Sylvan creature choices

[Metathron]

[Mirez]

sprite in the start, to cast mass wasp swarm but dryad is obviously the better choise in lategame because they can heal and ressurect themselfes and treants

I like wind dancers a lot more, the war dancers dancing combo might look better now but I'd rather have a unit that doesn't die in 2 attacks

master hunter, cuz they deal the same damage when the enemy is far away and the master hunter deals quatripple damage when their close

druid elder in the start their magic is to easy creeping, in lategame I like high druids more, the shooting damage will deal the same damage as casting (since you can't have many stacks of them anymore) and they raise the spellpower of your heroew (wich he def needs)

pristine unicorn when the opponent has light magic in their mage guilds (note: ressurection works aswell) otherwise I prefer silver unicorns

ancient treant, they need to defend, their defence is their strengh no need to waste it, so unless your using them to attack I reccoment ancient ones

emerald dragon, the crystal dragon's special sux, I'd rather have a solid 2 tier then a random between 1 and 5, their stats are somewhat stronger and their immune to implosion!

[Metathron]

master hunter, cuz they deal the same damage when the enemy is far away and the master hunter deals quatripple damage when their close

I don't think they deal the same damage from far away. They deal an average of 6,5 damage with every shot, times 2 for double shot, divided by 2 for range penalty which equals 6,5 altogether, whereas the arcane archers deal an average of 8,5 not to mention we are not taking the -50% defense into account, which is a huge bonus. Therefore, the way things are at the moment, I think the arcane archers are a vastly superior troop to the master hunters.

Also, where'd you get the quadruple (assuming that's what you meant) damage at close range. The hunter's average damage at close range is 13, whereas the archer's is always 8,5 but again we are not taking the -50% defense decrease the archers cause their targets, which I think significantly boosts their average damage, so I daresay the archers are not only a better troop when the hunters are shooting at half range, but even when the latter are shooting at full range.

My choices:

Sprites vs Dryads - 50:50. Both are great units, but like you say the sprite has the advantage in early to mid game, whereas the dryad becomes more prominent in mid to late game.

War Dancers vs Wind Dancers - 40:60.

Master Hunters vs Arcane Archers - 5:95. I will on rare occasions choose the hunters, just for diversity's sake.

Druid Elder vs High Druid - 75: 25. Like you say, the High Druid becomes more important in the late game, due to being able to increase the hero's spellpower, but I will still go with the druid elder most of the time.

Silver Unicorn vs Pristine Unicorn - 60:40. I give the edge to the silver unicorn, child of light doesn't seem too helpful most of the time.

Ancient Treant vs Savage Treant - 35:65. I love Rage of the Forest, though Take Roots is also pretty damn excellent.

Emerald Dragon vs Crystal Dragon - 60:40. Age of Heroes claims that their abilities are actually the same (hover over Acid Breath). Can anyone confirm this?

[Wurtzel]

Haloswift, I think you're forgetting one thing about master hunters vs Arcane Archers, and that's the range penalties that hunters have got. Thus, the damage mentioned above, with hunters, is halved, as compared to the full damage that the Arcane Archers deal. Later on, should you get the unicorn bow, then Master Hunters are the way to go.


Oops, just saw the message by Metathron, (was typing my own post while he sent his) who's explained it in more detail.....

[parcaleste]

You forget the Warding Arrows, it's the reason why and I prefer Hunters

[tb5841]

1) Dryads if I actually have any Treants, Sprites otherwise and for sieges
2) Wind dancers
3) Arcane Archers (this one is basically a choice between Warding Arrows or extra damage...)
4) Druid Elders unless I go for Destructive Magic (which works brilliantly)
5) Silver Unicorns unless I have resurrection. I recommend trying a Wizard for a Sylvan army, High Druids + Pristine Unicorns + MotW + Resurrection is a phenomenal combination.
6) Ancient Treants usually, depending on the rest of your army
7) Emerald Dragons, I don't like the randomness of Prismatic Breath.

