My rating system: 5/5 - Very strong rune. Could potentially be breakable. Will define a battlegroup, and probably seen on ladder. 4/5 - Strong rune. Definite role. Will be seen and used in multiple battlegroups. 3/5 - Interesting rune. Provides something new for the faction or particularly good stats. Will be seen in one battlegroup. May be seen in more. 2/5 - Uninteresting rune. Not really distinct or interesting or hampered by bad stats. May see niche use but will mostly not be played. 1/5 - Bad rune. Why was this made again? Calm As Raging Tides - 3/5 On the whole I like the kit, but the frequently of enrage 3 being relevant is pretty low. Most good battlegroups are going to either just hit it with non-basic attacks or make sure they one round it. It is not even remotely tanky, and I kind of wish it just traded the enrage 3 for +3 base damage, even if it would make it less "interesting." With that being said, it does have dragging attack, which you can't find elsewhere in FS so it may be worth running for that reason alone. Seems like it will have a place in monks, boghoppers, and maybe even poison for some tasty trap triggering. Chilling Scale - 4/5 I have been running him in monks with the regen + exertion build, but I could very easily see running him in snaptooths with murkwater frenzy + sunder. If I ran him in junk it would probably be regen + execute, but I could still see doing regen + exertion. The main reason behind the regen + exertion build in monks is becaus of the synergy with the Silent Master, as this allows you to basically exert every round if you want to (and with the hidden master, this enables you to essentially make 3 attacks from 8 ap) and gives you a lot of concentrated power in a relatively inexpensive body. For snaptooths you want to run it with murkwater frenzy, and exertion seems kind of risky there if you want to keep it alive, execute is solid though, but sunder is even better, as it really enables the multi-attacking snaptooths really well. Great rune. Really excited to play it in a bunch of battegroups. Fracturing Boulder - 3/5 A definite include in monks, but I am not really sure you will see him outside of it. The main thing he has going for him is the fact that he is a really cheap speed 8 unit, but that comes with the cost of either stasis or weighty. Weighty is awful, and a desire for consistency is going to leave you with not wanting to run 4 stasis units, and he probably loses out in the fast stasis unit battle to the Chipped Boulder Monk. One neat trick with him is that if you run him with the Silent Master it is possible to, every round, switch to ranged stance, hit your opponent, and switch back so you never get hit with the speed penalty. Jellebrium Overmind - 5/5 Auto-include in Jellebrium, auto-included in psychics, and a probable include in mixed meta. He is the second rune ever to have Creativity, and has enough going on to try it out in all sorts of FS Junk battlegroups. The only thing I am not exactly enthusiastic about is Mind Lock. It looks like it will be very useful against certain champions, but against a lot it will be mostly useless. There is also the fact that it is 3 AP (why not less?) that makes it even rougher to use. It's kit though, is fantastic. You are going to want to run Jellebrium Mind and Boost in Jellebrium, but otherwise I can see some strong arguments for either Restraining Aura or Confuse on Upgrade Path 1. Dispelling Blows is the obvious choice for Junk in UP 2, but I could see good arguments for either Dispelling Blows or Psychic Blast in UP 2, though I suspect that personally I am always going to use Dispelling Blows, because of its ability to deal with all sorts of shennanigans. So yeah, this guy is fantastic, and is going to be an important part of a lot of battlegroups I am going to be running. Leaf on the Wind - 4/5 Phantom Dash + Good Defensive abilities + Flanking + a good amount of hit points is really solid. FS did not have any Ferren before this set, so that means this guy is a shoe-in for Collective battlegroups, and the ability to Phantom Dash every turn is really helpful for Monk battlegroups. Just being an all-around solid unit means he is a potentially good option for FS Junk. The only real question is whether you run him with Combat Awareness (1 or 2!) or NKD. I lean towards Combat Awareness in Monks (because you aren't usually going to have any ap left with him attacking and phantom dashing most any round) and nkd in non-monk battlegroups, but I could see strong arguments for going in other directions. What do you all think? Mocking Toad - 2/5 This ones only real saving grace is the fact that it is only 55 points base. Otherwise it is a slow, low damage, 2/2 unit. I could see maybe running it as a bodyguard, but I am a little skeptical of it even in that role. Maybe if FS beasts ever really becomes a thing. The Silent Master - 5/5 He will only ever be seen in Monks, but the sheer power of Fury of a Thousand Strikes mean he will do quite well in it. I like the default Scrapper + Stat Bonus (Speed) role the best, because it allows you to give him surviability. He will be a target, so it is important that you make it so that they have a more difficult time taking him down. I go back and forth on his stat-line. One one hand 9 damage is pretty weak and I almost wish he could trade range for damage, on the other hand, 1-2 range enables you to maximize your melee potential which is important in a more melee-focused theme like monks. So on balance I think I am okay with it. Southern Wave Discipline - 2/5 Mostly seeems overshadowed by Northern Wind Discipline. Frozen seems like it is going to be good more frequently than the knockback will be, though I am also tempted to run both from the sheer utility perspective. Also physical damage is among the worst types, so I mostly feel meh about it. Bog Crystal - 4/5 Great. Definitely going to be run, maybe in multiples, in salaman and could definitely see play in other battegroups. Snaptooth seems to be the most likely (it seems amazing on snaptooth hunter), followed by psychics (amp leads to some pretty high damage), but others could definitely take advantage of it. My only problem with it, is it seems at best tied for 3rd for the best/most important FS equipments (behind Emergency Kit and Twisted Emerald) and I don't actually run a lot of battlegroups that use 3 equips. Otherwise though it is really solid.
Southern has potential! Not as useful as Gale Force, but you can wave sandwitch with it for 25 damage (and only 10 to your own).
Death Lily gets no respect. (Not that it particularly should since Flurry was removed from the game, but I gotta keep up the meme...) Since Bodyguard got axed from the Quagmirrian oh so long ago, we haven't had any, so Mocking Toad is pretty useful in that regard, though it does make it a slow, low-damage 59 nora package. On the plus side, it's ranged alt-damage and tanky for it's cost. If you're running Aquatics, you can go with a 6-ish SPD package at 60 Nora. So I'd probably put Mocking Toad (and Southern Wave Discipline for the reasons Goyo mentioned) at a higher rating (based on your system). I actually don't like Boglight Crystal, even in Salaman, but that might just be me.
I don't particularly value Life Siphon I guess. And it seems like Font of Restoration will do more immediate healing, albeit at a higher Nora cost... and there are other really awesome Equips. Horn of Order, Darkmarsh Hat, etc. I don't think it's tied for the best/most important equip, I dunno, maybe I'd feel differently if it added to Max HP (like Covenant for example) rather than merely healing on initial equip. As it is it just seems a bit too niche, and there are already other runes that feel like they do the job as well if not better (or with more utility in other areas). Death what?
Yeah. I like it, and think it is solid but that doesn't mean I would actually use it because Twisted Emerald and Emergency Kit exist. But I do think it provides a nice effect and the fact that you can control when you play it means you basically can turn around an almost-dead unit and still get continual healing out of it. It is not as plug and play as Font, but there are very specific situations where it is better, and I am glad to have it for them.
