I've noticed the bigger units haven't been showing up all that often in the pvp games I've spectating and played in over the past month or so. No idea how competitive the games I was watching were in terms of the leaderboards/tiers/top level of play to be honest but It made me curious. Am I alone in seeing less and less of the bigger units? Have they fallen by the wayside for any particular reason? I have my own theories of course but I figured I'd ask around. Thanks,
They can still be played. I personally don't use them in skeletons, because they are expensive and aren't very good. Sotm, and IS have A few. Icefang and vindrax. They still exist.
Good to know there are still a few of the big bastards stomping around out there. What do you think is holding back more of the 2x2 units from seeing the field? 1) I think that by virtue of taking up some extra space and we can talk about after ee just more of the big unit on the board making them easier to target and being able to attack from more angles makes positioning them alot more difficult. 2) Another positioning issue with the 2x2's is how they have less room to work with on many of the maps. Their overall lack of mobility (obviously certain perks like flying can be a huge factor in getting around this) and clunkiness in and out of combat are other limitations of the bigger setup. If I recall correctly wasn't it originally setup so that the 2x2 units where more often than not at least a few shades more powerful (and had a bunch of gimme immunities) than there smaller brothers? It looks like somewhere in my years away from the game things have changed...or maybe I just recall it wrong....Pox nora has always made my brain hurt when I try to work out which Runes work where and why they do or don't but it would be cool to see a few more of the big guys come back and make an appearance.
2x2 are usually immune to some of the annoying effects like drown. they are also less than the 1x1 runes, so usually you dont get a lot of 2x2 champs in your bgs. with some exceptions. Tinydragon recently is playing a SP full cyclops BG and its working well, having mostly 2x2 champs (but getting mountaineer from the alpine one). Also the client had (and somtimes still has) some problems on 2x2 units' movement so people refrain from playin too many of them, i think.
They are still used and viable. Auras work better on 2x2 for starters. Risen yeti is my favorite FW beater. Zombie behemoth is my favorite zombie. Corrupted guardian is somewhere in a list.
In a game where random bushes, and random spots you can't pass through they just aren't good enough or cheap enough to run. Pox relies so heavily on proper positioning that large units just aren't feasible unless they are rocking a ton of stats for cheap. I've said his for a while now, and people always argued their are some good large units, well their are some good 5 speeders, but most of them suck.
I have currently five 2x2 champions in my construct bg and they are no hindrance. Some maps they have difficulty moving, like the map with lavastreams in the middle. But all in all I really like them. There are many benefits of 2x2 champions as stated above from dice and maru. Mainly equipment on these champions have bigger range. Healing mass and abilities like these work wonderful. Command, detection work great on these champions. For instance the Cyclops Chieftain is great for buffing your champions with battlemaster 3. Ranged 2x2 champions cover a huge area. There are really more benefits than hindrances for these champions.
Those are really good points. I am not sure which side those benefits and hinderances balance out to but it's an interesting concept to consider. I suppose it comes down to trying to max out the benefits and minimize the hindrances when your piloting a group with alot of the bigger guys (as in every decent rpg and strategy game I can think of). I really like the cyclops BG idea (getting mountaineer from the alpine one in order to minimize a potential weakness). I am going to work on building a BG based on that as my next order of business.
In my construct bg my 2x2 champions have very good abilities that benefit their space usage. Here are some examples: Faultbreaker with Fractured Lands, huge radius ; Silverclan Protector 4-6 range champ, huge attack radius ; Cyclops Symbiot, Sonic roar and binding chains benefit from the big body ; Dwarven Mortar Crew 6-8 Range, again huge attack radius ; Lodestone Megalith 1-5 range, grant magical aura and Guardians Light benefit greatly from his big body. As you can see, the big body benefits in every case in the Radius and therefor ability to affect on a big part of the map. Also you can block very well with Faultbreaker and Cylops Symbiot. When you start playing with 2x2 champs you will get the feeling when and how to position them correctly to your benefit. To be honest, there is rarely a situation when I lost the game because my champions were 2x2. The downsides are the following: Easier to get blocked, that includes relic block meaning you have to move 2 space instead of 1 to bypass, surrounds from champions, easier to target from ranged from multiple angles, when pushed into bad terrain its worse especially lava, block your own units so galeforce and knockbacks in general are dangerous. Hope this helps you a bit more to grasp the benefits of the 2x2 champs.
When I see large units, the only thought running through my mind is target practice. The only thing that made large units viable was colossus, I believe it was called, and that was removed in favor of hunter:small. The change needed to happen but it's sub par now.
They are only easier to attack from range by 1 square 99% of time. Not a huge difference. The relic block is actually a very valid point however.
Larger target vs extra range kinda cancels out. Can be good meat shields in front line. Nice aoe guys too
