Sandshapers guide — Endless Legend 2

Overview

The Sandshapers are ancient inhabitants of Saiadha who remember a time before the Endless, before the oceans. They built wondrous cities of towering spires in vast deserts — until the Endless imprisoned the spirit of the planet and caused the great floods, sweeping their civilization away. Those who remain seek to recover their former glory and restore Saiadha to its natural beauty of unending deserts, no matter who stands in their way.

Source: Amplitude Studios — Faction Spotlight: The Sandshapers

Playstyle

Expansionists and terraformers. Claim as much land as you can to empower your Wishes and fuel your economy, while turning it into desert Sand tiles that are less useful to other empires. Designed for survivor-type players who enjoy starting in a hostile world and reshaping it in their own image — thriving where other factions would struggle.

Strengths and weaknesses

Strengths

Terraform tiles into desert Sand that empowers them while weakening rivals
Ruins of their civilization fuel their magic — restoring monuments invokes mighty Wishes
Armies and population regenerate directly from the sand scattered around ruins
Resilient units that weather battle well, especially on their native deserts

Weaknesses

Cannot eat anything but Sand — the entire early game is a terraforming race
Expensive construction during Monsoon (Storm Cursed)
Cannot exploit riverside tiles or build bridges (Aquaphobic)

Unique mechanics

Djinns of the Deserts (faction affinity)

Beings of sand, rock, and glass, the Sandshapers cannot harvest Food yields from tiles other than Sand — and Sand tiles do not occur naturally on Saiadha. They must create the world they need.

Wishes

The Sandshapers can spot the ancient ruins of their civilization, and restoring these monuments lets them invoke mighty Wishes — among them the ability to terraform the tiles around them into Sand tiles.

Storm Cursed

All constructions are more expensive during Monsoon season.

Aquaphobic

Cannot exploit basic resources on tiles next to rivers or lakes, nor build bridges — but their dams are more effective at drying out riverbeds.

Saiadhan Shapers

All Landscaping actions complete faster for Sandshapers.

Lands of the Past

After each Tidefall, the newly uncovered land is highlighted through the fog of war.

Harvester

Resource Extractors are much cheaper to build.

Mineral Bred

Sandshaper cities gain extra food based on their extraction of strategic resources.

Military

Battle affinity: Stone Stance

At the end of your turn, your units deal 8 damage to all adjacent enemies, ignoring their Defense.

Blackwind

The Sandshapers' scout unit, an agile flier who can knock enemies back a tile in combat.

Deathgale (faster on the world map, leaning into scouting)
Sandswarm (bolsters allies with shields)

Shard

The infantry core of Sandshaper armies; great flankers thanks to their short-range teleport.

Spineshards (take out isolated units opportunistically)
Sandstorm Maestro (area-of-effect attacks against groups)

Sandweavers

Ranged attackers with access to a short teleport, like their melee-focused brethren.

Stonewardens (focus tough enemies, shatter defenses)
Stonescorchers (deep in the ranks — their attacks strengthen allies)

Vitreous Titans

Tough juggernauts that receive shielding every turn.

Bulwarks (push away enemy units)
Stoneslingers (attack everyone in front of them, obliterate defenses)

Faction quest

Like every major faction, the Sandshapers have their own story quest. Full chapter details unlock with our game-data import.

Deep data unlocks with our game-data import

Exact trait effects and costs, full unit stats, buildings, and quest chapters for the Sandshapers land here once we import the official game data. The guide above is built from official Amplitude announcements only — we don't invent stats.

Patch history

No Sandshapers-specific changes tracked yet. Once our patch pipeline runs, balance changes for this faction will appear here.

Sandshapers