A Newbie Ram Guide

Ram is hard to start with, and generally considered much more effective and dangerous at higher AP points of play.

That being said I got together a few pointers that really helped me come far. I haven't played very long, but now I am starting to win very consistently versus other ladder players.

In the starter bracket in the 200 AP range, you will struggle a lot initially. Generally every race has the advantage over your own at this point. I say dump skeletal soldiers, and learn how to use skeletal archers! Skeletal archers are amazing for multiple reasons. A third of the damage you will receive from Wolfen is via counter attacks (Wolfen are the werewolves, and I see a lot of them. Id not be surprised if they are the most played race.) Archers do not cause counter attacks when attacking in melee, additionally as archers level they are GREAT versus elite units and in midrange combat.

Properly positioned archers are a nightmare to deal with, particularly in large groups.

Gargoyles are all about placement, they are essentially your shocktroopers that you use to kill that one or two units that MUST DIE, for example a high level archmage or necromancer. They can also be used to intimidate your enemy from rushing your archers. Gargoyles hit fairly hard for a ram unit, have a fair AP cost, and are by far your most mobile unit.

Skull Warriors - Skull Warriors were great in the 300 AP bracket, not sure if that is still the case. They are exceptionally tough, and are your go to for a front line murder your enemy warrior. Their fear effects tend to really affect Wolfens the most. They can be scary effective tanks, but as this guide is primarly focused on newer players i'd avoid purchasing a skull warrior until you feel ready. They aren't really hard to use, but game mechanics will be better ingrained by focusing on gargoyle and archer heavy armies.

Paladin - The paladin is rather mediocre until higher levels of play, he is ICONOCLAST which means the faith he requires for his spells can only be attained by being within a certain distance of the enemy you are fighting. It is ideal to move paladins into the middle ground to try and attain faith as soon as possible. As paladins level, they soon become nightmares on the battlefield.

Priest of Saluel - These guys are not frail, but they aren't tanks either. Just as the paladin is iconoclast as is the priest (which in higher level play they can benefit from having a paladin around). Just remember this as your starting, priests can swap any two units places for a very low cost. This makes them ideal for setting up valuable fragile enemy units like Wolfen Crossbowman, Arch Mages, and Necromancers.

If you read and take the tips in this guide, when you reach the 300 AP bracket your archers will be leveled to a point where you can easily kill enemy Super Units, like Golems (the most fearsome but slow thing on the battlefield) and chimeras.

The priest can swap itself and any other unit, just for clerification. Can't for instance swap two of their units for one an other. Works on boath friendly and the bad guys.

With the archer, are you not having a hard time hitting when they are in melee? I have such a low hit % with mine. No expert with um tho as I am prity new and havn't played with him too much. I'm still not sure I like taking him instead of a war, tho I'm giveing it a try. They don't counter attack when they are melee'd either, so another option is to take war's and don't attack, just let them do the counter attack thing unless you have the bad guy surrounded.

I noticed there wasnt anything said about the necromancer. I'm not very experienced in DoW yet, but I've already noticed it can be quite the valuable asset to a starting team if used properly. The puppets can hold back enemies for a round or two, and if one is close to dying, you can just repop it back up if you're paying attention to the summoning order. I've been able to cut off advancement by sacrificing a dying puppet and re-positioning it. Repopping a dying puppet has helped me kill a few guy or two he was in combat with.

I just got the heal spell, and it hasn't failed yet. With WIL 14 and spell difficulty 14, I'm under the assumption it only fails on 1's like what would happen in table-top.


I have no idea how well the necro can hold out in later game, but starting out he's becoming one of my favorite to use, however it difficult to take advantage of in some situations. I just feel he's a little underestimated.

The Necromancer is a great unit, I just don't think its a unit that newer players should start out with. Don't get me wrong, I understand that there is great reward for using it and the Necromancer really does become dangerous.

Though to minimize frustration to the newbie, I say don't bother with the Necro until you get your hands around the game.

The priest can swap itself and any other unit, just for clerification. Can't for instance swap two of their units for one an other. Works on boath friendly and the bad guys.

With the archer, are you not having a hard time hitting when they are in melee? I have such a low hit % with mine. No expert with um tho as I am prity new and havn't played with him too much. I'm still not sure I like taking him instead of a war, tho I'm giveing it a try. They don't counter attack when they are melee'd either, so another option is to take war's and don't attack, just let them do the counter attack thing unless you have the bad guy surrounded.

Warriors are okay, they are great fodder, they are just not good versus elite units in my opinion. Starting with archers early will allow you to better combat elites and tougher units later. I'm not saying don't use warriors if you want to, I'm just saying that newbies would be better served leveling archers imho. Archers are great versus POB and Knights of the Lion, which tend to be units that I feel newbies struggle with most initially.