Mechanist Team?

1

Was looking at a team to make use of the hero race traits - like becoming a Giant, Construct, and so forth. Generally I’ll pass on those in favor of a straight +8 armor or health, or +4 attack.

But I was thinking about a Mechanist hero, with the uinque third trait “All constructs begin with half mana.” If I’m a construct, presumably this applies to my hero too. So it’s even better than the Archer’s “fast” trait, assuming I have at least 2 additional construct on my team.

So what’s a sweet team I should target to take advantage of this?

Mechanist gets a +5 magic bonus for brown weapons…
Sparkgrinder - red/yellow. Gives armor + attack, doubled if it’s a construct. Not a construct himself, though.
Goblin Rocket - red/yellow.
Carnex - red/purple. Very tanky.
Deep Borer - red/blue. Makes brown, has construct bond.
Tankbot2000 - red/brown also starts with fast! So will he begin with 100% mana, or just half?
SteamTurret - brown/yellow. has construct bond, and fire spirit. (Most troops are probably red)

Maybe Sheggra’s Heart is the key here? Bear Totem might also be good, since in uses blue and destroys silly green which you don’t need. Anvil of Might is thematic - but probably counter-productive…

Anyone have any good ideas? Have a team like this they are already running?

3 Likes
2

Whatever you come up with, you’ll probably want one of Goblin Rocket or Carnex on the team for mana gain. A (effectively) Fast Carnex sounds quite nice, even if he’s a bit lackluster as a frontliner.

3

If you were going to run Carnex, I’d say you’d need Sparkgrinder to fully take advantage of that tank. Of course to maximize damage, you wouldn’t want to use Carnex’ ability since you’d rather him make the skull matches. This will also free the red gems.

Also using Sparkgrinder precludes Goblin Rocket again for mana clashing. Then either Tankbot or Steam Turret depending on style. For the hero, I might try the Dragonator. Statuses to all with damage is never a bad thing.

4

I was using one for my defend earlier with the mechanist class, but I switched out of it due to needing the Archer class for other things:

Gorgotha
Deep Borer
Queen Mab
Black Manacles (Mechanist, Construct)
+1 Brown/Blue Banner

Deep Borer fills at start with one non-surge blue match, which will get Gorgotha and Black Manacles running. From there Gorgotha and Deep Borer just loops with Queen Mab and Black Manacles taking a turn when available. The loop between them will raise Mab’s damage. Mab can take a turn after a Gorgotha explosion where the field will likely have 10+ blues. Mab will also be freezing a lot of the enemy team whereas this team has immunity to it in the back 2 slots. The devour on Manacles help to make the team counter any team.

I don’t use it in PvP since it is too slow compared to other meta builds and the fact that it waists the hero class slot for more powerful classes.

5

If this were being used on the console. could you replace Queen Mab with Psion? May not do as much damage up front, but this way you keep the Blue/Purple and you still gain some control with the mana drain.

6

Console has classes now?

7

It will with the next update and since one of the devs is asking about it, maybe it’s just a hunch that he’s trying out the class on console.

Granted he could be playing this on the PC too… but I figure cover all bases just in case.

8

If you are willing to sacrifice the Magic for Brown weapons, I’m partial to Golden Cog. Two casts and Carnex is over 120 Armor, that’s +30 Attack with Spiked Armor.

9

i know you do not have it but there are a few troops that are in our list that might please such as sebilite warrior.
Carnex***
Goblin rocketor**
Sparkgrinderor*
hero (construct) dragonator 8000 you can also use prisma orb if in last position as well. Gives armor and makes mana.

10

Two casts of Sparkgrinder would net a better attack gain…

11

Wouldn’t that depend on Carnex’ armor at the time? I don’t see Sparkgrinder getting him from 25 to 100 in 2 castings… not without a huge boost to magic. I don’t see the average Sparkgrinder having 18 magic to make it worth the conversion.

Granted when Carnex has little armor, then Sparkgrinder shines more. But starting out for a fully leveled Carnex… not buying it.

12

Situational but possible.

13

Well, time for the maths…

1) at my level / collection

My Carnex has 46 starting Armour… two casts of Golden Cog gives him +138 Armour, which nets +34 Attack…

My Sparkgrinder has 13 Magic, so two casts gives Carnex +64 Attack and +64 Armour, which with the trait is another +16 Attack, for +80 Attack in total…

So for Attack stat gain, this is no comparison at all.

