Going for a Rot Victory? Here's a good playstyle for it.

[Cityfall]

1: There are a few characters that are better for this than others. For best results, I recommend characters that cannot kill Banes easily, and have a high Wit and Spirit. Obviously, this means Amber, with either a Wit or Spirit charm. Barnaby is also a decent second, with a Spirit charm. In a pinch (and if you have the DLC) Ghor with a Wit charm can do, and he also has enough HP to not be much inconvenienced by daylight. Why is this? Because you're going to be cycling through the spell deck as much as possible and bombing yourself with Rot into oblivion. Sana and Brun are NOT good choices, because Sana kills Banes too easily (even if she's handy in the King fight), and Brun just doesn't have his strength in the right area. The Fight stat is just not important.

2: Ring Choice is important. If you're a bear, grab Jade- keep that juice flowing, keep the spells coming. You never want to be in a position where you can't get rid of a card, and some of the easiest ways to do that are to place a craptrap next to yourself, walk into it, and burn out your hand. If you're a bunny, grab that Pink Topaz and make the most out of your settlements- having some additional starting gold will get you your set of equipment that much faster, allowing you to really focus down on getting as dark as possible.

3: Banes are not as important as you think.Yes, if you're nowhere near your quest objective and you could theoretically reach it faster by dying, by all means, bumrush a bird and hope it pecks you to death. What you WANT are cards that give you two rot per use (on yourself) with whatever drawbacks (poisoned? who cares). What you WANT is to keep your hand endlessly cycling, getting you more of that sweet, sweet arsenic. DO YOUR QUESTS as you rot yourself. The more Wit and Spirit you have, the more rot you can get. And if you end up so rotted the King will never meet you, then rot other players so you can beat on them too. Every point matters.

4: If you can play it as a trap, play it in the direction you're going, not on yourself. And then whistle as you walk onto it. Burn all the cards that aren't gonna help you, fail it, then get rotted. It is the most efficient powerplay you can make for ensuring you're reaching all your objectives.

5: Don't melee with the King's Guard. They can stomp your booty, and you don't get anything good for beating them. Spell them to death if you HAVE to.

6: The magic number for rot is 4. Why? Because at that point, you can move through Stone Circles (to keep your HP up en route to a location) and not be inconvenienced, plus the real race has not yet started. Go past 4 the moment you know, for a fact, that you can pull off a Rot victory this match. A good telling factor is if you've reached 4 Rot before the King has, and you have a couple +rot cards in your hand. Ideally, complete all the quests you feel you need to before pushing past 4, because that's the point you become a threat.

7: Don't start fights. You're not interested in stealing towns or gaining money, you're interested in usurping the throne. Make friends. Apologize if your quest marker ends up on someone's town. You DO NOT want anyone focusing you down. Go around people, not through them. Yes, this is a race against time, but losing to Thane will cost you more than spending a turn going around him. This is best maintained under 5 Rot.

8: Use those Banishes and Teleports to get to your quests. You're a wizard, Harry, act like it. Not only will it make you get done with your errands much faster, its less HP you lose at dawn and it will keep you alive once everyone's hounding for your face (13 rot doesn't mean anything against a rotless hero).

9: Your objectives look like this: Grab your nearby towns, grab equipment, then forget about towns. Go for wit/spirit quests and get Rotted. Use your ridiculous stats to bypass the Palace Perils and paste the King into a purple mess.

10: Do not be afraid to hang onto good cards you know you'll use later. If you get a Hot Rot when you're going for Equipment, excellent. Keep that for the King! Get a Teleport? Maybe that last Quest isn't so unnecessary. You've got Wit to spare, you've a couple slots you can afford to keep stationary- just remember to cycle out the other three constantly.

Good Luck!

[Cityfall]

Could indeed make a Guide, but honestly, I'm not sure what pictures or movies would be useful for this.

[RALATHEHUNTRESS and Co]

Originally posted by TheSeventhOfSix:

Could indeed make a Guide, but honestly, I'm not sure what pictures or movies would be useful for this.

You don't need movies/videos in a guide, overall most people are just happy with information and hints/tips. I wouldn't worry about it and you should create a guide for those "pure" heroes (maybe some pictures but you can probably find something or create one).

[Norable]

1. Pick Sargon, with + Int and exploding sword.
2. shuffle cards whenever you can.
3. Go for int and health and strategist or HRW
4. win?

edit:
To be serious here, you are missing an important point. Don't show your hand to early! I just played against a Twiss, who had 12 rot on day 3! She lost with 19 rot, because at that point i cast all my magic and traps on her, moved in her way etc.. Its same with ghost stones. Make sure you are ready to go, before anyone with half a brain turns on you.

