This guide is a basic overview of the Ironheade faction, which includes descriptions of the Solos, Units and some of the basic strategies you can take while playing as Eddie.

Ironheade is your basic "straight up kill" faction in Brutal Legend. The focus with Ironheade are units that deal good damage and are designed to counter specific types of units (infantry, vehicles, buildings & ranged units). Ironheade units tend to build in groups (Headbangers, Razor Girls, Call of the Wild, Fire Barons & Roadies all come in groups of 3 to 4) and generally do not have a limit imposed on the number you can create (aside from the Rock crusher), so often you are playing with a physical numbers advantage. Ironheade units also move slightly faster across the map than the Doom or Coil units, so you are also playing at a slight movement speed advantage.

Ironheade has the lowest variety of units available to build (9 in total, not counting the Call of the Wild animals), and as such most of their units are direct attackers (contrasted to the support units the Drowning Doom has, or the half attacking/half support nature of the Heirarchy units in Tainted Coil). The support units of Ironheade are limited to Thunderhogs (provides a healing aura for your infantry units) and the Rock Crusher (which, aside from providing a constant "Battle Cry" aura to all nearby units, also shoots off fireworks, has a front grinder and a powerful double team attack).

Unlike Tainted Coil and Drowning Doom which have units that are effective when massed (brood, pain lifters, skull rakers), I find the best army in Ironheade is one that mixes most of your units together (doubling or tripling the ones you need to counter your enemies builds). Fire baron massing used to be very strong and very effective, but it was pretty unfair and got nerfed hard.

The theme of Ironheade is fire. Many of their attacks (from Metal Beasts, Fire Barons, Razor Girl double team, Bladehenge Assualt, Facemelter & Bring it on Home Solos) all utilize fire or explosions, and their Light of Dawn solo brings the sky to a bright burning orange. This is also reflected in the "Master of the Flame" acheivement received from double teaming with all Ironheade units. This information is more of a tidbit than anything.

The units and solos in this guide are listed by tiers, which basically are the levels of your stage at any given time (tier 1 is your stage when you start, tier 2 is after one stage upgrade, etc.)

Special thanks go to Guziol# for providing me with specific numbers on the damage and HP of units and solos.

Tier 1 Units

Headbangers
HP: 10 (15 Upgraded)
Damage: 0.6 (0.8 Upgraded)
Double Team: 0.8 AoE w/ Knockback (1.5 AoE w/ Knockback Upgraded)
Fan Cost: 100
Load: 4
Insul's Rating: 2.8/5
Headbangers are your standard startup units for Ironheade. They hit just hard enough that they are great for taking down fan leeches early in the game. They have an advantage against ranged units (like all tier 1 melee infantry do), and thus I tend to use them over razor girls most times (unless you really want to slay an avatar, bride, thunderhog, nun or frightwig).
Double Team: All headbangers close to you form a circle around you and cause damage and knockback to any units you run into. This is a great crowd clearing double team but it's not effective against buildings. Use it if you are having trouble at a fan geyser (but only after your Battle Cry).

Razor Girls
HP: 8 (11 Upgraded)
Damage: 0.7 (1 Upgraded)
Double Team: 3.5 (5.5 Upgraded)
Fan Cost: 100
Load: 4
Insul's Rating: 2.8/5
Razor Girls are your standard ranged infantry, dealing just slightly more damage than a unit of headbangers, but attack slightly slower. When upgraded, they pack a more powerful punch, so I tend to skip them at the start, and use upgraded razor girls at the end of the game (if I ever use them). They are really good at killing avatars, but not against melee units at the start of the game (they get stunned too easily from melee hits, and aren't very durable).
Double Team: One of the girls will ride on your shoulders, releasing a powerful hit with a long recoil time. If you have razor girls, use this to clear a leech quickly, or to take down an avatar who is messing with you. The other three razor girls will follow you when you use this.

Thunderhog
HP: 18 (30 Upgraded)
Healing: 1 HP/8 Seconds (1 HP/5 Seconds Upgraded)
Double Team Healing: 1 HP/4 Seconds (1 HP/3 Seconds Upgraded)
Fan Cost: 90
Load: 3
Insul's Rating: 3/5
Thunderhogs cannot attack, but they carry an aura that heals your infantry while around them. This aura cannot stack (multiple thunderhogs will not provide additional bonuses) and it does not affect vehicles (so they cannot heal themselves). One of these will stretch the lifespan of your infantry slightly and may be the edge you need in an Ironheade vs. Ironheade matchup. They are focused by enemy avatars very often in early, game, so I find them much more useful in the mid and late games.
Double team: You release an AoE shockwave with a cooldown that stuns enemies and improves your healing substantially for a short while. If you are using thunderhogs, definitely use this during a big battle, as I wouldn't recommend using thunderhogs otherwise.

