Which Faction to choose for PvE.

[Shotty]

Choosing your Faction for PvE is the most important thing in this game, Each Faction has a differnt playstyle and Differnt Advantages / Disadvantages in PvE or PvP.
This Topic will hopefully help you decide which Factionto play.

There are 4 basic Factions  in the game .
Green(Nature)
Red(Fire)
Purple(Shadow)
Blue(Ice)

Each of those Colors plays differnt then each other. There are also Factions which require orbs of two differnt basic Factions.
Twilight Cards use Fire and Nature.
Lost Cards use Frost and Shadow.
Stoneking Cards use Frost and Nature.
Bandit Cards use Fire and Purple.




Green/Nature
Nature is probably the easiest thing to learn in PvE and I personally recommend Nature to every person who wants to start out with PvE.
Nature focuses on healing , crowd control abilitys and a little bit on indirect damage.
Healing cards are used for keeping your and maybe your teammates units healthy and can turn the battle in your favor.Examples for Healing cards would be:Shaman , Ray of Light and Surge of Light.
Crowd Controling cards are used to control the Enemy in someway or another. Rooting Enemys to the ground , or transforming Enemies into stuff that cant attack.. Examples for Crowd Controling cards  would be: Dryad , Curse of Oink and Ensaring Roots.
Indirect Damage dealing cards dont follow the casual rules of "Deals extra damage against type X unit" but deal their regulare damage against all kinds of Enemies . Examples for cards like these would be : Spirit Hunter , Envenom , Windweaver.

Red/Fire
Fire is fairly aggressive , obviously most of the cards support that idea. Other then that , Fire has some really unique units that help with the aggression.
"Unique" cards for Fire inclue: Global Warming (A Spell that melts Ice shields , isnt really good tho.) Sunderer, a Tier 1 Large unit.  Fire Dancer , the unit with one of the biggest Attack Ranges in the Entire game. Disenchant , A spell which removes all buffs from an enemy , or debuffs of a Friendly unit. Earthshaker , a spell that focuses on taking down buildings.

Purple/Shadow
Shadow cards focus on Sacrificing your own Units to get some sort of benefit, using corpses to benefit themselves, and some teleportation.
Some cards that work by sacraficing would be: Motivate , by sacraficing a unit using this card , all other units of the same card deal 50% more dmg. Forsaken have an ability which makes them deal more dmg for some time , but afterwards they die. Decomposer is a building which you can use to kill one of your own units , the benefit of this is that you get 30% of their Manacost into your Manapool , and the other 70% go back into the Voidenergy.
Some cards that benefig from corpses are: Embalmer´s Shrine , a building which you can activate to incraese the Value of corpses by 70%. Shadow Phoenix , a flying unit which suicides into the target , and revives it self if enough corpses are around. Necroblaster , a turret which attacks by absorbing corpses.
Some cards involving Teleportation would be: Portal Nexus , a building which can build a teleport station near one of your ground units, after the station is placed units can teleport between the nexus and the Station. Phase Tower , a turret which you can teleport to another location nearby. Nether Warp , a spell which creates a temporary one way Portal to a place within a certain Range.

Blue/Ice
Ice cards focus on using Ice Shields , Freezing enemies and Buildings(Every race has buildings , but Frost has more cards that Synergyize with them)
Some cards that use Ice Shields would be: Shield Building , which gives a temporary Ice Shield to a building. Avatar of Frost , which gives itself an Ice Shield every 15 second. Area Ice Shield , which gives up to 3 friendly units within the Area a temporary Ice Shield.
Some cards that involve Freezing/Frozen  enemies would be: Cold Snap , which freezes up to 5 enemies for 15 seconds. Maelstrom , an aoe Dmg spell which also freezes enemies within its range after some time. Northland Drake , which has an Aoe ability which deals extra damage to frozen units.
Soome Cards that Involve Buildings would be: Wardens Sigil , a building which can give an Ice Shield to other buildings. Kobold Trick , a spell which repairs buildings. Construction hut , which makes every building in its range be build faster and cost less mana.
A Special card I wanna mention would be Juice Tank , a building which basicly makes energy wells within a certain range 40% more mana.

