Next blue for FTP - Richard, Isarnia, or Russula?

Gameplay Help & Tactics
1

With the free PoV mat being a scope and Frostmarch also due in the next month and a half or so, I am planning my next blue ascension, as those will be my 5th and 6th scopes, respectively. My options for ascension are Isarnia 3^70, Richard 1^30-something, and Russula 3^50-something. I’m next planning a non-trivial number of pulls in the Halloween event, which has no blue legendaries, so unless HA 10 delivers something new (:laughing:), these are pretty much my options, and I’m not really one to sit on mats. Playing with new heroes is fun; waiting for better heroes that may never come is not.

Blue is already my strongest stack color. I have Krampus +20, Vela +18, Thorne +16 (attack path), Magni 4^80, Kiril +c75, and soon to be Grimm +c75 as my main stalwarts. Also Sonya +c20. So I’m not even really sure where I need the most help in blue. Hoping someone will see something I don’t.

Richard seems like the safe bet. I still see him on defense in diamond occasionally, and he’s usually sturdy enough that he fires before I can kill him. Paladin talent helps, hit-3 boosted by defense down (C. Kiril or Grimm) and attack up (Krampus, C. Grimm, or Kiril) hits pretty hard, and the possibliity of drawing his costume at some point in the future is attractive. The problem is, except for the attack down ailment, he’s basically Thorne! I also have some other paladins I’d like to emblem, so that’s a consideration.

Isarnia used to have the reputation of a world beater, but slow and squishy is less attractive than it’s ever been in the current meta. A little less competition for wizard emblems than paladin, but still some. Possibility of drawing the costume, but I don’t have it right now. Undeniably though, she still screws people’s worlds up if she is allowed to fire.

Russula is the great mystery. An S4 hero with all that entails (better stats, passive abilities, etc.) Her special seems niche and maybe a little underwhelming. The forum thread on her seems to find her mostly useful on defense, which I don’t really need, since Krampus is almost always my blue defender. Very fast mana is nice. I could immediately prioritize her for rogue emblems, though, and drive her attack higher.

Anyone see a decisive factor that I am overlooking?

2

With a deep roster, you go for the best hero. Of those, Russula is the best.

Cheers!

4 Likes
3

Agree with this, 100%.

Just because of stats and passives? Or do you also have other reasons for thinking so?

4

A very fast hero that does a decent snipe, hides for a couple of turns and then damages anyone that used a special skill is super useful. With only an 11 mana troop, she’s firing in 6 tiles or 3 ghost tiles. She could keep hiding and hiding with that skill coming back so fast.

5 Likes
5

I see more Russula on mid and high diamond than Richard. Deadlift is even using him on right wing defense. Seeing Richard without costume there is like seeing a 4-leaf clover.

My vote is for the new hero. They have new, fun and interesting skill mechanics. Investing scopes on Richard is like having another Thorne on your side.

5 Likes
6

Thanks, @Chadmo . That’s the kind of insight I’m hoping to get.

Also thanks for the perspective from mid-to-high diamond, @Ultra. Not likely to spend too much time in that arena myself, and I don’t know that I have yet seen more than one Russula on defense anywhere. Maybe in a raid tournament once. But if she’s that well-regarded in such rarified air, she’s probably worth the scopes. I like Thorne more than most, but I don’t need another one!

1 Like
7

Now there’s a Grade A play on words!

3 Likes
8

Richard is the easy replacement for Thorne if you want to go that route.
I always put a vote in for Isarnia in these threads for the defense down. As f2p, Isarnia will be your best defense down for blue heroes unless some luck comes your way.
Russula isn’t the blue hero I’d want the most, but I’d have a hard time passing her up just for all of the things that come with a season 4 hero.

In the end, I’d go Isarnia solely for defense down since I don’t see much changing on your mono team with these three heroes.

3 Likes
9

I tend to agree. At this point you already have solid alternates to switch one or two heroes from your mono main 5 based on abilities and unique situations. You are almost building your second blue mono for when (if?) red tanks come back.

I don’t have Thorne maxed but I do have Richard at +19. If you have Thorne already skip Richard. His A drop is accommodated by Kiril’s costume. I am even considering stripping mine.

My vote would be Russula. Not just for stat increases. The ability is unique and would be the most fun to play with. That’s a factor given you have some “essentials” covered. Given the fast meta she’ll usually get the extra hit without much forethought required. Lastly her ability doesn’t benefit greatly from being on a mono team or hurt a different mono team if she is in there as an off color. Easily slides into most teams and gives benefit. That’s a big plus in ToL, wars, screwing around, etc.

My .02 for what it’s worth. I have none of these heroes maxed anyway :laughing:

Good luck out there!

:beers:

3 Likes
10

I have to agree with everyone and say russula. The tile damage alone at full sword path is enough for me to max her when I get the scopes. Plus she is self sufficient and she could dent a fast defence

1 Like
11

She does about 650 damage to ONE hero even at +20, and this is on defense with the hidden +20% buff. Tthe hiding mechanic is also very easily worked around in two ways: one I can just hold my specials and wait out the hide, or two if I’ve already charged most of my specials, I can just deal a death blow to the defense and ensure it has no chance of recovering afterwards, so I couldn’t care less what Russula did or didn’t do.