Tier 2 Units

Fire Barons
HP: 14
Damage: 2.6 w/ Fire DOT
Double Team Damage: 9 in a ring
Fan Cost: 175
Load: 6
Insul's Rating: 2.5/5
Quick moving anti-infantry units that strike somewhat hard and fast. You get three when you create a set of them, but they have very little HP each. Ranged attackers will make quick work of them (razor girls, etc.), but otherwise they aren't that bad. They have very specific uses that I have outlined in the strategies below, but do not mass these units. Note that these used to be very overpowered when Brutal Legend first came out, but a hotfix changed that quite a while ago.
Double Team:You hop on the back of one of the barons and can drive it like a vehicle. Pressing the attack button will cause Eddie to pour booze out the back of the bike, setting fire to the ground. If you create a closed shaped with the ground (doesn't need to be a circle), it will engulf and deal damage to any enemy it touches. Unless you close the ring, it will not do damage, however. When you use this, the other two barons will follow you.

Headsplitter
HP: 48
Damage: 3.5
Double Team Damage: 3.5 AoE
Fan Cost: 250
Load: 5
Insul's Rating: 4/5
General purpose ranged vehicle. These deal a lot of damage per hit and have a lot of HP, so they are generally very favorable units to produce. They counter just about anything, but are very weak to anti-vehicle units. A great mid-game strategy is to build 3 of these and move them from booth to booth, in what is known as a caravan.
Double Team: You manually drive the headsplitter, and can enter attack mode by pressing the attack button. When in attack mode, you manually aim and fire the crossbow bolt, dealing the same damage, but in an area instead of a single target (it also hits faster).

Tier 3 Units

Bouncer
HP: 32
Damage: 3.5
Double Team Damage: 6 AoE w/ Knockback
Fan Cost: 100
Load: 2
Insul's Rating: 3.5/5
These are the Ironheades counter vehicle unit. When they punch, their attack usually topples a vehicle over, stunning it temporarily and causing a good deal of damage. Against infantry they move and hit too slowly to be of use, but their double team can solve that issue.
Double Team: Eddie picks up the bouncer, poising to throw him on the ground. When tossed, the bouncer does 6 AoE damage to all enemies around the impact. It's a good infantry killer but occupies your time a lot. Use this if you have a bouncer but are facing a lot of non-vehicle enemies.

Roadies
HP: 12
Damage: 0.6
Double Team Damage: 3.5 AoE w/ Knockback
Fan Cost: 200
Load: 3
Insul's Rating: 4/5
Stealthed units built in groups of 3 that shred merch booths and stages to ribbons. Their stealth allows them to pass by enemies (except at very close ranges) undetected and their attack deals bonus damage to enemy structures. They are expensive, not very durable, and they do not deal very much damage to units, so they are not recommended for any sort of mass force. If your opponent is sufficiently distracted, you can win the game by sneaking one of these to your enemies stage, using battle cry and double teaming with one of them.
Double Team: Eddie will jump on the back of a roadie and become stealthed as well. Using the attack button unleashes a very strong AoE knockback attack that will send units flying.

Metal Beast
HP: 36
Damage: 6
Double Team Damage: 2.5 per second
Fan Cost: 200
Load: 4
Insul's Rating: 4/5
Metal beasts are more effective anti-infantry units than fire barons. They can be healed by thunderhogs, can strike multiple opponents with their fire breath, and they move quickly (not as fast as a fire baron, however). I prefer these to any other Ironheade unit for late game anti-infantry or anti-mass needs. They aren't very effective against vehicles, but they seem to fare well against a mass of brood.
Double Team: Jump on the metal beasts back and ride around. Pressing the attack button unleashes a strong fire breath attack that can hit multiple enemies for continuous damage.

Tier 4 Units

Rock Crusher
HP: 80
Damage: 8 per Firework
Double Team Damage: 20 in a huge selectable AoE ring
Fan Cost: 450
Load: 6 (limit of 1)
Insul's Rating: 5/5
Powerful, durable support unit that deals moderate ranged damage, grants your units a 25% increase to attack power, deals powerful front-mounted damage and has a very strong double team strike. As powerful as it is, it is not a second army, and should not be sent in alone, as it can be destroyed very easily.
Double Team: Drive the rock crusher like a vehicle. With the attack button a cursor appears to select where to unleash the Bladehenge Assualt - an attack that traps enemies in a stonehenge ring and drops a heavy flaming sword on them, dealing 20 damage to all within. It has a long cooldown, but it's an army stopper that should not be passed up.