[Metathron]

Emerald Dragon vs Crystal Dragon - 60:40. Age of Heroes claims that their abilities are actually the same (hover over Acid Breath). Can anyone confirm this?

7) Emerald Dragons, I don't like the randomness of Prismatic Breath.

So Acid Breath and Prismatic Breath are not actually one and the same like Age of Heroes claims?

Is Acid Breath effectively the same as Fire Breath?

[Mirez]

yeah acid breath is the same, it deals damage the the opponent and the one behind it
prismatic breath can be compared with thunder lords's stormstrike exept that it deals damage between 1 and 5 units

about the hunters, the arcane hunter might deal slightly more damage when the opponent is far away since the master hunters have ranged penalty and they basicly fire 1 penalty-less arrow, but when up close the master hunter deal far more damage:
(5(atk)x6,5(avarage damage)x2(dubble shot)=65
6(atk)x8,5(avarage damage)=51

besides warding arrows > force arrow

[Metathron]

Umm, I don't think that's how total damage is calculated, at least it hasn't been like that in previous installments. I believe the average damage ought to be multiplied with the number of creatures in a stack and then modified according to their attack & opponent's defense.

besides warding arrows > force arrow

Warding Arrows: This creature shoots charmed arrows: in addition to normal damage, there's a chance they might stun the enemy and delay their turn.
When stunned, the target gets its ATB value reduced by 0.2.

Force Arrow: This creature's ranged attack ignores 50 percent of the target's Defense and has an extra chance to thrust the target back one tile and stun it.

Both have a chance to stun the enemy, so why is warding arrow better? Unless the warding arrow's stunning effect is greater or the chance of attaining it is greater. Even if it is, force arrow boasts the excellent -50% to enemy's defense characteristic so that makes it better in my eyes.

[Mirez]

Umm, I don't think that's how total damage is calculated, at least it hasn't been like that in previous installments. I believe the average damage ought to be multiplied with the number of creatures in a stack and then modified according to their attack & opponent's defense.

yes but just to show you master hunter > arcane hunter when the opponent is in range

I din't know about the -50% defence thingy sounds kinda overpowered

[danhvo]

Umm, I don't think that's how total damage is calculated, at least it hasn't been like that in previous installments. I believe the average damage ought to be multiplied with the number of creatures in a stack and then modified according to their attack & opponent's defense.

besides warding arrows > force arrow

Warding Arrows: This creature shoots charmed arrows: in addition to normal damage, there's a chance they might stun the enemy and delay their turn.
When stunned, the target gets its ATB value reduced by 0.2.

Force Arrow: This creature's ranged attack ignores 50 percent of the target's Defense and has an extra chance to thrust the target back one tile and stun it.

Both have a chance to stun the enemy, so why is warding arrow better? Unless the warding arrow's stunning effect is greater or the chance of attaining it is greater. Even if it is, force arrow boasts the excellent -50% to enemy's defense characteristic so that makes it better in my eyes.

If your emphasis is on damage, then the arcane archer is better. But the stunning effect is immeasurable. With double shots (2 chances instead of one), the master hunter's stunning, in my experience, kicks in more reliably, and frequently can turn the tide of the battle. For that reason alone, I usually pick the master hunter.

[parcaleste]

I don't realy thing, that Arcane's have that stunning effect - at least it never triggered to me! See, for the Master Hunters... ooh, goody! It triggers at least twice more often than the "one tile back" (which most of the times is totally useless...). Imagine the same situation: you are waiting for your Titans turn, but MH's turn is just before the Titans -> triggers the Stunning Effect -> 2 like, squares back at the ITB bar, which allows your opponent to unleash his 7-th level creature upon your Titans, thus blocking them from shooting on your shooters and kill few more before they attack; so how much more damage will Arcane's do, to compensate this one? And if having this Bow Artefact (forgot the full name)? I'm afraid of even imagine it, lol

[tb5841]

The 'stunning effect' of Arcane Archers pushes the target back one tile but doesn't seem to do anything to initiative, hence is fairly useless. Whereas Warding Arrows have twice as much chance to trigger, and are very useful.

