Duelyst Forums

Ideas for minion types?

#1

The concept of creature types is not new in the world of CCG’s, and is something that Duelyst has been expanding upon since its conception. Up until this point, minion types have been either an afterthought or “for the memes” at best, with use being validated on the card’s strength independent of the minion type (exceptions exist, like owlsage or vespyrs, but are still generally not high tier). That changes with the newest expansion, which brings two minion types into light: Golems and Arcanysts. If this is successful, we can likely expect to see more and more minion types being added in the future, which may or may not be getting similar support.

With that said, minion types have the potential for uniqueness that sets them apart in Duelyst from other CCG’s. Although other games merely add effects that specifically target creatures of a particular type, minions in Duelyst can have completely different rules depending on their type. This is evident in battle pet and structure minion types.

There is a huge potential for minion types to add another layer of complexity to the game, with the only caveat being that it would create a higher burden of knowledge for players (especially new players). So now to the real questions.

What is your opinion on minion types and their place in duelyst? Should future minons merely have interactions between cards, or should they have unique rules to them? What are some of your ideas for new minion types?

I’ll start us off. (Try less to critique balance, and more on the concept itself)
-Minion type: insect
-Potential current additions to type: Bluetip Scorpion, Rust Crawler, Black Locust, Sand Burrower, Storm Aratha
-New Mechanic: Swarm: If damage would bring an insect below 1 health, deal the remainder to a random adjacent insect (repeat if necessary).
-New Minion(s):
Swarmlord
6 mana 3/6 insect
Flying
All insects gain +1/+1 for each insect they are adjacent to.

2 Likes
Card Design Contest: April - Community Voting
#2

I’m not quite certain I follow how Swarm works; if it’s brought below 1 health, does it deal out the damage below 1 to a random minion and then die? Or does it stick around?

Also, just for clarification; why the “repeat if necessary”? What situation did you have in mind where this might be applicable? And would it repeat if the insect dies to the damage bringing it below 1 anyway?

Apart from that, I’ve no qualms with the idea. I do however really like the ability you’ve given the Swarmlord. Adjacency isn’t played around with enough if you ask me. It’s a very interesting idea for cards.

Edit; Completely forgot minion suggestions. Perhaps not much of a minion type, but I’d love to see minion effects which chain off of each other (much like how Blood Surge and Bond work, now that I think about it, I guess meaning I’d love to see more of those types of cards). In my head it seems very satisfying.

1 Like
#3

Well swarm is just an example of a mechanic. I’m moreso interested in what people want to see with minion types in Duelyst. It’s an interesting aspect of the game.

But to answer your question, the minion left at one health would live, and distribute the damage to the next minion. And that effect would chain until all adjacent insects are at 1 health before actually dealing lethal damage. This would make a “swarm” of insects powerful again singular attacks, but weak against AoE (kinda like a real swarm).

#4

Ah, I see! So it’s essentially a shared health pool. A very cool idea! Thank you for clearing that up. I reckon I’ve a new appreciation for the mechanic now. :smiley:

#5

I think theyre imagined scenario is a board full of locusts, and one of then gets smacked by an unstable leviathon, the damage would spread out through the swarm until it ran out of locusts, leaving them all at 1 hp.

But yeah thats complicated and unlikely to happen since aoe exists, not to mention potential recursion.

My suggestion is a wraithling tribe, so we could one day have more than just those 1/1’s as potential targets for wraithlings fury and bloddy baronette.

On to real suggestions that might make it out of this forum post. Bombs. They are removed by dispel like walls, and cannot gain attack like structures, they cannot move. They have a powerful dying wish that effects all nearby spaces (potentially the whole board) but can be attacked by friendly minions (preferably ranged). they also lose 1 hp at the end of each players turn.

Examples:
red barrel
1 mana 0/3
deal 5 damage to all nearby spaces

Summoning circle
3 mana 0/4
summon friendly wraithlings on all nearby spaces

Holy hand grenade
7 mana 0/7
airdrop provoke
Deal 10 damage to and dispel all nearby spaces

Cards like these would force players to interact with the board more since all of a sudden positioning is far more important for both players. Not to mention completely unused cards like magnetize or tremor suddenly become powerful combo pieces.

5 Likes
#6

For the damaging bombs, would it also damage allied units?

