History VideoGame / DivideAndConquer

* AdaptationExpansion: The fisher-folk of Enedwaith and the kingdom of Dorwinion, who were mentioned only a few times in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and the appendices of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' (with supplemental texts offering only a little more in the way of details), are full-fledged factions here.

* MercenaryUnits: Like in any other ''VideoGame/TotalWar'' game, local mercenaries can be recruited, with the two best probably being the Sellswords (two-handed swordsmen) and the Sons of the Fallen (elite Dwarven spearmen).

** Dale begins with relatively weak units and an economy that's still recovering from the devastation wrought by Smaug. However, by the time they hit the late game, Dale will be quite capable of holding the line in a straight fight, and rolling in money to boot.

* MagikarpPower: Dorwinion starts off with a weak roster that will be handily outclassed by their likely foe Rhûn, but once they hit the late game, they'll be able to recruit elite units that can more than hold their own against their counterparts from the Lôke-Khan's armies.

* AdaptationExpansion: The fisher-folk of Enedwaith and the kingdom of Dorwinion, who were mentioned only a few times in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and the appendices of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', are full-fledged factions here.

* AdaptationExpansion: The fisher-folk of Enedwaith and the kingdom of Dorwinion, who were mentioned very few times in ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and the appendices of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', are full-fledged factions in the mod.

* ArrowsOnFire: For a number of reasons, this ability was taken away from almost every archer unit from V2.0 onward, with only two of Rhûn's units (the Lôke-Nar Rim and the Süri'ut Chariots) retaining it. However, Rhûnnic fire arrows work quite differently from the fire arrows of vanilla ''Third Age'' (and indeed ''Medieval II'' in general); their fire arrows retain the damage buff of standard fire arrows ''without'' suffering any of the rate of fire and accuracy debuffs present in the base game. Rhûn's Darïtaï Hunters also shoot fire arrows, but unlike the missiles of their higher-tier counterparts, these flames are purely cosmetic and don't actually burn their targets.

* BowsVersusCrossbows: In keeping with the trope, crossbows tend to have a much worse range and firing rate than bows, and are particularly terrible at arcing shots, but compensate with armor-piercing (and usually higher base damage to begin with). As such, they are generally favored by factions with more wealth than fighting skill, namely Bree, Dorwinion, Moria, and (by Dwarven standards) Ered Luin; even in the case of the Ar-Adûnâim's and Rhûn's more professional armies, their crossbowmen are very much low-tier units, with their more elite ranged units being bowmen instead. In fact, the only crossbowmen that can match rangers in terms of accuracy are the Broadbeam Marksmen of Ered Luin. Like in [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings the films]], Isengard's heavy usage of crossbows reflects the industrialized brutishness of its armies, with the actual archery skill of Uruk-hai crossbowmen paling in comparison to most post-Barracks Event bowmen.

* StartingUnits: Most factions start off with at least a few generals who have a late game unit as their bodyguard instead of their faction's standard bodyguard. A couple of generals even have as bodyguards units that otherwise are exclusive to other factions; of particular note is Angmar's faction leader Agandaûr, who is guarded by the otherwise Mordor-only Temple Wards. Additionally, a handful of generals come with unique (and ''very'' powerful) bodyguards that are 100% unrecruitable otherwise; Aragorn gets the Grey Company (melee infantry armed with a variety of weapons), Saruman has the Guard of the Hand (shielded crossbow/mace infantry), Elrond and his two sons get Noldorin Guard (shielded bow/sword infantry), Balin has (of course) Balin's Guard (hammer-and-shield infantry), and Sauron (should Mordor manage to recover the Ring) is protected by shield-and-mace pseudo-wraiths.

