stratregy for the cloaks

[scott holben]

I just started playing this game and only played a few times, could anyone help me get the most out of the cloaks?

I want any advice you could give me other players in my group are far better at this than I am.

[dkartzinel]

Hmm, well, I do think you may have put this in the wrong area, but that's okay, we all still love you.

Now then, as far as strategy goes, I have a whopping 3 games with the Cloaks under my belt, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but here it goes:

If you are a brand new player to Summoner Wars, Cloaks are not the ideal race to start with due to their trickiness. You may want to play a few games as the Phoenix Elves (my first favorite race) to build up to them, Phoenix Elves feature: fragile commons, highly mobile units, and the demand for well timed tricks to win.

Read my recent battle report, I took some notes on what I learned using them.

Cloaks do rock, they are rapidly becoming a favorite faction of mine. The true key with them is planning, preferably several turns in advance. You also have to use their summoner a lot more actively than most of the other current factions, Vlox likes to go kill things, but then you have to be ready to make a quick retreat.

Scrappers and the Assasinate event will be your best friend to take down higher toughness commons (E.g. smashers, elephants, dwarf ballistas, etc.). Thieves irritate and distract your opponent, or they steal his cards and give you magic, plus they are free! Gunners can let you get a quick potshot in on a summoner, use their movement ability wisely, don't waste them. I love all three champions, but Violet's my favorite, she's a great common killer.

You also have to be able to switch very quickly from offense to defense.

What are your specific problems? What race are you facing the most?

[Ranior]

I have had great problems with the Cloaks when I first started. I've gotten better though.

I find that the key with the Cloaks is constnatly threating your opponent, forcing them to make moves they don't totally want to. If they only keep that one card in their hand, they have to watch out for that Thief raid.

Try to use Assasinate to allow you to get a potshot in at a summoner, or clear a route to Raid with.

I like to use Vlox to scrap Vlox near the back row, and then the next turn make him a Thief and sneak safely back to a wall. Cloak of Shadows can be a very large help with this.

Use Gunners primarily to take potshots at the enemy summoner is what I usually do. Whittling down on the summoner with 3-4 Gunners means they're often going to have to be VERY cautious about you getting another one off.

The Scrappers are great just as the backbone and what is going to live. Like I said, Scrapping around can be a great help to surron an enemy and give him few options of what to do besdies attacking a scrapper the next turn.

Finally, the champions are nice, not great, but nice. i find the other tricky things that can be done are more useful normally, but the threat of Dagger is great, Scam's extra thing is nice, and Violet is great for attacking a Summoner who is "protected" by a unit in front of him.

[scott holben]

thanks for the help folks, so which faction do you suggest I start with?

[dkartzinel]

Hmmm, depends on your playstyle there

If you like smashing things, tough units, rolling dice, and want to play offense or defense equally well, Tundra Orcs are right up your ally.

If you like picking an opponent to death, carefully carving up his force with well timed attacks, and not having to roll dice to hurt someone, go for the Phoenix Elves.

If you want to turtle, be heavily defensive, and generally annoy people, then beat them to death with a hammer, the Dwarves will be your new favorite faction.

I think those are the three easiest races to start.

Races to avoid starting with: Cloaks (tricky to use well), Jungle Elves (Defense? Who needs a defense? I have a lion), Vanguards (They can heal their units, but seem to have trouble actually winning)

I happen to like playing with and can win with every faction except Vanguards, so it's hard to make a more specific recommendation without knowing how you like to play.

[Goblin King]

I would say the Tundra Orcs and Phoenix Elves are the easiest to begin with, Guild Dwarves frae pretty close there as well.

[Anoir]

I've found that the biggest thing in Summoner Wars is not actions themselves but threats of actions. Once your opponent knows you have used certain events they no longer fear them phoenix elves burn cards or guild dwarves besiege the walls are good examples. The same holds true for champions since once they are played they often can be managed to reduce their effectivness. However this requires your opponent to understand what your deck is capable of.

For the cloaks in particular they have many neat events such as raid, assasinate, cloak of shadows, magic drain, and worst (or best depending who you are) spy. These events can really help your opponent play suboptimally and help you control the game.

Raid is probably the best for having your opponent play suboptimally because it is a direct threat to your opponents hand. By placing a wall in the front lines you force your opponent to do several damaging things such as try to block points the theif may appear and run towards your end. They may keep cards they would have rather thrown away as magic in their hand or finally they may do a tactic I pulled out earlier today and just throw their entire hand in the magic pile (I had nothing important in it).

However once both your raids are gone it is no longer a threat and most people will no longer have to play suboptimally to stop the theifs, but I would never not play it if I had the chance.

Hopefully that helped and didn't make you more confused.

[Ranior]

thanks for the help folks, so which faction do you suggest I start with?

If you are just starting I think the community generally agrees:

Easier to play:
Guild Dwarves
Phoenix Elves
Tundra Orcs


For the other factions the Cloaks are very unforgiving, the Cave Goblins combos can be difficult to pull off, the Fallen Kingdom is a little weak and tricky, Vanguards are defensive and require healing, and the Jungle Elves play a bit differently. (Although in my opinion the JE are the next easiest to learn to play, others will say otherwise.)

[dkartzinel]

(Although in my opinion the JE are the next easiest to learn to play, others will say otherwise.)

I definitely agree with you, I thought the Jungle Elves were pretty easy, whoever's playing them just has to understand they are a "pure" offensive race. They would be another good option to start.