Alternative builds: Elves with Nature Magic builds. Part 3

Author: Qwainos

Let's say you have chosen a pure Elven Nature Magic build. So, you prefer considerable magic damage and stable, powerful Raise Dead spell effect.

A good choice. After examining formulas and application of spells, it's time to describe common tactical principles and details.

There is a widespread misconception that you need only one thing to play Elven Nature spell caster properly - to stand with your Treefolks in the corner and repeatedly click on Firewall spell’s icon in your spell book.

Of course, you can try to play so, but do not count on more than 25 % wins ...

Here are a few things any Nature magician has to know regardless of the build he chose:

1) Ironroot Treefolk is your primary and main unit. PREVENT ANY potential strikes dealt to Treefolks’ stack prior to its first move and entering defensive mode (using Take Roots ability), AT ALL COSTS.

You have a stack of Elite Forest Keepers for this purpose. Use their stack to block the passage to your Treefolks for enemy Lizard Assailants, various Unicorns, Dragons, Berserkers and other fast units which may potentially get a Morale proc during their first turn.

2) If the enemy is not a Chaos magician or another Nature magician, do not exit Take Roots mode with your Treefolks.

There is no need to move across the battlefield and try to catch enemy stacks. Sooner or later, the enemy will come and get entangled by Treefolk’s retaliation.

If the enemy is another Nature magician, move your Treefolks away from their starting position.

The fact is that it is quite easy to lock all the large creatures in their starting position by Firewall for a long time (possibly half of the battle). Therefore it is better to move Treefolks away from potential hazard, so in any case you have a space where to relocate them, getting away from blazing cells.

4 ) The most formidable weapon against your Treefolks is the “Disruption Ray” spell.

It will be applied until your entire stack of Treefolks would become killable by large enemy stacks from the first hit.

You should also remember that some Disruption Ray effects are stronger than mentioned in the official formula. For example, Cave Demons reduce your defense not by 5 per cast, like the normal spell does, but by 7-8 (these additional 2-3 go away due to extra Treefolks’ defense effects).

5) It is not recommended to raise any stacks until your Treefolks are in good and healthy condition. Otherwise their stack will receive a –2 Morale modifier and will have a chance to miss their turn and to exit defensive mode.

6) When setting your army up before the battle, try to place your Anchorites in a safe spot so they won’t be hit by AoE attacks or enemy Shrews / Cerberi. At least one stack of Anchorites should survive until their move in order to cast Stone Skin on Treefolks, and this stack should consist of 6-7 units minimum, otherwise there is a high probability you’re going to lose the entire fight.

In the first part of our F.A.Q. we published a list of the most dangerous creatures for Elven Nature magicians according to their danger rating.

In order to win battles you just have to eliminate specific stacks of creatures at first opportunity and do it quickly. For example, you need to do your worst but kill the Death Heralds before they hit your Treefolks, never let Pit Demons or Nightmares get near them and so on…

In these particular cases (and some others as well) you will HAVE to sacrifice other stacks like Unicorns and even Dragons in order to get Treefolks out of trouble. Do not spare them, since they can always be raised if necessary.

You always need to understand that if you destroy all the creatures on battlefield with No Retaliation ability first, it will be much easier to burn the rest in Firewall after Treefolks entangle them with their roots. So, the conventional creatures like Dragons, Paladins, Angels, other Treefolks, Elite Forest Keepers, Unicorns and others that do not have No Retaliation, armor piercing / ignore or 100% guaranteed killing of 1 unit in stack abilities, should not be focused first.

Let them run around. Their turn will come later.

Ranged creatures also aren’t the top priority targets (except for Orcs and Archliches). Once they exhaust their ammo, they will get a 50% melee penalty and engage Treefolks in hand-to-hand combat, which would lead to their inevitable death in Firewall. You can always defend against their shots with Evasion talent or similar Light Magic spell, or just absorbing these shots, spending extra talent points on something more applicable.

1) The best creatures for you to face in combat are the large ones. They are easier to burn and much easier to block. If such a creature is standing right on the starting line, it is possible to place your Firewall on top of it so when the creature tries to move out, it will be hit by fire another time for sure.

