Yi Xian: The Cultivation Card Game – Wu Xingzhi Elixirist Guide

Guide to Wu Xingzhi

All credit goes to Xom!

Preface

As requested by the developers, and since my Wu Xingzhi Dao Mindset Score has just surpassed 10000 (currently 1st on the leaderboard), here is a Wu Xingzhi Elixirist guide. Here are my own humble opinions, after learning from the experience of many grandmasters. May new players learn and become inspired to make their own contributions, and may the grandmasters critique and correct my understanding!

Strengths and Weaknesses

1. Why Elixirist?

Elixirist supports a greater number of builds than other side jobs, so that you can choose flexibly according to cards dealt in Immortality or Foundation phase, and avoid getting a fast eight due to not getting the cards for a given build, for consistency in gaining rank points. Wu Xingzhi Elixirist’s relatively consistent builds for gaining rank points: Heavenly Marrow mono-Fire, UWF Fire-Earth, Elixirist Wood, UWF Wood-Fire, mono-Metal, World Smash. Due to the current version mono-Fire/Fire-Earth and Elixirist Wood being most consistent and having the highest potential, I’ll focus on discussing these.

2. Weaknesses of Wu Xingzhi Elixirist

Due to, during earlygame, Cultivation being relatively low and winning being difficult (especially in high-rank matches), and Wu Xingzhi’s Initial Immortal Fate, Battle Experience (+2 Exchanges per win), making it even more important to win, it makes an important question of how best to gain rank points (whether to improve battle strength or save exchanges). Wu Xingzhi Elixirist’s strongest builds are mostly Immortality-phase gods of war (relative to other characters), so we need to save exchanges for Immortality, thus, during earlygame, on the condition of saving exchanges, yet also needing to maintain strength, how to balance the requirements? I’ll start the discussion with how to transit and handle the earlygame.

Early Game Transit and Handling

1. Immortal Fate choices and breakthrough timing

Meditation: Exchange during the first two rounds, maximize battle strength, to secure bonus exchanges from Battle Experience.

Foundation: On Round 3, break through to Foundation, and Mark Of Five Elements is must-pick. Even though some builds don’t use it, there are cases where you don’t get those cards and must pivot to other builds, so in consideration for consistency, Mark Of Five Elements is must-pick. On Round 3, exchange 1-3 times (according to the status of your battle strength). Thereafter, exchange once per round, to maintain battle strength while saving exchanges.

Virtuoso: For the sake of breaking through earlier and for late game, prioritize Cultivation: Inheritance of Fire/Wood Spirit (according to what you want to play in the match at hand) > Thunder Tribulation > Epiphany > other +2 Cultivation > Fortunes and Luck > Gourd Of Leisurely. Exchange once per round.

Immortality: On Round 8, break through to Immortality. (Wu Xingzhi Elixirist is Immortality-phase god of war, so break through to Immortality early, expend all exchanges, raise battle strength, and snowball.) Therefore prioritize Cultivation at Virtuoso; at Immortality, too, prioritize Cultivation to avoid being short on cards. Immortality-phase Immortal Fates: Inheritance of Fire/Wood Spirit (according to what you want to play in the match at hand) = Thunder Tribulation > other +2 Cultivation = Epiphany (decide whether to take Epiphany according to whether you need high Cultivation lategame in the match at hand) > Fortunes and Luck > Avatar Of Five Elements.

Throughout Immortality, we should constantly expend all exchanges to increase battle strength. Try to decide your build by Round 9. (Also possible to decide according to Daoist Rhyme Omen.) Due to the Incarnation-phase Immortal Fate, Inheritance of Five Elements, subtracting exchanges, try to expend all exchanges before breaking through to Incarnation (unless quality is already very high, and you have all of the important cards, then you can save exchanges).

Incarnation: When you need Cultivation and have healthy Destiny, Thunder Tribulation / Epiphany is highest-priority, otherwise usually pick Inheritance of Five Elements. When playing Fire: Inheritance of Fire Spirit > Inheritance of Five Elements; for other builds: Inheritance of Five Elements > Inheritance of X Spirit. 2024-1-17 supplement: For World Smash, when you don’t need to compete on Cultivation, Cycle Of Five Elements has the highest priority. For Elixirist Water, if you have 0 exchanges, Inheritance of Five Elements > Inheritance of Water Spirit, otherwise, Inheritance of Water Spirit > Inheritance of Five Elements.

