Ronin Rune Discussions #1 - Amber Wing

​

Upgrade Tree A:

• Magic Acolyte (+2 Nora)
• Magic Eater (Default)
• Amplify Magic (+2 Nora)

Upgrade Tree B:

• Grant: Magical Aura (Default)

Comments:
Boasting one of the coolest sprites of this expansion, the Amber Wing suffers from a big case of identity crisis. Abilities like Arrow Eater, Magic Eater and Magic Acolyte all lend towards what seems to be a "tanky" rune. However, mediocre stats and no real way to threaten the opponent make for an over-costed and bland rune.

Suggestions:
I will add or remove quotes from this section as suggestions are made. Feel free to discuss each others suggestions but please refrain from flaming. Players from other factions, please feel welcome to contribute.

 

I think lower cost would resolve this ones, issues yeah. Maybe move Arrow Eater and Grant Magical Aura onto the same tree and make up for the ~8 point with better stats? Or just make him 8 points cheaper.

 

Question, does a tank NEED to have decent stats or can you be a tank rune in other ways then simply soaking hits such as say denying hits/attacks or avoiding damage types. Low stats but abilities that heavily mitigate damage/attacks or the opportunity to do either to the unit sounds fine imo as long as its effective. Just food for thought when trying to improve the design. Might be able to do it in other ways then just buffing its stats or price ratio.

Could be as simple as exchanging the magic aura line or not with an ability that allows him to direct attacks to him for other units or force the other player to deal with his presence such as antagonize like abilities.

 

- Tanky is one aspect...but if he has no means to control aggro or no threat...then who cares what his defensive stats are.

 

He doesn't strike me as a magical anything so the upgrades may just confuse me. From the art and sprite he really feels more like a support/defender. Things like Bodyguard, Shroud or Antagonize. He has two very expensive abilities in Arrow Eater and Magic Eater but the vast majority of Magic damage is at range anyway so having both is almost redundant and he pays dearly for that redundancy.

Being a counter for range is great but unless there is some reason for the opponent to want it dead it is just going to be ignored and by extension a waste of nora. His stats and combat abilities are non-existent so sending him into melee range is again a waste of nora. The solution (My opinion. I by no means claim to have the correct answer) would be to rework Upgrade Tree A into more "Defenderish" abilities like Shroud/Nexus Aura etc. (Just examples, dont have to be these exact abilities.) and add Bodyguard to Upgrade Tree B.

This gives him a role that he can fill. Drops the cost into the high 78ish area and makes him slightly less ignorable. Arrow Eater is no longer a nora sandbag if he is Bodyguarding something from behind the lines. He also wouldnt be "meta-viable" but would be completely playable in Wing decks.

 

As it is I feel like the sigil is very awkward to use. Gaining Aura on Amber Wing isn't that bad and is just a matter of positioning. The issue is when all your wings start getting Aura. Melee wings can't attack the same unit without damaging themselves and too many auras can make positioning a pain.

 

His sigil is weak. Theory crafting even has a hard time making that noteworthy and theory crafting is over9000 times better than actual applications.

As for the champ, Arrow Eater seems awefully dart-tastic. Wouldn't have ever thought that ability would come to IS. He's good for that reason because that ability is so damn good.

So, an incredibly underwhelming champ with an incredibly overwhelming ability. I might try him out in beasts but ... mostly meh.

 

Is there a case for putting him in an angel deck and Amping magical having HBOVs to change dmg type in a pinch? Only 20%, whch is very costly (the champ is costly) mixed in with a bunch of other costly runes makes me think no.

 

Maybe you could do to the Wings what was done to the Fae. Remove flight and combine it with their Sigil ability (as in, gains X and flight if Y happens).

 

Actually not a bad idea though I am not sure how that would be best implemented. Could be worked in something like;
Amber Sigil - 8 Nora
This champion gains Magical Aura 2 and Flight for 6 turns when a friendly champion is deployed from the runedock. If that champion has a Sigil ability, friendly champions within 4 spaces gain Magical Aura 2 for 2 turns.

 

Honeslty i don't like very much this Sigil. I mean, on paper give aura is strong, but like mark and baskit said the positioning for meele is a pain if too much aura are on the field.

 

- Now if the sigil granted ...Grant: magical aura then we'd be talking about something less cumbersome to control. Then just swap grant and aura on base/upgrades.

 

One note on the sigils. Sigils often don't help in the early game or in multiple font battles. To proc a sigil you need to deploy and have your champs in proximity. In the mid game when the fight begins and champs are close enough to trigger sigils you often need a spell to gain an advantage that will allow for a kill. This can typically mean you don't have the nora for both a spell and a deploy. Using the sigils tactically is very difficult in game. I'm not aware of what sigil abilities cost but the only meta wing champ has been the Scarlet wing and that is more due to opportunistic and its overall range than its sigil ability. Given this the sigil abilities are probably overcosted.

Haven't been around for awhile but has anyone done well with a griffin deck in the meta? If no then what is the core problem keeping them from competing?

 

This game has suffered without this level of awareness, starting from when you left.

 

I've played a lot of wings. I loved the C wing with Retreat. Run him up, hop over a champ and into their font, instill panic them out. Good times. Scramble everywhere at one point giving you a nice combo with the C wing and might of ironfist to surprise an opponent with some extra AP gen. I did run the lightning wing for the mobility from teleport hit and run. For me wings were all about mobility and interesting positioning. This is what wings are missing now. They are slow and have no tricks!

Rarely was I able to use the sigils to what should be their full potential. When I really needed them I couldn't manage the nora to proc them. Not the greatest player in the world here admittedly but I've never seen anyone else pick them up and make them shine.

What wings NEED is a champ that allows them to proc their sigils. Bird Cry or some such ability that lets you proc all sigils globally. Kind of a battle drum for wings type of deal. If this ability existed there could be more focus on getting the most out of the sigil abilities instead of making them so situational. Just my two cents.