Brainstorming regarding buff of Serena and Darkclaw

[Vince19992]

All of all, both of them were T2 heroes at most from the beginning of the game until now. So many people may have a question why they do not rock! Comparing to Amber, who is weapon-based hero as well and definitely top one in DP and does well in SF, Serena and Darkclaw are lack of ability to maintain their ability in long term. They just shine for a moment. Eventhough they get buff from their own class pool, say blade of fan, thoughtripper's cutluss, speedstrike and so on, their abilities are still weakness.

Therefore, in order to improve their abilities' maintainess, I get a probably awesome idea which is a Rogue and Wulven weapon.

Weapon

Faction: Rogue and Wulven

Status: 1/4

Cost: 4

Ability: SE0: this weapon becomes a neutral readied ally with attack euqal to current attack and health equal to durability.

Any thoughts on this?

[Index]

I think that readied is not good.

[Ganjamus]

So smack face once and get a 3/3 or don't smack face and get a 3/4? In DC's case I guess it'd be 3/2. Still seems underpowered :/

[Saf]

Not a bad idea, a weapon that becomes an ally. Can also be used with Helm of Saymeht like Beetle Demon Bow!

[nerull7]

A dancing sword? Interesting idea... At t4 you can clear two 3hp allies (karash and krygon) or one 4hp ally like Aldon. It would need some testing definitely to see if it is underwhelming or screamingly OP. Serena's problem is her early weak game. She almost always looses board straight up and by saccing cards to t5 Ankle she is already in card starvation mode hoping to start controling the board and drawing cards with IGG. She needs some early ally synergies which hopefully synergy with her weapons as well.

[oggtheman]

Cool idea!

[nerull7]

Then again if we compare it to Living Armor it is 2cc cheaper and no side effects (discard) so I can surely say it is OP.

[Saf]

Then again if we compare it to Living Armor it is 2cc cheaper and no side effects (discard) so I can surely say it is OP.

LA gives you a 4/4 and the discard requirement in the right deck is almost always an advantage. Another 6cc haste Viska has 3/6. So a 4cc hopefully 3/4 (costing 3SE to achieve that attack boost to begin with) seems balanced enough

[bobrossw]

As a Serena player, I may love this, however it is much better than Living Armor, which I think is OP. I think uncounterable haste like this is generally a bad idea since it limits the utility of cards aimed at countering haste, which is a very powerful ability.

Also more haste for wulven is a really bad idea...this may help darkclaw, but it also helps moonstalker, which already has access to a good amount of haste allies now. Lots of haste + stealth = unwinnable death race. Similarly, a 4/4 haste ally would be great in a cantrip-rush lance deck. So this card doesn't really balance Serena or Darkclaw as much as it buffs Moonstalker and Lance; two heroes that really don't need a buff.

I think the devs got the right idea with the new version of thoughtripper cutlass, they really have to be careful when giving items to Serena and Darkclaw because it is very easy for them to be much more useful in the hands of other heroes who are already relatively balanced.

So once again, I say - the solution for allies with weapon based abilities is to buff Frying Pan! Make it draw a card when destroyed, and all will be well (maybe give it 2 durability and have it cost 2, so darkclaw can use it twice).

Also the concept of a dual purpose ally/weapon is great, but maybe it could go the other way. Instead of a sword that becomes an ally, make it an ally that becomes a weapon (some kind of homunculus - or stay with the dancing sword concept). You could even make it change back and forth, but make it so when it comes into play it doesn't have haste. Make it a mediocre ally (3 or 4cc - 2/5) that can become a sword that's 2/5 (or whatever based on the stats of the ally). So it's an ok ally, and an ok weapon (it's cheap for the stats but it can be killed as an ally for a turn before you can make it a weapon, so it deserves the cheap price) still it can be used in a pinch, so you can build a deck that would have enough weapons without needing to worry as much about horrible draws.

The one issue that I have with this is flavor-wise it doesn't really feel like a wulven card. It really is more mage and elemental like (which is why they got living armor, I'm sure).

[bobrossw]

Here's another idea along those lines - how about an armor that searches for a weapon from the deck when it comes into play and then gives you a discount to play it? so something like 2/2 for 3, lets you retrieve the top weapon in deck and then reshuffle, and play it for 2 less than its cost that turn. (So T6, you can use it to play a weapon if you don't have one, or t3 you can use it to prevent some damage and get a weapon lined up for t5). I also think an ally that could do this would be cool, but that wouldn't work for wulven + rogue.

The bonus of such an armor is it would let you pick the best weapon for a given situation, which usually requires having a lot of weapons in deck. You could have 2 copies of 3 different weapons and then use this to make sure you get the right ones.