How do I beat monkeys?

After one time facing them, I can already tell it's a headache in the making. Can someone please just tell me the build/cards I need to beat them? I'm currently playing all dwarfs if that means anything...

 

Stand in a corner and whack'em till they die. Also cards that target at least one enemy as a side effect help -- bungled heal, healing burst and the like for instance. The more ducks that are wasted on those the better. Terrain is always helpful. They won't want to jump in on you if there is terrain in front of you. Hard to block attacks are useful, but I never bothered with them.

 

I figured that much, but problem is, even in a corner situation they still find a way to hit you from the back, which does 10 damage at a time, which is quite a lot. My characters die pretty fast from that.

Hmm... I probably have access to Bungles Heal, but I probably never used it because it heals enemies, too. I actually use Healing Burst.

My wizard is full of terrain, but it doesn't seem to help much as they just surround and kill me too fast. I've even tried 2 wizards, didn't help much.

My wizard uses almost nothing but hard to block attacks(sparks).

 

I was running an all dwarf team as my main group also. I had trouble with the monkeys as well. (warrior/priest/wiz)


My solution was stacking this



then make them use all their movement to get to you then lay down loads of lava. On top of that high damage attack cards, and make sure to hit from behind.

 

My all-dwarves party had a relatively easy time beating monkeys using lots of Firestorm in the deck. A helmet with War Cry would also be a good idea.

 

Oh my god these monkeys were driving me absolutely insane. My suggestions for beating them: fight with toons back to back or keep their back to a wall, a lot of monkey abilities trigger off attacking from behind, so never give them a chance. Always strike them when their back is turn towards you; This seems difficult when you don't want to move for fear it will expose your back but most of their defense are blocks and dodges which only trigger on frontal attacks. Stack difficult to block attacks like sparks so when you do have to attack from the front they have minimal chances to avoid the damage. Be patient; most the monkey power comes from cowardly attacks or ducking/pickpocketing your best attacks to use against you.

 

To be honest, the second time I did them, they were very easy.

The key is to stack lots of reliable armor: they have terrible attacks. Even a reliable hide will take 25% off the damage off his cowardly attack. Reliable mail will basically invalidate everything they have. Just get low value armor that triggers often. The 3+ 2 armor hide, reliable hide, reliable mail, and fill your deck with it. Helm, and even somewhat boots. Every character needs AT LEAST 4 armor cards. More would be even better. Don't take a ton of heals. Heals turn you to face the guy you heal. That's a problem when you are all back to back and facing outwards.

Tricky stab is a great way to feel out their blocking potential if they have no revealed block cards: it's melee, so it will trigger basically all their blocks, it's REALLY good at evading blocks, so it will usually let you know they have one without making you pay for it , and if you know they have blocks, it's range 2, so you can pop a guy in the back instead of discarding it.

For actual tactics, don't waste movement cards. They are way too fast to outrun, the key is to keep your guys together and keep them against a hard surface, and CONSTANTLY be popping move cards to turn to face. If you don't give them rear attacks they will reveal the composition of their hand by wasting all their pick pockets and cowardly attacks frontally, and then once you know what they have left, you can open up.

Help the weak is by far the best heal, simply because it's a lot of heal, and it doesn't turn you to face the guy you cast it on. Really, it's basically just a matter of making sure that you never let a monkey with an action point behind you, and then they have terrible damage, terrible armor, and block is easily dealt with simply because you can probe with one attack, save all your awesome cards until they turn their back or don't have any blocks, and then unload.

 

I just got to the monkey episode (the first one at L16, just in case there are more). I found it tough especially at the start, but in the end I only lost one scenario (the first). My party gear is below.

I mainly used my priest for healing, warrior and wizard for damage. Sometimes I was able to take advantage of Wall of Stone or Wall of Fire, but they weren't really essential. Whirlwind wasn't much use to me either.

Generally I evolved towards a strategy of finishing the turn out of contact with them (they pass a lot so you won't usually get first move). They will come to you next turn and you can get some hits in, or at least try to. I loaded my warrior with chops (up to now I've usually run with stabs, dancing cuts and such), as he will often be able to hit two of them. I had reasonable armour, wouldn't have minded a few more spikes, but I used all my tokens on weapons. The wizard took sparks, and the priest mainly loaded up on healing - this was especially useful in the scenarios where the flying monkeys try to soften you up with acorn blasts. Force Blast (and even Force Bolt and Bash) were quite useful to get the monkeys off, and if I were doing it again I'd try to pack some Telekinesis. I didn't hide in corners much, mostly taking them in the open, but difficult terrain often seemed to be helpful, despite the fact that they scamper.

Anyway, hope that helps.

Edit: I got more benefit than I expected out of fire spray. Since they pass and you are moving around to finish the turn, you can often get a few of them lined up. I particularly liked when flying monkeys with 2 HP and a burning attachment flew away to a corner of the board to die

Wart
Level 16 Dwarf Warrior

Nimble Hatchet​

Simple Axe​

Hefty Chopper​

Jerkin Of Thorns​

Oakenheart Shield​

Wyvern Hide Helmet​

Nimble Chain Boots​

Novice Ferocity​

Apprentice Slicing​

​

Znapp
Level 16 Human Wizard

Mighty Sparkping Staff​

Opal Battlestaff​

White Orb​

Malachite Orb​

The Soulstone​

Blister Stone​

Tempest Robes​

Patchwork Boots​

Thoughtful Command​

Focused Electromancy​

​

Ted
Level 16 Human Priest

Healer's Spear​

Holy Axe​

Healing Hide Armor​

Coward's Shield​

Nimble Chain Boots​

Incense Of The Nether Fog​

Onyx Healing Token​

Healing Ring​

Untrained Command​

Trained Healer​

​

 

My best strategy for monkey is to load my wizard up with Short Perplexing Ray and my warrior with War Cry. Short perplexing ray trade 1 card for 2. War Cry strips off all their block card (if possible hit one with back against you so they can't block that card). Monkey have very low drawing power (the ranged one draw only 1 per turn per character) so stripping off their card basically turn them into punching bags. Spin Around is also very nice since its' a free draw that also let you avoid being attacked from the back.

 

I (finally, after much effort and cursing) beat monkeys the old fashioned way. Lighting them on fire. I sent out 3 wizards with almost nothing but fire spells. Once they used all their move, Wall of Fire takes them down quickly. Using no melee attacks also makes half of their block cards useless.

 

I am just finishing up the last LVL 10-11 dungeon so I am not quite there yet. Hopefully this is as hard as everyone is saying because I haven't had to try very hard as of yet.

 

I think it depends on your setup and gear. I was coasting until I hit Lord Batfords manor, and then I was stumped for a bit. Definitely gets a little tougher as the game goes on, but I'm sure you'll be fine. I found the monkeys awkward but not too tough when I got there (it was mostly a question of put your backs to the wall, and wait until the monkeys are looking the other way + terrain).

 

I got through the first monkey campaign okay (took a couple of losses but I didn't have to restart). But the monkeys in the forest for some reason I found very hard and had to try about six times. (In the end I found I had been underestimating the value of Hot Spot against them.) I think it's because you start with no clear idea of which is the best way to move, and I found myself backed against a wall, which seems to work for some people but not for me.

Haven't tried Temple Of Terror yet.