Plagueherald Seems Really Weak

[Profirix]

I've been loving the Doomsayer and the intricacies of using his doomy doom doom powers to defeat enemies, but the Plagueherald seems to do more damage to his own team than to actual enemies. Poision is such a limited and borderline useless mechanic against AI that often have buffs that heal then after each turn or have heals built into their kits every other rotation. The mercenary needs some serious buffs to even be remotely worth considering to join the team.

[Les White]

Could not be further from the truth.

There's 2 ways to play a Plagueherald - the poison build, which is garbage, or the curse build, which is insane.

The curse build not only causes enemies to miss more frequently, but it makes them take damage when they do. So, in addition to the damage you do, the enemies do less, and while they are doing less, they do damage to themselves.

It's really something to see, and once you do, you understand why the class is powerful. It's no Music Note or Sun or Eclipse, but after the absolute broken classes, Plagueherald is pretty high on the list of power.

[Tsithlis]

Every bit this ^. The plagueherald is an amazingly strong class. Build them for curses and I have literally had missions where I may take 1-2 hits the entire mission. Of course I have the Bard along with him so it gets downright ridiculous how many curses I can put in the monster deck.

[abyssalfury]

Haven't unlocked them yet, but from what I understand:

- They were nerfed hard between first and second edition, but are still considered quite good.
- They are a support (and have a decent amount of AOE), so are likely to be more effective in larger parties. However they still have a decent amount of damage (unlike Music Note) so shouldn't be too much of a burden. In particular, they seem to sit between Music Note and the Tinkerer, with the advantage that their good attacks aren't burnt like the Tinkerer.
- Their defensive and 'hurt your own team' cards are mostly considered bad or gimmicky, so you shouldn't be focusing on them.
- Curse is what they should be focusing on, with Poison as a secondary. Poison can be good but is more dependent on your party, while Curse is always going to be good.
- Their early game offense seems pretty good numbers wise, and they've got several ways to get around shields. So they can focus on that until they build up their ability to spread debuffs.
- Their power cards seem to be distributed pretty evenly through their levels, compared to some other characters who get one nutty card around Level 4-5 that defines the whole character. It seems like they should keep getting better at doing their thing as you level up.

One thing I have to question though is your feelings about Poison vs the AI. Yes, a lot of enemies have healing, but that means the enemies isn't using it. It's only really useless if you're spreading poison without also dealing damage.

[Slow Dog]

Originally posted by Les White:

There's 2 ways to play a Plagueherald - the poison build, which is garbage, or the curse build, which is insane.

Nah, poison builds are absolutely fine. Better at killing the things you want killed. Most importantly, though, is that all the talk about the curse build being good (and, don't get me wrong, it *is* good) rarely seems to acknowledge that it only gets actually good at level 7. I played Plaugey from level 1, and 6 more levels takes a long time. Before that, poison is probably better. And in Guildmaster, you're starting at level 1.

[Kid Gloves]

Plagueherald is definitely a harder mercenary to wrap your head around. Coming at the Plagueherald after playing Sun or something similar, it is easy to make the assumption that you should be playing one of those always-on cards early. In Plagueherald's case... no, you probably shouldn't. The one that poisons everything on movement or the one that provides an always-on shield are extremely situational because the Plagueherald is a bit too squishy to be hanging out on the front lines and doesn't have enough big movement numbers or low initiative to dart in and out of combat like a scoundrel or music notes. The one that lets you poison team-mates is definitely better but it's bottom action is also super good and pairs so well with any top-row action that applies poison.

Putting poison on allies every now and then isn't a huge deal as long as you have a plan to clean up after yourself. Poisoning an ally for a +1 on a single target attack is rarely worth it, but poisoning an ally for a +1 on one of those big area burst attacks when you're going to catch a crowd of foes is far more appealing. Add a power potion for even more kaboom.

Don't overlook the ability to do true damage to poisoned targets, too. That ignores shields, etc. so is ideal for living spirits, vermling shamen, etc. Grab yourself a piercing bow, and you've got a solution for groups of living spirits too!

Originally posted by abyssalfury:

However they still have a decent amount of damage (unlike Music Note) so shouldn't be too much of a burden.

Music Note can do a surprising amount of damage. So much so that in our tabletop game, we referred to her as the 'Soothstabber.'

[ZexxCrine]

Originally posted by Slow Dog:

Originally posted by Les White:

There's 2 ways to play a Plagueherald - the poison build, which is garbage, or the curse build, which is insane.

Nah, poison builds are absolutely fine. Better at killing the things you want killed. Most importantly, though, is that all the talk about the curse build being good (and, don't get me wrong, it *is* good) rarely seems to acknowledge that it only gets actually good at level 7. I played Plaugey from level 1, and 6 more levels takes a long time. Before that, poison is probably better. And in Guildmaster, you're starting at level 1.

idk if I agree. its true that the curse build doesnt really get into full swing until that point, but its pretty hard to justify not taking the curse style cards each level up. the poison cards are usually just worse than their curse counterparts or general use counterparts.

like taking rot maggots over under the skin is really hard to do. succumb to the gift has its uses but fetid fury gives acess to wind whenevr and is a great attack that curses. nightmarish affliction is taken in both builds. willing sacrifice basically requires that you have taken rot maggots and is a really good card. unfortunately the poison build ALSO wants accelerated end so you either take accelerated end come back later to get it or never get it. your not going to get it at level 6 because black tides gives you instant acess to accelerated end's element infusion. so it will have to wait until level 7 where it competes with baneful hex, and airborn toxin which are both good cards in their own right, and at that point you could easily shift your build to fit baneful hex. so either way level 7 is still the big turn on point for him.

[Glaucon]

I will just add that at a lvl 7 plagueherald plus a lvl 3 soothsinger remains one of the most broken character combos in the game.

Perma-muddle means those curses show up a lot more often to trigger baneful hex.

[RoF76]

I had the same impression when I first played it but it's just not easy to master. Playing a curse build and at lev.4 is already quite effective. At lev. 7 it will be broken.

[Jo]

I'm playing it slowly and i find it super solid. Level 2 you get a pierce attack with a bottom big move, level 3 a strong curse attack and a bottom move generating your element, what's not to love? I don't want to spoil myself so I don't know what's coming next but so far, so good.

From your starter cards you got a lovely kit for a range attacker with a balance of CC, multi target, aoe, decent burns. Yeah, sure, don't put yourself where you may get hit but you can hold your ground on insane with angry face low level and 2 level 9.

[x_equals_speed]

In tabletop I played the plague herald as a poison build all the way through and apologised for nothing.

We won most of our games and there were only three of us so I can't have ruined everything that badly ;) If you find the poison and wrecking your own party version fun, play for fun, there are ways to make it work.

[Ginger]

This character is purely overpowered! Poison build to the max.

https://i.imgur.com/zfBbUQs.png?1

[Zeel Ara]

Poison build can also work extremely well together with Scoundrel. But yea, curse is the more obvious choice. It pretty much just makes your entire team invulnerable. Especially paired with music note.

[Ginger]

Curse makes your party invulnerable, but poison can clear a whole map in 3 turns. Open every door, poison all enemies, then go to town using all enemies poisoned takes damage. Got over 400 damage.