The Daily Deal

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaack. It's nice to see the others take up the Daily Deal mantle in my absence. I used to spend an inordinate amount of time on reviews so for my own sanity I'm not going to start again. I will try to update my old thread every once in a while to maybe get it done one of these days. I'm having a little trouble posting there at the moment so I think it's locked but I'll try to sort it out. Anyways, good to be back. Hope I'm not too rusty.

 

You're very welcome back, peonprop! $:^ ] And thanks for inspiring others to review stuff, too!

 

Clovidian's Mail

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Clovidian's Mail
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Players
Clovidian's Mail is the best Reliable Mail heavy armor for a minor token but it has two things going against it that make it an awful buy. There are 3 epic heavy armors that also have double Reliable Mail. The only advantage of using Clovidian's Mail over the second best ones is a whopping 2 whole hp you get from discarding Toughened Hide Strips. The more nuanced reason is that heavy armor is one of the most popular item slots to go tokenless with, the most prominent ones being Perilous Ringmail and Spiked Tlahuiztli with Dependable Mail being respectable as well. The default method of distributing tokens for a warrior is 2 tokens on martial skill and boots for Team Runs and most likely 6 tokens on weapons. If you do use a single token or tokenless weapon (more than one will make your warrior wimpy) the next two slots that usually get attention are shield and racial skill. Both these slots offer unique card advantage options like Defender's Block, Toughness, Dash, Team!, and Elvish Scamper. Reliable Mail does a respectable job in competing with these cards against wizards but big melee attacks can essentially blank them. If you do decide to upgrade your heavy armor slot just get one of the epic options. You can also consider using a major token for Rolf's Reliable Platemail. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
What's that Randimar, your Toughened Hide Strips will heal me 2 hp if I fork over 2000 extra gold? I have a better idea, why don't you show me that True Mail off the clearance rack? Would not purchase.

Previously reviewed by @peonprop
Unlike some of the other peonprop reviews that I have posted this one has dated a bit as new items have come out. I would also caution that the recommendations inside are just one way to build a warrior, and many other builds are possible. I have personally used tokens in every slot for a warrior.

So, to update the review a bit: Monstrous Hide is the card that really dates this review, with the premier tokenless item being Snarlcub Hide, and the best minor token being Werewolf Hide. It is difficult to compare reliable mail and monstrous hide - less armor for reliable mail, more for monstrous hide, but with a total weakness for silver attacks, while rare are still present in the meta. I probably come down on the side of the hide but you can go either way. As peon noted it is rare to invest in armor as there are so many tokenless alternatives out there, and if you do, it is most likely for a frenzy alternative: Cuirass Of Froth or Bronzebottom Cuirass.
The substitution stuff is all very current - check out my reviews of the past two days! and the monstrous hide alternatives...
I have 2 of these and barely used them, would not purchase.

Epics:
Bloody Bracelet
Wall Of Fire and Path Of Knives are just a bit underwhelming for MP, however well they fit together. Has some SP potential though

Naradoc's Boots
Decent boots - the Immovable and Flanking Move might work for a range 2 warrior in a wizard friendly rotation. There are probably some better boots out there though

Spiked Shield
I have always been underwhelmed by Surging Shield Block the 50% hit rate is a bit of a turn off for me, but others are fans. It is definitely not worth giving up a block for a weak Lunging Thrust though...

Notable rares:
Packleader's Boots
Solid boots boot for a warrior (or vamp)

 

Glasod's Dark Thighbone

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Glasod's Dark Thighbone
Multiplayer
Soothing Darkness is poop. Spear Of Darkness is fine. Savage Curse, now this is. a tricky one. First of all, Savage Curse is traditionally used to buff wizards. Wizards tend to have the least amount of armor and blocks so emptying a full hand is not nearly as painful. Also, Mass Frenzy buffs whole melee character parties almost as well with no downside. It can really suck when your two oldest cards are also your strongest attacks but turning every other card into 4 extra damage can be well worth it. If you happen to only have one card in hand the buff is free for that last card. Just be sure to have a plan to protect your cursed character as it will be a sitting duck once the attacks are unloaded.

Singleplayer
In a lot of modules you are free to wail away at the enemies since AI movement becomes predictable after a while. This makes Savage Curse a great way to boost damage. Mass Frenzy is still superior for warriors and priests so you'll likely want it for wizards. Might I suggest combining Savage Curse with Firestorm? Mmmmm, 8 point Firestorms.

Peon's prescription for prodigious players- Would not purchase Glasod's Dark Thighbone. You want the paper quality Savage Curse but you're paying for the golden turd in Soothing Darkness. There are many other items with Savage Curse with better cards. Ideally, you'll want to look out for Skull Of Savage Iljin for extra savagery. If Savage Curse's discard clause is too savage then you may want to look into Unholy Wellspring items. They tend to be grouped with some less than desirable cards though due to the jump in card quality.

