Dwarfs have great armies, but their starting position, at least if you are playing as their main lord, is brutally hard. Lots of space between settlements and tons of surrounding hostile factions. The first time I played them, I had 8 factions declare war on me in the first 20 turns. As you expand you end up with a ton of territory to defend and not many armies to do it with. So the early game is a constant version of "Whack-a-mole" where you have to send your army all over the place responding to threats, which makes expanding all the more difficult.
Grudgebearer should start by taking the silver road. Then mount gunbad. Then head south for iron rock. Once you have those three territories focus on clearing the mountains headed south. Do not go into the open until you have 4-5 complete provinces. To your point the wide open spaces are not your friend. You are mountain folk, stick to the mountains until you have enough armies that you can hold a front and push.
1 trick about irondrakes with how tanky the dwarfs are you can break the gate have a lord or hero go inside the settlement (with a ironward tankward for regen) wait for the ai to blob up around you character and have the irondrake shoot at the stupid ai
You can also use them in a general battle line too, have them be the center with a Thane in front of them, as the Thane bunches them up, the enemy units fry and flee. Then you can turn the Irondrakes to a side and help your main line. They're awesome.
Also units will flee the battlements as soon as your warriors approach. You can climb the walls with your irondrakes and position them on the battlements and will rain down fire.
Rangers are literally amazing - I'm a Dawi main and I basically replace all my quarrellers with them. The thane has a skill that gives them snipe so they can decimate things without even being spotted - see enemy artillery/SEMs - also bugmans rangers have regen and are decent in melee - I'd argue they are one of the best missile units in the game in campaign at least.
Yup, one on of the best doomstacks for me is 4 grudgethrowers, all the heroes and just bugmans. They have great autoresolve value and they punch really hard if you need to fight a battle yourself. If you get all of the tech tree upgrades for them too, there is little that can stop them.
Just going to mention in campaign, the new character runes completely change your heros comps, so I highly recommend grabbing lots of thanes and giving them over powered runes and watch them do work!
I always keep slayers with me in case some cave tries to flank me. They're the only thing i can use to keep backline secure without changing priority of my ranged attacks
I'm a bit late, but you vastly underrate thanes in combat IMO. They allow 2 very powerful strategies through their skill tree. Wanderer gives Thanes stalk and rangers the snipe ability. Run your thane in so it's discovered. Use your sniping rangers to delete the enemy units that won't be able to resist the lone juicy thane target. Ironbeard also gives your thane fire resist and reduces the fire resist of enemies. Plus, extra ammo for ironbreakers and iron drakes. You can set up a front line of iron breakers in a chevron formation with a unit sized gap that the thane sits in. In the back line this gives a great line of sight for iron drakes to fire on the units the thane is debuffing. And the Thane will resist the attack of the iron drakes. This also makes a kill zone for the iron drake bombs, and flame cannons to hit the area around the Thane. You can and even get good firing angles with thunderers and artillery like cannons and organ guns in the back with this formation. Add in some red like skills with the lord and a master engineer to buff range and it is easily one of the most effective formations I have ever used with the Dwarves.
Thanks for the video I’m getting back into total war warhammer and your videos help in figuring out how to use these factions without spending a week on them thanks
One small note, the Great Weapons Rangers have a different ranged attack to the normal variant, as they use throwing axes. So they need to either focus on large targets or move into flanks but do a lot more damage than standard Rangers. Can treat them as Thunderers who have less range and ammo capacity, but are better in melee.
