Allied Units
Racial Tag[]
Allied units usually take on the Monster or Dragon racial tag. However, these classifications offer no bonuses to the unit, but allows them to be susceptible to specific slayer skills. Dragons are affected by Dragon Slayer and Monsters are affected by Beast Slayer. Also like the other race classifications, there are other Hero skills in the game that grant specific bonuses to units based on their racial tag, such as Dragon Master for example.
Some Allies are also tagged as Extra Planar. Again, this doesn't offer any bonuses to the unit but does allow them to be affected by the Banish spell.
----------Elementals----------[]
Air Elemental - Summoned Unit[]
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Combat: 13 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Large Ability: Can hit multiple opponents with each attack, Causes Fear (5), Can cross water |
Contrary to their ground-based counterparts, these whirls excel against swarms, as their AOE strike is both strong and wide in effect, any enemy surrounding the elemental will be struck. Unfortunately however, they are comparatively weaker than most advanced units.
Earth Elemental - Summoned Unit[]
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Combat: 18 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Large Ability: Quadruple damage vs Buildings, Causes Fear (5) |
Slow, tanky and rather huge, these are some of the best building wreckers the game can offer, doing quadruple damage to structures. It's quite difficult to actually get them to a base, but once there they can destroy it with little time.
Fire Elemental - Summoned Unit[]
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Combat: 10 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Large Ability: Can set opponents alight with each attack, Causes Fear (5) |
Rather fragile, but quick and hard-hitting, these floating flames are capable of powerful ranged tactics (such as hit-and-runs) on enemy bases. Just be aware they are rather immaterial and thus quite fragile, so it may be wise to keep them clear of any heavy weaponry.
Water Elemental - Summoned Unit[]
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Combat: 10 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Large Ability: Causes Fear (5), Can cross water |
Water Elementals are slower than average but are capable of taking many elemental projectiles. As the ranged variant of the Earth Elemental, the Water Elementals are incredibly dangerous simply because they deal so much cold damage. However, whilst they are very devastating, they find it very hard to tank any elemental attacks, particularly melee or cold ones due to their low resistance and an ironic vulnerability to their own damage type: cold. At the Elemental Temple, they cost less and are faster to produce than all the other Elementals.
----------Basic Fliers----------[]
Lightning Hawk - Flying Missile Unit[]
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Combat: 6 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Small Ability: Flying |
Lightning Hawks are better than the majority of basic fliers when it comes to offensive power, but also one of the more costly. However, that doesn't make their damage output great by any means, they're still only below average at best when compared to the rest of the game. They also can only attack grounded units which leaves them vulnerable to all other basic fliers.
Bat - Basic Flier[]
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Combat: 2 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Small Ability: Flying, Triple damage vs large and huge fliers |
Bats are downright terrible. Their only uses are scouting and tower-fodder.
Eagle - Basic Flier[]
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Combat: 7 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Small Ability: Flying, Can build all types of buildings, Triple damage vs large and huge fliers |
The Eagle's specialty is that it can build from both building lists and, by being a flier, you wont even have to worry about the Eagle trapping itself after building too closely to another object. They're pretty bulky and have a high combat stat for a basic flier, so they can certainly hold their own against others and are likely to come at on top.
Phoenix - Basic Flier[]
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Combat: 3 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Small Ability: Flying, Can convert buildings |
The Phoenix is the most useful basic flier around and both High and Wood Elves rely heavily on them. The reason is purely because they have the ability to convert mines, something which is usually only done by a race's General or your Hero. However, they are also limited to just the Elven races.
Dragonfly - Basic Flier[]
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Combat: 2 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Small Ability: Flying, Poison (5), Triple damage vs large and huge fliers |
Dragonflies are on par with Bats. However, they can at least cause poison, allowing their otherwise-useless-bites to actually leave some lasting impression.
