Rudhelm

**The Siege of Rudhelm** is a Team Objective-mode map that was released with Chivalry 2. It is generally considered a well-balanced map. The map features a playable Mason Heir, a VIP who is offered to the top-scoring Mason player at the time Agatha succeeds on the penultimate courtyard.

* **Opening Description:** “After weeks of siege Agathian forces begin a final assault upon a Mason stronghold defended by the Mason Heir”
* **Attackers:** Agatha Knights
* **Defenders:** Mason Order

### Push the Siege Towers

Agatha must Push two wooden siege towers through a battlefield up to the city wall. Once either of the siege towers reaches the wall, the objective will complete and the other tower will move up on its own. There is a Catapult on the Agatha side of the battlefield.

The battlefield in front of the City. The catapult can be seen to the left of centre.
### Capture the Gatehouse

Agatha must climb the siege towers or Constructable Ladders and Capture the gatehouse. The gatehouse consists of two separate two-story buildings. Only the area inside or directly in front of the buildings counts as the capture point. Once captured, the gate will open and two siege ramps will slowly move on their own into the middle of the encampment.

The Rudhelm gatehouse.
### Burn the Tents

Agatha must grab torches from one of two pyres and Burn the Mason encampment at the foot of the gatehouse.

Agatha must burn the tents in the background by taking torches from the pyres in front of the two burnt out buildings.
### Push the Siege Ramps

Agatha must push two siege ramps through the city and up to the walls of the keep. Each siege ramp takes a unique path. Once one of the siege ramps reaches the walls, the objective will complete and the other will automatically move up. The city features multiple flanking routes between the paths. A Ballista overlooks part of the left (from Agatha perspective) path.

The beginning of the path for the left siege ramp. A ballista can be seen on top of the archway.After the archway, the left ramp travels up the centre street.The beginning of the path for the right siege ramp. The buildings on either side can also be accessed.The right ramp travels up the path here and exits at the bottom of the screen. This image is from the Mason's perspective (and would be their left ramp).One of the alleys cutting between the right and left paths.Both siege ramps converge at this square. Only one must make it to the walls in the back.
### Capture the Courtyard

Agatha must capture a large open courtyard featuring a gallows in the middle. The objective point is identifiable as a stone circle around the gallows.

The courtyard, from Agatha's perspective.The courtyard, from the Mason's perspective.
### Kill the Heir

The top-scoring Mason player at the time Agatha captures the Courtyard will be offered the role of the Heir, a VIP character. Like other VIPs, the Heir is taller than other characters, has additional health, unique voice lines, and cannot be interrupted. The Heir will spawns in front of the rock throne at the rear of the throne room. He may move up the stairs on the left and right sides of the throne room, but as of the Galencourt update cannot access the back rooms without the risk of despawning.

Agatha wins by killing the Heir.

The Mason Heir.The throne room.Upstairs to the left of the throne room (from Mason perspective). The Heir cannot stay in this back room without risk of despawning.

## Strategy

### Attackers (Agatha)

#### Push the Siege Towers

* It only takes one person to push a tower, so if the Masons are overconcentrated on one tower, move to the other.
* Use the catapult to clear Mason-infested towers and also hit the Mason spawn exit.

#### Capture the Gatehouse

* It is essential to keep the area in front of the siege towers cleared so reinforcements can enter the gatehouse.
* If facing heavy resistance, moving upstairs can keep you alive until reinforcements arrive. You can also retreat to the other gatehouse, which might have more allied presence.
* Engineers can fortify the stairways leading up to the gatehouse.
* Use the ladders if the siege towers are too crowded. Ladder pieces are on a wagon nearby and should be deployed to the ladder closest to the gatehouse to get in quicker than going up the siege tower while risk being exposed while climbing up. Alternatively, the ladder furthest away from the gatehouse is the safest way to reach the battlements.

