The Daily Deal

Bohemian Ear Spoon
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Fantastic name aside, Bohemian Ear Spoon is downright awful. The damage is pitiful considering the double major token cost. Polearm Slash looks great on paper but how often are you willing to keep half of a Hardy Mail instead of dishing out 7 damage? Plus, with all these cool new armors popping up, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone starts gunning for them. A Sundering Strike here, a Boiling Armor there, and adding mediocre armor to an attack suddenly turns into a liability. I would gladly play a Double-Edged Sword or Tango Spear instead since their lower ends give you extra mobility. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
You don't need crappy armor or stabs in the campaign. Good old fashioned damage is where it's at. Strap on a pair of Bejeweled Shortswords and call it a day. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Double-Edged Sword (U) , Tango Spear (U)

Did Peon Buy It?
Nope. Bejeweled Shortsword for life.

Space Cat Chat
Auto Block- The most commonly played things that trigger the keep clause are burst spells and cone spells. The number one problem with that is that the wizards that play them are generally jam packed with targeted control spells to get rid of it. You will rarely block more than one attack with Auto Block and it's never going to get more than two. It is a reasonable block but not something to actively seek out.

Cohr's Black Scepter- It isn't hard for Whirlwind to screw you over in some way. Runestone is similar and much more powerful.
Japper's Energy Boots- The cheapest double Energizing Move boots but also the weakest.
Morbo's Pendant- Odd assortment of cards. Not worth purchasing solely for Firestorm farming.

Notable Rares
Coruscating Blade- Second only to Gloomthirst as far as card drawing divine weapons go, which is pretty darn good for a rare.
Enormous Mattock- Arrogant Armor, Lateral Thinking, and now Purge effects and Holy Presence can all be used to mitigate the handicaps from Large Weapon.
Focused Bruising- All the great taste of Crusher and only half the calories. P.S. You only get to play Bashes now.
Sticky Slippers- Great for trait cycling and beating up control wizards.

 

Dianon's Staff

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Dianon's Staff is a discounted Deadly, Deadly Staff so you need to decide whether or not the lower cost is worth it. If you're not using major tokens on staves you really only need them for racial skills and boots since there are very few good major token arcane items and robes. There isn't a right or wrong answer. There are plenty of great tokenless racial skills and boots and there are also incredibly powerful major token options for both. You also need to decide if you want Deadly Spark to begin with. Burst spells do pretty much the same things as Deadly Spark but better. The only real advantage over burst spells is the addition of Hard to Block and I don't think that's enough. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
Deadly Spark may be able to hit multiple targets but not nearly as many as Firestorm. Hard to Block makes it better against things with magic blocks like goblins but you are limited to staves for any spark spells making spark wizards unreliable in general. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Staff Of Peril (E)
The Daily Deal

Did Peon Buy It?
Nope. I can't even bring myself to buy Deadly, Deadly Staff so I'm sure as heck not going to buy the Deadly, Deadly Staff Jr.

Space Cat Chat
Warp Run- Discarding all cards means you're losing buffs too, making Warp Run the Arrogant Armor of movement cards. Sometimes you get a Purging Burst out of the deal but you would need to put your wizard in a precarious situation to pull it off on enemy characters. The effect is just not wort jumping through hoops for in my opinion. The Halted and Unblockable lines are pretty much useless. Very few cards halt anymore and I don't recommend shoving extra self handicaps like Trip in your deck just to get extra value since Halted is devastating when unanswered. I'm not sure why Unblockable is even necessary since there are no blocks that effect movement but I'm sure I'm forgetting something.

Demon's Golden Blade- Great attacks for a priest but most priests would rather play a support role. The ones that go on offense are usually vamps.
Magma Scepter- Volcano alone makes this a must buy. Add on a Firestorm and you've got one of the best items for farming.
Pol's Prayer Beads- Cleansing effects are not too hard to get. Adding a Mass Frenzy is decent but not worth the epic price tag.

