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What type of Frost Skylord are you?  

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  1. 1. What path you shall follow?

    • Path of Wind
      15
    • Path of Shield
      33
    • Path of Crystal
      2
    • Path of Aurora
      10


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Pure Frost PvE Guide – How to hit hard as hail

 

@Dallarian – author

@Weak1ings – substantive support

@boots - editor

 

Europe, February 2021

 

 

 

When you enter the cavern, overwhelming noise disappears, leaving only howling wind, allowing you to thought over your situation. You are shivering. You expected Frost part of Forge to be cold, but having to go through Maelstrom to get there was a bit too much. What they were thinking off?

Anyway, the cave. It is completely frozen, yet floor is not slippery. As you walk down the corridor, you notice that walls are gently shining, giving just enough blue light to continue the journey. After a while you reach large chamber. There are two people facing formation of crystals under one of walls, something what you think could be a table, and many passages deeper into the cave. Walls are covered by numerous maps, banners and crystals. As you approach, one person turns around and you recognise him as your friend Wazhai, who told you about this place. He comes to greet you, while the other person stays still.

Wazhai: Ah, you made it. It wasn’t that bad, was it? I hope you enjoyed your journey. Now officially, welcome to Order of the Battleships.

You: It’s a pleasure. I see this place isn’t too crowded.

Wazhai: It’s not that bad. We’re mostly active at nights, when Sun is gone.

Your friend turns to the person in blue robe.

Wazhai: He is the person I told you about.

Dallarian: A new disciple? Excellent. Wazhai, please show him Moonlight Chamber. Prepare Skylord, there are many challenges awaiting.

The person you suspect to be The Old God of Battleships himself, does not turn toward you until you leave the room.

 

 

 

Table of content

Spoiler

Basics on chosen topics. 4

Gameplay related resources. 4

Micromanagement. 5

Macromanagement. 8

Chosen cards and strategies overview.. 9

Tier 1 cards. 9

T1 chosen strategies. 11

Tier 2 cards[2] 11

T2 chosen strategies: 14

Tier 3 cards. 15

T3 chosen strategies. 17

Tier 4 cards. 17

T4 chosen strategies. 19

Decks and approaches. 21

rPvE Offence. 21

rPvE Defence. 21

Custom maps / unknown map. 21

PvE Campaign. 21

Heresy – non pure decks. 22

Nature (non-Stonekin). 22

Shadow (excluding Lost Souls). 22

Fire. 22

Supporting materials. 22

Additional notes on game mechanics. 22

Glossary of terms: 23

See also: 24

References: 24


Dallarian: Your knowledge is questionable. If you are to represent us, you must do so in a professional way. Therefore, your wisdom must be reviewed and unified. You shall practice over and over, until you become confident in those aspects.

Basics on chosen topics

If you do not understand a word, it may be explained in Glossary of Terms. If you require more beginner advice, check Beginner section in "Guide Navigation"    or suggested Beginner guides at the end of document.

Gameplay related resources

Spoiler

Power
Power is the main resource that is required to use cards. It is acquired from power wells at rate of 0.5 power per second, thus taking 3 minutes and 20 seconds for a power well to pay off its price. A Powerwell with 300 power lasts 10 minutes.
Do not take power wells if you may lose them quickly, because power spent on power wells is always “destroyed”. Important to consider for some Expert maps and rPvE.

Void power
In simple words almost every action that consumes power, very slowly “returns” 90% power. Spells start returning power immediately, while units withhold the power until they are destroyed. Therefore very often it is worth killing even all of your army when reaching the next Tier, to receive a slow power refund which can be spent on superior and more cost efficient units. Do not leave your realm undefended, though.

The exception to this are toggle abilities that can be recognized on the card marked with two yellow arrows bent into a circle. When using these abilities 100% of energy spent on them goes into the void pool to then be slowly returned.
There are ways of making the process faster by sacrificing other resources. Explained in detail by @Eirias in here.

Card slot
Every deck can consist of maximum 20 cards. Therefore, every card you put into deck, blocks slot for another, potentially stronger card for given situation. If you have 19 awesome cards in your deck, you will face difficult decision to make what to take as last card and have to consider what will be more useful. Hence, more flexible cards are more powerful than specialised cards by pure deck slot value, making some more expensive cards in power sometimes superior to other options. It always depend on situation and require some game knowledge, therefore it is advised to create separate decks for rPvE, PvE and PvP modes. It is also wise to create individual decks for most Expert maps.

  • For example you could defend on Siege of Hope by using Stronghold, Skyelf Templar, Skyelf Sage and Skyelf Commander. However, if you use Worldbreaker Gun and Skyelf Sage instead, you free two cardslots, allowing you more flexibility in different aspects of map, for example improving your T2, T3 or T4 offensive pushes by adding more useful spells or Homesoil & Ice Barrier combo.

Attention
Skylord’s attention is an important resource, however in Battleforge it does not have to be considered often and comes naturally. There are two aspects of it: how much attention you have available in unit of time, and how well you spend it. The first comes slowly with practice and is influenced by attributes of Skylord, while the latter is influenced by Knowledge. Depending on your approach and mood, a card that requires more physical and mental input to achieve an equal result is usually inferior to simpler card. You often do not need to consider where you spend your attention, but improving your multitasking and focusing on more important aspects of the game can be decisive factor in a battle.

  • For example as a Shadow T3 player, it is more important to land your powerful spells in right spot, rather than using available time to micro S and M units to slightly increase their efficiency.
  • Another example as a Shadow T2 player, it is more important to focus your attention on your Harvester and it’s actions, rather than controlling single skeleton warriors from Harvester’s ability.
  • Third example is Battleship deck which requires a lot of attention and micromanagement. While it is powerful and effective, there are cheaper options available that result in a similar or superior result.

Often estimated on Actions Per Minute or Effective Actions Per Minute (APM and EPM) statistics.

