So for context I am very new, only started playing a few weeks ago when PAX South reminded me that Poxnora exists. I'm mostly using public decks and the random leavings of the two Extended Set Boxes I purchased. So... What's the deal with spells? I understand that being new I must certainly be using the spells wrong, but in probably 85-90% of the instances I've used a spell, it's felt completely underwhelming. I might do 10 damage, or ground a flying Champion, or push something back 1 square to be able to grab a font only to lose it again next turn when the still-alive Champion walks back into the font space. Equipment feels marginally better because it might keep a champion alive longer or allow for a powerful Hero Champion to really clean up, and the effects can be felt over the course of several turns. Basically, it feels like a waste of Nora unless I can use a spell to get just that last little bit of damage onto a Champion to kill it. Is this just a phenomenon limited to bad spells in the public decks, or is it just exacerbated against the AI in skirmishes when they get free units and you have to play from behind? Any advice you guys might have with how to actually get my Nora's worth would be much appreciated.
Part of that is going to be skirmishes. The AI under-uses their champions, but deploys more of them, making the value of damage on a single champ less compared to a PvP game. Additionally, spells are situational. Unlike a champion, spells will only be worth their value if played at the right time, at the right spot. Learning to use spells properly, and not overuse them, are important parts of getting better.
Spells are extremely powerful period. They can help you secure kills, protect your champions or devastate grouped up opponents. If you tell me which factions you are playing, I can tell you which spells can be beneficial and in what ways. Edit: Spells are one of the few ways you can affect the game at font fights, deploying a new champion is a delayed effect and will help you only in x amount of turns.
So far I've been playing a lot of Shattered Peaks, but I also like the themes in Forglar Swamp. Sundered Lands and Forsaken Wastes are also on my radar. Basically, I haven't settled on anything yet, so I haven't purchased an Avatar yet either. Edit: I think considering your edit, and saying a Champion is delayed power, that makes sense. Because the AI is constantly deploying stuff, if I can't keep up then spending Nora now for a spell might give me a slight advantage now, but in 2 turns the bot is just going to have more Champions coming down the line and I'll be weak as its delayed power comes to the front line.
Playing against AI is very different than playing against human opponents. You will find yourself using less spells against AI, simply because you can outplay it by killing the right units and blocking his path with big meatblocks. Therefore, deploying more champions makes a lot of sense, because you can most likely beat the AI without using spells. Against human opponent who has usually exact same nora gain as you (and thus plays less champions) you will find, that spells are not repleacable by other rune types. In a hypothetical scenario of one player contesting the other player's font with a unit, you have to realise that each turn the contested player gains 12 nora less than his opponent. Therefore, you want to get rid of the contesting champion in the fastest way possible. If each player has 3 units on the field, chances are that the contested player can't get rid of the threat fast enough. That's where spells come in handy. Let's bring in another example: you are attacking a champion with 40 hp. You can make 3 attacks, each dealing 10 damage, so the enemy champion is left alive at 10 hp. You can use a thunderhead totem to kill the champion, OR you can use avalanche and kill the champion as well as damaging other champions in the area. What if the enemy is left with 15 hp? Thunderhead totem deals only 14 damage, so the enemy would still be able to retaliate. But if you use avalanche to knockback the enemy into your own troop, he will take 10 damage from spell +5 damage from knockback and die. What if, instead of casting 45 nora avalanche you choose to cast 30 Peak Tactics (+5 damage on each attack if the enemy is engaged to your champions). You achieve similar effect, but using 15 nora less. Those are very simplistic examples of a spell being used to gain advantage. There are a myriad of effects which can be used to your benefit, or to debilitate your enemy, and often a right spell at the right time can win you the game.
Exactly! Against Real Players it's very different. You are using SP right? They have a lot of spells that buff your own units (like Zeleatory and Havoc's Touch) that work better than an equip, cause you can use more than one in a single champion. Think about it, and training against other players will be much better for you to understand all htat was said by @Sealer0
What works well against the AI is : Illusions or "free" relics (errupt) to stall it's champions (AI goes after the lowest life units first). Terrain control : it usually goes around terrain that takes more than 1 action point to pass and it even ceases to move if you can catch it's champion in the middle of your terrain modification (unless flying).
