Battle for Middle Earth 2 1.06

You might think, not another changelog analysis. But I just thought, well if there's one for Mordor and for the Elves, why not make on for my own faction, the Dwarves? Anyway, I have no expertise with the patch as I haven't played it, but I've been comparing all changelogs to the Dwarven changelog and I've made an analysis for it



Although Guardians look like they’ve been buffed, being more resistant to pierce, hero-ranged and poison, they’re now much more vulnerable to cavalry, both when trampling and just fighting them melee wise. Charge has been nerfed as well and although it might seem a lot worse than it used to be, its very useful to increase their speed and give them a fairly good armor buff. They’ll need the speed buff now that they’re even slower than they were in 1.04.



The increase in delay between shots means they’re not gonna hack everything down every second anymore, but they’re gonna deal the same amount of damage in a more reasonable amount of time. They do capture structures a lot faster, which means Dwarves have a better chance in the outpost race. The Forged Blades bug has been fixed, it used to triple their damage which was quite overpowered, and now deals the normal damage.

Another change is that the Guardians can no longer be upgraded with both Siege Hammers and Forged Blades, which used to result in a massive building destroying spree as Guardians with both Forged Blades and Siege Hammers deal 180 damage vs structures, making them able to topple a Fortress in only a few hits. All this might make it look like Guardians are a bit over-nerfed and that both their early and late game strengths are not very potent anymore. This is however not the case at all, which will be explained later.



Axethrowers have totally changed, and then really completely. They used to be very good at destroying buildings, which was because of their absurd high bonus vs structures (+5000% ), and they also were good at killing enemy swordsmen like any other archer unit.

First of all, they no longer deal pierce damage (which is good vs units like Swordsmen), but slash damage (which is good vs Pikemen and that’s the damage type regular Swordsmen deal), which makes them great vs Pikemen as one of their weaknesses is slash damage and vs Archers, cause they too are pretty weak vs slash damage. The fact that they’re also more resistant vs pierce and have much longer range, makes them good at both killing Pikemen and Archers. This makes them officially a very good anti archer/pike counter and the first archer unit that deals slash damage.

They’re also more resistant to crush, so they will survive trampling longer, but more vulnerable to cavalry when they’re fighting the Axethrowers with their swords. Axethrowers might look overpowered again, but as both their base damage was reduced to just 20 and their attackspeed slowed down even more, they’re pretty much balanced. Now that RB’s (Resource Buildings) are more vulnerable vs slash damage, Axethrowers do pretty good at taking them out, but because of their weakness vs Swordsmen now (that’s because they no longer deal pierce damage, which is one of the main weaknesses of Swordsmen) and because their dps (damage per second) has been nerfed, they’re not a rushable unit, so the Axethrower Rush is no longer a viable option.



Yay, we no longer have uber slow pikemen and our elite archers are faster too. Due to this (in my opinion) excellent change, Phalanxes will be able to effectively defend your base from cavalry raids. Although they have one of the highest amounts of hitpoints of Pikemen in the game, they’re vulnerability to both Swordsmen and Archers doesn’t make them overpowered or something with their speed buff. Men of Dale will be great too as Dwarves now have an elite archer with a decent amount of speed, even though it won’t mean hit and run tactics for Dwarves , they’ll be better archers now.



Finally the Black Arrow bug has been fixed and it also deals hero type damage, making it an excellent power vs nearly every unit as almost every unit takes 200% damage from hero damage (times 2). From the looks of it, this ability will be a useful one and no longer a waste of time as it used (or actually is ) in 1.04.



Excellent changes for the Dwarves again, the fact that the Demolisher is now available at level 1 alone makes it possible for Dwarves to get some early siege units. And that’s not everything, they also got an armor buff vs almost every damage type, they’re more resistant vs slash, fire, magic, structural and siege. Only cavalry will deal good damage vs them, but thats necessary in my opinion as you can’t have everything and it could be quite OP to have such powerful demolishers for such a low price if there’s almost nothing to counter them. The speed buff may come in handy too, ‘cause that’ll make them easier to sneak into an enemy base before your opponent spots it. All in all, an excellent change and a deserved one, the Demolisher can now be trained pretty early on and it might even be included into a BO.



