Hello, recently picked up this game last week and enjoying it, but feel like I'm sort of hitting a wall. Have a 1/1/1 party of humans at level 10-11, and it seems like each adventure now is taking me several attempts. I get the idea of switching cards around for some fights like ones with skeletons or oozes, but starting to think my general loadout is probably kind of weak at this point. What are some cards around this level range (or lower level tokenless cards) that are really worth keeping an eye on, preferably not epic/legendary. Also would be great if anyone had suggestions on like, a base tokenless/low-token build to try using until I feel more comfortable with creating my own.
If you mention an adventure you are having trouble on, I will try to beat that adventure using only commons of the level or below with a 1-1-1 team, and will post the build I used. (only applies to the main campaign and the treasure hunts from it)
I love using Sulphuric Staff in those levels. Not only is it great for removing armor, but it's also a good way to test for Raging Strike or blocks (doesn't work on Parry). Also look for Silver Healing Ring and Shielding Token for your priest.
Make sure you use the wiki to check out what you're going to be facing. Level 10 is where I started hitting the wall on my first playthrough - Pools of Slime in particular was a massive pain. I'm not saying this is you, but I've run loot fairy through these levels and seen newbies trying to hit slimes with crushing attack loadouts. Don't be afraid of levelling extra characters up to this point. If you keep running adventures two levels above the new character's level, they'll level up to 10 in no time, plus you'll get some of the extra items you need. I'd look to try and level up 1-2 elf fighters and run a modified build around Elven Maneuvers: Puncturing Dagger, Itotia Blade, that sort of thing, with your human priest supplying Martyr Blessing, healing and Mass Frenzy if possible. Every time your fighter gets hit with EM and MB active, they're going to draw 1-2 extra cards, and with a lot of step attacks, those cards are going to be attacks. When you get the necessary cards (mostly epics), then vampire priests are the way to go. Then you'll slowly collect the legendaries you need for a fire mage. If you get completely stuck on a module, hit up co-op for an experienced player. Literally the only modules that cause us minor grief are the Attack of the Artifacts expansion, and they're doable first time, 90+% of the time.
I don't think the wiki or any super rare items are needed to beat these adventures. You're on the right track with the adapting, just take it further. You can even consider changing the 1/1/1 to another class setup, you can hire lvl10 characters to fill in. Coop is a great suggestion, but that robbs you a bit of your own triumph.
I agree with pretty nearly everything Happenstance says, except the bit about the latter AoA adventures being doable on the first attempt. On my first playthrough, I often took a generic build into the first map of an adventure and then used that experience to make adjustments for the later maps. Maybe switching lightning for fire, or switching bludgeons for chops, that kind of thing. Making a single generic build and hoping it'll be able to take on any module's making life difficult for yourself. The game is in some ways a puzzle game (deck-building). There's no one card or deck that solves every problem. Not even firestorm. Probably. I may be wrong about firestorm.
Weapons: Bejeweled Shortsword: cost is quite steep for SP, but it's really good. Hefty Chopper: Good against goblin hordes etc. Double-edged Sword: Stabs are especially useful against range 1 enemies. Blackeye Hammer: Against melee opponents, you don't necessarily need any step attacks. Infused Greatclub: No tech (step attacks, etc.), pure damage Rageblood Dagger: Really powerful, if you pair this with Cautious Mobility. Vinewrapped Cudgel: Tokenless. Shields: Parrying Buckler: You can buy one guaranteed Black Cat Buckler from the Halloween store. Twisting Shield: You usually should not bother trying to block ranged attacks. Just try to stay out of LoS. Hexagon Shield: Ditto. Divine Items: Shielding Token: Impenetrable Nimbus is the most powerful and easiest road, you can take in SP. Incense Of The Nether Fog, Incense Of Roiled Air, Shuddering Relic: Mass Frenzy is good, especially, if you experiment with 2 warriors + 1 priest setup. Amulet Of Inspiration: Drawing more cards is usually quite good option too. Oak Roots: Helps to pin down ranged enemies or slow down advancing melee enemies. Better with wizard's terrain spells. Silver Healing Ring: Usually your priest should be casting Impenetrable Nimbus / Frenzy buffs, drawing cards or using own drain attacks (Hand Of Melvelous & Flax's Thirsty Vial / Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud), but this is quite acceptable healing option. Arcane Items: Armorbane Pendant: You don't usually need armor destruction, but Combustible is good non-damaging deck cycler in most cases. Runestone: Squeamish is another great cycler for wizard. If you're up against flying / mobile opponents or Resistant Hide, Blood Locket might be better. Sensate's Ring: Little Zap is awful, but tokenless item with a good control card and a cycler is still really good. Note that you can move your own characters too with Winds Of War / Gusts Of War. Just uncheck auto targetting from options or hold down CTRL while selecting target. Xipil Ring: Volcano is really powerful card, but all of the really powerful Volcano items are epic or legendary. Still quite good. Learn to pass early and often, wait for enemies to use their move and (step) attack cards. Boots: Glimmer Boots: Good armored boots for support characters. Goat Boots: Another tokenless option with a cycling trait. Skipping Boots: Healing Dash is good and Flanking Move synergizes well with range 2 stab attacks or long-range spells. Diamond Moccasins: Really good if you need to chase down ranged enemies with warriors. Shielding Warp Boots: Force Field is good and Warp Run can help getting rid of Blob Of Slime etc. There are many other usable items, but hopefully these will help you evaluate your item collection. The Daily Deal thread has notable rares section that is really useful.
