Heart of the Storm

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Revision as of 06:06, 30 December 2023 by Lvlen-125 (talk | contribs)
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The Heart of the Storm is the true final boss fight, and can only be fought if the player has collected both the Lumin Goop and Broken Vase, combining them to form The Lumin Vase.

Pre-battle

When the player defeats the Eye of the Storm with at least 10 points worth of Storm Bells, and has the repaired Lumin Vase, the Emperor Shade will flee instead of corrupting the player's leader. The battle will end in a victory, and the player's next path leads to the Heart of the Storm.

Mechanics

The Heart of the Storm fight starts with 6 enemies and has no additional waves. The order of these enemies in each row is always the same. This order is Frost Jailer, Frost Lancer, Frost Junker in one row, and Frost Crusher, Frost Bomber, Frost Muncher in the other. The mechanic unique to this fight is the Unmovable debuff applied to the player's cards by Frost Jailer.

Enemies

Image Card Name Health.png Health Attack.png Attack Counter.png Counter Other Description
Frost Jailer.png
Frost Jailer 90 5 5 While active, add Unmovable to all enemies
Frost Lancer.png
Frost Lancer 60 7 6 Resist Snow.png Resist Snow Aimless
Frost Junker.png
Frost Junker 30 1 2 When a card is destroyed, gain +1 Attack.png Attack
Frost Crusher.png
Frost Crusher 90 2 2 Gain +2 Attack.png Attack
Frost Bomber.png
Frost Bomber 60 5 4 Resist Snow.png Resist Snow Barrage
Frost Muncher.png
Frost Muncher 30 4 6 Destroy the rightmost card in your hand

Strategy

For a deck to stand a chance in the Heart of the Storm, it must have answers to at least a few of the Frost bosses, with adequate damage to quickly defeat the problem bosses.

There are several mechanics that are generically useful throughout the fight, such as Snow, Frost, Demonize, Ink, and Bom. However, each boss has its own specialty that may be countered more or less effectively by specific strategies.

Frost Jailer

Frost Jailer's huge amount of health makes it difficult to defeat quickly. Mercifully, it attacks slowly and for moderate damage; the main threat it poses is the Unmovable debuff. As a result, location-based and row-based cards such as Mobile Campfire and Gachapomper will be more difficult to use effectively. Spreading out damage across multiple Companions will be much more difficult as well, as the cards in the front of each row will take more attacks. However, there are still a couple movements that the player has control over; Unmovable cards can still be recalled, and whenever a new card is deployed or summoned into an occupied space, it will move around cards to make space for itself.

Ink will completely circumvent the Unmovable debuff, making the entire fight dramatically easier. However, the only other thing that effectively counters the Frost Jailer is to either defeat it quickly, or to consciously build a strategy that is not hampered much by the Unmovable debuff. The Sun Bell of Recall can help with continuously recalling and redeploying Companions to move them, but keep in mind the loss of damage that comes from this.

Frost Lancer

Frost Lancer attacks extremely slowly, but it deals a good amount of damage that is unpredictable since it is Aimless. Being unable to be sure of what will be hit requires the player to be more conservative with how they position cards to take damage. Once a Companion has 7 or less health, Frost Lancer threatens to randomly kill them in a single shot (this also includes Clunkers with only 1 Scrap). Frost Lancer also has Resist Snow, making it difficult to delay. The presence of Frost Bomber in the other row requires the player to assess which scenario is safer for each card: potentially being destroyed without warning by Frost Lancer, or enduring the guaranteed damage of Frost Bomber. All in all, Frost Lancer is not a terribly high-priority enemy to defeat, but the player must always be aware of what the board may look like by the time it does attack.

Ink makes Frost Lancer certain to hit the front card in its row, although it will still do a lot of damage. Frost can mitigate it somewhat, although stacking enough Frost to protect Clunkers is difficult. Haze will cause Frost Lancer to waste its attack, buying the player a significant amount of time until its next attack. Outside of these, the best bet is to have cards with good health/Scrap, Shell, and/or Block to survive its attack and keep fighting.

