Please explain the Wood Elf units and their purposes.

[Pimpin Pippin]

I am rather confused by the purpose of some Wood Elf units, so if anyone could please explain:

1. War Dancers (with and without spears) - i do not understand exactly what this unit is supposed to do.
To me it seems to lose against most other infantry and they don't have anything special.
They move fast but are fragile and their damage is mediocre.

2. Wildwood Rangers - they seem really fragile. Mediocre damage output. They cost almost as much as Black Orcs, but seem much worse.
They have some fancy niche skills (vs large, ambush...) but overall a rather wimpy unit.

3. Glade Guard, Deepwood Scout and Waywatcher and their weapon alternatives - these archers seem quite good but i am finding it tough to know what is the meaningful difference between them?
They do have some differences but overall they seem REALLY similar in purpose, with some being a bit more "ambush oriented" than others.

4. Wild Riders - they are fast but they are REALLY fragile and they lack "armor piercing" which makes them quite sh*t against dwarven archers and many other tough ranged units.
Yea they move a bit faster but i do not see what is actually good about Wild Riders when compared with other cavalry of the same cost?
The lack of "armor piercing" makes them feel very situational and incompetent against anything but the weakest archers that are left without any defense?
Also they lack the armored attribute so any archer/artillery that can shoot them will rip them to pieces.

5. Glade Riders and Hawk Riders - to me it seems both these units are really weak.
Their damage output is not great and they are incredibly fragile.
I actually think that Hawk Riders are bugged since they run out of ammo long before they are able to kill any armored infantry unit.
They also get mowed down by any archer since they have longer range and any other flying unit.
Glade Riders i have not used all that much but they seem very fragile and low in damage.

6. Treekin and Treeman - tanky but slow and they do really low damage.
I was surprised to see actually how low their damage was when they were fighting other armored infantry or monsters.
Other races have similar melee units that are just as tanky but probably faster and do A LOT more damage...

7. Forest Dragon - biggest disappointment of the Wood Elf race!
Why are they so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fragile?
Why is their damage output so low?
They commonly run away like cowards, which i did not expect from a giant dragon.
I expected this unit to be a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ god of war, but it is actually a fragile wimpy lizard that gets wrecked by most things.

8. Oh yea i forgot the Great Eagle!
That thing lacks armor piercing, is not armored, does low damage, dies very quickly, routes even quicker and half the time during combat it refuses to attack!
What the hell is the point of that unit when it can't beat anything even below its tier :(

With most other races i can see a clear purpose and use for every unit.
But elven units are really unclear on their use, and when tested they seem to perform poorly compared to other races.
The overall lack of damage from anything that are not foot archers really saddens me...
I know Orion/Durthu have a lot of army buffs but even with those the elven units feel like garbage.

[Decomposed]

You forgot the Great Eagle that lands on the ground and looks around instead of actually ATTACKING anything...

[Mortis247]

Can't help with all but my observations:


4. Wild Riders - they are fast but they are REALLY fragile and they lack "armor piercing" which makes them quite sh*t against dwarven archers and many other tough ranged units.
Yea they move a bit faster but i do not see what is actually good about Wild Riders when compared with other cavalry of the same cost?
The lack of "armor piercing" makes them feel very situational and incompetent against anything but the weakest archers that are left without any defense?
Also they lack the armored attribute so any archer/artillery that can shoot them will rip them to pieces.

Hands down one of the best shock cav in game, should be used to charge flanks and rear.

5. Glade Riders and Hawk Riders - to me it seems both these units are really weak.
Their damage output is not great and they are incredibly fragile.
I actually think that Hawk Riders are bugged since they run out of ammo long before they are able to kill any armored infantry unit.
They also get mowed down by any archer since they have longer range and any other flying unit.
Glade Riders i have not used all that much but they seem very fragile and low in damage.

Hawk riders are one of my favourites, don't use them as range cav, use them as flying monsters for archer / warmachine hunting and helping out your melee units.

6. Treekin and Treeman - tanky but slow and they do really low damage.
I was surprised to see actually how low their damage was when they were fighting other armored infantry or monsters.
Other races have similar melee units that are just as tanky but probably faster and do A LOT more damage...

Can take an appaling amount of damage, especially if you start as Durthu.

7. Forest Dragon - biggest disappointment of the Wood Elf race!
Why are they so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fragile?
Why is their damage output so low?
They commonly run away like cowards, which i did not expect from a giant dragon.
I expected this unit to be a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ god of war, but it is actually a fragile wimpy lizard that gets wrecked by most things.

Basically shock cav - don't send it unsupported it doesn't have the health.
[/quote]

[Pimpin Pippin]

Good point about great eagles, i added them as 8.
Incredibly bad unit that is even buggy, refuses to attack.

[Mortis247]

Originally posted by Pimpin Pippin:

Good point about great eagles, i added them as 8.
Incredibly bad unit that is even buggy, refuses to attack.

I struggled to find a use for these as well. Granted they are fast but they just don't outweigh a dragon.

[StarofTanuki]

Main your ploblem is use unit at wrong job . Ah i need computer.

1) Wardancer sword - did you know most of wood elf unit lost again pure damage dealer infantry ex. Forsaken , Gor ,Slayer . Wardancer are design for kill low armour unit fast

if you send Wildwood ranger to kill Swordman you are being waste unit.