Substitutes
Dworia's Soulstone (E) , Black Token (R) , Savage Tome (E)

Previously reviewed by @peonprop
Assuming they don't mind, I will continue to link to Peonprop's and Gingrich's reviews when it makes sense. (always crediting them ofc ) For several reasons: they are probably cleverer than me, and it saves time on these reviews! Where necessary like today, I will try and update them with the latest opinions as some are a bit old. As always alternate views are encouraged and welcome - I make no claims to be "The Knowledge" on all things cardhunter.

So for Glasod's Dark Thighbone.... The Peonprop review was written before the balance changes two (three???) years ago. Savage Curse got a pretty hard nerf down from add 4 damage plus discard to frenzy 3 plus discard. This really pushed it out of all playability for most builds. It probably sees more use as an actual curse on opposition warriors these days to force a discard. I am not as down on Soothing Darkness as Peonprop, but it certainly has its limitations. So, that being said, do you want this item? probably not... as it is a mish mash of different cards that might have some use in their own right, but don't really add up to anything coherent, unlike most of the best legendaries.
I have 3, never used it, would not purchase...

Epics:
Charring Staff
Not a bad staff when you look at the cards by themselves - it is just that you're better saving for one of the legendary ones (Barnum's Staff/Staff Of Embers). It is also easy to get lots of Wall Of Fire on arcane items

Dworia's Soulstone
See above for Savage Curse discussion. This is a bit unfocused as well and I have better priorities for my divine items.

Solid Iron Helmet
There is no denying that Reliable Mail is still relevant, but i tend to have other priorities for this slot as well - especially if I am spending a token, and there are lots of good tokenless helmets. Good for SP though

Notable rares:
Nuclear Pistol
A relatively easy source of Volcano until you build up a bigger collection. Just enter some of the Sky Citadel leagues. Not a bad SP item either

Vampire's Blade
Great vamp item... if you can stand the Loners, you get 2 of the best, and 2 reasonable vamp attacks, all for tokenless. Sees a lot of play

 

My Campaign viewpoint:

True, but if you want a max load, you'll need some from a staff. Charring Staff used to be the only source, but the introduction of Perimeter Staff has raised the Extreme Build limit from 12 to 14 at 18th level. If you need more Wall Of Fire on a level where you only have one major token, consider this staff. Unlikely, but possible.

If you lack enough Mordecai's Staff Of Magma to dual-wield on your wizards, but have some Wym's Lavastaffs lying around, I highly recommend Nuclear Pistols. The Dual Laser Beacons make very comfy footstools, especially if you're nose-to-nose with War Monkeys.

 

Well poop, I'm going to have to redo dozens of Savage Curse items. I was wondering why I hadn't seen a single burst wizard since I came back.

 

And I was wondering why I'd seen you still burffting with Iljin since you'd come back. $E^ D $E^ D lol

 

You still see a little bit of burft around but it is focused on Unholy Wellspring and Arcane Aura as you suggested in the other thread. More prevalent in some of the wizard focused leagues also e.g. central processing, roll out the barrels etc.

 

True Silver
No previous reviews for this one so I'm flying solo.
Silver attacks were added to the game with the Castle Mittenacht expansion.... And this is one of the premier staffs that contain them. Silver is a very viable option in ranked - mainly because people are very willing to run multiple items with Creature Of The Night (Vollmond Boots and the like) so it will come up in most games that you see. This will boost you Silver Bolts up to 9 damage. If you want to risk a squishy elf wizard and Fey Silversmith that is another 2. That is damage potential that has to be respected and will also go straight threw the popular Monstrous Hide. True silver also contains 5 silver bolts, which is 2 more than the next most item - which is a significant step up. So alternatives are short supply - You can focus on Inquisition Bolt, but you need legendaries for that too like Silver Justice and Silver Lightning. But when I played around with this, I decided that more consistent damage from Silver bolt was more valuable than the hand reveal and hit to forms. My effort is below.... you can do what you want with the other tokens - but as this was for a relatively wizard heavy map rotation, so I went for the barriers as priority.
I bought one and got one in a chest, If you want to play around with silver wizards, I would recommend purchasing.

