Deck Building Tips part 6. Armoured Duke

This deck presents the very first Khan-Dir’s deck in those articles. The duke is probably the most dangerous hero in melee combat. Having a big number of Health and very strong attacking potential, this hero can fight alone, taking a lot of damage and eliminating an opponent’s characters one by one. And now imagine this powerful unit fighting side by side with decent characters. This deck is pretty consistent and gives you a chance to win by any victory condition, so you can either play slowly and defensively or rush into battle; either way, this hero won’t let you down.

(!) – means crucial cards for the main game concept

Characters:

Vadoma the Prophetess (!) —

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— starter set character. In this deck, Vadoma doesn’t defend Khan-Dir as the hero is able to successfully defend itself for a long time, so the main point of Vadoma here is to draw cards and earn additional prosperity thanks to the ability of Guild of Merchant building.

Sergeant Bernard the Standard Bearer —

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— another character, which function is similar to Vadoma the Prophetess, and together they are a good combo to earn some prosperity, defend Khan-Dir, or remove a counterattack of the hero’s opponents in melee.

Fortune’s Favorite —

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— great character for the early game stage. It can support the Duke by range attacks and is also able to draw you a necessary card from your deck.

Lady Alba —

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— pretty strong melee combat character from Guild of Merchants. Similarly to Vadoma, Alba can serve as a good defensive character, especially with the constructed guild, but it can also go to attack. 3 points of Strength and Fortitude is a good indicator of a decent midgame character.

Captain Gil-Talas (Tavern) (!)  —

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— one of the strongest characters of Guild of Merchants. If you don’t pay the captain, it’s still pretty good average defender, but with the increased power, it becomes a ruthless striking unit and can act as an impassable obstacle for their opponents on the road to Khan’Dir.

Boris the Potbelly —

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— starter set character. Here’s a good militiaman that strengthens his fellow militiamen if you have the Militia Tower constructed in your city zone. At the end of the game, you can find out that Boris has +3 or +4 Strength and with this number, it can compete with Lady Alba or Captain Gil-Talas to become the most powerful melee combat character.

One-eyed Gelat, Militiaman —

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— a good character for its price. When it’s alone, Gelat is just good support for Khan-Dir at the early stage, but once you construct Militia Tower and summon other militiamen, you will have great melee combat units with very strong synergy.

Carl, Militia Herald (!) —

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— supportive unit for your militiamen. You could see that Carl is much weaker than Gelat in melee combat, though on the other hand, the militia herald buffs your militiamen much better. With Carl on the battlefield, if you don’t risk and don’t let your opponent attack it, you can easily strike with your weakest militiamen gain benefits from the synergy Carl provides.

Sir Bowden the Retired Militiaman —

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— its low movement rate is probably the only weak side of that character, and it would be probably a perfect attacking character for its price unless its slowness. Nothing goes without a price, so it was the price for Sir Bowden’s ability to strengthen your other militiamen. Together with Gelat and Carl, it forms a very good attacking trio that can support their Duke.

Boas the Militia Captain (!) —

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— another great militiaman which is good support for its fellows from the militia. With this guy, militiamen can bravely attack without thinking of consequences as their card will anyway return to your deck.

 10 characters in total. This is the core of the deck that works well as is or you can upgrade it with even more powerful characters, for example, from Guild of Blades. Take note, that this deck can not only win by eliminating your opponent’s hero, but also by accumulating enough prosperity. It has too much of defensive potential to construct Guild of Merchant and Mint to receive not just 3 prosperity each turn like other decks do but increase that income to 5 prosperity a turn. 

Support Cards:

(it’s recommended to use 2 copies of each, though you can adjust it on your own)

Two-Handed Sword — relic melee weapon —

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— the duke’s personal weapon that almost doubles Khan-Dir’s damage. A great weapon to finish your opponent off or turn the battle around.

Gilded Blade — relic, melee weapon —

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— another blade that allows Khan-Dir to become a stand-alone battle unit and make difference even without its characters.

Armours of Strength — a relic, armour —

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— it’s a perfect armour for the duke! Besides 3 armour it provides, it makes Khan-Dir defend much better, which could be a very important addition if Khan-Dir decides to fight alone. Moreover, Khan-Dir already has an ability of Cautious (1) and this relic provides it too (Cautious 2), but it doesn’t mean Khan-Dir will now have Cautious 3 as they don’t sum up and the highest number will just prevail, so Khan-Dir will have Cautious 2 to assign up to 3 Strength to attack and at least 2 dice to defence.

Mid-Battle Dinner — tactic —

— one of a few ways to heal your hero in Vallor. It might be very useful when Khan-Dir to break into the opponent’s ranks and defeat entire armies all by itself!

Guild of Masons — tactic —

— great tactic to build up the momentum. Thanks to additional prosperity it provides, you can construct one building more than your opponent.

Weapons Sale — tactic —

— starter set card, another tactic to keep up the pace. Along with Guild of Masons, allows you to construct Temple or Arena in the midgame, so you will be able to summon strong late-game characters much earlier. Also, if you have Guild of Merchant in your city zone, those cards can control the opponent’s characters reducing their pace.