Guardians: Detailed analysis. Guardians: Detailed analysis Ents, ancient Ents, wild Ents

We have already written about the Forestry Union on the pages of our magazine. Two years ago - about the global map and recently about the duel server. Therefore, we decided to use descriptions as little as possible (everything that needed to be said about elves has already been said) and concentrate on specific tips.

First look

In general, playing for wood elves on the global map is quite difficult, since difficulties constantly arise in the economy, and the development of heroes and cities cannot be called simple and unambiguous. In addition, the Rangers are behind at the start, which is why they have a hard time on the “fast” maps. So the Forest Union is not very suitable for beginners taking their first steps in HOMM V.

But before we consider the issues of strategy and tactics of playing for the elves, let's study the general characteristics that determine the development of the ranger hero.

Probabilities of obtaining basic skills when leveling up: protection— 45%, s knowledge — 30%, attack — 15%, witchcraft- 10%. In terms of skills, the picture is this: most likely to get good luck And logistics(15% each), then they go archenemy, protection And education(10% each), then leadership, magic Sveta, chaos magic(8% each) and attack(6%). Least likely to get sorcery(4%) and machine control, the magic of darkness And summoning magic(2% each).

As we can see, the ranger is a warrior with a good opportunity to gain combat skills. However, they are not the only ones that determine how we will fight in the game. We gave the main role to the hero’s abilities and troops. And the next chapter is about them.

Troops

Fairies, dryads, nymphs

Like all sorcerers, they are best divided into as many squads as possible. So the total damage from the spell call of wasp swarm will be noticeably higher. At the beginning of the game, dryads are very valuable as spellcasters. But in the future, with the increase in their number and due to the appearance of new creatures in the army, it is no longer possible to divide the squad of dryads into parts. Then it becomes much more effective to send them into close combat.

As you know, nymphs have the ability symbiosis with the Ents. Thanks to him, one interesting tactic appeared. At the beginning of the game, we try to upgrade fairies to dryads as quickly as possible and use them as sorcerers. Later, with the appearance of Ents in the army, we retrain the dryads into nymphs and boldly send them into close combat. As soon as enemies begin to actively tear off their wings, the Ents resurrect their flying girlfriends.

Even though the dancer is small, he doesn’t let the devil live.

Windwalkers are the best fighters of their trio.

Blade dancers, death dancers, wind dancers

Of the entire trio I would like to highlight dancing with the wind. It is them, in our opinion, that are worth taking into the army, because instead of combat step they received dexterity- a skill that increases their defense by 2 for each square passed, and at the beginning of the battle immediately gives the same increase in defense as if they had made a move to maximum range. That is, up to 14 units!

Windwalkers are best used against archers and mages. Firstly, the “dancers” are a small troop that travels often and far. He can easily crawl into any gap in the enemy's defense. Secondly, no matter how well its defense increases from agility, these are still rather weak troops. But mages and marksmen are usually very weak in close combat, and fighting them is relatively safe.

It is important: never “wait” for wind dancers. When they walk, the defense increases and the speed advantage is not lost.

Elven archers, bow masters, forest archers

On each new map we will have to solve two fundamental strategic questions: at what point to improve the shooters and which improvement to prefer.

For the Forest Union, as for other races, the rule works - the faster we improve the parts, the better. However, turning archers into bowmasters or marksmen requires a lot of wood. But it is in short supply for the Forestry Union. And by strengthening the army, we will greatly slow down the development of the city. Look at the amount of wood you extract per day, plan your buildings for the week. Enough wood? If it’s in excess, improve it. Otherwise, it's better to wait a little.

The choice between bow masters and forest archers must be made depending on the type of map and the enemy. Forest shooters, due to their armor penetration, deal more damage to units with high defense, and due to the lack of a penalty to shooting range, they will also be more useful against enemy shooters and sorcerers. Therefore, when the game is protracted, and the enemy army has many high-level units, or if the enemy plays defensively and relies on long-range units and well-protected troops, it is profitable to take forest shooters. On “fast” maps and in cases where the enemy is betting on a large number of low-level creatures, they will be more useful bow masters.

It is important: if you can get the hero an artifact unicorn horn bow, then all shooters in the army will immediately forget about distance penalties. And this will likely make bow masters a more sought-after unit.

Druids, Arch Druids, Elder Druids

The tactics for using ordinary and archdruids are generally the same. At the initial stage of the game, when there are few of them, it is more useful to use direct damage spells. Druids only hit lightning. The Archdruids choose between lightning And stone spikes.

It is important: for single targets lightning hits harder. Moreover, the more druids in the squad, the greater the difference in damage between lightning And spikes.

To enhance the effect, it is more profitable to divide the druids into several squads (most likely, it will turn out to be two or three). But as the army grows, there will be no free cells, and we will gather all the druids into one squad. Then it will be more profitable to deal damage with a regular shooting attack.

