Overview
I am Malvix (Paul). I’m 19 and am originally from Germany. Currently I am studying Psychology abroad, but I did not lose my interest in games!This will be a guide for beginners to get a better idea about the game to be properly prepared for real opponents. Even though this game is rather new (released 7.1.19) and is still in Early Access, this tactical board game offers a lot of depth already! Ranging from countering troops all the way to resource management.This guide will mainly focus on explanations, some tactics, tips and tricks. However, I must mention that most tactical aspects won’t be updated or be too in-depth, because they are merely added to give you an easier start! The game may develop in the meantime and even my own playstyle may change within the time of creating this guide or when you playing against me months later. However, you can at least stomp your best friend, partner or family member, who just bought the game with you! 😉
What to Expect
TTG is a real-time, action packed, strategy game.
Currently there are two tables in the game; NETHER REALM and CASTLE GROUNDS. You are faced with a table on which you find a battlefield, consisting of 3 lanes (left, right and middle). However, both maps slightly differ from one another. Nether has 5 instead of 6 Strongholds and also has a wall at the midlane, separating the left from the midlane. This will get more important in your decision making while playing, but take a look at the pictures in other sections of this guide and you will see some of the interesting positions, open spaces or other possible spots to outplay your opponent.
If you have ever played any games similar to Clash Royale or Star Wars: Force Arena, you already know some of the basic features to play TTG. However, for those who didn’t play such games, this is a game where you face a rival, which has similar structures and troops, depending on their faction. The goal is to eventually win by destroying more Strongholds than your opponent before the time expires and use troops to achieve this goal. This requires some map knowledge, insights into troops and a calm mind to not overreact with a good management of your resource, which is called mana.
NON-VR
In this section you can see the UI, which you will face within the first seconds of the game on both tables (the preparation phase), which is one of the most crucial points of the game, if I may say so myself. I will go over every colour and explain what you can do with these buttons and what infos you can get out of those. I recommend trying to take your time to realize what everything is supposed to be, when the round starts.
Yellow = This is not the most important part, because this will only indicate your name, your opponent’ss name, the time remaining, the amount of Strongholds destroyed and the round you are playing. This is more or less for information purposes. However, I only use it for the time, while playing in a game. Making the right move at the right times might bring you the win!
Purple = This is a very important button which is often overlooked, so I put an arrow on it. This will change the bottom row (red) to display your troops and spells. This allows you to swap around any spells or troops you might prefer for a battle. You do not like the bomber? Then change it for a Witch, if you like! You do not want to use the Fireball or Harden for the first round? Change it and take the Dark Shroud instead!
Red = This will change within the two phases. In the first phase (seen above) it will hold your traps and additional structures you can place. In this picture I play Undead, so this will differ when you play Humans (explained later on). The bottom left number indicates the number of structures you can place of this kind and the top right indicates the cost! Later on this row will allow you to choose any troops and place them on the battlefield
Blue = Is your mana, which will fill up continuously, but is set to a maximum of 12. You cannot exceed this amount and you cannot store mana between phases and rounds.
Green = Is a button to ready up. You might be quicker than the given time to prepare.
VR
This is what the VR experience should look like. I must admit that I am a PC player myself and thereby do not play the VR version of this game.
However, a fellow god in this community (BlastaMasta) helped me out here and provided those pictures.
On the left you see the troop-panel which can be triggered to pop up in the middle of your screen by using the left controller, which is mainly used for camera movement. The right controller is primarily used to choose and deploy the troops with the indicator, which also shows your remaining mana at the end of your pointer.
[For more information, join the discord and ask VR players or jump in a game and try it yourself]
Factions
Factions
Currently, there are two factions implemented into the game. HUMANS and UNDEAD. Both have the pros and cons with their representative troops and structures. However, what does actually differ, you may ask?
Humans, in my opinion, are more focused on raw power with low numbers. The Champion, the Giant and the Wizard are great example of this. They are single troops, who can deal huge amounts of damage to structures and enemy Troops. Not only this, but they have way better range then the Undead faction, which makes them easier to play at the beginning, as they have more obvious counters against their Undead counter-parts.
The Undead on the other hand are like Star Wars Battle-Droids. They aren’t strong on their own and definitely inferior in many ways, but they are able to overpower the enemy with their large numbers, especially after they level up. Comparing Knights and Skeletons , this can be clearly seen by their numbers alone. Skeletons have weaker damage and lower health, but instead of 5
Knights you get 10 Skeletons. Keep this in mind when talking about troops later on (Skeletons vs Giants and Knights vs Hulks).