#### Burn the Tents

* The start of the round is your best chance to burn the furthest tents so as soon as you reach the pyres, burn those first instead of the tents closest to you.
* If the Masons push you off both pyres, concentrate on one to clear it and get torches moving.
* There are lots of paths to take to reach any of the tents, so take the one of lease resistance.
* Try and focus on the objective here, to save time for the next stage as it can be rushed.
* Keep an eye on the ground for dropped torches, they may be closer to the tents and can burn them quick rather than going back to a nearby pyre for a new one.
* When attacked, if you normally use two handed weapon but need to carry the torch or may want to use a shield you may switch to your primary weapon set. The torch will fall out of your hands but can still be picked up by you or your teammates. The torch has a limited time before despawning but can save some time going back to the pyre to get another, especially when the dropped torch is near a unburnt tent.

#### Push the Siege Ramps

* This stage is a war of attrition. There is a lot of time on the clock, but also a lot of ground to cover. Keep things moving as much as possible.
* Ranged weapons are recommended when you're on top of the ramps as it's moving and there are fewer ways to reach you. Be wary of a bug that makes you fall as the ramp progresses.
* Use the icons to see if either siege ramp is stalled, and try and get it moving.
* Use the many flanking routes to try and surround Masons defending a siege ramp.
* Once both siege ramps have passed the tree in the square, concentrate fighting around them. It is easy for players to move between them to make sure at least one is always moving.

#### Capture the Courtyard

* The ballista can provide effective fire on Masons from the entrance.
* Though the entrance provides a good vantage point for Archers, their presence is usually better suited at the sides where they can rush onto the point at critical moments.

#### Kill the Heir

* Try and push the Heir into a corner, but be wary if they try to escape to the other side of the map.
* Spawn points will alternate between the left and right sides of the throne room, use the icon to identify where the heir is and try to avoid tangential fights.
* Oil pots are essential for harassing any VIP and clumping defenders. Oil pot's best use is to disable healing and consistently damage a VIP and their bodyguards. If possible, run straight towards a VIP all so you can throw a oil pot to guarantee some damage if they are too strong to fight as oil pots are a AoE attack that is unblockable. Alternatively, throw a oil pot near a banner to discourage it's use and disable healing by burning them.
* The chandeliers in the throne room can be dropped on unsuspecting defenders.

### Defenders (Masons)

Though every stage of the map is winnable for the Masons, the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth stages are easier to win for the defenders than the first and third stage.

#### Stop the Siege Towers

* Good team coordination is necessary as the left and right siege towers are quite far apart and defenders will often sit idle at one tower while the other moves.
* If Agathians are cleared from one tower (or there are sufficient Mason forces to wipe up any stragglers), check to see whether the other tower is moving and whether it would be better to assist there.
* Going up on the siege tower and exploiting the small space with short weapons can make a defender persistent and difficult to shake off.

#### Defend the Gatehouse

* Try and repulse Agathians when they are on the siege towers. Oil pots are very helpful here. Jumping up on a siege tower and preventing them from coming up the narrow path is also possible.
* Use trapdoors if the Agathians have the numbers inside the gatehouse.
* Retreat back inside to the gatehouse if the siege towers are overrun with Agathians. The most important part of this stage is to stay alive inside the objective area to slowly takeback any progress the attackers have made. Banners, medkits, barricades and trumpets help to fend off the attackers from gathering inside.
* When spawning and running towards the stairs to the gatehouse, go towards the central stairs. This gives a better view of both sides of the gatehouse and to safely enter without being flanked by the Agathians who have recently reached the battlements.
* Make sure to check the upstairs of the gatehouse for any stragglers.
* Watch the ratio number at all times to make sure there are any Agathians unaccounted for. Some may be holding the second floor for reinforcements or behind the stairs to activate the trap.
* Archers are well protected firing from the second floor windows but isn't in the objective area.

