Arbiter Hound Phoenix

Guide by Forgotten

Introduction

This classic combo of units provides chaff clear and DPS in a flexible way and is strong throughout the game. It can be played in almost any playstyle and can incorporate a large number of units as needed. The primary strength of the phoenix with hound is its ability to stay safely behind a ranged hound without requiring a commitment to technologies.

When to Play?

Usually, you must start with hounds and crawlers on round 1 in order to play hound + phoenix. One of these two 100-cost units should be in your starting pack, and you should two squads of the other unit on round 1. All 200-cost starting units except fire badgers are viable companions to the round 1 hounds, though I would avoid starting with mustangs as well. For this guide, I will focus on starting with steel ball, which is the most flexible and arguably strongest 200-cost option.

Tech Loadout

There are many, many units that can be played, but I will only focus on technologies for the three most important units: hound, phoenix, and crawler, as these will likely be used in most games.

Hound

• Range Enhancement: Without range, hounds often have difficulty staying alive long enough to clear chaff. This is usually the first technology researched on hound.

• Mechanical Rage: Mechanical rage is often eventually necessary when running hound as a core unit, as it significantly increases the hound’s DPS and chaff clear speed.

• Fire Extinguisher: Without access to this technology, hound + crawler compositions are often very vulnerable to fire.

• Armor Enhancement: This technology is situationally very strong against mustangs and fire badgers. In some cases, it can be taken as a first technology against these units.

Phoenix

• Range Enhancement: This is the only truly mandatory technology on phoenix. Even though it is not usually used in this specific composition, range is necessary to have on phoenix in a variety of situations and it also enables some synergistic technologies like charged shot or launcher overload.

• Launcher Overload/Charged Shot: If you want to play Hound + Phoenix often, it is ideal to have access to one of these two technologies (you do not need both). If your hounds do not need range, then these technologies vastly increase phoenix damage without a significant downside. Otherwise, they allow phoenixes to scale into a late-game threat combined with range enhancement.

• Quantum Reassembly/Energy Shield: I also recommend having at least one of these two defensive technologies available. One of the main threats to phoenix in the late game is fortress with anti-air, and either of these technologies can help you overcome fortresses or late-game spells.

• All other phoenix technologies are also viable options. Feel free to play around with your phoenix technologies and pick your favorites.

Crawler

• Subterranean Blitz: This technology is the only mandatory one on crawlers. It dramatically increases the crawler’s survivability against almost any chaff clear in the game and helps crawlers survive fire long enough to be useful. If the game lasts long enough, you will almost always want Subterranean Blitz, often combined with crawler levels and HP enhancements.

• Loose Formation: While not mandatory, loose formation can also pose a potent surprise threat on crawlers. It is the only way to make crawlers last longer against high-enough-level arclights, hounds, and sledgehammers, if the opponent’s composition is too reliant on these units in the late game.

How to Play

While hound + phoenix can be played in a number of playstyles, I will focus on asymmetrical midrange in this guide because it is the most flexible playstyle and can be used against almost any enemy setup. In an asymmetrical midrange setup, you deploy your units about halfway between your tower and the center line, and concentrate a majority of your force on either the left or right side of the field.

Starting Positioning

On round 1, position all of your units spread out on one side of the board. Put your crawlers vertically behind your hounds and your steel balls between your crawlers. If needed, sell a turret to make room for your units on round 1 before buying anything. You may wish to separate your hounds by 70 meters to later have room for a titan in between them.

Rounds 2-4

On round 2, you almost always want to buy a phoenix, plus a hound or a crawler. If the phoenix is not affordable, buy it on round 3. By round 4, you want about 5 packs of hounds, spread out across your side of the board, along with 1-2 packs of phoenixes and as many crawlers as you can fit in. It can be worth taking an attack enhancement on the right-hand tower in the early game if it allows your hounds to kill enemy crawlers in one hit. Do not buy additional steel balls.

You may also want to implement a deep flank on the furthest back corner of your strong side if your opponent is deployed defensively against you. The purpose of the deep flank is to distract a large portion of the enemy army, exposing the tower for your own units. This can be done with hounds, sledgehammers, or fire badgers, and is often done on the same round as unit reinforcements. A mobile beacon on your steel balls to the enemy tower can help apply even more pressure while the enemy units are distracted.

Rounds 5-7

At this point, you either transition out of hound + phoenix or start rapidly researching technologies on your units. If you stick with hound + phoenix, by the end of round 7 you should have at least one hound tech and sometimes two. If your phoenixes have levels, you should invest in technologies for them as well. Excess supplies after taking expensive technologies can be used to buy additional crawlers to chaff for the hounds and phoenixes.

Sometimes, you will need one or two more units at this point to supplement your hounds and phoenixes. The most common needs are an additional unit to tank for the hounds or a unit that can kill wasps. For additional tank value, the best option is usually rhino with the armor enhancement tech. In order to kill wasps, you can buy either your own wasps (eventually with anti-air) or some mustangs.

Rounds 8+

If the game goes this long and you are still mostly invested into hound + phoenix, it is likely time to start buying giants or titans, as it will be difficult otherwise to spend all of your supplies. Consider a fortress if you want to protect your hounds better with barriers, or a mountain if you simply need a huge DPS threat. If you have already branched out into a different unit, continue investing into that unit. HP and attack enhancements on the right tower are also a great way to spend supplies at this point.

Cards and Items

+

Phoenix

+

Phoenix

+

Steel Ball

Situational Units

While the early-midgame core units are phoenix and hound, there are a number of common units to play in response to certain situations. This is not a comprehensive list, as most units can fit in with hounds somehow.

Rhino

As mentioned earlier in this guide, rhino is a common tank to place in front of your hounds and crawlers in the midgame or lategame. Without an item, rhino usually wants to stay at level 1 or 2 so that enemy melting points do not become too efficient against it. Later on, photon coating can be purchased to make the rhino even tankier.

Wasp

Wasp is a flexible unit. Its main role is usually to act as a type of chaff for your team against some enemy units like raiden that are otherwise very effective against both hound and phoenix. Wasps can also defend flanks very efficiently and help kill enemy wasps as long as you are winning the chaff war. Against a heavy air army by the opponent, you can tech range, anti-air, and EMP to shut them down.

Raiden

If the opponent is excessively investing into medium units such as fire badger + void eye, then it may be a good idea to sell phoenixes in the midgame and transition into raiden instead.

Fortress

Fortress is often a good choice if you position aggressively and your opponent commits early into a defensive vulcan. Eventually, fortress + hound becomes one of the most powerful combos in the game, once the fortresses have the barrier technology and levels.

Abyss

Two of the most annoying ground-based units to face with hounds are scorpions and fortresses. Abyss is the perfect answer to either of these units, as well as any ground-based titan unit. Just try to plan ahead and reserve some space for your abyss between the hounds.