Warcraft Rumble - Sylvanas deck recommendations for PvP & PvE
With the release of Warcraft Rumble, more people than ever are getting stuck into the World of Warcraft through the medium of mobile. With a huge roster of miniatures however, it can be difficult to suss out what troops to pick for a particular Leader, and with a lot of fan favourites to pick from, you might risk choosing one with your existing deck and finding that your chances of winning are drastically going down.
Well, it’s all to do with the synchronisation between your deck and your Leader. So let’s start with one whose name keeps popping up for Warcraft fans…Sylvanas Windrunner.
Want to know more about Warcraft Rumble and get tips as they come? Check out the rest of our coverage of the game!
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Sylvanas Windrunner explained
Sylvanas’ Windrunner’s main talent is that she grants all Horde and Undead miniatures that are near her a 30% boost to speed. This is great, mainly because the key aspect of Undead miniatures is their relatively cheap cost and easy summoning. Undead minis such as the Skeleton Party - for example - have the Unbound trait which allows them to be placed anywhere on the map. This drastically upsets the game since usually a core part of Warcraft rumble is miniatures being restricted to lanes - with the taking of Meeting Points allowing for forward deployment.
Of course, that also means that the main problem you encounter is units being spread out, and slower ones being left behind. But Sylvanas' talent not only helps to steamroll with the massive units of Undead, but it also helps to speed up other miniatures such as the Ghoul, which can heal itself from eating the remains of enemy miniatures.
So, basically, Sylvanas removes one of the key disadvantages of Undead miniatures, which is their slowness. So you can set her up with units like the Ghoul and Meat Wagon from normal deployment areas while summoning Skeletons on top of her as she heads down the lane of your choosing. By the time you get to the enemy leader, you should have the overwhelming numbers to take them down with ease.
In terms of talents, the overwhelming pick for Sylvanas is Black Arrow for the direct, elemental damage. This makes sense as Banshee's Wail is particularly lacklustre - a 3-second stun when your leader dies isn't much help when you've mucked up enough for that to happen in the first place.
Of course, that all changes with PvP, but let’s stick with the PvE deck first…
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Sylvanas Windrunner PvE Deck
Set-up: Sylvanas, Ghoul, Meat Wagon, Skeleton Party, Bat Rider, S.A.F.E. Pilot, Skeletons
While this deck lacks spells, the S.A.F.E. Pilot is a pretty good substitute, and when she lands she deploys as a power AoE ranged unit which can stay in your backline to provide fire support. She’s also one of the default units you start with, giving the advantage of being one you’ll likely have levelled by the time you manage to acquire Sylvanas. Switch her out for a spell slot, or another ranged unit where possible, such as the Plague Farmer.
We’ve already explained the advantages of Skeletons and Ghouls. But in brief, regular Skeletons provide cheap cannon fodder, Ghouls are a cheap tank that can heal themselves and the Skeleton Party provides slightly hardier undead miniatures with added ranged damage. The Meat Wagon may be a controversial choice, but this deck provides the general utility you need to get through much of the campaign, and a siege unit can be invaluable - especially since the weaker Undead units are vulnerable to the Tower’s ballista.
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Sylvanas Windrunner PvP Deck
Setup: Sylvanas (Black Arrow), Necromancer (Jeweled Skulls), Blizzard (Cold Snap), Skeleton Party (5 man) or Skeletons (Questing buddies), Plague Farmer (Splashing Pumpkins) or Darkspear Troll (Serpent Sting), Ghoul (Bone Shield), Harpies (Infectious Swipes)
The Necromancer is a consistently popular pick for Sylvanas builds, and for good reason, as he provides both ranged damage and constantly summons Skeletons to provide defence. If he’s in the same lane as Sylvanas, or even another tank (like the Ghoul) this means he’s practically untouchable most of the time.
The speed of Harpies means that even though you’re restricted to regular deployment zones with them, they’ll very quickly be able to catch up with the bulk of your force. Not only that but given that Undead units excel at holding other units in place with their numerous models, it leaves Harpies free to overwhelm and attack.
The sustain for Ghouls is also another advantage as it means that they can be used to disrupt pushes on unoccupied lanes, and again, Sylvanas’ speed boost means that their slowness, usually a major issue for them, is entirely negated.
For sheer ranged force, we’ve seen the Skeleton Party, Darkspear Troll and Necromancer played with talents that give them extra ranged models (for the Necromancer) and Poison for the others. It’s hard to disagree, but in case of meeting a melee-heavy army, we think that cheaper units to tarpit with the Skeletons and the Plague Farmer to bombard is an excellent choice as well - bear in mind the Bombard trait does mean you’re sacrificing ranged damage against aerial units, so you’ll likely be relying on Sylvanas to deal with anything flying.
