The Daily Deal

... in conjunction with my ally's incompetence

 

Smoag's Bucket Of Pitch
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
If this costed a minor token I'd tell you to pick it up all day. At a major token, Smoag's Bucket of Pitch is the toughest arcane item with only Glob Of Flame or Flame Jet to use. There is no doubt it's powerful but mixing and matching other legendary items will also allow you to get Glob of Flames you need at a lower token cost. Would purchase if your optimal wizard build can afford the major token. Would not purchase if you'll need to warp your build to accommodate it.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
The major token requirement hurts even more in singleplayer. Not only does it limit your options in deck construction, it also can't be used in lower levels. Save your gold for items that can be more widely used. Besides, Glob of Flame is not what you want for speed farming. Ten damage spread over 4 turns to a single target is agonizingly slow. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Rantic's Orb Of Inner Fire (E)

Dancer's Dagger
Old Saint's Armor- Healing Pulse only affecting your own team will give this armor a boost post balance changes.
True Mail- Would you look at that. Randimar must have had a hard time selling Clovidian's Mail.

 

Smoag's Bucket Of Pitch 4/3. Yes, Glob Of Flame is good. Right, burning wizards often can afford a yellow token, as most arcane items for a yellow token are bad. But I still don't recommend to buy this for one simple reason: you want roughly the same number of Glob Of Flame and Flame Jet, and the latter is much harder to get. You will get 1-2 Globs of Flame from Azgul's Orb, and there is Avakiria's Cup, so you simply don't have to pay a yellow token for this.

Dancer's Dagger 4?/3. Disorienting Block is awesome, and two copies on a weapon is insane. But the attacks are weak, though they offer some movement. This would be a great secondary weapon for , but not for . I don't believe in "pacifist warriors".
Old Saint's Armor 4/4. Yes, it will become better... but I still prefer Untouchable Plate for my Firestorm party.
True Mail 4/4. Nice armor, if you can afford a token. I prefer Sturdy Armor, which leaves nothing to the chance.

 

While this is true it's also a bit misleading. The best staves for a burning wizard do not have many copies of either. If you're looking at acceptable arcane items for a pure burn wizard the counts for Glob of Flame and Flame Jet about even out.

Avakiria's Cup
Azgul's Orb
Miligar's Dragon Tongue
Smoag's Bucket Of Pitch
Wym's Fiery Bangle

That's 7-6 in favor of Glob of Flame but that's not a big enough difference to discount Smoag's Bucket of Pitch based on card availability.

 

Note to new-ish players: Skipping Boots is a great item. That's especially true for those who're still in the process of building up a decent collection. They come in handy for SP especially, and even in MP they can certainly be used to good results.

If you don't have a pair already, 100g is basically a steal.

 

I can second that.

 

Troll's Ire
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
If you want armor removal on your weapon without using major tokens Troll's Ire is the best option. Blind Rage is tough to get on non-dwarves so getting some copies from a non-skill source is also welcome. The biggest downside is obviously the low number of attacks but 32 damage is actually very respectable for the token cost and the two Blind Rages cycle you further into your deck. I wouldn't call getting Troll's Ire a huge priority but it does give you a lower cost option for armor removal. There isn't too much armor stacking going around so Sundering Strike is pretty much for Toughness checking dwarf wizards. Would get it if you have extra gold but don't sweat it if you can't afford it or you decide to pass on it.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Troll's Ire is probably most useful for Trog slaying as you only have access to minor tokens at that level. However, Sundering Strike only works on successful armor rolls and it's tough getting enough copies. I always take a wizard along for armor removal duty instead and let warriors focus on high damage attacks once everyone is naked. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Marblehilt Blade (R)

Barreling Club- Barge is sweet but I would go for Bejeweled Shortsword over it a majority of the time.
Giant's Battleaxe
Godtouched Spear- Decent but not as good as Healing Hand Mace for most situations.

 

Is there any sense in counting the number of items without looking at ther cost? Azgul's Orb is the only tokenless item here, and we have to use it. So, we start having one Glob Of Flame, or maybe even two. This makes Miligar's Dragon Tongue a great choice, but Smoag's Bucket Of Pitch is very hard to fit.

 

Kristoph's Skull
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Cause Fumble is a narrow but powerful card that requires a lot of commitment. You lose slots normally reserved for buffs or vamp attacks and give up some win percentage against wizards in exchange for melee blocks for the whole party Kristoph's Skull is a decent item but doesn't fit well in a Cause Fumble deck and vampires who want as many attacks as possible don't want it either. I would recommend getting items that cater to either build better, 2-3 Cause Fumbles or 3 vamp attacks. Notable items include Crespin's Shroud, Oquith's Choking Incense, Oquith's Foul Incense, Flax's Thirsty Vial, Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud, Hand Of Melvelous, and Glasod's Dark Skull. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Cause Fumble is pretty much inferior in most situations to Impenetrable Nimbus. There are no Purge effects in the campaign (aside from Blizzard Breath in Black Plume Mountain) so you only need to worry about it getting knocked off with multiple attachments. Move the Nimbused character into the middle of the fray and the rest of the party can wait for the AI to exhaust its attacks before moving in. If you're in the market for vamp attacks there are better items for those as well. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Crespin's Shroud (E) : Cause Fumble
Flax's Thirsty Vial (E), Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud (E): vamp attacks

