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Tip of the Week #32: Awaken Wyrm

By Forlong - 5th June 2010 - 23:43 PM

The Awaken Wyrm power was almost never used in 2.01. The power was only taken in extremely late game, given that almost all of the powers on the Mordor and Goblins power trees were more cost-effective than the Wyrm was. As with all underpowered things in 2.01, the Wyrm has been balanced in 2.02 and is now a much more effective unit, even if you don't consider the fact that the power is in much more accessible locations on the power trees. This short tip will briefly cover the three main areas in which the Wyrm has been changed in 2.02.


Armor


In 2.01, the Wyrm was a very weak unit that died quickly to enemy attacks, especially archers, which could shoot it down in seconds at range. (Pretty lame seeing your 15 power points wasted on a monster that can only get in a couple of attacks before dying.) In 2.02, the Wyrm now has BFME II armor. Its health has been increased to 15,000, from 10,000 in 2.01, so he can take 50% more damage than before. This makes what used to be its most effective counter, enemy archers, much less useful at taking it out (though they're still effective). The Wyrm also takes 70% less magic and frost damage than it did in 2.01. There is a downside to the Wyrm's new armor, though: it takes four times as much structural damage (from Fortresses and structure arrow towers, for example) than it did in 2.01 (though it won't die four times as quickly, because it has 50% more health). Although the Wyrm's best and most frequent use is to destroy production buildings in an enemy base, be aware that a lot of arrow towers will kill your Wyrm. Conversely, arrow towers are your best defense against a Wyrm. If your opponent summons a Wyrm in your own base, it's usually best to target all of your Fortresses' arrow towers at the Wyrm to kill it as quickly as possible. This works for all factions except Mordor, whose Barricade Expansions can't be commanded to attack a specific enemy as you can't select the individual archers on them.


Stances


One more 2.02 addition allows the Wyrm to use stances if desired; in 2.01 it was unable to switch out of Battle Stance. The Wyrm uses stances like a hero, which means it's often best to leave the Wyrm in Battle Stance.

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You might be tempted to use Aggressive Stance when attacking buildings with the Wyrm, but this quickly gives away a novice player. Aggressive Stance increases the Wyrm's attack by only 10% while reducing the Wyrm's armor by 43%, so Aggressive Stance is almost always a bad idea. Only use Aggressive Stance if nobody is attacking your Wyrm, or you're sure that its lifetime will expire before it dies.

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Defensive Stance gives the Wyrm -20% Damage and just +11% Armor. This stance is more useful, since the Wyrm does so much damage to structures that it will usually kill the structure in the same number of attacks with -20% Damage as it would with full damage, though the extra survivability won't usually make a huge difference.


Reposition


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The final big change to the Wyrm is its Reposition ability. In 2.01, Reposition was a hidden ability that the Wyrm used on its own. A few players in 2.01 might think they have some success in moving the Wyrm with lots of clicking, but they are mistaken: after summoning the Wyrm, a player could do absolutely nothing to move it. 2.02 is different in that Reposition is now a usable ability. This allows the Wyrm to be used to much greater effectiveness, since you can now attack what you want to (usually enemy structures) rather than relying on the Wyrm's poor AI to select its own targets. There is a downside to this, though: if there are no targets nearby the Wyrm, it won't Reposition on its own anymore, it will just sit where it is doing nothing, and you'll waste your power. For this reason, some players prefer to right-click on the Reposition ability to set it to autoability (autocast), which is roughly equivalent to letting the Wyrm move itself in 2.01. Your best bet is probably to control the Wyrm for maximum effectiveness, though.


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