So, there's a lot of hate for elf wizards (lack of love might be more accurate, actually). I find that kinda strange. Elf wizards are great! This should be extra clear once we break down the elf wizard into its components: Elf: Best race in the game. Dash generally lets you move to whereever you need to be, from taking an early VP, to chasing down an enemy, or even retreating. Dash does a lot. Key part of why the current elf warrior craze is so successful. Dash also makes vampire priests happy. A vampire's main weakness is lack of mobility, and Dash mitigates this to an extent. Elves are played by a large number of players, and for good reason - people have finally realized their strengths. In fact, elves are so strong, that when people start playing them and start winning with ease, they rightfully say that it is Card Hunter's Easy Mode. Wizard: Wizards are the frustraters of lives. Aside from lobbing fireballs and smoke bombs, wizards are also well known for sparks and zaps, flash floods and freezes, illusions, strong winds (of the whirling variety or otherwise), generally messing with people's minds (perplexing rays and surprise volcanoes), and other forms of sorcerery. They can even move around to avoid attacks and exhibit greater influence on the field. Wizards are a force to be reckoned with. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, people all scoff at the mightiest of wizards, the Elf Wizard! "but elf wizards have no HP," they say. "they die too quickly!" Well, easy solution for that - don't let the Elf die! You're an elf, you shouldn't be getting hit in the first place. Dash, the ancient art of the elven race, is your trump card. On the offchance you do have to take a hit, well that's fine! Take it! You have 17 HP. That's a prime number! Only other race/class combo with a prime number HP total are dwarf priests and human warriors, and since they aren't elves, they're basically irrelevant. Remember, it's only the last point of life that counts. If you aren't getting hit, it doesn't matter how much HP you have to start out with. Furthermore, if you're not getting hit, then you're probably alive. And if you're alive, then you're alive. That means you can do things. Wizard things! Now, occasionally, you will hear a seemingly sophisticated reply: "wizards don't need to move much, so being an elf is a waste." Also wrong! Moving is good. Not moving is bad. A stationary target (read: dwarf) is an easy target. A moving target, let alone a moving elf, is much harder to hit. Remember, Dash puts you out of step-attack range, while also letting you position yourself best for wizard funsies (this was originally swipe-o'd as gunshots, which somehow seems fitting). I have won games due to Dash that I would not have won were I running dwarf wizards. The sum of elf and wizard is greater than its components. Elf wizards, as I hope you now see, are the embodiment of victory. Since making the switch, I've gone 24-6, including a personal best 13-game winning streak (and my 1/1/1 wizards are at an outrageous 9-0). This is like Old Nimble Strike win-rate levels, and still with 0 Whirlwinds. TLDR: @Pawndawan said it best (I'll edit in my builds later if people want, cause the server's about to go down. Also, they're in my videos.)
Cool. Anyway encumber, blocking terrain, step attacks, Quick runs, stabs, burrrrst, etc, can never let elf wizards be playable at High ranks... Sadly
That don't necessarily means that the elf wizard is good, maybe his others units are good, maybe his game is good or maybe he got some luck in his last matches.
Elves were certainly at a disadvantage when they were saddled with suicidal racial skills. The subsequent removal of suicidal tendencies, and the addition of the OP Elven Trickery (which has since been nerfed) and the OP Elven Maneuvers (which hasn't yet) really helped. The addition of the Dynamic Staff which synergizes so well (by sheer coincidence, I'm sure ) with Elven Maneuvers is yet another boost. Be careful lest elf wizards get too good.
look at my item suggestion the last contest and it'll be clear that i want support elf wiz. YET, i do not think dynamic staff will make a difference. It's barely any different from surging staff and i have tried elf wiz surging staff times and times again and it can never be stable at 1500+ rating. why would the expensive cost of upgrading the staff for 1 more surging attack be of any help? and really, elf manuever isn't the best combo for elf wiz anyway since you can't take many hits. i'd rather have insight or slippery of sort and try to take NO hits.
Complete supporter of elves in general. The only thing holding me back is a sub-par wizard collection. Time to grind.. =/
I remember when Elves were weak... now Elven Maneuvers are OP (for their color) and Elf Warriors have a real advantage. Elf Wiz still have a relative disadvantage to D-Wiz, but the frequency of Elf Warriors (due to the proliferation of D-wiz and Elf Maneuvers) does make the Elf Wiz more valuable since the need to hit-n-dash is higher since the elves tend to have more moves and the standard dash. Of course Elf Vamps have the advantage of movement and are less dependent on having high HP to survive and with the addition of more Vamp friendly items (thank you Draining Console) elves are dashing around everywhere... but that still doesn't mean Elf Wiz are the best. Of course as one of the few Human advocates I might be biased!
I've personally never argued that elf wizards are inherently bad, just challenging to play and lacking racial synergy. The main problem isn't that they're not functional [and with the right combo of movement cards, they can make quite the good evasive sniper], but that their +1 move doesn't make up for the lost hp, and their racial skills don't compensate. So- playable? Sure. Fun? Sure. Able to go toe to toe? Maybe. Fairly balanced to other combos? Most likely not. If we ever see spell mastery cards in the elven skill set, elven casters [both wizards and priests] will stop being completely neglected and become perceived as viable, and enticing to play. Heck, the abilities wouldn't even have to be fully positive. A +1 range, -1 damage attachment is still interesting enough to make elves viable [similarly, +1 damage dealt, +1 damage taken]. But certainly, if they can get a +range effect of any sort, that'd combine with dash to give them a properly distinct long-range play style. That certainly feels like the best fit, much like 'pull to self' seems the best fit for making laser whip, a similarly disadvantaged game element, feel properly balanced to similar game elements. Mobility is an elven characteristic, sure. But elves are also typically known for being excellent at ranged attacks and spell lore, and regardless of whether mobility does or does not help them as casters, those are components that could do with development to make elves feel distinct. The main reason dwarves work so well as mages is, you slot a bit of movement in, and they can easily make up for their shortcomings [you can't, however, slot more hp in, and defenses aren't really easily available to mages, nor very efficient to slot]. Their spells have the same range as any other mage's, so why should they care too much about their positioning? Meanwhile, assuming equal damage attacks, it hurts an elf far more than a dwarf, to exchange attacks. Likewise, dwarven traits are excellent, between having a tokenless cheap cycling attachment trait with reliable armor thrown in, to having various defensive abilities on hand. Meanwhile, elves add mobility [of which dwarves get a few options of as well], which usually isn't quite as critical to spam in a build, on-damage mobility card draw/deck discarding, which is bad for various reasons, and so forth. Things you can make fit to a build, but that definitely don't compliment it. Meaning, general cards like Elven Insight are typically slotted, which, sure, is feasible, but definitely not complimentary. Now, if elves get +1 range, they can stay out of range of dwarves, forcing more demanding confrontations. Reducing damage by 1 may make for a good balancer to avoid complete sniping in larger maps, as well. :shrug: In any case, tl;dr Elves are clearly disadvantaged against dwarves, regardless of how functional and fun they may be able to be played as. Nevermind that against heavy hitters [including most PvE opponents] one misstep, one attack taken, and they're dead :X Thank goodness for force field and nimbus, that's all I'm saying ;P (Though I run an elf wizard in my tokenless (ie, non-immunity-including) party, so, y'know. Masochism, maybe.)
