Fallen Conspiracy

The Fallen Conspiracy, or Fallen, is one of the four playable races in Night of Oblivion.

## **Storyline**

 The Fallen Conspiracy is made up of the villagers in the entire town which the Lich King consumed. Prior to that, the villagers were extremely angry at the Government for heavily taxing them to fuel the growing army's needs, thus leaving them in poverty. The villagers turned to religion as a means to convince themselves that there was a greater being watching over them, and that justice would eventually be served to the cruel Government. The Lich King saw an opportunity to appear as the being they revered, and used the villagers to do his bidding by summoning countless ghosts and demons from the Further into the town, hiding them inside cathedrals during the day lest they dissipate due to exposure to daylight.

## **Race Attributes**

* The Fallen have units which can turn invisible at night, and units which can see further during the night than during the day.
* The Fallen also feature units which gain extra attack damage during the night, making the day/night cycle an important mechanic for the Fallen.

## **Units**

Worker: Acolyte

Mercenary Camp units: Bandit, Spear Thrower, Deceiver, Fire Drake, Shadow Drake.

Demon Gate units: Fel Beast, Bloodfiend, Doom Guard, Infernal Contraption, Harbinger, Death Wyrm.

Ghost Totem units: Wraith, Necromancer, Succubus, Diabolic, Voidwalker.

Harrowing Circle unit: Forgotten One

## **Structures**

Town Hall: Church, Dark Temple, Unholy Sanctuary.

Core Structure: Shadow Core

Farm: Fire Pit

Production Structures: Mercenary Camp, Demon Gate, Ghost Totem, (Harrowing Circle).

Tech structures/Research Facilities: Shadow Tavern, Haunted Cathedral, (Demon Gate), Burning Skull, Dimensional Gate, Harrowing Circle.

Defensive Structure: Watch Tower

## **Techtree**

Shadow Core: Can cast Black Market, Blackout, and Hand of Destruction.

Black Market: Cast on target allied mineral ore to drain the mineral ore of some of its minerals, and gain half of that value instantly.

Blackout: Changes the time of the day to night time temporarily.

Hand of Destruction: Deals damage to enemy units in the target area.

## **Fallen Opening Theory**

* A common way to define a Fallen opening is by the timing of the Shadow Core activation, and what is done with the first Black Market minerals. Because the amount of minerals gained from an early Black Market is a large sum, openings which are impossible for other races are made possible for the Fallen.
* One such opening goes double Mercenary Camp for early pressure, and with the first Black Market, transitions into an expansion. There are many creative ways to use the early minerals, or even an early Hand of Destruction to attack the enemy's economy.
* With all that said, it is no surprise that the Shadow Core's activation is a priority for any Fallen opening.
* Spear Throwers are powerful early units when proxied due to their Pierce attack which allows them pressure workers more.
* Due to the anti-air nature of the Watch Tower, tower rushing comes from the Fire Pit instead, which can sacrifice itself to summon a Fire Elemental.

## **Fallen Unit/Composition Theory**

The Fallen race distinctly divides its techtree into two; one which is Biological comprising of (mostly biological) units from the Mercenary Camp and Demon Gate, and the other which is a Ghost comp comprising of units from the Ghost Totem. The two techtrees are absolutely exclusive, sharing no tech whatsoever. This limits composition diversity severely in the mid game, but because it is virtually impossible to tech straight into a pure Ghost composition, transitions from Bio to Ghost will remain prevalent.

### Combat units:

Bandit/Spear Throwers:

The two core units of a Bio comp, both have the Insanity ability which sharply increases their attack speed at the cost of amplifying damage received. When massed, the damage dealt between the two units is extremely high, and Insanity timing attacks are very powerful.

Bandits are melee but deal more raw dps than Spear Throwers, while Spear Throwers rely on their range and Pierce attack. Bandits are thus better against Heavy units like bulky melee units, while the Spear Thrower deals with Light units well.

Both of them share two notable weaknesses which are crucial for counterplay. First is that they both have Light armour, making them weak to Pierce damage sources, and secondly, neither unit can attack air units. The Fallen will have to prepare tech accordingly to cover for their weaknesses.

Fire Drake:

Fire Drakes are strong air to ground units which have a Siege attack. When upgraded, Fire Drakes deal additional damage to structures, which enables them to better siege opponent bases.

A substantial part of the Fire Drake’s strength lies in their being produced from the Mercenary Camp as opposed to an air unit production structure. They are unlocked by the Burning Skull tech structure, which means it is possible to catch enemies off guard with sharp transitions.

