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WARLORDS: BATTLECRY 3
The Undead
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ABOUT THIS GUIDE
This guide is a work-in-progress. I'm still yet to fully explore the potential
of the Undead race, or their abilities in the less conventional game modes
are available; nor have I had the chance to compare them against each
race type in any real depth. This guide will updated as I make new discoveries.
IMPORTANT:
Patch 1.01 has been released. This has many changes to the Undead, and the
strategy and contents of the guide will need updating. This should happen soon
as I investigate how the changes affect the Undead. Merchant has been toned down
and Undead upgrade costs have been increased, so overall the Undead race will be
slower to develop. Seeing as I'm on a 56k modem and the patch is 17 megabytes,
it'll have to wait until I get the chance to download it. Until then, be careful
taking any advice regarding Necromancy and summoning mass units. This has been
balanced (and, unfortunately, that's bad for me!)
This guide is hosted at:
www.gamefaqs.com
www.neoseeker.com
CONTENTS:
1.0 Introduction
-1.1 Introduction to the Undead
-1.2 Creating your Undead Hero
-1.3 Choosing your Starting Troops and Retinue
2.0 Game Stages
-2.1 Early Game
-2.2 Mid Game
-2.2 Late Game
3.0 Necromancy
-3.1 Necromancers
-3.2 Necromancer Survival
-3.3 Spells
4.0 Units
-4.1 Infantry
-4.2 Cavalry
-4.3 Archers
-4.4 Siege
-4.5 Titans
-4.6 Flying Units
-4.7 Builders
5.0 Strategy vs Specific Races (in progress)
-5.1 The Swarm
-5.2 Minotaurs
-5.3 Ssrathi
-5.4 Dwarves
6.0 Summary
Still to come: Playing strategies against particular races; buildings and
technologies; alternative hero/unit strategies; playing the Campaign as the
Undead
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Warlords: Battlecry 3 is the third game in the "Battlecry" series of the
Warlords series. Essentially, Battlecry is the real-time strategy spinoff of
the turn-based Warlords series. It works rather well, and the game in general
feels like a real-time version of Heroes of Might and Magic.
How does Battlecry 3 improve upon it's predecessor? Well, it must be said
that the game feels slightly like an expansion pack. Visually, the game is
very much the same. Many of the voices for the units have been changed and the
campaign is completely new and much improved. On the other hand, the hero
creation system has been toned down and simplified somewhat, although both you
and your retinue can now reach much higher levels. Fans of Battlecry 2 should
find this to be an enjoyable game.
1.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE UNDEAD
In Battlecry 2, the Undead were a dominatingly powerful race. With the backup
of a good Necromancer hero, they could rule early, mid and late games, thanks
to their unique unit upgrading and powerful armour/weapon advances.
How have they changed in Battlecry 3?
The Skeleton Cavalry, who appeared in the Battlecry 2 campaign, is
now a buildable troop. Apart from this, most changes to the Undead are
superficial. You'll find that many of your units have new voices. The Undead
are still potentially the strongest race in Battlecry (but aren't they all?)
if you use them right.
The Undead are a very unique race in Battlecry. Unlike the other races, who
build their troops individually, all your units (save Cavalry, Vampires
and flying units) are upgraded from the Skeleton. This means that the little
skeleton you have can be upgraded to a Doom Knight in seconds, assuming you
have the correct buildings and resources to do so. When high-end units for
other races take a long time to build, this is a definate plus.
The downside here is that the Undead are very, very resource hungry (and
presumably brain hungry as well).
The Undead enjoy the benefits of solid armoury upgrades, with weapon damage
and eventually armour. They also have mana regeneration increases and some
interesting abilities from their stronghold. Unfortunately, they cannot trade
resources or increase resource gathering rate, something which would help them
immeasurably.
Who would enjoy the Undead? Well, it's hard to say. The Undead require a lot
of attention, an aggressive playing style and a willingess to devote yourself
to them rather than have an adaptable, flexible hero who can leap between
races. It's obviously not going to be to everybody's taste. If hunting down
the last mine on the map or paying attention to the health of your troops
at all times is offputting, then you may be better off with another race. But
if you're in it just for the evil power and, of course, the Doom Knights, and
don't fear having to put work into your game, then the Undead could be the
choice for you.
1.2 CREATING YOUR UNDEAD HERO
I'd say that nine times out of ten you should build your hero based on which
race you prefer. With this in mind, you should be creating an Undead hero. Now,
it may not be very original, but I highly, highly recommend you create a
Necromancer. While most summoning magic in Battlecry is less than fantastic,
for the Undead it is the key to victory.
Why be a necromancer? It's this simple - you can conjure several skeletons at
once. With a Black Gate, those skeletons will begin at level four. And you can
instantly convert those skeletons into stronger troops. Those four skeletons
can become four Liches, or four Doom Knights, or two Shadows and two Slayer
Knights - you get the picture. If you work on your Necromancy, you'll also be
able to fill out your ranks with the Raise Champion spell. This is more
practical when you have 300% mana regeneration and can create a Doom Knight
or Vampire regularly.
