The Grand Animal Review

Every animal in the vanilla game reviewed and rated- with useful combos suggested.

Introduction and Notes

I've sank a fair few hours into this both in the old pc terms and now on steam- If you are making creatures there might be some ideas here. I thought the best way to organise it was by base creature. I've done base plus the expansion so the below doesn't apply to further mods where mechanics have been altered.

The Ratings
1/5- Poor, only likely to be used in novelty creatures
2/5- Unlikely to be useful, almost always better options
3/5- Reasonably good, occasional high tier combinations
4/5- Decent overall, good picks for a variety of combinations
5/5- Very useful stats and abilities- Likely to feature at least once in a top tier army

Army Structure
If you aren't an IC regular you might want to check in here to see what I'm aiming for with an army-

• L1- 0-1 creatures- they just aren't good enough in the base game. I've never got them to work well, henchmen are stronger. Much easier to attack in L2. I'd have a utility if anything. No elec cost if it's a combat unit.
  
  
• L2- 2-3 creatures- Range / artillery / melee. I find melee a mixed bag here, they can get annihilated pretty easy by range, but it's the only way to achieve 0 elec cost and melee do full damage vs henchman, if used well, they can get good value vs other units, it's harder though. L2 range is very strong in vanilla and artillery has it's place. Keep the electricity costs low in this level. No more than 45 elec per creature.
  
  
• L3- 2-3 creatures- Melee (tank) / range / artillery / melee (raider) / flyer. L3 melee tank is good idea here and you can get very tough units at this stage (tank= unit designed purely to suck up damage and usually has poor offensive abilities- works well as a buffer to range units) Apart from that- no hard or fast rules, try not to splurge on electricity though- keep it to under 120ish if possible.
  
  
• L4- 1-2 creatures- Melee (raider) / range / artillery / flyer. A fairly open research level which is a good place for raiders, units that can dominate L3 creatures or units that can fill in gaps with L5. Try to make it so it has at least some use in L5.
  
  
• L5- 2-3 creatures- Melee (powerhouse) / range (sonic) / range (direct) / Artillery / Flyer. The big guns research level. Usually you will have a solid melee backed up by a range or sonic and maybe an additional artillery. Alternatively flyer and artillery work well together. Use as much electricity as you want here as coal will likely be the limiting resource.

The above is a general guide to building an army, though not set in stone.

Pro-tips

• Do not have more than one unit that does the same thing in the same research level- this effectively wastes army slots, 9 is not enough to fill all the possible roles you need.
  
  
• Keep electricity costs low- especially at L2 and to some extent L3, if you have a L1 it should be utility or 0 electricty cost. The logic behind this is simply that you need to keep progressing through research levels WHILST creating creatures. If you are forced to produce creatures continually that cost a lot of electricity you will fall behind in research levels.
  
  
• L5 melee must have horns and preferably 60+ defence (or 40-50 with herding), high defence units will very often beat lower defence units in a straight fight, and horns is the main way round this, have both and you will likely have a high tier L5 melee.
  
  
• Only give creatures an ability if you are going to use it. If not you will be wasting electricity every time you build them. Some creatures are nearly defined by inherent abilities (you cannot switch them off by changing body parts). Eg: The wolf always has pack hunter which costs a lot of electricity and hamstrings it somewhat for most L2 combos.
  
  
• Design an army to match the map. Maps with easily defensible bases and no flanks are not likely to be raiding friendly- so instead build tough slow units and sonic. Conversly maps that are large with scattered coal mines are very good for raiding and faster units. Maps with impassable chasms/cliffs and plentiful water are nice maps for flyers.
  
  
• You should have a water based army- where every unit is amphibious or a flyer for maps where you and the opposition are separated by water. Your general land army should have minimal amphibious units as building a water chamber is a pain when you need your new units asap. It's a good idea to have amphibious L5s though.

Combat strengths-weaknesses

• Range beats melee beats artillery beats range.
  
• Sonic counters massed units but is beaten by artillery.
  
• Flyers hard counter melee, are decent vs artillery but suck vs range and sonic (and AA towers).

Design units that work in combos so they can't be countered easily. The best melee in the game loses to a poor flyer, but a few range units can easily protect you. The range units don't have to worry about artillery as you can just send the melee in and hold back the ranged.

