By Beard we Conquer: A Guide to Dwarves

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Introduction - Why Should I Play Dwarves?
Welcome to the new and improved Guide to Dwarves! As a people, Dwarves are hearty, sturdy folk who live primarily in mountainous regions. Small in stature, but large in everything they do, Dwarves have great skill in metal-working, mining, inventing new machinery, and of course, brewing beer. They are as stubborn as the rocks they live around, and are often as grim as the grey hills they call their homes. Only when the lust for gold creeps into their hearts, or the warmth of strong ale flows down their throat, or the war horns echo through their stoic halls do Dwarves exhibit the blazing exuberance characteristic of other races.

In Poxnora, Dwarves play true to this description. You will find that many of your champions have high defensive capabilities, abilities that boost the prowess of other Dwarves, and amazing powerturns using key runes like Dwarven King and Ironfist Minister. Dwarf decks can be played in many unique ways: efficient, cheap decks that rely on spamming lots of smaller champions; tough, defensive decks that form up nigh unstoppable phalanxes; aggressive, assault-based decks that utilize fast, hard-hitting Dwarves to secure an early advantage; or simply a mix of all these tactics. No matter what kind of deck you want to run, Dwarves are a highly versatile theme that can fit anyone's playstyle needs perfectly. You will have a diverse set of supporting spells and relics to choose from, and a huge champion base from which to pick. There are not many situations that a well-built Dwarf deck cannot adapt to.

Those Dwarves with a more thematic flair to them have an ability called Carouse, which can be used on any champion (friendly or enemy) to equip it with a Pale Brew. This immediately grants the Intoxicated condition, giving Dwarves +2 damage and +5 HP or -3 damage and Careless (loses all AP at the end of their turn) if a non-Dwarf. If a Pale Brew is removed from a Dwarf, it gets +5 damage for 4 turns. In short, these buffs are incredible for a free equipment, and turn even the youngest of beardlings into formidable fighters. Combined with the other stat-boosting abilities Dwarves have access to, Carouse is one of the best racial abilities in the game. Carouse can also prevent the use of negative equips on your units, such as Cursed Blade and Withering Fern. When it comes down to it, that positive buff is better than the hampering effects provided by opposing equips. One final caveat regarding Carouse is that when the Carousing champion is already equipped with a brew, it hands out that brew instead of a Pale Brew. This knowledge is helpful for when you want to provide buffs other than the simple stat boost of Pale Brew. So far, there are only two other kinds of brew available: Blacklabel and St. Semmir's. I'll get more into the pros and cons of each further along in the guide.

Structure and Outline
The structure of the rest of this guide will be as follows: first, I will list the champions available (in alphabetical order) using a 5-star rating system, 1 being the lowest rating and 5 being the highest. I will give my personal preference for upgrades, but feel free to mix and match them as you like; note, however, that some upgrades are clearly better than others. Lastly, I will have a small section dedicated to play notes on that champion. This will include info such as how best to use the rune in-game, what its primary role is, and how it synergizes with other runes in the deck. I will also include PoxBase links to each of the runes in their title so that players can easily reference stats, upgrades, and abilities.

After the champions are done, I will suggest several spells, relics, and equips which are general staples for all Ironfist decks. Some personal favorites of mine might also make the list, and these I will be sure to mark somehow, just to let you all know that the rune might not fit your tastes. After that, I will post some example decks, courtesy of PoxBase, to give you all an idea of what a good Dwarf deck should look like. I will try and cover some of the more common iterations and sub-themes possible with Dwarves, provided I have the space. Again, keep in mind that these decks are by no means set in stone, and you should play what you ENJOY playing. Also, just a quick heads up: all ratings in this guide are for full Dwarf/goodstuff decks ONLY, and these ratings do not reflect a rune's viability in other IS themes (e.g. Constructs, Griffins, Paladins).

With that said and done, I hope you new players reading this grow to like the Dwarves as much as I have; and I hope you hoary old Longbeards glean something new from the presented info as well. Long live the Ironfist Stronghold! Baruk Khazad!! Khazad ai-menu!!

 

Armorer

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Defender and Stat Bonus - Defense 3
Strategy Notes: As his name suggests, the Armorer's primary role is buffing the defense of your other Dwarves. His usefulness, however, is often dependent on playstyle, both yours and your opponent's. If you're against a more aggressive player who is running a deck made for rushing in the early game, Armorer isn't as good, since he takes time to build up the defenses of your units. In a longer game Armorer's real strengths start becoming apparent. Dwarves excel at turning low stat units into behemoths, and Armorer is a great facilitator of that. In a more phalanx-style deck, utilizing strong defensive and stall tactics, the additional defense does eventually add up. With his own high defense rating, and extremely low cost, he can stall in a font for a time in the early game, however there are better options for such a role. Armorer's contesting duties are almost exclusively limited to holding a font, not necessarily taking it by force. Nevertheless, it may be worth including Armorer just because of how much raw defensive power he puts out in the mid game for the extremely bargain price of 51 nora.

Attendant Squire

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Invigorate 2 and Enhance Armor
Strategy Notes: A decent include in full Dwarves (and auto-include in Paladins), Squire is a cheap little support champ that you probably won't have room for. IS is not exactly hurting for support champs, and Squire's only ability that would benefit Dwarves is Invigorate 2. Being that you can just run Tinkerer, a far better Invigorate champ, I would just leave Squire on the sidelines. You should run him if you decide to include both Heroes though (switching the Enhance Armor upgrade with Royal Blood), since he does get quite a bit better with them in play. Inexperienced means he won't be much good in combat, and our other supports are generally more useful in that regard as well.

Battle Matron

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Drive and Heal Champion 3
Strategy Notes: The Battle Matron still does not see widespread play, and there are a few good reasons for that. Firstly, she has 5 speed base, which puts a damper on your deck's early game pressure. Even with Surge: Dwarf, her abilities scream support, meaning she isn't as streamlined as some of our other options. Heal Champion, Cleanse, and Drive on the same champion is quite good, but Sergeant does a much better job at providing AP. She is too squishy for combat purposes and does not really fit in any role overly well. As a combatant, she is weak and awkward; as a support champ, she is slow and provides nothing that cannot be found elsewhere. A decent choice for a low-budget deck, but nothing special.

Battle Rager

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Berserker 2 and Pummel 1
Strategy Notes: A viable Battle Rager? In my time???? Stars, I never thought I'd see it! Gaining Scrapper did a lot to improve his viability, since it all but eliminates his previous weakness: being a glass cannon. With Berserker and Pummel, Battlerager can put out quite a lot of damage, while remaining durable with Reflexes 3 and Evasive 3. Taking Berserker 3 is tempting, but it comes at a steep cost, so gauge your deck's nora ratio wisely. Keep in mind that Berserker is almost as big a liability as it is a boon, since he cannot benefit from AP storage. This means you have to use outside AP generation to keep him going, and while IS does not necessarily lack it, there are other Dwarves which can operate on their own without the aid of support. Battle Rager tends to work best as a skirmisher in the early game, where most champions cannot go toe-to-toe with him.

Brewmaster

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Void Shield and Fire Bomb 3
Strategy Notes: Once the champion embodiment of Carouse, Brewmaster had been drinking himself to death in the shoebox until a buff during the revamp made him viable. Part mid-range artillery, part front-line tank, the Brewmaster is any good Dwarf deck's auto-include of choice. Although he no longer possesses dual alt-damage ranged attacks, his first upgrade line now comes with the nifty ability Void Shield. While this small buff doesn't quite make up for losing his artillery abilities and a rank of Tough from base, the nerfs pushed him towards a more streamlined version of what he was before. Void Shield combined with Thirst for Battle make him a hyper-scaling monster, granting you a potentially infinite supply of resistances and stats just for doing what he does best: chewing up the front line. Oftentimes you can quite literally throw him to the wolves and watch him ramp up with Thirst and Void Shield. While the opponent is busy trying to take him out before he scales up, pelt him with your ranged units, harass side fonts, rush the shrine, etc. Brewmaster is a great distraction unit, since prolonged exposure to combat makes them nigh unstoppable. Brewmaster also comes with a large pool of base HP, and along with the buff from Carouse, Warbanner, Defender, and other buffs, he's extremely efficient. While he starts off with very low base damage, don't underestimate his potential. Having Carouse is another great reason to run him, since this ability is the meat and potatoes of a Dwarf deck; you want to get those brews out as fast as possible, and what better way than with a Brewmaster?

Brubaker Brothers

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Sibling and Hold the Line
Strategy Notes: The problem with the Brothers is not that they themselves are bad champs; it's just that Sibling was never a very viable mechanic after the Mauler incident. Once you get both in play, their stats become decent for their price, but they still remain very vulnerable to spot removal. Keeping them within 5 spaces of each other can be troublesome at times, and if one of them happens to die, the other becomes a 6 speed 8 damage melee champ. That said, when stocked up with all the buffs a Dwarf deck puts out, their threat should not be taken lightly. I chose to upgrade HtL here because they work best doing just that: holding off an enemy's melee units by blockading the front lines. Keep in mind that you can reset the cooldown on Charge by moving out of Brubaker Bond range then moving back in again. This is a neat tactic when you want to use Charge every turn for bonus damage, or simply need to close the gap faster. They have some nice flavor built into them, and you could run them for fun if you want, but don't make them a top priority.

Council Elder

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Shielded and any of the Hunters
Strategy Notes: Council Elder has some pretty awesome art, but is that reason enough to play him? Not on its own, however he does bring a few interesting things to the table. Firstly, the reason I don't specify a second upgrade is purely because it doesn't really matter which one you take. Depending on personal preference (i.e. which faction you struggle against the most) any of them are viable. It is, however, worth noting that Hunter: Unholy basically gives you 2 Hunters for a few more nora, so that would be my choice. Death Sentence is his signature ability, and although it might have some uses in a generic Dwarf deck (utilizing stacking debuffs from Brewmaster, Agent, Sunder sources, etc.) you will probably have to go out of your way to tailor your deck to fit him. For this reason, I don't think too highly of Council Elder, since there are many better options in his price bracket. Having a range 4 magical attack is handy at times, and usually melee units with these types of attacks are versatile enough to be worth a look, but Elder is still somewhat bland.

 

Deep Miner

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Lumbering and Nora Miner 3
Strategy Notes: The humble Deep Miner used to get quite a lot of hate back when it was 29 nora. Even at 41, it can still be beneficial to include one or two, depending on the deck you're running. The additional nora per turn does add up in a longer game, and she can also be a cheap deploy to grab close fonts (such as on the FW map, or Nora Glades). There are a few things you should know when deciding to run Miner however. Firstly, if you plan to drop one first turn, be aware that if your opponent decides to rush the mid font, you will likely be playing catch up in the early game. Dropping a Miner first turn without another champ is a clear invitation for the opponent to play more aggressive than usual, so be aware of this. Secondly, if you decide to run double Miners, be sure to include at least two additional champions than you normally would. This will help prevent bad draw situations in which you only draw Miners in your first few turns, or you go second and only draw Miner as your first champ. Running 15 champs, two of which are Miners, is a surefire way to lose games due to bad draws. That being said, whenever you can afford the tempo hit, dropping a Miner is usually a good strategy. The addition of Build Mine has helped her viability a tad since she now has something to do while sitting in the back. If you decide to try and make use out of Build Mine, running Excavators is mandatory. Otherwise the mines you deploy at your back line are completely useless, as there are no front line mines to shuttle troops back and forth.

Demolition Team

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Explosive Attack 2 and Fire Bomb 3
Strategy Notes: Demo Team is not exactly a bad unit. It provides a nice set of abilities, and can put out some good damage. However, its huge cost makes it incredibly inefficient, not to mention other ranged options in IS can put out the same amount of damage for a lower price. Team, while a flavorful concept, is more of a sandbag than anything else at the moment. Essentially, he's too expensive for what he brings, and you can probably do better. He could be runnable in a budget Dwarf deck, just for alt damage purposes, but switch him out ASAP for something better.

Drunken Thug

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Tough 1 and Berserk Attack 3
Strategy Notes: When it comes to efficiency, Thug has few equals. Once he gets a Brew on him, you'll find that he soaks a lot of damage for a champion so cheap. He may not deal that much damage at first, but he ramps up quite fast once he gets a brew; Berserk Attack 3 somewhat mitigates that problem as well. Furthermore, dealing damage is not Thug's primary purpose. Basically, deploy him when you need to defend a font, run for a side font, or just be a meatshield and get in the way. Early game he functions as a decent font runner, with Opportunistic giving him 7 AP per turn until he's attacked. Since Thug works best when you can take advantage of his amazing efficiency, the cheapest possible upgrades are ideal. Drunkard makes giving him a brew more valuable than other Dwarves, so prioritize him as a Carouse target when his initial intoxication wears off.