Frost Junker

Frost Junker is one of the two heavy hitters in the fight. Although its attack is initially very weak, it gets stronger anytime a card is destroyed, whether it's a card on the field or in the hand. This means that Frost Junker is a middling threat at the start of the fight but becomes progressively more threatening as cards are inevitably destroyed, and it attacks quickly to boot. Since it always deploys to the back of the row, it is also difficult to consistently deal damage to. Frost Junker is particularly dangerous for summon-focused and sacrifice-focused decks, and decks that use cards with Consume. It also combos with Frost Muncher to keep its attack increasing even if the player avoids having cards destroyed.

Snow shuts down Frost Junker for a while, particularly Snowcake. Ink will prevent it from gaining more attack as cards are destroyed, but it will still keep any attack it gained before it was inked. Since its health is relatively low, beating it down quickly with Demonize and/or Bom is effective, particularly when using Yank to pull it to the front of the row.

Frost Crusher

Frost Crusher is easily the biggest direct threat in the entire fight. It is essentially a superpowered Minimoko/Makoko, but with massive health and faster attack gain. Left unchecked, Frost Crusher can easily smash its way through an entire team in a relatively short time. Since it attacks so often, Haze and Frost are generally unhelpful for weathering its attacks (although Haze can cause it to deal significant damage to an ally). Defeating it quickly and cleanly is extra important since Frost Bomber waits in the same row; taking too much damage while taking down Frost Crusher leaves a team wide open to being wiped by Frost Bomber.

The strategy for dealing with Frost Crusher is generally similar to handling Frost Junker. Snow puts it out of the fight temporarily, and Ink stops it from gaining more attack. The only other thing to do is to break through it with overwhelming force, before it can do the same.

Frost Bomber

Frost Bomber poses a similar threat as Frost Lancer, in that it threatens to deal damage to cards behind the front of the row. Although its attack is lower, it attacks faster than Frost Lancer and threatens all cards in the row with Barrage, instead of just a single card. It also shares Frost Lancer's Resist Snow, meaning it cannot be easily delayed. However, the nature of Frost Bomber's stats compared to Frost Lancer (faster but weaker attacks that hit the whole row) makes it less of a threat to average and bulky Companions, but rather a punisher for Companions with very low health and for Clunkers. The potential to wipe an entire row at once requires the player to weigh the risk of putting cards in Frost Bomber's row compared to Frost Lancer's, since Frost Bomber is predictable and Frost Lancer is not. Ultimately, the combination of Frost Bomber and Frost Crusher creates an endurance test for a deck: it must be able to defeat Frost Crusher quickly, but also not take too much damage and have enough defensive power to endure Frost Bomber's attacks afterwards.

Frost is very effective at mitigating Frost Bomber's attacks, since each card in the row will take less damage. Ink removes Barrage to keep backline cards safe.

Frost Muncher

Frost Muncher is generally the least problematic of the Frost bosses. It has the lowest attack of all the Frost bosses (when factoring in Frost Crusher and Junker's attack gain), attacks as slowly as Frost Lancer, and lacks Resist Snow. Frost Muncher is moreso a test of game awareness, forcing the player to plan what their rightmost card in hand will be once it attacks. As an unfortunate bonus, Frost Muncher will also cause Frost Junker to gain more attack when it destroys a card. However, destroying a card in hand is not necessarily a bad thing if that card is of no use; for instance, if Frost Muncher happens to destroy a Scrappy Sword, this is strictly beneficial, as an unmodified Scrappy Sword is far too weak to be useful in the Heart of the Storm. Some Clunkmaster decks may even thrive when their cards are destroyed. Overall, Frost Muncher is a sneaky and patient threat that tries to catch the player off-guard and destroy useful cards if they do not pay enough attention or plan ahead enough. Although this may sound trivial in a vacuum, remember that there may be up to 12 cards on the field at once and even more in hand, and that higher-priority threats like Frost Crusher will naturally draw more attention. Keeping tabs on the state of the game multiple turns in advance, while factoring in every ally and enemy's attacks and items in hand, is a difficult challenge.

Snow helps to delay Frost Muncher's already-slow attacks, although be aware of how this affects future turns and item plays. Ink protects your hand from Frost Muncher, reducing it to just a weak enemy. Its health is low enough that, as long as cards can consistently damage it in the back of the row, it can be defeated quickly to simplify turn planning (although this is only possible once larger threats are defeated or otherwise neutralized).