Amber - Wtzky's beginner's guide to SE Heroes v1.5!

[Wtzky]

Wtzky's beginners guide to Shadow Era heroes

Sorry it has taken me so long to get these done everyone. They take a LOT longer than you may think, and I don't like to write about a hero without testing them out properly, so I have to do some research before writing each one as well.

Ok, my first hero article for 1.5, I will be starting with the Warrior weapon specialist, Amber.

Amber Rain



Faction: Human

Class: Warrior
Tier: 1
Utilisation: Possibly underplayed in this version, Amber is still a very strong hero with hardly any bad match ups when played correctly. She is also one of the few heroes that can effectively still rush very fast with the right deck, and works quite decently as an anti-mage hero.

Pros and Cons (explanations after table):

Pros:	Extremely fast damage output 1	Very strong and spammable ability1	Access to the best weapons and armours (which suits her ability)2	High starting health
Cons:	No mass wipe ability 3	Her heal and draw got a large nerf in this version4

¹ One of the queens of death racing, Amber can hurt you very fast if you are not careful and if she gets a good start. With her ability being so spammable and with a build centred around weenies she can do a crazy amount of damage. The deal sealer is her weapons. Let’s have a look at Jeweler’s Dream as an example; on the early rounds she may be battling for board control against other weenies, but as soon as she get’s Jeweler’s Dream out, the gig is up. She buffs it and hits for 3 damage on the same turn, starting to exert great board control. She also get’s a resource acceleration that allows her to place down more weenies or a useful cheap card that she has access to (Retreat!, Crippling Blow, Valiant Defender etc). Now she is firmly in control as she not only gets the extra 3 damage per turn from Jeweler’s Dream, but she gets a resource advantage that allows her to play more cards per turn than her opponent. In 4 turns she has dealt a potential 12 damage and gotten an extra 8 resources out of the one card. That equates to an extra Puwen and 2 x Jasmines (or whatever cards you want to use). She can also make use of Dual Wield with her ability, and if played correctly can do a lot of damage fast from her other weapons such as Beserker’s Edge and Dimension Ripper. Check out the combo’s section for some potential plays which should show you how fast she can pile on the damage.

² I have heard a lot of people stating that the Warrior card pool is amongst the worst in the game. While I wholeheartedly agree that the addition of one card (Severed Ties) and the nerf to Blood Frenzy (from a cost of 2 resources to 3) has definitely reduced the effectiveness of the Warrior cards, there are still a lot of positives:

- Access to unilateral draw – Sure, Blood Frenzy is now much more difficult to play as it is no longer a straight forward turn 2 or turn 4 (after Jeweler’s Dream) drop. However, on Amber it is still probably the best draw engine in the game. With Amber’s ability to haste in a t4 Jeweler’s dream or a Rusty Longsword to get the board back, she can make use of turn 3 to drop a Blood Frenzy. Alternatively she can save it for turns 4 or 5, and it can be an especially good turn 5 play if you have Jeweler’s Dream down (as it allows you to play a 3 or 4 cost ally and still play Blood Frenzy on the same turn). Yes, it can now be removed by Severed Ties; but keep in mind that most people do not run 4 x Severed Ties as it is a very expensive card, and your opponent will need to make a tough choice as to what card he/she will use Severed Ties on. Most of the time, people will save Severed Ties for one of your heal cards (enrage or rampage) or for Crippling Blow.
- Access to item destruction – She not only has access to Smashing Blow, but also Shrine of Negatia and Ley Line Nexus. Poor quality is not even needed really, but I suppose it also can be used if you so wish. All these cards mean that Amber is never at a loss to deal with various items. She also has (as does everyone) the ability to use Severed Ties for any pesky attachments.
- Access to ally disables – Crippling blow costs 2 resources and shuts down any allies attack – particularly useful for those high damage Shadow fatties. Not only that but she also has access to Retreat!, which in my opinion is the best tempo altering card in the game, and again is extremely useful against any fatty. While Crippling Blow is at risk of being removed now with Severed Ties, it still retains some usefulness as a disable until you can remove the ally that is crippled.
- Access to heal - I’ll speak more about this later on. Unfortunately, Enrage got a huge huge nerf with the addition of Severed Ties, and is basically unplayable now. Luckily, there is still Rampage available, which does combine quite nicely with Amber’s ability to one hit many allies with her weapons after she buffs them.
- Access to weapons/armours - Not only does she have access to weapons/armours, but she has access to the BEST weapons and armours. It means she has access to an amazing offence and defence. Jewler’s Dream is the best weapon in the game currently. She also has access to two other great weapons in Beserker’s Edge and Dimension Ripper both with useful effects and strong damage when combined with her ability. Then there are Nova Infusion, Armour of Ages, Snow Sapphire and King’s Pride which not only protect her from a lot of damage but some of them have the best extra effects in the game. King’s Pride can especially hurt when combined with aldon/war banner for some ridiculous damage from allies that only cost 1-3! If you have a war banner/King’s Pride/aldon combo down (not easy, but it is an example) you can theoretically do 20 damage with your four Kris’ and even more when you use the Retreat! combo. Add to that the addition of all of the new weapons and armours such as Rusty Longsword (which gives her an instant kill of almost every turn 3 drop) and Mocking Armour or Legion United (which afford protection to both Amber and her allies), and you can easily see why Warriors have the best weapons/armours.
- Access to resource acceleration - Jeweler’s Dream gives her a healthy advantage in terms of the number of cards she can play per turn. It is an especially nice card on Amber because she can buff it to do a very handy 3 damage per turn (Jeweler’s Dream is already one of the best weapons WITHOUT Amber’s ability to buff it, so this is just a good bonus!)

