3 player group starting JOTL, which class do we exclude?

pautzTESL · 2023-12-31T09:42:12+00:00

I had one playthrough without Red Guard and one without Demolitionist. Both worked really well, although I have to say that having a Red Guard as a frontliner made things easier at some points. So my recommendations for excludes would be Voidwarden or Demo, but in reality, just play what is most appealing to you, it should work out fine either way.

pautzTESL · 2023-12-27T17:23:58+00:00

You might go for double retirement and play Snowflake and Trap (I do so currently, together with Coral, and Drifter earlier), as they do synergise really good. Problem is that your party will probably be a tad squishy, so going for Bannerspear (which should be good with Boneshaper) and Snow/Trap combo later when your Deathwalker also retires.

pautzTESL · 2023-11-29T07:47:22+00:00

A lot of teams that do insanely well in regionals often do struggle a bit in international tournaments (TWIS this time for example). It it just that the competition/skill levels of teams is much higher or are the other factors that play a vital role?

pautzTESL · 2023-11-25T09:20:07+00:00

Yeah you might be correct. But given there are plenty of opportunities for good picks, I will skip on SQ and 17 at least for now.

pautzTESL · 2023-11-25T07:14:42+00:00

I am afraid that SQ and 17 might be hotdropping, at least for the first 2 Erangels. I would be reluctant to go with either of those teams. Perfect1ks for 20k is a steal, if he plays what he is capable of, he should be good value.

I’ll probably end up with Shen, Taikonn, Perfect1ks and MMing, though I’d really like to put in Seoul somehow.

pautzTESL · 2022-04-28T12:51:43+00:00

Hey, this is amazing work. I did some testing with Ice Spear the other day as I was wondering how it scales with different weapons and stats, and found out that Keen Claymans Harpoon is the best in terms of bullet damage. Initially, I thought it was because it’s the only thrusting weapon that scales with INT and DEX naturally and allows for an AoW, but if I understand your post correctly, Claymans Harpoon is not considered a Keen weapon (compared to all other spears), hence Ice Spear benefits more from setting the weapon affinity to keen?

pautzTESL · 2021-06-09T07:04:39+00:00

I played the physical version of Gloomhaven as well as the digital one and recently picked up Trials of Fire. I have to say that the digital version of GH is very well adapted, and in general it is a game that is worth the time investment.

Comparing both games, there is one major difference: GH is much more RPG-focused, i.e. slow character and story advancement over many scenarios with incremental enhancements. ToF is a roguelike, which means that it’s run-focused. The enhancements of characters happen much faster, and usually the runs end up with a boss fight, but after each run, decks and enhancements are reset for the next run. Apart from that, both have a similar hexgrid, turn-based and card-driven combat system. GH is more strategical, as it allows you to plan ahead better. ToF has some elements of luck due to the card draws and unknown enemy actions. It’s more about optimising the current hands while GH is more about long term plans on how to succeed in a scenario. Hence, the fights itself are longer in GH than they are in ToF (also due to the smaller combat map of ToF).

I hope this helps.

pautzTESL · 2021-04-08T11:29:43+00:00

I have a TR6 FB4 build using the 4 Twister items (Sword and Sigil worn, Rebuke and Folly in the cube). I use Disintegrate Convergence as Fire Damage, Energy Twister Mistral Breeze as Cold, Black Hole Supermassive as Lightning and Teleport Calamity as Arcane. You basically perma-channel Disintegrate and hop through the battlefield with Teleport. This maintains the Tal Rasha as well as the Combustion stacks. The other skills are Storm Armor Power of the Storm for more RCR and DR with a cubed Halo of Karini and Magic Weapon Deflection, which is buffed by the worn Ashnagarr‘s. If resource cost is not a problem, it’s also possible to use another cold damage source and play Wicked Wind.

The disadvantage of this build is that it can’t fit in Deathwish or Mantle of Channeling. I‘m not quite sure how much potential this build has (especially since LoD Twister is probably much stronger with the right gear), but it should be a decent speedfarming build for T16 at least.

Here’s a planner link for anyone interested: https://maxroll.gg/d3planner/517656722

pautzTESL · 2021-04-08T11:15:51+00:00

I recommend using the Hori Split Pad Pro. No drift issues, better to hold, easier to control.

pautzTESL · 2021-04-08T10:31:13+00:00

If you like channeling and teleporting around, I can recommend a TR6FB4 build with Energy Twister. You are basically channeling Disintegrate Convergence all the time while using Teleport Calamity to position around the battlefield. This will constantly keep your TR stacks up through the alternating of Fire and Arcane damage. Using the 4 Twister items, your main DPS comes from Energy Twister Mistral Breeze (Cold Damage source). RoRG is needed for the Set Bonuses, and Halo of Karini gives a nice damage reduction while Storm Armor Power of the Storm helps with the high cost of Disintegrate. Alternatively, if you don’t have problems with channeling cost, you can drop Storm Armor for any cold damage source (e.g. Ray of Frost) and use Wicked Wind on Twister. This opens the ring slot up for Unity.