The druid casts a spell. As soon as forty more brothers come to him, he will forget about magic.

It is important: You should stop using magic when there are about 35-40 druids in the squad.

Mana transfer among Archdruids is a little-used skill. The hero-ranger is already fine with knowledge, and therefore with mana. But sometimes, after a difficult battle, it is advantageous to attack a weak squad of neutrals, who can be defeated without the participation of druids, and by transferring replenish the hero's mana.

A completely different tactic when playing as an elder druid. Of the spells they only have stone skin. In fact, they are just another ranged unit that is inferior in effectiveness to elven archers. It seems that this detachment was unfairly deprived. But in reality, everything is completely different. Their ability channel can change battle tactics. If an ordinary ranger hero has rather weak spellcasting and, as a result, his direct damage spells can only make the enemy laugh, then after the senior druids use their skills, the hero receives such an increase in spellcasting that he is comparable in damage from spells, if not with a warlock, then at least with a magician for sure. So with the advent of senior druids, the ranger was no longer ashamed to spend precious levels studying chaos magic.

It is important: spell stone skin often useless, but sometimes there is a use for it. For example, if your Ents entangled several units with roots at once.

Unicorns, fighting unicorns, light unicorns

As you know, it is best to use unicorns against magical races. However, often their skills are not enough, and it is necessary to strengthen the unicorns with artifacts armor of the forgotten hero And boots of magical protection.

When fighting warlocks, it is perhaps worth developing the magic of light and taking light unicorns. They will help strengthen our spells. They look especially good resurrection And regeneration. Just don’t forget that in patch 3.0, resurrection reduces the squad’s health. You shouldn't abuse it.

It is important: the probability of blinding by combat unicorns, as in the case of stopping archer arrows, depends on the difference between the total amount of health in the unicorn squad and in the attacked squad. But there is a fundamental difference: for archers, the enemy’s health is taken before the first shot, and for unicorns after dealing damage. Therefore, the likelihood of blindness is significantly higher.

Ents, ancient ents, wild ents

Typically, the type of Ents in an army depends on the player's preferences. But for a successful game, tactics should be tailored to the enemy. When you fight with strong warriors who have a large number of weak units in their army (Order of Order), prepare for the fact that the first attack of the main units will not be victorious, and you will have to play on the defensive. In such a battle, ancient Ents are preferable. In addition, they are very useful against gnomes: the bearded men’s ability to double their speed by using the energy rune allows them to quickly reach our rear and destroy the shooters.

Against the magical races, the Forest Union has no time to sit on the defensive. You need to attack, and you shouldn’t even think about going on the defensive - you won’t be able to escape from magic. And for one decisive blow, wild Ents are much better suited.

In our opinion, wild Ents are generally more flexible in their use. In their normal state, they are not much inferior in protection to the ancients, but using fury of the forest, become extremely powerful attacking fighters, and initiative 12 makes them much more dangerous.

Green dragons, emerald dragons, crystal dragons

This is what a crystal dragon attack looks like.

Dragons are not the most durable, not the strongest, not the most protected of the 7th level units. Their main advantage is the highest initiative and speed. As a result, we use them to suppress shooters and sorcerers, both neutral and in the enemy army. For this task, emerald dragons are more suitable than crystal dragons due to their predictable and reliable acid breath. However, given that the ranger army often has a marginal luck indicator, it is more profitable to use crystal dragons against certain opponents. For example, against orcs, whose arrows are always open, and the main threat is still posed by melee units.

It is important: if the enemy has a skill tactics, then, by performing a competent deployment of troops, he can significantly reduce the effectiveness of the attacks of any of our dragons. This is an extra argument to take this skill yourself in order to at least neutralize tactics enemy.

Hero development

Having become familiar with the troops and features of the Forest Union, we can talk more cogently about the development patterns of heroes, strategy and tactics of playing for this race.

As noted at the very beginning of the article, the easiest combat skill for a ranger to obtain is good luck, protection And education, however, given the specifics of his army, are no less valuable attack And leadership. On the one hand, such a breadth of choice gives greater freedom in development and makes the ranger less predictable for the enemy, but at the same time it can be difficult for the player himself to navigate. After all, out of the five skills listed, it is advisable for him to choose only three. The remaining two need to be used logistics and some school of magic.

What battle tactics should we choose? Thanks to strong long-range troops, we can sit on the defensive and destroy enemies with well-aimed shots. But on the global map, such tactics make our army vulnerable and weak . Much more effective when all troops They operate as part of a solid, unified army, where all types of creatures are represented, and each of them is used to the maximum.

With our first move, we destroy almost the entire main enemy army.