Solos Shared with all Factions

Summon Deuce
Call forth the Deuce and immediately hop in. Can be used to harass in the early game, or to somewhat distract the worm in the Feeding Area. A frontal hit deals 2 damage to any unit/avatar. Cannot damage buildings.

Summon Flag
Drops the rally flag on the map at your location, indicating where your new units will automatically move to when created. This is very vital when combined with the light beacon for getting your units where you want them, and the flag should be summoned to new locations whenever you need it moved (as carrying/planting the flag is somewhat of a hassle). For Ironheade, this solo takes the longest to fully play out (6 seconds in total, compared to 3 for Ophelia and ~2.5 for Doviculous). I believe this works to counter the slightly faster movement speed of their units.

Rally Army
Gather all of your units across the map to the location where you played this. It's usefulness varies upon your situation, but here are some good uses for it:
A - You need to quickly bring everyone to an enemy stage (or to the defense of your own stage, but the former is the better use)
B - You have created a massive army that is not scattered, and you don't want to use the beacon (although, the beacon is still probably quicker in most cases).
Personally I don't use this too often, but it can be very important.

Fan Tribute
Builds a merch booth over an undisputed fan geyser. Eddie's fan tribute has the most notes but it's also the least complicated in note variation. All three fan tributes are the same length of time to play (4 seconds).

Tier 1 Solos

Anvil of Burden - 30 second cooldown
Anvil of Burden is a good avatar disabling tool that causes all enemy avatars in a radius around you to be strapped to an anvil. This anvil causes them to be unable to run or fly away, and also decreases their movement speed. It lasts long enough to trap an avatar in a group of your units or in your axe combos, thus making it an easy way to get a kill on them. Additionally, you can throw an anvil on an avatar and fly away, leaving them grounded and unable to get to where they need to go. It can hit avatars in the air (causing them to slowly float down and get grounded). Use it on cooldown if you can.

Battle Cry - 30 second cooldown
Playing this will release a fiery shockwave from you that increases the attack strength of your nearby units by 25% for a short period of time. You should drop down and play this near your units whenever they are attacking something, and you should do it on cooldown. I believe this does not stack with a rock crushers attack increase aura (I'm pretty sure it's the same aura), so don't play it around it. Units that are affected by this buff will have orange glowing weapons.

Tier 2 Solos

Facemelter - 1 minute cooldown
AoE Damage solo for IH. This deals 8 HP of direct damage in an area around you immediately after the solo finishes. If played in single player mode or against an AI opponent, the camera will zoom in on any tier 1 infantry unit that was killed using this solo, showing their face being melted (unless you turned on the violence filter, I assume). Any time you can survive being in the middle of enemy units and can pull off this solo, do so. This is also great at taking out units attacking an unguarded merch booth.

Rock Block - 5 minute cooldown
Rock Block, when finished, summons a flaming, electrified stonehenge on your enemies stage that will prevent any unit or stage upgrade from being built for a short period of time. This will not affect Tainted Coil hierarchy units, so it is useless if you are using it to stop nuns, warfathers and overblessers from creating units on the field. It will, however, stop the Coil from upgrading their stage or making any new nuns, warfathers or overblessers from their stage. For this solo, you can either play it on cooldown (and get 2-3 off in stage battle) or save it for when you want to really stop production at a key strategic point in the battle. Playing it strategically usally pans out better, but you tend to use it less that way.

Call of the Wild - 5 minute cooldown
Summons a unit of wildlife in front of your stage once the solo completes. These are basic melee units that are free of cost and take up 4 stage load. Aside from Hexadons, these units are very weak compared to the units you can create in the same tier, so use them only to distract your enemy by sending them to open merch booths or fan leeches. Only double team with the Hexadon, as the other units have terrible DTs. The summoned animals are affected by Battle Cry and the buff from the rock crusher.
The units summoned are based on the tier you are in (randomly selected between two possible groups).
Tier 2 - 4 Ground Urchins or 4 Raptor Elks
Tier 3 - 4 Raptor Elks or 2 Tollusks
Tier 4 - 2 Tollusks or 1 Hexadon
Thanks to Guziol# for info on the random nature of the units summoned.
Here are the stats of the animals summons, tested by Guziol# and myself:
Ground Urchins - HP: 2, Double Team Damage: 3 AoE suicide attack
Raptor Elks - HP: 3, Damage: 0.6, Double Team Damage: 0.6 (slightly faster)
Tollusks - HP: 16, Damage: 2, Double Team Damage: 2 AoE
Hexadon - HP: 40, Damage: 2.3, Double Team Damage: 4 AoE
Don't bother using this until tier 3, or tier 4 if you can help it. Ground urchins and raptor elks are not worth the cooldown.

