Alternative necromancers

15.08.2016 23:54 / comments: 0 / view: 1080 /


Necromancers one of the oldest gameís factions. Our elders, pioneers. All these years that had passed until the introduction of the alternative, they experienced the biggest problems with magic factions, with those using chaos magic, in particular. These detested ëístoolsíí, fluttering across all of the field, nasty dark elves, eternally standing in defense, destroying everything around with enhanced fireballs and meteorite rains... They are joined a bit later by a guard of demons with upgraded Hellfire, adding to the group of tough-to-kill builds.

Yes, the present classic necromancers are hostages to EWL-balance. They bear quite and quite good chances against combatants of all types. They can be sharpened to a point where the unlucky fighters will simply go to their own death, like peas against a wall... However, this shows their legendary weakness to wizards.

And so... It happened. Two and a half months ago players got the chance to get acquainted with unholy necromancers (UNs). In short, the new alternative is a leader in exterminating any faction and build that has thought to use devastating magic on the battlefield. Be it a classic chaotic or a more rare nature build, on the battlefield they are destined to gain a loss should they ever come in contact with an UN, no matter what build the latter chooses.

It seemed that here it is, the complete fortune! For years necromancers have been nagging about cutting wizards, asking to give them an offensive or a luck branch in their talents (hooh, they got both of them...) and at last acquired such a ëímegaweaponíí. You see, whatís funny is that in the introduction of previous alternatives, there was the wildest hype and dominance of the alternative factions. Only the lazy didnít go fighting battles with the brand new darkness demons or the holy knight. On the other hand, the UN wasnít that popular and isnít used very much even to this day. Why did this happen? We will try to find that out.

In this article, pure and hybrid nature builds (combining battle stats and high level magic) will be discussed. If you are interested to have a look at a wide range of battles, gain experience playing as an UN or against UNs, based on achievements of other players, you came to the right place.

Personally, I see multiple reasons for this situation. I will try to sort everything through in order for it to become clearer: what is it that the players are scared of in alternative necromancers.

Strategy "raise and attack"

Many necromancers resent. Their reserve has been taken away, the amount of troops reduced (even though itís a controversial question), darkness magic was taken away and they are to rely on the banal ëíraise and attackíí until theyíre blue. Someone claims that it blunts your brain, someone says that itís not interesting, itís better to run around with a stack of stats in attack and to just thrash all life, without any raising (itís so much more tactical, donít you agree?).

In reality, many necromancers have simply forgotten how the classic necromancers used to rise dead just like unholy necromancers do. On the very low levels and up to the introduction of the alternative, playing with necromancers only works using raise/hit (up to the appearance of level 2 darkness magic). Later necromancers divide into attackers (using massive defense from talents and a pile of extra stats from erudition) and darks. Nature builds are more rare to encounter (a rare and inefficient build), with that, the ëíraise/hitíí strategy is left in the past and only returns for UNs.

The small amount of troops

Sure enough UNs have very few low-level creatures. The total amount of HP of their army on the 17th level varies from 4700 to 5400, at the same time, when a classic necromancer with a skill level of 11 has more than 7000 HP. But then again, this tricky math doesnít involve the fact that an UN with fully capable battle stats can fully raise any of his stacks, plus, they have the biggest amount of higher tier creatures. Whatís more is that because of the small amount of HP, the classic defensive build is preferred more often. This leads us to one more problem.

Long battles and extremely long mirror-battles

People with lots of spare time, steel nerves and unbelievable vitality can play as UNs, and not only as them, but also against them. A mirror battle between two alternative classes can be longer than one hour, and if they are both pure/hybrid nature types with 150+ mana points, the battle can take up to 2-3 hours... Personally, I cannot imagine, how long a battle of EOFO can be, if 3-6 alternatives come to one battlefield, but itís likely that the restriction on time will activate and the battle will cancel.

This strategy and time requirements work out not only you, but also the opponents. There is nothing pleasant about an UN scattering itself across the field and raising itsí troops here and there for an hour straight, making you run around. Considering that some factions have few chances against an opponent like this to begin with, it all comes to a deliberate loss, just for the sake of not spending so much time on a useless battle.

EWL balance

The current position of an UN in a battle is as follows: it can practically with a 100% probability get rid of one faction and can lose in the same manner to another faction. Not arguing here, losing isnít always pleasant, but to conduct battles, where you no matter what, wonít win, is a very, very repellent job for both UNs and for those who are defeated by them.

"Above balance"

Darkness demons and holy knights were introduced with armies out of balance. It is enough to look, how many mini-balances in a row their armies are getting cut, they just need. And here the first testers of UNs couldnít show as spectacular results, which scared off potential searchers for an imbalanced class.

