Birdie’s Hero Breakdown – Vess Swifthands

[Preybird]

My first Shattered Fates hero Breakdown!

Intro

Vess Swifthands has a lot of hopes pinned on her, more than most (if not all) of the new heroes. That’s because she’s in the unenviable class of Shadow Warrior, a class which has traditionally been considered laughably weak and it’s hoped that she can prove herself (and her class) to be an effective competitor.

It’s still early days, but there’s some potential here.

Overview

Vess’ ability has real synergy with the Warrior pool. Given that Warriors rely so heavily on attachments Vess can make some huge tempo gains with her ability, playing a string of free attachments while simultaneously solidifying a board presence. This does mean that you can card starve yourself rather quickly (even with Blood Frenzy) so Vess values her draw power even more than most.

As to the Warrior and Shadow pool Vess has access to a stack of powerful attachments (which is a great thing). She has her draw (Blood Frenzy, Confluence of Fate), ally control (Crippling Blow, Spiked Bolas Strike), heal (Enrage, Rampage, Mettle of theYari) and ally buffs (Bloodthirsty, Mindless Ferocity). Beyond attachments she has access to the excellent Shadow ally pool, as well as strong item destruction (Smashing Blow, Shriek of Vengeance, Shriek of Revulsion etc), some minor direct damage & ally control (Shield Bash, Intimidate) and a strong set of Warrior specific allies (notably Wild Berzerker, Braxnorian Veteran, Yari Bladedancer, Yari Marksman).

Allies

The Shadow ally pool is very strong, but it’s strength (up until now) tended to be concentrated in the back end (the heavy allies). So while resilient, the cheaper Shadow allies lacked offensive power and had trouble keeping board without assistance from weapons and/or abilities. This was a real problem for the Shadow Warriors whose abilities gave little to no board control. However with Shattered Fates there are a whole new range of options, and Shadow’s early game is much stronger.

Call of the Crystals

• Infernal Gargoyle: Good old Gary. He’s still kicking, but he’s starting to be supplanted by more focused allies. Still a good starting point and still the toughest 3 drop out there.

• Plasma Behemoth: Threat central. If he sticks then he will own the board by himself, and Vess’ ability can help clear the way for him with a stream of control attachments.

• Shadow Knight: An all round great Shadow ally because they keep the pressure on your opponent by cycling your used allies, and if they stick around they hit like a ton of bricks. And with the new hasted Shattered Fates allies they’re even better (the allies that you bring back are guaranteed to get shots in again).

Dark Prophecies

• Morbid Acolyte: Gargoyle with added versatility at the cost of durability. His 5 health still gives him good survivability but the real jewel in the crown is his ability to negate passives. This means that he can bypass stealth, protector, damage reduction, pretty much anything. Exceptionally useful.

• Yari Spearmen: Shadow’s only protector and very useful when you want ot help ensure your Shadow Knight/Scourge Colossus/other random fatty survives for an extra turn. Especially good at keeping Zaladar and Banebow under wraps.

• Furrion Terror: Always helpful in assisting your allies with board clearing, the Terror is a solid inclusion in a slower more control oriented deck.

• Braxnorian Veteran: Vess likes attachments, and Brax Veteran gives her more food for her ability. He’s to Vess what Reserve Weapon (or Lily Rosecult) is to Amber.

• Scourge Colossus: You might think this a strange inclusion, especially considering he’s a high risk ally if you can’t haste him in. Thankfully Vess’ ability in conjunction with the SF attachment Will to Fight will allow you to send him barrelling in just like Majiya and her Portals.

Shattered Fates

• Yari Bladedancer: THE new 2 drop for warriors, this ally is a staple. Same stats as Puwen with a fantastic activated ability, this little Yari can really boost your early game. Absolute gold with the next ally, Rampant Krygon.

• Rampant Krygon: Shadow Warriors really needed the Krygon, his ability (especially with Bladedancer) to take back the early board is (almost) unparalleled, and it’s a massive boon for Vess.

• Yari Marksman:This guy works wonders with Warriors, due to Crippling Blow. If you can get two crippled allies on the field the Marksman will always trigger when he enters play (Similar theory to using Champion of Irum and Wild Berzerker).

