Hey there, I'm a new player. I installed the game some time ago and played a little back then. Now I've returned with the intention of spending a bit more time learning the game in depth. Pondering a Savage Tundra deck which I'll put together when I know my way around better. Any tips for a new starter? H.
Well this is mainly a thread for SP deck building but the rules at the bottom are relevant to deck building with any faction. Ranking S - In a league of its own for its role A - Auto Include if you have it B C Roles Buff - Buffs your Champs with Shroud Cannon - Deals Damage Control - Controls the Game Position or AP Wise Cheap Meat - Summons Draw Win - First Turn Draw Wins you the Game Glass Cannon - Damage Dealer Which Dies Easily Pseudo Range - 1-3 range + Range Attacks Tank - Takes Damage Super Tank - Tank Cannon Support - Provides Utility Such as Shatter, Healing or Detect Champions Legendries Arroyo Riftwalker - B = Tank Beater Chaos Brave - A = Super Tank Cyclops Rockshaper - B = Tank, Pseudo Range, Control Cyclops Stonecaller - A = Super Tank, Support Feshcaller Mika - S = Support G'hern General - A =Support, Tank Whirling Quarry - S = Support/Buff, Control Exotics Ancient Slag - B+ = Tank, Control, Support Arroyo Riftlord - B = Tank, Control, Cheap Meat, Pseudo Range Cyclops Blastmage - B = Control, Pseudo Range Hyaenid Ascendant - A+ = Cannon Hyaenid Flamefist - B+ = Draw Win, Control, Tank Hyaenid Headshrinker - B+ = Glass Cannon, Control Hyaenid Hougan - C = Support Hyaenid Spiritspeaker - C = Buff, Tank, Pseudo Range Klub the Devourer - S = Control, Super Tank Peaks Dao - C = Tank Voil Stormspear - B- = Tank Rares Arroyo Smokeform - B+ = Cannon, Tank Firebomber - C = Glass Cannon Hyaenid Stormreader - A = Glass Cannon Kanen Cultist - B = Support Kanen Slipped - S - Cruise Missile Stormbunny - A = Draw Win/Tank, Cannon Thunder Elemental - C = Cannon Voil Divebomber - C = Glass Cannon Voil Queen - B- = Cheap Meat Voil Stormflyer - S = Super Tank Voltaic Slag - S = Glass Cannon, Control Uncommons Cyclopean Warcart - C = Cannon Cyclops Mauler - B = Cannon Cyclops Ritualist - C = Support G'hern Pyro - C+ = Cannon Hyaenid Dreamcrusher MVP = Control, Support Kanen Howler - C+ = Cheap Meat Moga Cannon - A = Glass Cannon Moga Chef - B+ = Support Ritual Cultist - B =Support Terraced Slag - B = Tank, Control Commons Armoured Fesh - B+ = Tank, Control Arroyo Eye - B = Support Cavernkeeper - B = Support Cyclopalypse Cannon - B = Cannon Cyclopean Boltcase - B+ = Glass Cannon Crazed Warmandrils - C+ = Glass Cannon Cyclops Primal - B+ = Cannon Deepcave Extractor - A- = Support G'hern Juggler - A- = Support G'hern Rager - C+ = Support, Cannon G'hern Sustainer - A = Support Hyaenid Instigator - C = Cheap Meat Hyaenid Mundunugu - C = Control, Support Kanen Scavenger - C+ = Support Sonic Elemental - A+ = Drawn, Control Voil Jester - B = Support Voil Lifesteal - B = Cannon, Tank I will get to spells later but champ wise this is what a deck should include. 6-8 Ranged Units Total 8-10 Melee Units 2-4 Control Units 4-6 Cannons 2-4 Draw Win Units 2-6 Support Units 3-6 Tanks Your Average Nora Cost Including Spells Should be 57-60.
Alternatively you could create a deck using the general guideline I gave you for deck building, choosing budget runes for each type. Look out for runes which fulfil multiple functions to save on deck building space.
While I don't completely agree with Vorian's building strategy, it is a a good framework. His champ ratings however, I don't understand. If something is S tier, since he defines that as "a class by itself", there should not be any other S tier champs for that role, anything else should be A at most. Also calling Kanen Slipped Cruise Missile isn't helpful since that isn't one of the defined roles that should be included in a BG. The same is true for Dreamcrusher's MVP rating, which isn't defined. I would recommend the ratings be taken with a grain of salt until they're cleared up. As for whether to play a theme or a good stuff BG, that will depend on what you want to get out of the game. If you're planning on playing ranked and would like to get to the top levels, go with good stuff (Meta) and build in a similar fashion to what @Vorian suggests. That or copy the BG of a top player, although that will take a lot of observation to understand how it works. Themes are better suited if you're comfortable not reaching the top levels of PvP or if you're going to play solo games instead. Just about any theme can beat the AI on normal difficulty unless there's a boss that's resistant to your particular theme. As for what runes to get for a particular theme, post in that faction's forum and you'll often get input from people that have/currently play that theme. That way you don't trade/forge for a rune that will be unhelpful in your BG. That's the biggest problem I see new players have, they work to get a rune to improve their BG only to find it isn't as good as they hoped.
Just for the record I made this thread because I am fed up of hearing new players complain they bought a bunch of legendaries and exotics and they keep losing with them, because its not about how many exotics or legendaries you have, its about building a deck where you have all of the key roles covered. I mean you can run a deck without something like tanks if you have a Bane Shift ton of fire power, but you have to be incredibly careful with your positioning and I wouldnt recommend new players attempt this. I mean of course you can be flexible and go for healers over tanks... At the end of the day what deck you run and strategy you use is up to you, but when starting off its good to have runes covering all roles to be able to deal with all the different deck types you will come up against...