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Pre-game setup in this paragraph,
move on down if you don't care. This BR will be
written in the first person format with situational updates... Spread
throughout the report are strategy boxes that I think are true... at the
moment at least. Read them if you want to get more into depth on the
issue or skip them if you don't care.
This game
will be a quicker one than the previous game which I wrote about 2-3 months
ago. Don't really feel like writing a lot anymore so I'll be skimming
through this one rather quickly.
This game was played on
January 26, 2005. I
myself am the most wonderful and brave MehPracticeSmrf
camouflaged and hidden in the southeast corner of the map.
As you can
see in the chart above there are 4 teams. Team 1 is composed of 2
random heroes and 1 tech which we can can Team Regular for now
since their setup is the preferred choice by most teams currently.
Team 2 in the northeast is composed of 3 selected heroes, with 2
Bloodmages when they were considered to be very strong. We'll just
call them Team Pickers. Team 3, which is my team, contains 2
techs which is unusual for games and we'll call them Team Techers.
Finally we come up with the team 4 which we'll just call Team Feeders
for obvious reasons later on.
Team
Regular did very well in the opening minutes getting lots of Footmen
kills from Team Pickers and Feeders. The Ghouls were
able to do a lot of damage to enemy units and heroes while DanaCrysalis's
Crypt Lord was stunning groups of units left and right with its Impale.
Tomitain's
Blademaster acted as most do early game, which is hover around in the back
and fight sporadically.
All players
with heroes started acting like they normally do at the beginning while
the teching players began their upgrades. My partner fofo
however stopped at 1/1/1 (attack/armor/race ability) and held this
remainder back to purchase a creep, Goatzilla. Goatzilla is a
mercenary with 2 attack buff spells (first being Roar "plus 50%
attack on friendly" and second a Howl of Terror "minus 50%
attack on
enemy units") and
truesight
passive ability.
As our armies
advanced into the middle, fofo
not only cast Roar on his/her/it's own troops but also on 60105's
Ghouls as they just before they came out. The battle in the middle
was a general melee as heroes and units from all sides merged in the
middle. The 3 teched players in the game concentrated on attacking
enemy heroes, with many forced to Town Portal out and a few kills.
I however
spent the first few minutes of the game using my feeble Electric
Backstab to annoy enemy units and just staying alive while the Ghouls and
Archers earned experience for me.
Edge
Edge is another custom hero for Footmen Frenzy
a sort of combination of a Naga Sea Witch and a Warden with
Banish. This combination can make Edge a powerful Unit
Killer hero with some useful Hero Killing abilities against low hp
enemy heroes.
Electric Backstab
- Same spell as the Naga Sea Witch but with a higher mana
cost. At low levels its not very scary, but at high levels its
incredibly useful against most non-magic immune units.
Teleport -
Useful for getting out of dangerous situations and into profitable
ones.
Banish - This
spell is the same as the old Bloodmage spell which reduces the
movement and attack speed of the targeted unit and makes it immune
to physical attacks. This however also makes it much more
vulnerable to spells by increasing the damage taken.
Electric Backstab is
a must have for the Edge while the other 2 are useful in utilizing
and enhancing it. I usually get Electric Backstab first,
followed by Teleport. After that it depends on the situation
on which spell to get (with Electric getting priority of course).
Firebird -
Same ultimate as the Bloodmages with chaos attack and a powerful
splash attack that damages non-magic immune units over time.
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Team
Pickers however was faring poorly in the game with missed and poorly
aimed spells, a few hero losses, and a general weakness against the armies
of the teched players. Steadily they fell behind while the other
players units and heroes advanced.
(6:15)
Goodbye Team 2
A little
after 6 minutes had gone by, Eyeglazer's
Ghoul swarms swarmed into Team Pickers' base and rolled them over
one by one. Rarely at any point during this 'battle' did Team
Pickers have 2 of their heroes alive at the same time. ZGJ
and GHFPPY
died quickly with wild_lil_pebble
quitting soon after losing his hero again.
