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08-24-2006, 08:25 AM
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Unit Placement
Cleric: The back corner is the safest and easiest to defend
Enchantress: The chanty is close enough to the center of the formation that it shouldn't be difficult to keep alive, especially with a ward and cleric. It's far enough away to be useful against a rouge unit in your backfield. It's not adjacent to any other big targets, like the scout or dmw, so your opponent is going to have to make choices. Mudquake aside, collateral damage isn't a threat to the chanty. The only exception is a dmw or pyro attack on the cleric from the side, but if you can't stop a slow moving mage from getting to that spot, you deserve to lose. It also has an extra perk: the assassin shield. A lot of paralysis can be done from right behind the assassin. This cuts down on the amount of ranged attacks that can hit the chanty in the turn before you barrier it, at a maximum expense of a mediocre unit. If the choice is between losing an assasin and having a knight ravage your cleric, the assasin shield is a great advantage and minimal sacrifice.
Barrier ward: I firmly believe that this is the best position for the ward. Yes, it restricts the motion of the cleric, but how much do you move the cleric? So long as you have a single unit alive, you can protect the cleric from unranged attacks by blocking the empty square. The ward can function quite nicely as an offensive tool, enabling powerful scout, exploding assasin and dmw attacks. And a frequently overlooked advantage of this setup: ITS A TRAP. By the end game, when the BW really mattesr, your opponent's ranged units should be dead. They have to either hit it from the side near the enchantress (paralyzed!), the front of the ward (lw attack!) or the side near the scout (boxed in!). When assasins go into that square near the scout, they don't come out: a knight can just keep them boxed in.
Scout: this placement troubles me the most, but because of the scouts importance, I believe limiting its mobility to ensure survival is the right move. The scout in this position rarely suffers from dmw or lw attacks, but can still skirt up the side to pick of mages, barrier wards or clerics.
DMW: In addition to blocking one of the scout shots, this dmw placement also provides a huge deterrent to the pursuit of the other scout shots. I'll spare you more explanation here, since the value of the DMW in this square will be obvious after the sections on defense and offense.
Assasin: Shields the chanty, provides quick attacks on the side.
LW: A nearly permanent solution to frontal mage attacks, especially attacks on the cleric. It not only occupies a critical square (with regards to frontal dmw cleric shots), but also offers a free kill on aggressively positioned mages in the beginning of the game, as well as a reason to keep the mages away in the future.
Knights: I hate front row knights. They frequently interfere with each others' motion, and are vulnerable to early LW attacks, which is very bad when mages are also firing in quick succession. It's not hard to maintain a staggered wall, it limits mage effectiveness because they have to get further in to hit multiple units, and the only advantage to your opponent - side knight/assasin attacks - is vastly outweighed by the ability to LW those units. Two of the knights can quickly block the square near the cleric, and because they are already in the backfield, the side knights (the leftmost one in particular) can worry about moving to the side rather than moving back AND to the side. This helps end side rushes quickly.
Priorities
You can lose the assasin, you should trade your DMW early to try to knock out a scout, and you don't need more than 1, maybe 2 knights in the endgame if you get their mage and ranged units.
You NEED the enchantress, cleric and barrier ward. The scout is critical in the beginning of the game to kill mage units and until you get their paralyzing units, but it's not as essential at the end of the game when you're battling knights.
Kill their scout and mages (and possibly cleric with the knight) first! Trade units to kill them, do what you can to make sure they are dead when it's enchantress time. If you're using this form correctly, the endgame is you with knights, wards, chanty and clerics, and them with knights and whatever else. If they run you paralyze their LW and kill it, if they charge you freeze their knights and slowly kill it off.
Defense
For some reason people thinking sending their assasin to hit the knight and the scout is a good idea. It's not. You either trap it (knight moves to the square on the right wall with the red dot, then the middle knight takes its place), or LW it followed by a DMW blast that hits the knight too. DO NOT LW + knight, or you'll lose a knight and scout very quickly.
LOS is REALLY not an issue. It's simply too easy to paralyze, block or kill units that could get within range. Combined with the ability to barrier the cleric in times of great danger, this shouldn't be that big of a concern. For convenience, the open scout shots have been given a red dot.
Attacks on the wall don't happen often, but the LW and knight are usually enough to end them. Don't be afraid to DMW through the ward or the knight - it ends problems quickly and only costs a few HP after the heal.
