Strategy Guide

Damage Chart


Scout LOS Chart


Scout LOS Link
http://www.freewebs.com/waneiac/

BitSmerf Strategy Guides (I studied these babies back when I first started )
http://bitsmerf.x2servers.com/Strategy/strategies.html

Quick's Strategic Advice (Unfortunately incomplete, but there's still some good stuff.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by QuicksandSlowly
Welcome, new players (n00bs), Veterans, and all others in between. This topic will hopefully give you the tools to become a master of this game. Within it I and other skilled players will post our strategies and winning techniques as well as other useful information that pertains to this great game.


Index of completed Strategical Essays:

1.1 Damage Evasion

1.2 Scout Line of Sight Tactics

1.3 Cleric Placement (Theocritus)


Currently I am planning posts on:

-Building a Mage Bomb and burning your foe to death

-Building a Turtle and playing defensively/offensively

-Knight Walls: offensive/defensive combat

-Enchantress Mind Games

-Ward usage and placement

Anyone who wishes to add to this post should start a new thread and write their own ideas and/or essay within it. All submissions will be routed through me.


I play my game from this standpoint: Damage evasion is better than dealing damage in many cases. If you have a unit that is about to be overcome by enemy forces, attack and retreat or just retreat if attacking would be foolish. Then the enemy will have to follow you in, and you will possibly kill his attacking unit. Damage evasion is also killing units that can do the most damage to you, like Witches, Dsm's/Pyros, and units that are in a position to deal deathblows once they recover.

This concept works very well for all you Furgon people. The point here is to avoid damage until you can heal it all back. Shrubbery protection is excellent to this effect. If your enemy has to chop through shrubs to get at one of your units, then they can't hurt your damaged unit. You now have time to heal and retreat the unit further out of the ranged units attack influence.

The Furgon/retreat strategy also forces your enemy to either pursue, or spread their damage around. If they elect to attack something else, they merely make your healing more effective. Damage evasion also means moving your units out of vulnerable places before they can take a hit. If your Scout is next to a Witch at the beginning of the game, don't leave him there. He's going to get nuked. This is also why Barrier wards + Mages or Scouts are very effective.

You can prevent damage by killing units that are likely to hurt you the most. Suicidal Witches, Dsm powered Pyros, and Dragons. Situation: Mage Bomb with two Pyros in front of your L Ward and the Dsm in the back. One Pyro is directly in front of your ward, and the other is to the side of it. The one on the side could pentrate deep into your formation, and kill your Cleric. The one in front of your Ward is limited in movement and striking capability because of your L Ward. Which one do you kill? Obviously the one that could get at your Cleric. By doing this you remove your opponent's ability to hurt you most.

I love to prevent damage by freezing. Always make sure that if you're going to freeze something, your focus won't be broken next turn. If that is the case, don't do it at all and try to eliminate one of the sources of possible damage instead. If you freeze it and your enemy can un-freeze it easily, all you've done is given your enemy a free shot at your Frosty.

Try not to move your units into compromising positions either. Unless you have two Clerics and/or a Stone Golem supporting you, you won't be able to win in such a situation. I've seen many players run their stoned Scout right up to an L Ward and a Dragon so they can take out their opponent's armor. These people think that he's got enough hp to take a Lightning Bolt, Fireball, and possible Scout or Knight hits. Newsflash, unless sacrificing that Scout is really worth it, don't send him in. Your enemy can always retreat and stone up again, whereas your Scout is now gone forever. This goes for Beast Riders and Mud Golems too. Charging in with your Golem right at the beginning of the game doesn't work unless you've got units in good position to capitalize on the situation. Stoned Muds will die eventually, especially if there's a Frosty right there holding them down.

Preventing damage by making "pockets" within your formation for damaged units to retreat into is also very smart. If your enemy doesn't have range, then they have to kill one of your outside units first, again, spreading damage around and making your healing more effective. By pockets, I mean a cross shaped grouping of units, without a unit in the center. Since your piece is able to move through these four other units at will, you can hide him in there where your enemy won't be able to get him. If he attackes one of the units on the perimiter of the pocket, heal and you've just done twice as much healing as you would have before. The unit attacking your pocket will probably be swarmed by your five or so guys if he persists in trying to crack the proverbial safe that you've hidden your damaged unit in.

Crip's Strat Guide

Quote:
Originally Posted by crip_in_the_block
i dont feal like saying lot of the fing's but 1 of the fing's like in chesss alwes make sure that everyfing is protected by somefing or lured like if the atack's it his ganna die or doying a run escape like atack and hide back the most of the unit's that r used to block other unit's r like knight or unit's with a lot of hp like rock golem forgot his name or try to alwes make him be 1 scare in back of the atack if a guy try's to do the assasin trick the best way to kill it befor he does it its use the dragon or risk a scout hit if u dont wanna waist ur time to get ur assasin low just use the poison wisp -.- and dont put any strategie with the scout special aatck and golem because weery 1 in this lan know' s sit and its posted everywhere so try to put somefing original i dint axely put some good stuff on =.= and dont use rushe's because whwen it come's up that the guy wass a realy good defence he will get on healing and killing you slowly 1 at the time

Metal_Monster's Guide

Quote:
Originally Posted by Metal_Monster
hello ppl!!!!
the reason i made this tutorial was the newbies that haven't got a lot of experiance on this game..... i will tell you my tactical opinions and i hope those will help...

1. Attacking at the beginning of the game is a bad idea-
when you attack your enemy you actually send 1 unit against a whole bunch of units, no matter how much units you are sending, the enemy has more.... so i think you should attack only when you have at least 4 units advantage
2. Use your enemy units recovery time to finish them quickly, so ranged units with high HP and armor (scout) shouldn't stay far behind
3. Place spellcasters behind knights- i saw some formations with witches on front designed to kill the cleric if he has nobody standing 5 sqares ahead of him, but those formations will be only effective if the opponent doesn't have anyone standing 5 squares ahead of him
4. you should have a unit standing 5 squares ahead of the cleric....why??? (Hint:dark magic witch) yes!!!!! your right! the witch can kick his ass!!!! newsflash! the witch will kill your healer in one hit!
5. dont make a too spreaded formation cuz your nice enemy will vanish your little spellcasters
6. DON'T RELY ON THE FUCKING KAMIKAZEE TRICK!!!! i played with someone who attacked his assassin with the pyromancer and then sent the assassin away HOPING i will be dumb enough to hit it with the knight, but i had a witch standing there.....
NEWSFLASH-most people know the fucking kamikazee trick
7. memorize the lighting ward range so you wont accidently send a unit into there

Ape Advice

Quote:
Originally Posted by Congar's Eck0
Ok, herrz some tactics which will hopefully help you to become a better defender. I'll add more later on.

I usually play defence, even though its kidda hard these days with the busher, wisp, plus the shit load of mages that we already have to worry about.