Guilds

The classic necromancer is superior to the UN in all areas of PvE. Itís also a compelling reason, as we have more PvErs than PvPers.

If all of this hasnít scared you off yet and youíre not very successful or you are still interested in playing with an UN (for example, you wanted to build/finish the castle, but youíre worried that the alternative has bad chances in PvP), then these articles are for you.

Why did I choose specifically nature magic, and not an attacking build for my first article? Perhaps because there are plenty of attacking UNs, they create their own statistics, but pure nature builds as well as all nature are basically not popular. It would be useful to see how UNs can manage using not only "hit/raise", but also with the help of battle magic and elementals, or even focusing mostly on them.

>>>Alternative creatures and their use.<<<

Theyíve forgotten how to shoot, even though the undead is immune to ëíconfusioníí... And now there is no reserve, too, and there are only a few of these creatures in the army. On the other hand, their characteristics rose (including resistance to magic) and they got an opportunity to stun enemies and protect allies from ranged damage. Thatís why they are good to use on lower levels as a full stack. As for the higher levels ñ they are only used for defending the main stacks, to resist ranged damage and to get rid of counterattack. By the way, the random stun of these skeletons is an evil joke. I have had a minimum of multiple battles, where 1-2 skeletons in the place of eliminating a counterattack, stunned an opposing stack with over 800 HP. If you are a higher level, use 1-2 stacks. Itís desirable that they donít fall from the first push of a hero.

Gained more HP, but then again, the amount that can be recruited is two times less than infected zombies. They have quite the useful aura that decreases the opposing stacksí attack/defence by 4 and morale by -2. This is the first stone youíve stumbled upon ñ to use the maximum of them or not. For a pure nature build they provide additional HP, for a hybrid, on the other hand, they are like a boulder tied to the neck, as they deal little damage. Anyhow, even one of these creatures is useful. Use it to run after opponents and mess with their karma. A full stack of these is able to worsen the stats of other creatures for a long time.

The first unit, about whose reduction in amount I still wildly grieve. It was often the poltergeists that provided for the survivability of a nature build by being incorporeal. In addition, if they carefully steal up to a shooting creature, poltergeists can steal up to 5 arrows one time in a battle (1 arrow : 10 poltergeists) Their speed is also higher than that of apparitions, so they are the ideal option for sending away to the farthest corner, away from all the fighting.
ATTENTION: the bug with stealing arrows still hasnít been fixed. After the first theft, the activation icon of the ability remains. If it is used a second or more times, the poltergeist will simply pass a whole turn, not defending in the process. Be careful!


They have lost their ëíNo retaliationíí ability, so now their attacks can be counterattacked. The brand new vampires have a chance to lethargize a target for three rounds. Not only that, but they have more HP, can move farther and have a higher difference in damage. Their use differs. After a series of battles with a pure nature build, I came to a conclusion that the random chance to take a target out of the game for three turns isnít worth lacking in survivability. The vampire, not lethargizing the victim gets counterattacked and is now open for any incoming attacks (because it isnít defending, it wonít last a long time). Thatís why I donít recommend for nature builds to use them in a constant group of troops, although, if you often sacrifice virgins in the name of god of randomness, you can try them. For a hybrid nature build, raising dreadlords is a priority above any other creatures (zombies, liches).

Their set of spells fell down to two ñ advanced weakness and raising dead, which isnít affected by the unique factional skill of UNs (a Raise Dead spell cast by demiliches will decrease the HP of the stack by 20%, which is quite critical), they also lost their plague shot when shooting. UNs are able to recruit more of these liches than the classic ones, however, itís difficult to use them as a fully debuffing unit, and as a battle unit alike. After trying out multiple battles with them, I leaned to the option of ghouls/vampires, as they would be more effective.

Gained a bit more HP, but lost some of their stats. Their main ability also changed, which completely changed the direction of their use. Instead of the guaranteed destroying of one creature in a stack (without retaliation) and removal of all buffs, the new death proclaimers scream loudly, a skill, that also damages all creatures around the proclaimers in a three tile radius. The amount of damage depends on the morale of target. At first sight it seems the abilities arenít equal, but if we look at it closer, such proclaimers can deal hundreds and hundreds of damage per every thriumph of death, and the DPS doesnít depend on the attack power of the hero itself. Furthermore, by raising them non-stop, your head can start spinning from all their screams.
ATTENTION: There happens to be a bug at the moment, because of which the damage doesnít lessen the farther the triumph goes. There is also a second, rarer bug ñ the death proclaimers can triumph and their attack can miss when hitting an incorporeal target that has already had two misses in a row beforehand.

