RadicalX

@PlainVenom As long as we get a good reward system multiaccounting won't be a problem! It used to be even a good thing for the quality of PvP (You can find the arguments in the following discussion). If we are talking about repeatable quests (Lord Nullpointer also stated in the thread, that he would prefer such a system) there is no way to abuse this in a big way and therefore we don't have to worry about multiaccounting at all.

The main reason is homesoil. It transitions really damn well into the T2 (even T3) stage and empowers your defense and offense by alot. But due to the high slot requirements (Ice Barrier is also needed to use it properly) there is no way to include it into the fire T1 version without making it instable in some scenarios. Frost T1 on the other hand allows you to cut Gladiatrix, because she's necessary in the Fire T1 version to: -> counter L Units -> counter buffed XL units aka. Harvester (there is no disenchant in this deck & freeze can be dodged by nether warp, so Gladi is essential to get rid of the Harvester) Other decks like pure Fire or Fire Nature require her to deal with air units too, but this isn't necessary in Fire Frost due to Stormsinger & Shield Drake. In the Frost T1 version Lightblade offers reliable cc against Harvester & does well against L Units too. Even though it's useless against air units Fire Frost doesn't benefit from that advantage Gladiatrix would offer in this situation. Therefore it's possible to exclude her and get access to homesoil. This also one reason why we chose the 2nd Fire orb in T3, so you can play Giant Slayer + homesoil (1550dmg charges are pretty good) and Fire Frost has no special cards who synergize well with timeless one anyway. The Frost T1 version is pretty much a trade of (empowered T2 vs reliable T1) which makes it worth beeing mentioned. That said I would still prefer playing the Fire T1 deck, due to its higher consistency.

Short update: Added new decks for Stonekin, Fire Frost & Bandits since a different T1 choice was also possible with these decks.

My goal is to study much much more now to ensure that I've got more than enough time to play Battleforge when we are able to play again Jokes aside, I abandoned the traditions and didn't make any serious resolutions, because I feel like I don't need change anything in my life currently. Sure, there is always room for improvement (You can gather more knowledge, strengthen your physical abilities or just straight up improve yourself as a person), but 2016 was a great year for me personally with many great moments and therefore I don't feel like it's necessary to change alot for now. That said I hope everyone can reach his own goals and enjoy 2017! Happy New Year

Shadow Nature being played at the highest possible level in PvP was such a beauty to watch, therefore my vote will go for it for sure. But if you talk about the real factions and not actual decks I would chose Shadow Frost because the lost souls units look pretty cool!

The delay was even higher! 5 seconds were just to much to hit any type of unit with this cc. You usually can't create cc chains. After using cc onto a unit it will get immunity against the same type of cc and also be less vulnerable against other types of cc (the duration will get shorter and shorter up to a point where an oink for example just lasts for 2 seconds) Exceptions to this rule and how to create a cc chain properly: -> Ensnaring roots is not affected by the cc protection mechanism and will always last 15 seconds (It is still affected by cc immunity so you can't root twice in a row!). It still gives hostile units the anti-cc buff though. -> Rogan Kayle's ability is not affected by the anti-cc buff and doesn't give it to hostile units either! So: Oink first (lasts 15 seconds as long as you don't attack the unit over the last 12 seconds of the cc duration) -> Use Ensnaring Roots afterwards, it will apply the cc for 15 seconds -> use Rogan Kayle to reset the cc immunity -> Oink -> Root -> Kayle -> Oink -> Root -> Kayle and so on This was heavily used in defence against Harvester. You could create an effective cc chain of 60 seconds which is alot of time to deal with that big boy! But you can't implement Creeping Paralysis into this chain, because the only way to hit it reliably is to use it after Ensnaring Roots and that would result in a heavily reduced duration.

Wasted deckslot for PvP, because every decent player should be capable of dodging such a slow spell. Would be the strongest cc-card besides Timeless One though, if the cast time gets removed.