Wardancer spear are design for kill High armour large unit . Send them to fight with Demigryph knight or Grail knight you would see wonderful thing

2) Wildwood ranger like i said as wardancer but Wildwood ranger good vs High armour infantry or cavalry.

3) For the archer you would see they role when you are fighting with Dwarves

- Glade guard fire Good again high armour unit and disable regen skill

- Glade guard poison Good for debuff unit

- Deep wood scout have nice fighting animation

- Waywatcher can shot while move shot 360 degree and do normal damage , normal damge are good again dwarf because Dwarves have high fire and megic resistant .

4) Wild raider i think all cav are same role is charge or flank . but Wild raider are so fast and have high charge bonus this made Wildraider are easy to avoid dmg or catch Skimisher cavalry.


5) Glade Riders isn't powerful in single or couple unit , this unit need alot unit to do real power

6) Hawk raider are semi cav and semi Skimisher role - this unit can help your cav to kill enemy archer / artilery fast and come back to help your melee line by shot from the sky , also high ap dmg

7) Treekin and Treeman - " balance " if they are tanky and also have killing power Wood elf gonna OP (but not really they still good for kill low armour unit) .

8) Forest Dragon - " balance " but imo Forest dragon are fine .

[SleepyNarwhalz]

Originally posted by Pimpin Pippin:

1. War Dancers (with and without spears) - i do not understand exactly what this unit is supposed to do.
To me it seems to lose against most other infantry and they don't have anything special.
They move fast but are fragile and their damage is mediocre.

With Spears: Strong anti cavalry unit that can defend the archers well
Regular: Very powerful against unarmored troops, not so much against armored ones. Good at flanking

Originally posted by Pimpin Pippin:

2. Wildwood Rangers - they seem really fragile. Mediocre damage output. They cost almost as much as Black Orcs, but seem much worse.
They have some fancy niche skills (vs large, ambush...) but overall a rather wimpy unit.

They're actually one of the best top tier infantry in the game. They're a bit squishy in ranged but they can beat most other units in the game.

Originally posted by Pimpin Pippin:

3. Glade Guard, Deepwood Scout and Waywatcher and their weapon alternatives - these archers seem quite good but i am finding it tough to know what is the meaningful difference between them?
They do have some differences but overall they seem REALLY similar in purpose, with some being a bit more "ambush oriented" than others.

Regular Glade Guard: Basically Empire crossbows with better range
Starfire Shaft Glade Guard: The armor piercing version, also deals fire damage. Usually the best choice.
Hagbane Tip Glade Guard: The poison version, always bring one of these if you bring any. They make it so any return fire is weaker.

Regular Deepwood Scouts: Meant to fire into the backs of the enemy or to harass them on the move.
Swiftshiver Shard Deepwood Scouts: Same as regular but with a much larger damage output. Also useful to kill large enemies due to their huge damage.

Waywatchers: Same deal as Deepwood Scouts but with a much higher damage output due to the AP

Originally posted by Pimpin Pippin:

4. Wild Riders - they are fast but they are REALLY fragile and they lack "armor piercing" which makes them quite sh*t against dwarven archers and many other tough ranged units.
Yea they move a bit faster but i do not see what is actually good about Wild Riders when compared with other cavalry of the same cost?
The lack of "armor piercing" makes them feel very situational and incompetent against anything but the weakest archers that are left without any defense?
Also they lack the armored attribute so any archer/artillery that can shoot them will rip them to pieces.

They can actually beat most other cavalry of the same cost, and due to their good shields they can defend themselves against archers well. Also they don't suffer a forest penalty.

Originally posted by Pimpin Pippin:

5. Glade Riders and Hawk Riders - to me it seems both these units are really weak.
Their damage output is not great and they are incredibly fragile.
I actually think that Hawk Riders are bugged since they run out of ammo long before they are able to kill any armored infantry unit.
They also get mowed down by any archer since they have longer range and any other flying unit.
Glade Riders i have not used all that much but they seem very fragile and low in damage.

Both are meant to be mobile harrasers who can attack enemies on the move. Hawk riders can also be used to good effect in melee due to their armor piercing.

Originally posted by Pimpin Pippin:

6. Treekin and Treeman - tanky but slow and they do really low damage.
I was surprised to see actually how low their damage was when they were fighting other armored infantry or monsters.
Other races have similar melee units that are just as tanky but probably faster and do A LOT more damage...

They are easily the tankiest monserous units in the game, and are meant to absorb damage. Also they ignore the forest penalty.

Originally posted by Pimpin Pippin:

7. Forest Dragon - biggest disappointment of the Wood Elf race!
Why are they so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fragile?
Why is their damage output so low?
They commonly run away like cowards, which i did not expect from a giant dragon.
I expected this unit to be a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ god of war, but it is actually a fragile wimpy lizard that gets wrecked by most things.

They're meant to charge into already engaged infantry to disrupt and damage the troops with their good armor piercing damage and good mass.

Originally posted by Pimpin Pippin:

8. Oh yea i forgot the Great Eagle!
That thing lacks armor piercing, is not armored, does low damage, dies very quickly, routes even quicker and half the time during combat it refuses to attack!
What the hell is the point of that unit when it can't beat anything even below its tier :(

Its meant to harass the enemy and kill its archers/artillery

[Pimpin Pippin]

Thanks for replies, hopefully more players also join the discussion.