I don’t think wrait deserves a nerf. But easily the best common; feels almost like a guardian. I saw long ago how great wraith was and it seems like wraith has been the flavor of the month for the courage team… the reason why people want nerfsfor certain troops is because when you are playing against a “wraith” or a “manticore” or “bone dragon” you have to make a decision each time whether or not to let them take the skull hit.
Normally I’ll take a skull any day but because these cards actually defer to skull damage over casting people see them as over powered! AI dumby will always reach for a skull. When they reach for a skull with 2x courage it’s worth it for the AI. So you have to start matching skulls against these teams to win… (unless it leads to a 4x cascade)
You gotta play a little different from time to time 
Considering the rage inducing impact of Death Mark on skull damage, I’m dreading when a Death Mark on 4+ Match trait shows up. They should address DM now, before it gets worse.
Oh since you’re my guild-mate I have to respond.
I probably should’ve titled the thread differently. Let me pose the question a different way because Wraith doesn’t matter.
Should status effects be allowed to proc on skull-hits in this game, and if so, should they be allowed on a common troop?
I feel like people are getting caught up in something else entirely.
This, the game needs strong commons too, after all getting one to mythic nowadays is like a lifetime work.
However my 5 cent would be to have Death Mark in his skill and not as a trait.
‘Death Mark an enemy. Steal X life OR Steal their Mana.’
Wraith as a whole is over the curve for a common card, even his spell not being exactly reliable has two good effects that stalls the match long enough to allow some lucky skull drop to apply Deah Mark, also the fact that he is Blue does not offers any downside for the already estabilished Bone Dragon meta, all the other troops with Death Touch would block mana for Bone Dragon and reduce the viability of the team.
It just cheapens even more the experience of facing those teams as you race against Bone Dragon collecting mana while also taking skulls to avoid the possibility of losing of a troop to a cheap “instakill” mechanic with no downside at all added to a team that if one troops casts it’s spell means another “instakill” by cheer damage.
I understand that we would like to have more good common troops, but honestly Death Mark on skull damage screams that it’s not something meant for common card, even more if it allows to make a combo even more degenerated and overly present as it is.
IMO yes and yes. I don’t think very many people care about Spider Swarm or Creeper being imbalanced. It’s not status-effects-on-attack in general that’s the problem, it’s two of the strongest status effects being done simultaneously. Chill Touch and Death Touch are individually quite powerful. It’s kind of like if a troop had Impervious AND Stone Skin… traits that are very strong by themselves, but combine into something crazy.
edit: To address the topic more generally, I don’t think we should balance Wraith with regards to how it does on a Bone Dragon team, because then he could just be replaced by an Archer/Assassin and the problem would still exist. We should focus on how Wraith performs on non-broken teams.
@Eika Don’t you think if it DM and did both of those it would be a bit too powerful for a spell for a Common?
Thats why I suggested switching the spell to
“DM an enemy or Steal Mana”
and give a him a life drain trait as 3rd, whether steal on skull match or 4+ matches idk
But I think this combo feels more “common”…imho
A Wraith without Death Mark is like a Shark without teeth, if you ask me. 
The ocean is 95% harmless fish and 5% sharks. It feels like the power curve in this game is completely upside down anymore.
Agreed, ty for your honesty.
Although I don’t think anyone is using Wraith for freeze. If DM were removed as a trait, that might be the case though. I think i’d be fine with that. Or you think freeze should be removed as well?
Or how would you fix Wraith?
Yeah I think he should keep Death Mark. I like @efh313 suggestion of either/or. He gets to cast DM or Mana Drain. Seems fair and I think that still makes him viable for newer players.
He would still have DM it just wouldn’t be GUARANTEED on every skull match, which is a bit crazy for a Base Rarity Common. It would be a function of his spell, which if it does not fire, he self pumps to be closer to trying to inflict again.
To extend your metaphor a weak, common, baby shark will always bite you the first time, but it can keep trying… eventually it might get a chunk out of you… but if a Great White charges you… 
Casting I think would be fine. His spell is kind of garbage, especially compared to those traits.
Yeah, but with that random not many gonna use Wraith I think, and he will become one of all those random/weak troops that wont be used…
Tbh I wouldn’t even care if it wasn’t random. He can cast it outright if the devs chose so. It’s just the trait that’s the issue.
Then he becomes balanced, and they can choose to fix DM later if they ever chose to.
And just because the troop’s name is Wraith, I feel it’s fair it actually does have 2 status effects. Freeze though? Yeah or Nay if you were going to fix it?
Actually Wraith’s are known for their loud screams basically freezing you in place, it makes sense to me.
Advocating like a Dungeon Master: “Depends of the setting”… The lore about Wraiths and Apparitions always involves chilling touch that leads to death, or even making the victim aging until it dies…
But the issue of not changing certain troops when they start to prove themselves unbalanced is that it can lead to more imbalance in later releases as the power curve keeps getting more and more obvious to accomodate reliable variants…
Yeah but your argument there is with Death Mark.
I didn’t include that argument before because we have to assume DM is exactly as the devs wanted. If you have an issue with DM then that is a separate issue. The troop needs to be brought into balance first. Then they can fix DM later. It’s still a broken troop, and this is a broken record.
The “unbalance” is with skull-hit DM and he offers too much for a common in current form.
[quote=“HKdirewolf, post:98, topic:18515, full:true”]It’s still a broken troop, and this is a broken record.
[/quote]
Could be said about several troops/mechanics in this game. At least the Devs have said they’re listening.
@HKdirewolf. To answer your questions I say yes and yes. I like the new elements they add to the game. I just think about when people said all there was were poison silence and burn back then and that doesn’t sound fun. Also if troops have traits for taking skull damage ( humility(magic), hero that gives 50% chance to summon a giant spider, gloom leaf? (Damage reflection) or bone dragon that gives freeze upon being hit ) I think the troops that apply death markers on skull isn’t a big deal in general (even commons). I think the cheapest trait to have is the 15% chance for skull damage to be lethal; even still, I don’t feel strongly enough for devs to go and nerf it. Just for the reason of diversity. NOW if they were to make a troop that deathmarked on skull hit AND had 50% damage reduction from skulls then I’d be a bit more concerned. I guess there is one with 25% reduction but that’s doable 