Wolf Clan Strategies and Tactics

[Mana 3,867]

Wolf Early Game:

Like any good Clan, there are a variety of things you can start off with in order to be effective against your opponent. I will list them in my own preferred order, while some of you might feel differently in how each should be arranged.

1. Den Rush - In my opinion, this is by far the most powerful early wolf build you could do. All I can suggest is that you be weary of the Stable rush. That's really the only thing that should threaten you when you perform this build. Reasons are, trample just destroys this build. If you notice that the horses in your opponent's area are starting to disappear, don't even bother to attack. It's completely pointless because you'll get torn apart by trample and the units that didn't get gibbed will have to fight units with almost twice as much HP as they normally have (I'm talking about mounted units of course). The best thing you can do if your opponent has a fair sized force of mounted units is to build a tower and wait him out until you get some battle gear that can accomodate for the damage you sustain after being trampled.

Aside from that, if you perform this build and have no fear of being trampled, I suggest you attack. Well why not? If you've spiked units, your normal units alone probably double his. If he's spiked too, well... you have wolves so you still double his unit count anyways. Usually, if your opponent doesn't have mounted units, not even a tower will save him from your onslaught.

Here's an analysis of the different clan towers vs this build..

Serpent Towers - Reduces all your unit's resistances and stuns them. Well... so what? Select all your units, press S, let the battle ensue. You have twice as many units as him anyways, regardless of whether or not your unit's resistances are lowered you're still going to overwhelm him.

Dragon Towers - Don't make me laugh. The stun duration of the Dragon Tower isn't nearly long enough to allow him to do any substantial damage to your force.

Lotus Towers - Be very wary of these. Simply by emptying the tower's charge, he can massacre your entire force. I'd stay back from these and wait for some pitch slingers.

Wolf Towers - If he doesn't have any wolves of his own, I'd suggest you charge in. The Wolf's Tower charge isn't any better than the Dragon's. The only difference is your units can still move a bit.

The final plausible counter to this build is probably spiking... however, if you spike yourself you'll double his unit count anyways. So you'll probably win =).

Den Rush Build - Combat Pit -> Den (extra peasants become pack masters depending on the number of horses present on the map, Den usually built with 4+ Peasants)

2. Wolf Spiking - Doesn't necessarily have to be in conjunction with the Den Rush, but it can be. The only difference here is that you'll probably be able to get a large force of control-able units faster then you would if you tried to build a Den along the way. Now, there are several types of Wolf spikes. I'll list there here.

a. Druidess Spike - Probably the BEST spike in the entire game IF you have the micro skills to pull it off. If you are 1:1 in your unit ratio with your opponent and can manage to entangle all his units I suggest you perform this build against anyone (even stable rushers) except for Den rushers. The wolves will swarm your Druidess and your entangle will be rendered ineffective.

After you perform this spike, it's probably best to get some Ballistamen followed up with some wolves. The Ballistamen will make killing units just that much easier while the Druidess keep them at bay. The wolves will just be around to harass any incoming units that might give you problems.

I personally have a hard time getting this spike to work if my opponent spikes just as effectively. One screw up in your micro could end the game for you right there.

b. Bralwer/Hurler Spike - If I'm going to spike, I'll more than likely be doing this. Why? It's the fastest spike the wolf has. The rice and water cost are quite minimal for this build compared to other building combinations (ie: Brawler/Mauler). Against most opponents, aside from Wolf and Lotus, this is probably the best way to spike.

c. Brawler/Mauler Spike - Better suited against other wolf players and usually does better against a Lotus player. Although, it's probably one of the more costly builds.

d. Mauler/Hurler - Personally, this is just too much blunt damage for me. It's too easy to counter so I never do it. If it works for you, go for it.

e. Druidess/Any Unit - If your Druidess count to their unit count isn't 1:1 I wouldn't suggest doing this. He can just charge a melee unit at your Druidess which will free up the unit that was tangled. This ends up making the Druidess useless fodder.

Wolf are probably the worst at spiking, so your best bet is, if you're spiking against a Serpent you're going to lose if you go on the offensive. When fighting against Serpent, ALWAYS let them come to you. Never go to them unless you know your opponent stinks or is performing a weak early game build and you can clean him up right then and there.

Rushing Lotus is probably a bad idea but if they spike some leafs, go for it. Leafs are a really bad choice to use early against wolf.

Rushing another wolf, just hope you're a hell of a lot faster or your spiked combo is Brawler/Mauler and their's isn't.

Against Dragon... RUSH AWAY!! KILL THOSE PANSIE DRAGONS!! =)

3. Tower/Tech Build - This is for those who don't like going offensive. If you don't want to spike and like a good economic income, I suggest building a tower. Not necessarily asap, but at least get one up before they get to your base. Make sure you scout your opponent early to see what they're spiking, so you can build the appropriate 1st or 2nd tier counters. If they out number you, you're going to need all the unit armor/damage against those incoming units as you can get.