The concept itself is nice though, you can even add support like “destroy target bomb” or “if this card destroys a bomb, you gain control of its dying wish”

#7

That sounds like a really good idea because stuff like the holy hand grenade forces people out of hiding and these bombs just seem like a great way to introduce another way of interacting with the board

#8

one of the minion types that should be expanded upon are probably structures (including obelysks).

as of now structures cannot move or attack but provide other benefits.

examples could include:

-sentries (turret that deals damage to an enemy that comes to close)
-totems (vetruvian has the blood totems. other kinds could be buffing or debuffing adjacent minions)
-walls (vanar has magical walls but there are other possibilities. like walls which offer protection against ranged minions)
-more minion summoners (other than obelysks)
-traps (creep is the only comparable thing currently. vetruvians sand trap spell could theoretically turning tiles into quicksand traps. there are many possible variants of traps and the actual usage of the board potential is largely untapped atm)
-siege weapons and (pve) scenarios (heroes of might and magic has a very similar board and “feel” to it in comparison to duelyst. i would like more asymmetric maps, at least for pve)

a relatively simple example of a card i would like for vetruvian would be:

"Ziggurat Configuration"
2 Mana Spell
Transform a friendly Obelysk into a Ziggurat.
Ziggurats no longer summon Dervishes but instead deal 3 damage to the enemy that is the furthest away from it at the end of your turn.

numbers are not balanced, but this could be another recycling of dispelled obelysks and at the same time function as a weapon against ranged units.

structures have a huge potential and i think if this expansion works out, one of the next tribes that could be improved upon may be structures.

4 Likes
#9

Well, it does say to damage the spaces, which like chromatic cold or lightbender dont care whose minions, generals, or tiles are there, so yes it would damage allies.

Also for self triggering, thats why i added “can be damaged by allies” so you can reduce the timer yourself. Then again, theirs always martyrdom, punish, and enfeeble to get the effect on the same turn

1 Like
#10

I really like the swarm idea, a lot of the cards you mentioned aren’t seen much, if at all. You’ve got some very unique ideas, which I could certainly see implemented and at least have some play seen of them. As for a idea of my own, I’ll just have to wait until a idea pops into my head :3

1 Like
#11

time for round 2

spriggan tribe
these are plants. they cant move, instead they summon a new plant on a selected space when you try to move them. they arent removed by dispel and they can still have basic attack after dispelling. they cannot attack, but they can counterattack and be walked through. enemy minions that walk through them take damage based on their attack value

example
creep vine
3 mana 1/2
dying wish: spawn a shadow creep on this space

jungle shrub
1 mana 0/3
grow: +1/1

poison ivy
3 mana 1/5
minions damage by this minion take 1 damage at the end of every turn

4 Likes
#12

I love the spriggin idea; it’s complex but it’s a totally different way that a minion could work. Question though; if it creates a new minion, is it a copy of the current one or does it have none of the effects currently affecting it?

1 Like
#13

it is a new minion. its not a copy like mirror meld, but a new minion like sarlac or black locust

#14

Oh, I love that Spriggan idea of spreading minions along a board! Honestly a really unique idea I’d love to see implemented.

If anyone can recall, because I don’t, someone on the forum suggested portals of some sort which, when moved through, triggered effects. All I can say is their legendary, the caller of the apocalypse essentially, was friggin’ awesome!

1 Like
#15

fiends
just a regular minion type
theme: 1 health but lots of attack

Archfiend
6 mana
10/1
Cannot be targeted by spells. ALL fiends only take damage when attacked.

Promise
8 mana
15/1
forcefield. neither player can use their bloodborn spells

empath
battlepet
2 mana
4/1
enemies attacked by this minion are dispelled.

#16
i see a problem with that

8 Likes
#17

I would really like to see a minion type that revolves around shape-shifting, where a minion transforms when certain conditions are met. Lets call them Shifters for the moment.

Forest Walker
4 mana 4/4 Shifter
This minion transforms into a Forest Dweller at the start of your turn.

Forest Dweller
4 mana 6/4 Shifter
Frenzy, This minion transforms into a Forest Walker at the end of your turn.

Masked Challenger
6 mana 5/5
If your opponent controls 2 or more minions, transform this minion into a Lucha Ursa.

Lucha Ursa
6 mana 7/7
This minion cannot be counterattacked or targetted by enemy spells. If your opponent controls less than 2 minions, transform this minion into a Masked Challenger.

4 Likes
#18

that just gave me a hilarious idea

ash ketchum
7 mana
1/10
ranged
whenever this minion destroys an enemy minion, transform it into a friendly egg

8 Likes
#19

Did you mean forest walker?

#20

Thank you, fixed!