Dwarven Alchemist

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Fire Bomb 1 and Grant: Stoneskin Potion
Strategy Notes: Poor Alchemist; there was so much I had hoped this guy to be. Unfortunately, he just doesn't perform up to standard in most decks. His potions, while situationaly useful, just don't bring enough to the table to justify his cost. Rage Potion gives a meager +3 damage for 1 AP. Healing Potion heals for 8 HP and cleanses, but usually you'll want to cleanse a champion with Stunned, or Paralyzed, making the potion useless. Stoneskin Potion is a bit more useful, and his only redeeming feature. Since he'll almost never be in range to utilize either his basic attack or Fire Bomb, I recommend rank 1, making him as cheap as possible. His low range also means you have to get up close to the action if you want to hand out potions to your front liners, and since he dies if something looks at him funny, this limitation contradicts his purpose. I personally wouldn't waste the effort getting him.

Dwarven Axeguard

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Block 2 and Opportunistic Assault
Strategy Notes: In a different age and time, Axeguard used to be one of our star melee champs. With Block 2, Riposte, and Hold the Line active, you could get 2 attacks off on melee champs before they could even hit you. These attacks also proc'd Sunder, meaning the champ in question gets -4 defense and suffered 2 free hits before they even got a chance to retaliate. Although he is still capable of this to a degree (RIP Riposte ), powercreep has sent this guy packing, and he won't serve much use aside from a temporary speed bump. Opportunistic Assault is interesting, however, in that if the opponent does happen to play into your hands, they are screwed no matter what. Defensive Strike from Hold the Line will punish them for engaging, while Assault will punish them for retreating (plus it combos nicely with Defensive Strike if you happen to activate it after they have already engaged). In the lower ranks, you could get away with running Axeguard, and he might even prove useful. Once you start to rank up, you will find fewer and fewer times where you'd want to deploy him. Even when holding the line, he is pretty squishy, and he has no ranged defenses to speak of, meaning he will just get sniped down where he stands.

Dwarven Beermaiden/Poxtoberfest Maiden

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Invigorate 2 and Shatter
Strategy Notes: Beermaiden is a newer addition to the dwarf throng, and initially proved to be an incredible support unit. She was quickly nerfed however, and remained a tad too expensive for most players. With the recent expansion however, she's worked off a bit of her girth, and taking Invigorate 2 only brings her up to 69 nora; quite a big difference from her previous cost. Looking at what she brings, Carouse is always useful, and she comes with her own brand of brew for your thirsty Dwarves. Her signature ability, On the House, is too restrictive in my eyes, and honestly not very good. By the time you get to the point in the game where things start dropping globes, you will likely have your units equipped with brew already, making the intoxicated buff redundant. This ability does have some utility in that it affects opposing units too, punishing them with a potent debuff when they get a globe. The only other reason to run her would be to counter summon spam, and at this she does a respectable job. However most players prefer taking Shatter on her to get the damage buff for removing brew from friendly Dwarves, in addition to the anti-equip it provides. I honestly wouldn't run more than one of her, but she can be a decent utility piece.

Dwarven Defender

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Defensive Stance 3 and Bodyguard
Strategy Notes: Simply put, Northern Cross Militia came along one day and shoved this guy out of the way forever. The only possible reason you'd want to run him is for Bodyguard; but Militia has Bodyguard, a global healing ability, and a better version of Defender (Enduring Aura). If you like this guy, try Militia out instead; you won't be sorry.

Dwarven Engineer

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Mason 1 and Boost: Construct
Strategy Notes: I know what you're thinking: "why would I want an Engineer in my Dwarf deck when he is clearly made for Construct decks?" Yes, his main use is in Constructs; however, he might still find a place alongside his fellow Dwarves as well. Summoning 31 HP balls of meat is a great thing, and with Boost around they can get up to 4 defense and 13 damage. These Piledrivers, when boosted with Tough 3 (another ability of the Engineer's) can literally win games on their own. Engineer himself, by contrast, is nearly useless when he's waiting on the CD of his summon. Having Defenseless also means he's of absolutely no use in combat. If you decide to run him, makes absolutely sure that your FIRST action with him is to summon a Piledriver (unless of course you need him to grab a font). After that, keep him in the back until you can summon another. While the Piledrivers are probably one of the best summons in the game, I'd steer well clear of this guy in full dwarf decks, as you're basically paying over 70 nora for one, possibly 2 or 3, summoned units.

Dwarven Excavator

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Tunnel Snow 1 OR Tunnel Vegetation 1 and Mason 1
Strategy Notes: Oh, how the mighty have fallen! This little guy used to be IS's prime harasser since he was released, but has recently fallen from this throne after his last nerf. Mines now cost 2 AP to build, and his Tunnel Earth was decreased by a rank, allowing him only 7 spaces of movement first turn. Despite this setback, for 51 nora he is still a decent choice in the early game. He almost never needs to attack; his role is simply to harass fonts, dropping 10 HP relics and Tunneling to safety, then moving back in on the next turn to contest the font again. Since Build Mine no longer costs 0 AP, you will have to be judicious about when to drop them now, but prioritize fonts over open spaces, especially if you've got some Mines in the back from Deep Miner. Remember that the mines DO NOT CONTEST FONTS ANYMORE, which honestly cut his viability by a metric ton. That said, a Mine in a font means it's just one more thing the opponent has to concern himself with before moving in or out of that font. If they don't kill it, they risk having an entire dwarf army materialize out of nowhere, and if they do, that's 3 (or more) AP they used on something other than your valuable champions. There is some debate on his best choice of upgrades (either Tunnel Snow, or Tunnel Veg), and it really comes down to preference. Tunnel Veg will help his mobility on non-snow maps, while Tunnel Snow will obviously help him on snow maps only. Note that Tunnel Sand is useless, since the game does not differentiate between earth and sand for the purposes of tunneling. Tunnel Vegetation makes him even faster on a number of maps; with 9 AP, he can move 12 spaces using double Tunnel, and contest up to 13 spaces away with a relic. I used to run 2x Vator in most of my decks, but now I would not bother running him at all. He's just been nerfed way too much to be worthwhile.

 

Dwarven Handler

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Regal Presence and Boost: Construct
Strategy Notes: The worst champion in IS finds new life, with the revamp granting him useful abilities at last! Still, he's far more useful in construct decks, providing Boost and Manic along with some AP gen. In full dwarves, Handler's only purpose is to provide Regal Presence, a substantial buff that gives Loyalty in a small AOE. Outside of that, his usefulness is next to nill. Drive is great, but Sarge already does that. I wouldn't bother running him unless you're going for a buff-stacking phalanx playstyle (which honestly isn't too bad).

Dwarven Hooligan

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Carouse and Encouraged
Strategy Notes: Hooligan has quickly become one of our star ranged units. Coming into play drunk, with the potential to make other units drunk (friendly or enemy) is a huge plus already in full Dwarves. Keg Toss is an excellent AOE attack that provides a damage debuff to opponents and free beer to your Dwarves! This along with Carouse means you'll never be hurting for ale. As a combatant, Hooligan can be built in a few different ways. Some people prefer Sunder over Carouse, and while I won't deny that Sunder is a powerful tool for ranged units, Dwarves get so much out of Carouse that I can't possibly pass it up. Not to mention after the last Sunder nerf, Hooligan only applies one stack, effectively halving its potency. A more burst-oriented build with Encouraged is what I would recommend now, so try to attack with him last to get the most benefit. Other than that, he's your average 5 range unit, but don't underestimate his power in a Dwarf deck.

Dwarven King

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Melee Specialist 2 and Loyalty
Strategy Notes: Over the years, Dwarven King has changed quite a bit. Fortunately, like most Dwarves, he has aged very well, especially with the recent patch trimming down his cost. Like the DK of ages past, he's still all about that Warcry. Providing all your champions within 3 spaces more AP and damage just for attacking is extremely valuable, and one of the reasons King has always remained strong. Looking at King closer, we can see some other benefits. He can get into the fight pretty easily with 7 speed, and once there, his high base HP and defense means that he won't be a slouch when it comes to one-rounding. Don't be afraid to have him take a hit or two; just the threat of a Warcry powerturn will often keep most opponents at a safe distance and attempt to snipe him down. This could end up working in your favor, as IS has great healing options, and the zoning King provides will force the opponent into awkward positions. Augmented by his Loyalty upgrade, Brew, and any other buff abilities you are running, King is a monstrous Warcry stat-stick for a bargain price. Still, when all is said and done, Warcry is 99% of what King brings to the table. This linear role might end up dissuading you from running him, but I'd strongly argue against that. Even a single King gives your deck so much extra threat potential, and even though Half-Skeezick is a cheaper source of Warcry, King's enormous stat line is just too good to pass up (and provides decent safety on the front lines). I'd try to run at least one in your Dwarf decks, and 2 might not be a bad idea either.

Dwarven Magister

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Radiant Blow and Spellswallower
Strategy Notes: He may be a bit overshadowed by Hooligan, but Magister is still a very respectable choice in Dwarf decks. Good range, solid damage output, and a bit of utility makes him well worth the cost. Radiant Blow allows him to attack with Fire if necessary, and the Blind effect is sometimes helpful if the opponent positions poorly. Spells such as Instill Panic or Groble Bombardment can help set up blinds by moving champions around. His upgrades lack the sheer versatility they used to, and if you take anything but the recommended build, he'll be too expensive. I do, however, recommend Adaptive for new players, simply because they tend to use more spells than necessary, and Adaptive will at least give some passive benefits to this tactic. Spellswallower can boost his damage further and detect hidden annoyances like Snow Blind or Backfire, which give you an edge when playing against certain factions. Teleport on a ranged unit is rare enough to increase his value in my eyes, and since magic damage is absolutely necessary in most match-ups, I'd say Magister is a safe 1x include at least.

Dwarven Mogaslicer

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Rend 1 and Charge 3
Strategy Notes: Mogaslicer's damage output is actually very impressive for such an old rune. With 12 base, Rend 1, and Aura 3, he deals 21 damage just by hitting once. Add spells and other boosts into the equation, and you can potentially wreak havoc on an opponent's front line. Unfortunately, his Aura does equally painful damage to your own units, and 2x2 melee champs are notoriously clunky to position. His 7 speed is not all that rare anymore, even in Dwarf decks, and he has not a single defensive ability to speak of. For his price, there are better options.

Dwarven Mortar Crew

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Explosive Attack 1 and Stat Bonus - Health 2
Strategy Notes: Mortar Crew is infamous for being one of the most powerful ranged units in IS for at least 3 expansions. At least he used to be; several direct and indirect nerfs later, his cost is simply too high to justify his fragility. That said, even though he is vulnerable to a melee rush, Crew hits like a truck from a mile away, laying down Artillery Strikes to mess with an opponent's positioning. Explosive Attack is very useful on him, keeping melee at a distance, pushing ranged champs out of double hit range, or simply to add damage by knocking things into obstacles. Due to Crew's power and cost, once he is in play there is a very large target on his head, and opponents will usually go for him first. This is why it's best to keep a Dwarven Sergeant close by for protection. Not only does he give Crew additional defense, but Command: Block protects him somewhat from melee, and all the AP gen at Sarge's disposal pretty much negates Crew's drawback of Ponderous. It is worth noting that Artillery Strike is not on the attack chain, so you can use it almost every turn with Sarge nearby. I wouldn't go out of your way to acquire one, but he makes an okay long-range siege unit on some maps.

Dwarven Roughneck

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Combat Awareness and Throw Axe
Strategy Notes: One of the best things about Roughneck is his versatility. When you need a harasser, Roughneck is a good choice. When you need a mid-ranged combatant, Roughneck gets by. When you need champ control, Roughneck brings debuffs to boot. Combat Awareness is one of the best abilities in the game by all accounts. Essentially, he does not take damage from AOE spells, Bombs, Cones, Tremor, Pounce, Trample, Tidal Wave, Pings, Auras, or any other ability which does not specify a target. Combined with Flash Bomb, he becomes very difficult to find without a source of Detection. This is the primary reason why he is such a good harasser. Pin Down and Flash Bomb let him incapacitate opposing champions when you're in a tight spot, or if you simply need to stall for a turn. It is important to keep in mind that if Roughneck tries to Flash Bomb when in range of a champ with Detection, he will attempt to stealth FIRST before moving to the target space, so you can't get around the initial detection by moving outside of its range using Flash Bomb. The problem with him is that he is a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none. He does a few different things, but none of them especially well. Worth a look if you find he fits your playstyle, but not an auto-include by any means.

Dwarven Sergeant

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Command: Block and Defender
Strategy Notes: Ah, behold the great wonder that is Dwarven Sergeant! All other support champions in IS are usually compared to him before being considered for inclusion. Sarge puts out more AP than any other support champion in the game: with Rallying Cries, he provides free AP simply for existing; Drive allows him to boost the damage of your champs as well as give them another point of AP. With Command: Block and Defender for supporting ranged champs, along with decent base stats and Drive to aid melee in brawls, Sarge is an intricate part of any IS BG. He fits into any theme, anywhere, and is often run in IS splits as well. Keep him behind your melee, in front of your range, using Defender and Command as much as possible to aid tankiness. Don't hesitate to Drive things on-deploy; that 2 HP loss is well worth an extra 2 AP next turn (1 from Drive, 1 from Rallying Cries). Drive can also be used on opposing champions to add that last little bit of damage to get a kill, so watch for these opportunities. With Sarge on the board, most of your units will get a hefty boost to their threat range, and his defensive capabilities will be handy when you get pushed in. For all he does, it's a wonder he doesn't cost more than he does. Seriously, 1x this guy ALL THE TIME, and 2x if you can find the space.

