There are several distinct factions in LoTR Rise of War, each of which has its own set of abilities and tactics. Picking the appropriate one is crucial in each of the game’s seasons for both novice players and seasoned pros. This choice WILL affect your performance in the long run. In this LotR Rise to War Faction Guide, we take a closer look at Arnor.
Arnor is a “good” aligned faction which is located to the far west of the map. It’s home to the men of middle-earth, often called the “Men of Twilight”. It’s also the birthplace of the legendary Rangers of the North, who keep peace around this diverse and split region of the world.
This guide will assist you in determining if Arnor is the faction YOU should play. Keep reading this LotR Rise to War Arnor Faction Guide for all the details on Arnor’s buffs, troops, location, commanders, and some strategy tips.
Table of Contents
Arnor Faction Buff
Arnor’s faction buff is called “Land of Kings”, and it allows Arnor players to spend 5% fewer resources on construction. While great at some early portions of the game, this buff translates very poorly into the late game. In particular, it will be of little use as soon as you get into the PvP aspects of LotR Rise to War!
Sadly, this is one of the big downsides to playing with Arnor. Indeed, their faction buff becomes irrelevant extremely early into the game. Rise to War is a strategic game that places a lot of stress on resource gathering and management. So important are the resources in this game, that we have a dedicated LotR Rise to War Resources Guide just for this topic.
Therefore, how come spending fewer resources on construction is not considered beneficial? It’s quite a complex topic, but to break it down to the basics let’s put it like this. There are many ways to generate resources quickly for example by using the “gather” ring command, or by simply exchanging things on the market.
In contrast, other faction buffs give you more Commander experience, more PVE damage, and faster travel speeds. These are things that cannot be hand waved away with a couple of measly clicks. Not to mention that near the mid-point of the game you will have an economy that can very easily sustain every one of your urgent resource needs.
Location of Arnor in Rise To War
Arnor is located on the far western side of the world map. It is the (former) kingdom of men, inhabited by the hobbits of the Shire, and a large variety of other races and creatures. Arnor is located on a flat, tremendous plain. Indeed, it feels like Arnor and its neighboring Lindon are 1,000 miles away from where the game is actually played.
It feels that way because it kind of is that way. A lot of the action in Rise to War happens around Dol Guldur and the factions situated there. Although Arnor and Lindon are extremely close to one another, if you are playing a “Good vs Evil” season then you won’t have to worry about each other. However, during a normal faction vs faction season, one will dominate the other rather quickly.
To the East, you have Isengard, which hardly anyone plays. Another faction of note is Angmar to the North. This means that the entire Western side of the map, which covers a lot of unclaimed lands is fought for between three factions at most. This leads to a very much slower-paced game.
Slow-paced games are not that bad. Especially for beginners getting the hang of things! However, if you already know how to play I suggest you pick a faction that gets a little bit more action. Also, the end game is painful for Arnor. Indeed, they need to go through Isengard and Lothlorien, and a lot of empty space, to get to Dol Guldur. This adds up to make the starting location of Arnor to be quite bad.
The Unique Units of Arnor
The flipside of Arnor’s position on the map is that they get access to many different types of resources, unlike Rhun for example who mostly get rocks. Arnor has plenty of grain, wood, stone, and ore littered everywhere. Since this side of the map is often underpopulated, you can help yourself to more resources than you could with some other factions.
This also includes neutral camps! Arnor has THE craziest spread of neutral camps of any faction in the game. While some of these are pretty bad and less than useful, it doesn’t really matter! Because you can still use those camps to farm Commander experience by taking them over.
Here are some of the neutral units found on and around Arnor territory:
| Unit Name | Unit Size | Damage | HP | Defense | Speed | Siege Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hobbit Archer | 100 | 11-15 | 25 | 8 | 112 | 7 |
| Bree Rider | 50 | 35-40 | 90 | 32 | 121 | 20 |
| Keeper | 100 | 20-25 | 25 | 24 | 105 | 5 |
| Hobbit Slinger | 100 | 14-15 | 14 | 6 | 92 | 14 |
| Dunlending Warrior | 100 | 18-22 | 38 | 26 | 95 | 15 |
That is a truly crazy amount of neutral units. Dunlending Warrior, you cannot use as they are an evil faction camp, but you can still farm them for EXP. In addition, Keepers are on Lindon adjacent territory so you would likely have to compete with them for this unit.
However, this is still a ton of options! I even skimmed over some, like the Half-Trolls that you can easily reach and farm too. This is a massive pro of playing this faction. Just compare it to Rhun, Mordor, or Angmar, who can barely reach 3 camps of different types before running into enemy lines.
Arnor’s T4 unique unit is the Ranger of the North:
| Unit Name | Unit Size | Damage | HP | Defense | Speed | Siege Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ranger of the North | 50 | 35-38 | 86 | 49 | 100 | 15 |
Rangers of the North are sort of hit-or-miss units in my opinion. They have quite okay stats, very average for the cost of hiring them, but they are an “upgrade” over Elven archers that you could also have as Arnor. Their unique skill “Protector of the North” makes them tank some damage for other ranged units in the same army. This enables some pretty good synergy with the high damage/low defense Sentinels.
In addition, “Scouting Tactics” makes the rangers deal +10%, and receive -10% damage when battling on a tile with no fort, structure, landmark, etc. This makes them quite a mobile assassin squad for destroying enemy player armies during invasions.
Arnor Starting Commander
The starting commander of Arnor is Faramir. And there’s not much to say except you want to swap him out! If you want someone who’s good with ranged units to empower Rangers of the North then I suggest Legolas, who’s a Tier 2 Commander.
Read our LotR Rise to War Commander Guide for all you need to know about developing your favorite heroes in the game.
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