There are fifty different creatures in Dungeon Command over the first five released sets. The rules allow a warband to contain up to four creatures of a given name, with a minimum of 12 creatures required per warband. Naturally, the discussion turns to what creatures are the “best” in the game. This is my not-so-humble attempt to rank the top ten creatures in Dungeon Command. I also give some Order card recommendations to back up my reasoning, but these will change based on your overall warband composition. Feel free to post your own top ten with reasons for the ranking.
One tendency to avoid when considering the “best” creature is to assume larger creatures are better than smaller creatures. Of course a Horned Devil will curbstomp a Drow Wizard by himself, but we’re not playing 1v1 creature battles. When I write “best creature”, I mean the most viable & valuable creature in a warband. How does a creature synergize with its warband? Can it work in many different warbands? What Order cards can the creature use? What terrain can be used to its advantage? How does your creature fit with a given Commander? It’s not a simple question to answer, and we should be grateful for the discussion it creates. No two people will have the same list of top ten creatures, nor will they create the same warband. Variety and customization are two of the strengths of Dungeon Command.
Without further ado, my list of top ten creatures:
I like the orc archer too because I believe that he's the most powerful archer unit in the game thus far. It's so easy to harrass the enemy with a range 10 and a damage of 20.
Other than that, I would agree with your list; it's clear you're very well experienced with Dungeon Command.
Still, I'd very much like to see a strong Lich Necromancer warband. I think it's a cool miniature and a nice piece. He may be better suited for faction vs. faction play rather than custom warbands. Plenty of industrious warband creators out there. Let's see what they can create!
My current deck that has been treating me very well (background info being that I own two of every set, no more, no less):
Commander
??
Creatures (12)
Warrior Skeleton x4
Skeletal Tomb Guardian x2
Disciple of Kyuss x2
Lich Necromancer x2
Dracolich x2
Orders (32, because I can't decide which 2 to ditch):
Patch Up x3
Hulking Attack x4
Defensive Advantage x4
Reckless Attack x2
Feral Vitality x2
Warning Shout x3
Death Sentence x3
Unending Horde x2
Arcane Ritual x2
Fireball x2
Vampiric Touch x2
Gout of Fire x3
Lich Necromancer is by far the preferred card for opening hand, preferably along with a skeleton bodyguard. Failing that a Dracolich will do. Once you get a few kills in the Leadership bonus for commander kicks in and that's why this deck consists of higher average level than most decks I've played so far (if not all). I might have problems against a very defensive enemy like a turtle adventurer deck (haven't faced that with this deck yet). A couple of Strength in Numbers might help. These are wonderful if you draw them in opening hand, but completely useless further on in the game. Just about every card is more useful being drawn in the end game than Strength in Numbers so I left them out (for now, if I feel I am consistently struggling with Leadership in early game I might still add them).
As for the rest of the Order deck, it's a healthy mix of Con and Int/Cha. Half the deck consists of Con Orders that will protect my 6 skeletons or help them hit harder (with added advantages of drawing cards or gaining morale). The other half of the deck consists of Cha and Int cards that are all usable by my 6 Int/Cha ranged creatures. Basically my Int/Cha creatures lead from the back and aid the Skeletons (Unending Horde, Death Sentence, Warning Shout) while occasionaly laying down some fire themselves (Gout of Fire, Fireball). Vampiric Touch is there to make sure that my Leaders survice direct contact with enemies a bit longer, should any get to them.
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