[Preybird]

Abilities and Items

As mentioned earlier, Vess really appreciates the warrior pool as it generates plenty of targets for her ability. Unfortunately they are still lacking a board wipe, but there are a lot more control options for Shadow Warriors than there used to be.

Call of the Crystals

• Blood Frenzy: Huge, constant draw. This is the primary draw engine of pretty much all Warrior decks for a reason. The 1 point of life means little if you’re overrunning your opponent with threats.

• Crippling Blow: The staple for a warrior build, it shuts down allies on the cheap. However it has lost some of its potency as there are now a lot of abilities that can shut it down. Still a 4 x include in most Warrior decks.

• Enrage: Still the best heal to cost ratio in the game but this card carries its risks, especially against Warriors, Wulven and Elementals, who regularly pack attachment hate.

• The King’s Pride: Massive across the board buffs and damage reduction to boot. The KP is the monster maker, and with the new hasted allies it’s doubly dangerous.

Dark Prophecies

• Bloodthirsty: A very useful alternate draw card, if the targeted ally survives a couple of turns this can get brutal quickly. Very nice with hasted allies or allies that can deal damage with abilities (like Plasma Behemoth).

• Mindless Ferocity: More straightforward than Bloodthirsty, this boosts your damage potential drastically and is a really good surprise package with hasted allies.

• Spectral Sabre: A very important tool for Warriors, this is strictly better than Sever Ties for them (same cost and effect yet doubles as a weapon). Always good to keep a couple for either damage/attachment destruction.

• Dragon’s Tooth: A great control weapon for dealing with those big allies that Vess would normally really struggle with, as well as allies that Crippling Blow won’t stop (i.e. Plasma Behemoth).

• Rothem’s Visage: This armor is really underrated. People are very afraid of the 5 damage on destruction but if it survives it’s a one card board lock. It is a high risk/high gain style of play though, but that risk can be somewhat mitigated by the next card…

• Lythite Coating: This card is very effective with Vess because her ability means you can cast it for free on the turn you summon your game changing armor (KP/Visage), which adds a huge layer of certainty to the play.

Shattered Fates

• Will to Fight: This card was made for Vess. It basically turns her ability into 3SE: Target ally gains Haste. A fantastic card and a great alternative to Rothem’s Visage, and the best part is it can work in conjunction with The King’s Pride, so you can get the massive attack boosts.

• Spiked Bolas Strike: An alternate control card to Crippling Blow, this is especially effective vs human heroes as many of their allies do not have more than 3 attack and thus it reduces them to 0. It is expensive unless you trigger your ability however.

• Confluence of Fate: A great alternate draw for Vess, however if you drop this and Blood Frenzy on her you are taking 2 damage per turn, so be wary.

• Mettle of the Yari: Another Warrior heal engine, this is particularly good in Yari decks (obviously) and in semi-solo decks. A particular benefit to this is that you have more control over your healing, unlike Rampage where it relies on your opponent’s plays as well.

The Problem

There is one glaring issue with Vess, and that’s how dependent she is on attachments. This leads to a couple of problems. You MUST put enough attachments into your deck to make her a worthwhile hero choice, which usually means at least 16 (Blood Frenzy, Crippling Blow, Bloodthirsty, Spiked Bolas Strike, Will to Fight etc.) and this leads to the first issue, that you will quite often find yourself with a hand full of attachments and nothing to play them on (i.e. reduces your decks consistency). And with a deck full of attachments it makes it very hard to fit your actual threats in.

The second issue, and the bigger one in my opinion is that it’s quite easy to play around attachments, and there are a number of very common cards that ruin your day utterly. Of particular note are A Legend Rises and Wulven Resilience, both of which negate your attachment AND boost the target up significantly. Other notable threats are Super Focus, Retreat, Darkwood Wraith, Road Less Travelled, Spectral Sabre, Sever Ties, Shriek of Revulsion etc.

[Preybird]

Playstyles

• Aggro: Also what I refer to as beatdown. You’re the aggressor, the proactive player aiming to force responses from your opponent. You hit fast and often. This sort of playstyle generally uses a lot of allies and/or weapons/direct damage. Aggro is a style of play that relies heavily on maintaining tempo. Mess that up and chances are you can overrun an aggro deck.

