How much do you value match traits?

[parent child bowl]

Hey guys,

I'm currently debating to start a Hell run, but I'm not certain that my approach is correct.

The thing is that I don't give a crap about anything other than the match trait while always going for the high offense start). Champion pool and stats values can be easily fixed, but good match traits aren't easy to come by. Am I putting too much importance on match traits?

What traits do you like?

[Axariel]

The one that gives you harass percentage while in lane, anything that provides good scaling, anything that makes cards cheaper (especially Invoker) or provides strategy points.

Edit: Don't assume that you will easily close the gap in stats between yourself and the AI. Assume that you may be evenly matched or worse unless you invest heavily in a particular athlete.

[Horrible Marksman]

Match then routine trait, hero pool, then stats. That is my order of priority. The right match traits will do wonders for winning a match even from behind. Invoker, gold crown, evolving ai, imitation(copy a card every 15 rounds) are some of my favorites. Good Routine traits can help to keep up with the ai stat growth, and the right hero options can make it far easier to punch up.

If you keep the setting where you’re always fighting opponents in order of strength it’s also easier to do well with a lower stat priority. I play with it randomized so my early matches sometimes had me down by 20+ stats, but the other 3 factors still go a long way to compensate.

I will say though, the rules that push the first round further out can be rough at a disadvantage. I recall one match I nearly lost simply because a mad statted Bart shredded my top lane and I spent most of that match prioritizing his demise. I’d still always prioritize traits though.

[Axariel]

If you have a losing lane, focus on an alternative win con. It does not matter if you lose two lanes if you focus on pushing one. It also doesn't matter if you lose gold to a tank or a jungler so long as your damage scales well enough to compete in the end.

[Deworx]

Deadly Focus (match trait) + Morning Grumpiness is absolute top tier on bot lane. It helps keeping your bot up-to-enemy stats even on hell mode. You might fall a few stats behind from time to time, but the trait deadly focus more then makes up for that. Most of my games, even with higher enemy stats were finished pre-turn 45, alot even pre-30 and if Bart wouldn't have been banned all games starting s2 might even had a few turn 18. (Closest i got was turn 22 (w/o Bart).

Well, it wasn't completely Hell mode, since i started on custom (character creation)
But now i'm running hell mode and aimed for exactly those 2 traits.. (good luck rerolling, took me over an hour.. xd)

[Axariel]

Deadly Focus is the best trait in my opinion. Muscle Enthusiast or whatever trait gives you +40% offense and mechanics exp is probably the best training trait or whatever it is called for bot. Near the end of the game, my first routine was giving me an auto-crit effect for all subsequent routines, and I was using the adjacent champs' first routines to buff my bots second routine. The +40% is also global I think.

[BlueOrange]

Originally posted by Horrible Marksman:

Match then routine trait, hero pool, then stats. That is my order of priority. The right match traits will do wonders for winning a match even from behind.

This.

Consider also the synergies between your athletes. So if you're lucky enough to pull 'Watchdog (MID)' for your jungler, then 'Overspeeding' or 'Competitive' becomes very attractive for your MID. Whereas maybe you go for something like Expedition for your TOP, because that means that the team is benefitting from the match trait, and you can pretty much ignore the top lane.

Axariel is wise. Harass rate is a very important stat.

[parent child bowl]

Originally posted by Axariel:

Deadly Focus is the best trait in my opinion. Muscle Enthusiast or whatever trait gives you +40% offense and mechanics exp is probably the best training trait or whatever it is called for bot. Near the end of the game, my first routine was giving me an auto-crit effect for all subsequent routines, and I was using the adjacent champs' first routines to buff my bots second routine. The +40% is also global I think.

Dad, I think I'm winning!

https://i.imgur.com/s02ssUn.jpeg

It's not global btw.

[Postman Pat]

I started my first play through on hell and am currently in championship P League, haven't been defeated since I lost nearly all games in League 2 season 1. I put nearly no focus on hero pool. I haven't traded a player once, my entire roster is the people I started with. I have crafted their athlete cards and stats entirely around what champs they started with, added a few as new champs were added to the game pool here and there, and just bully everything all the time.

My top laner has 96 offense right now. She always pushes, always has a gold lead. With overwatch on enemy jungle she is always able to act on the map as well. I use Charon often and his passive usually (but not always) means you survive the AI's first blood attempt on botlane. Botlaner has warm-up but has the trait that makes the first-play of any card cost 1 less, so my bot laner gets 20% scaling and I get 4 draws for free.

Top laner also has a cost-reduction trait, although their cards are always discarded at end of turn.

I'd say try to piece together anything that provides cost-reduction. Being able to play and manipulate the cards/turn order seems to be the most powerful thing you can possibly do, none of the rest of it even matters that much. If you can have 0 cost and 1 cost cards, you can extend your playable phase after the AI blows their load by like 10+ rounds, score multiple ganks or field kills because of more cards being playable.

[Deworx]

Originally posted by Postman Pat:

Botlaner has warm-up but has the trait that makes the first-play of any card cost 1 less, so my bot laner gets 20% scaling and I get 4 draws for free.

That trait.. works on all Warm ups ? Am i right with the assumption that this also applies to Generated Cards then ? (If it does, this sounds like a top tier trait for Lan, as she removes her hero cards on playing and generates cards)

[Horrible Marksman]

Originally posted by Postman Pat:

I started my first play through on hell and am currently in championship P League, haven't been defeated since I lost nearly all games in League 2 season 1. I put nearly no focus on hero pool. I haven't traded a player once, my entire roster is the people I started with. I have crafted their athlete cards and stats entirely around what champs they started with, added a few as new champs were added to the game pool here and there, and just bully everything all the time.

