CoC Character Review

Discussion in 'Adventure Discussion and Strategy' started by Maniafig, Aug 31, 2016.

  1. Maniafig

    Maniafig Thaumaturge

    Having attempted, and failed, CoC dozens of times since its introduction, I've gotten accustomed to a lot of the characters that appear in the caverns and as such also developed opinions on them. Some stand out for being powerful, some for being weak. Some stand out for being stylish, while others don't stand out at all.

    Even though the monsters and maps are randomized as well, I think that the decks of the characters are the most interesting to focus on for this sort of review as maps can only be selected to appear and not appear while for mobs it's the same with the addition of determining their group size. But characters are a different story, they each have decks, making them the most malleable way of altering the CoC without having to necessarily remove anything from it.

    I don't just want this to be Yet Another Cry For Balance Changes To CoC, so I don't want to just talk about how powerful character's decks are, but more how stylish they are. How recognizable is a character? Are they unique? Do they follow a theme, and if so, loosely or tightly? With that in mind as well as the usual nitpicking over balance, let's get to the characters. (Credit to DupleX's amazing thread that lists all these decks, making this thread much more convenient to make.)

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    I think the first three characters are based on the Adventurers Starter Deck, so overall these are probably among the least stylish decks, being made of a collection of items with little of a unifying idea. Because of that, there's not much that really springs to mind for me in this deck beyond it having a Crusher in there that brings me happiness when I draw it and an Unreliable Block that reliably makes me mad. It doesn't capitalize on being a Dwarf Warrior much by being very tanky, so this character really doesn't stick to my mind and I generally treat him like a beatstick who can have rounds of drawing powerful cards or rounds of regular old Bludgeons.

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    The first of many Elf Wizards, as nimble as the wind itself and as brittle as an autumn leaf flowing in said wind. When I think of CH Wizards my mind immediately conjures an image of a master of the elements, but this Elf Wizard manages to be more of a Jacqueline-of-all-trades, master of none. Her deck doesn't seem predisposed to any role, having a fair share of electric, fire, arcane, terrain and miscellaneous cards of varying qualities. Squeamish, Vulnerable, Combustible and a Spark Inductor, I can't really tell what her deal is, and when I get her I mostly hope that she can roam freely as the Elf Wizard she is and hope she doesn't spawn surrounded by enemies. I think she should really invest in some defenses. I hear the Caverns are lacking in Wyrmhides and Drakehides, and she could use something to set herself apart, why not with some snazzy and recently improved cards? Or at least a Sparkling Cloth Armor. When she lives to draw a card I never really know what to expect, yet it probably won't be anything to get excited by.

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    Priests in Cardhuntria are weird. Very weird. They carry a symbol of a holy god in one hand and heal their allies in a bout of Altruism and benevolence and in the other they hold an effigy of the underworld, cursing their enemies with sadistic glee at the price of a little bit of their soul. They all seem to be in crisis about who they want their divine favours from, so why not choose all of them? I can't imagine what church meetings in the land are like but I'm both curious and terrified. Due to this I think Priests have the most unmemorable decks overall, most decks being a combination of Warrior cards with a bunch of Holy and Unholy cards scattered in.

    Being the standard priest, her deck is basically what the above blurb suggests. Her regular attack cards mostly are of the Bash variety with a Step Attack and obligatory Sundering Slash (blessed it be), while her spells are a mishmash of mostly basic set holy and unholy spells with most being either holy healing or unholy frenzy. Of note are the two Cleansing Bursts, cards that unless you are joined by a Volcano Wizard might as well be Minor Healing Burst and a Bad Luck, a card that says more about the person who drawed it than the one it's attached to. When she draws a card it probably won't damage the enemy, but it'll probably make her allies angry or feel pleasantly cured.

