@imMara: The first order of strategy on any fight with victory tiles is to rush the tiles. This may be easier or harder depending on your movement, so wearing the right boots will help. Card Hunter is all about accessorizing the outfit. It's also easier if you have at least one Warrior, as they are typically more able to soak up the damage they take on the way. The next order of business is to get the Kobold Avengers out of your path. Bring attacks that will either kill Kobolds quickly or knock them away from your character. In my recent plays I have used the 8- and 6-point versions of [Adjective] Bludgeon along with Strong Zaps and Sorcerous Bolts, and even Bad Medicine for sheer damage. On the Kobold-moving side there are options such as Simple Bash, Force Bolt, Maze, and Telekinesis. My first time I had good results with a multi-target build involving lots of Chop and Fire Spray, which also work wonders against the mobs in the other battles. Whatever you take, try to pick up a skill item that complements your attacks. Those trait cards make a huge difference. Pay attention to your lines of movement. If you can't get any Free Move (and I don't have any, so you won't be alone) then the Kobolds will exert their zone of control to stop you. Look to see if there is one particular Kobold you can eliminate/push in order to use your full movement toward the victory tiles. The Kobolds also have an attack that pushes you around, so don't be afraid to change direction when the geometry of the battle changes. Remember, you only need one character on a tile to "contest" the victory and halt their progress. In my personal experience, I like to get started by moving my Elf Warrior as far forward as Dash will take her. Then I watch how the battle progresses based on the above advice. Always try to maximize movement for each character; it doesn't matter which of them makes it. It's harder to maneuver if you're in the middle of the chamber and surrounded than when you're toward an edge with just one ZoC to clear. A couple of Kobolds will immediately occupy the victory area, but Gary often moves them off to reinforce the others as I harass him, so there should be opportunities to get on. Edit: Healing can help too, although it's less important than the other stuff. But knocking out one of your characters is a lot of VPs for them, so staying healthy is part of prolonging the battle 'til you get to the door.
Something else, to both people talking about Victory Squares, do not forget about either Wall of Fire, Acid Spray, or even Rockfall if ya have it. When there is a map that has a Victory Location it is much easier to catch them with these traps because you can use it to either pressure them off the squares for the whole duration (2 to 3 turns depending which you use), or just kill them if they are crazy enough to continue standing on top of it. There is also Wall of Stone that you can just block them off of it (Though I don't have it yet heh), and that has a duration of two as well. Though keep in mind each has a different damage/effect type. So something like rockfall might be better for units chasing you, while fire is just good for killing quickly. Though now that I look even at max level for Diamonds you only have 2 ability points. So might not be able to equip any when you first get there.
Alright I cast Resurrect on this Thread lol. First, since there is some new stuff to try, I have kinda changed up my party, and I am thinking it might help on victory points. At least make things a little easier.. The trick is three things, each kinda works individually except one that works with all the rest. This is going off a Fighter/Cleric/Mage party since that is what I am using. But it does require some skill points since some require them. Mainly the Priest and the Mage, the fighter has a few low level items that do all that he needs, if your willing to take a negative or two. Keep in mind this is under level 15.. I am sure Frost would help after that point.. But I am only lvl 14.. so no luck on that yet. First the Mage.. for the mage I added Stone Wall, Wall Of Illusion, and Maze Of Mind. The walls are really the only important part, as they will keep guys from going the way they want, and you might be able to block them off from the Victory Points before they can get there. It also blocks line of sight (Though you can still attack through wall of illusion the duration is only 1 unlike the Stone Wall which is 3). This also works well with traps if you can block'em in there then just fill the area with something like Lava, or something on those lines. Maze of Mind is extra also I just kinda threw it in there so if they tried to walk back into the Victory Point while I didn't have it blocked off, I can turn them around and walk them the other way. Currently I have 3 Stone, and only 1 Illusion, and fill the rest with Wall of Fire, Path of Knives, and Rockfall (another way of slowing them down) Now the Priest.. the priest I use as mainly