Summoning zombies, like all builder summoning spells, is also extremely
useful. You can create a bunch of zombies to instantly fill in a mine - and
for Undead, this is CRUCIAL - or to begin building when your hero can't afford
to be tied up. A necromancer will have the mana and the skills to create many
zombies and skeletons with a high starting level. There's nothing quite like
summoning a pack of skeletons early on and instantly upgrading them into
Wights, giving you a force that will dominate anything in the early game and
giving you the reigning hand on the game map.
Finally, experience for units counts for a hell of a lot in Battlecry 3. The
higher level undead you'll get summoning as opposed to recruiting (unless you
have a high Memories and experience gain) make a massive difference in the long
run.
There are, of course, perfectly valid alternatives. A warrior with necromancy
skills (and the Undead do gain some eventually regardless) should be capable
of creating skeletons and zombies. Warrior heroes in Battlecry are definately
mighty, high level ones able to take down Titans and demolish entire bases.
Unfortunately, combat items tend to drop spellcasting skills, so you'll have
trouble pulling off magic if you go this route. An Undead warrior can
eventually get Vampirism, although at 1 point per skill increase it looks
rather dubious.
A merchant choice is also a definate boon for the Undead, who drain resources
yet have no real means of increasing their income other than gaining and
filling mines.
Cyber6net also pointed out that by creating a high charisma Undead and adding
to memories will give you cheap costs and high level skeletons. This could work
very well as you'll be able to make even larger armies than Necromancy (at low
mana regen) because upgrading is that much cheaper. The only downside to this
is that you'll need to build several Graveyards and you won't be able to
replace your army with a few casts of Raise Skeleton, which is one of my
favoured techniques as a Necromancer/Undead combo. But troops will be much
cheaper to replace, and skeletons don't take terribly long to build, so overall
it's a great alternative.
1.3 CHOOSING YOUR STARTING TROOPS AND RETINUE
When starting a new game, always consider choosing a sizeable force of Zombies
to bring in with you. Either they can quickly commence building, or they can
fill up the important starting mines (Gold and Stone). However, it's also
prudent to bring a Lich with you when you can, as you have no infantry able to
reach air units until the Doom Knight. A vampire is always a good idea, as
they can both control mines as well as summon bats for quick, cheap scouts.
(DinkyDamn points out that Shadows and Wraiths can also attack aerial
opponents. This gives more of a reason to choice them early on, just in case
you do get attacked by a majority of skyborne enemies. Be careful, though, as
they'll still die quickly to any opponent that does physical damage, such as
Pterodactyls or Griffins.)
When given the choice between Wights and Skeletons in a starting force, opt
for skeletons. By the time your armoury is constructed, you'll have enough
iron to quickly upgrade them, and you shouldn't have got into any major
battles before then.
In my long-term retinue I usually take a level 20 Shadow (more on this later)
and a Vampire. Because Undead have low charisma, you'll find that your retinue
is going to be rather limited.
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PLAYING AS THE UNDEAD
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2.0 GAME STAGES
I tend to divide the game into three stages.
Early Game - Everybody has just started off. All the mines are up for grabs,
and the only thing protecting you is the paltry units you start with and a few
towers. This is where acting quickly and aggressively can get you a lead on
the opposition. While some races can afford to simply take what they're given
and build up quietly, an Undead player should try to grab loose mines as well.
With necromancy, an Undead player can dominate the early game with a strong
force of wights and wraiths.
Mid-Game - This is where a few players will find themselves out of luck as
armies are built and tentative assaults are launched. As the Undead, this is
the point in the game where you'll have Slayer Knights and perhaps even Liches,
giving you a powerful infantry and archer combination that will allow you to
choose where and when battles are held. Lots of races are vunerable in the
Early and Mid-game, and Undead can take advantage of that, as they are strong
in all three.
Late-Game - There are few players left, usually with full upgrades. The
appearance of at least one Titan is imminent. With your armour upgrades and
plenty of Doom Knights and Liches the Undead is a strong player in the late
game, unlike some races, such as Orcs, who tend to fall by the wayside. The
real threat at this stage comes from Titans and full assaults which can prove
crippling. The most threatening opponents at this stage are those who are slow
but strong to develop, such as Knights and Daemons. This is where having a
resource advantage is crucial.
2.1 EARLY GAME
The first thing to do in any game is to grab mines. Do this as quickly as you
can. Your hero shouldn't waste time building at this stage; you should either
have brought a builder into the game with you, or summoned one with Necromancy.
If you have the ability to do neither, you should still take the mines before
building your keep. This way you'll be earning resources while your hero is
occupied with the construction.
It's always important to scout so that you can seek the locations of other
mines. Remember, controlling mines is the key to victory for the Undead. With
enough resources and the necromancy to create skeleton armies, you are
an unstoppable force. A good necromancer should also churn out zombies to fill
in the Stone and Gold mines as soon as he can. Without necromancy, you should
use the Graveyard for this purpose.
