"TeaScholar? What is the FW meta like now?" (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻) I don't know- is what I would say. I tried many, many things. So many little gimmicks, big and small. Modules in meta, modules in themes, mixed themes, full-blown themes. Trial and error has led me to the results that everyone had been asking for. (the following purple text is about current FW themes. Scroll down to the pink text if you want to cut to the chase) First let me say that liches are a strong theme. Zombies are a strong theme. These two have been my favorite until this point. Liches obviously have amazing range and mobility. While Zombies are kind of the opposite, but more sturdy and resilient, and from what I found, less draw-dependent. Both are very strong but are countered by different things, aside from the abusively OP things out there. Dread is also a very strong theme these days, but the theme itself is like Eternal Lich- a prime example of a high risk- high reward system. Two problems with dread: 1- Very draw dependent factor of set-up. Sometimes bonewing is great anti range, and risen yeti as anti melee, but if you draw the wrong thing at the wrong time, whether against counter-play or not, you'll be in a bad position. Or you might not reveal enough dread until it's too late- a single dread unit on the board does nothing. Happens more often than is satisfactory when actually running dread. 2- when dread gets countered, they take it rough. If you fight UD, chances are you'll lose in general because their damage is so high. Dread does well against tanky bgs because high defense units tend to have lower damage, but anything with high damage or AoEs that don't use the champs damage hurt this theme a lot. The macca ran a reanimation bg that was pretty dope. But against opponents with the FotM OP bgs, it's too difficult to keep up tempo and get the win. He beat me with it because it was a classic FW mirror match with corpses humping each other- you know, plenty of time to build up tempo and pace to get all your reanimating units out? Chopping Blocks with loss of life and global spam is good but countered extremely hard by ST, anything with summons, and heal/cleanse crap Vampyres are pretty good, and fun, but comparably weak to the other themes right now. One could say I just haven't given them a proper shot, but I didn't enjoy running them the few times that I did. Skeletons are always gonna have a special place in my heart, nostalgia and all, but aren't able to compete against some of the crazy Bane Shift out there. Especially because of my old school ways, trying to run them with altar. Honestly, if I can't run skellies with altar of bones like the old days and win, I won't use the theme. Moving on, people always ask me about Worms. Either they want me to try it, or they're telling me how OP something is, or just asking me if I like worms. I don't use them, and I'm not in a hurry to. Maybe someday when I'm bored, I'll forge something together. But I didn't join the Wastes for the worms, I'm sorry. Same thing with foul rite/witches, and humans in general. Spirits just seem boring to me. I have no will to play them (probably cuz of lack of haunting spirits). So here's what I've been doing. To make the most efficient use out of FW's bonus, I run meta with one theme- Nothing in the bg is run x2. Every single thing is x1. And I did many many games with this bg so far to testify that this works. Spells, relics and equips I am running x1 out of discipline, but that's typically subject to change since they don't benefit from the FW bonus. But the diversity of these things literally wins games. The champs benefit completely. It's kind of hard to describe actually, but there's a champ for borderline anything. I suppose you could say the goal is to stall until you reveal what you need to counter the opponent, but sometimes you'll get it right away. So this bg IS draw dependent, but not like the other themes. Usually there's more than one answer in the bg for the same counter. Chances are you'll reveal one of them. But the ultimate glory of this idea is when everything is revealed, and you're in the late game- where FW shines. At this point, the diversity of the bg allows you to have nearly twice as many options as your opponent would have. When I happen to lose, using this bg, I don't feel that it's the bg's fault. What's going on here: Cheap Meat [8] - broken bones - afflicted corpse - Martyr - Death birdy - Death Guard - Dark Familiar - Bile zombie - Blood Phoenix Vengful Units [5] - Bridal Ravenwraith - Anthropomancer - Any of the three liches (culler, LK, Gen Lich) if equipped with vendetta. Odd Units [2] - Coragh (tanks) - Shank (shanks) - Dead Fairy - High Warlock - Xulos It's worth noting that LK, Gen Lich, Warlock, D. Fairy, Xulos, and Culler make a formidable ranged line-up in the mix with all the melee. Xulos and blood phoenix are often two different leveled options to finish off champs instead of tome of hate. If you check out the spells and equips, there's so many ways to kill something if you really want to! we've got: - dessy - doom - essence drain - fester - mobi - soul bane ~ The usual 3 FW relics - reapers blade - soul reaver - vendetta So not only do you have cleanse and defile, you've got soulsift and vengeful on a range of your choice, you've got the old drain + r.blade double tap combo, doom for the impossible, fester for the turtles, mobi for the power turn, bane for the 14 hp talgar with 20 defense. Tell you what, the only thing this bg doesn't have is shatter. But the one lich with vendetta is anti equip enough to me If any one has questions about this bg feel free to ask. Recommendations for me are cool but I probably won't follow them. I honestly hardly ever do. But if you wanna know stuff like upgrades, let's talk. I do also highly encourage people to make their own version of the 1x everything bg, made to their liking, go out and try it, and then post here with what you find. If something worked provably well enough for you, I might consider your recommendations. I have already won enough games with this bg to know it works for me. ^(°□°）^ Edit: I have substituted Culler for a bone circle staff for now, to experiment
So you think the Hex change really buried E.Soldier? I've been considering Umbral Wulf recently, he is nice and cheap now. Certainly more use than an Anthropomancer
How well have you been getting on with Dark Familiar and the Bile? When do you use them? What do they do for the deck? Do they ever feel weak?