support. I try to give my guys positive buffs, and them negative. I start with Word Of God this card is awesome, but it has a Duration of 1 (But we will get to that), I also have things like Mass Frenzy and Unholy Wellspring, but the point is just to have some buffs to put on your people. The next thing you need to get is Time Snap (Note Extend does the same thing, but for single target, so it is not a bad one to have either). Your going to want a couple of these if you can, because it is kinda the point behind most of his buffs. What Time Snap is going to do is rise the duration of all the attached cards, on everyone by 2. So that Word of God.. now has a duration of 3. I mentioned this in a bug, so I don't know if the card is wrong, or the effect is.. But this is how it works for now, and it works well. It also helps to have a few good attacks with those buffs (the ones I have are Raging Strike and Violent Strike.. but that is just per the item I think). Also keep in mind that things like Bad Luck or other negative attached cards on them are also Extended. So you want to try to have as much on them and yourself as you can before you extend it (Unless you have to.. to keep something for a little longer of course) Finally the fighter.. The card you are looking for is Pinning Spear Toss this will lock them in place for 2 turns. Now keep in mind they can still attack, but if you out range them, or your just racing them to the Victory Point.. this is not a big deal. The extend would also work on this, so if you need to keep them in place for even longer you can do that too. I have two weapons both with this card, and then on the third I just grab something that does damage at a range of 2. They seem to come by frequently enough, and it seems to always help. It is still luck based by which cards you get, but nothing can be done about that unless you can start stacking them like crazy. I didn't go over any defenses I use cause they change per what I am fighting, and I am sure everyone does this a little differently. Also, shoes I really like the ones with Muscle Through, and Charge on them as when they move off my traps I can Muscle Through them right back on, and Charge will get me into the fight faster, and do a little damage on top of that. Keep in mind this is just what I use.. I find if I can control their movement I can keep them off what I need to hold, and hurt them without even having to run at times (All Elf Party heh..). Also anything with "Free Move" is really really useful.. I hate those War Monkeys.. they are just Evil lol.
Don't get me wrong I like the fighter and the mage, there are a lot of choices of what you could do, and how you can mix attacks/Spells. But really other then maybe draws (kinda inconsistent results make it meh) I really don't see what else to do with a Cleric.
Well think of it this way, you can't target people inside of a smoke bomb, but your AOE effects do not target people you just point them in a direction. The smoke does not interfere with it at all. Also if you really wanted you can replace one Title Effect with another (For example Smoke with Lava) if you needed. So there are a few ways that it could be used.
Ya know someone else asked about the "Diamonds of the Kobolds Adventure", so I took my all Dwarf Fighter party, and decided to find an "Easier" way of beating this dungeon... This is what I came up with (Keep in mind this is with level 8 people (Level Limit) so it might be more then ya have, but the idea should carry even at lower levels.. Dopey Level 10 Dwarf Warrior Clumsy GreataxeBlazing ShortswordBlazing ShortswordRusty Spiked MailDueler's BucklerShifty Skin HatDisintegrating BootsSly ResilienceChopping Grumpy Level 10 Dwarf Warrior Clumsy GreataxeCleaverCumbersome AxeShoulderspike MailDueler's BucklerWimp's Winged HelmPerilous BootsSly ResilienceChopping Sleepy Level 10 Dwarf Warrior Hefty ChopperCleaverCleaverShoulderspike MailDueler's BucklerRusty Spiked HelmetRotting Leather BootsAggressionChopping The trick is as many chops as you can possible get (I actually ran out with the first guy heh).. The first stage you just need to setup in the little 2 wide area at the bottom, and wait till there are 2 together, and Chop! Try to do the same on the second level, walk towards the way-point, and when they block you... Chop! They should be dead before the dogs get over there, and you can just kill them, or move to the VP. The third stage has (3 I think) guys with spears. If you trick them to walking past the tough terrain you can just run up on them.. and guess what comes next... Chop! lol Keep in mind two things though.. always lead with the weaker chop. If your lucky you can make them use two dodges (Attacking the same group) and then leave none for later. Also keep in mind there is one chop that if dodged makes you discard your oldest card.. Be careful with that one since they dodge attacks a lot. Edit: This also works on "The White Star" the map that comes right after this one.
