Tamer Vale – A Simple Guide for Winning

A straightforward and easy to follow strategy for each of the 3 tamers.

Winners Guide

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Overview

Beating the game on Normal consistently is all about minimizing risk. That means you’ll want a safe, (though arguably boring) playstyle that caters to the strengths of each character.

In terms of how easy it is to win consistently, I would say Dusk > Elaria > Shryke.

In terms of how straightforward each is to use, I’d say Shryke > Elaria > Dusk.

In general:

• Smaller decks are better than larger decks.
• 0-Cost cards are powerful, since energy is a limited resource.
• Cards that Draw are super helpful, since you only draw 5 by default.

Shryke (The Warrior)

Starting Loadout:

• 3x Strike
• 2x Shield
• 1x Avian Runemark
• 1x Life Potion

Strategy

Go all-in with Strength and damage cards. Don’t bother with debuffs or shields. Reason being, enemy damage scales faster than your shields can usually keep up, and your healing potions are only usable once per battle.

Of your starting loadout, you’ll want to get rid of the Shield cards first, then slowly replace the Strike cards with Jabs as they come in. Avian Runemark is worth upgrading, and the Life Potion is decent when you have nothing better to use, but you can get rid of it later as well.

Healing will be troublesome, since you’re dumping defense and going all-in for damage. Your sources are: shrine heals (50% restore), Life Potion heals (weak), and the full-heal after killing an area boss (get the Health item). Since your deck is quite small, you won’t really miss the upgrade shrines. And your health pool should be plenty large between starting HP and boss rewards, without needing the +10 max health from shrines.

Cards to look out for (in order of importance):

• Jabs are EXCELLENT 0-cost cards, since most of your damage comes from stacking Strength buffs rather than the card’s base damage. You want 2 or 3 of them, and you’ll want to remove your Strikes as they come in.
• Warden’s Resolve are fantastic cards that combine Strength buffing and Drawing. The only downside is the energy cost, which is why we’re focusing on 0-cost cards like Jab and Hunter’s Sigil.
• Hunter’s Sigils are also fantastic, being 0-cost Strength buffs. 1 or 2 should be plenty, since more cards just mean a bloated deck.
• A Potion Pouch/Preparation card can be… fine. They give you sustain in the form of 0-cost consumables, so they don’t really bloat your deck, but sometimes a round or two of poor draws from the flood of items they offer is more trouble than its worth. Up to you whether you value the sustain they offer.

By the end, you’ll want something like this:

• 0-1x Strike – depending on how many Jabs you find and how big your deck is.
• 2-3x Jab – remember, your total draw size is 5 cards, regardless of their cost.
• 1-3x Warden’s Resolve – the fact that these Draw cards is huge! obviously no point having more than your energy count.
• 0-1x Avian Runemark – I personally keep it, but you might want to drop it if you have 3 Warden Resolves.
• 1-2x Hunter’s Sigil – Again, 0-cost is nice but your hand size is limiting. Too many of these bloats you.
• 0-1 Potion Pouch – potentially just bloat. But the sustain is nice to have.
• 0-1 Preparation – potentially just bloat. But the sustain is nice to have.

What mix of the above? A few things to consider:

• Your energy is capped at 3, so you don’t want more than 3 TOTAL Strike/Warden’s Resolve/Avian Runemark.
• Your draw is capped at 5, so you don’t want more than 5 TOTAL Strike/Jab/Avian Runemark/Hunter’s Sigil.
• Potion and Item cards are consumable, so they don’t bloat your deck after they get used. The mix of those is up to you.

Tl;dr: Stack 0-cost damage and strength cards. Try to burn enemies down before you die.

Elaria (The Priestess)

Starting Loadout:

• 2x Fox Spirit
• 2x Token of Faith
• 2x Spiritual Strength
• 1x Mend
• 1x Weakening Ray

Strategy

Keep your health high through Mending yourself and Weakening enemies while maintaining 1 summon with Faith and Attack buffs. Juggling multiple summons will kill you from the energy requirements, same with Fatigue cards.

Of your starting loadout, you’ll definitely keep both Token of Faith cards and a Spiritual Strength card. The other cards depend on how quickly you can find replacements. Losing a fox card early can help slim the deck down, and you’ll want to replace Fox with Bees later. A couple of 0-cost Minor Mends are better than the Mend card, and Weakening Light is better than Weakening Ray.

The biggest issues will be energy management and card drawing (I picked Energy upgrade from bosses). If your luck is bad, you sometimes start a fight without Tokens or a Summon, and just eat **** until you can keep a summon out. Once that’s resolved, you’ll be stretched thin between increasing the summon’s Faith, Weakening the enemies, and buffing the spirit’s Attack damage. Thankfully Minor Mends are 0-cost.