Knowledge
This resource mainly influences your decision making. It increases with experience, as well as trying out different things, paying attention to map aspects, talking with other Skylords and reading the results of research of other Skylords, like you are doing right now. Currently the most reliable source of knowledge is watching and analysing replays, due to lack of online materials. It helps you answer questions like these:
What units to use? Offense or Defence? How many towers do I build? What army compositions are strong? What cards work together well? What is the map layout? What enemies will be attacking? I am dying, what I do now?

Unit limit
Usually not needed to be considered at all. It can be problematic in Cultist Master, Infect and Satanael decks, but often it is enough to wait a moment or suicide some of your units. Table represents supply usage by size of unit, regardless of amount of actual creatures in a squad.

Table.jpg.2814e3bb80620e49aaf20a141cac3fcb.jpg

Maximum supply limit is 120 and it is truly free across the game. If you ever need more supply for your XL units, first kill S, then L and then M squads, however at this point of game you should have only powerful XL units and important support M and L creatures.

Monument requirements
In short orb requirements. Since we are talking about pure Frost only, it is not considered here. Card’s strength is influenced by its flexibility as well - in how many decks it can be used, and therefore how many good combinations you can get with it. This is one of factors that increases value of cards like Bloodhorn, Regrowth, Giant Wyrm, Construct and Lost Spirit Ship, or neutral heroic cards.
Card tier aspect is important as well, since it often shows which card is more cost efficient (T4 card is stronger than T3), however, it does not always work like this.

 

Micromanagement

Spoiler

The ability to micromanage your own troops more efficiently and accurately comes mainly from Attention and Knowledge and improves with practice. Effective micromanagement increases the cost efficiency of units or armies, allowing you to artificially increase actual strength of units. Choice of type of micro for a situation comes from Knowledge and rises with experience and practice. You usually want to use mix of approaches described. Micro is mostly important on T1 and T2, later is replaced by wise usage of spells, however XL focus fire is sometimes useful.
Due to the rigid aspect of Battleforge mechanics, micromanagement can have often produce a neutral or negative result, therefore there is no point in microing all the time. Personal experimentation is recommended.

Attack move
Often superior to normal move command. Units with this command will automatically engage enemies near the movement path. It is particularly useful when you are not watching over your army all the time, since you free your attention for other tasks.
The default hotkey for attack move command is “Q”, and the responsible icon is “two crossed swords button below unit’s portrait on right side of screen”. To use it, select command and then left click the area where you want your army to arrive. It can be used across fog of war.

Focus fire
By selecting some your creatures and asking them to attack certain targets, you are able to accomplish a few tasks.

  • Eliminate enemies faster – particular enemies die faster and their damage is removed from combat, therefore decreasing total damage done by enemies, compared to a situation without any control.
  • Eliminate key targets – focus fire on most dangerous opponents first, to quickly remove them and their associated effects from combat. Can be also used to destroy key enemy structures like Twilight Willzapper or unit spawners.
  • Reduce overkill – sometimes when deadly shot is in air, your units continue shooting and therefore wasting potential damage. With practice and good timing you can reduce the time of shooting at dead target and use it to rotate and lock on another opponent.
  • Increase damage dealt – some creatures have splash damage. If you choose targets wisely, you can increase total damage dealt to enemies by maximising splash damage. E.g. Commanding Giant Wyrm to attack a cluster of S troops instead of a single M unit will cause more damage to the enemy overall
  • Another situation is when a unit with a slow attack animation attempts to attack target which dies before the animation ends.
    E.g. Grim Bahir's slow attack time means a friendly Overlord can kill the unit it is targeting before it fires a shot. Grim Bahir will then select another target to shoot, where the Overlord can again still it's kill. This will result in a repetitive pattern of Grim Bahir running the long shoot animation, failing, and trying again. This will slow down your total DPS on enemy groups. A recommendation is to let ranged units target the rear of enemy formation to guarantee effective shots.

Results of focus fire in 5vs5 Master Archer combat on bottom of image vs attack move on top.

706207717_MAfocusfire.thumb.jpg.17a9b60442cbb29ef8b5f144d6e4aed5.jpg

Splitting of focus fire
When you have stronger units like XLs but not only, you want them to attack different targets, to reduce potential damage loss from moving from one place to another and from overkill. Particularly important with XL units, or diverse low tier army composition.

Example 1. Common PvE situation. I attack move my army toward camp and then select both of my Frost Mages. The enemy camp consists of 2 S Melee and 2 S Ranged. I command 1 Frost Mage to attack one enemy S Ranged, and my Frost Mage to attack the other S Ranged. Then I select Master Archers and focus fire on melee units and defeat enemies one by one. Frost Mages will maximalise knockback effect, while allowing Master Archers to quickly eliminate high damage targets. I do not have to worry about S melee units which are knockbacked. Applicable in most T1 and T2 situations. [Video example]

Example 2. A situation I have come across dozens of times on Nightmare Shard Expert. I attack move my whole army (no army on video), and then select Burrowers which are in separate group. Applicable with large groups of creatures. [Video example]

Example 3. This is a situation which appears on position 4 on Passage to Darkness. I am attacking camps with a small number of XL units. I move my creatures toward camp. The aim is to split my attacks, so that XLs do not waste time on the attack animation when one-hitting weak enemies as 3, reducing overkill and time spent on movement. I right click on one enemy. Select from right window any unit and ask it to attack another enemy. Then I select in normal way any other XL and ask it to focus third target. By choosing targets in different locations, I ensure that XL attacks will be split and the camp is cleared faster than by usual attack move. Applicable with small number of L or XL units. [Video example]

Retreating wounded units
If you retreat a single wounded creature which was under attack, two things will happen. Enemy will switch fire into another unit, and saved creature will be able to continue fighting and dealing damage. Applicable if enemy has low to medium number of units, or one of your units has taken significantly more damage than the others.