Defend Against Turtle Rushs (DIFFERENT SIDES)----

MOST rushing units takes 2 or more turns to get to a place where it can threaten your units, i.e. break focus/dmg cleric, so I just use my ranged units such as Scout, Dragon, Mud...and maybe the Wisp to start damage them slowly before they reach my main formation or the most sensitive part, the ideal choices to pick off are the Mud, Busher, Wisp and mages, since they cant block, have less armor, and long recovery...your Frost and Wisp can handle the on coming BR and Scout later on. By the time when they gets to where I am, their HP are alrightly 1/4 of the way gone(on average), so then use the heavy power units such as Knights, LW, and Dragon to finish it off, if extra hit is needed for the kill before they can recover and do further damage, use Frost and Wisp to delay, but be sure to place them in a position that their focus wont be broken right after they cast their spell. Furgon and the placement of your units can help, using shrubs or your own units limit their move space or to block the enemy's attacks, such as the Scout's LOS, Mudquake and the BR "poke". And if you absolutly cant prevent some of your units from dying on your next turn, be sure to make use of them while you still can..like attacking with them (unless they cant move, or you only can kill the enemy with one of your higher powered unit). Here is a very important law that applies to all good defenders----ALWAYS save your Frost rather than your Cleric, because the Frost is just far more useful, they can assist you in delaying/ fast killing your opponent.

Defend Against Turtle Rushs (Same Side)----

These are very annoying and more difficult to defeat, since it will take less time for the focus breakers to get to where you are. Since you know that your Stone's focus is gonna be broken anyway, why not use it as a lure, stone first, move around a bit so you can protect Cleric and Frost from the already existing flaws in your form such as the vulnerability of los. Most peoples sents in the Mud for the focus break, and this is when you freeze'em. If you find that you focus is going to be breaked by the Scout, you can always freeze without moving, since Frost only have to wait one turn while Scout have to wait two. Then try to use the Furgon or other units to limit movement or attack. Furgon + Frost is a good combination for countering rushers. Freeze frist with the Frost (make sure that focus wont be broken in the next turn), then using the Furgon to block all possible los attacks so forcing your opponent to move in BR, Knights and such. I noticed that all players have the tendency of charging in units to break the Frost's focus even when they already know that the frozen unit is dead meat. The defender can take great advantage of that behavior, quickly finishing the frozen units off then freeze another one.
-----Additional Strat----- Another flaw I noticed is that rushers only charges in units with high movement or range, which means less armor or hp, but if stoned they can be hard deal with. As they are coming move your focus breakers + backup (Scout, Mud, Knight, Dragon, Wisp?, Busher?, BR) closer to places where you can break your opponents stone. Dont make it look obvious, thus your opponent wont retaliate. i.e. if you know that it takes five spaces for your Scout to get into a place where it can break the Stone's focus, dont move four spaces right off, move one, then four. In certain situations, these focus breakers are sacificed, but for a greater cause. After the focus is broken, start pummeling with Dragon, Knights, LW or Mud. After all the focus breakers are gone, your opponent will start sending in the Knights as a natural reaction, simply freeze one, kill it and freeze another until opponent runs out of attack force.
-----Which units to kill----- If the Ambusher is up front, KIIILLLL ITTTT FFIRRSSTT!!!! Then Mud if it charges in, follow by the Scout and Wisp (they are tied), BR and Knight.
----Protecting Cleric While Playing Same Side Ambusher Turtle Rushes----
-----Frontal Amushers-----Hate these mofuckers, they are the official Turtle Killers!!! >:S And thank you White for the brilliant invention ....Anywayz, assuming that your opponent is going to heal the Ambusher, it'll have 72 hp (60+12=72), you can get 4 hits off of it due to its recovery time, BUT you'll need ALL four hits unless you use a Dragon(Dragon blast+ Knight slash+Knight slash) or LW(LW bolt+Knight slash+Knight slash). If you have the extra turn, try set some sort of barricade(i.e. shrubs and unit blockage) inorder to protect your Cleric. If you dont have the extra turn, try to move the Cleric out of the way(out of the turtle) of the oncomming attacks if you want to save it that is. Then set of blockages. Furgon, Frost and Wisp are the best way to go in situations like this, but they can only delay, so you have to kill the Busher fast while the other tries to get their share of your Cleric. And dont forget stoning the Cleric...can make it last a bit longer, that bit might be enough time for you to kill the Ambusher and hold off the others.
-----Ambusher in the back-----
No worries until later, thats if it will have a later. Start picking it off with the Scout(If you like, bring Mud for back up in cast of Frost and Knights to hide behind) to force it back, if it gets up to the front pound it with LW, Dragon and knight, even if its stoned, it'll die fast, hopefully fast enough. While all this is happening, use your own Frost and Knights to slow down on comming units(if possible do it when the ranged units are recovering). If all else fails, make the Cleric run.



Other Links:
TAO Strategies, Ideas by M_A_D: http://www.taowolfclan.com/strat_docs.html
Du's Formation Site: http://netjak-tao.com/adu/
Scout's LOS: http://www.freewebs.com/waneiac/index.htm

Originally Posted by zzzaacckk
Strategy
By: zzzaacckk

This is my, zzzaacckk’s, compilation of strategy. For those who remember a truly great player this post was originally in black in honor of the great strategist TCBB. This compilation will include both grey and gold strategies as well as unit discussion and most other topics relating to game play on Tactics Arena Online. I hope this help everyone because as a veteran I feel that it is my duty to pass on my knowledge of the game to all players new, old, and somewhere in between. On that note let us begin!!!

Units

Knight- Knight

The Knight is the tank of this game. It has great blocking abilities and should generally be used at the beginning of the game as a wall or to block key positions. He can also be used as a mage killer. In grey turtles they are used as a perimeter along with the lightning ward generally. Knights are also found during end game generally due to their high amount of amour and HP. Knights are also excellent deterrents. They can deter units from leaving the range of their barrier ward and risk being torn apart especially units with high recovery times. They are excellent scout killers along with witches. In grey rushes I recommend all 3 Knights as they will be your longest lasting unit and is excellent for killing units such as mages and Enchantresses that can really get in your way. You can move 2 in together and flank an opponent you can do extreme damage, even take out their cleric. While they are still killing off the Knights it gives you the opportunity to add to the chaos and move your scout in and start killing your opponent from 2 sides. The main weakness of Knights with grey on grey combat is the enchantress. Since the Knight is not a ranged unit one must be very careful when maneuvering a Knight near an opponent’s Enchantress. Remember that you should always have at least 1 ranged unit supporting you knights if it is at all possible.

For golds a stoned Knight is a mighty foe. They have excessive amour and are a mighty force within turtles. Knights have blockable attacks and relatively small movement range. One must take advantage of that to defend against them. The best way in turtles to defend against a Knight is the Frost Golem and the Furgon. In turtles Knights may also be used as a deterrent for people to send in their mud golems and de-stone you or as a mini rush before they are able to setup their men in the first couple of turns. In rushes the Knight is also an invaluable unit. It takes out golems well. Its only weakness is to the frost golem but as long as you have a mud golem or scout to support your Knights with you can reek havoc with relative ease. Knight rushes are surprisingly effective. Never underestimate them.

Pyromancer- Pyromancer

The Pyromancer is a mage unit. It’s damage is unblockable and is therefore a good tool to have. The Pyromancer has low blocking (some people disagree) and HP and no armour. This makes the unit susceptible to knight, scout and other mage attacks. The main mistakes that are generally made with Pyromancers are putting them in the front row near common Lightning Ward positions and moving them within range of a lightning ward that is fully recovered. Generally this is a bad idea unless you want the lightning ward to shoot and kill your Pyro therefore giving you and advantageous position. The Pyro’s does immense amounts of damage when it attacks especially many units as it is capable of. The only problem is that the damage is spread out and is therefore easily healed. The Pyro also needs support units due to its lack of defense and high recovery time. The key to good Pyro use is to take full advantage of its ranged attack and to keep it behind a wall of units as much as possible or Barrier it. The Pyro is not a must in grey formations. It is a solid unit. The contribution of the Pyro grows immensely after the enemy cleric is dead. At that point the damage of the Pyro adds up fast and cannot be healed. All mages are also good for grays because they can be instrumental in taking out the enemy’s Lightning Ward. The lightning ward generally is the heart of your opponent if they are using a turtle setup and if you can get rid of it you have ridded your opponent of its best deterrent and at that points you can begin to penetrate their setup without the risk of being blasted for 30 damage. In my opinion the Pyro isnt a must but is very helpful to grays as long as they know what they are doing.

