Faction Overview:
The Heirs are the first of the aggressive factions within the world of Ankar. They seek to overwhelm their opponents with Flying units, striking quickly and treating all of their units as expendable resources that will do whatever it takes to close out a game. With no ranged units or macro-oriented fortress advancements, the reign of the Heirs quickly peters out near the end of wave 3. Their goal in the game is to make sure that there is no opponent standing before the end of wave 3 through the crushing oppression of aggressive spires, explosive Elfinkaze, and evasive heroes.
Heirs minions and spires cannot access their promoted sides until you purchase the corresponding fortress advancements from the Academy Peak. Academy Peak 1 - Graduation allows your promoted spires to be constructed. Academy Peak 2 - Master Training allows your minions to promote after defeating a unit or spire. One exception to this is via the use of Keem’s Rally talent, which will promote minions in range regardless of if you have purchased Master Training.
Fortress Advancements:
The Heirs’ fortress advancements are designed to be low to the ground, quick to purchase, and provide immediate effects. Because of this, the advancements designed to benefit you later on in the game are very weak and end up not being worth the investment. With this faction, look to buy only a few key fortress advancements, spending the rest on spires and market options.
Academy Peak
1) Graduation
This advancement gives access to the Regal Lookout and Minaret spires. Just like other factions, this advancement solely relies on the benefit that these promoted spires give to the faction. Unlike other factions, these spires are absolutely game changing and some of the best in the game. So much so that this is often a wave 1 purchase just to unlock the possibility of using these spires with Limited Builds during the wave. The Minaret is the only Air Defense spire that the Heirs have access to, with the provided benefit of only costing 3 source and only giving 1 source to your opponents after it is defeated. But the real reason to purchase this advancement is to unlock the Regal Lookout spire. This is one of the best spires in the whole game, giving you access to more Elfinkaze, a massive upgrade capacity, and places for your Elfinkaze to Roost. All for the price of 4 source. This is one of the best fortress advancements for the Heirs, and as such should be highly considered for your wave 1 purchase.
2) Master Training
Providing access to the promoted Heirs minions, this advancement is dependent on how powerful those minions are. These promotions are still locked behind that minion defeating a unit or spire however, which means that they cannot be planned around as much as with other factions. Regardless, this is a rather good advancement and one that tends to be bought at some point during the game. The unit that benefits the most from this is the Royal Talon, who can score a kill and promote very easily, turning into a Flying beast with 6 health, 4 attack, and 3 movement. Something to note with this advancement is that it may be good to leave landmarks for your minions to kill instead of heroes so that you have access to these powerful promotions before minions engage.
Gateport
1) Savvy Negotiator
This advancement lets you gain some source in exchange for a market chip that you have purchased. The math on this, like most of the other Gateports, is not that good. This advancement costs 2 source to purchase, then the cheapest market option costs 1 source, so you would profit a total of 1 source after removing your market option and you can do this again on future waves. The issue is that you then are spending source that you can’t get back until after the build phase. Spending as much as you can on spires such as the Regal Lookout and other crucial advancements early is a core part of the Heirs strategy, while this advancement looks to delay your purchases, but gives you a little more source in the long run. At the end of the day, this advancement conflicts with the Heirs strategy and is not nearly beneficial enough to allow them to try and win the long game.
Another advancement that seeks to slow down the game by preventing your opponent from securing certain market options. This could be good if there is ever a time that your opponent’s only answer to your minions could be found in the market, but at any point that your opponent is that desperate, you have already won and should spend your source on ending the game, not prolonging it. A classic “win more” advancement that looks good, but ends up not having a place in competitive play.
3) Sight Unseen
If by some miracle you have ended up purchasing the first two Gateport advancements, this is actually a rather good one. The downside to this is that it costs a total of 10 source for a random market chip, then an additional 2 for any waves that you have left. Randomness may be what is needed to pull the Heirs out of a losing position, but this comes too late to be particularly effective, as it will only be usable the next wave after you purchase it. The whole of the Heirs Gateport path is rather disappointing, but that is to be expected from a value-oriented advancement path in an aggressive faction. I would pretty much never purchase this path in a competitive game, but it seems fun to try in a casual one.
Airstrip
1) Glide
The Airstrip is home to some very fun advancements, ones that will let you quickly close the gap between your units and the opposing fortress. Glide only lets your units be teleported to spires that are on the first isle next to your fortress, so they would be able to travel a maximum of 5 hexes from your fortress gate. This is quite a bit for the Heirs Flying units, but often I find that this advancement is not enough. Usually when I consider the Airstrip advancements, I look for how to use Air Current Transporter and consider Glide as just another 3 source you need to pay to unlock it. Because of this, I don’t often purchase only this advancement unless an opposing hero decides to end a wave too close to one of your spires, allowing your units to teleport and secure a free kill.
