Doppel ganger - above or below average unit [proc edit]

I thought it would be interesting to discuss topics based on units. In another post their were opinions that doppelganger was above average and opinions that its below average. Note: these are just my opinions stated so we can discuss.

Here is my take on it. High att spd is a definite plus (especially early game). As it "wastes" less dmg then other higher dmg but lower att spd units especially on lower levels. It doesn't have bad hp per gold (if you include evasion) - the more expensive units generally have less stats per gold to compensate for the unit lasting much longer because of its higher hp. It doesn't have bad effective damage per second per gold if you include crits. But like in my previous post, that Proc pointed out crits is not a good passive due to waste of dmg potential. I.e the higher the units dmg and the slower the attack speed the more risk there is of wasting dmg by overkilling a unit (especially in the lower levels) and the luck factor - if your build is predominantly reliant on doppelgangers then you might leak a round you should have been relatively safe on. Light armour is a definte negative. Even though it is a small unit it seems to have quite a big collison size (i.e. runs around alot instead of attacking). Also I found, is that gateguards mixed with bone archers help you get lower value per round then doppelgangers (this is to a certain extent because too many gatguards = too much running around). Perhaps this is due to gate guards being an above average unit.

I think lisk made this unit slightly below average because of the lifesteal aura. Which increases its sustainability by a lot (the shadow unit that benefits the most from the life steal aura). Gate guards however also benefit from the aura but I think are above average units which makes the race slight imbalanced (especially in 1 * mode). But thats another topic for discussion .

guy4 wanted to talk about x3 mode, but I would like to talk about doppel as a unit in all modes x1 x2 x3 so I changed the title of his thread, gimme ur feedback. Then I will change the title again when we exhaust topic about doppel, we'll go to other units.

that Proc pointed out crits is not a good passive due to waste of dmg potential.

I didn't point crits make units waste their potential, oh no! They do improve their potential because can increase low dmg which sucks against higher armours and so helps avoiding these unconveinience of going 40% dmg to the void. I just think - it's too random, especially when our melees wander about.

About combo gateguards + archers. Archers do suck on higher lvls same as nightcrawlers. The second ones are still kinda helpful against coaults and wyrms tough so worth having when archers - except early waves are just piece of crap.

So for sure: in x3 when u can have imba low lvl pwning doppels (Shadow's op on x3!) they are just too good then they suck naturally but u can have higher income so u get award for investing in this unit, kinda too big award. This investment is evident in my opinion and far too much profitable. However, the game is created for x1 so doppels were simply useless due to the fact they can't be used on lvls they seem to be perfect against, author probably thought - aura will make it efficient when only noobs play this combo and die on 28+29, no such way to avoid it. What's more about Shadow's imba on x3 u can have real mass of units such as archers + nightcrawlers, which are as doppels amazing but again, only fighting with low armoured enemies due to their sick attack speed! All these good units are designed to make earlygame easier for shadow player and let him get some money to lategame which can't be won without hadeses, spare income for hades, that's the point. Hadeses aren't perfect either because of again ! low dmg and high as rate. It means again in lategame - lower efficiency but there isn't anything else to do for Shadow, this is a style of this race and if doppels really suck on high lvls, hadeses lose just little percentage of their potential. The only Shadow's unit which seem to stay same good for entire game (except exotic units such as skeleton mage) is harbinger/gateguard, they're always useful tanks.

Imo Shadow is race stylish in a way: no high dmg per attack at all but kinda good offensive potential at the start. Then it starts lowering but it shouldn't matter if u fed enough using big number of Nightcrawlers/Archers/Doppels (only on x3). The biggest trap making def is to waste doppels as a tanks + massing units which are early game: Nightcrawlers/Archers/Doppels. Unless u invest in Hadeses u will lose.