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    This Elf Warrior is a filthy liar who pretends to carry a Laser Sword but doesn't have any Lasers! Her Bubble Helmet doesn't give her any Force Fields at all and that Shield is just a painted cardboard cutout! But I forgive her since she has access to the holy grail of Elf Skill cards, Elven Maneuvers, with a helping of Impaler. She pretty much is everything an Elf Warrior is expected to be, having a rather consistent deck of cards that are powerful and ones that are mobile. Aside from that her fake armor is actually of the highest quality you can find. None of them match with the futuristic look of the figure, but overall they are very powerful and makes her surprisingly tough paired with her competence at moving. When she draws a card you can't expect anything out of a crashed UFO, but everything that's there is consistent and in line with a typical Elf Warrior. If "good" is a theme then she strictly adheres to it.

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    This priest is determined to distinguish himself and has spent many years meditating among the waterfalls with some Mind Munchers. For his efforts he got one single Mind Munch and a spikey club that he uses to stab and slash people somehow. Despite being just a better Mind Worm, I still give it a style point for being a monster card. It's better than nothing. Compared to the previous priest he takes a different approach, focusing on holy cards that attach and some Unholy lifestealing. He does have access to four Nimbuses, which is what I most remember him for, and comes with two Violent Spins which are very useful to have. He's also Vulnerable, probably because of that time he wasted with those Mind Munchers. When he draws a card it probably won't blow me away but he might be what that character surrounded with 5 enemies needs to get through one more turn of chaos.

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    This Dwarf Wizard is another filthy liar. What seems like CoC's one and only Laser Wizard turns out to be a much more mundane cosplayer with a slight bent towards Electricity, with one third of his 9 Electric Cards being Traits. He is squeamish and combustible, probably because he's nothing but a cosplayer with a flammable outfit who got lost in the CoC on his way to the EttSC convention. Aside from that this wizard seems to like using control, lava terrain and armor removal. The former he has a good grasp of, but the latter manifest as the rather plain Hot Spot and Dissolve Armor. The five Dissolves especially seem excessive, someone teach this man the art of melting or boiling, there's more to life than just dissolving! As a Dwarf Wizard he does manage to tank a lot more hits than an Elf Wizard but overall he's still easily overwhelmed if his control fails him with few outstanding blocks or armor but his Resistant Hide to save him. When he draws a card it's probably a sparking, armor removal or lava card but by the great gods of Cardhuntria I wish he would draw an array of lasers to barrage his enemies with. Until then I won't forgive the lies of this EttSC cosplayer.
     
  2. Maniafig

    Maniafig Thaumaturge

    Today I learned that posts have character restrictions.

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    Now here is everything a Wizard, a Dwarf and a CoC character should be. Lord of the element of ice and as stout as the mountains she came from, this ice queen has learned from the great Alabaster Dragon Blizkenripper himself how to breathe ice and summon ice bolts to slow down two enemies at once, earning her major style points. Armed with a variety of other cold attacks, Adaptable and two Toughnesses she truly stands out. Like wizards before her she too is Combustible, but here it's totally on-theme, but the Squeamish and Vulnerable do not befit this character. That Trip is perfect though, such is the problem of stubby dwarves when they surround themselves with ice, you're bound to fall over eventually. When she draws a card it'll probably be something that allows her tenacious and wintery reign to carry on for many more turns.

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    Well, this is awkward. From one great ice queen to another. Unlike the former, this one elected to earn her style points by adding a Rockfall to her deck, giving her a trump card of truly epic proportions, but she also goes the extra mile to have a Mighty Charge just to show she won't be outdone by any other ice queen. While her deck also has many of the typical frost cards, she also seems to have a fondness for control cards and a little bit of electricity. With only one Toughness, she prefers to accumulate two Reliable Armor that softens the many blows anyone can expect to endure on the CoC, which paired with her control makes her another highly survivable character. Just as any other wizard, she also suffers from Squeamishness but makes up for it by not being Vulnerable or Combustible but rather Immovable. When she draws a card it'll be similar to the other ice queen but more varied with every draw bringing the chance of getting that double Reliable Armor or that amazing Rockfall.