It's very important to get Stone and Gold because your buildings (not your
units) primarily use these resources, and your main goal is to gain a Level 3
stronghold as quickly as you can. This is so you can gain the coveted 300%
mana regeneration, which gives any necromancer access to an instant army; it
also gives you the opportunity to produce Slayer Knights, who will wreak havoc
through the midgame if anybody dares to attack you. Undead stronghold upgrades
are horribly expensive, so you'll want as many gold and stone mines at full
capacity as possible.
Don't lose your guard. Human players are more likely than AI players to test
your defenses early in the game. If playing a necromancer, I recommend you
build the armoury before the graveyard. This way you can summon a pack of
skeletons, upgrade them to wights and rest easy knowing that you have a strong
force guarding your base.
Once again, if you're not a necromancer, you'll have to play things safe and
build a graveyard and armoury, produce enough wights to keep yourself secure,
before moving on to secure outer mines. Don't get lazy - you have to work
yourself to the bone, literally. There's no rest for the dead. Get those mines!
Ideally, you should have a Level 3 Gold mine and a Level 3 Stone mine filled
to 8 workers within the first ten minutes of the game. Your next goal should be
to fill up an Iron mine (for infantry upgrades). By the time your Stronghold is
level 4, you'll regret not having a full Crystal mine as well. If you're a
necromancer with enough mana, this should be easy for you.
If you come across a weakling opponent, consider breaking down his towers with
your Wights and finishing him off. Wights are fairly durable against piercing
attacks and can definately take down a base, if there are enough and the
opposition is limited. Especially consider doing this against Knights, other
Undead and Daemons, who can grow to be quite the troublemakers.
For a necromancer hero, I'd recommend the following:
1. Go search for mines while your zombie builds a stronghold.
2. As soon as this is done, build an armoury and begin the upgrade to Level 2.
Forgo the Graveyard, you won't need it if you can conjure skeletons.
3. As soon as the armoury is done, upgrade your skeletons to wights. You'll
want to have some zombies in mines by now.
4. Level 2 is merely a stepping stone to Level 3. You can build the Barrow,
but Shadows are resistant to elemental attacks and weak to physical; at this
point of the game, physical attacks tend to be dominant. So, stick with your
wights, continue to expand mines, and aim for Level 3.
5. Now you can build mana regeneration and a Cage, which you should do so
immediately so that you can upgrade to Slayer Knights. Hopefully you'll have
the iron to do this now. With a good set of Slayer Knights, you're ready to
move on to the next stronghold level and the Mid-Game.
2.2 MID-GAME
So, now you've got a pack of Slayer Knights, a hopefully steady income and
lots and lots of spare crystal. Now is when resource management becomes
important.
Undead are very costly. It costs 200 to upgrade to Slayer Knight and then 300
to Doom Knight; that's 500 metal for a single unit. However, their resource
cost is helped immensely by a clear distinction between the resources needed
for troops and buildings.
Stone and Gold is used exclusively for your buildings (disregarding the new
Skeleton Cavalry for now.) Early on, this should be your priority. The iron
you'll get from a level 3 mine should help support your wights to slayers,
especially if you put a few zombies in to get them running faster.
Later on, stone and gold is less important as Iron and Crystal become your
major concerns. Iron is the most necessary, but for Liches and Shadows,
crystal is also very important. By mid-game you should be actively seeking
out sources of iron and crystal, because you will need them.
However, at this point, you'll find that your crystal stocks are likely full.
The reason here is that you simply haven't had to spend any yet, but now you
will, as you should begin on the mana regeneration - get to 300% as quickly
as you can. Your iron mines must be filled out now.
Your immediate goal now is the obtaining of Liches. With Liches and Slayer
Knights, you are poised to destroy vunerable foes. In particular, you should
consider attacking races like the Ssrathi and Swarm - with fire-based towers,
which Liches resist - or races like the Knights and Dwarves, with piercing
based towers, which your Slayer Knights resist. If you can draw the fire of
towers onto those who are resistant to it and mop up the opposition with the
other, you'll crush those races and, most importantly, be able to take their
mines.
Never forget that your armoury increases are a must. You will eventually want
Dark Mithril and Torture. Staff of Damnation is also a very wise thing to
research. When given the choice between two Slayer Knights or Armoury 2, go
for the armoury, but do play it safe - if you're low on troops, it's much
better to have forces than a bonus that you have nobody to benefit from.
Now, when your Library is built, it's time to get together a force of skeletons
and begin an upgrade to Lich status. For a necromancer, this a simple matter
of dropping down a Black Portal, making a ton of skeletons and upgrading them
all in one go. If you have lots of crystal saved, you'll find yourself with
as many Liches as anybody could possibly want. You can almost never have too
many Liches, so spend the last of your crystal.
Now, assuming you have a Barrow, you'll be able to upgrade to Doom Knights.
Before you do, make sure that you have:
At least six Slayer Knights.
As many Liches as you're going to need.
At least Weaponsmith level 2.
Depending on how much iron is on the map, Torture (this is very costly,
however).
