Played 20 games with the latest build and went 11-9. To be perfectly honest I feel like this build has been more about testing Firestorm than Inspiring Presence. I was a bit hesitant to put Inspiring Presence in the testing lineup since any disciple of Savage Iljin already knows that it is great, but I was willing to try pushing it further. In attempting to extract maximum value through self damage with Firestorm, I think I've actually just been holding it back. A lot of melee parties were applying early pressure and if I didn't have some armor in hand Firestorm was helping them more than me. The other glaring weakness with the build was that if the Firestorm wizard was taken out my offensive capabilities went with it. At the end of the day, your opponent is more than willing to deprive you of hp so you don't need something like Firestorm to make Inspiring Presence good. If you replace the Firestorm wizard with a burst wizard packing more control cards in the arcane item slots, the melee matchup significantly improves without hurting your game against wizards much. Make it Arcane Burst and you don't even need to worry about Resistant Hide anymore. I won't be testing this type of build because I've played it in the past and I know it's good. I don't think I'll be doing any more games with the Firestorm build for now. It was really difficult getting line of sight so Flash Of Agony would probably be worse. If I can come up with another interesting build for Inspiring Presence I'll post it. If I can't, I can continue to tinker with the Firestorm build and try to make it better. If anyone has any ideas they want me to try out with Inspiring Presence let me know.
my gut instinct for inspiring presence is that trying to maximize usage of it, as in get every inch of both the draw and HP out it, is probably a mistake. letting the card be flexible in how you build your deck to use it feels like probably the better way to play the card. dunno if that makes any sense, it's kind of a half formed thought, and it's late.
Well no one asked my opinion... but when has that ever stopped me? I have a good amount of experience with many of these 8 and here is my quick hit on them as used in MP (with some SP thoughts) 1. ABT - It is a game changer more often than expected. Great for making someone look like he/she is dead in the water by itself w/ 1 or no cards... then Boom you can pass over 1 or 2 cards and use 1 same turn. Hard to incorporate in a non-human build, nice extra is you can give cards to classes that would never have them. Undervalued since Cantrip was added, but does cost a card disadvantage. Tricking the Mobs is not needed, much better in MP 2. IP - Used a lot with 1 priest 2 wiz builds not sure how Peon hasn't used enough to have an opinion. Great for a ranged team, high risk of helping opponent in a melee heavy build. Most likely seen due to Savage Skull of Ilin (whatever the name is). never used in SP 3. Entangling Roots - The range of 4 makes it mostly limited, and with a Duration 1 best used early in round. I want to use it more but often find it low utility. Not any better in SP but might be helpful for Sparklers (the green things with Teleport Self). 4. Frost Jolt et. al - Haven't really used since encumber nerf. Not typically worth taking up room on a Staff. Cone of Cold is much better in SP to slow large groups. I like the format of the new freeze, but no item with Freeze is overall appealing... too many other good staffs in game to tinker with cold since opponents can still always shuffle about. 5. PoK - Undervalued card typically is good for either damage or slowing opponent. Great comboed with force cannon, winds/gust of war and TK (to lesser extent). Armor can minimize it's effectiveness, wish it was longer than range 5 as it best used at max range. Note can be dangerous against Sparkling armor since foe can choose to take 2 damage for additional movement. Even better in SP vs. non-armored foes as AI doesn't take it into consideration when moving. 6. Force Cannon - Good cheap card. Works better on open maps as not often a character has the full 4 steps behind it. I wish it was on more arcane items. Not as useful in SP since you rarely need to back off 1 mob. Force Cone is a strong alternative in SP. 7. Mind Worm - Below Average value. It is nice against opponents early in matches when someone is most likely to have more cards in hand, it is useful as an extra attachment to try to knock of Martyr's or nimbus. Often used (by me) due to it being on Draining Dagger with cards that are otherwise desirable. Wouldn't use in SP, maybe against unique characters that can do multiple attacks per round. 8. WW - almost no experience post nerf. Might be good as an anti volcano terrain attachment build or as part of a one, or as a move to stop VP camping. The randomness is tricky and I've been hit a few times where my guy didn't move. I can't imagine using in SP, but never tried.
