Guns and Butter

Hi All!

I was recently working on a triple-priest build that focused on buffing a vamp into a diabolical killing machine (the original post is here). With the help of CT5, Flaxative, and others I was able to assemble a pretty interesting party of adventurers that were, at times, capable of heinous acts of merciless violence. That being said, I still could not get anywhere near 1100 -- the build was just too volatile and too dependent on the vamp and/or the primary buffer to keep the machine running.

So I thought about it and it occurred to me that I might be able to mash up a party using the best of the priests and the best of my previous favorite build, the manipulative hover elves. MHE was even worse than the priests as far as win/loss but it did provide an excellent exercise to develop an efficient trait cycling machine with limited epics and legendary equipment.

For the mashup I optimized two of the priests, keeping the vamp and the primary buffer and dropping the tertiary priest while taking all his best equipment (he was a loser anyhow). I then replaced him with my best mage, again optimized with all the best equipment from the MHE and voilà! Guns and Butter was born. I have gotten some pretty consistent success with this, hanging in the low 1100s and I can certainly do better, as I am still learning how to play it and have made a few game-ending mistakes.

Take a look and let me know what you think. All feedback and suggestions for items to swap out or look for will be much appreciated.

GUNS AND BUTTER

Overview: This build features a human (the butter) and two elves (the guns). The human and one of the elves are priests and the remaining elf is a mage. The elf priest is a vampire and the mage runs WoF/WoW/SPR to shut down enemies and trap them on lava. The mage also packs four mighty sparks which can be a very deadly ranged attack, especially if EPN is providing enhancing traits. The human priest provides support with team moves, martyr's blessing, frenzies, blesses, and nimbuses. The general game plan is to get the opponent running around trying to stay away from the vamp and get off of lava. Eventually they land somewhere with no move cards, at which point they can be positioned next to the vamp, on lava, or far, far away. Here is the build:

Parkay
Level 1 Human Priest

Club Of Wrath​

Cudgel Of Wrath​

Mail Of The Martyr​

Steel-rimmed Buckler​

Crafted Monkey Boots​

St Ulrich's Bones​

Shielding Token​

St Ulrich's Bones​

Perfect Command​

Superb Cleansing​

​

1 x Scamper​

1 x Horned Plates​

2 x Cleansing Ray​

5 x Violent Overswing​

1 x Dangerous Maneuver​

2 x Bless​

1 x Run, Team!​

1 x Dash, Team!​

1 x Surging Shield Block​

4 x Martyr Blessing​

1 x Accelerated Thought​

2 x Bludgeon​

1 x Flanking Move​

1 x Consuming Touch​

1 x Holy Presence​

1 x Sprint​

4 x Unholy Frenzy​

1 x Blind Rage​

2 x Parry​

2 x Impenetrable Nimbus​

1 x Inspiration​

​

Koch
Level 18 Elf Priest

Vampire's Blade​

Lifesuck Spear​

Infused Cloth Armor​

Slippery Shield​

Black Iron Boots​

Hand Of Melvelous​

Tome Of The Tree​

Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud​

Escapist​

Focused Healer​

​

1 x Draining Touch​

1 x Impaling Stab​

1 x Devastating Blow​

2 x Loner​

2 x Lunging Strike​

1 x Slippery​

1 x Cloth Armor​

1 x Quick Run​

3 x Consuming Touch​

3 x Talented Healer​

1 x Elvish Insight​

1 x Immovable​

4 x Enervating Touch​

3 x Hard To Pin Down​

1 x Hardy Mail​

1 x Cause Fumble​

1 x Entangling Roots​

1 x Walk​

3 x Spear Of Darkness​

1 x Crafted Mail​

3 x Invigorating Touch​

​

Heckler
Level 1 Elf Wizard

Chillwood Staff​

Chillwood Staff​

Farzil's Perplexing Horn​

Wand Of Seared Air​

Runestone​

Runestone​

Robe Of Lightness​

Mouse Boots​

Untrained Evasion​

Electroporter Novice​

​

2 x Squeamish​

2 x Bungled Bolt​

2 x Cold Snap​

2 x Frost Jolt​

1 x Slippery​

1 x Cloth Armor​

1 x Spark Generator​

1 x Perplexing Ray​

4 x Mighty Spark​

1 x Superstitious​

1 x Spark Inductor​

3 x Wall Of Fire​

2 x Short Perplexing Ray​

2 x Hover​

1 x Cautious Sneak​

1 x Dimensional Traveller​

2 x Flanking Move​

1 x Hot Spot​

2 x Chilling Rime​

1 x Walk​

3 x Winds Of War​

​

And now some notes on the individual characters:

PARKAY
This guy is the butter, as his name suggests. His main purpose is to provide Martyr's Blessing, Blessing, Impenetrable Nimbus and team moves to the guns. He can hold his own (for short periods of time against non-warriors) in close-range combat with violent swings and parries.

HECKLER
Heckler is the first gun. The guns who are named after Heckler and Koch, the German defense manufacturing company that manufactures handguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, and grenade launchers. From this perspective, Heckler is the grenade launcher, a highly-mobile elf mage who can drop long-range encumbers, pushes, and, of course, lava, which I like to refer to as 'rolling out the red carpet'. He is not designed for close combat and prefers to drop a Short Perplexing Ray on anyone that gets too close (I have a second Farzil's Perplexing Horn but I am concerned that will make him too defensive).