Howdy dowdy, greatly enjoyed the video, and it's been one I've been looking forward to since your campaign guide for the Dawi. I will say though, I have a few critiques to some of your analyses in regard to some of the units, as well as to some extent the army compositions. I'll be taking a look at this from the campaign side primarily, as things change a lot when considering MP. Would love to pick your mind and see 18:21 (Bugman's Rangers) - Their ability to heal, decent melee stats for a ranged unit, and extra benefits like immunity to psych and charge defense make them pretty good in auto-resolve. Autoresolve score better than base Quarrelers. That being said, you are correct that when they unlock there are generally other ranged units that can do more damage on the battlefield. 21:05 (Gyrocopters) - Spot on for them being in a tough spot right now, especially when considering flying units or ranged units, but there is something very useful they can do - arty hunting. Their steam guns will usually make quick work of crews, allowing you to deal with enemy artillery that would otherwise pound you. Of course, those same factions tend to also have strong ranged and/or flying units, but the option is there. 22:35 (Gyrobomber) - I just don't like the gun, I feel like it doesn't really hurt all that much. Was wondering if you have some advice on how best to employ it, or were going off of missile strength alone. From my experience, it's just generally more useful to have a Gyrocopter with steam guns than it is to try and make a more expensive and vulnerable Gyrobomber work. 27:36 (Early Game Army) - I don't entirely see the reasoning behind Bolt Throwers over Grudge Throwers. They unlock at the same tier, and most of the reason you'd want an anti-large piece can be handled by Quarrelers or simply aren't being made by the AI yet. Meanwhile, Grudge Throwers can be used to great effect to devastate enemy infantry. All for a minor cost increase. 29:19 (End-Game Army) - I actually really like this army, but I have a couple of concerns. You actually persuaded me that a runesmith isn't entirely needed, especially if you run Runelord, but something that I do find distressing is how there's no real means to reach out and counter-battery enemy artillery with a lack of cannons, catapults, or Gyrocopters. Dwarfs really struggle when the enemy brings artillery, and if it can fire farther than yours can you're in a lot of trouble. Also, with six front-line units, your flanks may be relatively hard to adequately protect, putting a lot of the army in serious risk from enemy cavalry or just being outflanked by their frontline. Are there any ranged units you'd sacrifice for a counter-battery or flank protection? If so/if not, why? Thank you for reading this wall of text if you did, and thank you for making the vid
23:16 No. We are /not/ about to pretend you didn't just drop the hardest bar ever recorded of Dwarven rap. "If the enemy has fliers, you have diers, and if they have ranged, keep them estranged."
i am sorry to disagree, but i would never, under any circumstance, pick bolt throwers over grudge throwers. quarralleres can deal with large targets good enough, grudge throwers also arent bad against large units, but they really excell at destroying infantry. i want 4 grudge throwers in my army and keep them there until i reach flame canons and organ guns (then it depends who im fighting). the range on the bolt throwers ist just too bad. with the grudge thrower you can easily kill enemy artillery. also you can arc your shots over walls into enemy settlements - use your lord or heroes to clump enemys up and off they go. the bolt thrower is definitely the worst unit in the entire roster and every time ill try it out again for fun i get dissapointed. the grudge thrower is just to good - and unlocks at the same tier
Bolt Throwers are great with Thorek Ironbrow's Artillery Runes. Homing Missiles is my favourite on them making them perfect to kill early game monsters.
I love the miners with blasting charges. You didn't really give the blasting charges enough credit imo. Those things will eviscerate entire units. Even lategame I usually keep one or two units of these in my army. I either use them to help with gates on quick sieges, as meatshields for enemy ranged units, cheap throwaway units for vanguard flanks, or if all else fails, I set them in front of my mainline to not only absorb the initial charge of my enemy, but also to vaporize their first few units with the charges. They're one of the best teir 1 trash units in the game.
Keep on mind that this is HOW Damnpener chose to play the game. Rangers are OP in the campaign BUT only in critical mass, and that is not how Dampener plays the game. He likes to add variety to his stacks and never get more than a few units of a type in his stack so Rangers dont really offer much to his play style, hench the low rankings.