These are definite leaders in the amount of seventh tier creatures in an army (9 creatures in the higher levels). This with the combination of powerful resurrection is not to be taken lightly. Every attack of this creature additionally casts "Affliction", decreasing the morale and luck of the target by 2 (one of the most powerful abilities in-game). Mirage dragons rid the opponent of having too high morale or grant a chance for the opposing creature to skip a turn because of negative morale. The affected stacks (also with some chance), will either have neutral luck or have bad luck, attacking with a 50% effectiveness. The decrease of morale stacks up with the aura of ghouls.



>>>Tactics and nuances<<<

Necromancers wanted to have an offensive and luck branch so badly... So badly... Honestly, I would be hurt too to get such a kick in the rear end. Itís like they did give it, and itís also like they arenít at all needed, because theyíre not usable. Anyhow, when choosing a build, itís important to orientate yourself by the fact that you will with a 100% possibility destroy other chaosites and nature builds using any build. So, when inventing a new build, be prepared for the nastiest of opponents (combatants, taking into account your fspd).

Because the offense/luck branches are too expensive, they are not used in pure/hybrid nature builds. Erudite and sorcery are way more effective here using the leftover talent points.

Let me explain this.

Pure nature UN is a player using the maximum available spell power/knowledge. Partial transferring of some of spell power points to defence is possible in order to have better resistance against attacks. On average (this includes talents, reducing the cost of spells), 150+ mana points are used. This build grants the opportunity to burn enemies using Fire wall, deal painful hits with Magic punch, summon elementals and devour everything in your way with their help, while the opponent desperately tries to eliminate the constantly raising stacks of undead.

Hybrid nature UN is a player using "even" stats. How itís different from the pure nature build is that a part of SP and knowledge points is put into attack and a part goes to defence. All in all, the amount of SP ranges from 15 to 25 and more than a 100 mana is used. This way, the UNs troops are able to deal damage themselves, without losing the ability to summon elementals and Fire walls. Using this amount of spell power, the stacks are raised fully even without the use of the central talent (+20% to the effectiveness of resurrection) and an extra talent from the nature branch, so there are still talent points left to take some other talent. According to statistics, this is a more popular build than the pure nature one.

Advice


1) Donít stand in one place the whole battle.1) If possible, try to fly to different corners of the battlefield, creating large distances between your stacks. Raise them time from time. The more your opponent has to go from one stack to another, the more possibilities for maneuvering and damaging the enemy you will have. On a bigger field, the UN can feel more confident as there is more space to fly to.

2) Donít let anyone step on your creatures. 2) This is the main weapon against an UN. There arenít many creatures in the army, so every such ëíhillíí on the corpses of your troops is a nail in your own grave. If itís possible and there is time, Fire wall is quite effective in such cases. The troops will either die or flee from the corpse. Absolute exceptions are darkness demons. They donít need to stand on a corpse, they will just devour it and get tons of mana from the corpse, and with the help of it, they will lower your defence down to 0. Donít let them do that.

3) Disruption ray ñ the scourge of UNs. 3) Remember this and try to avoid your troops from having cast mass disruption ray on them (only singular casts). The less defence your troops have, the faster they will be gotten rid of = less time to take any actions, except for resurrection, in the hopes of stopping inevitable death.

4) Darkness. 4) Yes, yes, UNs have darkness magic, too. However, without core talents itís in a castrated form. Nevertheless, even 20% delay often shows to be useful and vital.

5) The pair of wasp swarm + x3 sorcery. 5) One of the strongest weapons a nature build has. Itís enough to destroy stacks that have high HP, but not the highest initiative (100+ guardians, DDís 200 fiends, packs of demons/treefolk and so on) and simply not allow them to make any moves. Throw wasp swarms at them and attack, attack and attack... with creatures, elementals. The given stack is destined to die, it will never have a turn again. If there is a chance that the stack will go before heroís next attack, just delay it before wasp swarming it again and again.

6) The pair of raise dead + 3x sorcery. In the might of the unique factional ability, even without any sorcery talents, a necromancer is able to resurrect in the same pace as if he had these skills. This bonus only works on raising the dead. However, if combined with sorcery, the effects sum up, making the heroís move after resurrecting faster than 0.5. To see, where the hero will be after performing a raise dead spell, bring the cursor of the mouse on the ëíwaitíí button and see, where the icon of the hero will be. After performing the spell, your hero will be in that same position, perhaps, even earlier. This pair is the main reason why chaosites and nature builds canít do anything against UNs. The necromancer will just raise and hit two times faster than the opponent.