2. How to decide early game transit method?

Before Immortality, the methods of transit are Earth-Metal transit and Water-Wood-Fire transit, and although Water-Wood-Fire transit is strong early, there are situations where it needs to stay in Meditation or in Foundation spend more exchanges, whereas Earth-Metal transit can still be strong with limited exchanges (In early game, you don’t need to be super strong, only have about 50-50 chances of winning, to accumulate exchanges from Battle Experience.). Therefore I recommend Earth-Metal transit (Unless you get the nuts for Water-Wood-Fire in the first two rounds, in which case you can choose Water-Wood-Fire.).

3. Earth-Metal transit

The cards you can usually use include all Earth and Metal cards, Five Elements Fleche, Earth Spirit Elixir, Small Recover Elixir, and Exorcism Elixir.

Examples of strong transit after Foundation:

• Earth Spirit Formation + Earth Spirit – Smash + Five Elements Fleche + Earth Spirit Seal + Elixir
• Metal Spirit – Needle + Water Spirit – Billows + Five Elements Fleche + Elixir + Metal/Earth Spirit Seal

Heavenly Marrow Mono-Fire / UWF Fire-Earth (1)

1. Core build plan

Usually relies on the advantage of Fire cards’ high damage, 4-5 move kill. But when you can’t kill the opponent before they kill you (must calculate your own damage and the opponent’s), you can use Ice Spirit Guard Elixir / Exorcism Elixir, or switch to UWF Fire-Earth (you only need to hold 3-4 more cards to enable the switch) to get the win.

2. Heavenly Marrow mono-Fire standard deck

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm
• Fire Spirit Formation
• Fire Spirit – Flameate
• Fire Spirit – Blast
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie

3. Daoist Rhyme Omen

Flash Fire > Heart Fire > Heavenly Marrow > Blazing Prairie

4. Immortality transit cards

Fire Spirit Formation, Flash Fire, Heart Fire, Flameate, Blast, Five Elements Circulation Dust [sic], Cliff, Shuttle

Random example from an actual match:

• Fire Spirit Formation (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Fire Spirit – Flameate
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.2)
• Earth Spirit – Dust

Notes: Heart Fire needs to dodge the opponent’s DEF (if they add DEF quickly, you can Heart Fire early, even on turn one if necessary). With Five Elements Circulation, prioritize Dust. Don’t Shuttle into Heart Fire; you can put Blast or Flameate after Shuttle if it’s a problem.

Heavenly Marrow Mono-Fire / UWF Fire-Earth (2)

5. Some examples of counterplay and other variations

(1) Top end: Burning Sky

Example from screenshot:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.2)
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Burning Sky (lv.2)

Without Burning Sky, there’s pretty much no way to three-turn kill.

(2) Heavenly Marrow lv.2

When Heavenly Marrow is lv.2, you can Blast + Heart Fire earlier, which is sometimes more damage, and when the opponent has much DEF (such as DEF Sword), you can cycle back into turn-five Flash Fire + Blast to kill directly via HP reduction. At the same time, this arrangement is a countermove against Jiang Ximing Painter, to dodge turn-two Astral Move – Tiger, and it becomes a matter of quality whether you can kill on turn five with Flash Fire + Blast, otherwise you lose. Example:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.max)
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit Formation (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie (lv.max)

If the opponent has turn-three Iron Bone or applies Weakened, yet we go first, then you can also Blazing Prairie earlier, to attack earlier. If you have enough qi, you can put another Blazing Prairie, Blast, or Ice Spirit Guard Elixir at the end, otherwise you can put Fire Spirit Formation. At the same time, this arrangement is a countermove against.

