The Leader
Arbiter Ripa 'Moramee (Not to be confused with Arbiter Thel 'Vadamee) was the primary antagonist from Halo Wars 1. He may not have survived the events of that game but that's not going to stop him from slicing up the competition in Halo Wars 2's multiplayer modes. The Arbiter was a playable leader in Halo Wars but has been significantly upgraded and given a Banished twist for this iteration.
Bloodthirsty and ambitious with an unchecked desire to control and dominate Ripa was known by all amongst the Covenant. Ripa was unbound by traditional notions of honour and loyalty, had he survived the events of the original game it is possible that Atriox might have been able to convince him to join the Banished. As a Banished leader he would have inspired fear and awe under those in his command.
The Arbiter is a diverse leader focussing on offensive pushes that can be effective throughout the early, mid and late game.
New Units
The Arbiter: The new hero unit is, of course, the Arbiter himself. Armed with dual energy swords he makes for a fast and powerful melee unit effective against infantry, vehicles and buildings. Just like in the first game players can trigger his rage ability, in this state, the Arbiter is even faster, does more damage, leeches health from victims and can even leap into the air to damage air units as well. Upgrades focus purely on increasing speed, damage and health but his last upgrade Arbiters reprisal gives him an additional energy shield that reflects damage back towards attackers.
Due to the recent balance update, all hero units are now cheaper to buy and upgrade. As a result of this, the Arbiter is great to field early on to repel rushes or to bolster your own pushes. In the mid and late game, the Arbiter remains a powerful unit but does become less essential than some other hero units. This is because the unit is purely offensive and therefore lacks any additional tactical possibilities and being melee based as always has its disadvantages. Due to the purely offensive nature of the unit, it's important to constantly make use of the rage ability there is no reason for the Arbiter not to be making use of this ability during clashes against enemy armies or bases, the activation of the Rage ability also triggers the passive power Conduit of Rage (See Abilities below).
The speed and strength of the Arbiter come into its own in Blitz mode however as he is great for rushing about the map contesting and grabbing energy drops, whilst his rage ability can be used to devastating effect when defending or contesting control points.
Enforcers: The Enforcers are a new infantry unit that replaces the Jump Pack Brutes in the barracks. They are fast moving Elite warriors armed with Plasma Rifles and Plasma Casters and are effective units against infantry and buildings but in large enough numbers they are versatile units to be used against air and vehicles as well. They come equipped with a unique ability the stasis grenade which temporarily freezes units and buildings it's worth noting that frozen units cannot be attacked.
The main and most devastating use of the Enforcers is as a rush unit. They are relatively cheap and quick to deploy, in the early game they can make quick work of enemy units and can quickly devastate bases. It's true that Jump Pack Brutes or Colony's Goliath units are better base killers, but Enforcers are easier to deploy and remain more versatile, they are for example far less vulnerable to Snipers or Hellbringers. The squad starts off with three Elites but an upgrade adds an additional Elite to the squad. In addition, the Enforcers also come equipped with energy shields, increasing their survivability and making them great for hit and run tactics.
If players are focussing on rushing or grabbing bases and resources early on then the Enforcers are an essential and unparalleled unit to deploy. The versatility and all-round nature of the unit mean they remain effective units in the mid and late game as well.
Phantom: The Phantom is an iconic aerial troop transport used throughout the Halo Universe, the Arbiter can directly deploy the unit at the main base once a passive ability has been purchased. By itself, the Phantom is weak against infantry, vehicles, air and buildings when purely using its plasma cannons but compensates for this by being heavily armoured and has the ability to garrison two infantry units. The said infantry units can then add their firepower to that of the Phantom creating some exciting new tactics to employ.
Any infantry can be deployed to the Phantom and experimenting with various mixtures can yield interesting results. Deploying Enforcers to the Phantom, for example, means you have an all round army of aerial units particularly effective at devastating attacks on bases. Deploying Elite Rangers makes for a deadly anti-infantry threat whilst using hunters turns it into an equally dangerous anti-vehicle unit. By scouting regularly you can prepare for which infantry Phantom combo would be the most devastating to the enemy team or create a mixture of units to be prepared for anything. An upgrade to the Phantom increases its maximum carry weight by one additional infantry unit.
It's worthy of note that once a Phantom is destroyed all infantry inside are also killed. A keen eye and quick reflexes can mitigate this however by using the eject ability which will drop off all infantry units deployed to the Phantom. Making use of the eject ability in tandem with suicide grunts could make for some interesting situations for your opponents…
When making use of the Phantom in tandem with infantry units it's important to keep up to date on global upgrades for each. It's no good having upgraded infantry only for Phantoms to be destroyed easily and vice versa. One tactic is to deploy infantry and Phantom combos in addition to other aerial units such as engineers for healing and shrouds for defensive support for a formidable and intimidating aerial attack.