I put my flames on the front until the army gets close then I hold them back to defend the back unless I start to lose, then I sacrifice some almost dead units to burn the enemy to a crisp
I’m shocked he didn’t have any hammerers in his last composition. Seemed a little lazy, no giant slayers or hammerers? Maybe that’s the most clinical composition but definitely not one I will use. Still, overall I thought it was a good video and highlighted the Dawi’s strengths properly
yeah you definitly need one or two slayers or giant slayers behind your front line to peel for your artillery and missile units i would say. or use allied cavalry for this job. actually i have to try to use hammeres for this job, this could also work.... but i think the anti large bonus and the extra speed ist just too good
standard canons have the same reach and i think you only need 2 or 3 balls hit the canon itself before it gets destroyed. so with double canon you should be good. gyros are also an option since chaos does not have many missiles, and their furies you can bait into your own gunline
Dwarfs benefit greatly from alliances with factions wirh good kav or fliers. When i play as dvarves i try ro ally with bretonia to recruit their kav. That way I have something to Hammer and anvil ir protest my flank.
God. Dwarven throng with grail-knights and wood elf missle cav in support. That’s strongest artillery, strongest frontline and strongest cavalry of the world, united in 1 force.
for me dwarves always had the wrong weapons for their race if you sit back and think about a dwarf they are short , slow and tough I can never understand a smallish race having smallish weapons like axes when we consider a human with a long sword they could put 2 meters between them and the enemy how would a dwarf even reach so this got me thinking the perfect weapon for the dwarf would be a spear or halberd especially in the open field and yet we never see dwarf units with anything other than hammers and axes it makes no sense how can a dwarf unit ever win in battlefield combat they would simply be out ranged by anything human sized with long swords even Vikings used spears and when they used axes it was with a charge its not like the dwarves are known for their amazing charges they are know for their defense and the best defense weapon is a spear , it simply the wrong weapon for their size and style of play
Yeah, they're right up there with skaven. Dwarves will find my melee units down, resist rear charges etc. Skaven keep running away and spawning rats on my backline : /
Dwarfs have great armies, but their starting position, at least if you are playing as their main lord, is brutally hard. Lots of space between settlements and tons of surrounding hostile factions. The first time I played them, I had 8 factions declare war on me in the first 20 turns. As you expand you end up with a ton of territory to defend and not many armies to do it with. So the early game is a constant version of "Whack-a-mole" where you have to send your army all over the place responding to threats, which makes expanding all the more difficult.
Grudgebearer should start by taking the silver road. Then mount gunbad. Then head south for iron rock. Once you have those three territories focus on clearing the mountains headed south. Do not go into the open until you have 4-5 complete provinces. To your point the wide open spaces are not your friend. You are mountain folk, stick to the mountains until you have enough armies that you can hold a front and push.
1 trick about irondrakes with how tanky the dwarfs are you can break the gate have a lord or hero go inside the settlement (with a ironward tankward for regen) wait for the ai to blob up around you character and have the irondrake shoot at the stupid ai
You can also use them in a general battle line too, have them be the center with a Thane in front of them, as the Thane bunches them up, the enemy units fry and flee.
Then you can turn the Irondrakes to a side and help your main line. They're awesome.
Also units will flee the battlements as soon as your warriors approach. You can climb the walls with your irondrakes and position them on the battlements and will rain down fire.
Can equip thane with a fire resist item and increase his tankiness, makes for good flame setup.
I discovered this with a white dwarf campaign. It was glorious!
So glad others appreciate this strategy. It's the first thing that sprang to mind with Thanes, and it's lack of mention is ripe for a grudgin'
5:46 "access to the same anvil of doom mount as Belegar." That's going in the book!
Rangers are literally amazing - I'm a Dawi main and I basically replace all my quarrellers with them. The thane has a skill that gives them snipe so they can decimate things without even being spotted - see enemy artillery/SEMs - also bugmans rangers have regen and are decent in melee - I'd argue they are one of the best missile units in the game in campaign at least.
is a good idea to replace them with bugmans?
Vanguard+Snipe nice combo 😮
@@Weiswolfe of course, better all round stats and with constant regen too.
