Dwarves

Dwarf Information pages[]

Overview[]

Dwarves are a tough and hardy race, with expensive, slow and powerful units. They are very hard to play as and have a slow start in which they must build up their economy to perform their tactics later on. Until then, the Dwarves are usually forced to stay on the defensive. The slow moving and expensive units mean that any offensive move needs to be relatively decisive otherwise the opponent will run rings around them and capture the map. Fortunately for the Dwarves, defense is what they are best at - with a massive array of defensive upgrades, research and units, nearly anything will take massive losses on the Dwarven defensive line. If the Dwarves can manage to defend their mines, they can proceed to steam-roll many opponents flat.

Pros[]

Dwarven infantry units are very sturdy, with a majority of them bearing a resistance to all elemental attacks, reducing the number of plausible attack types that could be used effectively against them.
Special resistances to Poison and Disease (+5 points).
With the College researches, Mortars and the defensive bonuses of Crossbows, they can make a very formidable base that can be difficult to siege.
Through unit abilities and siege weapons, they can easily endure and siege enemy bases.

Cons[]

Appallingly slow units makes map control difficult.
Very expensive and slow to produce units across all tiers.
Heavy reliance on gold to function, which leads to difficult decision-making.

Strategy[]

Units[]

The Dwarves are one of the slowest races to use in the entire game. You'd be lucky to see one with more than 4 speed. That said, there are Dwarven Runners and the Dwarven Brew upgrade which can at least help to ease the problem. A lot of units cost quite a lot of resources, which can make it hard for a Dwarf player in the early game. A good aim for a player would be to try and research the Income upgrades as soon as possible because without them the Dwarves aren't going to get anywhere with their somewhat expensive units.

Dwarven Smiths are very useful as they can build extremely fast and count as 2 people when put into a mine. They cost quite a lot though - 40 metal and 40 stone, so should be guarded fairly well when sent across the map. Try not to get them killed because in the early game (when resource income is low and unit costs are high) it could cost the Dwarves the match. Send all spares into the Gold and Stone mines for construction and Citadel upgrade purposes then Metal for unit production. If you have little Metal, putting them into Metal and Stone to afford the Smith's constant production is a wise choice.

Runners are highly resistant to missiles and can be upgraded for more speed, so is a valuable scouting unit. They can also act as a meat shield for other, more valuable units such as the Runelords against arrow and elemental towers (so most towers). However, they are very weak and cannot be depended upon in any battle with other military units.

Dwarf Infantry cost quite a lot of Metal and can be quite diffiult to afford in the at the start of the game. It is recommended that the Dwarf player focuses on righting their economy before producing many of these. Infantry should only be produced if the player has any spare Metal towards the start of the game. Otherwise you're nearly always better off saving up for Dwarf Berzerkers.

Dwarf Crossbow are difficult to afford even with Income upgrades due to their cost (75 Gold, 40 Metal). They can be very useful when defending against Dragons (or other flying units) or when upgrading Towers, but are otherwise not that necessary.

A couple of Ballistae should come in useful for most Dwarf players. Use them against swarms and unit spams. However, keep them very far away from Fire Dragons, as their vulnerability to fire is very easy for the Dragons to exploit, and you'll lose a good portion of your defence forces. Use catapults when you desire to outrange your enemy when you siege or defend against them. Otherwise, your main assault force should consist of meat shields and Runelords. Battering Rams are good for taking the hits for Runelords, but against non-arrow based towers you're better off with Runners. Don't forget that Battering Rams may be even worse against other military units than Runners. Otherwise, Battering Rams are fairly non-essential since a combination of other units tend to work better in its roll.

Dwarf Berzerkers are very valuable units, capable of holding a massive tide of enemy forces thanks to their resistance to all physical attacks. Their vulnerability is somewhat rarely taken advantage of except against a small portion of units and some towers. Their resistance may seem a bit lacking, so the Dwarf player should think twice before throwing them against elemental towers such as the Dark Elven tower. Dwarf Berzerkers should form the bulk of most Dwarf armies as they generally perform better for their cost than Dwarf Infantry.

Khazrimi Guard are available for when the player has too much Gold and Stone, and can be used alongside Berzerkers for some reliable and valuable elemental resistance. This allows them to be used fairly effectively against elemental based towers and many units (especially the undead since they deal crushing damage).

Runelords are one of the most valuable Dwarven units. They not only provide a nice cover for the Dwarf army by amassing Doomstones spells but also can summon Earth Elementals - a good meat shield and even building destroyer itself. They work very well together, and can eliminate many bases thanks to the 4x damage to buildings ability of the Earth Elemental and the great amount of fire damage of the Runelord. However, Runelords must always be provided with a meat shield or cover, otherwise they can be defeated fairly easily due to their vulnerability to all physical attacks.

