The Imp Swarm Archetype

[Puddnhead]

Greetings All,

I've been playing a lot with Forged in Fire recently and I'm seeing an Adramelech Warlock archetype emerging.  Here is my stab at the Archetypal Imp Swarm.  Feedback much appreciated.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Imp Swarm[/spellbookname]
[mage]Adramelech Warlock[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]2 x  Devil's Trident[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a04]3 x  Fireball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a06]5 x  Flameblast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x  Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a09]1 x  Jet Stream[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a05]1 x  Firestorm[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1w03]2 x  Wall of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j12]1 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c15]3 x  Firebrand Imp[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c16]2 x  Flaming Hellion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC06]2 x  Goblin Alchemist[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC11]1 x  Sersiryx, Imp Familiar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC13]4 x  Wildfire Imp[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c01]1 x  Adramelech, Lord of Fire[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE01]1 x  Adramelech's Touch[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]1 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]2 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE02]1 x  Circle of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e08]1 x  Death Link[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e14]1 x  Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e19]1 x  Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e21]1 x  Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e25]1 x  Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]1 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]1 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]1 x  Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e40]1 x  Vampirism[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ02]1 x  Bloodfire Helmet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q10]1 x  Fireshaper Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q14]1 x  Lash of Hellfire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x  Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI01]2 x  Combustion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i29]1 x  Vampiric Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI05]2 x  Ignite[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i15]1 x  Knockdown[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]

I toyed around with the Pentagram for a while and I'm not sure I like it as much.  The gist of this deck is to rely on Sersiryx to cast your copious attack spells and a curse or two.  Flameblast is only 4 mana for him and if you give him hawkeye he can get a lot of damage out of it.  Your warlock stays in the background summoning wildfire imps that teleport to the soon-to-be-dead target of Sersyrix's attacks.  If your imp familiar dies you can always fireshaper ring yourself and keep up the blasting while biding time for some hellions to back you up.

Turn 1: Sersyrix, crystal
turn 2: wildfire imp + enchant or equip
from there you shoot things with sersyrix and keep summoning imps until the swarm can teleport in and kill stuff.

Thoughts?  Glaring errors?  How does your Adramelech Warlock square off?

[xMazz]

I'm liking it. I've tried toying around with an imp swarm build with Pentagram, but I agree that it just doesn't work and isn't worth it.

There's really only a few suggestions I have (without playtesting it first). The first is I would find space for Adramelech's Torment. Especially with the Wildfire Imps, I feel like you definitely want one. I'd also include at least one Explode, even in place of a Dissolve. It's expensive, but I still feel like one is worth it in any Warlock build. And the last, and probably most important suggestion I have, is you probably want some number of Acid Balls and/or Rusts. Rust would probably be the better choice here since Sersiryx can cast it for you, but armor-stacking mages or Grizzlies could give you trouble.

Otherwise, it looks pretty great! I'll have to give it a run and see if I can come up with anything else.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Ah imps, good stuff. I'm curious as to the Goblin Alchemists. They're cool but I don't know if they're 8 spell points worth of cool. One thing that's been happening to me with a book like this is people figure out I'm trying to spam Burn tokens as fast as possible so they like to Dispel the Adramelech Touch. True that leaves them less Dispel for Ghoul Rot and the life but you're a little light on that as well.

I'd recommend firing the goblins and beefing up the curse selection. Put down as much hate as possible and they'll be too busy dealing with your curses to counter your imps.

[sdougla2]

I think you're a little too light on the curse selection, defense, and ways of dealing with equipment. Having several Dissolves seems particularly important to the Adramelech Warlock in order to deal with Elemental Cloak and Dragonscale Hauberk, since you are so reliant on fire attacks.

[Puddnhead]

Thanks for the responses!  The alchemists are there for their triple conditions.  Obviously burn is good, but corrode and Rot are also things that tend to help.  I haven't actually tested the goblins much so I will pay close attention to whether they're useful.

I hear the curses, I should probably add some more, but I figure with the plethora of targets they'd run out eventually and I have enough to keep something on them.

Dissolves is a good thing, I hadn't thought of how dependent on removing the Fire -X I would be.  What is your opinion of Explode?  I'm currently thinking that it's not worth it due to the high cost, but extra fire damage and burn chances is always nice.

Sdougl2, what would you suggest to improve my defense?  I have armor, hide and obscurity.  I also have Vampirism if I need to recoup some damage.  I used it to decent effect against some bleed last time I played.

One issue I see with both Dissolve and Explode is that they're range 0-1.  It's a little bit more tricky, but if you could get away with running Disarm instead you could stay safely 2 zones away and obscured.

--Puddnhead

[Puddnhead]

Here's version 2 given the feedback.