Firebat - Basic Flier[]
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Combat: 3 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Small Ability: Flying, Triple damage vs large and huge fliers |
Firebats can be misleadingly good in certain conditions. Although their combat is poor and their damage output is pretty low, their fire type attack, however, allows them to chew through buildings with surprisingly good effectiveness. But with poor HP and pathetic armor, they are usually killed outright by any attack. As such, you'll need a respectable sized swarm for them to survive against typically placed towers long enough to be threatening and ideally you'll want them to pretty much kamikaze into the enemy base - ignoring the towers completely and target high value buildings, such as keeps and Eyries / Nests / Broods - burning them down to rubble before going up in smoke themselves.
Of course, they fare even better against towers that use elemental attacks - hitting their higher resistance and even allowing them to survive an attack or two. Although they possess a resistance to fire type attacks, they can be upgraded further in this regard. This makes them all but unstoppable at tearing down fire attack based buildings, such as those seen from Daemons, Dark Elves (with no ranged units garrisoned), Swarm and Ssrathi (with ranged units garrisoned.
Wasp - Basic Flier[]
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Combat: 3 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Small Ability: Flying, Poison (15), Assassination (4% + level), Triple damage vs large and huge fliers |
One look at the Wasp's stats and you would wonder why they're regarded as one of the most feared flying units around. It's only then that you realize it's not their stats that make them fearsome, it's their abilities. They possess a poison attack three times stronger than that of the Dragonfly, ensuring its poison lands even against the most resilient units. But that's not all, for their biggest asset is their ability to assassinate its target! It's almost insulting to see a Dragon or even a Titan pop to a single untimely hit from a Wasp. The Swarm are the only race that get access to these flying terrors along with Heroes who have Poison magic, so you wont be seeing them too often.
----------Advanced Fliers----------[]
Griffon - Advanced Flier[]
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Combat: 10 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Large Ability: Flying |
The Griffon is a pretty straight forward unit, possessing above average stats and no special abilities. Being able to fly and attack both air and grounded units allows them to reliably help out the rest of the army regardless of where they're fighting or what they're up against.
Pegasus - Advanced Flier[]
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Combat: 9 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Large Ability: Flying |
The Pegasus takes the stats of the Griffon but trades power for speed. It also has a better attack type - crushing - which can completely turn the tide of a fight with an untimely critical hit, usually resulting in the enemy retreating. Because of this, the Pegasus's newly found speed is put to good measure by chasing down those fleeing units and getting the final strike needed to fell the enemy. Pegasi may have slightly lower offensive stats than Griffons, but they're sure to cause more of a headache for your enemy!
Harpy - Advanced Flier[]
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Combat: 8 Max Mana: 40 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Medium Ability: Flying, Poison (5), Can cast Drain Mana (20 mana) |
Harpies are an interesting advanced flier, for their performance does not come from strength, but rather their utility. For starters, they're the only advanced flier in the game that takes up only a single army point, instead of the usual 2. Secondly, their ability to cause poison and drain mana can leave even the victor that slain them with something to remember them by. Harpies wont be taking down many units at all, but their ability to debilitate enemy spell casters and causes ever-growing damage to even burly units through Poison, can help weaken an enemy position to the point that you can easily exploit with the rest of your army. However, due to their frailness you'll need to send in a large flock of them to be able to pull off their abilities.
Wyvern - Advanced Flier[]
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Combat: 12 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Large Ability: Flying, Causes Fear (5) |
Wyverns are rarely seen, with only High Elves, Dark Dwarves and Plague Lords having access to them, but that probably is a good thing. Not only do Wyverns have good stats across the board, but they can inflict fear, too. All this, plus the capability to attack all targets, makes this flier a real monster! Although, the piercing typed attack does leave something to be desired when it comes to attacking buildings.
Pterodactyl - Ssrathi Advanced Flier[]
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Combat: 12 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Large Ability: Flying |
The Pterodactyl can only be produced by the Ssrathi at a level 2 Nest. While at first, it seems to be massively hampered by its attack type, the bonuses it gains from the Saurus Pen make them Dragon-slaying machines. Also, due to their high damage that also recieves upgrades, a swarm of these can level a base before the towers have even reacted, so massing them for a suicide run on a base that's not expecting an air assault is an effective tactic. Even without the upgrades, Pterodactyls are physically superior to most other 2nd level Eyrie units.
