I stand by the thought that chops or bashed in large quantities are lame. Having an oblit chop or 2 can be useful. Lunging and Pressing bashes are useful. Having a build with 14+ bashes or chops is lame in MP. Chops can work in SP especially levels where you don't have any major tokens. I never said Lunging Bash and Laser Whip is lame.
I haven't put in enough games for a conclusive verdict yet but I must say that people are not playing around Chops as much as I thought they would. Maybe ganging up on my warrior is too tempting but I have yet to use or even needed to use Gusts Of War for its intended purpose. The priest doesn't draw enough Chops to move to the front lines so I'm likely going to make it a pure buffer as originally planned. Heck, I might even do away with the wizard altogether if things continue to go so smoothly. Kinda wish I had a 4th Bloodchopper now. I will need to increase mobility somehow though. I forgot how awfully slow dwarf warriors are without their Vibrant Pains.
Wish I had one. Lately I was killed by a blood chooper from a blind raged, unholy frenzied and mass frenzied warrior, which jumped with a sprint team in the first round into my chars and had three chops, a parry and additional was protected by a defenders block of his fellow warrior. It was ridiculous.
I guess the most difficult part for him is the sprint team on his priest. Depending on the priest he has a lot frenzies and when his warrior runs double Bloodchooper, then having three is not that difficult. Allthough I do not remember where his blind rage came from.
The first build was doing ok but there were things I didn't like about it. I retooled it a bit so hopefully it's now a lean mean Chopping machine. Spoiler: The Other White Meat Pork Level 20 Dwarf Warrior Bloodchopper Bloodchopper Troll's Ire Perilous Ringmail Black Cat Buckler Crusty Helm Diamond Moccasins Raging Battler Novice Slicing 4 x Blind Rage 3 x Parry 2 x Ouch! 2 x Strong Hack 2 x Bloodied Block 2 x Sundering Strike 1 x Obvious Maneuver 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 3 x Reliable Mail 1 x Brutal Charge 1 x Hardy Mail 8 x Obliterating Chop 1 x Thickened Mail 1 x Weak Chop 2 x Slicer 1 x Traveling Curse 1 x Quick Run Marroo Level 22 Dwarf Wizard Supercooled Laser Staff Of Winter Luke's Iron Hand Luke's Iron Hand Luke's Iron Hand Asmod's Telekinetic Chain Thin Sparkling Cloak Mouse Boots Solid Rock Electroporter Novice 6 x Frost Jolt 1 x Weak Block 1 x Parry 2 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 1 x Toughness 1 x Spark Generator 1 x Cold Snap 1 x Spark Inductor 11 x Telekinesis 2 x Cooling Laser 1 x Flash Of Agony 1 x Stone Spikes 1 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Vulnerable 1 x Cautious Sneak 1 x Immovable 1 x Chilling Rime 2 x Flanking Move Nerlaze Level 23 Human Priest Axe Of The Dark Soul Purging Mace Ritual Straps Aegis Of The Defender Captain Cedric's Boots Mokad's Reeking Skull Bleneth's Frenzy Charm Bleneth's Frenzy Tome Perfect Command Novice Ablution 2 x Unholy Frenzy 2 x Holy Presence 1 x Predictable Stab 1 x Demonic Power 3 x Unholy Energy 1 x Purge 2 x Defender's Block 4 x Purging Burst 3 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Team Walk 1 x Toughened Hide Strips 1 x Savage Curse 2 x Purging Strike 3 x Weak Chop 1 x Run, Team! 1 x Dash, Team! 1 x Raging Strike 2 x Unholy Wellspring 3 x Flanking Move 1 x Lifesaving Block So it turns out I've been going about it all wrong. Gusts Of War was fine but since my opponents had to attack me eventually, the first Chopee is pretty much free. I only need a way to get the second one in line and keep it there. So the wizard got a major overhaul. Telekinesis takes over the "get over here" spell slot and I added Cold spells to make sure even the most fleet footed elves can only waddle away. I realize this doesn't work against triple wiz teams but we'll burn that bridge when we get to it. The priest wasn't getting much chopping done so out went the Axes and in come the buffs and team movement. Only one minor change to the warrior. I wasn't too happy with the smaller Chops so I got rid of them altogether. Troll's Ire gives a bit of armor removal while cycling to the Obliterating Chop. I know I said I wanted more mobility but Rageblood Dagger is mostly Step 1s and the addition of Sundering Strikes allows my wizard to run more Telekinesis, which can double as Walks. Oh, and I renamed the warrior to Pork since it only seemed fitting.
