So , quite a few people have expressed their strong and in my opinion unjust dislike for playing the volcano. Since i picked up playing the volc', all the high elo people started snobbing me about it, as if drawing elf maneuvers on an elf warrior or buffing a dwarf priest with savage and unholy isn't just as well nothing more than a matter of luck and card stashing ,.... Anyway , each to his own. I decided to post this build to get some feedback from other volcano loving people and most of all because i felt that after the ETTSC expansion the only other post about volcano builds , the (in)famous bless-cano , was in urgent need of an update , because of the arrival of the single most important wizzard card until now. Accelerate time. I don't think my deck needs a play guide , experienced players will get the point , noobs they will... , well ... er , just keep on lurking... ! Anyway some tips for a beter understanding: . Volcano + accelerate = 16 dmmg to anyone standing on lava at end of round . Bless + accelerate = team heals 2 and everyone draws a card . Volcano + Bless under own team + accelerate = 16 dmmg to anyone standing on lava at end of round + 2 heal to all on bless and + carddraw for anyone on bless . Volcano + Bless + Accelerate + Enemy with blind rage : you draw 3 cards , enemy gets all 8 or 16 dammge (end of round or during a round) and you get to see all the attacks the blind rage enemy carries (or not) and that enemy suffers 3 dmmge per revealed attack card ... ^^ Oh , I also want to make a dedication to my favourite MTG card , Serra Angel , which won me many games as well. I think both this cardhunter deck and Serra Angel share the same advantage that normal attack game-mechanics don't apply to them. When in MTG Serra says : 'Attacking does not cause to tap' , this would translate in cardhunt-slang into : ' Volcano does not need line of sight or positioning' . Figure it out yourself ... So yeah , all the rest is quite evident and slight variation is possible to meet the maps needs (boots , priest weapons and accelerate mage stafs can be changed to meet circumstances) , one variation for example puts a cursed radcannon on the priest and a gloomthirst to maximise draw, but in big maps like the current ones where the enemy needs at least 2 turns to get close to you , just blessX4 will provide enough draw in combination with leadership. So here it is : DoomLevel 20 Human PriestSahagun's SwordSacrificial AxeStargod's RaimentsHexagon ShieldCaptain Cedric's BootsSt Ulrich's BonesSt Ulrich's BonesSt Ulrich's BonesAdvanced FlexibilityNovice Ablution1 x Surging Shield Block1 x Able Bludgeon2 x Pressing Bash1 x Purge1 x Cushioning Armor2 x Flanking Move2 x Vulnerable1 x Strong Hack5 x Cleansing Ray2 x Sundering Strike1 x Enervating Touch1 x Triple Heals4 x Bless3 x Martyr Blessing1 x Team Walk2 x Leadership1 x Unholy Frenzy2 x Pushback Parry1 x Slowed2 x Holy PresenceKill1Level 1 Human WizardMordecai's Staff Of MagmaMordecai's Staff Of MagmaAsmod's Telekinetic ChainRunestoneRunestoneRunestoneWarp RobesCorian's BootsAdvanced FlexibilityNovice Teleportation3 x Squeamish8 x Volcano2 x Telekinesis1 x Slowed1 x Mystical Drakehide3 x Dimensional Traveller1 x Dangerous Maneuver2 x Officer's Harness4 x Flash Of Agony1 x Quick Step3 x Winds Of War1 x Force Bolt1 x Stone Spikes2 x Leadership3 x Wall Of FireKill0Level 1 Human WizardPainful FlashstaffJaguar Spirit StaffReality WarperCaustic WarperEthereal Crystal GunReality WarperWarp RobesCorian's BootsAdvanced FlexibilityElectroporter Novice1 x Perplexing Ray1 x Mystical Drakehide1 x Force Cone2 x Telekinesis2 x Subtle Parry2 x Short Perplexing Ray1 x Spark Generator1 x Spark Inductor2 x Dimensional Traveller1 x Deadly Spark1 x Dangerous Maneuver3 x Flash Of Agony1 x Acid Blast1 x Slowed1 x Quick Step2 x Firestorm2 x Officer's Harness3 x Punishing Bolt1 x Flame Spit2 x Leadership1 x Obliterating Spark4 x Accelerate Time PS: can't get the images right , here are the URL's : Priest: https://snag.gy/9wgJ2q Mage1: https://snag.gy/gD0khU Mage2: https://snag.gy/X2Pi05