• Control: The flip side to aggro, control aims to win by being reactive, constantly having the right answer until it’s ready to produce threats of its own. Control doesn’t so much rely on the tempo play, it’s more reliant on card advantage for the majority of the game.

• Stall/Mill: The ultimate slowdown. We all know the main culprit here (Millstalker), though there are other stall decks around of varying levels of effectiveness. While these decks claim to win by decking you out (milling) they’re actually stalling you, milling is just a by-product of that.

Vess really doesn’t seem to fall into any of these categories naturally, being a bit of a hybrid hero, though leaning toward the aggro side of things. She does like her strong starts in most cases so there are generally plenty of 3cc or lower allies there.

She is capable of a stall/mill style of play; the deck construction is very similar to Logan’s and Ter Adun’s variants, but with more attachments.

• Aggro: 4-6 2cc, 8-10 3cc, Shadow Knight, Scourge Colossus, Will to Fight, Blood Frenzy, Crippling Blow, Enrage, Sacrifical Lamb, Mindless Ferocity, King’s Pride

• Control: 4 2cc – 7-10 3cc, Plasma Behemoth, Shadow Knight, Blood Frenzy, Crippling Blow, Intimidate, Spiked Bolas Strike, Enrage, Rampage (or Mettle of the Yari), Sacrificial Lamb, King’s Pride.

• Stall/Mill: Weapons, Reserve Weapon, Evil Ascendant, Bad Santa, Blood Frenzy, Furrion Terror, Snow Sapphire/Rothem’s Visage, Crippling Blow, Spiked Bolas Strike, Mettle of the Yari, Braxnorian Veteran, Yari Marksman, Shadow Knights

Matchups

Okay, here’s the deck. It’s a typical Vess utilising hasted allies for damage and board control. This version uses Will to Fight but you can swap those for two Rothem’s Visage and two Lythite Coating and it still works, but it becomes a more late game deck.

Vess Swifthands

4 x Yari Bladedancer
4 x Rampant Krygon
3 x Yari Spearmen
3 x Yari Marksman
4 x Shadow Knight
2 x Scourge Colossus

4 x Blood Frenzy
1 x Confluence of Fate
3 x Bloodthirsty

4 x Crippling Blow
3 x Spiked Bolas Strike
1 x Mettle of the Yari
4 x Will to Fight

41 cards inc. Hero

The deck is very focused toward getting board and keeping it, however you will note the lack of item and attachment destruction. Colossus fills the item destruction gap (to some extent), but attachment destruction is non existent. Unfortunately there just isn’t enough room for everything you need (a problem Logan suffers from as well).

At a pinch you could drop a Marksman and a Spearmen and put in two Spectral Sabres/Shriek of Revulsion.

Call of the Crystals Heroes

Boris Skullcrusher
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Boris is a little bit slow getting set up and rolling, which gives you the opportunity to get some early damage in. The problem is that he will be able to take control from turn 4 onwards if you’re not careful, so keep your ability ready and have plenty of control attachments.

Amber Rain
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: You can actually get the jump on Amber in the early game in the critical turns 3 and 4, playing allies and your draw engine/control attachments at the same time. Keeping that advantage into the mid to late game becomes problematic given her massive turn after turn of resource acceleration. Scourge Colossus is your VIP here, particularly as Amber rarely runs more than one item at a time (her weapon).

Victor Heartstriker
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Of the hunters, Victor is the least troublesome due to the fact that he’s slower off the mark than most. That being said Snare Trap is problematic as is Soul Seeker so watch out for both. Use Scourge Colossus to shut down Victor’s weapons and draw as priority.

Gwenneth Truesight
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: If you’re running the Rothem’s Visage variant this matchup gets much easier, but hasted Colossus’ will give her trouble regardless. That being said she can heal and heal off your stream of low health allies. Keep the pressure up and time your Colossus drops properly, keeping Shadow Knights to cycle them.

Nishaven
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: The mages generally trouble Shadow Warriors, and Vess is no exception to this rule. She is significantly faster than the others with a good hand however so she has a better chance than most, but it’s still a tricky match.

Eladwen Frostmire
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Very tricky to keep down, most of your allies are quite fragile so it’s not too hard for Eladwen to dispatch them at her leisure. Be sure to keep cycling hasted allies and just keep going for the throat. Krygon’s ability is very useful here to soften your targets as most Eladwen’s run smaller allies.

