Combat TacticsThe core strength lies in dragons and earls. Depending on the opponent, senior creatures should either be kept separated or combined. Against which heroes is it better not to split troops? Mages, of course, are first and foremost. The more creatures there are, the more can be hit by "Meteor Shower." Granted, "Earth Shock" is also an option, but only if your opponent knows how to pierce immunities. And who knows how to pierce them? Sinitar and all his modifications, naturally. However, you will certainly be able to survive two or three turns and destroy all his troops. We will definitely analyze this battle later.
Thus, our Ingvar is a born mage-killer. At least against those who rely on the power of spells; the army only needs to survive as long as possible. Dwarves are exceptionally tough, plus the armor set provides 40% magic protection. Let's not forget about the reduction of "Luck," which neutralizes the "Lucky Sorcerer" skill.
It is not worth splitting troops against a shooter. Arrow Rain is a nasty feature, and it will kill a couple of dragons and earls per turn. On the other hand, combining troops risks focused fire from archers. Fortunately, archers cannot be hidden behind ents. They can be reached by dragons, earls, and jarls. Even guardians can squeeze through the ancient trees.
For Deleb, Nimus, Carly, Vittorio, or Axel (and others), a scattered army is actually better suited. More squads mean more runes. This provides additional damage and opportunities for tactical maneuvers. For example, you can move dragons forward and expose them to attack. Enemy squads will gather around them, and that's when you activate "Battle Fury." A lava dragon, especially with good morale, deals a great deal of damage, as our "Attack" level is already quite high. Additionally, moving the main forces forward will allow guardians to move up exactly when they are needed. Lava dragons are very strong, and by the time they are destroyed, the "harmless" guardians will "tear apart" the rest of the enemy army.
Let's consider a few examples of using a "pure" fighter. We will compare him with a mage, a shooter, and flame. The first two are clear, while the flame will be a hero based on Deleb.
Fighter vs Mage
It is well known that magic played a significant role in all "Heroes." In duels, this significance has been preserved, though to a lesser extent. Yes, a good mage can deal an indecent amount of damage, but there are many ways to neutralize a wizard. Let's try the dwarven troops in a survival confrontation and see what happens.
This battle is won literally in two or three turns. A mage rarely manages to survive longer. This is all thanks to the "Energy" rune. Your vanguard strike squads (earls, dragons) reach the opponent immediately. Moreover, if the mage groups his squads, you will certainly win on the second turn; if not, you'll play a maximum of three.
The setup is simple: combine everyone into general squads. This will avoid unnecessary losses from mass spells, and resurrecting dwarves with runes will be easier (and more effective).
Place dragons along the right edge and earls on the other side. This way, you'll reach the opponent regardless of their position.In the very first round, grant the dragons and earls the
"Energy" rune and attack. Try to choose your target correctly. Attack in a way that hits several squads at once. Practice shows that with one breath, dragons destroy almost all hydras, and if someone is hiding behind them, they will perish too. In our case, night mistresses were hidden behind the hydras, and they were blown away. By this point, only minotaurs, a few hydras, and shadow lords may remain on the field. However, if an earl managed to reach the enemy, there will be very few creatures left. After the mage's turn, the
"Berserker" rune becomes available in any case, allowing you to strike with one creature twice. It doesn't matter who receives the magical "prestige blow." The mage still won't be able to deal any significant damage. All he can do is finish off his own troops with "Armageddon."
Fighter vs Shooter
To be honest, this battle caused me some concern. Elven archers are dangerous. Even with the "Evasion" effect, they deal very serious damage, and if "Luck" triggers, it's even worse. Let's not get ahead of ourselves and look at the starting setup.
The
"Incorporeality" rune in action. Ents cannot even strike, and the archers will be gone by the next turn.
In this variant, troops must definitely be split. Why? If you leave both dragons and earls in one squad, the focused fire of the archers won't let them move. Stopping arrows will do their job, and you'll lose your entire core and be unable to do anything to the ents. And they, by the way, have a hundred "Defense." Therefore, split the dragons and earls. Guardians can be combined. It's unlikely the opponent will attack them before the vanguard. That's about it for the setup. Don't forget that the hero's important skills "Attacking and Defensive Hird" work when all troops are nearby. Therefore, you shouldn't defend, but rather bring everyone into battle. Place dragons in the middle and earls on the edges. This way, you can attack the opponent in any scenario and not lose a turn. Place guardians in the center.
So, in this battle, you will have to use runes every turn. Archers won't be a threat to you, but ents can seriously cause trouble. I repeat, the main thing is not to forget about runes and apply them constantly. A simple example: no one has attacked the squad yet, and everyone is intact. In this case, the "Berserker" rune is inactive, but something must be applied. Use "Thunderclap," "Incorporeality," or even "Dragon Form." In extreme cases, you can use "Battle Fury," as it certainly won't make things worse.
