Originally Posted by da1n

Here's a few helpful guides for right now, I'll post more as I come across them. Everyone's advice is unique and can be learned from, if you'd like to add your own tips then just pm me. Enjoy 8)

Damage Chart


Scout LOS Chart


Scout LOS Link
http://www.freewebs.com/waneiac/

BitSmerf Strategy Guides (I studied these babies back when I first started :P )
http://bitsmerf.x2servers.com/Strategy/strategies.html

Quick's Strategic Advice (Unfortunately incomplete, but there's still some good stuff.)
Crip's Strat Guide
Metal_Monster's Guide
Ape Advice

Originally Posted by zzzaacckk

Strategy
By: zzzaacckk

This is my, zzzaacckk’s, compilation of strategy. For those who remember a truly great player this post was originally in black in honor of the great strategist TCBB. This compilation will include both grey and gold strategies as well as unit discussion and most other topics relating to game play on Tactics Arena Online. I hope this help everyone because as a veteran I feel that it is my duty to pass on my knowledge of the game to all players new, old, and somewhere in between. On that note let us begin!!!


Units

Knight- Knight

The Knight is the tank of this game. It has great blocking abilities and should generally be used at the beginning of the game as a wall or to block key positions. He can also be used as a mage killer. In grey turtles they are used as a perimeter along with the lightning ward generally. Knights are also found during end game generally due to their high amount of amour and HP. Knights are also excellent deterrents. They can deter units from leaving the range of their barrier ward and risk being torn apart especially units with high recovery times. They are excellent scout killers along with witches. In grey rushes I recommend all 3 Knights as they will be your longest lasting unit and is excellent for killing units such as mages and Enchantresses that can really get in your way. You can move 2 in together and flank an opponent you can do extreme damage, even take out their cleric. While they are still killing off the Knights it gives you the opportunity to add to the chaos and move your scout in and start killing your opponent from 2 sides. The main weakness of Knights with grey on grey combat is the enchantress. Since the Knight is not a ranged unit one must be very careful when maneuvering a Knight near an opponent’s Enchantress. Remember that you should always have at least 1 ranged unit supporting you knights if it is at all possible.

For golds a stoned Knight is a mighty foe. They have excessive amour and are a mighty force within turtles. Knights have blockable attacks and relatively small movement range. One must take advantage of that to defend against them. The best way in turtles to defend against a Knight is the Frost Golem and the Furgon. In turtles Knights may also be used as a deterrent for people to send in their mud golems and de-stone you or as a mini rush before they are able to setup their men in the first couple of turns. In rushes the Knight is also an invaluable unit. It takes out golems well. Its only weakness is to the frost golem but as long as you have a mud golem or scout to support your Knights with you can reek havoc with relative ease. Knight rushes are surprisingly effective. Never underestimate them.

Pyromancer- Pyromancer

The Pyromancer is a mage unit. It’s damage is unblockable and is therefore a good tool to have. The Pyromancer has low blocking (some people disagree) and HP and no armour. This makes the unit susceptible to knight, scout and other mage attacks. The main mistakes that are generally made with Pyromancers are putting them in the front row near common Lightning Ward positions and moving them within range of a lightning ward that is fully recovered. Generally this is a bad idea unless you want the lightning ward to shoot and kill your Pyro therefore giving you and advantageous position. The Pyro’s does immense amounts of damage when it attacks especially many units as it is capable of. The only problem is that the damage is spread out and is therefore easily healed. The Pyro also needs support units due to its lack of defense and high recovery time. The key to good Pyro use is to take full advantage of its ranged attack and to keep it behind a wall of units as much as possible or Barrier it. The Pyro is not a must in grey formations. It is a solid unit. The contribution of the Pyro grows immensely after the enemy cleric is dead. At that point the damage of the Pyro adds up fast and cannot be healed. All mages are also good for grays because they can be instrumental in taking out the enemy’s Lightning Ward. The lightning ward generally is the heart of your opponent if they are using a turtle setup and if you can get rid of it you have ridded your opponent of its best deterrent and at that points you can begin to penetrate their setup without the risk of being blasted for 30 damage. In my opinion the Pyro isnt a must but is very helpful to grays as long as they know what they are doing.