Dwarven Sharpshooter

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Piercing Shot 2 and Hidden: Rock
Strategy Notes: I have recently added Sharpshooters to my main deck, and have been loving them so far. They can hit very hard at both long and short range, with Aim serving as a great utility tool against pesky Nokhan Do units. Their damage is good enough for their price, and excel when boosted by Sarge. I chose to upgrade Hidden: Rock over Drunkard because I found that most opponents will ignore him until they really need him dead. He doesn't look very threatening when compared to Crew or Hooligan, so I decided to use this to my advantage. Upgrading Hidden, opponents will forget he exists very quickly, allowing you to sneakily rush a side font, or contest unhindered in a mid font. Having them stealth at the end of every turn means they can't be poked at by opposing ranged champs, which is the main thing they have over other IS range. One thing I would suggest when running him is to include a Strip Armor as well. With Piercing Shot, Strip ups his damage to 22 for that attack (assuming you have a Brew on him), allowing him to out-damage almost all other ranged options. Worth a look for sure.

 

Dwarven Tinkerer

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Spell Charged 3 and Grant: Electricity Aura
Strategy Notes: Simply not worth it in full Dwarves. All the abilities she brings are found in better sources elsewhere, and her low speed makes her a terrible early deploy. If you want to run a few Constructs in your Dwarf deck and need an Engineer, just take her brother instead. Silverclan Engi is far better in this regard.

Dwarven Windfury

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Dodge 2 and Berserker 2
Strategy Notes: I'd really love to see more Windfuries in play again; he is one of my favorite champs in IS, so I was a little generous with his rating. Truthfully, he is not as reliable as some of the other IS ranged options. At 76 nora, he's more of a utility ranged unit, possessing a few helpful control abilities while also being a respectable mid-range champion. That said, his damage output is quite formidable: Berserker gives +3, Brew gives another +2, and he's already at 14, which is a rarity for ranged units as cheap as he is. Sweep is excellent for multiple scenarios. Out of range with one of your champs? Sweep it into range for the kill! Need that last bit of damage to finish an opponent off? Sweep for 1 AP says hello! Windfury get rushed by a threatening melee unit? Sweep to the rescue! There are also several little tricks like Sweeping things into chasms, or across lava, or into traps that make Windfury that much more cool. A bit of anti-range thrown in for fun, and he is not that bad a champ. Hammer Throw also gives him a longer range magic damage attack with bonus damage if you prefer that upgrade. It's a more versatile choice, but increases his cost as well, so choose wisely. However if you find yourself running Sunder on other Dwarves, feel free to take Sunder on Windfury as well, since Sunder gets exponentially stronger the more stacks you dish out. If you go with the recommended build though, treat him like a DMC. Keeping him around a Sarge is a great strategy; since he can't store AP on his own, and only gets 7 per turn, Rallying Cries will ensure he's able to attack twice. A very underestimated unit IMO.

Elemental Warstaff

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Shielded and Immunity - Magical
Strategy Notes: Warstaff is another option for your cheap grunt slot, this time with a twist: he performs best against alt damage. Previously, you could have Warstaff with Immunity - Magical in addition to either Immunity - Fire or Immunity - Frost, but nowadays you have to choose only one. Magic damage is the most reliable upgrade, since you can almost guarantee that the opponent will be running some, whereas fire or frost damage isn't as likely. None of his upgrades are bad, however, so you can mix and match them if you're struggling vs. a certain faction. Having 3 alternate damage ranged attacks is very useful, and since they all have a cooldown of 3, you can use one every turn if necessary. Deploy him against KF, UD, and FW most often to get the best mileage for your nora. A bit of a wild card champion, but somewhat restrictive in his usefulness.

Ethereal Priestess

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Force Barrier 2 and Haste
Strategy Notes: The recipient of a shoebox buff in a 2012 patch, Priestess's use quickly skyrocketed, only to fall back to around normal levels a few months later. Haste is essentially why you would use her. Every turn, you can increase the speed of one of your other champs by 4 for 3 turns. This doesn't have much of an impact right away, but on your next turn that champion will gain 4 more AP than normal. Sometimes Haste will have a benefit on the turn you use it, if you need to increase your maximum AP storage perhaps. You may notice some similarity between Haste and Invigorate, and there have been many long debates over which ability is superior. There is not nearly enough room to get into that here, so I will let you decide for yourselves. It is worth noting that Haste is basically uncounterable AP gen, but you are forced to wait a turn for it. Invigorate is instant AP gen, but can be countered by things like Punishing Aura and Rebuke. Aside from Haste, Priestess can also drop sections of inaccessible terrain, useful for blocking off choke points, setting up for knockback damage, and protecting your back line from melee units. Soften is an amazing Defense debuff in a huge AOE. Throw it into a powerturn for best effects, though feel free to use it in smaller skirmishes as well, since the cooldown is so low. Priestess is quite squishy however, and since you will be using 3 of her AP per turn on Haste, that only leaves 3 to work with for other things, and you may find that she is too reliant on positioning. I personally don't run her, but she is definitely viable. Also note that her upgrades are extremely versatile and can easily be interchanged with one another depending on what your deck needs.

Euan Ironfist

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Surge: Enemy and Block 2
Strategy Notes: Euan has emerged from his mid-life crisis as a more refined version of what he once was: a generalist. That is to say, recent changes to him have solidified Euan's identity as a jack-of-all-trades hero who is definitely viable, though not necessary for a Dwarf deck. That being said, Euan's slowly dwindling skill set is what's been keeping players from running him more. He used to have at least twice the number of abilities he does now, but the revamp slimmed him down quite a bit. Depending on your choice of upgrades, he can be built defensively or offensively, though I prefer a mix of both. Block 2 fends off melee, Battle Leader snowballs your forces and provides spot healing in the midst of battle, and Consecration gives him a way to heal and cleanse himself (and any other Paladins you might be running) of annoying conditions. Surge boosts his damage by leaps and bounds over the course of the game, and he can 1v1 very well later on. Prestige was perhaps the best reason to run him, as AOE counters to Horrific Aura, Frightful Blows, Possession, and Charm were harder to come by. Now though, we can just equip a Holy Blade of Valdac for the same effect, which is why I suggest the other upgrades. No matter what upgrades you take though, Euan is very efficient for a hero; it really comes down to preference, though I would highly suggest taking Battlemaster in a Dwarf deck geared towards buff stacking (for obvious reasons). His signature ability, Euan's Hammer, provides insane amounts of utility. It's almost like having an free Gale Force on a 3 round cooldown. The knockbacks provided by this ability can deal significant amounts of damage if the champions collide with terrain, or absolutely destroy an opponent's carefully positioned forces. Try to set up knockbacks into range of your other champions if possible. Run him if you want, but expect him to be the target of many spells and attacks.

Exorcist

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Hunter: Unholy and Heal Self 3
Strategy Notes: NEVER FORGET.................But seriously, with the "temporary" removal of Conduit from the game, Exorcist once again returns to obscurity. Previously, he was able to reduce all damage or loss of life that would be dealt at a global level by 40% and Exorcist then absorbed it as damage to himself. With that gone he serves no purpose now aside from being an annoyance vs. FW and UD. Because of this unreliability, I'd leave Exorcist on the sidelines for now, though you can still run him for old times' sake if you want swag points.

Gallows Warden

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Charge 3 and Execute
Strategy Notes: One of our best and brightest frontliners, Gallows Warden excels in situations where the opponent outnumbers you. Melee Specialist 3 is an enormous stat buff, making his low base stats nothing but a memory. This along with Imposing Aura means he works best in 2v1 situations. Careless basically means that he'll only be hit once per turn by anything he's engaged to, and when he gets 5 DEF (plus other boosts from various sources you've already got in play) it makes him deceptively tanky. Warden is a brawler, first and foremost; send him into font battles as soon as you're able. Charge 3 takes care of his slight mobility issues, extending his threat range and damage. Charge also procs Clamp on the target, meaning you can lock down ranged threats quite easily. The best scenario would be to send him in to fight a ranged unit and a melee unit at once. Clamp will ensure the ranged threat doesn't escape, while Melee Specialist and Imposing Aura will keep the melee unit at bay. Because the Warden is meant to be played up on the front lines, Opportunistic isn't an ideal upgrade (since you're losing out on the buff as soon as he enters combat), and Dictate simply isn't his style. For the bargain price of 73 nora, you get a durable melee DPS champion that provides AOE Careless and some control. I'd always run 2 in my dwarf decks.

Griffin Rider

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Barrage 1 and Commander
Strategy Notes: Recently given Tailwind in a buff patch, Griffin Rider is now the cornerstone of the Griffin theme. But what does it bring to Dwarves? Most obviously, it is a Flying champion that has decent range and mobility. This alone warrants a single star, as drawing the right champion is key on some maps such as Sundered Lands or Snarling Tangle. Bastion of Mobility is noteworthy, and can really be of help if your ranged champs get stuck in melee, or if you want to harass better. Melee champs can also use the mobility to maneuver around tanks and get at the squishy support units behind them. However, with phalanx buff playstyles being the best way to run Dwarves, Commander is the superior upgrade most of the time. Other than that, Griffin Rider is a bit boring, as his only other ability is Barrage. This gives him respectable damage, but with such a long cooldown it's rare that he'll be doing much else before it's back up (and upgrading the rank makes him far too expensive). I would probably take any other IS's ranged options before Griffin Rider in full Dwarves, as they offer much more in terms of utility.

 

Gronk Rider

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Charge 3 and Initiative 1
Strategy Notes: Like all Rider champs, Gronk Rider pays heavily for his raw HP with low defensive stats and minimal abilities. There's almost no reason to consider running him; Easy Target makes him take way more damage than necessary, sharply decreasing the efficiency of his first form. His second form is actually quite a bit better now that Handler got buffed, but this raises the question: why not just run Handler on his own and skip the middle man? He doesn't provide anything useful aside from Rider, so simply running the Handler straight up would be a far better choice.

Half Skeezick

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Hunter: Sundered Lands and Warcry
Strategy Notes: Now that Half-Skeez has lost many of his sandbag abilities, he's actually a decent champion in Dwarves. Pretty much the only thing you'd run him for is cheap Warcry. Multiattack 2 lets you Warcry for only 2 AP, which puts his threat range on par with Dwarven King despite lacking a point of speed. Half-Skeez is usually played carefully until the first Warcry. Keep him well out of harm's way, and as long as he's in attack range (about 8 spaces) you'll get off that powerturn easily. After the first Warcry, things start to snowball in your favor. If you're going to run a Warcry unit, I would recommend Impervious or Righteous Deflection in order to keep him protected after powerturns. Militia with Bodyguard is another option here. While you're setting up for a Warcry turn, Half Skeez can throw his axes, Regen a bit, and generally be an efficient melee unit. This is the main reason to run him over King: he's cheaper while providing similar effects. King is no doubt sturdier, possessing higher HP and Melee Specialist 2, but Half Skeez is still valuable simply because of his price. Warcry is extremely powerful, and I would even go so far as to say you could run him AND King in the same deck. Include him if you lack a Dwarven King, or if you simply want more powerturn potential. Lastly, NEVER upgrade Hunter: Ironfist; it's practically sacrilege.

High Mason

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Mason 3 and Carouse
Strategy Notes: This will be yet another short review. Simply put, High Mason is terrible. In Dwarves, if you happen to be running a few constructs, upgrade Mason on your Tinkerer, rather than waste a slot on this thing. I will say, however, that if you happen to be running a good number of equipment runes, Craft can come in very handy. In a dwarf deck built around equipment, I'd say High Mason barely makes the cut. Outside of that, he offers nothing noteworthy to the theme now that Beermaiden provides Shatter.

Ironfist Agent

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Mark and Backlash
Strategy Notes: Previously one of the best common champions in IS, Agent has fallen by the wayside of late mostly due to the removal of several of her utility abilities. Even still, she brings a few interesting tricks with her that make her worth a look. Stealth is great for harassing fonts, her Land Mines absolutely ruin an opponent's day, and Mark really helps with one-rounding. Damage from Mark follows some pretty weird rules. Most important of these is the fact that it ignores reduction abilities like Tough and Resistances, so it will always deal 2 extra damage. Her land mines are undoubtedly the best thing about her; while they don't contest fonts anymore, they do heavy damage, mess with opponent's positioning, and apply Distracted, making them one of the best traps in the game. Some people upgrade Shatter on their Agents in order to proc the bonus damage from Brew removal, but that quirk is better saved for your support units. Mark, on the other hand, is invaluable for one-rounding, and since you can use it while stealthed, Agent can still perform her harass duties. That said, anti-equip is always nice to have, just in case your Dwarves get equipped with something negative before you have a chance to Brew them. One final note on Agent: DO NOT upgrade Backlash if you run Deep Miners or Nora Mines. It may seem like a silly thing to mention, but this is a very important point. Such counter-intuitive deck building leads to a weaker overall design, and could cost you games.