If you're Towering with wolf, chances are you are either trying to defend against a Stable rush or you're after something in the higher ends of the tech tree. In BP3, wolf have a variety of BG that are now WORTH GETTING. Yes, it seems like a distant fantasy but... it's true. Wrecking ball no longer sucks, scorched earth is great for killing those irritating Samurai, Stun Slam no longer requires a ridiculous amount of stamina to execute.

Situations where you might want to tech -

a. Your opponent has performed a Stable rush and there's no chance in hell that your little wolves are going to survive after being trampled. My advice? Turtle and tech! Mass up some Pitch Slingers and some Maulers. Equip them all with Wrecking Ball and Scorched Earth. Throw in some Stun Slam for good measure and you're set! Run out, stun their army, turn on wrecking ball and throw in some pitch mines. You'll more than likely kill all their horses and massacre anything that isn't mounted. While all this is going on, put your Sledger on passive so that he regains stamina, once all his forces come to, stun them again!! =)

Mauler/Pitch combo is probably the single BEST combo wolf has (not that they don't have many). Reasons? Not a single unit in this game resists blunt and explosive damage aside from the raider. So chances are, if you hit your opponent's army with AOE blunt and explosive (talking about wrecking ball and scorched earth of course), you're going to kill most of what he has.

b. Your opponent has decided to spike and harass you with a superior force. Well either you're playing against Serpent on a really small map or... you just don't like spiking all that much. Both are fine, turtle up and get the BG/units you need. Chances are, if you're playing against a spiker, you can get all your units equipped with BG a lot faster than they can, unless they've managed to cripple you with their rush. If they haven't crippled you, I'd suggest getting some AOE weapons like Wrecking Ball and Scorched Earth. I'd also get some Berserkers with Lythrocapy so you can easily match the number of units he has by giving some of your units a second chance to fight. If you don't know what I mean... turn your Berserkers into Werewolves before they die.

If you don't feel like fighting your opponent with Micro-dependable BG, then by all means tech to Shale Armor right away. Not only will it make your units a lot tougher than your opponent's, but it forces him to get healers or die. It's difficult fighting against units with no weaknesses without healers. For Example; 6 Shaled Ballistamen will beat 6 Musketeers. Normally, the Muskets would win because they're the designated counter and Ballistamen are poor to explosive while Musks are average to piercing. Well, once those Ballistamen are shaled, the Muskets don't seem to do too well against them. Also, a Shaled Ballistaman beats a Swordsman in melee combat (even if he doesn't hit him with his projectile first) where as the Swordsman would give the Ballistaman a very hard time.

Once you reach the point where all your units are shaled, your opponent needs healers or he'll walk the way of the dinosaur. How is this beneficial? If your opponent gets healers, they have a smaller number of combat units fighting against you. Also, if you can manage to engage their healers in melee consistantly, well... they won't be doing much healing, even if they are mounted. Wolf with Shale Armor in BP3 = big trouble

Wolf Mid Game:

This is where the wolf really begin to shine. Shale Armor'ed Druidess, Maulers with Wrecking Ball, Pitch Slingers with Scorched Earth, Sledgers with Stunslam, Ballistamen with Totem... well the list goes on and on.

One of my favorite mid game strategies with wolf is to grab a bunch of Berserkers, shale them, and send them out to combat. When a Berserker is about to die, Bless him with a nearby druidess and turn him into a Werewolf. That gives your opponent a huge headache because not only does he have to fight against Shaled Berserkers, but he has to contend with the Werewolves that come afterwards. Screw healers... wolf units are like cats... but don't quite have 9 lives =)

Opposing Clans:

Serpent -

Fear weakness bolts... I mean it. Weakness bolts can really screw up your bulky/expensive wolf units. If he starts massing Weakness Bolts against you, I'd suggest throwing Shale Armor on units that don't require BG. Not to mention if he starts throwing in some Paradarts you could be in a world of hurt. My advice for this matchup would be to forget building Druidess with the exception of 2-3 for blessing. I'd go straight for a Scorched Earth/Wrecking Ball combo, as Ronin with Yin Blade can really mess you up. Wrecking Ball helps to knock out anything that resists explosive (preferably kill off all his paradart bandits).

Another thing you need to keep an eye out for are mounted Ronin. Mounted Ronin are exceptionally deadly against wolf. Pitch don't kill them as fast as they normally would, and the Ronin can trample anything that can give them a hard time once they get dismounted. I'd suggest throwing down a totem before he gets close to you, throw down some pitch mines, and turn on wrecking ball just as he gets in range. Wrecking Ball + Totem will slow him down significantly. The Pitch mines are just there to speed up the horse gibbing process, but don't use them all just to kill the horses, you'll need some of them afterwards to finish off the Ronin.

