Analyzing the Skills and Traits in EW5

I think this could be very a useful thread in my opinion, especially for new comers. I will try ro rate all of the skills out of 5 stars, with 5 being the absolute best skills whereas the 1 stars being useless. On the other hand, traits are the abilities a general recieves at lvl 6. I will rate those as well. I will edit this post overtime to make sure its as accurate as possible.

So without further adeiu, let’s get started.


5/5 Stars - while you shouldn’t by a general just because he or she has these skills, they are definitely very influential in the decision making.

1. Leadership: a very good skill that halves the enemy attack. Very cheap too.
2. Armor Master: halves the damage recieved.
3. Cure Master: better than logistics as it heals both the general who has it and everyone surrounding.
4. The commander skills. These skills strongly increase the output of a general and the surrounding units of the same type. Increases the attack by 50%, which is very very strong.
5. Mass fire - +50% damage. Enuff said.

4/5 Stars - also very good skills, and they also greatly influence the players opinion of a general. But personally, these skills are not as good as the ones mentioned above and can be considered overrated.

1. Logistics - a good skill that heals 12% of a general’s health when it triggers. While it is without a doubt useful, it doesn’t help the team out and there are many examples of weak generals with this skill (5 stars if used right).
2. Plunder - same as logistics although arguably it saves many medals. I have yet to find a bad general who gets this skill as the last trait.
3. Rumor - arguably the strongest debuff but has a very small chance to trigger.
4. Cover - -40% damage is always appreciated. Makes generals such as Joan of Arc Petain and Suleiman better candidates for end game.
5. Braveness - not being countterattacked can be very powerful, especially on cavarly. But of course, a general must be strong beforehand and not being able to heal will also be an issue.
6. Destroy - exactly the same as braveness except its a trait.
7. Strike - exclusive only to Li Hongzang. A good skill because most cavalry is extremely vulnerable to archers. Also good because archers have range.


3/5 Stars - the helpful skills. These aren’t the best but they could be considered icing on the cake. Very helpful.
1. Spy - halves the enemy defense but =/= doing double damage. Still, you will do 1/4 more damage against units so it isn’t bad.
2. Stomp - while on paper 100% more damage against infantry when on cavarly sounds overpowered, remember that it is only against infantry. Also, while the generals with stomp are good, they are not the Elite generals. Best example is genghis khan who is surpassed by Atilla.
3. Volley - provides a very good safe chance of not being counterrattacked. A good skill nevertheless.
4. Marshal - for generals with very little hp, this will be a lifesaver. For others, it will still be good as it adds an addition 560 hp points. Very expensive to upgrade don’t forget.
5. Shield - this is a cavarly skill which decreases the damage from archers by a half. Very effective especially against archers who do not have a damage boost against cavarly.
6. Phalanx - makes an infantry unit have the equivalent power of an artillery unit. Very good in my opinion as the damage artillery deals is very weak.
7. Fury - strong counterattack damage is also a good skill. As this is infantry exclusive, infantry does make the best meatshield in the game so it is no surprise this skill is good.
8. Assualt - + 50% damage against infantry is also very good.
9. Accuracy - only good for archers but still a great skill. +50% damage to cavarly.
10. Armor -50% damage from cavarly is very useful for infantry units, especially against cavarly generals who lose their bonuses against infantry.
11. Longbow - allows archers the ability to hit targets from 3 hexes away. A very good skill, but loses the damage boost to cavarly (which it is better than anyway).
12. Bravery - a general who can’t get rumored (or an infantry general as it is exclusive to only infantry) makes a very very good meatshield. Can attack the generals with rumor or sailor without breaking a sweat.
13. Alert - a quite good skill as traps can be very bothersome.
14. Inspiration - increases output and defense by 20%, so it is definitely not a waste of a slot.
15. Bugle - similar to inspiration but it does the exact opposite to the enemy. It is quite good as it has a 100% chance to trigger and will be very irritating for generals that lack inspiration, which is the majority.
16. Mobility for any unit: this one is a bit tricky. It really depends on the specific general. For a general with a weak defense or weak output, or even a general made for Debuffing, or cleopatra, this will be a mediocre skill. I also felt that there were many cavarly generals in the game who would have strongly benefitted from a different trait other then this one. But in the case of a strong cavarly general or Jebe, this skill will be a 4/5 stars as it allows for both the rage meter to fill up quickly and for the map to be cleared with a bit more ease. Averaging those too, I placed it here.


2/5 Stars - useful skills, but not the best. You could almost consider that they are wasting a slot.

1. Attack master - + 100 attack is very neglible in the end game, considering that generals can often deal above 1000 damage even during the discovery age. But a boost to damage is always appreciated.
2. Defense master - Better than attack master. But considering skills such as spy exist, this skill is still in the 2/5 skills category. But still not a bad skill.
3. Shelter - -75% damage but only against artillery. Artillery is not the biggest threat, but if your general has this skill, feel free to upgrade it.
4. Archery - archers are definitely a big threat in the game but taking out archers with other archers can be very risky. But this skill is good in my opinion. I might even include it in the 3/5 stars category later.
5. Formation master/assualt master/explosive master/sniper master- while damaging the other surrounding units is a plus and it also increases the actual hit of a unit, ANY other skill instead of this one would be better. Not completely useless but it can definitely be considered a waste of a skill slot as it only triggers once every 4 turns.
6. Fire dragon - similar to the skill above but triggers every turn. Splash damage is always appreciated but it 1) isn’t overpowered or anything 2) sacrifices destroy, which is a much better skill.
7. Navigation - a decent skill, but as it only triggers in water, it is not good enough to make it to the 3/5 stars category.
8. Fort - not the best skill but can save some frustration when you have to defend cities, which is very common in conquest.

1/5 skills - these skills are useless and a waste of a slot.

1. Ambush - exclusive to El Cid. While a strong damage boost against archers would definitely be appreciated, putting it on a cavarly unit is ridiculous.
2. Accuracy on Lincoln - makes lincoln more annoying to fight. Oh wait, my Genghis khan has braveness. He can probably one shot Lincoln. Out of all of the cavarly generals with stomp, genghis khan and hannibal have braveness, while Batu Khan has leadership. Lincoln with find himself on the losing end in any of these situations.
3. Marching - a useless skill. Any infantry skill instead of this is better.
4. Samurai - there is very little damage loss in this game with detoriating health so any skill other than this will be better. Other than marching of course.

Let me know what you guys think, I am pretty open minded so I can definitely see myself moving some of these skills around.