* BowsVersusCrossbows: In keeping with the trope, crossbows tend to have a much worse range and firing rate than bows, and are particularly terrible at arcing shots, but compensate with armor-piercing (and usually higher base damage to begin with). As such, they are generally favored by factions with more wealth than fighting skill, namely Bree, Dorwinion, Moria, and (by Dwarven standards) Ered Luin; even in the case of the Ar-Adûnâim's and Rhûn's more professional armies, their crossbowmen are very much low-tier units, with their more elite ranged units being bowmen instead. In fact, the only crossbowmen that can match rangers in terms of accuracy are the Broadbeam Marksmen of Ered Luin.
** Like in [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings the films]], Isengard's heavy usage of crossbows reflects the industrialized brutishness of its armies, with the actual archery skill of Uruk-hai crossbowmen paling in comparison to most post-Barracks Event bowmen.

** Dorwinion: Very much an Economist faction (thanks in large part to its highly valuable wine), their early game roster is relatively Spammy for a non-orc faction, being well-rounded and cheap but rather low quality. After the Barracks Event, Dorwinion's roster can either become significantly more Balanced in terms of quality, or take a much more archer/ambush-focused Ranger/Guerilla playstyle, depending on whether they choose the Human or Elven path respectively.

** Númenóreans: The four factions in this group are sort of a mix of Generalist and Elitist; their troops generally have well-rounded stats and tend to be better than equivalent units from other human factions, if also more expensive. The Númenórean factions also all have impressive economic capabilities (at least potentially), including far more building/upgrade options than other human factions, making them sort of Economist/Research factions as well.

*** Dol Amroth: Definitely the Elitist of the human factions, particularly after the Barracks Event. While their infantry lineup is already an even better version of Gondor's mainline roster for the most part, their real strength is their cavalry, which man-for-man are the best human horsemen in the entire game. Their one weak spot is their archers, and even those are still around average.

** Wild Men: In general, Middle-earth's three most primitive human factions are Guerilla Spammers whose greatest strengths are numbers and stealth. Though they may not be ''quite'' as quantity-over-quality as the orcs, the wild men are definitely solid runner-ups; in particular, they arguably have the worst late-game rosters in all of Middle-earth, since the relative quality of their units starts to really fall behind once the Barracks Event hits.

*** Vale of Anduin: The "jack-of-all-trades" of the wild men, the Anduin is something of a Technical/Specialist faction; they can't spam units on the level of the other wild men, and while their roster as a whole is tactically versatile, their units individually tend to be rather specialized to the point where none of them can really fill the role of an all-around mainline unit, making victory particularly reliant on carefully coordinated tactics. That said, if they do have a strength, it would be their archers, who can hold their own even against those of Dale and the Northern Dúnedain, and their Beorning axemen, who can quickly fell even the mightiest of dwarves and elves.
** Pre-V3 Angmar was very much a Brute/Spammer faction that focused on overwhelming the enemy in close combat, which was reinforced by their wide array of armor-piercing units from top to bottom (and their rather mediocre-to-the-point-of-almost-nonexistent ranged capabilities). In fact, their post-Barracks Event units were actually relatively Elitist by orc standards, being able to hold their own against most non-Númenórean human counterparts.

* HeelFaceTurn: Around turn 40-50, Khand will get the option to turn against Sauron by allying with the Blue Wizards. Doing so will net them two powerful armies commanded by the Blue Wizards themselves and allow them to recruit Orocani Dwarves and the Uushixià Stormriders (powerful chariot-mounted crossbow[wo]men), but it will also cause Mordor, Harad, Rhûn, the Ar-Adûnâim, ''and'' a significant portion of Khand's own population to all instantly turn on the player with a vengeance, to the point where it's common for a good-aligned Khand player to initially lose ''all'' of their starting settlements.

* OurElvesAreBetter: Besides the woodcraft-focused Silvan Elves and the straight-up elite High Elves most predominately featured in most Middle-earth media, there's also the Avari, who are exclusive to Dorwinion. They make excellent archers, but are relatively lacking in melee prowess compared to the Eldar (or even some of the more elite human units).