For golds the application of Pyros is a little bit different. They Pyro can now be used in conjunction with the DSM and Dragon to be a formidable force. I only suggest using Pyros and DSM’s in rushed and mage bombs. In a turtle situation they just don’t work so well. A mage bomb in my opinion is constituted by a 3 or more mage units in a setup other than if they are being stoned in the back row. Mage units include the DSM, Pyro and Witch.

Cleric- Cleric

The Cleric is the only healer in the game. There are very few forms that do not use one. I highly suggest it. The cleric is always placed in the back row generally in a corner or in the center. It is wise to have a Lightning Ward 5 spaces in front of your cleric so that your cleric cannot be blasted by a witch and killing it. If you cant have a lightning ward then put a different piece there instead. The cleric generally should be protected at most costs. If you see that your cleric cannot be saved then don’t try and save it. I recommend an all out attack on your opponent and go for their cleric.

Same recommendation applies to golds. There isnt much to say except don’t heal unless you need to and don’t heal and move unless you are in danger of being attacked!!! There is no need to move the cleric unless it is in extreme danger of dying because otherwise you will not be able to heal for 5 full turns. The leading cleric killer now is the golem ambusher you must watch out for it. If a Golem Ambusher attacks your Cleric heal because you can be assured that the mud golem won’t be far behind. Do that and then shrub up if you can to prevent the Golem Ambusher from making the same move. Another option is to freeze the Ambusher and use shrubs to protect your Frosty. This is also another situation that the Barrier Ward is handy for.

Scout- Scout

The scout is my favorite unit in the game. It has immense range and movement. The scout fires arrows at its opponent. These arrows follow something called line of sight. I don’t want to repeat this for a third time so please follow this link to a site that explains it really well. This site was made by Nads I hope he doesn’t mind me using it. http://www.freewebs.com/waneiac/ Once you have learned this you can now master the scout. The next step is to use this new addition to your strategy and begin to see where you can use it. The scout is a very important piece especially when your opponent is using an enchantress. It has the largest range of all grey units. It is crucial at endgame. Make sure that it has a knight with it generally to support it and in the beginning of the game save it at almost all costs. It is in some people’s opinion more valuable than the cleric. I put it slightly below as long as you still have your Pyro/s or witch or your opponent has no Enchantress. It is excellent at picking off units at long distances and great at getting rid of mages and disrupting focus. You can never underestimate the scout. The scout is also a good cleric killer and is excellent at hitting units as they are retreating to heal.

For golds that like to turtle I strongly recommend that you stone BOTH Scouts because un-stoned scouts are very susceptible to Dragon Tyrants. In addition Scouts along with Mud Golems and Golem Ambushers are great tools for ridding your opponent of the most crucial unit in the turtle setup, the Cleric. The Scout is also an excellent tool for hitting units from behind shrubs using line of sight. The Scout also has great movement range and therefore can be retreated with relative ease. In rushes the Scout is also very useful. It can be used to flank enemies and take out Golems from long range before they can do major damage. Scouts generally are not used in mage bombs as long as you have enough mages to fill out your field. The Scout is most vulnerable to Dragons, Witches and Knights.

Assassin- Assassin

The Assassin until 2 weeks ago was the most underestimated unit around. I have always used it in my setup and the new attack gives me all the more reason too. This attack is done by having only one Assassin on the field and it must be below 5 health (4 and below). You move the Assassin to its desired location for attack and then go into "attack mode." Once in attack mode hold the mouse button on the Assassin for 3 seconds and release. The Assassin should kill all the units it attacks and self-destruct. The tricky part of this operation is getting your Assassin below 5 health and being able to attack with it. My recommendation is to have a Barrier Ward in your setup to help the Assassin out if it is recovering. The Assassin is a great unit in general. It has great movement range and the ability to attack multiple units at the same time. This makes is an effective Mage or Cleric killer. Its main weakness is its low health but as long as it’s healed the Assassin should be able to penetrate the enemy and attack, recover, attack again and retreat. The Assassin is the grey surprise attack unit.

There really isnt so much of an application for the Assassin in gold setups. It could be used in a rush but the Beast Rider is basically an upgraded Assassin so there is really no point in having it. This unit is generally not used by golds but should definitely be considered by all grays because of its ability to attack multiple units and to carry out a surprise attack.