Attacks from the front are stopped with the ward, knights and witch. The scout will assist in the destruction of mages.
Attacks on the side are stopped with the enchantress, the assasin, the knight and the dmw. The scout can also be pulled over, especially when the knight is out of the way, to quickly end threats from fragile but poweful units.
KNIGHTS ARE WALLS. Let me say that again: KNIGHTS ARE WALLS. You block the cleric with 1. You trap in the box by the barrier with 1. You cut off the entire right side with 2.
Consider barriering the DMW in games (usually opp-side) where your barrier isn't in danger, but the DMW is just within range of a scout. People will always take the shot because it has a huge benefit with a high likelihood of success.
Offense
I love running the DMW out and then warding it. It provides a threat to their cleric if it's in the middle or on the same side (absent a well placed lightning ward), and it can be devastating to barrier wards and scouts. If you can't trade for a scout, consider trading for a BW. Remember, people who have BW's have them for a reason. If someone likes to scout or mage aggressively with reliance on the ward, killing the ward destroys their gameplan. First, scout the barrier ward, and then when it's damaged, throw the DMW at it. Usually the dmw won't make it out (Since BWs tend to be near LWs), but it can still be a useful trade.
The knight near the wall is an excellent cleric killer in same side games or vs. centered formations. People underdefend the wall because it has less spaces. If given the chance, run your knight up the side to take out mages, break focuses or kill their healer. Usually you can avoid LW range, and kill the cleric right before the knight dies. It's a very worthwhile trade, even if you need to finish the job with the scout.
When they've only got knights left, dare them to lw your assasin. LW + Heal + Knight = explodable. Don't use the assasin agressively early in the game, because it's too easy to kill. Keep it back to fight off mage rushes, but don't use it to do a little damage to a knight, which will immediately kill it. THE EXCEPTION is if you think a cleric is going to run to the side away from your knight, moving the assasin up so it can finish the job is worthwhile.
Don't be afraid to move the scout out early to make a kill. HOWEVER, do be afraid of it dying. Ward it, retreat it to the very safe spot next to the ward, and then heal like mad.
Unit Placement
Cleric: The back corner is the safest and easiest to defend
Enchantress: The chanty is close enough to the center of the formation that it shouldn't be difficult to keep alive, especially with a ward and cleric. It's far enough away to be useful against a rouge unit in your backfield. It's not adjacent to any other big targets, like the scout or dmw, so your opponent is going to have to make choices. Mudquake aside, collateral damage isn't a threat to the chanty. The only exception is a dmw or pyro attack on the cleric from the side, but if you can't stop a slow moving mage from getting to that spot, you deserve to lose. It also has an extra perk: the assassin shield. A lot of paralysis can be done from right behind the assassin. This cuts down on the amount of ranged attacks that can hit the chanty in the turn before you barrier it, at a maximum expense of a mediocre unit. If the choice is between losing an assasin and having a knight ravage your cleric, the assasin shield is a great advantage and minimal sacrifice.
Barrier ward: I firmly believe that this is the best position for the ward. Yes, it restricts the motion of the cleric, but how much do you move the cleric? So long as you have a single unit alive, you can protect the cleric from unranged attacks by blocking the empty square. The ward can function quite nicely as an offensive tool, enabling powerful scout, exploding assasin and dmw attacks. And a frequently overlooked advantage of this setup: ITS A TRAP. By the end game, when the BW really mattesr, your opponent's ranged units should be dead. They have to either hit it from the side near the enchantress (paralyzed!), the front of the ward (lw attack!) or the side near the scout (boxed in!). When assasins go into that square near the scout, they don't come out: a knight can just keep them boxed in.
Scout: this placement troubles me the most, but because of the scouts importance, I believe limiting its mobility to ensure survival is the right move. The scout in this position rarely suffers from dmw or lw attacks, but can still skirt up the side to pick of mages, barrier wards or clerics.
DMW: In addition to blocking one of the scout shots, this dmw placement also provides a huge deterrent to the pursuit of the other scout shots. I'll spare you more explanation here, since the value of the DMW in this square will be obvious after the sections on defense and offense.
Assasin: Shields the chanty, provides quick attacks on the side.
