Hi everyone, I've been away from the game since just before the SoW release (no $ for it), but now I'm back. And I gotta say, I love the Equipment Cards option. Personally, I kinda wish that Equipment Cards didn't take up an ABC slot, but oh well.

Anyway, the first Epic I ever pulled was Archmage Arugal, and I had always enjoyed using him. I really like the prospect of using Arugal with the Bracers of Nimble Thought, for the possibility of 0-for-7 attacks (on a crit). You Too Shall Serve is a rock-solid card, but I also want to boost him with Arcane Flux so that he has a much better chance of getting his all-important crit effect.

I think I really need Arcane Flux. So I find myself at a bit of a quandry: do I lose YTSS, or do I add another mage to the party? Unless I'm missing something, my only Monster Mage options are the Blindlight Murloc, Bloodscale Wavecaller, and Razaani Nexus Stalker. Of those, the Razaani seems best because of the solid defenses.

I've also heard of many people using Rethilgore to further pump Arugal with Lycanthropy. Or would it be better to take someone with Taunt or Protector? Maybe the Ethereal Crypt Raider with the Bullwark of Azinoth (for Protector and Taunt)? He would gain teleportation from the Razaani.

So here's what I'm thinking of right now.

Archmage Arugal
-YTSS
-Bracers of Nimble Thought
-Soulseeker?? Wow, that could be cool...it would trigger the Bracers more often, and it would make his crits even more deadly than they are already.
-Spellsteal?? Could be useful in the side-bar

Razaani Nexus Stalker
-Arcane Flux (for boosting Arugal)
-Polymorph?? Arugal already has a tick-up (with his crit), so this could be even more abusive
-Mana Potion??

Ethereal Crypt Raider
-Bulwark of Azzinoth (needed for Taunt/Protector)
-Intervene (seemes to be useful for getting into position to protect Arugal)
-Silk Bandage?? Useful for healing Arugal who he'll always try to be adjacent to, but maybe that would be a waste. Or maybe, if Bulwark and Intervene are always solid, then forget this slot and add another Mage ABC instead?


ARE is the acronym for this party. :) Would this make a good base for a party? The biggest thing I'm concerned about is the lack of healing for Arugal, who is clearly the lynch-pin of the party. Maybe it would be better just to lose YTSS in favor of Arcane Flux, so that I don't have to take another Mage.

Please let me know what you think.

EDIT: Or maybe it's best just to leave YTSS in the sidebar and have Arugal take Arcane Flux. That would allow me to take the more standard 2x Bleakheart Hellcaller. Or a Bleakheart and a Frostmane Troll (to heal and to counter Marlowes).

Archmage Arugal
-Bracers of Nimble Thought
-Arcane Flux
-YTSS

Bleakheart Hellcaller
-Corruption
-Curse of Agony
-Demonic Curse

Frostmane Troll
-Chain Lightning (it would be the only AoE in the party)
-Healing Wave
-A totem of some sort (Wrath of Air? Magma Totem?)

So which party would be better?

I keep trying to be constructive in my views of this party, but since there is no try, fail do I.

Arugal with Bracers is certainly potent on paper!  Giving up YTSS for anything seems like a poor play.  I consider it one of the top Epic ABCs, behind Bolvar's Retribution and Kael's Flamestrike.

Spellsteal is an absolute must in this party, else you have no way to work around Iceblock.  There are additional buffs and counters worth ganking, but that one seems one of the most used. 

Rezaani Nexus Stalker is a solid body and one of my favorite monsters, hands down. I was looking at working him with Kael, but I'd just as willingly test out Arugal.  Actually, I even considered Ras!

Rethilgore, as Isgee CONSTANTLY proved, is such a solid companion of Arugal's.  Lycanthropy on Arugal is nice, but Lycantropy on Rezaani Nexus Stalker is even sweeter.  During the first few, positioning ticks of the game, Stalker can throw out a huge attack from Flamestrike or something, and when night falls, his 5 dice are juicy!

Well, I do encourage you to get back to us after some testing.  Go go Nimble Bracers!

Cheers!

-teh Sig

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Level 2 WoW Minis Judge
"Ouch! That was a water elemental!"-CorayThan

How are you connecting A's crit with the bracers?  (and it will at best be 7 for 2, not 0 :).

I assume you have been trying to tick everyone up two and you up only one.  So what do you plan to do with those ticks?  Personally I think going for DoTs is the best use for it, but maybe you have something else in mind (VP at 5 and 10 for example would mean a low honor party?).  Every class has dots as do demons.  This is a double argument for bleakhearts and the heart murmer which fires on ticks 5/10 is a third.  Their crit (since you are using Arcane flux) also fires so an additional bonus.  That one of them can use the soulseeker seems to clench the deal.

However I am more interested in a fun/jank party so I steared from them.  :)

Cursed Hourglass (16 honor)
Arugal
--Nimble Bracers (because I think it will be cool.)
--arcane flux
piztog x2
--curse of culuthos x2
--demonic curse x2

Early DoTs also mean A's 7 dice are more likely to finish the job, activating the bracers.

YTSS IMHO is one of the funnest cards, but usually not worth the ticks.  Especially good if your opponent has dots that reset at 5, but otherwise it is just fun.  O:)
Not quite what you asked, but hopefully the (spotty) logic included will help.

I'm gonna have to disagree about YTSS. I'm confident that it's the second best card in the game, right behind the Jainelemental.

-Ben

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Isgee is, by definition, a snob.

2552088:

How are you connecting A's crit with the bracers?  (and it will at best be 7 for 2, not 0

Yeah, I just played tonight, and I realized to my chagrin that Arugal ticks himself up with his crit effect, too. At first I thought he didn't, which would be amazing. And broken, methinks.

Oh well, back to the drawing board with this one. I tested the Arugal/Bleakheart/Troll party, vs Wilton/Mortimer x2. I just didn't have a beefy-enough piece to hold the hill, or else Arugal's tickups would've won me lots of King-of-the-hill VPs. I just couldn't hold the hill with the Bleakheart for long enough.

As it turned out, with Arugal ticking himself up so much, he hardly got any use out of the Nimble Bracers. And YTSS would have definitely been a better choice! Arcane Flux was useful for the other ABC slot, though.

Swapping Rethilgore in for Frostmane Troll would provide a beefier Bleakheart in ticks 6-10, as he becomes A4 R3 H8 with Lycanthropy.  You'll lose Chain Heal, which you can sort of make up for by running Silk Bandage as Rethilgore's 2nd card.  The loss of Frost Purification vs. DoT teams, however, has no answer.

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I wanted to give everyone a list of all the trustworthy people who traded with me on this site, but it exceeds maximum character length. To me, that's a hopeful sign.

I like using YTSS on Ice Blocked mages.  As long as they're not scoring VP, I'm happy.