Enchantress- Enchantress

The Enchantress is in some people's opinion the best gray unit. It has the ability to freeze up to 12 units. The Enchantress is a terrific end game unit especially if our opponent does not have any ranged units left. A Barrier Ward along with an Enchantress is a dynamic pair. Strategies include letting your opponent come towards you. You then freeze it with your Enchantress and then before they can attack you you Barrier Ward the Enchantress. Make sure your Enchantress is near your Barrier Ward but not freezing it. A frozen Barrier Ward can do you no good. In addition an amazing Enchantress strategy site was also made by Nads. It’s located at: http://www.freewebs.com/nadstaosite/...antressuse.htm This site will show you the basics of Enchantress use and strategy. When a unit is frozen it has no blocking ability therefore freezing a unit such as a knight is advantageous because you no longer have to worry about him blocking and you can even hit him from the front worry free.

Generally golds do not use the Enchantress and instead use the Frost Golem. This is because with the Frost Golem you don’t risk freezing your own units. Generally Enchantresses are used only in gray turtles and not rushes because they are very vulnerable with their low HP and no amour. The Enchantress is very vulnerable to ranged units such as the Scout, Pyromancer, Witch, Golem Ambusher Mud Golem and Poison Wisp. When using the Enchantress keep these in mind and make sure that they cannot unfreeze you before you can protect the Enchantress by either blocking the ranged unit's path or Barriering the Enchantress. Another strategy is to freeze the ranged units and then Barrier so that they are stuck. Sometimes you won’t need to barrier because you draw non ranged units in close to your Enchantress and then you re-freeze. This is very fun but doesn’t work against experienced opponents because they won’t let you freeze their ranged units especially the Scout.

Dark Magic Witch- Dark Magic Witch

The Witch is the second of three Mage units. As do the other Mages the Witch has the ability to inflict major damage over multiple units. It also has low HP and blocking. The witch can be killed in one hit by both the Dragon and Lightning Ward. The Witch has more power then the Pyromancer and DSM but has less blocking and HP. For grays this is a crucial unit. It has the ability to kill the Cleric in one hit. The Witch is used most effectively with a Barrier Ward and is also adept to taking out Lightning Wards so that it can get to the Cleric. Generally Lightning Wards are placed 5 spaces in front of the Cleric so that it cannot be blasted by the Witch. The Witch is also great at killing Scouts. It has a long range attack and when coupled with a Knight, Scouts in the area are in peril. In addition an army of Witches can take out enemy turtle setups with ease. There are too many to blast with Lightning Wards and therefore they survive to attack multiple times. This kind of setup is referred to as a mage bomb. The Witch is an all around power unit that requires extreme security measures to keep it safe. Although the Witch does block what seems like a disproportionate amount of times.

Golds generally do not use the Witch in setups other than "Mage Bombs." A "Mage Bomb" is 3 or more Mage units that aren’t being stoned on the back row in one setup. This setup destroys most other setups but is generally considered frowned upon because the winner in a battle of Bombs versus each other basically comes down to who goes first. Anyone can master the art of Bombing rather easily. It is not advisable to waste turtle space with a Witch or to put it in a rush where it can be killed by a Dragon in one hit.

Barrier Ward- Barrier Ward

The Barrier Ward is a very underestimated piece. It is not an offensive piece and will not do damage to any unit. It protects any unit that it "attacks" from all attacks including unblockables. The only attacks it does not protect against are paralyzing attacks and the Poison Wisp. It is excellent for use with mage units who can attack and then be barriered. They can then recover in safety and finally attack and retreat. The only problem is that healing spells cannot penetrate the barrier so healing barriered units is useless. The Barrier Ward is most commonly found in turtle formations and is used with the enchantress due to her need to remain focused. The Barrier Ward is also a focus unit. It cannot be damaged when it is not barriering a unit by mele attacks but as soon as it barriers a unit it becomes vulnerable to all attacks. It is excellent for units who have high recovery times and low HP. This unit is a terrific tool and can reach up to 6 spaces away. This is an ideal unit for turtles.