Splitting
If you split your units, you can reduce enemy splash damage and knockback, therefore increasing both your damage output and durability of your units. Note that crossbower squads like Master Archers must be splitted in perpendicular, not parallel way, what may sometimes aggro more distant enemies. Particularly useful versus Twilight Hatecaster or Twilight Hags.

 

Macromanagement

Spoiler

Remember to build all power wells in multi well locations and check minimap once in a while. Macro in Battleforge is simplified and focuses mainly on usage of structures through control groups. In Frost deck, applicable mainly to listed structures.

Worldbreaker Gun
It does not really matter how you do this, as long as you have an idea behind it. The plan is to select WBG through control group to immediately shoot in desired location using Z shortcut. Try to avoid making mess with control groups. I usually keep my armies under 1 and 2 and WBGs on further buttons. Example of my control groups on Nightmare’s End Expert. WBGs are grouped together and I am aware which WBG is where without looking at them, because I thought it over:

1053666559_TaskbarWBG.jpg.9ee2d28c474800f05201308549b6c777.jpg

Shrine of Martyrs
Keep it in control group, for me group 3 is usually fitting. Use it when you plan using freezing effects. You can first cast Coldsnap, and then use the Shrine to maximalise duration of effect.

Armored Tower
It’s ability is a very useful damage reduction tool. Observe your minimap and when enemy is approaching or you hear enemy attack notification, use ability by selecting one of towers on back via control group. You don’t have to interrupt your current action and focus to defend yourself. Useful on maps where you both attack and defend.

 

Wazhai: Good. Now you know which way sword should be pointing at. Become familiar with those basic creatures, structures and magic. They are weak yet important, since they are base for your missions. Do not underestimate their importance. We closely cooperate with humans of Lyr and they help us out of their free will, so at least appear to be respecting them. You will need this Frost Shard, take it. It helps manifest Frost Magic outside the Forge, should be useful to you.

The moment you touched the shard, you felt connection formed between you and it. Now, you feel pathway to Frost energies deep within your body.

Chosen cards and strategies overview

Tier 1 cards

Spoiler

Frost Mage
Ranged attacker. Best S counter in the game, awesome knockback, good AoE damage and decent HP. Attacks hit most nearby targets, therefore sometimes it may be difficult to focus units or buildings behind melee units, however, knockback works on full range. Strong in large numbers.

Master Archers
Ranged attacker. Second best S counter in the game. A lot of HP for low cost. One of best common Frost units in game. Awesome base for army.

Imperials
Melee attacker. Decent M counter, with a nice ability that makes them more durable. Useful as frontline if you have to tank a lot of damage.

Ice Guardian
Melee attacker. Powerful M counter with amazing statistics with Ice Shield on. However, it must be provided with relevant infrastructure, so is situational. Good on maps with small distances to T2, like Empire or rPvE 9-10 vs Lost Souls. Works well with Ice Barrier.

Frost Sorceress
Ranged support. Provides single target with Ice Shield for reasonable cost. Nothing particular but can be sometimes useful to increase the overall survivability of your army or key creatures.

Lightblade Purple
Melee attacker. Expensive but durable unit with strong taunt. Variant is mostly preference, however I like more purple version, which takes decreased damage, while rest of my army focuses key targets. Mainly used vs Large and XLarge creatures.

Home Soil
Arcane. Awesome support spell that increases damage dealt by 50%. Use together with Ice Barrier. Is very useful on all tiers. Is in every deck of mine.

Glyph of Frost
Spell. Cheap freeze source. Is situational because has small area, cannot be cast in mid of enemies and triggers under enemy movement. Very useful if you practice using it. If you are experienced enough, you can make it trigger immediately in some cases. Decent choice if you need more strength on T1 or more freeze sources across the game, usually not needed if you are going to get T2 easily.

Frostbite Purple
Spell. Cheap and reliable spell that is useful across all tiers. Enemy unit moves slower and takes more damage, making it great at focusing Large and XLarge creatures. Works on enemy bosses as well. Other variant is nice too, however, Frost lacks mostly damage output, making purple superior. I often add this card to my decks as a fill option.

Wintertide
Arcane. Situational good support spell. Orange variant can be powerful tool to remove Large and XLarge creatures with T1, particularly if you pair it with Lightblade. Rarely used.

Defence Tower
Defence structure. Strong tower with nice DPS, best cost efficiency among other options. Shots too slowly to hit targets that move on straight line and are far away.

Northern Keep Orange
Defence structure. A decent and reliable choice with great ability that makes your S units immortal. Orange is more powerful variant than Blue one – you need S army to benefit from ability and since the S army is immortal, you can place it in front of tower preventing any damage taken.

Construction Hut
Support structure. Decreases building construction time and cost. If you create any building except for Ice Barrier within its range and immediately destroy it – it already pays off by void power refund. Awesome when you create large defences or use expensive structures, however, requires a deck slot, so not always desired – always consider if the power refund is worth replacing other unit or spell that could be in your deck.

Ice Barrier
Support structure. Frost has no heal sources, and with Rapid Construction it allows your army to regenerate health between engagements. Nicely interacts with Home Soil, Ice Guardian, Lyrish Knight, White Rangers and Icefang Raptor.

 

Interesting Tier 1 Choices

Northguards
Melee attacker. The card itself is good, but you already have access to best S counters in the game, and when fighting M units Imperials are superior.

Glaciation Orange
Arcane. Wall defence spell. Very situational, and very powerful. Can be used together with Blue variant, for covering larger parts of wall. If you cast it fast enough, it makes walls almost immortal for duration, even when facing enemy XL units. Position archer squad near gate for aggro – cast Glaciation to cover both gate and archer part of wall. This will make enemies attack mentioned location and allow you to cast spell in right spot. Usually works as described.

Ice Shield Tower
Defence structure. Inferior statistics to previously mentioned towers, but has cheap ability that provides you with shield, and its attacks can shoot targets on move. Requires more attention to benefit from shield and is more situational than other towers. Decent in early game situations without wall, for example on Behind Enemy Lines.

