Cthryzyx:
This one is pretty bad at early game and scales very poorly into late game. Another troop I consider not to be an endgame troop, and not to be balanced as such. I’ve commented on him before, but he has since slid even further down the power scale. The buff is significant only in very early game, where a max epic green slime would get +5, and an acolyte would get +3 without any kingdom bonuses, but both those also have room to grow. If I were to buff him with the same design, I would raise the upper bounds of his spell to magic x2 +8 or even magic x3 +8. The buff should be changed to 3 to [magic / 2]+8 to a random skill. Jumble should be removed for another random effect that can be positive or negative, or given an extra turn randomly. Currently, getting a jumble and dropping the turn is always either neutral or detrimental to the user, sometimes game ending, never favorable. Honestly, he would probably be best served with a complete redesign.
As for traits, defender trait in particular is a pet peeve of mine and I’d prefer it be replaced with literally any other trait. Warded might make sense, but that is kind of cookie cutter as 2 of the 5 troops with Death Touch have warded already. Big or Arcane would fit, Daemon Bond would be preferable even. Or Magic Spirit. Nature Heart, for all I care. That would be sufficiently random anyways.
Kruarg the Dread:
Every aspect of his design is at odds. He randomly had Impervious handed to him during a buff pass to try and make up for being bad at basically everything he attempts to do, has a legendary trait you want to skull spam with which makes him vulnerable in a number that is unusably low to use on invade (trust me, I’ve tried) a not particularly good color combo for a front slot considering what supports you can use. The design says you want to use him in the second slot, or as assurances to getting hit by spells from the rear, but getting the summon condition is way harder than it should be and setting this up can often have him dying from cascades as well. His spell kills from the back, but it is below the mark on effectiveness compared to similar options, even when his summon considers. Even with the change from red to purple, he is still not a functional summoner without another support, which is another slot you can use for an actual summoner.
His spell is weak enough that it can both deal damage and summon 100% of the time, so lets start with that. Remove the 13 gems condition, just make him always summon a random Daemon. Instead, have red gems boost his damage (2:1). This would bring his spell more into line with similar options.
I’m not really in favor of buffing his trait, as Maw at 15% was already deemed broken enough to warrant that getting removed even post-impervious blocking devour and “hard counter” troops being added (rock troll). 10% would have him be usable as a skull spammer (assassin is with this percent, killing mostly full health troops rather than devouring partial health troops) but with a spell that is almost entirely useless to a skull spam team, while not really doing anything for him in other slots except luck cascades into luck devour. Devour on skulls isn’t really something that we need to exist in the game, and certainly not on this troop. When it works, it is completely broken, and when it doesn’t, it sucks, and its pure RNG which one you get even if you run the correct setup. For these reasons, if he is going to remain with this trait design, it should stick at 5% and remain fairly useless. I’d much rather he get a completely different trait that better fits his role. Nothing is really coming to mind at the moment that would fit with “Voracious” and go well with a role of spell damage and summoner. Gain 3 magic when skulls are matched maybe? A bit similar to the treatment Maw got, though.
Say hello to KAYA and orbin from me.
