is the place where the defender’s troops will not retreat.) What this means is, when buying katana samurai, you are paying for morale you are not using. I almost always play with full ashigaru army when defending. That is because their most significant weakness (their low morale) is now irrelevant. That way, you are getting more value for your gold! More value for your gold means better chances of winning!
New, highly useful pieces of advice! (2)
General is useless. Having read my previous tip, what is your general for? If you play as a defender, try to sally forth with your general and his bodyguards. Do not attack immediately, rather wait for a good moment to charge the enemy archers, who your general can easily take out. That way, your enemy will either have to waste 1 or more melee units on defending their archers, or try to take out your general and waste precious time, which is, in both cases, good for you! Games are only 20 minutes. This means if you distract your opponent for 2 minutes, that is 10% of your enemy’s time to take the flag. When the timer runs out, you win. No matter how many units you or your enemy have left. Remember, these tips here are not major strategies. These tips will help increase your win-rate. Two minutes less for the attacker will not win you all games, but if they win you one in twenty games, that is a 5% increase in your win-rate!
Retainers for the win. This tip extends not only to siege battles, but all types. Retainers are THE key to significantly increase your wins. Games are mostly mathematics and statistics for professionals. This tip is about making the most out of your retainers. Let’s say you want to use the retainer which gives 10% discount to all ashigaru units. You are a defender in a siege, so discounts are crucial. If you take 5 ashigaru units and 5 non-ashigaru units, you are wasting one whole retainer for 50% of your army. What I always tend to do is to increase this percentage as much as possible. For example, ALL my units would be ashigaru. This gets better with more retainers. No need to waste a retainer to add +2 Melee Attack to all sword infantry, when you only have 2-3. Read all retainer effects carefully. Naginata units are NOT spear units. Archers that have swords are NOT sword infantry. etc. My most common defender army setup is the following: 4 loan sword ashigaru, 4 bow ashigaru and minimum 1 matchlock ashigaru. I get the 10% discount retainer. Also the 4% discount retainer on all units. Now I get 14% discount on my ENTIRE army. Then I get the bonus +2 melee attack for sword infantry, so that my sword ashigaru can better handle katana samurai. Finally I usually get the extra arrows retainer for archers or some other buff for bow units. For attackers, here is one setup I find fun to use: Full katana samurai army with 1 or 2 bow units just in case of enemy ranged cavalry (sometimes, defenders will buy ranged cavalry to assassinate your general and thin down your units) . Then I get the +2 melee for all sword units, the “Famous Armory” retainer that gives all infantry +1 armor and then I get the retainer that gives all melee samurai +1 morale. Now, nearly all of my units are buffed by all of my retainers.
Thank you for taking the time to read this part. Apologies for not adding any pictures, but that takes too much time from my side. I guarantee you that if you use these tactics in practice, you will win more matches and eventually become a better player.
Final Tips
1. Avoid charging uphill! Why? Because your men will tire out before they reach the top and all units receive extra charge bonus when charging downhill, so you are in check for enemy charges.
2. Try not to soak up arrows or matchlock fire with ashigaru or monk units. You will lose them. Instead use samurai units or at least use “Loose formation”.
3. Do not attack Yari Cavalry with Katana Cavalry, you will lose.
4. Before you start the battle, look the terrain and search for hills, start the battle and get there!
5. If you are on a hill, position your yari ashigaru with “yari wall”, but be aware that archers can swiftly thin down that wall.
6.Do not play too many 2v2 3v3 or 4v4 battles, because they make you forget how to play by yourself.
7. Do not forget about the time in siege battles! It runs out fast!
8. Matchlock units always have lower range than bows, use that to your advantage.
9.The spear will always counter the horse!
10.If your enemy’s cavalry is mounted off you can disable them from mounting again by running near their horses. The animals will flee with their riders stuck dismounted.
11.If your lines have archers behind them and the lines are being charged, do not keep the archers firing, they won’t help you much, with them you can surround enemy army and charge, or support your melee units with ranged attacks. In all cases, do not keep them idle.
12. If funds allow it, take hero units with morale bonus aura. This could act as a second general in case yours gets killed.
13.Hero units are almost useless against Fall of The Samurai armies. The enemy only needs one clear musket shot to kill 50%-75% of the unit’s 30 soldiers. Don’t waste gold on them unless you really think you should.
PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK BECAUSE IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR ME TO KNOW THE READER’S OPINION AND RATE IF YOU LIKED IT! ! ! GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!