Drakes vs Dwarfs
Initial Recruit
Drakes:
2 fighters, glider, clasher, augur. Never 2 gliders; there are almost no maps where this is necessary.
Dwarves:
Poacher, 3 thiefs, griffin/footpad. Never 2 griffins; there's no reason to do this ever.
Basic Feel of the Matchup
As a dwarf and as a drake, I always end up in a situation where the dwarf is just sitting at home or in the center of the map, unable to reach the villages. This happens because the distance between the frontline villages is too large for the tiny dwarf legs, so the dwarf simply can't get to the drake's houses in time. Fighting on open ground during the day is a joke—the drake has more damage, higher mobility, and a better hit-and-run ability. However, there are some things that can be done.
Strategy 0 for Dwarves: Hodor
Concept: Thieves deal excellent damage at night if you manage to execute a backstab. The army usually includes an ulfserker, one griffin, one footpad, 2-3 thieves, and 1-2 poachers. The idea is to run around quickly and, if the drake is careless, break through, take the house(s), and then run away quickly. Sometimes this strategy is reinforced by bringing in dwarves to defend the houses.
Drake Response: Endure. If you can't set up a wall or you see that you will be heavily damaged without much pain, surrender the house. On many maps, you don't need many units on the flank to set up a reliable wall (a "double wall" that takes hits and allows you to either refresh the wall or cover the wounded on a second wall). After that, transition to the next situation—the dwarf has many useless thieves (remember, we are already in mid-late game with 13-18+ units for the drake). Recruit more fighters (for mobility), and maybe have 2-3 clashers on the desired attack direction. On the attack direction, you will want to have 2 burners eventually.
Strategy 1 for Dwarves: Hird
Concept: Recruit thunderers, guardsmen (2-3), and thugs (1-2), allow the drake to attack the guardsmen from 4-5 hexes, stay on the open ground, and shoot them all in one turn. The guardsman is important here, as he can absorb a lot of drake damage and potentially survive, also damaging the drake units. It's important to understand that 2 thunderers deal 40 damage from 2 hexes. The toughest drake fighter will be left with 40 HP after taking one hit from a guardsman. Draw your conclusions from this.
Drake Response: On open hexes, manage to place clashers so they don't die from 2 hexes. Alternatively, outmaneuver the dwarves—drakes are faster, and on villages, you can break through areas where the slow thunderers aren't, making the revenge for the guardsman potentially end in the death of both waves of avengers—those who attack and those who can't reach. From the recruitment perspective for the drake—2 burners on the attack direction.
Detailed Strategic Reflections
For Dwarves (Hodor):
Execution: The idea is to take advantage of the thieves' night-time damage with backstabs, ulfserkers, griffins, and poachers for quick assaults and retreats. Coordination and timing are crucial to capitalize on the drake's mistakes.
Challenges: Maintaining pressure and mobility while ensuring survival against the drake's superior daytime strength and mobility.
For Drakes:
Defense: Enduring the dwarf attacks until you can establish a strong enough wall or force the dwarves into unfavorable positions. Strategic positioning and using burners effectively to counter-attack.
Counter-strategy: Using mobility to outmaneuver the dwarves, hitting weak spots, and leveraging the higher damage output during the day.
For Dwarves (Hird):
Execution: Using guardsmen to absorb damage and thunderers to deliver high damage from a distance. Timing the attacks to coincide with the drake's vulnerability periods.
Challenges: Ensuring that guardsmen can absorb enough damage and that thunderers hit their marks, avoiding being outmaneuvered by the drakes.
For Drakes:
Offense: Utilizing clashers and burners to break through the dwarf lines and maintaining pressure to prevent the dwarves from stabilizing their defense.
Counter-strategy: Exploiting the drake's speed and maneuverability to avoid concentrated attacks and isolate dwarf units.
Overall, the matchup requires careful management of unit placement, timing of attacks, and strategic recruitment to leverage each faction's strengths while mitigating their weaknesses.