2) Air Current Transporter
This is such a fun and oppressive advancement to play with. Usually this is the nail in the coffin that is used in the third wave to make sure that all of your tough units give no room for the opponent to breathe. After stretching your influence to your opponent’s starting isle, you can place a spire extremely close to their fortress gate. This allows your Royal Talon to start the wave adjacent or close to their fortress gate even after using Elfinkaze for guaranteed damage. Usually, you will end up needing just one more Elfinkaze to get that kill on the first turn of wave 3. Well, this advancement will allow you to do just that. By deploying Jaelana Nestor, you can teleport her and her Elfinkaze to the front lines, using up Jaelana’s movement. This then allows the Elfinkaze to move right to the opposing fortress and secure those last points of damage. So, so many games have been ended right on the spot using this advancement to burst down the opposing fortress gate. I would absolutely look at purchasing this advancement anytime you have an aggressive spire close to the opponent’s fortress in wave 3.
Sanctuary
1) Unified Front
While this is one of the best advancements in the game, the necessity of rolling a dice makes this advancement rather inconsistent. Depending on what you roll, you increase your cp allowance by 0-3 cp. This gives more value earlier on in the game since you increase your cp by a larger percent for those earlier waves. It can feel really bad when you roll a zero and are planning on at least 1 cp for your build order, but on the flip side, it can feel amazing rolling a 3 on wave 1 and completely overtaking the game. One of the common build orders purchases this advancement in wave 1 and uses it to accrue a massive advantage before your opponent has time to properly set up. In my opinion though, this shines most on wave 2, where if you roll at least 1 additional cp, you are able to bring both Keem and a Royal Talon, which is a very potent threat at any stage in the game. This advancement is part of what allows the Heirs to be as aggressive as they are, so it is a must buy in wave 2 if you don’t have it already.
2) Gate Repair
Sadly, the effectiveness of Sanctuary advancements dramatically falls off past Unified Front. Gate Repair lets you repair one health on your fortress for 2 source each wave. Again, this is an advancement that gains more benefit the longer the game goes, and in this case, the benefit is letting you stay alive longer or having more points for scoring. The Heirs just don’t get the same staying power and source amounts as other factions and because of that, they just can’t compete in points after wave 4. I sometimes buy this advancement as a way to close the points gap in a losing game on wave 4, hoping that I can at least do enough damage to sin on points. However, this is extremely unreliable and your source is usually better spent on ways to actually destroy the enemy’s fortress gate.
As one of the factions that wants to place down a ton of spires, forcing two of your limited 6 spires to be stuck at your fortress gate rather than gaining your influence or pressuring your opponent directly is really limiting. If the Heirs are pressured enough during the game that they feel like this is a worthwhile investment, then they are already losing the game. As the Heirs, you should feel confident in your ability to kill your opponent before they can kill you. Because of this, source spent on this advancement is often wasted or is better used being aggressive.
Stables
1) Harrier Training
Increasing the health of your Harriers by 50% is a very good advancement if you are using Harriers consistently. Most minions and spires in the mid game deal 2 damage, so this allows them to survive one attack and retaliate against any enemy units. Often, Harriers are just used to fill out the cp allowance of every wave, so this is never a bad advancement. This will allow them to make it to your opponent’s spires more often and make use of Quick Strike to weaken them before the rest of your units get there. While often just an advancement purchased when there isn’t much else to spend source on, this is a nice benefit that makes your units a little more reliable.
2) Reserves
This is a very cool advancement with some neat tech. It only ever triggers on your last minion being defeated, so you have near complete control over this with one Elfinkaze. By using Glidebomb during the movement phase, you will allow the newly created Joust to still move and attack the same turn it was created. Because of how often you end up having a spire near your opponent’s fortress gate or the ability to limited build one, you can almost always guarantee an additional 2+ damage to the opponent’s fortress after their minions have passed by. I like purchasing this advancement in wave 3 if possible, as I want to close out the game this wave and the Reserves are a good way to secure those last couple points of damage if necessary.
3) Joust Training
Another dice based advancement that can be rather inconsistent. Luckily most of the upgrades are quite impactful on the Joust and allow them to achieve more value during the wave. While it is quite clear that the upgrades benefit any Joust that you deploy during the wave, I think the most powerful usage of this advancement is on the Joust you get from Reserves. Any upgrade that you get here will translate to at least 2 additional damage on the opposing fortress gate if the Joust is left unchecked. Most of the time, this means that it will deal about one extra point of damage assuming your opponent can build a spire to partially defend. This extra point of damage will usually be enough to close out games. I like purchasing this advancement in wave 3 as a way to get a little edge for my minions while also making Reserves more potent as a game ending advancement.
Kaze Roost
1) Modest Nest
This advancement allows for Elfinkaze to Roost on all of your spires instead of just on Regal Lookouts. While this may seem like it gives you much more flexibility on how to use your Elfinkaze, I find that you are not often building other spires where you want Elfinkaze to stay. Most of your forward spires should be Regal Lookouts anyways and the ones that you choose to build a Minaret for are places where you think the spire will be under immediate threat, which is not a safe place for an Elfinkaze. In a game where you have not purchased Academy Peak 1 - Graduation, this advancement makes a lot more sense, giving places for the Elfinkaze you receive from Hummingers to stay until they can engage enemy units. However, due to how powerful Regal Lookouts are, you will never be buying this advancement before Graduation.