Notes on herding
Herding is one of the more obscure abilties in the game but I thought I'd explain it since it impacts a few of these choices. Definitely worth reading if you don't know the numbers behind the ability.

Defence = damage reduction %

Herding = 1.5x defence multiplier

Herding ceiling 75 defence- if a creature has above 70(?) defence herding will not charge elec and not take any effect (untested).

The way this works has an increasing effect as defence gets towards 50 (after which the ceiling of 75 is achieved).

See below comparison-

CREATURE 1
Base defence = 10 , damage = 90%
Herding defence = 15 , damage = 85%
Damage reduction from herding = 1 - 85/90= ~6%
Effective HP change = (90/85)-1 = +6%

CREATURE 2
Base defence = 50 , damage = 50%
Herding defence = 75 , damage = 25%
Damage reduction from herding = 1- 25/50 = ~50%
Effective HP change = (50/25)-1 = +100% (doubled!)

As you can see herding is far, far more effective for higher defence creatures, and should be prioritised as so. Herding on below 25 defence is a waste, herding on 40-50 defence is basically OP, though is still countered by horns (horns reduces the defence value by 35% which can have a massive effect on high defence creatures, doubling or even tripling damage and basically nullifying high defence totally).

Herding is somewhat fixed in tellurian and newer mods of the game where the cost of herding is dependant on how high a boost it gives, in addition I believe the 'horns' ability is cheaper making it easier to counter.

The Creatures (1-25 Ant - Killer Whale)

1. Ant- 3/5
All round fairly average stats, if you are using this it's possibly for dig or immunity. The ant has decent base defence and attack, speed is below average. No reason it can't be used for a variety of roles, but it all depends if you want immunity which is 15(?) elec in the base game (or dig, as it is the best of the two digging units).

2. Archerfish- 5/5
Highly likely to be in your army as one of two artillery units in the game, and doesn't have pack hunter meaning electricity costs can be kept in check. Compared to the chimp this has higher base damage but lesser range (higher sight radius though which can make a difference). Great for L2 artillery and works well throughout.

3. Armadillo- 3/5
Generally not too useful, you can hit a high defence value early in the game but any sight of horns and you'll be done quick. Low hp is too risky to rely on as a tank. Noteable combos include Armadillo-archerfish as a cost effective counter to ranged units at level 3. Turtle is preferable for L5 combos.

4. Baboon- 4/5
Strong stats overall with high base defence and hp with OK speed and attack. Also comes with the powerful pack hunter ability, though this may make low level combos unfeasibly expensive electricity wise. One half of the infamous baboon-sperm whale L5 sonic combo.

5. Bat- 2/5
Sonar pulse at a low level is the only reason you would want this, very low defensive stats and not really feasible in higher level combinations. Make it a scout or don't bother.

6. Bull- 4/5
Pros are high HP and fairly good speed, the bull makes a reasonable base for tough L4 range/melee and L3 tanks, charge attack can help with this. Horns are good for dealing with high defence units, but it's often not cost effective until L4.

7. Camel- 4/5
A great base for low to mid level combos of all types. The camel features high speed and decent survivability. It's size puts range units on L2/L3 border. Archerfish-camel is a go to L2 artillery.

8. Chameleon- 4/5
As ranged goes chameleon boasts above average attack power and above average range making it a good choice overall. Any chameleon combo comes with regen and optionally camoflauge- this is somewhat a double edged sword as it causes electricity costs to become even a little unsightly for L3 let alone L2. If you want regen or camo then this is the ranged unit of choice.

9. Cheetah- 3/5
Adding a cheetah is (unsurprisingly) a recipe for a speedy creature, even at huge elephant sizes and mixed legs/torso the given creature should still maintain above average speed. The cheetah offers little else though, HP and defence are poor and melee is average. I often find the high speed overkill as it boosts coal costs up too much. Still there are plenty of interesting options.

10. Chimpanzee- 5/5
One of the two artillery units in the game and therefore highly useful. The archerfish and chimp are pretty nicely balanced in this game and often both feature in my armies. Chimp has lower base damage but is forced to take pack hunter (~50elec) boosting it by 40%. This I find to be a disadvantage early game but an advantage later game for giving better value per coal.

