Update #21 - Hero deep dive
over 4 years ago
– Mon, Dec 06, 2021 at 11:57:02 PM
Hey all.
We're diving into another hero today as voted for by a community member ThatsRobbery. If you haven't caught up on our previous deep dives, you can find them all here. Blood Mage | Warlock | War Drummer | Illusionist | Shaman | Cleric | Bard | Shieldmaiden | Forest Troll | Armoured Crab
Druid
Shapeshifting into a hawk, hyena or bear is the surprise attribute of the Druid. This versatile character draws on the earth's energy to generate her power, and when remaining in her Druid form, she can be relied upon to heal her allies.
Druid Hero Ability
Shapeshifter : The Druid has the ability to shapeshift into animals during her upkeep. She has the option of a Hyena, Hawk or Bear. She can of course stay in her true Druid form. To shapeshift the Druid must place one of her animal form cards on her ability tab. These will offer some permanent buffs, for example the bear grants +1 Strength, +2 Defence and -3 Agility. Once the card is attached to her ability tab during her Hero upkeep she is locked into that form for her main phase. Similar to the Shaman with her totems, once locked into a form the Druid may only cast spells from within that form. See above on the Druids hero board she has 4 spells on the left for her Druid form, she has 2 spells in the middle for Hyena form, 2 spells in the middle for Hawk form and 2 spells on the right for Bear form. See below each animal form and the new spells and buffs assosiciaed with them.
Whilst we wait for our Hyena Form artwork to be complete, checkout the outline above.
Support Spells
Druid Form : Regeneration - All allies gain +2 HP regeneration for 3 turns. Granting 6 HP over 3 turns. A small heal AOE to help keep allies HP topped up in the midst of battle.
Druid Form : Group Immunity - All allies gain damage immunity for 2 turns. Yes you read that correctly, all allies :) With a long cooldown of 6, timing this spell will be crucial.
Hyena Form : Pounce - Your next attack disarms an enemy for 2 turns, you can now cast an attack spell.
Hawk Form : Future Sight - Place a hex condition on an enemy for 2 turns forcing them to only cast spells with a CD:3 or below.
Druid Form : Thick Fur - A buff that grants all allies +2 Defence for 3 turns.
Attack Spells
Druid Form : Earthbound - A ranged earth elemental attack that deals 3 damage to an enemy whilst buffing all allies strength and intellect for 1 turn.
Druid Form : Natures Wound - This ranged earth elemental attack leaves the enemy with a can't be healed condition for 2 turns.
Druid Form : Gnaw - A single target melee attack dealing 3 damage with a strength attack modifier added.
Druid Form : Razor Wing - A ranged attack that deals 2 damage to an enemy alongside penetrating their armour.
Druid Form : Swipe - A melee attack spell split spell. Each swipe of the bears claws deals 2 damage plus strength to a single target.
Druid Spell Mastery Board
The Druid has 3 paths to follow. Metamorphosis down the left, Fortification in the middle and Restoration on the right. Each path gives the Druid a different play style as you'll see below in our summaries for each path.
Metamorphosis
The shapeshifters path of choice. Unlocking 3 new damage dealing spells helps increase the druids damage potential. With a shapeshifter bonus, the druid will want to be swapping forms each turn to take advantage of this.
Fortification
Unlock 3 new spells for your bear form, giving you more of a reason to stay there. The armoured bear abilities ensures you can't be taken out quickly in bear form making you a fantastic tank. The Call of the Wild spell is one of the very rare occasions we overlap a card with another hero. The bear summoned here is the same bear you may have already seen in our PnP tutorial or over on Tabletopia, it shares the same hero with the Huntress. The Druid not being much of an animal tamer, the bear retreat after 3 turns.
Restoration
If you enjoy being a team player and healing your party to victory, this is the path for you. Our restoration path allows the druid to specialise in healing by granting her 3 new healing spells and 2 fantastic abilities to keep her alive for longer to ensure your parties safety.