2) Sizable Nest
Increasing the speed of your Elfinkaze on Hummingers by 50% is very good. It gives you much more flexibility during the wave and lets your Elfinkaze use their talents before they are sniped off by enemy units. Remember that on Elfinkaze, an increase in Roost number translates to two extra movement, one on the first turn, then another before they activate Glidebomb. The increased movement also makes it much harder for your opponents to time their movement to kill an Elfinkaze before it is in range to use its talent. Due to the increased Elfinkaze tech and Hummingers, I always find it useful to bring at least one on the later waves. Because of this, it can be worthwhile to purchase this advancement even though it is rather expensive. I wouldn’t recommend it every game, but it definitely has value if you see a good use for it or need the additional range against the Narora or Graft.
3) Royal Nest
This advancement could have been so powerful, but one line of wording ruins it for me. The dice must be placed onto an Heirs fortress spire. This means that you cannot have the additional Elfinkaze and Roost on a forward spire, meaning that it is essentially out of the game unless you have a Humminger or Jaelana carry it all the way. Spend the 4 source for this advancement on another Regal Lookout and you will get more value out of it. I wanted this to be good so bad, but it is never worth it unless you have already lost the game, at which point this won’t help you come back.
Heroes:
Darb (A)
Ah, Darb. He is so powerful on wave 1 that he defines the rest of the game, but as soon as the wave ends, he becomes very underwhelming. Any faction with a Flying starting hero is already at a huge advantage in wave 1. This allows them to harass opposing spires, minions, and heroes without fear of retaliation. Water terrain allows Darb to go anywhere and be quite a bit quicker than his 2 movement speed seems. He is a real threat to any opposing units, and can easily pave the way for your own minions to have great effect. Paired with a Royal Talon on wave 1, Darb forces your opponent to commit resources to combat the Flying units you field. Despite how good Darb is on wave 1, he can only get up to 2 attack and stays at a meager 3 health. Promoting him is also a downgrade, where he loses his attack upgrade and gains Dodge, a nearly useless talent. Due to just how fast the Heirs are, Darb falls off statwise in wave 2 and his best use is as an intentional sacrifice for an advantage somewhere else. One of Darb’s strengths is that he is extremely expendable, which means that if he can ever trade for a high value minion or any opposing hero, you should absolutely take that trade. Make sure that Darb gets value and dies on wave 1 or early wave 2, allowing you to replace him with a different hero and continue to keep the aggression up. Because of how powerful Darb is when he should be used, he deserves a spot as one of the better heroes in the game.
Keem (A)
Keem is my favorite of the Heirs heroes due to the speed that she can move around the map, the threat she can put onto spires, and her cheap cp cost. Using Sanctuary, you are usually able to deploy both Keem and a Royal Talon on wave 2, which is a very powerful combo. Having 3 movement speed, water terrain, and Flying is an insane combination of movement and evasion tools that are given to Keem for only 3 cp. Keem can be used to harass and destroy spires before they can even fire on your units, gain upgrades from doing so, then become absolutely a beast when on her promoted side. Unless there is a reasonable sacrifice that allows you to win or take a large advantage in the game, she often comes out of wave 2 promoted. This means that in wave 3, you can use a stray landmark minion to promote nearly all of your deployed minions before they even engage your opponent. Keem provides a ton of utility to your wave deployment and has some very cool interactions with friendly Flying units. Her 3 movement speed allows her to “slingshot” units like the Elfinkaze or Royal Talon to catch your opponent off-guard, then still let her catch up on the next turn. This movement tech can also include stalling the Royal Talon infinitely, forcing your opponent to flinch first and be out of position for engagement (this can be done with most heroes, but is easiest with Keem).
While niche, my absolute favorite tech using Keem is against Wyvankaye. Wyvankaye can dismantle your wave 2 by sending back your Royal Talon, something that we cannot allow to happen. By deploying both Keem and the Royal Talon, you can mathematically prevent Wyvankaye from dealing damage to either of them with Impale until you are at their fortress gate. This is because you can always stay out of the 3 movement of Wyvankaye, or use her Peaceful talent to displace her so that she always starts next to both of your units, preventing Impale from being triggered. This is something that every Grovetender player needs to learn the hard way, so I highly recommend it!
Jaelana Nestor (B)
The high end hero for the Heirs, Jaelana Nestor is rather powerful, but needs to have too much support to get her to work. Jaelana’s promoted side is very good, but it is so hard to get her to that point. Any splash damage will strip her of her Elfinkaze, her 2 movement speed just isn’t going to cut it if you treat her like a normal hero, and she needs 3 upgrades to promote on a wave that you should be ending the game. Instead of a more traditional top end hero, I like to treat her as a second copy of a Royal Talon in waves 3 and 4. This is because she has the talent Flying. This lets her use Airstrip 2 - Air Current Transporter to deploy and teleport to the furthest Heirs spire, letting her get into the game as quickly as possible and assist your Royal Talon and Elfinkaze. In addition to this, because she comes with an Elfinkaze and the Air Current Transporter only uses up Jaelana’s movement, she can be treated as another automatic 2 damage on the opposing fortress gate, a huge improvement in the likelihood of closing out a game during wave 3. The reason that I rate Jaelana so low is that all of her utility is not to take over a game by herself, but is more like a one-time minion that you can use to supplement your main gameplan. I wish that there were more games in 1v1 where you would get to use Jaelana’s full power with 3 Elfinkaze on her promoted side, but it is just too fragile and slow to consider competitively for most games. Use Jaelana for her Elfnikaze and Flying talent rather than her place as a hero to get the most value out of her in your games.
