Battle for Middle Earth 2

When playing with Goblins, few people give much thought to base defense, as Goblins are a unit-based, offensive-style faction, and do not boast tough structures such as Dwarves or Men have. They do, on the other hand, possess some of the best Fortress upgrades and expansions in the game. This guide will teach you which upgrades and expansions to get, when to get them, and how to use them to the best of their ability.

Expansions

Arrow Den


Cost: 370

Health: 1000

Damage: 75

Buildtime: 15 secs

When To Build

With a very low cost, decent health, good damage, and fast buildtime, this is the standard base defense for Goblins, and should be built whenever you have need quick, basic defense of critical structures. They can also be upgraded with Fire Arrows for an additional 20 flame damage.

Best Vs. (without Fire Arrows)

• Archers
• Swordsmen
• Low-tier Pikemen
• Basic Calvary
• Low-tier Heroes
• Fliers

Mediocre Vs. (without Fire Arrows)

• Un-upgraded high-tier Calvary
• Mid-tier Heroes
• High-tier Pikemen
• Mountain Trolls

Poor Vs. (without Fire Arrows)

• Seige units
• High-tier Heroes
• Upgraded Infantry
• Upgraded Calvary
• Monsters

Best Vs. (with Fire Arrows)

• All un-upgraded Infantry
• All un-upgraded Calvary
• Low and Mid-tier Heroes
• Ents
• Mumakil
• Fliers

Mediocre Vs. (with Fire Arrows)

• Monsters (except Attack Trolls)
• Battering Rams
• High-tier Heroes
• Upgraded Infantry
• Upgraded Basic Calvary

Poor Vs. (with Fire Arrows)

• Attack Trolls
• Upgraded High-tier Calvary

As you can see, the Arrow Den can defend against numerous threats even without being upgraded, and becomes much more powerful when upgraded with Fire Arrows. When building Arrow Dens, build them in the spot closest to your critical structures, such as a level 3 Fissure or Treasure Trove. Even though they do not have a good amount of health, Arrow Dens should still the mainstay of your base defense, and most of the build plots around your Fortress should compromise of these by mid-late game.

Spider Holes


Cost: 400

Health: 1000 (Spiderling health is 300)

Buildtime: 15 secs

When To Build
One of the most useful expansions in the game, Spider Holes send out little Spiderlings to attack the marauding enemy hordes, and, more importantly, stop them in their tracks. Because of this, Spider Holes do an excellent job of defending critical structures against most units, and should be built as close to critical structures as possible. Also, do not build these to defend against Pikemen, as you will soon lose all of your little Spiderlings, the structure the Pikemen are going after, and probably the expansion itself. Build a couple of Arrow Dens instead. Oh, and one last thing. Build the Spider Hole(s) away from the front, and out of the line of fire from Archers, as they will be able to snipe the Spiderlings even when they are still in the Hole.

Best Vs.

• Swordsmen
• Low and Mid-tier Heroes
• Basic upgraded Calvary and un-upgraded High-tier Calvary
• Battering Rams

Mediocre Vs.

• High-tier Heroes
• Upgraded High-tier Calvary

Poor Vs.

• Pikemen
• Archers
• Monsters

While they may be weak versus many different units, Spider Holes are still a crucial weapon in your defensive arsenal. They are very effective versus most heroes, but the real key to their defensive capability is that they stop almost all units dead in their tracks, preventing them from going forward until they kill the Spiderlings, giving you time to mobilize your defensive forces. When you combine their stopping capability with Arrow Dens, your base becomes a force to be reckoned with.

Burrows


Cost: 450

Health: 1000

Buildtime: 5 secs

When To Build
While they do not have any defensive capabilities by themselves, Burrows can still be useful in certain situations where you do not have local access to the tunnel network, or when immediate access to the tunnel network is required, like in a backdoor battering ram in your base. Because of it's very fast buildtime, the Burrows expansion is perfect for a situation such as that, but other than that there will not be many times where it is useful.

Giant Sentry


Cost: 1200

Health: 1500

Radius: 500

Buildtime: 30 secs

When To Build
Since the Giant Sentry is so expensive, you will rarely have the resources to afford building one, but it can prove to be a game-saving defense in certain situations. Because of it's long range and slow, inaccurate attack, the Giant Sentry is not very effective against most units by themselves, but when combined with units or other defenses, they become a force to be reckoned with, and should be built whenever you need long range defense.

Best Vs.

• Un-upgraded long range Seige units
• Archers
• Low-tier Heroes
• Mumakil
• Battering Rams

Mediocre Vs.

