Just a lot of questions that have been bugging me. I must have re read the rune list 40 times now trying to decide so hopefully someone more familiar with the faction can help me. How does UD support itself? invigorate, defender How does UD heal? Blood balls, fire eater Are sword of shadow shades summons or real champion spawns? Why a spirit surge themed equip in the first place? Does brand of brutality stack with temple? The temple is global and brand is singular. Also brand is worded that melee attacks rather than just melee basic attacks deal double damage. Leads me to believe pulverize and pummel work with it.
Quoted for truth. Meta UD shouldn't be focused on anything other than killing the enemy as efficiently as possible as quickly as possible. When your champs are used up, use Sacrifice to deploy a fresh one or Retribution to (ideally) insta-kill something. All of your "support" should be focused on either freeing your champs up to do the killing with their high Dmg (purefire, shatter, relieve), or allowing them to reach the enemy faster (invigorate, relocate). UD lacks much crowd in the way of crowd control, basically stuff that limits the enemies options of movements and engagements, therefore the strategy is to win in a head on fight. Play aggressively in the long game and keep the pressure up, however be careful in individual engagements. Things such as healing mechanics, stealth etc start to change and enter the picture when you get into themed decks a bit, but the overall picture stays the same.
Ok so what are the mechanics and reasoning behind the sword of shadows? are those shades real or summoned and what is it used for? It looks like something for a Split spirit BG or a wraith amp for vengeance. does brand stack with temple? I must be on my 30th or so bg build after messing with some old decks I had and I'm going to be redoing my UD/FW brutality BG but I need some mechanics straightened out first. I'll think about the sacrifice options instead but FW has been lending a lot of survivability with its AP gen and life siphon/lifedrinker. Not to mention all the kill spells.
Tried sword of shadows in my UD spiders before. And base on my experience it's a good equip + you can drop it forcing all champs in 3x3 zone(this is wide) to be shadowtouched at the same round you drop it. Opp. champ gets a beating from low hp spiders, drop the sword near them, cast an AoE spell and tadan, you got some instant shades with full hp. Attack the opp. champ inflicting shadowtouch ability before dropping it near the spiderlings... Another full hp shade(correct this full hp thing if this is wrong and the real or summoned thing, not sure about it).
Yea I messed around with it and the shades and the modifier says they are a summon kinda lame for what I wanted to do but I can see it's potential with swarms. I think I'll grab some brands of brutality later to see if it makes the damage multiplier 200% or if they really don't stack. Also if brand allows melee attacks like pulverize to allow double damage unlike temple. I'm making a bunch of C/U/R decks while waiting for the revamp. I really missed this FW/UD split almost as much as my undead cyclops one. It looks like this right now: http://poxbase.com/#!/deck/CaCwdC9gCaBCh=Ch4CyJCiUS5zS2=S5dS5pR27e2E2keq Archfiend is like a pit dragon with frightful blows after ally buff, abomination can drop things really fast within 5 spaces. Witches are there for there support since frost gives great on hit abilities and forsaken is a beefy ranged with heal. I may ditch sac dagger as vamp has proven enough global healing to rotate all game. I don't like the stitched but I can't really settle on anything else that isn't exotic or over. Breath of ash is crazy reduction especially for glad minotaur. I was thinking of using blood rain since its +3 damage and synergies with vampirism. In theory it's a bigger power turn than blade of the snake. I know putting two temples in in inefficient but I usually get it out within 1-5 turns with doubles. That lets it set usually before you have to engage which is nice. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far. Repurpose, barb mail, sitches, and maybe one or two other things are still kind of in limbo I switch their slots a lot. I play this bg long enough I may squeeze out an exo or two before waiting on the revamp.
Most people running FW/UD splits are either going after Bleed, Vampyre, or Stitched Synergy. Your BG looks interesting and I realize that you are doing this for fun, but its pulling you in so many directions. With your use of high damage buffs, you may want to look into focusing more on a life siphon deck without the need for the Vampirism spell. Elder Bloodbinders, Blood Trackers, Succubus, are all good units without breaking the bank. Life siphon has inherent synergy with high damage, and elder bloodbinders seal the deal.
You want to learn to play UD? its very simple.... Step 1 : Summon cool champion ( all UD champions are cool) Step 2: Hit stuff with it Step 3: Hit more stuff with it... this time harder if you follow this every game , you'll probably top 50 in a day
Yea brand of brutality stacks with temple of brutality and works with things like pummel. Potentially a 200% damage mod on range with no retaliation. Just cleared my dailies doing over 300 damage with 3 champs. I have to see if it works with pulverize and blood rage pummel may only work because it's a double auto attack. It multiplies with executioner too.
If you're running temples, seriously consider using the Long Knife Adept. Safeguard 5 means it will always take 5 hits to kill her. Running the Flanking and Execute abilities on her you can look at 50+ damage in one attack with everything on (UD Buff, Flanking, and Execute). Similarly, consider building a Rogue/Ranger bg and slap a couple Cloaks of Long Kinves in there for a good hit and run strategy. Although a Stealth bg is quite a niche, you can get a long way with it if you play it properly.
Lol I wonder why temple would get banned. It always seemed like a very high risk/reward rune. I am only messing around in campaigns till the revamp anyway though. Does that mean brand of brutality is banned too?
As an UD player just remember the following: Try to one round everything you attack, meaning, when you attack it has to die. Otherwise UD with its general low defense capabilities is in trouble.
Guy, I recommed you to stop trying to get in as many costly (nora) champs. They suck. They have no defense, no control abbilities, and whatever else you can imagine a costly (nora) champ MUST have, THEY DON'T. UD is always funnier when mobbing something. If it doesn't have the potential to make over 17 dmg per attack, plus some kind of defensive something (fear; or oblivion shield...yeah, that's all we got), get rid of it. Right now, goblins are a safe bet for causing troubles for a while. Or cow people, they got what the retards back at SOE should have given us years ago.
Heh, kind of a funny advise there Makarov. Why the bitter feelings? I guess UD is better of than you say it is.
I'm tired of having my ass handled to me by 2-3 another-faction champs with: >20 DMG per attack, endless debuffs (more than I can handle with 2x Purefire and 2x Griefbearers), like 2-3 defensive abbilities or combos making my attacks of >17 DMG deal <8 DMG instead. I think I made a thread about it.
Guess the incoming revamp will be your friend. Meaning there is no need for an uproar at the moment anymore, because the game is currently in a complete overhaul anyway.
