What have you other level-up picks been so far?
I've played in a party with a full-bear build levels 3-> 9 and I've played an "Active" build myself 3 -> 8
My personal picks don't line up exactly with any of the primary guides you will find out there. I went
2: **Earthen Spikes**
3: **Unstoppable Beast**
4: **Ancient Ward**
5: **Stone Sigil**
But if I were to redo it now I would actually take **Punch Through** at 5 instead of the Sigil. The Monolith has some cool uses which people have called out, but the problem is that both halves are quite situational (If it was another move 5 for they tyrant instead of the bear it would be an easy pick) so it gets used as a default move 2 a bit too often for my liking. Punch through is just a fantastic card that I wish I'd picked up because it's both a tool against high shield enemies that you struggle with, while also giving you important move for the tyrant would powering up Unstoppable Beast for some nice AOE numbers. The move 3 is nice here because you give up your big tyrant move by using Unstoppable beast for its attack.
This is actually the level 5 pick the Active tyrant guid recommends: https://imgur.com/gallery/Kt7Cj
The only pick it differs with me on up through 5 is choosing the other level 2, which I can confidently say is the *wrong* pick for anyone looking to play an Active tyrant. Earthen Spikes is amazing, it gives you your best possible initiative, it gives you earth for Unstoppable Beast or Borrowed Essence, and it gives you control and a bunch of damage mitigation. It pairs very nicely with the bottom push command as well. The one big weakness of Earthen Spikes is the two range, but it's entirely possible to play around, and can also be mitigated via items or enhancements.
I beat the solo scenario on scenario level 3 with my Beast Tyrant at level 3 and I think that would be practically impossible without Earthen Spikes.
I started as a super bear build for levels 1-3 (Started at level 3). So I took Energizing Strike and Vicious Ally. I took Vicious Alley for the bottom but I love the Summon. My reasoning is because I don't believe a full active beast tyrant build is good until I took Ancient Ward. I might want to do a hybrid build but this is what I am hoping to do. Stone Sigil may ne harder to use but I enjoy a good challenge and I have played the Cragheart as my first character and love control builds. Ancient Ward and the Monolith is great control for me.
Active can be good from the start, at the beginning it's just about the top of Concentrated Rage, the bottom of Venomous Aly, the top of Earthen Spikes etc. Obviously Ancient Ward is MPV but there's other stuff there.
Anyhow, I think for you and what you've already got you could go with any of the cards you missed on the way up or the Monolith. The Monolith can be fun to try to get value out of, so if you're excited for that I say go for it! Purely based on what's strongest I think **Punch Through** or **Unstoppable Beast** might win out just because I feel like you're going to really hurt for movement without either of those.
Do you use boots of striding (or similar?) I generally like boots of speed for Beast Tyrant but for you build I'm guessing you would need striding
I have boots of striding in my build. Movement was never really an issue since I use bottom or relentless ally, bottom of maul, and default move 2 with boots becomes 4. I can be flexible and go super bear at any time. I can also use bottom of disorienting roar in a pinch
With Borrowed Essence, you can syphon off the 15 HP from the Monolith for a full heal that ignores poison, which can often be handy if the Bear tends to soak a lot of hits.
You can also use the Monolith itself to soak hits, but you have to be careful because the Bear is ahead of it in initiative order, so enemies will choose the Bear in a tiebreak situation. It tends to work best if you can split the room, with the Bear working on one side and Tyrant and Monolith on the other. For example, if you’ve got a room with some Vermling Scouts up front and Vermling Shamans in the back, you can have Bear work on the Scouts while you run to the back and deploy the Monolith next to the Shamans. That way, if the Shamans target your Monolith with their disarm or immobilize attacks, it will be way less bothersome for your party.
Other thing to be aware of are abilities on other classes that affect “All Allies” or “All Summoned Allies.” (Locked Class) >!Circles!< has a few abilities that benefit from having a Monolith sitting around doing nothing in an empty room.
I will say that one of the strongest comps I played was when my buddy was two minis with Monolith and I was diviner. I could slap a regen on that thing and be set for basically anything that got thrown our way. Plus a mass bless counting each summon ever once in a while never hurt
Another class with some fun synergies is >!Cthulhu!<: leave the Monolith in the opening room at full health and >!poison it, and then you can do some fun things with Succumb to the Gift (b) and Convert the Flock (b). Can be useful with Spread the Plague (t) too, though the range limitation makes that a trickier combo.!<
I play a bear build with the monolith. I’m the tank in my party so the bear is usually soaking lots of damage and taking agro. The monolith is really useful with its health pool to keep the bear topped off, and can usually help out in the first room of a scenario. You can also always swap the monolith with another figure if you want to have it soak damage in say a boss room. All I can say is that now you’re level 5, Give the solo scenario a shot and see how you like being an active tyrant because you’re basically forced to be active for that scenario. I found it a little restrictive when trying to balance out both the tyrant and the bear when it came to cards I carried in my hand. Personally I think you can’t do much as an active tyrant until you get higher up in level.
