The Road to Edain 4.8: Isengard

[Elendils Cousin 3. Grades]

Greetings, Companions of the Edain!

We hope you have all been enjoying the first week of our Advent Calendar! After teasing some of the new units and outposts, today we want to talk about these substantial changes coming to Isengard in the upcoming update in more detail.

A recurring complaint with Isengard was their diversity in terms of playstyle compared to our other factions. Isengard's early game always consisted of a mix of Warg Riders, Scouts and Wildmen followed by a transition into Uruks. The most choice you had was deciding when to transition based on the opposing faction. We wanted to remedy that situation, so we got thinking. Besides Uruks, Saruman had three other type of fighters: Dunlending, traitorous Rohirrim and orcs from Mordor. With both the traitorous Rohirrim and the orcs of Mordor the problem was that there was no pre-existing foundation within the faction to build on. Both were only included into the faction as temporary summons. Including them permanently would have required creating an entire new branch and reworking the existing spells that involved them.

Instead, we decided to focus on the Dunlending, already quite well established in the faction with a recruitment building, a hero and three permanent units. The problem with the Wildmen is that their growth potential was very limited. They did not benefit from any of Isengard's upgrades, had few units, and even fewer ways to buff themselves. The only defensive upgrade they got was through Wulfgar's Arm but getting Wulfgar to level 10 was a complicated process for a strategy that only worked in the early game. Their offensive potential was decent with the torches but expensive considering the relative fragility of the unit. We needed an outpost that deepened their strategy and made it easier to get value from them.

Dunlending Gatherstow

The Wildmen of Dunland have no central authority. They are made up of many clans that spend half their time quarrelling with each other and the other half fighting the Rohirrims. When Wulfgar the Oathmaker united the clans and swore allegiance to Saruman, he became War-chief of Dunland, granting him the power to call for a gathering of the clan chiefs. The clan chiefs meet at the Gatherstow to "strategize", deciding where to focus their efforts. The reality is that the gatherings are little more than yelling matches, where the strongest chieftain usually gets what they want. Since his alliance with Isengard, the will of Wulfgar has almost always prevailed.

With the Gatherstow constructed, Wulfgar calls the clan chieftains to him

The Dunlending Gatherstow is a mid-game outpost that the player can specialise to support his Wildmen. There are multiple specialisation, but only one can be selected per Gatherstow, incentivising the construction of multiple Gatherstows. Once specialised, the Gatherstow allows the research of additional upgrades, the recruitment of Wulfgar and of a new unit, the Brutes of Dunland. Each Gatherstow can select one of the following specialisation:

• Call to campaign: Wulfgar calls all Wildmen to a great campaign to destroy the homes of their enemies. All Wildmen passively deal +25% damage against buildings.
• Call to raid: Wulfgar calls all Wildmen to a great raid. All Wildmen passively steal additional resources with every building attack.
• Call to hunt: Wulfgar calls all Wildmen to a great hunt to prove their worth. All Wildmen passively gain +25% experience.

After being specialised, the Gatherstow can research the following upgrades:

• Banner of Wulf (400): The banner of King Wulf, sworn enemy of Helm Hammerhand, rallies the Dunlendings to war. Wildmen and Brutes in a large radius gain +15% armor, damage and speed. The bonus persists for 30 seconds after leaving the area.
• March of the Clans (500): Driven into a frenzy by Saruman, the Dunlending vow to fight until their enemies are defeated or the last of their blood is spent. All Clan Steadings on the map reach level 3. Clan Steading passively increase the damage of all wildmen on the map by 5% per Steading up to 30%. The Gatherstow is protected by additional spearmen.
• Smelters of Angrenost (600): Saruman's War Machine delivery robust armor to the clansmen. Enables the purchase of Heavy Armor for Wildmen and Wulfgar.

Wulfgar's Arm ability has been removed and functionally replaced with Smelters of Angrenost. The ability came far too late into the game to be relevant to the strategy. Wulfgar himself may also be equipped with Heavy Armor, improving his durability and allowing him to stay in fights against more powerful enemies. Upgrading Wulfgar also unlocks a new ability which replaces Arm and stresses his role as Saruman's chosen leader of the Wildmen:

Emissary of the White Hand: After accepting his armor from the hands of the White Wizard, Wulfgar becomes his emissary to the people of Dunland. He promises to grant his followers better and more equipment from the forges of Isengard. Wulfgar discounts the cost of Torches and Heavy Armor for Dunland units by 20%. Passive ability.

