In Lord of the Rings: Rise to War, choosing a faction appropriate to your playstyle might directly translate to how much of a fight you put up against other players in any given season. In this faction guide, we’ll examine whether you should play the Rise to War Faction Erebor.
Erebor is a “good” aligned faction located in Rhovanion’s frozen northeast. It is home to the Dwarves who toil underground, refining their trade high up in the mountains, near the river of Celduin. Erebor features tanky melee units and a faction bonus that allows them to generate units faster. Erebor is generally recommended for veterans of LotR Rise to War.
Keep reading this LotR Rise to War Erebor Faction Guide for all the details on Erebor’s buffs, troops, location, commanders, and some strategy tips.
Table of Contents
Erebor Faction Buff
Erebor’s faction buff is called “Sons of Durin”, and it allows Erebor players to conscript (and hire!) units 5% faster than any other faction in the game. This buff is both more useful than it would seem at first glance, but at the same time, it is slightly underwhelming!
For those unaware “conscription” in Rise to War entails “recruiting” soldiers. Conscription is the most important feature when it comes to generating an army and playing the game. Therefore its usefulness is unquestionable. The faster your units are built, the faster they can march, conquer tiles, support allies, attack enemies, and reinforce your frontlines.
The most valuable sort of “currency” in Rise to War is “time”! Everything takes time, therefore the more of it you can save by using boosters or your faction bonus, the more likely you are to get ahead. However, this buff has nowhere near as much impact on the game as Lothlorien’s or Rohan’s faction buffs.
It’s still better than the Mordor and Rhun faction buffs for example. Mainly because you never really stop conscripting units. You need to patch holes in your army every time you log into the game if you are an active player. So it is useful all game long!
Location of Erebor in Rise To War
Erebor is located in the North-Eastern corner of the map. The lands of the dwarves are pretty secluded from the rest of the game. Much like Rohan, Mordor, or Rhun, they have plenty of free real estate available right at the start of the game. Those tiles and regions are pretty much impossible to contest early, and by later stages of the game, they will all be fortified.
Speaking of fortified, the capital of Erebor, which is also just called “Erebor”, is pretty much unconquerable. We mentioned in Mordor’s Faction Guide that the lands of darkness are one of the hardest places to conquer on the map. But they STILL hold no candle to Erebor!
Their capital is in a very tight pocket of mountains, surrounded by impassable terrain. Erebor players will immediately fortify the choke point leading to the capital with forts, making it just impossible to conquer. I don’t mean that as an exaggeration either. I have literally never seen anyone take the capital of Erebor no matter how hard that faction was losing the current game!
This is sadly one of the biggest cons of playing Erebor too. Dwarfs, your main unit type, have extremely slow movement speed. This means that moving your commander from one place to another will take hours or days. With all the impassible mountains in your way, this gets doubly complicated, since you need to navigate the maze-like terrain too. This makes Erebor very slow to expand and react to threats.
Their closest neighbors are Lothlorien, Rhun, and Angmar. Rhun and Lothlorien will almost never pose a threat to your faction until the very end of any given game. But Angmar? Let me tell you when a new season starts, it’s an immediate arms race between Erebor and Angmar with the end goal of destroying the other faction as early as possible. It almost looks like they are playing a 1v1 game from an outsider’s perspective.
Erebor is also a hats toss distance away from Dol Guldur, which is important for the end game. Lothlorien usually captures the territories between Dol Guldur and Erebor, but it’s a waste to fortify them since their capital is far East from there. Therefore, the dwarfs have a pretty easy time getting there.
The Unique Units of Erebor
If you ever read any of our other Rise to War Faction Guides (and you should, they are awesome!), this is where I usually break down the best neutral camps and monsters available to a faction. Sadly, Erebor doesn’t have much choice!
There are some Eagles and some Ents near their territories, sure. But due to lack of mobility, the maze-like design of their starting region and Lothlorien players competing for them. There is just not much to go around! Thankfully, their own units are usually all that you will need to stand your ground against other players.
And as always, the crown jewel of Erebor’s army is the Tier 4 unique unit of Erebor – the Iron Warriors! Let’s take a quick look at their stats:
| Unit Name | Unit Size | Damage | HP | Defense | Speed | Siege Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Warrior | 50 | 30-34 | 84 | 116 | 49 | 42 |
They are an incredibly strong melee unit that moves extremely slowly like all other non-mounted dwarf units. Iron Warriors are effective in several capacities at once, which is one of their many strengths. They also possess medium damage dealing capacity. This is okay because they are also one of the sturdiest units in the entire game.
They have the greatest siege numbers in the game for the Forces of Good. Which sadly doesn’t mean that much, since players usually tend to use neutral monsters for sieging, or fire damage units that just ignore defenses.
The “Full Armor” ability makes them take 15% less physical damage at max level, which further reinforces their already ridiculous defense capability. Additionally, the “Battlers’ Bane” ability grants them 20% more damage against melee units. This makes their damage against melee units go from “medium” to “high” real quick!
Erebor Starting Commander
The starting commander of Erebor in Rise to War is Dwalin. Much like with all the other starting commanders, the devs made sure he is perfectly fine for this faction. His stats are okay, but his healing abilities are crazy good, especially combined with the already tanky dwarven units.
The sad part about playing Erebor is that there are not many dwarven commanders in the game, and one of them is super terrible. Therefore, if you want to exchange your commander for someone better, you have very few options.
For further details on improving your Rise to War Commanders, check out our LotR Rise to War Commanders Guide.
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