Healing Basics - Fairy As a Theurgist I have a strong mix of healing cards as well as damage cards - as I am solo play more than I would like to be. As a non-healing class you will want to cling to your Fairy card as it is your only true source of heals - unless you sub in Life. This will ensure you can outlast your foe long enough to defeat your foe. Before healing - make sure the heal won't heal you for too much if at all. The fairy spell heals for 400 and should be used when you are at least 300 health down. Don't heal when you are only 100-200 health down. Also, save a heal for when it matters. Just because you are hurt - doesn't mean you need to heal.
Combat Basics - Charms/Traps Charms and traps are effective measures you can use to help keep you alive and your foe crippled. The question "What school are they?" comes in to play. Use traps/charms that would effectively reduce the damage that school would do - if you can. You won't always be able to. Make sure to defend yourself when you can. Charms and traps are highly effective due to the fact that most cost zero pips. This allows you to save pips for stronger attack while keeping yourself alive.
Combat Basics - Attacks Gauging your enemy's health is key to knowing what to attack with. A foe with less than 100 health is easily defeated using a 1 pip card. Whereas a foe with 135-200 health requires the usage of a two pip spell to effectively defeat them. As the opponents get more health - you will rely more and more on stronger spells. Nickel-and-Diming is not always the most effective way to defeat a foe. Why use 3 mana to defeat a foe that could have been defeated using 2 mana? Also - casting more spells gives more chances for fizzles to occur. Thinking is key to playing an effective strategy when engaging a foe.
Combat Basics - Passing? My two cents on passing - never pass. Unless you are low level and still using a starter wand - never pass. I know in a rare case you will not have the ability to do anything but pass. However; with an effective wand spell you will always have the choice to do damage to a target. You can also choose to use a zero pip spell. This takes nothing from your mana pool and allows you to prepare a defense just in case something goes awry. Never pass if you can help it - assume that a fizzle is just around the corner at any given second.
Pips - Conserving the Smart Way This ties in with passing. Every turn you are granted 1 pip unless you gain a power pip - which can only be applied to your primary school. This means that the maximum pips you can get in a turn is 2. Which isn't a lot when you consider that some of your stronger spells cost 3 - 4 and they might fizzle. Some people choose to stand around for the 3+ turns while waiting for enough pips to cast their stronger spells. I, however; would say that you should be using this time to slowly eat away at the enemy's health with wand blasts or to keep yourself alive by using charm/trap spells with zero pip cost - small heals as a theurgist if you need them. I will get more detailed in my next paragraph.
Pips - Usage As mentioned earlier - it isn't always smart to Nickel-and-Dime a foe. I, personally, don't even keep a 1 pip cost attack spell on me. They are weak and normally just set me back further than it would put me ahead. A wand blast is almost just as effective. It also allows me to build in more cards to help keep me alive.
Pips aren't necessarily best used each turn - matter of fact, I would strongly suggest you don't. Most of your foes will attack after conserving a few pips themselves. This allows you the time to build up a defense or knock out some health while getting pips for yourself.
We will assume your foe has 135 health in this scenario. You draw two 1 pip spell damaging cards, two zero pip defense cards, one zero pip wand blast, and one 2 pip damaging card. You could choose to attack each round with a 1 pip damaging card as you will be granted the pips to do so.
Unfortunately the cards have a 80% chance to cast and you fizzle on one - this makes the match last one extra turn and you are defenseless against the foe. The battle is now more punishing than it need be.
Lets rewind and restart the battle. Your 2 pip damage card has enough attack to defeat the foe in one hit and has a 85% chance to cast. Instead of launching an attack you shield yourself, reducing oncoming damage by 25%. The monster had saved a pip as well - and on the next turn launches a 2 pip attack that hits for only 130 damage due to your shield. You shrug off the attack and cast your 2 pip spell against the foe and defeat him in one turn.
I'm not saying this is always the best choice - but in more cases than not, especially when you start facing multiple foes, it is best to be defended. Attacking non-stop has its perks - if you don't fizzle you can quickly move through an opponent: But you will take your own beating since you have no way to reduce or counter their damage.
Deck - Composition I will be brief in this section as it is different for every school and different again based on your sub-school(s). Keep in mind as you level that the 1 pip attack spells become less and less effective. So be prepared to replace them with higher attack 2 pip spells. Also - keep a healthy batch of charm/trap cards on hand to keep yourself alive. If you can, keep some healing mixed in as well. Don't make your deck too heavy in one area or you will be spending half the match finding the cards you need.