Deadlift is just showing off his roster.:wink: Seriously I wouldn’t use anybody in top 100 as some example of what to do and not to do.

For whatever it’s worth, I raid in mid-high-ish diamond (2500-2600 cups), and I’m still more fearful of Richard than Russula. A well timed hit from Richard means I need to work extra hard to kill some heroes; a hit from Russula? Pfft I barely even notice most of the time. :crazy_face:

For offense yeah I agree Russula seems fun, but I don’t have her so I can’t really provide more input beyond just giving my experiences from facing her on defense.

1 Like
12

Definitely flawed on defense. The I think the OP has Krampus +20 and LB. I doubt Russula is a D option for them and I don’t think I would blame them one bit.

Obviously AI controlling D means most heroes can be worked around. The D intelligence is what it is. I suppose they compensate the stupid with the 20% boost.

:beers:

1 Like
13

In the future they would create an ailment that forces you to fire your skills in one way or another. Then russula would profit from this

1 Like
14

Russula + Zocc maybe?

But tbh I’m really not a fan of taking hits in order to maximize damage unless it’s Sif. I mean Russula’s “counterattack” doesn’t even hit that hard anyway, and yet if you let the “wrong” heroes fire on defense (looking at you Frigg/Morel/Elizabeth) you’re biting off way more than you can chew.

15

I believe DOT triggering heroes like russula works well with 2 or more copies. It’s actually quite a plausible investment. Yeah sure 1 Russ with 300+ damage, not a lot of impact. But two of them would be up to 700+ damage just by baiting the enemy to fire. Because it’s an individual Buff so they can stack damage. 3 is a death sentence for sure. Same thing applies with elradir’s DOT reflect, with proven results. One EL doesn’t make a difference. But with 2 or even 3 of them it’s almost a death sentence to the enemy DOT team.

16

IF you can survive the hits from defense, and that’s a big IF.

The only times I intentionally let the defense fire is if I have Ursena or Mitsuko’s reflect up, or if I’m facing Bera/Freya tanks and want to kill them with Skadi’s stacks. Even then I’m very careful with how I play and make sure I don’t bite off more than I can chew, since Bera/Freya rarely goes unaccompanied by the likes of Frigg/Odin or some other heroes I absolutely do not want to get hit by.

17

Russula already hides for 2 turns, so she can reduce the damage and is immuned to ailments. That’s already 2/5 of your heroes protected. Then just focus on the core tank and flank defences. Even zulag would be a nice suggestion to protect the flanks

So it would be russula-flank-zulag-flank-russula. Flanks would be the hard hitters while zulag protects them. The two russulas to cleanup the remaining survivors. Quite useable on offence, but idk about defence though

18

You are correct. He was showing off his highly emblemed Russula, displaying the said hero on his regular defense for all the world to see.

Yeah. Defense should be based on the low 100, not the top 100. We should not be using anybody in the top 100 as example. They just have more money to spend on the game than most of us.

Oh, wow. I consider that cup range as low diamond. Mid diamond for me is between 2600 to 2800 cups. Anything above that is high diamond for me, usually in the top 100 range where players there can be revenged.

Really? I usually ignore Richard, even with costume on either version. He really doesn’t pose much threat to me. Maybe back then in 2018, I might fear him some of the time. But I understand. It depends on the availability of the hero available for use. I might have several more better counters to him, or vice versa.

19

I have all the “correct” counters for Richard (Mits, Garnet, most of the green hitters etc) but the point I was trying to make is, on a below average starting board, he is still a very credible threat. Or at least a major annoyance if he fires. Russula I usually just ignore because she doesn’t hit very hard, and her counterattack is rather laughable. Richard makes me think twice about dumping tiles into him, Russula I don’t even think twice before sending tiles her way.

Also I guess I raid in low diamond then. :sweat_smile:

P.S. I only consider the case of below average starting boards because on a good board, I win 95% of the time. On an average board, assuming I play it right and carefully, I still have about a 75% chance of winning. It’s really only the below average boards where the full potential of the defense really come into play.

Also I don’t raid mono ever, used to do 3-2, then switched to 4-1, and now do almost exclusively 3-1-1. I also almost always raid off-color, not intentionally, but mostly because a) formations has made stacking somewhat pointless and b) I’m a firm believer in having the best team synergy over strong/weak color combos. I switched to 3-1-1 raiding because being able to field both Garnet and Gazelle has saved me from terrible boards more times than I can count.

Hope this provides some additional perspective.

20

Remember the feedback of beta testers back in 2018? That was what they say about Gravemaker. They say that GM was poorly designed. Although very fast, he hits like a wet noodle. But a few months after release, GM emerged as a very good hero, a powerhouse in both offense and in defense in whatever position. Two years after, his relevance was renewed with the arrival of Telluria in 2020. Of course, currently you dont see him as often anymore due to the emergence of very much stronger heroes.

The same can be said about Russula. At very fast mana, he has far superior attack, defense and health stats against GM. While the latter has burn DOT for 2 turns at 298 to target and nearby, the former has a similar effect of damaging ALL enemies by 277 that used special skills after 2 turns of hiding.

I dunno. I just always thought that most VF heroes are near perfect in most facets of the game. But that’s just me.