Get well soon

Ouch ... that sounds painful

Is pretty active in this thread

When you missed the bus because you were posting in the forums without watching at the clock ...

Doesn't play enough Battleforge

got underestimated

This card saw a really low amount of play overall. rPvE: There are no walls ... PvE: Pretty efficient in a couple of situations (Sunbridge expert speedrun comes to my mind), but is still rarely used, because there are so many other reliable options to destroy walls in T2. Wallbreaker takes an entire slot to fullfill a single purpose while other cards are useful in multiple situations and therefore more efficient. Wallbreakers only upside is the fact that it's fast. PvP: Is this card viable for ranked PvP? Simple answer: Nope. But there is a cheese strategy for tournaments that includes Wallbreaker because on Lajesh it is possible to protect your entire T1+2 with 2 walls, that bind 50 power combined. To reach these Orbs/Wells there is only a single path left and it takes about 10-15 seconds to reach the power wells which makes it incredibly easy to defend incoming attacks, because they are so predictable and slow. But if you suddenly explode one of these walls you reach the powerwell in about 3 seconds and this can be super surprising. For a couple of non-frostsplashes it's insanely difficult to defend, when the units reach the powerwell untouched (the enemy can't use stuff like Ensnaring roots anymore and AoE spells get more efficient, since you will hit units and the building). This works especially well against pure Nature, because an experienced nature player would use the walls to get up to the point where he can use his SoM to crush his opponent.

Seems to be a detective

Don't get me wrong on this I really agree with the fact that this buff wouldn't make Bandits a viable faction, but adding some sort of cc immunity will help a little bit to make Bandit Spearmen to be a viable choice for the deck (because they are utter garbage against nature splashes currently) without beeing broken against certain factions. Root & Curse of Oink are still powerful cc options, but with hurricane out of contention chain cc wouldn't be a possiblity anymore and it's more diffucult to support the Burrowers when there is pressure at multiple areas. Still Bandits wouldn't be a viable deck overall, but buffing Bandit Spearmen can't solve the problem because if you buff them in terms of stats is super dangerous because they would tend to get really unhealthy (OP vs low cc, useless vs high cc). So I really want to see a little more cc immunity for them + other buffs for the faction (I like the idea of adding a new unit too).

Their stats are sort of fine. 2025 dp20s against M-Melees is actually decent and synergises well with the lifesteal passive (+15hp per second). Therefore they are already viable against factions like pure fire who really tend to struggle against them in the early T2 stage. But as already mentioned Bandit Spearmen struggle way too hard against cc. They are the strongest M/S unit in combat (Stoneshards have a higher stat efficency in defensive situations!), but when they are constantly cc'd it doesn't matter at all because they will be ignored and in the meantime you will just lose your powerwells. Even with inferior combat abilities Ghostspears and stoneshards look like superior M/S Units, because they have the much needed cc support to catch up to their targets, while Bandit Spearmen have to rely on their own slow which simply isn't enough against nature splashes. Buffing their stats would just improve their performance against low cc decks like pure Fire (which is good already) while staying useless against other stuff. From my perspective a good change would be an additional immunity against knockbacks when they activate their ability so they may get a shot to use their high dps in defensive situations without getting perma-cc'd.

In terms of stat efficency the unit is actually amazing for PvP. The red afffinity does bonus damage against some of the most played M units in the entire T2 (Burrower, Nightcrawler, Scythe Fiends), which leads to 1822 dp20s. Combined with 988 effective hp we've got insane combat stats. The downside is the fact, that we talk about an S Unit, that is also melee. Stone shards are really susceptible to cc and and since it's a spammable unit its efficency decreases in the later stages of the game. This is the main reason why alot of Stonekin player started to pick up Stormsinger in their deck, because she is reliable. Overall Stoneshards (red) are a really solid card and a good choice for stonekin decks if you tend to struggle against decks like pure Fire. The blue affinity is sort of useless though, since the dps buff against demons and undead creatures is a nonfactor ...