Cards to look out for (in order of importance):

• Bees Spirit is HUGE for this character, since you can put all your strength on the summon and have it attack everyone with an infinitely-scaling AoE attack.
• A pair of Weakening Lights can trivialize fights until the third map, and manage to stay useful right up until the final boss.
• Minor Mends are the other half your sustain, letting you heal for free whenever they get drawn.
• Elven Fortitudes let you ‘overcharge’ whatever round they get drawn in. You can use them to cycle through your deck quickly and stack a bunch of buffs right out the gate. Since they’re consumable and 0-cost, they don’t interfere with either your initial draw OR your energy pool. Just real nice to have.

By the end, you’ll want something like this:

• 1x Bees Spirit – All you need offensively, it does AoE damage and you can stack its attack strength infinitely.
• 2x Token of Faith – I prefer the convenience of having these over Faithful Devotions.
• 1-2x Spiritual Strength – You can get away with only having 1 of them just fine. 2 of them lets you stack damage quicker, but bloats the deck.
• 2x Weakening Light – These keep you alive pretty well though all but the nastiest attacks. For those, you’ve got Minor Mends to top you back up.
• 2x Minor Mend – I think 2 is a good number. More bloats your deck, while just having 1 feels weak.
• 1+ Elven Fortitudes – If you see it, pick it. Simple enough. You can bloat your deck all day with these and be better off for it.

What mix of the above? A few things to consider:

• Energy is your biggest issue, so upgrade it and keep your number of 1-cost cards (Token of Faith/Spiritual Strength/Weakening Light) no higher than your maximum energy.
• Your draw is capped at 5, but Elven Fortitudes can help keep your draws going. Still, I wouldn’t go higher than the numbers I suggested above.
• Elven Fortitudes are hugely helpful. Take as many as you want!

Tl;dr: Keep bees at full Faith, keep enemies Weakened, then apply Spiritual Strength/Minor Mends as needed.

Dusk (The Rogue)

Starting Loadout:

• 2x Green Thumb
• 2x Slash
• 1x Shadowstep

Strategy

Stay invisible while brewing potions, then pop out and kill stuff with Shadowstep on standby. Anxiety can be mitigated through Health Potions, if you draw red herbs.

Of your starting loadout, the only card worth keeping is Shadowstep. The two Green Thumbs are fine, but Apothecary lets you guarantee leaf cards instead of gambling on the type of herb. Slash is horrid, you want Kunai instead. As for potions: Health Potion is sustain, but can be overkill thanks to stealth. Strength Potion is your big thing. Poison Dart scales poorly but is useful. Paralyzing Dart is inferior to just Shadowstepping.

Dusk’s easy as hell, the only real potential issue is inopportune card draws. You want to stay Hidden whenever possible, so only attack when you’ve got 1 energy to spare and a Shadowstep in hand. I find it best to try and use potions on the round you brew them, so they don’t bloat your hand. Honestly, I don’t even bother with healing potions on Dusk – I just play her like Shryke and rely on healing shrines to top off.

Cards to look out for (in order of importance):

• Kunai are your de facto damage vessel. You stack buffs through brewing, so the small damage number doesn’t matter. 0-cost is VITAL!
• Apothecary guarantees you Strength Potions, instead of gambling on good herb draws. Only problem is the 2-cost price tag.
• Sneaky Surprise are fantastic cards! They grant you 1 energy at 0 cost on the turn they’re used, and since they are both Draw and Consumable, they don’t bloat your deck.
• Alchemist lets you save energy if you’re brewing out of a 2-cost card like Apothecary.

By the end, you’ll want something like this:

• 2x Kunai – Should be plenty of damage between your kunai and your Strength Potions.
• 0-2x Green Thumb – By the end, I get rid of these and rely on Shrine healing. I don’t like using the Dart cards, so all I want are Strength Potions.
• 0-1x Apothecary – This gets you at least one Strength Potion for 2 energy. Consider leaving it out if you’re on Green Thumbs instead.
• 1x Alchemist – genuinely useful card. At worse, it’s equal in value to a Green Thumb. At best, it increases efficiency on your Apothecary.
• 1x Shadowstep – You don’t need more than one. Just stay hidden on rounds that you don’t draw it.
• 1+ Sneaky Surprise – If you see it, pick it. Simple enough. You can bloat your deck all day with these and be better off for it.

What mix of the above? A few things to consider:

• Energy is your biggest issue, so upgrade it and keep your number of 1-cost cards (Green Thumb/Alchemist/Shadowstep) no higher than your maximum energy.
• If you take Apothecary, remember that it’s a 2-cost card and adjust max card numbers accordingly.
• Your draw is capped at 5, but Sneaky Surprise can help keep your draws going. Keep your Permanent card hand size between 5 and 10 so you’ll draw Shadowstep every other turn at least.
• Sneaky Surprises are hugely helpful. Take as many as you want!

Tl;dr: Shadowstep is your playstyle. Always end rounds hidden.