Not a big nerf, Dwarves will still have one of the best siege in the game and with the lowered cost of the Forge Works (which can be seen below), the Catapult is now much more available.



Although it might seem that the days of the Battlewagon are over, they have actually gotten a buff. The general increase in vulnerability to crush damage of archers and swordsmen compensates for the BW’s loss in crush damage (180 is still a lot tbh), plus the level on which its now available might be level 2, but a level 2 Forge Works costs the same in 1.05 as a Level 1 Forge Works in 1.04.

Another excellent change is that BW's can finally capture neutral buildings, which gives Dwarves a chance in the outpost race on maps like Withered Heath, Harlindon, Rohan and other ones. This should also make the BW rush a much better strategy on those maps, 'cause otherwise you'd be letting your opponent have them or you would have to destroy them, but you would never benefit from it. That has changed and now the BW can finally capture neutral buildings.

It has also been given a buff in armor vs most damage types, it will now survive much longer vs pierce damage and slash damage which are dealt by the units the BW counters. It is however much weaker now vs heroes, so don’t expect it to withstand enemy heroes now. Strong powerful heroes, like Gimli, will decimate the BW’s.

Overall, the BW’s effectiveness in trampling got a nerf, which was appropriate, seeing that one BW could massacre a ground army of far larger proportions, and a buff in armor, making it last longer (it used to die pretty fast to almost anything, especially fire and magic arrows which it still does, but most upgraded arrows have been nerfed a bit and the pierce damage dealing part of the arrows now does less to the BW as it got a buff vs pierce damage).

Now that the BW is at a level 2 Forge, you all might think that the BW is no longer a unit which you can rush. Although I haven’t tested it of course, I still see the BW as a very good rushable unit, ‘cause of the increase in building armor and the increased vulnerability of units vs structural damage (so your structures will be protected by Fortress Fire). Also you used to have to wait for 800 resources to build a Forge Works in 1.04, but now you can just immediately build it for only 500. This compensates for the Forge’s increase in buildtime and the only thing that makes it take longer is the upgrading of the Forge Works. If you build your buildings close enough to your Fortress, it should be able to protect you vs enemy raids.



Awesome changes, both the MoD and the AT upgrade have been buffed big time Only Banner Carrier and Hearth used to be the upgrades for the BW, but that is no longer the case with these amazingly strong passenger upgrades.

Let’s begin with the AT’s, their damage has been tripled (whether it was tripled based on their 1.04 damage or their 1.05 damage I do not know) and their attackspeed has been lowered by 0.7s, which is a lot tbh. Like the new normal AT’s, the BW AT’s deal slash damage as well and with their improved dps (damage per second), they are a pretty good upgrade to help your BW deal with enemy pikemen.

Now on to the MoD, these look like they’ll be the best upgrade for the BW, but they’re also the most expensive, a BW with MoD on it costs no less than 1000 resources. Nevertheless, their damage has been increased to 200, their attackspeed has been lowered by 0.9s, which makes them 8 times more effective than what they used to be in 1.04. They’ll practically be like 16 Men of Dale on the back of the BW. Plus the fact that their damage type is now cavalry ranged, makes them excellent vs cavalry units as they are weak vs cavalry ranged. They’ll be so good vs cavalry that they are capable of one-hit killing Lancers

All together, the BW has changed for the better and don’t worry that BW with MoD will be OP, ‘cause they cost a lot tbh, 1000 resources is not something you just dig out of your pockets.



A needed increase, since this will slow down the infamous and way too fast Guardian Rush. This should give the other player enough time to prepare himself for it. The health increase is nice as Dwarves now have the strongest RB’s in the game by far, (seems only logical imo as Dwarves were always great builders) but they also build the slowest, so its pretty balanced out.

Undermine looks good and it was much needed as the power was pretty much useless, also because Dwarves have no scouting power and have to get a unit to the prefered location in order to be able to summon Undermine. This will not solve that problem, but it will make it last longer so you can get all your units in his base.



