Druids and their dwarven counerpart the Dwarven Druids are the mages of nature. They are strong melee unit, they are good tier 3 Arcane Spellcaster (Nature 3), they are Disciple Units and start with Medic I, they have recon abilities and are able to carry birds like Ranger and, most important, can move through Impassable Terrain.
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| Race: | Human or Lizardman |
|---|---|
| Unit Class: | Disciple Units |
| Requires: | Commune with Nature Grove Alignment:Neutral |
| Starts With: | Cannot Pillage +50% vs Animals -20% City Attack Can Move Through Impassable Terrain Can Carry 1 Hawk Better Results from Tribal Villages Medic I Subdue Animal Channeling I Channeling II Channelling III Nature I |
| Info: | 8  +1 Nature Affinity2 
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| Cost: | 240 
|
| Upgrades From: | Confessor Cultist Priest of Leaves Stonewarden Ritualist Harlequin Ranger Vicar |
| Special: | Maxed to 4 units per player
Can Cast Entangle |
Strategy[]
Druids are the only units outside of the pure Disciple line that have the Medic I promotion. They also have a high strength for a spell casting unit and have access to all levels of Nature magic.
It is possible to build a Druid in any city with a Grove, but is far better to promote them from tier II Disciple Units. A druid upgraded from a Priest Unit is a High Priest-equivalent unit: he can cast the Channeling III Divine spell of the associated religion. For example, upgrading a Vicar (Empyrean) to a Druid keeps the Divine promotion, thus enabling the Druid to cast Crown of Brilliance. This also is a way to bypass unit abandonment to keep units capable of casting, say, Unyielding Order or Summon Kraken while religion-jumping.
Morevoer, in analogie with the Lich mechanism, this is a method to gain 8 National Units with Channeling III Divine powers.
Only neutral players can build Druids.
Druids and Flash Golem synergy[]
One particular use of the druids is in support of a strategy using Flesh Golems. Balseraphs are probably the best civ to make use of Flesh Golems, with Freaks and Mimics that can easily provide fodder.. With puppets they can generate more Flesh Golems than they have Archmages with Body3 III. The promotions from Freaks or the Mutate spell can be transferred to the Flesh Golems.
Druids help with Flesh Golems in two ways. A cultist promoted to a druid will be able to summon Kraken, that is the best unit to buid up the base strength of the Flesh Golem in a cost effective way. Then a druid can also get the promotion Command 3 and with Order religion Command 4. Sacrificing a druid with command 4 to a Flesh Golem means that 70% of the combats it wins against living enemies will capture an enemy. This is a way of getting even more exotic promotions to sacrifice to other Flesh Golems.
Background[]
Infused with the magic of Sucellus, the Reborn, the Druids are the mages of nature and bringers of life. Because the only way to gain true and lasting knowledge of how to manipulate the very fabric of life itself is to devote one's whole existence to intimate contact with nature, Druids are a reclusive and not terribly social folk. The Druids form a loose brotherhood of near-hermits who meet once a year to compete, share knowledge, and bond, before they once again disperse to their various fields and forests. Their powerful organic magic means that many empires employ them not so much for their use in war, but for their use in peace, perfecting the land and making it more fertile. Few established empires are incapable of contacting a few Druids to help them repair the scars of war and industry or bring life and lushness to previously infertile regions.
