The Swarm's Units

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The Swarm's Units

Racial Tag
Almost the entirety of the Swarm race is classified as "Insect". This race tag offers a couple of traits to the unit with this classification:
 * Resistant to Chaos. (+25%)
 * Resistant to Poison. (+25%)

Giant Ant - The Swarm's Builder
The Giant Ant is the basic builder of The Swarm. These builders are weak, have no special ability and make annoying sounds, but do have a great build skill of 12. They can also be put into mines to increase their resource income.

Husk - The Swarm's Missile Fodder
Husks are basic infantry unit of The Swarm. They are like the Skeletons of the Undead in the same sense that they are fragile but highly resistant to missile, making them great tower / archer fodder. However, their missile resistance only applies to physical missiles, so elemental projectiles will still slaughter them. As they are not produced from the Hive, the Swarm's main production building, they therefore are not affected by the race's incubation skill. As such, late game they become the longest to produce Swarm unit. Fortunately, costing only metal allows you to spam them, as Scorpions and Ants are the only other things in the entire Swarm army that cost any metal.

Scorpion - The Swarm's Basic Infantry
Scorpions are misleadingly good. A huge swarm of them is easy to assemble with their rarely-shared metal cost and can drown most things that they meet under a blanket of twitching legs and sharp pincers. Their poison strength is high and, with a fast attack speed, they are sure to inflict it upon their enemy. Also, despite a piercing attack, they can do some respectable damage to buildings, again, thanks to their fast attack speed. Scorpions are easy to mass and effective - you surely will be swarming with them!

Wasp - Basic Flier
The Swarm is the only race who can actively produce Wasps and it seems they were designed to fill their terrible anti-aerial support in a novelty way - assassination. Wasps may have poor stats, equaling that of a Bat, but their chance of assassination can deter Dragons and even flying Titans from approaching them. However, being random and luck based means it can be as useless as it can be battle turning, and so is something that you really shouldn't rely on. Its chance to poison is much more likely and with The Swarm having an unique research that doubles the power of poison, even a recent successful infliction can prove fatal in just a few moments. Most basic fliers in the game are near useless but, even though a Wasp's true power lies in luck, they can be a great addition to the army of The Swarm.

Scarab - The Swarm's Basic Missile Unit
Scarabs are the Basic missile unit of The Swarm, but they cost a considerable amount of gold for what they are. This largely reduces their numbers and more than often, you simply can't afford them when focusing on base support via towers. Not to mention that Dragons, Wasps and Harpies all require gold, too. Nonetheless, fire projectiles are always good at razing buildings and titles the Scarabs as the wrecking crew of The Swarm.

Scorpionman - The Swarm's Cavalry
Although fairly cheap, Scorpionmen are still one of the more expensive Swarm units. Overall, they're not much better than a Scorpion, yet they count as twice as many units, cost 3 times as much and with a resource you will be spending constantly in the form of building, regardless of whether it's for main buildings or towers. What ever you want from Scorpionmen, you could get just as good results from Scorpions and without compromising your base's construction. Although, Scorpionmen do not posses a vulnerability, allowing them to survive longer against certain units, as well as having a very strong poison. They're also the only unit to cost stone, so there's not much harm in producing them once your base is in good shape - just remember that they count as 2 units towards the army limit.

Bone Catapult - Siege Weapon
The Swarm aren't exactly short of units to dispose of buildings and the ones they use can hide behind a wall of Husks to save them from tower fire. Further more, The Swarm is a fast passed race that simply don't have time to wait for siege weapons to travel across the map. If you do plan on using Bone Catapults for tower smashing, then you'll still need to bring in Husks, anyway. This is because the Bone Catapult's range is only 12, which has trouble out ranging even un-garrisoned towers. You're probably better off using Scarabs and Scorpionpriests for all situations that you would contemplate using a Bone Catapult for.

Harpy - Advanced Flier
Most races don't respect a Harpy's traits, mostly because those races either don't need them much, or have better units for the roles that Harpies perform. The Swarm, however, can make great use of both of the Harpy's attributes. The Harpy may have the weakest poison in The Swarm army, but it can still be devastating with Melkor's Curse in play, making those foolish enough to attempt a confrontation with a Harpy soon regret it. In addition to this, the Harpy's Drain Mana spell can be put to great use. A lot of the units in The Swarm's army are physically weak and rely on numbers to "swarm" then enemy. Apart from Catapults, the main culprits for ruining The Swarm's day are spell casters, who usually carry spells that can strike multiple targets. So, before you send in your swarm of insects, lead the assault with a flock of Harpies who will deplete the enemy spell casters of their magic either through their Drain Mana spell or simply by forcing the enemy spell casters to use it. Either way, the rest of your army are free to swarm!