Superb change imo, especially with cavalry being vulnerable to structural fire, the Sentry Tower can finally be used properly. With a buff in health, range, a decrease in cost and a stealth detection, this defensive building should be very useful for protecting parts of your base that aren’t protected by the Fortress or to protect forward buildings from cavalry raids.



A nice change, though I’m no camping lover, walls can now be used to defend buildings close to your Fortress or to build strong forward bases (although the last one will be more expensive). An interesting change, cause now you can fend off a few areas to protect you from unsuspected enemy raids. Overall, quite a nice change J



Since the armor of cavalry vs structural was nerfed quite much, and the Fortress Towers are now cheaper, these will prove an excellent way of defending yourself against cavalry raids as they will slaughter them. They also build faster, so you can set up your defense quicker.



First of all, the HoW buildtime increase. That was needed to balance the Guardian Rush and allow your opponent much needed time to get a defense up. The strategy should still prove effective enough, though it won’t be a 5 minute game winner anymore.

Secondly, the Archery Range has been given a much needed buff in my opinion. It used to cost 600 (500 should be 600 as it did cost 600 in 1.04, could be a typo in the changelog) and build in 45 seconds, which meant it took much longer to build it and it cost a lot. Fortunately that will no longer be the case as it now only costs 350 (even cheaper than a HoW ) and builds in 35s. Especially the price drop means that the AT’s are now an option to go for during your Guardian Rush, which wasn’t the case in 1.04, ‘cause it was too expensive during your rush and also not needed as the Guardians could do the job incredably well.
Third of all, Fire Arrows have been moved to a level 3 Archery Range. A nerf, which means you won’t get FA MoD as fast as in 1.04.



Awesome . This means that Dwarves now have got all 3 Unit Production Buildings at a low cost, which makes them a very versatile faction now. So no longer the same old boring Guardian Rush (although it will still be the main strategy ), but much more options, and mixed ones too. Although it takes longer to build the Forge, the decrease in cost compensates for that as you don't have to save up for an extra 300 anymore (which takes even longer than the 15s extra buildtime). Level 2 is now a lot cheaper too, it used to cost 1300 in total, whereas its only 800 now. This means that all Dwarven siege units are available pretty fast, especially with the Demolisher at level 1.

On to Siege Hammers. Seeing that these were vastly underused in 1.04 due to their sheer price (it used to cost 3300 to research it and then you had to equip your Guardians with them) and the Forged Blades bug (it gave them so much damage that there was no need of Siege Hammers), they have been moved to a level 2 Forge Works instead of a Level 3 one and now only cost 500. Because of the lowered cost of a level 2 Forge, Siege Hammers now cost 1300 in total to research, which makes them a early-mid game upgrade .

As seen at the top of the changelog, Siege Hammers now deal siege damage instead of slash, which makes them outstandingly good vs structures. They still decrease the damage to units though (to just 10 ), but the siege damage vs buildings compensates that more than enough (80 Siege damage). I wouldn't equip it on all your Guardians as you will of course need to fight your enemies' units too and with Siege Hammers only dealing 10 damage vs units, they wouldn't be very effective. What I would do is upgrade just 1 or at the most 2 Guardians and use the others to fight his units, while your SH Guardians decimate his buildings. Since the Fortress is now weaker vs siege damage, one SH Guardian deals a total of nothing less than 1800 damage per hit in normal battle stance. This means that if you don't watch out, one SH Guardian can topple your Fortress in just a few secs Don't worry about possible OPness, cause they only deal 10 damage vs units which is very low.



Not a very significant change, although the cheaper Gate allows siege units such as demolishers to pass through whereas the now much more expensive Postern Gate doesn't. This should prove useful for forward siege bases as you will be wanting to let them exit the base too.