Atchocl's Spear
Bloodfoot Robes
Wedge Shield

 

Perrio's Kinetic Robes
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
This is one of the best robes against melee teams. Telekinesis can be used to keep enemies away as well as move your own characters into a blocking position. The teleport keyword allows you to move characters across difficult or impassable terrain so it is even more useful in certain maps and in conjunction with walls. Reliable Mail is rare on robes and good for any situation. The combination of great armor and control spells is well worth the minor token but there is one thing you need to consider before purchasing. Control wizards are usually weak to offensive wizards and strong against melee characters. Resistant Hide is a lot worse than Reliable Mail against melee characters but makes you immune to the most popular damaging spells. Would purchase if you think strengthening your melee matchup is worth a token and giving up Resistant Hide.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Half the reason to play control wizards is to slowly crush your opponents hopes and dreams while you drink their delicious delicious tears. Control wizards in singleplayer are slow, mostly unnecessary, and anything the AI leaks tastes suspiciously like motor oil and WD-40. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Forceful Robes (R), Blasting Robes (E) , Phantom Cape (C) , Robe Of Useful Things (E)

Hylithia's Wand- One of the better encumbering arcane items.
Novice Evasion
Staff Of Immolation

 

Is Perrio's Kinetic Robe's alternate Festive Robe going to be in Holiday Shop?

 

I would guess so, given how all the halloween items from last year made a return already

 

For what it's worth, Manifold Healer is the only way to get two Talented Healers for a minor token. Very useful for full/partial vamps in low to mid level SP, or just as a way to steal initiative by playing a heal as your last card.

 

Skull Of Savage Iljin
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Now this is a skull worthy of bringing to the battlefield. Savage Curse is currently best suited for burst spells. Anything that allows you to hit multiple targets will ease the pain of of the discard clause. It does go with pretty much anything from a wizard though. They have the least number of cards to carry over turns and the 4 extra damage represents a huge increase percentage wise. Be careful what order you use spells in, whether or not you'll need that movement card, or even whether buffing straight away will yield the most damage. Nothing else comes close for buffing magic attacks and Skull of Savage Iljin is even tokenless. I can't recommend this highly enough for anyone who plays any sort of offensive wizard and buff priest team. I will be picking a second copy up myself.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Savage Curse is obviously nuts with Firestorm. I can't say that I run it myself because I find that you really need Impenetrable Nimbus to stay alive in the higher levels and I've switched to primarily Volcano farming them. I'm also lucky enough to have items for 3 Firestorm wizards for lower levels. If you are still building up a collection Savage Curse is a great way to effectively double the Firestorms on a wizard for a few rounds. Throw in a couple of other buffs like Unholy Wellspring and you won't miss that third wizard at all. Even if you do Savage Curse higher levels I would recommend packing a few Impenetrable Nimbus to exploit the heck out of. Would purchase for anyone that wants to boost their wizard's damage power 1.21 gigawatts.

Substitutes
none

Ixtli Amulet- Fine for Illusory Barriers if you can spare the major token.
Sharp Flames
Shimmering Hood

 

I finally saved up enough gold for the holiday items and this shows up.

And I haven't been using a priest when farming because I didn't have any good sources of Savage Curse or Unholy Wellspring. Is one Skull (and nimbuses) enough to replace a Firestorm wizard?

 

I think I may have to convert some pizza into gold for the Christmas items. This skull is the only item that contains 2 savage curses. All others that have 2 or 3 are from weapons. I'll get the skull and see what happens with everything else later. I'm not after every item in the Christmas store just a couple.

 

Is there a list of the Christmas store items anywhere? I'm not anywhere near the point of having one of everything, so I won't pick up special items just to have them. But if some of them are analogues of epics or legendaries that I know will be available for purchase for a while, it might affect what I buy from the Daily Deal or Randimar's.

 

http://wiki.cardhuntria.com/wiki/Holiday_Specials_Items

 

I'd say so, though it may depend somewhat on how many Firestorms you're able to cram onto each wizard (i.e. how well-stocked you are with legendaries like Wym's Lavastaff and the dual-Firestorm arcane items). If you're in the 10-18 range (depending on level), I can't really imagine missing that third wizard. Plus Mass Frenzy works with magic now, and I've already noticed the difference with those 10-14 HP baddies, so that's one more damage point in favor of a healing/nimbus/Skull priest. I've been very happy with mine.

 

Okay, I bought the Skull since I know it's one of the very best items in the game and I'll eventually want multiples of it. Also, I finally have a full screen of Legendaries! (Kids, this is a horrible reason to spend huge amounts of money.)