2148?

Okay

Amazon was really good against Nightcrawler, but usually a weak choice in a traditional nature deck, where swiftclaw is vastly superior. A comparision between the swift units in different matchups: Shadow: Amazon -> Completely useless, if you start with an M Unit against nature you will just lose against nox spam Swiftclaw -> Same stuff applies here, M Units against Shadow are suicide Werebeasts -> In theory the best swift against Shadow, because they are harder to kill, but Spearmen/Windweaver are still superior choices Nature: Amazon: Is tanky against Swiftclaw in a 1vs1, but other units will kill her fast enough and she deals not enough damage to compensate -the ability is suicide, because you can use the dryad to cc the affected unit and you just wasted your power, while your opponent plays another Shaman. Swiftclaw: Superior choice due to insanely high M damage, that is needed to break through the constant Shaman heals. Werebeasts: Garbage vs nature, because their damage vs M units is nonexistent, they aren't as tanky as Amazons and they synergise poorly with Spearmen, since 2 melee S Units are insanely suscetable to cc Frost: Amazon: Useless, does no damage and is no threat to Frostmagespam, therefore you lose immediatly on small maps where instant T2 can get interrupted. Swiftclaw: Super essential to survive, early Swiftclawspam with well timed heals is important and your only chance against Frost with a traditional nature T1. Werebeasts: Playing Amazon against Frost is bad, but Werebeast are even worse. They get entirely destroyed. Fire: Amazon: Decent choice, low risk low reward though, the ability is usually not worth it, but the tank passive allows her to survive safely. On the other hand you lose alot of early pressure, because she is no threat to the core Fire units. Gets completely destroyed by wrecker. Swiftclaw: High risk high reward, destorys Scavenger, but takes alot of damage by Sunstriders if you mess up with your positioning. But Swiftclaw is still better, because it can fight back against Wrecker who are a major threat vs nature. Werebeasts: Worst choice, Scavenger destroys them and doesn't allow them to reach the Sunstriders due to its passive. Amazon doesn't work in a traditional Nature T1. Swiftclaw is much better and super important vs Frost, while Amazon isn't a real upgrade in other matchups. What hurts the card alot is the fact, that it does L damage ... and there is only 1L unit in the entire T1, who isn't the biggest problem for nature anyway. Amazon and especially Werebeasts are not viable for high lvl nature T1 gameplay. But you have to keep in mind, that Amazon is stronger vs T2 than swiftclaw, which makes her superior if you intend to skip T1 entirely. Haven't seen a single nature player in about 4 years, who played Amazon/Werbeasts successfully without using Treespirts or instant T2 to cover up its weaknesses. Tl dr: Werebeasts are trash , Amazon is mediocre, but leaves an abusable weakness in your T1, Swiftclaw isn't perfect either, but is the best choice in a traditional nature T1 due to its insanely high dps.

Yes, the decks didn't get changed. In some decks splashing is necessary, because you get much better cards in T3 with higher synergy, because decks like Pure Frost for example don't have any strong pure cards. I mean Frost Avatar is okay, but he doesn't really fit into a timeless one T3 and has no use in defence, while Ashebone is well rounded and synergises really well with the Frost support cards. Other decks like pure Shadow have the choice between a Grigori Shield Dom T3 and a voidstorm based deck. You could potentially play both T3's, but since Hirooo is sort of addicted to Grigoris .... no seriously, the Grigori T3 is really reliable, therefore the Frostsplash strengthens your T3 and gives alot of stability! The third category of decks is where splashing further doesn't make sense at all. For example if you play a Frost splash you always want to go Frost in T3 to get access to Timeless One or as a pure Fire player you really want to play that Juggernaut. These cards are so strong, that splashing for certain card synergies doesn't make sense anymore, because it just doesn't make up for the benefits you would get for these strong cards. The last type of decks is the one, that doesn't benefit heavily from splashing (In fact I'm talking about pure Nature). It is possible to add a shadowsplash with Ashebone or a Frostsplash for Shield Dom, but this isn't necessarly better than the classic nature T3. At this point you just want to keep 3 nature orbs, because just in case one of your Nature orbs goes down, you can still fight back with the powerful T2 cards (Deep One / Parasite Swarm). But in case you are left with a Nature and a Shadow orb in T2 you will run at a risk, that you can't fight back when an orb goes down and your opponent wins solely of that, because you can't play any strong units even if you have alot of power.

