Rise of the Witch King

Stacking in 2.02 is so easy, even the caveman in the Geico commercial can do it, or understand it as the case may be. So why can't RotWK players? Anyone who's taken the time to read the 2.02 Stacking Guide knows exactly what's going on, but for those who haven't, this quick summary will prove helpful.

Positive Modifiers

There are three types of positive modifiers: Leadership, Buffs, and Spells. It is extremely important to stack as many positive modifiers as possible, because modifiers stacked together are far more powerful together than the sum of their parts.

• Leadership grants +33% Damage, +33% Armor, and +50% Experience. Leadership stacks with anything except another Leadership (or a Nullifier), so units can only be affected by one Leadership at a time. If your units are affected by Leadership, they will have a hollow yellow circle FX. Sources of Leadership include Leadership given by heroes, Fortress Banners, Heroic Statues, the Eye of Sauron, and Frozen Land.
  
  
• Buffs grant +50% Damage and +50% Armor. Buffs stack with anything except another Buff, so units can only be affected by one Buff at a time. If your units are affected by a Buff, they will have a solid yellow circle FX. Rallying Call, War Chant, Land Powers (except Frozen Land), Howls, Charges, and Gorkil's Skull Totem are all examples of Buffs.
  
  
• Spells grant +33% Damage and +33% Armor and stack with everything, even other Spells (as long as they're not both the same Spell). They're very rare, though, so don't expect to see them often. If your units are affected by a Spell, they will have an FX unique to each Spell. If multiple Spells are in effect, there will be multiple FXes to indicate that the Spells are stacking. The five Spells are Darkness, Glorfindel's Starlight, Dain's Mighty Rage, Morgomir's Dark Glory, and Sorcerers' Fell Strength.
  

Negative Modifiers

There are three different types of negative modifiers: Debuffs, Nullifiers, and Dread Wrath. Units can only be affected by one Debuff or Nullifier at a time. If your units are affected by a Debuff or a Nullifier, they will have a purple FX.

• Debuffs do not stack with other negative modifiers. Debuffs are passive modifiers that don't require activation: Gate Watchers, the Elven Fortress's Blessed Mist, the Angmar Fortress's House of Lamentation, Black Numenorean and Dark Rangers' Death Mask, and Khamul and Morgomir's Dread Visage. Debuffs reduce enemy damage and armor by 25%.
  
  
• Nullifiers do not stack with other negative modifiers and take precedence over Debuffs. The difference between a Nullifier and a Debuff is that a Nullifier will cancel any Leadership affecting the units before its own effect is applied. Nullifiers are active modifiers that you have to click on to use: Cave Bats, Crebain, the power Enshrouding Mist, the Mouth of Sauron's Doubt, Wormtongue's Venomous Words, Dain's Mighty Rage, and Freezing Rain. Nullifiers reduce enemy damage and armor by 25%.
  
  
• Both Witch-king's Dread Wrath abilities do not stack with other negative modifiers and take precedence over them. Dread Wrath functions the same as a Nullifier in canceling Leadership, but reduces enemy damage and armor by 33%, rather than 25%, and uses purple smoke FX, which will cancel the standard Debuff/Nullifier FX to indicate that Dread Wrath takes precedence. Note that the Mordor Witch-king's negative modifier was renamed from "Dread Visage" to "Dread Wrath" in 2.02.

It's easy to visually tell that Debuffs stack with Leadership but Nullifiers do not. A Debuff like Dread Visage will not remove the hollow yellow circle FX from units affected by Leadership, so you know the modifiers stack. On the other hand, a Nullifier like Doubt will remove the hollow yellow circle FX if what would otherwise be a source of Leadership is nearby. Neither Debuffs nor Nullifiers will remove the solid yellow circle FX of a Buff, because Nullifiers only cancel Leadership, not Buffs.


Those are the basics of stacking, which every player should be able to understand easily. For a more detailed look at stacking, read the 2.02 Stacking Guide. If you have any questions remaining, please ask in this guide's discussion topic.


Originally published Nov. 6, 2009

Updated Sep. 23, 2010