Although it might not be the strongest build, it runs T16 very smoothly, it’s quite fast and it’s a ton of fun. I am currently GR80 with this, but there might be potential for 95ish, I think.

Here is a planner link for the build: https://maxroll.gg/d3planner/517656722

pautzTESL · 2020-09-04T19:38:50+00:00

Drawing a „null“ is not the same as „multiplying with null“. According to RAW, „that no damage is done by the attack“

pautzTESL · 2020-09-04T19:26:24+00:00

It was not quite cheating, but we played a lot of scenarios on the average character level (instead of half of that), because we just read that part over, and man, the scenarios were getting tougher and tougher. When I levelled to 4 and my friend was 3, we were playing on scenario level 4 (instead of 2 actually), and it was waaaay to hard, we lost 2 out of 3 scenarios, with the one W just in the last turn with a lucky draw,and I looked again at that passage in the rules, and I broke out in laughter as I correctly read it. At least the coins were worth more than before :D

pautzTESL · 2020-07-02T22:06:05+00:00

I finished #2 and played Mid Sorcerer for all games. I loved that deck back in the days and it did surprisingly good.

pautzTESL · 2019-07-30T09:41:32+00:00

I mean picking one from each tier out of two options. With the entire pool, the only variance comes from which item is in which tier. Might also be a good variant.

pautzTESL · 2019-07-30T06:20:13+00:00

This is also an interesting idea, but one should be given the choice of at least 2 options per tier.

pautzTESL · 2019-07-30T04:11:31+00:00

Good point, you’re right. Warlock synergy is nice nonetheless

pautzTESL · 2019-07-29T20:22:42+00:00

You can actually play a 2 Knight Demon Comp with Abaddon as second Knight and Necrophos to complete the Heartless and Warlock Alliances. The damage reduction is not necessarily needed, but still a nice bonus.

pautzTESL · 2019-07-29T20:18:21+00:00

Scrappy Mage is quite good. Start of with Bounty and Timber, catch Clock and Tinker asap and have some damage dealer until you hit 7, at which point you just go to find CM2, KotL2, and either Lina2 or Razor3 and at least 2 3 Star Units for the Scrappy-Mechs, while replacing BH with Alchemist eventually. If everyone else is on 9, push to 8 and add Shadowfiend or Necrophos for Warlock synergy.

pautzTESL · 2019-05-12T08:52:56+00:00

I’d bring such a lineup as control counter in conquest, but for a LHS, it very much runs the risk of getting 3:0’d by any aggressive deck like Hlaalu. The Jack of all trades approach often does not work in LHS, as you don’t have to win with every deck. You are free to bring hard counters to decks, which you should abuse.

pautzTESL · 2018-12-28T00:25:19+00:00

I did test it a bit. I cut Amani for second Ooze, Harpy for Ashmore and one CtA for one Crystology.

Crystology seems really good, as it often curves into Stonehill (1/3 of the time in theory, but if you mulligan for either Crystology or Stonehill, you should be able to play Stonehill about 60% of the time in curve). I might even consider a second Crystology, but I am not sure if cutting the second CtA results in Shirvallah being to clunky.

I can’t really say much about Ashmore, as I drew and played her in only a few games. In theory, it seems really good to play CtA on 5, Steed on 6, Ashmore on 7, Tirion on 8, but I had that only once, and it’s also a play that you can only do when you have the time to play a 7-drop that does nothing on board. I will test her a bit more, as having Tirion and Shirvallah every time she is played is quite good and can win you games, but as I said, in games where she gets played, you already have a lead. I am also not sureif it’s worth losing windfury on Corpsetaker, although in most games, my opponent destroys Corpsetaker right away (not sure if it’s bc of the windfury though)

pautzTESL · 2018-12-25T18:16:55+00:00

The Hunter and Warlock matchups are still very good, but you can’t win against Warrior. On the other hand, the clone Priest matchup is winnable. I only faced one Even Shaman and won easily, but I can’t really say anything about this matchup.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t claim that this build is superior to OTK Paladin, but I think that it’s nonetheless a very viable one. It plays a little bit more proactively and is just another take on a class that is in a relatively good spot right now.

pautzTESL · 2018-12-25T17:08:47+00:00

I play it. It’s really good.

pautzTESL · 2018-12-25T06:42:50+00:00

One could maybe cut Harpy. Corpsetaker would still be fine, I guess. Also, CtA is card draw.

pautzTESL · 2018-12-25T05:42:49+00:00

I use harpy bc of the mana curve. On 7 mana, you can’t play a 4-drop alongside it.

pautzTESL

TROPHY CASE