* {{Ranger}}: Several factions (namely, the majority of human factions[[note]]Gondor, the Northern Dúnedain, the Ar-Adûnâim, Dale, Dorwinion, Bree, the Vale of Anduin, Enedwaith, Angmar, and Harad[[/note]], both Silvan Elf factions, and Dol Guldur) have a "ranger"-type unit; basically, a lightly-armored foot archer that can hide anywhere and usually has the highest accuracy, missile damage, range, and ammo count out of all the archers in their faction. Rangers also usually have better melee stats than most pre-Barracks Event mainline troops, making them particularly useful for factions that can recruit them early on.

* StartingUnits: Most factions start off with at least a few generals who have a late game unit as their bodyguard instead of their faction's standard bodyguard. A couple of generals even have as bodyguards units that otherwise are exclusive to other factions; of particular note is Angmar's faction leader Agandaûr, who is guarded by the otherwise Mordor-only Temple Wards.
** Additionally, a handful of generals come with unique (and ''very'' powerful) bodyguards that are 100% unrecruitable otherwise; Aragorn gets the Grey Company (melee infantry armed with a variety of weapons), Saruman has the Guard of the Hand (shielded crossbow/mace infantry), Elrond and his two sons get Noldorin Guard (shielded bow/sword infantry), Balin has (of course) Balin's Guard (hammer-and-shield infantry), and Sauron (should Mordor manage to recover the Ring) is protected by shield-and-mace pseudo-wraiths.

* JavelinThrower: Many faction have at least one unit of javelinmen, who will likely be your best counter against mûmakil and other elephant-derived units like chariots and Sauron himself. Enedwaith in particular is built around javelins; despite being as cheap as dirt, their javelinmen as a whole have the highest ammo count, damage output (armor-piercing javelins, anyone?), range, and accuracy out of all the factions, and even their most elite unit are javelinmen.

* Wutai: In the earliest versions of [=DaC=], Khand's unit designs had a lot of Chinese and Japanese elements, with the default bodyguard straight up looking like samurai. However, V2 gave their roster a drastic redesign that eliminated most of the Wutai elements in favor of a more uniformly "Central Asian" aesthetic; nowadays, the only remaining Japanese/Chinese elements are the small banners worn on the backs of most Khandish units and the {{wuxia}}-inspired look of the Variag Nobles.

* AnAxeToGrind: The most common armor-piercing weapon, with Erebor in particular favoring their use, with even their ''ranged'' weapons being primarily throwing axes.

** Isengard: Similar to the original ''Third Age'', Isengard has a Brutish infantry-focused roster. However, even though Uruk-hai units ''are'' better than equivalent orc units at each tier, Isengard is still pretty Spammy pre-Barracks Event, with only a few standouts like the half-orcs and the Berserkers. However, once the late game hits, Isengard becomes a lot more Elitist, gaining heavily-armored Uruk-hai who can outmatch even the descendants of Númenor in direct combat.

* HorseArcher: Many factions have at least one unit of such, but Khand in particular have this trope as one of their hats; their default bodyguard unit, the Variag Nobles, fires ''armor-piercing'' arrows, and the Warlord's Kataphract Archers have an even higher missile attack than standard human rangers.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Besides the usual crossbows, axes, maces, hammers, javelins, etc., there's also a handful of AP archers[[labelnote:list]]Dúnedain Bodyguard and Steelbowmen, Dale's Royal Guardsmen and Hearthguard, Khand's Variag Nobles, Lothlórien's Gûrveleg, and Mordor's Temple Marksmen[[/labelnote]], swordsmen[[labelnote:list]]Harad's Troll-men Champions, Imladris's Tulkas' Faithful, Isengard's Berserkers and Nazg-hai, and Mordor's and Dol Guldur's Uruk Bodyguard[[/labelnote]], and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers stone-throwing hobbits]][[labelnote:list]]The Vale of Anduin's Stoor Shirriffs and Bree-land's Watch Shirriffs[[/labelnote]].

** Angmar: A very Balanced faction in terms of unit quality, the Hill-men have a well-rounded roster that contains a a lot of armor-piercing and Warg units.

** Angmar: A very Balanced faction, the Hill-men's roster is well-rounded but doesn't have much in the way of standout features outside of their above-average prevalence of armor-piercing units and their skirmish Wargs.