Jericho Spellbane
Matchup Quality: Very Hard
Tactics: Vess loves attachments and Jericho loves removing them. And given how heavily she relies on her draw Jericho really shuts her down hard. Always keep spare draw cards in hand and give him too many targets for his ability. Also keep a Shadow Knight in hand if possible to help recover from Tidal Waves (Will to Fight is a bonus).

Zhanna Mist
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Zhanna isn’t as hard as Jericho because she is not as adept at removing attachments. That being said watch out for Mass Purification, it will singlehandedly wreck you.

Lance Shadowstalker
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: With access to Anklebreaker, Sword Thief and Layarian Seductress, not to mention hasted allies like Thunderstrike Construct Lance is sure to give you a hard time. You need to try and control the board as much as possible with attachments and go for the face. Beware that A Legend Rises is very common amongst Rogue decks, so Crippling Blow is more of a temporary solution.

Serena Thoughtripper
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Serena attacks your hand, which is a huge problem for Vess who so desperately needs draw. Coupled with all the Rogue control tools you’re in a bad way. Scourge Colossus is the VIP here, but I would include a couple of Shriek of Vengeance if facing a lot of Serenas (and Rogues in general).

[Preybird]

Ter Adun
Matchup Quality: Easy
Tactics: Vess really is superior to Ter, and it shows in this matchup. She doesn’t lose any tempo while she’s setting up and it’s much easier for her to recover with a stream of hasted allies. Plus without any items in the deck to speak of Ter’s ability is pretty worthless. Just keep him down from the get go and you’ll do fine.

Logan Stonebreaker
Matchup Quality: Easy
Tactics: Exactly the same advice as for Ter, just make sure you drain Logan’s ability before you drop the Colossus.

Banebow
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: The Shadow Hunters have a lot of methods for shutting down allies, and given that they are your only damage source that fact hurts you a lot. Even hasted allies are largely ineffective at times, with Snare Trap preventing them hitting the board and Soul Seeker healing whatever damage they do manage to inflict.

Baduruu
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Like Banebow, Baduruu has plenty of ways to keep you down. Plus he’s making tempo gains that are easily as big as yours with his bows. Scourge Colossus is a key player here, he’s got his passive ability and the durability to withstand retaliation.

Majiya
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Majiya has plenty of hasted allies and lots of burn, two things that really trouble Vess. Hasted Scourge Colossus’ will (hopefully) keep her Portals in check, but add a couple of Shriek of Vengeance/Revulsion if running into a lot of Majiyas. Keep the damage ticking over and use your control attachments to shut down her allies.

Gravebone
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: The easiest of the mages, his weakish early board control gives you a chance to get set up and start to go. Crippling Blow is the order of the day, and having a couple of Braxnorian Veteran to cycle the used ones is a good idea as well.

Elementalis
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: While this matchup isn’t as easy for you as say Logan, this match is still very much in your favour. Keep his allies down and you should be fine.

Zaladar
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Zaladar’s control is mitigated somewhat by the fact that so many of your allies can be hasted in (either natively or through Will to Fight). Keep cycling your threats with Shadow Knights and aim for the face as much as possible.

Darkclaw
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Solo Darkclaw is an eternal pain, however if you are running a Vess that uses Rothem’s Visage it is a much easier match than a Will to Fight based Vess, as Rothem’s essentially prevents any damage a Solo Darkclaw can do.

Moonstalker
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Whilst stealth isn’t the biggest problem with your suite of control attachments, it does pull the teeth out of your allied based strategy. You need to time your allies to hit in between the gaps in your opponent’s stealth, and ensure that the really dangerous allies like Plasma Behemoth are dealt with quickly. If facing a lot of Moonstalker I’d swap the Yari Spearmen for Morbid Acolytes.

[Preybird]

Shattered Fates Heroes

Tala Pureheart
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: A constant flow of protectors makes this difficult, particularly if Tala gets off to a good start. Thankfully if you get a lot of control/buff attachments in your hand you can generally clear the Protector and then deal with the allies behind when you activate Vess’ ability. Yari Marksman is worth his weight in gold.

Ythan Redthorn
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: Ythan is one of those heroes that has trouble staging comebacks, so if you can get him down early you can generally keep him down. You need to watch out for allies like Viska which can wreak havoc with your board when they hit, but generally you should have little trouble with this matchup.

