Astral Class Guide for Frosthaven

[@iamspamus8784]

Really good analysis video. Thanks! 🎉🎉

[@kevindunn1658]

Thank you for this, just unlocked it and really appreciate your input and help. The glass cannon is what I was going to do as well.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Have a blast! Think about your items for sure

[@ji_mothy]

We just unlocked this! 43:58 yes, shield and ward interact "not the best" but to me, that's thinking about it wrong! Ward just adds further damage reduction on a turn when you were trying to avoid damage, and has the upside of sticking around in case enemies don't (get to) attack or draw poorly. It adds a silver lining/increases the floor of the ability.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Shielding a weenie attack and keeping the ward always feels soooooo good

[@boardgametotears]

Your thumbnail kills me. 😂

[@phoenicksgaming]

Having some fun with it ;)

[@russbunten6245]

Something I have found helpful for this character is to use a greater Element Potion, a Cloak of Many Pockets, and/or Infusion Potion to get the infusion train off the ground.

[@phoenicksgaming]

For sure - those potions give a huge amount of flexibility

[@Timlagor]

27:00 There are also classes that can generate much bigger hits than 5. I came to this from a character that had built 20+ damage strikes against multiple bosses so I recognised the potential of Brittle. Mostly though I've found it strong when you can get the second target. I've also found the Ward better than I anticipated.

[@phoenicksgaming]

If paired with someone dishing out the pain then absolutely!

[@Timlagor]

​@@phoenicksgaming It does rather depend on that but you get some solid attacks of your own and putting out 2 brittles at once is solid under most circumstances I've found. The damage threshold needed to make them good goes down as shields go up too (shields making one hit for 2x better than two for x each)

[@Timlagor]

31:20 I do value healing but generally killing something will prevent more damage than you can heal. Even 5 is just an average attack from a monster much of the time so healing becomes something you do between enemies and there's not all that much room for that in my deck. I'm much more enthusiastic about cards that have a solid alternative use on the other side.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Makes sense - I think a little healing goes a long way but I definitely wouldn't pile it on

[@Timlagor]

@@phoenicksgaming It sure beats sitting on 2hp and burning a card each time you get attacked!

[@markusjagering7449]

I've made my own character that's hungry for elements like this. I call him the Quatryl Meteorologist. He brings two new Elements on the board: Lightning and water. And he has an own mechanic called forecast. Those are skills you need to use Elements to bring them into the active area and in three Rounds the effect triggers anywhere on the map. There are also skills that bring the marker on an active Forcast ability forward, so that it triggers earlier.

[@phoenicksgaming]

@@markusjagering7449 that sounds really fun! Do you have it posted.online somewhere?

[@markusjagering7449]

@phoenicksgaming No. I'm still working on it.

[@BalooSJ]

42:08: I do not believe Propulsive Tailwind lets you ignore Retaliate, because the move is a separate ability and Retaliate happens as part of the resolution of the attack.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Hmmmmm, that's a bummer, really takes the "wind" out of the sails ;b

[@hammerspace8866]

I think the kill 4 enemies but never attack should be quite doable, even with level 1 cards. just use the summon, and bounty of the earth. and then you have battle prowess, cystaline eagis and onyx shards as possible top actions. and perhaps stoic viggilance for just the shield without doing the attack. There ahould be some easy frosthaven scenario's where you can afford to clown around a bit to get the mastery.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Huh, good call! You do have to be able to make the call at the beginning you'll be a bit more useless but it would work

[@danschwarz]

When I played this class I really tried to make the claymore work but it was kind of clunky. Since infusions affect your summon, the bottom of Veil of Protection makes your summon a 5 hp, 1 shield, non-loss. On paper that seemed really strong but in 2p the extra tankiness it provided wasn't worth it. I switched to melee glass cannon and had a lot more fun

[@phoenicksgaming]

Yeah it seems neat in practice but the glass cannon build is just too appealing

[@kenr8151]

I took this to lvl 9. Perpetual ward, immune to curse, cursing everyone who attacks you, half the time you are disarming people too, and solid support healing. It was a very strong class but really needs elements so take the right items. Ignore Scenario effects is never bad.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Yeah getting it all off is the challenge, I agree item support is essential!

[@djtawntawn9548]

The sword is bananas. If you have a party that makes excess earth and dark, it's super easy to get ancient rites of power online. It plus sword is 2 free attack 4's each turn. My party was necro and crashing tide plus infuser and I always had the dark and earth i needed. I play solo three player.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Party synergy is absolutely monstrous for this class!

