Hi!

My name is Fae, and I run a Twitch & YouTube channel called QueerJunk! I recently played the game on the hardest difficulty with permadeath enabled, and learned things throughout the game that I wished I had known at the beginning so I could have made stronger squads, and had an easier time on some of the more difficult stages. This guide includes most of the Tips & Tricks I learned from my first play-through, that i wished I had known before starting the game!

Affinity
The affinity system, determines how a units stats will grow as it levels throughout the game. It also affects hit/crit chance depending on the turns weather, which is randomly determined and therefore not worth considering generally.




You will come across items in both the marketplace, and from the battlefield, that allow you to change the affinity of any unit. These are very valuable, and should be purchased whenever they are available. This is so you are able to change the affinity of units with multiple traits that you find.

There are also other factors that allow you to influence the growth of a units stats. These are:

• Unit Class
  
• Items
  
• Capturing Objectives
  
• Base Value

[Unit Class]: The class a unit is when it levels will change how the stats develop. A unit generally gains stats that will be beneficial for the associated class at a greater rate then other stats. Stat growth is better for classes in higher tiers, so you always want to promote your units as quickly as possible (at the lowest level) to have the best stat growth for the desired class.

For this reason - some players advise avoiding the "professionalism" talent, since a unit recruited at a higher level, will generally have worse stats for a desired class then a unit you train from a low level.

The following table describes the stat-growth for classes, and includes some recommendations for how to promote your starting units. It is better to make your archers from fighters since they prefer STR > SKL for damage calculations.


[Items]: Certain items allow you to boost an individual stat for a specific unit. These can be divided into two categories.

• +LDR
  
• + STR/MAG/SKL
  
• Proof Of Merit

The Medal of Honor will allow you to increase the LDR of a single squad leader. LDR is only used for squad capacity, and allowing you to equip items, so you only want to use them on squad leaders that you will keep forever. Save them for when you need to use them on squads with decent leaders to equip items or add an extra unit, and avoid wasting them on units with no leadership traits.

The items that increase STR/MAG/SKL should either be used on main characters - or on units you intend to develop like dragons, or units with strong traits.

Proof Of Merit will allow you to make any unit who has maximized their CP in a late game class "golden". Golden units have increased stats across the board and are better in every way. Save these for units with great stats & traits to watch them demolish your opponents.

Capturing Objectives Capturing objectives during battle will lead to the squad leader gaining +LDR - this bonus will always be shared with the Main Character(Lindly) so you should avoid capturing objectives with them to maximize LDR gain.

Base Value Units start off with different stats, units that have a higher base level of a desired stat, and are also at a lower level, will be able to gain even more of that desired stat as they level based on their class archetype.

Traits come in three flavors,- Leader Traits, Unit Traits. Leader traits, affect an entire squad, and can reduce capacity costs, or provide terrain based advantages. Leader traits cannot be taught, and must be found either on new units in the marketplace & bazaar. Since LDR is a manipulable stat, squad leaders with traits will always outscale leaders without traits given enough training.

It is possible to teach a single trait to any unit, by using the items you will find throughout the game. This is important to consider, because some units start with more traits then others. This means it's possible for one unit to have 5 traits, while another will be capped at 1. Due to this fact, it's wise to grab units that have traits, and use them to phase out your units without traits.

This brings up a last consideration with traits, which is that some of them are tied to a specific class, and others change over time. The mercenary trait increases the capacity cost of individual units, making it more difficult to fit them into squads with low LDR. This trait will evolve over time, eventually becoming loyal, which will reduce their capacity cost. This means it's worth it to pick up mercenaries with good traits, and train them until they can fit into their ideal squad if they can't fit immediately. The traits which are bound to individual classes(Guerilla, Polearm Warrior, Guardian, etc) are attainable by any unit, so long as the unit is the appropriate class.