[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname]Imp Swarm v2[/spellbookname]
[mage]Adramelech Warlock[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFA01]2 x  Devil's Trident[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a04]3 x  Fireball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a06]5 x  Flameblast[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA02]1 x  Force Hammer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a09]1 x  Jet Stream[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a05]1 x  Firestorm[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j12]1 x  Mana Crystal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1w03]2 x  Wall of Fire[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c15]3 x  Firebrand Imp[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c16]2 x  Flaming Hellion[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC11]1 x  Sersiryx, Imp Familiar[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFC13]4 x  Wildfire Imp[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE01]3 x  Adramelech's Touch[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]2 x  Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE02]1 x  Akiro's Favor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFE04]2 x  Brace Yourself[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE02]1 x  Circle of Fire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e08]1 x  Death Link[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e14]1 x  Enfeeble[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e16]1 x  Force Hold[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e19]1 x  Ghoul Rot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e21]1 x  Hawkeye[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e25]1 x  Maim Wings[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e27]1 x  Marked for Death[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]1 x  Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]1 x  Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e32]1 x  Regrowth[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e36]1 x  Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e40]1 x  Vampirism[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFQ02]1 x  Bloodfire Helmet[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q09]1 x  Enchanter's Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q05]1 x  Demonhide Armor[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q06]1 x  Dragonscale Hauberk[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKQ06]1 x  Eagleclaw Boots[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q08]1 x  Elemental Wand[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q10]1 x  Fireshaper Ring[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q14]1 x  Lash of Hellfire[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNQ01]1 x  Cloak of Shadows[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI03]2 x  Disarm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x  Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x  Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]2 x  Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI05]2 x  Ignite[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x  Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX2FFI01]2 x  Combustion[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]


I opted to nix Adramelech because I don't see ever casting him.  I also axed the alchemists in favor of  some more curses and a Demonhide Armor vs. swarms or to cancel some corrode.  I also added a ring of enchanting because the book has 21 enchants in it and I see myself casting one almost every round.  I'm very interested in trying the disarms since, more than many mages, I can capitalize on one turn of missing protection.

My main concern is that the imps are very squishy.  If my opponent kills them off I'm in a little trouble.  I know I have hellion backup, but I'm not sure that's enough.  My goal is to be so aggressive that they're in panic mode using their actions to cancel burn tokens and remove curses.  If a threat does appear I can ignite it and Ides of March it with my teleporting imps.

[sdougla2]

Disarm actually serves 3 purposes for you. You can use it to cancel Flame -2 from Dragonscale Hauberk/Elemental Cloak for a turn, but you can also use it to remove corrodes by Disarming your chest piece and to test for Nullify/Reverse Magic efficiently.

The extra chest piece helps your defensive options, as does the second Agony. You could also use Leather Boots/Leather Gloves if you need more, although those are best with Battle Forge and Wand of Healing.

Do you want Enchanter's Ring, or Ring of Curses? Right now you have more curses than enchantments you want to cast on yourself. In addition, Ring of Curses makes using Sersiryx to curse more efficient.

The main thing that I think you can trim to get some more room is the attack spell selection. I'm trying out a build that just uses 6 Flameblasts and a Ring of Fire for attack spells in order to focus on spell book efficiency. Fireball and Devil's Trident can be nice, but they're mana expensive, and they take up a fair amount of your spellbook points.

You need a better source of non-fire damage. Wildfire Imps aren't enough because it will take them forever to kill a Wall of Earth, and they basically do nothing against Burnproof targets. I would run at least a Dark Pact Slayer or a pair of Infernian Scourgers. I didn't mention it before because Goblin Alchemists were kind of solving that problem in your previous iteration.

[Puddnhead]

After the last game I played I can definitely see not completely relying on burns.  The dice, they are a cruel mistress and battleforge is distinctly flame immune...sigh.

Also, good catch on the enchanter's ring.  I keep thinking it applies to all enchantments.  Nope.  I'm starting to think that having something a bit more front-line to run interference for my imps and mage is a good plan.  I'll throw in a couple of scourgers and try them out since that makes a nice turn 2 summon (not enough for a slayer).

I like the trident because it can cripple and has piercing +2 and fireball is for when I just need to do a lot of damage quickly.  In the future, when it becomes legal, the Dragon's Breath promo card might serve me well.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Ok that's a lot of curses now which is good. Let us know how those Flaming Hellions work out for you. I've been debating putting some in lately myself.

One thing I would suggest is to replace the Lash of Hellfire with Sectarus. You already hit people for flame damage with your fist at a higher Burn rate and Sectarus gives you something else to slap curses down with. It's also good for digging yourself out of a Wall of Earth.

[Puddnhead]

Actually,  I have yet to cast a hellion.  Either I'm fighting for my life and have no mana or my imps are cleaning up and I'm supporting with spells.  Where would you work it into your game?  Mid?  Late?

Sectarus looks nice, but it's 10 mana and it replaces my melee, right?  So I won't have burns anymore?  I do see the value in doing non-fire damage occasionally.  I'll take a look at it.

Also the original plan was to stay back while my imps do the work.  I think I'm going to shrink the focus a little more and actually go all out on imp spam. This way I won't be very threatened when they die.

What I really want is a familiar to cast incantations for me....that would be amazing.  Curse you again, wizards!

[Obsidian Soul]

I would suggest putting in a Mage Staff in your book as a backup weapon.  It gives you the same reach as Lash of Hellfire and gives you an Ethereal attack that you are lacking (Force Hammer is a bit expensive...though good for demolitions).  You could get rid of a Combustion and an Adramalelech's Touch to pay for it.

[silverclawgrizzly]

When you're holding a weapon you can still choose to hit with your bare fist I believe. You don't get the damage bonus of Sectarus but you do get to do the Burn.

[sdougla2]

A weapon just gives you another attack option. It doesn't replace the attack on your mage card. You can choose to do either.