Damaging a glass cannon didn't work out too well so this time I'm going for self damage value on support characters. Spoiler: Let Me Give You a Hand Finhalar Level 20 Elf Priest Knife Of St. Blenko Gloomthirst Rusted Angel Mail Aegis Of The Defender Sliding Boots Xlaka's Sacred Bundle Tome Of The Withering Source Tome Of The Withering Source Superb Evasion Novice Ablution 1 x Consuming Spear 1 x Triple Heals 1 x Mass Frenzy 2 x Flanking Move 2 x Spear Of Darkness 2 x Unholy Energy 1 x Weak Chop 1 x Rusty Armor 2 x Elvish Scamper 4 x Demonic Revenge 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 1 x Purge 2 x Lifesaving Block 2 x Defender's Block 2 x Penetrating Lunge 2 x Unholy Wellspring 1 x Team Walk 2 x Perforating Strike 1 x Accelerated Thought 2 x Holy Presence 3 x Inspiring Presence Dhelcelan Level 20 Elf Priest Huetotl's Firebrand Purging Mace Rusted Angel Mail Aegis Of The Defender Sliding Boots Hrillia's Healing Ring Xlaka's Sacred Bundle Tome Of The Withering Source Untrained Evasion Focused Piety 1 x Slippery 1 x Predictable Stab 3 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Flanking Move 1 x Weak Chop 1 x Rusty Armor 1 x Sundering Strike 2 x Team Heal 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 2 x Lifesaving Block 3 x Purging Burst 2 x Fiery Stab 2 x Triple Heals 1 x Unholy Wellspring 1 x Team Walk 1 x Skip 2 x Defender's Block 1 x Superstitious 2 x Purging Strike 1 x Boosted Heal 1 x Inspiring Presence 2 x Demonic Revenge 3 x Altruism Cirrothdir Level 20 Elf Priest Bynzer's Black Spear Bynzer's Black Spear Dark Chain Shirt Aegis Of The Defender Sliding Boots Hand Of Melvelous Hand Of Melvelous Hand Of Melvelous Superb Mobility Focused Healer 3 x Consuming Spear 2 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Flanking Move 1 x Reliable Mail 1 x Slippery 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 1 x Sapping Spear 2 x Touch Of Death 2 x Defender's Block 3 x Talented Healer 1 x Elven Maneuvers 1 x Team Walk 1 x Weak Chop 1 x Hardy Mail 1 x Elvish Insight 14 x Spear Of Darkness Step 1: Hang back with the buff/heal priests. Step 2: Load up the vamp with all kinds of buffs. Step 3: Save up for an explosive turn. Step 4: Help your opponent clean up the bloodless corpses. At least that's how it all goes down in my head. Will see what happens after a round of testing.
This feels like the most effective build I've made so far. I'm 7-3 currently but I threw away 2 of the matches that could have easily gone the other way if I had played tighter. The hardest part about playing it is movement with timing being a close second. I usually rush things and play from instinct so I feel like I let the deck down. On the bright side, Inspiring Presence has been fairly easy to land out of enemy range without any actual control cards though I suspect this map rotation is just favorable for it. Highlights include the vamp buffed with Unholy Wellspring, Mass Frenzy, and Talented Healer taking out a dwarf warrior in one turn and another match where I had enough movement to gang up on a third character after the first two were Impenetrable Nimbused. Lowlights include moving an unbuffed vamp too far forward and getting it killed and a different match where a miscalculation with Elvish Scamper ended with me placing an elf with back facing the enemy while holding 2 copies of Lifesaving Block. We were both vp camping so I could have just waited to heal up, moved slightly differently to end up facing the right way with the Scamper, or even not move next to the warrior once I realized my mistake. He only had one card in hand and I got greedy. I did have a couple games where the Demonic Revenge finished off a priest but most of the time they were useful for turning on Lifesaving Block and even if the support priest died it meant they had soaked up some attacks after buffing the vamp. I didn't play against an all wizard team for the entire set so I don't know if I have enough team moves but it's pretty promising. The Team Heals have been under performing so I will try replacing it with something else that triggers Altruism, probably a Bleneth's Skull to make sure I'm buffed up at all times. This build is so fun that I will take a crack at creating a more budget friendly version, though I can't cut out epics since you need them for a good vamp.