----------Dragons----------[]
Frost Dragon - Elite Flier[]
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Combat: 20 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Huge Ability: Flying, Splash damage freezes enemies, Terror (5) |
Frost Dragons may be the physically weakest of all Dragons, but their ability to consistently freeze targets, as well as having a rarely resisted attack type, makes them one of the best Dragons around! Whether you use them to hinder your enemies to allow your other units / towers to exploit the speed drops or use them as outright attackers, they surely wont disappoint - even in the face of a Titan! You can even recruit one for your Hero's retinue from the official campaign.
Storm Dragon - Elite Flier[]
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Combat: 20 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Huge Ability: Flying, Splash damage drains mana, Terror (5) |
Although they are among the top 3 Dragons for offensive damage amounts, Storm Dragons are the least effective of all Dragons. That's not to say they're bad by any means - they're just outclassed by the brethren for their purpose. Where Fire and Swamp Dragons do obscene damage vs buildings, Frost Dragons ability to constantly freeze the enemy, Celestial Dragons and Dragonliches having a magic type attack as well as further useful abilities, the Storm Dragon simply can't compete in terms of effectiveness of its design. Its unique ability is to drain mana, but with such a short range to do this within, the enemy spell casters can pull off their magic before the Dragon can deplete their mana. In most cases the magic will be used against the Storm Dragon, punishing it for trying to perform its role. But one can't deny that its very presence does cause the enemy to re-think of what they were going to do with their spell casters. Whether it forces the enemy mages to retreat or cast their spells immediately, the Storm Dragon does have some kind of effect on them, even if it's an indirect one. In terms of just power and typing, Storm Dragons do excel at fighting Dark Dwarves where the 2 common Golem types are weak to electricity.
Fire Dragon - Elite Flier[]
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Combat: 20 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Huge Ability: Flying, Splash damage burns enemies, Terror (5) |
The Fire Dragon is the standard for Dragons set way back in WBC1. Although not as terrifying as they were back then, they can still rip apart an enemy base with ease and are the main reason why you should never place buildings directly next to each other. Their trait of burning enemy infantry isn't particularly useful, but their main use is building bashing, where their fire attacks dispose of even the toughest of buildings rather quickly, as all buildings take +50% damage from fire attacks. Unfortunately for the Fire Dragon, WBC3 introduced the Swamp Dragon - a Dragon that is identical to the fire variant but with the added ability to erode armor. This does make the Fire Dragon obsolete for races that have access to both Dragons, such as Orcs and Ssrathi. A shame that an "acid" type was never introduced which could have widen the difference between the 2 Dragons.
Swamp Dragon - Elite Flier[]
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Combat: 20 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Huge Ability: Flying, Splash damage lowers armor, Terror (5) |
The Swamp Dragon is arguably the most feared Dragon in the eyes of Heroes, as the Swamp Dragon's ability to erode and lower armor cannot be undone! Even Dragonslayer class Heroes have to think carefully before fighting one, for even victory will have its cost. The standard Dragon was always a decent unit and the Swamp Dragon builds on from that. As you expect, it's just as useful as the Fire Dragon for its role, but with the addition of permanently weakening enemy infantry foolish enough to challenging it. Its breath attack can occasionally cause burning, too! In WBC3, the armor system was completely changed which, not only split armor into 2 categories, but made armor in general less effective than it once were. There's no doubt that the Swamp Dragon would have been considered broken if it existed in the past games.
