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The Savage Alliance is quite unique in the sense that it's arguably the strongest and easiest to build early-mid game comp, yet it falls off in the late game the hardest. This puts you in an interesting situation when you play a Savage build - you'll most probably have good health pool and economy, but you need to figure out how to use these resources efficiently to give yourself the best chance in the late game.
(2) Savage Heroes: Allied Savage units apply a stackable 5 damage/s bleed on attack for 3 seconds. Duration refreshes each attack.
(4) Savage Heroes: Allied Savage units apply a stackable 10 damage/s bleed on attack for 3 seconds. Duration refreshes each attack.
(6) Savage Heroes: Allied Savage units apply a stackable 15 damage/s bleed on attack for 3 seconds. Duration refreshes each attack.
Savages have three 1-cost units, which makes it quite easy to get to the (4) Savages bonus from early on. Tusk is a Warrior, which makes a (3) Warrior opening possible. He one of the less-valuable Savage units in the strategy, so even though it's cheap to get him to three stars, he doesn't get a lot of priority in terms of Bench slots.
One of two Savage Druids. This makes it relatively easy to get a star advantage over your opponents and makes Ench your highest upgrade priority (you need her on three stars to guarantee that she will upgrade your two-star Lone to three stars as well with the Druids synergy bonus). Her heal is very valuable in the early-mid game (you can even frontline her to activate it faster), but in the late game it falls off.
Venomancer: 1g, Savage, Warlock
Warlocks is arguably one of the most versatile and strongest Alliance bonuses in the game, so Venomancer is quite key in a Savage build because he allows you to get the (2) Warlocks bonus quite easily. Moreover, he is a cheap 1-cost unit who provides decent utility and some DPS.
Lycan: 3g,
Savage, Human, Hunter
Lycan lost his Warrior Alliance which makes it harder to get the (3) Warriors bonus in a Savage draft, but he became a Hunter, which makes (3) Hunters possible, which in turn increases his DPS a great deal. With that said, he is pretty strong damage-dealer even without the Hunters bonus. Try to position him so that he doesn't take too much damage - he wants to survive for as long as possible to deal damage.
His stun is absolutely great because no other Savage unit has any kind of control (besides the roots of the Bear, which are single-target and RNG-based). The latest Assassin change that makes Assassins stay in their starting position when there are enemy units within attack range also makes it easier to frontline him, which guarantees he'll cast his stun faster. This, along with the stat buffs, makes him a much more valuable unit than before and a key piece in a Savage draft.
Lone Druid: 4g,
Savage, Druid
The
second Savage Druid. You only need to
have him on two stars and your three-star Ench will make Lone three stars as
well because of the (2) Druids synergy. Put him on the frontline to ensure he
takes some damage and casts his Bear sooner rather than later. He is your best
unit versus AoE. He is high HP and is unlikely to die from the first wave of
spells. At this point, he’ll summon his Bear, which will be on full HP after
opponents have used their abilities and will often go on a rampage. If able,
give him Refresher or Bracers. Two bears are extremely strong, and he’s unlikely to die
before he casts the second one because on three stars he is very tanky. Last but not least, the Bear deals player damage, which helps a lot at eliminating players with greedy late-game lineups.
Usually, you go for a (3) Warriors opening with Tusk and/or a (2) Druids opening with Ench. Veno allows you to get the (2) Savages bonus pretty fast and with SF or Witch Doctor you can also get (2) Warlocks fast to increase the sustain of your lineup.
If you don’t intend to go for (4) Druids (you usually want only two), swap your non-Savage Druid with Lone Druid as soon as you get him – he is your key unit in most Savage strats and having a three-star Ench + a two-star Lone Druid gives you a big power spike.
Your draft is usually mature at lvl7. This gives you a good mid-game power spike and allows you to focus on your economy comfortably without losing a lot of health in the process.
If you are having a rough game, the mid-game strength of the lineup also gives you the option to invest in upgrades more aggressively. This could allow you to kick greedy players out of the game and sneak your way into top 4, although if you over-spend early on your chances of 1st place is, of course, much lower.
This is the standard (6) Savages core draft. It focuses mainly on getting all (6) Savages for the maximum bonus damage and ideally Bleed stacks from Tooth and Claw.
Shadow Fiend is the ideal 7th unit because he gives you the powerful (2) Warlocks synergy and makes the lineup more survivable - this is important because a Savage lineup needs a bit of time to summon units and stack-up the Tooth and Claw bleed debuff. Moreover, SF increases your overall damage output even more. A two-star Alchemist is also a great second Warlock because he gives you a stronger frontline and the AoE armor reduction helps increase your overall DPS.
This core lineup attempts to preserve the (3) Warriors synergy from your opening strategy. The drawback is that you don't get the (6) Savages in the mid game, but this is not a big deal if you don't have Tooth and Claw.
The advantage is that the lineup has more survivability and sustain (from the (3) Warriors armor bonus and Necro), in addition to one additional synergy - Heartless, which increases your physical damage output thanks to Necro and Pudge.
Since the strength of Savage falls off in the late game, the usual game plan is to use your good economy to buy levels rather than three-star upgrades. Reaching lvl10 will give you the space on the board you to include additional synergies and powerful Ace units in the draft who can give you late game strength.
Four Warlocks are way better than two in terms of sustain, and including Disruptor makes a big difference in the late game when powerful AoE spells are more common because of his AoE silence.
If you have Fall from Grace, Necro instead of one of the Warlocks above can give you (2) Heartless, further increasing your damage.
This is likely the default late-game extension of the standard (6) Savage draft from above, making use of the powerful Distuptor and Troll Ace bonuses.
The default extension of the (4) Savage (3) Warrior draft from above - more sustain with the powerful Disruptor Warlock Ace and a big damage boost with Troll Warlord and the (2) Trolls bonus with the Warlord Ace bonus.
This lineup is possible thanks to the change in the new patch that made Lycan a Hunter rather than a Warrior.
The (3) Hunters bonus buffs the DPS output of Lycan and Beast Master significantly. Getting Lycan to three stars is a priority because he benefits from the Hunter + Savage bonuses a great deal.
The draft has four Warlocks, so it has very good sustain, helping Beast and Lycan survive for longer, especially with the powerful Disruptor Ace bonus.
If you find Medusa, you can replace your weakest Hunter or alternatively - push for lvl10 to include her in the draft for even more damage.
As mentioned, the strategy is item reliant. The Alliance items rework helps a bit, but getting the right globals could still determine your final placement in the lobby to a large degree.
Target Buddy: helps keep your frontline alive for longer, which is insanely valuable because it allows your heroes to accumulate bleed stacks.
Helm of the Undying: great on Lycan especially if you have the (3) Hunters bonus - he is an insanely powerful damage-dealer.
Bracers of Desperation: great on Lone Druid, Disruptor, possibly Warriors like Kunkka and Tide if you're running them.
Refresher: a great late-game item for Lone Druid or Disruptor.
Tombstone: you have a lot of summons anyway and Tombstone allows you to flood the board. Very powerful versus single-target-heavy lineups. Moreover, the tankiness of the actual Tombstone also helps.
Thanks for reading! I hope you found this guide useful and enjoyable. If you did, you can check out our other Underlords content in our Library! To get a good grasp of the current meta, you can check out our Underlords Builds Tier List with tips and information about all heroes in the game!
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