So, the most effective tactics are as follows. We immediately attack the enemy with fairies, dancers, unicorns and dragons. They are supported by archers and druids, protected from enemy fighters by ents. Then, if the initial strike is successful, we continue to press, and if the enemy has withstood our first onslaught, then we can go on the defensive. Here the outcome of the battle depends on the ents and archers.

This tactic after repeated experiments we considered it the best. However, for it to be truly effective, we need a properly developed hero. Here we are faced with three tasks.

Task one: Maximize the damage of our army so that the first blow is the most powerful and victorious. And since the basic ability attack the ranger is growing slowly, we will need it luck, avenger, attack and indirectly leadership.

Task two: allow all melee troops to attack the enemy on the first turn (initially only the dragon immediately reaches the enemy, and he alone is not a warrior). They will help us with this aura of speed from the line leadership, tactics from skill attacks And the tread of death or native lands from logistics.

Task three: increase the defense and survivability of our units, and in addition, if possible, protect them from enemy spells. After all, we may not be able to immediately inflict decisive damage on the enemy. You need to be prepared to respond. Therefore we need: protection and all the abilities from this line, as well magic resistance from skill luck. In addition, it is worth mentioning such abilities from magic skills as magic depletion out of chaos fire protection from light and foggy veil from the call.

It is important to pay attention to one fundamental point. Most additions to the hero's skills and abilities, which change the creatures' own characteristics, are given in percentage terms. Therefore, it is more profitable to increase precisely those indicators that these creatures have in themselves are high. As we have already noted, for most creatures of the Forest Union it is necessary to increase attack, damage and initiative, and the increases in defense and health will be less significant.

And in order to better understand all these issues, let's first take a closer look at the skills and abilities available to the ranger, and then draw final conclusions.

Skills and abilities

Avenger

Let's start looking at skills with avenger. With its help we decide first task. Agree, doubling the damage even against one unit from the enemy army is already very good. And the 40% chance is very high, especially considering that with the construction of buildings in the city Brotherhood of Rangers it will increase to 50%. For comparison: racial skill of knights counterattack increases damage by 25%, and skill elemental chains warlock will add a maximum of 75% (in both cases this is only possible if you have an artifact mastery pendant). But there are serious limitations to the use of the vigilante. It will be possible to really take advantage of the effect of the skill no earlier than the middle of the second week, and it will only be able to truly be useful in the final battles against enemy heroes and cities.

Window for selecting sworn enemies.

It is important: when choosing a sworn enemy, try to prioritize parts that are advantageous to divide into several units: all types of sorcerers or units with special abilities (cave lords, fighting griffins, any unicorns). And also for creatures whose main and alternative improvements can be found in the same army (magicians, genies, liches).

The main ability of the Forest Union is true luck:creatures in the hero's army are always lucky during the attack. Very simple and at the same time extremely effective. To obtain this ability we will need the maximum third level in avenger, all three abilities are from a racial skill, luck and in it elven luck, skilled light magic and skill secrets of the world from her, skillful logistics with skill native lands.

Discussion of the usefulness of the basic abilities of certain races is one of the favorite topics of fans of the fifth “Heroes”. Getting involved in this endless argument is a thankless thing. Let's just say one thing: ability true luck very useful both in itself and in combination with all those skills and abilities that are needed to obtain it. If the game allows you to train a hero above level 25, then getting it is quite possible. But even by abandoning it, it is quite possible to build such a scheme for the development of your main character that the loss of the main ability will not become a big problem.

Let's now go through the rest, exclusively combat skills.

Luck

Perhaps the most valuable skill for a ranger is luck, both in itself and with the abilities included in it. Let's highlight the most useful of them.

Soldier's luck- the most useful ability for a ranger, since in his army the main fighters - bow masters and forest arrows, as well as unicorns - have special attack skills.

Good luck on the way- the ability will partly help overcome the lack of resources (especially wood), and this is certainly useful for both the main and auxiliary heroes. In addition, it opens three abilities for study at once.

Elven luck- just a nice addition to a useful skill. Elven luck itself is not that valuable, but it should be taken for the main ability.

Magic Resistance- ambiguous ability. On the one hand, with its help we will greatly increase our resistance to magic (especially if we find anti-magic artifacts). But, on the other hand, we will lose access to the main ability. Therefore, take magic resistance only if you are sure that your enemy will focus on spells (warlock, mage). And in a battle with orcs, for example, there is nothing to defend against at all. So why lose a core ability?

Lucky Sorcerer- useful only if the ranger develops chaos magic.

Capabilities trophies And patronage of Asha in most cases not needed. We do not recommend taking them.

Attack

The second skill to pay attention to is attack. Again, it is aimed at solving first task. The increase in damage from the skill itself is not that great - 5, 10, 15%, respectively, for three levels. (For comparison, the defensive skill reduces damage twice as much.) But the offensive abilities allow you to further increase the damage. Let's look at the main abilities.

