Raid Defense

## Introduction

Setting up the raid defense is important to stabilize the War score and being able to hinder raiders from successful raids. Preparing for a Raid Defense is a game of balance between restricting the attackers from doing certain actions to outpacing the attackers when it comes to resource management.

## How to Plan Defense

When it comes to preparing defenses, there are a few areas of focus to consider. Some defense aim to counter attack harder first turn, some defense aim for a more controlled based defense over two or more turns, while some aim for a more late game defense. Depending on card selection, and heroes available to you, as well as what position on the leader board you are in could determine which one suits you better.

When it comes to truly ironing out the defense, you are given the ability to [Test] the defense against the Offense deck, and if you have the option to, you can have the clan mates battle the raid deck and give feedback to you.

### How to Prepare a Good Raid Defense

When it comes to building the defense, you want to keep the deck streamlined as much as possible. There are a few things to consider as you are planning out the raid defense deck:

**The AI for the Defending Heroes.** There is a certain logic between which the AI follows as well as somethings that they do are don't do.

The Logic gate for which the AI follows is: Good Buffs > Movement > Attack/Casting Attack Card > Secondary Buff/Nerfs > End turn.

Some card currently are not programmed to be used due to not being programmed at all, or the card themselves have restrictive. Read more information on AI logic down below.

**First Turn Mana Number.** Look at what landmarks and what is the starting mana is important to see what the defender's first turn option against the attackers are. There is a huge difference between the raid defense starting the turn with 4 mana, compared to starting a turn with 5 mana, or even 7 mana. Having Triumph, Lucky Dice, or Mana Crystal as the secondary landmark is the difference between casting two or three cards in a turn, or casting one card and having two dead cards in the hand. For example, No matter how strong the card 'Delirium' is, if the starting mana is 5 and it costs 8 mana to cast Delirium, you have effectively had one dead card in the hand that you couldn't use, wasted a turn with a hero that might now die with 5 mana that could be used for anything. Knowing what the card you have selected mana costs as well as how much it takes during the first turn if it's drawn is a consideration to have.

**What does the defenders do the first turn?** When it comes to breaking the defense, go all out and do what you as an attacker would normally do in order to win a Raid. Afterwards pay attention to the defender's action by the AI and look at the following:

* How many cards were used by the AI?
* Did you reach the intended first turn goal of attacking or casting buffs?
* How many cards are remaining in the hand and if there is mana left to use those cards?
* If Melee troops, did your melee reach the defenders or able to defend against the second wave of attack?

**What is the Win Condition if you lose One Hero Early?**

Looking into what the defending AI does first turn also can give you expectations towards what would your defense be able to due during turn two when you are down one Hero and achieving the first turn action is good for you.

### Which Battlefield?

When it comes to selecting Battlefields, some Battlefields have already been tried and tested while others have already been filtered out through those that have gone up the rankings and tested it through multiple battles. Some of the more common used battlefield depend on defense build are:

* **The Eye:** Any Ranged or Mixed Range Defense. The Eye has the benefit of having two landmarks and a longer range meaning melee and most offense deck cannot reach first turn to the defense. You have an additional turn to set up any first turn advantage. Benefits Double Sniper, Boom Defense, Mixed Ranged Set.
* **Sorrow's Heart**: Mostly Melee Builds. With only one ally slot and one landmark, no line of sight of a Priest being able to buff the heroes, this map benefits more melee defense as they have the ability to funnel the enemy closer to the corner or target one enemy hero within a turn.
* **The Bleached Bones:** A map that's similar to Sorrow's Heart but has a benefit of being even more compact and restricting towards the enemy's movement and line of sight.
* **Winter's Road:** A similar but different map compared to The Eye which offers a more separation of attackers and distance between corners.

### Which Banner?

Banners are the deployables which allows the deck to solidify itself and allow there to be a direction which the deck can focus on. When it comes to Banners, some Banner seem to offer much more than expected (such as Banner of Death which increases Critical by 15%), but as you progress through the game, some Banners offer more utility and more stable element than others. Here are the Banners which you should be looking forward to as you climb the ladder.

