UPDATE: 18/6/2011: This guide has now been updated for 1.26. Shame I can't change the title...
Hey everybody, I decided to help newbies who are just starting out and need help choosing their hero. I will be giving ratings to all heroes, as well as a description about them and what tier they belong in. So without further ado, here goes:
SE Heroes:
Warriors:
Boris Skullcrusher:
Heavy human aggro, drops allies on top of the other, rushes the opponent with insane card draw from Blood Frenzy, neutralizes dangerous opponent allies with crippling blow, uses valiant defender for regaining board control, and can kill a lot of allies with his ability. Quite easy to use. Recommended for beginners. He is especially powerful in conjunction with the infamous Blake-Aldon-Jeweler's Dream+2 cost ally or crippling blow-Raven-Aeon combo.
Rating: 9/10 Tier: 1-1.5
Amber Rain:
A bit like Boris in the fact that she has card draw from blood frenzy, crippling blow, and valiant defender. However, usually a lot less ally reliant and uses a lot of weapons. Dual Wield+1 durability Berzerker's Edge does 10 damage to something. A little harder than Boris to use. Not as forgiving to beginners, though, as she has to run a lot of expensive weapons.
Rating: 9/10 Tier: 1-1.5
Ter Adun
Not as good as the human warriors mainly just because of the fact shadow has crappy allies, and warriors NEED allies to work. Ally rush is nowhere near as effective for shadow warriors than it is for human warriors. Still, this guy is still pretty cool, with his great ability to destroy items. Ter Adun uses the same tools as human warriors, blood frenzy, crippling blow, and valiant defender. However, because of the shadow ally's lower damage output (they don't have aldon and don't have anything like Aeon), Ter Adun relies more on the cost 1-3 shadow drops and boosting them up with Bloodlust/King's Pride for the kill. Jeweller's Dream is especially good here, as you have so many low cost drops.
Rating: 6.5/10 Tier: 2
Logan Stonebreaker
An inferior copy of Boris Skullcrusher in all ways. Inferior ability, inferior allies, inferior everything. Logan is played sort of like Ter Adun, buffing weenies, but have shield bash so Logan's ability can get put to use. However, there are some great Logan decks, some of them being path00's Logan and Dash2Death also has an incredibly good Logan.
Rating: 4.5/10 Tier: 2-3
Hunters:
Victor Heartstriker:
The first human hunter. Victor has a nifty bow attack bonus which applies to both attack and defence. However, in reality, first strike kinda makes his ability obsolete, because you have to take damage before you fire back. For a Victor deck, you ideally have 10 bows (4 Beetle Demon Bow, 4 Soul Seeker, 2 Guardian's Oath.), mixed up with 2-3 copies of Night Prowler with a few Gravedigger's Cloak. Then you add a few general human allies, such as 4 Puwen, 3 Aldon, 4 Jasmine, 2-3 Aeon. A few copies of rapid fire as well. And that is your Victor deck. Victor plays sort of like this (this is also general with Gwen): Puwen-Aldon-Beetle Demon Bow-Night Prowler-Rapid Fire. He plays like general human hunters, relying on getting out Soul Seeker+Rapid Fire+Night Prowler. And that is gg. Victor is not recommended if you want to play human hunter. I'll explain more about general hunters in my Gwen explanation, since she is a better prototype.
Rating: 3/10 Tier: 2
Gwenneth Truesight:
Human hunter style. Soul Seeker+Rapid Fire+Night Prowler, basically. That kills pretty much all other decks off. Uses Soul Seeker+Rapid Fire for main damage source. Beetle Demon Bow for early damage and the ability to turn it into an ally. Night Prowler to shut down other decks, and Gravedigger's Cloak for Elementalis disruption. Death Trap can also be used for creature control. Flaming Arrow, Poison Arrow, and Into the Forest are also useful cards for solo hunters. Relies on some early allies then sets up Soul Seeker+Rapid Fire+Night Prowler to win. Very easy to use and can win a lot of games. Recommended for beginners. You need to have a bit of gold to make this deck though, as weapons and armour are VERY expensive. Watch out for Armor of Ages and Snow Sapphire, though, as they can put a stop to your fun.
