Hey all, While experimenting with my hover elves I was soundly thrashed by a trio of dwarf priests that chased me around the board with frenzied vampirism and healed themselves incessantly. I was immediately inspired to create a build of my own, one that violated two general assumptions about the current metagame: 1) Healers are a support class at best and heals are underpowered 2) Racially homogeneous parties (particularly dwarves) are in general optimal In order to overturn these assumptions I built a party of human, elf, and dwarf priests. I present to you, the Fellowship of the Zing: Dwarf 1: Human Priest with Buffing Focus The middle-range move and HP make this guy a solid support/melee hybrid. He buffs with frenzies, martyr, nimbus, bless, inspiring presence, and other utility spells. He has a few heals and is capable of a somewhat risky blitz with raging strikes and violent swings. He runs focused piety for triple altruism to maximize cycling. Dwarf 2: Dwarf Priest with Vampirism Focus This little dude is the obvious choice for the frontline muscle. He is amped up on spears and touches and also sports two nimbuses and two toughness for protection. He has dynamic armor to help push him into contact. He runs with focused healer for triple talented healing in true vamp cantrip style Dwarf 3: Elf Priest with Healing Focus This low HP and high movement make the elf ideal for backfield healing support. This guy is slippery and runs two arrogant armor so traits are minimal (though arrogant has the nice side effect of washing away superstitious). He also runs a little bit of buffs and a little of vampirism, as I wanted all three classes to be somewhat self-sufficient. So here is the list: LVM Level 1 Human Priest Giant Skeletal Arm Cudgel Of Wrath Mail Of The Martyr Cherry Shield Mantis Boots St Ulrich's Bones Ihibrin's Holy Droplets Twilight Talisman Untrained Flexibility Focused Piety 1 x Team Heal 1 x Blind Rage 1 x Slowed 1 x Cleansing Ray 1 x Massive Chop 3 x Raging Strike 1 x Help The Weak 1 x Inspiring Presence 2 x Soothing Darkness 1 x Defender's Block 1 x Weakened Armor 3 x Violent Overswing 3 x Martyr Blessing 1 x Bless 1 x Flanking Move 1 x Unreliable Block 1 x Impenetrable Nimbus 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 3 x Unholy Frenzy 1 x Horned Plates 1 x Lunging Thrust 3 x Altruism 1 x Retreat 1 x Light Heal 1 x Wounded Block AVM Level 1 Dwarf Priest Lifesuck Spear Lifesuck Spear Mail Of Succor Spiked Buckler Glimmer Boots Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Shielding Token Hand Of Melvelous Perfect Toughness Focused Healer 3 x Spear Of Darkness 3 x Consuming Touch 1 x Rusty Armor 2 x Impaling Stab 2 x Unreliable Block 4 x Lunging Strike 1 x Dynamic Armor 1 x Hardy Mail 5 x Enervating Touch 2 x Devastating Blow 1 x Squeamish 2 x Impenetrable Nimbus 2 x Toughness 1 x Lunging Bash 2 x Help The Weak 1 x Run 3 x Talented Healer XVM Level 18 Elf Priest Medic's Cudgel Medic's Cudgel Untouchable Plate Spellthwart Shield Boots Of The Foolish St Ulrich's Bones Fingerbone Of St. Ob Twilight Talisman Untrained Evasion Advanced Medic 5 x Limited Heal 4 x Able Bash 1 x Bless 1 x Heal 2 x Sapping Touch 1 x Soothing Darkness 1 x Greater Heal 1 x Martyr Blessing 1 x Slippery 1 x Impenetrable Nimbus 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Superstitious 3 x Missile Block 1 x Cleansing Ray 1 x Walk 1 x Talented Healer 1 x Holy Armor 2 x Arrogant Armor 1 x Quick Step 3 x Help The Weak 1 x Wild Run 2 x Powerful Bash I just made this and I have only played two battles so far but the results were encouraging. I beat the crap out of a couple of dwarf mages with a priest and a basic party. I am only in the 1000s currently so have no idea how well this will play at higher levels but very curious to explore some more. What do you think of this first pass? Any cards that I should look out for? I am especially interested in better trait coverage and higher mobility, especially team moves.
I wouldn't use Raging Strike in MP, especially not three of them. Violent Overswing is also pretty risky.
