old guide copyed (inc. PtC)

[1123rob]

A guide to UD- Read if you are new

Basic Guide- Press Ctrl + f and type in what you want to find.

**Disclaimer** This is mostly fact but some of what is written is open to debate. Also all information here was accurate at the time of this being reviewed 14/06/08

Posts

I. Introduction, Index,Overview,Basic Mistakes and Genral Terms
II. Information and builds on Underdepths champions
III. Spells/Relics/Equipment information
IV. Map strategies, Building a Underdepths deck



Overview of Under depths play

We are a *very* solid and powerful faction. We typically have the highest damage output and the fastest way to transport melee, this means our decks can very aggressive and fun to play. We can stay ahead norawise and easily overpower champions with our heavy damage units. Our units are also very well costed and you will probably find some of the most nora efficent champions in the game here. We also have the strongest anti-range runes in the game. Whilst we are difficult to master we have one of the strongest and most competitive FF battlegroups.

However we do have a few weaknesses, firstly we rely too much on certain runes,therefore when they die this can be devastating. For example the Deep Elf Priestess.


Basic Mistakes

1. Try not to increase damage on your champs too much. Our faction bonus means all champs have a reasonable damage and need the extra nora cost for a few more health points.

2. Do not forget to sacrifice. This regains nora and helps us a lot in the nora struggle in a game. Only sacrifice champs who have used all ap and have a low health meaning they will die in the next turn.


3. The Deep Elf Priestess aniltiy beckon demon ability has a specific order. It goes top left, if that is filler top-right, then bottom left and bottom right. This is crucial in predicting where a beckoned unit lands, otherwise a champion may land in a awkard place or in a chasm.

4. Many thing go through a helm of chaos. Invunerability means it cannot take damage but it can loose health. This means esscence drain and infest work through a Helm of Chaos. Watch for things that make the champion loose health.

5. Many units are not a demon, meaning they cannot be beckoned.Goblins, Fire elementals, Magma bunnies, Nefari Dragons, Thunderhoofs , Grundlewolves and nightmares all cannot be beckoned.

6. Shadowspawn means the unit comes into play stealthed. Once de-stealthed it cannot stealth again. However stealth units can stealth repeatedly, they can stealth whenever the stealth ability is not on cooldown.

7. The assassin needs to be stealthed to assassinate

8. Retribution can hit shielded units.

9. Shattered Nerves can be cleansed. It triggers when the next ap is spent. So if your oppenants champ moves one space, it will automatically trigger.

10. Demon shield can only be equipped to demons.

11. Don't spend nora on spells early in the game, it means your enemy will have a champion advantage which can be crucial later. Contributed by Nemesis.

General Terms-New!
I realised a while ago that in this guide i often refer to Poxnora terms which newer players might not understand, and of course this guide is mainly for newer players. So here goes.

Tank
Ussually a melee unit, this is a unit that is used to soak up heavy damage letting more fragile units survive, like range units. An example of a tank is the Elder Garu or in our case Sheoul Demon.

Champ Control
This is a spell/relic/equip that helps you deal with situations where you need to disable champions. They ussually come as spells. Underdepths has Acrid Somke as a champ control, becuase it blinds so champions can't attack for 1 round, therefore controlling the champions.

Recycle
Recycling a champion is basically when a rune on cooldown has it's cooldown expired. So you can aid cooldowns by using spells like Darkness which stop rune cooldowns.

AoE
The definition for AoE is Area of Effect. This generally relates to a spell or ability that causes damage over a number of spaces. Our AoE Superiority has an AoE6 which means it covers a square are of 6. Or in total 36 spaces on the map.

Support
Support units are units that aid other units. Never to really be in the fore of melee they just hit from range or only come in when extra damage is needed. Underdepths could use the Deep Elf Summoner as a support unit because it has invigorate which aids other units.

Competitive/Viable/Unviable
Basically theese are terms used to rate the usefulness and the power of runes. Competitive means you'll see this rune work and used often in higher ranked play because it is a good rune and fits in with stratergy. Viable is when a rune is okay, it can be played in ranked games but won't do excedingly. Unviable not to be played in ranked games.