Celestial Dragon - Elite Flier[]
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Combat: 20 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Huge Ability: Flying, Splash damage crystalises enemies on their death, Terror (5), double damage vs evil enemies |
"Never judge a book by its cover", for If you were to judge a Celestial Dragon purely on its stats, you would discard them without a second thought. With the second highest cost of all Dragons and the nearly lowest stats around (it only has 15HP more than a Frost Dragon, but all other stats match), the Celestial Dragon makes its mark with its abilities. A significant fraction of the units in the game are considered evil, resulting in the Celestial Dragon often dealing double damage to the enemy, effectively giving it a base 80 attack. Further more, this attack is magic based, which only a handful of units in the entire game have any form of resistance to. This means even against non-evil targets it will be likely doing more damage than the other Dragons would be. It doesn't end there, either, for the true icing on the cake is that any unit slain by the Dragon turns into crystals that the owning player of the Dragon gains as resources. This means after slaying a few units, including harmless animals, you gain back the crystal resource you initially spent on the Dragon, plus more. And that's not to mention that Celestial Dragons are found within crystal-hungry races. Failing to take down an enemy Celestial Dragon carefully will end up boosting its player's economy and potentially spell doom for you!
Dragonliche - Elite Flier[]
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Combat: 20 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Huge Ability: Flying, Splash damage takes away enemy XP, Terror (6), Double damage vs good enemies, Resistant to missiles |
The Dragonliche can be utterly terrifying, and that's not just because it has the highest terror rating of all Dragons. It has the highest defensive stats of all Dragons through the use of slightly more armor and, more importantly, a missile resistance, which all make the Dragonliche incredibly difficult to get rid of, especially for non-monstrous races that must rely on missiles to pull it down. Its higher terror rating means that more of your units are likely to run in fear than when facing other Dragons, indirectly furthering its life. It can't be poisoned, diseased, nor affected by spell-induced psyche effects, neither, leaving you with the only option of brute force to handle this monstrosity. Like the Celestial Dragon, it has a magic attack to ensure there's no bulwark for its assault. It also deals double damage vs good natured units, which can further discourage certain units from trying to attack it, but, unlike Smite Evil, Smite Good comes into much less effect due to good natured units being of the minority of the game. It also has the ability to reduce enemy XP with its attack but, unless it hits a Hero or retinue unit, then it's nothing really noteworthy. Whereas the Celestial Dragon is an offensive master, with poor defensive capabilities, the Dragonliche is the complete opposite, being nigh unstoppable and all but invulnerable at night where it gets x2 HP regeneration, but with lack luster offensive abilities that puts more pressure on the raw power of its magic attack to deal destruction. Regardless, the 50% more in cost is proof enough that the Dragonliche is a force to be reckoned with!
----------Misc----------[]
Eye of Oros - Summoned Scout[]
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Combat: 10 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Small Ability: Disappears after a short time |
The Eye of Oros is purely a scouting unit that is summoned into play either through the Summoning Sphere or by a Plague Priest. They have the highest speed in the game (except for very high level Heroes) and are highly durable. Despite the in-game help tip specifically stating they have good viewing range, there are plenty of other units which actually have a better view range naturally. But with its extreme speed, high durability and good view range, it can quickly uncover "hidden map" and not even be phased by enemy proximity. Whether you're playing a version of the game with Summon Timers, or not, Eyes of Oros will always disappear after some time has passed.
Guardian Skull - Servant of Gorgon[]
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Combat: 15 |
Prerequisites: None Size: Medium Ability: Can cross water |
Although Guardian Skulls made their first unit based appearance in WBC3, they're not actually new to the WBC series. For the first 2 WBC games they were nothing but decoration - seen as apart of a tile feature, an ornament adorned some buildings and even in the form of artifacts in the possession of some spell casters. In WBC3, their unit appearance is seen only in a few battles within the campaign and can be seen in both melee and ranged forms. The ranged form is their true form and is the most dangerous. 50 magic damage is sick, and a range of 10 is just to add salt to the wound. Fortunately, you don't see many of them and are usually just set to passive - only attacking you if you get near them. The last mission of the campaign is the only exception, which is where you'll need to prepare for assaults led by them.
Some mods have included Guardian Skulls into the build tree for normal gaming. Although their stats vary drastically from those above, they are always seen in the Undead army and with a ranged attack.