Example:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.2)
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv. 2)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Fire Spirit – Blast

(3) Heavenly Marrow lv.max

Apart from Burning Sky, Heavenly Marrow lv.max is the top end. The second Flash Fire can be swapped out for Blast or Flameate or Fire Spirit Formation or Ice Spirit Guard Elixir, to maximize the four-turn damage. Example:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.max)
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.2)
• Ice Spirit Guard Elixir (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blast
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie (lv.2)

Heavenly Marrow Mono-Fire / UWF Fire-Earth (3)

(4) Ice Spirit Guard Elixir

If turn-two Heart Fire would run directly into the opponent’s DEF, you can turn-one Flash Fire + Heart Fire, then Flash Fire + Heavenly Marrow. This sort of situation is also applicable to when you deploy Ice Spirit Guard Elixir and not Fire Spirit Formation (and Heavenly Marrow is lv.1), because the later cards don’t need the bonus from Fire Spirit Formation. Other than that, the turn-one Flash Fire + Heart Fire, turn-three Flameate + Guard Elixir line is also a countermove against Yao Ling’s turn-four Five Thunders line. At the same time, turn-three Guard Elixir can also counter Tan Shuyan Elixirist, Yan Chen Thunders etc. fast kill decks, though the effect is not as consistent as UWF Fire-Earth (discussed later). Example:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.max)
• Ice Spirit Guard Elixir (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie

Against opponents like Mu Yifeng, Lu Jianxin, Mu Hu etc. who are slow, but where you still need Guard Elixir to block Dharma Spirit Sword, Giant Tripod etc., you can do turn-four Guard Elixir. Example:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.max)
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Ice Spirit Guard Elixir (lv.max)

(5) Exorcism Elixir

Exorcism Elixir usually is only used against Jiang Ximing Formation Master and Yan Chen Within Reach. Against Yao Ling’s and Fulu Sword’s Thousand Evil Incantation, it’s usually not as good as Ice Spirit Guard Elixir. Against Jiang Ximing Formation Master, Exorcism Elixir on turn four when you go first, on turn three when you go second. Example vs. Jiang:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.max)
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.2)
• Exorcism Elixir (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie (lv.max)

Against Yan Chen Within Reach, there’s also consideration for the opponent’s Predicament for Immortals. If you want to defend against Predicament for Immortals, I recommend sidelining Heavenly Marrow and Fire Spirit Formation; put damage cards up front, and also deploy Exorcism Elixir and Ice Spirit Guard Elixir (Exorcism Elixir protects Ice Spirit Guard Elixir from Astral Move – Cide). Example:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.max)
• Exorcism Elixir (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.2)
• Ice Spirit Guard Elixir (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blast
• Fire Spirit – Flameate

(6) vs. Predicament for Immortals

Against Predicament for Immortals other than Within Reach (especially Musician Vitality), Heavenly Marrow can still be played (you can consider sidelining the second Flash Fire), because there’s the guessing game vs. the absence of Predicament; after Marrow, lay the cards out straightforwardly, and it’s strong whether or not Predicament is played. Against Long Yao Musician, you need to judge the position of the opponent’s big damage (Mirror Flower / Dharma / Egret), and use Ice Spirit Guard Elixir to block; and also Heart Fire early (try to do it turn one); if they’re on Mirror Flower, you can Blazing Prairie earlier, beating down their DEF to reduce their damage.

(7) Three-Chase mono-Fire

Against slow decks, such as Hua Qinrui Earth-Metal-Water UWF, Musician Vitality, mono-Earth (other than Mu Hu), play three Flash Fires to avoid missing Chases when you don’t fast kill. Thus:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm
• Fire Spirit Formation
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Fire Spirit – Flameate
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Fire Spirit – Blast

Marrow lv.2 allows Blast earlier.

(8) UWF Fire-Earth

Against decks racing you to kill (especially multi-hit ATK), in situations when you’re going second, it’s likely that you can’t kill first, for example, vs. first-moving Polaris / Five Thunders / Elixirist Cloud etc. You’ll need to hold on to Ultimate World Formation, Five Elements Circulation, Earth Spirit – Combine World, (Metal Spirit – Shuttle) to switch to UWF Fire-Earth to survive the damage then counterattack. Note: With UWF lv.1, due to not enough UWF charges, you need a Shuttle to replace one Flash Fire. In Immortality, if you have Circ., Shuttle, it’s best to keep them to Incarnation. If you don’t have two Heart Fires, substitute Flameate for the second one.