Minions:
Harrier (C -> B)
A basic shock troop unit that only costs 1 cp, used to fill out the remainder of your cp allowance for the wave. Because of this, Harriers cannot be a good minion or else the faction would be wanting to bring 3 every wave. They only have 2 health, 1 attack, and the 4 speed means it is hard to get them to attack at the same time as the rest of your units. In addition, each Harrier gives 2 source to your opponent, possibly feeding them enough source to defend against your aggression. These minions are a necessary evil for the Heirs, allowing them to combat spires that don’t have fortification upgrades. The promoted Harrier has 2 attack and can break through those fortifications, but these units do not get promoted very often. If they do, they can start to snowball and clean up opposing spires and minions. Stables 1 - Harrier Training allows these units to have 3 health instead of 2, meaning they are significantly more durable than before, which lets them attack and survive a retaliation or survive a spire shot or two. This means that they are harder to remove and can gain a little more value. Harriers are a unit you can use to fill out your cp allowance, but make sure that there are no opposing heroes looking for more upgrades, as these units are a great way to max out opposing heroes and lose the game that way.
Joust (B -> A)
Jousts are a little more tanky than the Harriers, move slower, and can deal with fortifications. I rate them higher because their relatively slow speed can allow them to be more predictable and fight with the rest of your deployment rather than alone. Quick Strike means that if a single Joust is left alone, it can still pose a threat to spires and possibly even survive to deal damage to the opposing fortress gate. Having two attack makes them much more likely to secure a kill and promote than the Harriers as well as not be completely shut out by fortifications on opposing spires. Once the Joust is promoted, it gains two talents that make it an absolute menace for opposing forces. Eager is not very powerful alone, but is rather an enabler for Fury Kick. Oftentimes, this means that you are displacing an opposing unit with the Joust, then dealing 2-8 damage to enemy units while only being retaliated against once. This combination of abilities can shred through enemy forces or soften them up enough that an Elfinkaze can make its way in and finish off the forces next turn.
Arguably the most powerful usage of the Joust is with the Stables advancements. This is why the Joust is rated so highly. Adding any upgrades to a statline that is already above par for a 3 cp unit makes the Joust extremely powerful. Its threat significantly increases and the damage it will deal to an opposing fortress gate can nearly double! Reserves also can place a Joust at the opposing fortress or close enough that it can’t be stopped. This allows Jousts to close out a game even through spires by using Quick Strike to deal damage to the opposing fortress before their spires even get a chance to defend.
Humminger (A -> A)
Hummingers are a unit which has a pretty average statline for a 4 cp minion, but gain an additional minion on top of them. The Elfinkaze is one of the most aggressive units in the game and each Humminger starts the wave with one of these bombs. It is extremely important to note that the Elfinkaze and Humminger are *not* grouped. This means that both minions are active and turns the average Humminger into an amazingly statted minion. This combo has an effective attack stat of 3, 4 health and all the abilities of the Elfinkaze. Because it has so much versatility, this is one of the best minions that you can deploy during a wave. In addition to this, it is a moving Roost for your Elfinkaze, carrying them into battle. Hummingers with a Roosted Elfinkaze have an effective threat range of 5 due to both of their movement speeds. This is amazing at zoning out more fragile heroes and preventing opponents from ever engaging first.
Once the Humminger promotes (usually via a landmark minion) they are able to follow your other flying units around, giving protection to those minions in the form of Elfinkaze while also doubling as a 2 hex slingshot for your brawling units if they need to engage quickly. This helps overcome the innate Heirs weakness of having no range. However, it should be noted that this minion is much harder to promote than the other Heirs minions because it does not gain immediate value when promoted and needs to be done long before it engages with enemy units.
My favorite usage of the Humminger in later waves is to sneak out more than 3 Elfinkaze in one round. This is due to how the timing on the Elfin talent is different for deploying units or spires currently on the battlefield. At the start of the onslaught phase, you can add an Elfinkaze to all spires/Jaelana who are currently on the battlefield, but those that are deploying this wave don’t get an Elfinkaze until they are deployed. By moving an Elfinkaze from a Regal Lookout and using Glidebomb before deploying your units from your fortress gate, you can “reuse” Elfinkaze chips who have already gotten value in this wave. The Elfinkaze have already been added back to your barracks before the Humminger triggers the Elfin talent, allowing them to be placed on the Humminger in the same turn. This can net you up to an additional 2 Elfinkaze during the wave, which can have an insane amount of utility and be extremely oppressive to your opponent.