Ironfist Brawler

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Pummel 1 and Resistance - Physical 3
Strategy Notes: Brawler suffers from "generic melee beater syndrome". One of the things you will find when building a dwarf deck is that there are an extremely large number of melee units to choose from, and many of them possess unique abilities and strengths that make it difficult to choose. Brawler's only real purpose is (strangely enough) hitting things, hard. Surge: Enemy lets him do this to a degree, but for 81 nora I would personally want something other than a generic beater. Resistance Physical is a great defensive ability, but damage type diversity is something all decks and all factions have access to, making its usefulness restrictive. I'd look elsewhere for melee.

Ironfist Collector

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Snatch and Provision: Defense
Strategy Notes: Once the star of the Carouse racial, Collector saw a severe downturn in play once Carouse equips stopped having a nora cost. Basically, the combo was using the free Brew on all Dwarves with Collector's Recycle ability to generate 20 nora every 3 rounds (including once on his first turn in play). Now that Brews don't have a nora cost, that combo is dead, but Collector can still find a home in efficiency-based dwarf decks. He's sort of like a mesh between Agent and Silverclan Engineer; a little bit of both, but better than neither. Provision along with the Brew buff actually gives him a sizable stat boost for a champion so cheap. Snatch is just icing on the cake, and is much more useful than you'd think. Obviously you could use to it remove equipment from opposing units, but remember that removing a brew gives your Dwarves bonus damage. Now imagine doing that in an AOE while generating massive AP for Collector. Sounds fun, no? If that wasn't enough, Collector can move relics about, friendly or enemy, making them harder or easier to kill respectively. In specialized equipment decks, where you may get some use out of Hunter: Equipped, he is definitely 1x-able. Full Dwarf decks would also benefit from including him, if you can find the space.

Ironfist Glider

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Stone Bomb 3 and High Ground
Strategy Notes: Not as bad as it looks, but still pretty bad. He starts out very efficient, but that quickly changes once you start needing to move him around. His range is very good, and Stone Bomb almost makes up for his lack of melee ability. It basically comes down to how often you use Gain Control. If you're really good at nora management, then Glider could pay off for you. His damage isn't bad, and he's cheap enough to squeeze into an early double deploy. Reckless Flight might prove too unwieldy for even the most determined deck builders however. Sometimes it works out like you planned it; other times, Glider moves in completely the opposite direction, or just moves 1 space forward and 1 space backward. Having to rely on random positioning is usually too much to ask.

Ironfist Minister

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Resistance - Magical 3 and Favor
Strategy Notes: A longtime auto-include in pretty much every IS deck ever made, Minister still retains his status today. Most of the reasoning for this revolves around his amazing support abilities, so I'll go over them one by one here. Firstly, Battle Drum is a game-winner. Seriously, this one ability will win you the majority of your games. It's essentially a watered down version of Draconic Benediction, providing you with +3 damage, +2 speed, +1 defense, and +1 AP on ALL friendly champions. I cannot stress enough how powerful a global buff like that can be. It has a long cooldown, but you're likely not going to need a second Drum (this is also one of the reasons most IS players only run 1 Minister). A well-executed Drum turn is the gold standard for many of the best ISers. Favor is great to have when powerturning as well, since it means any spells you play are 5 nora cheaper. There are some who prefer Spellswallower over Favor, citing its ability to detect hidden spells as the primary reason. Others find that Favor's visual effect reveals when YOU play hidden spells, which is true, and one of the reasons I try not to run any . The extra resistance to magical damage he possesses will buy him more health in the long run if you're up against magic damage. It also allows him to hold a font against even a Menalaus for a time, until you can get a better champion over. In longer games where you need to stretch out Minister's worth, that extra resistance can go a long way. Against spells which do magical damage, he is very sturdy due to the additional reduction provided by the IS faction bonus. One more great thing about him: he is quite cheap for all that he does. His range is versatile, and he can hit surprisingly hard with Execute. As a new player, your very first goal when starting up with IS is to get a Minister as soon as you possibly can. You won't regret it.

Ironfist Paladin

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Cleanse and Righteous Shield
Strategy Notes: As a pure support champ, Ironfist Paladin isn't that bad. He boasts an array of healing abilities, as well as Righteous Shield for tight spots. Although not a tank by any means, his good defense stat coupled with his above average HP make him reasonably sturdy. One thing that holds him back is his 5 speed. Although Priest of Valdac, IS's primary healer, also has 5 speed, Paladin is a melee unit and more expensive than the ranged Priest, who also comes with an on-deploy global heal. Another problem with Paladin is that his abilities all have very long cooldowns. Most of the time he's stuck sitting around with nothing to do waiting to be useful after the first round of buffs. I personally think the Paladin is underrated, but he is not an ideal choice for many players. If he had 6 speed and/or Heal Champion 3 base, I have a feeling he would see a lot more play.

 

Ironfist Warsaint

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Heal Self 3 and Loyalty
Strategy Notes: The Warsaint has gone through some huge changes in a very short time, skyrocketing to the top of IS's melee front liner list. While he doesn't have the multi-tasking ability of Gallows Warden or the utility of Brewmaster, one area in which Warsaint DOES excel is in raw stamina. With Heal Self 3, amazing base HP, and the multitude of thematic buffs, it's not uncommon to see Warsaints with 80 HP and 15 damage. Purified is a nice bit of icing that aids in his survivability against DOT harass, while Empathy increases his synergy with phalanx-style play. In sustained fights lasting multiple rounds, Warsaint becomes an immense pain in the hindquarters to take down. Heal Self 3 lets you save your healing for units without built-in sustain, and he can easily shrug off ranged poke. As far as generic beaters go, Warsaint is one of the best due to his bulk. Send him into early font battles for sure, as opposing melee usually won't have the ability to compete. Definitely include a pair in your Dwarf deck.

Master Axeman

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Throw Axe and Provision: Defense
Strategy Notes: After his shoebox buff, Axeman was auto-included in just about every IS deck for the longest time, until the most recent revamp took a lot out of his kit. What we're left with is a simple, cheap, but effective melee unit that can harass from range and comes with respectable base stats. Don't bother with the Hunter upgrades; most of the time, you'll find Throw Axe to be far superior, and as usual, Hunter abilities are 100% dependent on what your opponent is running. Summon Axe is a sandbag, since you'll always have a brew around to equip. Running his axe only for him is completely unnecessary. Because he lost so much with the revamp, there's not much more to say about him. He's efficient, and that's about it, but Provision synergizes so well with your free brews that he's worth a look at least.

Medic

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Heal Champion 3 and Cleanse
Strategy Notes: While not exactly a superb healer, Medic does have a few upsides. For one thing, he's amazingly cheap, letting him run for side fonts early on, and being an easier deploy than PoV in the late game. An alternate source of Cleanse is never a bad thing either; Vial may be auto-include, but a champ-based source is good for when your unit already has a Brew or something on it. Gaining Empathy helped a bit, letting him heal things while Heal Champion is on cooldown (however multiple sources of Empathy do not grant additional ranks of Regen). Note that Cleanse is superior to Grant: Healing Potion because there are many times where the champion you want to cleanse is afflicted by a debuff that prevents it from using abilities (e.g. Stunned, Paralyzed, Distracted). The thing holding him back most is his lack of a basic attack. PoV is a healer, but can defend himself if necessary, as well as clear Dodges, Oblivion Shields, etc. That said, Medic's insanely low cost somewhat makes up for this. Immunize only really works against FW, making it a sandbag most of the time. I'd suggest running one as your go-to healer, with a PoV in your back pocket for emergencies.

Nightwatch

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Stealth and Knockout
Strategy Notes: The great thing about Nightwatch is, without a doubt, his CC potential. Coming into play stealthed allows him to use Knockout on his first real turn in play, making him a great font defender. In 1v1 font battles, anything which isn't Unstoppable or Impenetrable will get owned by Nightwatch fairly easily unless spells come into the equation. He's cheap enough to harass well in the early game, and I often like to send them straight to mid font, while a Miner or something is deployed the next round to grab my closest font. Don't be tempted to take the Stun upgrade, even if it does make him a good bit cheaper. Knockout's lower cooldown along with it not requiring Nightwatch to exit stealth makes it the superior choice. Scorn is manageable, but be careful if you're running Angels of Protection alongside this guy, as the extra shrine damage CAN add up in a longer game. Unfortunately, Nightwatch is not as great as he used to be, since he is very squishy when unstealthed. Pilfer is nice utility, but so many other dwarves have anti-equip that it's not really noteworthy on Nightwatch. He's a risky deploy, but his annoyance potential is through the roof.

Northern Cross Cardinal

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Sermon and Heal Mass 2
Strategy Notes: Cardinal has much more in common with Paladin decks than with full Dwarf decks, but I would still recommend using him. Sermon is 90% of what he brings to the table, and it requires him to sit in one place, making him a very easy target. And no, it's NOT worth it to have him sit behind your shrine with Sermon on all game. Still though, Sermon is a very potent global buff that sharply increases the combat potential of your throng. Cardinal also brings some minor healing, along with Mark of Al'mara, an ability made specifically for Paladin decks rather than Dwarves. Cardinal works best in a buff stacking-oriented deck using Sarge, Handler, and the the like. With all these boosts in play, your units will often reach hights of 70 HP, 4 DEF, and 15+ damage. Make no mistake, Sermon is extremely good; but Cardinal requires you to go all out in the buffing, something that most regular Dwarf decks cannot do. If nothing else, he's ranged magical damage, which is mandatory in all decks. Finally, Consecration is only worthwhile if you run a few other Paladins, and in this regard, Dwarves have a few decent options (Militia, Minister, and NCT being the best of these). Don't go out of your way to acquire one early in your Poxnora career, but keep him in the back of your mind for when you want to get more serious about Dwarves.

Northern Cross Militia

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Restraining Aura and Bodyguard
Strategy Notes: Militia is probably the most fun Dwarf IS has gotten in a while. He is a cheap little speed bump that offers protection to your other champs in the form of Enduring Aura and Bodyguard. Some people prefer the Antagonize/Assault build, which is fine too if you prefer using him more aggressively. For my part, I let him sit back and soak up damage off my squishy ranged units, while providing a minor defensive buff with Aura. As an early deploy, he's not bad at all, since his low cost is far from prohibitive. Restraining Aura is one of the best things about him, and really punishes an opponent who loves his Bombs/Cones. Even abilities that have a cooldown of 1 (such as Block or Dodge) get owned by this guy, being put on a 4 turn CD! If you're having trouble with annoying support runes like Voil Jester or Aspect of Life, try Militia on for size. Even if you're not I would recommend including at least 1, just for the additional defensive ability and cheap support.

Northern Cross Templar

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Pummel 1 and Sunder 2
Strategy Notes: NCT is a decent, if a bit boring, melee Dwarf in a theme full of melee Dwarfs. What sets NCT above his peers is that he brings amazing 1v1 potential and spell protection in the form of Inquisition and Sunder. I often see him with Relic Guardian upgraded over Sunder, which I feel is a mistake, as Pummel + Sunder gives -4 DEF to the target, making your sniping hits with Shooter/DMC/etc. do a lot more damage. Additionally IS lacks good offensive relics, meaning you won't always have one on the front lines to buff NCT's damage. Even without Duel, he 1v1s like a champ, preventing spell interference and tanking through tough battles with 2 DEF and 52 HP. The main problem is that he's simply out-classed by other options that do more than win 1v1s. He's somewhat cheap and can benefit from Consecration if you run Euan or Cardinal, but Warsaint and Gallows Warden are better champions in his price bracket.

 

Paladin Commander

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Rallying Cries 1 and Command: Dodge
Strategy Notes: The goat rider is now quite a decent unit, functioning extremely well in Paladins, and even managing to find a place in the odd Dwarf deck. He's basically a tankier Sarge that excels on the front lines rather than in the back. While Rallying Cries 1 only affects adjacent units, free AP is still free AP, and since he will likely be spearheading your phalanx, it will proc more often than you'd think. Hold the Line and Command: Dodge means you want to be playing him in close quarters with your other units, so it's usually not hard to keep things adjacent to him. As for Command upgrades, the reason I take Dodge is mainly because Sarge will have Command: Block, so that upgrade isn't as slot efficient (they don't stack). Command: Heal is only worth it when you run a lot of healing (duh) which I don't, so that's out. That just leaves Command: Charge, which is actually a decent upgrade, but Dwarves tend to lack anti-range, so you've got to take what you can get. Having Commander is just one more reason to run him in close quarters with your other Dwarves. Like Obsidian Wing, however, his cost is higher than average meaning you'll have to judge your deck carefully. If you think you can afford him, I'd say go for it.

Pontiff of Al'Mara

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Illuminate and Distract
Strategy Notes: The Pontiff is another Dwarf that has more in common with Paladin decks. Its signature ability, while strong in its own right, only provides the stun if the target is also Branded, a debuff not commonly found in regular Dwarf decks. It is possible (though not advisable) to run a Dwarf/Paladin hybrid deck. The competitive merits of such a deck are questionable, however the basic structure would include Pontiffs alongside Cardinals, NCT, PoV, Euan, and Paladin-related support spells. As for what Pontiff brings to Dwarves, Illuminate counters high defense targets as well as giving you a bit of nora, while Distract helps deal with annoying harass type units, or those that revolve around a specific ability (Aspect of Death, Skywing Imperator, Epochal Sage, etc.). Being able to apply them at the rather long range of 6 is a point in his favor; however considering that he doesn't bring much else to your deck, I would be inclined to leave him on the sidelines. Running Cardinal would be a better option, but if you can't afford those, Pontiff can work as a good source of ranged magic damage.