* **Banner Of Life: + 7hp.** Most simple one, more life = more survival. If you have it and your deck doesn't have unified strategies to take advantage of other banners, this is usually the safest bet.
* **Assault Banner: +2 Move, +4HP** (Achievement reward from Gauntlet). A mix of Banner of Life, and movement. Is very helpful, and the best balance of both worlds in helping your melee defenders and keeping the troops alive. Be careful though as depending on map, the movement could backfire and you move within range of the enemy but still be unable to reach them.
* **Banner of Despair: Attackers discard 1 card turn end, 2 cards after 2 turns have passed.** A powerful banner within the arsenal, as even one discard could ruin your opponent's strategy. However, use of this is more deck dependent for it be used to its full potential.
* **Standard of the Woodlands: Defenders +1 Range, +1 Ranged Damage.** A simple banner that works very well in larger maps (Winter's Road or The Eye) if your defense squad is primarily ranged.

When it comes to the remaining banners, is better to have them than not at all, but the ones mentioned above tend to have more impact when it comes to the defense.

### Which Allies?

When it comes to Allies, to be very honest, there isn't much difference if you don't have the Orcish Bomb Carrier or the Skeleton Executioner (neither of which can be obtained in the War Shop). Allies are most commonly body shields for the first attack (or are completely ignored by attackers), and most others don't have a major impact on the battle outcome. The Verazzan Guard Captain is probably the best ally you can purchase, since he also buffs your heroes a little. For now, just having an ally is (in most cases) better than not having one.

### Which Landmarks?

Landmarks are battlefield wide effects that either hinder or help the defenders by doing certain effects. There are only two maps currently with two landmark spots (Winter's Road and The Eye) which may impact how your defense functions depending on the combinations of landmarks.

The Useful:

* **Sacred Core:** This is of the most universally used landmarks in the game, and is obtained as an achievement reward. It discourages enemy AoE attacks by healing lightly damaged allies when another one (including summoned units like Laarn's Brutus) is killed. Frequently, this means attackers have to deal more focused damage or dedicate more resources to dealing with the defense, and can complicate their decision-making.
* **Mana Crystal:** Depending on your defense, having an extra 2 mana per turn (especially on the first turn) can be the difference between casting a powerful card or just having a hand of uncastable cards. Mana is the source of power so having more of it is always an advantage!
* **Muddy:** For the larger maps, limiting your opponents' movement could very well be the difference between losing a hero on turn 1, and keeping your enemy at bay so your heroes survive that critical initial assault. Limiting movement also has the added bonus of effectively limiting the enemy's range as well, which is why Muddy is generally preferred over Storm.

The Mediocre:

* **Storm:** could be useful in a a very targeted approach towards defense, but Muddy is simply a more effective landmark. Usually used in partnership with Muddy to try to control the first turn by severely restricting the enemies from damaging your heroes.
* **Incendiary:** A Landmark that has potential to be very powerful its 2 damage can chip away a lot of health (especially on smaller maps like The Eye). The biggest downside to having Incendiary is the fact that landmark space is limited and you really have to build around this landmark to draw out its potential. As such, its use is very map and deck dependent.

Less used options:

* **Infected Area/Heat Wave:** Both are very situational and are usually not worth the Landmark slot or war tokens unless you really want to build a deck around them (e.g. Heat Wave could work well in a deck built to stall out turns).

## Beginners Defense

When it comes to setting up the raid defense you begin with the given Battlefield of Wessortop. When it comes to beginning with your raid defense, Armor, range, and movement is all of importance. Sprints, Viper Shot, AoE such as fireballs and Orb of Suns are some good options to begin with. Small, and impactful cards with low mana cost at this stage beats out high damage but long mp gathering cards at this stage.

## Double Sniper Defense

When it comes to Double Sniper Defense, they take advantage of the fact that they have superior range than you and with Laarn's ability to draw 3 extra class cards, their aim is to overpower your team within the first turn, with multiple attacks and win with the numbers advantage.

## Rosaria Defense

Rosaria is a mage that is unlockable with Gems through the Shop and is a hero that will potentially get better as more vile and debuff cards get released in the future. Rosaria currently has pros and cons when used in Raid Defense. Rosaria has some elements in common with Witness, so some of these apply to Witness as well should you plan on using him.

Pros to Rosaria:

* Long Range, meaning you don't have to invest in ranged equipment or have as many ranged cards within your deck in order to reach your opponent
* An extra 2 Mana at the beginning of battle, and 1 mana at turn start thereafter. This allows you to use higher cost mana cards in your deck while not necessarily needing to add Ritual of Centering.
* Ignore obstacles and extra damage from her passive ability when using cards on opponents.

