Serf Spearmen

* Portrait
* In Game
* Spear Wall

### Requires

Auxiliary Camp has been captured on a Rhûn map, Easterling Garrison Lvl 1 (Adventure: Rhûn)

### Attack Type

Melee

"More ominous were rumours from the further East: the Wild Men were restless. Former servants and worshippers of Sauron, they were released now from his tyranny, but not from the evil and darkness that he had set in their hearts. Cruel wars raged among them, from which some were withdrawing westward, with minds filled with hatred, regarding all that dwelt in the West as enemies to be slain and plundered."
—Unfinished Tales, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn

When the Khâns gathered their Golden Hordes to march to Mordor, they passed many villages and farms, where they demanded able-bodied Men to abandon their families and bolster the horde. These men fought with Mordor and Harad against the Free Peoples during the War of the Ring, and were ultimately slain or fled.

The Serf Spearmen, or Heltân-hârainax, are the Auxiliary Camp unit for the Forces of Darkness on Rhûn maps. They are also available to the Adventure: Rhûn subfaction of Mordor, recruitable from a Lvl 1 Easterling Garrison.

## Abilities and Formations

**Spear Wall Formation (W)** - The units form a Spear Wall. Units lose 40% speed, gain resistance to knockback, decelerate Crush, and gain +33% armor.

**Level 3: Forced Service (R)** - Heltân-hârax quickly replenish their forces with 4 new recruits. Left click to activate.

## Upgrades

**Banners of the Red Eye (V)** - When equipped, increases this battalion to level 2. Cost: 100

## Strategy

The Heltâin-hârainax are a cheap, spammable pikemen unit, available for all Forces of Darkness on Rhûn maps. They have a low cost but large battalion size, allowing the player to recruit them in large numbers to overwhelm the foe. However, this comes at the expense of individual strength, with the unit being weaker than most pikemen and being unable to purchase upgrades for armour or damage. They do, however, have a couple of abilities that can come in useful. **Spear Wall Formation** can be used in the same way as most units that have this formation. The armour boost helps the weak spearmen, but with their already low stats, it will not help much. However, the formation can still be useful to resist knockback from other units and to slow down cavalry even more, allowing the spearmen to attack with their regular attacks and allowing other units to attack them. **Forced Service** is a reward for the player keeping the Serf Spearmen alive to level 3, allowing for immediate replenishment of the battalion to further enhance their spam capabilities.

The Heltâin-hârainax are also available to the Adventure: Rhûn subfaction of Mordor. They fulfill largely the same role as their counterparts in the Auxiliary Camps, being the subfactions' early-game, spammable Pikemen. The main difference compared to their Auxiliary Camp counterparts is that they gain a Horde bonus of +35% armour when there are 40 Serf Spearmen, Serf Bowmen, or Variags of Khand present in a group. Thus, it is recommended to gather as many Serfs and Variags in a group as possible to increase the Serf Spearmen's durability and overall effectiveness in combat until the player has a stable enough economy to recruit the Great Khân's Phalanx.