• Ultimate World Formation
• Fire Spirit Formation
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire
• Five Elements Circulation
• Earth Spirit – Combine World
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire

(9) Mirror match

The mirror match is usually a matter of whose damage is faster, pretty much whoever has higher Cultivation wins. Use the standard arrangement, maximizing four-turn damage. If you’re going second, you can use UWF Fire-Earth to block the opponent’s Heart Fire / Blazing Prairie to try to win. Don’t use Guard Up Elixir, because Fire Spirit Formation’s HP reduction will remove the Guard Up, which is also why mono-Fire doesn’t fear Guard Up.

(10) Analysis of weaknesses

Mono-Fire at core is a fast kill “racehorse” deck. Against Chase-heavy decks with high defense, at similar upgrade levels, mono-Fire is disadvantaged; for example, vs. Fulu Sword Mu Yifeng and Lu Jianxin etc. Against them, Elixirist Wood is somewhat stronger, so at the beginning of the match, if you judge that you will meet these decks in the finals, you can try to prioritize Elixirist Wood.

(11) Patch update

Heavenly Marrow was buffed to no longer have its charges consumed by cards like Flash Fire that Chase on their own. In the Heavenly Marrow mono-Fire deck above, Flash Fire can be moved from turn four to turn three to greatly increase the potential damage in the second cycle, by turn six. This additional flexibility is a buff to mono-Fire. Another pair of examples, with Marrow lv.max. To maximize four-turn damage:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.max)
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit Formation (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie (lv.max)

To maximize five-turn damage:

• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.max)
• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit Formation (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Heart Fire (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Flash Fire (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Flameate (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blast (lv.max)
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie (lv.max)

Elixirist Wood / UWF Wood-Fire

1. Immortality transit

The most important card is Wood Spirit – Fragrant. If you pick Fragrant at Daoist Rhyme Omen, or find many copies at Immortality, you can choose Wood. Immortality transit cards: Fragrant, Spiritage Elixir, Thorn, Forest Guard, Blast, Circ., Scarlet Flame, etc.

2. Elixirist Wood standard deck

• Spiritage Elixir
• Wood Spirit – Willow Leaf
• Wood Spirit – Fragrant
• Wood Spirit – Forest Guard
• Wood Spirit – Thorn
• Wood Spirit – Forest Guard
• Five Elements Circulation
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie

The positions [of? containing?] Willow Leaf and Thorn can be adjusted according to the situation at hand, and the last two positions can also be Circ. + Blazing Prairie [sic].

3. Heavenly Marrow Elixirist Wood

Against high-defense decks (such as Hua Qinrui Earth-Metal-Water UWF, DEF Sword), when you judge that you can’t kill in one cycle, you can use Heavenly Marrow, and kill in the second cycle. After the 2023-9-20 patch [see end of previous section], you no longer have to use Forest Guard specifically to avoid using up a Marrow charge, you can freely substitute Willow Leaf. Usually, Forest Guard is more damage anyway, but you calculate and check. Unless you’re forced to play Willow Leaf because you don’t have enough copies of Forest Guard. Example:

• Five Elements Heavenly Marrow Rhythm (lv.2)
• Spiritage Elixir (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Fragrant (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Fragrant (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Forest Guard (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Thorn (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Forest Guard
• Wood Spirit – Thorn (lv.2)

4. UWF Wood-Fire

Against fast-attacking decks that apply Weakened (such as Polaris, Fulu Thunders), it’s hard for Elixirist Wood going second to win, there are conditions to switch to UWF Wood-Fire, there’s a chance to turn defeat into victory.

Water-Wood-Fire example:

• Ultimate World Formation (lv.2)
• Water Spirit Seal (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Fragrant (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Willow Leaf (lv.2)
• Wood Spirit – Thorn (lv.max)
• Five Elements Circulation (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie (lv.2)
• Ice Spirit Guard Elixir (lv.max)

Wood-Fire-Earth example:

• Ultimate World Formation (lv.2)
• Water Spirit Seal (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Fragrant (lv.max)
• Five Elements Circulation (lv.2)
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie (lv.2)
• Five Elements Circulation (lv.2)
• Earth Spirit – Combine World (lv.2)
• Ice Spirit Guard Elixir (lv.max)

5. Top end: Shadow Owl Rabbit

Example:

• Shadow Owl Rabbit
• Water Spirit Formation (lv.max)
• Five Elements Circulation (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Fragrant (lv.max)
• Wood Spirit – Thorn (lv.2)
• Wood Spirit – Thorn
• Wood Spirit – Thorn
• Fire Spirit – Blazing Prairie

The HP loss from Shadow Owl Rabbit is partially mitigated by the effect of Thorn.