And that's a wrap on the druid deep dive! We hope you all enjoy digesting the information about our Druid hero. Feel free to let us know your thoughts about her in the comments.
Social Goals - Update
Up Next
We have a short combat FAQ coming up in our next update alongside a community vote for trash mob cards. We will also continue with our deep-dives with our Witch Doctor up next as requested by BravoEcho a community members.
We will be back tomorrow but in the meantime, we will be doing our best to keep up with you in the comments section, as well as in our Discord Channel. As always, a huge thank you goes out to the fans who help each other out with the most frequently asked questions.
Thank you for all your support.
Damian - Creator
Update #20 - Boss deep dive
over 4 years ago
– Sat, Dec 04, 2021 at 05:18:38 AM
Hello!
In todays update we're going to take another deep-dive into one of our bosses. If you haven't caught up on our previous deep dives, you can find a link to them all here. Blood Mage | Warlock | War Drummer | Illusionist | Shaman | Cleric | Bard | Shieldmaiden | Forest Troll
Water Scenario - Armoured Crab / First Boss
The last survivor of his kind is the Armoured Crab. Rarely coming ashore, he prefers to darken the waters of the deep sea, where it is almost devoid of light, and his huge pincer grabs at his enemies with the effortless power to tear off their flesh.
Static Ability
Rock Formation : You gain +2 defence for 2 turns during a heroes end phase if you were not attacked by them that turn.
Boss Abilities
80 - 40 HP Defensive Attack - Your attack spells grant +Defence modifiers.
< 60 HP Armour Toss - You permanently loose 3 defence in exchange for 6 agility.
< 40 HP Bury -During your Boss upkeep if you are not already buried, bury yourself in the sand giving yourself the can't be targeted condition for 2 turns. During your Boss upkeep if you are already buried in the sand remove the can't be targeted condition and gain +3 Strength for 1 turn instead. In short, every other turn the crab buries herself in the sand making it hard for you to attack her until she resurfaces.
Support Spells
Parasite Cleanse - Removes all buffs and conditions from an ally.
Crab Eggs - The armoured crab summons her babies to her ability tab. How many baby crabs will come to her aid all depends on the value of the D6 dice roll. Example : If you roll a 4, you summon 4 baby crabs to your ability tab. See below the baby crab card.
Shuffle to Safety - After casting this spell, place x3 D6 dice on top of Shuffle to Safety. When attacked, you must remove one of these dice and roll it. For rolls above a 3 you will receive 0 damage from the incoming attack. Rolls of 3 or below mean you still receive damage. Either outcome the dice is discarded.
Water Therapy - You gain +4 HP regeneration for 3 turns.
Attack Spells
Pincer Grip - A strong melee attack that deals 5 damage to a single target. This spell has a low cooldown and allows for a single roll of the conditions die to see if the spell gains penetrate armour.
Take the Bait - The first half of this split spell grants an enemy +1 Strength and Intellect for 1 turn. The second half of Take the Bait deals X damage to all enemies where X is their intellect value x2. If one enemy has an intellect of 8 and the other 5, Take the Bait would deal 16 damage to the one enemy and 10 to the other. Penalising those enemies with high Intellect values.
Crab Hammer - A melee attack that deals 3 damage to an enemy. There is a chance to add knockback to the spell by rolling the conditions die.
Muddy Waters - This is a ranged water elemental type spell that deals 1 damage to all enemies plus drenched. Drenched is a condition that penalises a larger party more as it deals 1 damage to everyone holding the condition during EACH players upkeep. If there are 4 players at the table this condition would typically do 12 damage over 3 turns.
Whirlpool - Another ranged water elemental type spell that hits all enemies, but this one packs more of a direct punch by dealing 6 damage plus stun for 2 turns alongside adding an intellect attack modifier. Remember that Defensive Attack ability the boss has between 40-80HP? These AOE spells can pack a punch so watch out.