Cons:

* Very Fragile HP/Armor set. Can't really do much if the hero is dead on the first turn. (mitigated by release of new mage support cards, Shattergem, and Glowing Girdle).
* No to little movement means if the enemy has a long-range build or restricts you to be outside the range the AI doesn't know how to adapt as well.
* Low attack value meaning she doesn't hit as hard compared to Amras.

Rosaria is squishy and has low attack meaning she can be easily be rushed and killed as the first choice by the attacker. Being a mage though, she benefits from being able to have a mixed deck while having the extra mana per turn allows her to play more non-attack cards. She plays well in a mixed Boom build combined with the Ranged Damage or in discard builds.

When it comes to Rosaria there are a few branches of support cards which she can contribute to:

<Insert Corrupt Deck List Here>

Corrupt Fate is used in order to disrupt any other card abilities the opponent will use in the follow turn if possible continue to remove the defender's ability to cast cards. If damage is not your goal for Rosaria, you can take advantage of the fact that Rosaria has a long range and combine it with Wither and Oblivion as a weapon to rip off more cards from the opponent.

<Insert Lightning Deck List Here>

With Rosaria's range it means at the start of the turn, it's almost guaranteed a first turn attack that will succeed. Tremor is an option but is not required so other abilities cards such as Fire Incarnate or Lightning can be used.

As of the recent card availbility, Rosaria does not have enough support or synergy with other heroes to make a successful Debuff Damage overall, and combined with how squishy Rosaria is, having a deck revolve around her Debuff Damage is not a viable strategy. Rosaria currently is good within the rankings of 50 to 300s but anything above and players get better cards and better ways to deal with Rosaria.

## Corso Defense

When it comes to Corso on defense, there are many benefits to him being on the hero slots. All three of Corso's ability benefit in Raid defenses and work well against long range decks. Corso has a built in armor against ranged troops, 'Evade', which if there is no adjacent enemies beside him, he gains +3 armor which is a huge bonus since those that are raiding have mostly ranged troops.

The second benefit to having Corso on defense is that Corso has the ability 'Assassin', which draws a class card such as '*Vanish'* which chains into a damage dealing card, and the chain can continue as long as Corso gets a kill.

### Assassinate Clean Up Set

<Insert Deck Image Here>

When it comes to the Assassination Clean Up Set of Corso/Rogues, what you are aiming for is high damage output and Corso being able to kill an enemy and Vanish right after, and chain combo-ing. Having Sacred Core in the landmark slot keeps Corso healthy, and if the enemy allows Corso to be the final defending hero, the opponent might already run out of resources to uncloak any Stealth abilities you have done.

## Melee Defense

When it comes to melee Defense decks, they revolve around

## Other Raid Defense Information

### AI Testing Information

When it comes to AI, they have a particular set of actions which could benefit or be detrimental towards your strategy when it comes to defending properly. Here are some result from which cards and hero interactions have been observed and made:

* Card that currently aren't able to be used:
	+ Desperate Lunge, Distraction, Bandage, Regroup, Anoint, Sacrifice, Animah's Blessing, Retribution, Abscond, Caustic Poison, Corroding Venom.
* When it comes to stationary cards such as Hunter, Prayer of Might, Ritual of Centering, etc. They can be cast and useful first turn but second turn the AI can move and remove such buff.
* There is a bug of which some buffs such as Hunter, Pinpoint, Vipershot, which normally if you are a player won't be able to be recast due to pre-existing on the Hero buff and being unable to re-cast, the AI will be able to recast such card. Most of the time though, double casting the same buff does not net any positive and it will just waste mana.
* The AI follow certain patterns when it comes to casting some cards but sometimes the order of which they cast it is random. For example Prophecy of Pain can be cast before the AI does an attack, but sometimes it's cast after the attack. Currently it is not know why this happens.
* AI DOES NOT cast buffs currently if it needs to be adjacent towards ally heroes, such as Anoint card.
* AI does seem to go or target between two or more enemies if there is an AoE card within the hand. If the condition to not being able to do the AoE to two more heroes, they will target just the closes enemy.
* AI does have preference of attacking minions first before targeting Heroes, but not all the time if the Attacking Hero is closer to the AI Hero.