Mono-Metal

Mono-Metal, having been nerfed, can no longer be considered a primary build option in the current version, unless you really get a lot of Metal Spirit Formations in Foundation phase, otherwise it doesn’t gain rank points as consistently as the builds discussed above. Mono-Metal needs to exchange more in Foundation to find Metal Spirit Formation and Heart Pierce, which conflicts with the other builds. The two final builds are the standard double Formation five-move kill, and Marrow-Charge. The point of the latter is to make Charge Chase into Charge.

• Standard example: Formation + Formation + Shuttle + Iron Bone + Shuttle + Charge + Shuttle + Giant Tripod.
• Marrow-Charge example: Marrow + Formation + Iron Bone + Charge + Charge + Shuttle + Giant Tripod (+ Heart Pierce)

World Smash

World Smash is playable in the current version, but since Wu Xingzhi’s World Smash is inferior to Du Lingyuan’s, and the high end potential is inferior to the builds discussed above, we usually don’t play it as the final build (Immortality transit OK), unless the cards for other builds don’t come. Wu Xingzhi’s World Smash usually Activates Metal Spirit in order to use Shuttle.

• Example: Shuttle + Spring + Willow Leaf + World Smash + Shuttle + Blazing Prairie + Flash Fire + Combine World

Afterword

The thing about how I play Wu Xingzhi is that I don’t force any specific build, but I judge according to the cards drawn in Foundation / Immortality what to play, in order to gain rank points relatively more consistently. As I climbed to 10000 Dao Mindset Score and integrated the diverse builds, and studied and absorbed the experience and insight of many grandmasters, I’d especially like to thank grandmaster 林和平. As your number one fan, I have been fortunate to receive your guidance and attention. Among my builds, how I play mono-Fire is but a pale imitation of your brilliant tactics! Critique and correction is welcome!

Supplement 1

For the new season, I recommend World Smash or Elixirist Water, for reasons that I must withhold until the next installment, once v1.0 is public (TL: v1.0 release introduced Duan Xuan sect, among other things.).

S.1: Immortal Fate Choices

In the prioritizations of Immortal Fates at Virtuoso and Immortality, Inheritance of Water Spirit replaces Inheritance of Fire/Wood Spirit. At Immortality, it outprioritizes Thunder Tribulation.

At Incarnation, for World Smash, when you don’t need to compete on Cultivation, Cycle Of Five Elements has the highest priority. If you chose Inheritance of Five Elements, and you don’t have Water Spirit – Spring, use it on Water; if you have Spring but not Shuttle, use it on Metal; if you have both, usually use it on Wood to look for Willow Leaf. For Elixirist Water, if you have 0 exchanges, Inheritance of Five Elements > Inheritance of Water Spirit, otherwise, Inheritance of Water Spirit > Inheritance of Five Elements.

S.1: World Smash

1. Immortality transit

Spring, World Smash, Great Waves / Dive, Thorn / Forest Guard, Flash Fire / Scarlet Flame / Heart Fire, Dust / Cliff, Shuttle / Iron Bone

2. Standard deck

Usually Activate Metal and use two Shuttles. Examples:

• Shuttle + Spring (lv.max) + Willow Leaf + World Smash + Shuttle + Blazing Prairie + Flash Fire + Combine World
• Shuttle + Spring (lv.2) + Willow Leaf + World Smash + Shuttle + Thorn (no Wood Spirit) + Flash Fire + Dust

• When you have enough quality, and can kill in 3-4 moves, Dust is the best Earth card, lv.max is 16 damage.
• When you have a lv.max World Smash, if you have another World Smash, deploying both can be more damage.
• When Spring is not lv.max, it’s not enough qi for Blazing Prairie; you can use Heart Fire, or Thorn + Flash Fire.

