CHEAP Pure-Fire Deck

[Cocofang]

Foreword

Content:

1. Cost
2. Tier progression
3. Alternative Cards to use
4. Upgrade priorities
5. My other Guides

This guide aims to put together a pure fire deck on a reasonable budget.
As always in Skylords, any suggestion is merely that. It’s all about experimenting. If you don’t like something, just change it!

Want to give something a try? Just slot it in!
Pulled an interesting card that you want to see in action? Build a deck around it, make it work!
Struggle with a specific map? Try different cards, there might be more suitable for different situations.
Create something else entirely from the ground up? The card pool is your oyster.

With that being said my goals here are:

• Focus on cards of mostly lower rarity
• Use cheap cards
• Introduce cards (in the deck itself or as alternatives) that have at least some interesting synergies and are more involved
• Be flexible, so many cards can be changed
• Be a generalist, usable in both rPvE and cPvE

Cost

The estimated total to get at least one copy of each card should be no more than 800 BFP, which is achievable within a mere two days of play. Here are some tips on how to get there easily. To get to a more comfortable level of play, which means a few good charge upgrades, you are probably looking at roughly 1100 BFP investment. It's also a good idea to immediately invest some gold on high value upgrades. Commons are very cheap to upgrade and should be done so right away. Uncommons are also not that expensive.

AH (Auction House) prices seem to be pretty consistent, if big outliers appear they usually settle again after a few days.

Playing rPvE 9 is possible without any upgrades at all but lacking charges and upgrades can make it a bit tight and I wouldn't necessarily advise it. Especially the harder enemy types and map layouts will be a big challenge and probably not always work out. It's better to stick to solo until you got a good feeling for the deck. No shame in playing a few low difficulty maps and then work your way up.

You will notice my use of singular letters next to card names, which are referring to the cards affinity. G = Green, P = Purple, B = Blue, R = Red. Cards with affinities have two different versions and they vary in effect, depending on their affinity. Affinities are represented by a small dot on the card in their respective color. They have nothing to do with what Orbs you need to play that card though.

Here is the deck:

Rough price chart:

• Strikers 80
• Sunstriders 10 (starter card)
• Fire Stalker 10 (starter card)
• Skyfire Drake 50
• Magma Hurler1 15 (starter card)
• Emberstrike 10
• Batariel P 150
• Blaster Cannon R 15
• Morklay Trap 10
• Pyromaniac R 35
• Shrine of War 160
• Tower of Flames 30
• Eruption 15 (starter card)
• Fire Force B 10
• Lava Field 10 (starter card)
• Unity G 20 (starter card)
• Dying Breed P 30
• Aura of Pain 30
• Bloodthirst 70
• Fire Sphere 15 (starter card)

So minus starter cards it totals roughly 700 BFP. Even less if you take the time to ask people in trade chat. A bit more if you buy during price spikes in the AH. Use SMJ to check if the price is currently favorable or if you would rather want to wait for it to be lower.

Tier progression

Tier 1

The backbone of this T1 is Strikers. You have to summon four of them at the very least so their passive activates. Which is quite the power investment early on but it is well worth it. They become extremely durable fighters. With additional micro, you can pull individual squads back so that others can use their powerful Charge one after another. This is especially strong against buildings.

Sunstriders also handle buildings well, in addition to airborne targets. It can also be a good idea to have one squad ready to suppress buildings and finish off S squads.

The T1 building slot is flexible. Against powerful flyers Blaster Cannon R will do wonders.

Eruption is as straight forward as it is versatile. It will help a lot against airborne units, can be used in quick succession to destroy high priority buildings, such as enemy spawns, and disrupt combat. Or quickly finish off an important target that’s barely hanging on.

Tier 2

Strikers scale well into T2 thanks to Fire Force B. They become even tankier, gaining more value from their shared health and regeneration. Don't be afraid to keep using them. The more you have, the better they get.

While they fight in melee combat Fire Stalkers boast respectable L bonus damage. Switched to Unstable Ember they can be used as artillery pieces and disrupt combat with S knockback. Use them to destroy buildings from afar and lure enemies out to fight them in the open. Despite having a ranged mode, they always count as melee, so they benefit from Fire Force as well!

Skyfire Drake is very fragile but deals devastating damage. Use their high mobility to keep them out of danger and hit the enemy where it hurts.

With Pyromaniac R you get a surprisingly deadly tower. Although it cannot hit airborne targets it melts through multiple units at once. If you expect a lot of dangerous airborne enemies you can use B instead. A very versatile card is Morklay Trap. You can build it offensively and lure enemies into it, dealing massive damage before the fight even begins. Defensively, it can quickly dispatch attackers or weaken them enough so you can clean them up.

