FireLock

[Borg]

This is my updated Adramelech Warlock build.

Originally this was a pure aggro firethrower build looking to finish the game in as few as possible rounds but it has evolved over time to being able to be played as a DOT build as well, so that probably qualifies the book as a "midrange" spellbook now.

I find that I usually try to incorporate a possible aggressive opening in my spellbooks, just so I have that option should the situation be fit for it but I don't want that to be my only strategy. I often consider it too risky so I need something more solid to fall back onto.

I think I've managed that with this build.

I can still open with Akiro's Favor and Hawkeye and double Fireball something on R2 but I might just as well go Battle Forge + Mana Crystal on R1 when going up vs a 10-channeling mage for example and take a more cautious approach, playing patiently and mana conserving to set up my Fireballs/Flameblasts to be fired at the right time.

I've just recently trimmed down my assortment of Curses to leave just the essential ones and incorporated an Ignite strategy which allows me to play a damage-over-time strategy as well.
Ignites are very cheap ( 2 mana ) allowing me to conserve mana for the fire spells and their damage can really mound up over the rounds with Adramelech's Touch in play.

As long as there's an enemy creature in the enemy mage's zone I can target that Creature with the Ignite, followed by the Warlocks Fireweaving ability to move the burn token onto the enemy Mage.
When facing a solo mage I can cast a Darfenne Bat to Ignite and move the burn marker off.
The Bat's potential to put Rots on the enemy mage is extra DOT potential.

Bottomline : the DOT strategy is to be used to force the opposing mage's hand and to set up openings to fire the Fireballs/Flameblasts.

As always, reactions and input are welcome.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]FireLock[/spellbookname]
[mage]Adramelech Warlock[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1a06]6 x  Flameblast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a04]4 x  Fireball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]2 x  Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a12]1 x  Ring of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA02]1 x  Hurl Rock[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j04]1 x  Battle Forge[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j12]1 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j22]1 x  Tanglevine[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNW02]1 x  Wall of Bones[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j19]1 x  Deathlock[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j16]1 x  Mordok's Obelisk[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c08]1 x  Darkfenne Bat[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e14]3 x  Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]3 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE01]2 x  Adramelech's Touch[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]2 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e21]1 x  Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE07]1 x  Rust[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]1 x  Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]1 x  Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q10]1 x  Fireshaper Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q28]1 x  Ring of Curses[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q16]1 x  Leather Gloves[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q15]1 x  Leather Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]1 x  Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x  Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ09]1 x  Wand of Healing[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x  Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q23]1 x  Regrowth Belt[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI05]6 x  Ignite[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]3 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI03]3 x  Disarm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i24]1 x  Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]2 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]1 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI08]1 x  Sniper Shot[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

[SharkBait]

I actually really like this book since the DoT is something I've been toying with in mine as a back up plan as well. A few questions/comments:

1.My experience is that sometimes fireproof objects can be a pain, so having a hurl rock or boulder as a back up plan can help a lot. Ideally, ignoring them would be best, but sometimes you have to deal with one.

2. I find wall of fire to be much less useful than wall of bones. WoBones is pretty tough, only costs 1 sbp, and can't be passed through (which is my real favorite reason for it over the WoFire)

3. I really like the idea of using the bats, how successful have they been for you? Do they end up really contributing?

4. Why not include any Ghoul Rot or Plagued if you're going to DoT them?

5. Have you ever used all 6 ignites? Ignite is something I find myself constantly adjusting how many I take.


Overall, I love the book.

[Borg]

Hi SharkBait,

Thanks for your comments/Questions.
I'll try to cover them all as good as possible.

The advantages that I see in the Ignites :

1. They are very cheap at just two mana, thus allowing you to conserve/build up mana for your Fireballs/Flameblasts later on.

2. They are a nice counter to mages using Intercept creatures to protect them against your ranged spells. Now you can just Ignite their Interceptor and Fireweave the Burn token onto the enemy Mage.

3. Similar to 2. Any time the enemy Mage summons a creature or has one or more creatures in his zone at the end of the round is an opportunity for you to play Ignite the following round ( certainly if you have initiative ).