• Shuttle + Spring (lv.2) + Willow Leaf + World Smash + Shuttle + World Smash + Heart Fire + Dust

S.1: Elixirist Water

1. Immortality transit

Water Formation, Spiritage Elixir, Great Waves, Dive, Turbulent, Circ., Shuttle / other Metal cards, Iron Bone

Examples:

• Shuttle + Water Formation + Spiritage Elixir + Shuttle + Circ. + Great Waves + Great Waves + Turbulent
• Spiritage Elixir + Shuttle + Water Formation + Great Waves + Great Waves + Turbulent + Dive + Billows

The more Great Waves, the better; try not to merge them; lay them straight out and stack Force of Water. Metal + Circ. + Great Waves is equivalent to an additional copy of Great Waves. Put Water Formation / Spiritage Elixir in front to add qi for Great Waves. Line up Dive / Iron Bone against important damage.

You can also transit with Spring + World Smash, which is the strongest thing you can be doing in Immortality. Whereas, Elixirist Water’s high end is higher than World Smash, or you may need Elixirist Water to defeat certain builds, so you can hold on to the important cards for it, and pivot in Incarnation.

2. Standard deck

Usually start with Marrow + Water Formation, line Dive up against the opponent, decide whether to deploy Turbulent. You usually want at least two Great Waves. When you have high quality (especially if you have lots of Combine Rivers), you can consider not playing Dive, and instead play three Great Waves, and kill quickly with Turbulent.

Examples:

• Marrow (lv.2) + Water Formation (lv.max) + Great Waves (lv.max) + Great Waves + Dive (lv.max) + Combine Rivers (lv.max) + Combine Rivers + Turbulent (lv.2)
• Marrow (lv.max) + Water Formation (lv.max) + Great Waves (lv.max) + Great Waves (lv.2) + Dive (lv.2) + Combine Rivers + Turbulent (lv.2) + Turbulent (lv.2)
• Marrow (lv.2) + Water Formation (lv.max) + Great Waves (lv.max) + Great Waves (lv.2) + Tsunami + Combine Rivers (lv.2) + Combine Rivers + Turbulent (lv.max)

S.2: Build Choice Analysis

My reason for recommending World Smash or Elixirist Water is the advent of Duan Xuan. Duan Xuan’s Physique mechanic results in very high max HP, which counters mono-Fire (Mono-Fire’s only counter card, Blazing Prairie, is an Incarnation-phase card, hard to find, and the Immortality transit is difficult.).

Xiao Bu Musician’s Styx-Styx-Concentric-Concentric combo can apply 4 Decrease ATK in two turns, with the addition of counter cards like Predicament for Immortals and Nine Evil Ruptsprite, can counter the multi-hit and Chase cards that Elixirist Wood relies on. Other Duan Xuan builds like Xiao Bu Fuluist Force + Crash Fist, Tu Kui Plant/Fuluist Crash Fist, Tu Kui Plant/Fuluist Realm-Killing Palms, etc. all have high burst damage, and require builds with anti-burst techniques to handle.

S.3: Counterplay with World Smash

1. Standard deck

Wu Xingzhi Elixirist World Smash can kill on turn three given high enough quality, but it also has access to Ice Spirit Guard Elixir and Exorcism Elixir, and also Iron Bone, Dive, Combine World, etc.

2. Fast kill

Use to race against burst damage, or against slow decks like Jiang Ximing Formation Master, Jiang Ximing Painter, Unrestrained Sword, Long Yao Painter, mono-Water, etc.

• Shuttle (lv.max) + Spring (lv.max) + Willow Leaf (lv.2) + World Smash (lv.max) + World Smash (lv.2) + Thorn (lv.max) + Flash Fire (lv.2) + Dust (lv.2)
• Shuttle (lv.max) + Spring (lv.2) + Willow Leaf (lv.2) + World Smash (lv.max) + Shuttle (lv.2) + World Smash (lv.2) + Heart Fire (lv.max) + Dust (lv.max)

3. Iron Bone / Dive, mixed defense and damage

Vs. multi-hit builds like Realm-Killing Palms, Hexagram Thunders, Polaris, Cloud Sword, Wood-Fire, etc. Must line up against the opponent’s damage.