Tier 3 Solos

Light of Dawn - 5 minute cooldown
A weather effect solo that turns the sky a blazing orange for a short time, thus preventing your opponents buffs and debuffs from working for it's duration. In my opinion it's the strongest weather effect and the one that other factions should focus on blocking with their weather. While this hurts other ironheade or tainted coil players, this can completely destroy drowning doom players. Doom players may end up not creating debuffers or blocking your weather with encompassing gloom once you have access to this solo.

Tier 4 Solos

Bring it on Home - 5 minute cooldown
Ironheade's Nuke Solo. A huge flaming zepplin crashes around the area where you finished the solo, dealing damage to all units hit by it, and leaving behind a burning ground effect that continues to damage units trapped in it. This solo comes in very quickly and is very easy to aim where you need it. You won't often get it to use it more than once, but as with Weaping Heavens I'd recommend saving it for units, rather than for buildings (unless the enemies stage has 1-2 spotlights left).

General Strategies

-When using a beacon, set it just to the side of a fan leech, merch booth or stage. This way, your units will defend themselves when enemy units or avatars attack them. If you set them directly on a structure, they will ignore all incoming attacks and focus on that structure.
If you require them to focus a structure (like a stage), use the attack command instead.

-Give individual orders from the air. Holding the Y button while airborn will place a blue pentagram cursor on the ground. If you keep holding it, you can drag it across any number of units you wish. This is much quicker and a lot easier to pull off than individual orders on the ground. (DF stated that they threw this feature in at the end of production, hence it is not outlined in the single player campaign).

-It's been mentioned many times in many guides since 2009, but use your double teams. Axe and guitar combos are great for beating down avatars and things like frightwigs and organists, but in bigger battles you'll want to hook up with one of your units. Here are your best double teams (but don't forget to make use of all your DTs).
-Headbangers (if you're fighting a melee crowd at a leech, this will help scatter them, and deal slightly more damage than they would alone)
-Razor Girls (clear fan leechs, nuns, brides, frightwigs and thunderhogs using this)
-Headsplitter (use it on crowds as it produces an AoE effect. Also fires slightly faster)
-Bouncer (use it on crowds of infantry, but skip it for vehicles)
-Metal Beasts (use it on tightly bunched infantry)
-Roadies (use this to knockback units that normally can't be, or to destroy a stage at a quick rate)
-Rock Crusher (Bladehenge assualt & the grinder both clear armies and stages)

Countering Units

Ironheade has a few key units for countering different types of units. If you notice what your opponent is focusing on, try building the counter to it. Here are the counters, according to the descriptions:

Headbangers counter Ranged units - Though it seems to be a very slight advantage over them. This holds true for all melee infantry in tier 1 of all three factions.

Fire Barons counter Infantry - They are a lot more fragile than they used to be, and they aren't good at hitting vehicles or buildings, but melee units have trouble hitting them. Ranged infantry fare better against them than melee do, so they aren't the definitive anti-infantry unit.

Bouncers counter Vehicles - Their punches knock vehicles down, stunning them for a short period while doing extra damage. They don't do well against infantry, but their double team helps with that.

Metal Beasts counter massed units (esp. infantry) - Because of the AoE spray effect of their fire, metal beasts really hurt units that are bunched together tightly (such as brood, infantry, etc). It does less damage to vehicles than it does to infantry, but I still recommend them against massed units.

Roadies counter Buildings - Buildings are merch booths and stages. Roadies take care of them very quickly, especially when you use battle cry and their double team. They do it so fast, in fact, that it's hard for your opponent to react quickly enough.

Rock Crusher counters all - According to the Brutal Legend wiki, it's the counter to everything. A rock crusher ties your army together, both by providing a constant 25% attack strength buff to all nearby units and by dealing ranged damage in a wide area. Bladehenge assualt is very strong, but has a huge cooldown. Driving the grinder into buildings also does a huge amount of damage, and can probably take out merch booths quicker than bladehenge can.

Ironheade mirrors matches are pretty common - It's the default if you matchmake without selecting a faction first. Since you will be playing with the same toolset as your opponent, victory vs. Ironheade comes down to constantly keeping an eye on what units your enemy is building, watching where they are sending their forces, and outplaying your enemy on the field (with solos, double teams and axe combos).