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    Three in a row! Three great Dwarven Wizards in a row! Where the prior two are competing queens of ice, this wizened pyromaniac swoops down to reduce their creations to mere puddles of water with an endless barrage of fiery cards as his figure indicates! Coming with a variety of fire cards and especially lava terrain, this wizard is not shy to throw a fireball or volcano if he has to, and I can't love him more for it. The focus on terrain makes him a very welcome sight if he manages to really pin enemies down when they can't move anymore and the fire only adds to it. Having two Flashes of Agony used to be a blessing but these days the Agony parts rings much more true. On the defensive side he's not on the level of the ice queens, Flight Aura can get him out of a tough spot but doesn't mesh spectacularly with those racial Walks or those Flashes of Agony while Jarring Blocks are not the most impressive blocks on the block. Still, his talents are clearly in summoning fire and in that he passes without any doubt. Rounding out this collection of cards is a Hover to aid with Volcano, Hot Flames and Firestarter to make his fire that much more effective, two Combustibles which fit his playing with fire theme and yet again squeamish. Is it a criteria for Wizards in CoC to be squeamish? When he draws a card there'll be something in there to spice things up, be it setting foes on fire or submerging them in lava.

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    After that streak of Dwarf Wizards it's back to another Elf Warrior. An unconventional one too, as she doesn't have Elven Maneuvers but makes up for it with a heavy emphasis on crushing. With six Devastating Blows she is the character you want around when an enemy has many revealed cards, giving her a very unique niche already, and she complements this with a variety of Step 1 attacks, making her rather adept at getting to enemies and crushing them. Synergizing wonderfully with those Devastating Blows are two Elvish Insights, allowing her to reveal enemy cards, poke at blocks and with an extra draw too. That's undeniably cool to me. Aside from that she manages to be quite tough as her figure implies, having several Auto Blocks and two Reliable Mails, making her very good against a few select mobs. She rounds out her deck with a sensible Crusher, an oddly chosen Impaler and an annoying Traveling Curse. Others have shared their griefs with CoC characters with self-damaging traits before and I am wholly behind them in cases where these drawbacks just seem tacked on rather than fit in with the character's theme. It's a very lame way to lose a match and one of the more annoying bits in CoC. To get back to a more positive note, I think she's a very fun character to have, not as powerful as the other Elf Warrior I'd say, but definitely more themey. When she draws a card it's likely the cards she needs to get closer to her enemies and Devastatingly Blow them into submission. Boy that sounds wrong.

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    Oh dear. Two Vulnerables, a Trip and a Demonic Revenge. Usually I start these things by addressing what the overall deck of a character is but that combination of traits is actually what stands out to me most about this priest. that's rather sad since she looks like she wouldn't be prone to any of those. But even looking at her deck list I'm not sure what to say. Her attacks are a hodgepodge that follow no theme and her priestly cards don't fare much better. She seems to focus on card draw in the form of Inspiration, Unholy Energy, Martyr's Blessing and a Consecrate Ground but I can't say I ever thought of her as a card generator until I really peered through that deck. The rest is not much to write home about and having some cleansing cards does little to alleviate that. Her most interesting aspects to me are the Warp Run, Rocket Dash and two Absorbing Blocks. But only one of those cards is unconditionally awesome so overall this is a rather disappointing character after a streak of great ones. If she draws a card she might give you means to draw more cards, but it's also possible that she self-destructs if she's at low HP or Trips.