Once you think you're ready for the costly task of upgrading Slayer Knights
to Doom Knights, you may do so. Stop! Not that fast! There is an extremely
important trick to upgrading, one that I will cover later on in the individual
units section. To cut a long story short, you should always upgrade IN battle,
not outside battle. And try to upgrade one at a time. You never know when
you'll regret spending all your iron in one fell swoop.
With Liches, Slayer Knights and Doom Knights, you are the king of the mid-late
game. Destroy your foes. When should you consider Stronghold 5? Well, to be
honest, you may not have to. It's very expensive, and you can get your best
units without it. Vampires are nice, but if you are a Necromancer, you should
be able to summon them; and Vampires do not justify spending all those
resources. Dark Lord is fun but at the late stage of the game less than vital.
If you play your cards right, you won't need Lord Bane, even to take down other
Titans.
2.3 LATE GAME
At this point of the game, you should definately have Dark Mithril and Torture.
Your Slayer Knights should all be Doom Knights by now, you may have begun work
on a Dragon, and Lord Bane may even be under construction. If you've been
working the mines and taking every one you can, your resources should be
almost limitless; as soon as a Doom Knight dies, summon another skeleton and
upgrade him to take his place.
Your chief goal is to destroy all your opponents. If somebody has been left
safe and cozy in a corner for the majority of the game, make him your first
target; that is the sort of situation that breeds Titans. Don't be too rash
in your attacks, because a human player will see a stream of your troops and
judge your base prime for invasion. Send in your Doom Knights to take the fire
and then make short work of buildings and towers with your Liches.
Seeing as Stone and Gold are more or less obsolete now, you can begin working
towards Skeleton Cavalry. They're fast and tough, and are good at harassing
enemy units and attacking towers, as they are resistant to piercing missiles.
Watch out for crushing attacks, though. Any heroes who have survived to this
point of the game can be taken out with Cavalry.
Vampires should be kept away from piercing towers and, well, most damaging
things. Until they have several levels they are rather frail and the lifedrain
isn't all that significant, although it is noticeable. However, against
individual opponents, they really shine - guard some vunerable areas with
several vampires and your enemy will have trouble breaking through unless he
sends more troops than is wise to do so. Have some liches for range support
and you're all set.
If you do end up with Lord Bane, keep an eye on his health. Titans are NOT
indestructable and they are NOT the godly game-winning creatures you might
imagine them to be; a well-trained army can take down a Titan, albeit with
severe losses. Instead, use him as you would a rather large and omnipotent
Lich. That is to say keep him in the back with Doom Knights offering support.
Your armour and damage are way up there, you can replace your elite troops
instantly, and if your Necromancer is still alive you can create armies in the
blink of an eye. The battlefield is yours. Go claim the skulls of your enemies.
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Fresh Victims for the Ever-Growing Army of the Undead
OR
A Look At Necromancy
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3.0 NECROMANCERS
As I've said time and time again, a Necromancer is the best hero support the
Undead can have. The ability of skeletons to be upgraded combined with the
ability to make lots of high-level skeletons for low mana cannot be ignored.
(Although a high-charisma/high-Memories Undead hero sounds like a very potent
idea as well, covered earlier)
As a Necromancer, you'll want to get your Charisma to a decent level so you
don't have to pay extra. Five is the absolute limit, and it's in your judgment
to decide whether you want more. Command radius can be worked around once you
get a Selentine Crown - simply put the crown one, take some mines, and then
replace it. Morale is nice but requires your hero to be in a vunerable
situation, and Necromancers should be kept as far from the battlefield as
possible, though they have some nice tricks should they be cornered.
Necromancy is the obvious skill to focus on. Your first levels will open up
new spells, and the others will improve it. For skeletons, that means greater
numbers; for champions and wights, that equals more experience. When you have
higher regeneration, you may want to summon wights instead of skeletons as
they begin with more experience.
Memories - it seems I was wrong about Memories. After some discussion on
the forum, it's been established that Memories DOES work with summon skeletons
and even with skeletons summoned by your liches. This means it's definately a
skill worth adding to, as it goes straight to experience (as opposed to
adding to Necromancy which will only increase your skeleton experience when
you get around to the level 1 spell again). As unit experience is a massive
advantage in Battlecry 3, you should get levels of Memory. Thanks to
cyber6net, Darque and DinkyDamn for verifying this.
Skeletal Horde adds to Skeleton Cavalry, whose resource costs conflict in an
ugly way with your building requirements. I'd say avoid.
Warding is nice, but unnecessary, as you should be able to replace any of your
troops if they die - and Undead troops are very durable as they are.
Ritual can be handy. When you reach Level 3 of your necromancy spells, your
percentage to cast is drastically low, and adding to Necromancy barely
alleviates this. You may want to put some points here instead of Necromancy,
or you may simply want to struggle through until your Necromancy is high
enough to cast spells regularly.
Item wise, you'll want mana regeneration, spellcasting, possibly some speed,
and an item of Command for the early game when taking many mines in one go is
a must. Anything that keeps your hero alive is good, especially if you know
your opponent is the sort to go straight for your hero. Items that reduce
mana cost are extremely handy.