Early Game

Anvil of Burden - If you hear the other Eddie playing this, it's a really good idea to fly far out of range before he completes it. If you get an anvil stuck to you while in the middle of a group units, it can often spell a death for you, and a very important 50 fans for your opponent. On the other hand, if the player is good they may stop playing just as you leave, effectively preventing you from harassing them. If this is the case, it may be wise to coax them into playing it when you know you will be safe. If you do get anvil'd, use it the other Eddie as well. This will make it harder for him to dispatch you, plus you'll get to fly away first.
Facemelter - Facemelter won't one-shot your headbangers, but it will one shot your razor girls. Since razor girls stand in a perfect square formation that is easily captured in the range of a facemelter, they are in the danger zone. If your opponent chooses to hit your headbangers instead, it's going to weaken them to the point of easy kill range. The only defense to this is to move your units out of the way, using a beacon or the purple unit order. You probably won't be able to kill him before it plays, unless you are hitting him with the razor girl double team (and even then it plays so fast you probably can't do it).

I prefer building headbangers over razor girls, but they both have their advantages at the start of the game. Razor girls clear fan leeches and kill avatars much faster, but if they are confronted with enemy forces, they are way less durable than headbangers. Razor girls are way better if, for some reason, your opponent skips tier 1. Skipping tier 1 rarely pays off for Ironheade, so in almost all instances I'd say stick with headbangers.
The decision to build a thunderhog comes down to personal preference, but here is a rule of thumb: If you're trying to get a highly contested geyser (like in Bleeding coast), build a thunderhog and use its double team periodically (as it doubles the hogs healing power). Be warned, however, that they will be focused hard from the enemy, and they can't be healed.

When fighting at a geyser, use the double team that makes sense. Headbanger mosh pits defend against other headbangers very well (the knockback makes it harder for them to hit you), and razor girl explosions take out enemy razor girls, avatars and thunderhogs & leechs very easily. Focus killing thunderhogs before you kill anything else.

In all instances, you should be using Battle Cry when your units are attacking anything at all. It has a 30 second cooldown, and it really makes a substantial difference.

You should upgrade to tier 2 right after you spend your first 300ish fans on units, as staying in tier 1 for too long can cause you to lose in the long run (Ironheade tier 1 stage rushes have never really panned out well, in my experience).

Mid Game

Rock Block - This solo will mildly hamper you for a short period of time. You can't really block it, so just wait it out. Try countering it with your own rock block (if you didn't play it first) to level the playing field. Or, if you're saving your rock block, just harass the other player while you wait for it to end.
Light of Dawn - This will stop three of your buffs: Your thunderhogs (I believe, anyway), your battle cry and the buff from your rock crusher. You shouldn't be too concerned with this, but you can preemptively block your opponents light of dawn with yours if you're good at prediction.

You now have access to Call of the Wild, but don't waste the cooldown during tier 2, unless you want to distract the player for a few seconds. It's just not going to give you any quality units.

Tier 2 leaves you with limited options - Fire Barons (which aren't spectacular) and Headsplitters (which are very good but also very expensive). Here is what you should consider:
If you won the majority of the geysers in the early game, and you're not feeling the pressure, just go ahead and skip to tier 3 at this point. While you are upgrading, give your opponent something to worry about by sending your remaining tier 1 units to harass the merch booths they have left unguarded.

If you are struggling to keep ground or lost most of the geysers in early game, consider making a headsplitter caravan (2-3 headsplitters) and send them to systematically destroy your enemies fan booths. If you anvil them while they're above a caravan, it's almost an assured kill on them. Sending 1 set of fire barons with 2-3 headsplitters is also a great way to mess up melee units.

Late Game

Bring it on Home - Usually the player has to be right in the middle of your units to pull this off, so chances are you will see and hear him playing it. The only thing you can do to stop it is killing Eddie before he can finish the solo, and the best units for that are rock crushers (bladehenge assualt), headsplitters & metal beasts. You may even be able to interrupt it by using the double team of a roadie (though I have yet to confirm that). You probably only have to worry about this once per stage battle, as it has a 5 minute cooldown.

Using Call of the wild at this point is a good idea, as you could net yourself a pair of tollusks or a hexadon, should you be in tier 4. These are the only units summoned by call of the wild that are worth your while.

You have some good options once you hit tier 3. Look at what your opponent is building and check them with your counter units. If they have all vehicles, make a few bouncers. If they have a lot of infantry (remember, all tier 3 units are infantry), then build metal beasts to counter (though if they aren't massed, fire barons may be better against tier 1 units). At this point you may want to consider throwing in 1-2 troops of improved razor girls into your army, as they will do 1 hp worth of damage per shot, and are pretty good at sniping avatars and other ranged units. You may also consider using some upgraded thunderhogs, as all tier 3 units are considered infantry, and will be healed by them. Avoid headbangers and fire barons at this point, as they just won't be able to take the punishment that metal beasts and roadies dish out.

