With the few decks i've tried out recently i have seen good counters and deck utility. This made me wonder, what (right now) is the best things to have in a deck? I know that one deck can't prepare for everything. What im asking is what things are being seen most often so its best to have x: counters in the deck. I've seen quite a bit of stealth. So i've seen alot of detection pick up in BG's. I've seen Back lash pick up aswell as other Nora counters. I've seen spot anti equip aswell, although not as much as detection. What has everyone been seeing/ been running in todays meta and what are the best things to include in a BG. EX: EX2: -Stealth - Anti Summon -Disarm - Spell Negation - Detection - Ap Negation - Dispel - Defense counters - Anti Range - Heal Counters (Disease, Inhibit, Rotting etc) - Spot removal - Defile - Spot Cleanse - Relic counters - Nora Counter - Relocation Feel free to detail why things you find important or against what faction/strategies you frequently see that this counter or mechanic will help your BG defend against. Hopefully this will be a constructive thread to help some less seasoned players or casuals become more competitive and less inclined to rage at decks now that they have information on how to better build their BG for this Meta Season.
My thoughts on BG construction at the moment: BG's need either a dominating mid-late game or the ability to apply early-mid game pressure. BGs lacking either of these qualities will be hunted out of the meta-game by Worms. Forms of one-shot soft CC such as Sandspout and Acrid Smoke were hated out by the prevalence of spot cleanse. I think they are still viable, and the move away from them was an overreaction. Backlash is everywhere. Not that it's especially good against many forms of generation, but any person piloting nora gen should have at least a minimum concept of how they are going to play around it, both pre- and post-deployment. High-density fights are more common, with increased prevalence of cheaper units and phalanx styles relying on area-based boosts. AoE spells and attacks should see increased utility. There's been an uptick of direct shrine damage BGs, both in power and frequency. Players should first learn how their BG will play around these tricks -- Spell Trap, Ethereal Pool, Traitorous Helm, Desecration, War/Enslave, generic rush -- and should modify their BG if they find no solution. Conversely, anyone running rush should figure out how they beat an opponent who has gotten past the rogue factor. Have a reach plan for the mid-game. If running War/Enslave, have a backup plan for FW, or get ready to eat your rank. Stealth is showing up more, as is Detection. I think every BG should be running a consistent form of de-stealth, either from 1-2 Detection 3 units to 2-3 Detection 2 units, or a form of global detection, if available. BGs should also have a plan for fighting on multiple fronts. A few of the current ranked maps have severely split attack lanes.
Something that helped me alot in the past after i discovered its strength was Relic contestion. I rarely used relic's in my decks until i became aware of their need for contestion. Is this still true in todays game, or has the need for relic's lessened in place of cheap meat and tank units? Thanks for all participating in the discussion. I think it'll help people from crying nerf OP on some things rather than just recognizing superior BG building and their own oversights in their personal BG's.
Relics are important because of their often-superior HP/Nora ratios, allowing a player move completely exit a font with minimal loss, and because they add an extra square of contestation range. This breaks important values on some maps, or fixes otherwise shaky values on others.