Another wonderful change This should prove very very useful to get Charge much faster for your Guardians. Why, you might even try a 1 Guardian Rush with a level 2 Guardian, cause of the Charge ability and the extra bonuses gained from reaching level 2. You could also try a 2 Guardian rush with 1 level 2 Guardian or wait even longer to go for 2 level 2 Guardians, with this change the Guardian Rush is now much more versatile . It's also useful to upgrade your MoD to level 2 to get that very powerful Black Arrow ability



Hmmm, it seems that we've lost our best PP path, although I was sort of needed since Riches just gave you so much cash in such short amount of time. Although this will make the right side more attractive, I would still go for the left side tbh. But with the new building armors and some of the powers being buffed (like Undermine), this should lead to a wide variety of useful and good PP path's. Overall, it may look like a bad change, but imo this one gave the Dwarven PP Tree a lot of variety



Yay, he's back! With his price lowered, he should come much earlier now and this'll make him a cost-effective hero too, and no longer the one that's being skipped for Dain. Although he won't solo a Fortress with his damage halved vs it, he's still an excellent building destroyer especially now that Shake Foundation has got a damage increase and buildings a nerf vs siege damage. Don't let the increased damage penalty to the fort fool you, now that the fort takes 1.5 times as much damage from siege and now that SF has been buffed to 2800, the fort would take 4200 damage without penalty, with its 1050 (it used to be 1000 in 1.04, so its practically the same). His much lower cost means you can expect him during the later stages of the rush.



Seems it was too good to be true, King Dain is the only Dwarf hero that got a bit of a nerf. It was pretty much needed as he was the best support hero in the game by far, with all his amazing abilities. In fact, he was so good that an army of Guardians + King Dain could beat an FU Guardian army . Anyway, now his cost has been lowered to the standard mid-game cost and together with him being too strong in 1.04, that of course meant a couple of nerfs.

First of all, his LD has been made a High Level LD, which means it stacks with other LD (an awesome buff imo). But the nerf is that the bonuses that his LD gave have been halfed to +25% damage and +25% armor. This in itself looks pretty bad, but all LD in 1.05 has been nerfed as it was too effective. Its actually a great ability still as it can stack with all the other LDs the Dwarves have, like Gimli's armor LD or the BW's LD

Secondly and the most significant, Mighty Rage. You don't even wanna know how powerful that was. It could heal your units, buff your units with +50% damage and +50% armor and it could debuff your enemy units all at the same time. Of course that needed a nerf, especially with the lowered cost of King Dain. It now has another purpose and it has some very awesome combo's, it now gives +25% damage and +20% speed. Since this stacks with abilities like Charge and Slayer, you might see Guardians run at a speed of 56 , because of both Charge and Mighty Rage. Or you might see Gimli with Slayer and Mighty Rage running at a speed of 108

All in all, Dain has been given a bit of a nerf, but his lowered cost makes up for that and he's still an excellent support hero so you'll likely still see him behind some Guardians.



Thank god! Gimli's price has been finally lowered to a cost-effective price. Although he's very strong in 1.04, he just simply was too expensive and not cost-effective. That has changed now finally since he costs 3000 now, a mid-late game hero.

His abilities have changed too, his Axethrow has been buffed. It now deals 1500 damage to heroes and nothing less than 3000 to cavalry, plus it has a splash radius so it'll be very effective vs heroes and cavalry. He also has a new ability, namely an armor leadership, which makes him a pretty good support hero as well as a good army killer. His leap hasn't changed that much, only he can jump further which is a nice change. All together, Gimli has got a huge buff, he's cheaper now and his abilities are much better, the only nerf he got was a small health nerf.

Dwarves Overall:

Early Game: Their early game has got a bit of a nerf, with the Guardian Rush slower (much needed tbh) and the AT rush gone. Still, their early game looks pretty good, especially with the cheap UPB's (unit production building), which means you can expect mixed rushes from now on. Siege can come pretty early as well

Mid Game: This is were the Dwarves should dominate the battlefield as they've got so many options at this point and can get all sorts of units out ranging from the slow, but sturdy Guardians to the fast BW's to long-ranged Axethrowers to Gloin, etc. Plus the fact that siege hammers are available pretty early, makes their mid-game a very very strong one.

Late Game: Although this isn't their area anymore, they're still a strong, stout fighting force. This is were Gimli should come in and all the upgrades. A FU Dwarven army with all sorts of units and all their heroes is really going to be something you don't wanna face.

