Variations:
Traditional:
- combo oriented
- rapier fencer, mage knight and song sorceress to attain a high attack of 70-90 on rapier fencer
- at 50 hp on its front liners, this variant has some of the beefier units
- easiest variant to master though has gaping weaknesses that can be exploited by other variants
Modern:
- very control oriented
- focuses heavily on dominating the field at all times of the game
- strong reliance on souls and grims to attain field advantage
- timing of early deaths of units is significant for maintaining sp flow in game
Lvl 2 Rush:
- unit spam focused, with the occasional lvl 1-2 grim thrown in
- relies on overrunning the enemy with fast lvl 2 falkow units
- few variations available (pure falkow, falkow pike, cemetery rats)
- heavy reliance on ex wizard archer’s attack buff
Gowen:
- aggro style
- broad range of variations available (op Dilate , Maggie, Antilla, falkow influx, etc )
Refess:
- field based
- uses unit combos and open skill buffs to overpower the opponent's field
Mid/Lvl 4:
- pinpoint intensive i.e. allows you to target only main units, avoiding all sacrificial units such as great spirits and the like
- uses unit combos to gain very high agi and attack
- sp intensive as almost all pinpoint actions cost 1sp
Principle of playing an effective WK file:
The underlying principle behind every effective wk file is to disrupt the sp flow of the game to minimise the growth and to break your opponents normal file flow. This is done by the following:
1. Removals
- weakens opponent’s field
- reduces net sp of the game
2. grim baiting
- this forces your opponent to spend sp to nullify one of your units be it for a turn or by removals
- vital tactic in increasing your sp advantage
3. early unit deaths
- allows you to trigger SS for immediade impact on field and/or sp banks with no sp cost
- saves you from spending 1 sp on reviving a unit thereby maintaing your sp bank/advantage
4. killing your opponents units
- 1 sp to revive for sp advantage
Let’s assume we have a game where rush files play against each other and ignoring the sp loss from SS effects and unit resurrection, we get a chart for the net sp bank that resembles the following. Where we have:
T3 – Tidal
T7 - Return
T12 – Wrath
T15 - Return
T17 – SS removal of a lvl 5
From this it becomes apparent, that the impact of removals is significant on the sp banks of both players. The idea of wk is to use the remaining sp in a more efficient manner than the opponent and eventually leading to a victory.
N.B. The idea here is not sp drain, but to create a low sp environment for both players and to use highly sp efficient WK units.
Card Choices:
Global Adds:
EX: Wizard Soldier of Regus
- free revive
- solid opener for fast paced wk rushes
Owl Sage
- arguably the best sp gen in the game
- powerful grim and SS bait
- soul skill activator
- invaluable in creating the sp advantage that is the crux of the wk play style
Undine/Sylph
- immediate agi manip on field
- soul skill activator
- feed for certain soul skills (assassin)
Elite Fencer of Regus
- on field agi manipulator
- off tank for main damage dealers
- soul skill activator
Sorcerer Monk of Regus
- standard endgame
- high agi and damage output, provided you have the sp (which you should) to keep her fed
Traditional Variant:
Rapier Fencer of Regus
- main damage dealer of the file
- pretty useless by himself, but can do some real damage with sylphs and other on field friendlies
Mage Knight of Regus
- field agi buffer
- field buff dodges elite fencer (vital in mirror matches)
- grim bane (use sparingly keeping sp management in mind)
Song Sorceress
- high agi buffer for rapier fencer
- grim and SS bait
- soul skill activator
Modern Variant:
Magic Greatsword Soldier
- easily attained high damage output
- high agi
- does not require combo units to function
Lvl 2 Rush:
Sword of Glory / Foveontsa
- gives attack and range buff to adjacent units
- gets attack of friendly unit
- ranged unit
EX: Wizard Archer of Regus