There is also another faction, called MERCENARIES, which bring utility to your army. Currently in the form of slows, heals, or additional damage. Mercenaries can take the place of one of your current troop choices once during each “Prepare for War” phase. All factions can choose mercenaries.
Is one faction stronger than the other?
Generally speaking: No, it comes down to the player’s individual experience and skill, but it’s easier for beginners to play Humans, because they counter the Skeletons harder than vice versa. This is due to the AOE and Range advantage they have over the Undead Troops. Humans can be hard to overrun if Traps and Troops are well placed and it can be rather easy to take advantage of the Undead’s weaknesses early on with Humans and while the players are missing experience. The higher you get, the harder it will become.
Human Troops and Structures
Troops + Structures
There we are, at the bread and butter of the game! Troops and Structures are the essential tools for a god to defeat their opponent. With strategic placement and timing, you can make anything work!
In this section I will provide the numbers (Codex: 18.01.2019) for the number-crunchers among you, but I will include my own opinion and will rarely mention them. I might cover slight ideas of tactics, but will not be explained any further. Tactics, Tips and Tricks will be covered later on.
HUMANS
Knights (4)
HP: 140/160/180/280
DPS v Troops: 33/40/47/60
DPS v Strongholds: 27/29/31/37
Reserve: 4
DEAL DAMAGE TO LEVEL UP
→ The Knights are the punching bags for the Human faction and are mostly used to hold off certain enemies, who are approaching your Strongholds (E.g. Giants or Hulks) or clear the way for Troops of higher value. In the Early levels, they are rather weak, but as the game progresses, they will become stronger and tanky.
Archers (3)
HP: 30/40/50/90
DPS v Troops: 24/35/47/114
DPS v Strongholds: 13/15/18/43
Range: 82/82/82/90
Reserve: 4
DEAL DAMAGE TO LEVEL UP
→ These guys are a nightmare for any targets with a small range or to Strongholds. With their HUGE range they are able to stand almost anywhere on the map and cover huge parts of the map or make up a good backup for your approaching troops. They may be able to level, but I feel like that they are strong throughout the whole game, due to their immense range advantage. Never underestimate Archers attacking your Strongholds! Their numbers may be small, but they can take a huge chunk of a Strongholds HP.
Giants (6)
HP: 1200/1300/1400/1600
DPS v Troops: 48/58/67/80
DPS v Strongholds: 109/125/142/160
Reserve: 3
DAMAGE STRONGHOLDS TO LEVEL UP
→ Giants can be a real issue. They may be held up by any troops he comes across, but his AOE can take them out rather quickly. Keep in mind that he will only get levels, if he is attacking the Stronghold, so if he merely attacks troops, there is not much benefit from it. Good to know is, that they ALWAYS prioritise Troops over Structures when attacking, so they can be easily distracted by Troops being deployed close by.
Wizards (6)
HP: 10/30/50/100
DPS v Troops: 91/102/115/139
DPS v Strongholds: 45/55/65/87
Range: 80
Reserve: 3
DEAL DAMAGE TO TROOPS TO LEVEL UP
→ Those Troops are a nightmare for Strongholds and generally any large groups of troops. Their high damage and AOE hits are a great combination. Keep in mind that they have low health and die quickly, so make use for their amazing range advantage.
HP: 700/800/900/1000
DPS v Troops: 86/92/100/164
DPS v Strongholds: 71/77/83/91
Reserve: 1
DEAL DAMAGE TO TROOPS TO LEVEL UP
→ This is an insane troop and only has one single disadvantage, which is his slow attack rate. However, he hits like a truck (AOE), he has a shield which defends him from ranged attacks, has lots of HP, has something similar to a charge, but can be easily distracted! His only big weakness is the Fireball and maybe even a well placed Lightning Tower, because his ‘bubble’ won’t protect him against the tower’s electric attacks.
HUMAN STRUCTURES
Lightning Tower (3)
HP: 300
DPS v Troops: 60
Range: 40
Reserve: 6
→ This is a decent choice as a structure. However, in my opinion, I consider the range to be too small to use it. It is easily outranged and can be destroyed quickly, but with another structure in front of it, the Lightning Tower will deal lots of damage and survive a long time.
Cannon Tower (4)
HP: 550
DPS v Troops: 20
Range: 100
Reserve: 4
→ This is one of the main structures, which is used in several strategies, due to its immense range. I would always try to put a few of those into your defence at some point. Even Though the damage is not the greatest, the range makes up for it!