Red/Green Twilight.
Twilight ground units have the Abiltiy transforming into other Twilight units for which you meet the Orb requirements , some cards involving this would be: Twilight Air units: The units can grant any of your ground units the Twilight Curse , making them able to transform. Vileblood , a unit that if transformed releases a liquid , which either heals friendlys , or damages enemies depending on the affinity of the card.Mutating Frenzy , a unit which if transformed triggers a hex , which makes enemy units unable to be healed , and depending on the affinity of the card , makes the enemy units unable to be buffed or use their Abilitys

Green/Blue Stonekin
Stonekin units ALL take less damage , and some of them Benefit from having friendly units nearby , or benefit friendly units nearby. Some cards involving that would be: Grinder which regenerates HP depending on the amount of friendly units nearby. Earthkeeper , which has an ability that reduces the damage one of your units takes , and shares this damage between all Stonekin units nearby.

Blue/Purple Lost Souls

Lost Units all have the Ability to ressurect themselves after death for some time. Other then that , most of them have the same advantages Shadow and Frost cards have in some way , for example : Lost Wanderer can create an Ice shield. Lost Reaver absorbs energy from Corpses and if enough is absorbed , it can temporarly summon some creatures.

Purple/Red Bandits.
Most bandit units have lifesteal , which adds a certain % of the damage they dealt back to their HP. Other then that , Bandits share alot of stuff with Fire and Shadow cards, for example: Warriors Death , a spell that buffs a unit , which makes it immune to most debuffs , depending on affinity makes it deal 50% dmg or take 50% less damage , but after the duration is over it dies.  Tortugun , a unit that needs to eat your own units , and if it doesnt get fed ,  it will run amok and feat on units until it has eaten enough. Windhunter ,  a unit which can take buffs from Enemies , or debuffs from friendlys depending on affinity.

Tiers
There are 4 Stages of the game , Tier 1 , Tier 2 , Tier 3 and Tier 4. The Tier you are in depends on the amount of Orbs you grabbed.
Depending on the current tier the Colors have Strenghts and Weaknesses

Here is  a list with in my opinion good cards for the Tiers depending on the Colors.

Monocolored Factions

Fire T1                                                              
Probably Stongest Attacking force in T1 , Good aoe Dmg with Eruption , but defending isnt as easy as the other Factions Mine:It's cheap, does nice damage, and knocks back small units Sunderer a Tier 1  Melee LARGE unit.
Fire T2
Strongest Siege on T2 with Firedancers. Good Aoe with Lavafield
Fire T3
Juggernaut and Magma Hurler both are Very strong T3 Unites               
Fire T4
Good Units in Form of Fire Worm and Fire Dragon , and a Long Range AOE building inform of a Magma Catcher.

Frost T1
Probably best  Defnsive T1. Units are Very cheep compared to the other Factions.Frost Mage , a unit that knocks back small units. Home Soil which makes all units nearby a friendly building deal 40% more dmg , to use that offensivly you can use the card Ice barrier.
Frost T2
Aoe Freeze in form of Coldsnap, Good Flyer in form of War eagle . Awsome Tier Unit in Form of Lyrish Knight.
Frost T3
Access to Avatar of Frost , one of the Strongest T3 Units. Decent Flyers in form of the Northland Drake.
Frost T4
One of the Weaker T4s  Stronger Units Include Dreadnought , BattleShips and Constructs.

Nature T1
Strong Archers in form of Windweavers which attack 2 targets at once. . Healing unit in form of Shamans. T1 Flying Unit in form of  Manawing . Healing Spell. Dryad with Frost Affinity , since it reduces the damage taken from your units by 25%
Nature T2
Unit with awsome Ability : Deep One. AoE Crowd Control with Curse of Oink. Good Defense with Living towers. Burrower for Sieging. And a Building which decreases the Costs of your units : Breeding Grounds
Nature T3
A Strong Standalone unit in form of the Deepcoil Worm. Long Range Attacker with Razorleafs.Good Air with Swamp Drakes. And last but Certainly not least: Wheel of Gifts a Building which buffs all friendly units on the Map.
Nature T4
Green has alot of Scary big T4 Units : Grimvine , Collosus , Forest Elder and Giant Wyrm.

