Dryads = Imbalanced

[Zhuangzi]

Yes, they are still of some use, but the Lullaby is the best strength of all.

To illustrate just how good Dryads can be, I am up to level 29 and Murock in my Impossible Warrior game, and I am finding that Dryads just own everything. This is because most Orc units are low level and able to be put to sleep (except Veteran Orcs, I think). My team is as follows (24,000 leadership):

1200 Dryads
200 Hunters
12 Red Dragons
9 Black Dragons
150 Knights

with 15 Emerald Dragons and 150 Horsemen in reserve.

A standard fight, rated Very Strong, went as follows. This was against Orcs, Goblins, Furious Goblins and Hyenas.

Turn 1:

Red Dragons wait, Black Dragons wait, Hunters hit something, Dryads use Lullaby. Red Dragons use special ability, cast Haste, Black Dragons move closer, Knights move closer.

Turn 2:

Cast Phantom on Dryads. Pick off one stack to destroy using the various units. Cast Thorns with the Dryads, near to the sleeping enemies. Cast Thorns with the Phantom Dryads. One stack is killed and rage is now over 50.

Turn 3:

Use Soul Drain (40%) on strongest remaining enemy. This can be cast every turn now. Hit the strongest remaining stack with everything, making sure that the summoned thorns absorb any hits from the enemy stack. Cast Lullaby with the Phantomed Dryads, putting everything back to sleep. Cast Phantom again on the original Dryads.

Turn 4:

Soul Drain again. By now there are several thorns wandering everywhere. They can spawn more Thorns from dead enemies.

Turn 5:

Victory, losing only 2 Knights. It would have been zero but I was a bit lazy. This is not using Resurrection at all; I only suffered one actual hit from 2300 Hyenas, 1400 Orcs, 2000 Furious Goblins and 2200 Gobins.

Yeah, Dryads are overpowered.

[kadrzys]

great using of them I'm thinking about changing my shamans for driads and I'll try to work out something like this in Demonis if possible

[phoenixreborn]

Fine, go into Demonis with only Dryads. Good luck.

[Metathron]

Eh?

[Gatts]

They may be extreme usefull in not few battles - true. But bein overpowered, they have to be usefull all the game - what is not true - later on nearly none of their abilities is usefull:

low leadership? (20) -> more you have - more you loose (vulnerable, low HP)

no retaliation? -> not such a big deal - if they can't kill their target on first hit ... still it is handy, but not powerful

Lulaby? -> how many units are later on lulable? really... not many as far as I know

summon thorns? -> yep - they can take some damage - but later on it is no big deal for enemy to sway away thorns like nothing (as later on are used area efect spells, abilities and mostly fire based)

Is fast? -> well, it give a clear bonus for tactics, but well, you need only one fast unit in army to get first cast and rage use. Other fast units just wait and hope not to be targeted by enemy spells/ archers

Increases speed of elven units? - This could be real handy - for hunters/ elves who by this spell may go first even second round (when you first round +INIT does not apply anymore) so this could get handy... but again, not powerful

Dryads provide very large variety of tactics and combinations, which may look cheating-like, still I voted that they are not overpowered.

[Stepsongrapes]

Originally Posted by Gatts

They may be extreme usefull in not few battles - true. But bein overpowered, they have to be usefull all the game - what is not true - later on nearly none of their abilities is usefull:

While I agree that balance is not an absolute necessary in a single-player game, poor balance can be bad game design as it skews the challenge.

Saying something is only overpowered if it is useful the ENTIRE game is a false standard.

Being overpowered simply means having a usefulness greatly above the average.

KB uses a leadership system to try and equalize units (e.g., dragons are obviously better 1 for 1, but is a single dragon better than 1000 of something else?)- the reason that dryads are WAAAY above the average is that what you get per point of leadership is GREATLY undervalued, in terms of leadership.

Do dryads need a nerf? Not necessarily. Are they VASTLY better than the average, per point of leadership? Undoubtably.

[Ish]

Originally Posted by Stepsongrapes

While I agree that balance is not an absolute necessary in a single-player game, poor balance can be bad game design as it skews the challenge.

Saying something is only overpowered if it is useful the ENTIRE game is a false standard.

Being overpowered simply means having a usefulness greatly above the average.

KB uses a leadership system to try and equalize units (e.g., dragons are obviously better 1 for 1, but is a single dragon better than 1000 of something else?)- the reason that dryads are WAAAY above the average is that what you get per point of leadership is GREATLY undervalued, in terms of leadership.

Do dryads need a nerf? Not necessarily. Are they VASTLY better than the average, per point of leadership? Undoubtably.

Very well said.

I think they are a bit too strong personally

[ywhtptgt]

Originally Posted by Stepsongrapes

Do dryads need a nerf? Not necessarily. Are they VASTLY better than the average, per point of leadership? Undoubtably.

Dryads are good for winning battles through attrition but would undoubtly die in great numbers against heroes and range units. Since most KB-L players use agile strategies (unlike the A.I., we don't win the entire game in one fight) to win, I don't think Dryads are actually that popular to get.

But on the other hand, enemies with lots of Dryads can be scary especially during mid-late game (i.e. Sonya).

[Zandalar]

I do believe they are potent, but they are there for the Impossible level, imagine IF they werent there, what would you use? I also think when ye get to the dragons they will get pwned!

[jake21]

In my warrior game on hard (not sure if hard vs impossible is huge here) I found Murock very very easy and I did not use dyrad (or any elves other than unicorns) nor did I understand how time back worked.

Basically, what I've found is that different areas of the game are easy for different classes. What I'm trying to say is that your technique work well in Murock but almost any technique i tried with warrior worked well in Murock

Both games with mage on hard had much more dififuclty in Murock...

Originally Posted by Zhuangzi

Yes, they are still of some use, but the Lullaby is the best strength of all.

To illustrate just how good Dryads can be, I am up to level 29 and Murock in my Impossible Warrior game, and I am finding that Dryads just own everything. This is because most Orc units are low level and able to be put to sleep (except Veteran Orcs, I think). My team is as follows (24,000 leadership):

1200 Dryads
200 Hunters
12 Red Dragons
9 Black Dragons
150 Knights

with 15 Emerald Dragons and 150 Horsemen in reserve.

A standard fight, rated Very Strong, went as follows. This was against Orcs, Goblins, Furious Goblins and Hyenas.

Turn 1:

Red Dragons wait, Black Dragons wait, Hunters hit something, Dryads use Lullaby. Red Dragons use special ability, cast Haste, Black Dragons move closer, Knights move closer.

Turn 2:

Cast Phantom on Dryads. Pick off one stack to destroy using the various units. Cast Thorns with the Dryads, near to the sleeping enemies. Cast Thorns with the Phantom Dryads. One stack is killed and rage is now over 50.

Turn 3:

Use Soul Drain (40%) on strongest remaining enemy. This can be cast every turn now. Hit the strongest remaining stack with everything, making sure that the summoned thorns absorb any hits from the enemy stack. Cast Lullaby with the Phantomed Dryads, putting everything back to sleep. Cast Phantom again on the original Dryads.

Turn 4:

Soul Drain again. By now there are several thorns wandering everywhere. They can spawn more Thorns from dead enemies.

Turn 5:

Victory, losing only 2 Knights. It would have been zero but I was a bit lazy. This is not using Resurrection at all; I only suffered one actual hit from 2300 Hyenas, 1400 Orcs, 2000 Furious Goblins and 2200 Gobins.

Yeah, Dryads are overpowered.