Priest of Valdac

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Divine Favor 3 and Scry 1
Strategy Notes: Long time go-to healer for IS, PoV has been a staple mainly due to Divine Favor 3. A global 12 HP heal is very nice in the mid-late game when you may have 3 or 4 champs that can benefit from that extra health. Some people like to play them "aggressively", running Scry 2 over Scry 1. This is a common build in rush-centered decks, where you play PoV early game to help sustain that rush, while Scrying for spell support. The great thing about PoV is that he is decently cheap for the healing he brings (though not nearly as cheap as he used to be). While he isn't quite auto-include anymore, you will probably want to tech one just for emergencies. IS has lots of ways to beef up the defense of their champions, which makes PoV's healing more effective. Normally, 12 HP would = about 1 hit, but with Defender/Enduring Aura/Mark of Redemption/etc. added in the mix, 12 HP = about 2 hits on average (technically it's closer to 1.6 hits, but we'll round up for argument's sake). After being deployed, he mainly just sits around waiting for Heal Champ 3 to come off CD. In the meanwhile, you could use him to clear Dodges, Pawn, Oblivion Shield, or Zephyr Shield stacks if necessary, due to his low damage. He's a decent healer with a fairly simple role; 1x is good, 2x is not recommended due to the potential for bad draws.

Rock Guardian

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Defender and Reclaim Relic
Strategy Notes: The Rock Guardian is a seldom-seen Construct/Dwarf amalgamation that is really only useful for one thing: font rushing. He does this by effectively having 8 speed first turn. This may seem decent, but keep in mind that Stalwart Defender does exactly the same thing, except he can actually HOLD the font once he gets there (due to Secure Fonts). Stalwart is also cheaper and has more HP/damage with Font Blessing. Rock Guardian's advantage comes in the form of Reclaim, allowing you to gobble up a used Earthshaker, a Guard Tower that's about to die, or an Excavator Mine to give himself a sizable stat buff. Combined with the bonuses from Earth Golem Form, he's deceptively tanky and hits like a truck. Outside of that, he doesn't really have any tricks and his base stats are quite poor, even for his cost. If you can manage to ramp him up with buffs, he'll serve you well, but it's just a matter of getting to that point. Furthermore, it begs the question: why not just run a better champion in the first place? Oftentimes switching into Earth Golem Form is more of a drawback than anything else, as he will simply be sniped down by ranged units. Being a 2x2 melee champ is bad enough, but having to turn into a LUMBERING 2x2 melee champ for a slight stat buff is even worse.

Royal Geomancer

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Calcify and Terraform - Lava 1
Strategy Notes: Geomancer has risen to the top of the Poxnora community's "Most Hated IS Rune List" of late, mostly because his primary trick, Shockwave, is quite easy to set up and very safe to use. This single ability makes up 95% of Geomancer's usefulness in FF IS. The problem with this is that you either build your deck completely around Shockwave, or you don't run Geo at all. Simply splashing Geomancer into any old Dwarf deck and hoping he pulls his weight is a terrible idea. As a combat champ, he's sub-par. As a tank, he's below average. As a support champ, he's terrible. That leaves only his utility in Shockwave and Terraform: Lava to rely on. In a regular Dwarf deck, Geo alone won't have the movement potential necessary to perform good Shockwaves, nor the support necessary to keep him alive for long enough to do so. Decks that build around Shockwave typically include 2x Gravity Flux, 2x Sarge, Ethereal Priestess, Leoss Monk, Maca, and a slew of other support spells. The majority of Geomancer users run him in a split (usually ST) for access to more mobility spells. In your standard, garden-variety Dwarf deck, Geo plays will be transparent and predictable. In his own deck, however, you'll be able to pull off easy board-wipes more often than not. Bottom line: use him in his own deck, or not at all.

Rugolth's Revenge

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Resistance - Physical 3 and Tremor
Strategy Notes: Not the insane OP beast he used to be, but still an average addition to Dwarf decks. The biggest problem with RR is undoubtedly his cost; I'd much rather deploy Euan for a similar price and get all the utility he brings. RR can tank better, and is generally less susceptible to CC, but he doesn't bring much in the way of finesse. Basically, you use him as a wall; send him into 1v1s whenever possible, as Stunning guarantees you will win them. If you run Strip Armor, I suggest taking the Pummel 2 upgrade, as it lets him put out amazing damage during powerturns. Be sure to keep track of the rounds he is in play, or Lethargic will be a major downer when you want to use him aggressively. Obviously RR would be a great include in any Dwarf deck that runs any engineers as well, since he is both a Dwarf AND a Construct. The cost is prohibitive, and he is a bit clunky to maneuver, but he is certainly a big threat once in play.

 

Semmiran Noble

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Charge 3 and Loyalty
Strategy Notes: IMO the Semmiran Noble (or Maeck the Unshakable if you're lucky enough to own it) is the Dwarf theme's best melee unit. He just fits so well within the theme, bringing both flavor and power to Dwarves that has been unrivaled since the release of Brewmaster. Looking more closely at what he does, we notice a few important things. Firstly, he is a stat monster for his price. With the suggested upgrades, along with the buffs from Intoxicated and Drunkard, he clocks in at 14 damage, 2 defense, and 62 HP as soon as he hits the board. Once he's ready to get into combat, activating Dwarven Noble gives him another 2 defense and Majestic 2, making him nearly unbeatable in melee combat. Secondly, his abilities synergize extremely well with the Dwarf theme in general. Whenever one of your Dwarves becomes intoxicated (i.e. becomes equipped with a Brew) he gets +3 damage and +1 AP. This buff stacks, meaning multiple activations will boost his combat threat considerably for that turn. While upgrading Keg Toss for this reason would seen tempting, I'd personally rather run him cheaper so that he's a more appealing deploy in the early game. Add Charge 3 on top of all this extra damage and you have yourself a potent drinking machine of destruction. Since the cooldown of Dwarven Noble is reduced whenever another Dwarf is attacked, your opponent is forced to make a choice: attack the tanky Majestic unit, likely doing minimal damage; or attack another Dwarf instead, making the tanky Majestic tanky for longer (and thus a harder threat to deal with). These guys will form the core of your front line units, alongside Warsaint; get a pair of them ASAP.

Silverclan Cavalier

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Corrosive Grenade and Slam
Strategy Notes: Shocktrooper may look interesting at first, but you will find that he doesn't perform nearly as well in-game as you'd think. Yes, he is another Construct/Dwarf that can benefit from Boost, Engineering, or Mason, but even so his damage output is negligible. The best use I've found for him is as a mid-range utility Dwarf, using Corrosive Grenade to facilitate powerturns, Slam for added knockback damage and setting up kills, and Reclaim to eat used relics. Even with all this he still doesn't have a set role. This is really his biggest drawback; he doesn't tank, he doesn't support, and he doesn't deal damage. He's just a mesh of abilities that, while flavorful, don't offer much to the game at large. Corrosive Grenade is probably the worst AOE ability in the game. It's damage is pitiful and can't be increased by boosting his damage, unlike other AOEs. Slam is his only boon, but with no defenses, he gets one-rounded like a stick of butter. Just not worth the nora; run a Sharpshooter instead, unless you're set on playing a handicapped Dwarf theme.

Silverclan Tinkerer

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Mason 1 and Grant: Electric Aura
Strategy Notes: While the Silverclan Engi is not much of a Dwarf (doesn't drink ale, hardly more than a stubble-beard, etc.), he does provide a few invaluable services. The best thing about him is undoubtedly Invigorate 2. An extra 4 AP is massive, especially on your generally slow Dwarves. You'll usually want to save this ability for when you need it, such as allowing double attacks, or capping a font. Early game though, if Tinkerer is one of your only champions, don't hesitate to use it in skirmish fights, as the extra AP will help you win. His aura-granting ability allows you to counter Perseverance quite easily, or simply add additional damage to finish off a champ. Don't underestimate the usefulness of Grant: Aura, especially at only 1 AP. The long range of the ability lets him stay safe in the back while still contributing damage to a front line fight. His sub-70 cost allows him to be very efficient and a relatively fast early deploy (comparatively speaking). He is best used to run for side fonts that are not in danger of being rushed. After that, he provides decent anti-equip that also procs your brew-removal bonus. Craft will seldom be useful, but it's handy to have around if you need a Vial off cooldown for Cleanse. And of course, if you're running any Constructs, he can supply them with a large HP buff. Definitely auto-include for all the utility he brings.

Stalwart Defender

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Shrine Defender and Defender
Strategy Notes: I've always considered running Stalwart Defender in my decks in case Excavator got shoeboxed by over-zealous nerf herders. Now that he has been, I sometimes take a second look at what he can do. He's a cheap little 7 speed champ (first turn) that can lock down a font nicely with Secure Fonts. Once in a font, he gets 56 HP and 13 damage; very impressive for a champion his cost. Like all font defenders that are not Sentinel of Ailur, he is susceptible to spot removal. His low cost, however, discourages the use of these measures, and even if he does get Vortexed, Drowned, or Domi'd out of the font, you will likely have at least 1 back-up champion to prevent your opponent from taking the font outright. With all the AP gen in IS, depending on the map, you can shuttle him from font to font, offering protection where it is needed most. In some lucky situations, you can even shoot him into an unguarded opposing font. With the state of the game as rush-centered as it is, including a Stalwart Defender might be a reasonable idea to deter aggressive plays. Stalwart's massive drawback, however, is that once your opponent DOES contest the font he's in, he goes back to having crappy stats and being generally useless until you get it back. It's more of a playstyle thing; if he fits yours, by all means use him, but in most decks I don't bother with such a 1-dimensional champion.

Stoneskin Dwarf

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Enrage 2 and Hunter: Giant
Strategy Notes: Back when his name was Aspect of Granite, I used to 1x this guy for lulz, because SL was pretty popular (and strong). Now, although SL remains strong, it has become uber-boring to play, making Stoneskin into an average melee beater against anyone not running a good assortment of 2x2s. The real problem with Stoneskin is that he has a few neat skills, but none of them are particularly amazing in their own right. Sunder 2 is still a great anti-defense ability, and probably the main reason you'd run him. Enrage gives him okay damage, but we have Dwarves with more base damage than Stoneskin has while Enraged. Defiant isn't the powerhouse defensive ability it used to be. These days every single deck packs alt damage; it's only a matter of time before Stoneskin is whittled down and killed, and he likely won't be very useful along the way. Hunter: Giant is somewhat redeeming, since a lot of decks commonly run at least 2 or 3 large units. But the problem is having Stoneskin available at the same time the opponent has their large units. If you don't, then Stoneskin is a dead slot. Lastly, don't be fooled by the Channel: Defense upgrade. This ability may look amazing, but in reality all the Channel abilities cost far more nora than the stats are worth. Since defense-countering abilities are more common as well, Stoneskin's best days are behind him. In a Sunder-based deck he pulls his weight, but other than that he's just an outdated beater.

Talgar Ironfist

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Tough 2 and Hammer Throw 1
Strategy Notes: In the old days, when Initiative units were as valuable as diamonds, Talgar saw heaps of play. The new Initiative is strong, but very watered down from what it used to be. Not only that, but IS has several other cheap fast units to help their early game. Modern Talgar is all about tanking. Boasting several defensive abilities and good base stats, he tears up the front lines while waiting for back up. Since he's also a Paladin, he benefits from support such as Consecration and Mark of Al'Mara. With Euan no longer being an auto-include hero, Talgar is seeing increasing amounts of play as IS players adapt to the changing meta. If you decide to run Talgar, then be sure to keep an additional slot open for "his" equipment: Hammerheart Platemail. This gives him a significant defensive buff, but also puts an even larger target on his head. Hammer Throw is nice for harassment, and one of the benefits of running him is being able to attack at range 6 on-deploy if you wish.

Treasure Hunter

Rating: ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Camaraderie and Stun
Strategy Notes: Another Ironfist Collector wannabe, the Treasure Hunter has a few useful abilities; but unfortunately, finding space for him is like going on a treasure hunt without a map. Camaraderie is the main reason you'd want him. A global decrease in cost for all your Dwarves makes your less efficient units more appealing and your efficient units even more so. He also comes prepared with anti-relic and anti-stealth (once equipped with a Brew), so his utility is a bit higher than the Collector. Having 1-2 range is something you don't usually see on units as cheap as Treasure Hunter, so he's got a bit of versatility added on. The biggest issue I have with him is that the benefits he provides to Dwarves are so small as to seem almost insignificant. A cost reduction of -3 is quite slim indeed, even if it is global. He can destroy relics, but the cooldown on Reclaim is long enough that he will only get to use the ability once. He's certainly more efficient then your average Dwarf...........but not by much. I could definitely see him as tech in Constructs, but in full Dwarves I'd look elsewhere.