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    Our first Human Wizard! This one immediately comes with a figure that screams personality. This to me suggests a primal sort of combat mage with a love of rocks. A wizard who's not afraid to get closer than most wizards dare and is as likely to conjure a giant barrage of boulders from his staff as to whack someone with the boulder affixed to his stick. I can see hints of the former in there, but the lack of any Rockfall or its little brother Cave-In or any sort of appropriate crushing Stunning card are a disservice to this figure's undeniable style. This idea I have of a short-range Wizard does manifest itself in the form of some Short Perplexing Ray, a few Big Zaps and a lonesome Acid Spray and best of all a Nimble Strike, the rest of this character seems to be rather underpowered long-range Arcane cards and some electricity which seems unusually advanced for a caveman. I think the potential is there but currently it feels like a rather underpowered and unimpressive character. Defensively he has a rather inexplicable Mimetic Armor as well as two Reliable Mails which do fit this mage's tough and resilient look. Looking at his deck, there is one Dimensional Traveler is his deck but that's it as far as traits to, and I can hardly say the trait fits the figure, but it's nice to see a Wizard without Squeamish at least. If he draws a card it'll either be an unimpressive long-range card or more short-range attack, but either way that rock in this caveman's hand and on his staff are purely for show at the moment.
     
  3. Maniafig

    Maniafig Thaumaturge

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    Let's have another shot at the Human Wizard. These green robes would go perfectly with acid terrain, and I'm glad to say that they do! I think that this might be the most tightly themed character in CoC and her Acid theme is truly unique, I've never seen anything like it on a PC. The Acid really litters her deck, with an Acid Blast, four Acid Jets and for high style points four Acid Pools! Not ready to be just an Acid Wizard, she even adds a Dastardly Curse! That's amazing, who'd have thought they could use that card with a Wizard? I love it! Further setting her apart are three Flash Floods and Force Cannons, giving her a lot of potential for control over where the enemy can and cannot go, which can be a blessing on some maps as hard to capitalize on on others. Sadly the Flash of Agony isn't as impressive, with a Human Wizard with such flimsy armor, only a Resistant Hide and a Force Field, you can't afford to take that hit. Another strike against her is a Traveling Curse, a card that really feels out of place on such a methodical and control-focused character. I like to imagine myself in a long drawn out fight of control against a tenacious foe but that can't ever happen as long as she's a ticking time bomb. Despite those negatives, I think that this is easily the most interesting character in CoC and I'm very glad that Flax has changed her from a joke character to a truly unique and playable Wizard. If she draws a card then you can expect a nice combination of control, damage and armor removal, but don't let her draw cards for too long, she can't keep taking those Traveling Curses forever.

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    From an acid wizard to a priest made of slime! Too bad that nothing about this slime's card pool suggests being a slime. While I realize that Amorphous Armor is out of the question given it'd break the CoC League, there's still other Slime-themed cards that would spice up an otherwise rather plain priest, be it the Pseudopod series of cards, a Blob of Slime or just a good old Death Meld. This figure begs to be given slimy style points and I really wish I could award them. This is actually rather sad too, since looking at this priest's cards it's the most tightly themed priest yet! Out of all priests this one, and only this one, has no crisis of identity and is 100% a Holy priest! It has 3 Altruisms, and a Cowardly, hinting that this Slime might be the only person in CoC who is there for the sake of spreading benevolence. Even its attacks have somewhat of a nonviolent bent, some being bashes to keep enemies away and others purging them which fits with the holy theme. There are a pretty nice amount of heals in there paired with the more situationally useful Cleanses and Wings of Faith and of course Fight Auras. This slime is quite mobile too, being able to Sprint or Rocket Dash, but overall is quite squishy, though not Squishy thankfully. Having four Consecrate Grounds does seem rather excessive, and I do wish that one of those were a Bless. A Slime this pure deserves the divine favour I think, it's been a very good Slime. When this Slime draws a card it won't be Slime-themed but this is a good Slime and frankly deserves better than being stuck in CoC so you should appreciate him regardless, in return he has plenty of holy boons to lend to you. (Wait is this one Slime or two Slimes?)