Yup, one on of the best doomstacks for me is 4 grudgethrowers, all the heroes and just bugmans. They have great autoresolve value and they punch really hard if you need to fight a battle yourself. If you get all of the tech tree upgrades for them too, there is little that can stop them.
@@WeiswolfeIf you cna afford it? Hell yeah. Well, with one exception: Ol' Thorek Ironbrow. He turns Quarellers into monsters.
5:07 "they dont do a lot" as he sends a chaos marauder into the stratosphere with a bull charge.
Just going to mention in campaign, the new character runes completely change your heros comps, so I highly recommend grabbing lots of thanes and giving them over powered runes and watch them do work!
Now that we can land flyers, I tend to bait out the enemy's airforce woth my gyros, then land them into my melee infantry
Never even thought of that!
13:48, Slayers: “I’ll still get one more hit in even if ya chop off my head.”
"And yes, I know that Hammerers can punch through armor, you don't need to comment on that three-year-old video anymore"
At last, a grudge set right
24:00 New grudge recorded.
I love the style of your videos, they are super simple but to the point!
great work!
I always keep slayers with me in case some cave tries to flank me. They're the only thing i can use to keep backline secure without changing priority of my ranged attacks
I'm a bit late, but you vastly underrate thanes in combat IMO. They allow 2 very powerful strategies through their skill tree.
Wanderer gives Thanes stalk and rangers the snipe ability. Run your thane in so it's discovered. Use your sniping rangers to delete the enemy units that won't be able to resist the lone juicy thane target.
Ironbeard also gives your thane fire resist and reduces the fire resist of enemies. Plus, extra ammo for ironbreakers and iron drakes. You can set up a front line of iron breakers in a chevron formation with a unit sized gap that the thane sits in. In the back line this gives a great line of sight for iron drakes to fire on the units the thane is debuffing. And the Thane will resist the attack of the iron drakes. This also makes a kill zone for the iron drake bombs, and flame cannons to hit the area around the Thane. You can and even get good firing angles with thunderers and artillery like cannons and organ guns in the back with this formation. Add in some red like skills with the lord and a master engineer to buff range and it is easily one of the most effective formations I have ever used with the Dwarves.
Thanks for the video I’m getting back into total war warhammer and your videos help in figuring out how to use these factions without spending a week on them thanks
One small note, the Great Weapons Rangers have a different ranged attack to the normal variant, as they use throwing axes. So they need to either focus on large targets or move into flanks but do a lot more damage than standard Rangers. Can treat them as Thunderers who have less range and ammo capacity, but are better in melee.
5:45 I laughed my ass off imaging belegor riding an anvil of doom.
I miss the old Background of the titlepicture.great video
Howdy dowdy, greatly enjoyed the video, and it's been one I've been looking forward to since your campaign guide for the Dawi. I will say though, I have a few critiques to some of your analyses in regard to some of the units, as well as to some extent the army compositions. I'll be taking a look at this from the campaign side primarily, as things change a lot when considering MP. Would love to pick your mind and see
18:21 (Bugman's Rangers) - Their ability to heal, decent melee stats for a ranged unit, and extra benefits like immunity to psych and charge defense make them pretty good in auto-resolve. Autoresolve score better than base Quarrelers. That being said, you are correct that when they unlock there are generally other ranged units that can do more damage on the battlefield.
21:05 (Gyrocopters) - Spot on for them being in a tough spot right now, especially when considering flying units or ranged units, but there is something very useful they can do - arty hunting. Their steam guns will usually make quick work of crews, allowing you to deal with enemy artillery that would otherwise pound you. Of course, those same factions tend to also have strong ranged and/or flying units, but the option is there.
22:35 (Gyrobomber) - I just don't like the gun, I feel like it doesn't really hurt all that much. Was wondering if you have some advice on how best to employ it, or were going off of missile strength alone. From my experience, it's just generally more useful to have a Gyrocopter with steam guns than it is to try and make a more expensive and vulnerable Gyrobomber work.