Shadow T1
Decomposer: A building in which you can Sacrifice a unit to gain 30% of its costs back , the rest of the costs go back into the Void Energy. Forsaken , probably one of the scarier tier 1 Archers because of their Ability , which will make them deal 2x Dmg , but they die afterwards.good T1 Turrets with LifestealTower and Phase Tower.
Shadow T2
Strongest Standalone T2 Unit in form of the Harvester.Shadow Phoenix: A Suicide unit , that revives itself if enough corpses are around.Darkelf Assasins: Archers which can immobilse themselves to deal more dmg. 
Shadow T3
Stanael : a Unit which summons in more Units.Strong AoE with Soulshatter. Good Melee with Mutating Frenzy.Ashebone Pyromancer, A Unit that takes dmg every 2 seconds , but has 30% liifesteal.Utility in form of Fallen Skyelf.
Shadow T4
Overlord: A Healer which transfers its own life to allies , but gets Health from Corpses. Very Strong Unit in form of the Shadow Worm. And last but Certainly not least: Rifle Cultists, with an awsome ability.

Duo Colored Factions
Kepp in mind , that even in multicolored faction decks , you can play Cards which dont require 2 differnt Monuments. For example : Just because you play Twilight , that does not mean that you cant run Cards from Fire or Nature.

Fire/Nature  Twilight
Twilight T1
Not existent , choose either Fire or Nature T1
Twilight T2
A Flying unit in form of Deathgliders which can either Knockback small units , or make units unable to go onto walls. Also acess to the combo Vileblood (red affinity) , letting the enemeys attack it , nearly let it die , cast Curse of Oink on enemies , transform Vileblood into a Slaver. Now Vilebloods ability triggers , dealing dmg and killing both your Slaver and some enemies , the slaver will also now explode dealing extra dmg.
Twilight T3
Good melee units in form of:Mutating Maniac and Twilight Creeper,  Twilight Hags: Casters which can AoE stun Male units.
Twilight T4
Just like Nature , Scary big T4 Units : Abomination , Skycatcher and Nightshade Plant. Also an Aoe Spell in form of Twilight Pestilence , which A: Deals Dmg to enemys , B: Friendly Twilight Units get either healed , or take 50% less dmg.

Frost/Shadow   Lost Souls
Lost T1
Choose either Frost or Shadow T1
Lost T2
With Lost Reaver , Lost Wanderer and Lost Shades definetly one of the Stronger T2.
Lost T3
Good defensive Long Range unit in form of Lost Vigil. And a Good tank in Lost Grigori who has a Taunt.
Lost T4
With Lost Dragon and Lost Spirit Ship definetly one of the Strongest T4 Flying units. Also a good Melee unit in form of Lost Warlord.

Fire/Shadow Bandits
Bandit T1
Choose either Fire or Shadow T1
Bandit T2
Good Debuffer/Decurser inform of the Windhunter. Overall decent T2 because all Bandit T2 units have Lifesteal.
Bandit T3
Good Air with the Corsair which can either Spawn Commandos or Banditos.A good Melee unit: Soulhunter.
Bandit T4
Amok: A Spell which makes every unit in the area attack the unit next to it , even friendlys. Bloodhorn , a melee unit that either  can debuff itself , or double its own damage.

Frost/Nature  Stonekin
Stonekin T1
Choose either Nature or Frost T1
Stonekin T2
Agressor: A Good ranged fighter. Crystal Fiend: A Flying Healer. Eathkeeper : A Unit that can Split the Damage between your units.
Stonekin T3
Rageflame , Aoe Unit that freezes enemies after attacking for 7 seconds. A good melee unit : Stone Warrior.
Stonekin T4
Grinder: Tanky unit with a single target Taunt which regenerates HP based on the amount of Friendly units nearby.


Things to consider while deckbuilding.(This is not "How to build a deck" , just some things to consider)

First of all : What kind of PvE do you want to play ? rPvE (Randomly generated PvE maps) or regular PvE (Campaign maps)? I recommend everyone to playthrough the campaign atleast once.

rPvE

rPvE is , playing randomly generated PvE maps either alone or with 1, 2 or 4 players.. Those randomly generated PvE maps can have multiple Enemy types for example Bandits and Stonekins.
Since you play on a randomly created enviroment , you cant really prepare for any rPvE maps.
I´d personally recommend the guide of fellow user "Treim" : http://forum.bfreborn.com/index.php?/topic/752-treims-battlegroundrpve-speedrun-guide/
He explains alot of stuff concerning rPvE which I couldnt even think about it.

