Analysis of the Next Unit - Dragonspeaker Mage

[Dragonslayers]

Seed has released the next unit [after Beastriders] to a few folks on Legend server. It's called the Dragonspeaker Mage:

http://www.digisonline.com/tactics/h...eakermage.html

Essentially it's a Pyro, but it has a special ability. If you have a Dragon it goes to 0 Power and the 28 Power it used to have is split equally among the DSM and any Pyros, with a max bonus of 12. When the units die the power goes back to the Dragon.

This new unit is perhaps among the best new units in the game, a fact I'll demonstrate in my analysis. Essentially, the DSM does not merely "transfer" the power from the Dragon to the Pyros. Because the power is split up among multiple units which have multi-square attacks, the Dragon's power is really exponentially increased.

With two Pyros [that is, a DSM and a Pyro] you get the 12 max; with 3 Pyros you get 9 power each, and with 4 Pyros you get 7. Thus your power per Pyro is:

2 Pyros - 27 power
3 Pyros - 24 power
4 Pyros - 22 power

Let's say that a Pyro can manage to hit 2 units at a time. Three at a time would be a better estimate against the very popular cluster defense formations, but let's err on the side of caution

2 Pyros - 54 damage each
3 Pyros - 48 damage each
4 Pyros - 44 damage each

Let's give each team 12 turns. Each Pyro has a recovery of 3. By numbering each Pyro [1, 2, 3, 4] and using a "0" for a turn where no Pyro can hit because all are resting, we get:

Two Pyros: 1, 2, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0 = 6 hits
Three Pyros: 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 3, 0, 1, 2, 3, 0 = 9 hits
Four Pyros: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 = 12 hits

Multiplied by their damage potentials we get:

2 Pyros - 324 damage
3 Pyros - 432 damage
4 Pyros - 528 damage

And divide by 12 for damage per turn for the team:

2 Pyros - 27 damage per turn
3 Pyros - 36 damage per turn
4 Pyros - 44 damage per turn!

These numbers look amazing. They ARE amazing! For the six slots taken up by 4 Pyros and a Dragon, you can do huge amounts of longterm damage. Suppose this 5-unit, 6-slot army went up against an army of 6 Knights? How much damage could the Knights deal per turn? Despite their quicker recovery time, only one Knight can hit per turn, which means they are limited to 22 damage per turn, average. That is HALF of the damage-per-turn of a Pyro army. And best of all - Pyromancer attacks are UNBLOCKABLE.

Let's be even more generous. Give the enemy an army of SIX LIGHTNING WARDS, the most damaging unit in the entire game. You can do the math yourself, but you'll find that this is still a MERE 30 damage per turn - again the enemy units interfere with each other because they can't work "in rotation", so some potential is wasted. That 30 dam/turn is still not enough to beat a Pyro Army! The Lightning Wards have 222 real HP, divided by 44 damage a turn gives about 5 or 6 turns to kill them - theoretically. That's around one Ward a turn - that's as much damage as the Lightning Wards themselves can dish out, killing a Pyro every turn! When the Pyros are armored by a Stone Golem, which gives them as many HP as an unStoned Scout, they don't even die in a single hit from a Ward.

Imagine - all this damage coming from a single slow unit, the Dragon-Tyrant, that can only deal out 28 damage every 4 turns - barely a 7 damage per turn average. Compare to a Scout [6 per turn] and a Knight [11 per turn]. These five units in six slots [1 DSM, 3 Pyro, 1 Dragon] working as a team can deal out 44 damage a turn; no other team of six units can even come close. The second-best is the Ward and the Dragon working at 30 and 28 damage per turn - but when are you going to encounter an army consisting solely of Dragons or Lightning Wards? I doubt any REAL army can do more than 25 or so damage a turn.

Remember, even if you can't hit 2 units, you can at least hit one. That's 22 damage - as good as slashing it with a Knight!

Personally I think an army of:
Dragonspeaker Mage - 1
Pyromancer - 3
Dragon Tyrant - 1
Stone Golem - 1
Knight - 3
would be nearly impossible to beat! I'd prefer Scouts instead of Knights, but I think some "heavy" units [high HP, high blocking, high armor] are necessary for mopup, and they also protect the Stone Golem and the Dragon which are the weak spots of the team.

So - what are your thoughts on the new Dragonspeaker Mage?

[Dragonslayers]

The players in Gold Strategy don't seem to like the DSM....

HashishScout had this to say:

The dragon attempts to give twelve power to each pyro/mage on the field, but failing that splits his power evenly with them. Thus the best combo with 1 dragon is a pyro and a mage, anything more and powersplitting goes down.

You WANT powersplitting to go down. When split among 4 Pyros, for instance, that 28 power essentially becomes part of a 0-recovery unit - a hit every turn, as Pyros rotate. With only two units, yes, each unit has more power, but you are only dealing hits every other turn. That donated 28 power is twice as useful spread around twice as many units.

[ReNeGAdE]

this unit is still in beta, it will be changed by the time it gets onto this site. its pretty damn awesome right now.

[Ri'Orius]

While I agree with what you're saying for the most part, note that such a formation would be very fragile. Once the DSM goes down, you're left with a bunch of Pyro's and a Dragon. You'd have to be pretty wily to protect someone with 30 HP and no armor.

Unless you have him hang in the back and not attack. Assuming it would round down power divisions, if you used four Pyro's and one DSM who stayed well in the back and didn't attack, you'd get 40 damage per turn. Still impressive, I must say.

[Aro23r]

BUT, no one here has four pyros. They were only given two, and a DSM would make three. Still there is a recovery time in there.

OR

Don't move your pyros after each attack giving them only a two recovery. This changes things.

[Legend Keiphus]

My 4 pyro's own the field with a DSM.

[Lone Wolf]

Lol The day i go gold i get a pyro in the drops, lucky me? Ok do i really need all those flippin pyros on the feild? Maybe only 2 knights and then a barrier ward to protect the stony? But that makes me nervous about leaving my DSm open as some one mentioned earlier.

I think basically im trying to say that I don't like relying on one unit so much. it seems like two scouts could kill the usefulness of that formation real quick.

just my concerns

- Lone Wolf

[ultraexactzz]

Unfortunately, It might end up being formations where the DSM is so integral, so vital to the strategy that people quit when it dies. I see a lot of newbies quitting as soon as their cleric is gone, even if a reasonable chance of victory exists - this could be similar if relied upon too heavily.

[ArcPaladinZero]

I'm really going to have to go gold if I want to keep up. Pyros are ownin' and I must have... the dragonspeaker mage... need job to part with percious money...

ArcPaladinZero: I don't have a job and I manage to pay for this =) Just have to take every opportunity I get to steal stuff and not buy stuff I don't need to pay for the stuff I need...like Ice Cream, Movies, Web Hosting, MTG, and TAO (HOW DARE YOU EVEN THINK THAT! TAO IS A NEED)

[ArcPaladinZero]

DWarrior you are so right... I forgot that this is a NEED. I DO need this to live. Without TAO I will die... must fuel the addiction...