When it comes to setting up a BG, you first need to ask yourself: what kind of player are you? More specifically, HOW do you want to win? Do you prefer to utilize brute strength and combat-oriented runes to force a victory? Do you prefer long-ranged harass style combat, using poke and snipe champions to strike at the opponent without fear of counterattack? Do you want to engage in long, drawn out wars of attrition, stalling the game using cheap, efficient, recyclable units? Or are you a combo-oriented type of player, wanting to create interesting, synergistic effects using a few key runes? This is an important decision to make, because it shapes the future of all of your decks. This is where much of the struggling comes from on the part of new players, because the game has such an enormous quantity of runes with an even higher quantity of abilities attached to them. The best thing you can do now is pick a faction you like and learn it inside and out; what its strengths are, where its weaknesses exist, and how to make up for said weaknesses. Underdepths decks, for example will tend to run much more melee than range; they are vulnerable to poke/harass champions, but make up for it with extremely powerful close-combat runes and damaging spells. They can also somewhat cover up their vulnerability to range using runes such as Orb of Protection and Demon Shield. Each faction favors a different style of play, and consequently different types of players will be attracted to the faction that suits their taste best. I feel that the meta atm is much more diverse than people give it credit for. All factions are capable of fielding a goodstuff deck, but in general, some basic rules to follow when building your decks are these: - At least 40% of your champions should be ranged/have a spammable ranged attack. Let's face it: ranged units have a natural advantage over melee units. They can attack from a distance without having to worry about retaliation. The entire military history of the world is based on this concept, from the slingshot, to the crossbow, to the rifle, to the ICBM. Being able to attack from further and further distances is extremely valuable. Since the ideal number of champions in a deck is between 15 and 18, you're going to want at least 6 ranged champions. The term "ranged" usually refers to a champion whose maximum attack range is 3 or greater. Most of the time you will see champions with 2-4 range, 3-5 range, or 4-6 range, though other variations like 2-5 and 3-7 exist as well. Having a good assortment of ranged champions allows you to poke safely at your opponent in order to soften them up for a melee engagement. Keep in mind that melee champions with a Bomb ability, or melee champions with a single alternate ranged attack (e.g. Nefari Dragon, Talgar Ironfist) do NOT count as ranged champions for this purpose. - At least 40% of your champions should be melee. Ranged may be better in some cases (indeed, in most cases it is), but there are times when ranged alone will not cut it. Your deck must include champions able to fight in close quarters. Luckily, melee champions are plentiful, and every faction has a good number to choose from. Not running enough melee champions can lead to bad games where the opponent has an Arrow Eater, Absorb, Evasive, or Elusive champion that ranged units cannot deal with effectively. Other ranged counters such as Paralytic Feedback, Righteous Deflection, Demon Shield, and Dodge are all readily available, usually to melee champions. Picking melee with some of these abilities can aid greatly in the sustain game, where you are better equipped to deal with heavy ranged opposition. Melee units with ranged poke abilities such as Frost Cone, Pin Down, Farshot, or simply a base range of 1-X are much more effective than generic melee. Versatility and tankiness are key features of good melee champions. - Include a variety of champions. By variety, I mean don't run an entire deck of Attack - Physical champions, or an entire deck of champions with 6 speed. Variety is not hard to come by in Poxnora, and is one of the many things that make this game great. By having more variety in your deck, you are better able to adapt to situations the opponent throws at you, and also increase the chances of countering your deck's counters when/if they appear in-game. This is also a good time to talk about your specific categories of tank, DPS, and support. While the definitions of these categories may be obvious, the champions in Poxnora that fulfill these roles may not be so obvious. Consider, for example, the Priest of Valdac: clearly a support champion in every way, meant to aid the effectiveness of your other champions. Now consider Euan Ironfist. He has Impenetrable, Block, and built-in healing with Consecration. But he also has Surge Enemy, Mountaineer, and high base damage. This comparison illustrates the fact that some roles might not be obvious at first glance, and certain champions can fill multiple roles at once. While we're on the subject of roles, this is a good time to mention DO NOT NEGLECT SUPPORT CHAMPIONS. I cannot stress enough how important this is. Without support champions, you deck will be transparent, predictable, and slow, putting you at an extreme disadvantage over opponents with good support. Remember that support can mean anything from generating nora, to providing AP, to boosting stats. It is always best to include at least 2 support champions in your decks, preferably more. Champions with 7+ speed for early font grabbing, champions with different