Windrush (B -> B)
While this may be controversial, I don’t think that the Windrush is a very good unit for its cp cost for a faction like the Heirs. It has Transport, which is rather easy to fill with just a Harrier or cheap market minion, but that means that the cp cost of this unit is 5 cp, the same as a Royal Talon. When you decide to deploy a Windrush, you are usually doing this because there is a spire zoning out the rest of your units that you have to destroy first. Due to the Windrush’s speed and Assault talent, it is very good at taking out small or medium sized spires, but due to having 5 health and no defensive talents, there are better ways to take out the super spires that factions like the Brawnen and Uprising can create. This unit definitely has its niche in assisting in the removal of mass spires, but Elfinkaze often can do the job better than the Windrush. If you purchase a very strong market minion like the Elite Duelist, then the Windrush can definitely be beneficial as a way to engage quickly and protect the mercenary until it can effectively get value.
When the Windrush promotes, it gets a little faster, does a little more damage, and loses Assault in favor of Quick Strike. Usually after the Windrush gets a kill, it is already on low health and not able to effectively use Assault. Quick Strike allows it to get one more attack off before it dies, but is overall a worse talent in a faction already filled with units that have Quick Strike. While I think that the promoted minion is not as strong in general, in the context of how the Heirs units promote, it allows the Windrush to gain an additional turn of value when it wouldn’t otherwise. Because of this, I think that you should promote the Windrush only when Assault cannot get any more value before it dies. As for deploying this unit, I think that only in specific scenarios it will be beneficial and if you are unsure, I would hedge on the side of using your other more generally powerful minions rather than the Windrush.
Royal Talon (S -> S)
Now we get to talk about the Royal Talon, the Heirs’ best minion by far and possibly one of the best minions in the whole game. This unit is an absolute monster for its cp cost. For only 5 cp, you get a minion with 5 health, 3 damage, water terrain, and Flying. This means that it can one-shot most minions that cost less than it, evade the path on waves with unfavorable minion matchups, threaten most spires with a health pool that lets it get multiple attacks off, and it has Flying, meaning it cannot be engaged by a majority of units in the game. All of this put onto a minion that can be deployed as early as wave 1 makes for an insane threat that easily defines games all by itself. Other factions are forced to respect the Royal Talon as an opening, as if they do not have the resources to defend against both it and Darb, then the game can be over as early as wave 1. Even if it takes 2 damage from spires, it will still deal 9 damage to the fortress gate and allow Darb or an Elfinkaze to easily clean up the game. This minion is one of the most potent and evasive threats in the game and defines games as and against Heirs.
While on wave 1 the Royal Talon is a lethal threat, this doesn’t change on later waves. Any Heirs hero will allow the Royal Talon to infinitely stall out your opponent, forcing them into poor positioning. Flying allows this minion to take advantage of Airstrip 2 - Air Current Transporter and start the wave already at the opponent’s fortress gate. An easy kill on a 3 health minion or a weakened spire allows the Royal Talon to gain an extra health, attack, and movement speed, increasing its lethality drastically. Not to mention that it now can one-shot most heroes and minions in the game without fear of retaliation. With full terrain allowance, the Royal Talon can strike at your opponent from any angle, forcing them to build spires and paths that allow their units to defend from whatever angle you decide to attack, taxing more of their resources. Like other powerful units, the Royal Talon provides value even if it is not used, forcing your opponent into a worse play just to make sure that they don’t die early into the game.
Elfinkaze (S - B)
Another minion from the Heirs that is overwhelmingly oppressive. Oftentimes preventing your opponents from playing the game or dealing direct unblockable damage to the opposing fortress gate. In addition to all of this, the Elfinkaze are spawned via a talent rather than deployed for a cost of cp. Because of this, your only limitation on use is the number of Elfin talents you have out and the 3 chip limit. These minions get to act like heroes and use their talent (either Glidebomb or Save) during the movement phase, allowing extreme flexibility in how these minions interact with other units and spires. One of their talents is much more powerful than the other, as it is in line with how the Heirs want to play the game.
Glidebomb is one of the most destructive talents on any minion. Dealing anywhere from 2 to 10 damage is absolutely insane. Elfinkaze with this talent are able to surgically take out high value targets or just soften up large groups of opposing units so that your other minions can defeat them without retaliation. This minion is extremely versatile and hard to kill. Having a mobile 3 movement speed after stepping off of a Regal Lookout allows for these minions to get into position easily or avoid dangerous situations. Most often, Elfinkaze will start their attack from a Royal Lookout, spend one turn off of the Roost, then move and use Glidebomb. What this means is that they have a one turn threat range of 4 hexes and a two turn threat range of 7 hexes. This is absurd zoning, especially considering they can move backwards on a turn to guarantee favorable positioning against incoming minions. Combining the low resource cost of using Elfinkaze with high value and resource denial options makes for an extremely powerful unit. In cases where you need an Elfinkaze to move just a little further to get more value, their Flying talent allows Heirs heroes and minions to slingshot them into enemy forces. An important thing to note for the usage of Glidebomb is that this damage is not an attack or retaliation. This means that it ignores talents like Armored and will not allow opponents to assign fortress gate damage to their deployment stack, making it extremely difficult to play around.
