BattleForge Root Network Guide

BattleForge Root Network Guide by Raze

A lot of people really don’t understand how the root network works, and don’t get to use it at it’s full potential.
It is actually fairly simple to use and if done properly can make for one of the best defenses in the game in most situations.

How does it work —

The following cards have the Root ability…

Living Tower
SpikeRoot
Thornbark
Razorleaf
Howling Shrine (tainted and gifted)
Spore Launcher

And two support buildings
Root Nexus (gifted and blessed)

The buildings are automatically rooted but the units have the ability to become rooted (immobile) and gain special attacks, and can be un-rooted and moved to a new area. You will know they are connected when a faint green colored line connects between the units, as long as they are linked to one unit in a network they will be connected to the whole network. You must be outside the linking range and have seperate units not connected the to first network in any way to have a second seperate network.

Every rooted unit/structure that becomes part of a root network supports the other units in it by boosting attack power and or speed. However the most important part of this function to know is that if a unit or structure is attacking, it -does not- add its power to the network i.e. only unit/structures that are idle will add their power and boost ONE of the linked attacking units even if the root network is maxed out (for a level 3 upgrade that is 11 linked units not including the 12th unit which is attacking) and you add more rooted units/structures than the maximum on the same network, it will still only boost -ONE- unit, that is why making a network with more than 11 linked units is pointless, except if only to use them to connect your network (if you do not have root nexus).

Example:

Two Spikeroots one in front of the other, connected to 7 living Towers.

The spikeroot in front will have the attack boost, until enemy units move into range of the second spikeroot, as soon as he starts attacking the first spikeroot will lose any bonus and now the new attacker closest to the network (in this case the second spikeroot) will receive a power boost.

If the enemy units move beyond the spikeroots and engage the living towers, then all power boosts will be lost. This is part of what makes root nexus so potent and useful in a root network. Root Nexus does not contribute OR subtract from the root network, it does however connect units, allowing you to have a large group of stationary towers, and keep using their power by moving your unit(s) and creating cheap root nexus buildings as you go. They also have useful abilities which they give to any unit connected directly to them.

Gifted Root Nexus – Any unit connected directly to this structure will regenerate 2% of their life points every second

Blessed Root Nexus – Any unit connected directly to this structure will take 25% less damage

If you build one of each of the support structures at the edge of the root network (every 25m-ish)
so that each root nexus takes less damage and regenerates health, then surround them with living towers in the center, and place your attacking units at the outside edges making sure everything has one of each nexus connected to it. You will have an entire defensive force (units and structures) all of which are self regenerating and take less damage from attacks, meaning no repairing, and in some cases, no healing required.

This strategy is for example perfect for defending the gold wagon on Bad Harvest, using razorleaf for attack. You don’t even need to bother destroying the cannons because your defenses will regenerate themselves and take less damage from them.

At this present time it seems that Howling shrine doesn’t work as the description states ( 4 turrets each deal 325 damage written on the card) yet no matter how many supporters it only fires one turret.
However each one has a special ability, gifted paralyzes an attacker tainted roots them. on a maxed network they activate this special nearly every second if you place the rooter out front it will hold and attack enemies and with the paralyzer behind any that get through the roots will then be paralyzed and attacked, they can be powerful or just used as another structure supporter. At this time though the damage they deal however is minimal (seems to be glitched).

Mark of the keeper works well with root network as well, providing some defense and preventing special attacks like disintegration or paralysis that can shut down heavy damage linked attackers.

Combined with breeding grounds you can create a mass of unit supporters and create an entirely mobile root network, which turns it into a more effective offensive weapon. This is where Thornbark really shines, it gives you extra network supporters to work with and provides mobile anti air support since Spikeroot attacks ground units only. A razorleaf out front with an equal mix of spikeroots and thornbarks can make a powerful offensive force, anti air, heavy attack and support ground fire all in one if things start to look bad you can pull your razorleaf back to a defending network while your other units create a wall for it’s escape.

Anyone else out there, feel free to add your own root network combination’s and tactics~~~~~