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Victoria3114 -> RE: =OS= Beta Release Thread LXXV - READ THE FIRST POST (1/26/2013 14:36:44)
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How are you all this fine morning?
I am here to bring you a detailed analysis of a pretty common card: Poison.
It is a 6-charge shadow spell that deals 12 damage over four turns, 3 damage per turn. That makes it one of the most cost efficient cards in the game. Most shadow characters have at least one in their deck, some have two, and poison drake has three.
While it may take four turns, in a higher level battle, having a DoT being spread out over four turns is far more efficient, constantly pressuring the enemy with 3 points of damage each turn. In addition, you can stack two poisons for 12 charges, or three for 18. That's 24 or 36 damage, 6 or 9 per turn. And with the way shadow decks are structured, you can add a MoD on top of that at will.
Now, as a burn spell, let us view how you can defend against it. Reflects are out of the question, due to the nature of DoT effects bypassing reflect. Therefore, the only counters one could have are shields or heals.
Shields cost 3 charges for 5 points of shield. Stone Wall and Ice Wall are essentially two shields rolled into one, 10 points for 6 charges. Now, for the same amount of charges, Poison can burn through these shields with 2 points of damage leftover. They can burn through a 5 shield in two turns with 1 leftover, with 6 more damage ready to go.
Let us compare that damage to normal attacks. A +5 usually costs 4 charges. Therefore, to deplete 10 shields, one must spend 8 charges to destroy the defense with none left over. Poison is 2 charges cheaper and does 2 points more damage. Far more cost efficient.
Heals, now. Currently, HEAL IS A JOKE. Shields are far more efficient than normal heals. Only greater heal redeems that class of cards. And greater heal falls short of poison by 2 points, again.
In a war of attrition, poison will always win out. It's the ultimate burn spell.
However, most shadow decks are structured around pure offense. They cannot defend against attacks that well. Therefore, they may be extremely powerful offensively with poisons and MoD, but they are quickly taken down if they ever try to play defensively. That is one of the reasons why the Revontheus egg is so powerful; it packs the Dot damage with poisons and MoD, and the defense with its 5 shield cards and Void Reflection. It could be said the egg has the best defense of all, surpassing that of any ice character.
That is my view on poison. Comment if you wish.
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