[@Timlagor]

If you rely on a NINTH LEVEL card (and I had to check back what card you were talking about) then it's not bananas. I've played a lot and not got to 9th level with any character yet. I expect we will get there but it's not going to be a big part of our playtime.

[@vincentb.7876]

I diddn't hear you say about the combo: level 2 veil of protection and the claymore summon. You get a repeatable summon with +3 health. Sounds pretty notable to me.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Every infusion combos with the sword, no? Just a question of what's better in the moment. The sword being beefier does mean it tanks more but it's also longer when you're disarmed

[@sphyre1196]

I have now played this class for 11 scenarios and am level 6 in a 4 player ( melee heavy) party. Its been nothing but pure misery up to level 5. My lifegoal forces me to get perk ✔️ so I often have to play awkwardly on a class that is anything but flexible to begin with. I fail to see what this class does that Kelp doesnt do equally well as a Damage Dealer with much less prerequisites. I have read all the guides for it, almost every recommended item and understand the mechanics by now. It still feels VERY mid at best. I watch my buddy in the oh so maligned Bannerspear (lv7) do a formation attack with upwards of 12 total damage with selfheal of 1 and shield 1 and am left wondering....whats my purpose again? To enable other people to have a good time with spamming brittle while I loot everything with my lv 4 card? It becomes especially tragic when the Meteor just trashes shielded mobs while I wail away helplessly at them or I have to beg for heals because the self heal potential is pitiful if you dont go tank route. This class has all the "magical Christmas land" trappings where it could be great but never is because your elements get sniped, you need a ton of items, mutually exclusive upgrade cards, certain mobs to not be in the scenario, etc. Maybe its me but beyond reading guides, trying different hand setups and hoping that the last two games with the class having reached 6 where its at least tolerable I don't know more to do .

[@phoenicksgaming]

@sphyre1196 honestly, for pure power, I agree kelp and bannerspear are just better. Personally, the fun of this is the challenge of the element manipulation but I agree it's not the class to play for pure power

[@LaneSmith-v3d]

Do a Frosthaven class rankings video

[@phoenicksgaming]

@@LaneSmith-v3d I should! I still haven't played all the classes yet...

[@Zaelmk]

It's interesting how different my experience was with so many cards because I played 4 player.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Did you go nova?

[@neckorcuk1]

What items did you take when playing this character? You talked about that a lot but never said what you had.

[@phoenicksgaming]

I try to avoid spoilers in the video. I took items that generated elements, a holy sword, one time speed burst boots, and things that let me do burst attacks on a given turn. Basically I prioritized one time big effects over long term value generating items

[@ggriesenauer]

I'm surprised you don't like Ignore Scenario Effects. Anything that helps me avoid a negative effect I will take!

[@phoenicksgaming]

It's because I'm greedy! I hate when there *arent* negative scenario effects if I have that

[@D1337ed]

@@phoenicksgaming i feel the same way, furthermore I think the "negative" effects aren´t that bad most of the times. And I rather have one less bad modifier in my deck, that I would otherwise constantly draw instead of e.g. starting scenario with poison.

[@aloric711]

Veil of Protection is much better with the sword summon build, because it more than doubles the sword's HP.

[@phoenicksgaming]

Good callout!

[@raphaelstocker9874]

1st scenario in and I think I will go glass cannon too :-)

[@phoenicksgaming]

Shred em!

[@2GGop]

Do you not feel like this character while maybe fun to play is a bit weak? She seems like she does a ton of setup to get only moderate payoff. In comparisons to Coral or Drifter who do very easy setup for high payoff. The coolest mechanic which is the infusion trigger abilities are very limited due to being tied to losses, and many characters get +1 rolling modifiers in their AMD which don't require you to play 2 loss cards before they take effect. Flavor and playstyle are great but ultimately a class which is less effective than the Drifter in all ways I can think of.

[@levwhitelaw5561]

although I haven't played the class, my instinct tells me that attack 5 ward at level 1 is a sizeable enough payoff.

[@phoenicksgaming]

I didn't feel weak - I think the itemization matters (avoiding spoilers, I had several items that allowed me to put more elemental power in play). But if you can manage the elements well the attacks you are doing are just a step above what other fighter classes are doing. Emerald edge is easily an attack 5, wound muddle ward. Which is wild. Later infusions can read "strengthen attack 3 heal 3 heal you for two and rejuvenate" and that's not including the permanent ability it gives you. The heals and disarms are completely serviceable too. To me, this class felt like ot did stabbing really well and the rest pretty solidly