Looks like I’ved used it 34 times in PvP. I tried a team with that and Vanya. I think it was a undead leveller, maybe with Deathknight (Necro at least has mana source but I’d finished it before then) hybrid and something like Doomed Scythe, Necrocorn, Vanya, Grave Seer from memory. A lot of blowback potential on the Scythe though.
Necrocorn is an interesting option. It has fast and only needs 1 surge red or purple to fill. Maybe with Doomed Glaive or EoE and a green storm. Might have a fiddle around If you could squeeze Vanya in there, you at least can get the random bless which helps vs traits.
Just thought about Doomed Blade for a freeze, with themed team using Frostmage, but ofc we still have the ‘watery’ effect to contend with.
Realized yesterday Mist Stalker (rare) is a MONSTER, not naga. +2 Dervish class 3rd trait adds up super fast on the true damage plus it has Magic Link trait for feeding itself extra purple, and only costs 10 mana to begin with. so I built a team yesterday with dervish hero, Mist Stalker and Gray King to try and leverage his +2 bonus for true damage also. I was going to put it in the stupid team thread but I can’t, because it turned out to be legitimately deadly
Mist Stalker should get added to the list of end-game viable in a niche, when conditionally paired with Dervish class
So when looking at what to add to the list, being viable in the endgame is one component. Another component is utility to endgame players, who have access to all the options, and can forego lower rarity options if they have something better. For our purposes, “something better” excludes mythic troops, which are in many cases not practical for even late gamers to have all of the options available.
My point, is in looking for variants of your use of Mist Stalker to take advantage of dervish loops, I stumbled on a potentially even nastier variant that would make Mist Stalker obsolete. This beastie is one of three troops in the entire game with undead-monster dual typing (+4 magic per extra turn!), and also does true damage to boot:
Yes! That was the very next thing I did I get greedy with bat though and like to run in front for the skull dmg also, harder to keep alive. But using jar of eyes summons more monsters in a pinch icluding Xerodar, #2 of the 3 . I also experimented with running two bats, one in front and one in back. Still working onit
I used mist Stalker as a stealthy sniper for a purple GW team, so Bat was not available that day re: “utility”
Also thanks for helping me understand the criteria of how you’re thinking of these things. It’s great to have someone else with a fresh eye on all these old troops
Likewise, good to see what other mad scientists can come up with.
I could see Crimson Bat in the front spot being a bit too squishy. It can work there, but needs a source of skull generation for its usefulness not to be overshadowed by its lack of durability. The ability for it to be a viable back line caster (a la Tesla) with such massive stat boosting is what’s really interesting with this setup.
You are 100% right. In addition to being too squishy, I finally realized the +skull damage is irrelevant anyway bc it’s not an “ignore armor” trait, so it just wastes damage hitting something (Armor) that the team is specifically designed to avoid (true dmg). I am currently trying kryshound in front—stoneskin, only blocks brown, and if you cast him, softens up targets and makes extra blue
Unless I’ve missed it, cockatrice never got a mention. Excellent on yellow Day if your deck of choice is a skull team. Also very useful elsewhere against high stat opposition thanks to drain, entangle and brown generation to boost eg MC and give barrier potentially on top of skull protection by entanglement of p1 troop. Can strangle teams almost single handedly.
Cockatrice was in the early editions of the list, and was removed when I was assured that it didn’t see use by endgame players. Do you still use it on scaling content or in GW? I know it used to see widespread use for the former purpose - I thought EoE and Irongut teams had made it obsolete though?
I did not know it was still a viable option for endgame GW purposes (though it is one of the best troops with air link, believe it or not).
It was in my B1 guild wars team on brown day and even though I am now less competitive, the troop has definite strength on the 2 war days it is available for. It’s fast and a great option against rapid defences who have empowerment and such like. It should always be considered as an option when facing certain teams. It really can save the day.
Cool, I will add it to the list then, as a defensive caster a la Spirit Fox. I tend to overlook these troops, as it’s more fun to build all-out offensive teams. But then there’s that one-in-ten game, where they would’ve saved me, and I regret not bringing one along.
Kind of a big week for lower-rarity troop releases, eh? I’m pretty intrigued by the possibilities created by these new guild guardians. Based on a cursory glance, here are some troops that might become a lot more useful when paired with the appropriate guardian:
Every one of the six mythics (Ubastet, Doomclaw, Ketras, Phoenicia, Euryali, Wulfgarok) is boosted by the guild guardians. Some (Ketras, Phoenicia, Euryali) benefit more than others (Doomclaw), but the new guardians create a lot of interesting possibilities.