Both DanaCrysalis
and I had reached level 6 before then while Team Feed remained far
behind at levels 2-3. While I had the highest level hero, Team
Regular was close behind with 2 heroes slightly below. Team
Regular did have the highest upgraded army on the field with Eyeglazer's
Ghouls, but now all of my team had Tier 1 tech now as I had upgraded to
Humans. I teched more to avoid a similar fate to Team Pickers
rather than an overwhelming desire for cute Dwarven Riflemen.
Human
Tech
The Human
tech line is a hybrid of the Undead's enhanced attack speed and the
Orc's plentiful health. While not as fast or healthy as the
other 2 individually, they have a strong combination that can be
very useful against enemy units. Some
of their units are very vulnerable to Area of Effect spells, the
Humans are usually very good at fighting and taking out enemy
units before they themselves die. The Human racial upgrade
increases the attack rate and total health of units slightly with
each level and make them very deadly at high levels. Tier
1 : Riflemen - Riflemen are one of Humans 2 ranged
units. They are strong ranged units (more so with upgrades)
and can deal plentiful damage if given the chance. On the
other hand Riflemen are rather slow, clumsy, and have a low spawn rate. Losing many of them can seriously hurt their
ability to deal damage (in relation to other races). |
60105
had much less upgraded Ghouls than Eyeglazer
because his units spent most of their time chasing after enemy heroes, forcing
them to maneuver or TP out. fofo
on the other hand acted similar to Eyeglazer
in fighting, but spent more money in race upgrades (increased range) which
increased their lethality while Roar supplemented their attack and armor
wasn't as important.
The Ghouls
that killed Team Pickers then descended on us but our units aided by my Edge and its
Firebird were able to
kill them off for similar losses. Another attempt (seen below) to surround my hero
failed as the Edge teleported out after shocking them
first. A second attempt 30 seconds later did kill him as I was
upgrading my barracks to Human Tier 2. The Ghouls than killed the
Firebird egg before taking off for home. 60105
isn't in the picture below because he was busy annoying Team Feed
inside their own base.
Human Tier 2:
Militia
Tier 2 :
Militia -
The fastest spawning melee tier in the game,
unupgraded militia are better than Footmen in every way. With upgrades
they can be extremely fearsome to face but are extremely
vulnerable to high level Area of Effect spells, especially ones
that include stunning or speed reductions such as War Stomp and
Thunder clap. Militia are the first Human units to come with
the Human race ability (though weakened) which burns enemy mana
during attacks, Feedback. |
(8:30)
Teching on up
At about the
same time I upgraded to Tier 2, fofo
upgraded as well. Times weren't totally great for
fofo
however as
the valiant Goatzilla who had been Roaring and Howling the whole game
while hanging around the middle until now
was surrounded and killed by a pack of ravenous Ghouls.
While this
happened 60105
was still bothering Team Feed, who were living up to their name and had
gotten 2 hero kills. The 2 battles merged and Team Feed began
to supply both sides with money and experience. DanaCrysalis
started putting more points into Carrion
Beetles and
using them instead of Footmen. Eyeglazer
had upgraded to
Tier 2 Undead (Crypt Fiends) as seen below.
Things were
looking difficult for a moment but then Team Feed came in and
harassed Team Regular's flank just enough for Edge's Electric
Backstab to begin taking out their damaged groups.
This got the
attention of Team Regular which began to skirmish with Team Feed
in the middle. This was great for us in Team 3 as our units could
keep harrying their flanks and Electric Backstabbing any weakened groups
of Footmen or Crypt Fiends for little damage. Then Team Regular
would turn on us and Team Feed would flank
them instead.
There was a
short break than as Team Regular backed off to upgrade and heal,
during which time 60105 upgraded to Crypt Fiends as well.
All of us in Team Tech then sent our armies rolling into Team
Feed for some easy cash, as surprisingly enough three Tier 2 armies
are better than three Footmen (Tier 0) armies.