Tower Destroyer (6)
HP: 400
DPS v Strongholds: 24
Range: 130
Reserve: 1
→ Long ranged, decent HP and a real threat to the enemy. If properly positioned, this turret can take out several structures and may force the opponent to drop a Fireball to destroy it, because he can’t get to it any other way.
Undead Troops and Structures
Undead
Skeletons (3)
HP: 70/80/90/100
DPS v Troops: 21/25/32/42
DPS v Strongholds: 11/14/17/27
Reserve: 3
DEAL DAMAGE TO LEVEL UP
→ I must admit that the Skeletons are not the most impressive troops compared to the Knights, but this is mainly because the Skeletons are played differently as mentioned before. Even though they might be inferior, they can become a threat if a swarm can break through the opponent’s defense. They will spawn in a circle, which can be used as an advantage against the mentioned Champion/Giant or triggering Lightning Traps
Flesh Lobbers (4)
HP: 140/160/180/250
DPS v Troops: 8.3/10/13/20
DPS v Strongholds: 6.2/8.2/10/15
Range: 52/55/58/62
Reserve: 3
LEVEL UP BY HEALING OVER TIME
→ The Flesh Lobbers are a special kind of troop, especially because of their unique way of leveling. They level by healing over time! They have the same HP as the Knights, but offer a different approach. I see them as a short ranged Archer/Wizard mixture, because they act like archers but have an AOE attack like a Wizard.
Shambling Hulks (7)
HP: 800/875/950/1200
DPS v Strongholds: 111/133/159/189
Reserve: 2
HIT STRONGHOLDS TO LEVEL UP
→ The good old fashioned Hulks. They are great, because they become really strong with a few levels. Yes, I used plural. If you deploy this toop, 2 Hulks will emerge from the ground and start walking towards the Stronghold without paying attention to Troops. This may sound worse compared to the Giants, but I consider the Hulks to be WAY better, simply because they will just walk up to a Tower and hit it instead of stopping and clearing enemy troops. This means that they have a greater chance to get levels.
Lich (6)
Start HP: 200/250/300/350
DPS v Troops: 30
Max. Targets: 3/4/4/5
Range: 30/32/34/40
Reserve: 2
STEAL HEALTH TO LEVEL
→ The Lich is an interesting troop, because he starts with low HP. This means that he has to gain life, which he does by stealing the life from enemy troops. +lvl1 this Troop becomes very effective versus any large groups, because they are very likely that their heal will become stronger then the enemy heal, simply because they can life-steal from several enemies at a time. He is almost like a Tank! Careful, he is somewhat stationary and only starts moving towards enemy, when they are nearby. Otherwise, he will stay back at a friendly tower.
Necromancer (8)
HP: 700/850/1000/1300
Minion HP: 70/80/90/120
DPS v Troops: 29/35/41/59
DPS v Strongholds: 21/24/26/29
Reserve: 1
SPAWN MINIONS TO LEVEL UP
→ He is a strong Troop, because he is supposed to be a counterpart to the Champion. However, he seems to be inferior, because he doesn’t attack himself. He is only on the Battlefield to deploy troops which hopefully swarm the opposing god. This gets particularly good if he can spawn his minions without distraction, which may result in him holding off several enemy troops at once.
Structures
Risen Crypt (4)
HP: 400
Spawns: 1 per 6 seconds
Reserve: 2
→ This has a niche usage for your game. It can slow down an enemy attack or trigger Traps, which are placed in their way. This can be efficient, but may not fit into your playstyle! I only use it if I have a lot of mana left in the preparation phase.
Coffin Cannon (4)
HP: 550
DPS v Troops: 17
Reserve: 4
Range: 120
→ Literally the same as the Human Cannon tower, but with a range advantage.
Pestilence Launcher (6)
HP: 500
DPS v Strongholds: 18
Range: 130
Reserve: 1
→ Same thing as Humans. Good structure to destroy the enemy’s Strongholds and can force the enemy to use a Fireball or to make the decision to let a Tower get destroyed.
Mercenaries
MERCENARIES
Bomber (2)
HP: 30/35/40/60
DMG: 250/300/350/400
Reserve: 1
LEVEL BY REACHING A TOWER
→ Our lord and savior the Bomber is a cheap cost minion which focuses on Strongholds only and delivers heavy damage to any structure he touches. However, be cautious about him because he is very fragile and dies quickly, even though he can outrun towers and some attacks. They can sometimes even serve as a neat way to distract those pesky Champions.
