High Elf Longbow's nerfed?

[acesahn]

I'll start by admitting Im a newcomer to this game, having only played it for a few days... straight lol. But one thing that has been baffling me, I read all over the strategy forums and general topics that High Elves are OP, High Elf Longbowmen and Hunters are monsters at range... but what game are they playing? I started out playing as the High Elves, never noticed there ranged units doing fantastic damage, quite the contrary. When I first encountered Goblins and felt the venomous sting of there Darters, I made sure to have every siege army have at least 2 if not 4 units of Goblin Darters, because they out damage all of my High Elf units at range, ANY range. So could someone explain to me what happened? Did the High Elves get nerfed to the point they no longer have missle superiority, or am I just not appreciating there loss of damage at range, even though it seems to be the difference between 2 damage per barrage?

[Johnny 5]

You are not noticing the benefits for 2 reasons.
1) swarm darters are also good since they gnore obstacles
2) High elves have blight weakness for the whole race. Swarm darters do blight.

Also if your attacking their cities your at a 3rd disadvantage for obstacles. So your damage will be halved and then will be doing full damage + extra for blight weakness.

And swarm darters are great on the offensive in a siege because they ignore obstacles. Since they seek.

So Elves are at a disadvantage in this scenario. You still should be able to win though.
You can counter their swarm darters with gryphons or unicorn riders.
Both can travel a long distance, and unicorn riders can phase.


High Elf longbowman and hunters really are amazing.
I've won whole games only/primarily producing these units.

[acesahn]

Ohhhh so it wasnt the Longbowmen werent good, it was that the Goblins had every advantage. During the 2nd mission of the High Elf campaign I had 2 dif cities spitting out 4 Goblin Darters and 2 Orc Shock Troops. What a devestating combo those were XD

[Sifer2]

The advantage of High Elf longbows is that they do full damage from longer range. Other race archers have to move closer which is a big deal. Since moving wastes a shot. Elves can get the triple shot in easier. And yeah swarm darters hurt Elves more due to blight weakness.

[Wise Joe]

Originally posted by acesahn:

Ohhhh so it wasnt the Longbowmen werent good, it was that the Goblins had every advantage. During the 2nd mission of the High Elf campaign I had 2 dif cities spitting out 4 Goblin Darters and 2 Orc Shock Troops. What a devestating combo those were XD

Until you face an enemy with high blight resist, then your swarm darters are useless. For example, against the undead 100% blight resist, your swarm darters just become something to be pounded on.

[Kyun]

The goblin army has enough tools to deal with blight resistance. (for example blight doctors and untouchables).
Ofc this might not do much vs 100% blight rez but 100% blight rez is not that common and can be countered by including other races in your armies or choosing the correct magic.

to the topic.
If you read that highelves are generally OP, then this is not true. They have pretty good archers and better magic resitance than other races but they are more squishy than anyone but goblins.
You could also say orcs are totally OP because their melee units have more hp and more damage than others, but they lack magic resistance etc...
Every race has its strenghts and weaknesses.
your other questions were already answered by the above posts

[Stardustfire]

When u think Elven Archers and Hunter are Monsters dont get in the way of Elven Bards (yeah they use the longbow too instead of other races bards that use only X-bows) also pretty nice are the mounted Archers of a Elven Warlord.

[acesahn]

Thanks for being so helpful everyone, Ill definitely start using Bards for sure now (Rogue seems to be my favorite playstyle so far.) I find goblins are AMAZING to have as a vassal, basically taking one of there cities solely to spit out Darters and Blight Doctors endlessly to fill the ranks of any army. Blight resistence can be annoying, but that is hardly a deterent when its still brutally effective against every living thing that walks on two legs and isnt a goblin XD.