The Daily Deal

Glasod's Dark Thighbone
Multiplayer
Soothing Darkness is poop. Spear Of Darkness is fine. Savage Curse, now this is a tricky one. First of all, Savage Curse is traditionally used to buff wizards. Wizards tend to have the least amount of armor and blocks so emptying a full hand is not nearly as painful. Also, Mass Frenzy buffs whole melee character parties almost as well with no downside. It can really suck when your two oldest cards are also your strongest attacks but turning every other card into 4 extra damage can be well worth it. If you happen to only have one card in hand the buff is free for that last card. Just be sure to have a plan to protect your cursed character as it will be a sitting duck once the attacks are unloaded.

Singleplayer
In a lot of modules you are free to wail away at the enemies since AI movement becomes predictable after a while. This makes Savage Curse a great way to boost damage. Mass Frenzy is still superior for warriors and priests so you'll likely want it for wizards. Might I suggest combining Savage Curse with Firestorm? Mmmmm, 8 point Firestorms.

Peon's prescription for prodigious players- Would not purchase Glasod's Dark Thighbone. You want the paper quality Savage Curse but you're paying for the golden turd in Soothing Darkness. There are many other items with Savage Curse with better cards. Ideally, you'll want to look out for Skull Of Savage Iljin for extra savagery. If Savage Curse's discard clause is too savage then you may want to look into Unholy Wellspring items. They tend to be grouped with some less than desirable cards though due to the jump in card quality.

Substitutes
Dworia's Soulstone (E) , Black Token (R) , Savage Tome (E)

Apprentice Ferocity- A tokenless dwarf skill staple. Would highly recommend picking it up if you play dwarves.
Gaudekki's Orb- Decent tokenless Firestorm item.
St. Ozark's Blade

 

By far the best of the cone Arcanes but the range is still really short and do you really want three of them?

 

St. Gwendolyn's Armor
Multiplayer
Any one of the cards on St. Gwendolyn's Armor brings down the playability of an item. Shimmering Aura is only good against wizards. Soothing Darkness is too slow. Mind Worm can be annoying to play against but it doesn't have an immediate effect on the game and has the potential to do nothing. Hopefully St. Gwendolyn didn't quit her day job because she wasn't going to win many battles with armor like that.

Singleplayer
Just about the same here. Shimmering Aura does get better when you know the mobs are exclusively using magic and projectiles but there are better options.

Peon's prescription for prodigious players- Would not purchase St. Gwendolyn's Armor. Wouldn't even stare at it too long, you may spontaneously combust.

Substitutes
St. Bernard's Armor, Cardboard Cuirass, Hefty Hefty Hefty Bag

Blackhammer- Has 4 great attacks and a cycling trait. Nice pickup if you can get use out of Wings Of Faith.
Robe Of Useful Things
Trained Combustion

 

I guess I just like using them.

 

Don't worry, they're a guilty pleasure of mine too in SP.

 

True. I dropped 6 of these last year while hunting the pre-nerf Lochaber Axe. The best feature of St. Gwendolyn's Armor is that it sells for 100 gp. This isn't always enough to prevent a ragequit at such a waste of a legendary drop.

 

Fabrian's Shield
Multiplayer
While it still contains the narrow Catch Arrow, I like Fabrian's Shield a lot more than Oskar's Pine Shield. Even though Oskar's Pine Shield is guaranteed to have one of it's narrow blocks work in any situation, Fabrian's Shield knows what it wants and what is wants is to crush puny wizards. Multiplayer is currently awash in a sea of warriors and priests so Fabrian's Shield may not be the best choice to use in the current metagame. However, when the day of the wizard uprising comes you'll wish that Parrying Buckler had two Catch Arrows and a Defender's Block on it.

Singleplayer
There are some modules where Fabrian's Shield is the best shield possible. No other shield has 3 blocks that can block magic and projectiles and draw cards. There are plenty of cheaper options that are nearly as good though.

Peon's prescription for prodigious players- Would not purchase Fabrian's Shield. There's no doubt that it can be very powerful in the right situation but those situations are currently fairly rare. If you truly want to take down the Harry Potters and Gandalfs of the world there are many cheaper magic blocking shields to choose from, some that don't require tokens.