Witches (4)
HP: 150/180/210/240
Curse: .5
Reserve: 3
CURSE ENEMIES TO LEVEL UP
→ She can be hard to deal with and finds decent usage in slowing down the enemies and giving them a weak DoT effect. She is rather hard to hit and can be a distracting factor for Strongholds and ranged troops, so a few of your troops can slip through the enemies defense. The Witch is more like a utility troop!
Ice Golem (5)
HP: 550/600/600/850
Melee: 4/5/6.2/12
Ranged: 6.7/8.6/11/18
Reserve: 2
DEAL DAMAGE TO LEVEL
→ The Ice Golem is another decent Troop, because he is more like a simple meat shield to open a window for other troops to kill enemy troops while they cross the frozen area around him or get hit by his ranged attacks. He is definitely utility focused and is a stationary Troop.
War Cleric (2)
HP: 300/350/400/500
Heal p sec: 3.1/4/5/8.2
Reserve: 5
HEAL TO LEVEL
→ The Cleric is the only Troop in the game that can heal other troops. He casts a huge aura around him to heal allies, which can have a lot of value. They can be somewhat strong when they have a few levels AND there are a bunch of them with an army (3-5 Clerics at once).
Tier List
Here you’ll find a Tier list, based on my own opinion (and playstyle). S Tier being the strongest and C Tier being the weakest.
S TIER
Giants/Hulk > always awesome, needed for Strongholds (Giants can also kill enemy Troops)
Wizard > no downsides except HP, ESPECIALLY strong when leveled! Can’t be one shotted
Bomber > can outrun ranged attacks, can slip through defense, good for clearing traps
A TIER
Archers/Lobbers > always necessary, Archers for range defense/Lobbers for AOE clear
Necromancer > Good, but needs level to get S Tier worthy (several rounds)
Lich > good and S Tier +lvl2, basicly getting a Tank (mostly used against other Undead)
Knights > Hard to deal with +lvl2, tanky and decent damage, can clear path for other Troops
Champion > Hitting Hard with AOE, Shield blocks ranged attacks, but very high cost
Golem > good later on, good setup for other Troops or slowing down an enemy advance
B TIER
Witch > rather weak dmg, Slow is decent Utility, can distract ranged, needs coordination
Skeletons > weak, “trash” to hold off/distract enemies, (Good with Blossom)
C TIER
Cleric > needs specific playstyle, easy to hold of, not very cost efficient.
Traps and Spells
Traps and Spells
Traps and Spells are crucial for your battle. Traps can help you to eliminate Troops quicker, if you positioned them well and the Spells are great tools to support your troops!
Lightning Trap (3)
Use: 9
Damage: 2.5k
Reserve: 2
→ Those Traps are great and used almost every game in several positions. Consistently dealing 2.5k damage with a decent AOE effect makes it VERY effective against Giants/Hulks/Champions but very vulnerable against small troops, which might trigger it before hitting high value targets. This would not be worth it, because a spike traps is much more effective for low HP Troops. Try to position them in away that takes this into account.
Spike Trap (2)
Use: 3
Damage: 500
Reserve: 3
→ Spike Traps are very similar to Lightning Traps. However, they have a greater hitbox than the lightning traps. This makes them more effective versus low life targets in a large group (Knights, Skeleton, Necromancer Minions) and generally strong in the early levels when all troops haven’t leveled yet.
Mana Catalyst (1)
Use: 1
Damage: 0
Reserve: 1
→ Mana Catalyst is unique when compared to other traps. It does not deal damage, but instead applies a temporary effect on nearby enemies when it is triggered. Any troops that die while the effect is still active will produce one bonus mana for whoever laid the trap, per troop. This is highly situational and has potential to be of great benefit when placed correctly. Be careful, though. One single bomber might set off the trap and only award you with one bonus mana.
Fire Ball (6) [Power Spell]
Use: 3
Recharge: 75
Troop dmg: 1k
Tower dmg: 500
→ The Fireball is an amazing high damage/decent cost spell. It is very effective in taking out large groups of Troops, killing high cost targets and clearing the board due to the high damage it deals. It also has the similar feature to the Dark Shroud by covering up a big part of the map. This can be used to sneak in Troops.
Dark Shroud (4) [Power Spell]
Use: 5
Recharge: 40
DPS v Troops: 25
Duration: 15 seconds
→ The Dark Shroud is a very efficient low cooldown spell, which covers the targeted area in black smoke. This stops all ranged attacks versus those targets/structures within it. It also has a great DoT effect on targets within, which quickly kills large groups of enemies. Great for sneaking in Bombers or other tower destroying troops.
