Between Dread, Frightful Aura and Defender, That's a static total of -24 damage from 'auras' for opposing champions. Not a number to scoff at. Those -2's and +2's add up quickly. Granted, if you can get all of that on the board at once, you're probably winning already, but, way I figure it, constant BB/Boneguard spam facilitating the slow saturation of damage neutering for the opponent, and the two only becoming even more efficient as Dread/Frightful/Defender start coming into play, you'll eventually hit a critical mass where your opponent's only option is AoE spam, in which case you win anyway because of the inherit efficiency and sheer amount of damage neuter you can put out even after heavy AoE damage. It's theory craft, but digging through the first couple pages of the forum, didn't see much mention of this archaic pipe dream concept. But, if things have toned down in a way that it looks like they might have, I'm curious on whether the deck concept may bear some fruit.
I'd drop 1x Haunt, 1x Bazaar (exertion nerfs hit it hard), 1x D harvester, 2x Boneguard. Look at BB, ED, Bog zombie, wandering zombie etc.
I was running dread for a good while a few patches back or so, and at the time it was my strongest bg until I refined my meta. It's a little outdated, but this is what I was running for dread, and it should in theory work now just fine. Take note I only have one AoD and was never excited to grind out a second one
There's a lot of static dmg abilities such as grant aura flitting about but it can definitely catch bgs low in that area by surprise.
I'd check out the new Ayroo Echo champ. Brings some mid-range alt damage to the deck, along with a massive AOE damage reduction and some light cc.
In my defense; Didn't realize Exertion took the 'starts on cd' nerf. That sucks. Boneguard though, is my preferred meat for something like this for one reason; A cheap source of Weary, which further neuters opposing damage. Block 2 doesn't hurt, too. Though, I can see dropping Haunt if I'll be dropping the Bazaar. Probably toss in the good ol' Dark Rising/ Sac Altar combo. Arroyo Echo does look awfully tasty, as well. Hmmm. lots to consider.
My current rendition; Pure, unadulterated Dread....well, kinda. Left Blinking Creeper out mainly for the Worm Lord sandbag it's carrying. Avg Cost is 68, that's already pretty high, so things need to really cost what they NEED to cost. So some reasoning on the current picks; Defiler Knight provides a huge defiling aura radius AND temporary champ stopping power. With life siphon and a good chunk of health, all for 69n, he feels like the tank the deck needs. Lich Magistrate; Revenants would be a much cheaper unit for the Hex, and likely in revision 2.1 or later might try 1:1, but there's something about swarming units that further cripple damage that's just enticing. Arroyo; As pointed out to me earlier, it has one of the best stall abilities in the game, along side what is likely THE best stall ability in the game. Impenetrable + Stall is very rough to deal with when the 'global' damage neuter starts piling up. 2x Aspect of Death!? Only for consistency. Not really dropping more than one on the field at a time unless desperate, but Knell is too valuable for heal spam, the dps here isn't exactly awesome against other high defense strategies, even with double Sac/Altar Boneguard, still here instead of BB for the same reason, early and cheap damage neutering. Risen Yeti and Bonewing both for their double tapping aura. Yeti has Frightful Aura, and Bonwing has the Dread/Defender combo. Obviously, one of each on the board should be fine unless you need to fight on two fronts. BUT, the toolkits are too powerful to bank on drawing them early at 1x. Moragen gets to stay because her and the Arroyo are just too great together. No Equips was intentional. Lots of good choices, but only 30 deck slots, and the name of the game is Dread/Dread-like abilities. Cloak of Skulls would be a must if there was maybe one more pair of skeles that could fit in here. Otherwise, pretty standard faire regarding spells/relics.
2x Aspect of Death is semi-kinda the same thing. DeKs are usually close enough to whatever gets tapped with Knell to GV it and Chill.
