Backyard Monsters on Facebook - The Champion Cage

The Champion Cage

The Champion Cage is the one of the latest additions made to the game Backyard Monsters on Facebook. You will be able to pick and raise one of three new units: Drull, Gorgo, and Fomor. The building of the cage is not very time consuming, but raising the unit to become stronger takes days and weeks. Therefore, you will want to make sure you have chosen the proper unit to fit your play style. If you decide to change your mind about the unit you have picked, you must destroy your champion cage and rebuild it. In doing so, you will erase all the time you spent raising your current unit and must restart the process all over again if you wish to remain competitive.

Drull

Drull is the most offensive monster you choose from the Champion Cage. Drull comes with high damage and a lower health pool than the other new units, most people will choose him for offensive purposes. It can also serve as a defensive unit, but it has its pro’s and con’s. We will cover some of Drull’s strengths and weaknesses when it comes to using him offensively or defensively.

First we will cover its offensive up’s and down’s. The upside to Drull is its damage. This unit deals the most damaging attacks out of the three. The downside to Drull is its speed. Drull moves extremely fast. You may think speed is a good thing, but when used incorrectly you will quickly see why it is not always a good thing. The main reason is your stronger units, like D.A.V.E, the Crabatron, and the Zafreeti are very slow moving units. Drull can quickly get out of healing range of the Zafreeti and get destroyed by towers and canons before your other units can assist. Often, Drull’s speed will cause it to become focus fired by Sniper Towers, Canon Towers, and Monster Bunkers, quickly removing it from play. To bypass this flaw, you will need to use proper timing with the use of the Zafreeti unit when attacking or retaliating.

Defensively, Drull’s speed is both good and bad. It will allow him to quickly attack invading units, but this also causes him to take the brunt of the damage. Usually this forces him back to the cage with very low health that slowly regenerates. This can cause a delay in your retaliation if you wish to have your champion at full health. The upside is that Drull will usually kill several invading units, protecting both your resources and your towers. Again, you can use the Zafreeti unit to heal up Drull, avoiding the long regenerative process it would take for it to heal on its own.

Gorgo

Gorgo is a very strong defensive unit. It has the highest health pool, but also deals the least damage of the three. This unit, like the other two, has its strengths and weaknesses when it comes to defending your base, or attacking an enemy. In my opinion, Gorgo has a lot more flexibility than Drull, when it comes down to offensive and defensive strategies.

Gorgo has an average speed and lower attack. This allows you to build more offensive units, as nothing takes hits better than Gorgo. This unit can withstand a barrage of attacks alone and usually come out with some health to spare. Combine this with the Zafreeti and Gorgo is nearly unstoppable, as long as anti-air buildings are destroyed. The only downside to Gorgo offensively would be its damage compared to the other two new units. But, considering its starting damage is comparable to D.A.V.E, It can still destroy towers, harvesters, and silos quickly. With its speed being around that of your more commonly used higher end units, Gorgo will usually be assisted by your offensive units making his damage unimportant when it comes to offense.

Defensively, Gorgo is not the greatest. Its average speed gives invading forces time to cripple defenses before it reaches them. The only upside is that once it reaches the units, it will be able to survive the attacks much longer than Drull. This allows for less time spent for the unit to regenerate its health. Choosing Gorgo as your monster requires a very defensive base to maximize his usefulness.

Fomor

Fomor is the hybrid unit of the three. Its damage is lower than Drull, but higher than Gorgo. Its Defense is higher than Drull, but lower than Gorgo. Fomor is the only one of the three new units that deals ranged damage. It is also the only one that provides a bonus to surrounding units. This unit is usually the choice of more seasoned players.

Offensively, Fomor is very strong. He can boost the attack power of your other units in play. Combining Fomor with highly upgraded units can make for a devastating offense. Due to Fomor’s ranged attack it will not usually be targeted by towers or bunkers. This keeps Fomor in play longer on average than the other two new units. But, it also requires a more diverse army than when using Drull or Gorgo, as it fills neither the damage nor tank role that the other two provide.

Defensively, Fomor is better than Gorgo. When compared to Drull’s defensive usefulness, it all depends on the invading force. Since Fomor is a ranged unit, usually attacking units will not target it. This allows Fomor to pick off units while they are attacking your base, while taking minimal damage. His ability to survive comes at the cost of your structures and resources. Like Gorgo, using Fomor will require a more heavily defensive base compared to Drull.

Feeding, Evolving and Devolving

In order for your unit to evolve, it will need to be fed an exact amount of several units every day. The units that your champion eats depends on which champion you chose. When you go to feed your champion, you will see the exact type and number of units required. You will also see when you will be able to feed him. You are allowed to feed your champion every 24 hours and are given a 23 hour, 59 minute, 59 second grace period after that before it begins to devolve.

If you fail to feed your champion in the time period allotted your champion will devolve, possibly losing attack power and health. This depends on the evolutionary stage it is at. If it has just evolved in to a larger beast and you fail to feed it, it will shrink down to the smaller, weaker, previous version of the champion.

Overall, the addition of the Champion Cage in Backyard Monsters on Facebook will separate the casual player from the more dedicated players. If you do not have access to the game daily, you will quickly find yourself falling behind as other player’s champions become stronger, and your’s possibly becomes weaker. This new addition gives the casual player a few options to stay competitive. Either play more, buy Shiny, or start playing more often. In my opinion, this is a money grab that may end up hurting the game in the long run.

References

Source: Author’s own experience.

All images taken from Backyard Monsters on Facebook.