In the opinions of many players, predominantly turtlers, the Furgon is possibly the best unit in the game. Its power lies not in sheer power, but in precision and ability. The one thing that plagues the Furgon’s reputation is not its inability to attack, although this created initial doubt. Rather, the majority of Furgon users simply don’t use it correctly. They simply stall, make a mess of the arena, and don’t accomplish anything. Hopefully this guide can change that, and create a generation of intelligent Furgon users.

This guide is extremely visual, so there are a lot of images.

The main thing to remember about the Furgon is that it can create 5 shrubs every other turn. Most units can only kill 1 thing at a time, at most 2 or 3, every few turns. With that said, a single Furgon can keep a huge amount of people occupied at once.

This review is going to be quite long, but it’ll be divided into sections, so you can better understand the Furgon where its use applies to you. Start with General Furgon Strategy, and perhaps skim the rest of it if you wish. Make sure to read the conclusion at the end, and the section before it on “Beating the Furgon”.

General Furgon Strategy:

Generally, you don’t need to do a lot of complicated things with the Furgon to achieve results, but later on you’ll see a few nice ways. As many people have realized, the Furgon is mainly a defensive unit. The basic thing to do with it is hamper opponent’s movement. This can be done in many ways.

The first, and probably most common use of a Furgon is for keeping a large number of assailants from getting in. There are three main ways:

In this instance, you aren’t directly stopping your opponents units. Instead, you’re placing a large barrier, which makes it much more difficult for your opponent to rush in. While your opponent can break the shrubs with a pyro or the sort, often times they will simply try to work around it, to your advantage. Especially because most golds don’t use pyros or dsms, it’s incredibly difficult for your opponent to destroy the shrubs quickly, so they usually have to work around it.

In an instance like this, you have to be a lot more careful about where you shrub, and a lot more strategic. Orange ran his muddy up early on, what would usually be an unstoppable press against the stone focus. However, Black first moved his scout towards the farthest back reach of the muddy, shooting it at the same time. Next turn, black shrubbed, and used the Furgon itself to block the muddy’s path towards the stonie.

This is a MUCH more complicated situation. Orange moved the muddy up much closer (First image). Now, the quake is unblockable; Yellow cannot stop the muddy from taking out the stone. However, he can still use the Furgon to redirect the muddy. This is probably the most difficult of the general strategies; instead of stopping a unit altogether, you pick where you’d most rather the unit went. Yellow wisely shrubbed AND moved the Furgon itself (never forget the Furgon itself can block things up), so that the muddy could only take out the stone golem’s focus by moving in range of the deadly L-Ward, an unfavorable position for orange.

Also, keep in mind that shrubbing around a scout means it takes at least 2 or 3 turns for it to regain the battle, and shrubbing an ambusher means it can’t get out!

The second general Furgon strategy is where you, instead of stopping units from getting in, make it easier to deal with them once they’re in.

In Red vs. Purple, the muddy has already gotten in and done some damage (First image). Purple brought a scout, so the muddy couldn’t be paralyzed and killed. However, Red’s use of the Furgon completely blocks any immediate attacks on the frost golem in its current position. While purple desperately tries to fight through the shrubs, Red can paralyze the muddy and kill it whenever possible.

Isolating units is a great tactic for defense. It means they can’t support eachother as much, and are much more able to be frozen and dealt with one by one.

There’s one more great use for the Furgon in general situations, and that’s protection. It doesn’t need to be illustrated as much as the others, but a dragon or a scout that needs to be protected from knights, scouts, dragons, or the like, during the brief period of recovery time, rely on the Furgon for such needs. If you can think of any situation where a person uses one unit to block an attack on another, remember that the Furgon can do this 5x as well. Blocking LOS from Frosties is a necessity whenever you’re using one.

When protecting a unit from LOS, here’s two examples of the best ways to go about doing it:

In the top example (Red), the Frosty is almost fully protected from any scout approaching from the bottom right. It cannot attack in the same column/row as the Frosty, nor from the column/row over, except in 1 situation. Furthermore, it cannot be hit by the “Double Knight shot” (Read the Scout FAQ for details) in any way from the bottom right. The only way it can be hit is with the aim behind technique, which is the most difficult to stop.

In the bottom example (Blue), the frosty is well defended from a frontal assault. It blocks both “Double Knight shots”, and the aim behind technique only has one spot per side, which can be blocked more easily because of this.

Keep in mind, however, that sometimes it’s better to block the scout off than simply protecting the unit. There’s no universal method for using the Furgon to protect, it is mostly a case-by-case basis.

