These dev blogs include not only lore on each of the factions, but faction specific tips and tricks from our battle tested QA team!! Read on to learn more. Without further ado, you know them, you love them, you won't hear them coming...
Silence
Within the deserts of Terrene Gall stand the ruins of the once magnificent city of Steelgate. Long held as neutral ground, this city of elven mystics and scholars remained an oasis untouched by the campaigns of the Second Great War, until the forces of Eclipse and Scales fought each other in a territorial clash.
When the smoke cleared, the city of Steelgate was no more, and the elven refugees arose as a new nation of silent assassins. Once peaceful scribes and monks now employ infernal contracts and pacts with ancient souls as a means of survival and protection, and the August Kin, who once served as research assistants and laborers, now serve as poison manufacturers and warriors.
Will their quiet fury be felt across the entire world?
Champions
After completing 20 Missions, Amon Dusk will be unlocked. Amon Dusk’s ability has you and your opponent draw 3 cards, but all cards drawn by the Enemy will be Sabotaged. When a card is Sabotaged, it has a 50% chance to be discarded instead of being played. While his gameplay starts as a game of chance, focusing on Sabotaging the Enemy’s Hand, you will eventually turn the odds in your favor with a combination of Unit effects and Spells. Add a Surge Assassin to your deck to force the Enemy to discard all Sabotaged cards in their Hand when Surge Assassin destroys a Unit; or recruit an Elvish Celestial, who removes cards from the battle when they get discarded from being Sabotaged.
Steelgate Legacy becomes available after you unlock 15 chests, which are hidden in the background of battle maps and require a Skeleton Key to open. Stack your deck with Shadow-Tribe Units, and they will become immune to damage for a full turn when you play Steelgate Legacy’s Ability. This benefit applies to Steelgate Legacy as well, which can allow it to shrug off all damage if you have no Units to defend yourself with. The Netherworld Elite is a Shadow Unit that gains power and health whenever an Echo Unit, such as the one it spawns from it’s own Echo Gem, is destroyed – should you recruit one, consider granting it a Double Strike Gem and damage immunity for a full turn of havoc.
After applying the Poisoned effect to 70 units, you will unlock the Viper Empress. The Viper Empress' Champion ability poisons and stuns all Enemy Units. Between preventing Enemies from attacking and passively reducing your Enemies’ health and power, this ability cripples your opponent’s defenses, giving you the opportunity to take down their strongest Units without a scratch. Viper Empress’ starting deck contains several lower health Units, so you'll want to recruit higher health Units and collect as many Gems as possible to protect her while you build up your Fragment Bar. For some excellent synergy, try recruiting Caustic Bolter, which gains 1 power when a Unit is Poisoned; or Spined Predator, which grants Fragments when Units are Poisoned, to quickly buff the former as the latter fast-tracks you to another buff.
August Sultan requires you to spend 1000 Warscript at the Trader before joining the battle. August Sultan's Ranged Gem allows him to safely attack a target without taking damage, so if you don't have any Units on the field, you can use your Champion to attack safely, which allows you to save your Units for the Defense turn. His ability fills all available Allied battle points with a strong defensive unit, the Brave Soul, which grants health to the Unit behind it on death... letting you keep Units in your Hand and wait for the ideal time to play them.
Promotion Gems of Silence
Silence has four unique gems that set them apart from the other factions.
ECHO – Spawn a [1|1] copy of this Unit in an open Ally Battle Point. Promotion Gems other than the Echo Gem will still be equipped to this new “Echo” Unit, and the Echo will also retain the original Unit’s Tribe and any of it’s innate card effects. Units that gain buffs when they spawn are exceptional choices to equip an Echo Gem to - such as Unbound Shadow if you’ve progressed into later regions, or Desert Cavalry if you have several Relics in your possession.
DOUBLE STRIKE– When attacking, this Unit will attempt to attack twice. This Gem synergizes best with a Ranged or Armor Gem to ensure the second strike goes off, and with Explosive for excellent spread damage. Adding Double Strike to a Caustic Bolster, who naturally possesses Ranged and Poison Gems and gains power when Units are Poisoned, can create an overpowered backline Unit quickly.
SABOTAGE – Applies SABOTAGED to a random card in the Enemy’s Hand when played. The Sabotaged condition has a 50% chance to discard affected card when their owner attempts to play them. This status can be applied to any card type the Enemy holds in their hand, be they Units, Spells, Supplies, or even Champion Abilities. The Misdirection Spell will return a deployed Unit back to their owner’s Hand with the Sabotaged Status; and should you prefer to benefit no matter the results of an Enemy’s attempt to play a Sabotaged Card, Elvish Saboteur’s effect lets you draw a card if they play it successfully.
POISON – When dealing damage, apply POISONED to the damaged Unit. Enemies that are poisoned will have their power and health reduced by 1 at the start of each turn - great for whittling away powerful Units or preventing weaker Units from doing any damage. Note, however, that the Poisoned status will not apply if no damage is taken, such as if the defending Unit possesses Armor or Damage Immunity, or if the attacking Unit has 0 power).
Units of Note
The Netherworld Elite gains +2/+2 whenever an Echo is destroyed. This ability triggers when any allied Echo is slain, not just those summoned by Netherworld Elite’s Echo gem. Grant them an Agile Promotion Gem to reposition them during battle, or have another Unit in your roster with Respite to recall Netherworld Elite so it can be redeployed to spawn another Echo and gain even more power.
With an Elvish Celestial in play, any card that is successfully Sabotaged when the Enemy attempts to play it will be Exhausted, permanently removing it from the match. Like you, the Enemy has a set amount of cards in their deck, so Exhausting their cards will cripple their defenses.
The Desert Cavalry starts off weak, but gains power and health for every Relic you possess. With a maximum of 5 Relics, your Desert Cavalry will spawn in at 6/6, one of the strongest Units in the game. If you equip one with an Echo Gem, the [1|1] Echo it creates will also gain this buff, allowing you to stack the battlefield with terrifyingly powerful Units.
The Honorbound Monk has a modest 2 Power and a whopping 5 Health, making it a decent attacker, but an excellent defender. However, its ability will cause it to perish at the end of your turn unless you have 25 cards or more in your deck. As a result, the Honorbound Monk can be a great quick fix defensive option early on in your run, but can be converted into a formidable powerhouse later with the right Gems.
Not necessarily a powerful Unit on its own, the Stronghold Apostle’s card ability redirects damage from your Champion to this Unit. This applies to any damage your Champion takes, so you can safely Charge a dangerous Unit with your Champion, or negate a devastating attack if the Enemy has a Unit with a Catapult Gem queued up.
Wrap Up
Silence offers you several different playstyles and gains power as you progress through the game. Focusing on a Poison or Sabotage build lets you control the battlefield, preventing the enemy from playing its cards or reducing the effectiveness of their Units on the battlefield. They’re best played slow and calculated, so be sure to keep track of your Units’ abilities and Spells to dispatch your foes and outlast your opponent. For Silence, revenge is a dish best served cold... and loaded with poison.