27:36 (Early Game Army) - I don't entirely see the reasoning behind Bolt Throwers over Grudge Throwers. They unlock at the same tier, and most of the reason you'd want an anti-large piece can be handled by Quarrelers or simply aren't being made by the AI yet. Meanwhile, Grudge Throwers can be used to great effect to devastate enemy infantry. All for a minor cost increase.
29:19 (End-Game Army) - I actually really like this army, but I have a couple of concerns. You actually persuaded me that a runesmith isn't entirely needed, especially if you run Runelord, but something that I do find distressing is how there's no real means to reach out and counter-battery enemy artillery with a lack of cannons, catapults, or Gyrocopters. Dwarfs really struggle when the enemy brings artillery, and if it can fire farther than yours can you're in a lot of trouble. Also, with six front-line units, your flanks may be relatively hard to adequately protect, putting a lot of the army in serious risk from enemy cavalry or just being outflanked by their frontline. Are there any ranged units you'd sacrifice for a counter-battery or flank protection? If so/if not, why?
Thank you for reading this wall of text if you did, and thank you for making the vid
A note for the bomber, can snipe heros and lords on the ground when they're close and behind that damage can delete generals quickly
"Slayers are monster slayers, and want to be used as such"
A bit backwards, they want to be monster slayed.
Give grombrindal or thorek regen rubic items, send him in the general direction of the enemy, get tea, battle won with 0 losses
Don't forget your Master Rune of Spite.
I was so looking forward to your video! I enjoy watching those over and over
Hey new to warhammer and your videos have been massively helpful with the mass amounts of information thanks for the help
6:01 a wild Thorek appears
23:16 No.
We are /not/ about to pretend you didn't just drop the hardest bar ever recorded of Dwarven rap.
"If the enemy has fliers, you have diers, and if they have ranged, keep them estranged."
16:06 A new Grudge in the Books The Dirty Elves are calling ye Rangers Bad
i am sorry to disagree, but i would never, under any circumstance, pick bolt throwers over grudge throwers. quarralleres can deal with large targets good enough, grudge throwers also arent bad against large units, but they really excell at destroying infantry. i want 4 grudge throwers in my army and keep them there until i reach flame canons and organ guns (then it depends who im fighting). the range on the bolt throwers ist just too bad. with the grudge thrower you can easily kill enemy artillery. also you can arc your shots over walls into enemy settlements - use your lord or heroes to clump enemys up and off they go. the bolt thrower is definitely the worst unit in the entire roster and every time ill try it out again for fun i get dissapointed. the grudge thrower is just to good - and unlocks at the same tier
0:14 the voice crack😂 awesome video tho waiting for the lizard men
"I avoid miners at all costs." Finally, a good CZcamsr.
Had to rewind repeatedly near the end just to make sure I didn't mishear lizardmen as Kislev.
Bolt Throwers are great with Thorek Ironbrow's Artillery Runes. Homing Missiles is my favourite on them making them perfect to kill early game monsters.
Early on, yes. They do still seem to get outperformed by Cannons even with Thorek's buffs, though.
Excellent breakdown, thank you!
I love the miners with blasting charges. You didn't really give the blasting charges enough credit imo. Those things will eviscerate entire units. Even lategame I usually keep one or two units of these in my army. I either use them to help with gates on quick sieges, as meatshields for enemy ranged units, cheap throwaway units for vanguard flanks, or if all else fails, I set them in front of my mainline to not only absorb the initial charge of my enemy, but also to vaporize their first few units with the charges. They're one of the best teir 1 trash units in the game.
I like using thanes in front of my army to clump up the ai and use range to destroy them.
Keep on mind that this is HOW Damnpener chose to play the game. Rangers are OP in the campaign BUT only in critical mass, and that is not how Dampener plays the game. He likes to add variety to his stacks and never get more than a few units of a type in his stack so Rangers dont really offer much to his play style, hench the low rankings.
I put my flames on the front until the army gets close then I hold them back to defend the back unless I start to lose, then I sacrifice some almost dead units to burn the enemy to a crisp
Thanks!