4. Guard Up Elixir vs. burst

Vs. Crash Fist, Dharma Spirit Sword, Sword Intent, Musician Sword, mono-Metal etc. high-burst builds. Must line up against the opponent’s damage.

5. Vs. Internal Injury Xiao Bu Musician, Yan Chen

Against Internal Injury Musician, we mainly need to defend against Nine Evil Ruptsprite and Predicament for Immortals, and we also need to position Ice Spirit Guard Elixir / Exorcism Elixir. Moving Shuttle + Spring to turn two can avoid Ruptsprite. Moving the Wood card to the end can defend against Predicament, and it’s best to swap in Thorn or a qi-producing Wood card, too. If you don’t have two Ice Spirit Guard Elixirs, you can substitute Exorcism Elixir for the first one. For example:

• Flash Fire + Dust + Shuttle + Spring + World Smash + Exorcism/Guard Elixir + Guard Elixir + Thorn / Willow Leaf / Fragrant

6. Mirror match / vs. Guard Up

Going first, turn-two Guard Up blocks the first World Smash. Going second, turn-five Guard Up blocks the second World Smash. When defending against Guard Up, you can do:

• Flash Fire + Cliff + Shuttle + Iron Bone / Giant Tripod + Shuttle + Spring + Willow Leaf + World Smash

Since Cliff’s damage is delayed, you can break 3-4 stacks of Guard Up this way.

S.4: Counterplay with Elixirist Water

1. Standard deck

The standard deck, described at the end of Supplement 1, is suitable against multi-hit builds like Realm-Killing Palms, Hexagram Thunders, Polaris, Cloud Sword, Wood-Fire, Sword Intent, Dharma Spirit Sword, etc. Must line Dive up against the opponent’s damage.

2. Fast kill

Use to race against burst damage, or against slow decks like Jiang Ximing Formation Master, Jiang Ximing Painter, Unrestrained Sword, Long Yao Painter, mono-Water mirror match, etc.

• Example: Marrow + Formation + Great Waves + Great Waves + Great Waves + Combine Rivers + Combine Rivers + Turbulent

3. Combine Rivers, mixed defense and damage

Use against sustained damage builds like Crash Fist, Hexagram Thunders, etc.

Example: Marrow + Formation + Great Waves + Great Waves + Great Waves + Combine Rivers + Combine Rivers + Combine Rivers

4. Vs. Internal Injury Xiao Bu Musician, Yan Chen

Omit Marrow to defend against Predicament. Line Guard Elixir up against Soul Seizing / Within Reach. [TL: This was written before the Soul Seizing nerf capping the amount.]

• Example: Formation + Great Waves + Great Waves + Guard Elixir + Combine Rivers + Combine Rivers + Combine Rivers + Turbulent

5. Water Spirit – Tsunami

Elixirist Water’s top end is Water Spirit – Tsunami. Judge according to the situation whether to position it after the second Great Waves or immediately after Water Spirit Formation.

• Example: Marrow + Formation + Great Waves + Great Waves + Tsunami + Combine Rivers + Combine Rivers + Turbulent

S.5: Other Build Choices

• If there’s no Xiao Bu Musician, you can play Elixirist Wood.
• If there’s no Duan Xuan characters, you can play Elixirist Fire.
• If Elixirist/Plant players are few, you can play mono-Metal.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to change the language?

IIRC when you start the game and the menu shows up, there will be a language setting on the top left, click the arrow button and the English language will show up.

What is Dao Mindset mode?

Dao Mindset is simply a different ranking mode in which each character gets their own ranking and gets matched with other players on characters with similar ranking.

So if you play a character a lot (and do well with it) you get a high ranking and are matched with other players on their experienced characters.

If you play a char you haven’t played the mode with much yet, you get matched with other low ranked char players.

Is Chase too good to not use?

Chase is really powerful but at the same time, you can make builds that don’t use it. But if you do, consider using musician and making it so your opponent can’t chase, either.

But if you’re using a strategy like cloud swords or mono-metal you might as well use chase.

How to modify/play with my deck builds?

You build the deck as you play. The pool of cards comes from your character + side job (also, cards for building-deck-as-you-go arrive from events, like Life Shop in Ranked, a button with snek at bottom right of your current deck screen, or Dao Omens which occur at different rounds in different game modes).