Substitutes
Bullseye Shield (E), Magnetic Shield (E) , Pellucid Shield (R) , Deflecting Buckler (U) , Spellthwart Shield (R)

Aegis Of The Defender- The only shield with two copies of Defender's Block. If you only pick up one shield today make it this one.
Penteth's Orb- Not something I'd actively want but any arcane item with Firestorm is worth considering for campaign farming.
St. Oliander's Tome

 

Today is the day of Defender's Block. The card is awesome, especially on a priest supporting the wizards who usually have no blocks, and the opponents know that

Fabrian's Shield 4?/5!? This is the best shield for SP party of a priest and two Firestorm wizards, for the scenarios where you can afford spending a token on it. Almost every scenario will have some bots throwing spells or arrows at you, so all your blocks will trigger. Guess what do the party need most of all (besides Savage Curses and healing)? Right, it needs more cards. The shield provides right that. So, while Magnetic Shield is also very good in such party, this one is still much better, since your priest is just a supporter, while the primary chars are your wizards, and Defender's Block can defend one of them and provide him an extra card. So if you like to play the best items like me, don't listen to peonprop and buy the shield. I've bought it and have never regret about that.

Aegis Of The Defender 4?/4? Also a good shield, but you have to take a weak attack with two great blocks. I don't like having the weak attacks in my decks, especially for a yellow token. You need a very specialized party to justify using this shield.
Penteth's Orb 3/4. A nice item for farming. Both Firestorm and Path Of Knives are very good in SP. Reflective Teleport is at least a Move 2 Teleport, which saved my butt a thousand times. It's well worth 500 gold.
St. Oliander's Tome 2/2. You should expect much more for a yellow token.

Don't forget to get a Focused Healer, if you don't have enough copies: it's the primary item for the vampire priests.

My rating shows only the power/cost ratio of the item in the right build (not necessary in yours!) '?' means the need of a special build (or a special map). '!' means the best item for its cost, in its category or essential for the build.

 

I've decided I'm not going to review items for singleplayer anymore. I've been using the same farming parties for so long that I probably don't see the potential in new items anymore, especially if they don't fit in my current configurations. I play through singleplayer a lot but I shoot for general builds that don't need to change items between modules, which is not optimal for someone who repeatedly farms the same adventure. In addition, items frequently hover around the same power level in both types of play and don't need different evaluations. I also do not appreciate people person dropping my name and telling everyone I'm wrong or not to listen to me when this is all a matter of opinion. I put a lot of effort into these reviews and things like this are extremely discouraging. I know I've been guilty of negative comments in the past but I've made a serious effort to curb them and I hope everyone can do the same.

 

@peonprop, please continue reviewing items for singleplayer. Many (probably most) of us value your opinions highly, even if we don't agree with your opinions in all cases. I enjoy seeing evaluations other than my own, and sometimes learn things from them. In your case, at least.

 

@peonprop, you still plan to review items for multiplayer, I hope? I usually check the forums before logging into the game just to see the Daily Deal reviews from both you and @Ector (even though you don't always agree). Your efforts are appreciated for sure.

 

Superb Toughness
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Violent Spin is fantastic. The only reason it saw as little play as it did was because of a little card called Team Run. If the nerfing of Team Run goes through I would not be surprised to see a surge in Violent Spins. It is less explosive early on but it's usefulness only goes up as the game progresses. Unfortunately for Superb Toughness, Shrug It Off is a steaming pile. Before, it had niche play for people that were fed up with encumber but now you're more likely to see burning attachments or nothing at all. The cantrip keyword prevents it from being truly useless as you can always use it to regain priority but it just isn't worth it if that's its sole purpose. On the bright side, Shrug it Off counters all those pesky stun cards, aka only Anvil Strike. If you want an extra copy of Violent Spin be on the look out for Ferocity. Wouldn't purchase Superb Toughness.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
There are a heck of a lot more encumber and stun effects in the campaign. Shrug it Off gets a lot more use but is it worth a minor token and a card to unlock your character for a turn? Heck no. Save those tokens for stuff that matter and use Apprentice Ferocity or Raging Battler instead. Yes, even for wizards. Even though Blind Rage hurts sometimes the card cycling and the ability to power up other slots more than make up for it. I like dwarf wizard farming like I like my colonoscopies, over quick with a hint of danger. Wouldn't purchase Superb Toughness.

Substitutes
Charging Boulder (E) , Toughness (E)

Cohr's Black Scepter
Risky Trickery- Currently the best tokenless elf skill with Elven Trickery in my opinion. That may change though if Cowardly gets replaced with Fright as planned on Pacifist Trickery.
Savage Tome- Nice source of Savage Curse.