Team
Regular
of course came in soon after and flanked us but we were still
raking in some cash with the distraction. At least until my Edge,
which was parked next to the Archvault in the center regaining mana while
shocking Footmen and Grunts, was Impaled and stunned while next to 2 control groups of
Eyeglazer's
Crypt Fiends.
The battles
in the middle continued with both sides killing many units but not gaining
a significant advantage. DanaCrysalis's
Crypt Lord's Impale combined with Eyeglazer's
Crypt Fiends were able to stun multiple units and kill them
efficiently. At the same time however, my Edge's Electric Backstab
and Firebirds were continually doing damage to the attacking Fiends while fofo
and 60105
would hit and run against them while trying to avoid the Crypt Lord.
My Edge was also carrying a Warsong Battle Drums item now to enhance the
attack strength of friendly nearby units 15%.
Below you can
see DanaCrysalis's
Crypt Lord Impaling a group of
fofo's
Huntresses with Carrion Beetles running around and its ultimate
Locust Swarm
activated. In the background Eyeglazer
and
60105's
Crypt Fiends are duking it out under Firebird bombardment. Tomitain's
Blademaster remains invisible and soaks up experience while Footmen run in
to
distract.
With hefty
contributions from his partners, Eyeglazer
then upgraded twice to Tier 3 Skeletal Mages and then immediately to Tier
4 Abominations. fofo
also upgraded as well, from Impale vulnerable Huntresses to spell immune
Dryads. Unfortunately this didn't protect them from
Tomitain's
Blademaster using his ultimate Bladestorm
on them.
(21:30)
Further tech
At this time DanaCrysalis's
Crypt Lord was equal in levels to my own due to the many kills and more
experience earned due to 2:3 hero/player ratio. Eyeglazer
was also supporting his troops with 2 creeps, a
Renegade Wizard
and a
Priest of Protection. A quick attempt to kill the Priest with
Banish/Electric Backstab was foiled when it whipped out an
Anti-Magic
Shell (AMS) to ward off further damage and Healing Wards to recover
health.
Gratuitous
color shot
Team
Feed's heroes had also gained enough experience in the previous
battles to be annoying if not a really dangerous threat. Their
influence could tip battles between Team Regular and my own Team
depending on who they hit. On their own however, they folded quickly
yielding plentiful cash.
At this point
the forces were close to equal between my
Team Tech and Team Regular
who had good heroes and 1 player with Tier 4. Both my Edge and DanaCrysalis's
Crypt Lord reached level 16 at about the same time and began using their
new level 6 spells as fast as they could. Impale by the Crypt Lord
while less damaging could stun enemy units for a short time letting units
fight uncontested. A single cast of Electric Backstab could kill
almost any enemy units except for Abominations and Creeps which required two.
After the Crypt Lord romp and a single cast of Backstab wiped out keviny's
hero and army pursuing the Crypt Lord, Team
Feed quit the game.
(25:15)
Showdown
During a short
break, DanaCrysalis
parked his Crypt Lord in the middle to recharge its mana and fofo
began to harass him with his Dryads since they were immune to Impale. The Crypt Lord
instead threw down level 5 Carrion Beetles and followed them home.
This started a massive battle as both sides rushed in reinforcements and
heroes charged in to do battle. Tomitain's
Blademaster
Wind Walked
into
fofo's
Dryad cluster inside the base and
Bladestormed
getting multiple kills as they attempted to flee.
Human Tier 3:
Spellbreakers
|
Tier 3 : Spellbreakers
- With the ability to become spell immune, Spellbreakers are an
interesting force to wield. They can serve as a decent
meatshield against AoE enemy heroes and they have a decent version
of the human special ability, Feedback.
With
its magic immunity raised however the Spellbreakers become about as
dangerous as a Carrion Beetle which is to say "not very".
Against a powerful melee line such as Abominations without support,
the Spellbreakers are inadequate to say the least. |
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