Stacking guides: Part I, eradication

[flyingfox417]

Seeing that this place is really quiet for so long, I'm just going to try to live it up a little.  I will discussing stackings for every color here, starting with the eradication specialty.

Red (eradication) mages have access to some of the best offensive units in the entire game.  However, most of them seem to also suffer with the lack of defense.  It is quite common for a red mage to win land easily but can't defend it.  Therefore, I will start by discussing a stacking for defense.  Let me first point out the properties of each unit commonly accessible to red mages.

red dragon: the most powerful unit in the game DEFENSIVELY. most people mistakenly think that red dragons are offensive units with their 500,000 fire breath attack, but if you compare the AP (attack power) / NP (net power) ratios of red dragons and chimera, both having the same types of attack (fire breath and melee), you'll find that chimeras have a lot better ratio.  as for the red dragons, with their ability Fear, Scales,and the highest HP, you have a awesome defensive unit.  EVERY red mage should include red dragons in their defense, despite their weakness to cold.

chimera: as mentioned above, chimera actually is the best offensive unit for a red mage.  however, they have very weak resistances to most attack types, and should be used carefully in a defensive stacking.

efreeti: the best defensive unit on the ground for reds.  Fear and Swift both reduce the damage dealt to them greatly, and with a initiatve 4 fire ranged attack, they have a potent attack as well.

fire elemental: huge fire damage, very bad resistances. also should be used carefully on defense.

hydra: pretty good defensively with their scales and regeneration abilities.  they lack offense as poison melee is well resisted by most units. this is a specialty unit designed for the sole purpose of killing mind rippers, which has low poison resistance.

salamander: strong fire attack, initiative of 1, these should be stacked low to deal damage and take little or none

hell hounds: same attack types as the red dragon and chimera, except these are on the ground.  these are interchangable with the salamanders depends on the specific situation.

Wyvern: bad defense AND bad offense, should not be used unless in very specific situations

Dwarvan Deathseeker: interesting ability to burst fire, but usually that won't deal enough damage for these to be worthwhile

Other red recruitable and simple units: not useful at all

Lich: one of the best units in the entire game both offensively and defensively.  strong resistances to most attack types except holy. ideally these are the best units for a red mage to be at top ground (ie first ground unit). however with red's low summoning ability, these should be only stacked middle or low.  ability fear make them very durable, nice attack types

vampire: similar to lich, except being flying and eat pop a LOT more.  should either use in big numbers or not at all

wraith: one of the most favored units by red mages. good offense, very bad defense though, should be used carefully in defense

horned demon: the most offensive ground unit after treants, every red mage should use these in the middle or down low to kill enemy fodder, initiative 1 is its downside

zombie: zombies are good at defense ONLY when used in huge numbers, and reds cannot use zombie in huge numbers, so avoid using them

ghouls: similar to zombie, better offense, but eats pop, don't use these

griffon: nice durable flying unit, attack types and initiative are their problems, should be used in specific situations

treant/mandrake/creeping vine: reds should avoid using treefolks.  red Plant Growth is not nearly as effective as green's

werebear: nice average units, used in specific situations

nymph: nice fodder units, ranged psychic is one of the best attack types, reds should always use these at the bottom of their stacks

dryad: similar to nymph, attack power is not as good as nymph, could be used in addition to nymph

white and blue are opposite colors of red, so try to avoid using those units



When designing a defensive stacking, magic and item should be taken into consideration as well.  these along with the stacking should really work together, with a common purpose. Some good items for red are: oil flask, ash of invisibility, carpet of flying, candle of sleeping, spider's web, we will emphasize on the first two.

Let's first look at the item oil flask.  Reds have a LOT of units that have attack type fire, so oil flasks (lower enemy fire resistance by 50%) are great items for reds.  This is the reason why oil flasks are the most expensive item in the black market since all red mages need them.

There are two magics that can work with oil flasks well, namely, Stun and Flame blade.  Stun reduces enemy resistances even further while flame blade adds the fire attack type to all of your units with attack type melee.  Stun works on enemy units and CAN be resisted, while flame blade works on your own units and will never be resisted.



to be continued...

[flyingfox417]

Continued from above


If we use the combination of Stun/Oil flask, we don't need many melee units, and the following stacking should work well:

red dragon
chimera
efreeti
fire elemental
wraith
lich
horned demon
nymph
dryad
spirit warrior/fanatics


Each unit has its own purpose at its position.  The first four stacks are all fire based to take full advantage of the item.  Notice how both chimera and fire elemental (weak defensively) are hidden behind a good defensive unit.  Wraith is at 5th place to further deal some damage with their powerful attack.  Lich is there to push down weaker units.  Horned demon at 7th place is to kill enemy fodder, and they do a great job of that! Nymph and dryad are at the bottom so that they will aim at enemy top stack most of the time and they can usually take out a couple of phoenix and dominions and elementals.  You may be surprised to see spirit warrior or fanatics at the very bottom, you will need to buy these from the market.  The reason why these are here is because there are usually few white mages at the top 100, and therefore black mages always put their liches at top to kill our red dragons.  Spirit Warrior or fanatics can deal some damage to the liches, which is good.  If you can't find these in the market, you could just sneak in some average or simply units at the bottom of your stacking.

[flyingfox417]

Now, if we use the combo of Flame blade/Oil flask, we would need as many melee units as we can to take advantage of the magic

red dragon
chimera
efreeti
fire elemental
griffon
werebear
horned demon
hell hound
nymph
dryad

[flyingfox417]

Another interesting and creative defensive stacking is the "all flying" stacking, meaning all of your stacks fly, so that if your enemy ground units aren't ranged, they will not attack at all, which of course is good.  An example is as follows:

red dragon
chimera
wraith
vampire
griffon
pegasus
wyvern
faerie dragon
sylph
sprite

The main hitters of this stacking is the top 5 stacks.  The bottom 5 are there to make sure that the low enemy ranged fodder will not aim at your top stacks, and therefore these bottom 5 stacks should be relatively small percentage of your army.  You will have to buy faerie dragons though.  If you can't find them in the market, you could also summon a few angels.

With 5 of these stacks having a melee attack, I suggest using flame blade/oil flask for defense.  Alternatively, you could use Stun/Ash of Invisibility.

[flyingfox417]

Still, reds have probably the worst defense of all 5 colors.  Therefore, you should not aim at your opponent not inflicting enough damage on you.  Instead, aim for you dealing more damage than him during the battle.  The spell Battle Chant is a great enchantment that increases your AP but decreases your HP.  This way you try to lose a lot of your army but still deal more damage back in each battle, hoping you could get the protection status without losing land. 

Reds' main problems are population and gold.  Build lots of farms and towns and relatively fewer nodes.  Also, full barrier is a must as always.  If an enemy gets his own oil flask or perhaps head of medusa through, you could be in big trouble.

If you don't have the mana for all the stacks, you could drop the fire elementals.  The rest need to stay.

Finally, it is quite easy to switch to attack mode with this defensive stacking.  Red dragon/Chimera/Efreeti/Fire Elemental will be a huge headache for green mages.



Stacking guides of other colors will come shortly.

[bagheera]

thx for this guide, i hope could be usefull

ASAP ill try to translate and move to the other sections.

if u give me rights to do that

[flyingfox417]

feel free to do so


PS: I will be doing the other colors as well, you don't need my permission for those either.

[bagheera]

thx.