With the addition of four new characters, Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition rounds out its roster of AI opponents at twen🅘ty. They're designed to have a range of difficulties and strategies, so your approach to fighting one Lord or Lady won't necessarily work against another. If there are multiple chaꦦracters on a team against you, you'll need to contend with all their personae at once.

Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition - Achieꦐvement Guide
Unlock the full list of SCDE's Achievements to show✱ your mastery of this classic game.
You don't have any control over who you fight on Skirmish Trails, but if you set up a🎉 Custom Skirmish you can fight against whomever you want.♕ That's a good way to practice!
Beginner Lords
These characters ar♊e designed to be easier than most, either because they tend to use weak units and inefficient strategy, or because they just aren't particularly focused on fighting.
Character |
Favored Units |
Style |
Tips |
---|---|---|---|
Rat |
Spearmen |
Sends Spearmen rushes without much suppor🌌t or planning. |
Simple walls manned by Archers should be plenty ওto stop the Rat's charges; just make sure to defend your resource camps as well. Just about any unit type will outclass the Rat's armies, so once you get inside his walls a Maceman rush to his Keep♔ should finish him off. |
Snake |
Archers, Slaves, Slingers |
Basic walls defended by bows and sling🌜s, with Slave raids on undefended resource camps. |
The Snake tries to burn down your farms and mines until his economy can outpace your own, then strike once he's in a position of strength. Pಞatrol you💟r supply routes to keep him from succeeding, and respond with raids of your own, and you can lay siege to his fortress at your leisure. |
Sultan |
Arabian Swordsmen, Slingers |
Uses entertainment buildings to boost troop ไmoꦇrale, at the expense of his economy. |
The Sultan's armies tend to be on the smaller side, but they can deal outsize amounts of damage thanks to his 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fear Factor bonus. Use Archers and Crossbows to out-range his Slingers, with Swordsmen to protect your bow line from the🥃 occasional infantry push. Fire Ballistae and Catap🌠ults will make quick work of his walls and defenders. |
Emir |
Arabian Swordsen |
Focuses 🔯on economy to build up large forces of Arabian Swordsmen, then attacks in numbers. |
Predict where the Emir will attack and set up towers 🍸with Ballistae and Mangonels, supported by as many Crossbows as you can afford. When his Swordsmen push fails, he'll take a while to set up another one. Use that time to reset your defenses while preparing your own siege. If you use fast troops like Macemen, you can move your own attackers into position while his troops are halfway between his castle and yours; they'll be too slow to turn around and respond effectively. |
Abbot |
Monks, Catapults |
The Abbot tends to have poor-quality infantry but l🌟ots of Catapults to breach wall🍨s for them. |
Knights, Macemen, and Horse Archers can race out to deal with the Catapults as they arrive, and are more than capable of handling the Monks in combat. Use multiple Trebuchets to knꦇock down the Abbot's walls, since he tends to build them thick, then send the Macemen in for the kill. |
Balanced Lords
These characters strike a balance between offense and 🐠defense, while still providing a moderate challenge on botꩵh fronts.
Character |
Favored Units |
Style |
Tips |
---|---|---|---|
Wolf |
Pikemen, Swordsmen, Trebuchets |
Armored troops and well-planned castles make the💜 Wolf dangerous on both attack and defense. |
Use both stationary and mobile Ballistae to penetrate the armor of his infantry. Push progressively closer to his walls until you can get a Battering Ram into place, supported by Trebuchet 🦂bombardment. A secon🔯dary force of Assassins can also be useful, since they can quickly defeat armored infantry. |
Nizar |
Assassins |
Favors unconventional warfꦕare, sending𒊎 waves of Assassins to head straight for your Lord. |
Keep patrols on all your walls and in your Keep to watch for Assassins from every possible angle. The Nizar's own base is usually filled with traps, so send cheap units in first before committing with your more 🤪valuable troops. |

Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edi💛tion - Economy Guide
Master the feudal economy of Stronghold Crusader!
Defensive Lords
These characters prefer to build strong fortifications, letting you wear yourself out trying to attack them🌠 while they prepare their own assault.
Character |
Favored Units |
Style |
Tips |
---|---|---|---|
Pig |
Crossbowmen, Macemen |
Builds up progressively ꦚlarger raiding parties of Macemen until he can start producing siege engines. |
Keep the pressuꦐre on the Pig by targeting his Dairy Farms; without leather, he can't produce either of his favorite units. His castle will be defended by Crossbows, making it hard to ge🔥t close, so bombard it at long range with Trebuchets before moving in. |
Saladin |
Arabian Bowmen, Arabian Swordsmen |
Builds a strong, defensibl𓄧e fortress while developing a powerful army. Only attacks when he's good and ready. |
Use Saladin's patience to your advantage by taking the time to build Pitch Ditches and Killing Pits around your walls. You can also outflank him with Horse Archers; whatever it takes to catch him o🅷ff guard. Once you'v🍬e dismantled his carefully-built army, have your siege engines ready to move out and counterattack before he can rebuild. |
Caliph |
Slaves, Fire Ballistae |
Builds lots of towers and likes to ⭕use fire, including Pitch Ditches. |
Patrol your resource camps with Archers or Slingers to drive off the frequent attacks from Slaves; otherwise, the Calip🌠h will burn your economy to the ground. Otherwise, he's content to hid behind his towers. Trebuchets are great for getting through his walls, but you'll likely need a Knight charge to get rid of the Fire Ballistae he'll have stationed around the perimeter. Send a wave of cheap units in first to trigger any fire traps, though. |
Frederick |
Crossbowmen, Trebuchets |
Builds up a mass🔥ive economy to spam Trebu🍬chets in the late game. |
It's important to harass Frederick's supply lines at every opp❀ortunity; raid his lumber camps, quarries, mines, and🔯 farms to slow him down. Even just eliminating peasants going to and from their workplaces helps. Battering Rams and possibly even Tunnelers can be a useful way of getting to his walls, since he relies more on ranged attacks than melee. Have Knights or Macemen ready to charge his Trebuchets and shut the🍌m down when he comes to lay siege to your castle. |
Sheriff |
Crossbowmen |
Encloses as much ofꦜ his territory as he can and makes heavy use of traps. |
The Sheriff is more focused on building 💟up a strong economy, but his defenses can be formidable. He tends to overextend his𒊎 walls, so try to cut off his supplies of stone and pitch. Once you create a breach, a massed rush of Slaves and Fire Throwers can cause a lot of havoc in his city, especially since he'll likely have an attack penalty thanks to his Fear Factor. |
Marshall |
Knights |
Builds up a large force of Knights. |
Attack from two fronts🦄; one to draw out the Knights into a hail of Ballista fire, and another to actually breach his fortress. If they have enough support to get over the walls, Assassins can sometimes be a quick way of finishing off the Marshall. |
Sentinel |
Macemen, Crossbowmen |
Buildܫs power✃ful defenses first, then develops an attack force. |
The Sentinel is a late-game threat, so hit his economy whenever possible. He always builds his walls in a cross shape, which can leave some resource camps undefended. Don't fall for the trap of trying to go straight for the Keep at the center of the 🧜cro🍎ss; you'll just end up getting shot at by towers from all sides. Instead, dismantle two adjacent arms of the cross and work your way in. |
Kahinah |
Eunuchs, Heavy Camels |
Builds up slowly, but attacks in fꦐorce once she does. |
Use Horse Archers to keep pace with her camel units in open terrain, and harass her economy w🔯hen not in battle. Her castles usually have traps, so be prepared to send in throwaway units when the time comes to attack. |
Aggressive Lords
These characters like to keep the pressure on, soꦕmetimes at the cost of defense. This can leave them vulnerable on defense if you can afford to move units away from your garrison, but you can expect to always have some of their troops causing trouble in your territory somewhere at all times.
Character |
Favored Units |
Style |
Tips |
---|---|---|---|
Lionheart |
Swordsmen |
Encloses his main structures, leaving everything else out in the open, then attacks constantly 💎and relentlessly. |
Build your own defenses first to we🧸ather the Lionheart's endless assaults, with a squad of Horse Archers and Slaves to run around picking off his peasants and resource buildings. When the time comes to besiege him, bring Fire Ballistae, Swordsmen, andꦗ Crossbows to fight off the inevitable counterattack while your Catapults and Trebuchets do their work. |
Philip |
Knights |
Builds lots of Stables to ꦬsupport a large fo💫rce of Knights. |
Knights are dangerous, but only on open ground. Have plenty of Ballistae mounted on your towers and they'll have trouble reaching your walls. Traꦗps are also great at one-shotting Philip's expensive cavalry. If the map allows it, try flanking his base with Slaves or Fire Throwers to🍒 burn his Stables to the ground. |
Wazir |
Horse Archers |
Stockpiles food and constantly raids enemy farms. |
Towers and patrols of ranged units, including Horse Archers of your own, are essential for dealing with the Wazir's cavalry. If you can, get your Trebuchets in range to destroy his Granary; since he relies so much on food, losing it can cause his recruit pooꦗl to dry up. |
Jewel |
Swordsmen, Knights |
Builds an army, attacks, repeats. |
The Jewel is predictable, which can be useful. You can either slow her down by interrupting her supply chain, or let her attac𓃲k like clockwork and catch her army in a trap similarly to Saladin. Like other armor-heavy characters, use Ballistae to blunt her attack, then counter by barraging her walls with Trebuchets before moving in for the kill. |
Nomad |
Camel Lancers, Skirmishers |
Fast-moving, mobile warfare. More fo🃏cused on raiding than fortress assaults. |
Like the Wazir, yꦬou need to make sure that your resources are well-defended while the Nomad is around. A rush of your own with Assassins, Macemen, or even Horse Archers can take the Nomad down quickly before he becomes too much of a problem; just beware of traps in his camp. |

Stꦏronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition - Combat Guide
Learn the basics of 🌌winning battles in Stronghold Crusader!