Battle for Middle Earth 2 - Good Campaign - Evenstar Powers

Battle for Middle Earth II - Good Campaign - EvenStar Powers
This is a hint/walkthrough post for Battle for Middle Earth II. You can find an index of all our Battle for Middle Earth II posts here.

There are a lot of EvenStar powers, and if you played the original The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle Earth, you will want to discard what you know about them because many of the rules have changed. For example, Elven Land lasts a long time, but ultimately expires. Also, many bonuses no longer stack.

Some powers (e.g., the Tier 4 powers) can be placed in the fog of war, which will also reveal the location to you. Elrond has a Farsight power which can reveal the fog of war to find good places to hit the enemy with your powers.

Powers are made available in the Campaigns based on what mission you are in, and sometimes unlocked by mission events. You begin with 5 Power Points in Mission 1, and can earn 10 more Power Points in each of Missions 1-5, more in later. Leftover Power Points carry over from mission to mission (but see Tom Bombadil bug in Mission 3).
To get a Tier 4 power requires a minimum of (5 + 10 + 15 + 20) = 50 points, which you can accumulate by Mission 5.
You are capped at 164 Power Points by the last Mission of the Campaign.

I recommend aiming to unlock and get all three of the Tier 4 powers as two of them together can wipe out enemy buildings safely from far away. Sometimes one will do (Earthquake) but not always. And because partially damaged buildings repair themselves, it is better to outright destroy them with two powers. For this purpose, the best powers are any of the Tier 4 Powers, and the Tier 3 Power "Barrage".

Mission 1 - Rivendell - Only Tier 1 powers are available.

• Enshrouding Mist - Friendly units within the mist become stealthed. Significantly reduces enemy Armor and Damage. Can hide units from the Watcher in the Water, which cannot then detect and attack them even when it has been attacked.
• Elven Gifts - Heroes gain +50% damage. Passive power.
• Heal - Heals units, replaces 1 dead man per battalion. Use this on ships, not Rebuild.
• Elven Wood - Creates lush terrain that expires when the cooldown period ends. Ally ally units gain +50% Armor. All enemy units lose their leadership bonuses. Does not affect Heroes. The description does not say that this power will not stack, but the corresponding One Ring power, Tainted Land, does not stack, so we can suspect that it is the same here.

Mission 2 - High Pass - First of the Tier 2 powers available

• Rallying Cry - Targeted allies gain +50% Damage and +50% Armor. Does not stack.
• Summon Tom Bombadil - This power is received for free during Mission 3 (Ettenmoors), BUT it causes a bug in carrying over Power Points. Tom Bombadil can trample units (even large units like trolls) without slowing down. He has a small area effect attack. Because he dances around trample things, he's useful mostly as a distraction or if you need a single target taken down. If you plant him alone amidst veteran battalions, he can do lots of damage to non-archers, but unless he wipes out a whole battalion, it will ultimately regenerate all its members.
• Lone Tower - Summons a defensive tower.

Mission 3 - Ettenmoors

• Summon Tom Bombadil - You are given this power after destroying the Mountain Troll and Giant Drum. However, if you get it for free here, you will from this point lose 10 Power Points between Missions (but you cannot go into a negative value). To avoid this bug AND fulfill the Bonus Objective of destroying the Giant Drum, you must purchase the Summon Tom Bombadil power before destroying the Giant Drum.
• Rebuild - Heals structures. Does not work on ships -- they count as units, and so are repaired with the Heal power. Available when Haldir returns with reinforcements at the elven settlement.

Mission 4 - Blue Mountains - All Tier 2 powers now available.

• Dwarven Riches - Selected structure's resource output is permanently raised to 300%.

Mission 5 - Grey Havens - First of the Tier 3 powers available. These are two of the better ones, so try to get both.

• Cloud Break - Cancels Freezing Rain or Darkness. Stuns enemy units. Not all units have a visible indication that they have been stunned, but in general it works on everything. Very powerful if timed right -- That is, the enemy is in position and preferably tightly massed for your arrow fire or artillery bombardment.
• Barrage - Bombard target area with devastating artillery. Very good against non-monstrous troops. Against large monsters, especially those with veterancy, it's generally wasted unless you are already attacking them some other way and can kill them. Also, try to use it in battle because if you use it too early, while the enemy is far away, partially destroyed veteran battalions will heal and recover their numbers faster than your power can recharge. Despite these shortcomings, it is very powerful and useful, and you should get it as soon as possible.

Mission 6 - Celduin - 30 Power Points can be earned in this mission.

• Summon Men of Dale Allies

Mission 7 - Erebor - 45 Power Points can be earned in this mission.

• Earthquake - Creates an Earthquake on an area of terrain, causing heavy damage to structures. Very wide area but random damage. You may need to follow up with another power if you don't have troops there to finish off the buildings.
• Undermine - Not initially available. Listen for the announcement; throughout the Mission, you will also be prompted to use the power to move around. Places a Mine Shaft anywhere on the map. Mine Shaft becomes immediately connected to tunnel network. This is actually a very powerful ability if used properly because with two, you can essentially teleport units from one mine to another. It can help you move troops in an emergency, but you can do the same with strategically placed mines and in any case the recharge is very slow, and you can't always place it anywhere you want. Best used with races who don't normally have a tunnel network.
  When you place Undermine at a legal location, the troops near it are blasted away. If they are allies, they take no damage.

Mission 8 - Dol Goldur - All powers available.

• Flood - Summons a powerful flood to crush enemy units.
• Sunflare - Calls a fiery beam of sunlight to scorch the battlefield. Trolls that are not killed are temporarily petrified.