So a long, long time ago, there was a thread about vampire priests. I'd been running one since a bit before the thread, and I've been fine-tuning my way up the ranks for the last couple months. I don't think my build is Top 20 worthy or anything, but I'm well in the Top 200. The party has a pretty good matchup against Triple Dwarf Control (3DC), and packs enough control to deal with the less impressive draws of a more aggro party, so I figured I would share it. I am down to improve it, so suggestions are welcome. For a while I didn't want to post it because I never encounter the mirror and I like feeling special—"hey, it's my build!"—but that's dumb and doesn't help the meta. So here. we. go! Dink Smallwood Level 20 Human Priest St. Olf's Fiery Pike Whiteglow Flail Thick Healer's Hide Banana Shield Sticky Slippers Medallion Of St. Vigus Shuddering Relic Shuddering Relic Perfect Command Focused Piety 1 x Martyr Blessing 2 x Vulnerable 3 x Impenetrable Nimbus 2 x Immovable 1 x Flimsy Block 1 x Flanking Move 3 x Altruism 2 x Minor Heal 1 x Thick Hide Armor 1 x Boosted Heal 2 x Stab 2 x Enervating Touch 2 x Fiery Stab 1 x Barge 4 x Mass Frenzy 2 x Hit The Deck 1 x Run, Team! 1 x Dash, Team! 2 x Nimble Strike 1 x Healing Blessing 1 x Wild Run Dink's a frenzybot who tries to abuse Altruism. He could pack more Mass Frenzies if I had the gear, but 4/29 cards isn't that bad, and the main reason it's not a better ratio (5/28 with another Shuddering Relic) is that Nimbus is such a high-impact card in the current format.* I'd been running a Shielding Token (more attacks is more better when you've got frenzies), but I switched to the medallion because while healing blessing is an overvalued card it does push off attachments, and it triggers Altruism. *Nimbus is a lot better now than it was before the draw deck nerfs. There're a lot fewer people running priests, which has a two-pronged effect: 1) Fewer people playing nimbus, which in addition to making nimbus better thanks to its scarcity actually feeds the second point, 2) Fewer people have deck slots for purge. Earmuff Level 20 Elf Priest Lifesuck Spear Vampire's Blade Glowing Hide Armor Slippery Shield Black Iron Boots Shielding Token Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Escapist Focused Healer 1 x Draining Touch 1 x Reliable Hide Armor 1 x Impaling Stab 1 x Walk 2 x Impenetrable Nimbus 1 x Immovable 3 x Invigorating Touch 4 x Consuming Touch 1 x Thick Hide Armor 3 x Talented Healer 4 x Enervating Touch 1 x Devastating Blow 1 x Elvish Insight 2 x Spear Of Darkness 2 x Loner 2 x Lunging Strike 1 x Quick Run 1 x Slippery 1 x Hardy Mail 3 x Hard To Pin Down Earmuff, thusly named thanks to his unused power token, is my vampire priest. He's built for draining and he does a lot of it: 18 out of his effective 28 cards are attacks, and 14 of those are drains. Could get it higher with Hand of Melvelous instead of Shielding Token (up to 16 drains), but as I explained above Nimbus is huge. Black Iron boots do the two things you want boots to do in the current environment: stop Winds of War, and stop Winds of War. Immovable is one of the best traits in the current meta. I'd switch the boots for Sticky Slippers (more Immovable!) but Quick Run is basically a bomb for an aggro-combo party member like Earmuff. He gets in and can start draining (with Talented Healer cantrips) without giving the opponent a chase to respond. Slippery is similar; I've won games on Woodhome Blizzard just by getting Slippery and Nimbus on Earmuff, dashing onto the victory square, and sliding off before Nimbus expires. You can rinse and repeat twice! Judas Level 19 Dwarf Wizard Trembling Staff Ironwood Staff Of The Magus Axander's Twisted Circlet Simin's Glowing Mirror Blood Locket Blood Locket Robe Of Lightness Sticky Slippers Solid Rock Superb Electromancy 1 x Mighty Spark 2 x Obliterating Spark 2 x Vulnerable 2 x Spark Generator 1 x Zap 1 x Cloth Armor 1 x Wild Run 2 x Flame Jet 1 x Toughness 1 x Desperate Block 1 x Surging Bolt 2 x Winds Of War 3 x Immovable 1 x Penetrating Bolt 1 x Nimble Strike 2 x Hover 2 x Squeamish 2 x Path Of Knives 1 x Big Zap 1 x Stone Spikes 1 x Combustible 3 x Short Perplexing Ray 2 x Parry Judas is the original trait-cycling wizard. My story is that I was squeeing over Electroporter Novice and Robes of Lightness in the "hidden gems" thread before 3DC was ever posted about, and I'm sticking to it. He's changed a bit over the months to include a bit more damage, a few more gimmicks, and fewer Winds of War, but the idea is the same: high impact cards and lots of traits. Until today I was running Untrained Stoutness for maximum traits, but when I swapped Xander's Boots for Sticky Slippers I decided I needed to spend a major power token on my racial. Perfect Toughness is the popular choice, but rusty mail is a dead card, so I opted for Solid Rock. Parry's fantastic against any party that isn't 3DC, and we keep one Immovable. Anyway, this is my PvP party. I stick to the vampire because I have a thing called loyalty. Looking forward to the discussion!