KOCH
Koch is the second gun. He is the assault rifle of the party. He is designed to come in close, preferably with Martyr's Blessing, Talented Healer, and/or Unholy Frenzy attached, and beat on the (preferably squishy) target. He requires some judgement, as his attacks are best when he is wounded and he is fairly squishy himself. He is capable of moving in close with a Quick Run, unleashing multiple vampiric attacks, and retreating, all on one turn. He can surprise with his Hard To Pin and Cause Fumble, and he has one Entangling Roots, which can either stop his enemy from retreating or trap them on some of Heckler's lava.

I am just now getting into the early 1100s with this build and finally unlocked a fourth bonus chest on a single day. I am still far from the high-end but I am having a blast with only humble equipment. I would love to improve this deck a bit and see if I can hit the 1200s and continue to farm bonus chests for more rare equipment. What are your thoughts? How can I improve this?

 

I would use the second Farzil's Perplexing Horn instead of the wand

 

Haha nice, this is becoming closer and closer to my party. Just turn the elf wizard into a dwarf, change a couple items, and you would be there. It is doubly funny because my dwarf used to be an elf. Good luck with this build, I wish you success!

 

While Bless is an amazing card in SP, in these days of WoWs and whirlwinds it is problematic in MP. As I don't notice any purges or non-vampiric healing in your build, you might do better with the common Abalone Relic.

 

Flaxative, I checked out some of your linked builds and I see what you are saying -- I guess it makes sense why you have been interested in my builds -- they are similar to your own philosophy and they certainly owe much to you because of all your advice. I stand on the shoulders of giants, I suppose and I hope that eventually I will inspire you with some optimization or combination

Qui11, I take your point and I do have a couple of Abalone Relic that I could easily swap out. I just have one issue: I have tried to run Purge in the past and it causes issues because my build is so heavy on frenzies, traits, martyrs, and nimbuses, so I seldom can use purge on my own people without losing their advantages. Do you think that it still makes sense? I guess that Purge might be worth it solely as an offensive tool to strip others of their buffs?

 

Purge only removes cards attached by enemies. Your buffs and what not will remain.

 

OH DAMMMMMMMM

 

I modified the build based on some of the advice given here and I finally broke 1200. Switching the mage from elf to dwarf helped immensely (thank you, Flaxative!) The abalone relic is also a huge help, with purge and consecrate ground both delivering in spades (thank you, CT5!)

I have been winning consistently so I am hoping it hasn't topped off yet but I figured I would share with y'all now in the hopes of getting some more tasty feedback. Enjoy!

Parkay
Level 6 Human Priest

Club Of Wrath​

Cudgel Of Wrath​

Mail Of The Martyr​

Steel-rimmed Buckler​

Crafted Monkey Boots​

Abalone Relic​

Shielding Token​

Abalone Relic​

Perfect Command​

Superb Cleansing​

​

1 x Consuming Touch​

1 x Surging Shield Block​

1 x Dangerous Maneuver​

2 x Purge​

1 x Blind Rage​

5 x Violent Overswing​

1 x Inspiration​

1 x Accelerated Thought​

2 x Greater Heal​

2 x Parry​

1 x Holy Presence​

1 x Horned Plates​

1 x Sprint​

2 x Martyr Blessing​

1 x Scamper​

1 x Dash, Team!​

1 x Run, Team!​

2 x Bludgeon​

1 x Flanking Move​

4 x Unholy Frenzy​

2 x Consecrate Ground​

2 x Impenetrable Nimbus​

​

Koch
Level 18 Elf Priest

Vampire's Blade​

Lifesuck Spear​

Infused Cloth Armor​

Slippery Shield​

Black Iron Boots​

Hand Of Melvelous​

Tome Of The Tree​

Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud​

Escapist​

Focused Healer​

​

3 x Consuming Touch​

1 x Devastating Blow​

1 x Entangling Roots​

1 x Quick Run​

1 x Draining Touch​

2 x Lunging Strike​

1 x Elvish Insight​

1 x Impaling Stab​

3 x Talented Healer​

1 x Hardy Mail​

1 x Cause Fumble​

3 x Hard To Pin Down​

1 x Walk​

1 x Immovable​

2 x Loner​

3 x Spear Of Darkness​

4 x Enervating Touch​

1 x Slippery​

3 x Invigorating Touch​

1 x Crafted Mail​

1 x Cloth Armor​

​

Heckler
Level 10 Dwarf Wizard

Chillwood Staff​

Trembling Staff​

Farzil's Perplexing Horn​

Wand Of Seared Air​

Runestone​

Runestone​

Robe Of Lightness​

Wlakwa's Boots​

Untrained Stoutness​

Electroporter Novice​

​

3 x Winds Of War​

3 x Mighty Spark​

1 x Spark Inductor​

1 x Perplexing Ray​

1 x Team Run​

2 x Hover​

1 x Combustible​

1 x Cold Snap​

2 x Short Perplexing Ray​

1 x Violent Spin​

2 x Squeamish​

1 x Hot Spot​

1 x Spark Generator​

1 x Trip​

1 x Frost Jolt​

1 x Chilling Rime​

1 x Shuffle​

2 x Vulnerable​

1 x Bungled Bolt​

2 x Flame Jet​

3 x Wall Of Fire​

2 x Immovable​

1 x Dimensional Traveller​

1 x Cloth Armor​

​

 

If you can get Impenetrable Nimbus or Mass Frenzy on that first priest, it will help immensely.

 

Thanks for share