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    Not all Slimes are good little Slimes though. Just like the more mild-mannered Priest this Warrior Slime doesn't have anything that's themed around being a slime. No need to go over that again though, so let's look at what's in this fellow's deck. Overall this slime seems very mobile. But it doesn't seem very powerful. Of all Warriors this one seems the least powerful, and while I can understand that from a Slime trying to be a Warrior, it still isn't a lot of fun to play with. A lot of the attacks are rather basic and nothing in the deck feels like it synergizes very well? Honestly I'm never sure what to make of the deck and I don't think I know how to play it properly. The mobility suggests staying distanced from enemies but the attacks don't have the luxury of being range 2 so this feels like a rather confused Warrior overall. There's not much armor in there so you really have to rely on not taking damage though blocks and Jump Back. It makes for an awkward character to play with and if any of the two Slimes got a big Slime-makeover I hope it's this one. If this Slime draws a card it won't be slime-themed and the attacks drawn are somewhat underwhelming and the rest doesn't do enough to let this slime live long enough.

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    This figure promises me two things: Lasers and Chops! While there's not much in the way of chops here or on any other figure sadly, there are some lasers of the malfunctioning kind, which are a joy to play with in CoC. Laser Cutdown, Strike, Thrust and two Blocks make up the Lasers here and while I'd like some more I cannot argue that this Warrior is already as strong as she needs to be. She pairs these Lasers with four Lunging Hacks, which are a little weak but I'm fine with, and some rather oddly places stabs which don't really seem appropriate for the figure. She also has some other real nice cards, like two Mighty Hacks as well as Force Fields as well as an elusive Mimetic Crown that's fun to play around with. She comes with Impaler which she doesn't get any use out of and Slicer which she barely gets use out of and a rather nasty Superstitious, but that can be solved by having Arrogant Armor, a rather interesting card to have in CoC as its usefulness really varies per map. Not a nice card to have when you want to Force Field, of course! Overall a really fun character just for bringing in that EttSC flavour, if with a few odd cards here and there. When she draws a card you can expect stabs, lasers, step attacks or a variety of other useful cards but sometimes you can have a streak of lesser cards.

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    It's been a while since we've seen an Elf Wizard and what a magnificent comeback! Here we have a serious contender for most themed character in CoC together with the Acid Wizard, since playing this Wizard is unlike playing any of the others. While there are some electric cards for damage and some arcane cards for control in his deck, the main focus is clearly on all sorts of terrain, including Wall terrain and Laser Beacons which can both be absurdly useful! This deserves a large amount of style points, and this Wizard really catches the feeling of his figure though the blaster being used for those regular Wizard cards while the Triangle I assume is some sort of terraforming tool that is used to use all these terrain cards! But then there's even more, as this Elf Wizard really catches the spirit of the Elf Wizard by being very elusive, having some good move cards scattered around in his deck and even a Pathfinding, making him a joy to use in those tense 1 on 1 matches. The only wish I have is for there to be a Wall of Stone somewhere in that deck just to relive those days of Death March, but even as it is this Wizard is magnificent and worthy of the EttSC outfit. When he draws a card it's a combination of regular Wizard cards, a lot of terrain and a surprising amount of survivability though being out of harm's way.

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    Rounding off the true EttSC characters is of course the priest, and it's a rad one! This figure deserves a good deck and I'm glad to say that it got one! It really catches the EttSC flavour by having a few Laser cards but also a lot of Radiation cards, which are some of the cooler ones to play around with. The Radiation here takes the form of Irradiated Terrain, which can work very well in the clustered CoC as well as some assist cards which can be fun to use. There's even two Destructive Purges in there, a card I can never see enough of. It's too bad there's no Rad Bombs to top it off, it'd be really satisfying to throw one of those into a mob, but a Radioactive Spray is a nice substitute nonetheless. Aside from that he has some nice attack cards, some bashes while other lifesteals, and he even manages to incorporate Cleanses sensibly by pairing them with the random Rad Spray. He's a pretty resilient character too, having some decent armor as well as some blocks. Definitely a character I enjoy seeing. When he draws a card you're gonna have a rad time.

