Slipped is the easiest one to forge, considering it's only a Rare. But it's totally up to you as you should make whatever it is you feel you're lacking.
https://screenshots.firefox.com/ELHBgG4NPDqpVtRG/www.poxnora.com Comments/criticism? Angel x 1 (Dragging Attack; Hunter: Walker) (Unnecessary w/ harpoon?; doesn't scale as well now that intensify doesn't buff damage) Chaos Brave x 1 (Bold/Quest: Kill) Cyclopean Firecase x1 (Turtle/Fire Immunity) Cyclops Artificer x1 (Shatter/Fire Eater) Cyclops Ritualist x1 (Spell Aegis/Dispel) Cyclops Rockshaper x1 (Calcify/Boulder Throw) Mika x1 (Soothing Serenade/Sonic Aura) G'hern General x1 (BM3/Hunter: Meek) Hyaenid Flamefist x1 (Pounce/Evas. 2) Hyaenid Headshrinker x1 (Detect/Jolt 1) Kanen Crone x1 (Escalate; Wasted Drain 1) Kanen Slipped x1 (Charge 3) Klub x 1 (Throw Boulder/Blood Rage) Voil Stormflyer x 2 (Loyalty/Jolt 2) Voltaic Slag x 1 (Dist. Blows/Sunder) Whirling Quarry x 1 (Seism/Stone Barrage) Alacrity x1 Avalanche x1 Boulder Throw x1 State of Confusion x1 Vertical Push x 1 Whispers x 1 Mangled Totem x1 Thunderhead Totem x1 Banner x1 Eye Belt x1 Diamond Mace x1 Slaver's Whip x1 Vicious Harpoon x1 Avg Nora Cost: 62 Random Thoughts: (1) Probably want a relocate ally w/ slipped and firecase and detect on a non-ranged unit; Voil Transporter might be helpful. (2) Avalanche and Boulder Throw are both physical; may want another spell damage type. Totem probably covers and firecase sort of cover, but only boulder throw bypassed combat awareness. (3) Consider adding wardrum or reverie champ for power turns since Shallaxy has been gimped (as have all our old powerhouses, e.g. instigator, lance admiral, cyclonic fesh, slag overmind, beach ball, firebomber, g. fesh/ancient slag, overcharged golem, peaks dao, rupture alpha and voil infernal and jester... ) (4) Diamond Mace might be unnecessary w/ Artificer. Are negative equips or equip lock decks gone? (5) V. Infernal to counter healing and pers. (although that doesn't look as common nowadays)? (6) W/ eye belt and flamefist, I may want illusion of lies (overmind) or summons from riftlord (although he seems overprice for a magic: vuln champ), although I have chaos brave, rockshaper, and artificer for summons and firecase. (7) May want another skirmisher; firecase x1 and/or sonic elemental? Terraced slag? Mountain slag? Armored Fesh? All are more durable but less mobile. (8) One more pure ranged? Caustic slag or h. ascendant for another damage type? (9) Overcharged golem w/ paralytic strike to synergize w/ thunderhead?
I prefer thirst for battle on the brave. Diamond mace sucks now, it's better to run a champ with Shatter instead. Artificer or Ancient Slag are good for this. This is the deck I run and it's quite successful.
Why Houngan and Soothsayer...am I underestimating the healing potential of twisting essence? Soothsayers damage seems low.
Houngan is super cool and Rotting Blows is why you run the guy +magic damage. Soothesayer can get decent damage via Loyalty, but the big swinger for him is giving everyone Impenetrable which is super siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. Having Detection and long range is also a bonus, which I prefer over Hyaenid Headshrinker
A champ you could consider other than the voltaic slags is Kanen Cultist. I guess everything just depends on whether you want distract or healing mind + designate scapegoat. x2 Hougan or Kanen Cultists are auto for healing depending on your tastes pick one. Rotting Blows is amazing, but so is designate scapegoat.
Firebomber and Voil Sorcerer come to mind. If you cant afford Hyaenid ascendants gor for double Arroyo Smokeform for adaptive.
Smokeform is not that great imo. Adaptive is also not that strong in sp as you dont want to be casting a lot of spells.
Wandering + Mangled Totem have been punishing me lately (pun intended). Hallucinate on metallic/terraced slag, or misleading signage + a well-timed totem can yield like 22 dmg turns sometimes on multiple champs.
Would it be evil to run x2 Metallic Slags, x2 Terraced Slags, x2 Misleading Signage, x2 Aspect of Chaos, x2 Magnled Totems and Unstable Ground? Dont forget the Blast Mages + Unstable Tigers Eyes topped with Cyclops Eye Belts and Cyclops Hurlers. I am feeling in an evil mood time to test it out!
You were right. Houngan generates a lot of healing; counters healing well; and is surprisingly mobile with soul vitality. I’m still not sold on Soothsayer, but I need to try ranked to see whether there are enough targettable abilities for spot impenetrable to be worth it. Bringing another damage type (psychic) is a plus. How many people use G’been General for a phalanx with Mika/weaken spells? Flagbearer isn’t as strong as it once was; and Sceian isn’t really an option? Obviously, @davre does, but that may be an unlearnable habit from his SL days. Do folks run Sceian with Crypt anymore, or is it too cost inefficient without a Mason unit to heal the crypt?
Assassinate comes to mind, with the popularity of DE Ass again. General is good, but less popular. Especially if you're running meta, as there tends to be too much diversity to benefit from Improve Speed. Otherwise, it doesn't do much aside from tank, and there are plenty of those. Lance Admiral only works in Voil since Warcry is racial only.
What are people’s experiences with blast mage and what upgrades do folks run? Seems like eye belt is the natural complement.