incorporeal and dmg auras

[Ragic]

Ok, so from the ghost pendant thread it seems clear that the best champ to put a pendant on is one that has a dmg aura. That got me thinking about the old zombie wall decks. Was it just the cheap recyclable meat that drove ppl nuts, or did the aura stacking play a role? I wonder if we could combine dmg aura and incorproeal to make a deck based on aura stacking. This is just theorycrafting here, i have not tried to play a deck doing this.

sources of dmg aura
afflcted corpse: disease aura 1, disease amp
festering corpse: disease aura 3
elsarin reaper: death aura
infected zombie: disease aura 3, spd 9, hps 70 nora
mairdreth: black death, spd 9, foul strike etc.
soul siren: phase shift, sonic aura 3, relocate foe
wretched witch: disease aura 3, wicked aura 2, mindwipe, poison cloud
touch of death: adds disease aura 3 for 15 dmg. is the aura permanent?
flesh sewn helm: adds 2 ranks of disease aura, 2 ranks of phys resist, boon.

sources of incorporeal
ghost: disturbed spirit
etheral: etheral soldier, ghost pendant
phase shift: soul siren, vampyre, dark enchantress, utterdark spectre, shadestalker
ghostly visage: incorporeal for 4 turns


disease eater
deathcaster
fallen hero

is there a potential phalanx here with disease eater units surrrounded by disease aura support? maybe a stealth subtheme mixed in? anyone try a deck like this lately?

[DfosterW]

I think there is more merit to this sort of deck than some might imagine. The main problem with it, is that it effectively requires at at least 4 lumbering units. If you play a high champ deck, it might work out decently, but in todays atmosphere lumbering is such a huge issue. Drawing a lumbering zombie, and your opponent deploying an init champ is almost surefire loss.

If we can somehow design a strategy that can survive nora and position starved (going back to the attrition) then we're in business. My initial thoughts on your list are as follows.

Elsarin reapers should probably only fill 1 slot. With so much melee, they could often be more of a hindrance, and other auras will hit them. Touch of death, I realllly doubt, is worthwhile. I can't imagine the aura lasting longer than the damage, (pretty sure I've seen it wear off in Trials of the forsaken waste)

Disturbed spirits are still way too overcosted for anything but possession, and possession is still too hit/miss (incredible in some situations, terrible in alot). You can no longer use lichbone staff on him either.

Eth soliders and ghost pendants will fit this beautifully. (in my eyes). Utterdarks and dark enchantresses could see play as well. I know some people don't like them, but I've had dark enchants wreck opposing teams. as font contesters, they can be unattackable for 3 turns straight, and if upgraded with possession... well, they decimate. Utterdarks for obvious reasons.

As to casters and heroes, I've never been a fan of the deathcaster. disease eater is nifty I guess, but he's a tad more than I'd prefer, cost wise. If he did a flat 50% of opponents base hp, and did the same to him, I'd be all about it. as it is, he's simply outclassed.

Heroes on the other hand, could work wonderfully with this. A hero waltzing in the midst of a group of zombies, of acting as bodygaurd for mairdreth, could be quite impressive.

I'll start throwing together some deck builds later today I think.

[Ragic]

yeah, there really is no reason to put the pendant on anything other than the witch. unless you dont have witches.

lumbering means they gotta come to you. The only kind of deck that i have played which forces this and works nora starved is a chop deck. But the shrine defense of those decks with zombies was truely something.

i was thinking maybe the fleshsewn helm on the reaper for tanking and aura stacking, plus making him immune to sorounding aura.

offensively the auras are going to be from incorproeal witches and the dragon, and maybe infected zombies. a fallen hero could work in there but like you say, yet more melee.

I'm leaning towards a chop deck drawing the opponent into an amp'd aura hell.

[DfosterW]

I was definitely thinking chop as well. Here is what I just threw together, some of it still needs cp though. The full BG cost, is 1493 at the moment, so it's absurdly cheap. I'd imagine it will add about 25-35 when I cp everything. Gonna start seeing how it runs.

2x afflicted corpse- 38 nora
1x Dark enchantress, - 79 nora (45 hp, 9 spd, possess 2, phase shift)
1x Death harvester- 61 nora
1x Elsarin reaper- 69 nora
2x Ethereal soldeir- 71 nora
2x fallen hero- 65 nora (melee spec 2, disease eater, 9 spd, 49 hp)
2x festering corpse- 25 nora
1x Serpent of Decay- 110 nora
2x Utterdark spectre-80 nora
2x wretched witch- 68 nora
1x Xulos ???nora (still deciding)

1x Chain Lightning
1x Essence Drain
1x Festering Wounds
1x Mobilization

2x Chopping block
1x Elsarin Vex
1x Unholy tomb

1x Blight Ring
1x Cursed Blade
1x Ethereal Mindshank
1x Ghost Pendant
1x Sac Dagger

[DfosterW]

Just did first trial run vs a UD on the 4 font lava plains. Beat him pretty soundly, even though he never lost either font and I only had my 2 fonts for about 1 round (at the same time). I never used a single champ from the stealth theme, and my serpent never hit the field, but everyone else saw play. A festering corpse got Hero too. lol. Also, he was ranked in the top 500, so definitely not an idiot.

The level helped me out alot, as it's somewhat partial to turtling, and while I tried to press offensives, the bg is way too slow to do that. Gonna try some more tricks, see how it goes.

It's really a shame how many of the champs in this bg are affected by festering/tomb though.

[Bettencort]

Please make this Z Wall theme work as it has always been the most fun for me. :D
Eagerly awaiting the return of the WALL, more results, and theory...

Thought: would the Mute Stalker help with the lack of ranged in providing some ranged protection?