2) To keep some of enemy creatures within their starting position you can use your dragons / elite forest keepers / dryads (unicorns also can be used). Do not spare them – rather send them forward in order to directly block enemy creatures right “in their base”. The creature will miss its move due to inability to move forward (or try to attack your stack) and afterwards you will be able to burn it with your Firewall.

3) Use the creatures as blockers.

Let’s suppose a stack of Death Heralds or Lizard Assailants made your way to your Treefolks and is threatening them…

Place Firewall on cells they need to cross in order to get to your Treefolks, and try to block the paths to the right, left and from behind with your Unicorns or Dragons so the enemy stack will have to take the fiery path again on their way back.

4) Cross-raising tactics.

If your Unicorns’ or Dragons’ stack managed to survive the first rounds, send it to the position opposite to your stack of Treefolks by diagonal (to the opposite corner). So, when enemy priority troops are destroyed, but the Treefolks stack didn’t manage to hold the rest off and was fallen in combat, you would be able to raise this “stash” in far corner and survive.

The enemy will be forced to flee back across the battlefield to chase the risen stack; during this time you can summon elementals (and if they are already present, hit enemy stack with Magic Punch). Then, again, you can raise the Treefolks themselves and by doing that repetitively force the enemy running back and forth.

5) If you do not practice such tactics and attacking with Unicorns is not necessary, let them enter defensive mode. Remember: the more HP the Brilliant Unicorns’ stack has, the higher is the chance to blind the attacking enemy stack.

6) Do not use Raise Dead on Treefolks when there is more than 2 units in the stack.

Try to measure the average damage the enemy stacks do during combat and count whether it’s possible for remaining Treefolks to survive the next attack or not after your hero used the Wait option. If there is such possibility, it is better to skip the turn and use Raise Dead later on.

The problem is that if the stack has enough HP, when using Raise Dead there is a fine of 40% imposed at it, so you are risking losing a bunch of extra HP if you try to raise the Treefolks in wrong time.

7) Playing “Raise-Kill” game. Remember, we have no Sorcery so we cannot play Roly-Poly with Chaos magicians.

It should be taken into account that after both heroes make their move the first time, the enemy hero with Sorcery talent tree would overcast you.

This is the approximate scheme of hero moves: ( E - your hero , X – enemy hero with Expert Sorcery talent)

E / X - X - E - X - E - X - X - E - X - E - X - X - E

You should always choose the most uncomfortable and strong or the most durable enemy creatures as Favored Enemies. Personally I recommend those: Guardians – Vampires (or Skeletons) – Gargoyles – Orcs – Minotaurs – Cerberi – Berserks.

I selected the standard build with Advanced Defense (or Basic Defense + Evasion). Sample battles are taken from my Minor Tournament / Commanders’ Guild related combat logs, the player old433`s combat logs (16th CL) and the player Геофизик`s combat logs (15th CL, used Light Magic in his talent selection).

I will mention the enemy builds in brackets; if the fight was lost there will be an explanation why.

1) Elves

a) Fortune builds

These are evil and dangerous Elves, especially those with Enlightenment granting over +45 Attack. They are a type of most unpleasant, but similar and quite predictable opponents.

Put your Treefolks in one corner and Unicorns – to the opposite one. Block enemy Unicorns’ stack with Elite Forest Keepers if it threatens your Treefolks stack during its first move.

Place Dragons in the middle and Anchorites with Elite Forest Keepers – in the 2-cell opening on the back line. Anchorites should be adjacent to Treefolks and Unicorns in corners, so enemy Dragons would not be able to burn them with their 2-space hitting ability. If enemy stack of Unicorns doesn’t threat the Treefolk, you can block 3rd stack of Anchorites from enemy Dragons with your Elite Forest Keepers.

