Human, Naga, and High Elf lumber

[friendlycraig]

Every race has a buildings which require lumber whose uses and effectiveness seem obvious, but there are a few finer nuances which fan swing a game in your favor. In this post, I'll go through the Human, Naga, and High Elf lumber buildings, in which situations they are effective, and counter's, if applicable. I'll save legendary buildings and towers for another post.

Human
Gjallarhorn: ABSURDLY powerful, the horn buffs all units in a fairly large area around it with 66% increased attack speed. Because the way IAS is calculated, damage is effectively tripled. Gettin 1 or 2 early can mean mantaining a push even after your enemy uses an RS. High elf Elder Blademasters can steal the buff. I also think Naga Siren purge can dispel.

Artillery: They fire a very powerful siege attack into a random spot of the enemy base. This CAN injure enemy ground units. Not very useful until you can stack 6+ artillery. Large amounts of artillery can seriously injure enemy troops on top of destroying buildings. In a long game with artillery on, human's have a huge edge.

Naga
Pyramid: Only does 50 damage per cast, but the main benefit is in the 50% attack speed reduction. Since the pyramid casts every 7 seconds but the debuff lasts 10, 2 early pyramids can severely cripple enemy ground troops. Counter by going air (magic or normal damage is best, piercing isn't too affective), or buying Bassline generator.

Oracle of Sirens: Mind control is very powerful if the enemy makes only a few high value units. Otherwise, a pyramid is generally stronger. Can only be countered by massing or with Mech Shield Generators.

Coral Statue: Few people realize it's power. The heal is extremely useful for countering artillery as well as pushing back. 1 statue can prevent the use of a RS if you aren't completely overpowered, and often can push back since your troops stack up with near full health. Not much to be done against them aside from cranking up the damage, perhaps a siege weapon may get luck and destroy it with splash, bounce, or line damage.

I'd suggest going Pyramid over the Oracle, in most cases. Enemy ground units with -50% attack speed are not much of a threat, and in the long run the AoE and debuff are much stronger than swiping 1 unit.

High Elf:
City of Magic: Can very reasonably polymorph 2-3 enemy units, causing great distress to your enemies. Generally a better choice of the enemy is making few high value units. Their effectiveness wanes the longer a game goes. Shield generators block this affect.

Obelisk of Light: 160 damage to a random enemy IN VIEW. Unlike other structures, you have to be able to see your target for these to fire. Because of this, they are extremely powerful and tend to concentrate their fire at on he few enemies you can see at the front lines. Their attacks cannot be blocked, but divine armor reduces it.

For the most part Obelisks of Light are stronger than Cities of Magic, unless the enemy has very few units.

Come back next time for 3 more races!

[Beorn]

Gjallarhorn tips:
- Use it by hand by using the autocast on/off.
- Alternate gjal-shrine-gjal (x2 if you can't sync them )-shrine
- Build 2 in front of one another. Let them accumulate mana. Set off the front one, wait 3 sec (use round timer) and set the other one off. Easiest way to autocast sync, catches 90% of units walking by.
- Align your units in the same lane as the fight, build 3 long rows of single buildings. Make gjallars in front of the center row. Set rally points for the lowest row above (top right corner). Best coverage potential.