Regular PvE (Campaign maps)
Reasons to play Campaign:
1.You can farm certain upgrade cards depending on the mission. If you go to this website: http://allcards.bfreborn.com/ , search for a card and hover over it you can see  the maps name which you need to complete in order to get the upgrade. The upgrade´s level will depend on the difficulty you play on. Level 1 upgrades on the lowest , Level 2 on the medium , and Level 3 on the highest difficulty setting. Keep in mind tho , that you NEED to apply a Level 1 upgrade before you can apply a Level 2 upgrade. On the topic of Upgrades: If you upgrade a card to Level 1 you can also add charges to it if you own more Cards of the same type. Per level you can add 1 extra card to add charges.
2.The Story , while not the greatest , is definetly not a bad one , so "Stay a while and Listen".
3.The Campagin maps feature differnt sorts of fun (or annoying)gimmicks.

First of all , the most important thing about normal PvE maps is the following : In case you loose , you can adjust your deck and try the same map again but with another deck.
So there is no reason to feel bad just because you failed , it happens. For example:If you had problem killing a XL sized unit , a Twilight Dragon for example , you should consider getting some cards in your deck just to counter this one thing which gets you stuck. A single card change can make a map alot easier. An example for this would be : The map Crusade on the highest difficulty , once you reach the north , mobs will spawn after some time , there are spawns that only spawn air units , so dont feel ashamed taking an Anti Air turret just for this one place.

Things you also might wanna consider: Knowing what your teammates have in their deck can help you in making decisions. So dont feel scared to Ask for their decklist (there is a function when rightclicking the player). For example once one of my friends had a weak T2 but an awsome T3 (for that certain map), letting him take the first 2 Monuments made the map go much faster then it would have in case we both would have taken one monument.




Currently it might be the case that its to  early for such a thread to exist , but better too soon then never.
Also , if I forgot some cards , a topic like this already exists(Couldnt find it in that case) your opinion on which cards to use is other then mine. Feel Free to respond. I bet I forgot a lot of Important stuff , but with your help , we can make this list something good.
I´m open for any sort of Criticism and will continue to improve on this topic.

Edited September 18, 2016 by Shotty

[ferevus]

Mine is definitely one of the best T1 cards that fire has access to. It's cheap, does nice damage, and knocks back small units. 

[Shotty]

Mine is definitely one of the best T1 cards that fire has access to. It's cheap, does nice damage, and knocks back small units. 

Thanks , Like I said , I bet I missed some cards , its been that long since I was able to play the game.

[Destoyerfros]

For Frost/Blue Tier 1 I would say Master Archer and Frost Mages with home soil were a great combo.

 

Good Guide though to get more people into PvE

[Shotty]

For Frost/Blue Tier 1 I would say Master Archer and Frost Mages with home soil were a great combo.

 

Good Guide though to get more people into PvE

Thanks , I just tried to stay as Objective as possible. ( Even though I highly pref Red/Green in Pve)
Gonna add your  suggestions later on when I can add some more stuff.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Shotty

[Strek0za]

Cool guide. Consider to add Dryad (f) aff for nature. Seen many players using her at T1. + please check this http://forum.bfreborn.com/index.php?/topic/968-expert-guide/&page=1

Edited September 28, 2015 by Strek0za

[Treim]

i cant really agree that mixed decks with more than 2 orb types are weak.It does limit your choices within the factions and you are not able to play those pure cards however thatfor youre able to choose cards from all the factions. A lot of really strong core cards only require 1 or maximal 2 orbs in the factions. For example the buffing cards of shadow( life weaving, motivate, unholy hero, unholy power).

Also i think that your explanations about the faction tiers is a bit to short. There is a variety of good cards for each factions and not just the one you mentioned. You dont need to name every card however definetly more than 2 or 3 in order to give a decent overview over the possibilities every faction has.

@Eirias is working on a really detailed deck building guide for PVP and dont miss me you dont need to be as precise and detailed as he is, however you should explain why certain cards are superior over others.

