CURSE YOU!!!! Warlock.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Ok here is my curse heavy Warlock build I made purely for casual games. Not tournament legal due to using a promo card.

Equipment:
Lash of Hellfire
Sectarus
Demonhide Armor
Elemental Wand
Ring of Curses
Fireshaper Ring
Helm of Fear
Molochs Torment
Eagleclaw Boots
Cloak of Shadows

Conjuration:
Wall of Fire 2
Mana Crystal 2
Enchanters Wardstone 2
Battle Forge
Mana Siphon

Creatures:
Dark pact Slayer 2
Ravenous Ghoul 2
Necropian Vampiress
Sersiryx Imp Familiar

Enchantments:
Ghoul Rot 2
Chains of Agony 2
Agony 2
Mage Bane 2
Poisoned Blood 2
marked For Death
Maim Wings
Enfeeble 2
Block
Nullify
Death Link
Vampirism
Bear Strength
Rhino Hide
Cheetah Speed

Incantation:
Teleport
Drain Soul
Drain Life
Dissolve 2
Dispel 2

Attack:
Fireball 4
Flame Blast 2

The idea is with Sectarus and the Imp Familiar I could theoretically cast 4 curses a turn. If I get those Enchanters Wardstones out then they're more likely to stick around, especially if I drop Mana Siphon, which I'll cast either early on to give my opponent something to aggro other than me or late game to really hit their hard pressed mana supplies.

I use the creatures to protect me and harass, Enfeeble to slow down their guys, and put down enough dark magic hate to keep them reacting to me rather than enacting whatever foolish plan the other mage had planned. When you're having to pay 12 Mana just to get rid of a Ghoul Rot(and I got two of them in my book) then I'm ok with you doing that.

I think I may be a few points short but I'll stack a Regrowth Belt or Regenerate in there. Like I said this isn't tournament legal yet but once Forged in Fire comes out.....it's legal and getting upgraded most likely.

Constructive comments welcome of course

[ringkichard]

This looks pretty solid to me. I'd probably play a few less one-ofs (i.e. either drain life or drain soul) but I like this style book.

How have the Ghouls been treating you?

[silverclawgrizzly]

Haven't got to try them out yet, probably will tonight. Right now there's a Priestess and Wizard(Air) fighting it out in my dining room. I've played against those ghouls a lot so they've been treating me rather poorly lol. As in the "Please stop eating my dead Thunderift Falcons" manner.

[ACG]

That sounds like a lot of fun (I love curses). One minor quibble:

The idea is with Sectarus and the Imp Familiar I could theoretically cast 4 curses a turn.

Sectarus requires a mage action to cast a curse, so you are actually limited to three. That said, I'm not sure you'd have the mana to support 4 curses per turn, so that probably isn't an issue.

My warlock uses wardstones pretty liberally, and I think you probably don't need the siphon - you will likely be too tight on mana to cast it anyway. Replace it with another enchanter's wardstone and maybe a basic spell.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Oh yeah I do have to attack with Sectarus good point!

I agree I may not need the Siphon but it an Epic so I'd just as soon cast it on them before they cast it on me lol. I may actually do the extra Wardstone though that's a good point.

[Wildhorn]

Oh yeah I do have to attack with Sectarus good point!

I agree I may not need the Siphon but it an Epic so I'd just as soon cast it on them before they cast it on me lol. I may actually do the extra Wardstone though that's a good point.

Epic means 1 per book. They can cast it too. Legendary prevent a 2nd copy on the board.

[webcatcher]

If you can find the room I'd add a second Sectarus. I usually dissolve them pretty fast when I see them come up.

[DeckBuilder]

Looks fun.

I may not be best to comment here as I have no sense of fun build, efficient killing is all that matters (Spike!)

I'm in a bit of a rush, Silver, so apologies if these are just quick notes and I'm a bit brusque


Mana Denial + Curses is actually a Tier 1 build (or near that), certainly not fun!
This is a bit of a schizophrenic build as I can see you're a bit of pyro, Silver!

