Many Mordor players like to use Fellbeasts against Men of the West, since Fellbeasts are Mordor's most effective counter to Men's powerful Rohirrim. Against an inexperienced Men player, Fellbeasts are indeed a good option. But any semi-decent opponent will be able to completely shut down your Fellbeasts, to the point where it is not even worth buying them against Men at all. Of course, Men's most effective anti-Fellbeast force would be its Rangers, but what sets it apart from the other factions is that it has several heroes that can counter Fellbeasts as well, especially when working together. Although Fellbeasts fare much better against Eowyn and Gandalf as of v3.0.0 thanks to their increased Magic resistance, it is still very risky to purchase them.
Fellbeasts have 6000 health at level one, and 6800 health at level ten. All statistics presented in this guide assume both units are in Battle Stance. If the enemy hero is in Defensive Stance, then your Fellbeasts will take 20% less damage. If it is in Aggressive Stance, then you will take 10% more damage. YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER TAKE FELLBEASTS OUT OF BATTLE STANCE. Switching a Fellbeast into either Aggressive or Defensive will make it much, much easier to kill (due to its MASSIVE loss of armor in Aggressive, and significant loss of speed in Defensive; the extra defense you gain from Defensive Stance is not worth the speed lost).
Due to Eowyn's low cost, she is Men's most useful hero for countering Fellbeasts. Indeed, countering Fellbeasts is Eowyn's primary purpose in RotWK. When Eowyn is level one, her Smite attack will deal 3200 to an enemy Fellbeast, over half of its health. This power recharges in just one minute, so you should almost always have it recharged and ready to use. As a tip, Mount Eowyn onto her horse if you want to use her to attack a Fellbeast, since it makes targeting the Fellbeast much easier. (Of course, you'll want to dismount her before using her in melee combat.)
Gandalf is the best Fellbeast counter there is, but only after he unlocks Istari Light at level seven. (Although his Lightning Sword ability can kill enemy Fellbeasts, it requires careful timing to activate Lightning Sword when the Fellbeast is swooping low, and not usually worth attempting to pull off in a competitive game.) Since Istari Light comes quite late in the game, you'll almost always want to purchase Eowyn long before Gandalf when facing Mordor. Istari Light will deal 4896 damage to an enemy Fellbeast when Gandalf is at level seven, which is nearly 80% of the Fellbeast's health. (Mordor players: the Mouth of Sauron's Evil Eye ability does the same amount of damage!)
Faramir's Wounding Arrow deals 1830 damage to a Fellbeast when Faramir is at level two. Ouch!
When it comes to slaying Fellbeasts, Eomer is the afterthought in the pantheon on Men heroes. Nevertheless, he can often provide enough extra damage to finish off a Fellbeast. At level two, Spear Throw deals 1230 damage to enemy Fellbeasts, which is about 20% of a Fellbeast's health. That may not seem like much, but when combined with Smite and Wounding Arrow, the three abilities deal enough damage to kill a Fellbeast without any assistance from archers or Gandalf.
Boromir
Boromir is one of Men's most powerful heroes thanks to his Horn of Gondor ability, and is a great choice in any match-up. Or is he? While Boromir can be useful against very poor Mordor players, any decent Mordor player will simply buy Gothmog, since his Iron Hand will make his Orcs immune to Horn of Gondor. This means that Boromir is FAR inferior to Eowyn against Mordor! (While Dain also confers fear resistance to troops, his Stubborn Pride is unlocked at a high level, available far later in the game than Iron Hand is, and Boromir is essential against Dwarves until that point.)
Discuss this guide in our forumsUpdated September 26, 20102.02 Changelog
- Eowyn Smite now properly has a 400% damage scalar vs. Fellbeasts (bugfix).
- Faramir Wounding Arrow now properly has a 300% damage scalar vs. Fellbeasts and Eagles (bugfix); damage increased to 600 (from 300).
- Eomer Spear Throw now has a 300% damage scalar vs. monsters (including Fellbeasts); radius increased to 15 (from 10).
- Gandalf Istari Light no longer has a 200% damage scalar against the mounted Mordor Witch-king.
- Fellbeast magic resistance increased to 160% (from 200%).