(Darque adds:
But with a Library a Necromancer becomes VERY dangerous, as you can get spells
from other schools.
Also, if you're in a strong position (i.e. where your enemy can't really hurt
you) you can sit back and try to unlock the alchemy spell line... then you can
outfit your hero with some nice items.
You can do this with the Rune line as well, but it's too high up the spell
tree.)
This should get more coverage when I get around to doing specific buildings.
3.1 STAYING ALIVE - OR, MORE PRECISELY, DEAD
The necromancer does not go out there and duel with Titans. I can't make this
clear enough. A necromancer strategy has a fatal flaw - if you lose your
necromancer, you have lost your edge and must resort to the Graveyard. In this
case, make many Graveyards and churn out those skeletons, and resign yourself
to low level ones. It's an ugly fate that can cost you the battle, so take
precuations.
1. If your hero is hurt, put him in a tower. Towers are safer than standing in
the open. Remember, Undead regenerate only at night, so cast Darkstorm.
2. Don't forget about your health potions. But don't abuse them, because they
do more when your Stronghold is a higher level.
3. Make sure your hero isn't alone. A few fast units, like Shadows or Vampires,
can intercept an opponent and give your necromancer time to back away.
4. Stay close to the base. When venturing out for mines, take a gang of liches,
vampires and/or shadows, or, early on, wights. Better safe than sorry.
Cast Vampirism and hit airbone air-to-air units for some nice, safe health.
Remember that asssassins can and will kill you, and anything with assassinate
will eventually kill you, so RUN AWAY from them. A nice distraction tactic is
a quick army of skeletons and a hasty retreat. Keep away from ranged attacks,
particularly dangerous siege weapons who can turn you to dust if you're not
careful. Never lose track of your Necromancer. He is your ticket to success.
3.2 THE SPELLS
Black Portal is very, very important. It upgrades your summoning spells by a
level (and, incidentally, places your summoned troops at the portal). This
equates to higher experience and/or more troops, which is a good thing. When
you're casting a summoning spell without Black Portal, you're wasting
potential.
Raise Skeleton should be the spell you use more than any other, because for
Undead, skeletons can be anything you want them to be. At higher levels you'll
summon more skeletons, meaning that the limit to your army is resources, not
time and resources. Keep it hotkeyed so you can mash it like a madman.
Raise Zombie is also extremely important. Zombies aren't amazing builders, but
building is important. However, their major use is to fill mines. You want to
do this. You need to do this. Stand next to a mine, create a Black Portal, and
hit Raise Zombie until you have 8 zombies. Fill the mine. Repeat.
Raise Wight is less important. The wight has more experience than the skeleton,
but only comes in individual portions. This does, however, avoid the cost of
upgrading from skeleton to wight (which is minimal). You can go from here to
Slayer Knight or Lich, depending on whatever takes your fancy. I don't find
myself using this often.
Raise Champion is a fun spell when you have 300% mana regeneration. Primarily,
you'll use this for Doom Knights, as they are the most costly and also the
hardest to kill. Vampires are also a very good choice for this, as they are
the only unit you can't upgrade to and are very capable in their own right.
Liches and Shadows are rather dubious choices, as they aren't all that
expensive, particularly as Undead don't find themselves at need for crystal
(unless they're lazy and forget to fill their crystal mines.) Units created
with this spell are also higher level than a skeleton upgraded to the same
rank.
Ring of Ice is high-mana for an unappealing damage, so don't bother. Why
is your necromancer near enemies, anyway? Have you been listening to what I
said? Shame on you!
Strip Flesh is incredibly entertaining and is almost worth turning your
necromancer into a war machine for (but don't). I've used this on everything
from Kobolds to giant ogre generals. Basically, your mighty foe is reduced
to a skeleton, who is then crushed quite easily even by your frail necromancer
arms. The downside is that it can be resisted by high level opponents and it
only works on infantry. It can get you out of some nasty situations, so never
forget you have it. It's also worked wonders for me in ambush parts of the
Campaign...
Darkstorm is very, very useful, as Undead can only regenerate at night,
shadows and wraiths get special bonuses at nights, and all your troops get
combat bonuses at night. Cast it before going into combat or, well, whenever.
It also works to the detriment of several enemy types, although Daemons will
relish the change in weather. Still, you can't displease everybody.
Call the Dead - Don't use this. Use Raise Skeleton instead.
(DinkyDamn adds: "How about when there are a dead army outside your base? :)
If you've got a bunch of bone piles near your necromancer - more than you would
get raising skeletons for the same mana cost - then go ahead and use it!
Generally, it's cheaper to simply summon several skeletons in small packs, but
when the opportunity arises, bones shouldn't be wasted.)
Vampirism - It doesn't last too long, and the bonus isn't too great, but can
be nice for your Doom Knights. If your necromancer is close (not too close,
I hope), cast it on them and they'll survive a little longer... but really,
Doom Knights are tough enough that they don't need much more of an edge.