If you can, you should always pack a few Wall Of Illusion on a wizard(if you bring at least one), it's the one power card I suspect is most overlooked in the game. If you keep your group bunched up, Wall Of Illusion will protect you from everything except target-all attacks(like Firestorm), because if you put all three squares of it on your own characters, then those characters cannot be targeted by the enemy, and cannot be hit by AoE attacks either(yes, Wall Of Illusion squares will be exempt by AoEs, even your own, you can point blank Fireball in complete safety, the exception being fixed AoEs such as Sweep attacks used by Ogres, but note that it's 100% protection from Burst AoE and that Gary will not play cones against you if you're hidden under it). It's a hard counter to everything Gary can throw at you(except sweeps), complete protection for one round of combat, which can be prolonged with Time Snap(which is no longer buggy, correctly gives +1 duration, not +2, still good though). Smoke Bomb is a viable alternative, but it can make your own targeting difficult, and makes your priest unable to target the other teammembers to heal them, it lasts 2 turns however. Of course Wall Of Illusion does not suffer from this problem, you can happily target anywhere you like because you can see through the Wall Of Illusion, it only blocks your enemies' line of sight. There is however one thing that Smoke Bomb is better for than Wall Of Illusion, aside from lasting two turns, and that is for attacks that target all characters you can see, such as Flash Of Pain, because you can use it to hide your own characters from the caster.
Cool didn't know that about illusion walls sadly the 1 turn duration kills it for me but still nice find
I'd actually rate Wall Of Illusion slightly above Impenetrable Nimbus as far as protection goes, because it can protect your entire team at once, though it's not quite as complete protection(though a plus is that the enemy cannot debuff you if they can't target you), the reason it's only slightly above, is that Impenetrable Nimbus allows you to move and keep protection, and will make Gary uselessly waste attacks on your invulnerable character.
I haven't been able to afford any items with Wall of Illusion yet, but Smoke Bomb is a must-bring on every map until I get the upgrade. Immunity to AoE sounds like a bug though, I don't remember the card saying anything about that. Edit: Let me put it this way: when advancing to level seven and I have only one talent to spend, my warrior and priest get an upgrade to shield for better blocks. My wizard gets Horn Of Smoke for the same reason.
I think it's because of the part where enemies may not sight through, and yes that's possibly a bug(at least that your own AoEs are stoped by it). But it may be intentional, as enemies with AoEs could completely ignore it otherwise. Especially those pesky trees with their AoE acorn attacks.
They can't sight through Smoke either, that doesn't stop them from using cones. @Wozarg, Even without Time Snap, 1 duration is not all that bad. It's a defense, and even one turn gives you time to play out your hand or recover from a bad draw.
Most definitely doesn't turn bad because it is just 1 turn. The thing is i don't use cards like this generally because i consider it cheating. Its either a bug or clever use of game mechanics i know so don't think I'm calling people cheaters its just not something i personally would do unless i had to. That is where my problem with the 1 turn duration comes in because if i have to use it that means really hard challenge and if mobs cant see you they will just pass making sure they get the first turn as soon as it dissipates.
It's hardly cheating, btw there's a way to get first turn after as well, after you've used up all your cards you want to use, have one of your characters step out behind the wall, so the wall blocks line of sight to him for enemies, suddenly enemies start moving again. He doesn't get full protection, but it's often good enough, if your positioning is good.
Well like i said i consider it cheap and cheating and that's just my opinion( this doesn't apply outside of pve feel free to stomp me with this in pvp and I'll happily take it ). Also i have to say good luck with that strategy on any relevant map you will lose or at least gamble on the loss just by doing that.
often when I'm fighting an enemy that can attack me from a few squares away by using melee,(once i figure it out) I'm forced to use more bad medicine's and use Apprentice Electromancry along with my Zap filled deck,to pick enemies off,i need more long ranged attacks that can hit from the end of the map like Spark,also having a lot of armor card's is a necessity,i often don't have to worry about movement cards because all i have are dashes and runs,but often i like to let my enemies come to me unless i get a chop,i wait for a cluster of enemies and use Slicer if i have it and just wail away
So far when enemy outnumbers You best tactics is to find a narrow passage like Spartans in melee fight and if couple of enemy is in front of You wait for chop card to hit them hard.