For example shadow t2: You mentioned harvester, shadow phoenix and darkelf assassins as good units, however you dont explain how to play them and what to combine them with. Harvester is only really good because buffs like life weaving and unholy power are very efficient on him and makes him super strong. Shadow phoenix gets really good in combination with embalmer's shrine. Also you dont mention cards like Nether Warp even though that card is absolutely insane with shadow mages f.e.

Dont miss me though, its nice that you made that work however in order to make it good youll need to explain it much more.

You should also mention that you might need to vary your deck depending on the map as some maps need 'special' strategies tobeat them on expert level.

 

[Chimerae]

For shadow T1, I'd suggest Nox Trooper over Forsaken, since their ability is more useful in PvP. Nox Trooper have a higher base attack and their ability is easier to pull of in PvE than in PvP. I would also add either Dreadcharger or Witch claws as a T1 small counter. In PvE you will face a lot of small bandit or twilight units. I would also suggest adding soul splicer over towers.

A agree with your choices for higher tiers. Maybe you could add the Embalmer's Shrine if using Shadow Phoenixes

[Asraiel]

for PVE i used to play this set of shadow but it has lots of ultras in it:

T1:Nox-Trooper,Soul-Splicer_nature,Decomposer,Motivate,Embalmers-Shrine

T2: Viridya,Harvester,Shadow-Phoenix,Furnace-of-Flesh,Resource-Booster,Nether-Warp_nature

T3: Cultist-Master,Satanael_shadow,Frenetic-Assault_shadow,Soulshatter,Infect,Blood-Healing

T4: Overlord,Grim-Bahir_fire,Shadow-Worm

[Treim]

For shadow T1, I'd suggest Nox Trooper over Forsaken, since their ability is more useful in PvP. Nox Trooper have a higher base attack and their ability is easier to pull of in PvE than in PvP. I would also add either Dreadcharger or Witch claws as a T1 small counter. In PvE you will face a lot of small bandit or twilight units. I would also suggest adding soul splicer over towers.

A agree with your choices for higher tiers. Maybe you could add the Embalmer's Shrine if using Shadow Phoenixes

Nox Trooper or Forsaken is highly personal preference. Nox Troopers are very bad against squad units which as you mentioned youll face a lot because they have to kill every part of the squad with a seperate shot. I almost always prefered Forsaken over Nox Trooper. i basically only used Nox Troopers on Ravens End to kill the Corsair that tries to kill the the wells on the left side of the map.

[Shotty]

I´m actually quiet overwhelmed by the amount of replys this topic gets.
Because giving an awnser to every single one of you ; I´ll add all your suggestions in some way.

[Asraiel]

if you put it that way Treim i did create for every pve map a diffrent deck my post was only a deck for pve battleground 9 or 10

[Treim]

 

if you put it that way Treim i did create for every pve map a diffrent deck my post was only a deck for pve battleground 9 or 10

my post was related to the one i quoted

Quoting people really helps to make sure the guy you relate to will read to as he will get a notification. That way you make sure he can answer and other people know how you are relating to.

Also this 'guide' was about PVE and not rPVE in particular For rPVE there are a lot of viable decks.

 

[Asraiel]

 

my post was related to the one i quoted

Quoting people really helps to make sure the guy you relate to will read to as he will get a notification. That way you make sure he can answer and other people know how you are relating to.

Also this 'guide' was about PVE and not rPVE in particular For rPVE there are a lot of viable decks.

 

and witch of all the maps is curently under discusion? so i can answer properly since i cleared some 4 players solo on expert i might have a few hints

[Shotty]

and witch of all the maps is curently under discusion? so i can answer properly since i cleared some 4 players solo on expert i might have a few hints

This "guide" if we wanna call it that , is about PvE in general , RPvE and Normal Maps. Thats why I recommended Forsaken over Nox, since Forsaken can go onto Walls if needed.

[Akula]

Well, I think that you focused specially in a general idea of the game. But like Treim, i can't say that having more than two colors is a bad idea. Let me explain.

There is a nature card called enlightenment. It's a ultra-rare spell and in the old Battleforge, his cost was about an average of 1500 BFP. I can say that it is one of the bests spells in the whole game. When you cast it, you can play a card with ANY requirements (But I don't remember if you had to pay the card's cost). That card is awesome, because if you have a pure nature deck, you can play with shadow or fire cards if you want. Imagine that you have in your pure nature deck an Harvester. If you don't build 2 shadow orbs, you can't play the Harvester, but if you cast Enlightenment you can play with the Harvester without having to build the orbs.