7) Death proclaimers. 7) Their damage can sometimes reach tremendous values. Triumph of death isnít very effective against opponents that are using a morale branch. But that is only at the very first turns... It is worth to go by the opposing stacks with an upgraded dragon and set a ghoul next to enemy troops, and the dealt damage to them will rise sharply. The morale of a creature can be lowered to -3 (-4, having a classic necromancer with an upgraded dragon as a teammate). The damage of proclaimers in this case will equal to ((10+3(4) * the amount of proclaimers in a stack)-% fspd, respectively. On the higher levels, 11 proclaimers are available. This indicates that the damage can go up to 143-154 to one target (it hits everyone in a three tile radius) without taking fspd into account. By constantly raising proclaimers we acquire a weapon of mass screaming destruction.

8) Ignore defense, one-shots. 8) UNs worst enemies are creatures with ability to ignore defense or ones able to destroy 50% of a stack. Lizard assailants, behemoths, crossbowmen and those alike, all of them should be neutralized first, and as soon as possible. If not, they will eliminate your stack with just 1-2 hits and occupy its body with a smaller, unimportant creature.

9) Poltergeists. Sometimes they save the most hopeless battles. Even though there arenít a lot of them, opposing creatures, weakened in the battle, will not be able to deal with incorporeal creatures. Carefully follow misses/hits (remember, that their maximum amount in a row is 2). If you are in a situation, when the poltergeists have had two misses and itís threatened by a powerful stack, you can purposefully attack a weaker creature to remove the hit.

10) Elementals.Letís not forget that they are summoned at the upper left corner, at the tile right against your hero. To ëídrive itíí to a corner when summoning it, just put a large creature a tile below the uppermost. The most useless elemental is an earth one. Then air, as itís too fragile and there is no way of speeding it up, the same as there is no way to delay all opponents. Thatís why the use of this spell carries a 50% chance of failure. Either itís going to be the two upper-mentioned losers, or one of the two better elementals ñ water or fire. May random be with you.

11) The pair ëíFire wall + negative moraleíí. 11) The fact that opponentís morale can easily fall to -3 was already discussed above. Why couldnít we use that and put a fire wall on such a creature? There have been cases in my battles, where a creature even with -1 morale skipped two turns in a row (!). Skipping turns and standing in a fire wall, the creature is dealt complete damage.



>>>Build: pure nature<<<

This build represents the maximum values of spell power with minimal attack. More than a 150 mana is required because your main weapons are Fire walls and elementals, and they are pretty costly mana-wise. Also, magic punches, dealing two times less damage than lightning, even though they have equal costs. It is worth adding some defence points from spell power/knowledge and to use ëílow-cost artifactsíí, giving defence points instead of pierce through magic resistances. The troops will deal almost no damage, so donít change them without a reason. The maximum amount of dragons, death proclaimers, poltergeists and ghouls should be taken. The rest can be filled with liches and skeletons.

Knights

One of the most difficult opponents to defeat with a pure nature build. Both the classical and the alternative knights are able to deal huge damages, huge to an extent, where UNs arenít able to raise their dead on time. It often happens because of crossbowmen/wardens. The first ones destroy anything with one shot thanks to their ability to ignore defense when shooting close-up. The second ones with their quantity and hits while buffed with advanced holy magic. A pure nature build doesnít stand a chance here.

Fervor, 15th lvl [victory]
Fervor, 15th lvl [loss]
Fervor, 15th lvl [loss]
Holy magic, 17th lvl [loss]
Holy magic, 17th lvl [loss]
Fervor, 17th lvl [loss]
Holy magic, 17th lvl [loss]

Necromancers

Every decent classic necromancer has trouble defeating magic builds. Caster UN is one of those cases, when the alternative fully surpasses the classic. No tricks will save the necromancer, unless the UN himself wonít start making bad mistakes or he doesnít have enough defence. As for the duration of the battles ñ they can reach an hour or more, because of each otherís high fspd.

The chances of winning rise sharply if you have mirage dragons, also, having liches in mirror battles like these is good (the necromancer doesnít reach them instantaneously and gets debuffed). Tactics of the battle come down to you locating your stacks in the four corners, defending and bluntly destroying the necromancer using elementals/magic punches. Itís as easy as that. Donít forget to steal arrows from the bowmen.

Attacker, 15th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 15th lvl [loss]
Disrupter, 17th lvl [victory]
Disrupter, 17th lvl [victory]
Disrupter, 17th lvl [victory]

Wizards

My, these unlucky wizards. This is definitely not their year, according to horoscope. At first, the DDís showed up. They disrupted the wizard to zeroes, ate the corpses and jumped behind the gargoyles across the field. Then the HKís came, dealing thousands of ranged damage... As if all this wasnít enough, the UN decided to show up like a plague, leaving no chances of a bright future to the wizards.

