Jaguar warrior - second form or berserk-like?

[Kuritza]

I remember that back then, in Dominions II at the very least, their shape shift worked as a berserk-like ability on being hit, with a fair chance that it doesnt work and a jaguar warrior dies in his human form. Thus, they were quite suspectible to missile fire.
Now my test gams seem to show that its a second form indeed - jaguar fights as a human until he dies, then arises again as a jaguar. Because of this, jaguar suffer little to no casualties to archers now.
Is it intended feature or a bug?

[thejeff]

As far as I know, it's always been a second form. Even in Dom2, I don't remember every seeing one die in the human form.

They're still vulnerable to arrows. No shield. Low protection.
It just takes more arrows.

[Sombre]

They don't die, because it isn't a temporary second form. They just get badly wounded and change. So if you get them down to 10% hp or so that's when the change happens, I guess.

Anyway, they can't be killed by one hit :]

[archaeolept]

there's no difference, at least as to second form or the like, between now and domII... unless perhaps unpatched DomII - i never played mictlan unpatched..

And missiles hurt them a lot - not killing them immediately, but causing them to accumulate large numbers of afflictions, until your once proud army of sacred warriors becomes a shambling mass of sacred members of the emergency ward.