My top laner has 96 offense right now. She always pushes, always has a gold lead. With overwatch on enemy jungle she is always able to act on the map as well. I use Charon often and his passive usually (but not always) means you survive the AI's first blood attempt on botlane. Botlaner has warm-up but has the trait that makes the first-play of any card cost 1 less, so my bot laner gets 20% scaling and I get 4 draws for free.

Top laner also has a cost-reduction trait, although their cards are always discarded at end of turn.

I'd say try to piece together anything that provides cost-reduction. Being able to play and manipulate the cards/turn order seems to be the most powerful thing you can possibly do, none of the rest of it even matters that much. If you can have 0 cost and 1 cost cards, you can extend your playable phase after the AI blows their load by like 10+ rounds, score multiple ganks or field kills because of more cards being playable.

I also favor this particular mindset over the harass focus. Harass is strong, but a surplus of strategy points lets you compensate or snowball on command. It’s why I’ve become so fond of traits like imitation or snowballing. Imitation used in adrenaline is, combined, a full turns worth of points gained. Then another 4 every 15 rounds or so. My top laner is often justice and uses invoker. With her blade + warmup cards she just cycles through cards basically at will. The only turns the ai really gets to hurt me are first turn bottom gank or the unfortunate spawn and initiate on my solo/duo pushing their base. And if their harass is stronger it doesn’t matter much since you have points to spare to deal with it.

Being able to initiate on 2 separate parts of the field and still go again next turn is hilarious and snowballs fast.

Also, all the generated cards I’ve seen have counted as fresh cards thus far so that is likely the case with that trait. Imitation on a played out adrenaline gives you a fresh one for example. Not sure with the particular trait they were referring to though.

[Axariel]

Getting a gold lead on your damage dealers is pretty important, the easiest way to do this is to make sure that they can harass well so you can finish off AI champs without spending too much strat. If you are not trying to play a long game, harass is also what will enable the fastest wins.

You can generate tons of strategy and card draw while still having high offense and harass percentages on your bottom laners or whoever you want. You can also make your supp your Invoker, which is probably amazing.

I think Invoker is really strong for mid because the champs there are better at pushing independently and also getting field kills. Invoker Enidi seems particularly good if you want to generate a ton of strat points and draw cards and hit everyone multiple times. This also allows him to AOE most rounds of a large teamfight.

I personally only tried to get defense and farming on my top in case I can't close out by second deployment. And as long as your bot is scaling and your top isn't dying, you can lose every other fight and it won't matter in the end.

[Postman Pat]

Originally posted by Deworx:

Originally posted by Postman Pat:

Botlaner has warm-up but has the trait that makes the first-play of any card cost 1 less, so my bot laner gets 20% scaling and I get 4 draws for free.

That trait.. works on all Warm ups ? Am i right with the assumption that this also applies to Generated Cards then ? (If it does, this sounds like a top tier trait for Lan, as she removes her hero cards on playing and generates cards)

Yes. It works on every unique card the first time you play it. I get immense value out of the precise-shot cards that reduce the cost of initiate cards, as well as immense value out of a card on my support called 'quiet mind' (or something) that makes the adjacent cards cost -1. I've had it get sandwiched by a couple of cards sometimes in an unlucky way (sandwiched between Ada unplayable cards for instance) but I've also had that card make an entire hand cost zero and allow me to redraw. Energy management is incredibly broken. All my characters are built with as many +farm bonuses as possible (not in cards, on those selected trait things... the 5 circle ones? whatever they're called) so I almost always have a farm lead, and I use the energy and draw manipulation to answer to short comings as needed, I've had great success so far.

I'm sure there are FAR MORE ways to play the game, though, as it actually seems incredibly well designed - way more well designed than you'd think it has any right to be - and this is just what my brain keyed in on. Good luck, have fun!

[BlueOrange]

Originally posted by Postman Pat:

Top laner also has a cost-reduction trait, although their cards are always discarded at end of turn.

This is my favorite lane-trait combination. You load your top with cards like Warm Up and other things that provide durable long-term bonuses, and play them for cheap when they get into your hand.

Meanwhile, your bottom-lane is running cards like Cache (assuming you have the gold collection champion) and Suppress - nice passive bonuses for having them in hand. And those cards get to stay in hand longer, because the top lane cards are guaranteed to get out of the way at the end of turn, even if you can't afford to play them.

[Ulminati]

Match trait, then routine trait. Everything else is fixable with training. I'll prioritise a large champion pool with 1-2 good champs in it as it's cheaper to retrain a bad hero than expanding a narrow pool.

For match traits, I'll look for things that give me more strategy points and cards.
-> Conductor (Anyone) is great for getting a second strategy round before dragon
-> Take the initiative (Bot/Mud/Jung) gives you a full extra strategy round on their first kill
-> Energy Efficiency (Anyone) bonus cards and strat points after every dragon (remember to click button)
These all work towards you getting to play more cards than the opposition and setting up good ganks

Other good traits
-> Keep cool (Top/Supp) : For digging for the cards you need
-> Aggressive tendencies (Jung) : Cheaper initiates that last longer
-> Secret Manual (Champ dependent): Searches for champ cards.
-> Solo show (Jung): Generates strat points and tutors your initiate

[Deworx]

Originally posted by Ulminati:

For match traits, I'll look for things that give me more strategy points and cards.
-> Conductor (Anyone) is great for getting a second strategy round before dragon
-> Take the initiative (Bot/Mud/Jung) gives you a full extra strategy round on their first kill
-> Energy Efficiency (Anyone) bonus cards and strat points after every dragon (remember to click button)
These all work towards you getting to play more cards than the opposition and setting up good ganks

I don't like conductor or energy efficiency as main trait for 1 reason : When season changes you can have the rule that first dragon (and only dragon) appears at round 50/60. (And i finish all my matches pre-45.)