Boss Strategy
- During the Armoured Crabs first phase 'Defensive Attack', dealing damage to her is vital. If your party goes in with support spells, this will trigger her Rock Formation ability for each time an enemy doesn't attack her. These buffs from rock formation will increase the Armoured Crabs damage output massively as she has +Def modifiers on all her attacks during this phase.
- Heroes might want to focus on builds that can reduce an enemies defence value.
- During phase 3 don't underestimate the Armoured Crabs attacks, so apply the protection, shields or HP regens at the ready for when the Crab resurfaces. With the Armoured Crab burying herself, she can't be attacked meaning Rock Formation will trigger several times negating the defence she lost from Armour Toss ability in phase 2.
- Support heroes that can remove conditions might prove to be useful in this scenario.
Note : The only time Defensive Attack is active is when the bosses HP is between 80-40. When it comes out of this range, the ability isn't active. Other abilities with the more than > or less than < arrow, are always active even once triggered, even if HP goes above this threshold.
Summary of Boss Conditions
See below a quick reference of the conditions used during this boss battle.
Stun - You skip your dice upkeep phase
Can't be targeted - You can't be the target of an enemy spell
Penetrate - Enemies defence is reduced by 50% for this attack.
HP regen - Target immediately receives HP equal to the value on the token plus additional HP on each token upkeep
Knockback - Target must pay 4 HP to get back up, removing the condition or they must skip their turn.
Drenched - Drenched is a condition that deals 1 damage immediately and 1 damage during EACH players upkeep.
Up Next
Up next we will be taking a look at our Druid hero in a deep-dive. Till then, see a tease of the druids Hyena form below. We will also be announcing the winners from our first challenge tomorrow. If you haven't entered yet, see the challenge post here on how to enter. Be quick as it ends tomorrow.
In the meantime, we will be doing our best to keep up with you in the comments section, as well as in our Discord Channel. As always, a huge thank you goes out to the fans who help each other out with the most frequently asked questions.
Thank you for all your support - Heroes of the Shire team
Update #18 - Community Challenge
over 4 years ago
– Fri, Dec 03, 2021 at 10:47:06 PM
Welcome to our first challenge. Difficulty - Medium
2 Lucky winners will grab themselves a free playmat, so let's jump right in!
…there they were shoulder to shoulder, War Drummer and Shieldmaiden. Both exhausted, bloodied, bruised and running out of options as they have yet to crack the mighty crab’s armour, this great tyrant of the sea. The War Drummer’s steady beat is beginning to slow, unable to keep up with the momentum needed to drive the battle tempo. He notices his ally knelt; shield cracked but not yet broken. She is low on health and she knows as well as he does, she won’t survive much longer if she doesn’t act swiftly….yet there is one hope she has, could it be the single act that turns the tide of battle?
The Shieldmaiden will cast her Healing Pike spell (Spear Weapon) on her third turn. Using the boards below, what can you do with the War Drummer and the Shieldmaiden in the next 2 turns to maximise the amount of HP gained from the Shieldmaidens Healing Pike spell? Assume the Armoured Crab will do nothing on his turns, but be aware of his Rock Formation ability of which we have highlighted on his board below.
Note : Percentages are worked out by the damage dealt after an enemy has defended. For example an attack hits the armoured crab for 10 damage and his defence is 6, the damage dealt is 4. The healing pike spell would heal the Shieldmaiden for 4 HP in this example.
We will select 2 comments at random on Saturday 4th Dec, 1 with the correct answer and 1 without the correct answer. We will comment on your post asking for the workings out, if you respond back within 24hrs consider yourself a lucky winner to receive a free playmat for participating in this challenge. If we get no response within 24hrs we will move onto the next comment chosen at random.
Our next challenge tomorrow will be posted in the campaign comments section, so be sure to check the comments section tomorrow around 6pm GMT.
Good luck!
Update #19 - Action Cards, Poison Update & Community Challenge
over 4 years ago
– Fri, Dec 03, 2021 at 11:31:24 AM
Hey everyone!