Grunt/Meatsheild
A grunt is a cheap unit that is there just to deal and take damage, with no real meaninng to the stratergy. A meatsheild is like tank where it takes lots of damage, but is mainly used for defensive slowing purposes, wheras a tank can be used for both. A meatsheild tends to be cheaper, and has less relavence to the game, with no real concern for long-term survivability.

House/Powerhouse
Just a unit, that has decent stats and can also be used as a tank.

Economical/Efficent
Both terms relate to cheap effective units and builds. Generally you want your champions to be efficent and your builds to be economical so you don't waste nora. Economical builds tend to be harder to use, but are just as good in the hands of a skilled player.

[1123rob]

Overview to champions

Tier System
I have introduced a new way of rating champions/spell/relics and Equipment to make it easier to recongise which ones are best. Tier one included all the best runes which should be used, tier two included the medioka runes that find a place into some BG's. There used to be a tier 3, but the runes were so bad, they are not even worth mentioning.

Builds Tips and Tricks
To make the most of your BG, you need to get your champion builds exactly right to make your BG as refined as possible, so here is a few tips and tricks to making builds of your own.

1. Builds that end in either 3/4 or 4/9. This is to do with cooldowns. The cooldown is equal to the cost a champion divided by 5, rounded down. This means a unit that ends in either a 4 or 9 will have one less cooldown than a unit ending in 5 or a 0. I prefer to add extra HP's to take the units cost to either 3/4 or 8/9, but damage is also alright.

2.Never upgrade attack or defense. They are so ineffective it's not worth bothering. Always up damage instead of attack, and Health instead of defense.

3. Odd Speed. The way ap is calculated is half the speed rounded up +1. Therefore a odd speed will always be more effective than an even speed because you will get an extra ap.

4. The essentials, for the most part you want 11speed and +6HP on all your champions. The exceptions are units that you want to run cheap, units that get too expensive, or units that are purely support.

5. Over-upgrading. When you upgrade a unit in stats, after the first few upgrades the price of the next upgrade will increase. For damage two upgrades are the most practical, 3 HP upgrades for health and 2 upgrades for speed, but 3/4 is acceptable. So basically you want to stay within the first couple of upgrades to avoid an exotic cost.

6. Justification and Purpose. The build you make has to be suited towards the units purpose. If you make a build that tries to do too much, doesn't do enough or hasn't got a purpose your BG will be less effective. Make sure you have an idea of what each unit is going to do, and justifiy why you have built the unit like that. As you have your learning curve, you will be less able to justify un-economical builds and therefore you will need to change them. Test all the abilities out on a unit if you are unsure on how to build it.


Tier 1

Abyssal Fiend
A great rune. It amplifies fire damage by 25%, and has decent stats, and costs very little. However it has demon elf bound, so you will need to run atleast 5 first turn playable Deep Elves/Nefari and 13 champions if you want to run it. Due to recent nerfs, it's no longer such a melee monster so you want to keep the builds cheap, my favourite is just 9speed for 64nora, but you can add an extra 8HP for 69, but don't go into the 70's.

Deep Elf Monk
Just a melee house. It has the devastating potential to travel far and unload lots of damage in a single strike. After that it will stay around for a few rounds and hurt something badly. There is no flexibility in builds here, you want 94nora, 11speed, multi2, and +4HP for 94nora. Anything else and you have gone wrong.


Deep Elf Priestess
A great support unit. Possibly the best mobility aid in the game, it's main downfall is beckon demon being race specific in BG's where the runes are no longer all demon. However, with decent stats, affordable cost, a secondary range attack, multi attack and shatter to boot one is worth running anyway. It's best matched with a heavy hitter like the Deep Elf Monk, or with Grimlic for harassment. The only build is 78nora, for 11speed, +6HP, poison 1, and beckon demon.

