It's been in the works for a while, but here's my all-in Vampriest build. It's still a work in progress, mainly dependent upon finding the cards I need at Randimar's; I've only been playing CH for a week. The biggest problem I run into at this point is not reaching critical Mass Frenzy levels, and very occasionally some armor will give me some trouble. I'd love to hear any constructive criticism you have to bring to bear. The Thirst- My Blade Level 10 Elf Priest Vampire's Blade Vampire's Blade Zod's Vile Spaceplate Steel Shield Black Iron Boots Hand Of Melvelous Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Midnight Shroud Escapist Focused Healer 1 x Slippery 4 x Spear Of Darkness 1 x Skip 1 x Surging Shield Block 1 x Enervating Touch 1 x Quick Run 1 x Cushioning Armor 1 x Curse Of Fragility 5 x Invigorating Touch 4 x Consuming Spear 1 x Unholy Energy 1 x Block 1 x Elvish Insight 1 x Shield Block 3 x Draining Touch 4 x Loner 3 x Talented Healer 1 x Hardy Mail 1 x Immovable The Wind- My Sword Level 9 Human Warrior Double-edged Sword Flashing Longspear Militiaman's Pike Sparking Shell Twisting Shield Shimmering Helm Xalanen's Boots Perfect Command Advanced Impaling 1 x Quick Reactions 3 x Puncturing Stab 1 x Penetrating Stab 2 x Impaler 2 x Perforating Strike 1 x Thick Hide Armor 1 x Healing Dash 2 x Dancing Cut 1 x Flanking Move 2 x Stab 5 x Shimmering Aura 1 x Hard To Pin Down 6 x Impaling Stab 1 x Potent Stab 1 x Blind Rage 1 x Officer's Harness 1 x Dash, Team! 1 x Backbiting Strike 1 x Run, Team! 2 x Pushback Parry The Heavens- My Hammer Level 7 Human Priest St. Olf's Fiery Pike Huetotl's Firebrand Jet Armor Twisting Shield Possessed Shoes Incense Of Roiled Air Shuddering Relic Shuddering Relic Trained Command Superb Piety 2 x Enervating Touch 1 x Healing Rays 1 x Immovable 1 x Traveling Curse 2 x Stab 1 x Attack, Soldier! 2 x Inspiration 1 x Frenzy Aura 1 x Cautious Sneak 1 x Sundering Strike 7 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Hard To Pin Down 1 x Triple Heals 1 x Walk, Team! 4 x Fiery Stab 1 x Shuffle 2 x Vulnerable 1 x Unholy Wellspring 2 x Altruism 1 x Dash, Team! 2 x Pushback Parry
I would seriously consider using minor token boots (Diamond Moccasins or Turquoise Boots) or a minor token shield (Parrying Buckler, Underdog's Shield, or Buckler Of Protection) in order to accommodate a Superb Mobility. Other than that, you just need to upgrade your Midnight Shroud and you're all set.
Elf priest -- Steel Shield is not that great for a major-token shield. If you're willing to put a major token there... perhaps the canonical choice is Aegis Of The Defender for the two Defender's Block. If you're feeling more aggresive, Jaguar Buckler provides mobility for a minor; Buckler Of Protection gets you one Defender's Block for a minor. Parrying Buckler is great if you feel like not caring about enemy mages. Something to keep in mind is that Healing Dash becomes a cantrip card if you have Talented Healer active. Human warrior -- Superb Command is somewhat odd for a warrior paired with a melee-happy priest and a support priest, since commanding the other two to run or dash doesn't itself help the warrior close the enemy. Might still be useful to cause the 'wrong' priest to flee, though. I wouldn't run that Shimmering Aura unless quite worried about enemy mages, like if you were trying to use this guy in Barrels or another league where you should really expect that. If you can get Diamond Moccasins, give 'em a whirl. Sparkling Cloth Armor -- you can't really spam this in your deck, but it's quite handy. Your support priest should probably pack at least some Purge or better yet Purging Burst. It's handy for when you suddenly are faced with a pair of homicidal force-fielded elf warriors dashing towards you... or, for that matter, to get rid of that Vulnerable before Traveling Curse shows up and hits you extra-hard.