• Un-upgraded Pikemen
• Mid-tier Heroes
• Un-upgraded Swordsmen
• Monsters (except Attack Trolls)

Poor Vs.

• Calvary
• High-tier Heroes
• Upgraded long range Seige units
• Upgraded Swordsmen
• Upgraded Pikemen

Upgrades

Bat Cloud


Cost: 500

Buildtime: 30 secs

When To Buy
Bat Cloud is one of the most useful upgrades in the game, just simply due to the fact that it greatly increases your fortress's vision and detects stealthed units, and should be built as soon as you have the extra resources to purchase it. The possiblities from the increased vision Bat Cloud grants you are endless, such as eliminating the possiblity of suprise attacks on smaller maps such as Fords of Isen 2, allowing you to cast powers on the enemies army in places they would never expect, and greatly enhancing your ability to harass effectively. The benefits from this upgrade far surpass the meager resources it takes to purchase it.

Razor Spines


Cost: 1000

Radius: 90

Damage: 150

Buildtime: 30 secs

When To Buy
When it comes to fortress upgrades, Razor Spines is the least useful, and should be at the last one you purchase, unless you are having a lot of trouble from Goblin or Orc Warriors attacking your structures. Otherwise, you are better off spending the 1000 resources it takes to purchase Razor Spines on upgrading your Goblin Cave(s) to level 3, which would do better defensively, while also increasing your offensive capabilities.

Fire Arrows


Cost: 1500

Damage increase: 20 flame damage

Buildtime: 30 secs

When To Buy
When you purchase this upgrade, it adds 20 flame damage to all arrow fire from your fortress, and it is always a good idea to purchase this in mid to late game. The benefits from this upgrade are outlined in the Arrow Den section.


Web Cocoon


Cost: 1600

Armor increase: 35%

Buildtime: 30 secs

Prerequisite to Dragon's Nest

When To Buy
Web Cocoon increases the armor of the fortress and all it's expansions by 35%, which greatly increases their durability, and makes your fortress that much harder to take on. Because of the cost of this upgrade, you should only consider buying it in late game or when your cashfloating. This upgrade is also the prerequisite to Dragon's Nest.

Dragon's Nest


Cost: 1000

Buildtime: 30 secs

When To Buy
You cannot purchase this upgrade until you purchase the Web Cocoon upgrade, making a total cost of obtaining this upgrade 2600 resources. This means that you will probably not have the cash to purchase this until late game, but since it only allows you to purchase the Fire Drake, and nothing else, this upgrade is useless unless that is your goal.

Fire Drake


Cost: 2000

Health: 4050

Damage: 750

Buildtime: 30 secs

Abilities: Inferno

When To Buy
The Fire Drake can only be summoned after both Web Cocoon and Dragon's Nest have been purchased, adding up to a total cost of 4600 resources. Needless to say, that's a lot of dough, which means that you will rarely be given an opportunity to try out this unit. But, if you have purchased all the heroes and other expensive stuff then it may be a good idea to consider summoning this unit.

Best Vs.

• Un-upgraded low-tier Archers
• Swordsmen
• Calvary
• Ents
• Seige units
• Low-tier Heroes

Mediocre Vs.

• Low-tier Monsters
• Structures
• Mid-tier Heroes
• Upgraded low-tier Archers

Poor Vs.

• High-tier Archers
• High-tier Heroes
• High-tier Monsters
• Pikemen
• Level 3 Structures

The Fire Drake is definitely one of the stronger units in the Goblin faction, and is effective versus many different units, but the key here is to realize that you will only be purchasing this upgrade in late game, when your opponent most likely has some high-tier heroes, upgrades, and other such things that greatly reduces the effectiveness of this unit. But it is still a great option versus Mordor and in mirrors, since neither Goblins or Mordor have decent archers, and rarely high-tier heroes. And because most of the units in the Mordor and Goblin faction are weak, purchasing the Fire Drake will allow you to wipe out an entire army at one time if you use the area-effect ability Inferno, which makes your Drake spew flames over a medium-sized area, killing all but the strongest units in the blaze.

Conclusion

I hope that you have all the knowledge you need (and probably a lot more) to build an effective defense against the marauding armies of your enemy. Just remember that for every unit there is a counter, and the same goes for defensive expansions and upgrades, and that you can never totally rely on your structural defenses. You are fighting a thinking enemy, and he will find a way to beat your structural defenses. You will always need units for defense, because upgrades and expansions cannot replace them, but they can sure help.


Written by TheAllSeeingPie.

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