Since this patch we saw the White Frost WH buff it makes me think that the devs do want to improve this archtype so i wanna give my 2 cents ideas on the matter
I feel like it's a personal tradition at this point. Every time i see a minor buff to the WH archtype i come here and give some more suggestions for some further improvements to the archtype, every time CDPR ignores me, then i do it all over again the next minor buff comes along. Hoping to wear them down some day )
So in the spirit of not breaking tradition, here we go again
Keep in mind that my purpose in this tread is to try to make the WH a tier 1 deck so i'll be comparing cards in each provision cost with the most powerful cards in those provision cost ranges.
Before we get to the cards, i wanna mention the other details that could be improved:
1. White Frost. This recent buff is nice but WH has units that are row specific and the fact that you have to move the unit to the other row makes you lose some points.
My suggestion for White Frost is to either let us chose if we move the unit or not OR remove the row part. As in, if there's frost on the enemy board get the extra point.
2. Make weather trigger at the end of my turn rather than at the start of the enemy turn. This is a quality of life change that i feel should be in game. I mean, to get the damage at the start of the enemy turn rather than the end of yours serves no porpuse other than make the weather player lose points whenever the enemy passes.
3. Dominance should be changed to trigger if there's frost on the enemy board instead of if you control the highest unit. The way it is now just doesn't make any sense and has no synergy with WH since most of their units are low points and mostly depend on their effects.
Now on to the cards:
First, i think the WH units should have armor since they are heavily armored so i will include that in my suggestions.
1. Wild Hunt Hounds - I think the hound should get in line with other 4 point engines that boost themselves by 1 point every turn (Garkain, master of disguise, mahakam defender, an craite warcrier etc.) so i think it should be 4 points for 4 provisions. That's all for this card.
2. Wild Hunt Warrior - I see that the norm with this update starts to be that the best 4 provision units are the ones that can play for 7 points (excluding the ones that can exceed that with setup or synergy with other cards) and by 7 for 4 i'm thinking cards like Aen Elle Conqueror, Arena Ghoul, Dwarven Mercenary etc.
So, following the example of other 7 for 4 cards i think WH Warrior should be as it is now but it should get 1 extra point and 1 armor (so it would be 4 points, 3 damage, 1 armor and if you don't have frost on the enemy board you get only 1 point of damage)
3. Wild Hunt Navigator - Pretty much the same thing as with the Warrior but instead of buffing the card by 1 point buff the effect. So it would be 3 points, 4 provisions, buff a unit by 2 and if you have frost on the enemy board buff it by 4 instead.
4. Aen Elle Conquieror - Just give it 1 armor to fit the whole armored WH theme. Honestly it doesn't really need it but i was just going for the armor theme thing .
5. Naglfar's Crew - This one is tricky. I'm tempted to say it should be 4 provisions to fit the whole 7 for 4 concept and that it's easy to kill but the synergy you get from frost for other cards might compensate for that extra provision point... yeah this one might be in a good spot if Dominance gets reworked.
6. Wild Hunt Rider - Now here's what i'm thinking... you left the Blightmaker into Mage Assassin combo intact except for that 1 provision increase which will do nothing so now it is 11 for 10 plus deck thinning... why is WH Rider into WH Rider an 8 for 10? As a matter of fact why are all the other thinning options 8 for 10? I think all such combos should be buffed so the Rider should be 5 for 5 and 1 point of armor (again the thematic thing) and the Mage Assassin should be 1 for 4 so that when he synergizes with the Blightmaker will be 10 for 10 plus deck thinning like all other combos.
Either that or buff all deck thinning combos to be on par with that Blightmaker + Mage Assassin.
So yeah, bottom line, Wild Hunt Rider - 5 point, 5 provision 1 armor.
7. Naglfar's Taskmaster - Honestly this card is pretty ok. Decent power, it has armor so it fits the lore but purify is more often than not useless. Maybe buff her to 6 so at least we get a 6 point body if we have nothing to purify?
8. Wild Hunt Bruiser - Now as far as 5 points cards go, i noticed that with this patch the norm tends to be 8 points for 5 provision. So, just buff it from 5 to 6 points and it's perfect.
9. Winter Queen - She's in a good spot but just let her be summoned from the graveyard as well. Some times we have to play cards like Red Riders or Ard Gaeth at the start of the second round to maximize the damage on both rows of the enemy and then they just pass and we go 1 card down because we have no unit. This would help the WH decks a ton. Oh yeah, and give her 1 armor
10. Nithral - Buff it to 6, give it 1 armor and it's golden.
11. Caranthir - This card is... ok-ish in this deck but considering WH decks don't have many engines that can survive after being spawned with 1 power he's almost useless in a WH deck. So, my suggestion is, leave the ability as is BUT add to it that if it's a WH unit don't change it's power. Oh yeah, and give him 1 armor. Maybe even 2 since no he's a big shot in the WH
12. Imlerith - Now this is the big one. Imlerith in the witcher story was more of a brute kinda character. Brawler, close combat fighter or however you wanna describe him. His ability should reflect that somehow. The way it is now with pulling a card from the deck it feels more like how Caranthir summoned WH reinforcements through portals in TW3. Not really a very brawler type ability. He should have some duel type ability or some sort of damaging type ability.
Give the deck thinning stuff to some other character... oh yeah and also give him 2 armor since he's also a big shot in the WH army.
13. Eredin - If Dominance gets reworked he's good. Just give him 3 armor since he's the king of the WH and he's good to go.
The cards from the WH that i didn't mention here, i didn't mention because i think they are in a good spot
Pfew that was a ton to type... well, i did my part in trying to improve my favorite archtype, thank you for reading and i'll be here posting suggestions again next time i see some minor buff to the WH, CHEERS!