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UNDEAD UNITS
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4.0 UNITS OVERVIEW
The most important part of the game - your units! Know them and you'll do well.
Now, this part is rather incomplete. A good, solid guide would have the stats
for each unit, but it's been so long since I've actually had a unit I gained at
a boring 0 exp that I couldn't list stats accurately.This should be rectified
in the future.
I have, however, gone into detail on the unit and tips and tricks where
applicable.
4.1 INFANTRY
SKELETONS
The skeleton is slow and brittle, and basically isn't much of a soldier. They
can irritate the hell out of players with piercing attacks as they are highly
immune to it, but then a hero merely has to walk out and touch them lightly to
make them crumble, so don't think you'll be sieging anybody in the early game
with them.
As you might expect, the best thing to do with a skeleton is to upgrade him.
WIGHTS
Wights are good, solid forces for the early game, although later on they're
more or less useless. They're slow, like most Undead, but strong and durable,
like most Undead; they're great defenders. If you're a Necromancer, you should
be able to have a pack of Wights rather quickly, and so you'll be able to meet
the expeditionary hero and scant forces of your enemies with a crushing wall
of bone and steel. Wights also do well against towers and a large enough force
of them can feasibly destroy an early, inexperienced opponent.
Upgrading Weaponsmith to I helps out wights a lot with their damage. It doesn't
cost that much, either, so I'd advise you get this in the early game.
SLAYER KNIGHTS
Mmm, Slayer Knights. Your "Advanced Infantry", who are very tough, well
armoured and, particularly with Weaponsmith upgrades, deadly too. They cause
Chaos, which ruins your enemy's armour rating. They are slow, of course, but
because you can have plenty of them (assuming you keep up on your iron mines)
you'll be able to match speed with numbers. Slayer Knights make very good
invasion forces, but they WILL be killed without Lich support, so don't get
too reckless.
DOOM KNIGHTS
Ah, Doom Knights. While they may not have Minotaur King-style damage (though
with Torture they come pretty damn close), they are massively armoured, they
do plenty of damage, they have a lot of health and they cause Chaos like their
Slayer brethren. They can also hit aerial opponents. What isn't there to like
about Doom Knights? Well, the cost; 300 iron per Doom Knight means you have
to be raking in the iron. An army of Doom Knights will inspire fear amongst
your opponents. With Dark Mithril, they are almost as invincible as they claim
to be.
TIPS:
The most important tip I can give you regarding Slayer Knights is this. When
upgrading for Doom Knights, do it when your Slayer Knight is almost dead. This
will instantly heal him to full health AND make him stronger, so if you time
this right, a battle you are losing will be completely reversed. Suddenly you
are fully healed and even stronger than before. Send your Slayer Knight into
battle, monitor his health, and make him a Doom Knight right before he dies -
it's one of the greatest tools an Undead player can utilise.
Another nice thing about Undead infantry is that it's piercing (and for Doom
Knights, slashing) resistant, so you can wade into an area filled with piercing
towers/range attackers and shrug off 50% of the damage.
WRAITHS
Wraiths are an alternative to going the way of the Wight path. Using crystal
instead of iron will give you these shadowy fellows, who gain combat bonuses
during night, do a very respectable cold damage and have decent health, the
ability to attack aerial opponents and a faster speed than most Undead troops.
They take 50% damage from all non-physical attacks, which makes them amazing
against forces that rely on elemental damage. However, they take 50% extra from
physical attacks of all kinds, which is their downfall.
SHADOWS
Shadows are wraiths upgraded once again. The extra crystal gives you more
damage, an extra combat bonus at night, and better stats overall. Once again
they are great against magic users and weak against anything else, but are fast
and capable. I'd advise you have at least some shadows around, just in case.
The downside with Wraiths and Shadows is that I like to keep my crystal saved
up for Liches. When you have Liches and Slayers, Shadows don't really have
much of a role left to play; you may want to overlook them entirely.
TIPS:
An amazingly cool thing you can do with Shadows and Wraiths revolves around
their special ability. When they kill somebody, they steal all the experience
they had an add it to their own. Who has the most experience on a battlefield?
Why, a hero, of course! Simply have a wraith or shadow land the final blow
on a hero, and suddenly they're instantly level 20, with over 80 damage,
over 400 health, over 50 armour, 20 speed... killing machines. Put one in
your retinue for the campaign.
My current Shadow is at 15k xp and rising. He's saved me more times than I
can mention, so don't overlook this little trick of theirs.
VAMPIRES
Vampires are an odd one. Firstly, they're Generals, so you'll want to use them
to take mines (important for Undead.) They can drain life with Vampirism, but
overall they'll lose more than they gain. They do decent damage but can't stand
their ground in battle like a Doom Knight can. They're fast, and they summon
bats which can be used as scouts. A high level Vampire is a valuable asset
to your retinue.
Vampires are best obtained by Raise Champion rather than the expensive route
of going for a Level 5 Stronghold. They're good at taking down heroes and units
one-on-one. They also resist cold. However, a big downside - they take 50%
damage from piercing attacks, so generally you'll want to keep them away from
archers and towers (that use piercing damage, that is.) Ballistas and barbarian
swarms can decimate vampires, so keep an eye on them.