Keeping Wulfgar alive throughout the game will reward you with a useful discount that also includes the Torches. It may not be as strong as the full discount from Isengard's Furnaces, but it also comes into play much quicker.


Besides the upgrades, the Gatherstow can also recruit Wulfgar and the Brutes of Dunland. The Brutes are heroic swordsmen that are intended to help Wildmen spammers preserve their troops and push back cavalry charges. As such, they come equipped with the following abilities:

• Vanguard of Dunland: The Brutes are such imposing fighters that they draw the attention of all enemies in their vicinity, diverting it away from other Wildmen. Allied Dunland units and Wulfgar gain +25% armor when in their vicinity. Passive Ability.
• Death to the horse-men! (Level 3): After centuries of hostilities between the Clans of Dunland and Rohirrim, the brutes have much experience in fighting mounted enemies. For 30 seconds they cannot be trampled or knocked back and deal area damage and knockback with each strike.

"Death to the horse-men!"

For a very long time, Isengard had no heroic units. Our belief has always been that heroic units emerge from the history of a faction, and the Uruk-hai have no history, they were brought into being very rapidly to destroy Rohan. However, with this new expansion into Dunlendings this gave us a unique opportunity to leverage their strife with Rohan. Additionally, we also took this opportunity to add a second, long-requested, heroic unit to Isengard.

Guards of Orthanc

Ever since its construction by the men of Gondor, a group of honored warriors have been tasked with the protection of Orthanc. After the keys to the tower were given to Saruman the Wise, he slowly won them over to his cause. Now they speak for the White Hand in all things.

The Guards of Orthanc are the second heroic units that will be added to Isengard in the upcoming 4.8 version. This is quite a jump for Isengard but Guards of Orthanc have long been requested by the community and several team members had always been fans of the idea, albeit lacking the time to implement it. We thought that this touch up of Isengard was the perfect time to add those in.

"Saruman's will is our command!"

The community proposal suggested adding them as a temporary, uncontrollable unit that guarded the citadel to match their role in the lore. While this is a very fitting idea we wanted to provide them a larger role within the faction and as such we took the liberty of adding them as fully fledged heroic pikemen recruitable from the citadel after the Wizard Tower central power has been purchased. The Guards of Orthanc have the following abilities:

• His Faithful Servants: While Saruman never put too much faith into orcs and other rabble, the ancient order of the Orthanc Guards served him loyally for centuries as his most trusted subordinates. As long as any Orthanc Guards are on the field, Saruman recharges his spells 25% faster. As long as Saruman is garrisoned in the citadel, the Guards deal +50% damage and an additional +50% damage against units with heavy armor.  Passive Ability.
• Keepers of the Gate (Level 3): The Guards of Orthanc were also charged with keeping watch over the ring of Angrenost, ensuring none could slip past Isengard's defenses. Targeted building slows enemies by 25% and reduces their damage by 25% for 30 seconds. Only available while Saruman is not garrisoned in the citadel.
• Jailors of Orthanc (Requires: Level 3): Under orders from Saruman, the Guards of Orthanc take the target unit under custody. For the next 60 seconds, as long as the Guards are near the unit, it will be slowed and lose 33% damage. Only available while Saruman is garrisoned in the citadel.

Garrisoning Saruman in the tower has always been a relatively niche play, after all, there's so much to do on a map for a mass slayer like Saruman. With the Guards of Orthanc, we hope to make this an interesting play in more cases. For example, if your Saruman is low on health you can now benefit from garrisoning him even if his abilities do not reach the battlefield, to empower your heroic units.

The passive ability, His Faithful Servants, serves as a link between Saruman and his Guards, rewarding the player for keeping both alive. Keepers of the Gate emphasises their roles as protectors of the ring of Orthanc and provide support to your buildings. This can be especially useful in Wildman spam strategies to protect your vulnerable recruit centers. Finally, Jailors of Orthanc is obviously a reference to their role they played in the books and provides you with an additional source of hero control.


Steelworks
The steelworks has always been a very simple but powerful outpost. It produces resources and can research powerful upgrades. For the most part we want to keep this outpost as it is but we are adding a bit of depth. As of the next version, the steelworks will be able to research unit upgrades such as Forged Blades and Heavy Armor similarly to the Armory. This allows further synergy with the Work Tent as you will no longer need to sacrifice a slot in your outpost or fortress to research unit upgrade. Additionally, the steelworks has received a new model.

The old world will burn in the fires of industry.

And with that, we have arrived at the end of today's article. We hope that you have enjoyed the overhaul of Isengard and, as always, are looking forward to your feedback.

Your Edain Team