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Your troops in Age Of Darkness: Final Stand are 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.
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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 their purple 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.
- Spitters’ ranged attacks deal moderate damage and Horrify units in a small circular area.
- Wraiths create a large circular burst upon dying that doesn’t deal damage, but Horrifies everything caught in it.
- Crushers have a cone-shaped stomp attack that deals heavy damage and inflicts Horror.
There are also some Malices that can cause Horror, so watch out for them to spawn on Death Nights. By the same token, the Nightmare Fuel Blessing 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 the Change Of Heart Blessing.
Effects Of Horror
A unit that is Horrified will have a purple icon next to their health bar and on their portrait. This status inflicts two major debuffs until it is removed:
- Severely reduced movement speed.
- Severely reduced health regeneration outside of combat.
It’s especially important to note that abilities like Aurelia’s Dark Fury, which allow units to regenerate during combat, will use the reduced regen rate if the affected units are Horrified. That’s all the more reason to deal with it sooner rather than later.
The Volatists’ faction perk reduces, 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 also the 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 by having an effective unit stand in the radius of a light source. The buildings that meet this requirement are:
- The Keep
- Torch Sconce
- Torch Tower
As long as a unit stays in the light, the Horror icon will fade over 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 units gain points toward Emboldening as 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 a gold 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, they remain that way until the end of the game or their death, whichever comes first. An Emboldened unit is completely immune to Horror, and gains an additional benefit based on their faction:
- Emboldened Order units increase their maximum HP.
- Emboldened Rebellion units deal more damage.
Emboldening takes a long time, so it’s important to constantly send your troops out to hunt Nightmares and keep as many of them alive as possible. Use Triage Tents and tactical retreats to save Emboldened units first, as their loss will be a bigger blow to your army’s effectiveness than new recruits.
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