Rampart units, continued

Wood Elf/Grand Elf
Attack: 9/9
Defense: 5/5
Hit Points: 15/15
Damage: 3-5/3-5
Speed: 6/7
Movement: ground
Cost: 200/225
Special Abilities: None/Fires twice

Wood elves are available immediately after you build a centaur stable so recruit these creatures immediately and go conquering the surrounding lands. These are your only ranged units, and they are good even unupgraded , being faster than all unupgraded ranged units except the cyclops and titan. However, compared to fliers like the serpent fly or royal griffin, they aren't fast or durable enough to withstand quick strikes. They'll always need to be hasted or defended by dwarves to handle the fast fliers, but they become killing machines with the upgrade from wood elf to grand elf. Upgrade these elves as soon as possible because they become deadly with their two strike ability. They also get a speed boost by upgrading.

Both elves suffer the ranged units' penalty for hand-to-hand attack, and have very poor defense and hit points, so you need to keep centaur captains or dwarves close by for defense. In fact, battle dwarves provide excellent defense because their one shortcoming - slow movement - is negated because the enemy has to come to the elf. It is a good idea to split your dwarves into multiple stacks, choose to position your troops in closed ranks, and then have your elves start out behind the dwarves. However, this makes you particularly vulnerable to area effect spells.

Against other ranged units, the grand elf is very deadly. The wood elf tends to fall before faster, upgraded ranged units, which get to attack first. It's a good idea to use the centaur captain or the much faster silver pegasus to gain initiative and then cast haste on your grand elves so they can always attack first. Amplify them with precision and bless to enhance their power.

Pegasus/Silver Pegasus
Attack: 9/9
Defense: 10/10
Hit Points: 30/30
Damage: 5-9/5-9
Speed: 8/12
Movement: flight
Cost: 250/275
Special Abilities: Penalizes enemy spellcasters/Penalizes enemy spellcasters

The pegasus is a necessary evil. It is one of the weakest mid level units in the game, but its speed is very much needed by the rampart forces, who otherwise don't have a unit that can win initiative for them. However, the pegasus dwelling requires 10 crystal so it's an expensive building, with an upgrade cost of 5 crystal more. But you need the pegasus and silver pegasus, and the actual units themselves are very cheap. Bolster their defenses with spells such as shield, stone skin, and fire shield. Both pegasi have a good special ability: they force the enemy spellcaster to pay two extra spell points for spell.

You want to upgrade your pegasi as soon as possible because the only reason you are buying them is for their speed. However, if you do so, you won't have any crystal left for mage guilds or later level buildings. So you need at least two crystal mines to support your higher end troops. Unlike the imp and wraith, the pegasus' spell modifying ability is the same regardless of how many stacks of pegasi you have. So keep your pegasi together as one stack to enhance their power and use spells to increase their durability. Use them wisely and only attack an enemy unit after it has expended its counterattack.