Initial Recruit
Drakes:
2 fighters, glider, clasher, augur. Never 2 gliders; there are almost no maps where this is necessary.
Dwarves:
Poacher, 3 thiefs, griffin/footpad. Never 2 griffins; there's no reason to do this ever.
Basic Feel of the Matchup
As a dwarf and as a drake, I always end up in a situation where the dwarf is just sitting at home or in the center of the map, unable to reach the villages. This happens because the distance between the frontline villages is too large for the tiny dwarf legs, so the dwarf simply can't get to the drake's houses in time. Fighting on open ground during the day is a joke—the drake has more damage, higher mobility, and a better hit-and-run ability. However, there are some things that can be done.
Strategy 0 for Dwarves: Hodor
Concept: Thieves deal excellent damage at night if you manage to execute a backstab. The army usually includes an ulfserker, one griffin, one footpad, 2-3 thieves, and 1-2 poachers. The idea is to run around quickly and, if the drake is careless, break through, take the house(s), and then run away quickly. Sometimes this strategy is reinforced by bringing in dwarves to defend the houses.
Drake Response: Endure. If you can't set up a wall or you see that you will be heavily damaged without much pain, surrender the house. On many maps, you don't need many units on the flank to set up a reliable wall (a "double wall" that takes hits and allows you to either refresh the wall or cover the wounded on a second wall). After that, transition to the next situation—the dwarf has many useless thieves (remember, we are already in mid-late game with 13-18+ units for the drake). Recruit more fighters (for mobility), and maybe have 2-3 clashers on the desired attack direction. On the attack direction, you will want to have 2 burners eventually.
Strategy 1 for Dwarves: Hird
Concept: Recruit thunderers, guardsmen (2-3), and thugs (1-2), allow the drake to attack the guardsmen from 4-5 hexes, stay on the open ground, and shoot them all in one turn. The guardsman is important here, as he can absorb a lot of drake damage and potentially survive, also damaging the drake units. It's important to understand that 2 thunderers deal 40 damage from 2 hexes. The toughest drake fighter will be left with 40 HP after taking one hit from a guardsman. Draw your conclusions from this.
Drake Response: On open hexes, manage to place clashers so they don't die from 2 hexes. Alternatively, outmaneuver the dwarves—drakes are faster, and on villages, you can break through areas where the slow thunderers aren't, making the revenge for the guardsman potentially end in the death of both waves of avengers—those who attack and those who can't reach. From the recruitment perspective for the drake—2 burners on the attack direction.
Detailed Strategic Reflections
For Dwarves (Hodor):
Execution: The idea is to take advantage of the thieves' night-time damage with backstabs, ulfserkers, griffins, and poachers for quick assaults and retreats. Coordination and timing are crucial to capitalize on the drake's mistakes.
Challenges: Maintaining pressure and mobility while ensuring survival against the drake's superior daytime strength and mobility.
For Drakes:
Defense: Enduring the dwarf attacks until you can establish a strong enough wall or force the dwarves into unfavorable positions. Strategic positioning and using burners effectively to counter-attack.
Counter-strategy: Using mobility to outmaneuver the dwarves, hitting weak spots, and leveraging the higher damage output during the day.
For Dwarves (Hird):
Execution: Using guardsmen to absorb damage and thunderers to deliver high damage from a distance. Timing the attacks to coincide with the drake's vulnerability periods.
Challenges: Ensuring that guardsmen can absorb enough damage and that thunderers hit their marks, avoiding being outmaneuvered by the drakes.
For Drakes:
Offense: Utilizing clashers and burners to break through the dwarf lines and maintaining pressure to prevent the dwarves from stabilizing their defense.
Counter-strategy: Exploiting the drake's speed and maneuverability to avoid concentrated attacks and isolate dwarf units.
Overall, the matchup requires careful management of unit placement, timing of attacks, and strategic recruitment to leverage each faction's strengths while mitigating their weaknesses.
Statistics: Posted by igorbat99 — Yesterday, 11:19 pm