When you're building a custom unit and you want to get as many icons as possible onto it, commanders are an important tool. It is common to think of commanders only in terms of their special abilities. There is also the problem that units tend to die in Arcane Legions, and putting a commander on there gives your opponent an extra victory point for the kill.
Nonetheless, commanders are valuable because they also pack a lot of Basic Icons per peg. The average Arcane Legions figure has 1.26 basic icons per peg. The 15 commanders listed below all have at least 2 basic icons per peg. That makes a big difference.
| Figure | Attack | Defense | Pegs | Power | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decidius Saxa (Egyptian) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4.00 | Decidius not only brings 4 basic icons to the table, he also has Command Position, which gives you extra victory points when he's on control terrain. Any sortie with Decidius on it automatically gains Hustle. |
| Darius Pontus (Egyptian) | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 3.50 | In an all-Egyptian army, Darius' Hellenic Pride ability automatically adds 4 attack icons, giving him a total power of 7.5, blowing even Decidius Saxa out of the water. This is the most powerful attack bonus in the game. A base with Darius on it can have one peg of figures lacking Aggressive and 3 pegs of figures lacking Battle Prowess without losing those abilities. |
| Zhongli Quan (Han) | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 3.50 | Because of the change to the rules for Way of the Bow, Zhongli's Call the Iron Rain ability is more important than ever. In addition to that, he automatically grants Calculating to any sortie base and Deadly to both sortie and formation bases. |
| Harionago (Han) | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 3.50 | Harionago is often neglected because her special ability (Entangle) is of limited use, and it's the only special ability she has. For precisely that reason, however, she's the cheapest of the Han commanders, costing only 167 build points. |
| Caius Lucius (Roman) | 2 | 1.5 | 1 | 3.50 | Caius has Specialist Leader and Specialist, making him especially powerful against Fireburst-based units, dragons, and sphinxes, all of which usually sport the Irregular keyword. A base with Caius on it can have 3 pegs of figures lacking Discipline without losing the ability. |
| Chen Xiaotang (Han) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3.00 | Chen's signature special ability is Opportunist, but he also allows you to put three pegs of figures lacking Hustle on a base without losing that ability. Since three is the maximum number of Goryo you can put on a base, Chen is the centerpiece of the notorious Flame Runners, the Han's min-maxed flame-throwing unit. In addition to this, however, Chen has the distinction of being the only single-peg figure with 3 attack icons. |
| Vercingetorix (Roman) | 2.5 | 0 | 1 | 2.50 | Vercingetorix has King of the Gauls, which is pretty hard to use, since you have to get Gallic units onto the control terrain to get any benefit from it, and Gallic units tend to die quickly. He does, however, have the highest number of attack icons per peg of any Roman figure, making him ideal for units where you're trying to build the maximum close combat punch. |
| Amenhotep III (Egyptian) | 1 | 1.5 | 1 | 2.50 | Amenhotep is biased toward defense, which is sensible, since you use Amenhotep when you want a unit to survive as long as possible. Possessing the most powerful healing ability of the game-- Lord of the Dead-- Amenhotep is probably the most popular commander on this list. He also grants Resentful to any sortie base he's on. |
| Achilles (Egyptian) | 3 | 1.5 | 2 | 2.25 | Achilles is the second most-expensive Egyptian figure in terms of build cost, and his signature ability (Power at a Price) has a scary vulnerability to it. For this reason, you only see him in games where his speed of 8 (twice that of every other Egyptian commander) can make a difference. |
| Lord Muira (Han) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2.00 | With both Fear and Confusion, Lord Muira can subtract as many as 4 defense dice from an opposing unit during close combat, making him an ideal candidate for Han infantry and cavalry units. He automatically grants Deadly to any sortie base, and a base with him on it can have two pegs of figures lacking Good Fortune without losing the ability. |
| Gulug (Mercenary) | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2.00 | Gulug's Bully ability means that every attack die hits when you're in close combat with a defenseless unit. As a Xiongnu figure, you can put him on Xiongnu cavalry bases without losing its eligibility for Stormrider. He is also fast for an infantry figure, moving at a speed of 5. |
| Masika (Egyptian) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.00 | Masika has Death Touch Master, which is instant death to limited-edition units and the bane of all opposing commanders. For this reason, nobody really notices her attack and defense dice. They are, however, thoroughly respectable, and a big part of the reason Masika's Javelins is so dangerous. |
| Savros Kuznetzov (Mercenary) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2.00 | Savros tends to be overlooked because his alternate-stat version Mechanist Savros is so useful. His Intuition ability boosts the dice rolls of all friendly infantry units, so sometimes he gets put on the board for that reason alone. Still, when he does need to go into combat, 1 defense and 1 attack is nothing to sneeze at. |
| Titus Petronius (Roman) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2.00 | Titus has Armored Rush, which is a useful way to finish off an opposing unit in close combat. A base with Titus on it can have 4 pegs of figures lacking Discipline without losing the ability. He also has Tough and Heavy Armor at the same level as the other Roman armored infantry figures, so he can be mixed with those freely. |
| Cleopatra VII (Egyptian) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2.00 | Cleopatra is one of the most expensive figures in the game, thanks to two activated special abilities-- Death Touch and Harsh Mistress-- and the ability to grant Calculating to any base. (Indeed, Cleopatra is the only way to get Calculating on a formation base.) Because she's so expensive, her dice are oriented toward defense. |