***Side Note*** Beckon demon will relocate the demon to the space to the top left of the priestess, if that is occupied it will go to the top right, then bottom left and lastly bottom right***


Deep Elf Summoner:
The main competition for the Deep Elf Priestess the summoner fights for a place offering less mobility with invigorate, but non-race specific support, and the semi-useful imps. She is run best cheaply, as she isn't useful in the midst of battle, but staying back. My favourite build is 69nora, 9speed, invigorate 2, and +2HP. Otherwise you can add extra HP's to take it to 73nora, but anything else and it's over-upgraded.

Fire Elemental
Godly in fire BG's, this rune is cheap, with great damage. The best build is 79nora, 11speed, +8HP, terraform lava 1 (the lava terrain will heal it through fire eater).


Grimlic
One of the best heroes in the game, if not the best. It has the highest range starting damage, with decent range and damage that fully amplifies upto thirty damage. It also has a AoE fire attack, that hits about 17damage per champion and upto 24 fully amplified every two rounds. Lastly it has deception, which creates three illusions of Grimlic. This gives Grimlic more survivability, slows down opposing units, and acts as a self cleanse. The best build is 100nora, because you can deploy it first turn, and you get 11speed, +4HP and firebomb 3. Otherwise, you want regeneration 2 for 108 nora.

Goblin Archer:
With the recent PtC buffs this rune is good. With the exception of Grimlic, this is what i would consider the only other real ranged unit in Underdepths. (A range unit that has a range over 4) It's as fragile as glass, but can go down swinging and kill something that costs much more than it. The most economical build to use is 59nora, 9speed and +6HP. Otherwise you want 73nora, for 11speed and an additional +6HP. Anything else and you have over-upgraded it far too much.

Imp:
One of UDs favorite units. This rune single handedly wins games.It's probably the best stealth unit in the game, affordable, mobile and comes with decent damage potential. I would suggest 11speed, +6HP and +1damage for 69nora. Otherwise, you can go the assasin style and add extra damage (no more than four) to try and kill a unit by sneaking up on it. The imp is best used mid to late game where it's less likely to be noticed, and can make a bit unexpected impact. It's also best used against factions with poor de-stealth options, like KF, FS, and UD.

Klzik:
A absolute house. It's about 1/4 the cost of Grimlic on the trader, and this reflects on how useful it is. It will do fine if you don't have a Grimlic, but i wouldn't use it otherwise. Anyway, it comes with great damage, multi, a spider spawning ability (propagate), web and surge. The combination of these abilities means it can last the entire game, do extraordinary damage and spawn spiders all over the place. The best build is 100nora, 11speed, life siphon +4HP and vun:fire. However, you can also add surge:spider 2 for 108nora. K'zlik is best used against moga, or FS, and with conjunction with the Arachnodemon and Scorpic.

Nefari Dragon
Again a powerhouse. It's mobile, with good stats and has a powerful secondary range attack. One of UD's best runes, one should always be run as it's adaptable in most situations. You want 11speed, +8HP, flamestrike 3 and vun:frost for 84nora. Theres not much else to say, apart from these hurt alot!

Nefari Messenger:
One of the best runes UD has, and the best diplomat in the game. It comes affordable, with decent stats, a good range and damage type, and regen, initive and most importantly drive. Every BG should run one of these, as i don't believe you will reach the best rank you can get to without it. the most economical build is 79nora, for 11speed, and +4HP (this is the best build by far). Alternately, you can go for a more melee specialist build and get the extra 2HP and regen 3 (which is over-costed) for 86nora. If you want to be weird, you could try and initive build for 89nora, which gives 12speed, initiative 2, (8ap on deplyment) and +2HP.

[1123rob]

Pincushion:
A superb champion. Apart from raw stats, which are nothing to laugh at, it starts with one crazy ability: arrow eater. It denies the most powerful concept in the meta-game ranged attacks and is probably the most powerful ability in the entire game. Yes, thats how good it is. It also starts at only 45 nora. You can run it cheaply at 63 nora, 9speed, +6HP and damge sheild physical 2. Otherwise you want 11speed ontp for 74nora.