 

 

Wazhai: You know enough. Now it’s time to organise it all together. Did you know you can secure most T2s with Master Archers only?

T1 chosen strategies

Spoiler
  1. Frost Mage spam can be enough to deal with most situations – Frost Mages in large numbers deal great damage and quickly erase enemies.
  2. Master Archer spam is powerful either – units have higher single-target damage and a bit lower overall damage dealt than Frost Mages. Useful if you are often sniping single targets in backline, like enemy spawners. My preferred choice. Works best with small support of:
  • Frost Mages for S knockback source.
  • Imperials for more M counter and durability.
  • Ice Guardians on maps with small distances to T2 and not strict timings.
  • Lightblades for distraction.
  • Spells like Frostbite versus key targets, or Wintertide.
  • Northern Keep’s ability.
  • Homesoil with Ice Barrier is a strong option at any point of game, if you have at least ~250-400 power bound in units or have to very quickly snipe a target.

      3. Any defence buildings built with Construction Hut and perhaps Warden’s Sigil when relevant – in non-wall situations.
      4. Master Archers on walls with Glaciation

 

Weakl1ngs: It’s time to introduce you into more advanced options Frost has. There are many interesting creatures and spells you could use at your advantage. And I will teach you to use Coldsnap. For some reason many Skylords like this part the most.

Tier 2 cards[2]

Spoiler

War Eagle
Air Attacker. Best T2 unit in game.[1] Frost T2 core. Awesome cost efficiency and a lot of something what Frost usually lacks – damage output. An incredibly beautiful and useful creature, I use it all the time. Create large pack of Eagles and destroy all who oppose you. Cannot shoot air, therefore support it with anti-air options. With Area Ice Shield, 3 War Eagles can destroy anti-air tower, making it great option on almost every map. Nicely scales to T3, making it worth summoning them in large numbers. Usually best when 4-10 are present.

Mountaineer
Ranged attacker. Has very powerful shield that triggers when unit is moving, and decent anti-structure damage. Is a good base for army, mainly used in non-pure Frost decks. If you use Ice Age, length of Mountaineer’s shield will be increased as well, meaning the ogre can continue attacking without fear of getting hit, and disables its “buggy” behaviour. Requires a lot of Attention.

Stormsinger
Ranged attacker. Decent stats for its cost and very powerful ability, that allow your non-anti air units destroy flying enemies. Green variant has Swift, allowing you dodge enemies and quickly move across a map, while Orange variant is slightly stronger in combat, with additional damage when using Gravity Surge. Excellent anti-air option.

White Rangers
Ranged attacker. Okay unit and M counter. Is a viable anti-air option, particularly versus enemy M targets, and with its ability can counter enemy units like Twilight Dancers. Particularly useful on walls and when is not facing Twilight Deathgliders. Viable anti-air option. Ability deals damage to enemy structures and can shoot across cliffs, even in some locations where Firedancer cannot reach.

Defenders
Ranged attacker. Okay unit and L counter. Very useful ability that prevents knockback, making unit really decent Deathglider counter. Particularly useful on walls. Viable anti-air option.

Lyrish Knight
Melee attacker. Okay unit when placed nearby friendly structure. Outclassed in almost every aspect by other units. Useful versus XLarge creatures.

Skyelf Templar
Air Support. Not a great anti-air for its cost and cannot attack ground. It’s ability is sometimes useful for repairing structures. Used mostly in decks with defensive structures.

Phalanx
Melee attacker. Okay S squad with a large HP pool. Good tank and best when fighting melee Large creatures. Can be used to fight enemy XL units as well. Ability stacks with Wintertide Orange and works well with Lightblades. Budget option.

Mountain Rowdy
Melee attacker. Okay unit with non-stacking area ability. Can be a solid tank with its ability. Purple variant has weak AOE damage versus all enemies within area, while Blue decreases damage taken by nearby friendly units, making Blue better option for usual combat. Requires Attention to use properly.

Icefang Raptor
Melee attacker. Has okay statistics and ability, however, at this point in game you do not need S counter. Blue variant is stronger because it’s more flexible. Almost not used.

Coldsnap
Spell. Awesome freeze source that affects air units. Useful when you want to focus down enemy buildings, defend from enemy attacks, or delay enemy attacks on your units while focusing down key targets. Decreases damage taken of targets by 50%. Works great with both Northstars, Shrine of Martyrs and Shatter Ice.

Area Ice Shield
Arcane. Good supporting magic that can increase survivability of your units. Can support air units without ground presence. Works great with War Eagles to help them destroy anti-air towers, and increases speed of Battleships.

Ice Age
Enchantment. Increases duration of existing shields, what means it requires specific prerequisites, and therefore is not common option. Green variant with over time restoration is more powerful variant and adds durability to your units, particularly useful on T2 and T3. Blue variant with instant restoration is enough to restore ~56% of Winter Witch’s shield making it viable help on T4. However, on T2 default shields are usually strong enough to fill your needs, making Ice Age rare option. Works best with Area Ice Shield, Winter Witch and Battleship, with many charges you can make it last for ~3 minutes, and with both variants you should be able to have shield indefinitely.

Cannon Tower
Defence structure. Reliable T2 choice with good cost efficiency. Knocksback S units, but cannot hit air.

Juice Tank
Support structure. Increases duration of nearby powerwells, Takes a lot of time to be useful. Awesome help on long maps with little power, like Treasure Fleet, Nightmare’s End, Bad Harvest, Blight.

Northstar
Support structure. Blue variant is powerful, thanks to  increase in duration of freeze effect and larger damage taken by frozen targets. It allows you to freeze enemies for 75% of time. Usually is good defence if enemy attacks are small thanks to its low cost and addition to larger fortifications. Damage increase to frozen targets works on all structures and units within range, allowing you to get bonus damage toward more further targets. Works on Cannon Tower and Worldbreaker Gun as well. Works well with Glyph of Frost, Frost Crystal, Coldsnap, Maelstrom and any high damage units or structures.