There aren't many gold applications for this unit. It is best used in a turtle in conjunction with a Frosty. It can also be used to protect a Stonie that is open to attack. In my oppinion the furgon can do this job much more effectively and can be used for other jobs as well. The problem is that a single Dragon attack on the Barrier Ward will reduce it to only 4 health and that begins a long healing process in which the barrier cant do much because of its vulnerability to a Scout hitting it.

Lightning Ward- Lightning Ward

The Lightning Ward is an essential for all grey turtles. It is generally used as a perimeter defense tool. The lightning ward is traditionally placed in the front row 4 spaces in front of ones Cleric. This provides protection from mage attacks, generally Witches from moving forward and killing your cleric in 1 turn. Having your LW in the front row also provides a devastating first move kill against any opposing Mages that might be in the front row waiting to rush you. The best use for the LW is to use it as a deterrent and to use it only when necessary. Its long recovery time lets gives your opponent plentiful time to make an attack and retreat (especially with knights or Scouts) Another application for you LW is to use it to hit you opponents LW and with the help of mages kill it. This will leave a gaping whole in your opponent's defense which he must cover. This will give your scout more holes to shoot through.

For gold accounts the LW is still sometimes used in turtles and sometimes in anti rushes. The problem is that there are less advantages in blocking Scout LOS and mages due to the advent of the Golem Ambusher. The LW still affords some protection and is still a good deterrent against mages. If I knew I was facing a Mage Bomb I would really consider using a Lightning Ward. When attacking with the Lightning Ward just remember that it has a long recovery so make sure to attack the unit that is of the most immediate threat to you.

Originally Posted by TCBB

I have been selfish not to advise anyone outside my clan about strategy.(I understood all LOS tricks on 12/5, but I kept it as a secrect. I remember that because it's the friday night before my finals). Now I see a need to help experienced players to mature in to lethal killers, so I will have more fun when I return. also, I am bored to death, so it's not a big waste of my life to write this. Excuse me if I don't explain things clearly.

Note: focused on turtle VS turle, sufficient math skill and LOS needed.

I) view blocking and armor as bonus to life.
1When turtle VS turlte, the luck element of blocking is minute. It will be easier to view it this way.My Way of Calculating real life and regeneration:
L=life, ar= armor, sb=side block. #m=number of mages, #a=number of attacker. H=healing
real life= L/(1-ar)/(1-sb(1-*#m/#a)). (#m/#a usually 0.4 close to 3/7).
regeneration: 12/(1-ar)/(1-sb(1-*#m/#a))
Here is what I get(real life/ regeneration)
Knight:___ 88/21
Knight(a)__146/35
Scout:____53/16
Scout(a):__79/23.5
Dragon:___93/16
Dragon(a)_140/25
golem:____60/12
golem(a)___86/17
furgon:____56/14
furgon(a)___80/20

2.How is real life and regeneration useful?
Real life will help you get a general idea of how vulnerable the units really are. So you can make a more precise decision which unit to take down first, and how much danger you should put your units into. regeneration will tell you how concentrate your attack should be. When your primary target is hard to hit, it's always good to hit a golem as a subsitute, since it's regeneration is very low. Understand this will help you understand the following points.

3)Breaking the focus of stone golem isn't very important after your opponent's cleric dies.
You need to do the math yourself, base on the situation to decide if it's worthy to risk your scout on the mission. Usually without the great regeneration, armored knight and Dragon are easy to kill. Once grey VS inexperienced gold. I sacrificed my scout to kill my oppoent's clerics. Then I killed all three of his armored knights and a dragon with my pyros.

4)Don't try to kill an armored knight, with the huge regeneration, you are doing 40 damage every 4 turns( one cleric). with real life 146, it will take more than 10 turns to kill it. During that time, his archer will tear you down.

5)Heal whenever possible.
With 2 exception:
-if you perceive your opponent is going to focus on an unwounded unit.
-your cleric is in danger, and may need to move.


6)furgons aren't innocent little creatures.
Just because killing it doesn't have immediate effect to the war isn't a reason not to kill it. place it to a higher position on your attack list. They are easy to kill from side, and only take 4 shots even get healed.