Thanks, these were both good suggestions I'd overlooked- I'm now using the Turquoise Boots and Superb Mobility, which I hadn't realized I bought up last night during the shop change. I don't currently have many of the mentioned shields, but I do acknowledge that the Jaguar Buckler is more in line with my aim for this build; as a compromise, I've included the Crescent Shield I picked up last night until I can obtain a Jaguar Buckler. For some reason I'd acknowledged that nuance, but failed to realize that makes it a viable replacement for Quick Run, despite the fact that it's more versatile with more range to boot even if it does rely on Talented Healer. I've rectified that with the Turq Boots for now, but I'd love a pair that included Quick Run, Healing Dash, and Sparkling Cloth, or even a Trip. Primarily it's been used to help close the gap when the vamp is stalking his hunt, with added versatility when I need a little help getting my crew past difficult terrain in MP. As for it not helping the Warrior close, the Human Priest packs a mobility command or two as well, so she does okay with his support. Keeping in mind that I've just improved the mobility of my vamp though, I'd be willing to consider losing it; what would you suggest? Fair. Going into this, I was expecting the meta for MP to be a lot more Zard-based, since that was the impression I got from campaign. Honestly I'm going to table this issue for now until I can resolve the Mass Frenzy shortage, for fear of stirring that particular pot. Thanks for all the advice! So with all of this in mind, here's the new build: The Thirst- My Blade Level 10 Elf Priest Vampire's Blade Vampire's Blade Zod's Vile Spaceplate Crescent Shield Turquoise Boots Hand Of Melvelous Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Midnight Shroud Superb Mobility Focused Healer 2 x Desperate Block 3 x Draining Touch 1 x Quickness Aura 4 x Spear Of Darkness 1 x Enervating Touch 1 x Healing Dash 1 x Elven Maneuvers 1 x Unholy Energy 1 x Curse Of Fragility 1 x Elvish Insight 5 x Invigorating Touch 4 x Consuming Spear 1 x Slippery 1 x Hard To Pin Down 4 x Loner 3 x Talented Healer 1 x Cushioning Armor 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor The Wind- My Sword Level 9 Human Warrior Double-edged Sword Flashing Longspear Heirloom Assegai Meteor Mail Twisting Shield Bubble Helmet Skipping Boots Advanced Flexibility Advanced Impaling 1 x Slowed 1 x Cloth Armor 1 x Puncturing Stab 1 x Penetrating Stab 2 x Impaler 2 x Perforating Strike 1 x Heavy Armor 2 x Leadership 1 x Healing Dash 2 x Dancing Cut 2 x Force Field 1 x Frenzy Aura 1 x Reliable Hide Armor 2 x Stab 1 x Mimetic Armor 1 x Hard To Pin Down 4 x Impaling Stab 1 x Potent Stab 3 x Penetrating Cut 1 x Flanking Move 1 x Blind Rage 1 x Backbiting Strike 1 x Strong Stab 2 x Pushback Parry The Heavens- My Hammer Level 7 Human Priest St. Olf's Fiery Pike Huetotl's Firebrand Jet Armor Twisting Shield Skipping Boots Incense Of Roiled Air Shuddering Relic Shuddering Relic Trained Command Superb Piety 2 x Enervating Touch 1 x Healing Rays 1 x Dash, Team! 1 x Traveling Curse 2 x Stab 1 x Attack, Soldier! 1 x Healing Dash 2 x Inspiration 1 x Frenzy Aura 1 x Reliable Hide Armor 1 x Sundering Strike 7 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Hard To Pin Down 1 x Triple Heals 1 x Walk, Team! 4 x Fiery Stab 2 x Vulnerable 1 x Unholy Wellspring 1 x Flanking Move 2 x Altruism 2 x Pushback Parry
I'd run Diamond Moccasins on the elf vamp. You have enough mobility from racial, so it's better to get another move card instead. Also 2 vamp blades are too much. Grab a tokened vamp weapon instead. You should have plenty to spare.
That'd be a good swap, yeah, but I haven't found a pair yet. I keep activating Elvish Maneuver and coming up blank, and it makes me sad. I actually ran Enervating Spear initially, before moving on to Lifesuck Spear, which was nice enough. After a few days of that though, I graduated when I dropped an Inkdark Halberd after drinking this guy raw, and ran with that for a couple of days as well. I just wasn't enough- I was dying too quickly and couldn't tank hits as well as when I had the slight added pull of two Ennervating Touches over two Spears of Darkness, so I needed to change something. I considered going back to the Lifesuck Spear, but I realized I just didn't have enough draining cards in my deck, compared to everything else. Suddenly I've got Invigorating Touches in my hand every turn, and the Loner traits actually manage to cycle my deck even more quickly, without causing too much self-harm. I'm still keeping an eye out for a replacement gear, however- I'd love to take a Draining Dagger and Bynzer's Black Spear out for a spin, and Draining Console looks fun, but I've not had much luck at Randimar's or with drops. Beyond that, I still need to get a Bleneth's Skull for my Buff Priest, and maybe swap out the Midnight Shroud for a Glassod's Dark Skull or perhaps Flax's Vial.