Since we have "Tactics" and the opponent has it too, the skills neutralize each other. For a dwarf, this isn't very important, as the vanguard will definitely reach the opposite side, but for the shooter, it is extremely unpleasant. The point is that dragons can breathe diagonally, piercing ents on the edge and scorching archers with the end of the stream. Therefore, the archers have nowhere to hide, and the ents cannot intercept the dragons because their initiative is too low.
A vivid example of how you cannot hide or escape from dragons. No matter how you arrange the ents and archers, without "Tactics," the shooter is very vulnerable.
The archers take the first turn and, in a lucky scenario, can destroy an entire squad of dragons. However, if this doesn't happen, you will have the opportunity to apply the
"Berserker" rune as early as the next turn. Once it comes down to the earls, attack the ents with them and don't forget the
"Energy" rune. The lightning will properly roast the archers, and on the next turn, you can make two strikes at once, since in response, the ents will kill at least one earl anyway.
This is important: position the earls so that they do not obstruct the dragons. Lightning hits everyone standing nearby, so you can start the attack from any side. Dragons, however, need the correct position.After the dragons' attack, there will be no archers left or so few that they can be safely ignored. However, ents and "Arrow Rain" will remain, which will destroy one dragon and earl each. This is where, in the final stage of the battle, you will need "Incorporeality" runes. For a turn, your troops will become transparent and deflect some attacks. The hero's arrows are also deflected. Don't forget about
"Resurrection" runes.
The end of the battle is time for the guardians. Only they will be safe and sound. With one blow, guardians can kill up to two ents, and if you activate the "Berserker" rune, then three or even four. After a couple of turns, you will win.
In this example, the shooter's troops stood at the edges of the map. Ents covered the archers, which, truth be told, didn't help them much.
What can save a shooter? Only natural obstacles. Without tactics, a shooter is nothing. In this battle, he had no chance; if the trees and archers had stood side by side, it would have ended much faster.
Fighter vs Flame
The third contender hails from Inferno. He is based on Deleb. This fellow, however, knows how to cast a few spells, and the troop composition is somewhat different. The "Flame Powerhouse" has become much stronger. He brings troops into battle immediately, and the large number of devils allows him to summon a whole horde of cave lords. Why is this dangerous? If you remember, all cave lords are armed with enchanted swords that kill one creature in a squad upon attack.
The devils themselves are not own-nothing either and can hit very hard if lucky. Moreover, they move earlier, so they get not only the right to tactical placement on the field but also the first strike. Three squads of six devils can destroy all earls at once. But that's not scary, as dragons cannot be overcome by them so easily.
Let's start with the setup for this, perhaps, most difficult battle. Both have "Tactics," so we get only two cells for placement. Place dragons on the sides and jarls in the center. Our task is to preserve the fire-breathers until their turn. Since the flame army consists mainly of devils, earls can be sacrificed without worry. And it's unlikely the demonic spawn will stand closely enough for lightning to hit even two of them. Guardians should be hidden in the farthest corner. It is the first-level creatures that must play a key role in this battle. That's all for the setup; let's move to the battle itself.
The first turn belongs to the devils. They have more initiative, but there is one drawback. They are large and therefore unlikely to reach you immediately. If there is any obstacle on the field, feel free to hide behind it. After the devils' attack, you will have almost no earls left, but there is a chance that dragons will also take losses. This is lucky, because you can apply the "Berserker" rune, which we will do as soon as we get our turn. Bless untouched dragons with the "Battle Fury" rune, even if attacking several devils at once isn't possible. The feature of this rune is that you strike without a counter-attack, and in a confrontation with devils, this is very important. Since all devils will likely move forward, bring guardians into battle immediately. The key moment here is the same "Battle Fury," because as long as there are many devils, they can seriously reduce the number of brave dwarves, which is highly undesirable.
Apply the "Battle Fury" rune, and these demonesses will vanish. Moreover, they won't even be able to strike back.
A couple of "Resurrection" runes — and almost all guardians are back in line.
After the first turn, we must remove at least one squad of devils from the game, but their place will immediately be taken by spawn. Our task is to destroy only real troops, as summoned ones will vanish if no one else is left on the field. Dragons and earls (if any remain) should handle the battle with devils, while guardians go to the rear against the demonesses. There they will meet cave lords and destroy them.
This is important:
after a strike from the lords, up to fifty guardians may perish. Be sure to resurrect them on the next turn.Devils outnumber dragons, so their total damage is higher. Moreover, the shearing sword will do its work, and only spawn, a few devils, and just a couple of dragons will remain in the center of the field. Your task is to preserve as many guardians as possible so that in the final confrontation you kill the devils faster than the spawn deal with you. Do not fear their spells. The magic protection granted by armor will easily reflect everything. This also applies to the opponent's fireballs, since he casts instead of a normal attack, but he cannot be called a full-fledged mage.
The dwarf wins this round on "thickness." The fast attack stalled on the second turn, and in positional warfare, flame fails to deal with dragons faster than guardians destroy it.
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To summarize. In three battles, the dwarven core easily defeats everyone, which leads to some reflections. If we don't take orcs into account, dwarves literally crush everyone.