Fortify (5)
Use: 4
Recharge: 55
DPS v Troops: 67
Duration: 20
→ Fortify is a highly defensive spells that will give your buildings a nice boost in dire situations. Fortify will apply a temporary effect to all structures within it’s range. Effected structures will gain armour, reducing all incoming damage – potentially down to 0. Not only that, but fortified structures will fire at approaching enemies and deal a steady stream of damage over time to a single target, until that target dies, at which the structure will target another enemy. One unique thing about Fortify is that it starts charged and ready to use at the beginning of each round, unlike the other power spells which need to charge up before use.
Harden (3) [Tactical Spell]
Use: Unlimited
Duration: 7 secs
Effect: 20 dmg resistance
Recharge: 15
→ Harden is one of the secondary limitless spells, which grants 20 armor to friendly troops within the targeted area. This can reduce the damage to 0 against certain Troops.
Stasis (1) [Tactical Spell]
Use: Unlimited
Duration: 3 secs
Recharge: 10
→ Stops the time in the targeted area for 3 seconds. Great for preparing some AOE hits on those frozen troops or holding enemies off to gather more mana so you can deploy another Troop. This can be useful versus high damage Troops, because you can stun Troops mid-air/within their slow attacks (e.g. Giants/Champion).
Blossom (2) [Tactical Spell]
Use: Unlimited
Duration: 5 secs
Recharge: 20
Damage vs Troops: 40
→ This is the newest addition to the world of TTG! This means that this still needs further investigation, but a few tests have been made by the community. This spell causes Troops to aggressively explode upon dying and deal 40 damage to enemy troops around them. This means that a calculated use can not only result in a chain reaction of dying Troops, but also deal a huge amount of damage to high HP targets, if not one shot the Troop entirely. Simply amazing so far. It also spreads to any enemy troops that are caught within its explosion.
Player Strategies
Strategies
Now we have to get to the root of the game and actually get the mind into it. STRATEGIES AND TIPS!
Cat Strat → Destro on Castle [Effectiveness: 7/10]
First off, we’re going to cover the Cat-strat from the player “Mallycat”. She found one particular tricky spot for the Tower Destroyer. The reason why it is so tricky is simply, because it is in a spot where no troop can reach it. It uses the maximum range of a tower destroyer, meaning that when the turret on the opposite side on the plateau is destroyed, the destroyer will be rather useless. This spot is right next to the first set of stairs leading upwards onto the plateau. (see “positioning of Destroyers)
Ace → Risen Crypt + Necro [Effectiveness: 6/10]
This Tactic caught me by surprise, because I didn’t expect it to be strong at all and I still cannot fully explain why. However, this Strategy is based on deploying two Risen Crypts further back in one lane and deploy a Necromancer in the same. This will result in distracting and attack priority taking minions backed up by a huge army. This may result in an army being rather overwhelming and hard to deal with. Good counters are large AOE effects and damage (Dark Shroud, SEVERAL Flesh Lobbers, Wizards, etc).
LAD → Destro on Nether [Effectiveness: 9/10]
This is the LAD strat, named after the player LAD. It seems as if this position is bad for a Destroyer, but with the right support, it can be very effective. The trick lies with the support for the tower destroyer. The player mostly used ~2 ranged troops to hold off oncoming Troops and played a Spike Trap right in front of the destroyer. While this is going on, you can easily pressure another lane!
_________________________________________________________________________
Positioning of Destroyers
Here we will discuss the positionings for the tower destroyer. Green indicating perfect positions with the highest value, yellow as a middle-ground and red as the weakest positions.
As you might realize, there is only one green area on Castle ground and not a single one on Nether. On Nether I always felt like that the usage of the Destroyer is rather weak, because of the excess points for enemy Troops and the low number of positions for a Destroyer without it being in immediate danger. The Destroyer is a highly valuable structure with high costs (6) and should be used to the highest effectiveness (This is simple due to the fact that with using a Destroyer and spending 6 mana, you limit the amount of other defenses you can use). However, the LAD strat offers one of the best positions for such a Destroyer! Keep in mind that this is not without cost and not without counters, which is why it is not a perfect, but a pretty strong spot!
This strategy can be countered by anticipating that strategy and placing a Destroyer in almost the same spot without being in clear line of sight. Try to position it behind other structures, so the enemy Destroyer targets your normal tower first. This lets the Destroyer kill the enemy Destroyer first.