Cause he needs less armor removel on the wizard. If that equation will work is another story, but in a vacuum it is fine.
As many of you may have guessed, I haven't had the time to play multiplayer the past couple months and that isn't likely to change for the foreseeable future. But seeing as how Bloodchopper has graced us with its presence in The Daily Deal this is as good a time as any to share my findings with my very brief foray into Chops. Again, I've only put a few games into testing Chops so take my words with a grain of salt.
Chop Pros So uncommonly used that no one plays around Chops Even after you've gotten a full value Chop in, people continue to leave themselves exposed due to... not wanting to give up their outnumbering advantage on the Chopper not wanting to retreat without getting their own attacks in not wanting to give up central victory squares not believing you have more Chops Cons You are mostly at the mercy of your opponent's positioning unless you bring along control cards or expose your Chopper to make double teaming more tempting Non-melee attackers aren't as likely to group together making full value Chops incredibly hard to pull off against them Currently, only Obliterating Chop (and Massive Chop but Giant Skeletal Arm sucks) is impactful enough as a single target attack, severely limiting the pool of playable Chop items Verdict- Much better than I would have ever thought since I underestimated how often you'd be able to get double hits in. However, I still think Obliterating Chop is the only way to go. If you want to make a dedicated Chopping build, you pretty much have to go with double Bloodchoppers. Check your local Daily Deals. Act now while supplies last.
I would say that Vibrant Pain might be a nice pairing with the Bloodchopper to hop in between 2 chars and get the value of the chop. A con of this is pretty much after the first combo your opponent will probably be more wary of their spacing, but it could help with the divide and conquer strategy. Although you did said "dedicated chopping build" which would not include Vibrant Pain
I think it would be better to: - include movement on your other characters - put movement into everything - armor, shields, etc. And... yeah, I'm planning to make a deck with 2 Bloodchoppers. Just you wait people!
Nothing like telegraphing your wall-breaking, Lucky. "Take THAT meta! HA!" I hope it works out for you!
If you can spare a token, Necalli Cap can be fun. I usually prefer Energizing Moves, but the AOA is often useful if it shows up. And Looty is at Riddle today! A perfect spot for breaking in those shiny new Bloodchoppers from the DD. It had to be Looty's doing. Randi isn't that organized.
I want to add a few more points. Pros: Reduces melee range to 1. This cancels the advantage of the Double-edged Sword. Maintains your line of sight while nullyfying opponents' if you know where to throw it. Also a priest's nightmare. Priest has less movement than a warrior, right? And how about smoking the bless? 3/36=1/12 of the priest is already useless. Cons: Unless you have 3 x Smoke Pin the smoke wizard is useless. Smoke robes are only going to bring your rating down. The Smoke Wizard needs powerful d4 attacks like Punishing Bolt and good support items like Telekinesis and Staff Of Winter OR Sub-zero Staff. Cone Of Cold is not good when your wizard requires protection from your warriors. I have been using the smoke wizard for a heck lot of months. I never ever felt like giving up on him! Hope this helps! EDIT: Jump Back isn't related with Smoke Bomb whatsoever.
Interesting take on Smoke Bomb. I'm not sure I agree with all of it but you've definitely put a lot more games into playing with the card than I have so your input is appreciated. What is the interaction between Jump Back and Smoke Bomb? Also, you linked all of the cards as items. Use the button to the left of the green orb for cards.
The strategy for Jump Back users is to maintain their distance and they won't keep that card in hand for long if you smoke them. In short, they'll have to use their defense card to maintain the purpose of their warrior. They do it most of the time. Most of the guys are more concerned about positioning in the current round rather than the strategy that the game demands which is foreseeing. It's true that you get unexpected results for a few battles but otherwise this control wizard rules the game. Thanks