Yes, Kalin, that advice is very good. After a few more games last night I got pzzwned by a triple human mage party that leveraged a raging strike to kill the human priest and subsequently lock down the rest of the party with ice and lava. I have replaced the giant skeletal arm with St. Xerol's Axe. I still am holding on to the cudgel because I really need the unholy frenzies to put the fear into my opponents. This combination gave me an extra token however so I invested it in crafted monkey boots, and also moved the boots of the foolish from my elf (who does not need them) to my dwarf (who does). Here is the build. I will report back after a few hours of gaming. LVM Level 1 Human Priest St. Xarol's Axe Cudgel Of Wrath Mail Of The Martyr Cherry Shield Crafted Monkey Boots St Ulrich's Bones Ihibrin's Holy Droplets Twilight Talisman Untrained Flexibility Focused Piety 3 x Violent Overswing 1 x Impenetrable Nimbus 1 x Flanking Move 3 x Unholy Frenzy 1 x Strong Chop 2 x Soothing Darkness 1 x Horned Plates 1 x Bless 1 x Scamper 1 x Light Heal 1 x Defender's Block 3 x Altruism 1 x Clumsy Chop 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Help The Weak 1 x Cleansing Ray 1 x Sprint 1 x Wounded Block 2 x Blind Rage 1 x Team Heal 1 x Slowed 3 x Martyr Blessing 2 x Chop 1 x Unreliable Block 1 x Retreat AVM Level 1 Dwarf Priest Lifesuck Spear Lifesuck Spear Mail Of Succor Spiked Buckler Boots Of The Foolish Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Shielding Token Hand Of Melvelous Perfect Toughness Focused Healer 2 x Impaling Stab 4 x Lunging Strike 2 x Devastating Blow 1 x Wild Run 5 x Enervating Touch 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 2 x Help The Weak 1 x Quick Step 2 x Toughness 3 x Spear Of Darkness 1 x Rusty Armor 2 x Unreliable Block 1 x Dynamic Armor 2 x Impenetrable Nimbus 3 x Talented Healer 1 x Lunging Bash 3 x Consuming Touch XVM Level 18 Elf Priest Medic's Cudgel Medic's Cudgel Untouchable Plate Spellthwart Shield Glimmer Boots St Ulrich's Bones Fingerbone Of St. Ob Twilight Talisman Untrained Evasion Advanced Medic 1 x Cleansing Ray 1 x Greater Heal 1 x Impenetrable Nimbus 3 x Missile Block 1 x Run 1 x Slippery 4 x Able Bash 1 x Heal 5 x Limited Heal 3 x Help The Weak 2 x Arrogant Armor 1 x Hardy Mail 1 x Talented Healer 1 x Superstitious 1 x Soothing Darkness 1 x Martyr Blessing 1 x Bless 2 x Powerful Bash 1 x Holy Armor 1 x Walk 1 x Squeamish 2 x Sapping Touch
I think you should swap the focus of your Dwarf and Elf - i.e., Elf becomes the vampire, while the dwarf plays healer. As you've probably noticed from playing, the Dwarf's mobility issues might mean he never actually does his job of draining the opponent dead. Use the range of the heal spells to make up for the Dwarf's lack of mobility so he can be relevant. A huge tool the Elf gets is Slippery. If you start the round with Slippery, you can easily move into range of an opponent and start draining (and if you have Talented Healer as well, that may very well be a dead character). Toughness also doesn't make too much sense on a vampire, since ideally, the vampire uses the drains to keep himself nice and healthy. If you make the switch, then obviously equips will need to be shuffled around. Mail of Succor can become a Glowing Hide Armor (tokenless armor that gives you Invigorating Touch, the 6 damage drain) or another armor with Invigorating Touch (I think there's one that costs a blue token and is Invig Touch, Crafted Mail, Cloth Armor). Upgrade Untrained Evasion to Escapist. You keep Slippery and gain Elvish Insight, while losing Superstitious. Seems good. The info from Elvish Insight is always welcome, and usually hits at least 2 characters cause Elves aren't terribly popular. Some equips to keep an eye out for: Slippery Shield for the vampire. Hard to Pin Down is excellent - it has a good block rate, and on block, you get to move right next to your opponent and start sucking away. Shuddering Relic for buffer or vampire. Tokenless item that gives you Enervating Touch, Mass Frenzy, and Vulnerable, a mostly negligible trait. Mass Frenzy is a card your buffer is definitely going to want. It's awesome. It gives a larger damage boost than Unholy Frenzy, and it hits your whole team. For a tokenless Human skill, I think Novice Command would be better. You get Run, Team, which is great for moving your guys into position, or off terrain effects. It also ignores Encumber! You also have the negligible Vulnerable to slightly thin your deck, and Cautious Sneak isn't terrible. I think this would be a definite upgrade over Untrained Flexibility. Slowed is annoying, and Retreat is like a conditional Run, Team? Flank Move is good, but I think overall Novice Command is better. For your healer, you might want to look into Duality Mace over Medic's Cudgel, since having an extra 2 Nimbus is never bad, and probably more impactful than the heals. Hope this helps!