* HeelFaceTurn: Around turn 40-50, Khand will get the option to turn against Sauron by allying with the Blue Wizards. Doing so will net them two powerful armies commanded by the Blue Wizards themselves and allow them to recruit Orocani Dwarves and the Uushixià Stormriders (powerful chariot-mounted crossbow[wo]men), but it will also cause Mordor, Harad, Rhûn, the Ar-Adûnâim, ''and'' a significant portion of Khand's own population to all instantly turn on the player with a vengeance, to the point where it's common for a good-aligned Khand player to initially lose ''all'' of their settlements.

** There are also units that the head modder has described in some way or another as being quasi-rangers, like Dúnedain Steelbowmen and Mordor's Temple Marksmen (armor-piercing archers who are also deadly swordsmen), Ered Luin's Broadbeam Marksmen (basically dwarven rangers with crossbows), Enedwaith's Elder Guildsmen (stealthy archer bodyguards who have slightly better defensive stats than most rangers, but slightly worse range, accuracy, and ammo capacity), the Lôke-Nar Rim of Rhûn (who have lower archery stats than rangers and no stealth capabilities, but fire high-damage flaming arrows), and the Dúnedain Bodyguards (basically roided-up Dúnedain Rangers with armor-piercing arrows who also make formidable axemen in a pinch).

** Dol Guldur: Ranger-focused Spammers whose roster is reliant on archery, skirmish, and stealth, to the point of being the only orc faction with a only "true" Ranger unit. They're also a bit of a Gimmick faction, as a key tactic will be using their poison arrows to break the morale of their foes.

** Bree-land: A primarily Economist faction with a strong focus on trade, Bree's early game roster has a relatively Guerilla orientation thanks to their stealthy hobbit and woodland units, but is otherwise pretty mediocre by "good guy" standards, outside of the occasional Greenway or Dúnedain unit. They actually become ''more'' of a Spammer faction after the Barracks Event, since their late game units are among the worst (and cheapest) in the entire game, though this is slightly compensated for by being able to recruit the occasional foreign mercenary or Dúnedain-associated unit (depending on whether the player picks the even more Economist "Isolationist" option or the slightly more Elitist "Friends of the Dúnedain" path respectively).

** Low-tier "Berserker-type" infantry are capable of inflicting even more damage than many elite units, but will melt away the moment their enemy hits back. This is perhaps best exemplified by Mountain-Orc Hunters of Moria and Gundabad; they can cut through even Dwarven armor with ease, but will instantly fall even to a single 1-damage arrow.

* HeelFaceTurn: Around turn 40-50, Khand will get the option to turn against Sauron by allying with the Blue Wizards. Doing so will net them two powerful armies commanded by the Blue Wizards themselves and allow them to recruit Orocani Dwarves and the Uushixià Stormriders (powerful chariot-mounted crossbow[wo]men), but massive rebel armies will suddenly appear in Khand's home provinces, and Mordor, Harad, Rhûn, and the Ar-Adûnâim will all be instantly gunning for them.

* {{Nerf}}: Archers that used to have armor-piercing arrows, but now no longer do, include Khazad-Dûm's Hithaeglir Beast Hunters, Dale's Barding Marksmen, and Khand's Warlord's Kataphract Archers.

** The troll-men of Far Harad are even more barbaric, going into battle with little more than a {{Loincloth}} and a wicker shield, which they compensate for with their sheer hardiness (being one of only a few multiple-HP infantry in [=DaC=]).

* {{Ranger}}: Several factions (namely, the majority of human factions[[note]]Gondor, Dol Amroth, the Northern Dúnedain, the Ar-Adûnâim, Dale, Dorwinion, Bree, the Vale of Anduin, Enedwaith, Angmar, and Harad[[/note]], both Silvan Elf factions, and Dol Guldur) have a "ranger"-type unit; basically, a lightly-armored foot archer that can hide anywhere and usually has the highest accuracy, missile damage, range, and ammo count out of all the archers in their faction. Rangers also usually have better melee stats than most pre-Barracks Event mainline troops, making them particularly useful for factions that can recruit them early on.

