Interview of gabthegab - winner of the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament (Community)

Interested in getting some insights into the strategies of some of the best players of AoW3? Want to know what they think are the best combos and units? This is the last of a series of 4 interviews with the players who qualified for the final phase of the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament. This article present the winner of this 32 players tournament.

Au Articel par Hiliadan

gabthegab is currently ranked #1 with 1351 points on the Battlefield. He has been at the top of the ranking for a very long time and has a lead of more than 170 points on his closest rival, Jean_de_Metz, which basically means that Jean has 27% chance of winning against gab if they do a duel (based on the Elo formula used in the ranking system). gabthegab is undefeated to this day, which is very impressive, though some may say he did not play all the top players, he did face several very strong players like cbower and DarkRider and beat them. Most of the players who rated his skills agreed that he is an Excellent player, though they were less enthusiastic about his fairness, which may be partly explained by his very high self-confidence (illustrated in this article). gabthegab is one of the only two "Masters" of AoW3, the top 10% of Veteran players, and those who have played against him understand why as he masters both the tactical fights and the big strategic decisions.
He is currently participating in the two ongoing PBEM tournaments: in the 2vs2 Team Tournament, he is playing in team Coup de Grace with Tussel, and he may suffer his first defeat on round 5 of that tournament, when he will be facing SeeR and DarkRider, who have demonstrated very strong team work and well-executed strategies (e.g. of Theocrat Exalted Martyrs rush). In the 2017 Duel Tournament, he won his first two matches easily and may not be worried before the final rounds.
gabthegab likes to play Arch Druid and Theocrat, and appreciate the strongest races like Tigrans and Dwarves (and Human as a Theocrat). He was not used to Necromancer but had to learn the ropes of the class during the 2015 Duel Tournament as it emerged as the strongest class by far. He considers Dreadnought and Warlord as weaker as they do not have access to mind control or class units with Evolve, and he thus rarely plays them (except when has to, like in the 2017 Duel Tournament).

The three other players qualified for the final phase all answered the same questions which the Battlefield team asked them and their answers have been already released. You can find the interview of Sjow, Fistandantilus and Skuns453Lirik902 in past articles.


gabthegab's latest results, a string of uninterrupted victories


1/ First a little background on your IRL (if it’s not secret!): where are you from and how old are you?
gabthegab: I'm from Montpellier, France, and I’m 45 years old.

2/ When did you start playing AoW and AoW3?
gabthegab: I don’t remember exactly, I really liked AoW2, I’m a strategy game lover. 

3/ Do you usually play AoW3 in single player, PBEM or multiplayer?
gabthegab: I played this game with all possible configurations.

4/ How did you choose your combos during the tournament?
gabthegab: It depends on many things: my strengths, who is my opponent, what is he going to play, what is the best combo against him, the map size and the settings of the game…
[Editor's note: see more stats on the top combos in the meta statistics of the Battlefield]

5/ What is your favourite class/race and why? With what specialisations?
gabthegab: Dwarf or Tigran Arch Druid, I love animals and this combo allows a fast development, which is very good to rush and has a very good movement potential. The specialisations depend on the match…

6/ In your opinion, what are some of the best units by tier?
gabthegab: T1: it depends on many things (long term potential…): though to cite but one, the Halfling Farmer who throws chicken
T2: the Wraith or Naga Guardian
T3: Troll or Bone Collector
T4: Eldritch Horror

7/ What was the hardest match you played in this tournament?
gabthegab: All easy, sorry.

8/ What results do you expect for the 3 players in the final phase?
gabthegab: I win, the other lose.
[Editor's note: in the end, this simple prevision proved right!]


Roster of the final phase of the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament

9/ Any advice for players who would like to improve?
gabthegab: Only one: to improve in PBEM, it is necessary to play a lot of fights alone vs the AI to know exactly how it plays tactical battle.


If you're interested by more information about competitive plays, please check this piece of news: videos of competitive games