Which races of the Dominion did you use?

[Shar Dundred]

The Orcs' equivalent for this thread. I just forgot to creat it earlier.
With the Second Orc Book having been released for quite a while now, I'd like to know which of the
many Dominion races you used and/or used PREFERABLY. And share your thoughts about them!

 

[LISBOAH]

The Orcs' equivalent for this thread. I just forgot to creat it earlier.
With the Second Orc Book having been released for quite a while now, I'd like to know which of the
many Dominion races you used and/or used PREFERABLY. And share your thoughts about them!

I attempted to use all because they tended to complement each other. However I had preferences:
-The Ogres: their units can both take a lot of damage and deal too.
-The Goblins: their mechanical units are very useful, since some can switch between ground and air
-Gnolls and Trolls: I tended to use more their spellcasters since they were more of the supporting type, though the trolls' faster regeneration was sometimes very helpful.
-Dragons: I liked them, but sadly they only became avaiable when things started getting serious. They were quite costly and seeing them being killed made me feel sad due to the amount of resources and time spent.

 

[Championfighter25]

Trolls: I used the headhunters in earlier chapters a lot. Using the witch doctor often is a no brainer. I never really found any use for the troll batrider though. I don't even remember training him once to be honest.

Goblins: Probably the race I used the most. Warmechs were a staple unit in my army composition. I also used the Airship a lot, but its use diminished after we got the red dragons.

Centaur: The impaler was the only unit I pretty much trained. Their other units weren't bad, but I never really liked them a lot.

Ogres: I used them a lot. The perfect combination of damage and durability.

Dragons: Never really found a used for the red drake. I found the red dragon to be a very nice replacement to the goblin airship though.

Gnolls & Harpies: Except for the gnoll brawler I found uses for all of them. The gnoll assassin in particular, I found to be quite more powerful than the headhunter.

Bearmen: Sadly, I never really used them. The gladiator was a good unit, but I always prefered the shieldbearer and mauler.

 

[Kasrkin]

The front is a combination of Shieldbearers and Gladiators

Support is a mix of troll witch doctors, centaur spiritcallers, and an occasional ogre magi. Will bring a few wardens if needed to give everyone an armor boost.

Of coursh our handy demos are around.

And ogre overlord will be around sometimes just for that nice aura in the thick of the fight.

Marauders, Impalers, and Dragons are situational and while the centaur is very versatile I prefer my army to survive in the thick of the fight. While dragons are nice they take up too much food for me to use in a not surefire situation. Often if I use them it's in combination with a hero squad to do quick damage without risk to the rest of the army.

Bloodhounds I will bring out if things are spiraling out of control and I need a decent unit into the fight quickly. Also if the pop is weird and not filled out I'll grab them.


Meant to stay in the fight and win, I fought the Red Day with a menagerie of units at first but as the first of the outer bases fell and my army's composition was now in my hands I went with what worked for me. Fighting off three and more armies at once with units still remaining and sometimes fully intact.

 

[Hardric62]

Well, going through all races:

-Orcs: Huntress for quick siege units, but as time passed, I mainly went with Shieldbearers for the frontline, because OMG are they glorious tanks. Sometimes Shamans too. Guess I'll kinda sorta counts the Golems here thanks to Grofzag though, and well, they delivered, and it was nice they could hit air units in a pinch. Definitely not touching the Axethrowers unless they were the only choice though, 420 HP is a bit not enough for me for a 3 Food unit, especially when other 2 Food shooters with roughly same HP can compete in sheer damage and brings gimmicks like Regen, Berserk, Poison... Impalers got them beaten in HP, Damage, and the Crit chance. Pass.
-Trolls: My least used race, generally when flyers were around. Kept forgetting to use them for their Healing Wards didn't help.
-Goblins: Mechas are a solid unit, and Airships were good enough for me against air units (don't recommend them for siege though).
-Bearmen: Gladiators felt a bit redundant with Shieldbearers, although I did use them when I needed to spare some extra food. Elder can help with decreasing enemies' armors, but their healing is my main reason for taking them. Rejuvenation's use makes sure your frontline isn't ever dying, especially when heroes are there.
-Centaurs: I saw the potential, but felt I wasn't good enough on micro for Spiritcallers, and it led me to skip them more than I should have, because tey remain solid units. Impalers were good AA and Missile units, Spiritcallers or not.
-Gnolls: Bringing back Humans. Bloodhounds were nice in a pinch, Assassins excellent, Brawlers... pretty sure I should have used them more to soak Piercing Damage. Wardens (the ones with a Priest's spells list) were a must for me, and Mystics were good when I managed to spare the time to micro them.
-Harpies: Mostly used to repel air raiders and harassment, though I can see the potential for frontline support with Poison, Slowing, and Magic attack can opener.
-Ogres: My sword to the Shieldbearers'... Well, shield. Sometimes with an Overlord for the Aura. Almost always with Magis for the damage boost and somtimes a well-placed Hex. The latter's pretty good melee stats don't hurt either.
-Dragons: Didn't use drakes that much, although I guess it could have been worth a try. Definitely Draongs for snipping critical buildings or siege units while the frontline fought (Easy mode tactics, but they got me through the final mission with Logan alive).

