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 will eventually be turned into one of them...
In the northern tundra of Terrene Gall lies a land of eternal winter. It is cold, barren, and fit only for the dead and those that harness dark, terrible energy... a fitting home for the occult denizens of the Eclipse faction. Within the haunted halls of the Marble City, the Gajji Council rules over a loose alliance of necromancers and their Stygian servants, life-drinking Shades, dark-steel Tempest abominations, and the tormented souls of the dead.
As servants of Stygia, the regent of death, suffering, and disease, this faction uses necromantic magic to feed on the living, snuff the life from foes, and add the dead to their numbers as its primary tools of warfare.
Gajji Necromancer will most likely be the first Champion you unlock, made available after defeating 50 Units in combat. Gajji Necromancer's ability lets you choose to deploy Stygians to all empty ally Battle Points, or add +1/+1 to any ally Stygian units in play - great for adding fodder to protect your champion or bolstering your Stygian troops. Acquiring the Purple Heart or Bottomless Canteen Relics allows you to rapidly fill your Fragment meter, potentially allowing you to stockpile Ability Cards to grant health and power to a freshly deployed legion of Stygian troops. Gajji’s deck comes equipped with a Stygian Shocktrooper and Stygian Torchman, but keep an eye out for Stygian Lords to add to your army - they start with high health, high damage, and draw an additional card when they execute an enemy Unit.
Upon healing your Champion for 50 HP during battles, The First will be unlocked. She has high Power and a Siphon Gem, so she is extremely durable on her own, especially in the first region. This means early on, you can use a Charge spell before attacking to take out two enemy Units, then have all of your troops available for the Defense turn. You can avoid your units taking status effects by attacking with your champion as they are immune to such effects. Should you have trouble breaking through bulkier Units, her ability allows you to instantly destroy any damaged Unit and Heal for 1 HP. Fill her ranks with strong Siphon Units such as the Dread Shade, and the constant flow of healing to The First will enable a fantastically aggressive playstyle.
Grim Angel is unlocked after playing 40 Reaper cards. Unlike The First, Grim Angel is at her strongest in the third region of conquest, where her Blight themed deck excels at weakening enemy Units that rely on Gems for power. Use her "Choose One” Champion Ability to give yourself 2 Grim Vision Units, which have a Blight Gem of their own; or to outright destroy any Unit that does not have Promotion Gems active. Pair Grim Angel with the Salt Circles Relic to ensure that your enemies’ Blighted Gems don’t recover even after a trip through the Discard Pile, denying the enemy their greatest advantage the further you progress.
Unlocking Magmarot Steelheart may take more time than the other Eclipse Champions, requiring you to Freeze 75 of the enemy’s cards. Combining her ability - returning all enemy Units to their Hand and Freezing them - with the Frostbite Spell, which deals damage directly to the Enemy Champion for each Frozen card in their hand, can result in massive bursts of damage from your own units capable of ending battles quickly. If you employ this strategy, be careful not to attack the Enemy Champion before casting Frostbite, as Frozen cards thaw when their owning Champion is attacked. The Eclipse Unit “Maelstrom” also gains +1/+1 each time an enemy's card is frozen, so use Magmarot’s ability to charge her up for a devastating attack.
Eclipse has four unique gems that set them apart from the other factions.
BLIGHT – Disables all Promotion Gems on an opposing Unit before dealing damage. Whether you're attacking or defending, Blight Gems activate before dealing damage meaning that Gems such as Armor, Poison, Siphon, etc. will not activate for that enemy Unit. Applying a Blight Gem to high health Units and positioning them closest to the enemy has the potential to remove all of the enemy Units’ most powerful effects during your defense turn, leaving any that survive especially vulnerable on your next attack.
SIPHON – When dealing damage, Heal Ally Champion for 1. If you choose to be aggressive with your Champion, you should have several Units in your deck equipped with the Siphon gem to keep your Champion’s health topped off. Investing in Siphon Gems may also allow you to skip the Healing option at the Outpost in favor of cleaning up your deck or applying Gems to your units without having to use Skeleton Keys.
DEATHSTRIKE – When dealing damage, destroy the Enemy Unit. An incredibly powerful effect in its own right, combining Deathstrike with other gems such as Explosive, Ranged, or Overkill can clear out the Enemy’s Units in an instant. Since it requires at least 1 damage to trigger, Units with Armor or Immunity will not be affected. Units with 0 power will also not trigger it, so keep an eye out for enemies with the Taunt Gem, which reduces your Units’ Power when they attack a defending Taunt Unit.
A Bloated Soaker with 3 Promotion Gems can be the engine that drives your Champion Ability. Not only will you gain Fragments from their equipped Gems when they fall in battle, you’ll also receive a Fragment for each Gem when they Endure damage taken as well.
The Rat of Rous seems like a humble unit at first glance, having only 1 Health and 1 Power, but its necrotic energies are immense. Not only does it possess a Deathstrike Gem, letting it instantly slay any Unit it damages, but its ability will also return one card from the Discard Pile when it dies – albeit for both you and your Enemy.
Dread Shade not only has a Siphon Gem equipped, but will gain power for every fragment you receive. Place them in your backline and let the power stack up for maximum effect.
The Vengeful Ghost and Icebound Ghost both have a card ability that adds them back to your hand if they are destroyed on your attacking turn. Use this to your advantage to keep bringing them back and only use them on the defense turn if absolutely necessary.
The Dire Wolf is a very strong unit that can pair well with strong Beast-Tribe Units, but try not to have more than one Unit with the Lone Wolf Conditional in your Deck, as the condition prevents Units from being deployed unless they are the only Unit in your Hand. Get in the habit of checking your Discard Pile before playing this Unit to take advantage of the +2/+2 it provides to a discarded Beast on Spawn.
Eclipse lends itself to a playstyle that shuts down the Enemy by disabling the Enemy’s Gems, destroying even the tankiest of Enemy Units outright, and potentially stopping the Enemy from deploying new Units altogether. You will need to pay attention to not only the cards in your Hand, but also the cards in your Discard Pile; as not only can they can be brought back into the fray from Unit abilities and Spells, but some Eclipse card effects become more powerful the more cards you have in the Discard Pile. Eclipse requires a bit more battlefield awareness than some of the other factions, but can be the most rewarding for those who enjoy a tactical gameplay style.