Critique my Sylas Guide!

[Meeky]

It's my first time writing a Steam guide of any sort, but I got into the mood to do so after playing Sylas a lot recently. I noticed there's a lack of specific character guides, and I figure I've got time on my hands; why not offer some advice every now and then?

I'd like to know from the community if the guide I wrote is any good, or if it's trash, or if I could organize it better... You get the picture. I also want to know if it genuinely helps folks, and if it DOES, what characters they'd like me to look at next.

My boy Ghor and my girl Zosha will both probably pop up sooner or later if I continue doing this.

Thanks for your time! Here's the link:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1340630655

[Larc1n]

Bloodthirst ! you missing the Bloodthirst in your spell list ! ^^

[Meeky]

Originally posted by Larc1n:

Bloodthirst ! you missing the Bloodthirst in your spell list ! ^^

D'oh. Yeah, I am. Will add after this match I'm in!

[Wyld kin]

Great lenghty guide !
As much as i fancy myself as a fairly decent armello player, i would'nt mind seing more of your wrighting, you have a nice pen :).
Although i can tell you are quite salty against rubellite, and while i can say i understand where you're coming from, i dont share your opinion about nerfing it (for one, its cost of activation is deadly, no one want to stay low health in armello especially if they look thretening, that and it offer no guaranty even if it better the oods of slaying an opponent).
On a different note, do you not like wolves ? poor wolfies didnt deserve that X3

[Meeky]

I actually rather like playing some of the wolves! Rubelite wolves have been cropping up a lot lately is my gripe, basically. There's a reason they're very common: they tread dangerously, but they can be super effective. I'm honestly not sure how I'd handle Rubelite if it got changed... But Rubelite as it stands just makes combat heroes like Horace, Brun, and Zosha have a hard time keeping pace. Sylas is unique in that his passive bonus is so good the Rubelite ring doesn't matter a darned bit to him.

With that said, among the wolves River is probably my favorite. She's a fairly balanced hero with a power that works 100% of the time every time (assuming the enemy isn't stealthed). Her stats allow you to pursue different playstyles and she fills a niche that nobody else can quite fill. (Again: the fact that she can sneak in and kill a King with 1 life without even fighting him is GLORIOUS.)

Also note that I like to exaggerate my emotions a little when I write. You might notice how much I pick on Ghor, for instance. That's friendly picking. Ghor and Zosha were my first true favorites among the Armello cast.

[Wyld kin]

River is my favorite hero ^^, for all the reasons you mentioned, but also because i really like her persona.

I think people in general over-evaluate the worth of rubelite depending on their wolf pick, I think rubellite on Magna (and quite possibly Thane as well) is far from an effective strategy, both rely on card burn rather than rolling, Thane dont really need an offencive boost with is pierce ability, and Magna have so much health rubelite would be a waste on her.

Also no hero is straight up bad, but Horace is a bit lackluster since his ability can be negated entierly by a simple bounty while also not being super powerfull to begin with (although quite practical, but again, in specific circonstances), and Brun need so much going for him if he his to be effective ( but damn if he is when it does).
Zosha is my fav rat :3, althoug i really like Sargon as well.
Cant say i'm a big bear fan, but sana is probably my best of them.

What's your fav clan ?
And what hero are you considering doing next ? :3

[Meeky]

Truth be told, if I HAD to pick a favorite clan - and I generally don't want to pick favorites because I prefer characters over clans - I'd go for the Rat Clan. Zosha, Sargon, and Griotte are all very powerful characters in their own right, and each function a little differently based, but the theme of using guile and planning ahead to win is key to each of them. I can't say I'm the best at using the Rat Clan, but they're definitely fun to play.

Ghor is easily my favorite bear, and he's probably the character I'll cover next. In contrast with Sylas, I feel Ghor has a problem of really only having a few good rings and amulets to pick from, and you really need to play him one specific way to win: go full-on Winnie the Pooh and play in the Hundred Acre Woods while essentially emptying the spell deck as quickly as you can. It's a highly effective strategy, however, and if you get too far behind on prestige it's entirely seemly to try and kill the king by casting the right self-buffs and wearing items that minimize risks (-dice +swords/shields, cast mirror image twice, go kick kingly butt). And of course Ghor can luck out and get a corruption victory because there's a lot more corruption cards in all three decks than there were before.

After Ghor I'd probably want to do Zosha or Griotte, then do a member of the Rabbit and Wolf Clans before figuring out who to do after that.

As far as sheer power goes... The issue with Magna is that she doesn't need to TRY to be low HP for Rubelite to be strong on her. She's got such a huge HP pool that when she picks a fight with you, you dent her; then she attacks you again, but this time with +3 extra dice, and you're screwed. Fang is really good with Rubelite, too, because he's an offensive powerhouse. Both of them have counters (magic and trickeries for both; and putting Fang on the defensive nullifies his powerful passive), but it's definitely not easy to take control of the situation against them when you're a fighter type. (Again, Sylas is unique in that regard. Because he's naturally inclined to stack defenses, he's more likely to survive their attacks.)