 

Peon

Thanks for continuing with the SP analysis of the daily deal legendary item, as I find it useful.

 

Vira's Shimmering Robes
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Shimmering Aura is a dead card way too often too play in the average build. The one deck it worked in, Firestorm, is no longer viable and Vira's Shimmering Robes wasn't even the best choice for robes. If you want to shut down wizard attacks go with Resistant Hide. You can only have one copy in your deck but once you draw it you will be nearly invincible against spell slingers. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Are you tired of killing yourself with your own Firestorms? Do you wish that there was a robe that was half decent at protecting yourself? Well tough cookies. You are going to play Firehide Robes and you are going to like it. If you are truly having problems staying alive try getting Reliable Mail boots like Kerrick's Steel Boots or using an Impenetrable Nimbus priest. There is no reason to buy Vira's Shimmering Robes when there are plenty of Resistant Hide robes available. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Shimmerwing Robe (E) , Imp-proof Robes (C)

Black Walnut Staff- Great filler weapon for Firestorm farming while you wait for Wym's Lavastaff.
Crimson Morningstar
Demon's Golden Blade

 

Spear Of St. Qaith
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Vicious Thrust and Spear Of Darkness are great but Perforating Strike is awful. Low damage penetrating attacks are nearly unplayable because they are strictly worse than higher damage attacks. Against armor both kinds of cards will do around the same damage but against opponents going commando you are still going to be poking away for a measly 5 with the penetrating attack. Cards like Perforating Strike are not features of weapons but rather cards you need to live with to get access to the sweet sweet gold cards like, uh, Soothing Darkness. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
By the time you have access to major tokens in the campaign the armors you will face still block around 2-4 damage. This is huge in the lower levels where armor blocks a bigger percentage of incoming damage and any penetrating attacks shine but who cares if you run into armor when you have access to attacks like Mighty Bludgeon. Your priests should probably be buffing the rest of the party up instead of working on their warrior impressions anyways. Would not purchase. PS Soothing Darkness still stinks.

Substitutes
Blackhammer (E) , Lifesuck Spear (U) , Unholy Cudgel (E) , Glinting Eye Hammer (C) , Healing Hand Mace (E) , Jaguar Mace (C)

Eixocl's Hammer- Great bashing weapon.
Godtouched Spear- Decent team healing weapon but I'd go with Healing Hand Mace most of the time.
St. Ozark's Blade

 

Spear Of St. Qaith 2/2 Extremely unbalanced and weak weapon, especially for that price in tokens. Peonprop is absolutely right in his rate of Penetrating Strike, plus I have to add that a priest rarely becomes a dedicated melee beater (unless he's a vampire priest, of course), since he can wield just two weapons. Thus, your priest should either be a vampire or support your team with various buffs and heals, striking enemies with the occasional attacks.

Eixocl's Hammer 4!/3 A weapon of extreme tech. You get 4 bashing attacks with Slide Back and moving, Dodge and Blind Rage. All these can be needed for some warrior that have spent his yellow tokens on the greater weapons. Beware though that you're getting only 4 attacks here, and their damage is quite low.
Godtouched Spear 4/5. This one is second only to Healing Hand Mace. The Spear has much weaker attacks, but its support is better, especially if your priest is supporting two wizards. Inspiring Presence is almost overpowered if you can avoid healing enemies with it. So if you don't have Healing Hand Maces, I strongly recommend to buy this Spear.
St. Ozark's Blade 2/2. A priest should generally buff, heal and protect other characters, not himself. Anyway, Weak Parry is too weak nowadays.

 

I like the hammer and use it a lot in single player. Don't think it's worth it getting a second one though. Using up all blue tokens seems suboptimal on one warrior, and I never use two.

 

I bought the hammer... trying it out in my current ranked build and it's a nice substitute for Rageblood Dagger so far.

 

Clown Boots
Previously reviewed

Armor Of Negation- Priests have the most unique and useful traits and buffs of all the classes so Arrogant Armor is extra painful. If cleansing effects are what you're looking for there are plenty of other options. There are a lot of double Arrogant Armor divine armors as well.
Coruscating Mail- Great for chasing down wizards and ranged mobs but Shimmering Aura knocks it down a peg against everything else.
Emperor's Plate- Arrogant Armor is a niche card. Some might even call it stylish, but if you're going to spend a major token to build around it try to get Bern's Untouchable Mail instead.

 

Isn't it Clowen's Boots?