The -50% defence when using Arcane Archers makes calculating damage much more difficult. Arcane Archers will always do more damage at long range, but at short range it depends on the target; the higher the defence of the target, the more defence Arcane Archers can ignore. So if hitting a target with huge defence, Arcane Archers will do more damage even at close range, whereas if hitting a target with no defence, Master Hunters will do more damage at close range.

I think in terms of damage, force arrow and warding arrows, both units are more or less evenly balanced. So I pick Arcane Archers because of the +1 initiative.


Acid Breath is the same as the Fire Breath ability of Shadow Dragons. Prismatic Breath hits enemies in a cone shape behind the enemy you attack (don't think you can hit your own units) and its range is determined by a random number + your luck value (or something similar).

[Dacarnix_]

Other than the craptastic War Dancers, there I times I use pretty much every Sylvan upgraded creature. I generally prefer the offensive archer (Arcane) and druid (Elder) and the defensive Treant (Ancient) since those are the roles shooters, casters, and walkers typically play for me, but Wind Dancers are my only auto in the Sylvan lineup.

[Tensho]

1.Sprite at begining,dryad at late game.12 dmg from sprite is always nice
2.Wind dancer.Agility is damn good...
3.Well,after lot of testing,i guess arcane archer is better.He just makes more dmg then the master.(because of the -50% penalty)And also max range is so good at beging.If u have Unicorn bow-master hunters become really powerful....which makes them better than arcane.
My choice is arcane(also,they look better)
4.Druid elder at begining.If my Hero has imbue arrow and good destructive spells(and knoweldge ofcourse) I would take high druids.
5.Silver.A bit magic resistance never hurts you
6.Ancient.They just rarely get to do something
7.Emerald.Prismatic breath doesnt really seem to work

[Tensho]

1.Sprite at begining,dryad at late game.12 dmg from sprite is always nice
2.Wind dancer.Agility is damn good...
3.Well,after lot of testing,i guess arcane archer is better.He just makes more dmg then the master.(because of the -50% penalty)And also max range is so good at beging.If u have Unicorn bow-master hunters become really powerful....which makes them better than arcane.
My choice is arcane(also,they look better)
4.Druid elder at begining.If my Hero has imbue arrow and good destructive spells(and knoweldge ofcourse) I would take high druids.
5.Silver.A bit magic resistance never hurts you
6.Ancient.They just rarely get to do something
7.Emerald.Prismatic breath doesnt really seem to work

[Dacarnix_]

Prismatic Breath is definitely very different from Fire Breath and the shape of its attack takes some adjustment, but it's really grown on me lately. Unless your dragons have a luck stat of 0, then I'd say give the Crystal Dragons another shot.

I never used to use the Crystal Dragons because I didn't get how the Prismatic Breath worked, but the only time I'll use Emeralds any more is when I want Earth Immunity.

[Mirez]

Prismatic Breath is definitely very different from Fire Breath and the shape of its attack takes some adjustment, but it's really grown on me lately. Unless your dragons have a luck stat of 0, then I'd say give the Crystal Dragons another shot.

I never used to use the Crystal Dragons because I didn't get how the Prismatic Breath worked, but the only time I'll use Emeralds any more is when I want Earth Immunity.

it just seems to random to me, though I must admit I never tested it
but lately I've been hearing that when you have 3 luck it'll attack 3 tiles and 2 luck 2 tiles, is this true?

[Dacarnix_]

it just seems to random to me, though I must admit I never tested it
but lately I've been hearing that when you have 3 luck it'll attack 3 tiles and 2 luck 2 tiles, is this true?

I'm afraid it's not quite that simple. The number of tiles is partially based on (Luck / 2) and partially based on a random roll.

[Mirez]

k then I really prefer emerald dragons