There are no special secrets here. Summon an elemental and "strike while the iron is still bellied". Periodically raising our troops and dealing damage using magic punch, maybe it will just break. In order to lose, an UN must put a lot of effort into it.

Chaos, 15th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]

Elves

There are three types of elves: the elite keeper elves, the most dangerous out of all to all magic factions; the rangers, not too dangerous for an UN; and the nature elves... just kidding, those donít exist.

Just like in every battle with elves, everything depends totally on his luck. If the pointy-eared ones are to have the first moves and they are filled with all kinds of luck, morale and critical hits before you defend, it will be difficult to win. If not, it will kill itself like a glass bottle against a rock and will burn in the fire walls like firewood in a furnace. The elf could try bringing bowmen to shoot from a close distance, block them with poltergeists. Death proclaimers and dragons should absolutely be located in different corners. The army should never be pierced through or fall prey to elite keepersí wardance.

Ranged, 15th lvl [victory]
Keepers, 15th lvl [victory]
Ranged, 15th lvl [victory]
Keepers, 15th lvl [victory]
Ranged, 15th lvl [loss]
Keepers, 17th lvl [victory]
Keepers, 17th lvl [victory]
Keepers, 17th lvl [victory]
Keepers, 18th lvl [loss]

Barbarians

Our green uncouth brethren matured after multiple mini-balances. The factional skill gained a focus on attack, the army got bigger. Overall ñ paradise and beauty. I am forced to state that using a casting build, the furious rush of the barbarian couldnít be stopped. No matter what I tried ñ splat up poltergeists, changed the troops, it was all useless. Theyíre just running around and one-shotting everything. Well, maybe he himself will start running around walls...

Wolves+birds, 17th lvl [loss]
Wolves+birds, 17th lvl [loss]
Wolves+birds, 17th lvl [loss]

Dark elves

Testing a nature elf build a long time ago made me racially intolerant to all blacks of this project. There are still partial feelings like this stored against dark rushers, who are able to take out any magic build in a couple of turns. Though, as we all remember, the new UN is a complete opposite to chaos magic, and this is where the division begins. If the opponent is an attacker-type, then a caster UN is usually bound to lose. If the opponent is a chaos DE, itís him that will lose. RPS in all its glory.

The main problem is the stack of assailants. They will nullify your stacksí defence and kill any creature with one hit. The witches, divided into three stacks are casting disruption rays over and over again. While youíre dealing with the assailants, your army is also being dealt with by shrews. A pure caster, unfortunately, doesnít have such an effective way to deal DPS as fast, as an attacker-type DE.

Chaos, 15th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 15th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 15th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 15th lvl [loss]
Attacker/disrupter, 15th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker, 17th lvl [loss]

Demons

Both red and blue demons are quite the nasty opponents. It is because they are leaders in the competition called ëísteal a corpse from an UN and donít let it resurrectíí. The reds open gates across all of battlefield and almost always make it in time to stand on a deceased stack like a brick wall, and their pit demons that have settled across all field, reduce the defence down to zero. The DD also lowers it down to a minimum, but instead of ëístandingíí on the corpses, it simply devours them and gets tens of extra mana points.

Sadly, a caster is not able to do much against the red rusher (even though should be able to get rid of magical builds with ease). On levels lower than 17th, there are chances of defeating them. After level 17, archdevils appear, which are able to summon many pit demons to fight by their side. Battles with DDís, however, are quite fun. Be ready for the fact that it will devour your creatures and decrease your defence down to zero, yet it could still lose... The secret is to get the poltergeists as far away from a position, while the DD is busy with other troops. He can throw himself at the poltergeists immediately (the poltergeist will get it through with misses, but this is based on chance), or leave them for later, which will create a fatal turn of events.

The main sources of damage of a DD are fiends and abyss demons. The priorities are searing horses and abyss demons and should be destroyed before anything else. Start by delaying fiends, summoning elementals, burning everything down except the fiends, abyss demons and temptresses. If weíre able to, we should steal the ammo of the latter. When the horses and devils have perished, cast wasp swarms on fiends and move from one corner to the other, so he wouldnít reach the target using a leap and would waste a turn for movement. Continue to defeat the army of DD using magic/elementals. If everything goes smooth, a stack of 45-50 poltergeists should live to the end. All of the abovementioned has no value if the demon has vermins in his army as they will suck out all of your mana and you will have nothing to attack with.