For golds the application of Pyros is a little bit different. They Pyro can now be used in conjunction with the DSM and Dragon to be a formidable force. I only suggest using Pyros and DSM’s in rushed and mage bombs. In a turtle situation they just don’t work so well. A mage bomb in my opinion is constituted by a 3 or more mage units in a setup other than if they are being stoned in the back row. Mage units include the DSM, Pyro and Witch.

Cleric- Cleric

The Cleric is the only healer in the game. There are very few forms that do not use one. I highly suggest it. The cleric is always placed in the back row generally in a corner or in the center. It is wise to have a Lightning Ward 5 spaces in front of your cleric so that your cleric cannot be blasted by a witch and killing it. If you cant have a lightning ward then put a different piece there instead. The cleric generally should be protected at most costs. If you see that your cleric cannot be saved then don’t try and save it. I recommend an all out attack on your opponent and go for their cleric.

Same recommendation applies to golds. There isnt much to say except don’t heal unless you need to and don’t heal and move unless you are in danger of being attacked!!! There is no need to move the cleric unless it is in extreme danger of dying because otherwise you will not be able to heal for 5 full turns. The leading cleric killer now is the golem ambusher you must watch out for it. If a Golem Ambusher attacks your Cleric heal because you can be assured that the mud golem won’t be far behind. Do that and then shrub up if you can to prevent the Golem Ambusher from making the same move. Another option is to freeze the Ambusher and use shrubs to protect your Frosty. This is also another situation that the Barrier Ward is handy for.

Scout- Scout

The scout is my favorite unit in the game. It has immense range and movement. The scout fires arrows at its opponent. These arrows follow something called line of sight. I don’t want to repeat this for a third time so please follow this link to a site that explains it really well. This site was made by Nads I hope he doesn’t mind me using it. http://www.freewebs.com/waneiac/ Once you have learned this you can now master the scout. The next step is to use this new addition to your strategy and begin to see where you can use it. The scout is a very important piece especially when your opponent is using an enchantress. It has the largest range of all grey units. It is crucial at endgame. Make sure that it has a knight with it generally to support it and in the beginning of the game save it at almost all costs. It is in some people’s opinion more valuable than the cleric. I put it slightly below as long as you still have your Pyro/s or witch or your opponent has no Enchantress. It is excellent at picking off units at long distances and great at getting rid of mages and disrupting focus. You can never underestimate the scout. The scout is also a good cleric killer and is excellent at hitting units as they are retreating to heal.

For golds that like to turtle I strongly recommend that you stone BOTH Scouts because un-stoned scouts are very susceptible to Dragon Tyrants. In addition Scouts along with Mud Golems and Golem Ambushers are great tools for ridding your opponent of the most crucial unit in the turtle setup, the Cleric. The Scout is also an excellent tool for hitting units from behind shrubs using line of sight. The Scout also has great movement range and therefore can be retreated with relative ease. In rushes the Scout is also very useful. It can be used to flank enemies and take out Golems from long range before they can do major damage. Scouts generally are not used in mage bombs as long as you have enough mages to fill out your field. The Scout is most vulnerable to Dragons, Witches and Knights.

Assassin- Assassin

The Assassin until 2 weeks ago was the most underestimated unit around. I have always used it in my setup and the new attack gives me all the more reason too. This attack is done by having only one Assassin on the field and it must be below 5 health (4 and below). You move the Assassin to its desired location for attack and then go into "attack mode." Once in attack mode hold the mouse button on the Assassin for 3 seconds and release. The Assassin should kill all the units it attacks and self-destruct. The tricky part of this operation is getting your Assassin below 5 health and being able to attack with it. My recommendation is to have a Barrier Ward in your setup to help the Assassin out if it is recovering. The Assassin is a great unit in general. It has great movement range and the ability to attack multiple units at the same time. This makes is an effective Mage or Cleric killer. Its main weakness is its low health but as long as it’s healed the Assassin should be able to penetrate the enemy and attack, recover, attack again and retreat. The Assassin is the grey surprise attack unit.

There really isnt so much of an application for the Assassin in gold setups. It could be used in a rush but the Beast Rider is basically an upgraded Assassin so there is really no point in having it. This unit is generally not used by golds but should definitely be considered by all grays because of its ability to attack multiple units and to carry out a surprise attack.

Enchantress- Enchantress

The Enchantress is in some people's opinion the best gray unit. It has the ability to freeze up to 12 units. The Enchantress is a terrific end game unit especially if our opponent does not have any ranged units left. A Barrier Ward along with an Enchantress is a dynamic pair. Strategies include letting your opponent come towards you. You then freeze it with your Enchantress and then before they can attack you you Barrier Ward the Enchantress. Make sure your Enchantress is near your Barrier Ward but not freezing it. A frozen Barrier Ward can do you no good. In addition an amazing Enchantress strategy site was also made by Nads. It’s located at: http://www.freewebs.com/nadstaosite/...antressuse.htm This site will show you the basics of Enchantress use and strategy. When a unit is frozen it has no blocking ability therefore freezing a unit such as a knight is advantageous because you no longer have to worry about him blocking and you can even hit him from the front worry free.

Generally golds do not use the Enchantress and instead use the Frost Golem. This is because with the Frost Golem you don’t risk freezing your own units. Generally Enchantresses are used only in gray turtles and not rushes because they are very vulnerable with their low HP and no amour. The Enchantress is very vulnerable to ranged units such as the Scout, Pyromancer, Witch, Golem Ambusher Mud Golem and Poison Wisp. When using the Enchantress keep these in mind and make sure that they cannot unfreeze you before you can protect the Enchantress by either blocking the ranged unit's path or Barriering the Enchantress. Another strategy is to freeze the ranged units and then Barrier so that they are stuck. Sometimes you won’t need to barrier because you draw non ranged units in close to your Enchantress and then you re-freeze. This is very fun but doesn’t work against experienced opponents because they won’t let you freeze their ranged units especially the Scout.

Dark Magic Witch- Dark Magic Witch

The Witch is the second of three Mage units. As do the other Mages the Witch has the ability to inflict major damage over multiple units. It also has low HP and blocking. The witch can be killed in one hit by both the Dragon and Lightning Ward. The Witch has more power then the Pyromancer and DSM but has less blocking and HP. For grays this is a crucial unit. It has the ability to kill the Cleric in one hit. The Witch is used most effectively with a Barrier Ward and is also adept to taking out Lightning Wards so that it can get to the Cleric. Generally Lightning Wards are placed 5 spaces in front of the Cleric so that it cannot be blasted by the Witch. The Witch is also great at killing Scouts. It has a long range attack and when coupled with a Knight, Scouts in the area are in peril. In addition an army of Witches can take out enemy turtle setups with ease. There are too many to blast with Lightning Wards and therefore they survive to attack multiple times. This kind of setup is referred to as a mage bomb. The Witch is an all around power unit that requires extreme security measures to keep it safe. Although the Witch does block what seems like a disproportionate amount of times.