EDIT: One thing that definitely concerns me as new characters get added is that Mercurio seems to be in a weak position. Perhaps I haven't given him enough of a chance recently, but stealing 1 gold for someone for taking a village from them just isn't as powerful as it used to be, not when you sometimes see people running around with 20+ gold in their pockets. I think he needs a buff of some kind, but I'm not sure what to suggest.

Pretty much everyone else from the core game is still in good shape when it comes to doing what they're supposed to do, though I'd argue that Sana feels weak when you compare her to Twiss. Twiss has almost as much HP, has more total Wits/Spirit combined, and even has the ability to NOT get bullied by Fighters. Sana, meanwhile, can theoretically fight Banes and can (funnily enough) be a good choice for a Rot Victory... But Twiss is the better spell sniper because Twiss won't die to other players very easily.

Again, though, Sana really is just fine and balanced for what she does, even if Twiss is more of a specialist than she is. Mercurio's stats are nicely balanced, but his actual passive needs a serious tweak. Maybe even just doubling the gold he steals might keep him relevant? It'd be a LOT more annoying to lose 2 gold from having a village stolen than 1.

[Wyld kin]

And it would go well with your mouse avatar ;).

I once had an insane victory with Ghor:
Yordana was prestige leader i were in my clan's grounds, no cards in hand and it was the last turn, my turn; in a last ditch effort i drew from the item deck, and recieved hot rot wine and the spear that turn the first rolled sword into a pierce, then i drew spell deck and got a teleport (along with non usefull stuff) but by then, i had all i needed ! I used it, entered the palace, burst the peril, equiped the spear, kicked the hrw and faced the king with only one available dice (had the battle armor) and i rolled a sword !! the king rolled mostly defence and didnt kill me, i won battle vic XD !!
I still feel a bit like i stole that vic, but oh man am i not sorry X3 it was so ridiculous ! just like epic fails, epic wins are as hilarious as they can be salty.

The thing with Rubelite on Magna is not only that it contradict with her health pool, but with her ability as well: Her whole point is passive agression, the more one play with her ability in mind, the less likely she is to be hurt, and the more her adversaries will hurt themselves on her defences; the chances that one "scratch" her enough that she drop to 3 or less health but both still survives is not improbable, but it is still unlikely, and then regardless of the issue of the fight she will most likely be sniped within the next two turns should she remain low health, or she gain a bit back but lose the buff and is still considerably weakened, (the power balance of Rubelite is spite/easy targeting/prioritising the users because of their dangerosity, the Rubelite user is more likely to kill in a fight, yes, but less likely to survive for long afterward) actually the most powerfull aspect of Rubellite in my opignion is that it can make other heroes think twice about hurting a Rubellite wolf without killing them (at least when they are in their way), wolves with low base health benefit way more from this aspect than Magna who can shrug most wounds off without her progress on the board being thretened or Rubelite being activated by the indirect offence.
I think the value of a ring is not as much how powerfull it might look like, but how likely one is to benefit from it coupeled with a certain play style / strategy in mind, Magna's character run too contradictory to Rubelite for it to be consistently relevant in game, whether or not it can in specific senarios be of use, a good strategy should not be based on the "off chances -thing- happens" but rather on the likelyhood of -thing- happening.
Hence why i think Rubellite for Magna is not a good pick.

It is true that for figther type, they have less ways to counter other figter types unless they are more powerfull and or better equiped than their opponent, with that said, Wolves are the fighter category of heroes and so i think it makes sence they would have an edge in fighting other heroes if sufficiently injured while their opponent in turn can have more flexibility otherwise, plus it give a strategic edge to potencially hurting yourself as a wolf, it will help in the short run, but woulld be very dangerous regardless.

Yes i agree, Mercurio definitely need a buff of sort, poor rodent didnt age too well with the introduction of other heroes X). taking 2 gold instead of one would be an nice option to make him more relevant overall; i had an idea about making him take more gold the wealthier the hero he steal from, because he is not only to hinder the opponents financial power, but better his own in the process; agains poor heroes, taking a litle gold would still be good in that regard, but the more a hero think they can shrug the loss off because they have a lot, or that they dont nessesarly need it, the more Mercurio would benefit from taking from them.

Yes, Twiss is awsome :3, but Sana can farm banes for prestige pretty easily, and can not only breach the palace early, but also atempt a king slay and win if equiped well enough, while twiss have to rely more on rot if she is to face the king, and will do so later in game in any case.
I personaly play pacifist Sana when i'm her, basicaly if i dont imediatly need it, i give buff to the other heroes as long as they leave me alone, it incentivies them to leave me be or justify my retaliation in front of the others if they dont; let them fight among each other while i do my thing and strike when the time is right to go for the king.
I once even won against a 3 teamers bullying with pacifist Sana ! it didnt deter them from their hidious ways during the game of course, as they still concentrated all their agro on me at any given chance, every turn; But despite that, i never even had to hurt them once with neither trickeries nor spell: with a hot rot wine and mirror image, i breached the castle and slained the king right in front of their ugly faces, damn if it felt goooood X).

PS: Also, thanks for reading that wall of text XD.