** There are also units that the head modder has described in some way or another as being quasi-rangers, like the Dúnedain Steelbowmen and Mordor's Temple Marksmen (the two best recruitable human archers in the entire game), Enedwaith's Elder Guildsmen (stealthy archer bodyguards who have slightly better defensive stats than most rangers, but slightly worse range, accuracy, and ammo capacity), the Lôke-Nar Rim of Rhûn (who have lower archery stats than rangers and no stealth capabilities, but fire high-damage flaming arrows), and the Dúnedain Bodyguards (basically roided-up Dúnedain Rangers with armor-piercing arrows who also make formidable axemen in a pinch).

* SkeletonsInTheCoatCloset: Harad's Troll-men Champions wear horned skulls as masks, and other troll-men units do the same when given an armor upgrade.

** While melee and archer cavalry all get an attack bonus versus other cavalry, ''all'' of Khand's horsemen fight better against other cavalry, befitting their in-universe status as master horsemen.

* AnAxeToGrind: The most common armor-piercing weapon, with the Dwarven factions in particular favoring their use. Erebor take it even further, as even their ''ranged'' weapons are primarily throwing axes.

** Dol Guldur: Ranger-focused Spammers whose roster is reliant on archery, skirmish, and stealth, to the point of being the only orc faction with a only "true" Ranger unit. They're also a bit of a Gimmick faction, as a key tactic will be using their poison arrows to break the morale of their foes (while Moria also gets plenty of poison arrows, Dol Guldur's archers will actually be able to hit their targets).

** Mordor: If it wasn't for the existence of the Misty Mountains, Mordor's main roster would be the Spammer par excellence of the entire game, with a relatively Brute-like focus on hordes of cheap orc infantry due to their mostly mediocre archery and complete lack of mainline cavalry outside of a few units they can recruit from the Men of the East. However, Mordor's ''non-Orc'' elites are on the complete opposite end of the quality-vs-quality scale, being some of Middle-earth's very best.

*** Vale of Anduin: The "jack-of-all-trades" of the wild men, the Anduin is something of a Technical/Specialist faction; they can't spam units on the level of the other wild men, and while their roster as a whole is tactically versatile, their units individually tend to be rather specialized to the point where none of them can really fill the role of an all-around mainline unit, making victory particularly reliant on carefully coordinated tactics. That said, if they do have a strength, it would be their archers, who can hold their own (at least in terms of overall damage output) even against those of Dale and the Northern Dúnedain, and their Beorning axemen, who can quickly fell even the mightiest of dwarves and elves.

* ArrowsOnFire: For a number of reasons, this ability was taken away from almost every archer unit from V2.0 onward, with only two of Rhûn's units (the Lôke-Nar Rim and the Süri'ut Chariots) retaining it. However, Rhûnnic fire arrows work quite differently from the fire arrows of vanilla ''Third Age'' (and indeed ''Medieval II'' in general); their fire arrows retain the damage buff of standard fire arrows ''without'' suffering any of the rate of fire and accuracy debuffs present in the base game. Rhûn's Darïtaï Hunters also shoot fire arrows, but unlike the missiles of their higher-tier counterparts, these flames are purely cosmetic and don't actually burn their targets.
* BackFromTheDead:
** If Gandalf the Grey falls, he'll eventually come back as Gandalf the White, with an even more powerful bodyguard.
** Whenever a Nazgûl dies, they will eventually revive. Additionally, if Dol Guldur is defeated, their three Nazgûl will respawn in Mordor.
* BadWithTheBone: According to their unit description, the Troll-men Champions of Harad are rumored to create their swords from the tusks of mûmakil.
* BarbarianTribe:
** The men of Enedwaith and Dunland are fierce savages with little in the way of civilization, which is reflected in the campaign by their relative lack of economic and technological capabilities, and on the battlefield by their relatively undisciplined nature and low armor compared to more civilized men (though the Dunlendings do get a boost in the latter thanks to their alliance with Isengard). The aforementioned features also apply to early game Anduin, though in a more NobleSavage manner.
** The troll-men of Far Harad are even more barbaric, going into battle with little more than a {{Loincloth}} and a wicker shield, which they compensate for with their sheer hardiness (being one of only a few multiple-HP infantry in [=DaC=]).
* BearsAreBadNews: The Vale of Anduin's standard bodyguard unit are Skin-Changers, men who can transform into bears in the lore. While technical limitations have so far prevented the modders from implementing actual bears on the battlefield, the Skin-Changers are still one of [=DaC's=] most powerful units, possessing both multiple HP and the highest attack by far of any non-monster unit in the game, with their only weakness being their relatively low armor.
* BeefGate:
** Some factions will spawn a giant elite-tier army to kick your ass if you take their capital without dealing with the rest of their territories.
** If you're playing as Rohan, Isengard will get a starting horde of late game units so you can't just overwhelm their relatively weak starting units with your cavalry.
* CavalryOfTheDead: The Aragorn Quest script ends with the Northern Dúnedain getting an army of undead Oathbreakers, who can be used for three battles before disappearing.