Scorched Dwarf
Nice. At an uber 15 nora starting cost he makes a great roadblock and has nora miner and upgradable mason. An auto-include in most battlegroups and the build is mason 2, nora miner 2 +2Hp for 29 nora for a cheap nora generator, shrine heal and anti-rush rune. Remember to treat this rune as a spell though, otherwise you'll end up having to little first-turn deployable champions.


Sheoul Demon:
One of the best tanks in the game, but also the best tank in UD. It's healable, and horrific aura is immensly useful. There is no reason not to run two of these whether you are running a demon or fire realted BG, or even a 10/10. The best build is 89nora, 11speed, +8HP, horrific aura and vun:frost. If you have particular trouble with ST you can drop the vun:frost though. Also stay away from horrfic aura 2.


Pox Harbringer:
Newly available to players and *very*very*very* good. If you can get them two is amazing. See for yourself. For a cost-effictive godly rune you get 11speed, 15damage, 54HP, and initive 2 for 99 nora. An amazing opener. The best rune we have overall.


Tier 2

Arachnodemon
A pretty efficent rune, but it lacks purpose. It's good in a spider BG, but otherwise it doesn't do much, apart from being a regular beater, which we already have in surplus. My favourite build is 64nora, and +6HP. Otherwise you can get 11speed and fire web for 89nora.

Bok Guardian:
Not used very often, it has a nice melee role and starts off with 15 damage in FF which is high and has nice mobility with flight. Upgrades, keep it cheap, 9 speed and riposte put it at 82 for a solid champion. +3HP is nice as well and makes it is Nora cost 85, will find it's place into highlander, but generally worse than the succubus in nearly everyway.


Deep Elf Assasin:
A good assassin. It sadly cost lots of nora but can take down a strong champion almost instantly and is basically a renewable instakill, however a great waste of nora is your opponent is running any kind of effictive de-stealth. Upgrades, there is pretty much one-way to go with this champion, 11 speed and assassinate 2 for 99 nora, even in highlander i still wouldn't use this one despite it's one-shot abilties.

Deep Elf Fanatic
A good rune, it got inderectly nerfed twice with enrage and punce and therefore lost most of it's power. It's kinda of like the more expensive less powerful version of the De mercenary, that will cost you an unworthy fortune to buy off the trader. I wouldn't use it unless in highlander. 67nora for 11speed, +6HP vunerability:psy vun:poison. It's 8 nora more expensive than the highest costed merc build on this guide and has two vunerabilities to boot. <_<

Deep Elf Firedancer
A decent addition to fire BG's, it's cheap and adds more option for range. It's fragile though, and it's hard to find room for such a rune but for 64nora, you get 9speed, +1damage and 3HP, which is good for damage vs nora ratio. Otherwise you want 11speed for 73 nora. You could lastly add in an extra 6HP to take it 79, but anything above that is two expensive.

Deep Elf Mercenary
If you can find a more efficent melee beater in the game, i will give you a cookie. The merc is amazing at what it does, and great if you feel like beating KF down to a pulp. The best build is 64nora, melee specialist 2, 11speed, +6HP and +1damage. You can add hunter:KF if you fee like it, but thats only if you have trouble facing them for some reason.

Deep Elf Scout:
Starts cheap and upgrades to stealth, very fast and has a medium damage, altogethor medoika, fragile and mostly useless. That is, to put it bluntly. It can stealth, but even so it's not going to do much, but raise the cost. Can be used as a detection unit but is trumphed in every way by the shadowmaster. As far as builds go you have 53 nora for +6HP and detection 2.

Demon Lich
*Sighs* A nice concept, to add even more synergy betweem FW and UD, but theres little place for a 2-3 range unit with low health and a set of mismatch abilities that don't do much. However it's not *terrible* and i would suggest 9speed and +8HP for 74nora. Anything else and it's too expensive for what it does.