During the late game, try to plan for a roadie assualt at some point, as roadies cause people to scramble in defense, and it's extremely hard to defend multiple buildings at once from simultaneous roadie attacks. On the flip side, you'll have to plan stage defense against a roadie assualt at this point, so leave maybe a set of fire barons, a metal beast or tollusks/hexadon at your stage just to make sure you can handle them.

Later, if you can spare the fans, get to tier 4 and make use of Bring it on Home and a rock rusher. Bring it on home will damage your enemies army greatly, especially if they continue to fight in the burning debris.
The rock crusher, as powerful as its double team is, is not a replacement army. Sending it in alone will allow you to crush a good number of their units, but it will die before you get to do any real damage. Send it with the support of the counter units listed above. Don't worry too much about using Battle Cry at this point, because it does not stack with the rock crusher's buff.
On the flip side, watch out for your opponents rock crusher, for the same reasons that it rocks for you. Bouncers will take care of them for you.

Ironheade has a few distinct advantages in the early game against the Drowning Doom that will help you to secure as many fan geysers as you can early, but as the game progresses the Doom have access to units that will cause problems for units in the same tier as Ironheade. Victory against the Doom comes down to playing fast and hard, securing merch booths early and keeping your technology level higher than your opponents.

Early Game

Silence - It's not a deadly solo, but it has a huge range and will slow you down for a few moments. You won't be able to give orders, use solos or use your guitar attacks/combos while silenced, but you can still fly, double team, produce units and attack with the axe. The dangerous situation to watch for here is if you send your units to the next geyser before playing your fan tribute. Ophelia can swoop in, silence you before you finish, and take the geyser for herself (and you can't call your units back). You can try to trick your opponent into wasting this by flying off just before it finishes playing, but many players will simply stop playing it.
Shadow Blast - This solo isn't too much to worry about, but it will deal damage directly, knock back units, and reduce their attack power slightly while dealing a small DoT to them. This will hurt and possibly kill your razor girl formations, and will scatter your headbangers while debilitating them. Just try to send you units away if you hear it being played, as you can't do much else.

I recommend starting with headbangers alone when playing against the doom. You're probably going to face a mix of 6-12 grave diggers and 1-2 brides, and grave diggers have an advantage over razor girls. Build 3 headbanger units, or use 2 of them mixed with a thunderhog if you need a little more staying power on a contested geyser. Build 1 more unit of headbangers (or a set of razor girls) on top of this if you start with 2 geysers and want to dominate the early game. Either way, use a mosh pit to knock back and damage the grave diggers, and the thunderhog to knock them back and increase healing around you.

If you see a bride or frightwig, combo the heck out of it until it's dead. Frightwigs can't attack while you're hitting them. If you see Ophelia swoop in around your units, use anvil of burden to trap her inside, and hopefully you can get a kill and 50 fans.

Once you upgrade to tier 2, use Facemelter when you can get 6 or more grave diggers surrounding you. It should kill them in one shot, and it has a 60 second cooldown. Also use Rock Block at your discretion (if you want to set them back right away, use it when you hit tier 2. Otherwise save it for when it will hurt them the most). Don't bother using call of the wild yet.

Mid Game

Encompassing Gloom - This the the Dooms most dangerous solo. It can be used to set you back in 2 seperate but still very sucky ways. The worst of which is when they are launching an attack against your army and they play it to block you from using your best defense against the Doom, Light of Dawn. Even when used for it's advertised purpose, it can set you back while trying to replenish your units. You can only block it by thinking ahead of your enemy and playing the Light of Dawn, but really that should be used for its main purpose, and not for blocking this solo.
Baleful Misdirection - This solo also isn't that bad, but it can end up distracting you, wasting your time. You can't really block it, so just try to outthink your opponent. If a lone unit (or lone set of grave diggers) is attacking one of your merch booths, see if the booth is getting damaged at all. Chances are they used a Baleful Misdirection to distract you and cause you to scramble. If it's a set of grave diggers, kill one and see if it blows up in a blue puff of smoke. If it does, the whole unit is a fake.