[Cityfall]

Originally posted by Norable:

1. Pick Sargon, with + Int and exploding sword.
2. shuffle cards whenever you can.
3. Go for int and health and strategist or HRW
4. win?

edit:
To be serious here, you are missing an important point. Don't show your hand to early! I just played against a Twiss, who had 12 rot on day 3! She lost with 19 rot, because at that point i cast all my magic and traps on her, moved in her way etc.. Its same with ghost stones. Make sure you are ready to go, before anyone with half a brain turns on you.

6: The magic number for rot is 4. Why? Because at that point, you can move through Stone Circles (to keep your HP up en route to a location) and not be inconvenienced, plus the real race has not yet started. Go past 4 the moment you know, for a fact, that you can pull off a Rot victory this match. A good telling factor is if you've reached 4 Rot before the King has, and you have a couple +rot cards in your hand. Ideally, complete all the quests you feel you need to before pushing past 4, because that's the point you become a threat.

7: Don't start fights. You're not interested in stealing towns or gaining money, you're interested in usurping the throne. Make friends. Apologize if your quest marker ends up on someone's town. You DO NOT want anyone focusing you down. Go around people, not through them. Yes, this is a race against time, but losing to Thane will cost you more than spending a turn going around him. This is best maintained under 5 Rot.

Having 12 rot on D3 is by no means optimum play for anyone thinking long-term, as by that time the King has nowhere near enough rot to make your gained corruption meaningful (especially using Twiss). You get at most four additional dice by that point, you're almost guaranteed to not have a full set of gear and generally you're making yourself a target the entire game until it gets to the point where you have a shot at winning.

This isn't a guide for 'how not to be silly', where I tell you its a bad idea to get rid of Royal Shield (it never is).

[Heartling]

Originally posted by TheSeventhOfSix:

6: The magic number for rot is 4. Why? Because at that point, you can move through Stone Circles (to keep your HP up en route to a location) and not be inconvenienced, plus the real race has not yet started. Go past 4 the moment you know, for a fact, that you can pull off a Rot victory this match. A good telling factor is if you've reached 4 Rot before the King has, and you have a couple +rot cards in your hand. Ideally, complete all the quests you feel you need to before pushing past 4, because that's the point you become a threat.

I would like to point out that if you save your quests until you've become corrupted (unless you have a rot item as one, then go for that and then wait to complete your next), you get quests for rot instead of spirit stones once your first has finished, and considering when going for a rot victory you can't exactly waste time in not gaining rot, it can be crucial to have those quests. Spirit stones shouldn't be something you want to go through at all either, since before you're corrupted you want to keep your health low if you want rot gain from banes, and unless you have ridiculously high health and five or so rot, you'll die in a stone circle. Becoming corrupted also allows you to heal when you kill an opponent in battle, so you have that way of healing to begin with. Of course, this is just what i've found works best for myself and from what i've seen in games I've played where others go for rot as I try and gain some as well. Rot gain is ridiculously hard if you aren't really lucky, and you shouldn't just sit at four until you're sure you can beat the king, because then honestly you wont have enough time and rot victories generally don't happen until the very end of the game when if you haven't gained rot fast enough, you are unlikely to succeed unless you get some amazing luck.

[Cityfall]

Originally posted by 76heart:

A different playstyle

That works really well for a character with enough Fight and Body to just smash their way across the board end to end for certain, but not for characters that have a lot of Wit or Spirit. For the characters named, cards are a *very good* source of rot, and will quickly outstrip the comparitively measly Rot you can gain from the quests. It makes a lot more sense in the long run to have +1 Wit instead of +however many Rot (Can't remember, its either one or two per quest, not worth), as most of the common Rot cards grant you two as a base.

Generally, you don't need more than 10 Rot ever to guarantee a success against the King at any stage. With eighteen turns in a game, if you get one Rot card (not burning all of them immediately, also assuming you're taking advantage of banes when desired) every other turn you're in good shape and almost guaranteed to be above the King at a given point of your choosing.

[Heartling]

Originally posted by TheSeventhOfSix:

That works really well for a character with enough Fight and Body to just smash their way across the board end to end for certain, but not for characters that have a lot of Wit or Spirit. For the characters named, cards are a *very good* source of rot, and will quickly outstrip the comparitively measly Rot you can gain from the quests. It makes a lot more sense in the long run to have +1 Wit instead of +however many Rot (Can't remember, its either one or two per quest, not worth), as most of the common Rot cards grant you two as a base.

Generally, you don't need more than 10 Rot ever to guarantee a success against the King at any stage. With eighteen turns in a game, if you get one Rot card (not burning all of them immediately, also assuming you're taking advantage of banes when desired) every other turn you're in good shape and almost guaranteed to be above the King at a given point of your choosing.