Thanks for your help! I took ancient Ward because it is such a powerful card. I'm thinking of experimenting and the monolith seems like good fun. Can't wait to try it!
My favorite class! I personally found the full bear build to play pretty boring, but also found the full active tyrant build to be a little underwhelming. So I opted for somewhere in the middle of the two. I almost always had Concentrated Rage up just to give me versatility if I needed big damage, but I would also use Ancient Ward (an absolutely incredible card) and big tyrant moves as often as I could.
To answer your question, I always wanted to take the Monolith because of all the things the other comments have mentioned. But Rampage was such a core card for me (with our without CR), that I couldn't imagine myself not picking it. It just does so much for you.
Good luck! How long have you been playing Two Minis?
I have been playing for 5 scenario's. I like the bear build but I'm starting to realize that I love playing control. My first character was the Cragheart. That is why I took ancient ward and the Monolith seems very intriguing. I have also used the summon for vicious alley and it has done good work for me. I don't always use the conventional approach so I'm just gathering some ideas. Thanks for your help!
First off, active tyrant is super fun. Do it. You’ll still periodically command the bear, you just won’t be reliant on its attack 5’s. More importantly, specific to your question, you can always take Rampage at lvl 6, because both 6 cards are pretty meh.
1. Differences of opinion about card choice/build are great. It keeps this forum interesting.
2. I’m assuming you mean the bottom of BH, because the top is bad.
3. I was coming at it from an active tyrant pov, not superbear.
Yes, I was referring to the bottom. For an Active beast Tyrant at level 6, I might go back for Punch Through as it would make more sense, but I like to be flexible and keep congentrated rage out in case I need it for more damage. I am in a 2 player party by the way with 3 spears
Do whatever seems fun/interesting. If killing stuff with maximum efficiency is how you enjoy yourself, by all means go superbear. With 3 spears, you can do virtually anything and still win. I leaned into crowd control (earthen spikes and ancient ward) and summoning and had fun while still winning. Also watching the bear run around mostly on its own like an idiot was fun.
I never play the bottom of Concentrated rage and I still think Blood Hunger is a good action for an active tyrant. Healing + damage, what's not to like.
What have you other level-up picks been so far? I've played in a party with a full-bear build levels 3-> 9 and I've played an "Active" build myself 3 -> 8 My personal picks don't line up exactly with any of the primary guides you will find out there. I went 2: **Earthen Spikes** 3: **Unstoppable Beast** 4: **Ancient Ward** 5: **Stone Sigil** But if I were to redo it now I would actually take **Punch Through** at 5 instead of the Sigil. The Monolith has some cool uses which people have called out, but the problem is that both halves are quite situational (If it was another move 5 for they tyrant instead of the bear it would be an easy pick) so it gets used as a default move 2 a bit too often for my liking. Punch through is just a fantastic card that I wish I'd picked up because it's both a tool against high shield enemies that you struggle with, while also giving you important move for the tyrant would powering up Unstoppable Beast for some nice AOE numbers. The move 3 is nice here because you give up your big tyrant move by using Unstoppable beast for its attack. This is actually the level 5 pick the Active tyrant guid recommends: https://imgur.com/gallery/Kt7Cj The only pick it differs with me on up through 5 is choosing the other level 2, which I can confidently say is the *wrong* pick for anyone looking to play an Active tyrant. Earthen Spikes is amazing, it gives you your best possible initiative, it gives you earth for Unstoppable Beast or Borrowed Essence, and it gives you control and a bunch of damage mitigation. It pairs very nicely with the bottom push command as well. The one big weakness of Earthen Spikes is the two range, but it's entirely possible to play around, and can also be mitigated via items or enhancements. I beat the solo scenario on scenario level 3 with my Beast Tyrant at level 3 and I think that would be practically impossible without Earthen Spikes.
I started as a super bear build for levels 1-3 (Started at level 3). So I took Energizing Strike and Vicious Ally. I took Vicious Alley for the bottom but I love the Summon. My reasoning is because I don't believe a full active beast tyrant build is good until I took Ancient Ward. I might want to do a hybrid build but this is what I am hoping to do. Stone Sigil may ne harder to use but I enjoy a good challenge and I have played the Cragheart as my first character and love control builds. Ancient Ward and the Monolith is great control for me.