Spoiler: Silver Elf Wiz

Kuru Qan
Level 10 Elf Wizard

True Silver
True Silver
Phantom Pain
Phantom Pain
Pipes Of Hamelin
Asmod's Telekinetic Chain
Cape Of Dark Magic
Mouse Boots
Dainty Silversmith
Novice Teleportation

1 x Stone Spikes
1 x Spell Skill
1 x Traveling Curse
2 x Inquisition Bolt
2 x Dimensional Traveller
1 x Sparkling Cloth Armor
2 x Telekinesis
4 x Illusory Barrier
1 x Cautious Sneak
2 x Path Of Knives
10 x Silver Bolt
2 x Flanking Move
2 x Fey Silversmith
1 x Skip
1 x Force Bolt
2 x Hypnotic Beacon
1 x Hover
​

Epics:
Corian's Boots
I have really gone off Officer's Harness recently - the armor is practically worthless, and all it is just bait for a Punishing Bolt. Only real use is for a Wild Run discard. You rarely see Quick Step and this is because it is very poorly itemized - can you believe there is no item that has more that one copy!? Another problem, is that positioning has to be just right for it to work well, so no one is pushing for more.

Starsaint's Manipulator
There are better ways to get the top card Healing Rays, notably Creepy Box. Genetic Engineering is too hit or miss to build for.

Xander's Boots
Great boot for a wizard - if you can find a spare major token - which tend to be in high demand on a wizard. You can also get Ulalia's Boots for a minor.

Notable rares:
Incense Of Roiled Air
Fine Mass Frenzy divine item combined with a nice bit of draw.

Packleader's Boots
Solid warrior (and maybe vamp) boots

Viridian Dragoncloak
Another great Aloyzo item! doing these reviews have made me realize how many there are. This one completely fills the point of the contest - fill an interesting niche, and is playable without overpowering anything. This contains 3 useful cards that are always in play.

 

True Silver is an absolute must buy, insanely high damage outdamaging even most double major token staves, let alone major minor ones. You don't even need Fey Silversmith for it to be powerful, stick it on any old wizard and it will work just fine. Add that to the fact that it does well against werewolves which wizards typically struggle against due to their innate armor and you have arguably one of the best staves in the game.

 

I passed on True Silver this time, because I can't figure out how to use a seventh.

 

Sorry for the late post - I was shivering in bed... Feeling a lot better now thanks (I love the part where I skip over anyone asking)

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

St. Alipp's Hammer
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Mass Frenzy on a tokenless divine weapon is great. Everything else is pretty meh. You won't find cleansing effects on weapons of the same cost but you generally don't want them either. Without targets to Cleansing Ray, you are stuck with a Minor Heal that can't be used for block checking. For most builds, all you really want is that Mass Frenzy in which case St. Amarack's Cudgel fits better. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Mass Frenzy in the lower levels is huge but not worth the legendary price tag. Slap on 3 Shuddering Relics and any old weapon with big attacks and go to town. If you simply must have that 4th or 5th Mass Frenzy I would again go for the piggy bank friendly option of St. Amarack's Cudgel. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
St. Amarack's Cudgel (E)

Previously reviewed by @peonprop

St. Alipp's Hammer
If you choose this one, you most likely want the tokenless Mass Frenzy and Cleansing Ray. The Able Bludgeons are better than Bludgeon and that is about all you can say about them. Unfortunately the able bludgeons make this very hard to play in ranked MP. If you are looking to save tokens on a divine weapon - most people will pick something will traits to shrink you deck like: Vampire's Blade, Sacrificial Axe, or Flail Of Fury. If damage is what you want, it is: Dark Drewg's Mace or St. Portia's Maul. St. Amarack's Cudgel also has the mass frenzy and better healing...
Where I have used this item, is in death march, where it was a solid part of one of my builds: http://forums.cardhunter.com/threads/death-march-build.11020/ . I guess it would also be good for some of the SP geomancer adventures
I have 2, never bought one, and only used it in niche builds like the above. So I would not recommend purchasing...

Epics:
Reckless Warp Boots
Warp Run is an overcosted purge (albeit unblockable) and Rocket Dash is too inconsistent for me. I have seen some people use rocket dash in the flying leagues but then I would use Rocket Boots for some more consistent inconsistencies.

Savage Tome
Ok for a minor if you like Unholy Energy and want to add some damage with Touch Of Death, and if you can manage the Savage Curse. A lot of "if"s really....

St. Bethan's Charm
Decent item, if you want to add a bit of healing and Mass Frenzy together. It is worth noting that you don't need line of sight to use any of the heals on this one. I have used it from time to time.

Notable Rares...
Not many today - maybe Blinding Blade would fit in a Volcano deck?

 

But one of only two purge options for wizards (along with Antimagic Skin) and a decent counter to Invisible. One of my ideas for this AA was a cross between Firestorm and Purging Burst.

Of course, if you do want Warp Run, you'd probably rather have Shielding Warp Boots.

