Hello! I'm new to Pox Nora entirely and have been playing slowly (mostly doing whatever achievements I can do for the day without a real BG). I am not new to strategy games, niche-less f2p friendly games or competing at a decently high level in most games. I've finished the tutorial and have unlocked marketplace and stuff. That said I have a few questions on where I should go from here: For now, I'd like to pick up a BG to learn the little nuances of the games with. I absolutely do not care about winning or losing until I actually don't suck at the game. I would prefer to play something with potential to be aggressive while remaining flexible (I don't know if that exists here but more like tempo-aggro as opposed to all-in). So far I've mostly been playing Cavernborn which I've read is an absolutely horrible BG but I have fun with it regardless. From what I've tried out, I think I want to go with Voils because I really enjoy the fast board presence/mobility. Also it seems like most people just play what they want? Can you climb high on the ladder with a large variety of BGs or are there actually a handful of BGs that are competitively viable. Would people recommend going voils if I feel confident that I don't care about difficulty? Are voils decent at a top tier level? Any general tips to playing voils? To be honest I don't know too much of the general strategy for the theme. Sample bgs? How do I spent my gold? (10k, nothing bought, have 2x cavern screechers from random battles, not a huge huge fan of the rest of SP besides Voils but don't mind buying the avatar first if I do go Voils)
I'm not a competitive player, so I cannot speak for the high levels of play. However, I'll speak on what I can. Feel free to correct any mistakes I make, folks. Voil are generally considered strong at the moment, generally due to three interactions. Boost Voil, Regal Presence from the Voil Queen, and Warcry from Lance Admiral Sciean, which all stack. Note that generally what is meta will change, as things are nerfed/buffed. Not sure how accessible price-wise they are really, but they do have a theme deck available. It is one of the more expensive theme decks however, at $25 dollars or 30000 gold. I got it when they first came out, and do not regret the purchase. Contents can be seen here: http://forums.poxnora.com/index.php?threads/ktcaops-beginners-guide.329/#post-4072 However, Senshu has mentioned that "something may be happening soon that will effect public decks." I would expect that they will eventually be rebalanced and possibly sold as something you can then alter. So it may be a wise decision to hold off for a bit on that purchase. An avatar is definetly a good buy. Other than that I would get extended packs/boxes with your gold to use as trade fodder. Keep in mind that boxes come with at least one guaranteed exotic rune, whereas packs do not. As far as Voil decks, take a look over at the faction forums for SP. I am a bit concerned that you aren't interested in the rest of the faction. That would severly limit the number of Bgs you will want to make once you get a decent SP collection going. If you got bored of voils you'd have to start over with a new faction. Up to you, though.
Voils have always been viable. For a new player I would start off ST, KF, or IS, just because they have allot of counters and large groups of spells or relics that can solve any problem you might run into. Those factions also have a lot of healing witch can be useful to new players. (Plus over the history of the game those three factions are never not competitive) It is a good idea to stick to one faction though, maybe a main faction and one side faction when you start out for the purpose of making collecting some high tier runes easier. This game cycles through buffs, nerfs, and new expansion so we have ever changing power levels in themes and factions. SP is pretty solid faction though and investing time to playing with them and collecting their runes would not be a mistake. If a big nerf happens to somthing you crutch on do not give up, but get creative.
Thanks for the fast answers so far! It's not that I have no interest in the rest of SP just that Voils grab my attention because of their mobility. I wouldn't mind playing other SP Bgs but I wouldn't rank them any higher than most other factions. Is FW doomed to be grindy because of it's mechanics? I like the art style of FW more but until I understand the game more, I don't feel like I'd enjoy playing grindier factions with long games and heavy control styles. How do theme decks work exactly? Can you only play it as that unaltered list or do you basically just get all the runes in the list and can use them in whatever Bgs you feel like. I'm not in a huge rush so it seems pointless to spend gold on a theme deck if there are limitations to it as opposed to just buying packs. Also I'm not too sure on what tokens even do so I guess I don't really understand the merit of leveling your cards or leveling your avatar. (Why are avatars suggested to be bought early on?)
No, you own the runes and can do whatever you want with them. Tokens are add Cp to your champs to level them faster. 200 CP is a level three champ. Leveling your runes allow you to choose their upgrades. At level two you can change the first ugrade, and level three you can change the second. I'm not sure why avatars are suggested so much as a first purchase actually. Possibly because it takes a while to level them, and they are needed for high level play. I don't know much about FW, unfortunately. The definetly have a lot of "counter" type runes, and generally take the long game approach due to thier faction bonus, though. The skeletons rely on cheap deploys aided by boost, though. Also have a theme deck. FW is definetly considered difficult for a new player to learn. Also, the game is very complex, I recommend watching higher ranked people play from the faction of your choosing to learn more quickly. Try to figure out why they play and include in their BG the various runes they use. Also, just play the game and learn from your mistakes. Both Avatars and runes gain CP through being played, with the runes getting bonus cp based on what they did, which you will see after the match. Things like "most hp healed", "most ap used", ect. Personally, I love buying premade decks. I buy them everytime they come out. But I am not really a trading type of player, which is probably why.
Avatars over time gain more health in higher levels then none avatar shrines. Allowing you to scry more comfortably. Some of the Avatars can kick but and hold their own for a few turns. (I recommend staying in shrine form as long as possible, you get a nora reduction when you transfigure and loss the ability to summon champs unless it is by spells or fonts.) You have to be a really stubborn player to play with FW some times. FW is in a weakened conditional currently. The community members that do not play FW cry about FW a lot (understatement). Serken, one of FW's key stone heroes got hit with a hard nerf and many FW players are still bumping around in the dark because of this. Good chance we will bounce back next expansion. (Hopes and dreams) As far as SP goes: Voils are usually competitive, Hyaenids are close to Voils level, Moga's are for pros, fesh (worms) look promising, Cyclops are very close to being on Voil's level, Slags are lost currently, Kannen went from being really good to a little bit toned down, Beats are becoming more of split theme. (Competitive: Able to do well against just about any build) K'thir is really hot right now, and is usually in one of the top four or five factions slots. So I would not exactly discourage you from playing with them. Once you get a theme deck you own the runes and can mix and match the champs/spells in different bg's. Theme decks were the beta phase to the free to play decks and some of them contain good runes.
Voils are arguably the strongest deck in the game right now, so you shouldn't have too much problems in that regard. If that's the deck you like then I would go for it.
Aggro-Tempo style of play is still viable in Pox, but Aggro play-style is hurting a bit because it usually goes faster. The revamp slowed some themes down. Nohkan Do builds are good for this play style. They are also quite strong at the moment. I would however look into Split Faction builds for better Aggro style. These builds are more specialized.