Spoiler: Inspiring for Cheapos Finhalar Level 20 Elf Priest Quickmind Spear Coruscating Blade Rusted Angel Mail Buckler Of Protection Goat Boots Auric Charm Tome Of The Withering Source Demon Charm Of The 7th Circle Superb Evasion Novice Ablution 2 x Armor Of Faith 1 x Jarring Block 2 x Demonic Revenge 1 x Demonic Power 2 x Unholy Energy 3 x Lifesaving Block 1 x Rusty Armor 2 x Elvish Scamper 2 x Accelerated Thought 2 x Purge 1 x Entangling Roots 1 x Defender's Block 1 x Weakened Armor 1 x Healing Blessing 1 x Puncturing Stab 2 x Bad Luck 1 x Immovable 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 2 x Penetrating Stab 2 x Holy Presence 2 x Unholy Wellspring 1 x Inspiring Presence 1 x Flanking Move 1 x Potent Stab Dhelcelan Level 20 Elf Priest Deathtouch Maul Purging Mace Rusted Angel Mail Buckler Of Protection Goat Boots Auric Charm Tome Of The Withering Source Tome Of The Martyr Superb Evasion Focused Piety 1 x Predictable Stab 2 x Punishing Strike 2 x Demonic Revenge 3 x Lifesaving Block 1 x Rusty Armor 1 x Inspiration 1 x Immovable 1 x Entangling Roots 2 x Touch Of Death 3 x Purging Burst 1 x Weakened Armor 1 x Healing Blessing 2 x Elvish Scamper 1 x Unholy Wellspring 2 x Purging Strike 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Heal 1 x Defender's Block 1 x Jarring Block 2 x Martyr Blessing 1 x Boosted Heal 1 x Inspiring Presence 1 x Flanking Move 3 x Altruism Cirrothdir Level 20 Elf Priest Lifesuck Spear Vampire's Blade Metzli Mail Buckler Of Protection Turquoise Boots Hand Of Melvelous Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Superb Mobility Focused Healer 4 x Consuming Spear 1 x Devastating Blow 1 x Draining Touch 1 x Healing Dash 1 x Crafted Mail 1 x Lifesaving Block 1 x Slippery 1 x Defender's Block 1 x Quickness Aura 2 x Invigorating Touch 2 x Lunging Strike 1 x Impaling Stab 3 x Talented Healer 1 x Elven Maneuvers 1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor 1 x Frenzy Aura 4 x Enervating Touch 2 x Loner 1 x Jarring Block 1 x Elvish Insight 4 x Spear Of Darkness 1 x Healing Pulse I made sure to only use rare or lower for everything but the vamp. There isn't really a good way to pack in a lot of Inspiring Presences or team heals with this restriction so I cut back on the self damage. I'm least sure about the Altruism priest. Martyr's Blessing is insane when you put it on a vamp, even better if your opponent is foolish enough to attack into it. I picked a Boosted Heal weapon to get some lucky triggers off Demonic Revenge but maybe something with Righteous Frenzy might be better to keep the buff density high enough. There are no more Team Runs so extra Elvish Scampers are a must. The vamp can't attack purely from stab range anymore and has a few less vamp attacks. There are some bigger attacks like Invigorating Touch though so it shouldn't hurt too much. I tried out a game with it and won so the build can't be all that bad.
Why are you using bare feet? Patchwork boots upgrades 1 walk to a run, and mouse boots upgrades 2 walks to flanking move and change 1 to cautious sneak.
Oops, I couldn't decide what to use so I put off picking a pair and then forgot about it. Another Goat Boots would probably be fine but anything will do. You aren't looking to chase anything down with the support priests and there aren't any low rarity tokenless team movement. I'm a big fan of Boots Of Discretion on support characters but the Trip might clash too much with the Elvish Scampers.
