Stormbound: Kingdom Wars - All The Classes in the Game (And How to Use Them)
Despite offering different and unique mechanics and nuances, most CCGs share one aspect in common: They have lots of build varieties and many classes of cards that facilitate different strategies and play styles. In this sense, even if there are two decks of the same class in the match, they may have wildly different builds and approaches to winning. Because of this, learning what every class in the game can do is pivotal to knowing your enemy and being able to predict and adapt to their moves.
In Stormbound: Kingdom Wars, there are five different classes: Swarm, Winter Pact, Ironclad, Shadowfen, and Neutral. Of these different classes, the first four have many different focuses and specialties, while the latter is more as a filler class for when you’re starting out or have extra slots to spare in your deck. In this article, we’re going to talk about the four special classes in the game, go over some of their most common strategies and playstyles and, of course, show you how to counter them.
Swarm
The first class in the list is, as its name implies, almost entirely focused on an Aggro playstyle, which means that they specialize in filling the board with countless weak units to rush the enemy and end matches early. In most cases, this class doesn’t scale well into the endgame, precisely because their units are very weak and rely on numbers rather than on individual strength. In this sense, if they don’t win the match by turn 5 or 6, they will slowly taper off and could even lose the battle if they lose control of the board.
Swarm cards are focused around summoning extra units and, in some cases, strengthening the ones that are already on the board. Due to their aggro play style, strong Swarm cards are uncommon, though they do have a few powerful units that can definitely seal the deal when it comes to winning a match. Some of the strongest Swarm units that come to mind are Lasting Remains, Queen of Herds, and Vindicators, among others.
How to counter them: Swarms are all about numbers, so quickly dealing with the weaker units as they pop up is key for reducing their dominance on the field. Spells that can damage all units such as Bladestorm are great for this purpose. In some cases, you might need to sacrifice a powerful unit to deal with high value Swarm targets, such as when they summon the Moonlit Aerie building, which gives all Satyrs on the field +1 power at the beginning of every turn. Cards like these are the ones that allow Swarm decks to snowball beyond control if not nipped in the bud.
If you’re dealing with a Swarm deck, particularly one centered around Satyrs, try to rush them down and establish dominance close to their base. If you summon units far into their territory, they will be forced to abandon their rush and deploy their own units to defend, forfeiting their edge.
Ironclad
This class is a bit more versatile as it allows for two distinct playstyles:
- Aggro Variant: Like Swarm, Ironclads can also go for an aggro variant. This playstyle revolves around the “Boosting Elixir” card to, once many units are deployed and the board is dominated, buff two of these units destroy the enemy in a single move.
- Control Variant: Alternatively, you can swap out some of the weaker units for stronger characters and spells to create a stronger control approach. The objective of this variant is to bide the time and maintain control of the board for the first few turns and then, once there’s enough mana, summon several strong units to completely overwhelm the enemy.
How to counter them: Of the two variants, the Aggro style is much more accessible to play since it requires cheap and inexpensive cards, though it’s also easier to counter since they’re not quite as good as Satyrs when it comes to rushing. In fact, defending against these decks is as easy as setting your own units directly in front of the enemy and watching as they can’t do anything about it. However, don’t let these matches draw out for too long as the Boosting Elixir buff can make things ugly for you quite easily.
Countering the Control variant is much more difficult, perhaps even impossible if certain circumstances are met. The trick here is to mitigate the damage that the strongest cards can do. This means positioning your units correctly so that Armed Schemers can hit as few targets as possible, avoiding rushing in a straight line to avoid getting blown back by Windmakers, and keeping a strong card in hand to mitigate the power of Operators.
Winter Pact
This class is all about controlling the board and suppressing the enemy’s offense for until there’s enough mana to counterattack. Winter decks are more defensive and matches are usually longer against them as they often become battles of attrition rather than of brute strength.
Their single strength comes from their interaction with the Freeze status, particularly when it comes to the Wisp Cloud unit. This unit, when attacking a target with the Freeze ailment, deals 4 damage to all surrounding enemies, which can quickly clear the board of all but the strongest units. In this case, you also need to be wary of the Frosthexers units since they can Freeze all surrounding enemies when placed on the board. In fact, one good combo for this deck is Wisp Cloud + Frosthexers, which can easily clear the board if the player manages to pulls off the combo.
How to counter them: Avoid placing your units beside each other, even diagonally. Deploying your units in this manner makes them easy targets for Frosthexers to Freeze, after which they’ll get wiped out by the Wisp Cloud. Place your units at least two columns apart from each other and you should have an easier time against Winter decks.
Shadowfen
This class is similar to Swarm in playstyle, but with a dash of poison and diagonal damage added in for good measure, and using Toads instead of Satyrs.
In this sense, they can flood the board with a bunch of Toad units, and then buff them with the “Kindred’s Grace” Neutral card, giving one of these Toads a huge strength boost, and all other Toads a minor increase in power. A max level Rain of Frogs can summon six Toads to the field with 1 strength each for 1 mana, while a max level Kindred’s Grace costs 6 mana and can greatly improve the strength of the targets: 10 points for the main target, and 5 points for all units that share the same type (Toads).
However, unlike the Swarm class, a Shadowfen deck also has more tricks up its sleeve, using poison cards like Toxic Sacrifice and Crimson Sentry to deal AoE damage to all surrounding enemies and leaving them with a poison effect to whittle down their strength. This is a nasty deck that, at best, will slowly sap your health and, at worst, will outright overwhelm you with sheer numbers.
How to counter them: Deal. With. The. Frogs. Seriously, if you left these pests unchecked, you WILL lose the match no matter what. If you thought Satyrs were problematic, frogs are even more so. However, if your opponent relies more on poisons, the key is to avoid placing your units close to each other to avoid getting poisoned. Some of the best poison skills in their repertoire require sacrificing units to deal damage to your soldiers. As long as you steer clear of them, you should be able to mitigate most of the damage.
Knowing your enemy is half the battle, especially when it comes to Stormbound. What’s your favorite type of deck in this CCG? Leave us your best strats and tips in the comments below!