As you can see from the list above, Amber has a lot of tools up her sleeve. The kicker is how nicely the weapons combine with her spammable ability and the other cards. Granted, she was much more powerful when Blood Frenzy cost 2 cards, as she could make the most of a very cheap build that had fantastic fast damage output, but with other draw options also available, she can still pull off some very damaging combos.

³ To be honest, this isn’t much of a downside. I included it because it IS technically a con, but hardly ‘make or break’. She really doesn’t need a board wipe with how good her ability is.

⁴ This is one of the biggest issues for Amber now. Before 1.5, Amber was a great anti-mage hero because she could pump out an Enrage to give an instant 10 health boost, while being able to continue to dish out the pain with her buffed weapons. Enrage is now, in my opinion, an almost completely useless card because of how easily it can be removed by Severed Ties, and how damaging that is. I smile to myself every time an opponent plays Enrage against me, knowing that I can hold on to a Severed Ties and at the right moment, play it for an instant 10 damage hit. This is such a powerful play, because you can often get an Amber down to her teens with Enrage on (especially if she uses Blood Frenzy and Rusty Longsword) without much drama, and once you do, a simple Severed Ties will get her into an area where she can die in one hit. In fact, you only really have to get her down to 11 health with enrage on to kill her in one shot if she also runs Blood Frenzy (which all Amber’s will), as on the next turn she will take 1 extra damage. Now, Amber relies mostly on her use of Dimension Ripper + other weapons to be an anti-mage hero, which she can still do ultra effectively with the right build.

Rampage is now a much, much better option, and even there the heal is conditional. It can be, however, life saving having some extra heal, and as a later game play (say on turns 6 or 7 with Jeweler’s Dream around), can allow Amber to hang around quite well.

[Wtzky]

Ease of play for beginners - On a scale of 1-10 where 1 is hardest hero pick up and 10 is easiest hero to pick up:

7

Well suited for beginners. Not as easy to use as in previous versions, as beginners will have to figure out the best way to play Blood Frenzy now, and will also need to figure out what a crap card Enrage is, but definitely a strong and easy to use hero.

Good match ups:

This section has now become very hard to do, as realistically the match ups in version 1.5 really depend on how you build your deck. Most match ups will be good for Amber with the right build, however some match ups that really stand out as ‘should wins’ for her include:

-Eladwen
-Nishaven
-Ter Adun (May be controversial, but he really is just too weak in this version to really bother her even with his item destruction)
-Baduuru
-Serena
-Victor
-Gwen
-Darkclaw
-Zhanna
-Logan

Bad match ups:

These match ups are what make her tier 1.5 and not tier 1. Unfortunately for Amber, Lance is quite a tough match for her. While certainly not being an auto-loss, Lance is one of the two heroes that can very effectively deal with Amber due to his ability and access to Stop Thief and Ill Gotten Gains. Moonstalker is also on the list because his spammable ability stops Amber from playing her biggest strength (her weapons)

-Lance
-Moonstalker

Best suited style of play:

She is still better suited to players that like fast games and fast damage output. She can work as a late game control hero, but loses some of her effectiveness. If you like using weenies and doing damage earlier, go with Amber.

Cost of creating a good deck:

Moderate. Her ability requires weapons. Weapons are not cheap on the market unfortunately. Neither are armours or some of her ability cards. Expect to pay a decent amount of gold for a good Amber deck.

Combos:

Here I will include some interesting/fun/good plays or combos:

Retreat! + Jasmine – a great turn 5 board control move

Jeweler’s Dream + Blood Frenzy – get your board under control and get the card advantage. Now a turn 5 play for this particular combo, but still a very strong one.
Jeweler’s Dream + Puwen – board control
Jeweler’s Dream + Crippling Blow/Retreat! – board control
Jewler’s Dream + Jasmine/Aldon – for turn 5, great board control move
Jewler’s Dream + Jasmine ability – board control ability

T4 cast JD, T5 Raven + Retreat! - thanks to kent for this combo. A very very strong board control move here