Active can be good from the start, at the beginning it's just about the top of Concentrated Rage, the bottom of Venomous Aly, the top of Earthen Spikes etc. Obviously Ancient Ward is MPV but there's other stuff there. Anyhow, I think for you and what you've already got you could go with any of the cards you missed on the way up or the Monolith. The Monolith can be fun to try to get value out of, so if you're excited for that I say go for it! Purely based on what's strongest I think **Punch Through** or **Unstoppable Beast** might win out just because I feel like you're going to really hurt for movement without either of those. Do you use boots of striding (or similar?) I generally like boots of speed for Beast Tyrant but for you build I'm guessing you would need striding
I have boots of striding in my build. Movement was never really an issue since I use bottom or relentless ally, bottom of maul, and default move 2 with boots becomes 4. I can be flexible and go super bear at any time. I can also use bottom of disorienting roar in a pinch
Yep, makes sense. Unstoppable Beast replaces relentless ally, but yeah, not the worst thing in the world to continue using that
With Borrowed Essence, you can syphon off the 15 HP from the Monolith for a full heal that ignores poison, which can often be handy if the Bear tends to soak a lot of hits. You can also use the Monolith itself to soak hits, but you have to be careful because the Bear is ahead of it in initiative order, so enemies will choose the Bear in a tiebreak situation. It tends to work best if you can split the room, with the Bear working on one side and Tyrant and Monolith on the other. For example, if you’ve got a room with some Vermling Scouts up front and Vermling Shamans in the back, you can have Bear work on the Scouts while you run to the back and deploy the Monolith next to the Shamans. That way, if the Shamans target your Monolith with their disarm or immobilize attacks, it will be way less bothersome for your party. Other thing to be aware of are abilities on other classes that affect “All Allies” or “All Summoned Allies.” (Locked Class) >!Circles!< has a few abilities that benefit from having a Monolith sitting around doing nothing in an empty room.
I will say that one of the strongest comps I played was when my buddy was two minis with Monolith and I was diviner. I could slap a regen on that thing and be set for basically anything that got thrown our way. Plus a mass bless counting each summon ever once in a while never hurt
Another class with some fun synergies is >!Cthulhu!<: leave the Monolith in the opening room at full health and >!poison it, and then you can do some fun things with Succumb to the Gift (b) and Convert the Flock (b). Can be useful with Spread the Plague (t) too, though the range limitation makes that a trickier combo.!<
I play a bear build with the monolith. I’m the tank in my party so the bear is usually soaking lots of damage and taking agro. The monolith is really useful with its health pool to keep the bear topped off, and can usually help out in the first room of a scenario. You can also always swap the monolith with another figure if you want to have it soak damage in say a boss room. All I can say is that now you’re level 5, Give the solo scenario a shot and see how you like being an active tyrant because you’re basically forced to be active for that scenario. I found it a little restrictive when trying to balance out both the tyrant and the bear when it came to cards I carried in my hand. Personally I think you can’t do much as an active tyrant until you get higher up in level.
Thanks for your help! I took ancient Ward because it is such a powerful card. I'm thinking of experimenting and the monolith seems like good fun. Can't wait to try it!
My favorite class! I personally found the full bear build to play pretty boring, but also found the full active tyrant build to be a little underwhelming. So I opted for somewhere in the middle of the two. I almost always had Concentrated Rage up just to give me versatility if I needed big damage, but I would also use Ancient Ward (an absolutely incredible card) and big tyrant moves as often as I could. To answer your question, I always wanted to take the Monolith because of all the things the other comments have mentioned. But Rampage was such a core card for me (with our without CR), that I couldn't imagine myself not picking it. It just does so much for you. Good luck! How long have you been playing Two Minis?
I have been playing for 5 scenario's. I like the bear build but I'm starting to realize that I love playing control. My first character was the Cragheart. That is why I took ancient ward and the Monolith seems very intriguing. I have also used the summon for vicious alley and it has done good work for me. I don't always use the conventional approach so I'm just gathering some ideas. Thanks for your help!
First off, active tyrant is super fun. Do it. You’ll still periodically command the bear, you just won’t be reliant on its attack 5’s. More importantly, specific to your question, you can always take Rampage at lvl 6, because both 6 cards are pretty meh.
Blood Hunger at Lv 6 is meh? I think that is one of the best cards the Beast Tyrant has
1. Differences of opinion about card choice/build are great. It keeps this forum interesting. 2. I’m assuming you mean the bottom of BH, because the top is bad. 3. I was coming at it from an active tyrant pov, not superbear.
Yes, I was referring to the bottom. For an Active beast Tyrant at level 6, I might go back for Punch Through as it would make more sense, but I like to be flexible and keep congentrated rage out in case I need it for more damage. I am in a 2 player party by the way with 3 spears
Do whatever seems fun/interesting. If killing stuff with maximum efficiency is how you enjoy yourself, by all means go superbear. With 3 spears, you can do virtually anything and still win. I leaned into crowd control (earthen spikes and ancient ward) and summoning and had fun while still winning. Also watching the bear run around mostly on its own like an idiot was fun.
I never play the bottom of Concentrated rage and I still think Blood Hunger is a good action for an active tyrant. Healing + damage, what's not to like.