help with wood elf army comp and units in sp campaign please

[ZEEK (Trained Navy Seal)]

are wardancers with or without spear, or wildwood rangers better then one another?

who is the better damge dealer overall and better unit overall?? or should i have them both in my amry?

also what role do dryads and treekin fill? can dryads replace eternal guard as the main line? and are treekin basically that 12 man unit that vamps get? the big ghouls?, and is the treeman basically the samething as a giant in terms of role?

please and thanks

and please recommend me some army comps that you enjoy fo campaign

[Wyvern]

If you're playing actual elves and not argwylon, then eternal guard with shields are your front line, wardancers are your anti-soft infantry units and wardancers with spears are your anti cav unit for counterattacking enemy cav that gets bogged down in your eternal guard, or for supporting your wild riders against enemy cav since theyre a nippy infantry unit. Wildwood rangers are just anti everything, but are fairly slow, so that is important to keep in mind, they also don't have either of the two wardancer abilities, which can situationally be incredibly good. Dryads are fairly useless because they basically fill a similar role to wardancers when you have EG available but wardancers are better. Treekin are tanks, their damage is pitiful but resilience is incredible, unfortunately they cost amber for elves, which imho makes them a nogo. Treemen are basically giants. Keep in mind that tree units cause magic damage, which sucks vs dwarves but is good vs ethereal and savage orcs. If you are doing Durthu and Argwylon though, I would definitely focus on dryads and treekin, since you have healing from your branchwraith and you cant get wardancers without amber(using amber on units is imho a complete waste)

[ZEEK (Trained Navy Seal)]

thanks im playing as orion as wood elfes

should i bother with wildwood rangers then iyo? do you yourself use them at all in campaign?

also should i bother with waywatchers at all? whats the best archers to use iyo?

[Wyvern]

Originally posted by ZEEK (Trained Navy Seal):

thanks im playing as orion as wood elfes

should i bother with wildwood rangers then iyo? do you yourself use them at all in campaign?

also should i bother with waywatchers at all? whats the best archers to use iyo?

Wildwood rangers arent bad if youre fighting against chaos because of their high AP. I tend to do themed armies, so being well rounded isnt smoething im usually that concerned with, unfortunately haha. But for a more standard, slower build of eternal guard+shields(non shielded ones are not worth it vs AI's shooting spam) and glade guard in support, I think wildwood rangers can give you a big boost to anti large and anti armor damage and be well worth it.

Of the archers, a lot of it depends on how you play and how concerned you are with cost. For Orions army, where I usually just want to be high mobility infantry spam oriented, I usually run wardancers, scouts with swift shiver shards and waywatchers. Way watchers are surprisingly competent in melee against low end infantry and basically any enemy skirmish units, and they deliver a potent anti-armor punch. Swift shivers just chew through low armor with ease. For a more conventional build I would suggest glade guard with hagbanes or gladeguard with starfire shafts. Glade riders without hagbanes are simply not worth it imho. Way watchers will destroy just about anything they attack very quickly and very efficiently, even in the face of shields, but they do have low ammo and low model count, so its usually best to focus out well armored targets with them. If you spec a lord into the shooting tree and prey of anath rema, then I would certainly go for the waywatchers and scouts/swiftshiver scouts. Just keep tabs on your income, you don't want it dropping too low.

Also, don't forget wild riders, they are one of the best cavalry in the game for their cost(especially the shielded ones) and can be even more potent when buffed by spells or abilities from something like sisters of the thorn(sisters are a unit I would not normally use except for the quest or cav oriented armies)

An example "well rounded" army would be something like 6 eternal guard+shields, 2 wardancers, 2 wardancers with asrais, 2 wildwood rangers, 2 wild riders+shields and say 4 glade guard with hagbanes, leaving you a slot for a hero in your army like a spellsinger or branchwraith. In this case I would spec the lord into the melee army tree, not ranged. People often think elves have to be shooting centric but their melee is very potent, so don't overlook it.

Also, the extra looting money, lightning strike and faster troop replenishment are all amazing skills for elven lords. Do not overlook the amber technology, all of them are good, and near all of them have very versatile utility, the extra early growth and public order can be very good. Finally, elves are one of the best ambush factions in the game.

My endgame comp for Orion(just opened up an old save) was 4 wildwood rangers, 6 wardancers, 4 asrai spears, 2 waywatchers and 2 swiftshivers, just a tad expensive :P but lots of fun

[Pimpin Pippin]

Tree Kin are probably the most durable infantry unit in the game.
Some heroes/lords have Tree Kin specific passive skills that greatly increase the durability of those units.

Archers with armor piercing and special arrows (all but poison ones) are insanely powerful.
Turn on skirmisher mode to kite infantry and try to give them as much Ammunition as possible.
Vanguard archers can flank and ambush plus kite with skirmisher mode.

I use various archers to kill stuff and Tree Kin to tank anything (early game shielded eternal guards).
That simple combination, along with some magic and heroes, has owned most enemies i have fought.
Forest Dragons can be useful in attacking artillery or other archers if your archers can't reach them.
The big Tree Man can be great against other huge enemies like giants.
But the primary rule is that your main damage output is always from the various Archers.
Everything else in the Elf army is just to help those archers.

I do NOT use dryads, sisters of thorn, glade riders, hawk riders, wild riders, great eagles or war dancers (both).
They seem way too niche and fragile for their cost.

The simple approach of Archers = DPS, Tree Kin/Man = Tank and Dragons = Flying Cavalry, along with hero/leader, is all i ever needed.
If you are desperate for cheap cavalry you can try using the two hawk units or the wild riders but i found them VERY fragile and not damaging enough.

[DmonBlu]

Imho dont even bother with EGs they sucks horribly especially in higher difficulties. Those guys cant do anything even vs super basic units like swordmen or even ungor herds. Sure they r excellent anvils in MP but in SP? Nope Asrai spears r 1000x better and they can actually kill stuff unlike EGs who just sit there and.... hold the line? Oh and if u r playing Orion try to get 1-2 waystalkers in each army. Those guys r basically ur replacement for artillery and can literally 3 shot a lord with their insane range and arrow of Kurnous. In MP those guys r monsters can can snipe artilery with the arrow with ease due to 600 range WTF! Thats 25% more range than Hellcannon! Keep them out of danger though cuz like ur common artillery pieces they will melt in seconds even when hit by 1 single chaos warhound unit....
My Orion army that I used to beat legendary 3 times on GC and the mini campaign: 4 asrai spears spread thin, 2 wildwoods behind them, 4 shiftshivers, 2 waywatchers VG deploy on flank to kill their dangerous units, 2 starfires , 2 riders with shields + 1 sister of thorn VG deploy on the other flank with them to buff them up, 1 waystalker and 1 spellsinger life for armor buff and magic and of course, Orion himself with melee buffs.