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Your troops inAge Of Darkness: Final Standare tasked with holding the line against endless horrors welling up from the depths of the Veil. All things considered, they do a pretty good job of standing strong in the face of hundreds or even thousands of Nightmares. They’re only human, though, and they can only take so much; units can become Horrified, making their survival much less likely if you don’t do something about it.
This guide has everything you need to know about Horror and its effects, as well as how to remove it… or avoid it altogether.
How Do Units Become Horrified?
A few powerful Nightmares have attacks that will Horrify any units hit by them. These are easily denoted by theirpurple area indicators, so if you can move your units out of the danger zone before the attack lands, you can save yourself a lot of trouble.
There are also some Malices that can cause Horror, sowatch out for them to spawn on Death Nights.By the same token, theNightmare FuelBlessing fully heals any units that become Horrified, letting you turn a disadvantage into a potential boon.
Heroes can never become Horrified, nor can any Nightmares that switch to your side via theChange Of HeartBlessing.
Effects Of Horror
A unit that is Horrified will have apurple icon next to their health bar and on their portrait.This status inflicts two major debuffs until it is removed:
It’s especially important to note that abilities like Aurelia’sDark Fury, which allow units to regenerate during combat, willuse the reduced regen rateif the affected units are Horrified. That’s all the more reason to deal with it sooner rather than later.
The Volatists' faction perkreduces, but does not remove,the penalties for being Horrified, but Volatist units also deal more damage while Horrified.It’s up to you to decide whether the trade-off is worth it.
Siege Units And Horror
Siege Units can be Horrified just like infantry, and since their movement speed is already very slow to begin with, getting them to safety can be difficult. They’re alsothe most expensive units in the game, so if your precious Impalers are suffering from Horror, it’s usually worth sacrificing other troops to cover their slow escape.
How To Remove Horror
Horror can only be removed byhaving an effective unit stand in the radius of a light source. The buildings that meet this requirement are:
As long as a unit stays in the light, theHorror icon will fadeover the course of a few seconds. Once it’s gone, the Horror and its penalties are removed.
Try building a Torch Sconce to support expeditions far from the Keep; having an easy spot to gather and remove Horror will make things much easier.
What Is Emboldening?
Order and Rebellion unitsgain points toward Emboldeningas they kill Nightmares. Basic troops like Soldiers are easy to Embolden, while more elite units take several hundred kills. An Emboldened unit is indicated by agold icon next to their health bar and on their portrait.
Volatist units cannot become Emboldened. Heroes gain Experience and level up instead of becoming Emboldened.
Once a unit is Emboldened, theyremain that way until the end of the game or their death, whichever comes first.An Emboldened unit iscompletely immune to Horror, and gains an additional benefit based on their faction:
Emboldening takes a long time, so it’s important toconstantly send your troops out to hunt Nightmaresand keep as many of them alive as possible. UseTriage Tentsand tactical retreats to save Emboldened units first, as their loss will be a bigger blow to your army’s effectiveness than new recruits.