On Castle it is another story, because there are several positions, which allow the player to use the Destroyer more effectively. The green area indicates this! At this position, it is impossible for the opposing player to reach this structure with Troops and thereby forcing a decision from your opponent: letting a tower fall or drop a Fireball on it. The yellow areas in both arenas are rather accessible for the enemy with ranged Troops or well protected Giants/Hulks. It is possible to get something done from those positions, but do not expect the best results! The red areas are not worth using in my opinion. They are relatively easy for the enemy to reach and thereby you would need to deploy a lot of support for this positions. This is not worth it, because there are others and better positions to play from!
For both maps, I would definitely say that you should never place a Destroyer in a “no-mans-land” area (white). This has the simple reason that Troops can be deployed right on top of them and thereby destroying it with relative ease.
Positions for Cannon Towers/Coffin Cannons
For the Cannon Towers, I cannot say anything new, which I did not already say. Same indication descriptions. Green being the best and red being the worst with similar reasons (maximised ranged and thereby use)
Popcorn → Giant + Champ
My arch enemy Popcorn introduced me into one of the most annoying strategies so far.
It is a rather simple, but effective strategy. It is based on deploying Giants and Champions back to back, but also using some decent defense. It works because of the high amount of HP and the high damage of those two troops. It requires a lot of resources to stop one of those alone. This makes it a very difficult strategy to play against, especially with the weak Undead Troops in the early stages of the game. Especially if you start to master the game even more and get deeper into the game, you are able to put some troops in between or sneak them in etc which makes this even stronger!
BlastaMasta → Spike + Lightning on Castle/Knights
He might be a new player, but let me tell you: He is the perfect example that even he can do really well, even without experience.
B.M. had the simple approach to double up the defense on his outer Strongholds. He went for Spike traps on 1 and went for Lightning traps on 2. This made it hard to get through a tower. This sounds good, but it has a downside, which is why I gave it only 5 points. His plateau area was very much undefended. Overall, he focused a lot on side-lanes, which was a good approach but that left his middle lane exposed. Even if that is a BIG downside, he flooded one side-lane with knights over and over again, which brought my attention to this lanes and prevented me from mid-lane approaches.
My Strategies: Prepare For War!
CASTLE GROUNDS
On Castle Grounds, I don’t have many variations and stick to almost the same tactic every single time.
The very first round will take up to fill the board with the spike traps (grey spots) and one Tower Destroyer/Pestilence Launcher (green spot). This helps you immensely, because it will help you with taking out large groups OR with taking a big chunk of health from targets.
The second round will be to mainly fill up the board and place two Coffin Cannons (red spots) on the plateaus.
If your spike traps are used up, fill them up again and if there is some mana left, use it on either Lightning Traps (blue spot) or another Tower (red spot, mid plateau).
The towers will cover large areas on the middle plateau and the left and right lane. This adds extra damage to oncoming troops, which are already somewhat stronger at this point of time.
The last round will be very adaptive! At this point in time you need to think what will be most important in the game. Maybe some Spike Traps further back at a choke point where your small stairs are? 2 additional Strongholds? Lightning Traps in choke points? I cannot exactly tell you what to do, because it might come down to your playstyle, how aggressive you play, how defensive you want to be, etc etc etc. Try to think of something in that case.
Concerning spells, it may differ how I play and how I feel approaching the game. Once you play against an enemy several times, you might be able to deduce how the enemy is playing. Is he rushing often with high HP troops? Is he flooding your towers with troops? Is he using a lot of ranged troops?
This determines what spells you want to pick. For a rule of thumb, I will almost always go for a Dark Shroud in the first round, than I’ll decide with a 50/50 chance between Dark Shroud and Fireball in the second round and in the last round it will almost always be a Fireball. The reason behind it is rather simple. In the early game, all troops are rather weak and even Champions, Giants or Hulks can be killed rather easily if they walk into a trap or you use 1-2 troops of Knights/Skeletons.
For me, there is no reason why I would want to clear the board with a Fireball with such a huge cost. How I use it will be explained in the War phase. To determine whether I go for a Dark Shroud or a Fireball in the second round comes down to how strong the enemy troops are. Did the Giants get a lot of hits on Strongholds? Did the Champion level? How strong are the Wizards? There are several things, concerning troops and defense structures which let me think of whether I take the Fireball and stick with another Dark Shroud round.