I feel like it's a personal tradition at this point. Every time i see a minor buff to the WH archtype i come here and give some more suggestions for some further improvements to the archtype, every time CDPR ignores me, then i do it all over again the next minor buff comes along. Hoping to wear them down some day )
So in the spirit of not breaking tradition, here we go again
Keep in mind that my purpose in this tread is to try to make the WH a tier 1 deck so i'll be comparing cards in each provision cost with the most powerful cards in those provision cost ranges.
Before we get to the cards, i wanna mention the other details that could be improved:
1. White Frost. This recent buff is nice but WH has units that are row specific and the fact that you have to move the unit to the other row makes you lose some points.
My suggestion for White Frost is to either let us chose if we move the unit or not OR remove the row part. As in, if there's frost on the enemy board get the extra point.
2. Make weather trigger at the end of my turn rather than at the start of the enemy turn. This is a quality of life change that i feel should be in game. I mean, to get the damage at the start of the enemy turn rather than the end of yours serves no porpuse other than make the weather player lose points whenever the enemy passes.
3. Dominance should be changed to trigger if there's frost on the enemy board instead of if you control the highest unit. The way it is now just doesn't make any sense and has no synergy with WH since most of their units are low points and mostly depend on their effects.
Now on to the cards:
First, i think the WH units should have armor since they are heavily armored so i will include that in my suggestions.
1. Wild Hunt Hounds - I think the hound should get in line with other 4 point engines that boost themselves by 1 point every turn (Garkain, master of disguise, mahakam defender, an craite warcrier etc.) so i think it should be 4 points for 4 provisions. That's all for this card.
2. Wild Hunt Warrior - I see that the norm with this update starts to be that the best 4 provision units are the ones that can play for 7 points (excluding the ones that can exceed that with setup or synergy with other cards) and by 7 for 4 i'm thinking cards like Aen Elle Conqueror, Arena Ghoul, Dwarven Mercenary etc.
So, following the example of other 7 for 4 cards i think WH Warrior should be as it is now but it should get 1 extra point and 1 armor (so it would be 4 points, 3 damage, 1 armor and if you don't have frost on the enemy board you get only 1 point of damage)
3. Wild Hunt Navigator - Pretty much the same thing as with the Warrior but instead of buffing the card by 1 point buff the effect. So it would be 3 points, 4 provisions, buff a unit by 2 and if you have frost on the enemy board buff it by 4 instead.
4. Aen Elle Conquieror - Just give it 1 armor to fit the whole armored WH theme. Honestly it doesn't really need it but i was just going for the armor theme thing .
5. Naglfar's Crew - This one is tricky. I'm tempted to say it should be 4 provisions to fit the whole 7 for 4 concept and that it's easy to kill but the synergy you get from frost for other cards might compensate for that extra provision point... yeah this one might be in a good spot if Dominance gets reworked.
6. Wild Hunt Rider - Now here's what i'm thinking... you left the Blightmaker into Mage Assassin combo intact except for that 1 provision increase which will do nothing so now it is 11 for 10 plus deck thinning... why is WH Rider into WH Rider an 8 for 10? As a matter of fact why are all the other thinning options 8 for 10? I think all such combos should be buffed so the Rider should be 5 for 5 and 1 point of armor (again the thematic thing) and the Mage Assassin should be 1 for 4 so that when he synergizes with the Blightmaker will be 10 for 10 plus deck thinning like all other combos.
Either that or buff all deck thinning combos to be on par with that Blightmaker + Mage Assassin.
So yeah, bottom line, Wild Hunt Rider - 5 point, 5 provision 1 armor.
7. Naglfar's Taskmaster - Honestly this card is pretty ok. Decent power, it has armor so it fits the lore but purify is more often than not useless. Maybe buff her to 6 so at least we get a 6 point body if we have nothing to purify?
8. Wild Hunt Bruiser - Now as far as 5 points cards go, i noticed that with this patch the norm tends to be 8 points for 5 provision. So, just buff it from 5 to 6 points and it's perfect.
9. Winter Queen - She's in a good spot but just let her be summoned from the graveyard as well. Some times we have to play cards like Red Riders or Ard Gaeth at the start of the second round to maximize the damage on both rows of the enemy and then they just pass and we go 1 card down because we have no unit. This would help the WH decks a ton. Oh yeah, and give her 1 armor
10. Nithral - Buff it to 6, give it 1 armor and it's golden.
11. Caranthir - This card is... ok-ish in this deck but considering WH decks don't have many engines that can survive after being spawned with 1 power he's almost useless in a WH deck. So, my suggestion is, leave the ability as is BUT add to it that if it's a WH unit don't change it's power. Oh yeah, and give him 1 armor. Maybe even 2 since no he's a big shot in the WH
12. Imlerith - Now this is the big one. Imlerith in the witcher story was more of a brute kinda character. Brawler, close combat fighter or however you wanna describe him. His ability should reflect that somehow. The way it is now with pulling a card from the deck it feels more like how Caranthir summoned WH reinforcements through portals in TW3. Not really a very brawler type ability. He should have some duel type ability or some sort of damaging type ability.
Give the deck thinning stuff to some other character... oh yeah and also give him 2 armor since he's also a big shot in the WH army.
13. Eredin - If Dominance gets reworked he's good. Just give him 3 armor since he's the king of the WH and he's good to go.
The cards from the WH that i didn't mention here, i didn't mention because i think they are in a good spot
Pfew that was a ton to type... well, i did my part in trying to improve my favorite archtype, thank you for reading and i'll be here posting suggestions again next time i see some minor buff to the WH, CHEERS!