And Burning Bangle is an efficient way to get two Hot Spots! Depending what you want your wizard to do, that is definitely a solid option. Depending on the map, Blasting Amulet's Force Cannon is a fun way to keep an enemy at bay (provided there's room on the map). Also tokenless. For priests, also consider Tome Of The Martyr or Martyr's Medallion - drawing extra cards is great! Lets you do more things and what not. Don't rush forward and take all the hits at once though, or you might die before you get to use all the cards. Even one or two extra cards a round may be enough! Also works nicely with the Silver Healing Ring that Pawndawan mentioned. Another nice item for healing / survivability is Mail Of Succor. One warrior weapon that comes to mind is Burnished Blade. Gives you some chops (handy when the AI decides to put everyone next to your warrior) and mobility (which is basically always useful).
I found the wall to be around 12-13, but, regardless, I recommend starting up another team and running through the campaign a second time. Grinding level 6's for treasure, getting bonus chests in MP, finding the loot fairy/bandit, and digging through the shops are all great ways to build your decks. Edit: A note about shops...its often not worth spending money on items outside your level range. The most expensive items will become more reasonably priced if you wait a level or two (or settle for a cheaper alternative).
Since you're running 3 humans, Advanced Flexibility (level 15 uncommon) might help a lot. Slowed is a nuisance and a dead card, but not terribly bad (it just costs an action to play it). Leadership will cycle up to 2 cards for each of your allies, which really helps to get to the cards you need. It's probably a bit pricey at your current renown. If it's too expensive, wait a bit, but keep it in mind. Another item I used a lot in my first run, and still do, is Blister Stone (level 13 common). It doesn't have a cycler like Runestone, but sometimes what you'll really need is a high volume of lava. Renown: I'm not much for MP, but if you haven't played it yet, it's an easy way to boost your renown. You'll start at the bottom, so the initial battles should be easy, and you'll gain 1 renown per 3 wins. I recommend players who intend to be more focused on the campaign to hold off playing much MP until they hit a wall in the campaign. You can get enough of a renown bump to afford some of the things you want, but the downside is renown in the campaign is based upon the highest level adventure you've beaten. This can lead to a significant dry spell for renown increases if you buff it via MP.
Some mostly tokenless items that are of very low rarity and may be slightly interesting, and that I didn't see mentioned above.... everything mentioned below unless otherwise noted is common or uncommon, and therefore can show up in the non-RR/DD stores. Electroporter Novice is a favorite tokenless arcane skill. It's level 8 and merely uncommon, and it offers three decent traits -- two which boost damage for electrical attacks and make arcane harder to block, and one which gives you a free step at the beginning of each turn. Tokenless, great cycling, easily available... what's not to like? Jackrabbit Boots are uncommon level 7 items, so easily available; a Healing Dash can be useful. Lunging Hack, not very impressive by itself, but if you have some buffs from Blind Rage or Unholy Wellspring, it's not completely terrible. Might tide you over until you get better, generally rarer or token-ish ones. If you're willing to spend a token here, Turquoise Boots are perhaps your best overall choice among the common and uncommon options (I prefer the previously mentioned Diamond Moccasins for warriors, but they're rare). One might argue that Kodiak Boots may deserve a look for single-player because the AI isn't terribly careful about playing against potential Charge setups, also. Cleansing Presence is rarely much desired, but if you're up against geomancers or acid-flinging sprites, Cleansing Hide is an uncommon level 3 divine armor with 2 of 'em. The Cleansing Mirror, a level 3 uncommon divine item, has a similar role. Again, mostly useless, but easy to get and handy against terrain abusers. Demon Charm Of The 2nd Circle is uncommon, level 6. Two cards offer card draw (at a cost of damage!), while the demonic miasma is a short-range attack that will encumber you while in your hand. If I were going to run an uncommon or common tokenless heavy armor... either the level 1 uncommon Trog Skin Jacket just for reliability, or the Spiked Tlahuitzli (for less reliability but more power when it works) comes to mind. This is definitely an area where stepping up to rare for Perilous Ringmail for Reliable Mail is handy. If we're staying at common/uncommon tokenless helmets, Sergeant's Cap might be helpful for the 2 Shuffle, Team copies (not amazing, but possibly useful). Crusty Helm is a favorite tokenless helm, but it's Rare... Tokenless human skills are generally not all that well-regarded, but Novice Guidance might be worth noticing since it offers Jump, Soldier! -- which, it should be noted, works on enemies, too. If you're willing to spend a minor token here, Novice Flexibility and Beginner Command are within your level range (there are definitely nicer minor-token uncommon/common human skills like Superb Command, Trained Command and Advanced Flexibility, but their higher level will result in a markup that you may or may not find worth it). Imp-Proof Robes is common, level 6, and an easily accessible source of both Resistant Hide and Reliable Hide. If you're up against almost entirely ranged attackers, and you insist on using a tokenless uncommon or common shield, either Maple Shield, Cover Shield, and White Shield will offer a pair of Missile Block cards. Meh. But if you can, use a minor token for the rare Buckler Of Protection against mostly-ranged or mixed groups, or the uncommon Parrying Buckler against melee-heavy groups. If you want to run a tokenless common/uncommon staff, you could do worse than the level 3 Hotglass Staff; it offers a pair of Hot Spot cards which the AI isn't terribly good at playing around, and Sizzling Bolt's range may be useful. For a common, tokenless weapon... Carved Club comes to mind. It has a couple of useful bashes and a few other low-damage attacks. You almost certainly don't want to use three tokenless weapons for your warrior, though... so if we're looking at no more than uncommon, maybe look at the Puncturing Dagger (level 10, uncommon, two minor) and Weighted Shortsword (level 12, common) for instance. Options do go up significantly if you're looking at rares, but now you're looking at random drops or RR/DD offerings with less of a guarantee that you'll be seeing the ones you're interested in all that often. If you're going to buy *one* minor-token rare, for SP... the previously mentioned Shielding Token is the most versatile and powerful against the AI.