11. Coyote- 3/5
Definitely more of a lightweight creature, this would probably be best suited for level 1 combos if they were more viable. You can make the occasional cheap L2 range/art unit which are OK. If you want keen sense to counter camo or digging this is a good choice for L2 melee.

12. Crocodile- 3/5
You get the occasional useful combo from the croc- the tail attack and powerful bite lend to acheiving a very high attack rating which can work for L4 raiding types or flyers. Unfortunately it's overshadowed at level 5 and nearly impossible to shoehorn in at level 3 due to it's high melee and hp. Try Croc+dragonfly for a face-melting 37 melee on a L4 flyer.

13. Dragonfly- 4/5
Quite useful as a flyer due to the unusual high damage front leg attack, this is the key to glass cannon flyers and most don't cost too much either. Croc combo is mentioned above but you can form an even more glass cannon(y) air unit using a kangaroo.

14. Eagle- 3/5
Not terrible, but nothing special. It has no passive abilities so tends to make electricity cheap units like the snowy owl. Also the size is high for a flyer which opens up some combos with smaller creatures.

15. Electric Eel- 4/5
The highest damage direct range unit, boosting a massive 13 damage at L3 which can be further boosted with pack hunter. Range is low but it won't matter too much for L3 and above. Don't bother with electric burst unless it's a gimmick unit. Lioness-eel is an absolute killer at L3.

16. Elephant- 5/5
Excellent high level unit, possibly the best in the game. Hp and defence are very good and defence comes boosted with the well placed herding bonus, speed is lowish but charge attack does a lot more for this than other high level units. Horns are basically required for L5 melee and are provided. Good combos at L5 are very abundant. Try to keep defence higher than 40 to make the most of herding and you can't go wrong.

17. Giraffe- 4/5
High speed, fairly fragile mid game base. If you use this it will probably be in L3- it's decent size gives ranged units a good punch without the elec cost of the popular pack hunting lioness, secondary use is for good raiders at L3 or sometimes L4 too.

18. Gorilla- 4/5
A fairly healthy unit that can be put to use as part of a durable L3 tank. Herding comes with it which means you should try to get defence as close to 40-50 as possible (it's not that easy on this). Can work in a frightening L5 melee unit though generally it's smarter to opt for higher defence units.

19. Great White Shark- 3/5
A very healthy and powerful unit which is extremely fast in water, frenzy is a useful addition which can double attack power for a time. Like several animals it tends to make strong L4 units but cannot stand up to the best L5 melee types, as it is difficult to give it horns and high defence. Try GWS+wolf for a durable pack hunter/frenzy raider at L4.

20. Grizzly Bear- 2/5
A focused low level melee unit. The bear has good speed and OK bulk, but low defence hampers it for L3+. If it had a slightly higher size (which would also reflect nature) it would make a solid ranged base, but sadly can't provide the punch.

21. Hammerhead Shark- 3/5
Much more likely to be found in a water specific army than a general army. The hammerhead has high water speed and decent speed/melee. You might use it on a mid level creature if you wanted keen sense to counter camo shenanigans.

22. Hippopotamus- 5/5
V. solid creature. Overall the hippo is basically a mini-elephant (which can move in water). The high 40s defence and herding- combined with solid HP make the hippo very resiliant. The scope of usefulness can range from L3 amphibious tanks (think zebra and camel combos), to level 5 range and artillery units. Speed is very low but charge attack is provided to help.

23. Hornet- 3/5
Poison and flying is a decent combo, though you'll be paying a lot electricity wise, especially with the situational immunity. You'll have to mix it with something a bit bulky otherwise the results will have pathetic survivability.

24. Hyena- 3/5
Low level plus pack hunter tends not to work particularly well on serious armies (due to the high electricity costs). The hyena is somewhat at a loose end then since it's stats are largely suited for low levels. It lacks the speed to raid so the only hope is some general combat units at level 3-4 or a budget babale at level 5.

25. Killer Whale- 3/5
Speaking of budget sonic... Using the Kwhale means you can achieve sonic at level 4, or make sub par level 5 sonics. Generally I'd stick to the sperm whale as 15 is a lot more attack than 9 for really not a massive amount more cost.