CT5, this is a terrific analysis. I agree about the dwarf and I believe it will be interesting to have a tanked up healing machine in the backfield and yes, if the cards come out well the vampire can take care of itself. I will retool to your specs (as best as my equipment allows) and report back.
Latest build, V4 is performing reasonably well but I still have trouble with high-damage builds like obliterating bludgeon. I added some goodies that I picked up from chests and finally found an escapist in the store. I still can't crest 1100 but I really enjoy chasing mages around the board now! LVM Level 1 Human Priest St. Amarack's Cudgel Cudgel Of Wrath Mail Of The Martyr Deflecting Buckler Crafted Monkey Boots St Ulrich's Bones Twilight Talisman Ihibrin's Holy Droplets Command Focused Piety 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 3 x Martyr Blessing 2 x Soothing Darkness 1 x Blind Rage 1 x Scamper 1 x Help The Weak 2 x Unholy Frenzy 3 x Violent Overswing 1 x Impenetrable Nimbus 2 x Twin Heals 1 x Slowed 3 x Altruism 1 x Team Heal 1 x Walk, Team! 1 x Sprint 3 x Bludgeon 1 x Horned Plates 1 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Light Heal 1 x Hard To Pin Down 1 x Cleansing Ray 2 x Missile Block 1 x Bless 1 x Sprint, Team! AVM Level 1 Dwarf Priest Medic's Cudgel Medic's Cudgel Untouchable Plate Spellthwart Shield Glimmer Boots St Ulrich's Bones Fingerbone Of St. Ob St. Bethan's Charm Perfect Toughness Novice Ablution 2 x Arrogant Armor 1 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Run 1 x Purge 1 x Martyr Blessing 1 x Holy Armor 1 x Team Heal 1 x Rusty Armor 3 x Help The Weak 1 x Squeamish 4 x Limited Heal 1 x Cleansing Ray 2 x Toughness 2 x Powerful Bash 1 x Hardy Mail 1 x Bless 2 x Holy Presence 1 x Greater Heal 2 x Sapping Touch 4 x Able Bash 3 x Missile Block XVM Level 18 Elf Priest Lifesuck Spear Lifesuck Spear Glowing Hide Armor Slippery Shield Boots Of The Foolish Hand Of Melvelous Shielding Token Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Escapist Focused Healer 1 x Invigorating Touch 5 x Enervating Touch 2 x Impaling Stab 4 x Lunging Strike 1 x Walk 1 x Elvish Insight 2 x Devastating Blow 2 x Impenetrable Nimbus 3 x Talented Healer 3 x Spear Of Darkness 1 x Thick Hide Armor 3 x Hard To Pin Down 1 x Slippery 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Reliable Hide Armor 1 x Quick Step 3 x Consuming Touch 1 x Wild Run
There is one in the rare store, actually! I was wondering about this. Are you suggesting it as a replacement for a lifesuck spear or for one of the other two priests?
It would free up your for better boots. My favorite on an elf vampire are Black Iron Boots. But your build overall is quite different from mine, so take my advice with a grain of salt.
Immovable is fantastic for 2 things, thinning your deck and fighting two of the most disruptive cards in the meta (WWx and WoW). And Quick Run is so much better than Quick Step, it's more than you'd expect in the upgrade from Silver to Gold.
Ok, you sold me on the boots but I am struggling with the blade. That loner trait is pretty devastating. I pulled it and nimbus when my vamp was down to 2 HP and he died instantly due to proximity with an ally. How do you cope with it?
Honestly... By not being at 2 HP. I haven't lost a game to loner in a long time. It used to happen back when I was 1100-1200, but it just hasn't happened since. I don't know, your build is quite different from mine (I pack a wizard) and it is possible that my composition is just a tiny bit better at swallowing the loner... But I would try it out longer and see how it goes.
Hah! Wiser words have never been spoken. I played several more games and verified that, yes, by avoiding having 2 HP (and focusing on generally having full HP, talented healer, mass frenzy, martyr's blessing, or a subset on the vamp at all times) I have indeed suffered much less from loner. Right now my biggest challenges are A) not doing something stupid like casting nimbus on arrogant or unholy frenzy on toughness and B) not running out of time.