Tier 2 of the Doom gives you a few problematic units to watch out for. Here's the breakdown:
Organist - On it's own, it shouldn't reduce your units' attack power too much, but 2 or 3 of them will make a big difference. They can also take control of your units, so if you see these, try to focus on killing them first.
Rat Gut - They kill infantry really quickly, and they also heal themselves after their rats return, so they are a bit of a problem. They don't do much damage to vehicles at all, so headsplitters and fire barons work well against them.
Lightning Rod - They aren't as strong as your headsplitters are, so one-on-one you will come out slightly on top. Watch for caravans of these units (2-3 in a formation) attacking your merch booths.

The goal of Ironheade tier 2 is to get to tier 3 as quickly as possible, and this holds the truest when facing the doom. You need access to Light of Dawn, metal beasts, roadies and bouncers asap. The problem is, you might not be able to upgrade straight from tier 2 if you need to spend fans defending your stage or merch booths. Feel free to give up some of the booths you've taken at the start of the game in favor of creating tier 2 units to defend them, You can always take them back in tier 3. Alternatively, if you want more income, build 2 headsplitters and send them out to enemy merch booths, using battle cry and double team to make it go faster.

Late Game

Weaping Heavens - This the the Doom's nuke solo. It isn't quite as powerful as Bring it on Home, but it can be used almost twice as frequently. If you see Ophelia in the middle or ahead of your army playing a solo, and she's in tier 4, you're probably going to get hit with a barrage of black tears. Fortunately you can see them flying in the air, and if you're quick enough, you can probably move your army out of the way before they it. This will do significant damage if it hits your army dead on.

When the Doom hits tier 3, they will have access to the dirgible, which makes your units and buildings very easy to kill (30% defense debuff). They also now have access to brood, which will rip apart your headsplitters, barons, thunderhogs and do very good damage to your infantry. The reaper is something you also have to watch for, as the double team will scatter your tier 1 infantry.

On top of this, the Doom player probably now has built a number of debuffing units, which can really slow down and reduce the effectiveness of your attacks and defenses. Coming against this without a plan will reduce your army to rubble, so try one of the following methods out:
1 - Play the Light of Dawn solo when you're about to hit a wall of Doom debuffing units & attackers. This will cripple them so much that you can probably destroy them before the duration runs out. This has a 5 minute cooldown, so if you don't play it at the right moment things will not work out well for you.
2 - Destroy the debuffers manually using double teams or combos. Focus on the organists first (they debuff and can control you), then the brides, and finally the dirgible (as it has way too much health). If you're fast enough and using the right double teams, you can probably take them out one by one. This works especially well if your opponent isn't actively fighting with the units.
Bring it on Home will also deal full damage to all units, regardless of debuffers in the area, so use that and Facemelter to help take them out.

From tier 3, build what you can to counter what attackers Ophelia is using. Bouncers against brood/lightning rods/organists, metal beasts against reapers/rat guts/brides/grave diggers/frightwigs, and headsplitters against tree back/dirgible (you need the range to hit the dirgible during its double team).
When you're safe, upgrade to tier 4 and build a rock crusher to support your army. Tier 4 is also a good time to use Call of the Wild, as you could get a hexadon from it.

Tainted Coil Vs. Ironheade is a matchup of baton passing - The advantage will bounce between the Coil and Ironheade during the battle in a constant manner, each side bringing threats to the table at each tier. Keeping on top of the coils main advantages will help you secure your victory.

Early Game

Chains of Hell - You will definetly hear this solo playing, due to its very iconic dissonant riff (brrer-rerrrr-broorrrrr), so you will get a pretty good warning when you're about to get chained. If you notice Doviculous playing this, jump to the sky as quickly as possible, as it can't hit you when you are airbourne. It will interrupt any solo you are playing, so your opponent might use it to delay you grabbing a tower, or may try to kill you while you're chained (though it doesn't last quite long enough to kill you early game).
Agony Boil - You can't prevent this from being planted, but if you can see one in the middle of the path your units are following, go down and detonate it yourself, saving your units from taking the damage and knockback. At 60-100% power, this will one shot your infantry a, so keep an eye out for it on main roads.
Curse - This will put an 8 damage DoT on the units inflicted with it, while also reducing their defense (I believe, unconfirmed at this moment). As long as you have a thunderhog, it can't kill your units from the solo alone. Move your units out of the way if you recognize the solo playing.

Headbangers as usual make good starting units, but because you have battle nuns you will want to pop off, it might be wise to include a group of razor girls with your 2 headbanger units (for the double team). Additionally, if you want to invest heavily into stopping the Tainted Coil tier 1 rush, bring a thunderhog along.