Specific Case Furgon Strategies:

Turtle vs Turtle:

In the case of a Turtle vs Turtle game, very often both players have Furgons. There are three specific uses for it, but first a little preface on turtles games:

Often in turtle games, each player takes either a defensive approach or an offensive one. While the players may switch around throughout the game, or remain in an intermediate state for long periods of time, usually each player leans towards one or the other. Thus, four scenarios are formed:

Offensive vs Offensive

Offensive vs Defensive

Defensive vs Offensive

Defensive vs Defensive

If you’re caught in the first or the second, you being the player on offense, surprisingly the Furgon still retains value. The Furgon, while not being the basis of your strategy, as it is in some cases, gives you somewhat of a brick wall to fall back upon. In the first scenario, most of the game is simply a rush to do damage. The two attack forces clash in the center, each trying to kill the other as quickly as possible. An intelligent player often times runs a scout or a mud golem, whichever has an opening, past the combat zone to kill a cleric or break the stone focus. In this instance, it’s EXTREMELY difficult to muster up enough units to form any kind of blockade. However, the Furgon is able to stop the unit easily, and when backed up with a Frosty, can even deter such attacks permanently.

The second situation is extremely similar. When attacking an opponent, it’s not unlikely that they’ll try to muster up a small attack force, a single scout or so, to break your (the attacker’s) focus and kill the cleric, making the attack force much weaker. This is the main reason why many turtlers use Frosties and Furgons, even when going on an all-out attack rampage, to keep that from happening. The Furgons stop the initial attack, and the Frosties stop the attack from continuing.

In the third scenario, the use is rather clear. You need to use the Furgon primarily as your first line of defense; restrict the enemy’s units from accessing your base easily. It’s much easier to handle units if they come in one at a time, and from the angles you want them to come in from. The Furgon is of MUCH greater value in this instance, and needs to be protected at almost any cost.

The fourth scenario is a rather uncommon and unusual one. Both players are hesitant to attack, and it seems like a Furgon would simply prolong the stalemate. However, the Furgon can set up a shield for you, to use in conjunction with either LOS mastery and the Golem Ambusher, or with a Frosty. Furthermore, it allows for miniature attacks to be made, with a safe wall to run behind when the attack is finished. Finally, it allows for “Aggressive Furgoning”, which will be described at the conclusion of the review.

Turtle/Anti-rush vs Rush:

When facing down a rush, the situation is similar to the third T v T scenario; you need to form a strong wall and limit the flow of opposing units. Furthermore, because a corner cleric is immune to the aim-behind technique, shrubs are especially effective in protecting your cleric from anything but mud golems, mages, and the dreaded Golem Ambusher.

**Important Note**: When turtling OR anti-rushing, it is HIGHLY advisable to use the Furgon, rather than your units, to form the first line of defense. Upon making this mistake myself, I realized that when you use your units to try and “define borders”, you can no longer use them to kill opponents’ units and/or retreat them to heal. They become pinned to the ground to serve their position as a immobile blockade, making them near useless for other tasks. Shrubs, however, are much more expendable, serve the job much better, and are also more plentiful, I.E. they don’t just do the minimum, they block the passageway and then some.

Also, a Furgon can be used as a renewable stall mechanism. A knight in the midst of your “base” can go around trashing things, but if you shrub enough, it’ll have a tough time doing so. While this is of less magnificent use than a Furgon’s other uses, it still is extremely helpful. The Furgon’s 1 turn recovery means it can be used for many different purposes, and can always run towards an area if needed in a hurry.

When playing against a rush, your first few turns should be dedicated to either taking out the most threatening opposing units, or beginning to shrub. If you ever somehow have a turn free against a rush, shrub past your front line. This might come in handy later.

Rush vs Rush:

Extremely similar to two offensive turtles dueling, in a Rush vs Rush game, the Furgon does have surprising value, but not as much as otherwise. It can ward off attacks on your weaker unit(s), like the cleric(s) in the back. Considering the intense number of attacking units in a rush, as well as units such as the Ambusher, the Muddy, etc., the Furgon can’t always fulfill the protection job fully. It still helps, though. Mostly, however, another attacking unit serves you better.

Specific Unit Strategies:

Furgon and Frosty:

This part is obvious, and well-described throughout the review. The Frosty paralyzes a unit, and the Furgon protects the Frosty from harm while the unit is dealt with. This is an example of time-efficiency: A single shrubbing takes a few turns for an opponent to deal with to get to the Frosty, and at the end, you can simply shrub again. Meanwhile, this leaves turns for you to start attacking the paralyzed unit. Remember, focus more on killing the unit than protecting the Frosty; protection is a side goal that helps you achieve the main goal of killing the paralyzed unit. A nice strategy is to use the shrubs to buy time while killing the unit; if the unit is close enough to death to guarantee its killing even after unparalyzed (if it can’t block, like a Muddy, or is facing an unblockable attack, like that of the Dragon), then you can actually let your opponent break the focus as long as you can finish off the unit. This is especially effective on paralyzed muddies.

