Man, I've never even run tardigrade. It just looks like a tank that doesn't really do anything else... Maybe I should try him. Sandhunters and my pox renovater are my main ranged champs. Herders are ranged but I mainly just use them to whip lazy beasts. Does vomiting sand count as range?
I'd be more worried about the lack of alt damage in SL beasts. They're about 90% physical so stuff like Void Shield would really screw you up. Snoggles and Varu Howler are about the only viable non-physical units.
JazzMan has been sent here to lead you astray children. I run 15 champs in my BG and 11 of them are alt dmg. Edit:5 different types of alt dmg to be exact (acid, psychic, magic, sonic, and fire)
Yeah, if anything, I struggle to run champs that kill Aspect of Infinity with SL sometimes. Here's the last beast pile I used, kinda got boring: Trying out Battle Leader Beastlords + tanky stuff. Obviously range is a problem. Got any spicy suggestions to change this?
What I currently run: 1 Cobra Spitter (scour2, log: range) 1 Dunes Manticore (divert, grant: TS) 1 Farcrags Sandkip (tunnel: s, sandspray) 1 Guardian of Eretat (tough2, relic g) 1 Renovator (dmg2, hlth2) 2 Sandhunters (sunder, sandbreach) 2 Skeezick Herders (drive, boost: beast) 1 Snogvie (fascinate, s.aura1) 2 Doombringers (violent, Dom:sand) 2 Varu Howlers (s.aura3, detect2) 1 Vindrax (res: phys3, a.bomb3) 1 Acid Storm 1 Burning Sands 1 Draconic Benediction 1 Planar Dissonance 1 Quicken 1 Reforge 1 Taint 2 Tornado 1 Hive 1 Slum Market 1 Warbanner 1 Dgod Staff 1 Dunewalkers Manner 1 Rageband Short to medium range is locked down. I only have 4 range 1 champs and 3 of those have champ based AoEs, the 4th becomes a range 1-3 champ. Robot Chicken is ranged 3-5 with good dmg (12) and blast, but I haven't tested him out yet. Drak Ravevenspeaker is range 4-5 magic dmg, provides an alternate source of cleanse, can turn into a beast, and can turn enemy summons into beasts. I just currently feel I'm not running into enough enemy summons to include him. Mantle is a legacy rune that's been in the BG since I last stopped playing in 2014. It was def more useful when it gave sandstriker. I can still think of situations where it might be useful, but I honestly never use it in game.
I like some of that spice! Tested Robot Chicken, ran it with Barrage and it goes to speed 5 so fast and idk if is even worth. Even with SL bonus it's kinda paper. Owl is hellishly expensive in my eyes. I run my Manticores with Spellsurge because two Sandstorms for 50 nora seems better than a Burning Sands and Sandblasted + all this bulk is disgusting. Also helps the doomies get swole fast. Varu Howler looks pretty good with the alt attack. I assume the Taint is a legacy rune too since it got changed away from Violent. Only way I can see Dunwalker's being useful is having like a Skeezick Whorl who wants the Mobility, certainly seems weak in beasts with minimal ranged options. No Skithmaws? No Farm? No Beast Herder? I like the idea of Ravenspeaker, I keep forgetting Raven Form is a thing.
Taint is legacy, but I often find myself with champs with 10 or fewer HP's after a skirmish. Taint lets me pull those guys back off the front to heal, plus I have six champs that trigger draconic force so there is a secondary "burst" damage use. Skithmaw competes with Varu Howlers and in my opinion Varu is better. My Varu build is 8-9 Nora cheaper than skith. Varu hits for 16 on one hit + aura dmg. Skith does 15 if it moves 5 spaces with blitz. But if your opponent engages skith is going to double tap for 20. Varu best case taps once for 10, uses its alt attack for 14 and auras for 30 total dmg + fear if OPP doesn't die. Varu has better base range at 1-2 and alt allows occasional range 4 hits. Varu also triggers draconic force on taint, surge on Vinny, and can trigger violent on rage banded Vinny. So there's a lot more internal BG synergy for me. The ability beast herder is more of an alpha strike ability. You wait for the right moment, draconic b. + Beast herder, lots of AP and dmg and charging and winning. However it has a long cool down making it much more situational and you have to plan more on when to optimally use it. Also on turns where you don't use it you really need to use the herder as a ranged dmg champ to get use out of him. Drive on the other hand is one of the best abilities in the game. I use it every turn multiple times a turn and sometimes I use it to directly kill enemy champs. It turns the herder into more of a pure support champ (global HP gain + AP n dmg gain) that only plinks from range when necessary. I feel like this keeps herder alive longer. Renovator is expensive, but SL Beasts lacks range and he fits the bill. This is probably the rune that I'd sub out for Ravenspeaker though. I had farm in but took out for slum market. Train strike allows me to better handle high def/Superman champs. Farm is on the shortlist of runes as a possible mantle replacement though. In my mind robot Chicken never uses three basic attacks. He just runs around burring enemies and blasting when it's up. I won't get to playtest him until this weekend though.
So as for burning sand vs. sandstorm - even though the BG has a fair amount of sand synergy I don't consider it a sand themed BG. With 4 champs that vomit sand I feel like keeping my opponents sand blasted isn't really a problem. And when you add in sand front on the herders and sand breach on the hunters I feel like I generate enough sand for my needs. If I was running a more pure sand theme i'd prob run two spellsurge Manticore with transfer life and two sandstorms. In my beast BG I don't want to dedicate four runes to that mechanic. Plus I'm old and when I look at burning sands I see firestorm 2.0. 10 Nora less for 2 pts less dmg per champ is okay by me.