Tactics- one of the few abilities that helps in solving second task- give our melee units the opportunity to attack the enemy on the first turn. And if we took the skill attack, That tactics Be sure to take it as early as possible.

Thanks to proper development, our troops move ahead of the enemy.

It is important: as you know, if both opponents have the ability tactics, then it doesn't work for anyone. Knowing this, experienced players, preparing for battle against the forest elves, often specifically take tactics only for the sake of “spoiling” it for the Forest Union.

Battle Madness- Considering that initially we only have low-level units at our disposal and in the future we plan to rely on a full army, the ability is certainly valuable. In addition, it gives access to three equally useful abilities.

The magic of speed- it will be useful if the hero develops chaos magic or if spells acceleration was not in the Mages Guild.

Retribution- An extremely effective ability. But to obtain it you need skill forest leader from skill leadership and at least two levels of the skill itself leadership.

Cold steel- also a very valuable ability, but to obtain it you need chaos magic and Lord of the Cold. If you can't study retribution, then you can be quite satisfied with this ability.

Leadership

The next important skill is leadership. But he has a difficult situation with his abilities. If in other skills the effects are more or less clear, here their actions are not so obvious. The development of the abilities that interest us in this skill proceeds along two branches. One starts with gathering troops, and the other with diplomacy. They are noticeably inferior in usefulness to those that follow them, and therefore they should be considered only as a kind of stepping stone in acquiring truly valuable skills.

Gathering of troops— the important thing about this ability is that for it to work, the hero must be in the city on the last day of the week. For the main character, this requirement is quite problematic to fulfill, well, perhaps only in the first week of the game. So you have to study this ability only to gain access to truly useful ones. But for the auxiliary hero, left to guard the city and collecting payments from all kinds of mills and glorious people, gathering troops it will be very useful.

Aura of Speed- extremely useful. Combined with tactics allows you to completely solve second task.

Forest Leader- ability will allow us to get retribution, the value of which has already been written about in the skill attacks. So you should definitely take it.

Diplomacy- perhaps one of the most controversial abilities. On the one hand, the temptation to receive unexpected replenishment of units is extremely great. On the other hand, the probability of joining depends on many factors, including random ones. Diplomacy increases this probability quite slightly and does not provide complete confidence that at least someone will join. If you still want to take a risk, then also learn the ability silent pursuer from logistics. It will allow you to see the mood of neutral creatures and more reliably predict whether they will join or not.

Empathy— the ability to speed up the hero’s turn is always useful. But to obtain this skill you will need to first study diplomacy. This means we won't be able to get any aura of speed, nor forest leader, which are much more profitable for the tactics we are considering.

Treasury management- a completely useless skill for the main leader, but quite useful for auxiliary heroes.

Protection

The skills we reviewed were mainly focused on increasing damage and speed, that is, solving first two problems. Skill covered next protection ideal for solving third task. The skill itself reduces the damage received by parts by 10, 20 and 30% at each level, that is, it has the opposite effect of the attack skill, and is even twice as strong. Extremely effective. And there is a lot to choose from in the abilities of this skill. The most interesting line durability, blind defense And readiness.

Durability- this skill repeats the situation with battle madness. It is only useful for low level creatures. But we believe that to use our tactics durability fits perfectly. So you should definitely take it.

It is important: much more useful are those skills that act automatically (that is, passively). Our troops should spend their turns attacking, not activating abilities.

Silent defense— given the fast attack tactics we are considering, this skill is perhaps only suitable for ancient Ents. However, during fights with slow but tenacious neutral melee fighters, it is advantageous to play on defense.

Readiness- the ability is so effective that it can play a decisive role in the choice of entire battle tactics. If you have it, it is quite possible to fight on the defensive, especially if you managed to acquire suitable artifacts. But getting this ability is not so easy. To study it, you need to study sequentially durability And blind defense, and therefore gain the skill protection at a skillful level. Besides, readiness requires skill tactics from attacks. It will not be possible to fulfill all these requirements quickly, and therefore count in advance on receiving readiness risky. It is safer to prepare the army, as usual, for a quick attack. In parallel with protection, increase the speed and damage caused by the parts, and if you manage to get readiness, then start fighting on defense or use mixed tactics, for example, a quick attack with a transition to defense or, conversely, going to defense with constant counterattacks by separate units.

Stone strength- a quite useful spell, although in attacking tactics it is of little use.

Evasion— you should study this skill with an eye on the enemy. Evasion It is only valuable if you are opposed by a hero with strong shooting units. By selecting evasion, you give up readiness, but open access to fight to the last.