The considerably worse Elfinkaze talent is Save. Restoring 4 health to an ally unit will allow your units to survive more than twice as long if used well, but like with many parts of the Heirs, this is just too slow for a main gameplan. This is not to say that the talent is bad, but rather it isn’t fast enough for most games. Usually, in wave 3 and 4 I will be deploying 4 Glidebombs and maybe one Save Elfinkaze. This is because there are not many units that will benefit more from a reactive advantage than a proactive advantage in Glidebomb. If any of my heroes end the previous wave on low health, they can disengage long enough for health to be added back to them and continue the assault without returning to the fortress gate. Once more though, the Save talent is outclassed by Airstrip 2 - Air Current Transporter, which is a relatively resourceless way to heal up your heroes and still get them onto the front lines at the beginning of the next wave. Because of this, I would use the Glidebomb in nearly all cases and only use Save when you have an explicit use for the talent. Even then, I would recommend against using more than one Save Elfinkaze in each wave.
Both Elfinkaze also have some basic utility that can be more valuable than using their respective talents in certain cases. They are still expendable minions that can move and attack like heroes. Using them to move from Hummingers to off-path landmarks to either reveal them or just gain information can be extremely powerful. Their ability to attack like a hero means that they do not have to attack landmarks without Engage, which drastically lowers the pool of landmarks that will automatically defeat them. This allows you to use the Elfinkaze while they are on their way between Roosts to explore landmarks or even assist in killing them by contributing their one damage. A very important note for these minions is that they may get more value by taking a retaliation so that your stronger units can attack freely. This is especially true against deployments of a single large minion, allowing the Glidebomb Elfinkaze to be effective even against single targets. One of the most fun interactions with the Elfinkaze is their ability to drastically increase the amount of displacement you can do with opposing Flying units. Elfinkaze can fly and displace a unit, pulling them closer to your other units and possibly in range for an easy kill. In addition to this, they can push your other Flying units further forward, slingshotting them forward into combat. As a whole, the Elfinkaze is an extremely versatile unit that can disrupt the normal timing on damage and attacks while manipulating the battlefield to gain an absurd and oppressive advantage against your opponent. In addition to having tech to increase your Elfin count past the normal 3, without an answer, opponents are easily overrun by these expendable minions.
Spires:
Refuge (D)
If the Heirs needed a reason to gain access to their promoted spires as quickly as possible, the Refuge is that reason. While it is relatively cheap, this spire does not do what you want from a spire. It only has an attack and fortification, which maxes out its upgrade capacity. This spire is a last-resort defense if and only if you both started the game with Sanctuary 1 - Unified Front and also do not have the 1 additional source to build a High Rise. Arguably one of the worst spires in the game, it does not come with any talents to redeem its poor stats. I would avoid this spire as much as possible unless the path is very forgiving for melee spires without Air Defense.
High Rise (C)
Most spires that fill this niche in other factions would come with Air Defense or another talent, but not for the Heirs. The High Rise is a standard ranged spire with a large upgrade capacity instead of a talent. While this means that it can be effective against grounded units, it still does not quite make the cut for an on-rate spire. While necessary for early defense, the Heirs have much better spires that they want to place out. Considering that having a High Rise means that you can place one fewer Regal Lookout, using this spire may actually be more of a detriment than a benefit. I would only use this spire when absolutely necessary for defense when you don’t have access to promoted spires. Otherwise, I would wait to build spires until you can build Regal Lookouts so that your aggression can have more reach.
Minaret (A)
For the utility that this spire gives, 3 source is very cheap. The Minaret does everything that you want from a spire due to its starting range, 3 upgrade capacity, and Air Defense. For any other faction, this would be an incredible defensive spire. For the Heirs, arguably the best part of this spire is its cheap cost combined with only giving your opponent a single source when it is defeated. Minarets can be used to block your opponent off of key source wells, aggressively add damage to opposing units in dangerous locations, provide influence, and “hold” onto source wells for later. Each Minaret that you place down means that the opponent has to spend resources on it to remove the threat. Usually, spires can only be removed after your opponent can limited build, meaning that you will have priority on building on the new source well. Because of this, I like to use Minarets to deal damage and stall until a source well is no longer too dangerous for a Regal Lookout, allowing one to be built there and survive to activate Elfin. After purchasing Academy Peak 1 - Graduation, there is no reason to build any Heirs basic spires. The Minaret becomes your one stop utility spire for any reason that you may need a spire, freeing up the Regal Lookouts to specialize into their oppressive capacity.
Regal Lookout (S)
Regal Lookouts really have everything the Heirs want. They start with an attack and range upgrade, only cost 4 source, are able to Roost Elfinkaze as well as spawn one, and have an insane 5 upgrade capacity. This is the spire that you rush Academy Peak 1 - Graduation to get in wave 1. Starting each wave with additional Elfinkaze can be overwhelmingly oppressive for your opponent. Forward Regal Lookouts are also one of the only ways in the game to get guaranteed damage on your opponent’s fortress gate. By placing one or more of these on the same isle as your opponent’s fortress gate, then the spire will shred through opposing units while the Elfinkaze score damage on the fortress.