When you meet the Coil's army at a fan geyser, be warned that they can easily pump fans into overwhelming your forces if you put up too much of a resistance. On top of that, Doviculous can throw soul kissers at your vulnerable units (thunderhogs and razor girl formations), taking them out in as little as 1-2 throws. When you're facing coil, either try to slaughter them by bringing all 3-4 units you created to meet them head on, or run your units to the undisputed fan geysers (Coil is very good at making a single large army early game, but will have trouble hitting more than one location at once without the other player double teaming).
Killing a nun while TC units are still around is a very difficult task, as they recover a great amount of HP every second. You can still take it out with enough harassment and damage (using razor girls is one way), and you should try to do so if you notice her breeding (as she will not be able to move or attack back).

Don't waste too much time in tier 1, opting to upgrade to tier 2 as soon as you get the fans is usually the best way to go. If the Coil brings their victorious army to your stage and tries to overwhelm you with an early rush, build fire barons and razor girls to counter them while manning the stage defenses (one hit of fog, then put the stage lights to the battle nuns). Don't forget to use Facemelter and Battle Cry whenever the cooldown is up.

Mid Game

Tick Choppers - They hit hard but they do not take much to kill. These are more annoying than anything (probably why the'yre named Tick Choppers), and most of the time a Coil player will use these guys to harass your open merch booths. They can kill a merch booth quickly, so if you notice it, go down and Facemelter them, using combos to finish them off.
Skies Afire - I really wouldn't worry about skies afire too much, except in the case where your opponent uses it while attacking you to prevent you from using Light of Dawn. Light of dawn will disable the Coils screamwagons and Martyrdom, so not being able to play it for even a few moments may hurt you in the long run.

The mid game is where the coil is at their 'weakest' (even though their tier 2 units are the strongest) as most of the times your opponent will be rushing to get to tier 3 for upgraded units.
The only thing to watch for in mid game is tick chopper harrassment, and also if the enemy player opts to push out on tier 2 instead of tier 3 (that is, they build warfathers, pain lifters and skull rakers instead of going for the usual late game march). If they march out on tier 2 like this, build 2-3 headsplitters and double team with one of them. Their tier 2 march will be short lived if you do so.

Get to tier 3 if you aren't in trouble and use the counter units to your advantage. You shouldn't have too much of an issue sending roadies to their stage or merch booths, as the coil can't build from their stage quick enough to defend from these assualts (unless they already have units sitting there). Don't forget to use Light of Dawn whenever you clash with them, as this will both prevent their buffs and stop them from using Skies Afire.

Late Game

Launch of Death - This solo is just the worst. If it lands on your army, it will do a lot of damage even before the bleeding death emerges from the iron maiden. After that, unless you have a strong army, your forces are going to suffer serious casualties. Additionally, if you are busy fighting their army at their stage, the other player can just drop one of these at your undefended stage and destroy it from full health in about 45 seconds.
Doviculous will have a lot of trouble playing this extremely long solo near any of your units, so if you can kill him with double teams before it finishes, you'll be safe. In regards to defending your base from this solo, use a metal beast/bouncer paired with a set of fire barons. Only keep units at your base if you know the enemy is at tier 4 (they will have 4 monitors on their stage).

The coil have a powerful late game army which I call the Coil march. This is when a Coil player gets to tier 3, builds an overblesser, a superior warfather and a divine nun. They then will fill their army with superior screamwagons/pain lifters/skull rakers and divine soul kissers/punishing parties. They may also throw in a heart cutter if you are using a lot of vehicles against them (which you probably will, as headsplitters and rock crushers are really good).
The main disadvantage to this Coil strategy is the time and fans required to build a new army from scratch at this point in the game, so they will often keep their budding army at their stage until they are ready to roll out. As such, one of your best moves is to take your tier 2 and 3 units (headsplitters, roadies & metal beasts) and attack their merch booths (grand digesters) while they are building. You should always keep an eye on their stage to see the progress of their tier 3 units (start harrasing them heavily when you notice an overblesser come out).

Whether they bring their massive army to you or you bring yours to them, play the Light of Dawn solo just before you engage them. Disabling their screamwagons will prolong your units life and make it a lot easier to win the fight. If you are in tier 4 by that point, use Bring it on Home to rain flaming zepplin on them before they engage you. This will soften them up a bit (but don't do it too early, as they will heal most of the damage before you get to them). If you have to choose units to focus on killing, skull rakers and pain lifters are the best to kill.

For army composition at this point, I recommend using a balance between all your units. A few bouncers, a metal beast, 1-2 headsplitters, some upgraded razor girls, some fire barons and even a set of roadies will be a good mix to counter the variety of units the Coil has at this point. Also, get a rock crusher asap and use it to buff your army, and bladehenge theirs.