Lava Field is expensive, so use it wisely. It can give you some time to breath by knocking back S and M units.

Tier 3

Skyfire Drakes can still be of help because of their high mobility. Hardly in direct confrontations through.

Magma Hurler is the sole star of the show. Summon as many as you can and focus fire anything dangerous.

If you are in need for defense then Tower of Flames can lock down areas but it needs extra attention. Uncharacteristically for a fire card it doesn't deal that much damage but it is rather sturdy. Volcanic Ground has to be used in order to make the most of it. One of the most important cards that you won't easily get around is Shrine of War. It recycles your void energy on enemy death, which is necessary so you can keep using spells and abilities.

Unity. G has a decent healing attached to it. Use it on your Magma Hurlers to turn them into a deathball. With Dying Breed P you can drastically accelerate your power economy.

Aura of Pain is some additional damage that can either be cast on your Magma Hurlers to make enemies that come too close take additional damage. Or you cast it on a tanky enemy so it burns itself and its allies. It also stacks! So if you want to ramp up the damage in extended fights cast it multiple times.

Tier 4

You can keep your Magma Hurlers around unless you have enough charges on your other T4 units.

Speaking of which, we have Batariel P here. Its aura makes enemy entities take a whole lot more damage from all sources. Its active ability can be used to initiate combat to immediately fire it up. It makes damage spells absolutely devastating.

Emberstrike puts some extra meat on the field. They can be summoned mid-combat to deal damage and fight at full power right away. Fire Lance hits airborne too and if you cast multiple ones in quick succession, it deals a lot of damage. The damage gets of coursed increased by Batariels aura.

Fire Sphere has a delay but anything that remains in its explosion will suffer massive damage.

An extremely important spell is Bloodthirst as it lets your units heal up during combat. Ideally, you want to cast Fire Force B on a Batariel, link your army together with Unity and then heal it with Bloodthirst. Keep the unit limit for these spells in mind though. Dying Breed will continue to provide you with lots of energy. And Aura of Pain also gets stronger through Batariels aura.

Alternative Cards to use

With each Tier explained, let's look at some alternatives, upgrades or additions.

Rough price chart:
Very cheap - <20
Cheap - <50
Moderate - <150
Expensive - <250
Very expensive - <600
Top end - 600+

Tier 1 Options

Sunderer – The only T1 L unit in the game and very beefy for a fire unit. Can destroy buildings with ease. Expensive to very expensive.

Firesworn R - They deal massive damage against L targets and transition well into T2. Moderate to expensive.

Nomad G – Very versatile with sustain, anti air capabilities and fast. Very Cheap.

Makeshift Tower – Low damage output but its S knockback can buy a lot of time early on. Its Accelerated Construction can even make it useful offensively. Cheap.

Mine – The iconic and ridiculously strong fire opener. It has ludicrous damage potential with up to 3600. Top end.

Tier 2 Options

Gladiatrix G – Strong and agile with good utility. Moderate to expensive.

Firedancer – Artillery range and extremely high damage to buildings. Top end.

Ravage – Can help keeping a Skyfire Drake or Magma Hurler from dying. Very cheap.

Disenchant P/G – Counteract disabling effects on your units, which is especially important in fire because most units don’t have a lot of health and can therefore die quickly if they are unable to retaliate. Very expensive to top end.

Wildfire – Less versatile than Lava Field but when several enemies are close together it can easily melt through an army. Especially strong when many enemies are wailing on a wall or are bunched up fighting your frontline. Moderate to expensive.

Viridya – Passive healing for your army. But makes you feel dirty for diluting your pure fire deck. Careful here, though! Using a Neutral card will disqualify the deck from fulfilling tasks that require you to use only fire cards! Expensive to very expensive.

Tier 3 Options

Vulcan – Very strong AoE clear but cannot hit air. Cheap.

Juggernaut – Another iconic card that can devastate buildings and packs a punch. Expensive to very expensive.

Spitfire – Has relatively low damage and life but is very versatile. The only airborne unit with artillery range and siege. Very expensive to top end.

Inferno – A huge energy investment for devastating effect. Needs to be used together with Shrine of War. Expensive to very expensive.

Tier 4 Options

Boom Brothers – A very involved and surprisingly powerful playstyle but it relies on fast void return with Shrine of War. The active ability is incredibly strong and with their damage bonus, they tear through any XL enemy, making them helpless with their knockback to boot. Cheap.

Fire Dragon – Ramping damage that melts tough enemies. Benefits a lot from Batariel P aura. Cheap to moderate.

Moloch – Slow but close to immortal. A good combination with Unity. Expensive.

Magma Fiend – If you are already going slow with Moloch, why not commit further? Moderate.

Volcano G/R – If you are looking to fortify one position, this card can get the job done. Can deal a lot of damage but will take some in return. Expensive.

