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Beginner Anti-Cavalry Guide

“How to Stop Cavalry from Rolling Over Your Lines”

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1. Core Principles

A. Armor Penetration vs. Cavalry Speed

• Cavalry’s Strength: Speed boosts their armor penetration, allowing them to bypass armor.
• Your Goal: Nullify their speed advantage with braced pikes, terrain, and crowd control (CC).

B. The 3 Pillars of Anti-Cavalry

1. Positioning (Terrain, Formation)
2. Unit Synergy (Pikes + Shields + Ranged)
3. Hero Play (Disruption, Buffs, Debuffs)

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2. Unit Selection & Veterancy

A. Best Anti-Cavalry Units

Unit	Tier	Role	Mandatory knowledge
Fortebraccio Pikemen	T4	Anti-Cavalary	Cant attack close enemies
Imperial Pike Guards	T4	Advance brace, AOE CC provider with solid dmg	Advance counts as brace, means brace doctrines applying towards charge
Phalanx	T5	Brace, Cav & Infantry DPS, Advance Brace	Pressing V during brace, makes them rotate on their own. Advance counts as brace
Camel Lancer	T4	Anti Cav – Tank	Every cav stops within a small radius around the camels, dealing 3-33 dmg, but CCing cav constantly. | Fighter Doctrine gets triggered by this effect

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3. Positioning & Terrain

A. Ideal Anti-Cavalry Setup

[Elevation/Uphill]  
  |  
  |  
[Chokepoint/Narrow Street]  
  |  
  v  
LAYERED DEFENSE:  
1. Frontline: Shield Units
2. Midline: Braced Pikes
3. Backline: Ranged
4. Flank Guards: Heroes with CC (Shortsword, Maul)  

• Key: Force cavalry into chokepoints or uphill charges to reduce their speed modifier.

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4. Formation Strategies

A. Pike Brace Formations

1. Double Line:

• First line: Braced pikes.
• Second line: Reserve pikes to rotate after a charge.
• Wombo Combo: Phalanx backwards advance once enemy pushes, meanwhile second line Imperial Spears forward advance

1. Wedge Behind Shields:

• Shields absorb initial impact; pikes behind deal damage.

B. Anti-Flank Formations

• dont stay open create a path you force them to use
• Pikes face outward in all directions (useful in open fields).
• Heroes patrol flanks to intercept cavalry.

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5. Hero Roles & Skills

A. Disruption Heroes

Every hero can disrupt most of any cav with their hard CC.
Glaive Ult, Maul hard CC, SS Ult, Longsword Ult etc you get the point

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6. Advanced Tactics

A. Pre-Charge Disruption

• Ranged Stagger: Use anykind of soft and hard CC (including slow) to shoot/cc cavalry before they can start Akkumulate speed, they stop charging once a certain % movementspeed decrease happens

B. Post-Charge Cleanup

• Cavalry of Your Own: Counter-charge with your cav
• Clean up with your infantry/range once their charge key skill stopps

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7. Flowchart: How to Stop a Cavalry Charge

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8. Doctrines & Equipment

A. Must-Have Doctrines

**If youre unit has Stun on brace as veterancy line, change the doc to some extra dmg or another anti cav doc.

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9. Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Braiding pikes too late (brace 2-3 seconds before impact).
2. Letting pikes fight alone (always pair with shields/ranged).
3. Ignoring cavalry’s veterancy perks

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10. Visual Diagram: Anti-Cavalry Fortress

[High Ground]  
  ▲  
  |  
  |  
[Chokepoint]  
■■■■■■■■■■  Shield Wall
  | | | |   Braced Pikes  
  ʘ ʘ ʘ     Ranged 

• Key: Use elevation and layered defense to maximize penalties for charging cavalry.

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Final Notes

Cavalry are strong but predictable. Force them into unfavorable engagements, and they’ll feed your team free kills.