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, they rule over your every need...
In the floating sky-palaces of Essence, the celestials, monks, and scholars of a broken Terrene Gall plot a course for supremacy using mined ether crystals, supplemented with the natural resources harvested from the forests of Thorns. Essence focuses on advanced scientific study to construct grand machines, bestow flight to their infantry, create life in the form of golems, and magnify their arcane powers. It is rumored that Essence was the first to craft ether into Promotion Gems, before the other nations reverse engineered the process.
One of the few celestials on Terrene Gall, the Celestial Archangel requires the player to equip Units with a combined total of 50 Promotion Gems to unlock. Her Champion Ability allows her to instantly Hush all Enemy Units, drawing a card for each Unit hushed. Hushing a Unit that was already hushed will not earn another card draw. Celestial Archangel also possesses a Hush Promotion Gem to nullify the card abilities of any Unit foolish enough to enter combat with her.
To bring the leader of Essence, Prince Will-Yates, into the fray, players must deal a total 1000 points of damage using Spells. Using the full royal stock and supply of Aether Crystal, Prince Will-Yates' Champion Ability can manifest any 2 random Spell cards to the player’s Hand, and has the Amplify Gem to ensure all Spell damage is boosted. Make sure to collect damaging Spells, and recruit or equip Units with Amplify Gems to annihilate the enemy forces with Spells alone! Remember, those random Spells granted by Will-Yates' ability each grant the Prince their own Champion Fragments with which to summon more Spells. If you can get the Spell engine rolling, you will always have plenty of combat options!
To summon the Primordial Force as your Champion, players must play 80 Units from the Golem Tribe – a simple feat if you’ve unlocked any other Essence Deck, which feature Golems as a staple Unit. Many Golem-Tribe Units, including the basic Golem, possess a Salvage Gem, which grants you a Salvage Golem when the Unit with the Gem is killed. Primordial Force’s Champion Ability is to add two [1|1] Salvage Golems to your Hand. When a Salvage Golem is played, it consumes all other Salvage Golems from your Hand, gaining +1/+1 for each other Salvage Golem used, and gaining a random Promotion Gem for each after the first. In addition to its ability, the Primordial Force also has the Stun Gem, ensuring enemies are taken out of commission for a while unless they attack from afar.
Valeria of Crowns, a noble from the Ether Bluffs, is unlocked after playing 40 “Costly” cards, which require a fee of Warscript be paid each time they are played. Valeria starts with two gems: Steal and Armor. While both are disabled on use, her Champion Ability allows her to refresh those Gems, as well as any disabled Gems on all Ally Units. Runs with this Champion will allow savvy players to accrue Warscripts quicker, and synergizes great with Units that have single-use Gems such as Steal, Armor, Suppress, or Catapult!
Essence has four unique gems that set them apart from the other factions.
HUSH – Disables card abilities on an opposing Unit before dealing damage. Since this Gem triggers before the attack, Enemies lose all card ability benefits before combat. This is a great way to nerf some powerful passive and Death-triggered abilities. Couple this with a Blight Gem from Eclipse, and Enemy Units will lose everything that made them special BEFORE combat.
SALVAGE – Adds a [1|1] Salvage Golem token to your hand when destroyed. Rather than respawning a new Unit like Delirium’s Mutate Gem, this puts a one-time use Unit in your Hand to be played at a later point. When a Salvage Golem is played, it combines all Salvage Golems in your hand into a single Unit, granting it +1/+1 for each other Salvage Golem and equipping a random Promotion Gem for each Salvage Golem after the first. For example, if you played a Salvage Golem with two more in your hand, the placed Salvage Golem would be [3|3] with two random Promotion Gems. As with all Units, a maximum of 3 random Promotion Gems can appear on a Salvage Golem. For more control over what Gems your Salvage Golems will possess, attempt to acquire the Gem Dust Relic, which adds a random Gem to any Unit token when one is added to your Hand.
SUPPRESS – Forces the Enemy to discard the first Spell they attempt to play while this Unit is in play. This Promotion Gem essentially makes Enemy Spells inert and discards them with no effect. However, the Suppress Gem only activates once per Unit deployment, and won’t nullify any more Enemy Spells unless the Unit is redeployed or the Gem is Refreshed. When playing against Essence decks which utilize these Gems, make sure you play your least powerful Spells first to trigger the Suppress Gem, AND THEN play your needed spells.
Arcane Conductor is a [1|4] Unit that destroys itself when a Spell is cast, stunning all enemy units. Additionally, it’s Suppress Gem nullifies one spell beforehand, making it so that any opponent that wants to cast a Spell will have to suffer a heavy cost for doing so.
Steelward Golem is amazing in Golem or Salvage-focused decks, as it creates 2 Salvage Golem token in your Hand each time it survives damage. Use Mana Daggers to chip away at your own Unit to generate up to six Salvage Golems that can be combined into one overwhelmingly powerful Unit.
The Azure Wyvern allows you to search through your Draw Pile for any Spell of your choosing at the start of each turn. Keep it alive through healing Spells or defensive Gems to ensure your arcane might goes unchallenged.
The Ragewind Spectre deals damage to the opposing Champion at the end of each turn equal to the number of Promotion Gems it has equipped. If you can get three Gems on this unit, and keep it alive, you can deal 3 damage at the end of each turn. Give it defensive Gems like Agile, Taunt, Armor and Regen to keep it in the fight as long as possible.
Many high-ranking commanders across the regions of Terrene Gall use Promotion Gems to bolster themselves in battle – which is where the Celestial Titan comes in. Should it land the killing blow on a Champion or Miniboss with a Promotion Gem, it will add that Gem to your collection. It can only be deployed once per battle, though, but with high risk comes high reward!
Overall, Essence focuses on Spells, larger Hands, and even some synergy with the Agile Gem, a general Gem that allows you to reposition your Units for maximum efficiency. Befitting this tactical mindset, one of Essence’s greatest strengths is their ability to recover from being put on the back foot, with many Unit and Spell effects capable of granting quick-yet-powerful fixes to bad situations, such as the aforementioned Salvage Golems and Mana Daggers. Send your troops into battle, rearrange and adjust on the fly, and show the world below what can be achieved through higher thinking!