I had a thought the other day: Serpent/Valkyrie/Serpent/Valkyrie, the theory being you can basically loop forever. I only had one Valkyrie (forgot to increase the limit for disenchanting…), so I threw in Jarl Firemantle as the first troop instead, and I think I might like this better; I call it “Frozen Fire”.
Benefits: Theoretically and infinite loop, with an attack built in due to Jarl’s spell, with Valkyrie powering serpents, who power Jarl (it takes a few rounds or a lucky board to do this first try, though), and Jarl possibly powering Valkyrie all over again. The Stormheim bonus (+4 life, +2 attack) makes for a pretty good boost when you manage to get skull matches. Finally, the Valkyrie farms souls.
Downsides: It’s kinda hard to get the loop running, and Jarl being up front makes it tough to power the Valkyrie (I use the Whitehelm banner to make up for this; 2 matches of yellow and you’re good). The fact that only Valkyrie can guarantee an extra turn, and you basically always want to avoid transforming red, adds to the possibility that bad luck will ruin you. No troop type bonus, just kingdom bonus.
I’ve been fairly successful, other than a couple of losses where the luck was terribly one-sided. I like this team because it gives that loop potential without relying on monsters who do no damage on their own, so you’re not always just waiting for a lucky skull match. Thoughts?
The only thing I don’t like about that idea is that it’s random which color the orb reproduces (best I can tell, anyway), so it leaves way too much room for bad luck… Besides, if I’m gonna do Orb + 3xTroop, it’s gonna be something like Skeletons in the first three slots.
I did try your team, and I’ve mixed it up with using some of the giants too from Stormheim. I just can’t get a great feel on how to get it to power up, and not be too fragile.
Beserker
Serpent
Valkyrie
Serpent
was kind of interesting, because of the beserker’s health. And I used +2 yellow for it to power the Valkyrie. The thing I keep running into is I can make these cool serpent loops, but they don’t do damage. Dropping the second serpent for Frost Giant worked pretty well, but I just couldn’t get into it.
The 4xDwarf life bonus of +8 can make for some power. It just too bad there are so few dwarves right now.
Bombadier - quick charge and fun bored manipulation.
Dwarf Lord
Bombadier
Keghammer
is more useful than I ever imagined. I haven’t leveled Spark Grinder to give him a go.
Yeah, having two Serpents can be kind of lame, especially if Jarl gets taken out early, but I think it’s the best way to keep plenty of red mana going. I’ve thought about an all dwarf team before, but most of my dwarf troops are unleveled. Guess I need to spend some souls there and try it out, since you think it’s working pretty well.
Here is what I am running for a Khaziel dwarf team. Not going to promise it wrecks or anything, but I get fairly even wins and losses with it on defense, so it can win sometimes it seems. I had to break one of my building rules and put duplicate cards in it. But I just couldn’t bring myself to level the miner and put him in there.
Banner: Dwarven Banner (+2 Brown)
Dwarf Lord
Keghammer
Bombardier
Bombardier
Bonuses: +25 Earth Mastery, +12 Life, +2 Armor
Maester of Earth (+25 Earth Mastery), Duke of Stone II (+4 Life, +2 Armor), Dwarf General II (+8 Life)
I’m considering using the Miner despite his apparent uselessness because: 1) He’s ridiculously easy to power, and with +25 earth mastery you’ll likely add substantial mana to the next in line with a mana surge; and 2) every now and then you have a potential four in a row if you could only clear that one gem/row, but there’s no way to do it.
If nothing else, he might serve as some extra “armor” for your second position troop! I don’t really play mine, it is just my defense deck. The AI doesn’t really handle placing gem destruction very well, so I don’t think it would get very much use out of it. Your theory is spot on though, usually at least once a game I see the situation you mentioned come up.
BTW, I like that you are working on Stormheim teams. Stormheim was my home pre-107 and I am still kicking around ideas for a viable team that I enjoy playing out of there again.
True, as a defense team it’s better to rely on luck (e.g. Serpents and Bombardiers) than actual strategy. I’ve seen AI do stupid things like using the Soul Keeper’s spell to match literally no skulls, when there were good 4/5 combos to be had!
And yeah, I’m not a huge fan of Stormheim per se, but I really want a good team that’s NOT Goblin-/Slime-based. I have a Goblin team that can wreck shop, but it’s boring because everyone does that and using the same team all the time gets old…
i seem to run into 3x rock worm and a deep borer when i invade. If the ai gets one worm to go off the game will typically end in my lose. The borer gets the worms online and then they loop each other while dealing semi massive damage. Who ever i fight should be getting lots of gold when i lose.
That was my Khaziel defense team pre 108. It actually got a few defense victories once I got it mostly leveled. I was eyeing their traits the other day and noticing they had some pretty good ones in there. I might have to finish leveling them and see how they do.
I have been using that since traits were added. I have the Miner in last position only for his increased brown mana trait. they fill up fast. But the overpowered builds will give you trouble when using a thematic line-up like this.
dwarven miner (lvl 15, epic) - 2 traits (extra money, extra brown mana)