The Creatures (26-51 Komodo dragon to Zebra)

26. Komodo Dragon- 4/5
This is a good creature with some useful abilties, poison and regen are very nice on general combat creatures or tanks at L3-4, just make sure you build in enough speed and hp to make use of them.

27. Lemming- 1/5
Along with the ant the only digger among the stock animals. Stats are awful though and it'd be best suited to L1 if anything. Digging just isn't useful enough to save this creature.

28. Lioness- 4/5
Speedy, with pack hunter and with a decent size- the lioness is almost perfect for a L3 range unit- just plop a range attacking head on the body of a lioness and you've made a top tier unit. Alternatively the speed can lend itself to making a decent raider.

29. Lobster- 5/5
Massive defence and jam packed with useful abilities, the lobster is a great creature for mid to late game. Combined with a sturdy horns unit you make some of the most formidable creatures in the game. For example the lobster-moose which boasts 82 defence, 37 melee and over 600hp(?)- along with barrier destroy and regen.

30. Mountain Lion- 4/5
A fairly lightweight unit which verges on the side of speed and defence. You can use it in many combinations where it lends it's useful stats- mostly at L2 and 3. Size could be better for ranged combos though.

31. Musk Ox- 5/5
This creature is tough and perfectly fills the crucial L3 tank role. Natural hp is above average but the real selling point is that combos can fairly easily attain 40-50 defence which is the sweetspot for herding (inherent ability for the Ox). Out of all the L3 tanks I've made, probably half use this creature.

32. Black Panther- 4/5
This creature is essentially the cheetah but slightly slower and bulkier. Not much else to say, it can make occasional decent melee unit early game where it lends high speed and good other stats. Size is too low to make punchy range units and defence is too low for most L5 units.

33. Piranha- 3/5
Frenzy and pack hunter combined with a powerful bite make the piranha a raider type unit waiting to happen, it could also do general combat as Frenzy and pack hunter are both great abilities. Try a piranhas head on a fast unit with a front leg attack such as the horse.

34. Poison Frog- 4/5
The frog has a real niche in low level range units. You won't see it past L3 in serious armies but it's universally the favourite for that critical L2 range slot. In comparison to other creatures the damage could be better, though range is the highest which is quite decisive at L2. There are potential L3 poison touch based melee units too.

35. Polar Bear- 4/5
This creature has a niche in that it is amphibious with good water and land speed. You will almost always see it at least once in any given water army due to this. Apart from this polar bear is a fairly standard unit that can fill many roles to a reasonable ability.

36. Porcupine- 4/5
An underated creature- the porcupine offers a ranged solution to high defence creatures (and without the 50 electricity cost of the horns ability!) Aside from this the ranged characteristics are lower than the other types- but this can be worth it, as the low damage results in a lower coal cost and reserach level. Don't bother with quill explosion though.

37. Praying Mantis- 3/5
Praying mantis combos tend to have high melee damage and leap attack can work well too. On the whole they have good stats for early-mid game but if you're a stickler like me- whether you use one or not will depend on whether you want immunity for 15 elec.

38. Ram- 2/5
The Ram suffers from too many abilties and not enough bulk to make herding work optimally. It can make OK L3 or 4 units but there's better out there.

39. Rat- 2/5
Another creature that is all ability and no stats. It's potentially useful if L1 creatures were any good, but they aren't really. Plague could be good but it's probably more micro than it's worth, and the elec costs mean it's going to be a subpar combat unit value wise.

40. Rhinoceros- 4/5
A reasonable base creature. Defence and hp are high and speed is augmented with charge attack. It's a mini-elephant though missing the crucial herding. It uses horns well at L4 and 5 in many combos.

41. Scorpion- 4/5
Stats wise very similar to the lobster, although works better in L3/4 raiders than L5 tanks. Regen and amphibious travel work better for that sort of job. Poison can be handy although it is expensive, scorpion units tend to have high melee damage. Barrier destroy can help for excessive soundbeams and fences.

42. Skunk- 3/5
The lone user of stink cloud which can be useful, however generally not usually useful enough to waste an army slot on- because any unit part skunk and paying the electricity for the ability will be sub par. Micro heavy.