I always appreciate your inquisitiveness Kal. Dark Familiar When do you use him? - When you notice the opponent is range-heavy in general. - At the start of the match, often garunteeing that he'll 'intensify'. Capping close fonts - When you've got the meat train rolling, so you can keep this guy pacing behind the kill zone What does he do for the deck? - Sometimes he'll get gimped too early, but usually requires the opponent to overextend themselves, like a decoy. Kind of like Serkan - Once he 'intensifies', he's incredibly efficient for his cost, making him ideal for long term, drawn-out matches. That's one area where he shines, but NOT if you're on your back foot taking a beating. You can't just deploy him and save the day. You've got to either be even, or winning the game in the first place to make the best use of him. But he's capable of solidifying that win. - The capability of having an 8-speed melee unit without short lived or beserker in FW is pretty big. Stealth & elusive plus flying makes him the perfect font harasser. Does he ever feel weak? - Honestly yes, but only because of dying before he reaches his prime. In the past, running two of these guys made me REALLY find them weak, because I'd find myself trying to rely on them more. He's quite situational, but that's why I like him. Running him x1 actually makes him more convenient because there's only so many situations you'll wanna pop him out. And when his time comes to shine, he really does! So you'd only ever need one. Not to mention at his cost, even if he DOES die, he's back fast. Bile Zombie When do you use him? - When enemy champs are silly enough to park themselves in front of a friendly font/avatar - When up against melee heavy groups, or tanks. The more range is out, the less likely I'm going to pop this guy. - When desperately trying to stall an opponent, regardless of range. When you need to stall for cheap cost, broken bones and slow Aff corpse can only do so much. Bile can run straight into them and road block. And if they don't want that death nova, they have to spend ap disengaging, attacking with range, going back with the melee. It adds up. - When Genesis Lich is out, or is going to be out in time to grant death nova fire. If High Warlock is out too, you can explode bile at 0 ap. Instead of high warlock, you can also use ritual of destruction with bone circle staff, which may catch opponents off guard, thinking bile zombie won't reach them. Can save you a mobi or two. What does he do for the deck? - Threatens threats, basically. You know how opponents react when they know a shadowshank is on the board? Bile has that same kind of effect. People find its very existence threatening. They seem more comfortable until they see him out there. Sometimes I'll hold off on deploying him until I see an opportunity to deploy+explode in the same turn, especially vs range. Meaning he does have a place vs heavy range. However.... - His role is simply that he's anti melee. If you ever find yourself fighting a ton of melee, Bile is almost always a safe bet to pop out. - Needless to say, explosions go through defenses, so he's anti tank but can kill a group as well as a tank. His potential ranges from 24(16+8) at base, to 35(16+8+11) with Gen Lich out, to 45 (35+10) with ritual of destruction. The guy is scary, it fits his lore. I have killed anything from groups of arrow eating demons, to Talgar, thanks to this guy. Does he ever seem weak? - Only as a stand-alone hence his cost. You NEED to have other units out in order to use this guy. Unless it's first turn and he's your best option, only pop him when its time. Situational like the Familiar. You'd have to know what you opponent is running by the time they pop out. And you can't rely on him to hold a font. When he explodes, you gotta have a broken bones or something near by to pick up those globes! That's why running one of everything helps this guy, too. Low CD either way, so he'll still be semi spammable. If it's not the right time to put him out there, having more than one of them will hurt you. Some people will find a champ weak because it can't fulfill every role. But if you have such a diverse number of different champs, you've got a role for everything (except shatter). That's the power of running a 1x bg like this as FW into the late game.
Bile Explosion doesn't actually go through DEF, but Disease Nova does. Bit awkward, but there you go. Thanks for the in-depth reply! Based on your present experiences, how often do you find yourself in those situations where you want to deploy either of those runes? In about what proportion of your games do you use them?
Ahh, but you see, that is another benefit of this bg. Everything in there is deployed at one point or another. I singled out what I wanted in this 1x bg by playing games with earlier versions of the 1x concept, and realizing what I wouldn't use on a regular basis. In the course of say 5 games, I will have used everything in the bg at some point. It's just that some options are slightly more convenient than others at different times. Bile zombie is a good short and sweet but fast reply to whatever is on the board. Familiar is a long term investment that can be a gamble at times. But honestly those two right there are among my favorite play things right now. Bile zombies got that old school tingle you feel in the nostalgias, while Familiar still has got that new car smell about it, the new school reach for hope. Or.. Bile zombie is that trashy play thing you knew from your school days in the 70s/80s that'll give you the booty call lickedy split, straight to business. Familiar is the young girl you met at the club but she doesn't wanna get in your pants until she knows you better so you gotta protect her from ranged units for a while, but then she'll buy you a car
I'm well aware of the advantages of singleton decks, I've been advocating that for all spell sets for a while. The question sought to elicit the information in which I had particular interest: how often these runes find a situation in which they prove useful; how often do you find yourself in a stable standoff against heavy ranged? 10%? 50? How about proximity to fonts and opposing melee -- does Bile Zombie see play on average every other game or every fifth game? Knowing that isn't just about breaking down one particular BG, it helps others understand the meta-game context in which you are marking particular decisions. Hearing about 1/5 at least for every rune does give some useful idea though.
yes it's a general 1/5, but broken bones is the MVP showing up almost every match. The cheaper the champ, the more likely they see play. But I will say Bile zombie is a good option more often than Familiar. There are games where Gen Lich clutches it single handedly with a bunch of cheap meat, or Lich king, or sometimes both. Sometimes its D fairy. These things are so situational in such a situational game that I couldn't really say what I use is the absolute pinnacle of meta.
It has now come to my attention that sometimes a really bad reveal early game can hurt this bg very badly. Happening more than one would like. Makes me wonder if perhaps there aren't enough alt-responses that overlap eachother, like broken bones vs afflicted corpse