Cunning (Raksha): Sekhma is a big winner, particularly with a Sunspear hero (she boosts off the team’s magic).
Ferocity (Tauros): Take your pick. Chief Stronghorn, Earthcaller, and Minogor each effectively have a 3:1 boost ratio off their non-magic stats, and become deadly fast with Ferocity’s stat boosting.
Finesse (Stryx): Taloca’s damage potential goes through the roof, even though he does scatter damage, since he triples his magic stat during storms. Queen Xochi also is a big winner.
Persistence (Wargare): Amira and Wolf Knight each do true damage that can benefit from a big magic boost. Druid does splash damage twice that can also get pretty destructive with Persistence’s magic boost.
Treachery (Naga): Marilith destroys gems based on her magic stat, and can now become a viable mana generator paired with Treachery. Viper and Vassara both pair single-target damage with charm, and their numbers can get pretty beefy now too (though they don’t complement Euryali well, and may not bring enough to justify being used, even with the major magic boost). Finally, Chief Dargon’s attack boosting gets crazy when paired with Treachery (to what end though? Maybe another route to boosting Irongut’s attack?).
I’ve dabbled with ferocity already when sampling decks for red wars day using shamans 50% boost to tauros troops. I tried various line ups but in 3 tier pvp it just didn’t quite synergise. Many defs as you know are kickstarted by empowerment and once they start rolling they just don’t stop. As and when you do get a move, ketras may have taken considerable damage (same with bull tauros) making them relatively feeble. Tauros doesn’t really have much scope for mana generation when using all red and that is definitely an issue although a mixed deck may well be really effective. But I think a very strong defence is definitely viable. Taloca with finesse looks promising but not necessarily on yellow attack day. Plenty to experiment with I think.
Yeah, I def think you’d be better off using a non-tauros troop to help with mana gen. Plenty of options there, since Ferocity (red) is not blocked by most hero mana-generating weapons (and vice-versa, since Ferocity has stoneskin, and is a viable front-line troop).
Having a rethink on a couple of older troops, see what you think.
Devour troops are often pretty useful in scaling content, but few of them double as first slot troops. If you want to take advantage of their outlandish attack stat on the back line, you can either a) use Queen Ysabelle, b) use a troop that scales on entire team attack, such as Gargoyle, or c) use Skrymir the Lofty to bring them to the front of the team after you get a devour. I haven’t messed with it really, but Skrymir is unique in his abilty to totally control your team’s order, and I’m thinking that Skrymir+Irongut is a combo that could work well in scaling content against undevourable opponents (as an alternative to using curse troops).
The Turtle Cannon clones are made to complement dual converters, as they erase skull clusters and can flood a board already loaded with one gem color with more of those gems. While War Wolf probably has no niche due to it’s bad traits, Rover-300 has spell armor, making it a bit more resilient against the Yao Guais and Arachnaean Weavers you’ll encounter than your usual generator. It’s pretty borderline, but Rover has been pretty effective with Divine Ishbaala so far for me this week.
Spell armor has no relevance to me if a troop will be a good addition to the team or not.
Considering Rover-300 never gets talked about, I do find it funny War Wolf and Turtle Cannon are 11 mana cost and Rover-300 is 12 mana cost for the same spell type.
I do happen to like War Wolf in Bounty, and it functioned nicely in the Council of Chiefs event. I think I’ve only ever used Rover-300 in one event, since Adana isn’t known for good yellow mechs. Turtle Cannon … well, Forest Troll is better most of the time. I guess TC has occasional uses.
I guess you’re stoked about the new Dragon’s Crown Legendary, then?
Spell armor isn’t great, but it is something. Compare to Desert Troll, which has absolutely zero good traits (Clobber, Troll Regeneration, Big). Given comparable reliability between Desert Troll and Rover-300 in terms of gem creation, spell armor could tip the scales in favor of Rover, especially on a skull-based team. Maybe both should be passed on in favor of Alchemist/Diviner?
Gorgotha is self-sufficient with its improved skull reduction.
New legendary doesn’t have a boost ratio with itself (where it matters), therefore in a vacuum it creates 6 blue gems and does damage to the first and last enemy for 15 mana. I’d rather use Knight Coronet for 12 mana.
I’m with you there, new legendary looks terrible. It’s hard for a troop dependent on statuses that it can’t itself inflict itself to be good, I’m surprised we’d be getting more of these at this point in the game.
If you could squeeze Vanya in there, you at least can get the random bless which helps vs traits.
I get greedy with bat though and like to run in front for the skull dmg also, harder to keep alive. But using jar of eyes summons more monsters in a pinch icluding Xerodar,