- agi based attack buff on start
- 2sp action skill that can potentially field wipe
Haste Soldier
- EX: wiz soldier alternative
- high agi
- gets powerful buffs from ex archer
Wizard Archer of Regus
- ranged unit
- does high damage, especially with ex archer and Foveontsa buff
- pinpoint
Cemetery Rats
- mass field buffs
- lvl 1 sac unit
Gowen:
Proxy of Flame / Pullermia
- allows easy access to lvl 3 falkow/gowen
- lvl 3 sac unit
Mermaid Observer
- raises both falkow and gowen by 1
- lvl 1 sac unit
Mage Soldier Mercenary Girl
- free falkow level generator
- high damage output
- can potentially combo with magic greatsword due to complementing attack conditions
- also called “Maggie” for those having trouble remembering her name
Forest Sorceress / Anttila
- one of the most powerful sp generator
- grim and SS bait
Brave Hero / Dilate
- ridiculously powerful tank, potentially immortal on field
- field wipe on action
- field buff and full heal on start
Mage Knight Fighter / Ryu
- hits two times per strike
- with Balmoa buff can deal 60 damage per hit
- gives +1 gowen on auto if gowen lvl = 2, can combo with antilla for 3 sp/turn
- free grim bane action with damage based on gowen levels
Flash Pixy / Chamail
- combos with mage soldier in front of her for agi buff on both units
- good sac unit if the need arises
- hits random unit with attack 0 on auto for agi x10, can snipe some lycans and buffers
Elemental Soldier / Balmoa
- high agi unit
- gives attack immunity to 2 mage soldiers on auto and attack bonus
- gives self +10 attack on action
- hits to units on action
Mermaid Wizardess / Faytis
- large sp advantage
- SS activator
Refess:
Proxy of Sea / Oseon
- allows easy access to lvl 3 falkow/refess
- lvl 3 sac unit
Wandering Bard
- raises both falkow and gowen by 1
- lvl 1 sac unit
Refugee Spear Master / Aria
- reasonably tank
- grimlocks both players
- immune to engage on start
- def penetration on action (2sp)
Pegasus
- perm attack buff on all falkow units
- reasonable off tank for other more important units
Mermaid Priestess
- lvl 2 support unit
- reasonably tanky for a lvl 2
- max hp hate
- heals and gives agi buff to one healed unit on auto
Mid/Lvl 4:
Elite Mage Soldier
- buffs def and rng of unit directly behind
- 1 sp double pinpoint action
- con: action condition of agi 6 or higher
Regus Paladin / Ibert
- rng 2 offensive unit
- agi rises with more friendly on field wk units
- 1 sp agi based targeted lancer
- base 1 agi so dodges elite fencer's agi drain
Guard Leader / Renally
- lvl 4 tank unit
- gives +10 def to units on slots 1,2,3 on auto
- 1 sp def based, def penetrating pinpoint skill
Azure Dragon - East / Vordore
- lvl 4 support unit
- 1 sp action gives field based at buff and 5 def buff to all friendly units and +1 agi to self
- gets agi +1 and gives rng debuff if enemy has unit on lot 7,8,9
Other Units:
Open:
Witch Queen / Catherina
- early sp advantage on open
- potentially buffs friendlies
- useful in traditional variant and those using Antilla for early sp gen
- con: slows the pace of the file
Witch
- counter to lvl 2 opens
- creates sp advantage early game
- hard counters some lvl 2 rushes
- good for baiting grims like dragon breath early in the game
- con: t2 tidal hurts this open in mirrors
Tech:
Chase Wing / Volfied
- heavy character hate
- the most powerful grim bait in your file
- removal action
- used in meta-grade wk
Storm Wizardess
- full field character engage on open for both fields
- 20x3 damage def penetration for 1sp
- possible grim bait
Flying Sorcerer of Regus
- single unit field movement on open
- return self and move own field on action
- lvl 1 sac
Misc:
Eagle Soldier
- perm agi buff on auto
- 1sp flying attack
- combos with combat sorc for at/agi snowball on buffed units
Frost Bow Archer
- Nullifies 2 lvl 5+ units on action
- Mass -10 attack debuff on action
- combos with combat sorc for 25 attack boost
Magic Scythe Soldier
- ranged pinpoint
- at agi 5+, does a def penetrating slash for 2sp