Golds generally do not use the Witch in setups other than "Mage Bombs." A "Mage Bomb" is 3 or more Mage units that aren’t being stoned on the back row in one setup. This setup destroys most other setups but is generally considered frowned upon because the winner in a battle of Bombs versus each other basically comes down to who goes first. Anyone can master the art of Bombing rather easily. It is not advisable to waste turtle space with a Witch or to put it in a rush where it can be killed by a Dragon in one hit.

Barrier Ward- Barrier Ward

The Barrier Ward is a very underestimated piece. It is not an offensive piece and will not do damage to any unit. It protects any unit that it "attacks" from all attacks including unblockables. The only attacks it does not protect against are paralyzing attacks and the Poison Wisp. It is excellent for use with mage units who can attack and then be barriered. They can then recover in safety and finally attack and retreat. The only problem is that healing spells cannot penetrate the barrier so healing barriered units is useless. The Barrier Ward is most commonly found in turtle formations and is used with the enchantress due to her need to remain focused. The Barrier Ward is also a focus unit. It cannot be damaged when it is not barriering a unit by mele attacks but as soon as it barriers a unit it becomes vulnerable to all attacks. It is excellent for units who have high recovery times and low HP. This unit is a terrific tool and can reach up to 6 spaces away. This is an ideal unit for turtles.

There aren't many gold applications for this unit. It is best used in a turtle in conjunction with a Frosty. It can also be used to protect a Stonie that is open to attack. In my oppinion the furgon can do this job much more effectively and can be used for other jobs as well. The problem is that a single Dragon attack on the Barrier Ward will reduce it to only 4 health and that begins a long healing process in which the barrier cant do much because of its vulnerability to a Scout hitting it.

Lightning Ward- Lightning Ward

The Lightning Ward is an essential for all grey turtles. It is generally used as a perimeter defense tool. The lightning ward is traditionally placed in the front row 4 spaces in front of ones Cleric. This provides protection from mage attacks, generally Witches from moving forward and killing your cleric in 1 turn. Having your LW in the front row also provides a devastating first move kill against any opposing Mages that might be in the front row waiting to rush you. The best use for the LW is to use it as a deterrent and to use it only when necessary. Its long recovery time lets gives your opponent plentiful time to make an attack and retreat (especially with knights or Scouts) Another application for you LW is to use it to hit you opponents LW and with the help of mages kill it. This will leave a gaping whole in your opponent's defense which he must cover. This will give your scout more holes to shoot through.

For gold accounts the LW is still sometimes used in turtles and sometimes in anti rushes. The problem is that there are less advantages in blocking Scout LOS and mages due to the advent of the Golem Ambusher. The LW still affords some protection and is still a good deterrent against mages. If I knew I was facing a Mage Bomb I would really consider using a Lightning Ward. When attacking with the Lightning Ward just remember that it has a long recovery so make sure to attack the unit that is of the most immediate threat to you.

Originally Posted by Wayfaerer
From the depths of the SW forums, enjoy

Poison Wisp


Quote:
Originally Posted by Stone
Poison wisp is one of the units that's underestimated by most vets among TAO community. For that I strongly disagree.

Poison wisp in a average HP unit with long movement and average recovery time. Its attack from is very interesting. For every time one of the players ends the turn, the poisoned unit will lose 4 HP. Also the wisp does 4 HP intitial dmg. The draw back for the attack is that they cant kill the unit. sometimes a unit such as knight can escape the poison next turn easily and just hit it back the turn after.

The reason for most people to underestimate this unit is the Cant-kill draw back and its HP. In my opinion, this is not a fighting unit. This unit is design to work as a trap unit. Note when i say trap unit, it does not mean freezing units.

Poison wisp alone can play several roles in a game. The lure, the Rush and the Trap.

The Lure--Since it has a low HP. It's probably the juiciest meat for most golds. They throws everything at it until they realized they went too far. I have my wisp near the center. My opponent usually shoot it with the scout the first attack if on the same side. Then i simply move 1 block back. As soon as he put out the ambusher, i heal and withdraw the wisp, or rushes in if the situation's right. Then i'll just sit back slaying the ambusher. I used this to lure ambusher because that unit's getting more annoying everyday. It can cause major damage to all double gold turtles. If they attack you with something else. I usually either run and hit with other units (such as knight), or rush in and take my chances for that 8HP on attackers.

The Rush--the most straight forwarded way of using the wisp is to rush in with all other units and create a fortress of its own. since it has 6 movements. You should hide it behind knights or LW while rushing all other units in (scout, mud, beast, bushy, etc). when the right time comes, just rush them all in. Usually your opponent will try to break free. Then you should just go after the cleric while he/she's trying to finish off the wisp. After that if ur wisp survived u can just simply cast again. I use this technique to finish the cleric. Never fails.

The Trap--the most sophisticated way of using this unit. This move involves some psychological tricks such as distraction. I just had a game with Niwa-tori. He was doing a physical rushing while i was turtling. I used my cleric as the distraction to get him to move his bushy, scout and mud near my area. I kept pissing him off with my scout and bushy on his mud. Then after he got everything ready and put the bushy further in. I quickly poison those 3 units, and i also paralized the scout just in case he got the chance to run. After that, with only knights and dragon, there's no way for him to win.


Unit Combo:
Wisp+Muddy. Since wisp is flying, mud's quake will not affect the wisp in anyways. Therefore, it is always helpful to poison several units then start quaking at them. Sooner or later they will die because mud can actually kill
Stony

Golem Ambusher


Quote:
Originally Posted by Stone
Unlike the wisp, GTA is way more popular among rushers and turtlers nowadays. The reason to that is GTA is a range unit. Although the movement and no blocking&armor brought it down a bit, the LOSless advantage made it the most lethal cleric killer and focuz breaker.

The LOSless attack pattern allows it to attack a unit as long as it's in range. This move limited the furgon freezer's abilities greatly. Most furgon+frosts user will a hard time keep up the fortress if the GTA's in the game. One of the general strategy to use furgon and GTA together is to grow weeds so scouts cant get GTA while it can still shoot. I think this strategy RARELY worked because c'mon, a mud can probably take on the whole forest, and since GTA doesn't have melee abilities, wat chances doe it have to survive? This strategy will work only if u have 2 or more freezers on ur side. Once the mud is in, grow trees again, then double/single freeze the mud. Otherwise, it's suicide.

I favor my GTA as the Death of Clerics. I have it on the second row from the center, so if on the same side, it'll be albe to throw at the cleric and with the help of wisp or mud the cleric has no escape.

NEVER move ur GTA in wihout armor/backup. It's one of the slowest unit besides stony, and it doesnt come with armor naturally. It will die without armor in 3-4 turns even when healed. And that's about the length of its recovery time. Unless u gonna go suicidal and push it up with a bigger plan, dont move your GTA too far from ur army.

Here I'll teach some tricks I know so far that can nub a number of ppl.

Cleric Killer
Easy and straight forward. Have it on the second row from the board and it can usually reach the cleric on the same side. You can put armor on it then go OR attack with backups (scout, mud,wisp). It alone can't kill a cleric..unless ur opponent's a complete nub XC. If unfortunately ur opponent's on the opposite side, u should go for the next strat.

The Artillery
Try to push ur GTA to the center of the board with 1 or 2 knights guarding it. From there, it can attack almost everywhere on the board. Usually by the time GTA's at the center, ur flanking units (scout mud wisp beasty) should already arrived at ur enemies' base. BASH' EM ALL

Those above r for Turtlers.
Now let's talk about rush.

