Chapter 5 - Multiplayer

This section provides some general strategies for The Battle for Middle-earth II’s multiplayer mode. You’ll find tips on being aggressive, utilizing powers, and unit management. The section also compiles all Evenstar and One Star powers for the forces of good and evil.

General Strategies

There are six races in The Battle for Middle-earth II; three "good" and three "evil" sides. Check the Forces of Good and Forces of Evil sections of this game guide for additional information on each race’s units, heroes, as well as additional tactics. This section provides some general strategies for The Battle for Middle-earth II’s multiplayer mode.

• As stated several times in this guide, combat isn’t simply about sending your army at the opposing player’s army. Certain units are better suited to battle other units. If you consider counters from unit production to combat, you’ll have a much higher rate of success in each battle. The general principle is that swordsmen defeat pikemen, pikemen defeat cavalry, cavalry defeat archers, and archers defeat swordsmen. Second tier archers (like Men of Dale or rangers) are also effective against "monsters" like trolls. Pikemen also are good against trolls as well as the massive Mumakil. On the flip side, it’s important to avoid fighting your unit’s counter. Don’t send cavalry charging at pikemen. Either wait until the pikemen are engaged and flank them or send your cavalry at a different unit group.
• Heroes (and units too but heroes especially) improve with experience--gain experience through combat, including neutral creatures like monster lairs scattered around the map. Level up your heroes in order to unlock additional, and more powerful, abilities to use in combat situations. It pays to be aggressive. Combat provides experience as well as points for your Evenstar or One Ring powers.
• Unlike the first game, you aren’t restricted to particular build plots. You can build anywhere, basically. Resource production structures are somewhat limited, however. Although you can build anywhere, you shouldn’t build them too close together or the structures lose efficiency. But the same structures also increase the command limit, which allows you to create more units. In longer games, you will have to forgo efficiency simply for the increase in command limit.
Scouting the map is as important as scouting the enemy. Most maps have unique features, such as Signal Fires, Outposts, Inns, or Lairs. Capture a Signal Fire to reduce the recharge time for your powers. Capture an Outpost to receive a resource bonus. Capturing an Inn allows you to train a specific unit from that structure--and the unit is cheaper than its "normal" counterpart.
• Since you need them and they will often be spaced out, harassing an opponent’s spread resource structures is a viable, and often used, tactic. The Dwarves and Goblins fair better in the defense because you can have a defensive force ready to exit the Mine Shaft or Tunnel at a click of the interface. If you’re the aggressor, build a military structure before your first resource building. Train a few battalions while constructing your first resource building then start sending waves at your enemy. Increase resource buildings while also increasing your army as well as erecting new unit-producing structures. Mordor and Goblins are good rushers because of their cheaper base units. The Elves are better in a longer game where their upgrades come into play.
• Consider Evenstar and One Ring power selection carefully. In an expected "short" game, such as a contest that features rushes and high aggressive, it can pay off to select more lower level powers instead of saving up points for a higher level power. But you must maintain that same aggression so you’re battling every time Rallying Call, Elven Wood or Tainted Land, War Chant are ready for use. In longer games, it may be wiser to save up points and move down the power tree toward the higher cost and generally more fierce powers.
• In longer games, unit improvements and upgrades (Heavy Armor, Forged Blades, Silverthorn Arrows, etc) can mean the difference between winning and losing. But be careful how fast you begin making that investment. Improvements are costly. Diverting resources to acquire an upgrade means you aren’t using those same resources to create an army...something your opponent happens to be doing. Working up the upgrade tree without addressing an army leaves your structures vulnerable to a rush.
• On a similar note, it’s important to scout your enemy. It could be stealthed rangers or one of the powers but it’s important to maintain tabs on what your enemy is doing. You may discover weaknesses in your opponent’s defenses (a vulnerable resource structure, for instance) as well as what units your opponent has chosen to create. Your opponent may begin training a large amount of cavalry units; start creating pikemen to counter.