#### Defend the Tents

* This is the most difficult stage for the Masons to win, but a prolonged defense can be helpful in reducing time for Agatha in the next stage.
* It is easier to keep the Agathians from grabbing torches from the pyres on the fires than it is to prevent them from throwing torches on the tents.
* Engineer walls can be built around the small tents to make it more difficult to land torches on them. It is also possible to block incoming torches.
* Throw a oil pot near the pyres to further discourage Agathians from getting torches.
* Burning torches that were dropped can still be picked up and used. Be cautious of any keen enemy that may pick it up to burn the tents quickly. The pyres are the priority but torches on the ground makes it easier for Agathians to burn the tents without needing to go back to a defended pyre.

#### Stop the Siege Ramps

* This is a long objective, but the siege ramps also have a long way to travel. Treat this stage as a war of attrition.
* Rely on the HUD icons to see which ramp is moving or more advanced, and concentrate defense there.
* Make use of the multiple flanking paths to surround Agathians pushing siege ramps.
* Ranged fighters may make use of the central hut's rooftop and may even board the right ramp by jumping.

#### Defend the Courtyard

* As a general strategy, a layered defense pushing as far up to the entrance to the courtyard as possible is ideal.
* If losing, make sure as much as your team gets on the objective as possible. The area behind the gallows is well protected from archers and can be used to hide while collecting points on the area. Use this to ambush any Agathian who immediately runs up the front steps.
* The height advantage offered by the gallows can be used to great effect by polemen.
* Engineers can fortify the steps leading up to the gallows.
* There is infinite bread lying on top of a table near the gallows that can be used for healing instead of using the crate far away from the objective area to heal minor wounds.
* A Guardian with a banner will help hold down the gallows for as long as possible.
* Archers should focus on the ballista and other archers up on the entrance walls. Alternatively, destroying the ballista can stall attackers from controlling the gallows with ballista shots.

#### Protect the Heir

* If playing the Heir:
	+ Taking a shield from an ally will provide protection from arrows. At the start of spawn, try reaching the shield on walls at the second floor first so the 3 shields at the throne floor can be accessed quickly if you plan to run around avoiding Agathians while switching shields.
	+ Large shields are spread around the court. The heir comes with hyperarmor, roughly 400 health and 100% speed which means turtling with a shield and sword is much easier than playing guardian. Spam counters and ripostes and cycle through each shield as you run around to keep yourself alive for as long as possible. Moreover, the shield speed debuff is gone when placing the shield on your back to also protect yourself from projectiles.
	+ The pillars at the top of each stairway provides decent archer cover, but is susceptible to oil pots.
	+ The second floor near the shields can be defensible area to stay or barricade as there are only two points to enter. But the backstairs can be monitored to avoid being flanked on both sides, if so the Heir can jump towards empty stairs and try to reach the other side.
	+ Use the war horn as soon as you can safely if you have taken damage early on. If there is too much time to pass, a second war horn may become available to use.
	+ If your team is about to be destroyed, jump down and sprint across to the opposite stairway where your team can hopefully regroup.
	+ Try to avoid being pushed into the back rooms upstairs, your allies can inadvertently block you in causing you to despawn.
	+ Watch out for the chandeliers!
* If supporting the Heir:
	+ Bandage kits and banners can be very effective at providing healing to the Heir.
	+ The mason spawns allow for many routes to be chosen on each side depending on how you enter through the middle gates. Use this to your advantage as you spawn and go through the gates closest towards the heir.
	+ Do not crowd around the Heir. You can expect many oil pots to be thrown at him. Try and push the Agathians towards the second floor entrances and down the stairways to provide breathing room and avoid reinforcements from becoming trapped behind the Heir.
	+ Engineers can help barricade the entrances to stall attackers from reaching the Heir. If one side of the second floor is overrun then the heir can escape to the other side once the barricades are nearly destroyed.
	+ Shield-bearing classes can be useful in deflecting incoming projectiles targeting the Heir.