So anyway, some quick fixes

-2 Ravenous Ghoul (6) - why? They are for
-2 Wall of Fire (4) - best with Dragonscale and Elemental Cloak, you need range 2 LOS and have Cloak of Shdows
- Drain Life (3) - 12 mana late game? So unreliable. Yes it bypasses armour but so does DOT
- Drain Soul (3) - maybe Skeleton Necro to stick poison, maybe mana denial/advantage build on a Mage Wand.

Are you Curses or Fire? Feels schizophrenic. Generally better to focus.

You have Elemental Wand yet you already have so many fire spells?
Wands (and Tower) are there to toolbox that perfect spell in match-up
Force Hammer, Surging Wave, Jet Stream etc (note all range 2)

If you really want flexibiity, go with 3 Rings (choose 2 according to match-up) and add

+1 Enchanters Ring (2)
+2 Enfeeble (4)
+1 Mongoose Agility (2) - with Cheetah Speeds and 4 Enfeebles and Cloak of Shadows, you get the idea

+2 Enchantment Transfusion (4) - gain ring bonus and safety of Cloak
+1 Force Crush (6)
+1 Nullify (2)
+1 Jinx (2)

You cast all of above + usual curses on your self for 1 each while kiting from his Slow elites, safe in Cloak of Shadows
Then once you have 2 Enchanter's Wardstones, transfer them all to him and reveal with all your banked mana

Checkmate

+1 Poison Gas Cloud (4) also helps when he's held in place but bit Win More...

You need to couple this with Full Blown Mana Denial
Siphon (as you have, always cast early)
Orb, Obelisk (against Swarm builds as Enfeebles are against Elite builds)
As well as 2 Crystals ad Battle Forge
I also like Mage Wand + Drain Power (but this manoeuvre is very tricky to get right)

Once you Transfuse Force Crush onto him, you Drain power every Early QC with Initiative so cannot remove it due to the Wardstones...

You are range 2 in your Cloak of Shadows (key piece, you need 2)

Don't worry about your conjurations being destroyed as you need the zone space for 2 Wardstones cast the turn you transfuse

All those Curses are banked actions for 1 big Transfusion action burst with sudden Mana Denial vs. Purge
That's the essence of Curse build
As you can see, the Curse build does not dabble in fire, you can't be a servant to 2 masters...

Because of Cloak of Shadows, I believe Mana Denial + Curses is actually best in Necromancer (you don't need Curse Weaving, just access to Dark, Cloak of Shadows and 10 channelling)

I was fine-tuning this build for the unfinished "How do you beat the Wiz?" thread but been diverted by design duties

Then you came along and brought it up!

Sorry gotta go but hope that's food for thought...

The first time you "checkmate" someone (especially with the Drain Power "soft lock"), just watch their jaw drop...

[silverclawgrizzly]

Ok quickly going to update and let everyone know how the trial runs went: Needs a little more work.

-Mana Siphon needs to go away. ACG you were right I don't have the mana to reliably cast it and I certainly don't have the spellbook points for it. More Wardstones.
-More of some curses also needed. More Ghoul Rot, Poison Blood, and Mage Bane namely.
-I did very well against my buddy Joe's tried and tested Priestess. I would have won by time limit I think.
-My friend Millie however.....yeah. She plays a Beast Master who uses curses. Curse you cruel and bitter taste of my own medicine! Her lair also cast a powerful curse: Steelclaw Grizzly which she then gave Cheetah Speed and Vampirism too.....

[silverclawgrizzly]

Ok just read Decks suggestions. As always thanks for the advice my friend. Here are my remarks:

-I can't play my necromancer cause I'm loaning it to a player without that expansion. Right now it's more valuable to me keeping folks engaged than it would be giving me one more Mage. She's buying the expansion next week so then I'll mess with it some for sure.

-I'm not getting rid of the fire.....I'm also keeping the curses. Maybe I'm double dipping but if I can't set things on fire while cursing them then the Warlock loses a lot of it's laughs to me I just need to get that Imp out so I can do both more consistently.

-The mana drain strategies you mention are good. I'm going to give them a try.