How does that work exactly? You can't play it if you are the one halted, but you can move if you aren't the one who plays it b/c Free Move? That would be my guess, but I haven't ever seen it happen so I don't know.
Yeah, that's the slight difference between Move, Team! cards with PUSH and cards like Elvish Scamper and Team walk which MOVE allies.
Went 7-3 with the elf priests. Most of the losses were because I didn't protect the vamp well enough and I couldn't close the deal with the relatively weak attacks on the others. There are a lot more positioning decisions to make with this build and I'm sure a more thoughtful player could pull off better results than me. I don't think changing anything would significantly improve the build besides moving items around to get some better attacks for the support priests. This would pretty much remove the whole self damage/Inspiring Presence gimmick though so I'll leave it as is. I'm going to try out one more deck idea and if it is even remotely playable, though I highly doubt it is, I will post it. Otherwise, it's a new week and I'll be moving on to Entangling Roots.
Btw I recently played against 2 decks with Entangling Roots. Both games were super close, yet I lost them both.
Well, it didn't work the way I hoped but and it definitely needs some sort of control to keep opponents back but I promised I would post it if it was remotely playable and I did win a game with it. Spoiler: Curses! Grundkazad Level 21 Dwarf Priest Godtouched Spear Godtouched Spear Dark Chain Shirt Eeygonnic's Shield Kerrick's Steel Boots Jygpin's Healing Ring Ravenna's Incense Jygpin's Healing Ring Raging Battler Focused Medicine 2 x Light Heal 1 x Cleansing Presence 1 x Shuffle 4 x Reliable Mail 2 x Puncturing Stab 3 x Healing Spirit 2 x Sapping Spear 1 x Hardy Mail 2 x Potent Stab 2 x Penetrating Lunge 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Surging Shield Block 6 x Team Heal 5 x Inspiring Presence 2 x Wounded Block Gorlgrik Level 20 Dwarf Priest Gloomthirst Purging Mace Dark Chain Shirt Eeygonnic's Shield Kerrick's Steel Boots St Ulrich's Bones St Ulrich's Bones St Ulrich's Bones Raging Battler Canny Healer 1 x Consuming Spear 1 x Predictable Stab 2 x Accelerated Thought 3 x Cleansing Ray 2 x Unholy Energy 1 x Hardy Mail 3 x Purging Burst 3 x Bless 1 x Shuffle 1 x Healing Spirit 1 x Sapping Spear 4 x Reliable Mail 1 x Altruism 1 x Surging Shield Block 2 x Blind Rage 2 x Perforating Strike 2 x Purging Strike 3 x Martyr Blessing 2 x Wounded Block Marroo Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Mordecai's Staff Of Magma Mordecai's Staff Of Magma Viscous Locket Viscous Locket Viscous Locket Viscous Locket Ironcurse Robes Kerrick's Steel Boots Raging Battler Focused Teleportation 8 x Volcano 5 x Traveling Curse 8 x Acid Blast 1 x Perplexing Ray 3 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Blind Rage 4 x Flash Of Agony 1 x Shuffle 4 x Reliable Mail Against 2 human warriors and a human priest I cast Accelerated Thought, Unholy Energy, and Martyr's Blessing on the wizard round 1. All of them get knocked off with traits and a Purging Strike. I got some damage in with double Volcano and a couple Flash of Agony which was enough to severely wound a warrior and the priest. My draw priest bit the dust to a bunch of high power stabs but not before taking out the wounded warrior. The heal priest was in danger of getting knocked out too but luckily he chose to go after my wizard. Healing Spirit assisted Team Heals kept him from getting too low and the Reliable Mails dulled the non-penetrating attacks. Inspiring Presences got my priest back to full health making the wizard the only choice. I controlled 2 vps on opposite ends on the 3 vp map so my opponent had to go for a kill to win. Got his priest down to 3 with 3 Travelling Curses floating around but it was not to be. He could only get my wizard down to 6 and I won off victory points before anything cool could happen. I would remove the draw priest and put in a control wizard to hold things back/get my own people off Volcanoes. Healing Spirit worked fine though Altruism might be better. And always remember to draw the Reliable Mails before the Traveling Curses.
