Arleon

### Basic information

**Arleon** is a faction in Songs of Conquest. It is described as "a faction of gallant knights, stout squires and formidable archers united with the magical Faey of the forest".

### Magic

Order  > Chaos  > Creation

Arleon is the only faction to have a three singly-typed essence troop without the need for improvement researches, and they have two! These are the Shield of Order (Order) and the Faey Rager (Chaos), meaning they have some of the easiest access to the Rally and Chain Lightning spells. In fact, Arleon is currently the only faction in the game with reliable enough access to Chaos essence that they are able to build for Chain Lightning. They also have good Creation generation in the Troubadour and the Faey Queen, which can set them up to use Acid Cloud. Arleon's spellcasting options are thus limited to focusing on either Order or Chaos, or combing Order, Chaos and Creation. This means that they have the most limited options for direct spell damage of any faction in the game, especially as Chain Lightning can become unwieldy once enemy melee troops have advanced on your frontline. This is made up for with early accessibility to high tier spells and arguably the most versatile utility spell catalogue in the game. Arleon's best essence Dyad spells are Onslaught and Rejuvenation, but they also get easy access to Fury, Swap, Clouded Vision, and Invigorate.

### Units

Arleon is the faction with the largest number of options for ranged units.

Note that the upgrade cost from a base unit to an upgraded unit is always 150% of the gold difference between the two plus 100% of any non-gold resource difference (thus it will cost more in gold to upgrade a unit than it will to buy the unit already upgraded).

### **Lore**

Archer: "Archers are the backbone of any army." - Empress Aurelia

Knight: "Over the hills they came, snapping banners and shining armor. Fast as the wind and fierce as a storm."

### Strategies

#### Defensive Build

The Defensive Build in Arleon is one of the fastest and easiest ramp-ups in the game. It's so simple it will just feel like playing Arleon naturally. Firstly, do not use Faey troops, but anything else goes as long as you have 2-3 stacks of Shields of Order eventually for the huge Order Essence generation. Optimally, you'll want to have Archers and Fists of Order and have your whole army clumped close together to take advantage of everyone's adjacency buffs, then just sit still and wait for the enemy to come to you. The main weaknesses of this build are magic damage (so stack Magic Resistance if you're against a human player who is running Rana, Loth, or Faey Arleon), and Barya's Hellbreaths, due to the easy area damage. During these situations, you'll have to rely on getting your many melee units to the other side as quickly as possible instead of turtling. Because of this, the obvious Wielder choices will be Cecilia, Lady Hammond or Vilja primarily, but Ravenfayre and Silverlink should also work. Focus on the Order Magic, Guard, Positioning, and Melee skills, but don't forget to build your Command. For powers, take Essence Shield or Farsight.

#### Lightning Build

Arleon's only magic damage build focuses on generating Chaos Essence for using Chain Lightning. The best way to do this as quickly as possible is to rush Faey Spirits and upgrade them to Faey Ragers as soon as possible. Then, build your command up and split them into as many stacks as possible, and keep them as far back as possible while hurling Chain Lightning into the enemies' backline. If any of their melee units get through, hit them with your melee glass cannon Faey. This build will work especially well if you fully upgrade the Faey Ragers in the Grand Armory to give them the **Quick** passive, allowing them to retaliate before an attack, much like Dreath (but without the unlimited retaliation of Dire Dreath). This build is powerful, but not at all sturdy, and it is neither as powerful nor as sturdy as Rana's Fireball Build, so moderate with some support from Horned Ones, Faey Nobles, and Knights when you are not able to defeat an entire army before they get to your frontline. The best Wielders for this build will be Ethylle or Giandra, but Ethylle is probably the better of the two. Get the skills Channeling, Chaos Magic, and Essence Burst when you can but focus early on Command to increase your essence generation.

**Mix Build**

Every faction has two main races or species that they can either focus on one or the other or mix them. Arleon is unique in that the two separation builds and a combination build are all good for early game through the late game. Arleon has great support spell options when mixing Order, Chaos, and Creation. One of the best ones is Onslaught, which requires Order and Chaos, and can absolutely wreck when cast on Faey Nobles, Knights, Horned Ones, or even Faey Ragers. To make this build work best, start out similarly as you do with a Defensive Build, where you are primarily relying on Rangers and Footmen, but then start to mix in Faey troops. This build is a good balance of aggression and defence, and very versatile. Feel free to go with any Defensive-strategy Wielder, but Silverlink and Ravenfayre are stronger in this build than in the pure Defensive one, and Gnaw becomes enticing as well. Go with any mix of Order Magic, Guard, Positioning, Cunning, Archery, Melee, Combat Training, and any other martial skills. Chaos Magic is also useful, but not necessary.

* Arleon Town (The main building of Arleon that has a number of building sites associated with it)
* Arleon Faey Court (Undisclosed dwelling. Requires large building site)
* Arleaon Marketplace (Used for converting resources. Requires medium building site)
* Arleon Barracks, Dwelling (Produces archers, but also another undisclosed unit. Requires medium building site)
* Arleon Faey Groove (Undisclosed dwelling. Requires medium building site)
* Arleon Hut (Undisclosed dwelling. Requires small building site)
* Arleon Tavern (Undisclosed dwelling. Requires small building site)
* Arleon Quarry (Generates stone. Requires small building site)
* Arleon Lumbermill (Generates wood. Requires small building site)

## References

1. ↑ https://www.pcgamer.com/songs-of-conquest-is-a-mix-of-heroes-of-might-and-magic-and-total-war/