** Low-tier "Berserker-type" infantry are capable of inflicting even more damage than many elite units, but will melt away the moment their enemy hits back. This is perhaps best exemplified by Mountain-Orc Hunters of the Misty Mountains; they can cut through even Dwarven armor with ease, but will instantly fall even to a single 1-damage arrow.
* GrimUpNorth: Starting from V3, the mightiest orcs are those of Mount Gundabad in Middle-earth's frigid north.

** The Goblins of the Misty Mountains have the Flame Wrangler, a catapult that flings barrels filled with explosive oil.

* MoraleMechanic: For each basic tier of morale (Low, Average, Good, etc.), Orcs have the lowest, Elves and Dwarves have the highest, and Men are in between. Enedwaith and the Misty Mountains in particular have such low morale that they each have a unit specifically dedicated to maintaining morale(the Warchanters[[note]]which Dunland also gets[[/note]] and the Uruk Taskmasters respectively).

* SavageWolves: Warg-riding units tend to do incredibly high damage for their tier, particularly on the charge, and are especially effective against other cavalry. In fact, the Misty Mountains' Bolg's Champions have the highest attack stats out of all of [=DaC's=] horse-sized mounted units.
* SiegeEngines: Besides the default catapults, ballistae, battering rams, etc. that basically every faction gets, there's also a few faction-exclusive siege engines; Gondor and Dol Amroth get trebuchets, the dwarves get a special catapult that can fire both grapeshot and mortar shots, and the Misty Mountains get the firebomb-flinging Flame Wrangler.

* StartingUnits: Most factions start off with at least a few generals who have late game units as their bodyguard. A few also get bodyguards who otherwise are exclusive to other factions; of particular note is Angmar's faction leader Agandaûr, who is guarded by the otherwise Mordor-only Temple Wards.
** Additionally, a handful of generals come with a unique (and ''very'' powerful) bodyguard that is 100% unrecruitable otherwise; Aragorn gets the Grey Company (melee infantry armed with a variety of weapons), Saruman has the Guard of the Hand (shielded crossbow/mace infantry), Elrond and his two sons get Noldorin Guard (shielded bow/sword infantry), and Sauron (should Mordor manage to recover the Ring) is protected by shielded mace-armed pseudo-wraiths.

** Gundabad: Despite being orcs, they are the most overall Elitist of the evil factions, with only the Elves and Dwarves able to outmatch them in a direct fight. Tactically, Gundabad has a Brutish roster that is focused around quickly getting into melee with the enemy, as it is comprised mostly of lightly-armored but hard-hitting infantry.

** While several factions gain horsemen with anti-cavalry bonuses after the Barracks Event, ''all'' of Khand's horsemen fight better against other cavalry, befitting their in-universe status as master horsemen.

