Wolfen tips for beginners

Hey everyone - I am a new player to the dogs of war online open beta, but i have picked up a few things playing (currently rank 12,so no experience with using the legenary units yet). I love the game but have not found many resources on strategy for wolfen. Feel free to add your own tips/tricks/constructive criticism so everyone can benefit with your knowledge!

1) you will always be outnumbered.
play expecting to be outbumbered; dont rush into an enemy formation and expect to live - the easiest way for your big bad Predator to go down is to have him surrounded and taken down by a bunch of (seemingly) smaller units

2) your units are stronger than most other faction units
all melee wolfen units have born killer, the ability to hit 2x. If you manage to get a high hit% through flanking an enemy, this could mean some major damage. many times, you can kill two mid health enemies with one of your own units through the use of born killer and pursuit movement

3) wolfen units have the most mobility in the game
take advantage of this! we can close the distance to the squishy units that most people will want to protect (casters/archers). a common strategy is to use your elite unite to sprint to the back of the enemy lines and use defensive stance next to the archers/casters. This will put your hard hitter next to the enemy squishies, as well as adding the engaged status to archers (makes them only able to attack the engaged unit [not sure if there is talent that counters this?]) and if they try to run, you get an attack of opportunity. definetely rambo style, but sometimes its needed!

4) known when to use offensive stance vs natural order
natural order provides +2 damage with no drawbacks, whereas offensive stance gives you an extra attack (up to 3 attacks for your melee units, 2 for ranged) BUT makes you unable to counterattack. Ill usually go with natural order to play safe, and offensive stance when I go in for the kill (while keeping an eye out for potential counters).

its important to note that offensive stance only gives you 3 attacks on your first action, and does not apply to pursuit movement attacks, whereas natural order does.


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right now, I think that the wolven with crossbows are overpowered, simply due to their insane movement. I personally use crossbowmen with instinctive firing to reduce penalties while moving and reduces scattering (so you can shoot reasonably well at enemies fighting your dudes) and harassment stance for a guerilla warfare type of fighter. your huge range of movement will allow you to be a mobile ranged fighter, choosing the best spots to snipe enemies, whereas other archers are more stationary, and therefore easier targets.



please feel free to add to this - I dont have much experience with lonewolf, guardian of runes, grace guardian, or worgs, so any information on those units would be appreicated!

Sounds about right.

I've been playing wolfen for a few days as well. Maybe it's basic knowledge but i find that offensive Stance is often best used by the wolfen with crossbow. Atleast if you can get a good accurate shot(75%+) it's worth using it to secure a hit or double hit. They don't suffer the drawbacks that melee units would either since they are ranged and so long as your opponent can't/chooses not to move in on them they'll pull it off without consequences.

Taunt is an ideal tool if you know your opponent wants to attack another unit than the user like a notable in vip mode. For example, I played a vip match against another wolfen just earlier and the strat bassically unfolded as my 2 wolfen fangs engaging their vip on turn 2 with defensive stance. Forcing my opponent to either find a way to take them down or take down my vip in one attack. Nearing the end of turn 2 he'd managed to deal a small amount of damage on my fangs and his Hunter had engaged my notable. To finish off the turn i used my Grave Guardian to taunt his hunter resulting in the next turn his hunter could only hit my notable once out of 3 hits with offensive stance. My fangs wiping the floor with the poor opponent's notable with two offensive stance assaults.

This sort of tactic doesn't really work with undead i've found as they tend to surround their notable with many units and a direct assault like that doesn't often go in your favor. So far my best result against undead has been taking shots at their notable with a wolfen with crossbow trying to pick it off from afar. i almost won that match but my opponent managed to close in on my notable.

Also one last thing is sometimes it's good to psyche out your opponent in a way, if your going to move your units in on the offensive moving them last can give you a considerable advantage. Your opponent may not see it coming and be unable to patch up their weaknesses fast enough to block your advance.

Thx for this Guide, helped me much

Hi all,

I've been playing Wolfen too and the first poster said he didn't use the spellcasters so here's my feedback on them (I don't have the english names, feel free to translate them) :

First thing first, your spellcasters are mages/clerics, true, but they remain Wolfen and are multiclassed (warrior mage and monk), so they are not as squishy as the pure mages of other races and can do quite a lot of damage even when not using magic. I don't hesitate to use them as a second choice to defend or attack at close range since they have two attacks like the rest of the pack.