Conversely, Fire Drakes are not very strong in the late game as their anti-air damage is bad, and their anti-ground damage is overshadowed by late game units. Thus, it is important to leverage the Fire Drake’s strengths in the mid game.

Shadow Drake:

The Shadow Drake is the Fire Drake’s counterpart, instead being able to hit only air units until upgraded. When upgraded, Shadow Drakes can turn invisible with their ability Shadow Rush, allowing them to better ambush and outmaneuvre opposing armies.

The Shadow Drake is also produced from the Mercenary Camp, and thus shares similar techtree strengths as the Fire Drake. Timing attacks which are unchecked are very powerful as there is little counterplay to a flock of raiding air units turning invisible every few seconds.

Since the Fire Drake and Shadow Drake share upgrades, it is common to double down on Drake production and attempt to secure a game winning lead that way.

Fel Beast:

Fel Beasts are ranged dps units which have a empowered attack against air units, and thus slot nicely into Bio compositions which innately do not have anti air. Their long range also makes them powerful when massed.

Bloodfiend:

The Bloodfiend is a midgame front line unit which can Bash opponents when upgraded. Notably, it is one of the few Heavy front line units, so if a Bio composition is being punished with Pierce damage, Bloodfiends can enter as a response.

Doom Guard:

Doom Guards are a ranged dps unit which boasts a splash attack. As such, they are good against clumps of units like infantry units.

Infernal Contraption:

The Infernal Contraption is a unique unit which participates in battle by summoning an Infernal from far range, and stunning enemy units on impact. While bulky melee units would normally have issues breaking concaves, this is not the case for the Infernal, which immediately enters the back line. This effectively allows Infernals to bypass any defensive formation. In addition, the stun duration can allow other units to reposition.

Thus, Infernal Contraptions can come in as an answer to artillery units or enemies who are turtling in a defensive formation. Infernals themselves have Spell Immunity, Hero attack, Hero armour, and Permanent Immolation. This set of combat traits and abilities make it a very formidable combat unit.

Wraith/Succubus:

Wraiths and Succubi are the basic ranged/melee units respectively for Ghost compositions in the early stages of the composition (as opposed to early game per se, as it is difficult to field Wraiths then). Notably, both of them are Light units, which means Bloodfiends are reasonable situational replacements for Succubi.

The movespeed of Wraiths can be improved with the Phantom Streamlining upgrade, alleviating their poor movement speed.

Diabolic:

The Diabolic is a bulky ranged dps unit. It features a Magic attack and armour reduction on attack. In the mid game, its armour reduction allow it to be a potent dps threat itself, while in the late game, it turns into more of a support unit to pave the way for Voidwalkers.

Voidwalker:

Voidwalkers are the premier late game dps units for Ghost compositions. It has a Chaos attack and a multishot attack.

The Voidwalker's multishot has interesting ramifications. Most notably, the Voidwalker's single target dps is laughably low to compensate. This means that it has trouble focusing specific units and cannot effectively trade volleys with enemy armies. Voidwalkers thus excel in front to back all out skirmishes to allow its raw dps to shine. A niche side effect is that the Voidwalker has artifically increased attack range with its multishot.

The Forgotten One:

The Forgotten One is the ultimate unit for the Fallen race and is only unlockable at the very end of the Ghost tech tree. In addition, it costs a lot of resources and takes a long time to produce.

However, the combat abilities it brings to the battlefield makes it worth its cost. It has a %hp damage aura, and two aoe dps abilities in Forgotten Fire and Erase from Existence. Finally, it also has Animate Dead, which allow the Fallen to bolster their army without any supply cost. This helps to offset the exceptionally high supply cost of the Forgotten One.

### Spellcasters:

Fallen spellcasters are offensively slanted (aside from the Necromancer) and have a sacrifice motif. This reflects the race's affinity for bloody trades in the early to mid game with Biological compositions, before slowing down into a robust deathball composition with Ghosts.

Deceiver: Can cast Dark Flattery, Cripple, Trickster.

* Dark Flattery empowers target ally, increasing their attack damage but decreasing their armour.
* Cripple slows target enemy temporarily.
* Trickster swaps the positions of the Deceiver and the target enemy and deals damage to it.

The Deceiver is most adept at snowballing a won skirmish. All three of its skills are put to full use when running down a retreating army. Dark Flattery's armour reduction means nothing to a fleeing enemy, and Cripple and Trickster further enable kills on weakened enemies. The Deceiver goes hand in hand with Bandits and Spear Throwers who pursue the same ideal.