7)Dragons in armor aren't unkillable.
When both your opponent's dragon and archer are nearby, most player will prefer to aim at the archer. They think that they won't be able to kill the dragon in a few turns, and the dragon can always escape and heal. But remember this:
i) When a seriously wouded dragon escape to the behind, your front shot have 60% chance of hitting it, that's 1.5 as likely as hitting a scout.
ii) Dragons have similar regeneration as scout



II)You don't have to attack a target every turn.
Many players have the believe that if you don't attack something, you are wasting a turn. IT'S VERY WRONG.

i)Plancing your units in a strategical position is crucial for the game. For example, when two turtles are facing, take 1 turn or 2 to move your scout to the bottom line away from your opponent's base when you can spare the time. It will be a big threat to your opponent. I will talk more on how to place your unit Strategically.

ii)When your mud golem moves to a good position to shake, hold there and use your scout or other unist to force your opponent to heal before attacking. and you can attacking 2 times in 3 turns without your opponent's cleric's heal. Hopefully, your opponent's cleric will never have a chance to heal again.

iii)advance your dragon to a position that it can threaten cleric.

iv)end of game knight duel, go to your opponent's behind rather than risking a block.

v) attack a full healthy unit, which will immediately healed is a waste of turn.

III)How to position and use your units stategically.

i)Scout:
move both your scouts to positions that can move to positions to hit your opponent's cleric and stoney, then stay there. Don't leave unlesss seriously wounded. If one of them wounded, retreat and use the other to attack. Even if all LOS is blocked by units or shrub, just by staying there is a great threat to your opponent.
here are elements that will make the position more favorable.
out of reach of your enemy's knight: very prefered.
out of reach of your enemy's dragon: prefered.
hard to shoot from side: prefered.
can be barriered: prefered.

ii)Beast Raider:
The beast raider is the surprise attack force of your army. It's more vulnerable than scout, since it has to melee attack. use it when your opponent is focusing on killing your scout and his force is very spread out. Don't get down the bottom line easily. Since versatile is its greatest asset. It will bring chaos to an already chaotic situation.

iii)mud golem:
The mud golem is the ultimate spell breaker, but it's extremely vunerable, with low regeneration. Often, it could be taken down by scouts before it's put to good use. The key to use it is to protect it. Have a dragon in front of it so that any scout who dare to come near will be retaliated. Don't come near to knights and don't shake if cleric can heal easily. It should be acompanied by other units, and do what scouts can't accomplish.

iv)knight:
The knight is too slow for an attack force. It's path can be easily blocked, so it can't be use to hit vunerable units. It's greatest strength lies on it's defense. a knight is hard to kill, so you hardly need to move it around. Place it around the middle of the board to stop golem and scouts.

v)Furgon:
with mud golem's new attack, not many people use Furgon any more. In fact, furgon is still pretty powerful. It will provide you the valuable time to regroup your force. If you know that you can't kill mud golem before it strike again, you can shrub your frosty and use use your frosty on the mud golem.

IV)The dynamic of war
How to balance your attack and defense is hard to describe here, and varies from battle to battle.
One general advise: never go all defensive unless your opponent has lost both cleric and focus of stoney.

I will talk more about it when I feel like to.

Originally Posted by Wayfaerer

From the depths of the SW forums, enjoy 8)

Poison Wisp

Golem Ambusher

Originally Posted by TemplarX2

Part of the guide that was preserved from digitalin. The guide is mostly for new players, refer to zzzackk guide for units missing in my guide.

Scout.
The most versatile unit on the battlefield. Movement and attack combined make him the unit with the longest reach. This is the major strength of the scout.

unit against which the scout is strong includes: The witch, the pyro and most units that have low block and low armour.

Scout is vulnerable against witch's and dragon's attack. Sending a unit like an assasin or a knight for a successful flanking or back attack followed by a witch is a sure sure way of killing a scout despite you healing once (the flanking unit will get at the back of the scout to finish him after the healing).

Click here to learn LOS and hence using the scout to his maximum potential.