Scorpionpriest - The Swarm's General
The Swarm's biggest weakness is their terrible air counters. They either have to rely on random assassination chances with their basic fliers, Wasps, or fire attacks which are the butt of a Dragon's joke. Even though the Scorpionpriest is responsible for some of those fire attacks, his main attack is a welcomed electrical one. When upgraded, the Scorpionpriest's attack deals 40 damage, and when combined with their Ring of Fire spells, they can go on a murderous rampage that requires careful counters. They can hold up to 100 mana, which is quicker to reach than you would expect due to The Swarm having access to all 3 Summon Mana skills. This mana can then be used for either spawning a Fire Elemental or saved up to defend themselves with, not one, but two Ring of Fire strikes! They may not be the best Generals out there, but whether it's helping out with much needed anti-aerial support, capturing mines, blasting buildings with their high powered electrical attacks or singeing infantry with their double Rings of Fire, Scorpionpriests can do a lot for The Swarm.

Fire Elemental - Summoned Unit
Fire Elementals offer some support for crushing enemy bases, but as they're only summoned through spells cast by Scorpionpriests, you have to decide whether you want extra building destroying capabilities or extra unit smiting power in the form of 2 Rings of Fire, which can actually be used against buildings, too, and at the same time. Although Fire Elementals are ranged, their fire type attack doesn't help the Swarm much in the fight for the sky. Dragons, Daemons and anything that's under the affect of Resist Fire can still ultimately stop the race dead in the fight for aerial dominance.

Fire Dragon - Elite Flier
The Fire Dragon is not a bad unit by any means, but The Swarm would have killed for a different Dragon - one that doesn't use, yet again, a fire typed attack. With Scarabs, Fire Elementals and Scorpionpriests (and even Bone Catapults), The Swarm don't need another unit for razing buildings, which is the specialized role of the Fire Dragon. (Although, there isn't many Dragons that could fit in The Swarm's army - but I like to believe that there could always be a "Wind" Dragon out there, one that could represent the Desert Winds. Or perhaps the Scorpionpriest could summon Air Elementals with the same logic) It's usually best to save up and purchase a Dragonliche instead, as its magic type attack can go a long way in helping The Swarm for aerial combat. Not to mention being a complete pain in the neck for your enemy!

Dragonliche - Elite Flier
It's a pity that the Dragonliche cost such a ridiculous amount, as The Swarm really needs strong aerial combatants that don't use fire attacks. Fortunately, when you do finally get one, it can cause all sorts of problems for your enemy. The aerial striking magic attack helps greatly, although Daemons still rain on your parade - literally, but with the Dragonliche's resistance to missiles, it can sponge most tower attacks and allow for more destructive units in your army to safely make their way to the enemy base and implode it, especially in the case of Scorpionpriests. Having access to both Husks and Dragonliches can make enemy archers more of a liability, forcing them to run more melee orientated troops that will then fall into your poisonous grasp!

Lord Melkor - The Swarm's Titan
Lord Melkor is one of the best melee Titans around, only being beaten by Lord Antharg for stats and Sirian for damage type. Although, a critical hit from Lord Melkor's powerful crunch will turn the battle in his favor, making him probably the best Titan for taking out infantry. He is also quite quick, being beaten in speed only by Kargoth, when compared to other Titans. Further more, Lord Melkor is quite easy to obtain due to The Swarm's single resource only units that are also rather cheap. As such, Lord Melkor is usually one of the first Titans to make their presence on the battlefield and one that makes a large impact. Being a grounded Titan, it's usually best to guard him with flying units, such as Dragons and especially Wasps, so his pathing doesn't get obstructed. Husks and Scorpionpriests also make fine additions to Lord Melkor's assault, due to the enemy wanting to keep their distance with archers, that your Husks can over whelm, or send in their own Dragons to take the fight directly to Melkor, where your Scorpionpriests can give them a good shock - unless your Wasps get there first!