FireStarter
Pretty decent albeit expensive.It's main purpose is to spam lava, with lavafall, which it does very well. However the design of this rune does little for it. You want to keep this rune in the backround to make the most of lavafall, but it's expensive nature makes this difficult. The extra nora cost from damage points and energy theif have little purpose, and immunity:fire and lavawalker are just inferioir to fire eater in every way. However if you want to run this rune +6HP and lavafall 2 for an expensive 88nora is the way to go. Anything else and it is far, far too expensive.

Gahlroon:
Inferior to the Pit Dragon, which is inferior to the Deep Elf Monk, in costs and stats, but still powerful nonetheless, it lacks the justification for a slot .It's only advatage is blood frenzy, which mainly just makes it a bigger target. Bloodfrenzy also means it gains multiattack when it has lost over half health. With 22 damage in FF bloodfrenzy on this unit will hurt something. Upgrades, 11speed puts it at a expensive 91 nora. Iron will and bloodfrenzy 3 can be personal choices. +6HP on this unit means that with a war banner it has 61HP.

Grundlewolf:
Rarely used and has no real purpose in UD strategy. However, with it's recent buffs it's not to bad stat-wise even though pounce 1, is mainly useless. As far as builds go you want 72 nora for regeneration 2, 11speed and +6HP. You might want to go for regen 3 but this unit can be run nicely at a cheap cost. It's best in 10/10's, where it can fil a role that UD doesn't already have covered in FF.

Incinerator
A good rune. It's main use is anti-terrain (melt) which is becoming more useful with terrain being popular in a couple of factions. Fire eater and incinerate come as a bouns, but does make the rune a bit too expensive. However, expensive has always been runnable in UD. Therefore i would suggest 9speed, and +8HP for 83nora.

Magma bunny:
More fun than competitive this rune can replicate, making two of itself. It has the potential to make a complete swarm, given time and support, and overwhelm the opponant. I would suggest 69nora, 9speed, +6HP and replicate. It needs lava to heal itself though, so it's best used with a Nightmare or firestarter.


Nefari Reaper:
This unit has potential, starts with 16 damage in FF and 1-2 range is also very useful. Upgrades, 77 nora, riposte, 44HP and 9 speed, otherwise 86 nora, 11speed, 44HP and riposte. It will fit in nicely as a powerful melee champion, but i would stress don't use it over the Succubus or the Bok Guardian as it is strictly inferior unless you want a Deep Elf for fiends. However even then if you played it, it would feel a shame to me :D

Nefari Siphon:
This unit is weird. As a nora generator it's inneffective. As a range unit it's slow, but can deal a bit of damage. I wouldn't suggest using it, but if you do get 9speed, and flame siphon 2 for 69nora.

Nefari Soul torch
It's a nice anti-healing rune, but a bit overpriced and fragile. It's useful if you want to shutdown mass heals but otherwise it's mostly a waste of a slot. For 84nora, you get 9speed, and torch 2. I think it might have vun:frost as an upgrade, so you can get it for 79nora which is preferable.

Pit Dragon
An awesome rune. It has the highest damage of all champions in the game and good health to tank with. It doesn't provide much more than raw stats, but those are good enough to include it. It used to be amazing, and it still is but the Deep Elf Monk is superior. More mobile, and with similar damage output. You can just upgrade 11speed for 84nora, or add an extra 8HP's for 89nora. Either build is fine.

Warogg:
A nice newly demon champion. It's basically an intresting tanking option with damage sheilds, enrage, and physical resists. Personal experimentation is needed for this guy. However, stay away from beserker, physical resist and damage sheild upgrades would be my first choice.

Scorpic
A decent rune. It provides another melee beater, and a good one but still lacks that special thnig that makes it worth running. It's still amazing in spider BG's, and can cause alot of pain. My favourite build is 88nora, 11speed, multi 1, and +8HP.

Shadow Master
Another cheap, powerful deep Elf, but inferirior to the Deep Elf Mercenary melee-wise, another option in the UD stealth deck, but in most battlegroups it will find a place due to detection, making it a support unit that can pack a punch. Cloak, whilst being a nice concept is mainly useless, overpriced and has a too high cooldown. Generally the build is 9speed, +6HP and detection 3 for 69 nora.