How to Post a Build in Forums Here's the build from the original post: [SRC] Panacea Level 24 Human Priest Sahagun's Sword Sacrificial Axe Stargod's Raiments Hexagon Shield Captain Cedric's Boots St Ulrich's Bones St Ulrich's Bones St Ulrich's Bones Advanced Flexibility Novice Ablution 2 x Leadership 2 x Holy Presence 2 x Vulnerable 1 x Triple Heals 1 x Team Walk 1 x Strong Hack 1 x Purge 1 x Slowed 1 x Surging Shield Block 1 x Cushioning Armor 1 x Able Bludgeon 2 x Sundering Strike 1 x Unholy Frenzy 2 x Pushback Parry 3 x Martyr Blessing 5 x Cleansing Ray 4 x Bless 2 x Pressing Bash 1 x Enervating Touch 2 x Flanking Move [SRC] Nostradamus Level 24 Human Wizard Painful Flashstaff Jaguar Spirit Staff Reality Warper Caustic Warper Ethereal Crystal Gun Reality Warper Warp Robes Corian's Boots Advanced Flexibility Electroporter Novice 3 x Flash Of Agony 1 x Quick Step 4 x Accelerate Time 2 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Force Cone 1 x Deadly Spark 1 x Mystical Drakehide 2 x Subtle Parry 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 2 x Officer's Harness 1 x Spark Inductor 1 x Obliterating Spark 1 x Acid Blast 1 x Perplexing Ray 1 x Slowed 1 x Flame Spit 3 x Punishing Bolt 2 x Leadership 2 x Firestorm 2 x Short Perplexing Ray 2 x Telekinesis 1 x Spark Generator Sir Isaac Newton Level 24 Human Wizard Mordecai's Staff Of Magma Mordecai's Staff Of Magma Runestone Runestone Runestone Asmod's Telekinetic Chain Warp Robes Corian's Boots Advanced Flexibility Novice Teleportation 4 x Flash Of Agony 1 x Quick Step 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 3 x Dimensional Traveller 1 x Mystical Drakehide 2 x Telekinesis 1 x Force Bolt 1 x Slowed 2 x Officer's Harness 3 x Wall Of Fire 8 x Volcano 3 x Winds Of War 2 x Leadership 1 x Stone Spikes 3 x Squeamish
There is a reason people hate cano. Nothing should punish you for using what you're given at the start of each turn. Also, if you prefer your warriors as immovable tanks, you should be able to play it and not have two-three cards just killing it.
Pawndawan , did you just repost my build or did my subconsciousness just copy an already existing build ? :/
Here are your images. Btw would be informative if made with links of items, manual here http://forums.cardhunter.com/threads/how-to-post-a-build-in-forums.8340/ It's really just a few clicks. Thanks for sharing, i do like volcanos.
@Lucky Dice , well but admit it's an arbitrary dislike , i guess a lot of people hate ending a round next to a warrior who will start first too. Anyway about how to play the cano against warriors , just stand your ground as much as possible , try faking a retreat and leaving your blessed terrain in the open , hope they can't resist it and when they stand on it just transform in lava , bless yourself , accelerate and then cantrip + pass.... Oh yeah and make sure the accelerate mage is martyr blessed , use him as to lure enemies so if he gets hit you get more chances of drawing accelerate or maybe even a good spark to finish of those BBQ enemies ^^
Just a helpful repost, some readers find the wiki formatting more helpful. Some questions / thoughts about your build: Would you use more legendary warpers (Reality Warper, Flame Warper) if you had those, or do you find the cards from Caustic Warper & Ethereal Crystal Gun useful? What about more Asmod's or other tokenless (control) items to free up a token for Focused Teleportation? What about changing warp wizard's staves (eg. Staff Of Chask) to free up a token for Focused Teleportation? Not sure about Corian's Boots. Quick Step gets you priority for Accelerate Time and you can Leadership away Officer's Harness, but I might still prefer Mouse Boots.