 

Interesting Tier 2 Choices

Viridya

Ranged support. Neutral card with passive health regen around her. Since Frost has no heal source, Viridya is a great asset to non-shield based decks. Scales nicely into T4 if you can ensure her safety. Works best with high HP units, since regen is based on percentage of maximum health.

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Gravity Surge
Spell. Air unit counter. Reusable every 20 seconds, and therefore limited to small amount of air targets. Purple variant lasts longer, but grants range damage immunity, while Blue works very similarly to Stormsinger’s surge. Not used widely because it is worse variant of Stormsinger’s ability.

Kobold Trick
Spell. Rarely useful powerful support spell. Cost efficiency is decent, however, in most cases you can use default repair ability on structures and not need the spell at all. Can be useful if you do not exactly know what enemy you will fight with and how large waves will be.

Frost Crystal
Defence structure. Provides free freeze source that works on nearby units and shoots air. It’s stats are similar to Defence Tower from T1, however the tower itself is smaller and easier fits in tight locations, allowing you to place more Frost Crystals than other towers in the same area.

 

Weakl1ngs: While War Eagle is a great option, it is not the only valid one. Personally I prefer Mountaineer and White Rangers. Review closely creatures I’ve shown you, there are a few interesting you may use.

T2 chosen strategies:

Spoiler
  1. Strong army based on War Eagles. As mentioned earlier, War Eagles are incredibly useful units and armies based on them are strong. Use provided flowchart to find out suitable combination:

obraz.thumb.png.5500eb448025b882350cc18a23fb1eac.png

       2. Defence with Construction Hut, Cannon Towers, Frost Crystals and Northstar.

       3. Defence with War Eagles, Coldsnap, Northstar.

       4. White Rangers defending with long-range ability near friendly structure, often on wall.

       5. Ground compositions based around Mountaineer.

 

 

Uro: Now you are allowed to use very powerful creatures, blah blah blah. This is the boring part. The only thing you actually need to know, is if your Avatars are facing enemy. That’s it. But I have to explain you in details anyway… ehh…

Tier 3 cards

Spoiler

Avatar of Frost
Melee attacker. Estimated statistics could be viewed as L 3850 / XL 4665 (shield over 20 seconds + 500HP). Awesome card with self-regeneration of 2500 shield every 12 seconds, making it immortal as long as enemy cannot breach shield. L counter attack type is very powerful at this stage of game and particularly useful versus Stonekin foes. Awesome T3 unit, flexible, powerful and reliable. If you add more of them, then enemy attacks will be splitted between Avatars, decreasing single target damage taken and ensuring that none shall fall. Be careful when fighting enemy XLarge units and remember that you can retreat to replenish shield and come back to keep fighting. Very expensive on marketplace, however the cost is justified via the sheer value of this card on the battlefield. Does not scale well to Tier 4 – hostile XLarge creatures you meet usually breach the shield quickly. Works best with Coldsnap to relief damage dealt by enemies, and Area Ice Shield in emergency situations when you predict that shield will be penetrated.

Northland Drake
Air attacker. Decent XLarge creatures counter. Blue variant’s Blizzard freezes your enemies, while Orange deals more damage to frozen targets. I find Orange Northland Drake an awesome XLarge creatures removal from the game, but it costs a lot of power. When casting Blizzard, Northland Drake may feel like melee unit – it is necessary to come close to enemy before using ability. It is possible to make ability have short length and therefore increasing single target damage dealt and maximise effect of ability. Have decent splash damage of mechanics similar to Frost Mages’, however, base attack is not strong. Works best with Northstars, Glyph of Frost, Coldsnap and melee units for diversion.

Core Dredge
Ranged attacker. Decent unit with splash damage and S knockback. Orange variant is useful at sniping enemy structures, while Blue deals increased damage at frozen targets, choice depends on preference. Blue affinity’s damage bonus to frozen units works also when Core Dredge is on move, and no knockback increases potential damage dealt this way. In my view affinities work okay with their relevant affinities of Northland Drakes.

Silverwind Lancers
Melee attacker. Good L counter with swift. Cheap cost allows summoning in large numbers. Is great when you want to support pushes when expecting strong resistance. Use together with Avatars of Frost to increase survivability of both.

Tremor
Melee attacker. Very good at sieging enemy structures and has high durability that allows tanking. They lack damage, so do not hesitate to support them with Homesoil + Ice Barrier.

Kobold Engineer
Melee support. Their main goal is to repair your damaged structures, and they are reliable at that. Control them properly to prevent them from engaging in melee combat. They are often blocked by buildings or walls to prevent movement at all. Works best with high HP structures like Worldbreaker Gun, Stronghold or Armored Tower.

Skyelf Sage
Air support. Ability increases damage dealt by affected structure by 110%. Awesome support to single, powerful structures. Statistics are okay, but usually you have better combat options. Works best with Stronghold and Worldbreaker Gun.

Ward of the North
Arcane. Decent supporting ability that increases survivability of your armies. Can support air units without ground presence. Usable on Tier 4.

Armored Tower
Defence structure. Has low damage compared to other factions, but a lot of HP and useful ability which decreases damage taken by nearby entities including walls by 50%, which is great to use on more far away towers for protection. Cheap and okay defence T3 choice, however, Cannon Tower is still competitive to it.

Shrine of Martyrs
Support structure. The only available to Frost Void Power manipulation tool. Very useful in spell and ability heavy decks. Works best with Coldsnap, Timeless One, Maelstrom and Battleships.

 

Interesting Tier 3 Choices

Timeless One
Ranged support. Has a very cheap and reliable freeze source. It’s a good card overall.

Shield Building
Arcane. Situational powerful defence spell. Best used in emergency on attacked structures, what do not happen pretty often since you want to have control over the battlefield.

Amii Ritual
Enchantment. Blue variant makes all friendly walls, powerwells and monuments immortal over duration, while Green provides 75% damage duration and 500 heal over time. Usually useless.