We added some pictures for the decks, I guess it looks much better now!

First of all thank you for the feedback so far! It was a pleasure to create this deck overview! Given the fact that Pure Frost has vastly superior air Units Fire Frost is at a disadvantage. Skyelf Templar kills Skyfire Drake in about 10 seconds, while it would take 18 seconds to take down the Skyelf Templar. War Eagles are really hard to deal with since your anti air ground units are at M size and die in a splitsecond. In addition to that pure Frost has access to Area Ice Shield, which provides a really solid scaling into late T2, where Fire Frost just doesn't have the dps to take down all these supported Air Units. The advantage as the Fire Frost player is the fact, that its units are faster and therefore easier to micro which can translate into an early T2 advantage, if the pure Frost player gets a little bit too greedy and attacks too early. This could've given you the impression, that Fire Frost does stand a solid chance against pur Frost (which is actually true for ranked games against unexperienced Frost players), but on a really high level pure Frost has for sure the upper hand. The matchup isn't as bad as the pure Frost vs pure Fire matchup though. I added "matchup discussion" as a tag in the description! I'm glad you are so hyped about Bandits! In fact if you look for a real challenge this deck may be the right one for you. But if you want to get some free elo ... well ... maybe try something else We discussed the Bandits deck heavily, since there are alot of possible options in terms of deck building, since Bandits doesn't have that "optimal deck", that can deal with every specific scenario in the game (like the Shadow Frost deck for example). If you change some cards you may get some advantages in a certain matchup, but as a trade off you lose strength in another one. Therefore it's quite possible, that your matchup differ a little bit from our ranking in case your deck is build around different cards. Adding stuff about possible improvement is great idea! I'll do that at some point. Shadow Frost will teach you how to react properly to attacks and it is indeed really forgiving and therefore honestly the easiest deck to play at the beginning. You will enjoy playing it as a newer player, because you won't get stomped too often and you have an answer for every type of attack. I rated this deck so highly because it's the easiest to play, not necessarly because of the possible improvement, which is the part where Fire Nature comes into discussion. This deck isn't as easy to play as Shadow Frost, because there are no building protects, but it's still really versitile. While Shadow Frost teaches you how to defend properly, Fire Nature also requires proactive decisions that are harder to play, but leave more room for possible improvement. I think it's sort of dependend on the player's current level which deck is the right one to play for the moment. I will add this into the overview as soon as I can! I can add possible decks for Stonekin & Bandits with the other T1, because they were also sort of viable and frequently played. For the other decks there is usually only 1 viable T1 option, because Shadow and Fire are definitly a better choice than Nature and Frost, because their T1 is solid in every possible matchup, while nature does poorly against Shadow and Frost. Frost itself is really mapdependend, because you can't win dazed fights against Fire and Shadow, who can abuse this to deny you mapcontrol and therefore you don't want to play it either as long as you've got a choice. Maybe you can use the overview when you are able to play the game aswell and are interested in PvP, I mean it won't disappear up until then You can just pick up the stuff about the deck you are interested in, there is no need for you to read the entire guide if you aren't interested in the other factions. I thought about changing the deck examples at some point, I would like to make pictures of them and add them to the guide to make it look better! I don't think the bigger T1 translates into any advantages for Bandits, because the core units in a Fire mirror are Scavenger, Sunstriders and Eruption (Eruption usually just due to its presence because it forces the enemy to split his units and leave them in unfavourable positions). As long as you go even into the T2 stage you are at a massive advantage due to the high value of nature cc in the early T2. The matchup against LS is winnable in T2, but it's