Lotus -

God these guys are a pain in the butt. Death Sentry, Death Wail, Spreading Goo, Dark Canopy, Vomit... all I can say is, "Uggg". Your best bet is to get a few Ballistamen with Totem and to mass shaled melee units against him. If he starts getting some diseased ones with vomit, you'll probably want some Pitch Mines. Maulers with Wrecking Ball aren't such a great idea because Death Wail makes short work of that. So you might as well shale your maulers instead.

If he throws up Dark Canopy and you have mass shaled melee, who cares? Don't send your Druidess into the fray just to disable Canopy. You'll probably want to keep her alive for reblessing.

Shaled Berserkers are probably going to be your best unit against Lotus. Most of their "more powerful" units are poor to cutting. Some examples include; Warlocks, Infested, and Unclean. Why are Shaled Berserkers good against these? Well... normally you'd think that Berserkers vs Magic damage = a bad thing, well not with Shale my friend. Shale will increase the Berserker's resistance to magic from Min to Good. They'll handle themselves just fine. The unit you'll probably have to fear the most is the staff adept. The Shale Armor only increases your Berserker's resistance to blunt from Poor to Min. That's a really bad thing because it means that staffs will still counter your shaled Berserkers. Here, you might want some Pitch Mines again.

Your primary targets against the Lotus? The Brothers and Channelers... but more so the Brothers, unless the Channelers make it so that the Brothers just never seem to die. Letting your Lotus opponent rebless Rebirth or give more Blade Acolytes Inner Strength is a really really bad thing. You wanna get rid of them asap. The Channelers just make killing Lotus units a pain. Get rid of them second if you can manage to kill the Brothers first.

Dragon -

If they've made it to mid game, either your opponent is very good at turtling, or you just suck

Now, let's say they have managed to survive this long. How to contend with them? Well, more than likely they haven't spiked. Spiking Dragon first tiers is a very bad idea, as most of them suck without their beafier higher tier brethren. More than likely they'll have some mounted Geisha. That alone can be a pain. Dragon Geisha's ability to heal is so incredibly godly I can almost guarantee they'll almost never lose a unit while those Geisha are around. So... target the Geisha first.

Without Geisha, Dragon are just fodder waiting to be scrapped into the garbage bin and taken to the junk yard. Sure, Shrapnel Keg can seem quite fearsome, and WS can kill your happy little Brawlers... but keep in mind something about Dragon, their unit's resistances really suck. Yes, it's sad but true. Almost every single one of their units have a poor resistance. My advice? EXPLOIT THAT! If they send Dragon Warriors at you, eat them up with Berserkers and Brawlers. If they have Kabuki, target them with maulers and gib them really fast. Do they have Spearmen? Say "Hahaha" and turn on Wrecking Ball.

However, there are two things you should fear from dragon. Those are mounted units (trample!!) and Samurai. Those Sams are quite fearsome these days. Dragon Skin makes them invulernable to your Pitch. You almost NEED Pitch Mines to kill these guys off. Mounted Dragon units are just as fearsome as Serpent units, so if you have problems with mounted Dragon units, scroll up and re-read the section that explains how to contend with Serpent mounted units. It's pretty much the same situation. The only exception are mounted archers... they have incredible range when upgraded, and they do piercing damage. If they can trample you when you get in close, they can quickly become a pain. If someone does mass mounted archers against you, I suggest you invest 2 Yang into dodging and kill them with mass Brawlers.

Infact, if anything... Brawlers with dodging, Pitch Mines, Wrecking Ball, and mass Shaled Druidess are probably the best way to fight the Dragon mid game.

Made by Aderath

from the &Forum_Title=04+-+Wolf+Clan+Members+Gather" target="_blank">Official BR Forums

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

Wolf clan is an eccentric one. The units are strangely sturdy, thus their rush is very useful. They are quite slow on the other hand. Playing the Wolf clan is easy because they , in my point of view, are defence crushers. Send a bunch of shaled beserkers in and watch them tear the opponent's units apart. Also a mix of druids, ballista/totem, werewolves, and pack masters are all good. Also like the lotus, the strategy of wolf clan differs. While werewolves are fast and can hunt range units down, the beserkers have a fine style for a melee to melee combat. Battle gears are obviously bonuses to help in the battle. Again there is much more to be discussed about this clan, this was just my overall opinion.