Ahh that is true, and I agree completely that cards are very important, they are an excellent source for rot for all characters, although it's unlikely to draw a card for rot every turn or even often at all(I haven't played much since the update so this may have changed spell deck wise), which is why I was trying to say those quests can really be important (or at least worth a mention of sorts considering not many seem to know), and most seem to be for body/wits/spirit from what I've encountered, so for the suggested heroes, it should not be too hard, and if you're going for the spell deck, there's buffs for all three if one feels too low, and then you will get both the +stat, and +2 rot if you become corrupted before your first/second quest. Of course you don't have to do them, and you can continue on your way with other quests and just have that there in case you don't get what you need and can't burn the useless cards in your hand and need another way to get the rot. It's just good to have a back up in a game that can screw you over very quick.

[Cityfall]

Originally posted by 76heart:

snip

Is that how those quests work? I must admit I only ever took one of those and it didn't seem worth it at the time. Can't remember why. Maybe you miss out on a treasure/follower (which can sway the battle even more in your favor than two rot)?

Anyway, lets do some math here.

10 Rot nets you the point you need to win, maximum, for most games (assuming no one does the blood pact thing, in which case its 11, not a big deal)
8 from quests, two each. Multiple turns required to reach each quest, Minimum of 2-3 each. Lets say two.
10 turns spent minimum for full 8, assuming you aren't killed en route or blocked by -ap methods or bodies.
Requirement of 5 Rot to begin quests, meaning only three quests necessary maximum. Not bad, there.
Additional problem of being poisoned/hurting yourself through Rot cards as you try and get to those quests.

So yeah, Rot quests could come in handy in a pinch, but they're still far more risky than deckdraws as players *cannot* stop you from drawing and burning all your rot in a single turn- but they CAN block you from quests.

Its a lot more viable to have 7 Wit, and be drawing/burning 7 cards a turn after casting them on yourself or burning them on your own perils. No matter how rare Rot cards are in comparison to other cards, you're getting an average of 2 Rot per card. And that's assuming you don't get a +Rot Equip in your first drawn hand, where you're trying to put together gear.

Now, as a Witless character, even reaching 5 Rot is a massive problem, as you're essentially forced to die to banes.

Another problem is that doing Rot quests, while getting you the Rot you need, requires you to be 'in radar' for other, more pure opponents who will see you Corrupted and know what you're up to without even looking very hard.

Strategy is as follows- Get Equipment, go for Wit quests until 6-7 Wit or higher while getting 4 Rot, stockpile Rot cards, run Rot quests if needed (unlikely), go to Rot 10-11, break into Palace at good timing (with a Wit Peril entry), Hot Root up, smash that lion into itty bitty pieces and drink his blood.

[Norable]

@ seventh Ok, this is on me. I pretty sure i read that part the first time, but not, when i wrote the edit. Sorry.

[Cityfall]

Originally posted by Norable:

@ seventh Ok, this is on me. I pretty sure i read that part the first time, but not, when i wrote the edit. Sorry.

Lol, no worries, I'm not trying to rag on ya. Its a big block of text, sometimes the eyes just glaze over. Got me thinking though, maybe that Twiss was going for the super-rot achievement?

[Heartling]

@seventh: I'm getting the feeling we're both starting to misunderstand each other here so I really hope this doesn't sound snippy as you do have a lot of good points that I agree with that really are good and helpful; it was only the staying at four rot until you know you can win and what you said regarding quests that I didn't completely agree with

Okay, so with the quests (i'm sure you know this but to explain it i'm going to need to get very basic), you have three each time you get to select one, one for a spirit stone, one for a follower, and one for a treasure. When you become corrupted, because the game knows you cannot step into stone circles, it replaces the spirit stone quests with ones that give +2 rot.
I rarely go for them myself truthfully since in all honesty I just abandon quests after the second considering with my play-style by then it's just time for the king or the rot quest is for a stat I don't want (body for example while doing River with the rubliette ring since the point is to stay at three health), but it's nice to at least have that option, which is why i'm suggesting to at least wait to finish your first quest until you've become corrupted. By all means you don't have to do them and i'm definitely not saying to only do the rot quests, I'm just saying it's probably smart to have it. Instead of a spirit stone, if there's no other quest you want or rot happens to be for wits/spirit, you'll get wits/spirit and two rot if you didn't fail it.

Basically, I'm not saying to stop grinding through the decks or ignore everything else you've suggested (that is extremely important and I always do so with the item deck for the rot weapons and cards), I'm just saying it could be smart at times to wait to complete your first quest until you've become corrupted, which from what you're suggesting shouldn't take to long since as I've already said, they can be handy, and to not sit around at four rot until you're sure you can win. If you get a rot card, you want to use it and not save it; I cannot express how many times I've had all the beautiful rot cards I've needed and had them stolen by glamour, perils, declarations, ect. Just as it's risky to travel around corrupted, it's risky to keep them in your hand. Better to use them and become a target, than save them and lose them when you need them most.


