Bhashiva’s basics: Faction effects, lord effects, and starting location

• Lord of Shang-Yang
  • Maintain a limited number of lords and Cathayan units.
  • Tiger Court improves settlement infrastructure and Tiger Warrior units.
  • The Armies of Shang-Yang feature allows access to Cathayan units and improvements.
• Diplomatic relations: +60 diplomatic relations with the Western Provinces.
• Upkeep: -15% for Tiger Warrior units (all armies).

• Casualty replenishment rate: +10% for all Tiger Warrior units.
• Melee attack and defense: +8 during ambushes.
• Speed: +10%.
• Passive ability: White Tiger: An aura with +8 leadership and +5 melee attack.

• Bhashiva starts the Immortal Empires campaign in the Bone Road province, which is at Grand Cathay’s western border. This is the “Thunderdome of the East,” since she’s surrounded by numerous aggressive legendary lords, such as Greasus Goldtooth, Grimgor Ironhide, Zhatan the Black, and Kholek Suneater.
• She has the following units: Clawspeaker (Beasts) hero, 2x Tiger Warriors, 1x Iron Claw Tiger Warriors, 2x Jade Warriors (Halberds), and 2x Jade Warrior Crossbows.
• By default, she has a non-aggression pact, military access, and a trade agreement with Zhao Ming. She’s unable to declare war or confederate with him, but she can still attack and confederate with other Cathayan factions.
• She’s at war with the Blood Guzzlers (Ogre Kingdoms minor faction).
• She does not have access to Grand Cathay’s Grand Bastion and Wu Xing mechanics. But she has her own systems that come into play soon enough.

Campaign capabilities: Tiger Warrior Sawai lords, Clawspeaker heroes, and Tiger Warrior units

• Ferocity of Kamau is for melee damage, fear, and immunity to psychology.
• Mysticism of Kamau is for magic usage and spell cooldowns.
• Protection of Kamau is for healing, attrition reduction, and casualty replenishment.

Armies of Shang-Yang: Iron Favor and Insignias

• The currency used is called Iron Favor, which represents Bhashiva’s allegiance to Zhao Ming. You gain Iron Favor from completing Zhao Ming’s Goals (more in this later), conquering settlements, and sending your caravans to destinations that reward the resource.
• You should spend Iron Favor to buy Insignias, which grant buffs to Cathayan units when equipped. The third type of Insignia becomes available upon increasing your rank further. For example, the third Insignia for Iron Hail Gunner and Crane Gunner units grants the Unspottable, Snipe, and Stalk attributes.
• Your Armies of Shang-Yang rank increases as you complete more objectives. For instance, to reach rank 5, you must purchase 14 Insignias, capture 1,000 battle captives, and conquer six different settlements.

Zhao Ming’s Goals and Zhao Ming’s Support

• Objectives include annihilating a general’s army, capturing a settlement, wiping out a faction, or fighting a faction that Zhao Ming is at war with for 10 turns.
• You’re presented with three goals and only one can be active at any given time. If you wish to “reroll” a particular option, you can accept any goal and abort that mission. A new one will appear on your next turn.
• Rewards include Iron Favor, Treasury/Gold, equippable items, and units.
• The units you receive as rewards are recruited via the Zhao Ming’s Support tab in your army panel. This is a great way to obtain troops that aren’t available by default, such as Celestial Dragon Crossbows, Jade Lions/Jet Lions, and Fire Rain Rocket Batteries.

Tiger Court: Relics

• Relics appear as glowing jade icons in settlements. You have to conquer that settlement to acquire the Relic.
• Alternatively, if the settlement in question is also a caravan destination, then the caravan will obtain that Relic for you.
• If an allied or friendly faction controls a settlement with a Relic, then you could wait until another faction conquers it, or look for a new Relic in a different location.

Tiger Court: Devotion and Oaths

• Grants armor-piercing and charge bonuses; additional buffs for Tiger Warrior (Dual Axes) units.
• Grants a bonus ambush success chance and speed when in your own territory.
• Kamau’s Hidden Step: Enables Stalking stance (Tiger Warrior Sawai lords) and replenishes +15% campaign movement range after winning a battle (all lords).
• Kamau’s Relentless Hunt: Penalizes enemy army movement range and reinforcement time, as well as makes them winded and prevents them from retreating.

• Grants leadership and vigor loss bonuses; additional buffs for Iron Claw Tiger Warrior units.
• Grants bonuses to allegiance points and allied recruitment.
• White Tiger’s Shadow: Grants the Stalk attribute and Iron Reinforcements ability (all armies).
• White Tiger’s Grace: Grants the Regeneration passive and increases battle healing cap (Bhashiva and Tiger Warrior Sawai lords).

• Grants physical resistance and melee defense bonuses; additional buffs for Tiger Warrior Stalker units.
• Improves global recruitment capacity and duration; Tiger Warrior units activate both Yin and Yang Battle Harmony.
• Passage of the Thousand Gods: Grants replenishment in foreign territory and immunity to diplomatic penalties from trespassing (all armies).
• The Thousandfold Stillness: Strips an enemy army’s spell resistance and silences casters.

Bhashiva’s campaign progression and diplomacy

• Prioritize Way of the Thousand Gods in the Tiger Court for extra replenishment and immunity from diplomatic penalties.
• Bhashiva’s Head of the Tiger Court skill, which increases allegiance points earned, combined with techs and caravan events that improve diplomatic relations, help ensure that she has numerous allies and trade agreements.
• Bhashiva’s Stalkers of Excellence skill improves her army’s line of sight and ambush success rate. It also unlocks the Stalking stance, giving her a chance to ambush opposing forces whenever she initiates a battle.
• Keep refreshing Zhao Ming’s Goals until you find a suitable objective.
• Don’t forget to complement your roster with Celestial Dragon Crossbows and Fire Rain Rocket Batteries from Zhao Ming.
• You should acquire Bhashiva’s unique weapon, the Blades of Shang-Yang, from a quest battle. It has a powerful ability that allows Bhashiva to teleport and disrupt enemy formations with ease.
• Try to unlock legendary heroes Taoyan the Merciless and Satyang the Watcher. For the latter, you need Jade Lions and Jet Lions from Zhao Ming’s Goals or Cathay allied recruitment.