TIPS: Summoning zombies and having your vampire kill them for health is an
interesting way to top him back up again. Shame they don't get experience from
this, though. Also, a hero regenerates faster than a unit, so you can have your
vampire drain life from you and then stop him before the coup de grace. Sounds
delicious!
4.2 CAVALRY
SKELETON CAVALRY
Skeleton Cavalry are very nice cavalry. They're fast, they do a lot of damage,
they resist piercing attacks. Unfortunately, their stone/gold requirement makes
me overlook them in the early game in favour of rushing towards a Lich/Slayer
setup, also taking into account I rarely bother making a Graveyard. You may
want to churn them out later in the game, after getting Liches, as they give
some speed to your army and are helpful at scouting and patrolling.
TIPS: Skeleton Cavalry are fun for tearing down towers and running away before
your enemy can exact his grim retribution.
4.3 ARCHERS
LICHES
Liches are the damage dealers of an undead force. Quite simply, you can field
a whole lot of these guys, especially if you're a necromancer. They do good
damage, it's fire-based so it works well on buildings (but can cause problems
against fire resistant attackers), they're fire resistant themselves, and they
can now turn bonepiles into skeletons, although doing this in the heat of
battle can result in several brand new bonepiles unless you're quick to upgrade
them.
They're not too slow and they're not too fast, and they have decent hitpoints
and armour for a ranged attacker, so you'd be hard-pressed to find fault with
these guys. Their major weakness is a 50% increased damaged to crushing, so
catapults will break your lich packs in major numbers. Take out catapults with
your Doom Knights, Slayers or Shadows if you can. Keep your liches together,
although you'll want a few back home, so that they can wipe out anybody who
comes close enough to threaten them. Staff of Damnation gives them the range
they badly need.
Liches will burn through towers and buildings in no time at all. They are
great for razing down an entire city while your Doom Knights handle things
that try to get in the way. And who doesn't love their new voices? "So much
DEATH!" It's a great motto for the Undead.
TIPS: Turn bonepiles into skeletons when you get the opportunity. Free units
are never something to be ignored. Also, whenever you see a capapult, STAND
BACK. They have longer range than you and will smash you to pieces!
4.4 SIEGE WEAPONS
BONE CATAPULTS
Bone catapults are painfully slow, like most siege weapons, but are also
devastating with their crush and splash damage. The AI sometimes doesn't even
react when you hurl boulders at them from afar, but a human player will always
run up and smash your bone catapult apart, so make sure they have support.
They're best used for demolishing towers from afar or breaking up Swarm units,
who are rather unhappy when dealt Crushing damage. They're also nice to use
against rival Undead who hopefully aren't the master of death that you are.
TIPS: Low AIs will sometimes forget to chase a catapult that's attacking them,
so move just out of range and hit them. You also have a longer range than the
typical tower, so make use of this to break them before they can fire a shot.
4.5 TITANS
LORD BANE
Lord Bane is not, to be honest, the best Titan in the game. Fire damage is
resisted by quite a few opponents, his health is a mere 750, and he has no
features apart from his Titanesque "Ignore Armour". He's not particularly fast
but he DOES have a neat voice and a chariot made of bones, so that's an obvious
plus. Like all Titans, when you have him, don't immediately rush the nearest
city with him while screaming "death comes 4 u lolol even the gods fear me!"
Instead, use him to support your other troops and you'll find he can definately
turn the tide of battle in your favour.
Also, when he dies, the fireworks are decidedly handy. A Kamikaze Lord Bane can
be just as deadly as the live(dead?) thing.
TIPS: Lord Bane is big, make sure he has room to get out. There's nothing worse
than having him trapped behind your Level 5 Stronghold and having to burn it
down so that you can get him out to the battlefield.
4.6 FLYING UNITS
GIANT BATS
Giant bats are, well, giant bats. They take up a mere 0.25 unit space, but
only attack aerial units, don't do much damage and are basically best at
flying around, scouting the land, before being squelched by a tower.
HARPIES
Harpies are annoying for your enemy, as they attack ground opponents, but
mostly because they drain mana. This is an incredible annoyance for any
spellcasting hero. If you must use them (to be honest, I tend to ignore the
Brood in favour of my ever-functional Slayer/Liche horde), remember their
special ability.
FROST DRAGON
Let me say this: if you are an Undead and a Frost Dragon comes your way,
better hope you have a few Doom Knights out, because these guys wreak HAVOC
upon your defenses if all you have are liches. They shrug off fire damage and
freeze things, and generally rip up the place. Like all dragons, if you have
them, they're best off hovering above your army and dealing death below.
DRAGONLICHE
I believe they drain experience, but to be honest, I haven't used them. They
are, however, dragons. They are also liches. Cough.
4.7 BUILDERS
ZOMBIES
Zombies only have a build skill of 8 (which is slow). They are, however, tough,
and can deal some damage and take a bit. In addition, they can scavenge corpses
for resources, which is fun and even rewarding against large expensive foes.