    A really nice set this time! Only the Slime Warrior was disappointingly unthemed. The EttSC ones especially feel like a step up, I think largely since they don't seem to be based on any Starter Packs.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2016
  4. Maniafig

    Maniafig Thaumaturge

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    Back to another Elf Warrior! They haven't disappointed so far, let's see if it stays that way. Aside from a few cards, most of them step ones, all attacks she has are Crushing boosted by a Crusher. There's already been three Warriors with a heavy focus on Crushing, so this deck will need to do something to stand out, something I'm not convinced it does, while the double Elven Maneuvers and Step Attacks seem to work better on the first Elf Warrior I looked at. Still, this warrior does have a rather tight deck, there's a clear focus on crushing and mobility which does make it easy to play, but not really stand out. What is interesting is the synergy between having four Thick Hide Armor and Elven Maneuvers, making those rather reliable armor draws, but less so after the nerf though. Aside from that there's just not much to say here. It doesn't really have much of a AotA flavour as the figure might imply or follow some sort of theme, it's just a well-build Elf Warrior. That said, it's hard to really image what an AotA flavour is, it's simply not as thematic an expansion as EttSC was. When she draws a card, you can expect some step attacks and a lot of crushing with the help of Elven Maneuvers and Thick Hide Armor.

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    Here's the first Elf Priest so far and I think he also suffers from the identity crisis that haunts many priests in CH. I really cannot make sense of the decklist here, it has access to pretty much any sort of card which makes him versatile if rather unreliable. As an Elf Priest he does have more mobility than other priests and he can be more tricky in that Elvish way by using his two Elven Trickeries, but the only cards aside from that that seem especially recurring are Pushback Parry which can be nice against a few mobs but is more of an MP card and Unholy Nimbus, but less than Mr Mind Munch. Having Barbed Platemail and two Boosted Heals can also make him quite tanky and I find that he's surprisingly survivable as long as he doesn't get surrounded, but it doesn't really come together to make a character that sticks out for anything aside from being good. When he draws a card, you can expect it to be likely to be useful and not much else.

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    Third of the Tezkal Elves Starter Back, this Elf Wizard has a fiery look which suits his fire-based deck. While the previous Fire Wizard had a strong focus on terrain, this one forgoes terrain to really focus on getting as many direct attack cards as possible. Most noticeably there are 6 Magma Sprays in this deck, a card I think fits perfectly on a Dwarf Wizard but feels like a really risky gamble on an Elf Wizard. Aside from that there are three Winds of War, which can help keep enemies at bay but without any additional control can be rather hollow when there's up to 10 enemies after you, and there's also three Instant Burns which can be really cool if you can synergize them with the other fire cards you have such as two Fireballs, an array of regular long range fire attacks and Firestarter. This is a strong core of fire attacks, hindered by the riskiness of Magma Spray, but aside from that there's also two Quick Runs which really fit the Elf Wizard theme as well as an Elven Trickery. Defense-wise this Elf is made of paper aside from Jarring Blocks which cost precious HP and a Hardy Mail, while Resistant Hide isn't as useful when you don't have Volcano, and the combustible makes it so he just as flammable as paper, and you can expect a quick death if the odds are not in your favour. Rather oddly the deck also has a Cone of Cold as well as an Immovable, neither of which seem really on-theme. All in all it's a very tightly themed deck, perhaps with too much focus on Magma Sprays, but this figure can cause huge amounts of damage if the stars align. You can expect him to draw fire cards and the cards needed to ramp up their damage, but might find that you're nudged to get closer to enemies than you'd want such a frail Wizard to be.