Furgon and Wisp:

The wisp’s poison has one major drawback: the unit can simply move to break the poison. Shrubs take care of that really nicely. Don’t try doing this in an offensive strike; there are too many units to break either the shrubs or the wisp’s focus. Instead, when a stray unit comes in to deal damage, use this tactic as a makeshift Frosty paralyze, stopping things like knights and scouts in their tracks.

Furgon and Enchantress:

Not a very commonly seen tactic, the Furgon allows for the Enchantress to regain its recovery time, so when the next unit comes to break the focus, it’s ready to paralyze that too. Just a minor strategy I’ve seen done a few times, this leads to another great use of the Furgon: Stalling to recover.

Furgon and Pyro/Ambusher:

Because the Pyro (or DSM) and the Ambusher have no LOS, the Furgon creates a wonderful shield for them. Use carefully though, it requires a great amount of preparation and care.

Other combinations exist, and they are simply waiting to be discovered!

Aggressive Furgoning:

This is a very rare tactic, but it is extremely effective when used. By surrounding an opponent with shrubs, an aggressive player can manipulate the exits to their area to minimize counter attacks, restrict the victim’s units from moving around to help each other, and also making LOS much harder to use, while making them that much more vulnerable (LOS usually requires the space in front of the scout to be open; the user of this tactic will have that available, but the victim will not). It can be much more successful if your opponent is also using a Furgon (use his shrubs against him), and/or if the game is generally offensive vs defensive, or defensive vs defensive. Paranoid Furgon users generally surround them with shrubs as a principle; if you can add a shrub or two of your own, you can usually be successful with the tactic. If you’re opponent is playing aggressively, it’s nearly impossible. This picture shows a successful Aggressive Furgoning being used:

Brown began the game with a shrub. Yellow took advantage of Brown’s defensive stance by moving the Scout towards the flank; Brown quickly covered that side with more shrubs. At this point, Yellow covered the front of Brown’s area with shrubs as well, trapping him in. While the strategy wasn’t quite finished yet, Brown was immediately at a disadvantage.

Keep in mind, first, Aggressive Furgoning is not easy, and it isn’t always successful. You shouldn’t decided to do it in advance as much as simply take advantage of a good situation with it. Careful, it’s shattered easily by the Mud Golem.

According to Amaroth, who uses the tactic often, the Mud Golem problem is easily fixed by bringing the Frosty towards the shrub wall. Once the muddy hits the wall, you immediately re-shrub, then paralyze the muddy and exterminate it. In a game against Primary Target (Turtle on Turtle), I used the strategy to kill his Mud Golem, and then restrict exist to his base to one entrance. I used the wall to continue paralyzing his units, and he soon surrendered.

Finally, you don’t even need a Furgon to actually accomplish it, if you’re opponent can be manipulated. Against Chaos_Knight, I realized he was shrubbing at any sign of offense. I slowly moved a Scout or two into his area, and he complied by continuously shrubbing closer and closer to his units. Eventually, he had trapped himself inside, and taking care of him was simple business.

Beating the Furgon (Or learning how to prevent your opponent from doing exactly that):

Beating the Furgon is entirely dependent on the skill of the Furgon user. A smart Furgon user does not simply shrub in the right places, but he also protects the Furgon itself adequately. While I don’t advise stoning the Furgon (there are better things to stone), a heal or two can go a long way. In facing a Furgon user, make sure to target the Furgon intensely and quickly, or it can use its own power to guarantee its survival. Scout LOS is the best early-game method of putting the Furgon out of action, even if only temporarily. A smart Furgon user won’t put a damaged Furgon near the front lines, which removes you of the threat temporarily.

Keep in mind the following: 18 + 18 = 36 + 18 = 54. Three scout shots and the Furgy is dead. Four if it is healed.

Another great tactic against people who use the Furgon early game:

Green runs his Furgon forward on the second turn to reduce White’s aggressive chances (First Image). White uses LOS to knock out the shrub in front of the Furgon (Second Image), and then jumps his dragon in for a shot (Third Image). Reducing the Furgon to 20 is a harsh punishment for Green, who now has to rethink his plans for holding off White’s attack.

Conclusion:

The Furgon is indeed a powerful unit, when used correctly. One thing to remember, however, is that it is only strong when used absolutely correctly; otherwise it’s simply an annoyance for both players. One of the most important parts of using the Furgon is predicting your opponents’ moves. If, game after game, you can stop your opponents’ best moves consistently, then you’ll have an easy time winning. The Furgon makes this simple; while expert veterans who have played for months on end are able to cut off an opponent’s entire attack by positioning their knights and scouts well, the Furgon allows the rest of us to do the same with much less effort. Remember, use the Furgon proudly, and correctly, and the wins will start piling up.

Created by Monkus