* ACommanderIsYou: With twenty-six highly varied factions to choose from, chances are a player will be able to find at least one that fits their specific playstyle, with the roster as of V2.2 being:

** Dwarves (Erebor, Ered Luin, Khazad-Dûm): Like in the original ''Third Age'', these three factions are an Elitist take on the Turtle/Brute options; from top-to-bottom, their melee infantry can outfight, outtough, and simply outlast almost every non-Elven counterpart. They are also very much Economist factions, as their economies (even that of the initially nomadic Khazad-Dûm) will be blessed with an embarrassment of riches once they get their mines going, helping to compensate for how expensive and small their units tend to be. However, the Dwarves have no native cavalry options, few and generally rather average archers (though Erebor at least gets excellent crossbowmen), and the slowest movement speed out of all the races.

** Orcs: Outside of late-game Isengard, these five factions are very much Spammers who rely on drowning their foes in a sea of bodies, as even their elite units tend to focus more on quantity over quality. Which isn't to say there isn't quality either; the orc factions also all get access to mighty trolls and other special units that will give even the Elves some pause.
*** Angmar: Like their Gundabad predecessors from the original ''Third Age'', they are very much a Brute faction that focuses on overwhelming the enemy in close combat, which is reinforced by their wide array of armor-piercing units from top to bottom (and their rather mediocre-to-the-point-of-almost-nonexistent ranged capabilities). In fact, their post-Barracks Event units are actually relatively Elitist by orc standards, being able to hold their own against most non-Númenórean human counterparts.
*** Dol Guldur: Somewhat more Ranger-focused than the others, with the best overall ranged lineup among their brethren (including the orc factions' only "true" Ranger unit). They're also a bit of a Gimmick faction, as a key tactic will be using their poison arrows to break the morale of their foes (while the Misty Mountains also get plenty of poison arrows, Dol Guldur's archers will actually be able to hit their targets).
*** Isengard: Similar to the original ''Third Age'', Isengard has a Brutish infantry-focused roster that is also the most Elitist of the orcs. However, even though Uruk-hai units ''are'' better than equivalent orc units at each tier, Isengard is still pretty Spammy pre-Barracks Event, with only a few standouts like the half-orcs and the Berserkers. However, once the late game hits, Isengard gets access to heavily-armored Uruk-hai who can outmatch even the descendants of Númenor in direct combat.
*** Misty Mountains: Even more Spammy than the other orcs, with their goblin mainstays being even cheaper, weaker, and more cowardly than regular orcs. Indeed, the Misty Mountains roster generally has the largest unit sizes for each tier in the entire game. Which isn't to say that the goblins are ''all'' about CannonFodder; their roster is probably the tactically diverse of the orcs and includes some fairly unique special units.
*** Mordor: If it wasn't for the existence of the Misty Mountains, Mordor's main roster would be the Spammer par excellence of the entire game, with a relatively Brute-like focus on infantry hordes due to their mostly mediocre archery and complete lack of mainline cavalry outside of a few units they can recruit from the Men of the East. However, Mordor's ''non-Orc'' elites are on the complete opposite end of the quality-vs-quality scale, being some of Middle-earth's very best.

* {{Ranger}}: Several factions (namely, the majority of human factions[[note]]Gondor, Dol Amroth, the Northern Dúnedain, the Ar-Adûnâim, Dale, Dorwinion, Bree, the Vale of Anduin, Enedwaith, and Harad[[/note]], both Silvan Elf factions, and Dol Guldur) have a "ranger"-type unit; basically, a lightly-armored foot archer that can hide anywhere and usually has the highest accuracy, missile damage, range, and ammo count out of all the archers in their faction. Rangers also usually have better melee stats than most pre-Barracks Event mainline troops, making them particularly useful for factions that can recruit them early on.

''Divide and Conquer'' (or [=DaC=] for short) is an extensive sub-mod of ''VideoGame/ThirdAgeTotalWar'' (a ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''-based mod of ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms]]''). This entirely campaign-focused sub-mod not only adds a massive amount of new content (such as units, factions, scripts, maps, etc.), but substantially overhauls pretty much everything inherited from the original ''Third Age''. Currently, ''Divide and Conquer'' is on Version 2.2.