Fight to the last- a very ambiguous ability. At first glance, the death of entire units can only be allowed at the beginning of the game or in the final battle. In other cases, this will certainly become an irreparable mistake. And in any case, the fact that the only creature from the dead squad will survive will be little consolation. But here you should not judge rashly, but take a closer look. This ability allows you to use quite original and very effective battle tactics against neutral armies consisting of large melee creatures. For this we also need a spell regeneration and preferably at least the basics of light magic. Having divided the dryads (they are the best suited - they have the highest initiative) into squads of two dryads - the so-called “twos”, we put on the battlefield only them and archers (preferably bow masters). Twos move forward in such a way as to cover the shooters, the hero successively casts on them regeneration, and archers deal damage to opponents. Enemies attack our twos, but thanks to the effect of the skill fight to the last Only one of each squad is killed. Dryads do not attack back, but wait to allow the regeneration effect to trigger as many times as possible. Regeneration will restore our twos, and the opponents will have to hit them again, receiving damage from archers. And so on until the enemies are completely destroyed. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that if there are a lot of enemies, then you definitely need a cart with ammunition, well, and a sufficient amount of mana. Using this tactic allows, for example, to take Dragon Utopia in the second week without losses. At a later stage of the game, two light unicorns can be used instead of dryads. Regeneration applied to any of these units will be applied to all others, and at a skillful level. Such small tricks will allow you to dramatically accelerate the development of your hero and gain a strategic advantage over your enemy.

Reflection- a skill that reduces the effect of direct damage spells. And it doesn’t protect at all from curses from dark magic. For our army, especially with attacking tactics, curses, especially mass ones, are much more dangerous. Be prepared that an experienced opponent, when playing against a forest elf, will most likely give preference to dark magic. The only exception is warlocks, but their ability irresistible magic will significantly reduce any protection from magic. Against non-magical races reflection so completely useless.

Education

Skill education and the abilities included in it will not be able to directly help in solving our main problems. The skill itself gives a small increase to the experience the hero receives (5, 10 and 15% according to the skill level) and gives +1 to one of the main characteristics for every 4th, 3rd and 2nd levels of the hero, including those already received. Among the abilities, it is perhaps worth paying attention only to forest treachery. Everything else is more useful to magicians, but a ranger is still a fighter.

It is also customary to refer to combat skills as machine control. However, it is very difficult for elves to obtain it (probability - 2%). And at the beginning of the game it’s almost impossible. So we would advise you not to waste levels on this, in principle, ineffective skill for a ranger.

Magic

Thus, we have decided on the choice of combat skills that a ranger should pay attention to learning. This luck, attack, leadership And protection. In principle, we can completely abandon magic and raise a universal fighter. However, you should not think that an elf, by definition, cannot be a magician. As we said above, unicorns can do magic of light more powerful, and druids are able to increase spell damage chaos magic.

Three lightning bolts strike the enemy at once. And you say, an elf is not a magician, an elf is not a magician...

The enchanted arrow is especially good when combined with chaos magic.

In general, these are “home schools” for rangers. Considering the elf's low level of sorcery, it seems that he cannot specialize in direct damage spells from the school of chaos, but must focus on developing light magic and mass blessings. In addition, it is the magic of light that is necessary to obtain a special ability. It seems that the choice is clear. But let's remember the skill from the racial line of forest elves - enchanted arrow. Chaos magic is best suited for “bewitching” shots. The damage from these spells will be relatively small, but the fact that they further enhance the ranger's own attack speaks in their favor. And if you have the ability shower of arrows and with the right sworn enemies, the ranger can fire not one, but several enchanted arrows (in practice, up to four). And the use of abilities such as lord of the cold or lord of the storms, will additionally freeze or stun the target. Thus, a ranger's learning of chaos magic may not be so useless. And the appearance of the elder druids with their ability channel makes the use of chaos magic especially effective.

The use of the other two schools of magic is very limited. The chance of obtaining them is 2%, and it is usually difficult for a ranger to obtain high-level spells for these schools. However, the application magic of darkness And summoning magic can be quite useful. The magic of darkness contains massive spells that weaken the enemy army, and strong curses such as blindness, berserk And subordination, can be conjured onto the hero’s arrows. And the use of skills by elder druids channel can greatly increase the effect of spells from the school of summoning. In general, if you are lucky enough to study the magic of darkness or summoning (well, for example, in a witch's hut) and get the spells of these schools, then why not experiment?

It is important: Unlike the magical races, the hero of the Forest Union in development can wait to choose a school of magic. However, the choice itself is extremely important. Therefore, it is advisable to postpone learning magical skills until you improve the Mages Guild to at least the third level and evaluate the available spells.