The last round will most likely be always a Fireball, because at this point you want to pressure the enemy and hold off his stronger troops! A Fireball helps you with both so I usually take it in this round.
NETHER REALM
Alright, the Nether gets rather tricky in case of defense, because there are a lot of access points for the enemy. I use 2 different approaches for setting up my first round. Either I will place Spike Traps on choke points/bridges (grey) or I will use the LAD-Strat (green) in combination with double Lightning Traps and support from ranged Troops.
The second round will probably be used for placing cannons on either the left red spot or the red spots below the plateaus.Depending on what’s happened in earlier rounds, the third round requires your own judgement in terms of what you should deploy. Some Lightning Traps on those narrow bridges? Cannons on the plateaus next to the towers, or maybe fill up those traps? Other ground Traps on paths?
Take a look at what spots I mainly use, because I think they are the most effective positions. (red = cannons, grey = spike traps, blue = Lightning Traps), but adjust to the enemy and try new Troops and Structures. Maybe you can discover a new strategy?!
For Spells, it will follow the same rules as before. I will go for a Dark Shroud in the beginning, follow up with a 50/50 decision and end with an Fireball, because of the same reasons as mentioned before.
Tactical Spells
Tactical Spells are rather important and need some consideration as well in the preparation phase. Personally I really do like the new Spell Blossom, because this spell can pay off big time with a well placed usage on a big army of yours meeting a high HP target of the enemy. Blossom is a great combination with the Undead, because of how the Undead are played.
However, again you have to consider the enemy! I am sometimes REQUIRED to use other secondary spells to increase my chances of winning. An example would be: The enemy is really good at stopping my Hulks and is able to kill them before they reach the Tower. Use Harden to make them harder to kill so they might get a hit or two through. Use Stasis which can be used offensively and defensively by freezing troubling enemies.
Choosing the right Tactical Spell is determined by your playstyle and who your enemy is, so don’t be afraid to try them all out.
My Strategies: WAR!
Alright, the War phase will be somewhat similar in both cases and mostly comes down to knowing what you want to achieve, countering the enemy and staying at least 1 destroyed tower ahead of your enemy.
I am a Undead player, because I don’t really like the way Humans are played, but this is personal preference. I will start by telling you my most preferred troops and why I like them so much.
First off, we have the Bomber. He is a Meme, he hurts alot, he is short, he is fast, he is a Legend. The Bomber is not necessarily strong, because he is strong as a troop, but because the game is designed in a certain way. I use him more then just for destroying the enemy tower, which is why I believe he is so strong!
This troop costs 2 mana, which makes him very expandable and takes the shortest path to the next structure, which makes him hard to hit for enemy towers, because of their slow attack rate. With that coding, you are able to scout out the path which is ahead of other valuable Troops. You can trigger all the Spike Traps or Lightning Traps, so the path is clear for future troops or other bombers by just spamming them back-to-back, but is limited by the reserve maximum of 1. They don’t have cooldown to deploy, the mana for a Bomber is refilled really quick and it fulfills its job effectively. However, there is still another way of using it, which is the obvious one. It can simply be used to destroy towers. Keep in mind that this might not be so easy, because of either Traps or ranged Troops holding them off, but there are ways around it. Something I do often is to let them slip through by distracting the ranged Troops with Hulks or cover an area with the Dark Shroud, which then completely protect my Troops from ranged attacks. Sometimes it is also possible for the Bomber to slip through without being hit, because of the Attack Speed Towers and Troops have! This is just a general outline of the Bomber, but most comes down to learn how the Troop acts. Play some games, get risky with that guy and it will pay off. Especially when he is level 3 with 400 damage.
Second, we have the Hulks. This is the only Undead Troop which is superior to the Human counterpart (Giant) in my opinion. Why you ask? Simply because they don’t care about Troops surrounding them and they have higher DPS. I always feel like that they are really hard to deal with and you will most certainly need a good Trap to stop those two, need to get a lot of damage before they reach a Tower or you need a well timed Stasis. Those Troops will only get better when they are receive some levels and will just smash anything in their path. With the right support, a few Bombers, some cover for the Hulks and they become simply an amazing Troop.
Third, the Necromancer! This is another troop which I try to level up when I can, simply because of the weight this troop takes off your shoulders. This guy will continuously spawn Troops over and over and over again until he has about 24 minions, which makes it rather hard to deal with unless you deploy some AOE damage to counter that (E.g. a Lich or a Wizard). Not only are they good for attacking, but also for defense. With the constant respawn of minions, they can hold off troops for a long time, may it be another Necromancer, a Giant, a Champion or anything that doesn’t have AOE-range advantage. Especially with +lvl2, those guys are amazing. Don’t be afraid to deploy them close to the enemy, because merely spawning the Necromancer grants them XP, which will ultimately level them up, which is why it isn’t too bad if he dies. You can simply respawn him and level him further.