LW: A nearly permanent solution to frontal mage attacks, especially attacks on the cleric. It not only occupies a critical square (with regards to frontal dmw cleric shots), but also offers a free kill on aggressively positioned mages in the beginning of the game, as well as a reason to keep the mages away in the future.
Knights: I hate front row knights. They frequently interfere with each others' motion, and are vulnerable to early LW attacks, which is very bad when mages are also firing in quick succession. It's not hard to maintain a staggered wall, it limits mage effectiveness because they have to get further in to hit multiple units, and the only advantage to your opponent - side knight/assasin attacks - is vastly outweighed by the ability to LW those units. Two of the knights can quickly block the square near the cleric, and because they are already in the backfield, the side knights (the leftmost one in particular) can worry about moving to the side rather than moving back AND to the side. This helps end side rushes quickly.
Priorities
You can lose the assasin, you should trade your DMW early to try to knock out a scout, and you don't need more than 1, maybe 2 knights in the endgame if you get their mage and ranged units.
You NEED the enchantress, cleric and barrier ward. The scout is critical in the beginning of the game to kill mage units and until you get their paralyzing units, but it's not as essential at the end of the game when you're battling knights.
Kill their scout and mages (and possibly cleric with the knight) first! Trade units to kill them, do what you can to make sure they are dead when it's enchantress time. If you're using this form correctly, the endgame is you with knights, wards, chanty and clerics, and them with knights and whatever else. If they run you paralyze their LW and kill it, if they charge you freeze their knights and slowly kill it off.
Defense
For some reason people thinking sending their assasin to hit the knight and the scout is a good idea. It's not. You either trap it (knight moves to the square on the right wall with the red dot, then the middle knight takes its place), or LW it followed by a DMW blast that hits the knight too. DO NOT LW + knight, or you'll lose a knight and scout very quickly.
LOS is REALLY not an issue. It's simply too easy to paralyze, block or kill units that could get within range. Combined with the ability to barrier the cleric in times of great danger, this shouldn't be that big of a concern. For convenience, the open scout shots have been given a red dot.
Attacks on the wall don't happen often, but the LW and knight are usually enough to end them. Don't be afraid to DMW through the ward or the knight - it ends problems quickly and only costs a few HP after the heal.
Attacks from the front are stopped with the ward, knights and witch. The scout will assist in the destruction of mages.
Attacks on the side are stopped with the enchantress, the assasin, the knight and the dmw. The scout can also be pulled over, especially when the knight is out of the way, to quickly end threats from fragile but poweful units.
KNIGHTS ARE WALLS. Let me say that again: KNIGHTS ARE WALLS. You block the cleric with 1. You trap in the box by the barrier with 1. You cut off the entire right side with 2.
Consider barriering the DMW in games (usually opp-side) where your barrier isn't in danger, but the DMW is just within range of a scout. People will always take the shot because it has a huge benefit with a high likelihood of success.
Offense
I love running the DMW out and then warding it. It provides a threat to their cleric if it's in the middle or on the same side (absent a well placed lightning ward), and it can be devastating to barrier wards and scouts. If you can't trade for a scout, consider trading for a BW. Remember, people who have BW's have them for a reason. If someone likes to scout or mage aggressively with reliance on the ward, killing the ward destroys their gameplan. First, scout the barrier ward, and then when it's damaged, throw the DMW at it. Usually the dmw won't make it out (Since BWs tend to be near LWs), but it can still be a useful trade.
The knight near the wall is an excellent cleric killer in same side games or vs. centered formations. People underdefend the wall because it has less spaces. If given the chance, run your knight up the side to take out mages, break focuses or kill their healer. Usually you can avoid LW range, and kill the cleric right before the knight dies. It's a very worthwhile trade, even if you need to finish the job with the scout.
When they've only got knights left, dare them to lw your assasin. LW + Heal + Knight = explodable. Don't use the assasin agressively early in the game, because it's too easy to kill. Keep it back to fight off mage rushes, but don't use it to do a little damage to a knight, which will immediately kill it. THE EXCEPTION is if you think a cleric is going to run to the side away from your knight, moving the assasin up so it can finish the job is worthwhile.
Don't be afraid to move the scout out early to make a kill. HOWEVER, do be afraid of it dying. Ward it, retreat it to the very safe spot next to the ward, and then heal like mad.