Grunt Squad: When playing as the Arbiter grunt squads are now led by an elite rather than a brute. The change is not purely cosmetic, grunt squads led by elites are more effective at range and rather than the shrapnel mine upgrade they can be upgraded to having a cloak ability. Utilising the cloak upgrade early on means that grunt squads gain some additional tactical possibilities in the early game such as sneaky rush tactics. An additional upgrade adds another elite to the squad just like the grunt squads led by brutes. This change to the grunt squad for the Arbiter also applies to the Shipmaster leader.
New Abilities
Stasis: This ability seals units or buildings inside a temporary stasis field. In this state, units cannot move or attack but can't be attacked themselves and importantly can still be healed. If used on buildings it will shut down production for the duration of the stasis. Interestingly stasis can be used on your own forces, allies and enemy players. Therefore the tactical use of the ability is quite varied, it can be used to halt enemy attacks or used on your own base or units to protect them from harm such as if an enemy player uses an offensive power like incineration.
Mass Stasis: A version of stasis which lasts longer and covers a wider area, used in the same way as ordinary stasis. With the standard stasis unlocking earlier on the use of mass stasis often feels a tad pointless.
Stasis Mine: Same as the other leader power mines but activates stasis instead of dealing damage.
Conduit of Rage: Probably the most exciting of the Arbiters abilities is this one. A passive ability that only triggers when another active ability is used, friendly units caught in the radius of the ability gain the rage buff which will increase their speed and damage and provide some healing. The ability can be upgraded a further two times increasing the AOE radius and strength. In addition to this the ability stacks, the more active leader powers you play the longer the buff lasts.
This is a very exciting ability to use, one easy way to activate the buff is to use the teleport ability, as teleport is very cheap and recharges quickly, not only allowing you to confuse and strike your opponents from multiple angles but offers a cheap and easy way to activate conduit of rage. This coupled with power surge and a fully upgraded conduit of rage is a devastating combo of powers to give your units a massive edge.
Plasma Bolt: A cheap and rapidly reusable light offensive ability that fires a plasma bolt from the sky. The ability can be upgraded an additional two times increasing the damage and allowing you to multi shot different targets. Each shot separately activates conduit of rage and so makes for another great combo piece.
Elite Spirit Assault: Drops off four elite enforcers at veterency level one. As with all reinforcement abilities they can be used to quickly and effectively call in additional fire support wherever it's needed most.
Power Surge: A passive ability that reduces the cost and cooldown of all other abilities, again making it an excellent ability to purchase to more easily activate conduit of rage.
Phantom: Unlocks the Phantom unit to be built at the main base. Doesn't unlock until tier 3 and so depending on the match the ability point might be better spent elsewhere.
Additional Abilities available amongst other Banished Leaders also included are
Mass Cloaking: Cloaks all friendly units on the map, counts as one of the Arbiters ultimate abilities and so is not unlocked until late game, can provide that tactical edge needed for late game pushes and sneak attacks.
Teleport: Teleports a select amount of friendly units a limited distance around the map, as mentioned before is a cheap and quickly recharging ability and so best used during large battles to activate conduit of rage.
Blitz Mode
These are the unique cards that the Arbiter has available to him in Blitz mode:
The Arbiter 240 energy
Mass Cloaking 200 energy
Stasis 80 energy
Phantom 80 energy
Plasma Bolt 70 energy
Conduit of Rage 60 energy
Elite Enforces 40 energy
Prowling grunts 40 energy (deploy with active camo)
Each leader has the choice of two starting armies in blitz, interestingly one of the Arbiters is to start off with the hero unit himself, allowing you to offensively push most other starting armies or contest the earliest energy drops. If using the Arbiter as a starting army make sure to include a few cheap cards such as a grunt squad or ghost so that the other control points can be capped.
The Phantom is a great unit to utilise in Blitz as it can quickly fly around the map to contest and defend control points, make sure to include whatever infantry units you wish to utilise to get the best use out of the Phantom and the engineer card to keep this valuable unit healed as much as possible.
Stasis can come into its own here, such as delaying enemy pushes and keeping your forces alive to contest control points, should you need to hold onto your lead in a matches closing moments.
To round out the deck provide some heavy vehicle back up such as the wraith so that the deck doesn't focus entirely on cheap infantry units or rely solely on the Arbiter for your main offensive damage dealing unit.
Final thoughts
Unlike other leaders, the Arbiter can truly excel in the early, mid and late game thanks to diverse new units and unique and powerful abilities. The tactical possibilities of the Arbiter are only just beginning and it's likely he will remain a competitive leader to utilise in all of the Halo Wars 2 multiplayer modes for the foreseeable future. Make sure to use him against Forge for the ultimate rematch amongst dead characters.