43. Snapping Turtle- 4/5
The king of defence at a huge 90 (meaning 90% damage reduction!). I've changed my tune about this unit somewhat. Although the huge defence rating is largely wasted on other level 5 units that have horns- It is by far the best melee for countering sonic and other direct range units. Even creatures with 70-80 defence do far worse running the gauntlet of sonic/tongue spam and for this reason I now quite often put in a turtle L5 as it somewhat removes the need to have artillery to counter these situations.

44. Snowy Owl- 3/5
Fairly average flyer with no outstanding stats or abilities, though if you need a cheap scout it has a huge sight radius (45m). If you are building a flyer try it out, though I usually tend to other, better creatures such as the raven.

45. Sperm Whale- 5/5
The king of size at (10), anything that is part sperm whale will become a very large and powerful creature. Sperm whale units have the strongest sonic attack in the game which will be the main use of this unit. Just try not to give the target unit massive melee attack too, as it will boost the coal cost pointlessly.

46. Spitting Cobra- 3/5
Interesting concept for a ranged unit but in practice it's not the best. It costs more electricity and has less damage and range than the competitors, the short lived poison doesn't really add anything when you are focus firing units which is often a good way to use ranged units. Hit and run kiting is the idea- but it tends not to work too well in this game, even with fast units.

47. Tiger- 4/5
A strong and fast unit, this tends to excel in L4 raider or general combat combos but can contribute it's bulkiness to the occasional L3 tank. It doesn't have the defence or abilities to see much use at L5

48. Vulture- 3/5
This guy is all about frenzy, which can really work on flyers- if you want it- use the vulture, if not use something else like the eagle. You can even make land raiding units with it.

49. Wolf- 4/5
The wolf is another creature that suffers from being a low level creature that has a ton of elec heavy abilities. Because of this it is usually seen more at L3 to L4 where speed and pack hunter can make an effective raider. Defence is a little lacking for L5 but it makes a good sonic when mixed with a sperm whale.

50. Wolverine- 3/5
The wolverine is an interesting creature, when mixed with something bigger hp will be extremely high. It also packs the ever useful frenzy. Lacks application somewhat as higher level creatures tend to be better off with high defence and lower level frenzy users prefer to be in a raiding mould. Size is also quite small for range/artillery use. My best idea is to mix it with an elephant for a L5 frenzy monster.

51. Zebra- 4/5
Great base creature, especially for L2 range units. The zebra-frog combo is awesome. It can also make good raiders at L3 (rattlesnake-zebra anyone?). Units tend to be good value, high speed but a little fragile. Like the little brother of the camel, which is in turn the little brother of the giraffe.

Expansion Creatures (52-61 Warthog - Rattlesnake)

Expansion Animals

52. Warthog- 2/5
Too many abilities without enough bulk, too high electricity for low level combos and not strong enough for high level. This is the Ram again but less physical. Can see a little use at L3 though.

53. Moose- 5/5
A powerful L5 unit that has a little more speed than it's competitors, vicious melee and high defence. The moose will feature heavily among good L5 melee creatures. I usually prefer the elephant personally though.

54. Raven- 5/5
The highest speed flyer and comes with pack hunter which is ideal for high level combinations. Low defence though which can only be avoided by reducing speed. Try moose-raven or elephant-raven.

55. Walrus- 3/5
Tanky amphibious creature with horns. In principle not bad however it will mainly see use in water armies since amphibious isn't too good before L4 and it can't really cut L5 too well.

56. Horse- 4/5
Good base creature, very high speed. Excellent for L4 raiding and range creatures. Keep an eye on the coal cost as sometimes that speed can be overkill.

57. Dolphin- 3/5
Your only choice for L3 sonic- 6 damage. Costs a lot of electricity compared to standard range and only really excels versus massed units. If the opponent has massed units it could be worth it but they'll be less effective vs low numbers. Sonic is better at L5 generally.

58. Woolly Mammoth- 4/5
A beefier elephant though you lose the defence and herding which hurts it's prospects- also, charge attack would be useful. Builds the most powerful land base for range units which can make it decent for archerfish or eel combos.