Retreating Circle
Spell. Very situational, because it uses a fixed teleportation location which is your monument. Sometimes can be useful to transfer your army across the map on Bad Harvest, or used to save dying army in rPvE or campaigns.

Frost Shard
Spell. Deals decent damage and can hit structures. Freezes total of 5 targets for 15 seconds, being more expensive and weaker than Coldsnap, therefore filling the freezing role in a worse way. It has high single target damage making it good at sniping dangerous enemy targets. Does not scale well to T4.

Stronghold
Defence structure. Double cost and double damage of Armored Tower. Needs a lot of space to be placed, therefore it is difficult to fit a few of them next to each other. Less reliable than Armored Tower.

 

 

Uro: Do you remember when I told you to use Avatars? There isn’t a lot of philosophy in it. Try Core Dredges if you want some fun.

T3 chosen strategies

Spoiler

Most of strategies fill the basic template of “strong frontline protecting backline”. Tremor, Silverwind Lancers and Avatar of Frost are excellent for frontlining and fill the same role, and I will refer to them later as “tank” units.

  1. Avatar of Frost and T2 units. Usually, T2 scales well into T3 and there is no need in replacing your old creatures. Use Avatar as tank to protect your T2 army and continue fighting.
  2. Avatar of Frost, Northland Drake Orange and Core Dredge Orange. This composition is usually enough to break through most of foes you will face. While Avatars destroy everything on their way, freeze enemy XLarge creatures with Coldsnap or Frost Shard and destroy them with Drake’s Blizzard. In the meantime, Core Dredge can attack enemy behind lines and destroy key structures. This composition is so strong, I usually use only Avatar of Frost and Northland Drake as my only T3 cards.
  3. Tank, Northland Drake Orange and Core Dredge Orange. Works very similarly to mentioned earlier composition, but without Avatar of Frost.
  4. Tank, Northland Drake Blue and Core Dredge Blue. Composition based around dealing damage to frozen enemies. Use Northland Drake Blue only as freeze source and let Core Dredge crush all your enemies.
  5. A lot of freezes, both Core Dredges, Northland Drake Orange. Do not let your enemies attack your units by freezing them and shatter them before they can break free. Use Northland Drake Orange as anti-XLarge option.
  6. Defence with mass Armored Towers and it’s ability. You usually setup base defence on T2, therefore any structures on T3 are just support. Remember to use Armored Tower’s ability, it’s useful.

 

 

Yshia: You have grown stronger and stronger in past months. Finally, you are worthy to see our most powerful magic and best creatures, including the famous Battleship. Learn carefully, and you will have suitable tools to change fate of the world.

Tier 4 cards

Spoiler

Battleship
Air attacker. Beautiful, magic-powered flying ship armed with 13 cannons and equipped with a pair of huge guns of destruction. Most durable air unit in game. If you consider Barrage’s single target damage, it has statistics L 5580 / XL 5520 for just 310 power. Awesome at sieging enemy positions. Use together with Winter Witch, Ice Age, Area Ice Shield and Shrine of Martyrs.

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Dreadnought
Melee attacker. Powerful XLarge counter with useful ability. Use the ability on one of Dreadnoughts mid-combat to significantly increase survivability of your army.

Ironclad
Ranged attacker. Most durable T4 Frost creature in game. Attack statistics are not impressive, however it is XLarge counter and therefore it is fine. The animation is short, making Ironclad reliable at running away and shooting, and quickly changing targets. The ability is not very useful.

Winter Witch
Ranged support. Has powerful AOE shielding ability that greatly helps your army in offensive. It is like Avatar’s shield for all your units. Very useful in general, and core for Battleship related decks.

Construct
Ranged attacker. It is slow, but do not get fooled by that. It's reliable damage output is overshadowed by it's impressive talent of knocking back up to XL unitsm, making Construct an extremely useful asset, particularly in defence, since it can destroy annoying long range enemies as well. There are Construct related decks, however, they usually consist shadow cards. Awesome on maps with short end-game distances like Soultree or Sunbridge.

Worldbreaker Gun
Defence structure. The name is very fitting, it’s truly a tool of destruction. Your foes shall fall one by one. It has range of 50 meters, making it capable of fighting most long-range units on equal terms, but sometimes can have a few meters not enough to trigger attack. Heavy Snowball mode allow it to decimate air units as well and can be successfully used in offence, you need more than one hit to destroy most XLarge creatures, though. Does not provide ground presence for itself. Use together with Skyelf Sage.

Ice Tornado
Spell. Very good magic to deal with slow and not mobile targets, like enemy structures, frozen foes, bosses or Bandit Walkers. Awesome at neutralising enemy artillery or Twilight Willzappers. Good damage over time.

Maelstorm
Spell. Okay damage over time versus three targets and huge freeze source. 2000 single target and 6000 damage total over 10 seconds. Being within its range for 5 seconds is enough to freeze a unit. While ability deals 600 damage total per tick, it freezes all targets within its radius. Therefore, consider it more as massive freeze after delay, rather than damage source. Does not work very well if you have aggressive allies, since freeze decrease damage taken by enemies.Use together with Shatter Ice.

Shatter Ice
Spell. It requires a prerequisite in a form of freezing source. However, it provides you with burst damage which is very rare among Frost cards and can deal a lot of damage to enemy single targets or erase small waves of enemies. Reliable addition of damage output to your deck.

 

Interesting Tier 4 Choices

Skyelf Commando
Air support. Decreases damage taken by friendly structure by 90%, making it almost immortal as long as you can defend the skyelf. Can be used together with Skyelf Templar on structures like Ice Barrier, Stronghold or Worldbreaker Guns to ensure their survival.

Tempest

Ranged attacker. Has long range of 50 meters and deals decent damage to frozen targets. Not popular since it must compete with XLarge creatures, and is less effective. M counter is not necessary on T4 either. Damage versus frozen targets is currently not working correctly. Best use with Maelstrom and Coldsnap.