Succubus
A suprisingly good rune. It comes cheap and useable, and upgrades to a handful of useful and welcome abilities. It's great fully upgraded where it is threatening, mobile, survivable, and good at disabling. My favourite build is 11speed, curse 1, life siphon, charm 1 and +8HP for 88nora.

Thunderhoof:
Cheap grunt. Cannot be beckoned. Enough said. Upgrades: 11speed,+6HP,73 nora. Siege means he hits against shrines hard. Experiment, rend is quite useful as well, this guy might find his way into 10/10's though.


[Quote]

[1123rob]

Spells,Relics & Equipment

Tier 1

Acrid Smoke
As far as disabling spells go, this one is one of the best. It causes blinded which means the units in the affected area, can't attack for the next turn. This is great for font contesting or just attacking and not getting a sharp reaction. Beware about using it against ST, and KF as they both have cleansing spells that can counter this, aswell as IS which has a few champion with cleanse.

Banish:
Great for font contestation, since if a font has only one unit there you can banish the unit and gain the font. Also if you are away from an enemies font or shrine, it can turn a 2vs 2 battle into a 2 vs 1. It's just useful, to me the swiss army knife spell.

Demon Shield:
A great anti-range rune, it's cheap and denies the problem of moving into attacking space. Like the priestess it's downfall is it's race specifics, but nonetheless one is good to run anyway.

Fireblast
A pretty good AoE. I'ts radius isn't very large, but it does good ampable damage, which is good enough to live with, and it;s fairly cheap.

Mark of Sheoul:
Our warbanner, +2 attack, +2 defense, and +5Hp with a 10% nora refund. If you have one use one. It will save you nora and the +5HP is very useful.

Midslicer Obelisk
At the moment the best anti-range rune in the entire game, which gives us a massive advantage. It makes all opposing range attacks cost +1ap, which might not sound like alot, but makes a huge difference. It also means that economical 9speed range units cannot get in 2attacks without ap boosting. Every BG should have one of these.

Retribution:
Amazing spell, basically one of the few remaining insta-kills left on pox, it can also hit a shielded unit. Takes down big foes, only use of a near dead expensive unit though do not waste a unit. Also it has unlimited distance.

Sacrifice:
Amazing spell. Two make a UD deck, an auto include staple, use on a near dead champion to regain most of the nora cost. It synergises well with our high cost units, as you regain more nora. It's best used on near-dead units that have used all ap. Often you might find yourself wanting to keep a units alive, especially Grimlic. Don't be tempted, your opponant will kill it with a spell and you will loose 50-75nora and damage your champion deployment.


Tier 2

Dark Pact
An interesting spell, but single target spells are not often used, but rather huge AoE's. However it's useful if you think a unit is likely to get disabled, and can be considered cheating against IS and KF.

Darkness:
Good for recycling, but also recycles your opponants runes which can be negative if you have used excessive resourcess to kill something nasty. However it's good against sawrm BG's, FW, and BG's that tend to last longer than yours. You can also use it to hide opposing runes before you attack.

Fireblast
A small AoE fire spell, generally this rune is overshadowed by mindstorm and superiority, but given the chance in fire decks it really shines.

Helm of Chaos:
The rune used to be great. No top tier UD battlegroup ran without one but now it's not so great. The concept is good but can be countered easily, by spells or frequent shatter units. The rune is too situational to warrant in most battlegroups but may find it's way into some. However paired iwth an imp against a shrine you can sometimes pull of a cheap desperate win. When paired with a dark pact, you would be suprised how effective it can be.

Maddening Echoes
A pretty weird spell. It's useful as a champ finisher or against and IS phalnax. However it's best in conjunction with Grimlic's illusions or the summoners imps. Save full ap on Grimlic, decept, run the illusions to a couple of units and laugh as the poor units take an ureasonable amount of damage.

Minstorm
Not a bad spell, but not a amazing one. The main use of this spell is to close on a unit, or prevent it from attacking by making it loose ap. The shock damage is just a bouns, and in total can do 25 damage. However, single target spells are less useful than AoE's or disabling spells, and therefore it won't find a place in a neta-game BG.