Qwainos`s fights:

//www.heroeswm.ru/warlog.php?lt=-1&warid=312184143 (11th faction skill, with Magic Resistance in talents):

Fight 1 (x2 Fortune, Cold Blade, Adv. Attack, Erudition):

Fight 2 (standard Elf)

Fight 3 (standard Elf + Magic Resistance in Talents)

Fight 4 (x2 Fortune, CB + Erudition + 11th FS)

Fight 5 (standard Elf + Magic Resistance)

Fight 6 (standard Elf + 11th FS)

Fight 7 (standard Elf + Magic Resistance)

old433`s fights:

Fight 1 (standard Elf)

Fight 2 (standard Elf + Magic Resistance)

Fight 3 (standard Elf and +2 Morale)

Fight 4 (loss) (x2 Fortune, CB – allowed enemy Dragons to blow off Anchorites, was able to cast Stone Skin only for 3 turns… other mistakes were minor and didn’t play a major role)

Fight 5 (loss) (x2 Fortune, CB, Erudition – allowed enemy Unicorns to reach Treefolks, Dragons reached Anchorites, demonstrated the inability to put Firewall while locking enemy stacks).

Геофизик`s fights:

Fight 1 (standard Elf)

Fight 2 (standard Elf)

Fight 3 (standard Elf)

Fight 4 (standard Elf)

Fight 5 (standard Elf)

Fight 6 (loss) (standard Elf – left after the demise of 4 Anchorites, which wasn’t enough for continuing the fight)

b) Defense builds

These Elves are significantly weaker, they can’t rush and burn your units and their damage potential is much lower. Easy-peasy.

Fight 1 (standard Elf)

Fight 2 (Defense + Tactics + 9th FS)

Fight 3 (standard Elf)

Fight 4 (standard Elf)

2) Mages

Chaos builds:

The secret of defeating them lies in the ability of Treefolks to catch Enchanted Gargoyles. To do this, accurately move your stack of Treefolks to the center of the battlefield while blocking the corners with Dragons / Unicorns / Elite Forest Keepers so the Enchanted Gargoyles won’t fly away (and the entangling will inevitably happen in some stage).

At the same time you need to move your summoned Elementals towards the enemy Gargoyles. You should try to calculate Favored Enemy procs the way your Elementals will critically hit most of the time.

If you summoned Earth Elementals, it is likely to cost you the entire fight.

Divide 2-3 Anchorites from the main stack for Stone Skin + playing with FE procs for Enchanted Gargoyles. You will need the main stack of Anchorites to survive one Chaos Wizard’s Lightning cast after you revive the stack with Raise Dead spell.

Don’t summon your Elementals on the first move – rather burn units defending the enemy Gargoyles. Usually Wizards will use Sphinx Warriors for this purpose.

Those Wizards who use Modern Golems as a cover for their Gargoyles from Treefolks / Unicorns properly, are virtually indestructible.

Qwainos`s fights:

Fight 1 (7th anti-FS)

Fight 2 (9th anti-FS)

Fight 3 (7th anti-FS, Modern Golems in enemy army). The opponent didn’t use the Golems to defend the Gargoyles therefore I won the fight.

old433`s fights:

Fight 1 (loss) (11th FS + 6th anti-FS; didn’t catch the Gargoyles with Treefolks, was hit by Meteorite Rain 3 times)

Fight 2 (loss) (7th anti FS, didn’t properly place his units, didn’t catch the Gargoyles)

Fight 3 (loss) (8th anti FS, placed his units directly under enemy’s Chain Lightning, didn’t catch the Gargoyle, woke the blinded Senior Genies, thus his Fire Elementals were blocked for entire fight)

Fight 4 (loss) (6th anti FS, placed his units directly under enemy’s Chain Lightning, let enemy blocking his Fire Elementals, didn’t catch the Gargoyles, allowed to eliminate Treefolks w/o Stone Skin on them to enemy stacks under Righteous Might effect).

Геофизик`s fights:

Fight 1 (loss)(didn’t divide his Anchorites properly, called Earth Elementals)

Fight 2 (loss) (both didn’t properly place their units, both played with Anti Magic whole combat instead of normal tactics)

3) Dwarves

Small pesky dwarfs are not as harmless as they seem at first glance.

The battle’s outcome depends on how many berserkers will reach your Treefolks and whether they will hit it with Fortune proc. It’s easier for Hybrid Nature magician to take them down with their own Attack and Fortune but for the pure Nature Elven magician there are a few options to prevent Berserkers from acting.