Notable Rares
Defensive Buckler- Defender's Block on a minor token shield is pretty spicy. Loner is a small handicap as long as you don't run too many or are careful with positioning.
Gauntlets Of The Giant- Cuirass Of Froth with a little less kick and self encumbrance.
Hexagon Shield- One of the best tokenless shields.
Incense Of Roiled Air- One of the best Mass Frenzy items that don't say Bleneth on it.

 

Discarding all attachments from adjacent characters is why it needs to be unblockable. There was a bug thread on it because unblockable wasn't actually set, and the discard effect got blocked. With the massive handicap spamming that is EttSC, Warp Run is a handy way to clear them from yourself and possibly an ally or two. Trip is among the handicaps spammed, so you won't need to bring your own.

 

Question: when will the good Epics/Legendaries from the new expansion begin showing up in the Daily Deal or Randimar's? Since the expansion has been released, I literally haven't seen a single Epic/Legendary from the new set in any Daily Deal or Randimar's. Is this planned on purpose, i.e. the devs want players to get these new items purely from chests? Or at some point will we be able to buy Legenedaries and Epics from the new set in the DD/RR?

As someone who is sitting on a pile of Gold just itching to buy *specific* items for his team, this is really a hindrance if I can't acquire the items through purchasing.

 

I have EttSC items in randi's as I post this

 

I saw an EttSC epic in DD yesterday or the day before that, and I dont know why you are talking about RR since it hasnt restocked since the EttSC release.

 

...Wat? - I thought that the release was on monday, and RR restocks on the weekend?

 

There are 303 legendaries total now, and 339 epics not counting promo/undroppable items. There are 34 legendary and 34 epic items in the new set. Randi and the DD pull from the pool at random. So you have slightly better than a 1 in 10 chance that any given legendary or epic in the shops will be from EttSC. So no, the devs didn't prevent the new items from appearing the shops, there's just not that many compared to the whole pool.

And depending on when you first looked in Randi this week (before or after the expansion went live) you wouldn't have even been able to get EttSC items there.

 

As Scarponi implied, the stock of items available in Randi (or any other shop, I guess) is generated when you first open the shop. I've had to be away from town (and CH) while EttSC got released, so I wasn't able to fire the client up and check what was up for grabs in Randi's until a bunch of hours ago.

 

DAMNIT COULDNT YOU HAVE TOLD ME THIS A WEEK AGO?

 

If I remember correctly there was an EttSC epic on the day of release in DD.

 

Larkin's Orb

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Both Short Perplexing Ray and Cone Of Cold are great control cards against melee characters. Opposing wizards are less susceptible since they can keep out of range of Short Perplexing Ray and can continue attacking through encumber effects. What it really comes down to is how often you will use both cards on the same wizard. If you regularly add some cold spells to your Short Perplexing Rays then I see no reason to pass Larkin's Orb up. However, you can get more focused items for both effects that allow you to create more types of wizards. Would not purchase unless you see yourself equipping it often.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
There are much better things to spend a major token on than control spells. In fact, just don't play control spells if possible. Short Perplexing Ray and Cone of Cold are particularly bad since they don't have a secondary use of moving your team around. Would not purchase.
The Daily Deal

Did Peon Buy It?
Nope. I rarely use Cone Of Cold. Sometimes I sprinkle in some Short Perplexing Rays for flavor but I've never put both on the same wizard.