An important piece of the Regal Lookouts is that they have a 5 upgrade capacity. This means they can become a lethal spire with enough of a source investment, something that the Heirs definitely have available to them. Making a super spire on the center isle prevents your opponent’s units from making their way to your fortress and threatening it, allowing the Heirs to focus all of their resources on killing their opponent. Limited builds to keep Regal Lookouts alive are also very crucial portions of the kit. If one of your spires is about to die, you can build 1-4 fortifications on it for rather cheap, allowing it to survive into the next wave and still gain value with the Elfin talent. Because the Regal Lookouts create their Elfin at the beginning of each onslaught phase, a lot of value comes from them just existing. Having multiple spires on the battlefield solely to produce Elfinkaze for your Hummingers or Jaelana allows them to get value even when in non-optimal positions.
Openings:
Standard Build Order
Market Phase: 1 Source Purchase / Skip
Build Phase: Graduation
Prep Phase: Darb, Humminger, Harrier
For such an aggressive faction, you do not have a lot of time to tech into more powerful units, as you need to present your best threats as early as possible to gain an advantage and force your opponent on the back foot. The best way to do this is via Elfinkaze from Regal Lookouts. Getting these spires online is extremely oppressive. Because of this, opponents will likely be looking to use their cheaper spires to take influence and subsequently the center isle source well. This is extremely important to contest using a Regal Lookout. So much so that purchasing Graduation on the first wave in order to use your wave 1 limited builds to build one on the center isle is arguably the best Heirs opening.
Deploying a Humminger and Harrier instead of a Royal Talon facilitates this gameplan by allowing you to have a guaranteed kill on your swamp landmark minion. Between all your units, you can deal 5 damage, only losing a Harrier if necessary. This will nearly guarantee that you will have the source necessary to build two Regal Lookouts using your limited builds this round. In addition, the Elfinkaze can singlehandedly defeat the opposing deployment after they are weakened on landmarks, giving you the threat range advantage and stalling your opponent long enough for Darb to engage enemy units.
Aggressive Opening
Market Phase: 2 Source Purchase / Skip
Build Phase: Unified Front
Prep Phase: Darb, one of the following minion sets:
+0 cp: Humminger, Harrier
+1 cp: Joust, Joust
+2 cp: Humminger, Joust
+3 cp: Humminger, Humminger
In order to capitalize upon the amazing stats of Heirs units, Unified Front gives you more cp than your opponent most of the time, allowing you to have a larger number of more powerful units than your opponent. Obviously this build order has its ups and downs. Rolling a 3 all but guarantees you an insane advantage moving into wave 2, but rolling a 0 means that you paid 3 source for nothing, putting you very far behind.
Royal talon Build Order
Market Phase: 1 Source Purchase / Skip
Build Phase: Graduation
Prep Phase: Darb, Royal Talon
If your opponent does not respect the Royal Talon, then you have free reign to deploy one and overrun your opponent’s defenses quickly. This opening is looking to have an easy kill on a 3 health opposing hero, easily dispatch spires using Darb, and deal maximum damage on your opponent’s fortress gate. When using this strategy, it is generally not recommended to look at more landmarks than your starting swamp landmark, as health on the Royal Talon is more valuable than accruing a ton of source in the early game. Usually you can get enough source from opposing chips to limited build a center Regal Lookout, but in the case where you don’t, it is unlikely that your opponent has a spire on their home isle and will not be able to contest you during the wave 2 build phase. While the Royal Talon is best used as a threat, sometimes you need to show your opponent why the Talon should be respected. This is the build order for that.
Strategy:
The Heirs: be unrelenting, hit them hard, fast, and before your opponent can defend. Force them to play around your win condition, not giving them enough time to develop their own. The goal of the Heirs is to win the game on wave 3 at the latest, using their superior stat efficiency to deal early damage, then close out the game with guaranteed damage on base via Elfinkaze. If your opponent is not dead on the first turn of wave 3 or 4 (whichever you go first in), then the game is pretty much already lost. Occasionally you can close out a game with some sneaky tech, but you should not count on this. The following strategies will be per-wave strategies, as the Heirs have the same core idea in each game.
One of the core ideas for the Heirs is the sense of spire superiority over your opponent. This is crucial to close out games effectively, as Elfinkaze are the best source of consistent base damage. Being able to build Regal Lookouts onto contested source wells will give you a jumping off point for your Flying units as well as zone your opponent’s units into disadvantageous positions.
Because spire superiority is so important, I consider it crucial to purchase Academy Peak 1 - Graduation during the wave 1 build phase for a majority of games. Because of this and the relative simplicity of the aggressive Sanctuary build order, I will assume that this purchase is made. This is done so that you have the ability to build a Regal Lookout on the center isle during wave 1. Being able to control that source well before your opponent is the main objective of the Heirs in wave 1. In wave 1, the most effective use of the Royal Talon is as a threat that you don’t actually deploy. Opponents are forced to purchase market options, upgrades, or deploy certain units just to prevent them from dying in wave 1. If your opponent does not respect the Royal Talon, then you should deploy it and smash right through your opponent’s defenses. Knowing whether or not you should commit to the Royal Talon will be discussed in the specific matchup guides, but it generally boils down to whether or not they purchase a defensive upgrade over a value upgrade.