2) at level 20 but ignoring kingdom bonuses

Using stats from Troops - Gems of War Database and http://ashtender.com/gems/troops?filter=sparkgrinder

Carnex has 32 starting Armour… two casts of Golden Cog gives him +96 Armour, which nets +24 Attack…

Sparkgrinder has 6 Magic, so two casts gives Carnex +36 Attack and +36 Armour, which with the trait is another +9 Attack, for +45 Attack in total…

So again for Attack stat gain, this is no comparison at all.

3) at level 1 and ignoring kingdom bonuses

Using stats from Troops - Gems of War Database and http://ashtender.com/gems/troops?filter=sparkgrinder

Carnex has 5 starting Armour… two casts of Golden Cog gives him +15 Armour, which nets +3 Attack… (I think the game rounds down fractions)

Sparkgrinder has 1 Magic, so two casts gives Carnex +16 Attack and +16 Armour, which with the trait is another +4 Attack, for +20 Attack in total…

So again for Attack stat gain, this is no comparison at all (even in this extreme case where we are all level 1 but have the traits unlocked… go figure…)

In conclusion

In any situation, Sparkgrinder buffs Carnex’ Attack damage much more than Golden Cog.

Yes, Cog does potentially give better Armour gain and protection.

If Carnex has not been hit, the maths above shows Sparkgrinder’s Attack boost is much better.

If Carnex has been hit, Golden Cog looks even worse and Sparkgrinder’s ability to restore Armour also starts to look better.

Er, so there…

3 Likes
14

What happens if you use Cauldron? Did it take the 3rd trait bonus into account?
If yes, after Cauldron, Carnex loose some armor and so on some attack, did it loose twice attack?
And no, I don’t have Carnex’s third trait myself to test it…

15

I never said you couldn’t use Sparkgrinder AND Golden Cog :wink:

Put a Troop in front to absorb damage while you buff Carnex with both;

Treant
Carnex
Sparkgrinder
Hero - Machinist - Golden Cog

Proud Banner (Red/Red) or Banner of Progress (Red/Yellow)

16

Seeing these comps makes me sad at how inflexible the hero class system is currently. I traited Archer, and now even with the 24hr free swap, it is simply too much of a pain to swap classes back and forth. I really dig the hero class mechanic, but the implementation leaves something to be desired.

1 Like
17

I’ve run similar and found that without a consistent way of getting skulls on the board, it was very slow and rng-dependent… all the time you wait for an attack opportunity, Carnex is taking damage and thus losing attack power…

I found a good compromise was:
Carnex
Sparkgrinder
Aziris
Giant Spider
…and don’t always cast Carnex when he is ready, let some mana flow to Aziris…

1 Like
18

None of the suggestions here really make the 3rd mechanist trait worthwhile, which was what I really was hoping for.

Skull-based damage is, in my opinion, not really worth building around. Yes, it’s nice to have a top troop who resists it, and who has a good attack value, but otherwise I think direct damage is just too useful to ignore. So while I don’t object to Carnex in the top spot, building a “support Carnex” team isn’t my goal here - my goal is “try to make use of/break the third mechanist trait.” - Especially the fact that the hero self-buffs mana as well.

Color options are really limited - especially blue and green. So I want to use at least one of those with my hero weapon. Bear Totem fits the bill best, I think - uses both blue and green, but still uses brown for the +5 magic, helped by fast, and I’ve really been coming around to think of “remove all gems of X color” as a great way of making every other mana color. So the start of my team will be:

Carnex
Bear Totem Mechanist Hero

Carnex is there to gain mana for the team, and take advantage of skulls when they come up. But I wouldn’t rely on skulls. I still need a yellow-absorbing troop, so Goblin Rocket, Flame Cannon, Steam Turret, or Sparkgrinder are my options. Steam Turret does (for me) 24 random damage. Flame cannon does 10 damage to all. ST is only 10 mana per cast, FC is 12, but also has a chance to burn…

So let’s simultaneously consider our final troop. If we go red/yellow in slot #3, that means we’re red/brown in #4, so Tankbot2000 or Blast Cannon. These won’t fill frequently, so I think Blast Cannon’s stone link gives it the edge. We lose our 4 Adana bonus, but it’s probably worthwhile.

Given stone link, I’m then inclined to put another brown troop in #3, so my final team ends up as:

Carnex
Bear Totem Mechanist hero
Steam Turret
Blast Cannon

19

The problem is construct are not yet fully supported or yet fully flushed out, however there are two troops that might break the class in question but it might be a close call. That being sebite warrior to buff and damage using mechs armor and golden cog to make it even better. Then you have the other troop who summons a gate and gives armor to troop(s).