Slayers are ridiculous lmao
With unbreakable they will all fight to the death
I had my first amazing play through and they all came together and ended me
DO ONE ON BRETTONIA NEXT!
I’m shocked he didn’t have any hammerers in his last composition. Seemed a little lazy, no giant slayers or hammerers? Maybe that’s the most clinical composition but definitely not one I will use. Still, overall I thought it was a good video and highlighted the Dawi’s strengths properly
yeah you definitly need one or two slayers or giant slayers behind your front line to peel for your artillery and missile units i would say. or use allied cavalry for this job. actually i have to try to use hammeres for this job, this could also work.... but i think the anti large bonus and the extra speed ist just too good
Dawi models look so cool...I just wish CA didn't nerf them...
3:53 NO ONE TOSSES A DWARF! XD
In your late tier army, how do you cope with enemy artillery like hell cannons?
Gyrocopters with Brimstone gun. It takes some microing, but after a few volleys, you will take out the gun.
@@noelwym123 IIRC the standard gyrocopter seemed to clear them out even quicker for me last time I checked.
standard canons have the same reach and i think you only need 2 or 3 balls hit the canon itself before it gets destroyed. so with double canon you should be good. gyros are also an option since chaos does not have many missiles, and their furies you can bait into your own gunline
Can you do greenskins or tombkings
Dwarfs benefit greatly from alliances with factions wirh good kav or fliers. When i play as dvarves i try ro ally with bretonia to recruit their kav. That way I have something to Hammer and anvil ir protest my flank.
God. Dwarven throng with grail-knights and wood elf missle cav in support. That’s strongest artillery, strongest frontline and strongest cavalry of the world, united in 1 force.
for me dwarves always had the wrong weapons for their race
if you sit back and think about a dwarf they are short , slow and tough
I can never understand a smallish race having smallish weapons like axes
when we consider a human with a long sword they could put 2 meters between them and the enemy how would a dwarf even reach
so this got me thinking the perfect weapon for the dwarf would be a spear or halberd especially in the open field and yet we never see dwarf units with anything other than hammers and axes
it makes no sense how can a dwarf unit ever win in battlefield combat they would simply be out ranged by anything human sized with long swords
even Vikings used spears and when they used axes it was with a charge its not like the dwarves are known for their amazing charges they are know for their defense and the best defense weapon is a spear , it simply the wrong weapon for their size and style of play
That’s going in the book.
SILENCE YOU URK is what a tagorakki will say!!, but i agree xd
Doesn’t matter if the enemy outranges you when your plate armour is 2 inches thick
19:05 SHORT!?
Any suggestions for hiring units from other factions via embassies?
Bolt Throwers or Grudge Throwers?
grudge
Ahhh the dwarfs aka the most aggravating faction to fight in campaign.
Yeah, they're right up there with skaven. Dwarves will find my melee units down, resist rear charges etc. Skaven keep running away and spawning rats on my backline : /
Runelord's speed buff can compensate for speed. I usually buff units like thunderers or slayers when i need to reposition them quickly.
9:30 bro that is not someting that you would like to hear. 😅
35% spell resist!? I had a skaven mage cast that stupid warp lightning spell and take out 50% of unit! That's with 35% spell resist!?
As of writing this, this is the only army I have ever found success in multiplayer. Thus… I love ‘em lol
19:01 *Short?!*
DAWI!
"What do you mean, Hammerers are not supposed to be the Frontline?"
- said noone ever.
“I’d avoid miners”
No shit dude, we all do💀
10:02 📸📸🤨🤨
Why are the dwarves against the elves in wh3!? Super frustrating that high elves are outnumbered
the war of vengeance
This race is just not for me. Arguably one of the best factions to play in the game. But I suck at it 😂 I’m a high elf/western provinces simp 😂
Chaos dwarves more OP than good dwarves 😅
This is true, I'm getting destroyed.