I think caustic is good because it gives one acid for those irritating people wearing resistant hide , also ehereal crystal gun same deal , it gives you a card at range 8 to either test if enemy has defender blocks , remove armor or just keep the bluff going on without enemy considering to save move cards.... So to answer your question , yes i would change maybe to 2x Caustic if i had 2 , for better armor removal but i have to admit i kinda like it this way as well. Then reality warper is absolutly a must for this build , all the other accelerate time items just don't provide enough personal security for the mage carrying them, so yeah if i would have the items i would experiment with either a 4 X reality warper or a 2 X reality warper + 2 X caustic warper build .... Focused teleportation i would have considered it , before the last meta-changes dimensional traveller was a big part of this build , now after current changes my priest tends to remove those traits so i would rather not spend an axtra power token on them. All the more because the more i remove those traits the quicker they are back in the card stock again and the faster i can cycle cards... I experimented a lot with staf of chask (even double) in this build and it is indeed a good alternative but i think the painfull flashstaf gives more kick and also since i use that mage as bait as well i would rather minimise the chances of him being slowed when he needs to run away. Also when using chask (i have an other build with both mages 1 mordocai and each one 1 chask) you are limited to hitting hard in the beginning of the round , i'd rather stay in the safe zone all round and only come out of in into enemy line of sight to either do significant dammage or kill. About boot alternatives : currents maps are so big i think it's better to have the two officer harnasses + leadership combo , otherwise you can either put one of this boots on wizz: http://wiki.cardhuntria.com/wiki/Items/Garalem's_Boots or http://wiki.cardhuntria.com/wiki/Items/Lt._Buckwell's_Boots or Pergop's slippers on the priest and change his armor in Bendolths also for cycling. About the extra asmod , i considered it , but i'd rather give up a runestone for a ring of teleportation , but then i came to the conclusion that this maps need as much range 8 or non targeting attacks as possible so i can force the enemy to keep moving to avoid the lava, so yeah runestone is a bit of a necessity. Would love to change that asmods in a ring of control tough... ^^ PS : i realise as well that posting builds seriously dammages their usability (for a while) but then again i think it's good because it shows the less experienced what they might face and it forces the more experienced deck builders to abandon builds because people know how to counter them.
You might be able to ratchet up the damage by putting, for example, Igneous Scorchstaff x2 on the AT wizard. This would allow token for something like Focused Pyromancy, which would make those fire attacks super deadly with the AT. You could also try a Hot Flames skill to have a damage source that is not bothered by armor save Resistant Hide. If you want to keep tokens where they are, Sabo's Flamespit Staff and an Overheated Staff might work well, as well. Also, you could try Yellowdrake Robes a tokenless robe alternative. It gives you a Resistant Hide yourself, allowing you to just stand on Volcano, not allowing the other side to pass to force a move or bless. Brain Burn is nowhere near as bad as people think, although I suppose it might cause some damage in your build. However, it might be something to keep in mind. Lastly, if you want decent blocks for a wizard at the double minor cost, Oaken Staff Of The Magus is your friend. Good luck out there.
@gulo gulo , the fact is i don't want to come that close to an enemy (i'd rather stay at range 8 as long as possible , retreating to range 6 first and then to 4 ) , maybe when maps change to smaller format again i would consider changing the mage to a fire mage for now i find it perfect to use flash of agony or even the firestorm for when i can bless+ accelerate afterwards i do 4 dammge but only 2 to myself (+ might remove firestorm trait by activating the priest trait) , plus i draw 3 cards and most importantly i don't need line of sight for the firestorm + i don't have range limitations due to the big amount of flash of agony i draw. So also that's why would also not use Sabo's (range 5 is too close to be safe). I have considered Oaken staff of the magus as well , but i don't like my attacks being limited by range 6 (for this map rotation) , also about the blocks. They don't need to only block , they need to be usefull as well , staf of chask would be useful here because elfs are the bigest problem of this build so the pushback parry is good for obvious reasons, i use the jaguar staff for the same reason , most enemys who will still have move cards after being forced to use their racial move cards will have step attacks , a lot of those step attacks are 4dmmge , so instead of being able to push them back on the lava with the subtle parry i have an extra chance of drawing while at the same time emptying my enemies hand. I think the fire+accelerate build you refer to would need a specific build of its own without the volcano's with a lot of burning glob with whiteflame etc. ( i would also switch to Flame Warper for that kind of build)
Oke people , thanks everyone for their idea's and feedback , more feedback or ideas for varieties on this deck are always welcome. To be completly honest , the most frustrating part is that i havent found a way to combine: Mordocai , Bless , Cursed Radcannon, Savage Curse , Accelerate time, Radioactive Spray and Leadership cycling (yet ^^) . That would be my ultimate accelerate build , the problem is i think you have to have the 2 minor Volcano staff , to keep majors for accelerate , wich i can't cause i don't have that staff. So sad ^^
Yes. What this game needs is minor token AT item (eg. Anxious Warper: lvl 15 , Epic: Accelerate Time, Telekinesis, Squeamish) and/or good minor token Volcano staff (eg. Mordecai's Staff of M*rde: lvl 13 , Legendary: 3x Volcano, 2x Flash Of Agony, Force Bolt).