It also depends on how honest is your Dwarven opponent. There are those who benefit from bugs with single units of Rune Patriarchs and Firewalls. To complain about those in relevant forum section or not is your own choice, but I would not encourage unfair game myself if the Administration is not capable to fix such bugs at the moment.

Fight 1 (9th FS, 9th anti-FS)

Fight 2 (9th FS, 8th anti-FS - epic fight, I couldn’t catch and kill Berserkers to the end)

Dwarves without Berserkers are not dangerous, but you should still be aware of them. Never relax vs. them because they can always cause serious troubles.

P.S. Look what happens to Elves, who didn’t kill Berserkers or forgot about them:

Fight

4) Necromancers

You've got to be clear with your set of priorities facing them. The first thing to do is to burn down Archiliches. Place your Firewall under them the way they won’t get out of it alive.

Then you’ve got to block the enemy Death Heralds on their way to your Treefolks with all possible maneuvers. Burn it down, blocking it with your Dragons and Unicorns.

If Unicorns survive after that, send it to the opposite corner from Treefolks so it will be useful in the future. If you have time, let it sit in defensive mode once the stack gets there.

The next priority is the Vampire Counts / Dreadlords. To kill them, you need Elementals because you can’t entangle them with roots, it will take a lot of time to take them down with Magic Punches and, finally, they restore their stacks on hits.

After Vampires are down, there is really no difference whom to take down next. Usually, if when the Vampire stack is down, there are only 2-3 Treefolks left alive, the battle is likely to be lost.

Also, be aware that killing Necromancers requires a decent mana pool. Pure Elven Nature magicians defeat them more effectively than those with hybrid builds.

Qwainos`s fights:

Fight 1 (11th FS, Defense build)

Fight 2 (6th anti-FS, Defense build)

Fight 3 (5th anti-FS, Defense build)

Fight 4 (5th anti-FS, Defense build – didn’t notice that the Elf is not a Warrior and didn’t place his army properly)

Fight 5 (loss) (11th FS, 2nd anti-FS, Spirit Link and Expert Erudition – could win, but made a mistake: waited too long instead of raising, let Skeletons reach the Treefolks, placed Elementals in wrong spot)

Fight 6 (loss) (11th FS, Defense build - killed almost all of the Anchorites, therefore I had Stone Skin for 4 turns only)

Fight 7 (loss) (7th anti-FS, Advanced Dark Magic in talents and Mass Disruption Ray, a lot of Knowledge – anti-build, indestructible)

Fight 8 (loss)(11th FS and 2nd anti-FS - Spirit Link and Basic Dark Magic – anti-build)

old433`s fights:

Fight 1 (11th FS, Defense build)

Fight 2 (the Necromancer has inferior combat parameters, but has Spirit Link and Expert Erudition which is an anti-build. Didn’t use Spirit Link properly)

Fight 3 (7th anti-FS, Defense build)

Fight 4 (loss)(7th anti-FS, Advanced Dark Magic + Mass Disruption Ray, anti-build, indestructible)

Fight 5 (loss) (11th FS, 2nd anti-FS, has Spirit Link and Expert Erudition, tried catching everyone with Firewall, didn’t work in the end)

Геофизик`s fights:

Fight 1 (Defense build with Spirit Link)

Fight 2 (Adv. Dark Magic with Mass Disruption Ray in talents – anti-build, indestructible)

5) Barbarians

There are no special tricks about them. If your hero has higher Initiative than enemy’s Ancient Behemoths, you can burn them preventing their stack from moving even once. You cannot let Behemoths reach your Treefolks, because they are capable of taking down half your stack at once with a Fortune proc.

Also, you should remember than standard Barbarian armies (Hobgoblins + Ogre Magi) Orc Chieftains are the strongest unit. If you have an opportunity, attack it as a priority target.