Elven Maneuvers is good even if you don't have step attacks. It's a trait that randomly gives you value (a whole card's worth of value, at that). Elven Maneuvers, paired with step attacks, is insane. Two Vampire's Blades is actually totally fine, from my limited experience. Vampires want drains. 2x Vamp Blade gives you drains. Be wary of Loner if you're getting low on HP and move accordingly (i.e. don't get greedy with Slippery if you're at 2 HP). 4x Loner really isn't that painful. I don't think you want Draining Dagger - 2x Loner >>>>>>>>> 2x Mind Worm. Draining Console is indeed fun (I think Healing Beacon triggers Talented?). Bynzer's is really good, but not necessary (I'd prioritize other legendaries over it). Some options for fiddling with tokens / items: Healthy Trickery (or Escapist, as in your original build) are great minor-token options for your racial skill. Boots are probably extra important for vamps cause priests are fairly low on mobility in general. Diamond Moccasins, as mentioned, are a good option. Another pair of rare boots that seem fine are Taz Boots. Skipping Boots are a nice tokenless option. More expensive / harder-to-get options off the top of my head include Mouse BootsSliding Boots, Wlakwa's Boots, Pergop's Slippers / Zachary's Boots, Captain Cedric's Boots. Since you're running a major token on your shield, maybe Slippery Shield instead of Crescent? Gives you more moves / more consistent blocks. Then again, Desperate Block is a nice surprise when warriors try to smack you for 11+ damage (especially after they use a weak attack to check for Parry!). Parrying Buckler, Buckler of Protection, and Jaguar Buckler (already mentioned) are very nice for a minor token if you need to make that swap. Agree about upgrading Midnight Shroud.
Elven maneuver might give you value, but at the cost of discarding potentially more useful cards such as cushion armor, invigorating touch or some other high value cards. I prefer not to run that risk, and judging by his build, I do not think he should run it either.
It can also discard dead cards and cycle to better future draws. I don't think that it makes much sense to not use it for that reason.
It could, but when your deck only has one cushion armor or some other nice cards, it could make things difficult. The gains are not worth the loss when you only have 3 movement cards in your deck.
Elven Maneuvers on a vamp - why? An elf vamp is a hit and run merchant. He hangs around behind things, because he's going to get smashed by buffed mages and most toe-to-toes with a fighter. Then he swoops in with Talented Healer to eat wounded characters. Don't forget that Healing Dash is a cantrip move with talented activated. You have one elven racial with HD at tokenless, and that's Wariness. Then you can get another on your boots (as you have done): Skipping Boots. Turquoise Boots are definitely worth a blue token here, because all three cards on it are game-changers. So now you have two cantrip dashes (as long as you draw talented, the HP that heal you in your deck. Allowing for some trait/card cycling, the cumulative probability of drawing at least one in the first five turns is ~60%. [Can someone check this, I'm an arts major ] Now, because you're hitting wounded characters, they should be out of blocks by the time your vamps rushes in and eats them. But a Chalchu's Hammer is a great single blue weapon for a vamp to carry: one of the few with 6x attacks, 2x unnerving and 4x draining.
But what if cushion armour is close the bottom of you deck. you will never see it without the cycle. You don't necessarily use it for the effect but as a cycle trait, similar to wizards using raging battler.
There are a lot of "what ifs", and they seldom matter since you only care about what usually happens, which is the card you want being around the middle of the deck, well within discard range for elvish maneuvers. I'm not willing to risk losing one of the best armor for a vampire, or a some other potentially useful card, for a measly draw move. Also, blind rage and elvish maneuvers are two completely different stories. The former has basically no ill effects, while the latter can be extremely harmful in reducing the number of answers in your deck for little gain. You don't even want to avoid triggering it when you get it because vamps want to get hit. Say whaaaa... My vamps can totally go toe-to-toe with warriors But yeah, healing dash is a way more acceptable choice than elven maneuvers (though I don't run it personally on my vamps).
If you run violent spins on your vampire priest, elven maneuvers will help you get those key control cards when you need them.
Like I said, there are a lot of "ifs". Yes, you might be able to build a deck that takes advantage of elven maneuver, but your typical vamp will likely be running healing dash or the ilk in their boots slot.
There isn't really a typical vamp per say. I don't even run elf vamps but if I did it would probably be something like this. [SRC] SithVampire Level 1 Elf Priest Red Shaman's Blade Chalchu's Hammer Martyr's Shifting Plate Hawlic's Surging Shield Captain Cedric's Boots Hand Of Melvelous Hand Of Melvelous Draining Console Cautious Mobility Focused Healer 1 x Martyr Blessing 3 x Talented Healer 1 x Mimetic Armor 2 x Avenging Touch 1 x Team Walk 1 x Sundering Strike 2 x Invigorating Touch 1 x Unholy Frenzy 2 x Flanking Move 2 x Elven Maneuvers 1 x Strong Hack 1 x Healing Beacon 2 x Sapping Spear 1 x Scouting Run 2 x Unnerving Strike 1 x Barbed Platemail 2 x Consuming Spear 1 x Nimble Strike 3 x Surging Shield Block 6 x Spear Of Darkness Mostly higher mobility than the healing dash range 1 vamps. I prefer flank move stabs to keep away from the big hitting warrior attacks.