Overall, I went with Shieldbearers (or Gadiators) to tank, Ogres to hit (replaced with high-damage units available when they aren't there), with Magi/Elders/Wardens to buff and heal, Witch Doctors and Shamans when the others aren't here. Shooters were a more... in the-air part of the army, with me experimenting most of them, except Axethrowers, and less and less Trolls I guess. Once I had that core, I went looking for what I'd need considering the opposition in the mission. Frequently no Siege engines though, units can do it too, especially Huntresses, and while the AoE can be good, I generally prefer not having to worry about it, unless they're really necessary. With of course all present Heroes' spells played to maximum effect.

I'd take advices for not too micro-intensive builds to rediscover the campaign though, and builds allowing to progressively learn to use more and more micro-management. Gotta try ot beat these maps on Normal eventually someday...

 

[gogohappyday]

Lets see....

It depended on the chapter really as you only unlock that race in that chapter and onwards.

I ended up switching up shieldbearers and clan brutes b/c midway I found clan brutes to more satisfying than shieldbearers mainly b/c of the pillage and cost 5 food as opposed to shieldbearers costing 6 and found their attack to be slower.

On chapter 7 I mostly relied on Clan Brutes/Shieldbearers. A few warmechs, witch doctors for healing.

Chapter 8 gets the ball rolling with several races at your disposal with orcs, trolls, centaurs and bearman. I mostly depended on my clan brutes, Impalers, witch doctors, and couple demolishers I ended up not using the bearmen b/c the bearmen gladiators while superior to the Clan brutes/shieldbearers took more time to build so i ended up ignoring them.

Chapter 9. I used clan brutes and impalers with witch doctors. Didn't change much apparently from the last chapter. Switched to all dragon mode after taking the roosts.

Chapter 10. Definitely a headache but i remember using knoll assassins alot with gladiators. witch doctors for healers. I realized I should have used goblin sappers 2/3 of the way through to blow up the castles.

Chapter 11. I used harpies, gnoll assassins, clan brutes, and witch doctors.

Chapter 12 and onwards I was really dragon heavy with witch doctors for healing.

Overall I barely/never used the bearman and ogres. Only used gnoll assassins for ranged on chapter 10 and 11. Only used centaur impalers. Harpies I feel while good get quickly out phased out by dragons within chapter 12. I found the goblin warmechs (ground form) outclassed by impalers so i neglected them quickly. Their airships I never used.

 

[Shar Dundred]

I find it intruiging that playstyles differ the way they do - I'd say it shows that the race
mechanic works rather than just throw tons of units at you.

Thank those who have shared their experience so far, I can't wait to read even more.

 

[Axmand]

I liked a lot the Goblins, i like a lot technology, it would be good if the human could have Gnomes as counter part of Goblins, but its a little too late for that.

IMO got more versatility than others races, i mean, ranged and dont have a serious disvantage for it.

As a additional note for air warships of both faction (human and orcs) should have a multi target attack, i mean a lot of cannons and only 1 target attack? or they attack speed should be higher.

 

[DD Mikasa]

A little late on this one but oh well here it goes.


For me the orcs were the backbone of my armies whenever i was in need of a front line(shield bearers) or support units (necrolytes+warlocks or shamans).
Whats there to say shield bearers are your main go to tank,with nice passives and also nice offensive potential especially when combined with either shaman's bloodlust or warlocks unholy frenzy.
As for the spellcasters necrolytes and warlocks carried me for most of the early phase of the book.They are the perfect combo to deal with Paladins(Which you do face alot),Rangers with their starfall or humans rather lacking frontline units (6xChainlightning wears down pretty quickly even human knights).


As for troll...I felt like they were overshadowed by their competitors...Don't get me wrong their witch doctors are amazing as healers and mass crowed controllers and their headhunters are good for dealing with air units, but later on furbolg shamans and goblin warmechs both fullfiled those niches better and i felt that they were rather underwhelming during the later phases of the book(still during the early phases of the book the witch doctors are superb at base defence)


Goblins whats there to say about them,reliable,useful,jack of all trades.Warmechs proved to be crutial as both air and ground ranged units.
Their shreders SOLVE the lumber problem and offer a decent melee unit if need be.Suicide squads with their kaboom,to be honest i overlooked them at first but later on i realized they were...Rather useful.Destroyers unfortunately seemed to be lackluster for me it got outshined by the warmech in the air warfare and to be honest the goblin destroyers aren't the best choice for siege units as well.


Ogres and cyclops: Their overlord aura combined with shield bearers its neat(found myself using this combo alot) and during the earlier phases of the book when shield bearers weren't available their ogre warriors provided decent front liners with a decent cleave,as for the spellcasters i did not use them alot.


Furbolgs...At first i struggled to find a place for them in my armies but really soon i realized that Gladiators were the perfect "backup" tankers(i often had a combined front line of both Gladiators and Shieldbearers) and their shamans offered a better alternative(for me) for a healing unit,replacing the witch doctor.

Gnolls+Centaurs: I am putting this two together because for me...I did not know what to make of them.Their units seem to try and fulfill the role of a jack of all trades,medium tier unit but by the time we get centaurs and gnolls we already have better alternatives to them. I did not use them alot with the exception of the Gnoll spellcaster who combined with the necrolytes provided a rather nasty combo.