Qwainos`s fights:

Fight 1 (5th anti-FS, x2 Fortune)

Fight 2 (loss) (8th anti-FS, x2 Fortune. Foolishly lost Dragons, let Behemoths pick on Treefolks, they got a Fortune proc)

Fight 3 (loss) (11th FS, 6th anti-FS, x2 Fortune – lost Dragons, summoned wrong Elemental, the enemy had better combat parameters)

old433`s fights:

Fight 1 (7th anti-FS, x1 Fortune)

Fight 2 (x2 Fortune)

Fight 3 (loss) (11th FS, 4th anti-FS, x1 Fortune, - sadly, lost by time out)

Геофизик`s fights:

Fight 1 (with Retribution, Wolf Raiders and Thunderbirds in army – Elven hero moved before the Behemoths, enemy Wold Raiders and Thunderbirds didn’t “guess” the right corner)

Fight 2 (x2 Fortune)

Fight 3 (normal Barbarian)

Fight 4 (normal Barbarian)

Fight 5 (normal Barbarian)

Fight 6 (loss) (normal Barbarian - called Elementals instead of Firewall on Behemoths – as a result the Elementals got instantly slain and whole stack of Behemoths reached the Treefolks)

Fight 7 (loss) (normal Barbarian, completely butchered the Elven magician)

6) Knights

It should be mentioned that the most dangerous creatures in the Knight’s army are Crossbowmen. Neither the hundred of Guardians nor the stack of Griffins, but Crossbowmen. Each of these Crossbowmen when standing in close range does the same damage to Treefolks as five Guardians would.

Do not let them come close in any case.

The next problematic creatures in enemy army are the Griffins. It’s not always easy to catch them, cause they are capable of striking without retaliation and flying away before you are able to cast anything on them. You can try to catch them intuitively, or wait with your hero, trying to guess when they are going to land in order to hit with Magic Punch or Firewall.

Also, the battle’s outcome depends on how often enemy stack of Guardians will Stun your Treefolks during combat. If it happens more than two times, you don’t have high chances to win; if 3 and more – it’s unlikely to win for you at all.

When you’re setting your army up, try to place Treefolks in lower corner and the Unicorn – in upper one, but not directly in the corner – one line lower, so you can insert there the Elemental later on, which will be locked out of Paladins’ and Angels’ reach.

Anchorites should give Stone Skin to Treefolks, after which it’s recommended to shoot down Crossbowmen with their Lightning Bolts.

Qwainos’s fights:

Fight 1 (2nd anti-FS, Light Magic)

Fight 2 (Retribution)

Fight 3 (11th FS + 6th anti-FS, Retribution)

Fight 4 (11th FS + 6th anti-FS, Defense + Magic Resistance)

Fight 5 (loss)(11th FS + 5th anti-FS, full Attack build + Tactics + x1 Fortune, anti-build, Griffins manage to strike Treefolks down before their first move and Stone Skin is cast)

Fight 6 (loss) (11th FS + 5th anti-FS, full Attack build + x1 Fortune, Tactics – anti-build, Paladins hit Treefolks before they entered Take Roots mode + Stone Skin cast; didn’t expect so much damage from such Knight, lost Brilliant Unicorns trying to slay Griffins)

Fight 7 (loss)(11th FS + 6th anti FS, Battle Fury + Leadership – lost due to poor calculation of mana reserves. Didn’t properly place Firewall on Crossbowmen and didn’t guess the place where Griffins landed right)

old433 fights:

Fight 1 (5th anti-FS, Retribution, x1 Fortune)

Fight 2 (Retribution, x1 Fortune)

Fight 3 (Defense build + Fervor)

Fight 4(loss)(11th FS, 6th anti-FS, Retribution –advantage in primary skills coupled with dangerous build did the trick)

Fight 5 (loss)(6th anti-FS, Retribution, - bad first cast, let Crossbowmen come close to Treefolks

Fight 6 (loss)(5th anti-FS, Retribution, - bad first cast, left Take Roots mode trying to catch enemy Griffins)

Fight 7 (loss) (5th anti-FS, Defense Build + Battle Fury + Leadership – used Water Elementals for melee fighting, let Crossbowmen come close to Treefolks)

Fight 8 (loss) (Light Magic – allowed him to teleport Crossbowmen accurately to Treefolks)

Геофизик fights:

Fight 1 (Defense build)

Fight 2 (Defense build)

Fight 3 (loss) (Defense build – allowed him to kill Anchorites quickly, didn’t make it to Raise Dead)

7) Demons

It’s much easier to kill them with hybrid builds, while defeating them with pure Elven Nature magic build is pretty impossible unless the Demon makes awkward mistakes or the Elf is extremely lucky.