Knight

Knights are tough as nails, they are the tanks of the battlefield. They are almost unstoppable killing machines when supported by clerics, BW and stone up. well almost unstoppable until they meet the enchanteress and Mister frost. so basically the knights iare strong against most units but weak against the enchanteress and frost golem due to restriction in his movement. The low recovery time is another great strength of the knight. Fielding all 3 knights is always recommended (there are exception of course), they provide excellent cover or barrier for weaker units and can be deployed in the most dangerous situation usually managing to survive the most severe beating. In term of absorbing damage the knight is only second to the dragon. But the Dragon become a sitting duck after he attacks, and can be bashed 4 time before he can moved whereas the knight will recover faster after he've attacked not to mention his formidable blocking ability. If you have 2 clerics sometime it is good tactics to send the knight as a flanking unit to try to get a cleric or a weak unit and thus opening the game. Always follow your knight with a scout or a mud for assistance or to go follow the kill of a wounded unit.

Beast rider

Beast rider can be called the noob magnet. usually it attracts a lot of attention. Contrary to appearance the beast rider is not a powerful unit by itself, but it is how you use it that is most important. The beast rider is best used as a rush unit. Position it at the centre of your front line. See image below
Click picture here
Place a mud golem 2 squares to his right or his left depending on the trend whether the opponent cleric is placeing him on the left or on the right (observe the trade but usually you can shift the mud during the game if need be to reach to the cleric since the beast rider is central he doesn't need shifting normally). A scout and ambusher should be nearby for further backing and greater efficiency (caution need to be taken against the frost always position a unit to defocus the frost or enchantress). As the match start move the beast rider deep into enemy territory. A clever opponent may block your path to the cleric but usually their setting is not adapted to the beast rider rush. Once the opponent turn is over, move the beast in to attack the cleric. If the opponent doesn't heal move in the mud to smash (if he heals try to follow it with a scout or ambusher instead). The beast rider does 19 and the mud weakest is 5, a total of 24, the perfect cleric killer. This strategy doesnot guarantee success but is very efficient against single and double cleric (that can be attacked at the same time by the beast rider). this strategy makes the beast rider a one trick pony and an expendable one but it usually kill the game or at least shift the game greatly to your advantage (you can however still lose). But again the beast rider attracts a lot of attention for some reason, and they have curious blocking pattern, sometime you may even be surprise to see the beast surviving the process. If you are relatively new and you have a beast rider and a mud try this strategy with your clan mates first. Note this is basic description, where the opponent take the bait, but against good players you'll have to adapt, for instance you may need to attack a BW or a frost to get though. Always have your scout and ambusher ready to back your beast rider, and always have the mud withing range before assaulting the opposition.



Dragon Tyrant

The dragon tyrant is to tactics arena what the knight is to chess. Most people used them carelessly. In fact the dragon is a unit that should be delpoyed at the crucial moment, it's pattern of movement allow it to finish escaping units despite them having a decent amount of hit point remaning. The dragon having such a large amout of hit point can also be permitted to act as a defender at time, protecting important unit like scout and cleric by blocking the opponent movement.

The dragon can be problematic: it takes 2 units, has a high recovery time and is restricted by LOS. Dragon is extremely effective against most units, andt witches and cleric have absolutely no resistance to the dragon, being kill in one shot only (assuming they are not stoned up). Dragon shows some weakness against the knight and take considerable damage from the witch. One on one a full health knight will usually win a battle against a full health dragon killing the dragon in 4 attack (72 damage total) although the dragon can kill a knight in 3 attack (even with one heal), the dragon take more time to recover.

witch
They are as soft as toilet paper but they pack such a punch. witches if carefully used (especially defensively) can be formidable assets. Use her with a BW and the potential of the witch is magnified. The witch attack is strong against everything, but weak against most unit. The witch is extremely vulnerable to scout.

Enchantress

The enchantress is the least feared unit by noobs but scared the hell out of experience players. The enchantress is a very complicated unit to use, used offensively the enchantress is practically worthless against an experience player but use defensively the enchantress is one of the strongest flank protectors in the game. As a matter of fact the enchantress should also be used with a barrier ward, however never use an enchantress if she is going to be defocused on the next turn. Also it is advisable to let an offending unit to come within one square from the limit of the board and them freeze it by placing the enchantress just in front of him. Usually the offending unit act as a protection for the enchantress and there is fewer position that the scout can use to defocus her. Placement her in a position where she has the minimum exposure to the enemy fire, even if that means you have to freeze one of your unit. If one of your unit is paralysed in the process to liberate the unit you just have to rotate the enchantress without wasting any more turn, the enchantress doesn't need to recover from a rotation. Using a corner give great advantages to the enchanteress since it reduces the number of positions where an opponent can assault her sometime forcing to move around giving the enchantress enough to recover or to use your unit to block the way of the opponent. When facing an enchanteress and frost combo, usually it is ill-advised to try to retrieve the frozen unit, you have to immediately direct assault elsewhere and try to gain something in the battle of attrition. Usually it is wiser to abandon the frozen unit rather that trying to retrieve it, unless you know what you are doing. Best way to deal with the enchantress is to have your scout covering you in all possible ways.