Additionally, on 17th and higher levels DDís get even stronger because of the archdemons, which are able to teleport allied stacks away from fire walls, put the main stacks at the front lines, and transport fiends to a good leaping position. Thatís why battling DDís on 17+ levels has gotten more difficult.

Attacker/vermins, 15th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 15th lvl [victory]
Attacker/vermins, 15th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 15th lvl [loss]
Attacker, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [victory]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [victory]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [victory]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 18th lvl [loss]

Dwarves

One more victim of the balance. Dwarves are rare visitors in PvP already, but because of the appearance of UNs, the dwarf just got more reasons not to participate.

Regardless of the build, there are two types of dwarves: those that choose to use master spearmen as their main unit and those who choose to use berserkers. The latter is more dangerous to a caster, as they basically beat through stacks that are in a defensive stance and to attack a berserker with an army that canít deal good damage is the last thing to do, ever. Youíre just going to get killed. It is better to adapt a defensive mode throughout the whole battle, dealing damage to enemy stacks with fire walls and magic punches and resurrecting in the middle. When the dwarfís stacks have been weakened, go ahead and try to attack them. Dwarves can win a battle if they get lucky when using the rune of elemental immunity and they manage to acquire immunity to fire, however, they prefer not to do that for an unknown reason.

Attacker/berserker-ranged, 15th lvl [loss]
Attacker/berserker-ranged, 15th lvl [loss]
Attacker/ranged, 17th lvl [victory]
Holy/ranged, 17th lvl [victory]
Attacker/ranged, 17th lvl [victory]
Holy/berserker, 17th lvl [victory]
Holy/berserker-ranged, 17th lvl [loss]

Tribals

The most difficult and uncomfortable opponents to battle with. You could say theyíre imbalanced, as it is vastly, vastly difficult to win in these battles. Nature builds arenít able to deliver enough DPS per one cast (compared to a chaosite). Tribals have lots of tiny units that are running away from the fire wall (warlords, enforcers, goblins, sky shamans) plus their tribal spirit absorbs the already small amounts of damage. It is impossible to defeat them using only magic punches and their tribal spirit goes to a thousand in just one swoop of a blade and they cannot be stopped anymore.


Warlords have the highest priority. If they are allowed to collect tribal spirit, after the first thousand they will get +300 spirit per every turn having a very high initiative thanks to Haste. This stack is nowhere near to be stopped. Enforcers go in the warlordsí footsteps and you better pray that they donít pick up 500 tribal spirit points and get a bonus to their damage. There is yet another misfortune to happen ñ while youíre getting rid of warlords and enforcers the witch in the corner is quietly gaining more and more mana and tribal spirit and will end you with Chain lightning.

Defense/shamans, 17th lvl [victory]
Defense /centaurs-wyverns, 17th lvl [loss]
Defense /shamans, 17th lvl [loss]


>>>Build: nature hybrid<<<

This build involves even stats of attack and spell power (a slight dispersion, the difference between them should not be more than 1.5 times). Here magic is used as a significant supporting factor, but try not to have less than a 100 mana. Maximum dragons, proclaimers, poltergeists and vampires are the preferred troops. Take ghouls, skeletons and 1-2 liches from whatís left.

Knights

Compared to a nature pure, a hybrid type has much more expansion here, as the troops now gain an opportunity to deal damage, as using punches and fire walls would not be enough to take out a knight. The chances of winning rise sharply. Options like controlling the guardians when the other stacks are out using wasp swarms are reviewed. The HK wonít have it easy when his army will be thinned out and wardens will be open for attacks.

Holy magic, 15È lvl [victory]
Holy magic, 15È lvl [loss]
Fervor, 15È lvl [victory]
Holy magic, 16th lvl [victory]
Holy magic, 16th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 17th lvl [victory]
Holy magic, 17th lvl [loss]
Holy magic, 17th lvl [loss]
Holy magic, 17th lvl [loss]
Holy magic, 17th lvl [victory]
Holy magic, 17th lvl [loss]
Holy magic, 18th lvl [loss]

Necromancers

In my opinion, this is much more of a challenge for a hybrid, unlike when battling as a caster. The high fspd and defense talents of the necromancer absorb damage from UNs stacks, and the battle magic isnít as strong, in order to deal a good amount of DPS. Whatís more is that in the previous build, chances of winning rise sharply if there are mirage dragons in the army (give a 20% guarantee that incoming damage will be halved) and demiliches.

If there is enough mana, the trick using four corners can be repeated. However, if there is a visible lack of mana, try to precisely destroy opposing stacks, to be sure that no leftover piece can stand on one of your deceased troops, and stand there, untouched (apparitions are especially nasty in this situation). No matter what, do not get under mass disruption ray area, or you will be defeated two times faster.