- combos with combat sorc for potential fieldwipe
Grims:
Sweeping Tidalwave
- 1 sp advantage if returning a lvl 2 unit
- con: self grim bane
Return
- removes troublesome combo piece from field of lvl 3 or lower
- reduces the game’s net sp by 3sp from both players (vital in file flow disruption)
Wrath of the Sealord
- same as return but for lvl 4 or lower
- con: gives self falkow -1
Cyclone
- immediate solution for lvl 2 rushes
- use in lvl 4+ files, lvl 3 wk rushes can handle lvl 2 rushes with little difficulty
Withdrawal Strategy
- returns a lvl 3, same function as return grim
- can save some low lvl units from untimely deaths
Wrath of the Constellations
- bigs counter
- covering one of the bigger weaknesses of wk
Aquamantic Bubbles
- saves last copy units from death
- attack immunity for a turn
- con: you lose sp that was preciously on field
Instant Revival
- most commonly used to revive volfied
- can be used to revive some units mid-late game
- con: refess grim, so 4 sp to use
The Truth of Regus
- gives opponent’s file info (give insight on whether to use Volfied that battle or not)
- can potentially gen sp
- can potentially grimbane
Souls Skills:
Sp Drain:
Dragon Path King / Gafc
- early game targeted damage
- 1 sp drain
- hurts if iczered into, 2 sp loss (maybe 3 if they need to revive a unit)
Crest Saboteur Knight
- early game damage
- 1 sp drain
- hurts if iczered into, 2 sp loss (maybe 3 if they need to revive a unit)
- con: not targeted
- con: doesn’t drain unless hit unit is -20 hp
Command Unit / Violet X2
- 2 sp drain if timed correctly
- retrieves 2 cards from cemetery
- con: can be dodged
Removals:
Assassin/Magic Doll -Covert-/Salamander Soldier/Heierrat Assassin
- standard removal
- vital in turning the tide vs mids/bigs
- con: disengaged clause
- con: can backfire
Shelby->Song Sorceress/Mermaid Harpist/Pixy Aquamancer
- strong agi based removal
- reasonably safe removal
- con: 2 SS slots are used
- con: may require the use of a great spirit to remove a unit
Bastandorra/Metia/Raste/Ladol/EX: Rubia
- strong condition based removal
- con: disengaged clause
- con: 2 sp loss on SS activation whether it succeeds or not
- con: can backfire and lead to auto-loss of the match
- con: may require a unit or grim to attain the condition
Exiled Military Aide
- powerful rng based removal
- low to no risk of backfiring
- con: disengaged clause
- con: 1 sp loss on SS activation
- con: attaining the condition for the removal may have a large sp cost, making it an ineffective choice
Revival:
Unknown Knight / Aano
- full field revival
- con: revives opponent’s field as well (can potentially be advantageous in messing up sp flow)
Skeleton Warrior
- 2lp
- single unit revival and buff
- deadly when iczered into
Awakened Magic Doll / Esria
- revives 2 units and buffs them
- con: lvl 3+ clause
Chaos Ogre / Dalos
- single unit revival
- deals 40 damage to target enemy unit
- con: revival must succeed for damage
Honored Spirit / Ashbars
- single unit revival
- deals 40 damage
- con: random enemy unit
Lion General / Zagar
- single unit revival
- deals damage equal to the hp of revived unit to 2 enemy units
- con: random enemy units
- con: disengaged clause
Engage:
Rasam
- engages 2 units till end of next turn
- delays opponent’s field so that you can kill it or build your own
Mermaid Wizardess / Faytis
- engages 1 unit till end of next turn
- delays opponent’s field so that you can kill it or build your own
Weaknesses of WK:
SP Manipulation
- slows down the pace of your file
- limits your ability to control their field
Non-character Mids/Bigs
- beyond range of returns
- difficult to fight on field
- usually deal enough damage to kill the field
Damage Grims/Souls/Start Skills
- WK units have low hp, i.e. low tolerance to most damage skills
- running out of units is a high possibility
Match-up Analysis:
Different wk variants have different win rates against different files, so I will be putting up the win rates of the modern variant which I’m experienced in using.