Excellent explanations as to why they're set up the way they are. Good food for thought. I think it's interesting that we're not seeing any Dwarven Cry in the pvp decks that people are posting. I'm running dwarves at least in part to "block" that card. Maybe that's not a valid reason, really. Is the rationale that the traits are just better?
I remember that thread... I get accused of copying the 3DC build even though I've run a vastly inferior example of it since beta. I'm too dead-set on including resistant hides and firestorm...
Very nice and well explained, one thing you may have considered already that I think should work better. Dink's armor. I fully understand wanting to utilize the altruism as much as possible, and the two minor heals accomplish that but that card is very weak, if I were you I'd consider changing to Mail Of Righteous Anger. Has two holy spells which are far better than healing 2 hp imo especially when using life drain, you already get the minor heal effect (+2hp) on the first attack, if used in a round where earmuff has 3 or 4 attacks and u happen to also draw mass frenzy it's party time... oh, and it's an attachment which you already know the benefits of. The armor part is inferior in my opinion, Thick Hide Armor is very nice and has some flexibility but it's still worth the switch I think.
Yeah, I've considered it (in fact, I've run that armor before). I like the attachment nature (you were right!) of Righteous Frenzy. The problem with it is: • It never helps Dink. Minor heal can help him in a tight spot. • It barely helps Judas (before, it could push off Trip and Fright but those are no longer in my deck). And yes, Thick Hide is way better than Spiked Mail I think. I'm torn! What I really want is Mail Of Succor... but I don't know where to find the token for it.
Ever tried a build with like, 2 vampires and 1 support? I've been toying around with it but it's hard when you don't get decent draws :/
I actually modified my comp a bit ago. Dink's the only one whose items have changed, so I'll just post him. Running Crafted Mail at SLG's suggestion. Bought a Bleneth's Skull recently, swapped that in for a Shuddering Relic. Meant I had to downgrade my Medallion of St. Vigus back to a Shielding Token, and had to make a choice in order to free up a minor token—Focused Piety + Possessed Shoes, or Novice Piety + Sticky Slippers? I went with the latter in the end, basically because I think Immovable is actually more important than Altruism for this build in the current meta. Dink Smallwood Level 20 Human Priest St. Olf's Fiery PikeWhiteglow FlailCrafted Healer's MailStreaked ShieldSticky SlippersBleneth's SkullShielding TokenShuddering RelicPerfect CommandNovice Piety1 x Barge1 x Vulnerable2 x Altruism2 x Fiery Stab1 x Wild Run3 x Minor Heal1 x Boosted Heal2 x Nimble Strike1 x Fright2 x Immovable1 x Run, Team!2 x Stab6 x Mass Frenzy1 x Lifesaving Block1 x Dash, Team!1 x Consuming Touch1 x Enervating Touch3 x Impenetrable Nimbus1 x Hit The Deck1 x Martyr Blessing1 x Flanking Move1 x Crafted Mail 1502, by the way. Haven't actually quit PvP.
I've got a new build I'm running, with Earmuffs and Dink Smallwood and a human warrior. Dink is basically unchanged; Earmuffs is, if anything, a yet more dedicated vampire. I'm going back into the consistency well because I'm insane. The warrior uses step attacks and team mobility to finish enemies and support the team, respectively. I'll post deck lists later, possibly in a separate thread since it's a pretty different build now overall, despite two thirds of it looking familiar. Also, I'm waiting for the new content patch for a final upgrade to Earmuffs.
Ah, cool You're more than welcome, though I really need to post the newer version of my build since it got me to 1630 and I don't think this would have.