Logistics

As you remember, when considering combat and magical skills, we always reserved a place for the skill logistics. This is no coincidence for many reasons. This skill itself is extremely useful for all races. The arithmetic behind this statement is quite simple. The further the hero walks, the more actions he manages to complete in one day. As a result, the hero logistics You will gain experience and additional skills from external buildings faster, find artifacts faster, and also rebuild your city more efficiently and receive and upgrade parts earlier. As a result, the levels spent on studying logistics, will pay for themselves very quickly.

Miracles of logistics.

With proper tactics, losses in battle can be minimized.

Thanks to the greater speed of movement across the map, he will be able to escape from an unfavorable battle or, conversely, catch up with the enemy’s main or auxiliary hero and force a fight on him. Of course, on small maps, where opponents can meet in the second week, without even having time to develop basic skills, it is customary to abandon logistics. But even in lightning-fast battles, this ability can be useful for a ranger. Firstly, the constant shortage of wood for buildings in the cities of the Forest Union poses an additional task for the ranger heroes - replenishing the reserves of this resource in all possible ways. Here both the main and additional heroes will benefit from the ability to move faster. Secondly, the ranger has a rather difficult time at the start, and he has to somehow compensate for the lag behind his opponents. And finally, this skill contains abilities that are very valuable for elves.

On a note: Often, in order to reduce the total time of the game, restrictions on the duration of the turn are artificially set. As a consequence, in such conditions the use logistics becomes irrational. Even without this skill, the player does not have time to complete all the necessary actions. But these restrictions are dictated not by the features of the game, but by purely technical reasons. Moreover, they contradict the very spirit of the game in “Heroes”, as well as the use of the “Quick Fight” option or the automatic battle mode. We will not take such features into account in our description.

And finally, about the main abilities in logistics.

Silent Stalker- a very multifaceted skill. Increasing the viewing radius will allow us to more effectively scout the map and plan our actions more clearly. And the ability to mislead the enemy will also do a good job. Additionally, this skill opens up access to several even more valuable ones.

Native lands— we have already mentioned that the increase in speed for our creatures is extremely useful. Even if it is only used in a certain area. But even the avenger does not kill everyone...

Marauding- a good skill for a ranger. Especially useful on nautical charts.

Path of War— further increases the hero’s movement speed, which means it accelerates development.

The Tread of Death- a very big plus for speed in such an important battle as an assault on a city. Considering that we have two flying units in our army, thanks to this ability we will be able to organize a quick attack on the first turn even if the enemy has fortress walls.

Intelligence service- a good skill that will help us scout the area even more. On many maps, knowledge of the territory gives us big advantages. Don't neglect this.

Hero selection

Now that we have decided on the choice of the main combat tactics, discussed general issues of urban development and become familiar with the skills and abilities available to the ranger in detail, it will not be difficult for us to give a clear assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of the heroes offered to us and select candidates for the role of the main leader.

An increase in initiative from Vingael personally.

Proper hero development.

Vingael- without a doubt, the most powerful hero of the Forest Union, and the classic tactics of a quick attack in his performance are simply terrifying. The only drawback is that he doesn’t have anything at the start that would facilitate development. Ideally, he would be accompanied by heroes who have many shooters in their starting army (Ossir is best) or have vehicles that can be taken away. Vingael is ideal for large and medium maps. And it is entirely permissible for him to take chaos magic - a personal skill allows his army to gain an advantage even without blessings.

Ossir- very useful due to “friendship” with archers. And the presence of a large number of shooters in his army at once makes life much easier at the initial stage of the game. This makes it more preferable on small maps with fast development. But in all other cases, he is still inferior to Vingael: for him, the increases apply to all parts. Ossir, more than any of the elven heroes, is predisposed to playing defensively, but this tactic is not preferable for him either. You also need to remember that without visiting a mentor, he will not receive the basic ability.

In addition, for the role of the main character we can recommend Ilfin And Dirael. Also inferior to Vingael in efficiency, they can make the start of the game easier. Ilfina - due to the original tent and unicorn, and Dirael - thanks to the spell. However, if Ilfina is still a very useful hero in protracted battles due to the additions to the unicorns, then Dirael, as the duration of the battle increases, begins to clearly lag behind the others.

The other heroes can also be played, but they are definitely worse than Vingael.

Urban planning

Elves are too free and wayward people. There are several hundred possible tactics for developing a city. Moreover, on the same map, the same player offers about five to seven options. However, there is a certain pattern in elven urban planning.

The main problem in the development of the Forest Union is not the low growth of creatures or relatively high prices, but the total shortage of wood. The fact is that most buildings require this particular resource. Of the dwellings of creatures only Stonehenge and its improvement is done without wood. Therefore, more often than in other castles, the player has to make a decision about building or improving any troops based on the availability (or, more correctly, absence) of resources, and not on considerations of strategy and tactics of combat. For example, what is more important in the party: improving forest archers in the first week and giving up hopes of quickly building Arch of Ents or make do with unimproved arrows and get Ents in the second week? When playing for the Forest Union, you have to solve problems like this all the time.