Gowen:
BKR/Jack/Dilate/etc
- 40%
- high damage output
- fast sp generation
- can kill Volfied on a whim
- pretty much a solid counter to WK
Big Red
- 10%
- a near endless supply of damage via open skills
- volcano wyvern does amazingly well in killing your low hp front liners
Orks
- 80%
- single out Grebby and kill him off, orcs are of little threat without their leader
Pixies
- 70%
- depends on the opening
- usually favours falkow, but t2 Mitzette after greatsword means auto-loss if you’re not prepared for it
Warriors
- 50%
- depends on the amount of damage grims/SS packed
- can either be an easy win or a little movie where your field dies over and over again
Modded Red Starter
- 50%
- ridiculous amounts of damage output
- if they’ve figured out that fire arrow or dragon breath is better than fire tornado, things can go downhill very fast
File Destruction
- 70%
- depends on the lp count of the file
- lots of lp can be troublesome, but not impossible
- care must be taken to set field, or a single mass wipe can cost you the game
Falkow:
Diondora Control
- 50%
- fair game
- usually the one who sets up owl sage first wins
- difficult to use Volfied to control one unit
Dion/Emana Control
- 60%
- Volfied helps a lot in maintaining an advantage over both Emana and Dion
Traditional WK
- 70%
- owl sage is usually denied by both parties and in a standard fight the modern variant usually wins out
Grim Count
- 80%
- Volfied
- use storm wiz to engage practically the whole field to dominate the game for a turn
Mid-Blue
- 40%
- hardcore rush control file
- well timed removals can solve this problem with aggressive iczering
Lawtia:
EN (lvl 2 variant)
- 90%
- use tidals and returns to single out night makers
- iczer relentlessly unless Liz SS is obvious
Big Lawtia
- 60%
- whole game tactic revolves around removing zu after she’s dropped
- usually done by dropping volfied the same turn as zu
- if that fails, highly unlikely that you can fight through the whole file
Undeads
- 40%
- difficult to maintain an sp advantage due to undeads recovering hp on death
- can overwhelm your field quite easily
- can be beaten if you manage to single out undead units and kill them like that
Dolls CMD
- 60%
- normally can be taken care of by returning the undead tank and using mgs to kill the remaining dolls
- return violets with tidal whenever possible, deadly if she goes off even once
- if PoM first SS, drop all notion of control and try to kill the field with Volfied
- if no Volfied, use storm wizardess and hammer the field with mgs
- careful of getting field field wiped by SS and bitter embrace combo
Dolls Non-Chara
- 40%
- lots of sp control mechanics
- booty doll is deadly in emptying out your loose sp cache
- sumer will be annoying returning sp of dead dolls (do NOT tidal her)
- mobility's attack boost in the presence of a dead friendly will cause problems
- ultimately the tactic is to kill them before they can completely drain all of your sp and kill off your field
- careful of getting field field wiped by SS and bitter embrace combo
Augments
- 20%
- augmented doll hard counters elite fencer and wk playstyle by nature
- od spam op
Refess:
Big Ref
- 40%
- need to play aggressively
- iczer fast after the 2nd sp gen soul goes off
- remove stardragon if possible and resume iczering
Shrine Knights
- 90%
- leet fencer and EX: wiz can almost duo the file
- may lose if they pack a lot of falkow h8
HKL Rush
- 80%
- return hkl and hammer the field
- volfied easily wrecks this character dependent file
- dropping storm wizardess also leaves a weakened, unbuffed field
Mid Solar Kingdom
- 70%
- deny miffyre sp gen and set up at all cost
- volfied easily wrecks this character dependent file
- dropping storm wizardess weakens the field heavily usually only leaving the guardian disengaged
Carbuncles
- 50%
- if they gen tons of sp early game and spam units, your file can get overrun very easily
- single out ruby eater and try to deny diamond buncle
- easy win if they don't hoard sp early game
Multi-Sphere:
Gowen/Falkow
- 80%
- deny anttila sp gen
- the file can't function without gratuitous quantities of sp
Refess Warriors
- 60%
- use leet fencer to counter toromea
- use volfied to counter the rest
- most likely will pack falkow hate, but can be brushed off provided they don't pack lots of damage souls
- more often than not you won't get a chance to drop Volfied so beating down the file starting with toromea is ideal
Gowen/Lawtia Dolls
- 70%
- use leet fencer to slow down the file
- volfied should be used to grim bait
- use souls to keep their sp to a minimum
Ugrant
- 80%
- volfied and some sp drain hard counters the file
- difficult file to counter without volfied
- use storm wizardess to engage the field as most of that file is nothing but characters and grims
- be ready to face a lot of returns and to replay leet fencer multiple times
Marduk
- 45%
- like big ref, but slightly easier to counter
- deny Marduk gen with wrath and leet fencer
- spam iczer attacks
Replays:
Mid WK vs Merc Nat
Modern WK vs Carbuncles
Refess WK vs Emana/Mystere
Refess WK vs Mid-Undeads
Refess WK vs TJC
Six lp WK Rush vs Dolls
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