damage types to counter resistances, and champions that control the opponent's champions are also definite includes. - When it comes to spells and relics, be sure to think from the perspective of "what is my deck lacking?" Spells, relics, and equipment will fill in those holes and offer ways to adapt and counter what the opponent throws at you. AOE spells that deal damage are usually a requirement in most decks; there are times when you simply won't have enough champion damage to pull off a key turn. Damaging spells can help there, and facilitate kills, which in turn creates favorable board positioning for you. One mistake I see a lot in new players' decks is that they run an abundance of spells, most of them damaging spells. This is completely inefficient, and unless your deck is based around some specific combo, spells are 100% inferior to champions. What spells do is lend assistance to a battle, not fight the battle for you. That's what champions are for. When selecting spells, run one or two spells that deal damage, and reserve the rest of your spell slots for counter spells (i.e. spells that get you out of sticky situations). Good examples of spells of this type include Backfire, Refute, Snow Blind, Escape Magic, and Domination. If you make a mistake in your game play, or see a flaw in your plan that the opponent could exploit, spells are useful ways around this. Same rules apply for relics and equipment. Logically, if half your deck is composed of champions, than the other half of your deck should be composed of spells/relics/equips. The exact ratios are up to you, and depend on what you have available. Just remember that spells, relics, and equipment all serve a similar purpose, and should be treated as such. - Put yourself in the opponent's place; what will they be running against you? This is where experience plays a major role, and most new players don't grasp it right away. Think not only about what the opponent might run, but also think about what the opponent is thinking YOU are running. The very best players take it one step further and think about what the opponent is thinking you are thinking about what what they (they opponent) is running. Following the meta is one aspect, and watching other players' games a big part of it. Knowing what the opposition will throw at you before it even leaves their hand is the defining feature that separates the pros from the plebs. The vast majority of decks (including your own) SHOULD have at least one source of the following: cleanse, CC, Detection, anti-equip, spot removal, alternate damage, and nora control (i.e. nora generation or anti-nora generation). This means that you will have to take all of these things into account during your games. Basically, never assume one of your plays will succeed; always assume it will fail, and plan accordingly from there. If it happens to succeed, great! Rinse and repeat the process. If it does fail, you're not stuck staring at your screen wondering what to do and feeling helpless. Keeping a cool head in-game is paramount to one's success. These are just some basic ideas regarding deck building, many of which the old vets in the game know well, yet could be invaluable for new players. For some more advanced tips, the best I can offer hearkens back to my last point about what the opponent might be running against you. I take this into account with every deck I make; the ability to know decks and know runes is invaluable in a strategy game like Pox where so many variables are at play. For example, you might not need that Backlash champion every game, but statistically with nora gen being one of the most sought-after resources in the game, you'll be thankful you have it more often than not. You need to be able to play the numbers when it comes to including counters: "what are the odds I'll be up against X?" is a common question I ask myself. If the answer I find is lower than about 50%, I won't run that counter because deck slots are far too valuable to waste on runes that might never be needed. Lastly, I find it rather futile to try and build a deck that it good at all stages of the game. By this, I don't mean I won't run any speedy harassers because my deck isn't "an early game deck", but rather I won't go out of my way to plan for every possible scenario. Doing this is an exercise in futility because with only 30 deck slots available, you WILL run into situations that you can't plan for. It's impossible to do otherwise. I find that the best players and deck builders will come upon something they didn't plan for and take it as a challenge to their strategic skill. Facing a trick deck a la iPox, for example, means that you must constantly be on your toes and ready to adapt to new situations. There is only so much information the human brain can handle processing, and some things are guaranteed to be left out. This being the case, don't try to make your deck unstoppable, make it strong yet flexible. Because 9 times out of 10, the opponent will throw something at you you didn't expect. In the end, there is no perfect formula for deck building, and anyone who claims otherwise is a fool. There are simply guidelines that should be followed for maximum benefit, but personal choice and preference take priority. This is, after all, merely a game, and you should build your deck how you wish. Keep the above tips in mind, however, and you will be climbing the ranks in no time!
http://forums.poxnora.com/index.php?threads/a-brisk-guide-to-building-a-competitive-bg.10685/ If we are going for broader BG advice.
