I have journeyed through quite a few matches, have a decent ELO level, think I have quite a good handle on card synergies etc. Over time, I have noticed the value I attribute to different item slots has changed. I used to pile everything into armour (because it sticks around and i was a noob with positioning for blocks), then shields (because, well parry) then into weapons/staves to maximise the most damage I can do in a turn. Lately I have observed a few games from experienced and high ELO players (not neccesarily the same thing) and I am starting to think I need to value boots higher to maximise movement cards. Of course priority goes to items that 'strongly fit the theme' of the build; apart from this, where do people value their tokens? I guess a more simplistic question: which is better Bludgeon (dam 4) or lunging hack (step 1, dam 2)?
All slots are equally important but you do need to understand how to spend your tokens well. So here's how you spend your tokens: For warrior you should never spend more than 4 tokens on weapons. Rest of the tokens depend on the rotation. Also, max 3 major tokens to spent on weapons. Weapons change with rotation. For priest I would recommended that you spend 2 tokens on divine item slots, 1 on shoes with team movement. Rest depend on the items in your inventory. (I'm not talking about vamps. Just talking about support priest.) For wiz, max tokens on staves and arcane items. Wiz is cool but vulnerable so I would suggest to equip jump back on your wiz. Also, go for high damage, hard to block attacks on your wiz coz wiz don't draw attacking cards so often.
an addendum - how many 'team movement' cards across the party does everyone take as minimum? (general rule - i know team makeup/map influences)
this is more a feel thing, but my golden number per character for any card i want to actually see is 4. 4 blocks, 4 control cards, 4 buffs, 4 cards that allow some sort of extra movement. Its different with movement though since you can outsource it - Especially a human command character or a control mage can make an ally mobile that would be stationary on its own.
Thanks everyone, good to see I'm on a good path - I still can't believe how little I valued movement cards when I was an ubernoob; how long i tttok me to realise this.
Personally when I'm putting together items for a new build, I try to minimize "trash cards" while keeping in mind that my build will have to fare well against certain situations/other builds. Here are the most important scenarios that I try to keep in mind for a competitive, well-rounded team: A single tanky character remaining on the vp where all you need to do is kill that character before the opponent gets 6 stars. Check mark here if you have control or heavy damage or both. (also good to have penetrating damage for this) 2. Heavy damage on an enemy. Check mark here if you have sufficient blocks, control, and/or movement for handling such a situation. 3. Volcano. Check mark here if you have lots of movement, some force fields, bless, and/or smoke bomb, etc. 4. Control wizards. Check mark here if you have lots of movement, some good Block Alls, Immovable, and/or long-range damage. 5. Vampires. Check mark here if... hm.. I still don't know how to beat vampires. x) So to answer your question, there isn't really a most important slot, as long as you have little to 0 chance of a trash draw (hand of all trash cards), and you have the cards to deal with the above situations.
I'd say you got to try and decide for yourself. Not every playstyle fits for everybody and it all heavily depends on your items, too. There is no one golden path to victory.