[Mana 3,867]

Wolf clan is an eccentric one.  The units are strangely sturdy, thus their rush is very useful.  They are quite slow on the other hand.  Playing the Wolf clan is easy because they , in my point of view, are defence crushers.  Send a bunch of shaled beserkers in and watch them tear the opponent's units apart.  Also a mix of druids, ballista/totem, werewolves, and pack masters are all good.  Also like the lotus, the strategy of wolf clan differs.  While werewolves are fast and can hunt range units down, the beserkers have a fine style for a melee to melee combat.  Battle gears are obviously bonuses to help in the battle.  Again there is much more to be discussed about this clan, this was just my overall opinion.

13[/snapback]

Yup rush heh, Do you know of a saying that the wolf clan says? I have "Bow before the lotus" for lotus and "For honor" for Dragon. But nothing for Serpent or Wolf

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

Maybe, but when you listen closely you might pick up some catch phrases. For example, I always hear the serpent peasants say, "get off our land", and stuff like that. I don't really play Battle Realsm with the music turned on.

[eggna 2]

The wolf clan was one of my favorites but they are alittle slow and vonurable to rushes at 1st which probobly got me torn away from them. I just make shale bersekers and a couple of werewolves for speed as to get running away peasents after my Serks torn the army apart and all their buildings, really great clan. Again, I don't use them to their full advantage just what needs to be done and end the game in my favor.

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

Not really, wolf clan is really effective against rushes. Thats why I stress on to make units depending on what your opponent is making. Scouting plays a major role in this.

[eggna 2]

No, not my rushes. At the very beggining when you get rushed being wolf by 2 clans its hard since they're slow in making their warriors and it takes awhile to defend, then once you're done more come and you need to defend again. That happens to me with wolf, not that fast in making warriors with them.

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

perhaps you haven't experimented with wolf. I suggest you try different strategies whether you win or lose with them.

[eggna 2]

I have. Wolf was my favorite and I've played with it for more then 4 months.

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

Hmm...then it is because you are not really a good player with wolf. (no offence)

[eggna 2]

Sure thing. Im good with wolf, lost only occasionally with many lotus players against me. I get rushed but I pull out on top with my Bersekers. As I said im old school and I don't do magic, melee is the answer to any spell which the Berserkers deliver.

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

Re read my post, and beserkers versus a rush is not a good thing.

[eggna 2]

To you they might not be. Every person plays differently and have their outcomes. I remember playing with a pal and 2 lotus armys attacked me with too many warlocks to coun't. I had about 30 shale bersekers and I still defeated both of their armys with the help of about 4 warlocks and about 6 unclean ones with many Bersekers left over. After that I rushed with my partner and almost destroyed 1 of their village. After that expierence and many more I disagree, Bersekers are great to rush with or rush stopers.

[Mana 3,867]

Yeah dove uses weird tactics and sometimes no ballance of soldiers (Like ranged only) and he still wins most of the time... He always covers me lol... Well covered im changing my strat now.

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

You don't get it, by the time you get 3 beserkers, the opponent will have like 15 sword or musk on your ass.

[eggna 2]

Thats the beautiful part tho. Who said im making Bersekers from the start? I don't ever do what 1nsane does which is start with Masters from beggining, it can take up to 15-25 mins for me to feel comfortable with my LV1 and 2 army full of a nice defensive shield against rushes. But 1nsane is thinkin better now with more strategies and he starts with me steady and nice eventually building up to what we wan't. Musks won't do nothing to a shale Berseker, not that much which I'd care for.

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

Hit and run, especially with long range can easily take care of the pathetic beserkers. Now here where strategy comes in. A diversity in army at this point can be significantly useful.

[eggna 2]

What kind of hit and run would you do Wolf? From expierence with other people trying to overtake my armys they've never succeeded by such an attemp. Im not sure any hit and run could defeat my Bersekers unless its lotus and youre using extreme strategy, even still I haven't seen anybody do that to me. Maybe couse I play with people who are new or they don't know. But my army never falls.

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

Your beserkers can be easily taken with archers/geisha/samurai/arah/tower/spirit. No problem.

I can also snipe them

musketeers/necro/smoke/mugg/heroes

[eggna 2]

Well that could be said but its not that easy to be done. You say you can snipe me, well by the time you start shooting my Berserkers will be all over your musks tearing them apart being too close to snipe. Shale easily defends against sniping well musk shots especially.

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

You haven't played versus me have you? My micro with serpent is significantly precise. I won't let your beserkers kill as much as i'll destroy. Necromancer also kicks wolf's ass

[eggna 2]

No I haven't. Necro does rule supreme but im still going with my 25 or more berserks against your skill. I do old school

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

Old school against my experienced school won't work my friend.

[eggna 2]

Will see. My old school will work better then it might seem.

[{Dark}WolfBite 2]

If I throw a few ronin and geisha(which wolf doesn't have) in the mix, I would own you. Especially since wolf are slow, I can use vetkin to slow them down even more.