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    Now this is something special. This is perfection. While this Elf Priest is widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best character in CoC, he also has an incredibly clear theme of being a vampire and his decklist truly capitalizes on that by giving it a great Vampire build, making him the tightest themed Priest out of all Priests and escape the identity crisis that ails many other priests. A vampire is simply not an Altruistic being and as such the card doesn't appear in his decklist, and the only card that can truly be said to make him a team-player is his Martyr Blessing. But aside from that this Vampire is more than content to ditch his allies, Frenzy himself and suck enemies dry. He even has two Loners in what are in my opinion the only justified damaging traits in CoC just because it's thematically perfect and this guy could use the drawback. I've had it happen several times that this Vampire would be the only character remaining and he fights none the lesser for it, he's pretty much the self-sufficient Priest in CoC and it truly fits his vampiric nature. Aside from lifestealing attacks, he has Talented Healer which suits a talented Vampire, Unholy Wellspring to get that sweet Frenzy, Bless which is just as likely to help himself as his allies, Demonic Feedback which he can use to draw himself more cards, Elvish Insight which fits such a wisened creature, Healing Pulse which again is still a selfhealing card, Slippery which I like to think means he assumed his bat form to slip out of any sticky situation, Help the Weak which is Help Yourself when you're alone, Quick Run just to be able to get more Cantrip goodness and finally Cushioning because Cushioning is awesome and this is an awesome figure. It's absolutely amazing and pretty much everything a vampire figure should and could be. When he draws a card you can expect cards that fit a Vampire.

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    So if the Vampire is truly Vampiric, does that make this Skeleton truly Skellerific? Not really. There's not much of a theme going on here which is sad given how cool the figure looks. While Only Bones would disrupt the workings of the CoC league, there are cards in CH that would fit this Reaper-like figure. Looking at the decklist, there's actually barey any Unholy cards there but a whole collection of Holy cards. Between Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Slimes and Skeletons you're better of among the latter two groups for your Holy needs it seems. But what cards would suit a skeletal figure as thing? I think either Reanimate or even Mass Reanimate would be an interesting choice for sure, raising the dead seems very appropriate. Then there's also the Death Elementals from AI, I think Negative Energy Being, Doom or even Roulette could spice this figure up. Then Touch of Death is a card that's already on players and as far as I know not in CoC, I think that certainly fits well here. Given the large scythe he's carrying, I think Reaching Swing is somewhat underwhelming as well, I think taking some inspiration from the Reaper's Scythe is also a good idea and give some chops instead of stabs. I think I might be going too crazy here, but like the slimes I think there is a well of untapped potential here, but until that day I can rest easier knowing that the skeleton inside me is statistically likely to be holier than I am as a human. When he draws a card you can't expect it to be skellerific but rather an assortment of holy healing, frenzies and other attachments paired with some lifesteal and stabs.

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    Back to the realm of Warriors, we step away from Crushing and into the world of Piercing. This Warrior is tightly themed around stabs and she has a preference for penetration in particular. Six Impaling Stabs is a very impressive amount and gives her a clear focus, while also coming with some weaker ranged penetrating stabs as well as range 1 penetrating stabs. This makes her exceptionally useful against mobs that rely on armor as well as just useful in general against mobs that can't fight back from range 2. This giver her a unique niche among warriors in CoC but she also has three Mails which seems like a rather excessive amount. Her Shimmering Aura is nice against ranged mobs that pose more danger to her while she also has a Reliable Mail to help her survive. Further adding to her power are two Impalers and a Blind Rage, and she also has some nice mobility cards as well, making her one of my preferred warriors and easily one of the more recognizable ones. When she draws a card you can expect stabs and penetration with just enough mobility.

    And that's the last set of 6! All of the characters here have the potential to be really good, with the Skeleton Priest lagging behind the most in my eyes. Some of the characters distinguish themselves more than others, but the Skeleton Priest is probably the least distinct entry which is a sad followup to the excellent Vampire Priest.

    In general I think there's about as many characters that I like as ones that I don't care for. Overall Wizards are the most distinguished while I think Priests are the least. I'd say Dwarves have the best record here while Humans have the poorest record, which I suppose makes sense since Dwarves are innately more themed while Humans are the standard so need more to stick out.

    Overall there's a fair amount of representation of species, genders, races and classes in the CoC figures, but I do think that the decklists of many of them being tied to Starter Decks, though undoubtedly a convenient shortcut, has led to there being some odd holes in builds, themes or cards you'd think would appear but just do not, such as a melee wizard, magic laser or chopping while also causing some overlap between characters such as crushing warriors or generally unfocused Priests, aside from them by nature being tailored around MP and then repurposed for an SP experience.