59. Garfish- 4/5
Likely to be used more in water armies, high base defence will help it make strong L3 tank combos. Musk ox-garfish is a solid amphibious tank.

60. Kangaroo- 3/5
A rare back legs attack means kangaroo combos can often attain very high melee attack, it doesn't really offer much aside from that though. Nothing too special. Try in flyers or general combat L4s.

61. Rattlesnake- 4/5
This thing has one job- to bring the power of regen, camo and a high melee attack to a high base speed creature and make a fearsome raiding unit. Horse-rattlesnake is probably the best raider in the game. However, having a raider is somewhat optional- stopping the snake from attaining a 5/5 rating.

Conclusion

Almost all the creatures I've rated at 3 or 4 out of 5. This goes to show just how many creatures are viable to make units with and how much of a good job the developers have done in balancing the creatures against each other. Granted the very best creatures at 4 and 5 will show up repeatedly- but many 3 ranked creatures will still appear in armies.

I hope this has been useful food for thought- if nothing else there may be something to be learned from seeing another persons point of view on the creatures.

[Gandalf the Broke]

ive been getting back into the game and i randomly made a croc/chimp combo which seems to be doing wonders. every game I kinda forget about them, then remember them, make a few and they end up doing the most damage by far. definitely something I'm keeping as a nice range backup

[Bulborb87]

Btw if i had to make 1 change to this list...i'd probably reduce the rat's score from 2/5 to 1/5 as it really has nothing going for it, it's ability is niche at best and makes it slightly better then the lemming...but not by much since the lemming is the worst unit in the game

[Bulborb87]

@PistolPete i just checked and yeah the scorpion ox is a tough mid-game tank as it has a little more health and defense then the mountain lion variant, if you go ox body and head with the scorpion leg's you can hit 193 HP and 50 defense at the cost of being really slow at 16 speed

personally i like the mountain lion variant since i find it a really flexible mid-game tank that can create an almost unbreakable wall on the front line while you prepare an aerial assault or get some other units ready to flank

[PistolPete]

@Bulborb87 Yeah I used that one a lot too. You can flood the map with them and they don't go down very easy. I quite like scorpion+ox combo too (scorp head and front legs). I think it's the toughest/most cost efficient L3 herding tank but the mountain lion version is faster and has much better sight radius.

[Bulborb87]

Something i never mentioned is that my personal favourite mid-game tank combo is Musk Ox + Mountain Lion, it's pretty tanky and can be pretty good offensively too, in my opinion this is just a solid combo

[Dark Sun]

@PistolPete Yeah that's why I use the MuskOx-Porcupine combo on maps with limited coal and the Lioness-Eel combo on maps that have more abundant resources. Typically my style relies on trying to conserve as many resources as possible through my combinations while still being effective in combat. The vulture-wolverine combo is one of my favorites; it's terrific for hassling resource lines. (Everything wolverine except for the back legs and the wings of the vulture.)

[PistolPete]

@Sage, Yep one of the default AI armies uses it and it's a real pain to deal with unless you have appropriate counter units (good/upgraded artillery or other porc range backed with hp based meatshields would be the ideal). It's strength comes from it both abusing and cost-effectively countering herding at the same time which is very powerful at level 3.
The lion-eel plays quite differently since it's a much faster glass-cannony type unit, great for outputting a lot of damage from behind a meatshield /sniping henchman whilst being able to reposition or retreat quickly.

[Dark Sun]

I've tried the Lioness-Eel combination and it is a beast, although I personally prefer the Porcupine-Ox combo. (High defence + herding, quills attack, decent health, moderate resource cost; everything Ox except for the head.)

[Bulborb87]

See I 100% agree on what you said about the Lemming as that thing is a thoroughly worthless unit to use in any combination thnx to it's low stats and next to no use, plus it's completely outclassed by the Ant in every possible way (as the ant is stronger and has much better stats)

(btw I love how u mentioned the Whaloon's as those things are a beast)

now this build I have used may seem a little unorthodox but for me has been very handy: Ravite Shark's (Great White + Raven) with pack hunter + frenzy these demon shark's can certainly get some work done when in large groups and have the right support (in my case it result's in a rather ferocious force of baboon whales and demon sharks)

[Pirahna01]

Great guide my friend, good job!