How to play Southern Dwarves
Alignment
Southern dwarves are most of the time in the underground, so much of them are chaotic. Very powerful during the night or in the underground. Marksmen, snipers and pioneers are neutral.
Core units
Dwarvish Bloodseeker I-III - Melee specialist. Powerful warrior that can easily killed weaker foes, but can die when fighting stronger units. Great against mages and anyone who have weak melee attack. Not useful against skeletons and other undead beasts.
Dwarvish Guardian I-III - Defensive unit, that can control important parts of the map. Also your support healer. Village defender.
Dwarvish Marksman I-III - Similar to thunderers, but these guys are very precise in their ranged attack. Only very weak melee abilities.
Dwarvish Pioneer - Cheap, neutral unit, that cannot do much in the battle. They cannot upgrade, so use them when low on money.
Dwarvish Runefighter I-III - Core unit and your main fighter with magic hammer. Very good in attacking, but can be dangerous even when defending. Good resistances.
Dwarvish Sage I-II - Extremely slow, but very powerful healer. Great against ghosts, skeletons, dark adepts and similar units. If possible, recruit on castle closer to the center of the map.
Dwarvish Tracker I-III - Another core unit, improtant fighter, that is good in ranged attack. Can be upgraded to specialist axethrower.
Gryphon I-II - Flying unit, your village grabber. Can be upgraded to gryphon leader with leadership.
Level 2+ units
Dwarvish Axethrower - Special Dwarvish Tracker on level 3, with throwing axes that can cause cold or pierce damage.
Gryphon Leader II-III - Gryphon rider with leadership, that can make other units fight much better.
Basic strategy
Southern dwarves are different than the northern ones. With almost every unit being chaotic, they are strong during the night, so player must make a good defense during day with their guardians or cheap pioneers. During night, bloodseekers is the very offensive unit, that can be almost unstappable when gryphon leader is nearby.
To make your bloodseekers viable, it is a good idea to weaken enemies with trackers or marksmen with good ranged attack or with runefighters, who have good melee damage.
Dwarves are slow on flat terrain, so use hills and mountains. Still, gryphons might be fast enough and you need them to stop fast units from your enemies.
Good tactics is also to take care of healing. Move sages first, because they are very slow. Two guardians can heal each other with +4 healing. Also use any of this healers to heal bloodseekers.
Against special enemies, add these units:
- Find a weak spot, ranged or melee, and use your runefighters or trackers to exploid them. Then call a bloodseeker to finish the job.
- Guardians are weak in offense, but because they can defend during the day and heal your chaotic fighters, do not forget to call at least one.
- Sages can kill ghosts, woses, skeletons... but they are weak. So, do not forget to disallow them to run away with your fast units, like trackers and gryphons.
- Because many of the dwarvish units are slow, you can choose a fast leader, like gryphon leader, who have also useful leadership.
Upgrading
High priority: Gryphons can become gryphon leaders. Bloodseekers are the finishers, so they will get a lot of experience. Attack enemy with as many units as possible before using bloodseekers, so you can get experience. Do not let pioneers kill units, because they cannot upgrade.