    I still really enjoy CoC, enough to play it to be able to make this review, so I hope that if anything this review gave an insight on what I at least consider important about the characters you control in CoC!
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2016
  5. HisRoyalHygiene

    HisRoyalHygiene Guild Leader

    So... I think @Maniafig needs to create a cool new decklist for a CoC character. Tightly themed, of course :)
     
    ParodyKnaveBob, Wandere and Maniafig like this.
  6. Maniafig

    Maniafig Thaumaturge

    Well, I can try. :p

    I was pretty negative towards the EttSC Dwarf Wizard for lacking Lasers so that seems like a good base to work from. Of course a deck of just lasers for attacks would be rather overpowered so I think I'll add in some plain Arcane cards too, there's some cards of that variety that haven't seen much love in CoC either. Since the other two races are taken he'll be a human too, there's some interesting Human Skill options not in CoC yet.

    [​IMG]
    1x Spell Skill
    1x Hypnotic Beacon
    2x Scatter Laser
    1x Mega Laser
    1x Spreading Laser
    1x Laser Bolt
    1x Laser Spray
    2x Surging Bolt
    1x Sorcerous Bolt
    2x Arcane Beam
    1x Arcane Spray
    1x Unstable Bolt
    1x Bungled Bolt
    3x Dissolve Armor
    1x Memory Loss
    2x Mimetic Armor
    1x Leather Harness
    1x Subtle Parry
    1x Catch Arrow
    1x Auto Block
    2x Retreat
    1x Advanced Battlefield Training
    1x Team Shift
    2x Telepod Jaunt
    1x Escaping Run
    1x Mind Leak
    2x Dimensional Traveller

    So there's a self-made CoC deck. I'm not sure how balanced it is, but it's rather fun to compile. Not sure if this breaks any CoC character guidelines, it's clearly not a deck a player can reproduce given most spells are staff-exclusive and not really on Arcane Items, but I think CoC is somewhat more lenient in that regard.
     
  7. Happenstance

    Happenstance Thaumaturge

    Brilliant work, Fig.

    I've played Caverns exhaustively, probably due to some sort of mental imbalance (up to about 10-12 completions now) and while some of these characters are undoubtedly weaker than others, even the weak ones shine on the right map or against the right mobs. The clerics may kinda suck, aside from the vamp who sucks in the best possible way, but draw one with a couple of decent offensive characters and they really shine. The acid geisha is hopeless on open maps but will win you corridor maps almost by herself. The caveman mage doesn't do much, but if you get stuck against a lot of high output-low damage ranged mobs, like sparks, he's the character you want standing last when he finally draws his mimetic and resistant.

    Point is that many runs will seem hopelessly difficult, but then you'll draw the right combination of characters, mobs and maps from nodes 7-10 and sail through.
     
  8. Melancthon

    Melancthon Ogre

    Great work Maniafig! Very nice reviews.
     
    Maniafig and Flaxative like this.
  9. Gingrich Yurr

    Gingrich Yurr Thaumaturge

    [​IMG]

    Very detailed and accurate reviews. When the acid geisha and the fire dwarven wizard met in one particular game of CoC, this was what the map looked like the whole time.

    (Apologies for the poor picture quality)
     
    Maniafig likes this.
  10. tolkien

    tolkien Thaumaturge

    Didn't this thread used to have decklists for the coc characters?! Am I missing something?
     
  11. Gingrich Yurr

    Gingrich Yurr Thaumaturge

    You're thinking of this thread
     
  12. Mr. Magnifico

    Mr. Magnifico Thaumaturge

    I know I'm late to the party, but I wanted to chime in and thank you for these character reviews, @Maniafig. Decklists, helpful and undeniably useful though they are, somehow just don't stick in my brain the way qualitative evaluations like these do. Reading these reviews revived my long-dormant interest in playing through the CoC and, once I was in there, helped me keep straight who does what. To make a long story short, I am now the proud owner of a Crown Of Chaos. Thanks!
     
  13. winner

    winner Orc Soldier

    thank you
     

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