Unit Traits: Traits such as thievery can be taught to any unit. This particular trait is very important since it is one of the main ways to generate gold which allows you to buy better artifacts & mercenarys. Try to prioritize units with high SKL to maximize the bonus gold from combat.

Leader Traits: Leader Traits DO NOT consume the trait learnable space on a unit. This makes them useful for stacking onto a unit who is already capped out on unit traits but does not have an existing leader trait. Traits like treasure hunter are essential for finding better artifacts throughout the game.

Squad Classification
A squads classification has a strong impact on the overall strength of your individual squads. They can enable combat effects based on the terrain, allow you to attack from a range without repercussion, and control the way your squad can move throughout the map. A squad is classified based on the majority of the units in that squad.

Squads may be classified as:

The bonus effects gained from squad classification have significant implications in battle, and understanding how the system works can lead to some interesting compositions.

Since the classification of a squad is determined by the majority of units(with rare exceptions) you can gain the combat bonuses from a particular squad without every unit in the squad having that trait.

Calvalery Squads gain bonus movement and can also move after launching an attack. To gain this effect, only a majority of the units need to be on horses, not every unit. A unit that doesn't look like a horse, can have the same mobility, so long as the majority of the squad members are on a horse.

Light Squads gain terrain based advantages, and have a higher SKL rate which improves their dodge chance. They are also capable of ambushing, which allows them to attack without receiving a counterattack, when they initiate that attack from a forest. They also gain significant bonus dodge when being attacked in an open field.

Flying practically breaks the game, can fly over mountains & rivers, use tiles unavailable to grounded units, etc. Since classification is determined by a majority, you can have a ground unit in a flying squad and maintain the bonus. However, a flying squad will immediately be grounded by adding a horse unit, or a cannon.

The placement of your units within a squad matters and has an impact on how they receive attacks. Many of the tanks classes have the guardian trait, which decreases the damage of units behind them. It is also possible to place units in the middle of two tiles instead of directly on top of one. Which can allow a single unit to provide cover for two units.

Assassins & rogues always launch their attacks from the back. So the center row is actually the safest row for healers and casters, since the units behind them and in front of them will need to die before they have priority to get hit.

By late game you will be able to play up to 20 squads simultaneously, and your squad leader will determine which sprite is used for the unit during combat.

The A.I. squads will target whatever unit has the lowest threat rating when possible. This allows you to somewhat abuse the A.I. by making tanky squads have lower threat ratings then your DPS squads. Threat rating is influenced by artifacts, and the individual strength of each unit on the squad.

Dragons are the only flying units available in the game, and will show up in both the marketplace & bazaar. They start out as very weak but once trained become unstoppable powerhouses with insane mobility. You will receive two dragons throughout the story for free, if you want a full squad you will need to recruit an additional dragon.(They take ~two spaces, so only 3 can fit on a squad) You will only come across a certain amount of dragons in a specific run, and this chance can be enhanced through the tech tree. Unless you love dragons, you probably won't need to recruit more then 4 which can form two full flying squads.

Since dragons only need to class change in order to evolve into a greater form - they are a great recipient for the CP codex's you will receive from doing the arena. Dragons damage is influenced by a combination of their STR & MAG, the color of the dragon when it evolves is also dependent on their stat growth. The following table explains the different kind of dragons, as well as their optimal affinities and what they specialize in.



In order to create dragon riders you will need to do the associated research in your tech tree. It's worth noting that until a dragon becomes a dragon rider it cannot fly with the exception of Azure who you receive through the campaign.

I sincerely hope you appreciated the guide! I had a lot of fun putting it together! If I missed anything, please let me know in the comments below! I also stream almost daily on https://www.twitch.tv/queerjunk - feel free to stop by and say hi! I play War of Symphony frequently, and am always open to answering questions or theorycrafting OP squads! It would also mean the world to me if you would consider checking out my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/QueerJunk - I am hoping to release some Symphony Of War content in the near future and am so close to reaching 1,000 subs! I hope you have a wonderful day! God Bless!