Aramia
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Given most Aramia’s at the moment eschew burn for allies (the dreaded Aetherborn Wisp for example), you have an easier time than most taking them down. Crippling Blow and Spiked Bolas Strike will do wonders for you, and cycling allies will help you keep the pressure up.

Threbin the Righteous
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: Threbin’s ability is annoying, but generally you will be ok here, as long as you keep the allies coming. Hasted Colossus’ will really put a damper on the typical Priest end game (King’s Pride) and cycled Shadow Knights and haste will help you recover from Tidal Waves more easily.

Garth Ravensoul
Matchup Quality: Very Hard
Tactics: Evil thy name is Garth. With his superb board control you will have a horrible time maintaining any kind of presence on the board. Haste is all well and good here, but when even your heaviest hitters can’t stick around for a single turn you’re in real trouble.


Vess Swifthands
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Very much a case of trading blows, this match will be decided by who gets their critical attachments/allies at the right times.

Skervox
Matchup Quality: Medium
Tactics: Skervox is significantly slower than his fellow Shadow Hunters off the mark, and with the ability to haste in so many allies you can recover quite quickly from his ability uses. Keep the pressure up and your should be ok.

Raikka Spellseeker
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Raikka uses a very similar strategy to Majiya, she likes to haste allies in and she’s got plenty of burn to back it up. Slightly weaker than Majiya in the board control area, she nevertheless is a significant threat. Be as aggressive as possible and control with attachments as a first priority.

Praxix
Matchup Quality: Easy/Medium
Tactics: As always, a real roll of the dice match. Generally you’ll come out on top but sometimes Praxix will mill away just the card you need. Shadow Knights are great for returning milled allies.

Bloodfang
Matchup Quality: Hard
Tactics: Wulven Resilience. Say it with me. Wulven Resilience. This card, coupled with the endless stream of allies will wreck you. You have to keep him down as much as possible while still sneaking damage in. Shriek of Vengeance/Revulsion is a very good inclusion to slow him down (kill those Blood Moons).


Loest, Savior of Layar
Matchup Quality: Hard/Very Hard
Tactics: Loest is like all the mages but he can also shut your draw down with ease. Always keep spare draw available and keep the pressure up as much as possible.

Rothem, King of Layar
Matchup Quality: Medium/Hard
Tactics: Rothem is one of those guys that will trade blows with you until he gets his combo ready, before steamrolling you with huge damage in a single turn. Watch for the warning signs, King’s Pride, weapon, SE charged. Using armor really pulls the teeth out of the combo however so a Rothem’s build will generally do better here.



Conclusion

Unfortunately Vess isn’t the supercharged Shadow Warrior that many were hoping for (like me), but she is a step in the right direction and hopefully the future will help her really shine. But for now she is a fun hero that can be powerful, but not consistent enough to compete at the highest levels. 

[Rivozzz]

Great write up as always...

I just wanna add some ideas, There is some nice Vess decks around, though not sure how competitive they are, i believe they are not...
One Deck is Vess semisolo with Bereseker edge,F.terror, Evil ascendenat, kinda like Tier Aden builds
And another which is Vess ravagers build..

[Preybird]

Great write up as always...

I just wanna add some ideas, There is some nice Vess decks around, though not sure how competitive they are, i believe they are not...
One Deck is Vess semisolo with Bereseker edge,F.terror, Evil ascendenat, kinda like Tier Aden builds
And another which is Vess ravagers build..

Yeah I've seen both, and tried the semi-solo variant. Now that there are 550+ cards in the pool, the breakdowns are having to focus more and more on a specific build, which is what would be considered the most common build (currently, still early days of the meta).

[Vince19992]

You keep your words. Nice article credits you name once again!

[Preybird]

You keep your words. Nice article credits you name once again!

Thanks That game where you utterly stomped me told me a lot about Vess!

[Jo3yb0i]

Hey PB. Really interesting build for vess. I am not a vess fan. Just like you said she needs attachment to work. And for me she's not worthy. Maybe in the future when there are attachments that can be allies.(ahem Design team. Make this happen). But at her current state it's difficult. Because u need allies and attachment.

Btw PB when are u updating all of your guides?