I've found that Leader-accel-bless-cano, if it's your primary form of offence, is underwhelming in practice. Team movement is so common and sometimes you just can't get lava on the opponent (Dimensional Traveler and Hover, which are extremely common in wizard metas). It's better as an intermediate, surprise tactic that can win you the game.
I see a lot of volcano decks and rarely loss to it, they are more annoying than anything. Un this meta are worse due a lot of wizard teams and bless priest, its more like trowing a coin.
Updated version , thx to gullo gullo , this deck used to be 1450-1500 now it seems 1500-1600 range , even if it will probably drop to 1400 if maps change ... Doom Level 20 Human Priest Sacrificial Axe Sacrificial Axe Untouchable Plate Aegis Of The Defender Captain Cedric's Boots St Ulrich's Bones St Ulrich's Bones St Ulrich's Bones Advanced Flexibility Advanced Cleansing 2 x Leadership 4 x Vulnerable 1 x Slowed 3 x Cleansing Ray 1 x Healing Rays 3 x Martyr Blessing 3 x Bless 2 x Strong Hack 4 x Pressing Bash 2 x Triple Heals 2 x Flanking Move 1 x Holy Armor 2 x Arrogant Armor 1 x Purge 1 x Weak Chop 1 x Holy Presence 2 x Defender's Block 1 x Team Walk Kill3r Level 1 Human Wizard Mordecai's Staff Of Magma Mordecai's Staff Of Magma Asmod's Telekinetic Chain Runestone Runestone Phantom Pain Warp Robes Goat Boots Advanced Flexibility Novice Teleportation 1 x Mystical Drakehide 2 x Squeamish 1 x Stone Spikes 1 x Weakened Armor 4 x Flash Of Agony 2 x Illusory Barrier 1 x Force Bolt 1 x Immovable 1 x Slowed 1 x Path Of Knives 2 x Dangerous Maneuver 3 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Leadership 8 x Volcano 2 x Winds Of War 2 x Telekinesis 2 x Wall Of Fire Killer Level 1 Human Wizard Jaguar Spirit Staff Igneous Scorchstaff Flame Warper Reality Warper Ethereal Crystal Gun Reality Warper Warp Robes Goat Boots Advanced Flexibility Focused Teleportation 2 x Leadership 1 x Perplexing Ray 1 x Deadly Spark 3 x Firestorm 2 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Punishing Bolt 1 x Immovable 1 x Weakened Armor 2 x Subtle Parry 1 x Combustible 4 x Dimensional Traveller 2 x Glob Of Flame 2 x Instant Burn 1 x Mystical Drakehide 2 x Short Perplexing Ray 2 x Telekinesis 1 x Slowed 4 x Accelerate Time 3 x Flame Spit
Volcano is just one of those cards that annoys people (like nimbus or fireball). Often an opponent passes and you think you can get away with playing one more move card then BAM! all your characters are standing on lava. That's one of the reasons it's snubbed by top players. The other is that is sucks. Volcano is incredibly easy to play around. with accelerate time you can do a lot of damage in a short time but it is so easy to spot a volcano build (don't make the mistake of playing Focused Teleportation - it's a dead giveaway) that you'll rarely get the full impact of it and less likely to get to use it twice in a battle. For this reason, I side with @Deepweed. Use it as a surprise but don't build a deck around it if you want to be a top player. Otherwise, I commend you on a focused build. Punishing bolt works really well with volcano - you've got a card you want to play at the beginning of a turn and one you want to play towards the end.
For my point of view, bless-cano its more effectism than efective. I agree its more a support tactic and its becomes better with just a few copies that can be used to punish the careless of the opponent.
Some top players have been playing for example randomly a Smoking Pistol, just to have an unexpected copy of Volcano and also Smoke Bomb.
The thing is there's not a lot of tactics involved actually , just pass , save volcano's , save accelerates , save bless , wait for leadership and play the volc from the moment you have 2+ volc's or when enemy can't probably move anymore, and if you have bless accele just use it to heal a bit and draw more volcano's. Also a good tactic to deceive enemy you suspect to have bless is to play one volc , let him move , than bless yourself , he/she will interpret this as a 'it's-safe-now-to-bless-myself' clue , he blesses and than you volc him again. Anyway , all you are saying about volc being inferior is actualy true , EXCEPT on this maps. I mean no warrior has blitzed me until now, i can just use the first 2 rounds to draw and stack my cards , specialy on that horrible red map with the long corridors. Fact is also a lot of warrior builds get greedy when they see a 2 wiz , 1 priest party with each 1 card , so they blitz , too bad that it can still be volc/acc/bless ANyway , i expect this build to go down to 1350 when maps become more warrior friendly again.