Their chief use, however, is to build you structures and most importantly to
fill up mines so that they work to give you the resources you so badly need.
TIPS: Don't forget that you can scavenge resources from corpses! It is, after
all, completely free (bar the research, which you may want to keep out of the
way until it doesn't hinder your expansion to Liches.) Zombies can also pester
heroes by delivering disease.
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RACE SPECIFIC STRATEGIES
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5.0 RACE SPECIFIC STRATEGIES
This is still a work in progress, as I'm yet to play against a challenging
opponent of every race who uses the race to the fullest. However, given a
basic knowledge of several races, there are ways to formulate strategies to
work on their weaknessess. Right now, I'm merely going to gloss over their
unit types and what threats they may pose.
If you use one of these and think I've seriously underestimated them, let me
know! Having not played, say, the Dwarves, I can't be sure that the dwarves
don't have some killer strategy against the undead that I need to know about.
Of course, you may not WANT me to know about it...
5.1 THE SWARM
The Swarm should fall quite easily to the Undead. Their towers are fire-based
by nature, and their archers are also fire-based (as Scorpionpriests do not
fit into towers), so generally Liches will be able to enter Swarm bases
without major risk of damage. Swarm are vunerable to crushing damage, so
bring bone catapults to knock out the larger numbers. Scorpions and scorpionmen
do piercing damage, so Doom Knights and the like will handle them deftly.
5.2 MINOTAURS
Minotaurs are a very strong and dangerous race when used correctly. Hope your
opponent doesn't know how to do so! They are particularly dangerous for the
Undead. Firstly, their infantry does crushing damage, and can be upgraded to
be quite strong. This poses a problem for Liches and Bone Catapults. Secondly,
Minotaur Kings do massive damage and ignore armour, making them perfectly
suited to cutting through your Doom Knights. Finally, Shaman resist fire magic,
although they take extra damage from physical.
So, how do we get around this? First, we've got to be careful. Don't send the
Doom Knights to go toe-to-toe with the Minotaur Kings unless you significantly
outnumber them. Have your Liches or a large amount of Shadows bring them down.
Vampires with Dark Mithril might do the job one-on-one, but with the damage
Minotaur Kings do, I wouldn't count it. A pack of liches should be able to
take several down from afar.
Don't let minotaurs swarm your Liches, instead ensure that they are taken
down quickly and efficiently by Doom Knights. Shaman are weak to physical
damage but resist fire, so instead of sending Shadows or Liches after them
ensure physical damage dealers do the job. They'll fall that much faster.
Liches are good for soaking up their initial fire spells, as they take less
damage from the attacks.
5.3 SSRATHI
Ssrathi shouldn't pose any major threat to the Undead. Their fire-based
range attacks, like those of the Swarm, are relatively ineffective on Liches,
and the piercing damage of their cavalry won't affect your Wight-line
infantry. A few vampires seem to do a good job at holding back dinosaurs, and
Pterodactyls can be taken down easily by Liches or Doom Knights.
5.4 DWARVES
Dwarves rely a lot on piercing attacks. They have fantastic towers, partially
thanks to their crossbowmen counting as two in a tower - however, this means
nothing to the Undead, who merely stroll through crossbow bolts as though
they were delicate raindrops. Be careful not to get your Vampires in, though,
as these are the sort of delicate raindrops that can seriously hurt your
loveable white-skinned general.
Dwarf units are slow and tough. Doom Knights and Slayer Knights, with their
Chaos, do a good job of beating up the heavily armoured dwarven units.
Runelords are a formidable opponent for your Liches and should be dealt with
quickly. They're very slow, so a pack of Cavalry or Shadows can dart in and
take down any Runelords (or siege weapons) that threaten your liches from
afar. Liches also don't enjoy defence against piercing, so keep them away from
the towers and let the piercing-resistant infantry bring them down.
With their crushing damage, Earth Elementals pose a problem, so destroy them
before they reach Liches or Bone Catapults and cause serious damage. When
attacking a dwarven base, it's best to leave any vampires you have at home.
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IN CONCLUSION
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6.0 IN CONCLUSION
Obviously, this guide is a work in progress. I haven't even gone into detail
on the various technologies, the buildings, and tactics to use against
particular races or player types. It should, however, give you an idea of
what the Undead is capable of. I find them to be the most enjoyable and
rewarding race to master, but perhaps that's just the evil megalomaniac inside
me.
Nobody is perfect, with the possible exception of Lord Bane himself, so if
you have any corrections, suggestions or additions, feel free to e-mail me
at UndeadGuide@iprimus.com.au.
Now, as the Liches would say, "To the harvest!"
===============================================================================
The contents of this guide are copyrighted 2004 to Ben McDonald, via online
copyright laws and other weird things like that. If you do try to pass this
off as your own work, zombies will eat you, turning you into a zombie yourself
and forcing you to live an undeath that revolves around a never ending search
for brains and flesh. Trust me, you don't want that.