We hope you enjoy the challenge we put out yesterday. We've already had a lot of different answers in the comments and we're looking forward to seeing everyone's workings out on Saturday, after we've picked our 2 lucky winners to receive a free playmat. Now onto to todays update.
Stretch Goal - Action Cards
We recently unlocked 4 additional Action Cards and in a previous update we gave you some options to vote on. The voting ended on Sunday 28th, and we can confirm that the following action cards will be implemented into the scenario mode decks.
Earth Scenario | Forgotten Forest
Water Scenario | Pirates Ahead
Fire Scenario | Footprints in the Ash
Ice Scenario | Eyes in the Snow
Our team are currently designing these cards ready to be tested in our campaign mode. We will report back in a future update. Thank you to everyone who voted.
Poison Condition - Update
In a recent update we expressed concerns from a couple of community members about Poison and Burn being the same condition with a different name for thematic purposes. We proposed some changes and asked for community feedback. We can confirm that the Poison condition will now include -1 AGI (Agility). This has been tested by our external team for the past 2 weeks and a few minor changes have been made to reflect the updated condition.
We posted our first community challenge yesterday. If you're haven't had chance to check it out, please see the update here. Our first challenge was at a difficulty level of medium, we have an easier one planned for later today, with an advanced challenge coming in the next few days. Be sure to check the comments section later today at 7pm GMT to get details for the next challenge.
Up Next
We will be taking a deep-dive into our Armoured Crab boss from the Water scenario seeing as he was used in yesterday challenge. We will also be taking a deep-dive into our Druid hero as voted for by community member ThatsRobbery. This fantastic hero has 3 animal forms, Hawk, Hyena and Bear. Hawk form offers Intellect based damage, Hyena offers strength based damage whilst the bear is a mighty tank ready to serve all. Which of these forms excited you most?
That's a wrap for this update.
We've still got plenty more to uncover. We look forward to seeing your her builds and theory crafting synergies in the comments section. Which hero would you like to see us dive into next? Please comment below. In the meantime, we will be doing our best to keep up with you in the comments section, as well as in our Discord Channel. As always, a huge thank you goes out to the fans who help each other out with the most frequently asked questions.
Thank you for all your support. Let's make this a great campaign.
Update # 16 - Boss deep dive
over 4 years ago
– Thu, Dec 02, 2021 at 05:53:22 PM
Hello!
Thank you all for joining us, we're so excited about brining Heroes of the Shire to your tables next year.
It's kind of in the title of our game, that our Heroes are an important part of the game, but in todays update we're going to push them aside momentarily to deep-dive into one of our bosses. If you haven't caught up on our previous hero deep dives, you can find a link to them all here. Blood Mage | Warlock | War Drummer | Illusionist | Shaman | Cleric | Bard
Earth Scenario - Forest Troll / Final Boss
Having your wits all about you is critical in combat, but don’t forget to survey the tree canopies where the Forest Troll lives.
Static Ability
These abilities trigger during a bosses upkeep.
Regrowth : You gain 4 HP during your boss upkeep, this is increased to 8 HP if your health is below 20.
Boss Abilities
You are immune to the following conditions. Can't be healed, Wounded, Penetrate armour and Pierce. Pierce damage is calculated as if the enemy did not have pierce.
< 68 HP Sun Worship - During your boss upkeep, place a permanent sun token on each enemy. This special token should be placed off their board. If an enemy begins their turn with an active sun token they suffer 1 UV damage from the sun, placing a die on their sun token to represent this (no damage is actually taken). When an enemy receives 5 UV damage they are defeated by the powerful sun rays. Sun tokens are permanent and can't be removed. Shade tokens negate the suns UV damage, meaning if an enemy starts their turn with an active shade token they receive 0 UV damage from the sun that turn.
< 40 HP Deforestation - Your spells that grant shade for 2 turns now only grant shade for 1 turn.
< 30 HP Shaded Defence - Your sun and shade tokens now act as -1 defence buffs.
Beginning of turns effects trigger before any upkeep phases.
