Earthborn Dire Troll

Earthborn dire trolls are the ultimate expression of troll adaptability. They possess a link to the wilderness and to Dhunia herself, for their bodies change to draw strength from the environment. Amid rocks and boulders their skin hardens to become like angled stone, while water lets them avoid attacks with fluid ease. Even their fists change to mimic the strength of the mightiest beasts and warjacks they face.

Basic Info

Abilities

• Template:Cold Immunity
• Template:Corrosion Immunity
• Template:Lightning Immunity
• Template:Fire Immunity
• Template:Pathfinder
• Template:Elemental Communion
• Template:Regeneration
• Template:Snacking

Weapons

Claw (x2)
File:Sword icon.jpg		RNG				POW				P+S
		1				3				15
Template:Open Fist

Animus

{{Category: Template:Earth's Blessing }}[[Category: Template:Earth's Blessing ]]

Theme Forces

• Trollblood
  • Template:Band of Heroes
  • Template:Kriel Company
  • Template:Power of Dhunia. In this theme, when this warbeast casts its own animus the COST is reduced by 1 (to a minimum of 0).
  • Template:Storm of the North
  • Template:Vengeance of Dhunia

• Other Factions
  • Minion players can also use this warbeast in the Vengeance of Dhunia theme.

Thoughts on the Earthborn Dire Troll

The Earthborn Dire Troll in a nutshell

Beatstick heavy warbeast. A bit pillow-fisted but cheap, tough, and mobile. Especially mobile.

With natural immunity to all 4 elements and an extra 2hp the troll can be more of a headache for opponents than many realise, especially at range, simply because it can shrug off so many spells, elemental guns and crit effects that it’s often got slightly more staying power than its brothers, even if it’s stats are exactly the same (sans bonuses from terrain). The added terrain focused effects are very match dependant and are mostly gravy; but Rock Walls with Gunnbjorn1 or shallow water with the Sea King allow for some interesting defensive combos.

Combos & Synergies

• Dire Troll Mauler, Pyre Troll or Slag Troll - it needs the damage buff because it hits like a ranged warbeast.
• Sea King - The Sea Kings animus leaves behind some shallow water, which you can trigger Elemental Communions with.
• Captain Gunnbjorn - Rock Wall is an obstacle, so it will give him +2 ARM on top of its usual cover bonus.
• Combine his +2 SPD buff with the Axer's Rush +2" buff and you can charge 12 inches or run 14 inches.
• Ragnor1 can give him Beat Back via his Pulverizer spell, which makes his potential melee movement very large. He can also Dig him In and apply his feat for extra beefiness.
• In a zero point match pair him with Ragnor1 and the Mauler. He is not as bad as you would think upon 1st glance. His ARM makes him rather durable and his speed bonus if used right can wreck some sh#t.
• Doomshaper2 before battle lines clash Doomy likes the Earthborn animus to cast for free his feat and overtake also helps improve his threat range even further..

Drawbacks & Downsides

• It needs it's Elemental Communion buff(s) to do it's thing, which is very board dependent and needs a damage buff to hit like a real heavy.
• The Snow Drifts granted by the Storm of the North theme do not trigger Elemental Communion, because they are only Rough Terrain to models without Immunity: Cold, which the EBDT has.
• He needs a damage buff to hit like a real heavy, thankfully among the Pyre Troll, Slag Troll or Dire Troll Mauler you should always have at least one.

Tricks & Tips

• Send it through the worst terrain you can find.
• Any shallow water puddle is also rough terrain, giving you two stat boosts at once.
• When in cover and under the stone he is the most durable of all of our warbeasts as he is also the cheapest heavy this makes him a great second pick after the Mauler.
• In a very rare case, he's getting +2 to 3 stats (well SPD only really matters for moving so you could start with the speed buff, then try to grab the DEF and ARM). That's pretty sweet as well as making his base stats slightly deceptive.
• Sometimes unwitting enemies can offer you a massive advantage spells like Rift, Pillar of Salt, Swamp Pit or Pig Pen offer the terrain the earthborn needs to operate at its best

Other

Trivia

Released in Hordes: Evolution (2007)