Enchantress are weak against range unit (the scout being her worst nightmare) but strong against melee unit, knights are can be easily ensnared by the enchanty.


to be continued....

Originally Posted by Lord Shinok

Most of the players uses BW to protect their dying units and their enchantresses when they are paralyzing their opponents.

In my grey games, I don't just use my BW to protect my units, I also use it to prevent my opponents' dying units that's nearby my turtle.

For example, my oppoent's knight is on 14hp and is near my turtle, in next turn, the opponent will use the cleric to heal the knight back up but I would use my barrier ward on the knight to prevent him from doing that. Helps alot, I do that in some of my grey games.

Originally Posted by Bottle

I know there's been a lot of these recently, but many of them have had inconsistencies or things that I don't agree with. Now I would humbly say that I am probably amongst the best greys on FPS (as shown by my inclusion on the now defunct FPS team to take on legends), so I thought I'd make one too. I might add that with this strategy, I have gone unbeaten grey-to-grey for 3 months with my no-drop setup, apart from one game against a good player with good luck, and have an unbeaten 18-match run against golds. So listen up.

My take on all the grey units.

Knights.

Many newbs consider the knight to be the only way to way a grey game. I've lost count of the number of 900-rated-or-so greys who've taken out my knights at great cost to themselves, because they believe (as I did once) that whoever has the most knights in the endgame wins. They are wrong. The knight is not an endgame unit, except in particular circumstances, but rather a powerful weapon to throw out early in the game.

The knight has many strengths, and few weaknesses. Its main strength is for dealing with lightly armored units with a high recovery, such as the scout, pyro, witch and cleric. A common and effective tactic for knights is to move into attack range of a mage, take the hit, move in and attack, heal, then attack again and retreat. A knight will kill a cleric, pyro or witch in 2 hits regardless of healing, and since the knight recovers before the mage does, he can attack twice and then retreat to safety. This means you end up a unit up, and your knight is in a safe knight wall on about 30 HP (depending on what happened between his attacks), which can easily be healed.

The knight is also the best way to kill the scout, which if you can do without losing too much of you own stuff, will win you the game 90% of the time. A good player will keep his scout away from the knights though, so you'll need to be bold and charge in. I would gladly swop one knight or even two to get the enemy scout, so long as my chanty is still alive.

Knights are also vital in same side turt matches, where they make a solid wall from which you can spring attacks on weak spots in your opponent's formation. Just be careful of mages hidden behind the enemy knight wall, which can chip away at your knights faster than you can heal. If possible, try to use your knights to take a LW hit. Ths then renders the enemy's LW useless for 4 turns, in which time you can get your other 2 knights through a hole and close to your opponent's cleric.

Only one thing can stop a lone knight with 2 cleric backup, using the attack-heal-attack-heal technique, and that's a chanty. But we'll come to that later. Just make sure that you don't send your knights into freezing range while your scout is in recovery, because if you do, it's basically a one-shot kill if your opponent knows what he's doing.

Scout.

The third most important unit in the grey game for defense, and most important for attack, is the scout. With its massive range of 10, this guy will save you life against a good player and cause havoc against a bad player.

As mentioned already, the scout has one major weakness; its susceptability to knights (and witches). Don't take your scout into range of a witch unless it's absolutely necessary, or if it will win you the game as a result (eg. to kill a chanty, or cleric if the chanty is dead already). It should be moved into a safe, but threatening position at the start of the game, and stay there. It should NOT be used to attack anything until the chanty is dead, unless you haven't got your knights in close yet. Don't leave it isolated either; a determined knight can reach it even with its long movement range. And at all costs, DO NOT MOVE IT INTO CHANTY RANGE. Remember, a chanty that just moves, waits, then moves again has a range of 8, and will freeze the scout before the scout recovers. If you have to move the scout within 8 spaces of the chanty, ensure that the chanty will then be either out of BW range or attacked by another unit before it can be barriered. This cannot be stressed enough. You get your scout frozen and the offending chanty barriered, and you can say goodbye to the game.