Support Spells
Spore Growth - An immensely powerful healing spell that grants +1, +2 and +3 HP regen for 3 turns. A grand total of 18 HP across 3 turns. This spell grants your enemies shade for 2 turns.
Absorb Sunlight - Your next attack deals X more damage, where X is the number of sun tokens in play x2.
Lower Canopy - You gain +2 strength, intellect, defence and HP regen for 3 turns. This powerful buff also grants your enemies shade for 2 turns.
Sun Beam - Remove all shade tokens in play, you loose HP equal to the amount of HP gained from your Regrowth ability this burn.
Attack Spells
Leaf Blast - A melee, earth elemental attack that blasts one enemy for 2 damage and stuns them for 2 turns. This spell also has an intellect attack modifier, alongside a conditions die roll.
Cyclone of Seeds - The first half of this spell grants one ally +1 earth damage for 3 turns. The second half of this spell then deals 3 damage to all enemies and hexes them for 2 turns.
Sap - A melee attack that deals 5 damage to one enemy. This spell also grants the enemy shade for 1 turn. If successful with the conditions die roll, this spell will also penetrate the enemy defence.
Creeping Vines - This is a powerful ranged earth elemental type AOE attack spell. Dealing 8 damage to all enemies but granting them shade for 2 turns. This spell also rolls the conditions die and if successful will add poison to the attack.
Solar Storm - This ranged earth elemental spell emits energy in the form of damage to one enemy whilst charging you up ready for a great heal on your next boss upkeep.
Boss Strategy
Whilst the Forest Troll boss will want to let the suns UV rays defeat his enemies, sometimes he will need to cast spells that grant shade. His strongest spells typically grant shade which negates the effects of the suns UV damage.
- The Hex condition is very useful against this boss, forcing him into granting you shade by removing 6 of his spells.
- Once the Forest Trolls HP drops below 40, it becomes easier for the sun to destroy you. Prepare well by buffing your party prior to taking the Forest Trolls HP below 40, this way you can devastate him with an onslaught of powerful spells one after the other. This chain of damage is required in order to stop the Forest Troll regenerating all that HP during his upkeep.
- The forest Troll isn't a boss to slowly chip away at. His health regeneration is huge and it can't be stopped. A team of support heroes may struggle vs this mighty foe so be sure to pack some damage dealing heroes/builds in your party.
- Once the Forest Troll drops below 30 HP remember your party of heroes are loosing 1 defence from that permanent sun token and potentially 2 defence if you're hiding in the shade from the sun. This potential minus 2 defence stat will grant the Forest Troll lots more damage if he isn't taken down quickly.
Notes : Once the Forest Troll's new ability is activated via reduced HP, it's permanently active even when they gain HP above that threshold.
Tips : Make sure you've got drinks and table snacks at the ready, you could be here a while.
Summary of Boss Conditions
See below a quick reference of the conditions used during this boss battle.
Immune to DMG - You receive 0 DMG.
Wounded - All HP gained is reduced by 50%.
Penetrate - Enemies defence is reduced by 50% for this attack.
Pierce - Enemies do not deduct their defence value from the attack.
HP regen - Target immediately receives HP equal to the value on the token plus additional HP on each token upkeep
Knockback - Target must pay 4 HP to get back up, removing the condition or they must skip their turn.
Earth Elemental Damage - All spells of the same elemental type are increased in damage equal to the value of the token.
Hex - Target player can not cast any CD:4 or above spells.
Poison - Target receives 1 DMG immediately and then 1 DMG during each token upkeep.
Up Next
We plan to do 1 more boss deep-dive to give you a better understanding of how our bosses work throughout scenario mode and how powerful they are in comparison to our mighty heroes. We will also be doing more hero deep-dives with our Kickstarter exclusive hero the Shieldmaiden up next.
In the meantime, we will be doing our best to keep up with you in the comments section, as well as in our Discord Channel. As always, a huge thank you goes out to the fans who help each other out with the most frequently asked questions.
Thank you for all your support. Let's make this a great campaign.