Space Cat Chat
When I have more free time I might just compile everything and review all the new cards. For now I'm just going to be lazy and copy old reviews for repeats.
Force Field- I love this card. You either eat up your opponent's attacks and priority or your character goes unmolested for a couple turns. Win win. I don't think it's quite so good that you can stick this next to anything and the item will be playable but it doesn't need too much help.
Gene Therapy- You could do worse if you're simply using Gene Therapy as a way to get rid of Handicaps but I wouldn't get my hopes up about supercharging a leper. There are way too many useless and mismatched Boosts. At the very least you get a Heal 3 out of it so while I wouldn't actively seek it out, I wouldn't shy away from Gene Therapy items either.
Genetic Engineering- This card throws you at the mercy of the RNG gods. All orange traits are fair game so you will often end up with useless boosts. Even worse, with the introduction of Adaptable, there are a slew of Adapted to X cards that won't match whatever damage type you're playing against. Definitely don't seek this card out and avoid if possible.
Laser Strike- Obviously not as good as a straight up 11 point attack like Powerful Bludgeon but at 10.5 average damage it's pretty close. Major Erratic Damage also brings the playability down a notch but Laser Strike is still an above average attack with double digit damage.
Radiation Bomb- Like Genetic Engineering, you must roll with whatever hand the RNG gods deal you. However, while there are many useless buffs, Handicaps are almost always going to be useful in some way. There just aren't that many benign Handicaps. Burst 2 is also a huge plus. There's almost no way to avoid it aside from heavily walled off areas. If nothing else, it is half of an Arcane Burst with over twice the area of effect. I could be horribly overrating Radiation Bomb but I really like it.
Radioactive Spray- I think Radioactive Spray is similar to other damaging terrains. If your enemy needs to stay in the same spot, they are in for a world of hurt. What Radioactive Spray loses in consistency it gains in area of effect and stacking potential. As a bonus, you can now run a wizard focused solely on control spells with your priest providing the damaging terrains whereas before you had to balance the two on the wizard.

Penteth's Orb- Odd assortment of cards. There are much cheaper and/or useful Firestorm items to pick up for farming purposes.
St. Well's Powermace- I like the cut of its jib. Yes, it's a little unfocused but everything besides Genetic Engineering is powerful enough on its own. I might be tempted to pick it up if it were legendary but I find epics drop often enough for me that I've stopped buying ones I don't actively have a plan for.
Vigun's Blessed Blade- Decent if you just want a tokenless divine weapon. Great if you're trying to build around Surestrike Blessing though I don't recommend it.

Notable Rares
Diamond Moccasins- One of the best minor token boots. Great for chasing down ranged characters.
Orb Of Flames- Firestorm farming items don't get any cheaper than this and it's tokenless too.
Steel-Rimmed Buckler- Surging Shield Block is good. Parry is insanely good. If only there were a shield with 3 of them and that shield had a cat themed alternative.

 

Ring Of Bifurcated Healing
Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Big heals like Greater Heal are generally going to be better than smaller multi target or team heals because that's how most damage is dealt. Even when you do get full value out of a Twin Heals, you might still have a severely wounded character that your opponent has been focusing his or her attacks on. That is why I don't like small heals period. To make matters worse, Ring of Bifurcated Healing is clearly inferior to Yochxti's Sacred Bundle. Twin Heals has a slightly better range than Triple Heals but that is rarely going to come up. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny Pinching Singleplayers
You will prevent way more damage from a single Impenetrable Nimbus than you would heal from any spell. I can't think of a single module where I'd rather have heals instead. The new EttSC expansion has a few Handicap heavy levels that could potentially push off a Nimbus but even in those you need only rinse and repeat. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Elphala's Healing Ring (E) , Frennik's Soulstone (E)

Did Peon Buy It?
Nope. Already found two and I've never even touched them.

Space Cat Chat
No new cards today but stay tuned. Hopefully I'll be able to knock them all out this weekend.

Giant Skeletal Arm- Might be good if they ever make Raging Strike less painful. As is, it still needs a hand.
Yoloxl's Staff- Solid control staff but be aware that Jumpspark is shockingly bad.
Zazhetl's Gray Blade- Fumble is one of the worst Handicaps there is. It is guaranteed card disadvantage and you're likely losing the best card you kept from the previous turn. There are no items with Fumble that have the touchdowns necessary to balance it out and Zazhetl's Gray Blade is no exception.