Dwarf Lords can serve as a final word in assault forces. Theur deal double damage to buildings, can tank hits very well and are also highly resistant to arrows (like the Runners). They are not a necessary unit (except when you're using them for conversion), but kind of act like an Undead Doom Knight - a change in the tide of battle to your favour.

Buildings[]

Dwarves get access to a range of very resilient buildings and powerful towers. They also get access to Mortars, a great anti-Undead defensive solution. It is wise to play the Dwarves relatively defensively, and build up to the point where they can attack very successfully. The Trading Post is the most important building available to the Dwarves, as the upgrades it contains help greatly with resource production - a common problem with the Dwarves. Tower damage can be changed to fire using Runelords, and massively increased with Dwarf Crossbowmen. This, combined with the natural toughness of Dwarven towers makes the Dwarves more difficult to assault than normal.

A useful feature with the Dwarves is that most of the units are produced from the Foundry and Armory - the two earliest buildings the Dwarves get, so unit production is moreso dependant on the resources the Dwarf player has rather than how fast they can produce them. This is the case with many other races, but the Dwarves get access to this feature at Citadel level 1 where few others do without drawback.

Heroes[]

Dwarven hero selection offers little synergy choice. A fast Dwarven hero is useful for taking mines, but few other units can follow the hero since most are very slow. A magical choice is not recommended as the Dwarves get no access to spellcasting upgrades whatsoever. The natural magical sphere for Dwarves is Rune Magic. Unfortunately, this is one of the worst spell spheres in the game - out of all 10 spells, only about 3 will ever really be used. That spell sphere offers almost nothing to a Dwarf player that the race already doesn't supply.

However, that isn't to say that all spell spheres would be terrible for the Dwarves. The Healing Magic sphere would complement the Dwarves quite well. The Invigorate spell can help to increase the speed of the Dwarves - making a massive flaw almost non-existant, whilst simultaneously gaining the ability to heal the Dwarves. Since Dwarves have a great deal of hits, Healing spells would be very effective, not to mention the ability to cure poison and disease. For a more magical hero, a Healer should do ok. For a bit of melee power and the ability to heal, the Paladin class can serve well.

A very good choice for a more offensive spellcaster would be an Elementalist. This class allows the hero to heal units via the Cauterize spell, heal buildings via the Earthpower spell and berserk drunken dwarves amongst other combat tricks. This combination is very similar to the Minotaur race's battle tactics, but can be even more deadly since slow Dwarven powerhouses are being sped up dramatically.

If speed and price is more of an issue to you, you can try a Tinker for just going full out on the resources (and access to the powerful Alchemy magic sphere and the Acquire spell would be a great option), Ranger for a bit of toughness and massive speed, or Thief if you want to combine speed with the Warding skill, taking advantage of the Dwarven elemental resistances.

The most common flaws a Dwarf player may notice is the troublesome economy and the difficulty of map domination early in the game due to slow and expensive units. This problem is larger if the Dwarf player is a spellcaster, as a spellcaster can nearly never hold the line against opponents due to their frailty. An optimum class for the Dwarves would be a fighter merchant hybrid. The fighter part can provide map domination in the early game, whilst the merchant part can provide the Dwarves with the much needed resources (usually Gold and Stone). Unfortunately, there aren't many options for this combination. The Daemonslayer has access to natural fighter toughness and Smelting, but Metal is never needed as much as Gold or Stone. If the Daemonslayer isn't ideal, the Bard or Tinker may be eligible for a tough merchant. The former gives access to Wealth, whilst the latter gives access to Smelting and Quarrying albeit at a higher level.

Counters[]

Because every Dwarven unit costs a massive amount of resources, they can be somewhat easy to rush in the early game. Gold is a particularly troublesome resource for the Dwarves, as all of their anti-flying units cost enormous amounts of it. Because of this, Daemons are one of the Dwarves' biggest threats and the best race to shut the Dwarves down by taking out their Gold mines. This situation becomes even more difficult when considering the Dwarven buildings all cost Gold, particularly the Dwarven Tower and the Trading Post.
Many Dwarven units take ages to produce, including their builder. This allows enemies to rush the Dwarves easier in the early game and becomes a massive problem when combined with their difficult economy.
Nearly all Dwarven units have low speed. Take advantage of this by perfectly aligning your faster troops to work as well as they can against them (be careful of their longer range units though).
Many Dwarven units cost a lot of resources. Losing builders in the early game can be a big downfall for the Dwarves (although a setback like this is likely not too common).
The speed of conversion units for the Dwarves is extremely low, making dominating the resources a difficult task without building defensive outposts (which may be vulnerable in their own way, such as a lack of unit support when under siege by siege weapons).
A cruel combination of Fire Dragons and Dragonliches will see the Dwarves struggle since the Dragonliche resists the piercing attacks of Ballistae, Crossbowmen and non-upgraded towers and the Fire Dragon resists the Runelords. Heavy anti-air support is a recommendation (such as the use of Griffons), but isn't easy due to the Gold costs involved.