Dark Flattery somewhat falls off in the late game due to a lack of viable targets as the ability cannot be cast on Ancients, which includes all of the races' tier 3 units. Thus, the Fire Drake and Shadow Drake are its best targets. However, Cripple and Trickster remain relevant no matter the stage of the game.

Necromancer: Can cast Raise Dead, Shadow Sentry, Death Coil.

* Raise Dead raises a Zombie from a corpse.
* Shadow Sentry summons a Shade at the target location, decreasing armour and providing True Sight.
* Death Coil heals a target allied Ghost unit or damages an enemy living unit.

The Necromancer has skills which clearly benefit a Ghost composition, having Raise Dead to bolster the front line which can be lacking in Ghost Compositions, and Death Coil which not only benefits compositions with low numbers of powerful units (Diabolic, Voidwalker), but is only castable on Ghost units (for healing).

Shadow Sentry deserves a more dedicated explanation as it is such a powerful utility tool which cleanly complements the strengths of a typical Ghost army while alleviating its weaknesses. First, the armour reduction aura synergizes nicely with the Diabolic's attacks. Then, the Shade provides backline vision which would otherwise be difficult to obtain for a Ghost army. Notably, the Shade provides vision during the daytime, which can be important for scouting or securing a cleanup after winning a skirmish at the end of the night.

Harbinger: Can cast Death Mark, Death Foretold, Ruination.

* Death Mark places a debuff on target enemy unit, causing it to explode if it were to be attacked while below 40% HP.
* Death Foretold causes target ally to die after a while, but gain invulnerability and attack speed in the meantime.
* Ruination instantly kills target unit or heavily damages a building.

The Harbinger is a powerful spellcaster unit which brings various forms of offensive spells. Having a few Harbingers Death Mark the entire enemy army is a simple yet effective way to soften up the enemy army, whilst synergizing with the various armour reduction debuffs the race offers.

Death Foretold is a spell to maximise unit efficiency. For example, while having Doom Guards, it is normally wise for the enemy to focus the Doom Guards as they are very powerful in front to back skirmishes with their splash. Casting Death Foretold while a Doom Guard is low on HP effectively makes it last longer on the battlefield, since it would have died anyway.

Ruination is a simple yet powerful spell. Ruination being able to target Ancients makes this spell worth it, making enemies reluctant to produce powerful units with no Spell Immunity as they would instantly get eliminated. In a pinch, a few Harbingers can band together to nuke a building, for example a Town Hall.

## **Fallen Strategy**

* Despite the tech exclusivity, it is common to transition from Biological to Ghost as Ghost units can only be produced after Dark Temple, before which there are no army units to work with. In addition, Insanity is a key spike for Biological armies, and thus converting the advantage gained from a strong timing attack into a transition is a viable option. Transitioning the other way, however is much rarer as Ghost compositions are superior in the late game. A hybrid style can be pulled off, but is rare and tech inefficient.
* Burning Skull is the only basic air unit structure which is not a production structure itself. Because of this, unscouted (or proxied) Burning Skulls can be especially devastating, giving the enemy little warning since the production structures remain the same.
* Ghost compositions are combat capable during the night. With the help of the Blackout ability from the Shadow Core, extended pushes are made possible. Additionally, Blackout can also be used in a pinch when defending against an attack during the day. This means that Shadow Core mana usage is more restricted while playing a Ghost composition.
* A focus on invisibility and armour reduction points towards a more hit and run style of play, with an emphasis on catching smaller groups of enemies out of position and assassinating them, before returning to the shadows again. With Ghost compositions however, this is less obvious as a pure Ghost composition doesn't have any control, thus making it easy for enemies to flee.
* The tech requirements for Critical Strike (the Bio Attack upgrade) are the Demon Gate and Dimensional Gate, which are extremely easy to access. As a result, +3 timing attacks should always be considered as the Fallen can hit this timing the fastest and most easily.

## **Trivia**

* The Ghost units are the only units in game which have to play around day/night cycles.
* Higher tier biological units also feature longer sight range during the night, albeit less extreme than Ghost units.
* The Infernal is the only unit in the game to cost supply and be created from an ability.
* Akin to the Defiled Coral Blades, the Ground +1 for Fallen is an improved Critical Strike as opposed to a standard increase in damage.
* The armour upgrade for Ghost units also increases their HP.
* Is the only race to not feature building upgrades.