Possible Strategies:

Guardian Rush:
Mine+HoW<Guardian<Guardian<Fw Mine

Guardian Rush + Demolishers:
Mine+HoW<Fw Mine<Mine<Forge

Guardian Rush + AT Rush:
Mine+HoW+Fw Mine+Range

BW Rush:
Mine+Mine<Forge<Upgrade Forge<BW

Phalanx Rush:
Mine+HoW<Phalanx<Phalanx<Fw Mine

Hope you all like it

This post has been edited by Thorin^: Sep 3 2006, 10:49 AM

Great work as always Thorin , Even the demolisher is mentioned

i think the pp path is same as elves, like rally call, heal, bombadil, ents will now be rally call, heal dwarven riches, barrage

becuz heal to heal legolas and we can have heal to heal early dain of gloin

anyway good work thorin the changelog looks nice and not alot i can comment on it... until we know more about 1.05

This post has been edited by Megacap: Sep 2 2006, 19:59 PM

every time i turn around there is something new on the portal. Good work newsposters.

nice tip Thorin^ I really like this one, probable because dwarfs are the coolest in the game

what can i say? That is jsut amazing - pro job mate
Keep it up....plz

Also i only jsut realised how good your english is

Great job !!
Btw. I ALWAYS take heal b/c I don't wanna lose heroes so path for powers still be same as someone mentioned.

Thanks guys , really appreciate it

Is this worthy of an article medal?

This post has been edited by Thorin^: Sep 2 2006, 20:51 PM

Wow that was pretty damn fast and such an in-depth analysis too. You're the man Thorin!

I dont know the rules on theses things but i think it should be worth an article medal. You've gone through all main changes, it might even be them all. You described advantages and disadvantegs of straegies/Bos' - discussed PP's and gone in depth into the nerfs/buffs of each unit

Very well done

GREAT work Thorin^. Even without having played the patch, I can say that you made a very good analysis!!

However, I have only one complaint: some of the paragraphs are very long, and because of that a bit hard to read. I would suggest dividing each big paragraph into a few smaller blocks/paragraphs. Other than that, it's very good, professional work!

This post has been edited by raduneo: Sep 2 2006, 21:47 PM

Thanks , btw I've split up some of the big paragraphs into smaller ones as you suggested

Ahem, you obviously havent been to Isen lately

Good job, You'eve inspired me, Im thinking of doing the isen analysis whenever it comes out

Souless, can i do that please? Its my faction and id prefer to do it

GJ! And again, great article. I like that you even took the time to talk about possible BOs and the Dwarven Early/Mid/Late-game.

This post has been edited by raduneo: Sep 3 2006, 00:31 AM

Thatks for all the tips, that Demolisher Rush sounds very interesting.

nicely done

OMG, what a shameless, blatant liar!

Ahem, back to topic, what people can't see on the changelog is how Dwarves becomes a hero- and upgrades-strong faction in 1.05. It's the only faction I see directly facing Isen on the field and actually coming out on top - not "by default" of course, but if the dwarven player is smart and play his cards properly. The Dwarven trio of heroes can easily put to shame four or five heroes from other factions, for a smaller cost, they work so well together that it seems like an orchestra. Once Dwarves get their lvl3 forgeworks upgrades, they basically become steamroller units, FU guardians + ATs + phalanxs is omfgpwnage. I remember putting even almighty Saruman to run once with FU dwarven units, it's like the imperial march of death! I personally love playing 1.05 dwarves, even if I like them all, dwarves it's on my top-3 list

PS.: Yes, you sure deserve an article medal Thorin

i love all of these analysis'. great job thorin^, ranger08 and locke for your hard work. i would love for every race to have one of these because i think they're so useful for thinking through the changes being made in 1.05 insead of reacting to them. if anyone wants to do a MotW analysis i'd be so happy cuz i love the MotW. this is my first post, but i have been a long time reader of these forums and i really appreciate all the work, thought and love that goes into these forums.

looking forward to a MotW and isen and gobblin analysis' whenever the changes are realeased.