Frosthaven - Thoughts on the Deathwalker and Support Play

 Frosthaven - Thoughts on the Deathwalker and Support Play

Still some of my favorite support characters. I'm still not over how they did Rose dirty in Rise of Skywalker (I didn't like any of the movie anyway, but still worth noting that Rose was done dirty).

Hey y'all! So last time I left off on this topic of Frosthaven, I spent some time talking about how I felt as though I was just kind of a hanger-on while I was using the Boneshaper. But during this second shot at the campaign, I'm playing the Deathwalker, and I feel as though now I actually am a support character. My buddy and game co-designer, Josh, said he was curious as to what exactly made me feel as though I were actually playing a support character this time around. As he read into what I wrote, he said that it "seems that part of it was the character, some of it was the nature of the first attempt, and some of it may also be time and familiarity."

He's got some good points in there, and I think they're all accurate! It had been a very long time since I had played, so figuring out the balance between achieving my personal goals as a character while making sure we hit our collective goals in the missions was always going to take a little time. And it's not like I just kind of did whatever I wanted - as a group, we knew we needed to be picking up loot, and I was often the one who was the most available to do so. That also meant I was often lagging behind the rest of the party. Plus, with only 6 hit points (and sacrificing said hit points in order to summon minions), I was a really soft target, and didn't like getting punched in the face. But I think I struggled to find a balance because I was perhaps a bit too precious with my character, too. I didn't want to put the party in a bad position by going down early, or being vulnerable to the point where they had to jump out ahead in order to save me, thus creating an untenable situation in which they couldn't play their own characters so much as take care of mine. But it's kinda like Dory says to Marlin: "Well, you can't never let anything happen to him. Then nothing would ever happen to him."

God, why on Earth did I ever go back and watch this again after becoming a parent?

So in being too cautious in our first attempt, while I had some fun, it also just felt like responsibility as I stayed out of the way and picked up loot. That said, there were also times when someone would ask my plan for the round, I'd tell them my minions would advance, maybe attack, and I'd loot. And it just kind of felt like what I was saying ALL THE DAMN TIME. Which got old. It felt like I was just in there doing my own thing instead of being part of the party. I guess when I think of support characters, I think of them interacting with the rest of the party. But I was rarely doing that. I wasn't healing or buffing anyone, I wasn't generally debuffing enemies, and I rarely set up any effective traps. Now that last bit might have been me making my own errors in trying too hard to protect myself while also dropping minions. In doing so, my minions may have been dropped out of position often enough that unless either Biff or Cush whiffed on their attacks and needed someone to bat clean-up, me and my resurrections weren't getting to the scene fast enough to be worth anything.

What is it about this time around that makes me feel like I'm actually a support character? There are a couple of factors in play for me. The first is that I think that good support characters have a clear role. Let me start by saying that I only played 4 or 5 missions with the Boneshaper, and it was during my first time playing Frosthaven. So it's possible I just hadn't figured stuff out yet. Totally possible! And again, as a quick reminder, I liked playing the character. But I'm not sure I see the clear role into which the Boneshaper fits. I can say with confidence that it was likely a bad choice for the party we assembled. While we originally had a Drifter, a Blinkblade, and a Boneshaper, Biff changed over from a Blinkblade to a Bannerspear. So we had damage dealing, damage soaking, and summons covered between Cush and Biff. The Boneshaper provides some bodies that can either hurt enemies, or soak up some hits. Cush and Biff both did that better than me, so what I perceived as my support role quickly became redundant to the point of unhelpful. I had a couple of healing cards as the Boneshaper, so maybe the Boneshaper can function decently as a medic? Though, at that point, it's hard to maintain minions as well as be counted on to heal other people. With only 6 HP to start, it feels like an untenable balance to maintain. So I kind of pitched in healing where I could. But rather than it feeling as though I could be relied on for that, the other players would check in with me as to capacity, and from time to time, I could oblige. That feels less like true support, and more like, "hey, it's a thing I can kind of do sometimes."

But with the Deathwalker, I think my role as a support is much more clear. I think it feels as though my attacks are more effective with this class. That is likely, primarily, a component of what Josh talked about with regards to familiarity with the game and the characters. Even if I whiff on an attack (and trust me: I whiffed on a pretty big combo I was excited about in our second session that I'll share in one of my next posts!), I know what my odds are of hitting my intended target, and with what effectiveness. So yeah, some of this is that I have a better idea of how to leverage the Deathwalker's strengths, making me feel more like I can reliably contribute to the group rather than merely picking windows of opportunity when convenient. But I also think my role with the Deathwalker (again: alongside the Drifter and Bannerspear) is disruption and laying traps. The disruption is a bit minimal because the Deathwalker's Control stat is just below average, so I only leverage a couple of conditions. But the range at which I can leverage them gives me a lot of flexibility and reach. Also, it feels a bit weird for me to call the Deathwalker "Support" when the character card itself bills the Deathwalker's Support stat as their weakest attribute. But here's the thing: while Melee attacks are decently high (and I can understand why, based on how the Deathwalker attacks - usually through Shadow tokens on the board), I kind of view this is a different situation in which the best attacks the Deathwalker leverages are neither melee nor ranged, but traps.

Why? Because the best and most effective attacks the Deathwalker can leverage require planning and thoughtful deployment of Shadow tokens. Some of the most devastating attacks I can use are nothing but a puff of wind if I don't have multiple Shadow tokens on the board, or if they're not positioned well. And putting Shadows where enemies are may help in the moment, but then the enemies move, and the Shadow tokens now need to be adjusted. I've only played a couple of missions so far, but I'm already thinking that I need to approach this character class the way I approached Star Wars Armada: I'm not pointing my gun at where the monster is; I'm pointing my gun at where the monster will be. If I can correctly anticipate that, they walk into or near my Shadow tokens(s), and now I can effectively pick them apart - because they walked into the trap I set a turn or two ago.

I don't play Armada anymore since it lost official AMG support, but is it really my blog if I don't at least reference one of my very favorite games from time to time?

We can really get into the weeds of "what is a support character?" Much in the same way that we can look at athletes or artists. In one setting, this character/athlete/artist is a superstar. In another, the thing they're best at doing is feeding or supporting the true superstar. But for me, ultimately, I guess what it comes down to is this: do I feel as though I'm supporting my teammates? Do I feel as though, through my presence and actions, I facilitate their doing things they otherwise could not accomplish? With the Boneshaper, I was picking up loot that Biff and Cush may or may not have gotten around to. They would have missed at least some of it, but maybe a third to half, they could have picked up on their own if they had just taken the time to plan and execute more thoughtfully. They just didn't have to because I was always back there, taking care of it. But with the Deathwalker, I feel as though my ability to lay traps, and then punish enemies that walk into them, gives Cush and his two characters the opportunity to act more boldly than they otherwise could. Because he also knows that I can hold the line so long as he gives me warning that he may need backup, or to pull back. If he gives me a turn or two, I'll set up a couple of traps. Then he can do something kinda crazy, or he can take a breather, and either way, my traps will go off and cover his 6.

Maybe this play-style just fits better with how I enjoy playing, or maybe I just have more familiarity with the game now so I can actually articulate what I think my role should be, or what I want it to be. But either way, I feel much more integral to the party with this class than I did with the Boneshaper. As a result, I feel much more like a true Support character than just some hanger-on who picks up spare planks of wood and bits of hide for the party. We had a pretty exciting second session, and I can't wait to share it with y'all, so stay tuned! We'll see you on Thursday for my next post!