I apologize if i've confused my point at all, or put emphasis on the wrong thing or come across as something unpleasant or anything like that; I can write characters, but I have social anxiety and that makes writing thing's like this difficult so I'm really sorry for that. I just really like rot, and I want to help people get the victory since I know how hard it is, and have just found those things really helpful.

[Cityfall]

Originally posted by 76heart:

snip.

No offense taken mate, its a different and legit playstyle. There are a few key differences between yours and the posted one however, that make going for quests/not going for quests more or less important.

1: You're using item cards for your rot, not spells. This means you're going to have an influx of bigger and better equipment constantly flowing through your fingers, but also that rot is going to be harder to find- unlike the trap deck, item cards do not receive discounts based on towns, and unlike the magic deck you do not get a constant and set flow of MP. It requires you to maintain town ownership, giving players another way to screw you over. Perils become your only way of getting rid of unwanted cards that you can't simply cast or pay for to be rid of, and you're also not going to be getting an influx of perils to place. This makes rot quests infinitely more important, regardless of whether you're only doing 1 or 2 of them.

2: Much better than Rot as a reward is a Treasure or a Follower you want. Namely Apprentice, Blacksmith, Royal Shield, Reaper's Trident (So much better than Bane Blade, especially against the King), that kind of thing. It is ALSO infinitely more important to get Wit than any other stat, or even most rewards: Wit allows you to get more cards, breach the Palace early as you like, etc.

3: the issues with using River (especially with Ruby): Having massive Wit and going via spells allows you to get rid of SO MANY dice against the King, making it less likely Mr. Lion will be able to bring your own dice to bear against you. In the final fight, your Rot is as much a detriment as it is a boon, because every miss is coming right back at your face. River, in a straight-up fight, swings too many dice for her base Wit (not including Rot dice) meaning if you don't get those Wit boosts you're up a creek without a paddle and are relying solely on RNG to not die to the King. The other problem with using River is that knowing she can one-shot the King with her ability means every other player is gonna be dead focused on making sure you never breach the Palace the moment it reaches 6t semi-endgame.

[Heartling]

@seventh in all those points you are very correct, however I was only using them as examples, not main points/issues because that's where I have the most experience and felt I could best explain. Replace item deck with spells and River with Amber, Barnaby, or Ghor if you wish, the former two whom I have become corrupted with. I like using River and i've found she's great for rot, but as you said and I knew from the start it's a different play-style, which is why they were only examples to try and help explain what I was saying.
What I've been trying to say is it's worth waiting to complete the first quest until you've achieved corruption (and it seems like it really would be best to do so with what you're suggesting as going for wit spirit stone quests could really stop you if you get corrupted without meaning to or misstep), not put my play-style here, as that wouldn't be right when you've already made a wonderful guide and i've said it elsewhere, so I'm sorry.

[Cityfall]

Originally posted by 76heart:

snip.

I'm not ragging on your playstyle (I'm sure River works really well for it), just seeing changes from yours to mine and declaring thoughts on it. No apology necessary. We gotta experiment, right?

As for going past 4 Rot asap before quests and trying to get Rot instead of Spirit Stones.... ehh. While it is NICE to have the option of forgoing Stones, you aren't going to end up a Walker (and thereby make a Rot victory impossible) unless you have four of them, and you're not gonna accidentally end up with 4. Plus, if you're running your quests below 5 Rot, stone circles don't offer you any problem- in fact, they're a massive help that mean you don't need to kill players in combat for HP, and you're able to walk through them en route to where you're going- cutting down on travel time. No detrimental effects from picking up a stone here or there, no matter how high your rot is... it just isn't important to be rid of them, and the Rotquests don't help this playstyle enough to warrant going above 4.

As for stats: Three are important to the style. Wit first, Spirit second, Body third. You are almost guaranteed to get quest selections that gives you one of these three stats along with something you want. Bursting to 5 Rot for Rotquest drops just seems like unnecessary overkill to a maximum once-a-game issue.

Now I think someone suggested not waiting with cards in your hand after getting to 4, and to just keep going? To that, I gotta say I agree: DO NOT just blindly hold onto two rot cards. Hang onto one, and see if you can get one or two more. If someone steals them, big whoop- but once you're in a position to survive, THAT is when you should burn 2-3 and bank yourself around 8-10 Rot total. You 100% do not wanna start stockpiling upwards of five rot cards and just sit on your thumbs, because you're asking for punishment.

[Drinkcup]

make a guide out of this and put in pictures but especially video clips from Aqua Teen Hunger Force