Forged in Fire building a Warlord

[barriecritzer]

I was originally super excited to get this expansion to build a new warlock but instead built a warlord first. Same thing happened with Necromancer vs Druid. I had really wanted that expansion for the necromancer but once I started looking through the Druid cards I ended up building a Druid first and only a couple months later did I finally build a Necromancer.

[sdougla2]

I had a similar experience. I built both an Adramelech Warlock and an Anvil Throne Warlord when I first got my hands on FiF, but I enjoyed playing the new Warlord more than the new Warlock. I'm still used to the Warlock being tough, and it's going to take some adjustment to play the glass cannon version well.

[payprplayn]

I'm still used to the Warlock being tough, and it's going to take some adjustment to play the glass cannon version well.

I don't get that. Everyone saying the new warlock is it glass cannon, but she only has two life less than the old one does after making a Dark Pact Slayer his Blood Reaper. she has as much life is a force master, or a wizard, or a priestess, and access to all the life gain / healing that the old warlock had. So why do people keep talking like she's fragile?

Edit: it occurs to me the blood Reaper is a healing ability she doesn't have, but still, vampirism, drain life, and drain soul should give her plenty of staying power considering her damage output.

[sdougla2]

You mean 1 life less than the old Warlock had after summoning his Dark Pact Slayer Blood Reaper.

While you might think that having 1 less life would make them comparable in toughness, getting to heal for an extra 2/round most of the time is huge, particularly when it stacks with Vampirism, Regenerate, and Death Link. While you probably don't need that much healing at once in a lot of situations (particularly for the mana cost), getting it for free adds hugely to the Arraxian Crown Warlock's survivability.

The Adramelech Warlock is the second squishiest mage in the game. All of the mages with 32 life except the Necromancer have a defensive ability that improves their survivability. The Wizard has Voltaric Shield, which drastically reduces incoming damage when combined with stacked Armor. The Priestess has Divine Reward, and will generally have quite a bit more than 32 life by the end of the game. The Forcemaster has a 7+ Defense. The Druid starts at 30 life, but can immediately get to 34 with Treebond, and effectively gets Regenerate 2 that stacks with other Regenerate effects while her tree survives.

The Adramelech Warlock has an ability that can be used defensively, but only if her opponent lights her on fire, which seems unlikely.

[payprplayn]

You mean 1 life less than the old Warlock had after summoning his Dark Pact Slayer Blood Reaper.

Nope. 38-(3+1)=34=32+2 but otherwise  I see your point.

[silverclawgrizzly]

She has 33 life.

[payprplayn]

Oh. Oops. What a weird number.

[payprplayn]

I just kind of lumped her in with all the other mages that are 32. When he initially corrected me, I double checked every number except her life total, because I figured why would they make it 33? That's just weird.

[sdougla2]

I just kind of lumped her in with all the other mages that are 32. When he initially corrected me, I double checked every number except her life total, because I figured why would they make it 33? That's just weird.

Yeah, I agree that 33 seems like an odd choice for a life total given how they assigned earlier life totals.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Eh simple mistake to make no harm done. I'm finding it easier to make a good Warlord book than I am finding one that works for her so far.

[sdougla2]

I agree, the Anvil Throne Warlord seems relatively easy to be effective with. With the combination of his innate Tough -2 and Runesmithing abilities, it's easy to make a cheap defensive play, which leaves you plenty of latitude to focus on economy or offense with most of your mana. Leather Gloves with the Rune of Fortification gives you 2 armor for only 3 mana.

I still need to do a lot more work with the Adramelech Warlock before I'm happy with that build. I'm going to be redoing my Anvil Throne Warlord completely, but not because it's bad. I'll just be redoing it because I think my first Anvil Throne build is more suitable for the Bloodwave Warlord. There are some changes I feel like I have to make to it certainly, but the basic plan is sound.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Yeah I get what you mean. I'm gonna re-do my Anvil Throne as well, then probably mess with the Bloodwave, and go back to Anvil Throne. I'd never messed with a Warlord before this expansion so I'm literally learning a whole new school and how it jives. I want to try and put Rolling Fog in there somehow so I can better protect my early start from long range threats. Does anyone consider Akiros Hammer viable?

[sdougla2]

There might be matchups where Akiro's Hammer is viable, but as a whole, I would still go with no. For ranged attacks, I would much rather play creatures (or Ballista once it gets released). I would rather play an Anvil Throne Crossbowman than Akiro's Hammer.

I don't plan on including Rolling Fog. It would slow me down too much to play it early, and it would interfere with my range 2 attack options.

That Anvil Throne Warlord build was the first time I actually played a Warlord. When Forcemaster vs Warlord first came out I kept trying to come up with a Bloodwave build that I was happy enough with to play, but it never happened. I've played against the Warlord a number of times before that though.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Akiro's Hammer looked like a poor mans Force Hammer to me. Good for getting rid of Conjurations. Conquer is still cool but I haven't pulled it off yet.

I figured Rolling Fog would be cool to A: Screw a Druid over and B: Let me build some melee guys in peace without people setting my stuff on fire. Walls help but they also hinder me when I gotta go out and murder some fools.

One of my roommates has been playing the Bloodwave for a while now. He's out of town right now but it's going to be nasty when he gets back and gets FiF.