 

nice

 

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Wellington's Shield
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Wellington's Shield is pretty good when you consider how crappy most minor token shields are. Whether or not the secondary effects of Disorienting Block and Icy Block are worth a minor token is debatable. Personally, I've never considered running Wellington's Shield over Parrying Buckler or Ichabod's Buckler. While I wouldn't recommend purchasing it, I will say that Disorienting Block has huge blowout potential and if you think you will get use out of Wellington's Shield it could be worth picking up.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Don't buy legendary shields. Ever. Some of the best shields are lower rarity with melee or magic and projectile only blocks. You would be a April Fool to bust the piggy bank for an expensive all purpose blocking shield. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Acrobat's Aegis (R) , Jaguar Buckler (E)

Previously reviewed by @peonprop

Wellington's Shield
If you want three block anything cards on a shield this would be right up there with my choices - but you have to have to have a use for the plus cards on there: the Icy Block and Disorienting Block. It is also pretty rare that you want to go for block anything.... the card draw from Parrying Buckler is so strong. As you can tell from my death march build (see yesterday) I used it there to stop wizards so I could see it being used for that.
I have 2, used it for niche builds, would not recommend buying as there are plenty of substitutes

Epics
Mathiam's Helm
Sprint, Team! for a minor but you have to put up two less than stellar cards. Try Forrtescue's Feathered Cap, Wenham's Leather Coif or Lantern Helm

Spiritastrophe
Fun Aloyzo item - but a bit unfocused for serious use

Staff Of Immolation
Not bad for double minor token, but look for the legendary Ember Burst staffs instead

Notable rares:
Ironwood Staff Of The Magus
Battle mage staff so good it inspired a cult, shame about the two low damage bolts

Kolt 45
Only was to get Ember Burst on a arcane item

Sub-zero Staff
A bit top heavy with 2x Freeze, but playable

Nightsucker's Goblet
Decent tokenless vamp item with a trait

 

I 100% disagree. $:^ J This is the #1 staff I recommend vs. Radioactive, Adaptable adventures.

 

Good Point! hadn't considered that before...

 

Jornin's Figurine

@Gingrich Yurr : Peonprop put this perfectly and succinctly and there is nothing more I can add:

@peonprop : Having dead cards, weak cards, or being unfocused usually makes an item a dubious purchase at best. Jornin's Figurine has the full trifecta and the audacity to charge you a minor token for it. Not much more to say here. Would not purchase.

@mckeen : If you can't say anything positive, say nothing at all....

I have 4, never purchased, never used... do I have to tell you not to buy?

Is this positive?: If it was tokenless it might see some use.
Most disappointing legendary? it has to be up there...

Epics:
Barreling Club
Barge is very powerful concept, and the other attacks are strong so there is a lot to like about this item. But for a double major token, this doesn't quite move the needle far enough for me...

Kerrick's Steel Boots
Strong armor boots for your character - if you're willing to sacrifice movement

St. Well's Powermace
These are all strong, desirable cards (except the Genetic Engineering) but they end up being that most deadly of sins, "unfocused". You'll here that word a lot in reviews of items!

Notable Rares:
Focused Slicing
For the chopper in your life. I mainly use in SP where chops are easier to execute than MP due to higher target density.

Wallbreaker's Chisel
I love Aloyzo... and use this item for Geomancer adventures

Werewolf Hide
Good Monstrous Hide item, doubling down on your enemy not having silver attacks

 

There ya go, @Robauke, you can feel better about it now. $;^ J

 

Vinorkin's Cuirass

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Vinorkin's Cuirass
Arrogant Armor is a card that opens up many deckbuilding possibilties, including using items with normally debilitating handicaps, building around radiation cards, building around Walpurgis Night, and so on. Usually you would want Bern's Untouchable Mail to maximise chances of drawing an Arrogant Armor since your entire build pretty much hinges on it but I can see some situations in which you just don't have major tokens available. In that case, Vinorkin's Cuirass is the next best thing. There's also Impervious Panoply with two Arrogant Armors but I won't fault you for not wanting to deal with Encumber. If on a budget though, it is a perfectly fine substitute.
by @Gingrich Yurr

Already reviewed.... In my review for
Impervious Panoply I did say that if you want double Arrogant Armor for a minor, and you're not running a dwarf, I probably go for the epic so I will stick to my guns... I don't own one, and do not intend to purchase
by @mckeen

Previously reviewed by @Gingrich Yurr and @mckeen

Epics:
Dworia's Soulstone
Decent way to add a strong attack and some frenzy to a priest. If you want to deal with the Savage Curse

Madman's Maul
A little too crazy for my liking. If you want the Mass Frenzys for double minor, go for St Olf's Fiery Pike

Spiked Platemail
A bit unfocused - there are just better minor token armors out there

Notable rares:
Automatic Shield
Must have for SP missions, such as chess

Copper Zapping Wand
Consistent and decent damage for tokenless

Dependable Mail
OK tokenless armor until something better comes along