Disrupter, 15È lvl [victory]
Caster, 15È lvl [victory]
Attacker, 15th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 15th lvl [loss]
Attacker, 15th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 16th lvl [loss]
Attacker, 16th lvl [victory]
Attacker, 16th lvl [loss]
Attacker, 16th lvl [loss]
Attacker, 16th lvl [victory]
Disrupter, 17th lvl [victory]
Disrupter, 17th lvl [loss]


Wizards

The exact same situation as with a nature pure. In order for the pointy-hatted to win, he needs to teach gargoyles to bite through wiring in the opponentís house. Itís enough for an UN to summon elementals (or skip them, as the attack power is high enough to allow that) and to push the wizard back into the forest resulting in a disgraceful loss. Though, if you didnít take enough mana into the battle, the bellied wizard can get out and magically win.

Chaos, 15th lvl [victory]
’‡ÓÒ, 16th lvl [victory]
Nature, 17th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Holy magic, 17th lvl [victory]

Elves

If a caster UN can be defeated by an elf using rampant attacking and luck, then an elf is basically killing itself with the help of a hybrid type UN. Settlement of troops is the same, proclaimers and dragons are to be in different corners. Start casting fire walls. When the elf will try to hit stacks that have defended, he will receive painful counterattacks, and if the UN has mirage dragons, the elf will have the worst luck, literally. This combination is an elfís worst nightmare and it comes to life when battling an UN.

Ranged, 15th lvl [victory]
Ranged, 15th lvl [loss]
Ranged, 15th lvl [victory]
Ranged, 15th lvl [victory]
Ranged, 15th lvl [loss]
Ranged, 15th lvl [loss]
Elite keepers, 16th lvl [victory]
Elite keepers, 16th lvl [victory]
Elite keepers, 16th lvl [victory]
Elite keepers, 16th lvl [victory]
Elite keepers, 16th lvl [victory]
Elite keepers, 16th lvl [victory]
Ranged, 16th lvl [victory]
Elite keepers, 16th lvl [victory]
Elite keepers, 17th lvl [victory]
Elite keepers, 17th lvl [victory]
Elite keepers, 17th lvl [loss]
Elite keepers, 17th lvl [victory]

<
Barbarians

The balance scale is starting to lean towards UN when your army is able to wear out the barbarian more than the hero. No, of course the green friend has all the chances to turn the battle around, however, a loss is also an option, at the same time when a nature UN has no hopes of a win.

From personal observations ñ try not to let the barbarian smash apart your bigger stacks. Itís not the first time anyone has seen, that by getting rid of proclaimers and dragons, orcs got a bonus +15-21 attack and started one-shotting left to right. It is also quite undesirable for a full stack of wolves to reach you, as they will kill absolutely every creature in your army in just three hits and a behemoth will only need one...

Ogres+hobgoblins, 16th lvl [victory]
Ogres+hobgoblins, 16th lvl [loss]
Ogres+hobgoblins, 16th lvl [loss]
Wolves+birds, 17th lvl [loss]
Wolves+birds, 17th lvl [victory]
Wolves+birds, 17th lvl [victory]

Dark elves

Itís quite different from the previous build this time. Unique factional ability of DE ñ additional defence for all their creatures. Physical defence. Therefore, the less spell power points and the more attack points an UN has, the stronger the DEís factional ability gets. The more an UN relies on attack in a hybrid build (or even creating a pure fighter), losing magic stats, the easier it will be for a chaos DE to win, as the damage you deal will depend on your army, but it will be under heavy bombing and delayed by witches.

All in all, chaos DEís lose anyway if you have x3 sorcery in your talents. Itís much more easier with rusher DEís. The army already gets an opportunity to destroy assailants in one turn, or reaching shrews, thrash them thoroughly. Still, they remain dangerous opponents. Always stay alert. Your chances of winning fall sharply if assailants can guess the position of one of your bigger stacks: proclaimers or dragons, while still settling on the battlefield, and then there is no escape.

Rusher, 15th lvl [loss]
Rusher, 15th lvl [loss]
’‡ÓÒ, 16th lvl [victory]
’‡ÓÒ, 16th lvl [victory]
’‡ÓÒ, 16th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Rusher, 17th lvl [loss]
Rusher, 17th lvl [loss]
Rusher, 17th lvl [victory]
Rusher, 17th lvl [victory]

Demons

The red rusher-demons arenít feeling so confident anymore on the battlefield. They canít be defeated using only fire walls and punches, however, they can be defeated with the support of an army. Nonetheless, itís still difficult. The red chaosites, on the other hand are easy targets.

