Stone Gargoyle and Obsidian Gargoyle

Tower creatures
Level 1
Gremlin
Master Gremlin
Level 2
Stone Gargoyle
Obsidian Gargoyle
Level 3
Stone Golem
Iron Golem
Level 4
Mage
Arch Mage
Level 5
Genie
Master Genie
Level 6
Naga
Naga Queen
Level 7
Giant
Titan
Towns

Statistics
Stone Gargoyle
Cost per troop  130
	Attack 6 Defense 6 Damage 2–3 Health 16 Speed 6 Movement Flying Size 1 Growth 9 (+4) AI Value 165
Special abilities:
• Non-living ( Bloodless)
Obsidian Gargoyle
Cost per troop  160
	Attack 7 Defense 7 Damage 2–3 Health 16 Speed 9 Movement Flying Size 1 Growth 9 (+4) AI Value 201
Special abilities:
• Non-living ( Bloodless)

Stone Gargoyles and Obsidian Gargoyles are the second level creatures of Tower. They are recruited from the Parapet.

"Stone and Obsidian Gargoyles are demon-form statues animated for use as troops. They attack with raking claws." ^{RoE manual}

Building the Sculptor's Wings increases gargoyles' growth by 4 per week.

Special Ability: "Non-living" (i.e. Bloodless )

Though Stone and Obsidian Gargoyles are considered as non-living, they are still affected by morale and mind spells. In Horn of the Abyss, they are called "Bloodless" instead of non-living.

Heroes with a specialty

• Piquedram the Alchemist has gargoyles as a specialty, which increases the attack and defense skills of any stone or obsidian gargoyles for each level attained after 2nd level, and gives them a speed bonus of 1.

User commentary

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Their stats are considered to be pretty low for a level 2 unit, but they are usually used as cannon fodder to protect the gremlins in the early game anyway. Unfortunately, Gargoyles are immune to Resurrection and cannot be risen by Animate Dead as they aren't undead. Despite their average Attack and Defense, only 2-3 damage and mediocre 16 health they are quite fast after upgrade, having Speed of 9. Obsidian Gargoyles can be used offensively to block enemy ranged troops or tie up melee stacks while your Master Gremlins deal damage from distance. Bless and Curse have drastic effect on Gargoyles as despite just 1 point of damage range with 2-3 it means 1/3rd average damage more or less. When cast with Advanced Water Magic or Fire Magic, Bless almost doubles their damage (2,5 to 4), and Curse more than halves it (2,5 to 1). The most important buff for Gargoyles should be Shield or Stone Skin, as they are fragile but not particularly strong, so anything that helps them live and distract the enemy just a bit longer while your ranged stacks shoot at them is good. Non-living nature means some of the most debilitating spells and abilities will not work against Gargoyles. This includes life drain, aging, disease, poison. However they have morale and mind spells still work on them. Because they are relatively cheap, numerous, and fast, they make for good troops to overwhelm mainly ranged armies. They cannot keep up with real hard-hitters, though. Against Necropolis army, they can be used to stop Power Liches from shooting, denying them their powerful death cloud attack, or soak up Vampire Lords retaliation, similarly to Golems - Vampire Lords are not healed by attacking non-living target. Keep in mind that Gargoyles are not nearly as tough as Golems and are not likely to survive long in melee against powerful stack like Vampire Lords.

See also:

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• List of creatures
• List of creatures (HotA)
• Comparison of Level 2 Creatures