Maybe have a look at Dodge / Jump Back / Reflexive Teleport? Dodge largely vanished since the nerf, but I'm not sure most players have a clear idea how good/bad it is now, and cards with as much randomness as these are difficult to peg power-wise. I'm really curious to see what you would brew using some or all of these cards.
Bring on the Reflex Stones! Jump Back is a thing now, you know. I'd be curious to try and run Elven Maneuvers, Shield of the Frog, Bouncing Boots, Leaden Platemail (for the two Heavy Armor) and Double DE Swords. With Heavy Armor in hand and Jump Back, every range 1 enemy attack puts you back 1 square into Stabbing range. Smart right?
Entangling Roots seems like it'd be powerful but the siren call of Mass Frenzy and other powerful buffs always lures the weak willed away. Well not this intrepid soul. This is my first stab at building around Entangling Roots with the requested full 2 priests worth of Oak Roots. Spoiler: Rooting for Some Punishment Grundkazad Level 21 Dwarf Priest Vampire's Blade Gloomthirst Mail Of The Martyr Eeygonnic's Shield Pergop's Slippers Oak Roots Oak Roots Oak Roots Perfect Ferocity Novice Ablution 2 x Consuming Spear 2 x Violent Spin 1 x Horned Plates 1 x Draining Touch 2 x Unholy Energy 9 x Entangling Roots 1 x Blind Rage 1 x Surging Shield Block 2 x Loner 1 x Toughened Hide Strips 1 x Purge 1 x Dwarven Battle Cry 2 x Perforating Strike 1 x Frenzy Aura 2 x Holy Presence 1 x Accelerated Thought 2 x Martyr Blessing 2 x Invigorating Touch 2 x Wounded Block Gorlgrik Level 20 Dwarf Priest Vampire's Blade Gloomthirst Mail Of The Martyr Eeygonnic's Shield Pergop's Slippers Oak Roots Oak Roots Oak Roots Perfect Ferocity Novice Ablution 2 x Consuming Spear 2 x Violent Spin 1 x Horned Plates 1 x Draining Touch 2 x Unholy Energy 9 x Entangling Roots 1 x Blind Rage 1 x Surging Shield Block 2 x Loner 1 x Toughened Hide Strips 1 x Purge 1 x Dwarven Battle Cry 2 x Perforating Strike 1 x Frenzy Aura 2 x Holy Presence 1 x Accelerated Thought 2 x Martyr Blessing 2 x Invigorating Touch 2 x Wounded Block Marroo Level 21 Dwarf Wizard Heartripper Heartripper Sander's Force Mirror Blasting Amulet Blasting Amulet Sander's Force Mirror Forceful Robes Vinorkin's Boots Superb Ferocity Electroporter Novice 2 x Charge 1 x Resistant Hide 1 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Violent Spin 1 x Force Bolt 2 x Penetrating Zap 1 x Officer's Harness 12 x Punishing Bolt 4 x Force Cannon 7 x Force Cone 1 x Dwarven Battle Cry 1 x Jump Back 1 x Spark Generator Punishing Bolt has seen a drastic decline in play because if you're close enough to hit them, they can get close enough to smack you back. Well when they are halted you can ping away with impunity. If they manage to get too close I've got Force Cones and Violent Spins for days. It won't be all bad for the opponent. The priests have a full suite of draw attachments to give them some cards to look at while they are rooted in place. This includes Martyr's Blessing and yes it does work that way. I'm also excited about running Dwarven Battle Cry which usually gets sidelined for fear of drawing your opponents free cards. Well today you can have all the cards you want opponent but I just need you to hold still. I anticipate wizards being a huge problem since they are free to keep attacking while halted and I don't have a particularly good way of dealing with them beyond simply damage racing. I will probably need to use something like Illusory Barrier on a second wizard but not before a round of testing.