Nefari Torch:
Debatable relic, can cause some damage to spell heavy enemies, however it hurts you as well and the damage is only significant if they play 5 of more spells. However it gives you a bit of nora, and it useful against spell spamming faction that have poor shrine heal (KF,ST,FS,SL)

Scorch the Earth:
A good spell if you run alot of fire eaters, or you feel like trapping a unit, causing alot of damage or font contesting but otherwise a conventional AoE is just better.

Shatter
A great anti-equipment option. The suprise effect alone is worth including it, if you are not running a priestess. Most useful in 10/10's though

[1123rob]

Strategies:

Thinking!!!
Before i get started on the basic tactics, this is a mental game and you need to think to win. On your turn you have 1 minutes and 45 seconds to move your units. Unless you have 5+ units out it shouldn't take more than thirty seconds to move your units, which means you have 1 minute and 15 seconds to plan your move. Just think of what you need to do, how you are going to do it, the most effective way to do it, and the possible risks of doing that move is going to be. All too often after i have moved my unit, i have realised that next turn it will die and i could of done something more effective.

Square Counting
This is the very basics of Poxnora. This is knowing how much ap units have and how far they can move, and what they can do. For example you have a 6 ap unit, it can only move 3spaces and attack therefore if a unit is 4 spaces away you cannot attack. Also if next turn a unit will have seven ap, it would be smart to stay five spaces away from that unit so it cannot attack you next turn. This get a bit more complicated with range units, as you will have to click on the range unit and stay away from how far it can hit you. Make sure you factor in ap boosting and relocating abilities when you do this, otherwise it can be just as bad as not doing this at all. Lastly, you want your units to be as far away from the opposing units when they are not attacking, so they are safer. To do this, instead of moving and using all your ap, move a little so next turn you will have full ap. So for example, you have an 11speed unit with 7ap. Move it 3spaces along, so next turn it will have a full 11ap. Then move it 7 space along, so the turn after that it will have a full 11ap.

Predicting
This is a crucial part of Pox and the hardest. By accurately guessing what your opponants can do, you can take calculated risks and keep your units safe. The most popular theory is that say your opponants have everything they can to destroy you. From that, every action you do calculate whether it is worth the risk. So for example, if SL deploys a skeezick drummer, they are likely to use Draconic Benediction in a few turns. Therefore make sure you predict an extra 3ap when they are going to attack.

Nora Counting
This is also a hard part of pox, and not entirely essential. Basically you can track how much nora your opponant has, and therefore what they can do. By knowing what they can and can't do you can safely plan your move. This can also have the effect of spotting hidden effects like backfire, when they slow down champion deplyment ect.

[1123rob]

BG Ideas and Meta Game BG's

This is the final piece of the guide, and gives you a final push on UD and how to start your own battlegroup. So heres a simple collection of BG's that work well in the current meta-game. You should start of by making these BG's, but it is essential you changhe them to suit your taste, and make your own adjustments. If all UD Bg's were the same, this would be a very boring game.

Sample-Meta Game BG

2*Deep Elf Monk 94nora, 11speed, multi2, +4HP
2*Deep Elf Summoner 69nora, 9speed, inviorate 2, +2HP
1*Deep Elf Priestess 78nora, 11speed, beckon demon, poison 1 and +6HP
2*Nefari Dragon 11speed, flamestrike 3, vun:frost, +8HP 84nora.
2*Sheoul Demon 11speed, +8HP, horrific aura, vun:frost 89nora.
1*Imp 69nora, 11speed, +1damage +6HP
1*Fire Elemetal, 11speed, +8HP, terraform lava 1
1*Grimlic 100nora, firebomb 3, 11speed, +4HP
1*Abyssal Fiend 64nora, 9speed.

