Iron Hills Warriors (Adventure: Battle of the Five Armies)

* Portrait
* In Game
* Upgraded

"Dáin had come. He had hurried on through the night, and so had come upon them sooner than they had expected. Each one of his folk was clad in a hauberk of steel mail that hung to his knees, and his legs were covered with hose of a fine and flexible metal mesh, the secret of whose making was possessed by Dáin's people."
—The Hobbit, The Clouds Burst

These hardy warriors followed the Lord of the Iron Hills to Erebor, to do battle with any that stood between them and their kin. They came into conflict with the Elvenking and Bard, both of whom had a claim to a share of the Mountain's riches. Before either army could engage in conflict, Bolg of the North and his army from the Misty Mountains arrived, seeking vengeance for Azog the Defiler, who had been slain by Dáin during the War of the Dwarves and the Orcs. The Dwarves of the Iron Hills rallied with the Men of Laketown and Elves of the Woodland Realm and managed to defeat Bolg's army. Thorin, the newly crowned King under the Mountain, was killed in the midst of this battle and so Lord Dáin was crowned as King of Erebor.

While the Iron Hills Warriors are an elite hybrid Swordsmen-Pikemen unit in standard play for the Erebor faction, a different version of them appears in the Adventure: Battle of the Five Armies subfaction. In this subfaction, the Iron Hills Warriors are named Azaghâr-sharâhul and are exclusively a Swordsmen unit who come pre-equipped with Heavy Armor. They are recruitable from a Level 1 Iron Hills Redoubt.

*For the elite hybrid Swordsmen-Pikemen unit in standard play, see the Iron Hills Warriors page.*

## Abilities

**Sundering Strikes** - Melee attacks decrease enemy armour by 20% for 5 seconds. Debuff does not stack with itself. Passive ability.

**Level 2: Natural Sprinters (R)** - Order Iron Hills Warriors to charge the enemy. Modifier Type: Buff. Warriors gain +25% damage and +25% armour for 10 seconds. Causes meta impact. Left click icon then left click on target.

**Level 4: Intimidation** - Modifier Type: Passive Debuff. Nearby enemy units suffer -10% speed. Passive ability.

## Upgrades

**Khuzdûl Runes (C)** - When equipped, increases damage dealt by melee weapons. Research the Armouries of Thrór fortress upgrade and cast its ability to upgrade this battalion with Khuzdûl Runes.

**Thrór's Banners (V)** - When equipped, increases this battalion to level 2. Research upgrade at Dalish Ruin to enable this equipment. Cost: 100

## Strategy

Although these Iron Hills Warriors may not be elite hybrid Swordsmen-Pikemen units like their counterparts in standard play, they are still powerful Swordsmen units who come pre-equipped with Heavy Armor and have a much lower resource cost and CP requirement. This combined with their high health makes them some of the tankiest Swordsmen units available to the Adventure: Battle of the Five Armies subfaction. **Sundering Strikes** decreases the armour of those they strike, making it easier for those affected to be killed by the entire army. **Natural Sprinters** allows the Iron Hills Warriors to charge at an enemy, allowing them to deal heavy damage and clear a path for one's allies while also providing a brief armour and damage buff. **Intimidation** allows the Iron Hills Warriors to passively slow enemies around them, mitigating their natural slow speed and making it easier to chase down enemies or disengage if necessary. In order to make full use out of Iron Hills Warriors, one should equip them with Khuzdûl Runes through the Armouries of Thrór Fortress ability and pair them with heroes with compatible leaderships such as Dáin Ironfoot or Thorin Oakenshield.