For other resources everything is simpler. After wood, the most in demand are gems and crystals. Sulfur and mercury are almost never used.

According to the structure of buildings in the city The Forest Union is more likely to win over other races. For the elves, everything is very straightforward and simple: standard buildings from the lines of the capitol and castle go strictly one after another and are not interspersed with the dwellings of creatures or anything else (as, for example, in the cities of orcs or necromancers). And the dwellings of the creatures are not connected to each other or to other buildings. The only limitation is Stonehenge: to build it you must first build Mages Guild first level. This freedom in buildings allows for more flexible planning for the development of the city. For example, it is quite possible to do without blade dancers and immediately get archers ( tree houses), or postpone construction Arch of Ents, but build Dragon Sanctuary. Moreover, due to the constant shortage of wood, this is often what has to be done.

That's it, the article has come to an end. We tried to approach the analysis of “Heroes” from a slightly different position. The advice for beginners is over, and we moved on to a more “adult” conversation. And our journey into the world of sword and magic does not end with this article.

See you on the battlefields!

From massive mammoths to mountain giants, the Guardians of Albion are impressive in strength and size. Do you want to defeat one of these heroes? In this article you will find answers where to find them and what to expect from them!

Who are the Guardians?

Guardians are loyal defenders of Albion, brought to life thanks to ancient and powerful magic, called upon to protect the riches of nature. Like many other creatures, Guardians turn into deposits 2 560 T6 resources after death. And this does not take into account the possible bonus for harvesting!

These huge world bosses can be found in large deposits of Tier 6 resources, they are reborn randomly 12-48 hours after defeat. No one knows exactly when the Guardians will appear, so you'll have to keep an eye on their territories to have a chance to fight them.

Once you've found one of the Guardians, it's time to gather your friends and start the fight. Each Guardian requires a special approach and team composition, but in general, the recommended group size is 10 people. Guardians have protection against being attacked by too many players, so if there are too many of you, the damage you deal will be reduced. Additionally, each Guardian goes berserk if the fight lasts longer than 15 minutes, making them extremely difficult to kill. Time is running! Unlock the Master Raider skill on the Achievement Board to increase your damage and defense by 60% before engaging the defender.

The real threat comes from the Guardians' habitats, because they live in the red and black zones. The guard will leave the heroes unconscious, but beware of other adventurers, for they may not be so merciful, taking both your life and precious loot. It is highly recommended to send one squad member on reconnaissance if you do not want your raid to be caught by surprise.

Elder Mammoth (Skin Source)

This Guardian is a huge white Mammoth who is spiritually connected to the other mammoths living in the past and future. You will find it at the T6 Leather Deposit in the Steppe biome. Although he is considered the easiest Guardian to kill, he is surrounded by many hidden mobs, including aggressive Horrors!

Health points: 904 849

Auto attack damage: 3,000 physical damage to each player standing in front of the Ancient One

Landslide: The ancient mammoth uses its tusks to throw several stones. Each blow deals 2,750 magic damage and knocks down enemies within a radius of fifteen meters.

Herd of souls: The boss sits on his hind legs and summons three mammoth spirits that deal damage to everyone they touch. The skill deals 3,750 magic damage and knocks back enemies within a radius of fifteen meters.

Ancient Ent (Wood Source)

The Ancient Ent is a huge tree spirit that can be found in the forest biome among the groves of level T6. With his devastating Piercing Roots skill, team coordination will be the key to survival!

Health points: 922 591

Basic Attack Damage: 2,892 (physical)

Piercing Roots: Spiny branches erupt from the ground beneath each player every 1.3 seconds, for a total of 8 times. If you don't want to take 1250 physical damage and 375 periodic damage for each root touch, then try to avoid the area of ​​effect of the ability. You must be very careful in your movements, trying to avoid these nasty branches, so as not to block your party member's escape route!

Viscous roots: The Ent becomes enraged, takes root and deals area damage on the ground, targeting the tank and nearby players. Each tick deals 1,000 magic damage, the effect lasts 10 ticks. This spell can be interrupted by a special skill that interrupts spell casting!

Mountain Giant (Source Stone)

The giant stone golem is located in high mountain biomes, among numerous stone deposits, and is a ranged fighter.

Health points: 878 236

Basic Attack Damage: Long-range attacks deal 3,750 physical damage to anyone hit.

Earthquake: The stone giant lets out a horrific scream before slamming the ground, striking all enemies within a 20 meter radius, dealing 2,500 physical damage. If you are 10 meters away from the giant or less, you will take an additional 6,250 points of physical damage! If the golem hits you, it will throw you back 28 meters.