Personally I dont like to use GTA for rush. Instead i rather choose a mud. Because mud's faster, has area dmg, and can do melee.

If you are insisting of using GTA for rush. I suggest you put it on the second row, NEAR the center. Not at the center because it'll take GTA 5-6 movements to ambusher cleric or others (unless the cleric's in the center). Once it achieved its objective. Retreat it far away from ur enemies as u can. Because from there u can fight with ur melee units and GTA without threatening it.

I perfer physical rush with GTA. Magical rush with GTA only works when ur right in spot and got lucky XC.

Stony

Originally Posted by TemplarX2
Part of the guide that was preserved from digitalin. The guide is mostly for new players, refer to zzzackk guide for units missing in my guide.

Scout.
The most versatile unit on the battlefield. Movement and attack combined make him the unit with the longest reach. This is the major strength of the scout.

unit against which the scout is strong includes: The witch, the pyro and most units that have low block and low armour.

Scout is vulnerable against witch's and dragon's attack. Sending a unit like an assasin or a knight for a successful flanking or back attack followed by a witch is a sure sure way of killing a scout despite you healing once (the flanking unit will get at the back of the scout to finish him after the healing).

Click here to learn LOS and hence using the scout to his maximum potential.


Knight

Knights are tough as nails, they are the tanks of the battlefield. They are almost unstoppable killing machines when supported by clerics, BW and stone up. well almost unstoppable until they meet the enchanteress and Mister frost. so basically the knights iare strong against most units but weak against the enchanteress and frost golem due to restriction in his movement. The low recovery time is another great strength of the knight. Fielding all 3 knights is always recommended (there are exception of course), they provide excellent cover or barrier for weaker units and can be deployed in the most dangerous situation usually managing to survive the most severe beating. In term of absorbing damage the knight is only second to the dragon. But the Dragon become a sitting duck after he attacks, and can be bashed 4 time before he can moved whereas the knight will recover faster after he've attacked not to mention his formidable blocking ability. If you have 2 clerics sometime it is good tactics to send the knight as a flanking unit to try to get a cleric or a weak unit and thus opening the game. Always follow your knight with a scout or a mud for assistance or to go follow the kill of a wounded unit.

Beast rider

Beast rider can be called the noob magnet. usually it attracts a lot of attention. Contrary to appearance the beast rider is not a powerful unit by itself, but it is how you use it that is most important. The beast rider is best used as a rush unit. Position it at the centre of your front line. See image below
Click picture here
Place a mud golem 2 squares to his right or his left depending on the trend whether the opponent cleric is placeing him on the left or on the right (observe the trade but usually you can shift the mud during the game if need be to reach to the cleric since the beast rider is central he doesn't need shifting normally). A scout and ambusher should be nearby for further backing and greater efficiency (caution need to be taken against the frost always position a unit to defocus the frost or enchantress). As the match start move the beast rider deep into enemy territory. A clever opponent may block your path to the cleric but usually their setting is not adapted to the beast rider rush. Once the opponent turn is over, move the beast in to attack the cleric. If the opponent doesn't heal move in the mud to smash (if he heals try to follow it with a scout or ambusher instead). The beast rider does 19 and the mud weakest is 5, a total of 24, the perfect cleric killer. This strategy doesnot guarantee success but is very efficient against single and double cleric (that can be attacked at the same time by the beast rider). this strategy makes the beast rider a one trick pony and an expendable one but it usually kill the game or at least shift the game greatly to your advantage (you can however still lose). But again the beast rider attracts a lot of attention for some reason, and they have curious blocking pattern, sometime you may even be surprise to see the beast surviving the process. If you are relatively new and you have a beast rider and a mud try this strategy with your clan mates first. Note this is basic description, where the opponent take the bait, but against good players you'll have to adapt, for instance you may need to attack a BW or a frost to get though. Always have your scout and ambusher ready to back your beast rider, and always have the mud withing range before assaulting the opposition.



Dragon Tyrant

The dragon tyrant is to tactics arena what the knight is to chess. Most people used them carelessly. In fact the dragon is a unit that should be delpoyed at the crucial moment, it's pattern of movement allow it to finish escaping units despite them having a decent amount of hit point remaning. The dragon having such a large amout of hit point can also be permitted to act as a defender at time, protecting important unit like scout and cleric by blocking the opponent movement.

The dragon can be problematic: it takes 2 units, has a high recovery time and is restricted by LOS. Dragon is extremely effective against most units, andt witches and cleric have absolutely no resistance to the dragon, being kill in one shot only (assuming they are not stoned up). Dragon shows some weakness against the knight and take considerable damage from the witch. One on one a full health knight will usually win a battle against a full health dragon killing the dragon in 4 attack (72 damage total) although the dragon can kill a knight in 3 attack (even with one heal), the dragon take more time to recover.

witch
They are as soft as toilet paper but they pack such a punch. witches if carefully used (especially defensively) can be formidable assets. Use her with a BW and the potential of the witch is magnified. The witch attack is strong against everything, but weak against most unit. The witch is extremely vulnerable to scout.

Enchantress

The enchantress is the least feared unit by noobs but scared the hell out of experience players. The enchantress is a very complicated unit to use, used offensively the enchantress is practically worthless against an experience player but use defensively the enchantress is one of the strongest flank protectors in the game. As a matter of fact the enchantress should also be used with a barrier ward, however never use an enchantress if she is going to be defocused on the next turn. Also it is advisable to let an offending unit to come within one square from the limit of the board and them freeze it by placing the enchantress just in front of him. Usually the offending unit act as a protection for the enchantress and there is fewer position that the scout can use to defocus her. Placement her in a position where she has the minimum exposure to the enemy fire, even if that means you have to freeze one of your unit. If one of your unit is paralysed in the process to liberate the unit you just have to rotate the enchantress without wasting any more turn, the enchantress doesn't need to recover from a rotation. Using a corner give great advantages to the enchanteress since it reduces the number of positions where an opponent can assault her sometime forcing to move around giving the enchantress enough to recover or to use your unit to block the way of the opponent. When facing an enchanteress and frost combo, usually it is ill-advised to try to retrieve the frozen unit, you have to immediately direct assault elsewhere and try to gain something in the battle of attrition. Usually it is wiser to abandon the frozen unit rather that trying to retrieve it, unless you know what you are doing. Best way to deal with the enchantress is to have your scout covering you in all possible ways.

Enchantress are weak against range unit (the scout being her worst nightmare) but strong against melee unit, knights are can be easily ensnared by the enchanty.


to be continued....

Originally Posted by Lord Shinok
Most of the players uses BW to protect their dying units and their enchantresses when they are paralyzing their opponents.

In my grey games, I don't just use my BW to protect my units, I also use it to prevent my opponents' dying units that's nearby my turtle.

For example, my oppoent's knight is on 14hp and is near my turtle, in next turn, the opponent will use the cleric to heal the knight back up but I would use my barrier ward on the knight to prevent him from doing that. Helps alot, I do that in some of my grey games.

Originally Posted by Bottle
I know there's been a lot of these recently, but many of them have had inconsistencies or things that I don't agree with. Now I would humbly say that I am probably amongst the best greys on FPS (as shown by my inclusion on the now defunct FPS team to take on legends), so I thought I'd make one too. I might add that with this strategy, I have gone unbeaten grey-to-grey for 3 months with my no-drop setup, apart from one game against a good player with good luck, and have an unbeaten 18-match run against golds. So listen up.