Ok, my latest build is below. This deck is FUN. Martyr's Blessing scares the crap out of players. So does talented healer. The vamp is the key damage dealer but the other two can hold their own, especially if they have some frenzy on them. It can take out warrior and mage decks, though strategies are different. Decks that have no priests can often be slowly sucked dry, as this build is very good at healing. I am pretty happy with it but I have two big questions regarding the human priest. I would really appreciate any feedback on these and any general comments and suggestions as well. 1) How the heck can I get rid of soothing darkness? It is easily the most useless card in the build, rarely useful and often quite bad, as the vamp is the one who usually needs it and he can't deal with the encumber. 2) What trait should I give the human priest? I have the triple altruism in there because it at least thins the deck but I really don't like it very much. Is there something better? Thanks for taking a look and I really appreciate all the help so far. LVM Level 1 Human Priest Club Of Wrath Cudgel Of Wrath Mail Of The Martyr Deflecting Buckler Crafted Monkey Boots St Ulrich's Bones Twilight Talisman Twilight Talisman Command Focused Piety 5 x Violent Overswing 1 x Slowed 3 x Altruism 1 x Horned Plates 2 x Missile Block 2 x Impenetrable Nimbus 1 x Hard To Pin Down 1 x Walk, Team! 1 x Scamper 1 x Blind Rage 2 x Bludgeon 2 x Help The Weak 1 x Sprint, Team! 3 x Martyr Blessing 2 x Soothing Darkness 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 4 x Unholy Frenzy 1 x Cleansing Ray 1 x Sprint 1 x Bless AVM Level 1 Dwarf Priest Medic's Cudgel Medic's Cudgel Inspiring Chain Shirt Spellthwart Shield Boots Of The Foolish St Ulrich's Bones Fingerbone Of St. Ob St. Bethan's Charm Untrained Stoutness Novice Ablution 1 x Greater Heal 1 x Mass Frenzy 1 x Trip 1 x Team Heal 3 x Missile Block 4 x Limited Heal 3 x Help The Weak 1 x Heal 2 x Holy Presence 1 x Martyr Blessing 1 x Crafted Mail 2 x Powerful Bash 4 x Able Bash 1 x Quick Step 1 x Dangerous Maneuver 1 x Bless 1 x Inspiration 2 x Sapping Touch 1 x Cleansing Ray 2 x Immovable 1 x Wild Run 1 x Purge XVM Level 18 Elf Priest Vampire's Blade Lifesuck Spear Infused Cloth Armor Slippery Shield Black Iron Boots Hand Of Melvelous Shielding Token Wuuna's Vampiric Shroud Escapist Focused Healer 3 x Hard To Pin Down 1 x Immovable 1 x Slippery 1 x Cloth Armor 2 x Impenetrable Nimbus 1 x Draining Touch 1 x Elvish Insight 3 x Invigorating Touch 3 x Enervating Touch 1 x Crafted Mail 1 x Hardy Mail 2 x Loner 1 x Quick Run 2 x Lunging Strike 1 x Impaling Stab 3 x Talented Healer 4 x Consuming Touch 1 x Walk 1 x Devastating Blow 3 x Spear Of Darkness
Oh man, that elf looks just like mine! For the human, I think I would replace twilight talismans with a silver healing ring and then an item with two nimbus, probably shielding token. This switches your tokens around so you can upgrade Command to Perfect Command if/when you have one.
Well, if you don't want Soothing Darkness, then don't run Twilight Talisman? >_> Another thing to note is that while your human priest has the 3x Altruism, he doesn't have that many Holy cards to take advantage of it. I count 7. Ok that's more than I originally thought. But! First, note that Bless targets the ground, and not the character, so I think Altruism won't trigger for Bless. Second, I think giving your human priest St. Bethan's Charm would be good. More Holy spells! Also fits with his buffing focus (Mass Frenzy). An alternative would be to give your dwarf priest Focused Piety as well. The dwarf currently has a whopping 13 holy cards - ~40% of his deck. That could be a lot of Altruism triggers. You'll probably want to swap either St. Ulrich's Bones or the Inspiring Chain Shirt for the yellow token for Focused Piety. There are tokenless armors with 2 holy cards, so that might be the way you want to go. Tokenless divine items are pretty darn meh, or at least the few that are in my collection. The elf looks good, as Flaxative said.