Turret Team

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Suggested Upgrades: Magic Turret and either Frost Turret or Fire Turret
Strategy Notes: While Turret Team's usefulness really shows through in full Construct decks, Dwarf decks could definitely make use of his long range sniping ability and alt damage. Turret abilities are range 2-7 attacks with a CD of 1, and having access to two of them means his lower base range is hardly applicable. These Turret abilities are really what make Turret Team splendid; he's basically the poor man's DMC, able to dish out passable damage to the back lines. Upgrading Magic Turret gives your deck multiple sources of alt damage which is easily spammable, and with the aid of Sarge you can easily use 2 Turret abilities on the same turn. If the Turret Team ever happens to get within sniping distance of the enemy's shrine, go right ahead and abuse the power of Siege! One thing that sucks about him is that Uneqippable means you can't give him a Brew to boost his stats (though you can still Intoxicate him by other means, such as Keg Toss). In general, TT is a decently cheap ranged unit that gets better with the addition of some Construct support.

Weaponsmith

Rating: ★
Suggested Upgrades: Provision: Defense and Pummel 1
Strategy Notes: The damage counterpart to Armorer, Weaponsmith is definitely more useless and less runnable. This is due entirely to the fact that Ironfist Collector outclasses him in every aspect. While Collector cannot boost the damage of your other units, he comes with anti-equip, better stats while Provisioned, relic relocation, and stealth capabilities. You really only want to use Weaponsmith for Inspiring things, which is a slow and arduous process that goes much faster with Sarge around. He's quite a boring champ; nothing special about him at all, and no reason to run him when IS's other supports are so good. There's a lot of potential to be had with him, but alas we will just have to wait for it to bare fruit.

 

Suggested Spells, Relics, and Equipment

Bane Blast

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: IS isn't generally known for its AOEs, and Bane Blast is the first it has gotten since Open the Earth was released way back when. There's not much to say about it, as it's fairly self-explanatory. The damage is standard for an AOE of its cost, and although the radius is a little small, it provides great synergy with all the Stun available to Dwarves. Dealing 24 damage in an AOE for 40 nora is quite efficient; the fact that it does electric damage is even better, since it is a rarely-resisted damage type (just watch out against SP's Lightning Elementals or Overcharged Golems). Usually 1 is enough, but if you include at least 5 champs with Stun, you could justify a second. It's our best AOE, but don't rely too heavily on these types of spells, as it leads to bad nora management.

Blink

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Blink is a tough spell to peg, as it can either be extremely useful, a complete waste of nora, or somewhere in between. By far, the most common use for Blink (among non-limited league players) is in 1v1 font battles. Why bother wasting time and resources fighting when you can simply Blink the champ and drop a relic on the spot later? This kind of reasoning may work in the lower ranks, but people aren't stupid. As soon as their champ gets Blinked, they're going to begin directing all their efforts towards getting it back, much like with Goliath Fesh and Swallow Whole. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it forces your opponent to play more defensively until they regain their champ, but poorly timed Blinks can throw games. If you're going to use Blink in font battles, you need to be aware of how long it will take for the opponent to recover. If you use a relic to block the spot, most factions have some kind of anti-relic spell of their own (Erode and Demolish destroy relics immediately, while Overgrowth and Haunt take several rounds to kill it). The best time to use Blink in this way is undoubtedly the early game, when your opponent is more vulnerable to setbacks. Excavator is, obviously, the best champion companion for Blink, as he provides free relics to block with, plus stellar efficiency in case your Blink goes wrong. The second way to use Blink is as an offensive tool, especially when paired with DMC. Blink returns the champ on YOUR turn, not immediately after the space is freed up, so you can use Artillery Strike to get 18 damage on the champion before your turn even begins. This also lets you removed conditions such as Block/Dodge or Righteous Shield. Using Blink this way lets you prepare for the coming fight, delaying the advance of an especially threatening champion, while giving you time to get into position for a kill. The last way to use Blink is as a champion reset. Blink counts as a complete redeploy effect, as if the champion was being deployed anew from the runedock. This lets you remove granted effects such as Treefolk's Blessing, Mimiced abilities, stacks of Boon of the Wind, and pretty much everything else. And yes, it also fully heals the champion, allowing you to use it on a friendly unit if you need to. In the end, it all depends on your deck. Blink is versatile, but also expensive, and it takes a fair bit of skill to use it to its full potential.

Disarm

Rating: ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Simple, quick, and effective; Disarm immediately removes the target equipment from a friendly champion or opposing champion. With so many Dwarves having access to Shatter, Disarm is less needed at present. Most people ended up dropping it once they realized 4 rounds without a specific equipment was not really that great, UNLESS it netted you a kill that turn. It's situational, but it does help against Impenetrable champions who can't be Shattered, or when your champions are out of range. I personally wouldn't run it anymore, but there are still some players who swear by its usefulness.

Earthquake

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: IS's other seldom-used AOE, Earthquake was our staple AOE until the release of Bane Blast. It still does a good job for its cost, and comes with some added benefits that Bane Blast doesn't have. First of all, its area is massive; 4 spaces is quite large, and usually only ST gets spells of this size, so it's unique in that regard. Since it doesn't hit Flying champs, the best place for this spell is in a Griffin deck, but in regular Dwarves it can still find a home. Draining all AP off the affected champs makes it a great spell to use following a powerturn, preventing the opponent from hitting back as hard. If they use some spells of their own to gen AP, you're still even on nora advantage. The damage it does is physical, the most resisted and immune-to damage type, but the size and utility of the spell somewhat cancel out this downside. Combos great with Increase Gravity, Magnetic Rover, or Earthgod Sigil to hit those annoying fliers!

Hammer Strike

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Good ol' Hammer is probably IS's most iconic spell, aside from RD. If I had to guess, I'd say that more IS players run Hammer in their decks than any other spell in the faction. The versatility of a well-placed Hammer is almost limitless. Use it to finish off a champion, decrease DEF to aid in getting kills, or simply use it for the Stun. It can even be used to remove a champion's AP, then knock it into a chasm. Keep in mind that cleanse is very common these days, so don't expect the Stun effect to stay on the champion next turn. Good players will rarely use Hammer as a lockdown spell. The damage it does, combined with the defense decrease, makes it the perfect spell to aid in one-rounding. Remember to cast Hammer BEFORE your other attacks in order to gain this benefit. If you're unsure as to whether you'll need the nora for something else, it's probably better to ignore this and secure the kill. The nora will come back on the following turn, and an early kill using Hammer can win games against an unprepared opponent.

Impervious

Rating: ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Impervious used to be auto-include in all our decks, and were it not for the significant rise in Dispell effects, this would still be true. Spending 30 nora for Impervious (and Skirmisher) is a risky investment at best, and a disaster waiting to happen at worst. It's clinging to the fringes of "runnable" status at the moment, as the effect is very strong if the opponent can't counter it. Unfortunately, FW, SL, KF, and UD all have ways of bypassing Impervious. The other 4 factions can simply attack some other champion. Include it if you wish, but it won't be very useful half the time. Be sure to use it both offensively AND defensively to get the best use out of it. Running a champion into the fray (one with Thirst for Battle is preferable) and casting Impervious on it is a good diversion, and can force the opponent to pull back for a turn. Casting it on a close-to-death champion (Minister, Euan, King; all good choices) to keep it alive to ensure kills next turn is a safer idea, but some people prefer a more aggressive style.

Increase Gravity

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: A favorite spell of mine for a while now, Increase Gravity is something you probably won't have room for in your Dwarf deck. I was a bit generous with my rating, since I have had quite a blast playing it; when used, champions gain Earthbound and Planarbound for 6 turns, locking down every relocation ability or removal ability in the game. This encompasses everything from Pull to Relocate: Ally, and includes things like Leap, Teleport, Tunnel: X, and Grant: Flight. Certain spells such as Vertical Push or Swap are also neutralized by Increase Gravity. It evens up the playing field pretty well, despite preventing your own relocation abilities. In a Dwarf deck however, the only thing it will likely affect are Excavators, Scarlet Wings, and Flash Bomb from Roughneck. It's not something you'll use every game, but going against SP and ST gets so much easier.

Macadamize

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Maca no longer grants Domain: Rock globally, only to champs in the AOE, but is still our best lead-in spell to a powerturn. Maca is very cheap for being so powerful, which is why IS players tend to auto-include it 1x in every deck. It's essentially a +2 damage and +1 defense boost to all your champs in the AOE for that turn, and every turn after that as long as they are on Rock terrain. Granting Mobility to your units is a great effect in itself, as it allows you to maneuver around hostiles that may be blocking access to a squishy support/ranged unit. The AOE is enormous, which means you'll usually have no trouble catching all your units with the buff, and Rock is without a doubt the most common terrain type in the game. This means that the benefits provided by Maca will continue to apply even after the turn in which the spell is cast, and is the reason why you'd only need to include one. The Rock terrain also overlaps any impeding or damaging terrain already on the map, which is a lifesaver against ST's impeding snow, or FS with occasional water (good for avoiding Drown).

 

Mark of Redemption

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: One of our best spells for many reasons, and you would be advised to include at least 1 in all your decks. Granting Scale Armor, +2 damage, and Precision for 6 turns is plenty good for 35 nora, and allows any champion to become both a tank and an offensive threat all at once. Precision is what I mainly run it for, as IS doesn't have many counters to Galerider, Block/Dodge, or Blinded on its own, unless you want to get fancy with Hammer Strike. Smart players will usually target their defensive abilities to your strongest champions, which are often ranged champions. The good news for us is that we can use their own strategy against them by simply casting Mark on our DMC or Scarlet Wing, making them even stronger, and causing all of their attacks to hit automatically. The extra tankiness never hurts either, as ranged Dwarves tend to be quite squishy. Don't be afraid to throw this on a tank either, as it will only make the opponent's life more miserable. And if by chance the opponent does manage to kill your unit, the spell refunds its entire cost! There is really no drawback to playing this spell, except upfront nora loss, so be sure to run one for tricky situations.

Might of Ironfist

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: This is another one of those spells that can have multiple uses, depending on the situation. Offensively, you can grant Pummel and +5 damage to one of your units at the cost of 10 HP and 35 nora. This can turn an already threatening melee unit into an absolute beast, or a non-threatening melee unit into a great danger (I've seen this used on an Excavator several times). Defensively, you can use it for the -10 loss of life to an opposing unit. This 10 HP loss does not count as damage, and therefore can get around Spell Resistance, Tough, Weaken Spells, Antimagic Field, and Impervious. Oftentimes I will use it thus when I don't have the nora for a Hammer Strike, almost like a clutch Soulbane. I'd only include one, unless you're running some trick with Bastion the Avenger, as the 10 HP loss can cost you your unit if you don't run healing.

Refute

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: IS's version of Backfire, but for all runes not just spells. The first thing you should note is that Refute does not have a duration, meaning you can cast it and not have to worry about the effect expiring. This doesn't mean, however, that you should cast it whenever you get the chance, as it still costs a good chunk of nora to play, and you might wind up blocking a Banner or something. Good times for Refute are on the first round of play (when you can stop the opponent's best, and possibly only, champion from being deployed), immediately following a powerturn (as the opponent will likely follow it up with a powerturn of their own, letting you stop a Quickening or Peak Tactics, etc.), when you've made a mistake that the opponent can capitalize on, or when you feel the opponent is saving nora for a large deploy/spell spam turn. Properly timing these types of spells is nearly an art form, and well played Refutes can win games. Not only does it take out the played copy, but it removes all other copies the opponent may have in their deck as well. This is very useful against decks that crutch on a specific rune or combination to secure advantage, such as Zeventrech decks, or anything by iPox.

Righteous Deflection

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: RD is any IS noob's #1 favorite spell. People reading the effect immediately want to toss 2x RD into all their decks, thinking "lawl, all my champs have anti-range now, hue hue hue". In reality, the effective power of RD has been greatly misconstrued, and is highly dependent on what your opponent is running. For this alone, RD loses 1 star in its rating. Including any kind of counter rune is always a risk, because if you don't go up against the thing you're trying to counter, the rune is wasted deck space. RD manages to sneak by this bit of logic most times because 9 times out of 10, your opponent's champion selection will be at least 50% ranged. However, the other downside to RD is that it is not nearly as foolproof a protective mechanism as people think. Bombs/cones, any kind of Dispell, Loss of Life, and plain old melee attacks can all get around RD. Dispell is particularly prominent in today's game, making any RD play quite risky. All this aside, RD does have its uses. Against champions with Blindfire, Counter Attack - Ranged, etc., RD will proc once and the counter attack will proc off that RD, causing the champion to essentially attack itself twice. This nifty feature, plus the general range hate, earns it a modest rating of 3 stars. Smart players will only let you get the effect once; when they realize you have RD up, they will simply pummel the champ from melee, or avoid it for 6 turns. Bottom line: it's not as good as it looks, but still useful sometimes.