Notable Rares
Command- Great on a support character that both doesn't need the movement and won't be hindered by a turn of Slowed.

 

The Thing with nimbus in MP is, it doesnt prevent any damage. It postpones the just beating a round or til a cure for Nimpuss is found.

 

I'm still only a week into the game, and not sure about purchases for lower level characters:

What do you think of Opaline Armor on a level 10 cleric? Frenzy aura looks fun!

Also Nova Crushing is tempting as my lv 10 fighter doesn't have a Crushing boost yet, but lots of crushing attacks. Good buy? Is crushing a good attack overall? Should I not stack crushing and use 2 different types of damage dealing for most adventures?

 

Opaline Armor is quite good if you have good vamp attacks. Note that Frenzy Aura is discarded if it succesfully blocks damage.

I wouldn't bother with Novice Crushing. Those accompanying attacks are horrible. High damage attacks are good overall, whether crushing or not. Agaist Skeletons crushing attacks are must but on the other hand they don't work against Jellies / Slimes. In general tokenless martial skill are only used for trait cycling, so go for skills that have two traits (Novice Bruising & Novice Impaling). Just cycling your deck faster is good. Getting some damage boost from those traits is only a minor plus, don't let that warp your deck into certain damage type, unless the cards / items are high damage / good on their own.

 

Thanks, very informative! I was tempted because I have never seen a crusher trait yet! Have tons of the others...

 

The problem with Opaline Armor is that it comes with 2 awful card. Leather Harness even helps your opponent knock Frenzy Aura off. If you want Frenzy Aura on a minor token divine armor I would go for Jet Armor, which has the nonbo with Traveling Curse self damage but is otherwise great, or Metzli Mail, which has one weak card in Healing Pulse. If you can afford a major token, which most vamps can, you have access to Burnished Plates as well.

 

Meteor Mail is a heavy armor.

 

Gzellin's Boots

Spoiler: Previously Reviewed

Peon's Prescription for Prodigious Multiplayers
Gzellin's Boots is similar to Wlakwa's Boots in that you get 2 different powerful cards and a third mediocre card. However, while I'd consider running Wlakwa's Boots, Gzellin's Boots is out of the equation. Why? Card power level aside, the major difference between the two lies in the alternatives available. You can't get more than 1 copy of Team Walk on boots. You can get multiples of both Energizing Move and Escaping Run. Both cards are good but you will more than likely want one over the other for any given build. Play more copies of the card you want and you're more likely to get what you want. The powerful items with single copies of great cards make up for lack of consistency with card quality. Energizing Move and Escaping Run are great but not good enough to carry an item by themselves. Would not purchase.

Peon's Perspective for Penny-Pinching Singleplayers
I've said it before the last time Escaping Run boots came up. I don't think they have a place in singleplayer. Energizing Move on the other hand is great for chasing down ranged mobs so I'd lean towards more copies of those if you're having trouble in that area. Or you can just forget about boots and play wizards instead. Would not purchase.

Substitutes
Lum's Moccasins (E) : Escaping Run
Japper's Energy Boots (E) : Energizing Move
The Daily Deal

Did Peon Buy It?
Nope. I've got plenty of better Energizing Move and Escaping Run boots.

Long-Handled Mace- Aside from Mighty Hack, the attacks are pretty blah and Unreliable Block is a big no no.
Major's Helm- This is your best minor token option if you don't have the legendary Sprint, Team! helmets. Sprint, Team! on a helmet is kind of rough since your warrior would presumably like to get a little cardio too. Not a problem if you run triple warriors though.
Sturdy Mail- The worst of the double Reliable Mail options. Wait for True Mail or Sturdy Armor if you can.

Notable Rares
Cleansing Incense- The new expansion introduced a bunch of new terrain attachments. While I wouldn't run Cleansing effects until the new metagame has more fully developed, it would be wise to have something like Cleansing Incense available should the need arise.
Focused Pyromancy- Near auto include for burning wizards.