4. You can play Ignite on your own Creature(s) and then Fireweave the Burn token onto the enemy Mage.
Obviously the Bat is only intended to be used vs solo mages or non-flying buddy mages.
This worked as planned yesterday when playing against a solo forcemaster.
The Forcemaster's actions are so premium he is hardly going to waste an action on something as trivial as a 5 Mana, 2 dice Flying Bat.
I was able to put 3 Burns on the FM through the Bat.
The Rot counter it put on the FM was just insult to injury.
At just 1 sbp, the Bat deserved its roster spot.

5. They are a cheaper alternative to Ghoul Rot and Plague.
I understand the suggestion to use those Curses, especially Ghoul Rot as that damage adds up quickly ( I had GR in there in the previous version, don't have Plague ) but I took them out because :

a. Ghoul Rot costs 8/7-with-ring and for that mana cost I just rather play a 9 dice Fireball.

b. Burn markers are more difficult to remove than an enchantment and can be stickied on the mage with the help of an Adramalech's Touch.
Since we're going to put at least one curse on the enemy mage anyway to trigger her Smoldering Curse ability, I find Adramelech's Touch to be the nr 1 choice for this job because imo it is the curse that gives the enemy the hardest choice on whether to dispel it or not because if he does it may in the end prove to be a wasted action and mana as the removal of the Touch does not make any difference as long as you roll damage for your burns during upkeep.

c. I prefer to put no more than 1 or 2 curses at a time on the enemy mage so I don't draw a Purge Magic.

6. Ignite offers you a "midrange" playing mode besides just aggro, and thus provides you with more time/actions within which you can still reasonably be victorious.
When playing her yesterday I really felt more comfortable, feeling like I had time on my side and I didn't necessarily had to take risks to get my shots in but rather could "wait" for the right situations to arise while the Burns chewed away.

7. And obviously the DoT puts the enemy on a clock and will either force him to come to you rather than you always having to go to him ( or he will have to take actions to get rid of the Burn tokens ).

Have you ever used all 6 ignites? Ignite is something I find myself constantly adjusting how many I take.

As already mentioned these were my first three games with the Ignites included and I did use 4 of them against the FM.

At this point I keep 6 as I'm not sure if going less and maybe sticking one on the Mage Wand is a good idea.

I find wall of fire to be much less useful than wall of bones. WoBones is pretty tough, only costs 1 sbp, and can't be passed through (which is my real favorite reason for it over the WoFire)

Agree.
I found no use for the WoFire in those 3 games and I cut it.

My experience is that sometimes fireproof objects can be a pain, so having a hurl rock or boulder as a back up plan can help a lot. Ideally, ignoring them would be best, but sometimes you have to deal with one.

I haven't run into anything fireproof yet but I see your point and like your suggestion.
Overall, just like with any other object besides the enemy mage I ( would ) try to ignore them or work around them in the cheapest possible way ( Enfeeble, Agony, Cloak, movement ) if possible.

Finally, back to the three games played yesterday.
First game was against a Zombie Necromancer ( loss )
Second against a solo Forcemaster. ( win )
Third a rematch against the Zombie Necromancer ( win )

- I tried the Ignite approach in game 1 but as soon as Cloak of Shadows came online it became clear that this object is a serious hurdle. It turned out you can Ignite the creature that was deployed alright but you still need to be within Obscured range to Fireweave the Burn token to the Necromancer.
- I went aggro in the rematch and was able to finish the game with a bang :
Necromancer had 13 life left but I was 3 zones away and in the same zone as 2 Brutes and a Venomous zombie.
I figured there was a Tanglevine coming, so I put my Mage Wand on the Forge ( Teleport ) and prepared a Flameblast. And so it happened. On my turn ( after taking a hit from a Brute ) I Teleported free one zone, then moved adjacent and rolled 11 damage & 2 Burns on a 6 dice Flameblast.
I couldn't believe what was happening as I'm a veteran-below-average-dice-roller.
Necomancer had 2 life left and the 2 Burns did him in during next round's upkeep.

As already mentioned, the FM matchup went completely as drawn up and didn't take very long.
I summoned the Bat in R2 and put like 4 burns and a Rot on the Enfeebled, Touched FM, gave him a Flameblast early and it went downhill pretty fast. He played a geyser to remove 4 Burn tokens but it was more of the same immediately after.

