Everybody knows that the only cavalry rushes that can be used competitively are the Rivendell Lancer rush, the Warg Pack rush, and the Haradrim Lancer rush. Though previously the standard Gondor Knight rush was sometimes, if rarely, used in 2.01, it has now fallen completely out of favor because it is simply ineffective, despite the buff Gondor Knights received in 2.02: the Men player was left open to attack for too long before he was able to get Soldiers of Gondor out to defend himself.
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Gondor Knight rushes failed because of a
lack of money. When you have enough money after building your first two Farms and your Stables, you can choose to build a third Farm then a Barracks, or go straight to the Barracks (skipping the Farm), or even buy a second battalion of Knights at some point in the process. However, in all of these variations of the rush, you're low on money and very vulnerable to enemy attack, especially from pikemen, until you can get your first Soldiers of Gondor out of your Barracks. You're basically left to choose between not having a Barracks in time to defend yourself and losing your Farms to enemy attack (if you built three Farms then a Barracks), or not having the resources to build units at all (if you skipped the third Farm). In short, the Gondor Knight rush was always a whole lot worse than the standard Soldiers of Gondor rush.
Newer Strategies
Caution, the rest of this guide is a bit old. In the current gameplay, a standard Gondor Knight rush usually works just fine. The build order in this guide is now considered alternative.
However, with a new, innovative new build order that has solved these previous problems. This build order allows you to get your Barracks up much sooner than normally, which is what makes it so much better.
2.01 --> 2.02 Changelog
- Gondor Knights:
--- CP requirement now 70 (from 60);
--- crush damage increased to 100 (from 80);
--- crush deceleration decreased to 25% (from 50%);
--- min crush velocity increased to 60% (from 50%);
--- vision penalty decreased to 50% on their flanks (from 35%);
--- pierce resistance increased to 40% (from 45%).
Executing the Build Order
->
->
->
->
-> Sell Stables ->
Before your Knights finish training, you will have enough money to buy a third Farm, which will give you the economic support you need to stay competitive after a cavalry rush. After your Knights finish training,
sell your Stables. This will instantly give you 300 resources, which would otherwise have taken twenty-four seconds to gather from just two Farms and the Fortress, delaying your Barracks by this much time. (Keep in mind your third Farm will be completed during this time, so it would actually take less than twenty-four if you did not sell; however, you still get your Barracks much faster with this variation.) These extra seconds are crucial, as they allow you to get Soldiers of Gondor out just in time to protect your base from the enemy.
Since you're going to sell your Stables, you can be a bit unconventional when placing it since it will not need to be protected by the Fortress like your other production buildings. Since your builder will be free before you have enough money to purchase the Stables, you should send the builder in the direction where you want to send your Knights after they're built, then build your Stables when you have enough money to do so.
Ideal Stables placement on Fords of Isen II.I like to then set the Stables waypoint at a location near the enemy base so that my Knights will go there automatically (allowing me an extra second to focus on deleting the Stables and building my Barracks instead).
The Follow-Up
After your Barracks is up, play as you normally would with a Soldiers of Gondor rush: you can choose to build another Stables, an Archery Range, or a second Barracks, depending on the match-up, just as you would in a normally. The difference is that you have Knights to harass your enemy, whereas normally you wouldn't be able to get cavalry until much later. Don't let your battalion of Knights die: they're the only Knights you get unless you're going to build a second Stables. When you've lost too many Knights from the battalion, retreat them behind your Fortress and build a Well to heal them.