The T-Guide of every color are short, but I know that it will be changing with the time. However, excellent guide, it gives a general idea of the PvE decks and it incentivate player to play more PvE for the 12-players maps.

[Kaliber84]

@Shotty First of all I think this thread would fit better in the "New Player Help and Guides" section as it is a guide to deck building.
Besides that I think you should only refer to the elements as colours once (so everyone knows which colour is which element) but only refer to the elements after that, seeing as it is the norm in the forums to talk about the elements rather than the colour. It also helps as multiple-colour factions don't have to be addressed as blue-green or such.
Additionally you might want to rework the introduction to the guide. At the moment it is quite confusing. It would be better to start with something like:
"There are 4 different colours/elements that are used by 8 different factions." "Pure nature (green) is focusing on crowd control (CC) and healing spells. The units tend to be strong but expensive." "Bandits are a mixed orb faction using fire and shadow trying to combine the advantages of both elements." etc...
I hope you get the idea. It is better to understand if you explain it via the factions rather than the elements and do it in one sentence for each faction.

@Akula While I do agree with you and Treim that decks using more than 2 elements can be very strong indeed, but you are giving a lot of information about Enlightenment that is misleading as well as your only argument to use more than 2 elements. Giving a specific cost isn't relevant anymore as the whole BFP system will be redone from scratch. I too think it will be an expensive card again but that is just a hypothesis. It also restricts the player to pure nature until T3. So the first third to half of many games they won't get to use the effect of the card at all.
Your example with the harvester is also not helpful. Harvester is only great because he is available at T2. At T3 there are far more and better cards to play. Especially with Enlightenment you are enabled to play T4 cards that are just massively better than Harvester. Sorry but I think you should rethink what you have written and consider how this might give new players false hope.

Still Enlightenment does open up a lot of possibilites but newbies shouldn't build their deck around it. To effectively build a deck with Enlightenment you need to have a basic knowledge of what cards there are and how they work.

[Akula]

@Kaliber84 Sure, even the example of Harvester and the begginer's idea of enlightenment restrict the guide, but I think that encouraging newcomers to try advance decks will help them to win in PvE hardmode maps. Fighting with extra-size monsters when you only can spawn a few large monsters is a risky way to play.

 

But I understand your points, begginers should play with cards that they are easy to play. But it could be a good idea that in the future, in this topic, to open a debate about decks for hardmode maps. The guides are not only for begginers, I was suggesting about the idea of making a 3-4 element deck arround enlightenment. It's obvious than a begginer can't afford that card, or even know that it exist. But instead of giving false hope, I'm trying to encourage to experiment different and advanced decks.

[Hjoartendk]

For PVE i really do like Pure Nature and Fire they workd really good for me and i playd more PVE that PVP those days....

[Shotty]

I edited the opening Post , I tried to take in most of the feedback as good as I could. If anyone still feels like something is missing/explained bad , feel free to reply!

[kestas3]

i would argue that frost has the best synergy with its buildings. i think natures buildings root network is a better synergy but thats just my speculation.

[nofearek9]

f2p deck, all colors

[Shotty]

i would argue that frost has the best synergy with its buildings. i think natures buildings root network is a better synergy but thats just my speculation.

While Nature has root networks , Ice has direct Synergy with buildings , beeing able to only use some spells on them or near them. Thats why I mentioned that.

[kestas3]

While Nature has root networks , Ice has direct Synergy with buildings , beeing able to only use some spells on them or near them. Thats why I mentioned that.

good argument altho frost is my favorite element il still say that the root network system doesnt only apply to towers it also applies to nature troops. which can make them heal faster or deal more damage. frost towers in orded to survive depended on spells or skyelves, kobold engineers. Altho gotta give props to worldbreaker gun which devastated enemies and kobold inc. for instabuilding.

[veryhasted]

I think playing Frost is probably the easiest if you're a beginner as they have normal towers and simple units. I find shadow the hardest faction to play as they have a lot of active abilities and towers that work a bit indifferent (I remember how I didn't understand shit at the beginning and just destroyed them all the time) and therefor not very easy to play. This is just my opinion on it and could and probably is wrong.