Retreat! + Priest of the Light - Priest of the light really gives some great advantages when he comes in, so being able to hit with him and then retreat him to play him again (more effective when Jeweler's Dream is around), can really hurt your opponent. A great ally to include in your Amber deck!
Retreat! + Dimension Ripper - fill your opponents hand so that he doesn't get one of your cards when you steal from his.
Reserve Weapon ability + Dimension Ripper - a 5 attack weapon that can also steal good cards from your opponent is well worth having. This combo is very strong against Mage users (hit them hard, steal their burn.. oh yeh)

Reserve Weapon ability + weapon + Amber ability – gives you a weapon back with an extra +1 damage before you use Amber’s ability for the +2 damage
Shrine of Negatia + Jeweler’s Dream/Rusty Longsword – get your JD back with Shrine of Negatia to allow you to continue with your resource acceleration and damage

War Banner + Aldon + Kris – get yourself a mini fireball for 1 card cost. Add King’s Pride for more hurt.
Kris + Retreat! + Kris – only use this when combined with damage amplifier’s but can do some great damage. 6 damage for resources (Kris + Retreat + Kris) if you have Aldon + War Banner out can hurt bad. 10 damage if you have a King’s pride is even worse.

Opponent brings out Dagger of Unmaking: Drop a King’s Pride and play Kris – effectively you get to use Kris a maximum of 4 times with this combo as he gets retreated and you can keep bringing him back with haste. A game breaking combo if you can pull it off.

Amber in the future:

Her ability will allow Amber to remain a good hero choice for many versions to come. She can really only benefit from new weapons/armours and any new allies (especially more cheap ones) or ability cards.

Amber is a great choice for beginners as if you don’t plan on spending a lot of money on the game, you can at least be sure that Amber will remain useful for a long time to come and so collecting warrior cards won’t hurt your deck strength in the future.

Good decks to check out on the forum:

There is a lack of Amber decks in the forums at the moment, but the following should be a good place to start. Especially useful for any beginner is to read all of the advice posted below the decks from others. I would also recommend checking out Caitlyn0’s “Stripper” Amber decks from the past, as the premise of using Dimension Ripper with Amber is quite a strong one:

http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....Amber%29-1-503

http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....re-weak-in-1-5

Overall Recommendation:

Highly recommended for beginners new to the game and wanting a strong, consistent hero to learn the game from. If you want to farm gold rather than pay for shadow crystals and want a hero where you can enjoy collecting the cards, Amber is for you as she will continue to be strong in the future, so you can be sure that collecting cards for her will retain their value in future decks. She will be around the top tiers for a long time to come, in my opinion, and is also a recommended hero for tournament play and to climb up the rankings.

[Armoek]

nice write up. I disagree that lance is a bad matchup, I do however run very heavy on cripple/retreat/valiant and usually can steamroll most lances. I also disagree that enrage is completely useless now, I don't usually see players with more then 2 severed ties and usually when it wins the game it is by removing BF when im low on cards and then losing due to card starvation. The problem with severed ties is they need to have it in their hand at the right time so they have to sacrifice other cards if they want to keep it in hand. Usually I find using it later in game when the opponent is getting low on cards in hand is effective.

[Wtzky]

With Lance it's more the fact that Stop Thief is now so good and ditto with Anklebreaker.

Maybe it's my personal opinion or how I play, but I grin from ear to ear whenever I see an opponent play enrage. Even if I only carry 2 Severe Ties; that usually means I am more likely to get it when I need it (late game as a finishing move) than in my opening hand (I mean, that is why you play more 2cc cards - higher odds of getting them early when you want them). Even if I do get it early, I can make tough sac choices which will come with more game time

[jacqui]

The reason why lance is a hard matchup is because he has an answer for anything you could possibly throw at him. Conversely, Amber has no way to deal with IGG, which combined with stop thief are the 2 main reasons why it's an uphill battle for Amber. Currently Lance has the 2nd highest win rate against me when I play Amber, the first being Jericho (but only 3 games total 1-2).

[kentuequi]

You forgot my favorite combo in 1.25, T4 cast JD, T5 Raven + Retreat! the opponent's ally. Very good when going second against an other Raven or PB, less easy to get since BF is now 3cc, but still.. Good combo,

[Vincenzo749]

Another splendid work

[Wtzky]

You forgot my favorite combo in 1.25, T4 cast JD, T5 Raven + Retreat! the opponent's ally. Very good when going second against an other Raven or PB, less easy to get since BF is now 3cc, but still.. Good combo,

Yes very nice one! Thanks op updated with credit to you

[kentuequi]

Thanks,

[stevevai1983]

nice write up. I disagree that lance is a bad matchup, I do however run very heavy on cripple/retreat/valiant and usually can steamroll most lances. I also disagree that enrage is completely useless now, I don't usually see players with more then 2 severed ties and usually when it wins the game it is by removing BF when im low on cards and then losing due to card starvation. The problem with severed ties is they need to have it in their hand at the right time so they have to sacrifice other cards if they want to keep it in hand. Usually I find using it later in game when the opponent is getting low on cards in hand is effective.

hmm i find lance is quite hard to deal with. I think because you have valiant in your build that really helps ally fight..so lance is easier for you