Rating: 9.5/10 Tier: 1-1.5 (slightly leaning towards tier 1.)
Banebow:
The first shadow hunter. Banebow is the better of the two shadow hunters, but not by much. Unfortunately, shadow hunters suffer from both an extremely crappy ally pool and having no ability bow attack bonus. As such, both shadow hunters are quite bad at the moment. Banebow relies on his ability for early ally control and using allies+Bloodlust for the win. Wrath of the Forest can also be useful. He also uses a few bows for extra damage. He is sort of like the shadow warriors, in the fact that he relies a lot on allies+Bloodlust. A pretty bad choice for beginners. You can always choose a better hero.
Rating: 5.5/10 Tier: 2
Baduruu:
Avoid this hero unless you want to have fun. He is IMPOSSIBLE to build a competitive deck around. He may be fun, but he can't win tournaments for his life. His ability ruins him. Just too unpredictable. He works like Banebow, allies+Bloodlust and a few bows. DO NOT CHOOSE HIM OTHER THAN FOR FUN, OR YOU WILL REGRET IT.
Rating: 1.5/10 Tier: 4
Mages:
Nishaven:
Traditional Mage style. Control type, with plenty of Fireballs, Lightning Strikes, Arcane Bursts (sometimes) and Supernova. A few early human allies for early board control until you get high resources and can start going burn burn burn. Voice of Winter is in for stalling until you can get rid of their allies. Somewhat good, although not tier 1.
Rating: 7/10 Tier: 2
Eladwen Frostmire:
Human Mage aggro style. Focuses on getting Portal out and overwhelming the opponent with allies with some support from burn spells. Sort of likpe a Warrior-Mage hybrid, with the heavy aggro and burn. A bit of an unusual choice, though. Not as competitive as Nishaven.
Rating: 6.5/10 Tier: 2
Gravebone:
Like Eladwen, heavy aggro mixed up with some burn. Portal is relied on to shift the momentum going second. Gravebone is very good because he can recurse allies endlessly and keep on bringing them through Portal. Very effective. Highly recommended.
Rating: 8.5/10 Tier: 1.5
Majiya:
Has two main play styles. The main play style is heavy burn, like Nishaven, relying on Majiya's innate drawing ability to get fireballs for early damage and nova-ing until your opponent dies. Very fast and brutal. The second play style is like Eladwen and Gravebone, heavy aggro mixed up some burn. Both are incredibly powerful and are easy to use. Expect insanely good win-lose ratios playing Majiya. Also, Research is a star in both ally-lite and ally-heavy versions of Majiya. Strongly recommended for those who want to win at all costs.
Rating: 10/10 Tier: 1
Priests:
Jericho Spellbane:
Priests have a unique style all of their own. Able to counter everything the opponent throws at them. They also have the unique deck style of protection. Jericho Spellbane is probably the best of the two priests. He can LITERALLY counter everything. Your ally just got crippling blowed? No prob, just use Jericho's ability. What if they use blood frenzy for insane card advantage? No problem, use Jericho's ability and play your own card advantage machine, Wizent's Staff. What if they play a weapon and start picking off all your allies? Destroy Arms is your savior. What if they drop a protector and block that last few damage from your allies? Retreat solves everything, or, alternatively, you could use Smite to weaken the protector and kill it with your allies. What if they drop a whole field of weenies boosted up with something like Bloodlust? Tidal Wave and clear the board. In other words, Jericho is the hero you've been waiting for if you've always been sick of being so helpless against one of the aforementioned scenarios. Jericho relies on getting allies out and Wizent's Staff for card draw, beating down on the opponent, and countering everything thrown at you. Alternatively, Jericho Plague relies on getting cost 2-3 allies out and using Plague to resource lock the opponent. Highly recommended for beginners. Easier to use than Majiya, as well.
Rating: 10/10 Tier: 1
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