Here's what I think of each :

- Lone Wolf (Solitaire Wolfen) : Warrior-mage of the basic pack, a bit frustrating to use at low level since you can't give him orders. Its basic magic attack kicks (for me) every two turns, so it is best used for guerilla warfare. I like to send him up to his normal move, attack with the basic attack and retreat (spellcasting will not eat away your move). Its offensive stats are better than the defensive ones, so it's best used to attack weak spots or to counter damage-resistant/defensive position ennemies. For the lvl2 spells, they protect against magic or arrows. Depending on what you face, one is more usefull thant the other. I have chosen the one that blocks arrows but have no real advice on it. Perhaps at a higher level blocking spells could be better. This unit can be developped as a fearsome mage-killer : its high close-range attack and the spell that deals damage based on the target's will seems to tailor it for that role. I have yet to test it that way though. Overall, it is an important part of my team, able to hit bothersome ennemies in the middle of a fight and a capable warrior vs weak units.

- Rune Guardian (Gardien des Runes) : Warrior-priest unlockable a bit later, this unit has no offensive basic spell. Its first spell is a boost/debuf that improves damage but makes the targeted unit more fragile. It is best used on crosbowmen, as they are relatively protected from attacks (and can be combined with the protective spell of the Lone Wolf for combo effects) or on the hunter (chasseur=assault troop) for maximun glass canon effect. At second level, you get the easy choice between a fear-increasing bonus and a damage spell. I chose the damage spell, so that I can deal damage three times with the unit in one turn. I would advise against my own choice for level 3 : I picked an escape improvement whereas I should have chosen the bonus to spellcasting feat : it often happens that I can't cast my 4th level spell that would shield me for attacks for a whole turn and give me back hp in case they hit. 5th level feats are pretty standard but I can't tell much about them since I haven't unlocked them yet. I use this unit as a defender (yes, Wolfen are excellent in defense) since it must be around other units to get mana and has good defensive stats. It takes some time to get used to but this unit is definitively usefull, particularly in VIP games where the VIP will participate to the mana flow and benefit from the defensive abilities of the Guardian.

So to my mind, casters are not to be neglected in a Wolfen army : thanks to their ability to deal damage to two (or three with the follow-up movement) targets in one turn (with spells and attacks), they are a welcome addition to a balanced team. The Lone Wolf will be more of an offensive troop while the Guardian has good defensive capabilities.

I hope you enjoyed the feedback, feel free to comment !

about the guardian you didn't mention middle way...that skill can make you win lot of games by itself. I always preferred it than Mortal Insolence. I add that if you plan to take Mortal insolence , elusive is not a good option because you want to disengage and get attacks of opportunities to replenish your health and you rather have an increased cast chance. On the other hand is better to have elusive if you go the middle way route.

Lonewolves internal rage can hit for lot of damage, i recall doing 22 damage to the lion mage and it is castable everyturn with a high range...a very interesting choice

-Lonewolf (additionall info)
Can be used as a healer at level 4, but remember the spell takes out th lonewolf's own HP to cast. YOu MUST take regeneration at level 3 if you want it to be a healer.

-Lonewolf (additionall info)
Can be used as a healer at level 4, but remember the spell takes out th lonewolf's own HP to cast. YOu MUST take regeneration at level 3 if you want it to be a healer.

not that mastery of arcana is an option anyway

-Lonewolf (additionall info)
Can be used as a healer at level 4, but remember the spell takes out th lonewolf's own HP to cast. YOu MUST take regeneration at level 3 if you want it to be a healer.

not that mastery of arcana is an option anyway

Hey everyone - I am a new player to the dogs of war online open beta, but i have picked up a few things playing (currently rank 12,so no experience with using the legenary units yet). I love the game but have not found many resources on strategy for wolfen. Feel free to add your own tips/tricks/constructive criticism so everyone can benefit with your knowledge!

