The Book of Priests

[Phoenixio]

The Book of Priests
Common of the Vanguards - Expansion 1: Vanguards

Bio: The Priests of the Vanguards are as much warriors as holy men. Their healing prayers help the already formidable soldiers of the Vanguards outfight ordinary men, and their massive hammers, sanctified by the waters of the Font of the Stone, can reduce enemies to pulp.

Rulings and Clarifications
Q: Can I spend X magic points to heal X wounds on a champion?
A: No, the healing is limited to 1 wound marker taken off per turn. It is either free on a common, or costs one magic point on a champion. It replaces an attack in either case.

Community Contributions
N/A

[gamjuven]

After reading several people's posts about the vanguard faction and after playing the game a lot now (even if it has been against myself), I am thinking that the priests are not that great of a unit mainly because of their ability. I think too many players try to use them for their healing instead of normally attacking. I think healing is usually a wrong move. I say this because of the nature of Summoner Wars and how I've noticed how the games go. You can't get too attached to your units, games are a roller coaster ride where you have superior numbers one turn, only to be outnumbered the next. Since attacking is so easy (especially when summoning to new walls close to the enemy) and it is easier to get wounds than to miss, I think the game highly favors attacking.

Now this does not mean there is no strategy and that you should only attack and attack. If you happen to be able to bottleneck the enemy to having to attack one of your units that has high life then of course it would be best to have a priest adjacent to him healing him every turn, but that doesn't likely happen in most games (perhaps at the end maybe). But in general I think it is much more intelligent to attack an opposing unit rather than try to heal on of your own. You are just delaying the inevitable when it comes to most commons. That attack is wasted when it could be used to kill a unit (possibly making the need to heal moot).

Just my 2 cents but when I look at the vanguard faction and I think about healing in Summoner Wars I am thinking this is why people are having trouble with them. Healing is just not as smart to use as attacking in most cases.

More Archers or Guardians please.

[Phoenixio]

Healing is all about card advantage. I won't deny that attacking is often the best option, but healing saves some of your units (and if I recall, all Vanguard units have at least 2 life points). If, with a Guardian and a Priest, you end up killing 3-4 units, that gives you an extra 2 cards when your opponent will run his deck dry.

And though you might be tempted to compare Attack-Miss rate, its more about the Heal-Attack rate. You are 100% certain to heal, and your opponent has less chances than that to hit.

At first sight, I'd be tempted to go all defensive with the Vanguards, keep few units on the board, but all backed up by a few Priests, and when their cover is blown, make a huge attack with the event that boosts their attack power. I have yet to buy and try them, but shouldn't be too long.

[KCU Master 2007]

I'm a big fan of healing. Sure it reduces your attack by 1 each turn but it means you keep board control. Pair the priests healing ability with a Knight or Archer in a choke point you can completely shut down that portion of the map. This can help funnel units into an Archer T or Box on the other side of the map.

Pair healing up with a champion and you can have complete control of an area while opponents either fruitlessly attack a champion or waste attacks on your healing units (which also have multiple life) while your champion (such as Kalon) rips your opponents army apart.

Healing also keeps Kalon at the sweet spot of four wounds so he has 4 attack and 4 life left.

[jsmkd]

Also healing is a great way not to wast a turn if you can only attack one or two units. It gives the vanguards that little extra help. and it is great when you are playing the goblins or the drwaves because of all of the 1 or 2 attack they will not kill your commons. It just comes down to how you play the game.

[Quintaton16]

And don't forget that you can give them 3 attack power when the opponent is not expecting it.

[lildrummahboi34]

Originally Posted by Quintaton16

And don't forget that you can give them 3 attack power when the opponent is not expecting it.

or 5... or 7...

chances are slim though

[Greyweather]

Under the right circumstances, a single Holy Judgement could provide an extra six attack dice. Certainly nothing to sneeze at.

[KCU Master 2007]

Its great for ambushing champions who haven't been on the field long and are still at full health. Drop a holy judgement and move two-three priests in, that champion is going to be hurting after 6-9 dice are rolled. Odds are, he's either dead or almost dead.

[darkbladecb]

Originally Posted by gamjuven

After reading several people's posts about the vanguard faction and after playing the game a lot now (even if it has been against myself), I am thinking that the priests are not that great of a unit mainly because of their ability. I think too many players try to use them for their healing instead of normally attacking. I think healing is usually a wrong move. I say this because of the nature of Summoner Wars and how I've noticed how the games go. You can't get too attached to your units, games are a roller coaster ride where you have superior numbers one turn, only to be outnumbered the next. Since attacking is so easy (especially when summoning to new walls close to the enemy) and it is easier to get wounds than to miss, I think the game highly favors attacking.

Two points here:

1) So let's say you have two Stalwart Archers next to each other, with a Priest right next to them. The Archers combine fire. The Priest then heals one of the archers who has a wound. All THREE technically got to "attack" and then you attack with some champion on the other side of the board. The Stalwart Archer's mechanic makes it vastly easier to use a Priest.

2) The Vanguard have two Champions of a cost of seven. Keeping units alive through healing allows you to not spend Magic to play new units, meaning you can potentially save some to play these big-time, game-changing Champions. Not having to play any units for an extra turn, so you can gain a surplus of four Magic allows you to set up a Summoning Surge and an Archangel or a Lightbringer to lay the smack on the opponent.