Soldier
The Soldier is a Melee tier 2 infantry unit in Symphony of War.
Stats 
| Stats | Base | Growth | Lvl 1 | Lvl 54 | From Tier1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Med | High | ~125 | ~378 | +20 | |||
 |
Med | Med | 20 | 91 | - | |||
 |
High | High | 25 | 90 | +5 | |||
 |
Med | High | ~27 | ~51 | +5 | |||
 |
Low | Low | ~12 | ~23 | - | |||
 |
Med | Med | ~17 | ~41 | - | |||
 |
Med | Med | ~17 | ~1845 | ~225 |
Related Technologies
| Tech: | ||
|---|---|---|
|
|
Martial Traditions | Gain Class Points 15% faster. |
|
Mixed Unit Tactic | Gains +3 weapon power for each different archetype of unit added to the squad, starting from the second.
|
|
Adept Metallurgy | +25 HP
|
|
Advanced Material Science | +25 HP (+50 total)
|
|
Steel Forging | +5 Armor
|
|
Obsidian Forging | +5 Armor (+10 total)
|
Battle Details
| Battle Detials: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Round 1 |  Melee Attack,  Heavy (10th) Volley, at 1 range.
| |
| Round 2 | Melee Attack, Heavy (10th) Volley, at 1 range.
| |
| Extra Attack | Melee Attack, Heavy (10th) Volley, at 1 range.
| |
| Other Detials: | ||
| ||
Strategy
Tactics
The soldier's bulk can be used to good effect by baiting in enemy squads and making headway during the enemy phase of combat, were Guardian also further emphasizes this role.
Ideally a Fortress or other defensive terrain is the best spot to hit end-turn on.
Squads
The front row is the best position for Soldiers to make use of, offering cover and blocking melee attacks against the middle and back rows.
Another consideration with squad-building is layering Spearman into the mix (after the Polearm Mastery tech), to apply more defense (and offense) to soliders.
With a formation like the following:
And potentially with 
on the spearman in the middle, to change 
Large AoE (or any AoE) effects from an 
optimal damage spread to the most 
sub-optimal damage spread, while also insuring the Soliders with Guardian and the bonuses provided from Polearm Warrior are taking the brunt of the hits.
Add 
Barricade (with the DLC) to the Spearman in the middle for even better results, offering even more bulk to the soldiers to his left and right.
Soldiers can also run 
Imposing to a similar end early-on, though are usually better served by improving their own bulk when the option presents itself. Still: it's a more reliable means of re-directing AoE that can target any teammate.
From there: Soldiers always appreciate healers to keep them active, though pretty much every unit appreciates a strong front-line for longevity, were the Soldier can be a key player for a wide range of builds.
Enabling Cavalry or Light Infantry movement with the remainder of the squad is always a plus, and/or going for a good mix of attack Volleys: which also means more weapon damage from Mixed Unit Tactic.
Target Leader is also a reliable option; given Soldiers appreciate the +35% Hit and are barely impacted by the -25% Avoid.
As Opponents:
The longevity of Soldiers is their best trait; which can be ignored, circumvented, or bypassed in a verity of ways.
Guns or Magic is the most stratforward path, though also the most limited.
Archers (or Rangers) can also be an option to strike the back-line; though ideally are running something like 
Steelshatter for it's 20% armor penetration in the event they still hit a solider.
Crossbowman are the most abundant counterpick here, as they innately have a ~25% damage-bonus against heavy infantry and heavy cavalry, and with minimal tech can further amplify that damage bonus; while still being dangerous to squishier mid to back-row targets.
Dragons and 
Sirens are also a good source of damage when they're avalible; were the Target Leader command can be used to encourage them to center their AoE damage for maximum effect, given enemy squad leaders are also often in the center of a squad. 
Aggressive Attack is also a good general option; given Soldiers still have enough HP and Guardian's %DR to get through.
Amusingly: Soldiers (or other Heavy Infantry or even Heavy Cavalry) are one of the most reliable options against soliders, reducing their damage to near-0 while also playing an enemy-phase game; encouraging enemy soliders to attack on their play-phase and as such gain no benefit from their core 
Guardian trait.
For items:
Blademaster's Armor and 
Steelshatter are useful counter build items, though 
Aldor's Tower Shield and 
Obsidian Plate Armor on durable units is one of the easiest ways to shut down rival soldiers.
Builds
The Soldier is a staple front-line tank and heavy infantry unit that will serve well in the early-mid game. Having the 
Guardian trait makes them ideal at their role, especially given reducing %damage taken and heavily mitigating it with armor means healers have an easy time keeping them alive, and each heal represents a large quantity of effective hit points restored.
Traits
Traits like 
Resolve, 
Unscathed, 
Warrior's Hubris, and 
Bodyguard are great to improve the defenses of the Soldier, while 
Challenger, 
Cold-Blooded, and Bodyguard are good to improve their offense.
With DLC: 
Wide Guard can really put their front-line durability to use, preventing enemy squads from targeting the back rows until the last Soldier falls. Or the center-most soldier, with how Wide Guard works.
Artifacts
Aldor's Tower Shield and Obsidian Plate Armor are stand-out options, though anything that boosts +ARM, +HP, or +STR works.
Good +STR bonuses are fairly difficult to come across (outside of Legendary Artifacts), with the 
Sayunaari War Pike, 
Flame Saber, and 
Black Belt being stand-out options for boosting offensives here.
Affinity
Earth is the best affinity for raw survivability, which is the main niche and purpose of the Soldier.
Fire is a good mix of offense and defense, favoring both HP and Strength, useful in a game were killing enemy squads is imperative to victory.
Fire is also especially useful for boosting the Soldier's Strength to levels that enable it to promote much earlier to Tier 3 classes, several of which carry area-of-effect attacks that benefit even more from a good balance of offense and defense.
Gallery