1) you will always be outnumbered.
play expecting to be outbumbered; dont rush into an enemy formation and expect to live - the easiest way for your big bad Predator to go down is to have him surrounded and taken down by a bunch of (seemingly) smaller units

2) your units are stronger than most other faction units
all melee wolfen units have born killer, the ability to hit 2x. If you manage to get a high hit% through flanking an enemy, this could mean some major damage. many times, you can kill two mid health enemies with one of your own units through the use of born killer and pursuit movement

3) wolfen units have the most mobility in the game
take advantage of this! we can close the distance to the squishy units that most people will want to protect (casters/archers). a common strategy is to use your elite unite to sprint to the back of the enemy lines and use defensive stance next to the archers/casters. This will put your hard hitter next to the enemy squishies, as well as adding the engaged status to archers (makes them only able to attack the engaged unit [not sure if there is talent that counters this?]) and if they try to run, you get an attack of opportunity. definetely rambo style, but sometimes its needed!

4) known when to use offensive stance vs natural order
natural order provides +2 damage with no drawbacks, whereas offensive stance gives you an extra attack (up to 3 attacks for your melee units, 2 for ranged) BUT makes you unable to counterattack. Ill usually go with natural order to play safe, and offensive stance when I go in for the kill (while keeping an eye out for potential counters).

its important to note that offensive stance only gives you 3 attacks on your first action, and does not apply to pursuit movement attacks, whereas natural order does.


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right now, I think that the wolven with crossbows are overpowered, simply due to their insane movement. I personally use crossbowmen with instinctive firing to reduce penalties while moving and reduces scattering (so you can shoot reasonably well at enemies fighting your dudes) and harassment stance for a guerilla warfare type of fighter. your huge range of movement will allow you to be a mobile ranged fighter, choosing the best spots to snipe enemies, whereas other archers are more stationary, and therefore easier targets.



please feel free to add to this - I dont have much experience with lonewolf, guardian of runes, grace guardian, or worgs, so any information on those units would be appreicated!

Well said my friend. These advices are really accurate, for now and untill the nerf, and helpful for the Wolfen initiates.
I use two crossbowmen, usually, and not both with harassment. I use assault fire on one of them and he usually is the one that is left behind if not needed. It is a good strategy for a lot of dmg from your archer as it will give your crossbowman a Triple attack in combination with Offensive Stance and an engagement if the enemy is not killed. If he is killed though you will have pursuit movement after the Assault fire and be able to position yourself better for you next move. It is a difficult strategy but works well in some situation and if you know how to position you archers.
You could of course go with double Harrass in the end, something much easier to use and really helpful against any opponet.

Lonewolves:
As for the Lonewolves, they are one of the best units of the wolfens. They can buff your units with either Rinf of Ice which is really helpful against Lion archers (50% chance to cancel a shot from archers) or Ring of Mist which is especially useful on the bruisers or assassins you sent to kill mages and any other caster than can hit you with magic (it gives your unit a 50% chance to negate a spell completely).
Loners are also strong warriors as they hit well enough and with kinda good accuracy, you will be able to even kill and pursuit with them. But the real strengh of the Loners is that they can cast any spell, if they have the necessary mana, and then move around the map and even engage or attack a target in mellee. Always use Loners in your composition and if you aren't already I suggest you start building a composition around one or two of those, depends on your playstyle and on your opponet.

Grave Guardian:
These are my personal favourite units of the wolfen (yes I like the GG more than PoB!).
Their tankiness (14 TOU) makes them an ideal choice for defensive mode engagement and in combination with their Taunt they can stop charges and keep enemies at bay very, very effectivily.
But that's not all!
They are also exceptional fighters due to their awesome DOD and PAR (which are raised even more when engaging in Def Mode ). They have a good attack (11 DAM) which can be combined with Natural Selection (love the name ) when the time comes to attack. Using Nautral Selection makes you keep all the base benefits from DOD and PAR and still do a whole lot of damage. And if you combine all those with Implacable (a talent which the GG gets at lvl 4 if you choose to) your Guardian will devastate opponets like mages and archers in no time (2-3 kills on one turn if played well).
He should have been more expensive . I hope he stays that way though xD .

About those Rune Guardians, or what-are-they-called, I never used any of them except the Notable (which has nothing to do with their skills).

srsly its your signature ?