Kobold Inc.

Support structure. Can be used for quick deployment of slowly building structures or many structures at same time. Use the ability, then create Construction Hut and then construct desired structure, for example Worldbreaker Gun.

 

 

Yshia: After this part you will know everything you need to proceed as a true Frost Skylord. Brace yourself, for today your training is coming to the end. I am proud I could guide you on your last steps. It was a pleasure.

T4 chosen strategies

Spoiler

In all factions the main T4 strategies are centered around non-slow XL units. You should use some form of sustainability for your army so that it can keep going. This includes: Dreadnoughts ability, Healing nearby Ice Barrier between combats, Winter Witch’s shield and Viridya’s heal over time. All of them have their own pros and cons, but overall waiting near Ice Barrier is the worst option in terms of in-game time. You can support with Ward of the North as well. Homesoil and Ice Barrier are still viable at this stage, particularly when you use a lot of Ironclads, which have low base damage but can easily switch between targets and benefit a lot from the buff.

  1. Battleship with void management. Use Battleships, Winter Witch, Ice Age, Shrine of Martyrs and all spells you can get. Use Battleship’s Barrage to decimate enemies, Ice Age to keep shield up all the time and Shrine of Martyrs to restore all void power. Together with Shatter Ice and Tornado, you will have a very effective combination. Can be supported by Dreadnoughts and Ironclads. This is the most attention heavy composition of all mentioned here, but at the same time a very rewarding and effective strategy.
  2. Any other combination can be supported by Winter Witch, Ice Age and Shrine of Martyrs. However, it is crucial for a Battleship deck, since a long lasting shield is a must have.
  3. Ironclad spam. If you add Ironclads of both affinities to your deck, you can easily create large army of Ironclads. Support with relevant spells.
  4. Dreadnoughts and Ironclads. Balanced composition that deals okay with XL enemies. Use Dreadnought’s ability for better survivability. Support with relevant spells.
  5. Mix of all above. Rich unit composition can be very flexible, feel free to experiment on your own or do something new.
  6. Worldbreaker Guns offence. Addition to one of mentioned earlier strategy. 1-2 Worldbreaker Guns in Heavy Snowball mode are viable and powerful support on both rPvE and chosen Campaign maps, therefore it is a bit situational. Support with Skyelf Sage for efficiency.
  7. Worldbreaker Guns defence. The guns anihilate attacking enemies and are immortal, if have support of Skyelf Sages and Commanders. Worldbreaker Guns in mortal mode can destroy air targets as well.

 

 

Dallarian: You have completed your training. There is one last aspect. You must now choose your path as a Skylord. Which one will you follow?

Path of Wind
You are like arctic wind, frosty and piercing through your foes. If you are a Skylord in the very meaning of the word. If your armies are free and up in sky, including War Eagles, Northland Drakes and Battleship, the path is for you to take.

Path of Shield
No troops under your command fear death, for you are their angel, protecting them from all harm. Whether it’s Ice Guardian, Area Ice Shield, Ward of the North or Dreadnought, your armies are always safe while crushing your opponents.

Path of Crystal
The only who will need protection, is your foe, for your creatures are most durable beings in the whole Nyn. If your army consist of high durable units, like Lightblades, Tremors and Ironclads, none shall shatter your armor.

Path of Aurora
Both your past and future are a mystery to me. I will observe your career with a great interest. Choose this path if you cannot decide on none of the above.

Please answer in provided poll with relevant path, it allows me to keep track of how useful the thread is and encourages more content in the future. It is purely Roleplay choice and does not influence the gameplay, choose what is closest to your heart, not what you actually play.

Dallarian: I see. Interesting choice. Anah’shar laje’ura. Accept may blessing and good luck on your new path of life.

As Dallarian tells his weird words, you feel chills going through your body. When they end, you are even stronger, and feel like the whole world was on your doorstep.

 

Decks and approaches

rPvE Offence

Spoiler

My rPvE 10 deck:

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You don’t need any defence, but Kobold Trick may be useful to secure yours or your allies power wells, to avoid being delayed. Ice Guardian is in case I had difficulties fighting Lost Souls. Else, the deck is a general Battleship deck with Ironclad’s and Dreadnought’s support. Utilise Stormsinger Orange affinity to maximise damage dealt.

 

rPvE Defence

Spoiler

Work in progress

 

Custom maps / unknown map

Spoiler

You do not know what you will face, so you need to focus on flexibility over strength and approach the map carefully. Get everything what may be useful, including defence and perhaps Juice Tank. Your deck do not have to be strongest, it must be reliable instead.

Example of such deck:

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Frost Crystal and Northstar for defence. Frostbite for focusing strong enemies on T1 and T3. Silverwind Lancers as support on T3 pushes, Juice Tank for long maps and strong T4 units with flexible spells.

 

PvE Campaign

Spoiler

Knowledge of the map you are able to play will allow you to predict whether you need defence or not, and what cards will be useful, allowing you to polish your decks to maximise efficiency. It is therefore a given that decks change from map to map.

Two examples of general PvE decks:

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Almost full library of Expert pure Frost decks is available in relevant sections here.

 

 

Uro: Ssssh. Come with me.
You follow Uro into one of less used corridors.

Uro: Good, here nobody will hear us. Did you know Togob is hiding many things from you? There is a whole range of possibilities within our grasp, but he will never admit it! Let me show you.

Heresy – non pure decks

Spoiler

Nature (non-Stonekin)

One Nature orb gives you Regrowth and Revenge, which is superior to Ward of the North. You can also add Thunderstorm for more damage. I do not see a greater sense to go for two nature orbs for purely nature cards only.

Shadow (excluding Lost Souls)

One Shadow orb gives you all strong shadow buffs and offering. Offering can be used on Winter Witch. If you have two shadow orbs, you will have access to strongest shadow spells, Overlord and Grim Bahir, while keeping access to freezes, Winter Witch, Ice Tornado and Battleship.

