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Better Elites

This mod is a side-product of Warband Upgrade Ultimate, based on same concept in Immersive Bretonnia Upgrade --- to make elite units truly elite.

Does not require either mod, but they are designed to be compatible and coherent.

WH3 is such a great game. But, many elite units in lore were treated unfairly and mis-represented in game. Single entities and monsters are overpowered, while elite infantry is lagging, and many elite cavalry is useless.

The main purpose of this mod:
--- make tier-3 units better in terms of unit progression,
--- more functional according to unit role, grouped into cavalry, archer, defensive and offensive infantry.
--- elite units shall crush low-tier units, but can always be effectively countered by certain elite units.
--- faithful to both lore and vanilla game design.


The main change is to decrease unit size, then increase health / damage / mass proportionally, and increase projectile impact radius.

With a smaller unit size and more health per entity, each entity can survive longer, deal more damage, and much more mobile on battlefield and especially siege map.

The armor / shield / AP percentage are also significantly improved. Other stat (attack / defense / charge) are little changed to be faithful to vanilla flavor.


Tier 2 & 3 cavalry from applicable races are all properly resized (30/20/10) with significantly increased mass and splash attack. Added anti-infantry bonus for anti-infantry cavalry.

Now the elite cav can easily charge through most units. The best of the best (grail, blood, and chaos knights) are on-par with Ogre monster cavalry.


Tier-3 archers are re-sized, with increased missile strength + 360 degree shoot + increased impact and penetration.

For archers of 30 entities or less, as well as ranged lord and hero, add a small shockwave radius to their arrows. This compensates the low-unit count, and makes ranged heroes on-par with magic / melee heroes.


With increased mass and radii, elite defensive infantry (e.g., phoenix guard, black guard, ironbreaker) can stop the cavalry charge on front, and more effective against monsters.

Elite offensive infantry (swordmaster, bladesinger, greatsword, chosen, slayers, etc.) deal more damage per entity, and can break defensive line.


When used correctly, elite units can handle multiple low-tier units.

Elite units facing each other generally follow the rule:
Cavalry >> Archers and Offensive infantry.
Archers and Offensive infantry > Defensive infantry.
Defensive infantry > Cavalry

Anti-large and anti-infantry attributes are important, giving significant bonus to both attack and weapon strength.


Compatible with all mods, co-op, and safe to add or remove mid-campaign.

The list of resized units & races is here.

It is also compatible with SFO / Radious, but the mod is balanced around vanilla experience.


I don't always check Steam comments. For time-sensitive request, please contact me on discord, either via modding den or my own channel[discord.gg].

And I always welcome a cup of coffee[www.paypal.com] for my work.