really hard, because you HAVE to win in T2 or you are going to lose in T3 100%. You are forced to be proactive. Shadow Frost can win off Mountaineer in T2, you can win off well microed Burrower attacks, but if the T2 is even you Shadow Frost wins. With the addition of Stormsinger into the deck it is really difficult to make you Burrower attacks count, especially in the early T2 stage Frostbite + Stormsinger makes it next to impossible to apply pressure without losing your units, which leaves you in an unfavourable position. To avoid any missunderstandings: A difficult matchup usually is something like 45%/55% or 40%/60%, I'm not talking about auto-lose matchups! The example deck I used doesn't include Thugs, because this is the T1 Obesity used to play, who is considered by many players as one of best Fire Nature players if not the best. A Scavenger, Sunstrider, Eruption, Thugs, Mortar deck will actually be at a massive disadvantage against Nature T1 and honestly Firesworn is one of your best L Counter even in T2, you don't want to exclude him at all (the blue affinity can knock back L Units from powerwells and you can root them afterwards, there are still many people around who play lost Reaver and Mauler is just not good enough against that). In addition I'm pretty certain that it's not possible to defend Sunderer against a strong player without Firesworn (at least he has to realize though, that you don't play him). In case you are a new player you should play a bigger T1 anyway, I think I mentioned this at some point! Thugs, Sunderer and Wrecker are always possible additions to make matchups easier. Mauler is really really useful, since Mountaineer got really popular after the Reaver nerfs and the rise of Fire Frost and as you said he's also great against Stonekin and in T3 useful against stuff like Ashebone pyros. Against Frost he's still kinda bad, because War Eagle doesn't like M units Disenchant is really useful, because if we talk about Harvester defence we need the purple disenchant since most pure Shadow players tend to play Life Weaving and Unholy power. Therefore you have to either play purple Gladiatrix or purple disenchant. I honestly like playing the Green Gladitrix, because I really value the high movespeed in case she's used as a Skyfire Drake counter and also its useful in case you want to micro them around. You can exclude Disenchant in theory for 1v1, but I still chose to take it, because it has also good synergy with Brannoc in offense. Look up at the pure Shadow section, I mentioned Sunderer exclusively as one of the best options Bandits has against pure Shadow, but Knight of Chaos and Nighguard are massive counterplay and even if you mess up your Nightguard timing you can delay the Sunderer with nether warp. The strongest T2 vs T1 deck is shadow nature apparently, because it has strong early units, massive amounts of cheap cc and great & reliable aoe clear. Bandits does really well against Fire T1 due to double buffs and also ok against Shadow T1 if Nightguard isn't included, but the T2 vs T1 isn't outstanding and honestly outclassed by a couple of decks. Against Nature you will struggle, because of the cc disadvantage and against Frost T1 you may even get rushed entirly if you don't keep a proper distance. Bandits has no cc, no building protects and no strong units to make up for it (you have above average air control, but that's about it). Regarding the stonekin part: The only aggressive unit stonkin plays is Burrower (+ Homesoil support). Stormsinger, Spirit Hunter, Stoneshards, nature cc, building protects ... these are all great defensive tools, that usually don't translate into offense at all (CC does it to an extend). You can play the deck defensive or ultra defensive with an Aragorn type deck or that stuff MaranV or sika used to play. While Stonetempest was never a huge threat due its low dps and low mobility (wildfire can deal with it for example), Razor Shard used to destroy pure Fire and pure Shadow at some point. But after the nerf you can micro around it and therefore the huge threat was gone. Pure Fire do have the tools to break the stonekin "Ultra defence" and therefore they are rated as the most difficult matchups. Harvester was a big threat to Stonekin, because you may have the cc tools to keep him busy, but you just don't have high dps units that can use this time to take him down. Yes we have considered doing something like this! We are going to try to improve the quality of our deck overview as much as possible!