Lessons learned :
- stop Ignite approach as soon as Cloak of Shadows appears.
- since you have to get into range 1 anyway with a Cloak you better use a "bombs away" approach from that point onwards instead of the Ignites.
- mobility is key for the Warlock and being hindered ( Zombie Brutes ) makes you burn Teleport and Force Push to get to safer places, so I was looking at Mongoose Agility as a potential solution to some safety problems.
- Seeing the Necromancer bring out zombie after zombie, I guess it's not a bad idea to include Mordok's Obelisk.
- Suppression Orb might be a good card as well of course but is less impactful than the Obelisk because non-moving and teleporting creatures can work around it, so I'll not include the Orb.
- Tainted condition counters hurt ( as do all condition counters really : ) so I think 3 sbp's for a Healing Wand is worth it.

I changed 17sbp's and put the updated book in my opening post.

[SharkBait]

5. They are a cheaper alternative to Ghoul Rot and Plague.
I understand the suggestion to use those Curses, especially Ghoul Rot as that damage adds up quickly ( I had GR in there in the previous version, don't have Plague ) but I took them out because :

a. Ghoul Rot costs 8/7-with-ring and for that mana cost I just rather play a 9 dice Fireball.

b. Burn markers are more difficult to remove than an enchantment and can be stickied on the mage with the help of an Adramalech's Touch.
Since we're going to put at least one curse on the enemy mage anyway to trigger her Smoldering Curse ability, I find Adramelech's Touch to be the nr 1 choice for this job because imo it is the curse that gives the enemy the hardest choice on whether to dispel it or not because if he does it may in the end prove to be a wasted action and mana as the removal of the Touch does not make any difference as long as you roll damage for your burns during upkeep.

c. I prefer to put no more than 1 or 2 curses at a time on the enemy mage so I don't draw a Purge Magic.

Posting from work, so I can't put MUCH though into this. However, This is awesome! It's a completely different way of looking at it from my current point of view. Typically I've just been of the "saturation" school of thought. So I'd just keep cursing them with GR over and over if I wanted it to stick. I may go back and re-evaluate my curse selection a bit to up the # of enfeebles. I've already added a few Ad's Touch.

- mobility is key for the Warlock and being hindered ( Zombie Brutes ) makes you burn Teleport and Force Push to get to safer places, so I was looking at Mongoose Agility as a potential solution to some safety problems.

This is also something I've been trying to find room for in my book. Let me know how it goes if you add it in

[DaveW]

5. They are a cheaper alternative to Ghoul Rot and Plague.

I understand the suggestion to use those Curses, especially Ghoul Rot as that damage adds up quickly ( I had GR in there in the previous version, don't have Plague ) but I took them out because :

a. Ghoul Rot costs 8/7-with-ring and for that mana cost I just rather play a 9 dice Fireball.

b. Burn markers are more difficult to remove than an enchantment and can be stickied on the mage with the help of an Adramalech's Touch.

Since we're going to put at least one curse on the enemy mage anyway to trigger her Smoldering Curse ability, I find Adramelech's Touch to be the nr 1 choice for this job because imo it is the curse that gives the enemy the hardest choice on whether to dispel it or not because if he does it may in the end prove to be a wasted action and mana as the removal of the Touch does not make any difference as long as you roll damage for your burns during upkeep.

c. I prefer to put no more than 1 or 2 curses at a time on the enemy mage so I don't draw a Purge Magic.

I wonder whether the choice of Fireballs over at least one Ghoul Rot might be somewhat situational.

If you are going to want to have your opponent use mana and/or actions, then the Ghoul Rot might be better. Also against any Water-trained Mage, you should expect there to be at least two Geysers to help with the burns. Even with only one Geyser in your opponent's book, after getting 2-3 burns on the opposing Mage, a Ghoul Rot might be a good choice for a second curse after Addy's Touch. Your opponent then has to choose to deal with either the burns or the curses with any given action.

I presume that there is no Explode due to the mana cost of the spell. It takes the same number of spellbook points as Dissolve, for example. I sometimes go with two Dissolves and an Explode. I like having three anti-equipment spells. Elemental Cloak, one or two for Dragonscale Hauberks, and Elemental Wand with Geyser all come to mind as being good things to get rid of.