Using willpower | Combat The Banner Saga 2 Guide

The most frequent use of willpower is to enhance attacks

Willpower is the third key parameter that you have to take into account during battle. Thanks to willpower, you can go farther (the yellow fields), strike harder and activate special active abilities of each character.

The first way in which you use willpower is movement. You can activate willpower by clicking on one of the yellow fields. The cost of your movement depends on how far into the yellow fields you go.

The second use is enhancing damage. This works both when you attack the opponent's health bar and when you attack his armor. The number of willpower points determines how many stars you can pick, in order to max out on damage dealt. At this point, it should be noted that you should keep an eye on the opponent's health bar. For example, if the opponent has 6 health points and you can deal 5 points worth of damage, it is a good idea to increase that value by 1 point, using willpower. However, unnecessary enhancing of damage may have the opposite effect to what you intend. If you see that your opponent will die after one attack, do not use willpower in vein.

The third way is activating a character's active ability. Of course, you should do this with consideration, because using special abilities is not always effective. Therefore, you should experiment with each property of willpower and figure out the best solution based on the three factors.

Use the horn when you really need willpower, or when it fills up.

Another important aspect, from the viewpoint of willpower is the horn shown in the above screenshot. Use the horn predominantly when you are short of willpower assigned to a character to kill an opponent in one blow. It should be noted here that the horn has a specific number of stars, i.e. willpower charges that it can fill up. At the moment, at which the horn fills up, it is a good idea to use one or two charges, thanks to which the horn can fill up again. Therefore, after it fills up, the horn cannot take more charges. You fill the horn by killing your opponents.

If you happen to have a poet with you, each killed opponent means an additional star for the horn. Therefore, you should plan beforehand when you can use the horn, with the active character and the level of his willpower in mind.