Try to block the Nightmares at their starting location using your Dragons and attempt buring them afterwards with some other adjacent stack altogether.

Try to get rid of Pit Demons (if they are divided by one, try to take at least one unit down by your Anchorites).

Since your army is not capable of delivering adequate damage, sooner or later enemy Cerberi will eat you. It’s very sad, but you have to accept that L

Qwainos`s fights:

Fight 1 (8th anti-FS - allowed to block Nightmares and Pit Demons in one place, divided the Cerberi)

Fight 2 (11th FS – clumsy placement, Pit Demons and Devils got burned down together)

Fight 3 (loss) (5th anti-FS, Nightmares knocked Treefolks out of Take Roots)

Fight 4 (loss)(11th FS + 6th anti-FS – could just not get rid of Pit Demons)

Fight 5 (loss) (11th FS + 5th anti-FS – no chances)

old433`s fights:

Fight 1 (loss)(6th anti-FS, the Elf didn’t set up his units properly)

Fight 2 (loss)(4th anti-FS, troops didn’t even try to kill Cerberi)

Fight 3 (loss) (7th anti-FS, Defense build, let Pit Demons reach Treefolks)

Геофизик`s fights :

Fight 1 (scared Treefolks in the beginning but didn’t use it properly, didn’t cast Disruption Ray on Treefolks with Pit Demons)

8) Dark Elves

While playing Elven Nature spell caster, you won’t simply hate them – you will boil with bile and rage towards these cheaters. They will scoff and sneer at you

I will not even describe any fights vs. Dark Elven Chaos magicians cause up out of dozens of battles vs. them only 2 were won in total – during one of those the Dark Elf made unbelievable mistake and other was simply lost by time out.

It’s also quite hard to fight vs. Dark Elven Warriors, cause Shrews are capable to eliminate your Elementals before their turn and ruin your entire tactics.

The main thing is to not let their Lizard Assailants to come to your Treefolks with full stack. Don’t try to take them all down but at least make an attempt to burn half of them down with Firewall (try to block them in their starting position using your Dragons).

Afterwards focus on Shrews. If they are far away from the spot where your Elementals appear, summon them. If not – try to cover your Treefolks with Firewalls or place Firewall on Shrews directly.

The best Elementals in these fights are Fire and Water ones. Summoning others will lead to your quick defeat.

The weakest Dark Elven units are those who are using Ladons instead of Minotaurs. The strongest Dark Elven Warrior builds are those with Fortune (doing too much damage even with half of Lizard Assailants’ stack) The cases when Dark Elven Warrior guesses the Treefolks’ placement right and positions his entire stacks of Shrews in right corner are very problematic. If there is also a Leadership proc during Shrews’ first movement, then you can just close your browser since all your efforts are going to be hopeless.

a) Dark Elven Warriors

Qwainos fights:

Fight 1 (4th anti-FS, Rally, catched the Assailants in several Firewalls)

Fight 2 (x2 Fortune, no Tactics which influenced the outcome of the battle)

Fight 3 (loss)(5th anti-FS, Rally, was just butchered)

Fight 4 (loss) (8th anti-FS, Rally, didn’t catch the Shrews and got punished for it)

old433 fights:

Fight 1 (loss) (11th FS, Rally, no chance)

Fight 2 (loss) (4th anti-FS, Rally, Assailants moved ahead of Dragons and butchered the

Fight 3 (loss) (4th anti-FS, Rally, didn’t block Assailants, didn’t burn them with Firewall, they reached the Treefolks with full power)

Геофизик`s fights :

Fight 1 (loss)(Rally, Aura of Speed instead of Tactics, indestructible)

Fight 2 (loss) (Rally, killed all the Assailants but Shrews finished him off)

Fight 3 (loss) (Rally, summoned useless Earth Elementals instead of offensive casting)

Fight 4 (loss) (Rally, Shrews simply butchered the whole army, no chance)

b) Dark Elven Chaos magicians:

A collection of fights where these guys mercilessly raped the Nature Elven magicians…

Fight 1

Fight 2

Fight 3

Fight 4

Fight 5

Fight 6

Fight 7

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