2*Fireblast
1*Acrid Smoke
1*Demon Sheild
1*Mindslicer Obelisk
1*Scorched Dwarf 29nora, mason 2, nora miner 2 +2HP
1*Mark of Sheoul

This is the pretty solid meta-game BG. You melee units are strong, and will often be able to win 1 vs 1 fights. You don't have alot of ranged options, but enough to compete in a dogfight, and enough anti-range to win. You can move units fast and have fire ampage for the mid game to make Grimlic and your AoE's more effective. You can handle nearly all situations, and have the tools to cope with anything thrown at you. The only thing lacked is a de-stealth, but Underdepths lacks a decent one in general. The optional replacements are removing the fiend, and adding in a retribution and removing the scorched dwarf or demon sheild for a banish.

FW/UD Forsaken Depths

UD

2*Sheoul Demon 89nora build
2*Nefari Dragon 84nora build
1*Deep Elf Summoner 69nora build
2*Fireblast
2*Sacrfice
1*Mindslicer Obelisk

FW

2*Lich King 100nora 11speed, a few HP's and damage.
2*Blood fiend 39nora, blood rage
2*Soul Siren 76nora, 9speed, relocate foe, a few HP's
2*Mobilization
1*Unholy Tomb
1*Tomb of Hate

This BG is the newsest and most popular 10/10 around. For a good reason, it's amazing. The synergy is strong betweem the two factions. Lich Kings provide the main range units, they are immortal so you never need to worry about them dieing, just make sure you sacrifice them. The sheoul demon provides the main tank, the nefari dragons as more melee/range support and the summoners provide aditional care. The blood fiends provide cheap, expendable beaters and the soul siren nets kills with relocate foe. The Mobilization is just good, and devastating when used at the right time. The unholy tomb gives solid nora generation from your own units and the tome of hate provides shrine heal. Ontop of this, you have Minslicer obelisk, which with the Lich Kings gives you total and utter range dominance, which is the high-point of the entire BG.

Sundered Depths

UD

2*Sheoul Demon
2*Nefari Dragon
1*Deep Elf Summoner
1*Fireblast
2*Banish
1*Sacrifice
1*Minslicer Obelisk

SL

2*Skeezick Canoneer
1*Acid Dracoleech
1*Flame Dracoleech
2*Destroyer
1*Enslave
2*Firestorm
1*Dragon Skull


Apart from FW/UD this is the other newest best 10/10 around. Again you have the mix of some of the strongest units in the game, range dominance aswell as amped AoE's and Fire damage. It gets it own theme from the Nora Leeches, with banish, Enslave and Sacrifice. With both leeches out, whenever you banish a unit you are loosing your opponant nora. Accurately speaking, on 3 80nora units, with leeches out, you can banish two, and then enslave + sacrifice the other and loose your opponant about 112 nora, at a cost of about 70-80 nora of your own. Which is fantastic in actual gameplay.

[Sepulcher8]

I almos think some of this should be updated further...

[troost0]

fireblast is tier1 and 2

[Konger]

Honestly, this guide is kind of a mess... seriously a mess. Much love to Evilbabies, he was a good guy, but his guide was never very good to begin with, and it was barely ever updated, and after passing hands several times, it's lacking quite a bit. Typos, misinformation, outdated, missing runes... I mean come on... Abyssal Fiend and Fire Elemental are listed as Tier 1 runes?

I'm working on a Guide to replace this one, I'm not promising solid gold, or perfection, but it's an improvement. I'll probably wrap it up today and post it.

[briseide]

I went all the way down to UD forum and I found this.

Necrothread ftw !

[CERDI]

this guide is a mess, and... er... i would dare to say innacurate and random

[jibtekw]

Tier 1

Abyssal Fiend
A great rune. It amplifies fire damage by 25%, and has decent stats, and costs very little. However it has demon elf bound, so you will need to run atleast 5 first turn playable Deep Elves/Nefari and 13 champions if you want to run it. Due to recent nerfs, it's no longer such a melee monster so you want to keep the builds cheap, my favourite is just 9speed for 64nora, but you can add an extra 8HP for 69, but don't go into the 70's.

I cried.

Lost auto never4get

[Badgerale]

poor abyssal fiend- oi, solokov, make this rune good again