What the holy hand grenade of antioch is going on with the necromancer?

[Wildhorn]

In my opinion the sheer power resides in one rule: resilience. Every zombie in that book has effectively an armor stat of infinite, and are NOT overpriced by any stretch of the imagination for what they do. I'd love to be argued against here: it was a little disheartening to so rend my opponent to shreds with this mage!

Personally, I think Percing +X trait should have been "Transform X non-critical damage into critical damage" instead of reducing target armor by X. It would have made high Armored creature less indestructible and by the same way allow Piercing to affect Resilient.

[ringkichard]

Personally, I think Percing +X trait should have been "Transform X non-critical damage into critical damage" instead of reducing target armor by X. It would have made high Armored creature less indestructible and by the same way allow Piercing to affect Resilient.

That's both a major upgrade to piercing, and a really interesting bit of game design. Tell me more?

[Bjorne]

Resilient makes the zombie horde very hard to kill. Maybe if resilient had an errata saying: "Piercing X attacks may convert X normal damage to critical when attacking a resilient object."

[sIKE]

So, I hear this a lot about resilient, non-Ethereal attacks against Ethereal targets. Only two sides of the die can cause damage and even worse it is just 1 point at a time.

Dice are needed here to kill them, very simple. I have some theories, when I get them test I will post more.

[DarthDadaD20]

Resilient has a "Counter"...... its Critical Damage.

just give it time. Its a damage type and not just a side of a die for a reason.

[baronzaltor]

Also, Resilient creatures were given less health than similar tier creatures, so that when damage does get through it clears more of their health.

[Wildhorn]

So, I hear this a lot about resilient, non-Ethereal attacks against Ethereal targets. Only two sides of the die can cause damage and even worse it is just 1 point at a time.

Dice are needed here to kill them, very simple. I have some theories, when I get them test I will post more.

But ethereal has a counter. You can use ethereal attacks.

Resilient has no counter.

[sIKE]

Yes, but they also have no Armor. So while there is Ethereal attacks to counter to Incorporeal, Resilient creatures have no armor  and typically lower life than equivalent level creatures. So that is the built in counter to Resilient. I know, I know Incorporeal creatures also have no armor (remember I do all of the data entry for the sets in OCTGN). So I think in the end the comparison holds up.

Here is where I agree with others (you know whom you are), more dice, more dice, and more dice.

[DeckBuilder]

How to beat Resilient?

Officially anything that adds Burn (many Fire/Dark spells, ideally via point-saving Tower or Thoughtspore)
And rare highly situational spells (Chains of Agony, Force Crush, Hawkeye Psyloks, Demonhide Armour etc)
The Priest is great with his access to Light sources (Staff, Angel, Temple, attacks, basic melee) and Burn

In my very limited experience, the reality is you either

(1) fight Nonliving with better Nonliving
Devouring Jelly and Golems beat Zombies

(2) avoid the fight
Vinewhip Staff on that 6 Growth Shaggoth Zora?
Steel Wall with Hawkeye Sniper on an Archer Tower? (with Regrowth vs. Pestilence) - just like Zombieland
Eagleclaw Wings
Suppression Orb + Mordok's Obelisk as far away from the source
Fast (and Elusive if Brutes) and Teleport Wand works until they Frenzy...

(3) distract them
Plants are very cheap to vine pop-up, guard to trigger Bloodthirsty (yeah, I know, think of it as Viciousness)
Hydra (with 1 damage from Pestilence taken after its Regen!) with Rhino Hide and Bear Strength, perhaps in a Sacred Fortified zone


In reality, I believe only the 5 non-Pest Zombies (4 Brutes, 1 Shaggoth) are good
Maybe 1 Plague Servant + Sacrificial Altar to leverage Eternal Servant and Plague Master
Otherwise the concept of a Slow/Lumbering Pest Swarm is flawed vs. competitive builds


I am sure there are lots of other innovative ways to beat the Zombies.
I've only played against them once, with them once with above non-Swarm build, so very limited "proper" play recently.
But despite this lack of experience, I thought I'd chime in with some practical ideas.

Anyone else want to add their solutions to help the OP?

[ChimpZilla]

Resilient has no counter.

Kill it with fire.

Edit: Damn. Beaten to it.

[DeckBuilder]

Wand of Force Wave?

[sIKE]

Has anyone tried:

Psylock's? - Psychic Immune
Screech Harpy - Psychic Immune
Oscada - Poison Immune

All of these thoughts went down the drain.

[DeckBuilder]

I have never noticed that Psyloks are psychic...
Then again they are in that place where I keep Gate to Hell

Great, I've learnt something, Forcemaster is even more stuffed than I realised

Still, the theme you mention above is good old idea of Royal Archer + Eagleclaw Wings
But that's more points than Samandriel and almost the same cost
Lucky you, sIKE, with your Priest preference as Holy rightly has the best answers...

[baronzaltor]

Has anyone tried:

Psylock's? - Psychic Immune
Screech Harpy - Psychic Immune
Oscada - Poison Immune

All of these thoughts went down the drain.

Ironically, Oscuda is more useful to the Necromancer himself than nature mages.

[DarthDadaD20]

So, I hear this a lot about resilient, non-Ethereal attacks against Ethereal targets. Only two sides of the die can cause damage and even worse it is just 1 point at a time.

Dice are needed here to kill them, very simple. I have some theories, when I get them test I will post more.

But ethereal has a counter. You can use ethereal attacks.

Resilient has no counter.

Resilient has a counter- its critical damage. Just because there isn't a card out right now that deals all critical damage, or converts normal damage into critical damage (As normal damage can be converted into Ethereal damage), or any variation of that, doesn't mean there wont be and it doesn't mean that its somehow not a counter.

Ethereal is to Incorporeal as Critical is to Resilient.

Again, its not just a side on a die- its a type of damage.