Sapping Beam

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Sapping Beam, aka The Other Hammer Strike, still sees spotty play these days as one of the most effective lockdown spells in the game. Champions need AP to be used; Beam removes a champions access to AP for 2 turns. There is no current counter to Beam, unlike Cleanse for Hammer, so it's the more reliable of the two WHEN YOU WANT A LOCKDOWN. In any other circumstance, I would just run a Hammer. Not only does it give -2 DEF for one-rounding, but it also does 10 damage, meaning it's more versatile as an offensive spell. If you're looking to run some knockback shenanigans with DMC, or an AP-denial deck, then Beam is your top spell. Otherwise, Hammer is the better pick.

Strip Armor

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: With the rise in alt damage available in IS, Strip has been seeing less play of late. There is still some merit to the spell, if you're running a very physical-heavy deck (usually revolving around Stun/Bane Blast). Sharpshooters make good Strip companions, as do Windfuries and NCTs. Dwarves have a good deal of physical damage champs to choose from, and a surprise Strip can be more devastating than a DB. If you're including more than 6 physical damage units, I'd say Strip is worth a look. Just throw it into any powerturn, and you can't go wrong.

Suppress

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Another one of my personal choices, Suppress is considered shoebox by many. Really though, I find it highly underrated, especially now that it got a much-needed cost decrease to 40 nora. While Distracted can be cleansed, Pacified remains uncleansable, making Suppress work as a single target Reclaim for 4 turns. If Distracted is not cleansed, the champ is literally useless for everything, not being able to attack OR use abilities. Comparable to Sapping Beam, Suppress is useful when you want to prevent everything a champion can do except movement, while Beam is better when you want to prevent movement, but not necessarily incapacitate the champion. I would probably stay away from it unless you know what you're doing, since Hammer is better than both of them IMO, but it can be a fun rune to run if you're feeling risque.

Unbending Force

Rating: ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Once the spell embodiment of the old Savage ability, Unbending Force saw a brief spike in play upon the release of Masochism. While that combo is still functional, FF IS really has no use for the spell. I personally love to include it when I'm using Dwarves, as most of my own Dwarf decks rely heavily on King to make key plays. If I happen to overextend with my King and know it will be the target of a lot of damage, I drop UF on it. This keeps it alive until the end of my next turn, at which point the opponent is basically doomed. The great thing about UF is that it's hidden, meaning if you drop it on a difficult champ to kill, the opponent will put all his effort (and maybe even some of his nora) into trying to take it down. UF will save the champ, making their entire turn wasted, and putting you far ahead in board position. Baiting the opponent with what seems like an easy kill, only to have UF save your champ and set up a Drum turn is quite a feeling. Since the champion does die after the effect resolves, and IS tends to focus on healing and sustaining effects, UF is often overlooked. I usually run one as a surprise, and you could potentially do the same.

 

Unobstructed View

Rating: ★ ★
Strategy Notes: UV falls into the same net as RD in that it looks quite useful and worthy of auto-include status; really though, you can have several better Detection options in Dwarf decks. Sharpshooter, Cerulean Wing, and Silverclan Shocktrooper can all serve as competent Detection champions. Guard Tower is one of the best relics in IS, due in no small part to Detection 3. UV has one advantage over all these: it's global. While the devs have done their best to eradicate global effects in this game, UV still stands. The problem is, at 35 nora and only lasting 4 turns, you should really only use UV when you absolutely NEED a stealthed champion dead. This means that you should already have a good idea of where exactly the champion is, meaning the usefulness of UV declines even before using it. Passive Detection in the way of champions/relics is superior to UV. If you're against a very stealth-heavy deck, you will unfortunately have to play with what you have. Imps might be trouble, but they are luckily not as common in the meta these days.

Valor

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: I'm including Valor here to pay homage to Markoth, one of IS's greatest longbeards, and original creator of this guide. After watching a few of his most recent games and noting that he actually runs Valor, I inquired about its usefulness and decided to take a second look at it. Strategically speaking, you can only use this spell if you're behind in champions. The buff it provides is substantial: global +5 damage to add to your own powerturn, global +2 defense for your opponent's following turn, and global +5 HP for added safety. The reason most overlook it on the first pass is because it's only useful if you're already losing. However, with IS traditionally more focused on quality over quantity, Valor makes the cut as a safe include of choice for those times when there simply aren't enough bodies to go around. At 40 nora it's a much more expensive choice than Maca, but it also provides a better defensive buff on their turn, so it balances out. At the end of the day it's more a playstyle thing than anything else. If you find you're getting out-numbered a lot, feel free to toss in a Valor. It will be worth it for the surprise factor alone.

Armory

Rating: ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Equipment decks on their own are build 100% around this little wonder of a relic. While full equipment decks are usually based around AP denial, general IS players have started using Armory in conjunction with Rugolth's Fist and Silverclan Engineer to create a devastatingly efficient nora gen engine. With Silverclan Engi no longer having Recycle, this combo is thankfully gone from the meta, and Armory has fallen back into niche pick status. In full Dwarves, you may find yourself running heavy on equipment; Fists, Vial, Axeman's Fates, EGS, Holy Blade, etc......IS has several good equipment choices, and with Armory down they all get a huge boost in efficiency. If you happen to be running such a deck, including Armory is not a bad idea, if only for the rune reveals and nora refund. If not, I'd stay away from it, since it doesn't even come close to being worth it if you're only running a few equips.

Dwarven Mead Trap

Rating: ★
Strategy Notes: More of a fun thematic rune than anything else, Mead Trap gives a substantial damage/defense debuff when triggered. It has an inherent advantage over other trap relics in that it hits all opponents within 3 spaces instead of 2. Even with this boost, Mead Trap's debuff is still cleansable and the trap itself doesn't do any damage (which the others all do). Being a Shadowspawned relic is a plus, as it can be used as a good contestor, but the cost is just too high to be relied upon to hit more than a single enemy. In a theme-heavy Dwarf deck, you can run one if you want, but almost all other IS relics are better.

Earthshaker

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: After the HP nerf a while ago, Shaker is not as good at being a wall of meat as it used to be. Before, you could drop it in a font to contest and not have to worry about it being killed, since its HP/nora ratio was so high. With only 25 HP currently, it might not be the auto-include it used to be. The Earthshake ability (basically Tremor for relics) is very, VERY good for costing no AP. It does a bit of damage (making Shaker great for a quick finisher), knocks opponents back (possible cliffing, or added damage), and grants Lumbering for 2 turns (slowing down opponents, making good positioning/escaping harder). The Lumbering is NOT cleansable, so you won't have to worry about the nora being wasted. I still run one because I love Tremor so much, and I would recommend it to any beginning IS players.

Failed Amplifier

Rating: ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Not exactly a viable relic, but probably the most comprehensive anti-spell rune in the game. Some may argue that Tainted Statue does the job better, however Statue doesn't definitively stop your opponent from playing spells; it's only a severe deterrent. Like all anti-spell relics, Amplifier affects your spell casting as well, and unfortunately IS relies on spells more than some other factions. It's not uncommon for one to play Hammer, Maca, and Mark in the same turn, or Hammer + BB combos, or even double Mights for awesome Pummel spam. Another downside is that IS has few good relics/equips to fill out the spots left by not running spells, which means you're going to be very champ-heavy. Now, for someone in my position who abhors spell casting, Amplifier is always in my Dwarf deck. It is quite common for low ranked players to use multiple spells every turn, thinking they are more efficient than playing champs. In these cases, Amplifier may be a good counter rune (if drawn early). Better players will only use spells when they absolutely have to, meaning as you advance in rank you will need Amplifier less and less.

Guard Tower

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: There is no downside whatsoever to running Guard Tower in your deck. IS's best relic hands down, Tower sports rank 3 Detection, AOE stat buff, and its namesake ability which does a bit of damage and knocks opponents back. Resist - Physical 1, 28 HP, and 1 DEF makes it fairly sturdy, and our best contesting relic now that Shaker is nerfed. Most times, I'll run it as my sole Detection rune, in addition to general utility. Dropping it down just for Detection however is NOT advisable, unless you're sure to catch the unit you're looking for (if a stealthed unit is in your font zone, for example). There will be a time in the future when that Guard Tower will be much more useful. With the Battlemaster buff, Tower makes a great companion to Forge Hammer (to be reviewed later), and its cost is actually somewhat low for all it does. You'll only ever need one, but there's nothing wrong with running 2 if your deck can handle it.

Ironfist Standard

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Auto-include in every sense of the word, there is not much to say about Banner. Stellar efficiency, excellent contesting ability, and global stats in FF. Always run one in every deck you make, no question about it. This should always be the first rune you add to a new deck.

 

Nora Mine

Rating: ★ ★
Strategy Notes: With the rise of super-rush decks, turtle runes like Nora Mine have fallen out of favor. This status was only hampered by the recent cost increase to 25 nora. At 20 nora, you could drop it in a font for a single round of contesting, then have it die on the next round and still come out ahead in nora advantage. It was almost as efficient a contesting relic as Warbanner; at 25 nora, while it still boasts a 1:1 nora/HP ratio, Shaker makes for a better drop most times. If you're running Miners, obviously include at least 1 Mine, but as mentioned in the review of Deep Miner, running 2 of them makes you very vulnerable to bad draws (increased moreso when running them with Miners). They're cheap, and fast at recouping the nora lost by playing them, but I would avoid them unless you're playing a full turtle/phalanx-style Dwarf deck. The game has evolved beyond the point of their necessity.

Sepulcher of Kings

Rating: ★ ★
Strategy Notes: A relic that may seem like it has great value in a Dwarf deck, Sepulcher is just too underwhelming to be of any use. It gains 2 HP for every Dwarf in play when you deploy it, meaning it works better in the late game; however it also prevents up to 8 damage to units within 6 spaces every turn, giving it value in some early game scenarios as well. This small amount of versatility is deceptive, as if you use it for one effect, you're missing out greatly on the benefits of the other. Preventing 8 damage per turn is far less effective than it sounds, given that the only things you're likely to stop with it are Auras, Pings, and some Novas or Traps. Using it to mitigate actual attack damage is a hapless strategy, as the opponent will just plough through the prevented damage like a hot knife through butter. Frankly, it doesn't have enough impact on the field to justify a slot.

Blacklabel Brew/Desert Brew

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Once upon a time, BLB was absolutely worthless, since the Carouse racial gave it out for free. The equipment has since changed, as did Carouse, so BLB is now a decent rune. The small stat buff it gives, in addition to the buff from Intoxicated, is very respectable. A single rank of Tough might not seem like much, but considering that Tough reduces damage from everything in the game (except Loss of Life) you'll get a lot more mileage out of it than you think. Unlike the generic Pale Brew, BLB grants an additonal rank of Enraged when de-equipped, and considering its extremely low cost, it's worth it to do this whenever the situation presents itself. Keep in mind that if you equip a Carouse unit with a different kind of brew, it will hand out that brew instead of the Pale variety. And since BLB is a fair bit better than Pale Brew, running it is a no-brainer. You'll probably only need one though, due to how Carouse works, so save that second slot for something else.

Earthgod Sigil

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Another rune that is a favorite of our good friend Baskitkase, Sigil is our most efficient equip. For 25 nora, you can shut down all movement and relocation abilities for one champion, and also give it Lumbering. This makes it incredibly slow and unwieldy, especially when you slap it on a key support rune that needs to be in the middle of a phalanx. The lava trail exuded by the champion is impeding and lasts for twice as long as a normal trail, making it super useful for anti-cluster positioning. Sigil also makes a great companion to Excavator in font battles; slap it on something in 1v1s, and you're almost guaranteed to win that 1v1, using some hit-and-run-style techniques. There is also the slim, but possible, scenario of cliffing an opposing flier over chasms by equipping this, which will likely make them rage-quit right then and there. If you like to control an opponent's movements, or simply make them as annoyed as possible, then run this little wonder.

Forge Hammer

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Once a shoebox rune that barely saw marginal play, Forge Hammer now gives a large defense boost by being near a relic (+4 total, along with +2 damage). The most obvious use for this effect is when comboed with the free Mines from Excavator, but relics like Guard Tower or Earthshaker which are normally run anyway make great companions. Even if you don't run Excavator and/or only 2 or 3 relics, Hammer is a runnable equipment just because of the massive damage boost potential. You may not use it every game, but placed on a Scarlet Wing or DMC will definitely make your opponent cringe. The secondary effect is negligible unless you're running a few other Constructs in your Dwarf deck. In an AP denial deck, which usually features a large number of relics and equips, Hammer is a decent include as well. For its low cost, it sure does pack a punch.

Hammerheart Platemail

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: A fairly straightforward equip, Hammerheart Platemail gives both an offensive and defensive buff to any Dwarf it's on. I find Scale Armor to be an excellent ability in almost all situations, since the damage reduction it provides gets stronger in proportion to the incoming damage. Basically, the stronger the opposing champs are, the better Scale Armor gets. This gives it insane millage vs. factions such as SL or UD that rely on heavy hitters and strong powerturns. The damage buff is simple, but slightly better than the Brew buff, so naturally the best targets for this equip would be champions with Drunkard. Along with the other ways to apply intoxicated to your Dwarves (e.g. On the House, Keg Toss) you can keep the equipped unit perpetually fortified with Brew as well as boosted by this equipment. The low cost just makes it all the more appealing. A definite must-have for any Dwarf deck.