Unless noted otherwise, all tropes pertain to Version 2.2.

* ArmorPiercingAttack: Besides the usual crossbows, axes, maces, hammers, javelins, etc., there's also a handful of AP archers[[labelnote:list]]Dúnedain Bodyguard, Dale's Royal Guardsmen and Hearthguard, Khand's Variag Nobles, Lothlórien's Gûrveleg, and Khazad-Dûm's Hithaeglir Beast Hunters, with the Dúnedain Steelbowmen and Mordor's Temple Marksmen slated to join the group in V3[[/labelnote]], swordsmen[[labelnote:list]]Harad's Troll-men Champions, Imladris's Tulkas' Faithful, Isengard's Berserkers and Nazg-hai, and Mordor's Uruk Bodyguard[[/labelnote]], and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers stone-throwing hobbits]][[labelnote:list]]The Vale of Anduin's Stoor Shirriffs and Bree-land's Watch Shirriffs[[/labelnote]].
* AnAxeToGrind: The most common armor-piercing weapon, with the Dwarven factions in particular favoring their use. The upcoming V3 has Erebor take it even further, as even their ''ranged'' weapons will primarily be throwing axes.
* ACommanderIsYou: With twenty-six highly varied factions to choose from, chances are a player will be able to find at least one that fits their specific playstyle:

* GrimUpNorth: In the upcoming V3, the mightiest orcs will come from around Mount Gundabad in Middle-earth's frigid north.

* GrimUpNorth: In the upcoming V3, the mightiest orcs will come from the Middle-earth's frigid north.

* GrimUpNorth: In the

''Divide and Conquer'' is an extensive sub-mod of ''VideoGame/ThirdAgeTotalWar'' (a ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''-based mod of ''[[VideoGame/MedievalIITotalWar Medieval II: Total War: Kingdoms]]''). This entirely campaign-focused sub-mod not only adds a massive amount of new content (such as units, factions, scripts, maps, etc.), but substantially overhauls pretty much everything inherited from the original ''Third Age''. Currently, ''Divide and Conquer'' is on Version 2.2.

*** Vale of Anduin: The "jack-of-all-trades" of the wild men, the Anduin is something of a Technical/Specialist faction; they can't spam units on the level of the other wild men, and while their roster as a whole is tactically versatile, their units individually tend to be rather specialized to the point where none of them can really fill the role of an all-around mainline unit, making victory particularly reliant on carefully coordinated tactics. That said, if they do have a strength, it would be their archers, who can hold their own (at least in terms of overall damage output) even against those of Dale and the Northern Dúnedain.

* BarbarianTribe: The men of Enedwaith and Dunland are fierce savages with little in the way of civilization, which is reflected in the campaign by their relative lack of economic and technological capabilities, and on the battlefield by their relatively undisciplined nature and low armor compared to more civilized men (though the Dunlendings do get a boost in the latter thanks to their alliance with Isengard). The aforementioned features also apply to early game Anduin, though in a more NobleSavage manner.

* KillItWithFire: A specialty of Rhûn's; besides their fire arrows, they also have the firebomb-throwing Udege Marines.

* TheRemnant: The Ar-Adûnâim are the descendants of Númenórean colonists who settled in Middle-earth's far south and thus survived the sinking of Númenór. Unlike the descendants of the Faithful or even Sauron's own Númenórean followers, the Ar-Adûnâim maintain the ideology of the King's Men who ruled Númenór in its final millennia.

* CavalryOfTheDead: The Aragon Quest script ends with the Northern Dúnedain getting an army of undead Oathbreakers, who can be used for three battles before disappearing.

* AmazonBrigade: A handful of units comprise of all females, namely Dunland and Enedwaith's Warchanters, Khand's Uushixià Stormriders, Harad's Hasharii Shadows, and Lothlórien's Yavanna's Chosen.

* AmazonBrigade: A handful of units are made of all females, namely Dunland and Enedwaith's Warchanters, Khand's Uushixià Stormriders, Harad's Hasharii Shadows, and Lothlórien's Yavanna's Chosen.