The 4th troop which I like leveling is the Lich. Those guys are amazing vs large groups, especially when they are leveled. They have simply the ability to hold off a large group of enemies simply by healing more than receiving damage. Until he gains his first level, you should let him stay back and let him approach the enemies, but as soon as he gains his first star, or a second one, you might be able to put him in front of enemies to tank all the damage.
What about the Skeletons and Flesh Lobbers?
They are decent, but I think their use is mostly situational, because the troops, even when leveled up, don’t offer as much as the other troops. However, the Flesh Lobbers with levels are still amazing! I still prefer the others, because they have higher value for me personally.
The Skeletons are pretty much only used to hold off enemies, get the attention of a Champion/Giant, hold off a large group of enemies or just trigger a Lightning Trap.
The Flesh Lobbers do not necessarily fit into my playstyle, because they can mainly be used defensively due to their low range. However, there is also the possibility to place them close to borders to attack towers, if they are close enough.
How to I play overall?
Okay so now that you kind of see what I am trying to do most of the times, it is still massively important to clarify how I approach things. I cannot say definitively what I am doing 100% and every time, because I have to adjust what my opponent is doing.
However, what I definitely try doing is to let the enemy feel overwhelmed and pressure him as much as humanly possible.
One great way of pressuring is combining strong forces. I will most likely start with deploying a Necromancer further back and let him spawn several minions. I will let him slowly push towards a tower and when it’s time, I will combine several things. I drop a Dark Shroud, hopefully squeeze Hulks in there and continuously drop Bombers. I had a lot of success with that, because a Fireball won’t be available for the enemy, due to the spell still being charged up and the troops are somewhat protected by the Dark Shroud. However, this tactic is not without flaws, because the enemy can do the same on another lane and pressure you as well or force you to defend other lanes. However, if you prepared well for those counters with traps and structures, you can sometimes ignore this and let the enemy troop run right into your traps and continue to pressure one lane.
This gets especially devastating if your Bombers and Hulks are able to reach the turret, because that will lead to them gaining levels. Furthermore, with +lvl1 this tactic gets even more dangerous for the enemy. As I mentioned, you can take a Dark Shroud in the second round as well, so you can repeat this tactic.
One thing I like doing as well is to “snowball” off one conquered area. When one lane is almost taken, this can snowball out of control and achieve you an easy victory. With a sidelane destroyed you may be able to sneak in other troops from behind, so one tower must be protected from two sides or from behind. There are a lot of possibilities opening with towers being destroyed, especially because there won’t be defenses that far back. So if you are able to overrun the enemy and keep on snowballing within one round, you can sometimes achieve 2-4 Strongholds within one round.
I want to be honest and also give a way to counter this strategy. I found one specific way how it can be done, which is with Ice Golems. I am aware that I said that I do not necessarily like this Troop, but it can get really strong against this tactics, because they have a lot of chances of hitting the enemy and gaining levels. This gets Ice Golems a head start and a good possibility to slow down Troops and let your Troops destroy them quite easily.
Closing Remarks
Keep in mind that everything comes down to certain enemies, which is why I use a very rare tower position against one player and against the other I use both Lightning Traps. Always analyze your enemy and don’t be discouraged after a loss. Take it as a challenge and adapt!
I also want to mention that I am a Undead only player and this limits the actual possibilities of me telling you what to do, because I am not necessarily experienced with the Human faction.
Alright, you made it. Finally you are done with the guide and you can go for some games. Look for someone in the discord [crawler link=1425711 full_link=1], jump into a game and try some of these tactics out or make them yourself. The important part you should take from this guide is what every troop is doing and increasing your imagination, because new tactics and ideas will most likely startle everyone who played this game. Everything new is hard to deal with, needs a few games of adaptation and then it might be weaker than expected and needs improvement. Who can tell?!
Experience, being open to ideas, and just trying things out is the best way to achieve victory!
Thanks for reading this guide and I hope I was able to help you out in some way. However, if there are any more questions or if you have any more requests or just want to play a game, join the Discord and ask one of the guys or send me a message.
The Discord is the best way for finding players and gathering experience so I highly recommend to you doing this and join our community. — Cheers, cya on the Battleground!