Battles with DDís depend, first of all, on them having vermins in their army. Hybrid nature types take less army into the battle, so dealing with the little thieves, vermins, is a considerable problem as the UNs donít have any ranged attacks, only magic. This lets the DD to attack the necromancer unpunished, while the latter is busy dealing with vermins + there wonít be enough mana anyway, as a 50-60 mana is stolen consistently. If the DD doesnít have vermins, destroying them becomes an easier task, than it is when using a nature pure. Just try not fall prey to mass disruption ray and locate yourself in a way so that fiends would have minimal leaping distance in the middle of a battle. Also, try not to get in the way of abyss demons, as their hits are the most devastating.

Attacker/vermins, 15th lvl [loss]
Attacker/vermins, 15th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 16th lvl [victory]
Attacker/fiends, 16th lvl [victory]
Attacker/vermins, 16th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 16th lvl [loss]
Attacker/vermins, 16th lvl [loss]
Chaos, 17th lvl [victory]
Attacker/vermins, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker/vermins, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker/vermins, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [loss]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [victory]
Attacker/fiends, 17th lvl [victory]
Attacker/fiends, 18th lvl [loss]

Dwarves

Since many dwarves are using defense talents, the damage dealt is too small. The hybridís magic is also weaker, so, in my humble opinion, a pure caster is able to defeat a dwarf more easily, than a hybrid.

Nothing has changed in terms of tactics. Itís not recommended to perform any other moves, than defending, as dwarves are able to deal truly huge amounts of damage in just one turn. The only positive thing about using a hybrid type here are berserkers ñ they are easier to kill with a hybrid UN when theyíve become mad. Actually, pity the dwarves, theyíve been through a lot.

Attacker/ranged, 15th lvl [victory]
Attacker/berserkers, 15È lvl [victory]
Attacker/ranged, 16th lvl [victory]
Attacker/ranged, 16th lvl [victory]
Attacker/ranged, 16th lvl [victory]
Attacker/ranged, 16th lvl [victory]

Tribals

They canít be penetrated by magic, weíve got this cleared and out of the way. It seems that the only exit is to combine the attacks of troops, decreasing their tribal spirit and to finally end them using magic. Well, itís a lot more than this.

Most high-leveled tribals adapt a defensive build, having 45-55 defence, defensive talents and tribal spirit thatís swallowing up all damage. You will deal no damage to that kind of tribal using your troops. Actually, tribals are the only faction in the game that can afford to destroy magical factions unpunished and have great chances of being victorious against fighters, while being in a fully defensive build. This only means there is nothing an UN can do in this matter.

Defense/centaurs, 15È lvl [loss]
Defense/centaurs, 15È lvl [loss]
Defense/shamans, 16th lvl [loss]
Rusher/centaurs, 16th lvl [loss]
Rusher/centaurs, 16th lvl [loss]
Defense/shamans, 17th lvl [loss]
Defense/shamans, 17th lvl [loss]
Rusher/centaurs, 17th lvl [loss]
Defense/shamans, 17th lvl [loss]
Rusher/centaurs, 17th lvl [loss]


>>>Summary<<<

Letís see, what weíve got. Both builds withstand all kinds of chaosites and nature builds, elves, classic necromancers and dwarves quite confidently. They are balanced to meet barbarians, darkness demons, but they completely subside to knights of all kinds, tribals and classic demons.

Looking at statistics of victories/losses, a hybrid nature build is more effective than a nature pure, that can be seen easily. In group battles the regular caster is not able to show any support to teammates with buffs/debuffs and also deliver significant damage, so this build is just a burden for any teammates. Hybrid types, however, are able to deal damage using both troops and magic, so there is an UN thatís helpful to the party after all. Considering that the field is much bigger than in duels, a nature pure thatís not defeated in time will fly away, occupy all corners and become undefeatable.

UNs can also be called some of the absolute leaders of all BTs. Itís only natural that they wonít be able to take hits of 3-5 enemies, just as everyone else couldnít, but if itís a 1 on 1 battle, the opponent that ambushed an UN in a closed space just put himself in a clear losing position. Examples of such victories of UNs in battles without the use of Skype: Battle I, Battle II.

This kind of build doesnít affect the chances of winning as much in mirror battles. It all depends purely on the person that took more mana, used it more wisely and managed to step on the enemyís corpse before it was raised.

In total while testing UNs, 70 different battles were conducted. 39 of them were victorious, which means a 55% win rate, considering that I used a potion of skill, this is a good enough rate for a brand new alternative.

Good luck in battles!

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