My take on all the grey units.

Knights.

Many newbs consider the knight to be the only way to way a grey game. I've lost count of the number of 900-rated-or-so greys who've taken out my knights at great cost to themselves, because they believe (as I did once) that whoever has the most knights in the endgame wins. They are wrong. The knight is not an endgame unit, except in particular circumstances, but rather a powerful weapon to throw out early in the game.

The knight has many strengths, and few weaknesses. Its main strength is for dealing with lightly armored units with a high recovery, such as the scout, pyro, witch and cleric. A common and effective tactic for knights is to move into attack range of a mage, take the hit, move in and attack, heal, then attack again and retreat. A knight will kill a cleric, pyro or witch in 2 hits regardless of healing, and since the knight recovers before the mage does, he can attack twice and then retreat to safety. This means you end up a unit up, and your knight is in a safe knight wall on about 30 HP (depending on what happened between his attacks), which can easily be healed.

The knight is also the best way to kill the scout, which if you can do without losing too much of you own stuff, will win you the game 90% of the time. A good player will keep his scout away from the knights though, so you'll need to be bold and charge in. I would gladly swop one knight or even two to get the enemy scout, so long as my chanty is still alive.

Knights are also vital in same side turt matches, where they make a solid wall from which you can spring attacks on weak spots in your opponent's formation. Just be careful of mages hidden behind the enemy knight wall, which can chip away at your knights faster than you can heal. If possible, try to use your knights to take a LW hit. Ths then renders the enemy's LW useless for 4 turns, in which time you can get your other 2 knights through a hole and close to your opponent's cleric.

Only one thing can stop a lone knight with 2 cleric backup, using the attack-heal-attack-heal technique, and that's a chanty. But we'll come to that later. Just make sure that you don't send your knights into freezing range while your scout is in recovery, because if you do, it's basically a one-shot kill if your opponent knows what he's doing.

Scout.

The third most important unit in the grey game for defense, and most important for attack, is the scout. With its massive range of 10, this guy will save you life against a good player and cause havoc against a bad player.

As mentioned already, the scout has one major weakness; its susceptability to knights (and witches). Don't take your scout into range of a witch unless it's absolutely necessary, or if it will win you the game as a result (eg. to kill a chanty, or cleric if the chanty is dead already). It should be moved into a safe, but threatening position at the start of the game, and stay there. It should NOT be used to attack anything until the chanty is dead, unless you haven't got your knights in close yet. Don't leave it isolated either; a determined knight can reach it even with its long movement range. And at all costs, DO NOT MOVE IT INTO CHANTY RANGE. Remember, a chanty that just moves, waits, then moves again has a range of 8, and will freeze the scout before the scout recovers. If you have to move the scout within 8 spaces of the chanty, ensure that the chanty will then be either out of BW range or attacked by another unit before it can be barriered. This cannot be stressed enough. You get your scout frozen and the offending chanty barriered, and you can say goodbye to the game.

Now, the scouts strengths. At this point I will draw your attention to my clanmate nads' LOS site, which is found at http://www.freewebs.com/nadstaosite/ . This is the definitive site for LOS. And if you don't know LOS, you're wasting the potential of one of your best units. It is vital knowledge, not least for when you want to defend against an enemy scout. No cleric will ever be safe again once you've memorised this.

Another strength of the scout is when you don't have time for your knight to make 2 attacks on a witch. A knight/scout combo will kill a witch regardless of healing, but not a pyro. Pyros are better dealt with by the knight alone, or the scout alone. A scout takes 3 turns to kill a pyro, even when it's healed once. This is quite difficult to pull off, so I'd recommend using a knight to take pyros if you can.

Finally, don't expect the scout to block everything from the front. Look at it this way; would you expect a knight to block a side shot? No? In that case, don't expect a scout to not miss a front block. It's exactly the same chance.

In summary, the scout is very much a focus-breaker and finisher-off of weakened units in the grey game, and as such should be kept well out of the action. Keeping it in BW range is recommended if the enemy is close to you.

Cleric.

One of the most targeted units in the grey and gold game, and with good reason. If you can swop anything other than your scout or chanty for the cleric, do so. If you have have enough units left to make a solid defense, and can outlast the opponent, then getting the cleric should win you the game.

The cleric is very specifically designed not to be able to heal a critically injured unit very fast. It's a fact of the game, and one you need to use to your advantage. Many flawless wins are due to a player not understanding how a cleric works. If it heals 12 points to every unit, then make sure damage taken on your units is spread around. Similarly, focus on one enemy unit at a time to prevent the enemy cleric's full effectiveness.

12 may not sound much when the biggest attack on the game is 30 and the minimum is 15, but factor in the 3 recovery (you should never move your cleric around, unless it's about to die anyway) and give yourself a cleric drop, and you can heal 24 HP every 4 turns. But don't get obsessed with healing, because that only leaves every other turn for an attack. If you're not attacking, your opponent has free rein to move and attack as he wishes.

Don't look at a 2 cleric formation and think "oh god, how can I beat this". Or rather, do. The answer is simple; still concentrate on one unit at a time. To save a mage from the knight's attack-heal-attack routine, you'd need to heal twice, and the mage will still be on less than 10 HP and the enemy's clerics both in recovery. In a game like this, your enchantress will be of even more use, because to *kill* a unit, she doesn't inflict damage. See the chanty section for help with this. Don't try and kill a knight when the enemy has 2 cleric, because it's a waste of time. The enemy will wreak havoc, retreat once the knight is on about 20 HP, and heal it back up to full health. Use a chanty instead, r better still, go on the attack and aim for the weaker units. And remember, 2 clerics means one less attacking unit, which means one less person to get in the way of you killing the chanty and cleric(s).

A turtle should always have a cleric in the corner, and often have a BW on one side of it or just in front of it. Defending the cleric is a lot easier if the BW is next to the cleric, because knights can't get through. Of course, if you're using your BW, then the knights can break through it, so be careful. And putting a BW next to a cornered unit means only one route of escape too. But with the cleric, this is of little consequence, since moving the cleric is usually a waste of time.

Enchantress.

This section is vital. The chanty will only get involved in about 50% of your games, but of those 50%, she will singlehandedly win about 25% of them. She's just that good.

Since nads' chanty site section is down, I'm going to have to write the chanty tactics section out myself. It's going to be the biggest one, too. *grumble*

Now, the chanty is a mighty weapon, but has one major weakness: the scout. If she gets attacked by a melee unit when she is not recovering, she can simply freeze the offending unit, be healed, and barriered again, and you have another unit trapped. The chanty is only of any real use when you use her in conjunction with a BW, because if she gets attacked while she's still recovering, you can say goodbye to her.

When using the chanty, you have to take down the ranged units first (see the tactics section). After that, if you've got enough units left and the chanty and BW still intact, you should never lose the game. Imagine it's your cleric, BW, chanty scout and knight vs. 3 knights and assassin. The enemy has to attack you, or get picked off slowly by the scout. So you draw in one knight to freezing range, make sure that no other knight/assassin can attack you where you are moving to, and freeze the knight, being sure that you don't freeze your BW at the same time. (Freezing one of your own units doesn't matter that much; indeed, it makes opponents more likely to attack them, meaning that they can be frozen too.) When another knight charges up to attack the chanty, you barrier. 2 turn recovery left. The knight attacks the barrier, and you heal. 1 turn recovery left. The knight still has to wait, and maybe moves up another knight. You snipe the frozen knight with your scout, so the enemy is more desperate to get the chanty. 0 recovery left. The recovered knight attacks the chanty... and you refreeze. Now you have 2 knights.