Deck - Discarding This is fairly simple to find out what to do - just ask yourself: What do I need most? If you find yourself in need of healing and your healing card is still tucked away in your deck - discard a few wand blasts or damage spells to make it more likely that you will get what you need. Meanwhile; hold on to defense spells to ensure that you can take a few more hits while you wait. Needing a certain attack card? Discard what you don't need - aka: The attack(s), heal(s), or charm(s) that you don't need.
Group - Fundamentals Most important part of the guide as it will have the most impact for future game play. We'll start with knowing when to intervene in a battle. Take a look at the player and their "circle." The circle under them shows their health and their pips. A healthy player will have a connected green circle inside their main circle. The less health they have, the more disconnected the circle gets - the color changes as well. If the player is fully green and rocking some pips - odds are they don't need help. Although this could change depending on their foe...
The same rules apply when gauging a foe. Their circle is just the same as the player's. If, say, the foe has only half a circle of health showing and the player has a full green circle - odds are the player will be fine. However; lets say the foe is fully green and the player is at half a circle. It would be wise to step in and help.
Also - quests. If you are wanting to do a quest and need to attack the foes the other player is, make sure you look at the foe's health first. Odds of you getting credit are much more slim if you have not had a hand in the battle long enough to receive it. If a foe is almost dead - avoid the battle and just wait for a new one to start. This will save you time.
If a player asks for "Help!" make sure you can help them. Don't get yourself in to a battle where you will also find yourself in a bad situation.
Group - Attacking I can't tell you how important it is to not attack the same target. There are more players meaning more foes can join the battle. I know it gets hard to keep track of what is being attacked. Fortunately there is an in game system that lets you know. The only bad part about this - is that it doesn't always shoe and sometimes other players are waiting for you to make your choice as well.
With players that can receive text chats it is easy to tell them what you plan on attacking. Unfortunately, it is not the same with the non-text players. You can use the preset text to state your strategy - but even then it can be misunderstood or ignored. In that case you will want to wait to see what they attack to choose what you attack as well.
You want to avoid attacking a foe that another player will defeat before you get to to it. Also, you will want to avoid "overkill." This means you don't want to use a strong spell when a simple spell might do the same job. This can be applied to solo play - in this case it will be applied to group play. Make sure you are gauging what spell an ally will be using - is it a high chance that it will hit? If not, you might consider having a backup spell waiting. If the spell has a decent chance to hit - then follow it up with a spell that will do the job. Never let yourself drain pips when all it takes is a single pip to do the job!
Group - Heals As a Theurgist - this becomes the most annoying aspect of being with a group. I am well equipped to heal and defend. I can attack at the same time. Sadly - most players don't realize this and try to keep themselves healed. They drain 2 pips on a Fairy card when I could have done it just as easily - and more effectively. This sets us back as they now have 2 less pips and I(more than likely) burnt up 2 pips over healing them.
The same rules apply in healing as they do in combat - make sure you are not stacking on a target that doesn't need more than one heal. Gauge what heals are being used and cast accordingly. Vocalize however you can that you are healing someone. This allows others a chance to do something else.
Guide will be continued in a future post - character limit reached.
Group - Charms/Traps Pretty basic - don't stack multiple traps/charms on someone unless it is apparent that they are going to need it. Typically one charm will be enough to ensure a player is protected long enough for another charm to be cast on them. The only exception is when they are the one taunting foes in to attacking the. It is then that you will want to keep them buffed and ready for whatever comes their way.
Traps are almost the same way. Don't stack the same trap on a target as it will do nothing to help until one has been consumed. Sometimes you will never get to it - thus making you waste a turn.
I will let this guide be for now. I know it's a lot to read in one sitting and isn't meant to be read all at once unless you are truly wanting to. It is more of a reference. As with all guides- it is somewhat opinionated and open to interpretation. Do not take all that I say as a "truth." Instead - use the guidelines to figure out how best you would play.
Based on feedback I will continue to tweak the thread and add to it as I get more game play under my belt. All suggestions, opinions, and comments will be taken to heart - although some with a grain of salt.
Great info! I have a ? though....how can you heal someone else with your fairy card? What do buttons do you push....and can you heal someone with your death school ghoul card instead of the healing going to yourself?