Holy Blade of Valdac

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Yet another shoebox buffed equip, the Blade now grants Prestige, which pushed Euan from a lot of the top players' decks. I still run Euan along with Blade, and it's hard not to like all that Blade brings. Spot alt damage, a small DOT, and of course Prestige. IS doesn't have the alt damage problems it used to, but in Dwarves you'll likely be sporting a good number of Physical damage units. Blade granting Attack - Fire (which is semi-useful against ST) can be a godsend when you haven't yet drawn your DMC or Magister. If you equip it to a Paladin you even get some anti-healing, which is always good, and Dwarves can bring a few good Paladins to the table (NCT, Minister, etc.). The drop effect is not as good in full Dwarves, but if you need something to contest a font while you retreat, Blade can do the job. Just remember that the Drop ability starts on a CD of 1, so you can't immediately drop it after equipping it.

Rugolth's Fist

Rating: ★ ★
Strategy Notes: Another part of the infamous combo pioneered by ElChameleon, Fist is not that great if you're not running that deck. The AOE nuke is admittedly fairly good, and Silverclan Engi is the best bearer of Fist in IS. The problem is, the cooldown is long and the AP cost is high, so you don't want to equip this on combat champs unless you absolutely have to, as it will take away a potential double tap and in some cases decrease their damage output for that turn. You really only get one use out of Fist, as the opponent will likely shatter it before the cooldown ends. Putting it on a support champ such as PoV, or Medic, or any Engineer is a better strategy, as you can Fist once then retreat your support champ and keep the Fist for later use if needed. Not an equip I'd recommend using, but it is efficient with the proper setup.

Soulreaver/Vial of Holy Water

Rating(s): ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: I decided to rate these two runes together, since they serve nearly identical purposes (and have nearly identical effects). Both are spot Cleanse options, and both have their own strengths. Vial is cheaper, and gives a small heal effect every turn in Blessed. Soulreaver gives AOE Defiled, but costs 5 more nora. If you're running a few Stun units and/or double Hammer Strike, then Soulreaver would be your best bet, since Stunned is almost always cleansed by the opponent; Reaver prevents that, if you position correctly. If you're light on CC, then I would run the cheaper Vial, which is also easier to obtain for new players. You are going to want either one or the other in your deck to get out of tight spots, but I wouldn't run more than one of these spot Cleanse options. There are times when having access to Cleanse will mean the difference between a win and a loss, but not enough to justify running two.

St. Semmir's Brew

Rating: ★ ★ ★
Strategy Notes: The third brew we've gotten so far has gone through a few balance changes of late. On release it was immediately pegged as OP because it gave Fury, and to any equipped champion including ranged units. This was quickly changed to give Violent, and only to melee units, but it was recently changed once again to give Regen 2 in addition to the Intoxicated buff. It's current tame iteration isn't nearly as good as before, but good players will realize that they simply need to be more selective about which brand of Brew they equip onto their units. On something with innate sustain, BLB is superior, while St. Semmir's wins out for ranged units, or basically anything not on the front lines. By their very nature, ranged units and supports tend to not take as much damage, since they're safer from harm. Regen 2 is a great buff for them because it provides sustain for the minimal damage they will be enduring, eating potshots from Bomb abilities or global damage. Front liners on the other hand will benefit more from flat damage reduction, allowing the supports to make better use out of their heals. The on-demand cleanse is an added bonus, but we've already got Vial and Soulreaver for that. Since this is the brew handed out by Beermaiden, I don't think it's necessary to run both the actual equip and her, unless you're planning on a late game-focused buff stacking Dwarf deck. A decent include nonetheless, and I usually run one of this and one Blacklabel Brew for variety.

 

Sample Decks
**DISCLAIMER: I will be using PoxList to present all my sample decks. Apologies in advance for any site or link malfunctions that cause the decks to be unviewable or appear with image errors.

Meta Dwarves #1

https://goo.gl/eQ9Z5H

The above deck is an example of what I would consider a top-of-the-line optimal Dwarf deck in the game right now. Slight variations due to taste are acceptable, but the general feel of the deck should not change. It is a prime example of what some other TCGs might call a "cookie cutter" build, meaning it is highly adaptable and can answer almost everything an opponent can throw at it in kind. Top IS players likely run something similar to this deck. The one thing it does lack a bit in are fast early-game draws, and your champs are all 6 or 7 speed. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it may cause some problems against FS or KF who can regularly put out 8 speed champs first turn. On the upside, your early game units will be significantly sturdier than the opposing champions. Warsaint is ideal here or, if you manage to draw him, Brewmaster.

To compensate, the deck is very strong mid to late game. Magister works well with Hammer Strike in order to secure early kills if necessary, and just dropping one of these can force the opponent into more of a defensive position which will let you build up. Sharpshooters and Hooligans are excellent pokers, so try to drop them as soon as you can. Range 5 Piercing Shots every other turn can antagonize the opponent into overextending, which will bring him into the waiting arms of Semmiran Nobles or Brewmaster. Since the deck lacks a good healer, you'll have to rely on a healthy assortment of buff stacking to keep your units alive. Sources of Defender, Sermon, Brew, and Maca will let you maintain an intimidating front line. Late game, drop a Minister and/or Blink to prepare for powerturns. While a Warcry unit would be lovely in this deck, there simply isn't space. Even still, one of the secret wonders about IS powerturns is that they can literally come out of nowhere. With a Tinkerer or Beermaiden down, you can drop a Minister and use Battle Drum on the same turn by first Invigorating the Minister for 2 AP.

The spell set is just as versatile as the champ set. Blink, as mentioned earlier, can be used offensively and defensively depending on the situation. Double Hammer Strike gives you access to plenty of one-rounding potential, while Maca, RD, and Mark are there for utility (and can also be used in a variety of ways, depending on your needs). Refute is golden at times, but takes a bit of skill to time properly. Keep an eye on the opponent's use of nora; if you notice them not deploy for a turn, it probably means they've got something big on the way, and a well-timed Refute will send them packing. Guard Tower gives you another Detect source, and is an amazing relic on its own. Equips are standard IS fare, but do note that you won't have a Prestige source for those annoying FW matchups, so take care for Domi-chasm.

All in all, this deck could perform very well in any rank bracket, and I would not be surprised in the slightest if it took someone to top 20.


Meta Dwarves #2

https://goo.gl/mJdrk9

There are a few similarities between this deck and the first meta Dwarf deck, but the main theme has changed from buff stacking to powerturn focused. Note the triple Warcry, the massive AP gen, and the follow-up-style spell set. This deck is all about setting up and executing that one great turn where you start to snowball the game in your favor. Although this deck does have its share of buffing, though Cardinal, Sarge, and Brew, it is far more burst oriented than its slow-and-steady counterpart.

The important thing to consider about this deck is its play pattern will often require good tactical knowledge of baiting and sacrificing. Gallows Warden is a prime example of this. Due to the nature of his kit, he excels at multi-front combat. Through careful manipulation of his positioning, you can often bait the opponent into over-extending to kill him while the rest of your army surges in from behind. Double Ethereal Priestess makes this easy: Haste will be the catalyst to your opponent's demise, turning your King or Half-Skeezicks into cheetahs for a turn. Don't be afraid to give some ground with this deck, even if it's mid font. Careful planning will let you launch your assault from ~10 spaces away, giving the opponent few options on their turn. If all goes well, they won't even see it coming.

The spell set serves to highlight the decks key strengths while at the same time covering its weaknesses. Earthquake should be saved for the end of your first powerturn, keeping the opponent reeling. The same goes for Refute. Impervious should not be used unless you need it; usually, if all goes well, your opponent won't have many units left to counter attack with, but in longer build-up games you will often be glad to have it. I decided to include Strip Armor because this deck runs heavy on physical damage, and it pairs very nicely with your ranged units. With this, even the toughest of champions will be taking maximum damage during your all-ins. Do note that it also gives your own units Vulnerability - Physical. This is important to remember if the opponent is running any Riposte/Blindfire/Counter Attack: X units.


Budget Dwarves

https://goo.gl/bpEceY

In making the budget-friendly Dwarf deck, I also endeavored to make it as newbie-friendly as possible. This is mostly because, when I imagined people who might use it, new players immediately came to mind. The deck is quite basic and well-defined in terms of runes; even newer players should have no trouble grasping the concepts and roles behind each of them. That being said, the deck is not a weak deck, and I reckon a good enough player could climb the lower ranks easily enough with it. I deliberately didn't include anything with a value of Exotic or higher (with the exception of Banner, because they're incredibly easy to obtain, despite being a Legendary).

This deck somewhat favors quantity over quality in terms of its champions. Almost all of them are sub-80 nora, and you will usually be able to deploy something every round. Without Brewmaster or Hooligan, you will be relying on Beermaiden and Northern Cross Militia to hand out Brews. The lone BLB is there in case you need the extra defenses. Simply use Shatter on Beermaiden to get rid of her St. Semmir's and slap BLB on there.

Aside from that little combo, the deck is very simple in terms of strategy. The one Half-Skeezick should be enough to serve your Warcry needs, along with the hefty AP output of double Beermaidens and Sarge. Your Axemen and Warsaints will tank the front lines while Pontiff and Sharpshooters deal death from the back line. Save your Earthquakes for after powerturns, or to clean up low HP enemy groups. Hammers are key for one-rounding; don't be afraid to burn one early to secure and advantage. If you can get your opponent reeling from the start, this deck will play a lot smoother.

The rest of the runes are pure utility, from the anti-equip of Disarm, to the stealth detection of UV and Guard Tower. Since you're running double Beermaiden, feel free to swap out Disarm for something more interesting. The main reason I included it was so that you could save the Shatter ability for your own Dwarves in case you wanted the Enraged damage boost. After you earn enough gold, start swapping out runes from this deck for ones similar to the Meta Dwarf decks shown above.

 

General Deckbuilding Advice

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. 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, Draksar Marine) 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 deck where no champions have cc. 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 Ironfist Paladin: 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. 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 runedock 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.

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!

 

Tips and Tricks

- Don't neglect your support champs! Dwarves boast some of the best support runes in the game, and dropping them early is a good way to secure victory later on.

- It's a good idea to save some nora at the end of each turn, when you can. It will allow you to increase the number of potential actions you can take on your next turn.

- Stunned champs can be knocked off cliffs even if they have AP remaining. This is good to know when using champs like DMC along with Hammer Strike or anything with Stun. This also works with certain passive abilities like Repulsion or Break the Line.

- It can sometimes be a good idea to delay using Sermon for a few turns after you deploy a Northern Cross Cardinal. While it may seem tempting to immediately get out the book and start preaching, remember that you only get the buff if Cardinal stays in one place. Try looking ahead a few rounds: where will I need Cardinal to be? Will I be rushed by a melee unit? Does the opponent have any knockback? Can I afford the tempo hit? Questions like these will allow you to gauge your timing so that Cardinal isn't a sitting duck while he's Sermoning.

- In a pinch, Carouse can be used to equip opposing champs with Brew. This works as a negative equipment, decreasing stats and preventing any positive equipment from being used on that champion.

- Holy Blade of Valdac will cause the second hit in a Pummel or Barrage to be fire damage, while the first hit will remain the equipped unit's original basic attack type. This is useful when facing units with Defiant or Void Shield.

- Rallying Cries can stack with itself, meaning you only need to leave units with 2 AP at the end of your turns when you have 2 Sarges out.

- Semmir the Brave, our Avatar, also has Race: Dwarf! This means that, even though you can't equip him with Brew, he will still get a buff from Intoxicated if he's in the AOE of Keg Toss. He will also receive buffs from Sermon, Defender, and any other ability which affects Dwarves.

- Don't hesitate to use Warbanners for contesting fonts. While the global buff they provide is valuable, they have a very short CD and are the most efficient relics in the game. It's better to drop one and save your champion than continue a lost font battle.

- Try looking at a tough problem in a new light rather than keeping with the same strategy all the time. Be adaptable and flexible, just like the Dwarf theme is. Change your tactics every few games if you find they are not working for you.

- Don't take hard losses too seriously. After all, this is only a game, and you can always step away from the computer and take a breather. Every loss is an opportunity for improvement; if you have the software for it, I'd recommend recording your first few games with Dwarves so you can go back later and figure out where you went wrong.

- Even though you may want to experience the Dwarf theme to its fullest, I would not recommend playing while drunk. Trust me, it doesn't end well...........

 

Reserved for future additions to the Dwarf throng.

 

Reserved for future additions to the Dwarf throng.

 

Ok, that should be enough space. Feel free to post/praise/critique as appropriate! I'd like to thank Markoth, Baskitkase, Paladin, GreatBeard, ARISTOTLE, and all the other IS legends over the years who made this guide possible, either directly or indirectly. I'd also like to thank PoxBase for providing the deckbuilding software as well as the images. Lastly, I'd like to thank BurnPyro, Dagdapede, movntarget, claude, AwayAway, and the rest of the scum from SL; without all of you, the Dwarves would have nothing to stamp into the mud time and again, and be incredibly bored all day. So thanks for.........uh..........being there!

 

I totally read that last part without the 'r'