The enemy, by now, will be desperate. He'll send in another knight. As soon as he gets within striking distance of your chanty, you barrier her again. (Heal if possible before barriering.) He will attack the barrier, killing it if he is using a knight. By now though, both your cleric and your chanty should be recovered. Use your cleric, and move him up next to the chanty. If the enemy attacks the cleric, you freeze the knight that does it as well, and now you have 3 knights trapped. If he attacks the chanty, the chanty freezes again. The chanty is then surrounded on all sides and unable to be attacked. You can then pick off the assassin with your scout and knight.

As you can see, a seemingly weak position (4 attackers vs. 2) has been won by the chanty.

The other main use of the chanty is against 2-cleric formations. It takes a heck of a lot to kill a knight backed up by 2 clerics. The answer? Don't play to your enemy strengths. If there's no easy way to kill the units, don't kill them. Use your chanty to freeze the knights, as shown above, and you don't need to worry about the double clerics.

Remember that a good player will know the potential of the chanty, and deal with it. Send in 2 knights and have a scout hanging around, and even the best chanty/BW formation will have serious problems. If the scout is not recovering, the chanty will be shot before she can be barriered, and then she has 3 recovery and a few angry knights next to her. Not good news. For defending against this, you'll need knights and assassins for your chanty to hide behind. But the danger then is that a witch will move up through the area where the enemy knights are, you'll be unable to send out knights to kill her without being broken through, and you'll lose your cleric. Then you're in trouble.

Surprisingly, a chanty form is best suited to attack, similar to the furgon. But that will be covered in my Tactics section.

Barrier Ward (BW for short).

The most underrated unit in the game is undoubtably the BW. It's got a lot of potential, and not just as a defensive unit.

In defense, though, it's incredibly useful. With the chanty, it can *kill* 3 knights without a problem. It can be used to barrier a precariously positioned unit and give it the chance for another attack, or for it to retreat and be healed. It can be used as part of a defensive wall of knights. Although, as stated above, even it can't save you from a witch kill on the cleric if you're playing all-out defense.

In attack, you need to be more careful. If it's positioned at the back rank, flanking the cleric, its atacking potential is limited. But if it's close to the LW, near the front but not so close as it's easily targeted by a scout, it's very useful. When the enemy has just used his LW, send up a mage and attack. Take a hit on the mage and barrier, wait until you've recovered, and attack with the mage again and retreat and heal. BWs are the only thing that can stop the old knight-kills-mage routine.

You should position your BW either on the back rank, or 2 spaces behind the LW. That way, knights can't attack it without entering LW range, scouts have difficulty getting it, and mages can't attack it without flanking or moving into LW range either. They have more attacking potential when behind the LW, but they are also easier to snipe and don't protect the cleric as well. It's up to you, but I prefer to put mine next to the cleric.

Lightning Ward (LW for short).

While we're on the subject of wards, let's talk about the often-misused LW. People always seem to use it on my knights in a same-side turtle match. Why? My knight still has 27 HP left, and your LW is useless for 4 turns. Even worse are the people who use their LW on my LW. You can go on and on about how a witch-LW-pyro combo kills a LW, but I don't care about that. You waste a few turns doing that. Meanwhile, I'll send my knights in to kill a couple of your mages. If I feel like it, I'll barrier the LW when it's on about 10 HP, so you still can't move your mages past it and you've wasted time trying to kill something that isn't going to die.

Now, how to use a LW PROPERLY. Answer: don't use it.

It's going to be a threat unit, and a wall unit. As a wall, it's immensely useful; it can block the witch from getting your cleric (but from only 1 direction, remember... a flanking witch will still get you), and it blocks knights from getting through. That's all its use will be, though, if you insist on using it on knights or other LWs. The threat is gone as soon as it's used. You may find that you zap a knight, and then get 3 or 4 mages in your face, walloping your knight wall all over the place, and you can't do anything about it. Even if you save it, you can only use it one 1 mage, but the THREAT is still there. People won't mind losing a mage in a few turns time, but for some reason, they won't send in a mage as bait for the LW and then charge with other mages. So capitalise on this, and keep your LW ready to fire.

In an opposite side turtle match, the LW often does absolutely nothing. But it still makes people go around it. It's a psychological weapon, and often nothing more. But even psychological weapons can be useful. If it makes your opponent waste a turn going around it, use that extra turn to full advantage.

Finally, don't move a mage into LW range immediately after the LW as attacked. While your mage will indeed recover first, it will only do so one turn before the LW does, so you have to move it out straight away or it'll get zapped. If your opponent has moved a knight up next to your cleric in the meantime, you often have to choose between saving your cleric and saving your mage.

Assassin.

Any unit which has another attack added to it was obviously not strong enough beforehand. This is the case with the assassin. While it makes a useful flanker, it dies in 2 hits from a knight or knight/scout, and also from a LW/witch hit regardless of healing. Therefore, you need to keep it out of range of high-powered units, although with it being a melee unit this is often very hard. And similar to the knight, it gets stopped dead by the chanty too.

The new attack, dubbed the "ass bomb", is interesting but often not used. Again, it's a potential threat. People will waste time killing the assassin, being careful not to reduce it to 5 or less HP. You have to use that time wisely. Once someone has been got by the ass bomb once, they won't let it happen again. So the only advantage it has is to make your opponent worry.

I use my assassin as a wall unit. Its superior blocking make it useful for this, and also handy for breaking focus when my scout isn't able to. That's about all it does. With 18 power, little HP, and the need to be close to attack, it's too easily killed and not strong enough for my liking. It's the first unit to take out when you get a cleric, chanty or witch drop, after the pyros.

Dark Magic Witch (DMW or witch for short).

This is a difficult unit to use well. It has so little blocking and HP that 2 hits from virtually anything will kill it even with healing, and 3 most certainly will. So you need to protect it.

This is best achieved with a BW, using the technique described above. If you take a hit but aren't threatened by anything immediately after attacking, heal and THEN barrier. This will give you more HP to play with after you de-barrier and retreat.

The witch, in the opposite corner turtle game, is either a flanking unit (if your opponent is defending) or as a unit for dealing with anything that gets through your defenses (if your opponent attacks). It's very, very useful for taking on attacking, unsupported scouts; take a hit, attack back, heal and barrier, and the enemy scout is on 18 (or 30 if they heal), your witch is on 22 and safe, and the enemy scout then has to retreat. It's also good for finishing off any knights that have got through your defensive wall, and preventing that cleric kill. And if you can do it, your opponent will too, so when you're attacking a defensive form, try and take out the witches if you can. This will stop your knights from being killed before they can get the cleric/chanty.

In a same side turtle game, the witch is far more useful. A LW/witch combo kills anything grey and mobile in the game except for the knight (which is left on 9). It also virtually kills a scout, even if the scout is healed. A common tactic is to barrier your injured knights, and use you witch to attack through the barriered knight to get to the enemy knights, without exposing your witch. You can also attack through your own full health knights (so long as there's nothing else threatening them) to kill any weakened units, and then heal later. And of course, if your opponent uses his LW, you can move up, do the BW trick, and just leave the witch there. It's a constant threat that way. Threats are everything in this game; they stop your opponent doing what he wants, and that gives you a chance to do what you want instead.