Earthshaker – An extremely useful card. It has good CC against units but most importantly destroys buildings quickly. Expensive to very expensive.

Cluster Explosion – Stupidly powerful spell that can destroy clumped up enemies on its own. Very expensive to top end.

Upgrade priorities

Some advice on what to invest in once you start gathering Gold for card upgrades and BFP for more charges. If you have some excess gold, it's a good idea to invest some into vital upgrades right away. It's very cheap to upgrade Commons To U2 and Uncommons to U1.

Vital upgrades AND charges
Skyfire Drake - More life and lower energy cost makes this card much more forgiving.
Strikers - They need all the tankiness they can get. And damage benefits their Charge ability as well.
Magma Hurler - As the only T3 unit, these should be as strong as possible. They only gain some life, but that's very good when combined with Unity.
Eruption - As a bread and butter spell, this needs to deal as much damage as possible. And the reduced cost adds up quickly if you cast it a lot.
Unity G/B - Longer duration and lower cost makes this much easier to juggle.
Bloodthirst - Your most powerful heal should do its job often and properly.

Good upgrades
Sunstriders - They will always be squishy but their damage gets rather good.
Emberstrike - Its gains a lot of health, which is important for Unity.
Lava Field - More bang for your buck.
Morklay Trap - When you use it, you want it to count.
Tower of Flames - Additional bulk and stronger ability will help if you find yourself using it a lot.

Good charges
Batariel P - More damage means its aura will proc and ramp up faster. You mostly want the extra charges here.
Dying Breed P - Being able to cast it a couple of times will drastically boost your power economy.

My other Guides

HOW TO: PvE Deckbuilding Guide - If you are unsure how to start building your own decks and what to consider.
CHEAP and powerful BEGINNER Deck - If you are rather interested in a very cheap and flexible mixed deck.
CHEAP Pure-Shadow Deck - If you are rather interested in a cheap and flexible shadow deck.

Budget Fire rPvE9.pmv

[Dallarian]

That is lower unit count than I am used to, however, double unity sounds interesting.

I guess I should finally check what Bloodthirst does.

[Cocofang]

Of course the extra Unity can be replaced with something else but since they both stack and the G is very good on T3, while B is generally superior on T4 using both can be justified. Especially if the goal is to make the deck a bit more forgiving.

Before someone gets a few upgrades and charges going on their units, it can indeed be valuable to add some more to the deck to have something to fall back on if charges get depleted. My first candidates to replace would be Fire Sphere, Inferno and possibly Comet Catcher.

A cheap unit to fill the gaps could then be Thugs if you want even more prowess on T1.

On T2 it depends. Gladiatrix G for more ranged damage. Enforcer and Scythe Fiends if a beefier frontline is needed.

T3 either Vulcan for AoE damage or Sun Reaver as an inexpensive frontline.

On T4 the already mentioned Boom Brothers or Emberstrike. If their abilities are used more conservatively, then energy shouldn't be an issue.

[JarodDempsey]

my game says your replay is broken due to update

[Cocofang]

Hm, that's unfortunate. I recorded it on the test server because I wanted to do a run without upgrades, so that's most likely why. Won't do a blank run on live since I would have to downgrade all cards, which would waste a lot of gold.

The replay should work on the current iteration on the test server though!

Edited November 2, 2021 by Cocofang

[Kapo]

55 minutes ago, Cocofang said:

Hm, that's unfortunate. I recorded it on the test server because I wanted to do a run without upgrades, so that's most likely why. Won't do a blank run on live since I would have to downgrade all cards, which would waste a lot of gold.

The replay should work on the current iteration on the test server though!

What you could do is a run with upgrades - I think seeing the playstyle is more important then if its upgraded or not

Awesome Tutorial, as always from the mighty Cocofang 😃

Edited November 2, 2021 by Kapo

[Cocofang]

Updated in light of the new Fire Season.

[This Is Halloween_2]

5 hours ago, Cocofang said:

Updated in light of the new Fire Season.

I would probably replace SoW by wildfire if you already have dying breed.

At T2, strikers are there to act as meatshield while stalkers, gladiatrix or skyfire drake do the dps.

[Cocofang]

I think a fire deck without SoW is really prone to bricking. Dying Breed is unreliable, especially when combined with spell usage, which can end up killing enemies instead of the buffed unit, granting you no power. With just passive void return you run the risk of not having power available for Unity plus Bloodthirst plus some damage to reduce incoming attacks, which can cost you your entire army.

You simply can run into a really bad time if you don't have constant void return.

[Majora]

For those unaware, you can see average prices for cards on https://smj.cards/

This could help you decide if you feel a fair price is being asked for a card on the AH.