By JWBarry

 

As you play the Battle for Helm’s Deep and earn medals completing objectives and quests you will earn points to spend within Promotions, the advancement system for Epic Battles. Your highest lifetime medal on each quest is added up, with bronze counting for 1 point, silver for 2, gold for 3, and platinum for 4, for a maximum of 216 points earnable.

 

We refer to the Promotions trait system as the ‘Buffet.’ Points are spent on the traits on the right side of the panel, loosely grouped into columns for each role. Each trait has 5 ranks, with each rank increasing in cost but also in potency. Each trait requires a certain number of overall ranks to have been purchased in order to unlock it. It does not matter which role the traits were purchased in, the unlock only cares about the total number of ranks purchased.

 

As you spend points in a role’s traits, the banners on the left side will advance and unlock the expertise traits. These traits provide large and transformative benefits related to the roles. 

 

 

There are three primary areas of advancement within the Promotions. 

 

The Engineer, focuses on siege weaponry and interactives. Traits provide large amounts of increase towards the speed of performing nearly every interaction. Additionally, they gain the ability to utilize a series of traps, improving the trigger counts, efficacy, and frequency they can be placed. They also can gain greater personal defences against enemy siege and arrow fire.

 

Engineers expertise traits unlock the ability to use deployable catapults, barricades and ballista. They unlock advanced and powerful shells to be loaded into the catapults. They provide powders to be added to the catapult shells that can debuff the marching enemy formations. Expertise also unlocks the ability to apply damage, speed, range, and armour upgrades to catapults, ballistae, and barricades.

 

The Officer, focuses on directing and supporting the Rohirrim. Traits provide noticeable increases of strength of the heal, haste, damage and armour orders and also reduce the cooldowns on giving those orders. Officers also gain the ability to place banners that provide great benefits for engineers and officers, with traits that focus on increasing the strength and duration of the banners, and on reducing the cooldown. 

 

Officer expertise traits unlock the ability to order the Rohirrim to take different stances. They allow for the placement of banners and to tell the Rohirrim which type of enemy to focus on first. They increase the duration of all buffs delivered by your orders, and allow your banners to heal and be placed further away.

 

The Vanguard, focuses on defeating the enemy where they stand. With every enemy Vanguards defeat they accrue Killstreak which can be spent to trigger powerful new Area of Effect skills that damage the enemy. When they are defeated, their Killstreak is spent to trigger a Hero’s Death, inspiring Area of Effect skills that encourage and buff your allies. They can also select two effects, one offensive and one defensive, from a suite of options to have a chance to trigger when they defeat various types of enemies. Their advancement focuses on improving the strength of these skills and effects, reducing their cooldowns, increasing their chance of triggering, and raising the maximum killstreak that can be accumulated. Vanguards also have traits that improve your incoming and outgoing healing, damage, and runspeed.

 

 

Vanguard expertise traits unlock the various Killstreak and Hero’s Death skills. They also provide the suite of offensive and defensive kill proc effects. They additionally increase the duration of your Hero’s Death and boosts the area affected by your Killstreaks.