Witches are also good in rushes, but since I don't use a rush, I won't go into that.

Pyromancers (pyro for short)

I don't like pyromancers. I'll get that straight right now. I think they're underpowered, easily killed, and their attack pattern doesn't get used enough.

Anyway, now for the strategy. I've actually already made a post about this elsewhere on this forum, so I'm going to copy and paste it. Apologies in advance for that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bottle
Firstly, don't stray too close to knights with them. Two knights hits kills a pyro even if healed once. A common mistake for newbs is to burn a knight first turn. I simply move up my knight and attack, he heals, I heal (negating the damage I took), he maybe takes a swing at my knight, I attack his pyro again and retreat back into my knight wall. Result: 17 damage (maybe) on my knight, 2 turn recovery on my cleric (both of which are irrelevant unless there are more pyros and witches around, because my knight wall is pretty solid), and I'm only facing 9 units.

Secondly, you can't put them near the front line and not expect them to come under heavy scout fire. Anyone who knows scout line of sight will just shoot straight through your knight wall and hit the pyro, and again, 3 hits kills a pyro even with one heal.

Thirdly, many people think "Oh, that LW is in recovery, I can move my pyros past it." You can't. Pyros have 3 recovery, LWs have 4, so ONLY if the LW has ONLY JUST acted can you move past it and attack. Otherwise, your pyro will still have recovery when the LW is ready for another shot. And even if you do move the pyro past it straight after the LW blast, there's always the chance that a good player will then move up a knight or scout to attack an undefended piece like the cleric, so you have to spend time protecting it... and if you don't move the pyro as soon as it has recovered, it will die from the LW shot... so you may end up having to choose to lose your cleric or pyro.

The main strengths of the pyro are that they can finish off very weak units without fear of blocking, and their long attack range (7 spaces). This makes them the only focus breakers you have, other than your scout. If the enemy is using a chanty, they will be useful if kept back and saved for the endgame, especially if your scout has been killed. As abyaly said, you can use them to force an opponent to heal and waste his cleric, but always consider the fact that a good player may well think that a knight on 39 health will still be able to take several hits before dying, and choose to go for the pyro instead of healing. The best way to force the opponent to heal is to do damage to weaker units like the scout, assassin, mages and enchantress, because they will die in 1 or 2 more hits unless healed immediately.


As you can see, I've already made most of these points here, but that should reinforce them.

Originally Posted by Madars
The LW is the games most powerful unit not including the assasins self destruct move.In my oppinion this is a turtelers best friend and is a must if ur grey.the only sucky part about the LW is it cant move and its slow recovery time,but if someone gets too close with there wich or pyro u can kill them in one hit.so one of the most common places to put the LW is 4 spaces in front of cleric so a rusher with a wich cant kill ur cleric on its first move.and one stupid thing i see noobs doing a lot is putting there LW in a rush and i wouldnt suggest doing that.ok i hope this helped some of u n00bish ppl,peace and good luck with ur new LW strategy.


Madars

Originally Posted by Essence
Observation 1: People almost never attack with their Knights if you provide a valid threat with your opening move.

Therefore:

1a) Lightning Ward + Barrier Ward + Knight is all the defense a Cleric needs. *Placing an LW 3 squares in front of the Cleric (not 4!) and a Knight in front of that allows you to off any non-Knight offender that might wander up to slay your Cleric. *First move in with the Knight and strike. *If you hit, don't stress -- the LW will finish off whatever it might be if it sticks around to injure your Cleric. *If you miss, BW the Cleric and Knight again. *Most units will take the second hit, and which point even if they've broken Barrier, again, the LW can finish them off if they attack the Cleric.

(If you have a Muddie, it gets even better, as the Muddie can be 3 squares away from the LW and still teleport close enough to kill off any non-Knight that the LW has hit with a Ground Pound.)

2a) Place your other Knights on the front line in the middle, so you can flank a turtle on either side, or break a rush (they usually have their most fragile units in the middle to avoid being broken by a side turtle). *In either case, you've provided valid threat from the get-go, and in 90% of games, the opponent won't be willing to commit his Knights to the offense.



Observation 2: A Cleric, a Chanty, and a BW is almost always a win against 3 Knights.

2a) Don't even try to kill an enemy Knight unless he makes it really easy. *Go for the Cleric, Chanty, Scout, and Casters in that order -- and use your Knights to do it!

2b) Don't be afraid to let your Chanty take a hit if it means nabbing another Knight in her web. *As long as you can Cure before you Barrier OR the enemy Knight and your Chanty are more than 4 squares away from the BW, you've got the game in the bag as soon as you get the second Knight. *(For this reason, keep the Chanty on the outskirts of BW range.) *




Observation 3: Many people quit as soon as you prove that they can't save their Cleric.

3a) Agress with both Knights and your Scout. *The Scout can break Chanty/BW focus if they get involved, and more importantly, once your opponent is caught up in dealing with the Knights and has broken formation to do so, you can almost always find an in-road with your Scout to off their Cleric. *Once it's obvious what your intention is, they WILL come for your Scout -- and that's when you swing the Knights into a position to step up to the Cleric. *I win 30% of my games by submission as soon as that point has been reached.

3b) Don't do that! *If someone kills your Cleric, it sucks -- but the game is far from over. *Pull back as quickly as you can without exposing yourself. *The unit that killed the Cleric shouldn't survive the attempt (see 1a, above). *Above all else, kill their Scout, because once your Cleric is down, a lot of the win is going to be on your Chanty. *You have to pin down their Knights to draw their casters into the open.



Observation 4: Lightning Wards almost always appear in the center row, or 4 squares in front of a cornered Cleric.

4a) Don't EVER put any unit except Knights and Wards on the front row except on the very edge. *Every other square might get LWed on the first turn, and really put a hurting on your offense. *Similarly, don't put anything on the second row on any column where a LW would frequently get placed, for the same reason.



Observation 5: Pyros are crap unless and until you have killed the enemy Cleric.

5a) Unless you are very proactive and have a good plan to kill the enemy Cleric quickly (i.e. you are God with a Scout and/or have a Muddie at your disposal that you're willing to sacrifice to get the job done), don't bother with Pyros.

5b) If you see an enemy with multiple Pyros, immediately start watching his moves against your Cleric closely. *His Pyros will get really scary pretty fast if you suddenly find out that they're doing 15 damage (not 3) per unit hit.


Final Note: Units that can serve multiple functions over the course of a game are particularly valuable.

For example, BWs can serve in the early game to make a rapid Scout sortie into enemy territory a much more viable tactic, and in the late game, they can be the game-clincher when it's down to 3 Knights vs. your Chanty. *They also make good wall components, serving, with the LW and your Knights (and sometimes Assassins, but that's not always the best idea) to buffer against enemy meleers/Scouts.

Similarly, Witches are often best for threat value in the early game -- smart opponent's just won't place their Scout within easy reach of a Witch. *But in the end game, when there's just a few units left, a Witch can often slowly, over several turns, kill an LW from outside of it's range, removing the last great defensive bulwark from an opponent's side.


Overall, in my experience, it's best to LOOK like a turtle, but PLAY like a rush. *It provides you with a slight psychological advantage, but most importantly, if you set up like you're going to play a turtle, you'll have in mind exactly what your responses will be to the major threats (specifically Scouts and Witches), and of course, because you know what your plan is, those responses won't involve the units you've committed to making your foe's life miserable.