Assuming your opponent is playing well, you should deploy a Harrier and Humminger alongside Darb in wave 1. This is because the 5 attack from this deployment is enough damage to kill any swamp landmark with the exception of the Fossilized Traxxyr. This is extremely important to get Darb an early kill and 2 damage attack so that he can travel with your minions and assist using flying. Darb can effectively zone most opposing starting heroes, so putting him into the fight with 2 damage as early as possible is very important in wave 1. Likewise, choosing a home isle configuration that allows you to set all 3 units adjacent to the swamp landmark on the first turn is something that you should consider during faction placement.
During the wave, make the most use of your Elfinkaze’s 5 hex threat range. This is very hard for factions to compete with. You can almost always gain value off of your Elfinkaze, dealing 4 or more damage to opposing units and/or landmarks, making the Humminger one of the strongest units in wave 1. A recommendation that I have is to consider finding a way to kill the Harrier on a landmark minion so that your opponent does not gain the 2 source and possible upgrade for defeating it. While this is not always possible and you may find more value in using it as a crucial point of damage, keep in mind that you can always deny source from your opponent, which can be important for such an aggressive faction like the Heirs.
After wave 1, your goal is to try and keep up with the important fortress advancements while also deploying Regal Lookouts in key positions in order to suffocate your opponents. The key upgrade that is nearly always bought in wave 2 is Sanctuary 1 - Unified Front. This is because as long as you don’t roll a zero, you are able to deploy at least both Keem and a Royal Talon. Don’t purchase this first, but keep some source so that you don’t miss out on it. Setting forward Regal Lookouts to send Elfinkaze to your opponent’s fortress gate for guaranteed damage is crucial to the Heirs gameplan. In addition, it forces your opponents to spend resources to answer the spire and weakens up their units so that your Talon and heroes can clean them up more efficiently. If you have excess source, you can upgrade the spires to make them harder to kill and accrue more value, but that tends to be done during wave 3 or 4 instead.
Other upgrades that you should consider for this wave are both Airstrip upgrades and Master Training. Use the Airstrip if you are going first and an opposing hero overextended adjacent to one of your spires, this can provide an easy defeat that some opponents don’t anticipate. Master Training is useful as a way to get a quick promoted Royal Talon if there are some nearby landmarks that were not defeated in wave 1. Consider the benefits of this in each game, as it can be better to just give Keem upgrades so that he can use Rally to promote the Royal Talon. A consideration can be made towards the Stables advancements, but I don’t consider deploying a lot of Jousts and Harriers on wave 2 a very viable strategy, as they tend to just feed heroes upgrades rather than achieve value.
For your wave 2 deployment, Keem, a Royal Talon, and Harriers to fill the cp cap tends to be the correct answer in many cases. Dealing with a massive Flying unit and mobile Flying hero is very difficult for most factions to counter. This lets you get tons of value from both of them and most importantly, can allow you to destroy enemy spires to replace them with forward Regal Lookouts. During this wave, you most likely will not be able to get damage on the opposing fortress gate, but you can cripple their defenses to pave the way for future Elfinkaze. Look to find a way to remove crucial spires and assassinate heroes using a promoted Royal Talon if possible. Achieving one hit on the base from the Royal Talon will be amazing for this wave, as it sets up only needing 3-4 Elfinkaze to defeat your opponent.
Within this wave, the goal is to set up a win on wave 3 or 4, whichever you are going first in. To do this, you need to have Regal Lookouts within 3 hexes of your opponent’s fortress gate to guarantee damage on it with Elfinkaze. This is because you have nearly no way to claw back a win from an opponent stabilizing in wave 3 or 4. You do not have enough copies of your powerful minions and a lack of Range on your units puts the Heirs at a severe disadvantage in the late game. To set up this win, spire superiority is the most effective way to do this. Find ways to defeat enemy spires when they are low on source, allowing you to grab the source well with a limited build on your turn. Choking out your opponent’s influence will force them to spend resources both to deal with your strategy as well as prevent you from regaining control of those source wells. It is extremely difficult to fight the Heirs without spire control of your home isle, so that should be a priority to overwhelm your opponent here.
If you need another Elfin worth of damage, a very potent strategy to close out a game is to combine Jaelana with the Air Current Transporter. When your Flying units teleport using this ability, they are not able to move, but the Elfinkaze that comes with her has no such restriction. This can also happen after using Glidebomb from other Elfin, possibly allowing you to get 8 damage on the opposing fortress on the first turn of the wave.
Moving past the first turn of the final two waves, the Heirs have a very hard time securing damage against other factions. Hopefully by this point you have won or they are on very low health. During these waves, I would recommend using Jaelana, Keem, and a Royal Talon to create a multi-pronged attack to spread defenses thin. If you can land the final hit on their base, no matter how much of a sacrifice you have to make or how many opposing units you have to ignore, winning is more important. The general strategy I have for this is to avoid and ignore as many units as possible so that you can sneak in for the final hit after the opposing minions have passed by your units.