Fire

One Fire orb does not give much, only Earthshaker. Going two Fire orbs gives you access to L counter Fire Worm, and Cluster explosion, which is great, while leaving you with Winter Witch and Battleship.

 

Supporting materials

Additional notes on game mechanics

Spoiler

Increased damage dealt to frozen targets
All frozen targets take only 50% damage. Effects like Northstar or Core Dredge Blue increase damage dealt by 50% toward frozen targets. It means, that Core Dredge Orange deals 50% damage versus frozen target, while Core Dredge Blue deals 150% of its base damage.[3] Northstar works on all nearby targets including structures. It allows Worldbreaker gun to benefit from the buff even if shooting at target 150 meters away in Heavy Snowball mode.

War Eagles killing anti air towers
3-4 War Eagles can easily destroy anti-air towers and enemy ground units with support of Area Ice Shield, and then nullify everything what is on the ground. Hence War Eagles’ strength.

Ice Barrier healing Dreadnought on skill
Dreadnought with ability enabled is not considered in combat and therefore benefits from health regen near structures. Non-combat state is conserved if Dreadnought is receiving damage from the ability, as long as he is not directly attacked.

Stacking of defense effects
Protection effects stack up to 90% damage protection, meaning it cannot be any higher. There is no point in combining both Ward of the North and Dreadnought, as long as you are not aiming at protection of Dreadnought; or to use both Glaciation and Skyelf Commander on a structure.[3]

Long range units and structures
Even if I can assume all long-ranged units have range of 50 meters, in fact they do not match themselves.

Construct and M units like Firedancer and Fire Stalker have equal range. Construct outranges Worldbreaker Gun. Worldbreaker Gun and M units have equal range. All mentioned outrange L creatures like Tempest. It is a matter of probably a few in-game centimeters resulting from size of hitboxes between units.

 

Glossary of terms

Spoiler

Air – a unit that flies, can fly over ground obstacles and different terrain and has ranged attack. Cannot be attacked by melee units other than XL creatures.

Melee - a unit that attacks with an extremely short distance, considered hand-to-hand. Most XL melee units can attack air units, however a few are exceptions.

Ranged - a unit that is able to attack it’s enemies from distance. Usually have lower stats than melee units to compensate.

Attacker - unit that has strong combat stats and is suitable for fighting in large numbers.

Support – unit that is useful in small numbers thanks to its useful abilities. Usually has low damage output and not capable of fighting.

AOE – area of effect ability, usually in shape of circle, influences all entities within its radius.

Arcane – magic that can be cast anywhere on a map, usually with area effect. Can support air units without ground presence.

Enchantment – magic which can be casted anywhere on the map and influences whole battlefield without range limitations.

Spell – magic that can be casted only if nearby its target exists an ally unit or structure

Defence structure – a building that is suitable for defending an area thanks to its attack. Do not mistake with Defence Tower, Frost T1 structure.

Support structure – a building that influence battlefield, sometimes globally, by passive or active effects.

Long ranged – a unit that is able to attack it’s enemies from very large distance, usually of 50 in-game meters, outranging most of units, effects and towers in game.

Macro – management of whole map, including, but not limited to map awareness, resource expansion, unit production. Negligible part of Battleforge game.

Micro –  management of single units and armies. Good micro means you can get more value out of unit by sacrificing your attention, than from a not controlled unit. More value means greater survivability, higher damage output and control over enemy’s behaviour.

Overkill – situation when certain enemy unit takes more damage than have hit points, therefore wasting all exciding damage points. Should be avoided when possible.

Power – energy you use to use cards and abilities, obtained from Power Wells at rate of 0.5 power per second; or obtained from void power.

The Old God of Battleships – in short “Togob”. Self-proclaimed Dallarian’s title based on “Among the Old Gods” achievement’s roleplay value.

Tier - technological measurement of your army or a card, which translates to the necessary amount of monuments/orbs that are required to use it. T1 being the lowest and T4 being the highest. Generally, higher tier cards tend to be more powerful and cost effective.

Void – different dimension in Battleforge lore, which allow energy transfers.

Void power – power which is stored in void, slowly returns to your power pool.

 

 

See also:

“Expert Campaign – Missions Briefing – Among the Old Gods Achievement” by @Dallarian for Expert maps guidance and almost complete library of pure Frost PvE decks.
 

"Guide Navigation" by @Eirias . If there is any relevant guide on topic you are looking for, you will find it here.
 

Frost T1 PvP Guide by RadicalX by @RadicalX . Awesome source of knowledge for T1 Frost opening, by currently best PvP player.
 

Battleforge undocumented details by @Emmaerzeh. Information about buffs, stacking and more.

card attributes & main card types by @Ilsyde. Beginner guide.

interface and game mechanics guide by @Ilsyde. Beginner guide.

 

References:

  1. RadicalX. Frost T1 PvP Guide by RadicalX. 2017; Available at: https://forum.skylords.eu/index.php?/topic/2823-frost-t1-pvp-guide-by-radicalx/ (Accessed 10 January 2021)
  2. PvP changes are considered, that may influence abilities, counter types and statistics. The thread is up to date on patch #400025.
  3. {GM} Emmaerzeh, Battleforge undocumented details, 2020. Available at: https://forum.skylords.eu/index.php?/topic/6669-battleforge-undocumented-details/
    (Accessed 15 February 2021)

 

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Hey, very cool guide once again :) 


Some feedback: I wouldnt say void power "very slowly" refunds power. For every 50 power in void, thats an additional 1 power per 2 seconds.. Thats as much as an extra power well.

"Due to the rigid aspect of Battleforge mechanics, micromanagement can have often produce
a neutral or negative result, therefore there is no point in microing all the time." Not really sure I understand this statement. It might be good to elaborate what you mean with "rigid aspect" and how it(microing) can have a "negative effect".

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