Stone poison: All players with magic or ranged weapons are caught in a stunning stone trap. Damage the traps quickly, as they deal 500 pure damage (i.e. ignore armor) every 3 seconds (the effect lasts for a total of 15 seconds). All raid members within a 1 meter radius of the rock receive the same damage.

Giant's Kick: The boss kicks the main tank, significantly reducing his accumulated threat level. In addition, all targets within a radius of 3 meters from the tank receive 2,500 physical damage and are thrown back 15 meters.

Huge Dryad (Fabric Source)

Don't be fooled by her appearance, the Huge Dryad is not to be trifled with! You will find it in the swamps, among many meadows with T6 fabric.

Health points: 860 494

Basic Attack Damage: 3,813 (physical)

Decaying Swamp: First deals 2,500 magic damage, and also applies a fatal debuff to the target: reduces movement speed by 20% for 20 seconds, reduces health regeneration by 10% for 20 seconds and deals periodic damage of 250 units, which lasts 19 ticks, and the debuff itself stacks. Consider having multiple tanks involved!

Pulsating Spikes: The dryad launches thorny, thorny spirals onto the ground. If you come into contact with them, you will not be able to cast spells or use skills for 15 seconds, and you will also receive 1,250 units of damage every 3 seconds (you will have to survive 6 ticks in total). Healers should be especially wary of this skill!

Double split: All players in front of the Dryad receive 2,500 points of magic damage. The range of this attack is 15 meters!

Iron Colossus (Ore Source)

The Iron Colossus can be found in the mountains, among Tier 6 ore veins. While he doesn't attack players with regular attacks, he has a devastating strike and the Crystal Swarm skill that can wipe out any raid in the blink of an eye!

Health points: 895 978

Basic Attack Damage: absent (no auto attack)

Giant's Strike: The Colossus slams its fist into the ground, dealing 3,800 physical damage to the tank and causing Crystal Resonance. This effect attracts players standing close to the tank every 8 seconds for 4 ticks, and the number of resonance stacks increases the range of its effect (the effect stacks up to 5 times). In addition, this Colossus skill has a 50% chance to cause four exploding crystals to appear in a line, each explosion dealing an additional 3,000 physical damage.

Colossus uses this skill every 3 seconds, so you can call it his auto attack skill!

Crystal Swarm: Every player within a 30 meter radius around the Iron Colossus is affected by a crystal bomb. The explosion occurs after 2.5 seconds and deals 3,000 units of magic damage to its target and all players within a 4-meter radius of action. Spread wider if you want to live!

Which Guardian have you already fought? Tell us about your impressions and epic battles!

Living half-trees, half-people living in middle earth. They look like a cross between trees and people, with different Ents resembling different types of trees. The oldest of the Ents, Treebeard, was fifteen feet tall, had a long gray beard, the hair of which rather resembled thin twigs, at the ends turning into something similar to ancient lichens. Treebeard's hands had seven flexible and mobile fingers, the smooth, bark-like skin was brown, and his eyes shone with an amazing greenish color. A long head with a high open forehead went straight into a powerful body - Ents had no neck at all. Other representatives of this race looked different, but they all, besides the lack of a neck, had one more common feature - eyes, the same unusual color as Treebeard's.

Ents lived for a very long time: strictly speaking, they never died of old age. They could only be killed, and even that was not easy to do - their thick skin-bark could not be taken by swords and axes, only fire was dangerous to them. However, over time, many Ents lose mobility, stop talking and turn into trees (it is possible that these are just numb Ents).

Ents reinforce their strength with a special drink known as Ent drink. Depending on the variety, the drink can simply strengthen strength, or it can promote growth, as Folco learned from his own experience. Later, especially for , Treebeard prepared a special drink that enhances the gift of clairvoyance.

The Ents have their own language, which was given to them by the elves who taught them to speak, slow, with very long words. But they know both the Universal and the languages ​​of the elves. Very unhurried and reasonable, Ents almost never interfered in the conflicts of the other races of Arda. Only two such cases are known. One is still in First era when, upon request Berena, the Ents defeated the Dwarves of Nogrod, who were trying to retake Nauglamir by force. The second - during the War of the Ring, when the hobbits Peregrin Tukk and. They managed to convince the Ents to attack the stronghold Saruman Isengard, and then destroying the troops marching orcs.

After the victory, the Ents moved north and east from the Fangorn Forest, planting more and more groves and copses in previously deserted places, which eventually merged into a huge massif.
Several times they tried to clear new fields for themselves in its southern regions, but the Ents made it clear to them that this would not lead to good, after which the Rohirrim began to be afraid of the Power of the forests, as they called the Ents. Back to top Great Invasion forests stretched from Isengard along the foothills and through old Fangorn, north, along the Limlight River almost to Anduin in the east, in the north Fangorn almost merged with the deserted Fourth era Lorien.