Hello. I'm a new forum-goer here looking for some deck-building tips. I'm having trouble deciding on how to build my deck because I don't have a general strategy against MP opponents. I just sort of play whatever and honestly, playing like this isn't much fun. I'm a 1000+ player with a decent stash of items, but I'm not sure how to implement them effectively. So my questions are: Which races and classes do you use when you play MP and why? What considerations do you make when selecting equipment for your team and why? Why do you use the strategies you use? How does one build a cohesive deck whose cards function harmoniously? Thanks a bunch to anyone with some advice!
Maybe i'll come back to answer some of these questions specifically or others might do, but for starters, have a look at this thread for priceless advice: http://forums.cardhunter.com/threads/how-to-become-a-better-player.7033/ It is more about the might of cohesive playstyle. If there is a thread about the groundrules of deck building, that would be the complementary other half to success in PvP. Spoiler, its cycling.
Great thread here by a great CH player - http://forums.cardhunter.com/threads/cardhunter-sp-and-co-op-101.7521/ There is a lot of advice could be given, but most of it you will absorb better simply by playing and learning and adapting for yourself. So the best advice I would give you is, don't worry too much at this stage, and focus on exploring card interactions, combos, and just generally enjoying your battles. That's it. Finally, if you haven't yet tried a nudie run - http://forums.cardhunter.com/threads/challenge-the-nudie-run.5385/ It is nice, for increasing your skill, and appreciation for card interactions. Edit: one more thing. Don't give up on a new deck just because your first few games are bad losses. When playing a new deck, play it for at least 10 or so games before calling quits. (Making adjustments as needed). Persistence pays.
Although I don't have the time to play much MP, I do play a lot of preconstructed league. Race and class: you will get so many answers here because players make everything work, and you'll come across teams of every possible combination (although triple elf wiz are comparatively rare on the ground). Each race and class has its advantages and disadvantages, although supports tend to be human because of movement racials, and to a lesser extent leadership. Spectate some higher ELO games and then try to build your version of what they are doing. Equipment/strategies: probably the biggest newbie trap is to try and build a counter to every possibility: "I'll take mimetic armour and some cleansing and some purge and some healing and some ..." You end up with an unfocused build that's not very good at anything. Instead you want to focus your build to do something nasty, fast and repeatedly (and that's not just offensively, there are some nasty defensive builds out there that encourage you to hammer away at a character who's full of blocks and violent spins and barges, until you run out of cards and get chewed up by the fighter hiding in reserve). The other newbie trap is planning elaborate combos: "I'll draw an oblit and a war cry and an all out attack, then I'm guaranteed to kill his fighter!" Again, it can happen but so do toughness and defender's block. Probably the last thing is to not be afraid to hang back until you've drawn what you need to make a good sortie. It's tempting to rush in because you've drawn one good attack, and your blind rage is going to force a discard or damage + visibility, but if your other guys are holding nothing, you're going to get that one character chopped to pieces. Cohesiveness: synergy is a beautiful thing, but it takes lots of time and forum trawling to master. I'm running 1/1/1 in death march and triple ulrich's bones on the priest, which is an item used for drawing cards. The martyr's blessings are going to go to the fighter, there's card draw #1. The mage is farting out illusory barriers all over the shop, so the cleansing rays (if they aren't used vs enemy terrain effects), are going to cleanse spare barrier squares that aren't protecting me from enemy LOS, there's card draw #2. The bless is card draw #3. Synergy is about trying to make every card on an item have a purpose in the build.
When I think about making a build, I think about which cards I want to utilize the most in my strategy, the core cards, and then I decide on the other cards based on their interactions with the core cards and themselves. To give an example, let's check out a build which revolves around elf warriors and a support priest. If you're using Elven Maneuvers and Martyr's Blessing, you should probably think about what they can draw. Elven Maneuvers will attempt to find a card with movement, so I should make all my movement cards strong ones. I also want Martyr's Blessing to net me good cards all the time, so I should add traits where I can to force the draw to be a good card. Say I pick up Nova Axe because of its good cards with movement. I also now have Purging Strikes, the other cards, which interact very well in the context of the build as they add to your deck's flexibility (by being able to remove enemy buffs). This can help you decide on which item to take when there are several similar ones. This way of designing a build gets more complex with priests and wizards. Cards like Cleansing Ray as Happenstance mentioned can have multiple functions. The same goes with control effects, terrain attachments, Accelerate Time, etc. Here are two simple build tests to see if you're going in the right direction. Logic and Cohesiveness Check: Select one card from a random item in your character's deck. Repeat until you have selected 3 cards. Avoid selecting cards with the same value* or three from the same item**. Imagine this was your opening hand in the game. How would you play using these cards? Would the combination make sense? Try drawing two more cards. How would you continue? Repeat the procedure until you feel satisfied that your deck is consistent and logical enough. A good number of draws won't be that good, I assure you. *except if you have two bronze or silver cards, which is always acceptable **unless there are multiple copies of that item Best Draw and Worst Draw: Determine what you think would be the "best draw" from your deck. Identify if there are multiple bests. How can you make this draw happen more often? Do you like the best draws? If not, switch out items to cater to better draws. If you do, find a way to make them happen more often. Determine what you think would be the "worst draw" from your deck. Identify other bad draws. How can you make this draw happen less often? Are you okay with the worst draws? If not, switch out items to influence the combinations of cards. If you do, then you're probably good. After you get a "best draw", what's the chance that it will happen again in the same game? After you get a "worst draw", what's the chance that it will happen again in the same game? These may be useful in probing your builds, but the real acid test, though, is experience. If you want to improve, think about what you do and what you have when you play. Also, don't forget that luck is also involved in the game. Don't always blame luck, though; maybe you can do something to fix the probabilities.
1. Figure out which playstyle suits you best I like warriors, rushing in and chopping my foe to bits, you might prefer hanging back with mages, or using vampire priests or any of the large variety of combinations) Playing the game obviously helps. When I started out I would often be defeated by a cool deck and think 'I have to build that!' Spectate high level games. See what the pro's are doing Search the forum for decks. These will help you with general tried-and-tested ideas 2. Find a strategy that works on the current map rotation What are the sight lines like? Will wizards be handicapped or will they excell? Where will the combat happen? Is there much difficult terrain? What will most other people likely play? 3. Incorporate into your build and exploit I couldn't give you better tips than @Deepweed's post Another thing I realised recently: With a smaller collection, I favored consistency and traits. Now I can build most decks, I tend to use more legendary items with useful cards and ignore traits. Take that as you will