Now, the scouts strengths. At this point I will draw your attention to my clanmate nads' LOS site, which is found at http://www.freewebs.com/nadstaosite/ . This is the definitive site for LOS. And if you don't know LOS, you're wasting the potential of one of your best units. It is vital knowledge, not least for when you want to defend against an enemy scout. No cleric will ever be safe again once you've memorised this.

Another strength of the scout is when you don't have time for your knight to make 2 attacks on a witch. A knight/scout combo will kill a witch regardless of healing, but not a pyro. Pyros are better dealt with by the knight alone, or the scout alone. A scout takes 3 turns to kill a pyro, even when it's healed once. This is quite difficult to pull off, so I'd recommend using a knight to take pyros if you can.

Finally, don't expect the scout to block everything from the front. Look at it this way; would you expect a knight to block a side shot? No? In that case, don't expect a scout to not miss a front block. It's exactly the same chance.

In summary, the scout is very much a focus-breaker and finisher-off of weakened units in the grey game, and as such should be kept well out of the action. Keeping it in BW range is recommended if the enemy is close to you.

Cleric.

One of the most targeted units in the grey and gold game, and with good reason. If you can swop anything other than your scout or chanty for the cleric, do so. If you have have enough units left to make a solid defense, and can outlast the opponent, then getting the cleric should win you the game.

The cleric is very specifically designed not to be able to heal a critically injured unit very fast. It's a fact of the game, and one you need to use to your advantage. Many flawless wins are due to a player not understanding how a cleric works. If it heals 12 points to every unit, then make sure damage taken on your units is spread around. Similarly, focus on one enemy unit at a time to prevent the enemy cleric's full effectiveness.

12 may not sound much when the biggest attack on the game is 30 and the minimum is 15, but factor in the 3 recovery (you should never move your cleric around, unless it's about to die anyway) and give yourself a cleric drop, and you can heal 24 HP every 4 turns. But don't get obsessed with healing, because that only leaves every other turn for an attack. If you're not attacking, your opponent has free rein to move and attack as he wishes.

Don't look at a 2 cleric formation and think "oh god, how can I beat this". Or rather, do. The answer is simple; still concentrate on one unit at a time. To save a mage from the knight's attack-heal-attack routine, you'd need to heal twice, and the mage will still be on less than 10 HP and the enemy's clerics both in recovery. In a game like this, your enchantress will be of even more use, because to *kill* a unit, she doesn't inflict damage. See the chanty section for help with this. Don't try and kill a knight when the enemy has 2 cleric, because it's a waste of time. The enemy will wreak havoc, retreat once the knight is on about 20 HP, and heal it back up to full health. Use a chanty instead, r better still, go on the attack and aim for the weaker units. And remember, 2 clerics means one less attacking unit, which means one less person to get in the way of you killing the chanty and cleric(s).

A turtle should always have a cleric in the corner, and often have a BW on one side of it or just in front of it. Defending the cleric is a lot easier if the BW is next to the cleric, because knights can't get through. Of course, if you're using your BW, then the knights can break through it, so be careful. And putting a BW next to a cornered unit means only one route of escape too. But with the cleric, this is of little consequence, since moving the cleric is usually a waste of time.

Enchantress.

This section is vital. The chanty will only get involved in about 50% of your games, but of those 50%, she will singlehandedly win about 25% of them. She's just that good.

Since nads' chanty site section is down, I'm going to have to write the chanty tactics section out myself. It's going to be the biggest one, too. *grumble*

Now, the chanty is a mighty weapon, but has one major weakness: the scout. If she gets attacked by a melee unit when she is not recovering, she can simply freeze the offending unit, be healed, and barriered again, and you have another unit trapped. The chanty is only of any real use when you use her in conjunction with a BW, because if she gets attacked while she's still recovering, you can say goodbye to her.

When using the chanty, you have to take down the ranged units first (see the ta